The Next Evening

“Kaoné, Rebehka, Colonel. I see y’all made it back in one piece.”

“I suppose you could say that,” Saito remarked as he stepped up to Davídrius, with Kaoné and Rebehka in tow. Dim evening twilight softly illuminated Compound Tresnon’s airport, as well as Pallan’s airship, which had just landed; everyone was now disembarking, with Davídrius, Karísah, and Minilas standing by to greet those returning. Karísah and Minilas had already rushed ahead, leaving Davídrius behind to speak with Saito and the other Deans.

“You’re still on a crutch?” Rebehka questioned, gesturing at the makeshift pole that Davídrius was leaning on — as well as his heavily bandaged leg. “We have ways of fixing that, you know.”

Davídrius shook his head. “No. I’ll let it heal natural. The scar’ll be a reminder to not get careless in fights. Speakin’ of…” His gaze briefly flicked to Pallan’s airship before returning to the three in front of him. “…Seems like shit hit the fan. What the hell happened?”

“We found some old Aldredian tech, just like the Archoné said,” Saito replied. “And sure enough, there was a cure machine.”

“But, to make a long story short: we were followed,” Rebehka said, her arms crossed. “By the Chaos Knights. And the Bleeders followed them.”

“The Bleeders?!” Davídrius echoed incredulously. “Followed the Knights? To the Fog Islands?! Why? How?!”

“They were on a Nimalian ship — probably the SFC’s. But the one in charge sounded like she was doing it as some sort of revenge against you.”

“’She’?” Davídrius’s expression darkened. “…Are you talkin’ about Feral?”

Rebehka nodded grimly. “I believe so.”

“Shit. I bet she said some shit about tryin’ to kill my students to get to me, didn’t she?” Davídrius retorted, only to suddenly look back to the airship. Among those disembarking were all eight Keys, the rest of CSF-1 — including Luke, leaning on Austin — and Obra… but no one else. Noting this, Davídrius snapped his attention back to Kaoné and Rebehka. “…Did she…?”

Rebehka nodded again. “…Liask Rakos is dead, to the infection. All because of the Bleeders’ and the Knights’ intervention.”

“I’m sorry, Davídrius,” Kaoné added softly.

Davídrius responded with silence, his expression unreadable. Eventually, he held a hand to his forehead as he released a frustrated sigh. “Fuck… damn it all. Damn the Bleeders — and the SFC, and Rokres, too! Fuck, as if attackin’ Tresnon wasn’t enough, they even had to drag the dirt-damned infection into this? Fuckin’ hell…”

“They’re a quite careless and vengeful lot, the Bleeders,” Saito mused. “And I got a similar impression from the Chaos Knights. Everyone was running on their emotions, it seemed like.”

“I… can’t deny that…” Rebehka admitted.

“At least tell me that you fuckin’ killed Feral, or somethin’,” Davídrius insisted.

“I… can’t do that,” Rebehka replied. “Although, Pierce did go Berserk when she destroyed the cure machine, and it looked like he mauled her pretty well. She disappeared immediately afterward, so I couldn’t see just how badly she was injured… but I doubt she’ll be in any fights anytime soon.”

“Well… least it’s somethin’,” Davídrius remarked. “That means Strén and Feral both are too injured to fight, for now. And without the SFC… hopefully, the Bleeders ain’t a real threat, anymore.”

“I understand that the Archoné and Dean Yumach are dealing with the SFC,” Saito said. “But what about this Rokres? It’s my understanding that they’re a nation on the peninsula in south Treséd. Are you at war with them?”

“We damn well should be; they attacked us,” Davídrius retorted, only to sigh. “…But I dunno what the hell to do with ‘em. Tresnon can’t afford to go attack ‘em — we have a Defense Force, not an army. What would we even get out of an attack, anyways, aside from revenge? Sure, we needa show Rokres that they can’t just attack us, and we needa stop ‘em from tryin’ to attack us again in the future. But as for how… well, haven’t figured that out, yet. We’re still recoverin’ from the attack, after all.”

“You do have the Black Suns with you,” Rebehka suggested. “Maybe they could help.”

“Bah.” Davídrius scoffed. “And leave Tresnon undefended? Sounds like a bad idea. Not to mention, sendin’ outsiders to attack Rokres for us will only convince ‘em that they were right all along. This is an issue that Tresnon needs to deal with, itself.”

“I’m sure you could come to an understanding with Rokres, if you just talked to them,” Kaoné suggested.

“I doubt that. Rokres attacked us due entirely to bad assumptions on their part, and when I tried to correct ‘em, they doubled down, just because they’re too arrogant to accept that the Bleeders pulled one over ‘em.” Davídrius shook his head in disbelief. “Hell, Rokres would rather team up with the dirt-damned Bleeders than admit that they were fooled. You can’t reason with that!”

“You can’t reason someone out of a position that they didn’t reason themselves into, in the first place,” Saito pointed out.

“Yeah, somethin’ like that,” Davídrius said. “Plus, those fuckers actually sicced the infection onto Tresnon. We can’t just look past that. …But that’s my problem, not y’all’s. Or, well… I guess it’s your problem, Colonel, in a roundabout way.”

“I wish I could do more to help,” Saito replied, “but CSF-1 and the Eximius Vir are going to have to return to Earth, soon. And we need to take Travis with us.”

“I wanted to ask about that, actually… wasn’t he infected? He looks fine, now, mostly. But you said the cure machine was destroyed…”

“I cured him,” Kaoné declared. “Due to the circumstances, I wasn’t able to save his arm… but the rest of his body is fine.”

“Huh.” Davídrius looked down at Kaoné in amazement. “So you finally figured it out, huh? How to cure people.”

“It’s still a very difficult procedure, to be clear,” Kaoné said. “…But, yes. That’s perhaps the one silver lining to come out of all of this.” She then turned to face Saito. “But I do apologize for not being able to save Luke’s arm. If it’s any condolence, if he returns to Nimalia, then I can get him set up with a prosthetic arm. A high-functioning, cybernetic prosthetic, like what Gavon has.”

“Hmm… it’s an intriguing offer, to be sure…” Saito mused.

“I’m sure the Black Suns would be more than willin’ to help, too,” Davídrius remarked. “I’m sure they’ve got arms to spare.”

“It’s still not a straightforward process, though,” Rebehka pointed out. “It’s one thing to willingly replace your arm with a prosthetic, it’s another to lose your arm through an accident and then replace it. It can be tough, psychologically.”

“Gotta be better than not havin’ an arm.”

“Either way, I’d be more than willing to help,” Kaoné said, looking back to Saito. “I’m the reason that Luke is saddled with this problem, now, after all.”

“You’re also the reason that he’s alive, in the first place,” Saito stated. “You don’t have to go this far, Dean — you’ve already been an immense help. Still, I’ll run your offer past the Captain, and see what he thinks.”

“And like I’ve said before, Colonel,” Davídrius remarked, “your lot’s always welcome in Tresnon, even if it’s just to take Kaoné up on that prosthetic.”

“I’m glad to hear it. But regardless of if we accept the offer, we need to return to Earth, soon. There’s some matters of our own that we need to sort out, and we really should bring Travis by some Earth doctors to make sure he stays in shape.”

“Of course, Colonel,” Kaoné responded. “I hope we meet again.”

“We have matters of our own to discuss, too…” Rebehka mused, glancing between Davídrius and Kaoné. “The Bleeders actually brought infected creatures with them to the Fog Islands, you know. We need to figure out what to do about that. Not even just that, really… the Fog Islands, the infection, the Knights, the Bleeders, Rokres… they’re all connected. We need to figure out how to deal with that.”

“Oof…” Davídrius sighed in exhaustion, his gaze drifting up to Pallan’s airship. “…Don’t suppose the Archoné’s willin’ to lend a hand?”

“He said that he needs to return to Riverana as soon as possible,” Kaoné reported. “To deal with the SFC, as well as transitioning control of the Fog Islands outpost to the Union.”

“Eugh… well, at least he’s takin’ some responsibility, I suppose. Either way…” Davídrius nodded towards Saito before turning to leave the airport, gesturing with his free hand for Kaoné and Rebehka to follow. “I’ll see you later, Colonel,” the Dean shouted over his shoulder. “Good luck with your shit on Earth.”

“Best of luck to you, as well,” Saito replied, watching the Deans leave before turning back to the rest of the group disembarking from the airship.

---

*

“Obra, Pierce. You’re back.”

“Minilas…” Pierce greeted, slowly stopping just short of her. He then glanced to the side, taking note of Karísah standing nearby.

“Tch…” Obra snorted in derision, a scowl on his face and his gaze diverted as he simply continued walking, pushing past Minilas and Karísah to leave Pierce, Phoenix, Conrad, and Kestrel behind.

Minilas watched him walk off for a moment before turning around to face Pierce and his friends again. Her messy black hair obscured half of her face like always, but it was still evident that she was wearing a wary expression as she looked back at Pierce — and then, at Pallan’s airship. “…Where’s—?”

“She’s dead,” Pierce stated. “And I killed her.”

“What…?” Karísah responded in surprise, only to look off to the side, where Luke was standing with Austin and his friends. “But—“

“Look… I’m sorry,” Pierce cut in, his own gaze diverted to the side. “I— …I’m sorry.”

“That’s— wait!” Karísah remarked as Pierce began walking off, himself. But before she could get in another word, he disappeared.

“Ugh…” Phoenix pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed in exasperation. “…We’re going to need to talk to him…”

“But, what happened?” Karísah questioned as she turned back around to face the group. “There— there has to be more to it than that!”

“Liask fell to the infection, didn’t she?” Minilas asked, her tone as deadpan as ever.

“…Yeah,” Conrad admitted.

“To make a long story short… the Chaos Knights and the Bleeders both showed up and fucked up everything,” Phoenix explained. “We had actually found a machine that was curing Liask, but those fucking bastards destroyed the machine.”

“The Bleeders? Really?” Karísah questioned in disbelief. “But… why? What’s the point of being so… cruel?”

“Some people just want to watch the world burn,” Conrad replied with a shrug of his shoulders.

“And now… Liask is dead, huh…” Minilas muttered, her attention drifting back to the airport exit, through which both Obra and Pierce had left. “…Let me guess. Obra blames Pierce, who blames himself. Right?”

“Uh, pretty much…” Phoenix responded.

“If what you say is true, then I suppose I’m not surprised…” Karísah mused. “But… what happened to Liask isn’t either of their faults.”

“That’s logically true, sure,” Conrad said, “…but I don’t think this is the kind of thing that you can reason yourself into, or out of.”

“True…” Karísah admitted. “But there are a thousand people you could blame for what happened. The Bleeders, for attackin’; Rokres, for blamin’ Tresnon for somethin’ we haven’t done; the SFC, for helpin’ the Bleeders; the Tresnon Defense Force, for not bein’ able to fight back the intruders…”

“Or even the NSD, for not dealin’ with the Bleeders themselves,” Minilas added, only to slowly shake her head. “Passin’ out blame is pointless. What happened to Liask was just a series of unfortunate events… Pierce is the last person who should be blamin’ himself for what happened.”

“That’s easy to say,” Phoenix replied, “but Pierce was the one who actually had to… well, deal the final blow.”

Minilas glanced at Phoenix, her expression unreadable. She then looked at the ground, silent.

“…Are you okay?” Conrad questioned. “I mean… we just told you that your friend died, so…”

“Yeah. If you need someone to talk to, Minilas, I’m always available,” Karísah added.

Minilas finally looked up, a bitter smile on her face. “…Thanks. But I’ll be fine. Obra’s the one to worry about, I think.”

“I’m not sure that trying to talk about this with him will actually help…” Conrad muttered.

“He’s hot-blooded, sure, but he’ll come around, one day,” Minilas asserted. “I’ll worry about him. Y’all can worry about Pierce. I doubt he’d listen to me, but just tell him that… I don’t blame him. If Liask was given a chance to do it all over again, I’m sure she still would’ve chosen to save him.”

With that, Minilas turned around, making for the airport’s exit gates herself.

The remaining four watched her leave, only for Karísah to release a tired sigh. “…All of this, because of the Bleeders…” she muttered, and then glanced at Phoenix, Conrad, and Kestrel. “…I’m sorry you all got dragged into this. Into our problems…”

Conrad shrugged. “It is what it is. It isn’t your fault any more than Pierce’s.”

“Yeah… I suppose. Still…” Karísah’s gaze drifted to the side, only for her to shake her head. “…Sorry. I’ll… leave y’all to yourselves. I’ll talk with Dad — with Davídrius — and get everythin’ surroundin’ Liask’s death sorted out.” She flashed a quick — if tired — smile before jogging off to join Davídrius, Kaoné, and Rebehka, who themselves were making to leave the area.

“…Well,” Conrad remarked as he watched them leave, “…I guess that’s our cue to leave, too.”

“Fuck…” Phoenix muttered. “…Just a week ago, everything was going great. But now…”

“That’s just how it is, sometimes,” Conrad said, with Kestrel offering an affirmative nod. “Sometimes, you just have bad luck, and gotta deal with it. Not saying that’s easy to do, or anything, but…” A weary sigh escaped his lips. “…C’mon, let’s go. We can see if Pierce is ready for a chat the next time we see him, but for now, let’s just give him some space.”

“Yeah…” Phoenix wearily responded, slowly following Conrad and Kestrel as they also left the twilit airport behind them.

---

*

“Back in Tresnon, huh? You know, this place is starting to feel like a second home!”

“How do you think we feel? We’ve been living here non-stop for months!” Sky exclaimed.

“Heh, true, true…” Luke replied, passing Sky a smile before looking around at everyone standing around him: Austin, Spike, Sky, Twy, Hackett, Kirstin, and Gavon, all having just disembarked from Pallan’s airship. The Captain then turned to look out over the low skyline of Compound Tresnon; the Compound had recovered surprisingly well since the Bleeder attack a mere four days ago, but there still remained plenty of signs of the chaos and havoc that the invaders had caused. “…Shit really did hit the fan while I was away, huh,” Luke eventually commented.

“It was pretty grim…” Twy admitted.

“None of us lost our arms, though,” Austin pointed out.

“But someone did die,” Spike said.

“Uh… right…”

“Hey, no need to worry about me, kiddo,” Luke declared, while slapping Austin on the back with his remaining arm. Austin looked back to Luke, who offered him a reassuring smile, but Austin’s attention quickly switched to Luke’s left side, where the sleeve of his shirt dangled, conspicuously empty.

“I won’t say that the raid on EA’s base was a walk in the park,” Hackett added, “…but SERRCom didn’t have it nearly as bad as the locals, here. That much is patently clear.”

“From what we heard,” Spike said, “EA’s new mech was so tough, that Kate decided to hit him with an orbital bombardment, or somethin’. That sounds pretty rough, to me.”

Luke shrugged. “Maybe. I wouldn’t know, CSF-1 weren’t the ones fighting it.”

“That was still really careless of Kate, though, right?” Austin pressed. “Due to her actions, you lost your—!”

“Hey,” Luke cut in, his expression stern. “…I appreciate you being worried about me, Austin. But let’s not go blaming people on my behalf.”

Austin looked down. “…Right. Sorry…”

“Besides…” Luke passed Gavon a cheeky smirk. “I’m down an arm, now. That means I’ve already done half of what you need to join the Black Suns. I’m basically a shoo-in!”

“With your marksmanship skills, you could probably actually do it,” Gavon remarked. “And with a Black Suns prosthetic, you’d leave me in the proverbial dust!”

“A-are you…” Kirstin turned to give Luke a wary look. “…Are you, um, r-really planning to…?”

“Oh c’mon, Kirstin,” Luke replied, reaching over to rustle her hair. “I’d never leave CSF-1! …Is what I’d like to say, but I can’t exactly pull my weight, like this…”

Twy’s eyes widened in surprise. “Are you saying that you’re going to quit SERRCom?”

Luke shrugged again. “I’d like to stick around, but what other options do I have? I can’t be a marksman with one arm, not with SERRCom’s rifles.”

“My comment about the prosthetic was only half in jest,” Gavon pointed out. “EA might have been from Earth, but raiding his base helped out the Black Suns, too. I’m sure I could finesse a new arm for you, if you wanted it.”

“It’s funny that you say that — Dean Densalin actually offered the same.”

“Oh, Colonel,” Luke remarked, glancing to the side as Saito joined the group. “…Wait, really?”

“Kaoné is a Materiatechnic,” Sky pointed out. “I bet she could make anything she wanted to!”

“She couldn’t make Luke a regular arm…” Austin said.

“Well, I mean, it’s probably easier to fabricate a prosthetic than a real, flesh-and-blood limb, right?” Twy suggested. “Especially since there’s already schematics and such for the cybernetics.”

“Hmm… I’ll admit, it’s definitely an interesting offer…” Luke mused.

“I must warn you, though,” Gavon said, “even when someone voluntarily joins the Suns and has their arm replaced, the adjustment period can be tough. It sometimes takes months for someone to get a handle of their new arm. So don’t expect it to be an easy transition to the prosthetic.”

“Yeah… but if it lets me stick around in CSF-1 and keep helping around here, then I think it could be worth it.”

“You don’t have to make the decision now, Captain,” Saito said. “We need to return to Earth, and you’ll need to see a doc while we’re there. You can figure out your future then.”

“True. This isn’t the kind of decision you want to make while swept up in the moment,” Hackett added.

“Sounds like Luke is gonna be just fine, though, huh?” Spike remarked.

“With any luck,” Luke replied with a smile.

“I’m glad that seems to be resolved, but…” Austin turned to give Saito and Hackett an uneasy look. “…What about EA? He got away, didn’t he?”

A pained expression crossed Hackett’s face as Saito replied, “yes, he did…”

“I-it seemed like, um… th-that base wasn’t his, uh, m-main one, too…” Kirstin added.

“So there’s a good chance that we’ll hear from him, again…” Twy muttered.

“If we do, it’ll likely be soon,” Gavon pointed out. “Especially after such a heavy-handed SERRCom raid. He has to know that the noose is tightening; if he has any plans, chances are he’ll enact them soon.”

“Well he hasn’t won a single time yet!” Sky declared while punching her palm. “If he tries something, we’ll be there to kick his ass, just like the last few times!”

Saito passed Sky a glance, only to chuckle and shake his head. “…We’ll have to see, when the time comes,” he said. “Dealing with the aftermath of the raid is just one reason for us to return to Earth. This little detour to Nimalia wasn’t exactly sanctioned, anyways, so I’m sure the General will want my ear when we get back.”

Luke frowned. “You didn’t need to go out of the way for me…”

“C’mon, Captain,” Hackett retorted. “You’d have done the same for one of us, I’m sure of it.”

“True, true.”

“So, y’all are going back to Earth, then?” Twy questioned, looking over at Saito and Hackett. “How soon? And for how long?”

“Tomorrow morning would be best,” Saito replied. “As for how long we’ll be gone, that’s hard to say. The Captain is coming with us, of course, but I’ll leave Mark here.”

“As much as it makes sense, it’s still a shame to see you leave so soon,” Gavon remarked. “I’ll still be here, of course, so if or when you return, Luke, I’d like to pick up where we left off. If, of course, you still want to.”

“Ah ha ha…” Luke chuckled sheepishly. “Yeah, we haven’t exactly had much time to spend together, have we? But I’m lookin’ forward to it.”

“Sorry, Captains, but that’s just life in the military, for you,” Saito remarked, and then passed Luke a knowing smirk. “You have tonight to yourself, but as I said — we’re leaving first thing tomorrow morning. So don’t get too carried away.”

“Ha! Sure thing, Colonel. …Is what I’d like to say, but…” Luke trailed off, his gaze turning upwards. “…I think I’ll keep to myself, tonight. Uh… no offense, Gavon.”

Gavon shook his head. “It’s perfectly understandable. If I were in your shoes, I’d want some breathing room, too.”

“Are you sure you’re okay…?” Austin questioned while passing Luke a wary look.

Luke flashed a quick smile. “I’ll be fine. Don’t you worry about me, Austin. It’ll take more than losing an arm to keep me down!”

“We should start heading out, then. All of us,” Hackett commented, looking up at the dark skies. The sun had long since set, leaving behind only the darkness of dusk. “With everything that’s happened over the past few days, I’m sure we could all use some rest.”

“Now that you mention it…” Austin muttered, only to yawn. “…Ugh. I guess we really could use some sleep…”

“Then let’s split up, here,” Twy suggested, and then flashed a quick smile at Luke. “I’m glad you’re okay, Luke.”

“Back atcha,” Luke replied in kind as the group began to disperse, heading their separate ways for the night.

---

*

“So Luke is fine…”

“It sounds like he lost his arm,” Mote reported, “but otherwise, yes. He’s alive.”

“Phew…” Mark released a sigh of relief. “Thank god…”

“What about the Nimalian girl?” Danielle questioned. “Liask, right?”

Mote shook his head. “The Colonel said that she died.”

“…I see…” Danielle muttered, her gaze cast away. In the brief silence that followed, Mote and Danielle — as well as Kate, who stood slightly off to the side — continued packing their things in preparation to leave Tresnon the following morning. Nighttime darkness blanketed the Compound outside; Mote had recently returned from speaking with Colonel Saito about the events on the Fog Islands, and had just informed the rest of the Eximius Vir of the story while they packed.

“Still…” Mark mused, “…to think that the Chaos Knights and the Bleeders would go so far to see their goals through… it just seems so senseless.”

“Yeah. Why would the Bleeders do all of this?” Danielle questioned. “They attacked Tresnon, and then they attacked the Fog Islands… it’s all just, so… mean.”

“That’s the point,” Mote stated. “The Bleeders are nothing more than spiteful criminals. The lengths to which they go to perpetuate their spite is surprising, but the mere fact of them being spiteful shouldn’t be.”

“But what about the Knights? They want to stop the infection, just like everyone else, right?” Danielle pressed. “But they just ended up getting a girl killed!”

Mote shook his head again. “Their goal is to eliminate the infection. So the death of an infected person is entirely within their goals. That’s the entire reason they followed the Archoné to the islands, after all.”

“But, it just seems so… cruel. What if they had killed Luke?”

“…I can’t say for sure. But the one thing I am sure about is that SERRCom wouldn’t take that lying down. I know I wouldn’t.”

“Right…” Danielle muttered, her gaze averted.

Mark glanced between Danielle and Mote as the two fell into silence. He then looked off to the side, at Kate — who had yet to say a single word. Mark opened his mouth to address her, only to stop himself, and look away.

“What?”

Mark glanced back at Kate, finding that she was side-eying him.

“Well?” she prompted, though her tone was flat, carrying in it none of her typical energy or confidence. “The fuck do you want?”

“…I was just curious what you were thinking, I suppose,” Mark eventually replied.

Kate stared at him for a moment, and then glanced beyond him, at Danielle — who was also watching her. After another second, Kate released a frustrated sigh and returned her attention to her single suitcase. “…Luke’s fine. That’s all that fucking matters, right? Sure, he lost his fucking arm, but that’s fixable. Everything worked out in the end.”

“That’s true,” Mote mused. “SERRCom achieved its goals against EA, without any deaths.”

“It would figure that fucking SERRCom is all you care about.”

“What?” Mote passed Kate a bewildered look. “I was agreeing with you!”

“Are you mad that you missed the fight…?” Danielle questioned.

Kate briefly laughed, though it carried an undercurrent of bitterness. “Yeah. Sure. A little. Probably would’ve just ended up killing Luke for real, though.”

“Kate…” Mark responded softly.

“Don’t you ‘Kate’ me,” she snapped. “I know what everyone’s thinking. That stupid dweeb said it himself two days ago: if I hadn’t destroyed the fucking bombardment generator, then Luke would be just fine. And if he’d been fine, then that Nimalian girl probably would’ve lived, too. But now Luke is down an arm, and she’s dead.” Kate glanced at Mote out the corner of her eye. “But it’s all just fucking ‘mission success’ with you, huh?”

“What?!” Mote responded incredulously. “It’s tragic that the Nimalian died, of course. But since when did you care about that?”

“Do you really only care about the fucking results?” Kate retorted. “If what you said about what happened on the Fog Islands is true, then Luke living was down to a literal fucking coin flip! It could just as easily have been him that went six feet under. And you’re going to fucking stand there and tell me that ‘all’s well that ends well’? Fuck off.”

“I…” Mote trailed off, bewilderment clearly writ across his face as he failed to offer a response.

Mark glanced between the two uneasily. When neither continued speaking, Mark eventually stepped in, seeking to redirect the conversation. “…Well, at least we were able to learn some useful things from the Fog Islands trip, right?” he said. “Such as the Keys being able to open Raen locks. That should make the armor easier for you to study, right, Kate? Or alleviate you of some of your responsibilities, Mote?”

“Figures that they’d be able to, but not me…” Kate muttered.

“Quite…” Mote affirmed with a frown. “More people being able to use Raen tech is a good thing, of course. But the recruits, of all people…”

“I think it’s a good thing, right?” Danielle commented. “If they can use that special technology, too, then maybe next time we face EA, we can take him down without any problems!”

“Yeah. They’ll do a better job than me. Yeah. Sure,” Kate retorted.

“It does, nonetheless, seem likely that we’ll face EA again, soon,” Mote mused. “…But next time, regardless of if we have the recruits with us, we’ll be ready. We know what to expect from him, now.”

“I suppose…” Mark responded. “But let’s not concern ourselves with that at the moment. You three are returning to Earth, tomorrow, right? So let’s focus on getting some rest, tonight. We may not have been at the Fog Islands, ourselves, but it’s been a tense few days, regardless.”

“Yeah… rest. Sure…” Kate muttered, as the group continued preparing for their departure the following day.

---

*

Nighttime skies stretched out over Compound Tresnon, the darkness dispelled only by the dim city lights along the streets. Soft winds flowing into Mirage Lake to the south helped to mitigate the heat that had built up over the day, and slightly suppressed the waves on the lake; nonetheless, the soft echoing of breaking waves echoed through the air along the lakefront and the piers.

On any normal Ligdia night, the lakefront would be full of crowds bidding a farewell to the Nimalian weekend. The recent Bleeder attack had put a damper on that, as much of the lakefront remained under repair — but business was slowly beginning to pick up again as the denizens of Tresnon slowly repaired Market Street and the lakefront. The piers themselves remained largely dark and empty, however, allowing one lone individual to stand at the edge of the water all by his lonesome.

Pierce’s chest heaved as he released a silent sigh, his gaze sweeping idly across the dark southern horizon. From where he stood, the only sounds that reached him were the crashing of the waves, leaving him alone with his thoughts. Reflexively, he reached up to his mouth, stroking the same place that Liask’s scar had covered, all while his attention drifted to the pier right next to him. For a brief second, his mind conjured up the image of Liask, facing the waters as she trained — this was the same location as when Pierce first ran into Liask while training, after all. But a second later, the image was wiped away, leaving Pierce alone again.

“Liask…” he muttered, only for a dull throb to appear in his torso. “…And Trenon, too. I… …fuck, I’m just the worst…”

His lips pursed, his eyes closed; another deep breath followed, staving off the moisture that threatened to overtake his eyes. After another breath, he slowly opened his eyes again, this time looking down at his closed right hand. Held within was a handful of sand that he had scooped up from just outside the Compound walls; pouring a handful of sand into Mirage Lake was a common memorial tradition in Tresnon, but Pierce couldn’t bring himself to do it. He wasn’t even sure how he came to be aware of the tradition — he didn’t remember ever asking anyone about it — but more than that…

“No matter how you look at it… if I wasn’t around, then Trenon and Liask both would still be alive. They only died because they thought that my lousy life was worth risking theirs for.”

 

His brow furrowed, as his torso throbbed — though this time, he could feel the throb across his mouth and neck as well, right where Liask’s scar would have been. He grimaced in discomfort, but forced the slight pain out of mind. For a moment, he considered leaving without pouring the sand. After all, why did someone like him deserve to mourn the dead?

.

“Don’t worry…” Trenon glanced back at Pierce and forced a smile. “We’ve… got this taken care of.”

 .

Liask smiled back, though with a faintness that suggested it took all of her effort. “Good… I’m glad… you’re safe…”

.

“…Trenon, Liask…” Pierce muttered again, the image of their smiling visages now appearing solidly in his mind. A moment’s pause, followed by a deep breath… and then he stepped up to the edge of the pier, reaching his right hand over the waters before slowly opening it, allowing the sand within to fall into the soft winds and be carried into the lake.

“I’ll never forget either of you…” he declared, though softly, as if speaking to no one but himself. “…You didn’t deserve to die, and I sure as hell didn’t deserve to live. But that doesn’t change what happened. I swear, to both of you… I’ll make sure that no one else has to die on my behalf. Not again.”

The final grains of sand fell from his hand, leaving it empty. His gaze lingered on the waters, but a moment later, he finally turned away from the lake. He crouched down, preparing to leap into the air to return to WCU; night may have overtaken the town, but dawn would always follow, and with it, a new day. There still remained a great many threats — in Treséd, on Nimalia, across the entire galaxy — but as Pierce finally catapulted himself through the air, he knew. When the future came, when new threats arrived, he would be there, along with all of his friends… trying their damnedest to save all that they could. No matter who they faced, or how hard they needed to train…

They would save all that they could.

 

THE END

of

RETURN OF CHAOS

 

TO BE CONTINUED IN EXPOSED APOCRYPHA…