spoilers for the entire game lie within!

"Lin," Cross said very slowly, "I don't think this is legal."

Lin grinned and kicked the heels of her boots against the ledge they were both sitting on. "Well, I've never read any laws that state that you can't sit up here." She glanced over to Cross. "Besides, isn't the view just amazing?"

"Lin, if I take one step forward, I'm gonna be a splat of metal in the industrial district."

"Well then, take two steps back!" She threw them a lop-sided grin. "The view's well worth the danger, right?"

It was, but Cross was not going to say that out loud any time soon, because they knew that Lin would be smug for the rest of the week. Poor Elma had been left with Tatsu; Lin had grabbed Cross after a restless night's sleep for both of them, insisting that she knew the perfect place for an amazing view.

And, really? It was something else. They had gone up the west gate elevator and walked west along the upper wall for a good while, until they came across a small little ledge perched over the entire city. Below them stretched the industrial district, the production plant right below Cross's feet. The dims of drills and the squeals of machinery echoed in the late night. A transport vehicle shuffled across the sky, a dot of orange against the shooting stars in the sky. Straight ahead, the residential district was nothing more than a shapeless clump of buildings; the only noticeable one was the chapel, lit up even at this late hour. The commercial district was still alive and kicking to their left, and at the tip of New LA stood the BLADE Tower, its blue screen a gleam of colour in the darkness.

"It looks kinda nice," Cross murmured. Lin's smile widened. "But I still don't think this is legal."

"Look, if Elma comes and yells at us, I'll take full responsibility."

Cross gave Lin The Look. They narrowed their eyes and gave their eyebrows a little wiggle, but they couldn't stop their grin as Lin turned bright red and rubbed her neck.

"I'll try to take full responsibility."

"Much better." Cross curled their arms around their knees. "How'd you even find this place, anyway?"

"Oh, someone showed me," Lin said, a careful lightness creeping into her voice.

"Yeah?"

"When we first came here, he spent like ten minutes trying to persuade me to jump over the elevator barrier. I haven't been up here since…" She sighed. "Well, it's been a long time. Last time I was up here was before we met the Wrothians, and..." Her eyes flickered down to her boots, hands curling at her sides. "…You know. Stuff."

Cross glanced over, then looked away. Better not to ask, they thought, judging from the smile that didn't reach Lin's eyes.

They stared at the view for a few more seconds.

Then, something caught Cross's eye. They looked at it, hummed, then turned to Lin.

"What's that massive thing up there?" They asked, pointing out a finger at the huge white orb that hung high behind BLADE Tower. It looked like an accumulation of clouds that someone had forced into a giant circle.

Lin raised both of her eyebrows, a frown twisting her face. "What thing?"

"The-" Cross waved a hand about. "The white thing."

She wrinkled her nose. "BLADE Tower?"

"No, no! The – the circle!"

"The-" Lin's mouth dropped open. She was quick to hide it, burying her forehead in her hands with a muffled 'oh my God'. Cross waited with worry until Lin sat up straight and stretched her arms out behind her. She took a deep breath and looked at Cross. "You… you don't know what that is?"

"Uh, no?" Cross scratched their nose. "I've never asked anyone."

Lin stared.

And stared.

"W-what?"

And stared.

"Are you…" she said very, very slowly. "Are you seriously telling me that you've been here for this long and no one has told you about the moon?"

"Moon?" They frowned. "Is that what it's called?" Frye had told them about something called 'mooning', once, but his description (and drunk demonstration) did not resemble anything even vaguely close to that massive thing in the sky.

"I am not giving you a detailed lesson about the moon," Lin muttered. She dragged a hand over her face. "Ah, what the hell, I am." She nibbled her lip for a few seconds. "Mira has multiple moons, but Earth only had the one moon. It was actually called Moon."

"That's imaginative."

Lin snorted, immediately covering her mouth when she did. She was blushing when she continued. "Mira's got five moons, though."

"Five!?" Cross pushed themself onto their feet and glanced around. Sure enough, to the left of the giant 'moon', sat a much smaller one. "Oh my God, there's more than one!?"

"You're telling me you never noticed them!?"

Cross could feel their eyes budge out of their head when they caught a much, much tinier blob of white next to the second 'moon'. "There's a third one!"

"I really, really hope that you've noticed them before now."

Cross shook their head and continued to look.

"Two of them are behind us, so, uh, good luck finding them."

"I've never noticed them before…"

"You're a Pathfinder!" Lin squeaked.

"I find paths on Mira, not on these so-called… 'moons'." Cross scowled at the offending object, crossing their arms. They gave their chin a long, careful stroke. "…How do they even work?"

"What, moons?"

"Yeah." Cross nodded. "Moons."

"I…" Lin rubbed her cheek. "I'm sorry, Cross, but I don't really know what you're even asking."

"I mean, like." Cross stretched their arms out to try and hold the smallest moon in their hands. "How does it not just… fall on top of us?"

"Uh, gravity?"

"Gravity?" Cross blinked. "Isn't that an element?"

"L-look, I'm not terribly sure myself. And, no, gravity is not just 'an element'?" Lin was giving him a disbelieving smile, but it was a soft one. "Man, you really don't know much, do you..?"

"I know plenty!"

"Sorry, Cross, but you've got about as much common sense as Mia does." And before Cross could open their mouth to object, Lin crossed her arms and grinned. "Why don't you go and ask Elma about it? I'm a mechanical engineer, not an astronaut. She might know more."

Elma took a long sip from her tea as she listened to Cross's question. When Cross finished, she had another mouthful; it was a good while before she eventually put her cup on the table. She closed her eyes and tilted her head back, her crystallised hair gushing over the sofa edge.

Cross leaned in closer, hands on their knees.

Elma opened her eyes.

"I have no idea," she said.

Cross collapsed against the sofa with a huff.

"You're an alien," they murmured.

Elma's eyes narrowed. "Well then, you'll have to forgive me, an alien, for not knowing about the Moon, which is a satellite unique to Earth."

Cross winced. That… was an extremely good point.

Elma patted their head with a small smile. "Rook, no harm, but if Lin doesn't know, then neither will I."

"But – you know everything."

Elma gave a gentle laugh behind her hand. "About combat? Yes. About anything else? Not at all." She finished off her drink and went off to the kitchen to rise off her cup; Cross trotted after her and sat on the table as Elma continued to talk.

"Most planets have moons, although their 'technical' names are satellites." She opened the fringe door and grabbed a small yoghurt pot. "Basically? They're clumps of rock that join together and find themselves in a planet's field."

"A planet's what?" Cross tilted their head. "Mira has tons of fields."

Elma laughed, grabbing a spoon from the drawer. "Not that kind of field." She frowned. "Hmm… how best to explain…" She tapped the spoon against the top of her yoghurt. "Think of it as like…"

Silence drifted in. Cross shifted against the counter as Elma seemed to freeze. "Um, Elma?"

The loud rip of plastic made Cross jump. They stared at the poor yoghurt lid in Elma's hand. She tossed it on the counter and sighed.

"Rook," she said, voice grim. "I honestly have no idea how to explain this. I barely grasp the concept myself."

"It's okay," they said weakly. "I'll, uh, I'll find someone else."

Her eyes lit up. "I may have misheard, but I think I overheard Phog saying something about space, once." Elma tapped her chin. "He might be able to help."

Cross raised their eyebrows.

Elma arched her own.

"Okay." They nodded. "I'll go to him."

Elma smiled.

They slammed their fist on the table. "But first! Elma, I have several issues."

"Hmm?" She turned towards them with a frown on her face and a spoon dangling out of her mouth. Several seconds passed before she yanked it out. "Are you upset about something?"

They slid off the table and nodded, putting their hands on their hips. "Very big issues. Very urgent."

"What's wrong?"

Wordlessly, Cross waved Elma over towards them. She followed with a confused sounding hum.

Both of them peeked over the table, only to be greeted with a paw gripping the other end tight. Then, the head of their silver tabby – or Luciel, as Doug had insisted upon naming him, because apparently he was the devil or some insane thing like that – popped up. Seconds later, its only paw gripped the side, only for it to collapse to the floor.

Elma gasped and was around in a flash, crouching down on her knees. Luciel purred, pushing its head against Elma's stroking hand.

Then, she glanced up.

"Is Luciel the problem?" she asked incredulously.

"No, no, of course not! He's adorable." They crossed their arms. "No, Elma. The problem is this: we don't have enough pets."

Elma stared.

"Rook," she said, "we have six. Most teams are lucky to get one."

"That's not the problem, either. The problem is why we're only allowed one out at any time."

Elma snorted, her shoulders shaking with laughter. "Rook, could you imagine the chaos?"

"But could you also imagine the cuteness?"

Elma stopped laughing.

Cross put a hand on their hip and smiled. "Well?"

There was a long pause.

"I'll have a word with the commander when I see him tonight," Elma said, rubbing a finger behind Luciel's ear. "Meanwhile, why don't you go and ask Phog about the moons?"

"Oh." They'd completely forgotten about that, to be honest. "Good point. I'll go."

Phog had somehow managed to find a nest of ants, and, being Phog, wouldn't leave until he had counted every single ant and rechecked at least three times. Cross had found him crouched between two crates, quietly humming to himself. They had sighed, rolled up their sleeves, and resigned themself to an afternoon of ant farming.

By the time they had finished, the sun was starting to burn the sky a glorious red. The two of them were sitting at the end of the bottom unfinished road in the residential district, both perched on the steel bars that extended outwards. Phog had insisted that he had fallen enough times that one more wouldn't hurt him.

It was a gorgeous view, no doubt about that. The puffs of clouds that came from the crystallised gel were tinted a deep red, and all of New LA seemed to have been engulfed by the setting sun. The city was softer, somehow, with the lazy evening hues painted over its landscape.

Then, of course, as soon as they had thought that, thunder rumbled in the distance. With a deafening crackle, rain soon poured – hard, and the sunset was lost to the dim grey of dark clouds rolling in over New LA.

Beside them, Phog sighed and flopped his hair out of his eye. It smacked back not a second later.

"It's raining," he mumbled.

Cross nodded. A transport vehicle whizzed over their heads.

"We should probably go get shelter," Phog continued, but he made no movement. Neither did Cross.

They stretched out a leg and sighed. Maybe wearing a tank top and shorts hadn't been one of their wiser decisions.

"Hey, Phog?"

He glanced over to them, hands clasped loosely in front of his body. His legs were dangling off the end of the bar. "Hmm?"

"You know anything about space?"

There was a pregnant pause.

"Well," he said, and stopped.

Cross crossed their arms, felt themself wobble, and quickly gripped the steel bar again as their heart rushed to their throat.

"Well," Phog mumbled. "My nickname in high school was Spaceman. I'm not quite sure why. I don't like space."

Cross furrowed their eyebrows.

"What's high school?"

"Hmm?" Phog jolted, as if he had forgotten that Cross was there. "Well, um…" He crossed his arms and sighed. "I don't know how to describe it. It's a more advanced school?"

"What's school?"

"It's a building. For children." Another pause, then a quiet, sheepish chuckle from Phog. "…Which is probably why we don't have any, huh?"

"So… what was this… 'high school', like?"

"Awful," Phog said immediately, and something in his tone made Cross giggle. He gave Cross a shy little smile. "You're not missing anything."

"Glad to hear it." They froze. "Wait – wait."

"I'm not going anywhere."

They frowned. "You said you hate space?"

"Well, who wouldn't?" Phog stared up at the sky. If Cross squinted really closer, they could see his tongue sticking out slightly, wiggling about for little droplets of rain. "Space is full of scary things. Like meteors. And dust." He nodded solemnly to himself. "Very scary."

"Meteors?" They sighed. Another question for another time. "So, uh, you wouldn't be able to tell me anything about how moons work?"

As it turned out, Phog did indeed know about how moons worked – a little too well. As much as Cross loved him – and they did, they really did, in the same way that they loved everyone – they struggled to understand anything beyond the first sentence.

Half a minute later, which was quite possibly the longest amount of time Phog had ever spoken for, he fell silent.

Cross looked at his dismayed face, eyebrows raised.

"You didn't understand a word of that," he whispered.

They made a groan that could have made anything, rubbing their head hard.

Phog's face was nothing short of devastating, with a little sad smile that dragged down his one visible eye. "It's okay," he murmured. "I should be better at explaining things."

They shook their head. "It's not your fault! I'm just, uh, a bit thick."

He laughed.

"I don't know anyone else who might be…" Phog had a funny little smile, one that Cross couldn't help but grin back at. "…be interested in moons."

They stared at the two visible moons, one creeping behind the Ma-non ship, the other jutting out from behind BLADE Tower.

Cross turned to Phog with a cheeky grin. "Wanna go for a dive?"

Phog shrugged, but there was a twinkle of amusement in his eye. "Sure," he said, and he was already leaning back on the beam. Cross followed, until they grinned at each other and both fell.

They came up for air within seconds of each other, paddling the water and giving the other a goofy grin.

Cross readied themself for a playful splash at Phog—

"Chief? CHIEF!"

"Man, Chief," Mia said, taking a huge bite out of her ice pop as they walked outside the sports complex. Phog had bidden them farewell with soaking sleeves, assuring them that Frye would have a change of clothing. Hopefully. "You totally should enter the New LA diving contest!"

Cross raised their eyebrows as they shuffled strawlenny ice-cream about in their mouth. Why Mia had even had ice-cream in the first place, much less two bars of it, they did not know.

Mia rubbed her cheek with a devilish grin. "Not that New LA has a diving contest… but we will soon enough!"

Cross raised their eyebrows.

"You can pay for it, of course!" Suddenly, Mia frowned. "Speaking of… how the heck did you and Phog get here so quickly? You guys were in the water!"

"Fast travel?"

"Dunno what kind of travel you're using, but man, I want some of it."

"No, that's – that's what it's called." Cross shrugged at Mia's utterly mystified look. "Fast travel?"

Mia took another impressive bite. "Never heard of it," she mumbled around her stick.

Cross, perhaps wisely, chose to stay quiet.

There was a Nopon balancing on the tennis court ropes as they walked past one, although she clearly was not sober. She let out a large hoot when Cross glanced in, only to sigh and topple off the rope in the most dramatic fashion possible. Cross snorted and hurried to where Mia was waiting at the edge of the path.

She didn't stop to check for cars; she breezed across with a skip in her step. Cross chased after her and nearly got ran over by a beeping truck.

"Mia, what the hell?"

Mia slapped her hands against her sides. If she noticed the ice oozing down her bare leg, well, she didn't say anything about it. "C'mon, don't be like that! I've known you for a long, long time now—"

"A few months."

"—And you have never, ever gotten run over. Not once."

"Don't most people tend to not get run over?" they squeaked out.

"Yeah, but with you, it's like they just – don't acknowledge your existence!" Mia frowned. "I swear that I saw a car go right through you one time!"

"Mia-"

"And multiple people, come to think of it…"

"Mia."

They ascended up the steps leading to Ishmael Hills. Cross wrung out the strap of their top and silently regretted jumping into the water. They were freezing.

They gasped when a small red jacket was draped onto their shoulders. Mia just carried on grinning. "You look cold, Chief. It'll probably be a bit small on you, but ah well!" She shrugged. "Jacket's a jacket."

Cross tugged it on with a smile, surprised to see that it fitted perfectly.

"Huh," Mia murmured. A dog growled at them as they walked past a lawn. "It fits you perfectly!" She frowned, putting a fist to her chin. "Man, is it just me, or does all of the clothing tend to do that?"

"Do what?"

"Like…" She shrugged. "I don't know. Change sizes depending on who's wearing it?"

Cross thought about it.

"Nah, that's crazy."

"Yeah, that was what I thought."

The street started to take a gentle curve to the left, towards the cathedral. Mia again skipped across the road, but Cross managed to follow her without any vehicles mowing them down.

They didn't know where she was leading them, but this sort of thing happened frequently. Cross would bump into Mia on nightly walks at least once a week, and the two of them would always go somewhere to talk about nothing. Meaningless things, babble and nonsense that they all desperately needed. Doug had once told them that no one survived life, so there was no point in taking it too seriously.

Maybe he had a point.

With a dramatic sigh, Mia flung herself onto a bench and nearly slid off it from how wet it was. She was giggling to herself as Cross sat down next to her, close enough that their thighs were touching. Mia had, for whatever inane reason, opted to wear denim shorts, and now the only piece of item on her upper half was a simple turquoise vest top.

Cross tugged her jacket around them tighter.

The rain had cleared up by now. The sky was clear, a scattering of pinpoints of light in the blanket of the night, as though someone had ripped holes into a quilt. The few clouds in the sky were tinted a beautiful red and blue hue; an effect from the rainbow, no doubt. From their position, Cross could see the largest of Mira's moons creeping out from behind the city walls.

And then they remembered.

"Hey, Mia."

"Hmm?" There was a bird on the bench next to her. It gave a startled squeak and flapped away as soon as Cross had spoken. "Something up?"

"Moons."

Mia nodded. "Moons," she echoed in a solemn voice. "They sure are weird, aren't they?"

"Yeah, but…" Cross sighed. "Do you know anything about them? Like, how are they not falling out of the sky?"

"Hmm…" Mia stroked her chin. "Maybe it's something about this planet…"

"Mia."

She grinned. "I dunno, Chief. I'm a fabulous Skell engineer and an awesome BLADE, but I'm not a spaceman!" She frowned. "Spacewoman?" She glanced over to Cross, then grinned and nodded to herself. "Spaceperson."

"So, should I take that as a no?"

"Of course not!" Mia gasped. She fished about in her pockets for something, and seconds later, whipped out her comm device. "We can just search FrontierNav! You can't be the only person who doesn't know how moons work. I don't either!"

"But isn't FrontierNav only for Mira? How can you search things?"

Mia put a finger over Cross's lips, her eyes twinkling. "Let your little protégé handle this, Chief," she said. Her fingers flew across the screen of her device; in about twenty seconds, she had a whole collection of articles all about the moon. She leaned in, so that her head was resting on Cross's shoulder. "You mind?"

"Course not."

"Good." They felt Mia grin against their shoulder. "Because we are about to learn all about moons."

And learn they did. Over the next few minutes, Cross learned far more about moons than what they could have possibly hoped.

"Gravitational fields?"

"Sounds like it."

"So moons are chunks of rock that basically… once they go into the planet's field, they become trapped?"

"Yeah, I think so."

"And they travel in an orbit around the planet."

"Maybe? I don't think the moons on Mira ever move, though. Which means that Mira itself doesn't rotate…" She frowned. "That's really weird."

Cross squinted at the screen. "Wait. They're made of… cheese?"

Mia snorted. "I think that one's lying, Chief."

Of course, with their company being Mia, they soon drifted off-topic.

"You've never watched a cat video!?"

"No?"

"Chief, this is awful!" Mia swiped on her screen and typed something in. During their lessons on the moon, she had managed to get her entire body against the bench so that her back was leaning on Cross's arm. Her shoes "I've got a whole bunch of 'em saved on my device. Gimme a minute to find them…"

Silence.

"Huh. This is probably how you always get so many missions done, isn't it?" Mia tapped her cheek, grinning. She gave a hefty yawn before she spoke again. "You didn't even know that this search thing existed?"

"No."

"Well, then, I'll personally apologise to Commander Vandham for your sudden decrease in mission completions."

Cross grinned.

Mia held out the device in front of them both. In front of them, the light blue of morning was starting to creep in from over the city walls. "Now…" she muttered as the screen loaded. "…Let's watch some cute cats."