[b][i]Akira Ayumu[/i][/b]

Akira had, by grace of the Planet, managed to avoid the Sweepers’ shots with what seemed to be unnatural skill to observers. However, as he made it back to the Fort, he cast a Cure on himself anyway just in case he was injured. In any case, the young man looked at the retreating enemy, then at Jessie and the mercs, asking, “So, we’ve won, right?”

It was important that this was a conclusive victory. If it wasn’t, if the massive casualties weighed more on the mercenaries’ heads than the fact that they had succeeded against impossible odds, then there was a chance they’d leave permanently and that no new ‘muscle’ can be recruited. If that was the case, then the loss of the Fort would have only been postponed.

If the latter was the case, then what he had done was for nothing and his ‘safe refuge’ here would fade away with the next attack, or even before. And that’s not even accounting for where the haywire Sweeper had gone to. Either way, much depended on what Jessie and the mercenaries’ reaction were to his victory - If it was joy, he was safe. If it was fear and defeatism, then he was most definitely not safe and should wait for Kanade to arrive so they can find a safe place in order to plot against Shinra.

Which reminded Akira: Shinra developed the Sweepers in the first place. What hope can a small band of individuals, even with Materia and skills, do against such a behemoth?

Then the boy’s stomach rumbled, and it was clear that he needed to eat. Akira wasn’t immune to the demands of combat and stress, and he asked again, whether there was cheering or despair, “Mind if I go to the cafeteria? I need to eat.”

And so, after one second more of waiting for people’s reactions or absorbing them if they had already happened, Akira Ayumu went to go have a late lunch of meat and porridge. The deaths which had happened did weigh heavily on his mind, and it was going to take all his will to not have nightmares about it in the future. He was no stranger to loss, but right now, this was too much for a fourteen-year old boy to take. 

[i]Don’t angst unnecessarily,[/i] he thought to himself, but quite frankly, he felt alone in the world and there was considerable proof that he was.