Chapter 2 - Alive But Forgotten

Once Raphael fully recovered, the first thing he did was search upon the retrieved corpses of their allies. He spent hours checking each female body hoping to find Claire. When he was left with the last female corpse, he was stunned that he couldn't find her anywhere.

"This can't be... wait..." he suddenly realized that she might have been at the general medic ward, or maybe her corpse was left behind on the battlefield. He still can't be sure of his conclusions so he checks on the medic ward and kept searching.

Fortunately, he found her after asking a few people around. "May I know what is your relationship with Ms. Claire?" Asked the doctor.

"She's umm... my friend. How is she doc?"

"A friend huh, she's still unconscious because she loss quite a lot of blood. There's also a few recoverable injuries on her. But I can guarantee she'll wake up sooner or later." He felt so relieved hearing that from the doctor.

Raphael visited to check up on her condition and found her still unconsciously lying on her bed. He takes her hand and fell on his knees. "Thank goodness, Claire... I-I wouldn't know what to do if you were gone..."

All the anxiety and panic in him faded. He fell asleep on his knees while holding her hand. Later on he wakes up when he felt her hand was taken away from him. "R-Claire?... are you finally awake?" He smiled as he saw her sitting upright, looking at him. She seems healthy, he gladly thought.

"Really, thank goodness I found you... I thought I loss you on the battlefield earlier—" when Raphael was about to embrace Claire, she stops him and gave him a bewildered look.

"Wait..."

"Ahh... I'm sorry. D-Do you..." he realized that it was too sudden for him to act all soft on her when he have been pushing her away all this time before. "I see, you hate me... don't you?" He was hurt to ask Claire that question.

It was going to hurt more if she was to confirm his assumption, though things turned out way more worst than that. "...no, I don't hate you..." she answered.

His eyes lit up for a second, only to have his hopes shattered by her following statement. "...I'm really sorry but, who are you?"

Raphael froze in place.

Amnesia.

Was that it? Did she lose her memories from the impact of the explosion? He was prepared to be hated by her, but he was never prepared to be forgotten. "Claire, I'm—"

"Ah, it hurts!" She winced and held onto her left temple.

"R-Claire!! Wait, I'll call a doctor over!" Raphael rushed to call a doctor for Claire, but when he came back with the doctor, they found Claire ripping out a glass shard out of her temple. "M-Ms. Claire!! That was dangerous! We must perform a surgery to take that out!"

Strangely, she was unaffected despite bleeding from her head. "No worries, I think I'm fine now. You can get rid of this for me." She gave the glass shard to Raphael and got back to bed.

The doctor then recommended for Claire to keep resting. As Raphael and the doctor left her alone, Raphael voiced out his concern. "Doc, she didn't recognize me... it's like she has amnesia." He said.

Though this didn't disturb the doctor. "I see. Most of the soldiers that came back from the battlefield suffered the same condition as Ms. Claire. Most likely the cause of brain trauma or injury, but I must say that Ms. Claire is lucky to still have proper language function."

"So this kind of thing is not much of a new occurrence, huh."

"Yes, and they likely end up quitting because they're not as capable doing their work like they used to."

"Is it curable?" Raphael hoped that there's still a way for Claire to remember him, but the doctor only gave him a rather disappointing answer. "Yes, but it takes time for the patient to remember what they need to. And knowing the situation of our world, most of the medical professionals are focused on the constant assistance on the recovery of soldiers coming back and forth from the battlefield."

"I see..." he sighs and gives up. Though he can see the light to this situation. Now that Claire have forgotten about him, maybe she can finally quit her dangerous job and live a quiet life in the city. And maybe even start a family of her own and be happy. That way he won't be worrying about her endangering her life anymore.

Claire's happiness and safety is all that Raphael wishes for.

He never came back after that, though he often seeks the same doctor to ask about Claire. And he was glad to be informed that she finally retired and moved to the city.

But things doesn't end there for Raphael, he still needs to rehabilitate his body and train it back to shape so he can return to the battlefield and fight for the faction he belongs to. "How are you doing, Raph?" Asked Julia.

They were currently in the training center because they were incharge of conditioning the bodies of newly recruited soldiers. "I'm fine." It was a close-ended tone of a response, stopping Julia from asking more questions. He never had any intention of getting close nor acquainted with anybody, he shows that he's strictly only here to do his job and get it done as the higher ups wanted. For that reason is why Raphael is the #1 ranked soldier.

Julia sighs with her failed attempt in getting close to him. She also felt left out when he took over on leading the training.

Devian dropped by in the training center and found Julia watching Raphael do their job. "So the bastard's pretty much back in shape, should I ask him to spar with me later?" He jokingly said.

"Oh quit it Dev, you know he's still not in that kind of condition to do that." She said.

"Hmph, maybe I'll wait a few more days before I ask him to spar. I swear I'll steal that #1 position if I win against him!"

Julia chuckled. "You never give up, huh."

Then Devian suddenly remembers something he had to tell Julia. "Ah right! I almost forgot but, have you heard about one of the recent applicant?"

Julia shakes her head.

"It's crazy, I tell you! That person just retired from the military a week ago and decided to return. She quits from the 2nd armored brigade to join the special infantry troops." The news shocked Julia.

"Eh!? She wants to join us!?" Everyone who have heard of this rumor have atleast thought of a reason why this person wants to be a part of the Special Infantry Troop in the military. Was it to become more stronger? To become popular? Or is she just plain crazy?

Just why does this person wants to be a part of the most dangerous group in the military of Earth Defense Alliance!?