Renewal

"Renewal" is a short story that takes place during "Until Dawn."

Synopsis
A newly "reborn" Alchemilia general sets out on a solo mission.

Narrative
Santo pulled himself from inside the blood-stained rowboat, panting and soaked. The bodies of rebels lay inside of it, lifeless. Faint, muffled screams from a man in greasy robes and a fishing cap bound by rope could be heard. Santo crawled through the wet sand to a sign labeled PORT CITY BEACH. Pulling himself up on it, he stumbled around, grabbing at the air like a madman.

He eventually made his way to the street. His thumb waving in the air signaled a cab to stop. Santo slowly opened the door and pulled a gun on the driver, whispering him to "drive."

The taxi parked, he slipped the warm barrel of the pistol back into his belt. He pushed through the dense foliage of the blurred borders of Port City and Gladea. A metallic building stood in his way. His palm and eyes were scanned, releasing two mechanized doors. He entered, and trotted along the long catwalks. On one side, an enormous tank filled with rocks, schools of fish, yellow seaweed, and — a shark. On a gold plaque on the outside of the aquarium, engraved was the word BENNY. The other side of the stood platforms holding two LUVs, an ATV, and a metallic green speedboat with "GABRIEL" printed on either side. Farther along the catwalk, an armory wall. Coilguns, rocket launchers, knives, spears, flamethrowers, and carbines lined the wall. A room next to it contained experimental weapons. Santo pulled a knife from the wall along with a carbine and slowly exited the facility. He got back in the cab, throwing the mass that previously occupied the driver's seat into the woods, turned around, and drove straight for Silivia.

Within a research room farther down the catwalks than Santo had walked sat seven men in lab coats furiously typing. The somewhat young, overweight man with short blond hair sitting in the middle spoke.

"Oh, Giovanni's still alive. Lovely," Pavlovic muttered before turning back to his work.

Crutched over on a cane and wrapped in bandages, the white-haired man leaned in and squinted at the screen. Pulling back, he replied.

"Looks like it. I'll find a use for him," Gabriel turned to to the red-haired woman who abruptly stopped pacing behind him. "Nabi?"