A/N: And here's chapter 3. Enjoy.

Shion village barred anyone from entering with two massive wooden gates leading into equally impressive ten-foot high walls. It couldn't withstand a missile barrage but from the looks of nature and the strange weapons and creatures missile barrages didn't seem to be a worry. The pair walked through the slightly opened gates as her companion nodded towards a man on the other side. A nod in return to him and complete disregard for her presence put him back to close the gate. She could point out several flaws in such simple security ranging from assassins to sleeper agents infiltrating all the easier. Frank, her ally's name, spooked her with a hand on her shoulder.

"Hey, easy there. I expect most of this is new and you're probably still on edge from earlier huh?" A single nod, best to let him jump to his own conclusions for now. Her finger tapped against the leg armor of her suit rhythmically hoping he wouldn't notice. Metal alloy tapping against itself made noise enough to be noticed because his eyes flicked toward her hand. "Still jittery? No worries, it happens to us all at some point. We have plenty of options to unwind. Shoring up defenses, sparring, smithing, whatever takes your fancy."

Frank pointed to a nearby building that was very simple yet efficient in design. Only one window faced outward with metal bars covering it and a half-wall built around the perimeter. "That's the militia's building. The defense of the village, scouting missions, patrols, all of that and more go through there. I know you can handle yourself so if you need something to do outside the walls that's where to look."

The tour around the village continued, Frank showing Carolina where the blacksmith was, various markets for everyday items from clothes to food and any items traders brought their way. Finally, the walk around ended in front of a simple log cabin that seemed to have sprung up recently near the wall. "This is yours, it's part of an addition to the village to accommodate travelers so it should suffice. If there is anything you need just ask around, the people here are friendly enough." With a wave, the tanned man departed. She mentally punched herself for not paying more attention to detail and couldn't pick his face out of a crowd now if she wanted to.

Opening the door to her 'home', she was greeted with what she assumed were basic amenities for travelers. A two-seater couch, table, stocked kitchen, minimal bathroom, it was a home for a traveler. Her eyes scanned the room memorizing the placement of the furniture, where the shadows cast, potential blind spots. Satisfied she closed the door to the house and made her way towards another closed door. Her armored hand reached out where her eyes took note of a scratch from the battle.

The door swung open silently affirming her suspicion that the house was recent. There was one window shedding light onto a well-made bed that looked fit for a couple. The thought brought forth a brief flash of blonde hair and blue eyes and had heat quickly creeping up her neck as she buried her face in her hands.

"Carolina, what's wrong?! Your heart rate suddenly picked up and-"

"I'm fine Church!" One of the many functions of her trusty A.I. was medical scanning. Handy in a fight to let Carolina know is she was pushing herself too far or the adrenaline was masking the pain. The drawback was Church was privy to her body at any time such as when she was aroused. "Church, I'm fine just drop it." The few moments of silence was Carolina's cue to proceed taking her armor off.

"If it happens again I'm going to shoot myself for once." Carolina sighed reaching down to grab her helmet, her fingers reaching for the A.I. chip while ignoring the pleas of the electronic voice she yanked the chip putting in a safe place. The lack of his voice was like a dip in a hot tub after a firefight.

"Damn bitch can't take a joke, she knows getting yanked like that hurts like hell!"Church crossed his legs in the void that was his world. With nothing better to do, he began reflecting on the past few days. Files on the previous day's fight against the beasts, along with the strange happenings that he needed to talk to Carolina about. But any other files were corrupted. He tried reaching farther back in the hopes that something could point at what had caused them to be where they were. Any files were deleted, omitted, altered, or just didn't exist in the first place!

"Ok seriously, how the fuck did that happen? Seriously, how did I not notice I had corrupted files until just now?" Before any sense could be made a rush of colors along with a sense of reality came rushing to smack Church in the metaphorical face. Bland buildings, a gently flowing river along with vibrant colors in the many vendors lined the street. His gaze turned up to see Carolina staring at the selection of flowers. He made to ask a question, except that she was asking one of her own.

"These are beautiful!" He knew for a fact she was allergic to them.

"You have a good eye! Beautiful flowers for a beautiful lady?" Church gagged at the half-assed attempt as Carolina nearly swooned at his words. She was better than this! Her hand shot behind her back toward a pouch that held various supplies. Church started an internal debate whether to scream or shut himself down. Her fingers fumbled around but the lack of jiggle gave Church a smug grin.

"Haha, I'm looking for now. I can't imagine leaving Shion without an armful, they're beautiful." Some other pleasantries were exchanged with promises. Carolina began walking away with one hand falling to her side. Church didn't miss the hefty sigh that blew between her lips making him reach a sympathetic hand out towards his partner before he could stop it. 'What can I do to comfort her? My brilliant advice would be get back on mission or some other shit. Man I really am bad at this.'

Church's mental crisis went unnoticed by the red-headed warrior as her feet carried her to their destination automatically. Carolina was doing the mental gymnastics of figuring out how to get an armful of those flowers. They were so pretty and smelled wonderful! Sadly without any of the local money and no income purchasing anything seemed like a pipedream.

She barely noticed a break in the crowd but the changing of her visor color caught her eye. A small smirk played across her lips at the thought of her trusty A.I. being lonely enough to use that old trick to get her attention. Noticing that her destination was a bit off she pulled her helmet on but made sure to open the filters to normal air. No use in battle but for something quick? She'd be fine.

"What's up Church?" She couldn't hide the amusement from her voice at the annoyed flash of emotion before he spoke.

"Hey church, sorry for pulling you when I was acting like a little schoolgirl with a crush. By the way, we're doing XYZ because of this. Oh! Thanks Carolina, that's very helpful information and you totally didn't ignore me to fawn over some flowers." She could feel him tapping his foot waiting on her response. Which was another blush and much stumbling over words.

"I'm sorry!" Her cheeks were so red that her hair looked pale by comparison. "A-anyways, We're just making some rounds and I decided to check out the local people. They're really friendly and welcoming even if I look strange to them."

"Yeah, about that. What's up with you?!" Carolina clenched her fists fighting the urge to defend her actions as nice and caring when she knew exactly where he was coming from. "First the….incident that won't be mentioned because I like not getting pulled. And now this thing with the flower guy? You just seem... off. Carolina, is everything ok?" Stopping and leaning her back against the side of a building she lazily kicked a rock with her armored foot.

"I'm fine Church. Thank you for the concern though." Gathering her thoughts proved a mistake as Church seemed to have the list of complaints at the ready today.

"You've been acting like a schoolgirl ever since we landed. Getting flustered for no reason, giggling, actually giggling at the flower guy! See! You're doing it right now!" True to his words Carolina's face was burning hot as she crossed her arms and dug the toe of her boot into the dirt.

"What's your point Church?"

"My point is I'm concerned. You're still Carolina, no doubt about that, but there have been strange things going on. Before you get on my case it's not just your emotions." Her hand was dangerously close to the chip intent on pulling him evident. "During the fight in the forest. Did you notice anything weird?" Puzzled by the question she shook her head and kicked off the wall lightly making her way towards the last shop. "Ok don't answer me then. Where are we going?" 'I'll ask again when she's clearly in a better mood, sheesh.' Sometimes the soldier wondered how she put up with his disrespect until she thought back to the numerous times he had saved her at the last second. It brought a small smile to her lips. "Ok that's enough! You're getting all hot under the collar again and that scares me more than the Meta did!"

A teal armor covered hand pushed open the door releasing the built-up heat from inside the closed shop to the fresh air for the brief moment it took to cross the threshold. The protests from her partner went ignored as she reached up and took off her helmet presenting a warm smile. A well-built man glanced over his shoulder before striking a piece of metal and setting the hammer down. Carolina didn't know the details of smithing such as what the tools were called but she knew enough to wait until greeted or get burned. The large man turned with an equally bright smile waving his arms out wide.

"I thought I told you to let me know when you were dropping by! The place is such a mess, completely unbefitting for such a delicate woman!" Church was afraid Carolina would turn into a blushing mess at the words, instead her eyes took on a gleam like she was presented with a challenge.

"If I'm too delicate for this place then how are you surviving? I'm afraid you'll chip a nail!" With the exchange done they clapped their hands together in a bone-crushing handshake. The smith had to relent first though he claimed it was because he had work to get back to. He disappeared behind a wall and something crashed rather loudly. The cursing for the man prompted Carolina to burst into a fit of giggles which only scared poor Church.

The smith came back around with two brightly polished metal containers. Again with the smiling as Carolina quickly rushed forward and inspected the handiwork. Her face shone clearly in the slightly reflective surface causing her smile to falter a bit before she stood up.

"Anything wrong with the work Missy?"

"Oh no, no I just forgot to brush my hair and it looks a mess!" Another exchange of laughs and the pair were on their way. The trip was short back to the house that Carolina was quickly becoming accustomed to. Opening the door and locking it once she was through. Church took the opportunity to bug his partner more.

"Hey C, care to explain how you couldn't buy flowers but managed to walk out of the smith with freshly repaired tanks without paying a dime?" She winced hoping he wouldn't notice.

"Well, apparently I did really well in the fight and impressed Frank so he offered to cover the expenses an- " A knock on the door halted the conversation as a note slipped under the frame. Picking it up emerald eyes scanned the words and picked her helmet up. "New mission, we just got sent out on a patrol. Gotta pay off these new tanks somehow." Church rolled his eyes...or mimicked it but couldn't help feeling slightly relieved to be done with the boring crap.

A/N: And there we go.

You know, Carolina is acting a little... un-Carolina like, isn't she? Curious.

Thank you for reading, have a great day :)