Wolf sits in the hallway, just beside the forbidden door, that bright yellow tape still plastered over it. He shouldn’t be here, but that’s why he is here; it’s a restricted area to all.

It’s quiet, and it’s the perfect place for him to calm down from all the chaos that's surrounding him at the minute. Not too long ago he definitely felt a rumble as an Advanced Unit took off.

Volt is likely the one piloting; he doesn’t have faith in him considering the idiot’s personality and size of ego. He’ll probably make several mistakes and kill them all.

If he even lives, is he even going to be safe? Will he be forced to stay here against his will, a slave to the military instead of a wealthy socialite? Or will he be sent to a refugee place and left to rot on the streets?

He was too busy thinking of escaping that he didn’t have time to think of what to do after he escaped and how he would live as an orphan.

“Medical Attention needed at the rear cannons, soldier down, repeat, soldier down!”

That wasn’t good!

“Any available men, please attend battle stations at the rear cannon to support Advanced Unit Lapin!”

“Wolf,” 

Wolf looks up and sees Cammy approaching him; she also had Aerial and Leia with her. Aerial running into his lab to slabber his face with drool.

Then there were also the Nekoquins with her.

“I think we should ditch this joint while we still can,” Cammy says, looking at the door behind him.

“Why's that?” he asks.

“Because it looks like we’re going to die if we stay onboard,” 

“True…” he sighs, eyes still pointed to the floor.

Wolf, however, didn’t want to leave these guys behind, especially after all they did to help them escape and make it this far.

Cammy makes a small ‘hmmm’ sound as she inspects the door.

“Cammy I don’t know what's behind there, but I’m getting bad vibes from it.”

“Stop calling me Cammy; call me Caoimhe. It's what my parents call me,” she replies, the tone in her voice showing clear disapproval of that name.

“Nekosquad, break down this door!” She barks.

The Nekoquins start bashing the door, leaving small dents as they try opening it.

Wolf sighs; he sees a control panel and sees it requires a code. ‘Code is 1967’ is faintly engraved into the wall above. 

That seems like an oversight of trying to lock away whatever was in here.

Inputting the code, the door slides open as the Nekoquins stumble and fall into the hangar.

“You got it open, Mr. Marcas!” Callie cheers.

The secret this base seems to be hiding is a towering machine, an Advanced Unit but he was told there were only two. Why is there a third one?

The Advanced Unit itself was sleek with white armored limbs, its chest a striking cobalt blue. It resembled a lion in Marcas’ eyes, as its helmet had pointed ears and two protruding spikes that seemed similar to fangs. Then its feet looked like paws to him.

“Advanced Unit Thanatos…” Caoimhe says, wiping off the dust of an old logbook. “Do not operate at all costs?”

The fact it wasn’t logged digitally on a computer says a lot about them wanting to hide this thing from everyone, even its own crew, it seems.

“Why not?” Hunter asks. “That giant robot could help save the ship and us!”

Callie and Hunter nod in agreement.

Yeah, but who's gonna pilot it? He couldn’t; he wasn’t trained to do it. Caoimhe would have to.

“Well, Wolf, you’re going to have to get into that thing,”

“Why me?”

“Because it gives me a bad vibe…”

There's no point in arguing with her if she wants him in the giant robot. He’ll get into the giant robot.

Yet he can’t help but feel something is drawing him to the machine, a strange energy he finds… enticing.

With a leap, Wolf floats towards the chest of the Advanced Unit. Without even a touch or a press of a button, the hatch automatically opens itself, revealing the heart of the machine, that being the cockpit.

Must be some sort of sensor system. It’s a prototype, so it likely has some design flaws like that.

He lowers himself into the seat of the cockpit, and once again, without any of his input, the machine locks him in.

Suddenly, Wolf feels the area around him rumble, and by instinct he tightens his grip on the nearby control sticks. 

It’s another tremor; something has definitely hit the ship.

He needs to turn this thing on, but how… Where's the operation manual? It has to be around here somewhere. He turns his body back and forth trying to find some storage compartment where a manual could be.

That’s when a bright light blinded his eyes, and he found himself somewhere else entirely; this wasn’t the cockpit anymore.

It’s a space filled with a spectrum of bright colors with no solid ground; he’s just floating within it.

No, no… He’s falling within this strange dimension as he sees the surface of a small planet coming into view.

He lands on the planet; it's grass green like Houston’s, but off to the side is a beach with an ocean, but it’s more like a swimming pool. 

There are lots of planets orbiting around in this strange dimension.

“Why don't you make yourself welcome here? You’re going to be here for a while after all,” a voice says; it’s someone young, likely around his age too.

“C’mon, turn around; I wanna see the face of the pretty boy in front of me,” he says with a giggle.

Turning around, Wolf sees the boy, the boy from the stained glass window in his dreams. The blue hair that looks like the cosmos itself paired with his starry eyes. Wearing the same grey oversized top and bed shorts.

The first question is blurted out without much thought. “Why is your hair filled with stars?”

The starry-eyed boy looks at him with alarm. “You can see me?”

Wolf rolls his eyes. “Of course I see you, kind of a stupid question,” he replies with a shrug.

“Nobody else can see me… Like this at least, it indicates something different about you,” he says with a smile, slowly circling around Wolf like a predator.

Yet why does he feel something towards this starry-eyed boy? a sense of longing… a sense of belonging.

“You feel it too, don’t you?”

Wolf nods.

With a click of his fingers, the boy summons a table with milk and cookies.

“These are my favorite,” he bites into one. “They don’t nourish me, but I can still feel the taste of them if I want to.”

“I’m Marcas,” he couldn’t help but blush.

“Kamille,”

Kamille dips his cookies into the glass of milk he has, and he looks at Marcas, expecting him to take one.

“Kamille… isn’t that a girl’s name?” He asks, taking one of the cookies for himself.

“I’m gonna pretend you didn’t say that,”

“Right…”

“Your echo is so interesting,” 

Echo?

He’s getting way too distracted from his original goal here, and that's to operate Thanatos. 

“I need to pilot this Advanced Unit,” 

“I thought you’d never ask.” With a snap of his fingers, once again, a contract appears with a pen.

“Usually I don’t do this, but with you, I’m so… enthralled, as adults sometimes say,” he says, staring at Wolf lovingly.

What does he usually do? Is he not the first person here? 

The starry-eyed boy hands him a pen; it’s a fountain pen yet holds no ink within it. 

“Can I read the contract?”

“Oh yes, we haven’t even discussed the terms of the contract. I can only discuss said terms after you reveal what you want.” 

What does he want?

“I wanna pilot Thanatos.”

Kamille shakes his head. “What your heart desires, not what you want currently?”

Hmmm, what does he want currently? If anything, he wants a normal life, and a normal life for him… It could only be achieved through ending the Celes War.

“I wanna end the war,”

“My, how noble.”

“Just get on with it; I don’t have much time.”

“When you sign this contract. You’ll be engaged to me, Marcas; you’ll be my fiancé, and when the war is over, I’ll reap what I sow inside you.”

Sure, marrying a phantom doesn’t seem that bad; they can just get a divorce afterwards.

He sees there’s no ink to dip the pen in.

“Use your blood,”

“Wait, I can’t just prick myself with a pen.”

“It’s the only way to make the contract valid,”

“Well, if you say so…”

He presses the fountain pen into the finger of his left hand and pricks himself, red crimson blood oozing out of the wound, filling the pen.

Wolf leans in and signs the contract with his name in cursive.

I hereby will obey the terms of the contract from now and forevermore. Signed, Marcas Wolf Nixon.

With another click of his fingers, the contract disappears.

“So glad to meet you, darling!”

.

.

.

“Farmboy, wake up!” Caoimhe exclaims through the comms.

“Yes, I’m awake…” He replies, looking at his finger where a small cut could be seen, still fresh.

“Have you activated the robot yet? The Nekos have already activated the catapult launch for you, and the hangar door is opening now.”

Activated the robot; yeah, he was in the middle of doing that.

“Red switch that says ignition,” 

That was Kamille’s voice. 

Wolf flicks the switch, and soon the cockpit shows its 360° camera, the hangar in full view now. He places his feet on the gas pedals below him and grips the control sticks, his hands trembling.

He has to do this now; there's no other choice.

“Advanced Unit Thanatos preparing to launch!”