“You are seriously not considering taking this on yourself?”

“Who else?” Alicia replied. “It's my job. I kill Ancients. It's what I do.”

“I've been to Berlin,” Jackson said. “The bastards over there aren't your garden variety.” he added loudly. “Here, they want to enslave our race and allow us the chance to do their dirty work. But there, they harvest Humans for food...that's it!”

“Calm down and sit.” she replied.

“Like cattle Alicia, I've seen it firsthand! How could possibly even consider walking into that?” Jackson asked.

“What would you have me do then?” she replied, her tone raising a bit as well.

“Put their ass on an airship and wish them well come first light, hell, tonight even, if that's their wish!” Jackson said.

“I would be wishing them into suicide, you of all people know that! The night skies are controlled by Ancient warships!” she replied heavily.

“But preacher doesn't hold my heart in his hands,” Jackson replied. “You do. And I can't live without you.” he added, lowering his voice as he sat back down beside her. “I cannot lose you like I've lost everything else in my life. Everything that has mattered.”

Alicia turned her head away, lights bursting above them as distant explosions could be heard through the instant-quiet of their conversation.

“You don't feel the same for me?” he asked.

“Of course I do!” Alicia answered loudly, turning back to him. “It's taking everything inside of me to fight the feelings I have.”

“Why fight them?” Jackson asked.

“Because I've lost as well,” she replied with tears. “Everyone I have ever cared for is gone,” she added. “If I allow myself to get close to you, and then lose you...”

“That's not going to happen,” Jackson replied with sincerity, quickly changing to a smile. “The losing me part, I mean.”

Alicia's tears mixed with laughter as she slapped his arm, cursing his quick wit.

And for a moment, there was emotional buildup between the two, almost as if one of the satellites above were charging, preparing for a near-magical burst.

Alicia and Jackson remained close, each staring to the other in search of what the future might hold. Each scared, the thought of losing the other simply unbearable. A fear that instantly left as they kissed deeply, their bodies under a shroud provided by his flight jacket, which seemed to glow as the colorful bursts above exploded.

As the lovers engaged one another, both loving arms and tender lips, a soldier for the Resistance exited the building behind them.

“Alicia,” the soldier shouted, approaching with haste as he came to the steps of the former monument which now served as the building for their strategic high command. “Alicia, they are asking for you. It's urgent!” the soldier yelled.

 

What could possibly be more urgent than the man I love. She thought as her arms slowly broke away from Jackson, taking advantage of every possible second.

“Tell them I will be inside directly.” she replied, turning to Jackson as the soldier returned indoors.

“Don't leave.” Alicia said, her lips close to Jackson's very own.

“Not a chance.” he replied, kissing her softly a final time.

As she stood to her feet slowly, her eyes never breaking from his, they both smiled as if it were an unspoken promise to each other. A statement of becoming an official couple.

“Any chance I could get my jacket back?” Jackson asked, the chill of night hitting him suddenly.

Turning to the man who waited for her return, Alicia smiled wide. “You're such a whiner.”

“Wait, is that a no?” he asked as the beautiful specimen of woman turned to enter the building, laughing aloud with every step.

 

“Our scouts have confirmed it!” a Resistance official said loudly.

“Confirmed what?” Alicia replied, entering what the high-ranking officials had begun to call the War Room. It was a large room, maps lining three of its four walls, and it was the place that their military efforts originated from. Currently occupied by just over a dozen souls.

“The scouts you dispatched with a radio have returned.” the man replied.

“Returned? They were to monitor the battle in Berlin!” Alicia responded with anger.

“Berlin has fallen,” the man said with regret. “The last radio confirmation we received said the surviving soldiers fell back to a town called Wernigerode. They will regroup and make a push back into Berlin.”

“Oh God,” Alicia said, her voice meshing with tears. “I will escort a group of our finest at daybreak. Accompany Preacher and his soldiers back to their new home to aid them in winning Berlin back.”

“You will do no such thing,” one of the higher ranking officials replied sharply. He was one of the few remaining Congressmen, and though he had no military power to speak of, Ryan Evans was still highly respected by those who carried weaponry. “We cannot afford the manpower or supplies, you know that.”

“I know that if the circumstances were switched, Berlin would already be on their way to assist us.” Alicia replied.

“There is nothing to debate, the decision has been made.” Evans replied.

For a man who carried no weapon, he certainly had the support of many. His influence; his political knowledge, easily helping him become such an important figure in Washington City.

“Good to know that even though the end of time approaches, politics remain.” Alicia said with sarcasm as she turned to the exit.

Ryan Evans had plenty of supporters here, but so did Alicia Lucard.