A/N: Long chapter ahead. 2600+ words. I hope you enjoy!

Both Aegis and Saber Teams sprinted through the facility, swatting aside Iron Prophet soldiers who had all become a nuisance in a matter of seconds.

The facility alarm continued to ring, but now, a woman's monotonic voice speared through the chaos.

"All hands to battlestations," was the automatic command. "This is not a drill."

As the voice replayed over the speaker system, both teams made their way toward the operations room. The Iron Prophet had not yet reached that far into the base.

In the room, the large monitors displayed images of the Wobeck ship that hovered in the distance.

Several Beran soldiers and officials stood frozen, their faces stark white. Deiyu stood at the front with the general and the base director. He turned as Maeyune and Reo approached him.

For the longest moment, he appeared stunned from the arrival of the alien ship. His expression then molded to one of concern as he frowned at the blood covering Maeyune's stomach.

"Where have you been?" he inquired when she and Reo reached his side. Then to Maeyune, he asked, "Are you hurt?"

"How many Wobeck ships are there?" she interjected.

"Only one for now over Bera," he answered, and his eyes darkened. "Maeyune, there are two more approaching Suolan."

She felt her stomach turn over.

Gerothen was walking backward, his calm demeanor fighting to hide the terror in his eyes. "We did not see them coming..."

The director's voice trailed off, just as someone's shrill cry rose above all commotion.

"General!" a young woman shrieked. "The Wobeck ship is attacking!"

All eyes turned to the monitors. Small, black dots were seen dispersing from the large alien ship.

"Activate the shields, now!" General Soras snapped.

They all heard a sharp crack echo through the walls of the facility. Soon, a translucent dome descended over the base, its swirls of energy visible on the monitors.

Shortly after, the Wobeck aircrafts fired, and their plasma rays crashed against the shield.

Maeyune took a moment to comprehend the scene in front of her eyes.

The alien aircrafts continued their barrage against the base's shield. It was no illusion. The Wobeck were real, and they had truly returned.

Atop the base's perimeter wall, the anti-aircraft turrets fired. As designed, their short bursts of energy lasers pierced through the shield to return fire. Beran aircrafts departed from the base, and they passed beyond the shield unharmed.

Maeyune watched as elements of wind, water, fire and land erupted in a sea of color, flying out from Beran aircrafts that carried celestials.

And within seconds, the night sky flared from the aerial battle that ensued.

General Soras turned to Maeyune and Reo. "You both need to be out there," he insisted.

Maeyune briefly forgot the battle and the Wobeck. A memory resurfaced, the one with Tin and the arachnid device that had been strapped around Reo's throat. She recalled the individual who had been with Tin in that memory and to whom the scientist had shown the mind-control device.

The general approached her. "I hope you are prepared to execute your training," he said, expression stern.

Maeyune did not answer, only peered into his mind to confirm her suspicion of a betrayal. Was he working with Ristoff and the Iron Prophet?

However, all that she could find dominating his thoughts was a genuine concern for the safety of the facility and its young inhabitants. They were all whom he regarded as unruly and intolerable children.

But they were only just that: children who needed protection.

Confused, and yet mildly relieved, she left his mind. "I am, General," she responded at last.

A wave of shudders sounded across the room. On the monitors, a red light could be seen glowing near the bottom of the large Wobeck ship.

"Can someone tell me what that is?" General Soras demanded.

"Sir, it's a high level of concentrated energy," answered one of the soldiers at his controls panel. His eyes widened. Fear cast its shadow over his face. "I-I think it's going to fire, sir..."

"Will our shields be able to hold?"

"I...No, General..."

Maeyune stepped forward. "Reo and I will reinforce the shield with our energies," she declared, exchanging glances with Reo. "However we can."

General Soras and Deiyu nodded tersely. Maeyune spun on her heels, and both teams sprinted after her back into the halls.

As they neared the hangars, they passed injured soldiers and motionless bodies. The walls were marked with blood and ash from explosions, and makeshift barricades were scattered about.

But by the time they reached the outside, the night sky had turned red from the light underneath the Wobeck ship. Before Maeyune had a chance to accumulate her energy, the ship fired.

Its wide beam was as bright as a red sun. The base's shield stood no chance. It lasted a mere second before the beam ruptured through in a thunderous roar.

A powerful force swept from Reo's direction. It tossed Maeyune and the others into the air, far away from him.

Maeyune somersaulted to land safely on her feet. With wide eyes, she watched as Reo stood in the beam's path. He had transformed into his red armor, his hands tossed forward and his sun energy halting the Wobeck ship's weapon.

"Reo!" she yelled.

His feet slid back as he struggled to stand his ground.

Maeyune's eyes traveled to the flaming sun ring on his finger. The gem flickered violently as Reo fed from its storage. But against the perpetual alien beam, the topaz could not withstand the effort. It shattered, and its excess energy swallowed Reo whole.

It pinned everyone to the ground. Gritting her teeth, Maeyune ascended to god form. She fought against the gravitational weight of his power and managed to rise to her feet.

She could hardly hear Reo's distressed shout over the raging blaze. His energy branched out in swinging limbs, whipping against anything and anyone who had the misfortune of being too close.

Oren, the nearest body to him, received a long laceration across his arm from Reo's excess energy. Oren screamed, clutching at the gruesome, open wound.

A limb of Reo's energy flicked against Maeyune's silver armor, but it slid off like the soft touch of a feather. No longer expecting it to torch her, she carefully passed her body into his blaze and gathered it around herself.

In seconds, his power siphoned into her.

It removed much of his encumbrance. She faced him and saw his red eyes widen when he acknowledged her. With a single twist of her body, she channeled his power back against the alien beam.

And in unison, they cried out as they discharged their combined strength back toward the Wobeck ship, tenfold.

The ship in the distance ruptured into a hysteria of flames.

That was all Maeyune saw before white light swallowed her whole.

She shut her eyes tight, the light threatening to blind her. Then, it vanished as quickly as it had appeared.

Squinting against the pain behind her eyes, she found herself surrounded by shadows. When her vision finally adjusted to the darkness, she was slow to take in her environment.

She stood in the dark glade of a forest. Long blades of grass kissed her ankles. There was no celestial base in sight.

Confused, she spun, taking note of the tall trees that now surrounded her.

What happened?

She found four other figures lying prone on the grass. They slowly rose to their feet, and she saw their faces.

Trix and Aerylis glanced up at the night sky, startled eyes observing the moon that hovered directly above. Beside them, Deric and Jaysek turned in circles, gaping at the forest in which they all stood.

"Wha-" Trix breathed. "What happened? Where are we?"

Deric pointed at Maeyune's feet. "What's that?"

Maeyune glanced down. The ground underneath her began to glow. Her silver armor had also taken to bright light.

She heard a bestial roar from the sky. Everyone cast their eyes upward and caught the shimmer of light that came hurling down from the moon. It was a streak of silver, and before they could determine whether or not they were seeing a dragon, it crashed down into Maeyune.

Pain convulsed deep within her core. She screamed, the sound trapped in her throat. Her head flew back.

A long column of white light speared down from the moon, pouring into her mouth, into her eyes, into her mortal body. It filled the entire width of the forest glade, spreading foot by foot. Jaysek hollered for the others to leap out of the way. The light was as hot as volcanic ash.

A wall of bright green light erupted from the ground, merging with the white and shooting back toward the sky.

Maeyune felt as if her body were restructuring itself, taking apart its pieces and constructing them together again. Her feet left the ground, and her body drifted upward, anchored inside the cylindrical prism of white and green light.

She had visions of an armored Shivra, then a planet and its moon, both silent in the Black void. A splotch of vibrant green spurted from a single point on that planet, and it expanded to coat both planet and moon inside two filmy spheres.

It was an eternity before the light and Maeyune's god form faded.

Her body dove to the ground. But she hardly felt the pain.

She lay there, still and silent. Her unblinking eyes watched as an emerald-colored screen blanketed the sky, moving like oil in water.

Soon, it spread to cover the entire length of the sky, dipping past the horizon.

"What is that?" Jaysek murmured, astounded.

Trix and Aerylis crouched over her. "Mae, are you alright?" Trix asked.

Maeyune finally took a shuddering breath, her chest struggling to cough out air.

She sat up, her eyes falling to the blood on her abdomen. For a long moment, she relived the pain from Reo's sword through her stomach.

First, she had been impaled. And now, the moon had suddenly come alive. She released a groan. "This is undoubtedly the worst day of my life."

She paused and retraced her thoughts.

The moon had come alive.

Brushing off everyone's hands, she rose to her feet. She caught her balance, her eyes steady on the sky. It was fading from its emerald tint and almost disappearing against the evening black. The moon continued to shine its innocent light underneath a hint of green.

"Mae, what happened?" Trix implored.

Maeyune recalled the visions. She did not answer him for a long minute, her mind molding together the pieces of a puzzle.

"It's a shield."

The words were past her lips without her realizing, and she shook her head, unbelieving.

"It's a shield," she repeated. Her voice found strength. "The moon has constructed a shield around itself and the planet."

Deric and Trix made a sound halfway between a snort and a laugh. Jaysek and Aerylis regarded her with sincere concern.

"Since when could the moon do that?" Deric questioned, scratching the tight coils of his black hair. "I don't remember there being a shield twenty years ago."

"First of all, darling, you weren't born yet," Trix retorted. "And second of all, maybe-"

"No one paid it any attention," Maeyune murmured. She took a tentative step forward, eyes on the moon. "That explains why the gods were able to defeat the Wobeck before. The Wobeck were trapped, with no help from any additional forces."

"So why now?" Jaysek queried. "Why now of all times? Why not before the Wobeck ships arrive to keep them from even getting in?"

"I..I'm not sure." Maeyune's eyes fell from the moon to meet Jaysek's. "It only happened when Reo and I...It must have been from the combination of our energies."

Her words brought them back to their current setting.

"Speaking of Reo," Deric muttered, head twisting. "Where are they? Where are we?"

"Don't move!"

The coarse voice startled them. Trix bolted several feet into the air.

A dozen silhouettes charged into the glade, black plasma rifles pointed at the group.

When the white light had finally died, Reo dropped his arms from his eyes. His vision clearing, he saw the Wobeck ship in the distance that smashed into the desert plain miles from the base.

The battle in the sky had ceased. Several Wobeck aircrafts hurtled back toward their fallen mother ship with Beran gunships in pursuit.

Behind him, he heard Clover and several other celestials give raucous exclamations of victory.

"Where's Maeyune?" he heard someone ask. "Where's Trix?"

Meera was spinning in circles, eyes frenetic. "Aer?" she called.

Reo searched, too. Maeyune had been standing in front of him only moments ago.

And where were Jaysek and Deric?

"Trix!" Meera cried.

In the corner of his eye, Reo saw Clover's wide mass charging toward him. "What did you do to them?" the fire celestial bayed.

Meera stepped in front of Clover's path. "Stop it!" she yelled. "You aren't helping!"

The water celestial twirled around to face Reo. "What did you do to them?" she demanded.

Reo held his hands out in surrender. "I didn't do anything," he replied.

His eyes then fell on three figures huddled a short distance away. Sera and a nervous Benny were attempting to calm Oren, whose left forearm had been dealt a deep slash.

The large water celestial was on the brink of tears from Oren's furious swearing. Reo sprinted over and gently touched Benny's shoulder. "Here, let me try."

Benny nodded and stood aside.

"What are you talking about?" Oren seethed. "You're the one who did this to me!"

Reo gave his friend a calculating glower.

Meera came over to his side. "You can't heal," both she and Sera mumbled simultaneous.

"Funny," Clover snarled. "Let's see him try."

Reo ignored all of their interjections and placed his hands over Oren's forearm.

Focus, he thought. That's what Maeyune said.

It took an excruciatingly long time.

Clover threw his hands in the air. "Just let Meera heal the poor bastard already."

Breathe.

Reo took in a breath, and he pushed everyone's voices aside. Eventually, his palms began to glow. Mouths gaping, they all witnessed gold light stitch Oren's wound together.

Reo released a laugh of disbelief, and he caught Oren's reprimanding glare.

"Sorry," Reo muttered, clearing his throat. But he didn't fight the grin that spread across his face.

He couldn't wait to show Maeyune.

"Ohh!" Benny gushed. His voice was alarming. Their gazes followed the stubby finger that he pointed.

Beyond miles of desert plains, they saw the faintest glow in the horizon. A second later, the moon flared into a brief explosion of light.

Gasps echoed around the hangar.

A beam of light rocketed downward from the moon, illuminating the night sky. Upon some unforeseen impact, the ground underneath everyone's feet shook with the slightest vibration.

Reo felt a stir of energy from somewhere inside his body. He stood instantly, his eyes widening.

Maeyune.

Shortly after, a ray of pale green light sprung upward to meet the moon's beam, pushing further up to wrap the moon inside a transparent veil. The combined light then fractured into what appeared to be a thin mushroom cap. Its shape advanced across the sky, and in just seconds, it caressed the tiny mountains in the horizon.

Everyone stared in silence, amazement rendering their bodies stagnant.

Meera finally turned to Reo. Concern gnawed at her expression. "Was that Maeyune?" she asked timorously.

"I think so," he replied, his voice remote.

"What is that?" Clover croaked.

Reo watched the emerald swirls that rollicked in the sky. Their color nearly dissolved from sight.

The answer slipped from his mouth, its origin unknown.

"It's a shield," he murmured.