<i>"I shouldn't do this," Soluk muttered, holding her right hand, out paw pads up. The only answer was the howling wind, an incoming tank engine, and then suddenly the explosion of an artillery shell overhead.

"Magustina!" Kernhoff yelled from atop his tank. The human looked a little ridiculous inside of the massive weapon--it dwarfed him many times over. Still, Soluk knew she could destroy it easily if she wanted. "Magustina! They're over the ridge, about four kilometers east. Night's falling!"

When the Chimera finally looked up, she didn't see Markus Kernhoff's bright blue eyes staring at her in worry. Instead, she saw Nicca Kernhoff's eyes--the same color as her father's--looking back. "You're gonna protect my da, right?" the four year old had asked, biting her lip. And Soluk had instead of brushing off the child, sat on the floor and held her tiny hands in her's.

"I'm going to do everything I can," the Magus said gravely. "I promise."

Shaking her head in the snow covered forest, Soluk snapped back to the here and now and pointed North. "The trees are thicker there. The other Unter-Magi are coming. Pull the tanks and heavy artillery there and wait," she barked.

Kernhoff frowned, pausing for a moment before saying, "Sol...Sol please don't bring it out. There has got to be another way." The Chimera closed her eyes, huffing, the cold air puffing in front of her muzzle.

"What would you do if you were me, Markus?" Soluk said softly. She rarely used his first name and she knew it would have the effect she needed it too. "Could you stand there and watch? Could you watch the people under your command die while knowing that you could stop it?"

Silence was the answer and Soluk opened her eyes to see the twenty five year old with his head down, slamming the tank with his fists. "Damn it all, no! No, we need you! There's no one else--" he started when a snarl from her cut him off. Her red eyes flared and the wind blew harder, whipping her mane about her head.

"Then what in the hell have I been training you--ALL of you for?" the Chimera bellowed. Kernhoff couldn't suppress the flinch; no one saw Soluk angry unless they had caused it and usually it was the last thing they saw. Another explosion rung out, the pine trees above them shaking until snow fell to the ground.

Soluk saw she might have been angrier than she intended but what could she do? 'I don't want his last memory of me to be angry,' she lamented and walked closer to the tank, taking Kernhoff's hand between her's much like she had done his daughter. "I have done what I can. For you all to die here would be a greater loss for the UA than just me," Soluk pleaded. "Think of Nicca. Her hiding her socks in your's. Her bedtime stories. Her laugh when you pretend to be a bull and chase her around. Her fear on her face every time we leave for the front. Think of her. I do. I am. Please, Markus."

Not answering Soluk's small speech, the human swung down from the tank and crushed her in a hug. This was the Chimera that he derided all those years ago as "Flicker Bear", the one that saved him from the avalanche of Novabosk, the one that tended to her unit's wounds before any debriefing, the one that sat with all their children to tell them bed time stories. Kernhoff buried his face into her stomach, a sob making it past his lips and Soluk blinked in surprise before hugging him back gently, patting him on the head. "Now, now. I'm not going to go kill myself on purpose. I want to come back. After all, you owe me a game of Rummy, remember?" she chuckled, letting him go. "Come now, no crying. It'll freeze your eyes shut and you won't be able to drive."

Blinking, the tank captain sniffed, nodding. He didn't have any words at first before snapping into a salute. "Be safe and great victory upon you, Oberst Soluk, Ignis Magumtina of the 208th Division," Kernhoff said firmly, forcing his voice to not waver.

Soluk smiled, saluting back just as sharply. "And you, Oberst Markus Kernhoff, Officer of the 208th Division," she replied, watching him climb into the tank. With one last look, he grabbed the radio and spun the tank around--screaming into the forest. "Live, Oberst Markus Kernhoff...my friend."

In doing this, Soluk did expect to die. The Gauntlet might kill her as she pulled in more Gravitons than it would allow. 'That was the feature, after all,' she thought grimly before concentrating. The lights on her Restriction Gauntlet glowed, fighting the fact that Soluk was attempting to summon more than her allotted twenty percent of power. Still, she sunk her feet into the almost frozen forest floor, claws piercing the undergrowth. Pain shot through Soluk's nine arm ports, then her chest, attempting to stop her and causing every breath to come more weakly than the last. "I promised...I promised, goddamnit!" she roared, kneeling in agony. "I'm not--unless...unless..."

With a cry of determination, her Gauntlet sliced her right hand across the palm before she realized it. This was wrong. The Dragur wasn't meant for this. Soluk had never summoned it...her...this way. Once she did this, she might not come back to her senses. Blood only fed the energy coming from The Brain, multiplying it by an unknown factor that usually destroyed everything near by.

The dry leaves ignited under the Chimera as she sacrificed her blood, consigned it to the flames and the In-Between in a pact that had unknown consequences.

The last thing Soluk remembered before the sickening crunch of her skeleton contorting and the agony that came with it drowned out every thought:

"I kept my promise."</i>