Brooke

* Current
* Candus

Brooke (Shade) is a special operations officer in the 21st Starry Forest Squad Battalion led by Aaron. She serves as Aaron's second-in-command and acts their main strategist. She dislikes her name due to its origin from a pro-wrestler and sounding overly masculine. After the events of Candus City, she is described as the last sane officer in the 21st Starry Forest Squad due to Aaron and Luke III's thirst for the annihilation of SoulDregs. As a result, she was punished multiple times for prioritizing the safety of the soldiers over the success of the mission. Her actions eventually caused the Gruwell's rebellion and her near-death retrieving Aaron's locket. However, her actions help Aaron realize his mistakes and he begins to return to his former self.

## Background

Brooke's background before the Great Void is unknown; however, she hated her name due to it sounding boyish or wrestler-like and blamed her parents for it. After the appearance of the Great Void, she became an orphan and eventually met Aaron who supported her. Catherine treated Brooke as an older sister during their time together and knew about Brooke's habits, while she on the other hand always thought highly of Aaron as both his precious teacher and like a father to her after being in his care. She eventually joined the Starry Forest League and enrolled the military academy at the age of 20 where Senia was an instructor. She became Senia's best pupil and was assigned to Aaron's battalion in order to help improve her skills.

Despite her abilities, Candus City ends up being overrun by SoulDregs and the Starry Forest Squad was pushed back until the SoulWorker arrived. She heavily mistrusts NED Company and prefers the Vacuum Fanatics over them. Due to a suspicion with NED Company movements in the sewers, Brooke insists that the SoulWorker should investigate sewers to find any wrongdoing regarding NED Company. Brooke's suspicion was correct and the Starry Forest Squad found multiple counts of human experiments with SoulDregs. She goes out of her way to specifically give the Pike sample to Luke III where Lilly discovers that Brooke is actually in love with Luke III instead of Wilba in a prior conversation in the Granite Ridge operation. She attempts to deny it but Catherine comes by and questions Brooke of her prior conversation. Brooke attempts to change the subject but Catherine states that she is making the same face whenever she is attempting to hide something.

When Catherine went missing, she panics and assumed all hope is lost and is unable to come up with a scenario where Catherine is safe. This was later proved wrong as the SoulWorker was able to successfully rescue Catherine. Due to NED Company possessing knowledge about the enhanced Pike, she attempts to negotiate with Henryk for a cure. Her negotiation skills were lacking and she reveals all of the information that the Starry Forest Squad possessed at the time and offered to erase all evidence of his wrongdoing. In the Grace City arc, Senia later criticizes her for this and calls her incompetent for easily trusting Henryk. After Catherine's death, Brooke mourns for Catherine alongside Aaron and Luke III.

She is encountered again by the SoulWorker when they ask for support for the Firestream Battalion assault in Grace City. Brooke states that she would like to help but is unlikely able to due to Luke III and Aaron's insane drive for revenge. Later in the advancement quest stories, Brooke is seen attempting to prioritize safety over results and was scolded by Aaron multiple times for it.

In the Dipluce Horizon introduction, Luke III is annoyed with Brooke's interference and states that it would better to kill her first in order to advance with their goals. In the SoulDreg Queen operation, she was in charge of managing the supply routes in order to build the transporter and suggests that the Squad should take the Dipluce Horizon rooftops to reach the ocean. Throughout the operation, Aaron demands the soldiers accept suicidal missions and Brooke tries to get Aaron to reconsider but fails. This eventually causes Aaron to execute a dissenter and Brooke hides one of the dissenters. However, Gruwell and other members of Starry Forest Squad were tired of their treatment and flee to Unseelie Island. She attempts to get Aaron to ignore the dissenters, but Aaron, realizing that his locket was stolen orders the current members to eliminate the traitors. She sneaks onto the island to negotiate peace talks with the dissenters but ultimately fails when Edgar sends his forces to attack the island. Brooke then makes an attempt to retrieve the locket and almost get killed in the process. However, her actions cause Aaron to see his mistakes and he began to return to his former self.

As the Starry Forest Squad returned to resume work on the transporter, they were attacked by Vessi from Nihil's Throne. The SoulWorker managed to capture Arua who was supposedly the leader of one of the platoons. Thanks to the information from Arua, Brooke states that the mission will be able to progress quickly and Arua is named an honorary member of the Starry Forest League due to how easily she gave information.

1. ↑ GF leftover translation