Disclaimer: I do not own Bandai Namco's character in the god arc world. I do however own original characters.

AN: questions? Yes. But all I'm hoping for is that this is a twist no one saw coming…

Anyway this is going to be a long chapter because plenty of stuff is going to happen here.

Three year war

None of it made sense. Despite the evidence before them that pretty much summarized all their questions, all it served to do in the end was confuse them even more. There were many times where they blinked and shook their heads as if to confirm whether or not what they were seeing was a figment of their imagination.

"Hmm", said James sniffing the air a little more "If Alisa's here then that would mean Soma's here too. Which means that cologne must be Lindow's, did I miss anyone?"

"Nope all three of them", said Shio and the two of them made their way to the trio.

"Wow Soma", said Shio immediately embracing the man who had yet to fully grasp what was going on.

"Shio?" he asked slowly reaching out and touching her cheek. The girl smiled some more and said "Yep that's me".

"Oh wow Alisa", said James placing his hand right over her beret "You grew since I was gone. Ah then again you might be wearing on high heels… are you wearing high heels?"

"No", she said amazed at being able to say a single word despite the sight before her.

Now that she was closer to him, she confirmed her worst fears. The torn clothes and the sections where the fabric was darker were clear signs that he sustained multiple injuries. The most noticeable of wounds that he sported was the bandage around his eyes.

"James?" she asked slowly moving her hand from side to side before his face.

"Yep", he replied "Totally blind, have been for the past six months but don't worry too much about it".

'Don't worry?' she repeated in her mind and wanted to immediately object but James had already moved from her to Lindow, greeting him with a big hug.

"What's the matter big guy?" he asked taking a step back "Did something happen? You don't look all that good".

"Ah then again it's not like I can see a damn thing right", he added with a light hearted chuckle.

And that was the spark. All the questions and doubts that Lindow had vanished and now what remained was a white hot rage

Before he even knew what was happening, Lindow's fist shot forward, crashing into James' face and sending him into the ground.

"Lindow", shouted Soma and Alisa surprised by the action.

"Jokes?" he asked ignoring them and directing his anger towards the teen "You vanish for three whole years, without a word or a whisper. You go off to god knows where and not say a damn thing about it and now that you're back… you act like nothing's changed?"

To that question, James let out a deep sigh then slowly got to his feet. He took a moment to crack the knuckles in his neck, his posture changing in the process.

"Well guess all the fun and games are over", he said no longer sounding cheery and happy like he normally does "Shame."

"I know you have many questions and of course I'd like to answer them all but…" he looked around then tapped his foot against the ground "But this is neither the time nor the place for us to have that conversation."

He paused for a moment then looked up "Ah, good our rides here".

Alisa, Soma and Lindow turned around to see Sakaki coming towards them. The doctor went past the trio then stood before the boy and the girl, his mouth half open in shock.

"I… I can't believe it", he said looking at the two of them "I always believed that you'd complete the mission but as time went on, I never thought that you'd…"

"You did it James", he said unable to contain his excitement and immediately embraced James, lifting him up a little as well.

"And Shio", he said doing the same thing "You look older, more mature than I last remember".

He turned to James and asked "You were able to?"

"Through great difficulty yes", he replied scratching his head.

"Wait a second", said Alisa trying to voice the many more doubts that formed in her mind "You helped him?"

"Of course he did", replied James "How do you think I was able to build a working rocket that would take me to the moon and bring her back?"

"Ok, ok let me get this straight", said Soma "You built a rocket and then took it to the moon?"

James nodded in agreement allowing Soma to continue "If that wasn't enough you then got Shio back and took the same rocket you built back here".

"That would be correct", interjected Sakaki "How did the onboard AI hold up?"

"Digital Hibari was fun to talk to when things got real silent", he replied, glossing over a very glaring issue "But yeah she helped a lot when the chips were down".

"Well then let's not waste more time and get back", said Sakaki taking control of the situation "You all have plenty of questions and James here needs to get some medical attention stat. Let's head back to the base where we can all get what we want".

Nodding in agreement, the cradle unit headed back to their vehicle then drove to the far east. On the way there, the trio could not help but steal glances at Shio who continued staring out the windows excitedly.

"She is one hundred percent the Shio you know", said James as if noticing their gazes "All her memories and thoughts, opinions, dreams, hopes, likes, dislikes and tastes. Every single aspect of her personality and character was painstakingly brought back so that the girl you see is undeniably the girl we all remember".

"Of course there are a few changes", chimed in the albino girl with a knowing glance "But we can talk about that when we return.

"One more thing", said Sakaki on the communicator "I also asked Sakuya and Kota to remain at the base. I imagine you'd want them to be there when you explain everything as well right?"

"Thanks doc," said James "You sure thought of everything".

When they got back to the base and as they went up the elevator, they now turned their attention to James. Despite the injuries he sported, despite the obvious pain he was in; he did not let it show. He stood up on his own, barely relying on Shio to guide him through the lower section of the base.

When they emerged from the elevator, the trio were surprised to see that no one was around.

James took a step out, tapping the base of his god arc against the ground then bent down and placed his palm on the ground.

"Hmm", he said slowly standing back up "This is different, you did a little remodelling while I was away huh?"

"What's going on where is everyone?" asked Alisa ignoring his question.

"I gave them the day off", replied Sakaki "There's going to no doubt be a great uproar when the far east finds out that their star soldier has returned. But right now there are other pressing issues we should take care of first".

"And they've arrived", said James taking a step forward and heading up just as the elevator to the helicopter pad was opening out and through it came Sakuya and Kota. The two of them looked a little confused upon seeing the base completely empty but their eyes widened in shock when they saw the familiar face slowly coming up to greet them.

"James?" asked Kota looking like he was in a dream.

"Not just me, I also came with a friend", he said his right hand gesturing to the white haired girl beside him.

"Shio", said Sakuya looking even more confused than before "How is this all possible?"

"Long story", replied James like it was no big deal "One that I'm sure you're all eager to hear. So let's head to the directors office now".

Sakuya and Kota met up with Lindow, Alisa and Soma and whispered to each other about whether or not any of them knew. Of course no one from Cradle knew but the conversation continued on some more while James, Shio and Sakaki drew closer to the office.

Once they were all inside and had taken a seat, James took the initiative.

"Before we begin, I'd like to demonstrate to you all here the very foundation in which everything hinged upon".

Before any of them could speak, James clenched his fist, enveloping them all in a dome of light

'What the hell?' thought Alisa then looked shocked as everyone else could hear her

'At this point I have no questions anymore', thought Soma in defeat

'Man I wonder if I can watch some Bugarally tonight', thought Kota immediately earning him glares from nearly everyone. Of course there was someone else who had his own absurd thought in the form of a show tunes song. No need to guess who that person was.

"Anyway", said James making the dome vanish just like that "What you all experienced was a level 2 or hyper-resonance. Apparently because of the many times I interacted with Lindow's god arc some time ago, the oracle cells inside them came into contact with mine. Now normally in most cases, oracle cells fight each other, vying for dominance and if that were to happen to a human, he would no doubt turn into an aragami. But in my case, the two different sets of cells did not fight but instead worked together resulting in a new mutation. The hyper-resonance allows me to read the thoughts of those around but also allows others to read my thoughts as well so it's not as useful as one might think."

"Seeing as it really had no use in the field, it got me thinking that my basic resonance must have gotten much stronger as a result of the mutation. With that in mind I began to think about Lindow's case and how the resonance allowed me to travel into his mind and separate the human from the aragami".

"If such a thing was possible on a small scale, then surely it could be possible on a large scale as well".

"James that's insane", stated Soma "You got luck in that case, monumentally lucky. The fact that you're basing your whole plan on this one stroke of luck…"

"I know but as long as there existed the chance, however minute that I could separate Shio from the Nova… then it was something I just had to try out".

"After doing plenty of research, I understood that in order to get to the moon, I would need to build a rocket ship. Like the kind that humans once made before the aragami attacked and destroyed everything."

"And that was where I came in", said Sakaki taking control of the conversation "Having certain suspicions about James' behaviour at the time, I followed him and found out what he was planning. Of course when he told me everything, I thought he was downright insane but through some good convincing on his part, I gave up and decided to help".

"Wait I've seen those things in the old vids", stated Sakuya "Those things are huge and require a lot of building material, where did you get all that?"

"Most of the stuff could be found in the aragami that we normally hunt", replied James "As for the really rare stuff like fuel, I had to call in some friends of mine, less said about that the better".

"James even if you did manage to procure the resources, the time required to build that thing…."

"Had to give up a little sleep but it wasn't that bad. Besides, the rocket that we were building didn't need the fancy gizmos and gadgets you saw in the vids. Sakaki's plans called for a more bare bone type with the sole purpose of transporting a vast quantity of objects to and from the moon".

"And the night that we fought the Arius…" said Lindow

"Was the very same night that I left", said James completing the sentence "The moon was at its closest that time and I couldn't waste an opportunity like that".

"I made sure that everything was functioning well enough and saw James off", said Sakaki

"The trip itself wasn't all that eventful. Being weightless was a real pain because I couldn't do much training but five months later I was close enough to the moon to land".

"There is one important thing I want to know", said Alisa "Why did you decide to go on this mission?"

"Two reasons really, one was to get Shio back. And the other was to break the surly bonds that bind humanity down, reach for the skies above and punch God in the face!"

It came as no surprise to him that no one in the room reacted to his crazy rant.

"What's going on Shio?" he asked "Why are they not reacting?"

"Oh they're reacting alright", she replied and forced him down to his seat "It's just that they're not using words".

"Oh I can feel their stares penetrating me", he said and faked being hurt.

"James", cried out Kota trying to stop his shenanigans.

"What? I can't have a little fun before things get dark and serious."

"Let me be frank, this was no walk in the park or little excursion. In the time that Nova landed on the moon, it spread it's power and influence merging itself completely with the planet. If that wasn't enough it spawned countless aragami who had but one goal and that was to protect her".

"So from the moment I hit the ground, they were all coming at me with the intent to kill. And by the way the aragami on the moon would make most deusphages quake in their boots. The damn monkeys that Nova created could wipe out entire cities all on their own".

"Of course I didn't stop or anything like that. I continued on and kept fighting and fighting and fighting for days on end. Days went to weeks and weeks turned to months and months finally turned to years."

"Before I knew it I had wiped out nearly all of the indigenous population on the moon and had only one problem left, the Nova."

"Trouble was she had three years to learn everything there is to know about me. She had plenty of time to prepare for every strategy and tactic I could ever muster which was why she had me on the ropes for nearly two whole weeks".

"You guys fought for two weeks?" asked Sakuya in surprise

"Yeah, compared to everything else that happened before it didn't really feel that big a deal at the time", he said with a shrug.

"Eventually I realized that the only way to gain the advantage was through a risk. So betting everything I had on this gamble, I sacrificed my eyes to momentarily catch her off guard. In that moment I was able to overcome the difference in power and slay Nova's avatar form".

"Of course that was the easy part, the hard part was the next thing. I used resonance to look into the depths of Nova's consciousness and find the fragments of Shio which was no easy thing mind you. It was like looking for a needle in a haystack the size of the moon".

"But as you can all see the mission was a success and I was able to return Shio to her own body. Ah but there was one slight hiccup. It seemed that during the process, some of my human cells merged with her oracle cells."

"My oracle cells were able to read and analyse the DNA inside James' cells thus making my internal structure similar to that of a humans. And because of the cells that from James that mingled with my own, you could say that we're brother and sister".

"That aside", said James with a cough prompting her to get back to the main story.

"I saw James and he explained what happened then told me that we had to head back to where the retrieval ship was. Apparently he left the rocket and everything in orbit to prevent any aragami from destroying our getaway vehicle."

"I was able to help James along while fending off the aragami for a few months. While that happened, he got used to his blindness and was able to help me as well".

"Finally we got onto the retrieval ship then made a beeline back to earth".

"You know I find it pretty lucky that we just happen to land in the same area where you guys were", stated James.

"A lot of things on your mission dealt with luck", interjected Shio.

"So go ahead and ask", said James crossing his arms.

"Why James?" asked Lindow trying his best to sound calm "You knew how bad it was from the start, you knew the risks involved and the chances of survival so why? Why did you decided to launch this mission on your own and why the hell didn't you bring any of us with you?"

"Do me a favour and look around this room for me", he said at first "Now tell me who do you see?"

"James", said Alisa

"Because you know what I see? I see a loving, hardworking son and brother. He works his damndest every single day to provide for his family. I see a teenager who finally overcame the shadow of his father and is slowly but steadily trying to become an all-round, better person. I see the hardest working girl in the far east. She may have gotten off on the wrong foot but she's trying her best to make amends. I see a husband who got his second chance at life and loves his family to no end. I see a wife that through everything was able to get her own happy ending."

"I can talk about the others as well if you like but these are the facts", he said "Every single person here matters, all of you have your own hopes, dreams and goals so can you honestly tell me that I would be fine in having you drop everything and join me on the most insane quest in the history of the world?"

"Then if you know how bad it is, why did you go?" asked Lindow

"I'm expendable", he replied like it was no big deal "Out of everyone here, I have no family and did not make much of an impression here with others. It made sense that out of everyone, the least important one should take up the charge. If I died then it would be no big deal".

"No big deal?" asked Sakuya, her fists trembling furiously "You think that it's fine for you to go ahead and die?"

"Yes, as Sakaki called it some time ago, it's a ruthless pragmatism".

"I've heard enough", she said shooting up from her place and marched towards James. It came as no surprise to everyone that she furiously slapped James on the face before grabbing him by the collar and pulled him up."

"You think you don't matter? You think that you made no impression?" she asked, her voice at the edge of restraint.

"You ever wonder why Kota works so damn hard? It's because he always imagines how hard you worked and wanted to follow in your footsteps. How do you think Soma was able to free himself from his dad's shadow? It was because you started to reach out to him and continued to no matter how much he pushed back".

"Alisa? Who do you think made her realize what she was doing is wrong and had her change. How do you think he's even standing here if not for one damned idiot who refused to give up?"

The anger in her voice vanished and now became sad. Still clutching him by the sleeve she spoke in a lower voice "And how do you think I was able to get that happy ending? When things got rough and I wanted to give up, when it felt like I couldn't handle it anymore, who do you think was there for me?"

"You were there… for all of us James. You were a friend when we needed one, a kind ear to listen to everyone's troubles and you were always there to help us back up whenever we felt down."

"So don't you dare tell me that you don't matter James because you do, to everyone here and the others in the far east branch."

James remained silent throughout the entire tongue lashing and continued to do so after she was done. Letting her words sink in, the group were surprised to see two streaks of blood flowing from his eyes.

"Sorry", he said wiping the blood "Tear ducts haven't fully formed yet so whenever I cry… I cry blood and not normal tears. "I'm sorry… truly I am. I don't know how much trouble I caused but I swear I'll make amends".

"You don't have to do things like that James", said Sakuya sighing "Just promise you won't do stupid things like you normally do".

"Awww", he said taking a step back and faked being hurt "But you know me Sakuya, I'm always at the mercy of my whims and go wherever they take me, often leading me to trouble".

"James", warned the veteran

"I know, I know", he said sounding a little cheery now "I can't promise to completely change but I'll try to not be so troublesome".

"I guess that's the best we can hope for", said Soma with a sigh.

"There are a great many questions and no doubt all of this seems like a lot to take in", said Sakaki standing up from his seat "For now I suggest that we all head back to our rooms and get a little rest".

"By the way", said James tilting to the side so that Sakaki could see him "Do I still have my room?"

"Yes we've left it alone ever since you ran off on your little quest", replied the doctor "Also I've kept your status as M.I.A and not K.I.A, easier that way".