Samurai SEED

by AJ-Writer

Kira's a lowly ramen bar waiter in wartorn world. Thrust into an age of warriors where legends are made, Kira don a mask and found he's fighting not only against his enemies but also his very own demons. New chapter is up! PLEASE, PLEASE Read and Review!

60. Dance of Shadow and Light Part 0

Part 0

Okay… this is what years of writing and wringing my brain to the very limits had done.

It is a rather convoluted Arc. So… I'm going to explain a bit on what you guys are about to read. This arc primarily contains three storylines: Kira (Kage), Lacus (Hikari), and Noir. The story of Noir, in particular, happened 8 years in the past, based on the point of view of separate storytellers. But I promise you… they will merge together into one at the very end.

There will be quite a bit of jumping back and forth in all these three storylines, so I will try to make it easier for the readers.

And because of it's size, it'll be split into an 8 chapter Arc. 8 Chapter update, with each chapter is 28-30,000 words long. I don't know if anyone in the history of had ever done this. But I know it's my first. I will update each chapter in intervals so you guys can read them slowly.

Enjoy.

0000000-8Years ago-0000000

Around a month after Athrun first joined the circle…

"…this… feels… morbid."

"Try not to let it show."

"Remind me again why I'm pushing your wheelchaired ass to this place?"

"Because today, Judge Shiro is officially retiring."

Rosso, then still trainee, is holding on Noir's still wheelchair bound form, hiding in the shadow of a column, one of many that lined a dark marbled corridor leading to a door.

"Didn't he retire six months ago?"

"He did. But today we make it official."

"What's the difference?" Rosso rethink his question a bit… then quickly rephrased the question: "What's with the six months?"

"A Magister Judge is given a 6 months grace period to reconsider his retirement. The 6 months had passed; he had not changed his mind."

"And do you expect to change my mind now, Judge Noir?"

The two child Judges turned to see a man who just addressed them as he walked across the corridor, escorted by two armed guards, both also masked. The man had stopped his pace to address the two Judges hiding in the shadows.

Noir sighed and signaled Rosso. The Red Judge pushed the chair and the two appeared out of the shadows. "Judge Shiro."

Even wearing his unblemished white mask and white Judge Coat, it was obvious this is a very old man. His one visible hand is thin and wrinkled. And the other hand… is clockwork prosthetic.

"What happened to Judge Carmine is not your fault." Noir started.

"And it's certainly not yours, either." Shiro nodded calmly then he turned to Noir. Even with the mask, the fact the boy behind the mask was still upset couldn't be more obvious. And then Shiro did something unexpected. He removed his mask.

"Judge Shiro-!"

"It's alright." The elderly monocled man smiled. "Carmine had unmasked me and I'm about to retire anyway. What hardship revealing it to a few more trustworthy souls, hm?"

"Judge Shiro…" Letting a Judge's face seen by others is tantamount to instant retirement. The man is resolute.

"…my decision to retire… has nothing to do with Carmine." Shiro knelt to see the two children at eye level. "Aah… You must be Judge Rosso, honored to meet you at last."

"The honor is mine, my Lord Judge. Y… You're one of the First Generation Judge who served the circle ever since it was first created… and… I'm still but a humble Trainee."

"Not for long if even half the things I heard about you is right." Shiro smiled very gently. "Let me tell you both a story. My story. When I was a Judge Trainee, I was brilliant, hot headed and intemperate. I wanted so badly to hurry up and finish my training period, get promoted to a Field Judge… and I did. Dare I say I was very good at it. I like it. Right in the field, right in the action, kicking ass and taking names. Even when I lose my arm, there's nothing else I want to be… I even did some good along the way. "

Rosso's eyes gleamed.

"…and then one day, your mentor, Ray Yuki recommended me to be the new Magister Judge. And for your information, young Rosso, Magister Judge is pretty much what your mentor, Noir, has been doing: a desk job. There's rarely any field action, your duty is now to be buried forever behind the table. In the shadows of towering paper stacks and files. Your job is to provide insight, delegating tasks to various Law Enforcement apparatus as well as other Field Judges. You're… NOT allowed to take actions directly." Shiro chuckled. "As you can imagine, those who see this as a demotion is not few. And I'm one such Judge. So. I assert my resolve, went stomping into the office and was about to voice my rejection."

"And…?"

"…never got to say it. Lord Yuki already deduced everything I'm about to say. He invited me to dinner, and he told me this same story I now regale to you both. And… I will also say the same thing he said to me: Being a Judge is never about you. It's about everyone else. It's about the greater good… of all the people who would benefit more if I accept this next step. And it is also in that spirit… that I realized that I have to retire."

"You're doubting your own competence because Carine figured you out?"

"I was already resolute in my decision long before I met Carine, but I waited. Why do you think I waited six months? Because I was waiting… watching. Watching if the next six months will prove me right."

"About what?"

"That Carine isn't an anomaly." Shiro smiled. "Of course, Carine ultimately ruled out unfit for other reasons… but who's to say there won't be other children? Bright and excellent… with the strong moral code to back it up? And I was right. 1 month before my official retirement… and a new bright mind in service of Justice rose up."

Rosso's eyes widened. He did not expect Judge Shiro would suddenly bring him into the story.

"This is your time now, your future. As long as the two of you are here then the people would be in good hands. As for me… My time has passed. I'm old. The way I am right now… I'm more a liability to the people than help. I'm more useful to the people as a people rather than a Judge. They need my retirement more than my active service."

"What do you mean Liability? You had so much wisdom to share…" Rosso argued back… but Shiro smiled. "…Noir, say something! Noir?"

That's when he realized Noir also didn't say anything. He just tucked his head down. He's…given up? "…can I witness it?"

"!" Rosso shot a look at Noir.

The guards finally argued. "That's not standard protocol, Judge Noir-"

"We all know, one day… this will happen to me too. No exceptions."

"…w… what?" Rosso gawked.

"…very well. And him?" The Guards were referring to the Trainee.

"I can vouch for him." Noir shrugged.

The Guards say no more, and Shiro returned to the procession with another look backward. The still perplexed Rosso pushed Noir to follow from behind.

The door at the end of the alleyway opened on its own, and when the entourage went through it, they entered into a room. An empty room… with a single chair in the middle. However, Rosso quickly noticed this stone basin floating above the chair… and this crystal ball floating atop the basin. "What is that?"

"It's called a Pensieve."

"And what is that?"

"…this is my first time seeing it too."

Rosso learned later that sometimes it's best not to ask too many questions. For now, this is a moment of silence, not inquiries. Shiro was seated into the chair, and though he clearly didn't resist, he was chained unto it. Once everything is ready, the two guards stood ready, and one of them began reading the final rites.

"Judge Shiro, by your own request, you have tendered your resignation."

"In honor of your services to this nation and its people, you have been given six months of grace period."

"As per protocol, you are granted one final chance to reconsider."

"And one final wish to be granted."

"The former will not be necessary." Shiro gave one final smile at Noir and Rosso. "And the latter has been fulfilled."

"Then… may you find peace in blissful ignorance." The Guards placed Shiro's mask on his face one last time… and then…

The old man suddenly jerked as something began to sliver out of his head into the basin above. At first, he was firm and stoic, seemingly unaffected… but within seconds, he began to trash and groan, the reason he was chained unto that chair became apparent. His arms and legs jerked against the restraints, struggling to break free, to reach for his mask… his head… meanwhile, more and more of this silver matter continue to flow out of his head… "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGHHH! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGHHHH!" Rosso nearly jumped when Shiro start screaming, but Noir gestured him to stay.

A full 2 minutes later, and it was over… Shiro slumped lifelessly on his chair, and the silver matter finally stopped flowing from his head. It accumulated into the basin, then flowed into a prepared crystal ball. One of the Guards used his pole pincer to grab the crystal before he tucked it away safely from view with much reference. The other quickly came to Shiro's aid. He removed the man's mask… and then crushed it. "…you can rest now… Mr. Asplund."

The man who was Shiro looked 10 years older than he was 10 minutes ago. The guards unlatched him from his chair and lift him up gently before dragging him out of the room. Just before they left, Rosso made one last eye contact with the former Judge…

This was not the man who had conversed with him before. His eyes were empty, no light, no wisdom, no spark in them. He just met them a few minutes ago, and the old man didn't recognize him.

When the guards and the former Judge finally left, Rosso finally exploded.

"THE FUCK WAS THAT!? D… Did they just brainwash a Judge!?"

"A retired Judge." Noir nodded. "This is the first time I've seen it too. That was the Pensieve. A technology from Februarius, the Magic continent. It has the ability to… extract memories from a subject." Noir explained. "When a Magister Judge retires… they were given a six months grace period to put their affairs in order. They can even delay or cancel their retirement altogether during those 6 months… but… in the case the Judge did not change his mind… protocol demands that Mind wipe will be mandatory."

"…and why the hell was that necessary!?" Rosso growled. "Are you saying that Judge Shiro, THE Judge Shiro, one of the oldest, most respected Judge alive, can't be trusted to keep secrets!?"

"It's not the matter of trust. It's mercy." Noir gazed at Rosso. "You've been only a Judge Trainee for a month… Now… look me in the eye and tell me that you weren't happier a month ago… when you didn't know the things you know today."

Athrun was stumped silent. In just one month, Athrun's world had been turned upside down in so drastic a manner. The Hell's Month, the colloquially named Judge training period had… utterly shattered the ignorant boy named Athrun Zala and what's left of the pieces was rebuilt into Rosso. Everything he thought he knew… everything that made his childhood such joyful, blissful experience… were destroyed utterly. And his coping mechanism earned him a reputation as a Judge with the foulest mouth in the history of the Circle.

By comparison, Kira had spent a little over 2 years secretly being a Judge while serving the Zala family as his butler… Athrun can now see why no one noticed. The Kira he knew was meek, timid, and crybaby… But the experience… no… the damage inflicted by his time as a Judge seems to have caused him to develop this character so unbelievably different than his day to day identity… this cold, ruthless, and calculating Noir persona was barely recognizable next to the Kira he knew.

"You think hell's month is bad? You haven't seen anything yet. I've told you before… once you enter this world… you won't walk out of it the same way. Being a Judge means you'll see things you're not supposed to know. Doing things that'll give you nightmares. That's occupational hazard. Sometimes… it's better off not knowing."

"And what about you?" Rosso growled. "What about us? Are you saying if I'm to quit now, they'll brain fuck us both!?"

"You're fresh out of Hell's Month, Trainee Rosso. Outstanding score notwithstanding… you're barely a risk. Unless you choose to be one."

"And you? You're a risk? Even after everything you've done!?"

"As Judge Shiro had said…" Noir calmly stated: "It's never about me."

A few months – and many successful cases later, including the latest one…

"…I really don't think this is necessary."

"Please. Master Noir, I'm indebted to you for life. If I don't do at least this much, I'll always feel something amiss forever."

"But still…? Isn't this a bit… much…?"

Noir was referring to this wide spread of delicacies before him. The counter table had already been filled to the brim and Helga is still making more. "Thanks to your help, not only have I regained my skill and heart as a chef, you even managed to return the money I thought lost. Think of it this way, all the restaurant I had asked you to taste, you had yet to taste the most important one. Mine."

"Let's not forget, we have something else to celebrate!" Lacus hugged Noir from behind and snuggled against his spiky brown hair. She'd soon regret it. Because unlike Bert's fluffy head, Noir's actual spiky haired head is really… well… spiky! "Ouch!" She bobbed back with a pout as she rubbed her prickled cheek. "Your injuries. They are healing aren't they?"

"Yes… well… that is true…" Even Noir was amazed. His arm, his leg, his eye… for months they've showed no sign of progress… but now, a mere three days after that brutal chess match with Carine, with all his wounds reopened, it's like some kind of breakthrough was made, and his body began healing itself at an accelerated pace. Now his left eye is almost at full recovery, his leg is back to full function, and now there's only intermittent tremor in his still emancipated left hand, which are also recovering. Lacus theorized that now, for his body to regenerate properly, they need to be supplied with multitudes of nutrients and calories to fuel the healing process, hence Helga, Lacus and then even Rosso joined forces to fix his bad eating habit.

At this rate, Lacus projected he will make full recovery by this month's end. After that it's just the matter of rehabilitation and stretching muscles he hadn't used for a while, something she knew Noir will have no problem with. "It's still a bit ways off, but let's just make this an ahead of the time celebration! Besides…" Lacus puffed. "I had a feeling you'll rush back to work as soon as you're fully healed!"

"Uwah, you've really come to know him well, Princess." Rosso chuckled in the background. He's resisting the urge to crack the old wife's joke.

"Next time, Sis, I'd wish you tell me about this!" Lamia groaned next to Rosso. "I almost had a heart attack when Lady Cornelia told me you about the whole wretched affair…"

"I don't want to disturb you." Lacus looked apologetically at Lamia. "Last time I checked, you were really hard at training. Sorry…! Bu~ut… in the end, it's A-okay! Thanks to Master Noir, everything ends well!"

"Not sure if closing your orphanage and losing guardianship of the Forest count as 'ends well'." Lamia frowned.

"For the record, legally speaking, the Clyne family still owns the lands. The forest just grew there, thus, everything… and everyone's in it… is part of the property value. Legally speaking." Noir stated, and everyone knew who he meant. Both Guinevere and Carine are now both trapped inside that forest for an unforeseeable future. They're both now… part of the land that Lacus own… it's a maddeningly ironic twist. "Not sure about how the custodianship of the forest works… but still…" The Black Judge turned to Lacus. "…you didn't lose the orphanage. But you choose to close it altogether… are you sure that's for the best?"

"It's fine." Lacus smiled. "What happened with the Britannia Bistro taught me a valuable lesson. You said it yourself: we had to take it all the way back to square one. Then square one it'll be. Even if we do know that housing doesn't actually affect the food situation much, but if we're going to teach people to lessen their dependence on magic, we'll have to start from the very basic of example. This is the first step forward."

"So it is." Noir crossed his arms in deep thought. "And the kids?"

"We can stay and camp in the Forest if need be." Lacus nodded. "We may have lost true custodianship of the forest… but as long as we continue to care for the forest as we had been, the Forest will not mind."

"I see… That's… good." Noir raised a letter. "Though, should the need arise, this 'token of apology' from Odysseus Eu Britannia will surely come in handy."

"I accepted it, but I still don't like it." That 'token of apology' essentially amount to payment for Madame Helga's 'services' being Charles Zi Brtitannia handing ownership of about a quarter of Guinevere's personal asset to Lacus. That's the equivalent of Februarius' GDP for a full year. The Princess had frowned in disgust when she read the letter the first time and was sorely tempted to toss it into the fireplace, but was reminded by Noir that the orphans needed the interesting number of zeroes on that token more than Lacus needed her moral high ground. "The way he handled it, it's as if his daughters are well and truly dead already."

"…that's just the kind of person he is…" Noir sighed in exasperation and sorrow. "…and he raised his children to be like that too. That's a problem…"

Lacus looked at Noir's gloom figure. She said something under her breath, inaudible to anyone…

"Hm?" Noir blinked. "Did you say something, Princess?"

"No." Lacus smiled awkwardly at Noir. "Nothing."

What Lacus said in an inaudible whisper under her breath, no one can hear. No one without a Clyne's exceptional ear that is. And Lamia is still a Clyne, so she heard it all, word per word. And what her sister said is something she never thought she'll hear from her.

'I dearly hope your children won't be like that…'

If a sharp eared ignorant Clyne heard that, it is but an innocent figure of speech, and that was all. But… Lamia is Lacus' twin and she hears more. The tone. The intonation. The pressure on every syllable. She can read the emotion in every word… the word 'Your' that verge so closely to 'our'… the implication was so blatant it's giving her heartburn. Lamia's ears turned red despite herself. That's when she felt a clasp on her shoulder.

Rosso's gentle green eyes shined beneath the slits of his mask. He didn't say a word, but he knowingly gestured her to find some excuse to leave the two alone.

Lamia followed Rosso away from the Kitchen, but Lamia could barely wait and immediately erected a soundproof bubble as soon as they were outside the house so that she can screech near hysterically without drawing too much attention. "H… How long h-h-has this b-b-been going on!?" She was so nervous she was sputtering the words.

"I don't know. I've only been here for three days." Rosso looked in sympathy at the blushing and embarrassed little sister who just realized her much adored big sister had begun showing first signs of attractions to opposite sex.

The fact that even Rosso noticed this means she wasn't imagining things, and that was just even worse. Rosso chuckled. "Relax, milady. This is normal for someone of her age? She had a crush, and what of it?"

"No, no, Master Rosso, you don't understand. I'm her sister, I hear more. I know what 'crush' sounds like, and this isn't that! This is way beyond that! I…" She was fretting pretty badly. "What should I do!?" She desperately pleaded help to the wisest person in the room.

"What should…? I don't know…" Unfortunately for her that wisest man is a Judge. A love counselor he is not. "…give them… our blessing? Referring to Case Ragwilt v. Terryn (AN: Chapter 55)… maybe we should uh… call in a priest and officiate a shotgun wedding? Just in case?"

"Give them our blessing!?" The poor girl is one breath away from hysterics. "Shotgun wedding!? Where can one find a Shotgun for that!? Why do we need a shotgun? What is a Shotgun!?"

As established previously, a love councilor he is not. Rosso immediately tried to find the best way to console her… he took a deep breath and a few seconds of silence to arrange his thoughts and words, and he started with a gentle clap on her shoulder. "Milady… having a crush or affection on a seemingly superheroic figure is something that is normal to happen to females. Young and old. It's like a storm. And during that time, it's not even weird that one would fantasize things with their idol. But you know what else storms do? They pass. They die down with time. It'll wane eventually."

"…and if it doesn't?"

"Well…" Athrun smiled behind the mask. "This… is a bit of a breach of protocol… and yes, perhaps I'm being subjective… but I actually DO know the man behind Noir's mask. Personally. And he's… the bravest and wisest man I've ever met. And he deserve better than what he's willing to ask. And if even half the stuff I've read about your sister is true… then I'd say they both deserve a win."

"I… I guess…" Lamia also began to calm down and think it a bit more. Before Lamia met with the Judges, she always thought her Sister was the wisest person she knew. She still do, actually. But for all her whimsical fancies, all her childish behaviors, Lacus is NOT the kind of person who would just give in to fleeting emotions. If she decided someone deserves her affection… that person had earned it.

Realizing this, the younger Clyne sighed in relief.

"What are you doing?"

"WHAAA!" She barely had the time to enjoy the serenity, her sister's head popped through the soundproof bubble she made for privacy so suddenly, scaring the living daylights out of its occupants.

Lacus smiled innocently inside the invisible sound proof bubble, looking at her sister… who just jumped into the Red Judge's arms in fright when she asked that simple question. "Why are you using a sound bubble?"

"E… Ehh… we… needed the privacy…!?"

"We're just talking. Some sensitive matter."

And her ears analyzed this much; her sister: panicked and disorganized. The Red Judge: calm and very controlled, even with the voice distortion. Though she had learned from the best that Judges are masters of suppressing their emotion. "Hm." Lacus only tilted her head and smiled mischievously. "Madame Helga had finished cooking. We need your help to carry them to the dining table?"

"Gladly." It was also around that time Lamia realized she was still being carried in Rosso's arm, princess style. She politely apologizes after she gets down with a face even redder than her hair.

Not long after, in the Dining Hall…

The private dining table is filled with handpicked guests. Reluctantly seated at the place of honor at the head of the table, is the man of the hour, Noir. On his right is his most trusted strong right arms, Rosso, and on his left, Lacus, glancing earnestly at Noir. Following next to her is the now much calmer Lamia, Salazar Slytherin, Rowena Ravenclaw and Odysseus Eu Britannia. Next to Rosso are Godric Gryffindor, Hugo Hufflepuff, Fayt and Sophie. Mars Simeon and especially Helmina Hufflepuff insisted to help wait the tables for the evening.

"I'm humbled by the invitation, lady Clyne." Odysseus nodded in gratitude to Lacus. "Though… I wonder if I deserve this…"

"You're the only Britannia in this whole damn case who acted with any measure of decency." Noir firmly reassured the nervous lord. "I'd like to add, you're more like a victim rather than a willing accomplice. You've earned this."

"What he said." Lacus grinned in assurance, and Odysseus complained no more.

"Now then, Mesdames et messieurs…" Helga clapped her hands. "Special for today, we shall serve my Full Course meal: the Wheel of 8 Emotions. In honor of the man I served this course today, I beg your indulgences, for we will not be serving any wine or alcohol. Master Noir, this is the food of the special course I used to make in my restaurant. Please, enjoy."

Hors d'oeuvre: Sadness, Roasted Brioche with Pea and ricotta and slices of truffles

Everyone ate the brioche. The minute Noir took a bite… the minute everyone take a bite… the so called appetizer was met immediately with universal silence. The effect was incredibly varied. Lacus, Lamia, Odysseus, and the Hufflepuffs seem unmoved, but nodded in acknowledgement. Noir and Rosso looked as if they were straining themselves a bit uncomfortably under their masks, shifting something beneath them, as if they were trying to hold something back. But the rest of the guests… Godric, Rowena, and Salazar turned sullen, Fayt and especially Sophie was the one most affected, more so than everyone else at the table. Sophie broke down crying.

"Sophie?" The two Judges looked in concern at the girl.

"I'm sorry." She whispered between sobs. "…I just… I was just reminded of my dad. Of the happy times we used to have together."

Noir frowned. "…if I had forced you to dig up old wounds, miss, I'm-" "Allow me to assure you, Master Judge." Sophie smiled. "It most definitely wasn't you."

"Madame's Hufflepuff' dish is famous not only because of its taste." Odysseus explained. "It also lies in its ability to induce certain emotions inside people's hearts. This is her Hors D'oeuvre, sadness. Or in this case, tranquility… we were reminded of… a little taste of home."

"…" Noir tilted his head, looking at his bitten brioche… it taste pretty plain. "Do forgive me… but I fail to see the link here."

"It's a hit or miss, this one." Lamia was similarly unaffected.

"But the rest won't be. Of that I can assure you." Lacus grinned. Quite the opposite of what the emotion should entail.

Soup-Souppe: Disgust, Blood and Zuppa Innard soup – with Luwak Coffee infusion

The next dish was soup, covered in a pie crust… But the minute they broke the crust… the pitch black red soup looks… really gory and ugly. Why… the patches of black spots made a simulacra of a howling face… Honestly, if this wasn't made by the legendary Madame Helga, most people's reaction will be to toss it to the nearest garbage bin or spit pot. What's more, the garnish in that soup include…

"…testicles?" Rosso's eyes visibly twitched. "And… Luwak Coffee infusion… you do understand that's animal pellet, yes?"

"Testicle is a delicacy in some parts of the world, you know?" Lacus fearlessly eat it as she said this.

Rosso sweat dropped as he finally resolved to close his nose and took a sip.

In less than 10 minutes, his bowl was licked clean to the very edge of the plate. And he found he wasn't the only one. Noir had finished his in absolute and entranced silence. First sip and surprisingly enough, it hit their tongue with a powerful but refreshing flavor that lasted only a while. Enticing them to eat more and more… the trick is to eat it together with the chewy testicle to prolong the experience, but it felt as if something's missing, so everyone would want to sip more and more… And now they're all glaring at that empty innocent bowl, as if they're blaming the plate for being so small, thus it was holding so little of the soup with such an addictive and appetizing taste.

Fish-Poisson: Anger, cooked fish bones with infused essence of the sea

For a minute, when Noir first read that menu, he thought Madame Helga must be joking.

She wasn't.

They were literally being served a plate filled with a single complete fishbone, head to tail. And nothing else. The food name had the title Anger in it… and indeed, if normal customer is being served this, they would rightfully be angry. However, Noir was no ordinary customer. His keen eye quickly noticed this bone isn't exactly bone. The fish bone was composed of a very mesmerizing and near translucent crystalline structure.

"Well?" Rosso looked at Noir, waiting for his verdict.

"In times like this, Buddy, my eyes are useless. I don't taste food with them."

Which translate: stop talking, stop leering, and eat your fishbone. The two Judges took their fishbone and inhaled a deep breath, before they took one big bite of the heads. One crackling chew in their mouth and they looked at each other, questioning if their tongue still sane… because it is being bombarded with the full taste of the ocean every time the crunchy crystalline bone were further grinded to dust with every bite before melting into pure fish umami of the sea in their mouth. Every zircon of this crystalline fishbone is pure freshness of ocean's bounty condensed with none of their pungency, it made them feel like all the fish they've eaten before were rotten.

Meat: Anticipation, Charcuterie of Carnivorous Monarchy: the Dragon's Symphony

When the meat dish arrive, the two Judges were still under the afterglow of what is possibly the most exotic but also the most oceanic seafood they've ever eaten their whole life… and now suddenly, they were given this… this picturesque miniature model of a Dragon, whose scales were made of beautifully arranged cuts of meat from various parts of various animals, from beef to pork, Snakes to bats, even lions and elephants, from snout to tail. Each slice of meat was even cooked and seasoned differently. Honestly… the previous entrée was good enough to stand on its own as the main dish, and now this looks like it will blow the top of that.

Except in the case of the uninitiated like the Judges, they were more terrified on what kind of culinary storm will hit their tongue when they sink their teeth into that… that juicy, thick, rich… and mouth wateringly fatty… meat…

The plate didn't even last 5 minutes. If the Judges didn't have their masks, everyone would be treated with the sight of two ravenous and positively carnivorous children who looked like they're about to eat everyone whole. But as the fragrant fume of the carnivorous carnival of meat savoriness still hazing their senses, that's when they've realized their big mistake: everyone else is STILL eating their food, savoring every drop of delight passing through their tongue and throat as slo~owly as they can, prolonging the ecstasy.

And they keep doing it for the next 15 minutes or so. 15 minutes where the two Judges control of their emotions and self restraint were tested. Now they understand the meaning of Anticipation in the menu's name. Although perhaps it can be rephrased as 'the Reason Tantalizing is a punishment in Hell'. 5 minutes later, Rosso could've sworn he had contemplated suicide at least twice. Another 5 minutes, and Noir's finger is twitching dangerously, counting the number of sins he had committed to deserve this pain and suffering… in the last 5 minutes, the two Judges excuse themselves from the table… because Lacus and Lamia would hear them bashing their heads against the wall until it bleeds to endure the agony of keeping their discipline this long. They were on the very edge of psychotic nervous breakdown if the next food, the main dish, the piece de résistance didn't come out even a second later than the next headbang.

Main: Joy, All in One

At first glance… "Is this pilaf?" Noir tilted his head at this plate of cooked rice before him – as soon as Lacus finished bandaging his head.

"Looks more like a Risotto…?" or so Rosso thought… now he's not so sure.

"No, no, I can see some stains of olive oil and the grains aren't as mushy… is this Paella?" Lacus didn't recognize it.

"With all these soupy? No… Maybe Jambalaya…?" Even Odysseus was also at lost.

"…I'm… this is a new recipe…?" Rowena, who can boast to have memorized every recipe Helga had ever made, came up blank.

"Children, chomp in! The food is getting cold!"

But when they took a bite…

If their heads are volcanoes, then it just exploded magnificently in a gigantic nuclear mushroom cloud of savouriness, taking out the entire building while they're at it. All the food they have eaten so far: the Brioche, the Zuppa, The Fishbone, the Dragon… the taste that had mellowed into afterglow in their mouth instantly exploded back to the forefront in a symphony of flavors as every grain of rice erupted in their mouth, flooding them with condensed flavor of pure deliciousness. One building up over the other… before a tidal wave of mellow and soft fragrance swept them up only to elevate them all into one single unity.

No one said anything. This was too delicious to be graced with any heavy handed words. When the plate was clean, not even a single grain left, the guests were still speechless. Kira and Lacus struggled to get their act together… at least trying their damndest to use every ounce of their not so insignificant intelligence and cooking talent to figure out how mere mortals can create such a dish. But as they barely scrape the surface, they got one ingredient which revealed the true form of this main dish.

"It's omelet." They declared ceremoniously.

"What?" Rowena glared in disbelief.

"At least… on the surface that's what it is." Lacus rubbed her chin in deep thought.

"But… EVERY grain of rice on this dish… is actually the world's smallest but perfectly cooked omelet…" Noir's head came out blank on how on earth the Madame was able to achieve that. "And every single one of this Omellete Grain had different seasoning… X.O. sauce made from… all the food we had before from Hors d'oeuvre to Meat dish… all concentrated into the egg… All in One."

Lacus and Kira suddenly understand what this is. Helga had asked them to cook her their Omelette as their admission test into her apprenticeship. To their credit, they have both impressed Helga to a scale hitherto unheard of. And then to face each other, they pulled all the stops and tried their best to create what's in their mind the greatest omelette in the world. And to that, Madame Helga faced them… with this.

Compared to this, their world is like a festival on a tiny insignificant speck… facing the infinite expanse of a Galactic Juggernaut.

Lacus and Kira sighed and chuckled in relieved resignation. "We still got a LO~OONG way to go…"

"You'll get there." Helga smiled in encouragement, noticing and gladdened that her two prized Apprenti get the message. "Eventually." They didn't lose spirit. Just the opposite.

And the three laughed in joy.

Salad: Trust, pickled puffer fish ovary salad

"Puffer fish ovary!?" Rosso gulped. "You do realize that's a class A contraband item!?"

"Contraband?" Salazar gulped. "You're saying this thing is illegal?"

"No… I'm saying it needs special permit… but still…" Rosso scratched his head. "Puffer Fish can be eaten, but… only after its poisonous parts are cut out. But the Ovary is basically the part that SHOULD be cut out! It's THE most poisonous component of the fish!"

"And we're getting served that?" Godric gestured at this piece of item at the center of the salad. "The menu said it clearly enough: pickled Puffer fish ovary salad. Ovary!"

"Did you say Pickled?" Noir asked again.

"Ink on paper."

"So it is…" Lacus take one last look… and eat the ovary. "Umm…! Interesting. You should try this, Noir-kyun, it's quite unique… very nice palate cleanser!"

"Is that right?" and Noir followed without even a moment's hesitation. "…this is the first time I actually eat this… I can actually still feel the sting of the poison!"

"Eh?" Salazar balked. "What do you mean poison!? Didn't Madame Helga already neutralize it?"

"Actually, no." Lacus chuckled. "A classmate of mine told me about it. Removing all the poison from the ovary is impossible… but they CAN be weakened. You just have to pickle it in Sake Lees for at LEAST a few years… It's an extremely rare delicacy from Japan… only three restaurants in the whole country dared to serve it. Three. In a country inhabited by super soldiers capable of eating things that will make you puke your belly out. The poison is actually what makes it delicious. They just weakened it so that it won't kill you. And before you ask, you don't need to be a super soldier to enjoy it."

The guests were a bit unnerved, but eventually, they all partake. Rosso, Hugo, and Godric started first, then the rest followed with varying degree of satisfaction. "I don't know… this one dish I…" Salazar frowned as he uneasily munched his ovary. "I'm not sure I can enjoy this with fear."

"We've been served all kinds of things over this amazing full course: blood soup, fishbone, even dragons." Lacus chortled. "Haven't we tasted enough of Madame Hufflepuff to trust her skills with our lives at this point?"

The audience finally nodded, now understanding the name.

Dessert: Fear, durian bomb pudding

"Oh no…" Everyone ceremoniously declared… when Madame Helga served the dessert: a whole durian for each guest. For the record, unlike with the Puffer fish, everyone knows it's not poisonous. It's not even illegal!

But the smell…

"Even that Blood zuppa soup at the beginning had nothing on this…!" The stink of durian. Dear sweet lord above. It's like someone projectile farted into their faces. And they haven't even opened the fruit yet! Fear. How aptly named.

"Oh god…!" That fear was vindicated as soon as they crack the crust open. The smell amplified a hundredfold. The more religious of the consumer made holy sigils before they could swallow.

And it was delicious. Very delicious. Somehow, Madame Helga had taken out the two thirds of the fruit's meat and replaced them with Durian lava cake mousse and Durian ice cream, before enclosing them all back into the fruit. The condensed flavor elevated the sweetness of durian a hundredfold… but so is the smell, unfortunately.

Drink: Surprise.

Because of that, there's no description beyond that one word, but the guests didn't mind.

Here, they've reached the end of the banquet… content and satisfied. This isn't just about taste. It was a carnival of all senses… and emotions too. Even the Judges, so called master of self control were made to let their guard down, their emotion showed on their cloak. Literally, in some case.

"We're gonna get into trouble for this aren't we?" Rosso looked down at his cloak… smeared in all kinds of sauce and mess. The casualty of their momentary loss of all moral inhibition. Resulting in their reversion to the gluttony embodied. It was that delicious, it was that intoxicating. And it really felt… alleviating. The Judges had been trained to always keep control of their emotions, so it's actually a relief that they were allowed to let loose once in a while like this.

"Na~ah… personally I feel like it's the least of our worries…"

As soon as he said that, Helmina timidly served the last part of the meal…

Champagne and Cheese.

Noir twitched. "…Madame Hufflepuff, I… I understand you promised there won't be alcohol?"

Helga only smiled meaningfully. "Would Lady Clyne do me the honor of tasting it first?"

And so Lacus took a sip… "It tasted definitely like Champagne… Madame… but… but…" Lacus blinked, as if wondering if her tongue gone weird. She took another sip… The taste is about right… the zest is right… but her body says different. "…there's no alcohol!?"

"What?" Everyone gasped in surprise.

"A non alcoholic liquor!?" Noir gawked. Now this IS a surprise.

"You're not the first acute lightweight customer I had, Apprenti Noir." Helga smiled. "So… back in Aprillus in my spare time, I experimented on a new type of liquor that had never existed before. One that gives the imbiber all the fun… and none of the hangover. Took me five years, and almost all of my savings… but I did it."

"How come we've never heard of this?" Rosso begin to partake, and… wow… it's hard to believe there's no alcohol in this. "The patent alone would make you a fortune!?"

"Perhaps. I was planning on introducing this in my bistro… but I ran out of funding just as I succeeded in getting the recipe right… alas, the whole pension issue came over, and I was forced to close down. I never had the chance to make more and introduce it to the public. Every one of you… now had the honor to be the firsts in the whole world to taste this invention of mine."

"…" Noir looked at his glass; his was the only one untouched at the moment. But… She made this… not just for him, but to all those people who wanted to enjoy the taste of alcohol but physically could not. If he ever said he wasn't the least bit envious to those who can, he would be lying.

Now in this glass is his chance to finally understand what it feels like, with no risk. Sound almost too good to be true, but… to doubt the blood, sweat, and tears of the woman who had made this possible for people like him… would be in very poor taste.

He took his glass, stood up, and raised it in salute to their matron. "For Madame Helga… and the perfect banquet!"

Everyone ceremoniously raised their glass and toasted. "For Madame Helga, and the Perfect Banquet!"

And then they drink to her health.

Noir drank the whole glass, and to Helga's eternal credit, she succeeded. Noir did not faint. In fact, he asked another. "So this is how liquor taste." Noir tilted his head seeing this golden brown sparkling substance in his glass. "Interesting… VERY interesting. Not sure I understand the appeal though. As in… I've actually seen people with no inhibition went roaring ass drunk because of this?"

"It is an acquired taste, Master Noir." Godric took another and savor it slowly. "I liked red wine myself, but this isn't bad."

"Liquor also tastes good with cheese!" Lacus giddily plucked a slice of cheese and offered it to Noir with a fork. "Go ahead and try it!"

"Okay." Noir paused when he saw Lacus is holding on to the fork with the cheese, placing it before him, with her expectant baby blue eyes in the background. They've had this routine before, hadn't they? He now had two functioning arms, but… he learned better to deny the Princess her whims.

"Nom." Noir sighed and chomped the cheese straight from the fork, much to Lacus' delight…

CRASH!

…and he immediately fell flat on the table, head first and unconscious.

"EH!?" Needless to say, this second surprise of the day is not exactly pleasant. Lacus immediately checked the unconscious Judge… and her diagnose came out as: "…He's dead drunk."

"WHAT?" Even Helga was shocked. "But… there's no alcohol in the champagne, YOU'VE said so yourself!"

"It's not in the Mock Champagne…" Rosso is tasting something else… "It's the cheese. It's Port Wine Cheese."

Meaning, it came built in with alcohol content.

"…B… but the alcohol content in those cheese are extremely LOW, they're practically inexistent!? It's almost impossible to get drunk unless you eat it by the blocks…!?" Helga gawked in disbelief. Noir only ate one small piece… "…Mademoiselle Lacus… can a human be THAT lightweight?"

"It's… it's a very… VERY small percentage… rare almost to a legendary degree… I've only read about it…" This is the first time Lacus see it for herself…

And so, on that last surprising note, Helga's perfect banquet finally come to a satisfying end…

Chapter 60

The Dance of Shadow and Light – Part 0:

Prologue: Storytellers

When Noir woke up again, everyone had already cleaned up the table and washed the plate. Hugo had brought Helmina home after they finished cleaning up. Godric and Salazar had already gone up and left, and Helga is catching up with Rowena in the corner.

Rosso stood guard and awake in the field outside the cabin and was the first to welcome him. "Hey, sleepyhead. How are you doing?"

"Head still spinning, but getting there." Noir finally noticed a certain pink haired girl kneeling in the other corner, with an actual white dunce hat on her head. "Let me guess. She's the one who bought the cheese."

Rosso confirmed with an offer of drink. Water. Offer gratefully accepted.

"C.C. told me Lord Yuki will be coming here by the end of this week." Noir started. "You better leave for Aprillus tonight."

"I don't think it matters. They knew I'm here." Rosso sighed. "Carine broadcasted not only your match, but also everything that came after. It only ended after she was put into her imprisonment. Apparently, it was broadcasted not just allover Februarius… but also on select spots in Aprillus. Judge HQ, among other things."

"Well, shit."

"Doesn't matter." Rosso grunted. "When his Lordship arrived, I'm gonna ask if he can let me stay here for the foreseeable future!"

"Rosso! I'm not the one breaking out of suspension!"

"You expect me to leave you here, alone? After what that madman blathering about the other day!?"

"And that's all it is: a blathering of a madman. This isn't new: seditionist, naysayers, doom prophets and whatnot… madmen all… we've seen worse!"

"None of them are this guy. None of them managed to stage the infamous 'Black Rebellion' that nearly burned Novembrius to the ground 10 years ago!"

"That was before our time. And Lord Yuki managed to put it down, didn't he? We've read all that in the history book. Hell, we've seen the man's clothing with a sword tear run through it! Zero died. Betrayed by his own men in the end. As Charlatan often do. Look, Lord Yuki's coming, and I'll tell him about this 'impostor Zero', every single bit, every word he said. He'll know what to do." Were this coming from any normal people, Rosso would dismiss those words as foolish ignorance. And he knew it deep in his heart that Noir was far from being as ignorant as his carefully chosen of words. This… isn't the type of conversation they should have here.

"…alright." Rosso sighed.

"Besides, we have bigger concern at the moment. The situation in Februarius still needs fixing. And I need your help. And it is precisely because I need your help… that I need you to go back to Aprillus."

Rosso took a deep breath… and his mind immediately focused on the matter of Februarius. Noir need his help, but not here. He needs him to do something that can only be done in Aprillus. Either as Rosso or as Athrun Zala. "…What do you need of me?"

"I have a list."

It was but a list of names… but as Athrun skimmed through those names, he knew full well of their job description and skill level. And he quickly understand why it's these people. "This can't be all, is it?"

"For now, it is. Expect more as the situation develops."

"…indeed."

Whelp. Apparently he'll be going back after all. Besides…

Athrun glanced at the corner… the pink haired princess in the dunce hat had been gleaning glances at them… at Noir… non stop.

'…hmm… maybe… there's no need for me to be too worried after all?'

Around two months after that day…

Judge Noir no longer exists.

Athrun surmised that much when he saw Kira again in Zala household…

His body healed: his eyes shined sharp, his feet steps firm, his arm is steady and strong…

But he was not whole. Not anymore… A huge chunk of him had been forcibly ripped out. He was still the same, still had the intelligence, still the deductive skills, the wit… But the sharpness he cultivated as Judge Noir was gone. All that was left was hollow intellect devoid of wisdom, broken and dull. At least, so much duller than before.

All this happened in two months. That means there's no 6 months grace period.

Alas, he knew the protocol; he knew he must keep his silence. For all intents and purposes, Judge Noir no longer exists, and never had been. And it is forbidden for Judges to look deeper into the matter. A standing order left behind by Lord Ray Yuki just before his final departure. And thus rumor of unsavory sort began to abound, each and every one may… or may not… came close to the truth.

Rosso's silent protest over this treatment to his best friend is also part of the reason why the Crimson Judge vanished from active duty for the next 8 long years. The HQ didn't chase after him for his 'misdemeanor'… they at least still know some shame. Plus… Rosso never got promoted beyond Field Judge. He is, as Noir once put it, barely a risk.

A part of him does feel Kira would be better off without what he had seen and experienced across his short but illustrious career as a Judge… When he saw him again that day in Japan, in that Ramen shop… words can't do justice on how elated he was. Noir's completely gone. And Kira Yamato had been reborn anew. And he's happy! Freed from all the bitterness that had scarred him. That's what matters right?

Yet a part of him also can't help but to wonder…

"…Is this… is this really mercy… My friend…!?"

00000000000000

"Before we get started… does anybody wanna get off?"

"Captain!" Brock immediately raised his rifle, as do everyone…

In a millisecond it took for them to aim, Kage snapped a small ball between him and the troopers. By the time his would be assassins had focused their eyes on the ball, the flashbang bomb ignited.

The bomb brought Kage about a few seconds of blindness. Few precious and long seconds an assassin can easily put to good use. He shunshined straight in front of Brock's nose and swing a punch that smashed the nose bone to his brain. As soon as the man with ruptured brain fell dead, Kage grabbed his Sergeant rifle. He still remembered that accidental trick he pulled off in Archangel when he first used a gun. He immediately turned the Dagger into its glaive mode. This time, it won't be accident anymore. He angled the weapon accurately, and pulled the trigger. The gun roared, the bullet struck a trooper by the throat, and the recoil send Kage whirling violently in multiple slashing spins right towards the still blinded troopers.

By the time the troopers at the rear regained their sight, the first thing they see are the headless bodies of the first line troopers, their heads chopped off in a single stroke. "What the fu-" The trooper didn't have time to finish, a black blur suddenly rammed a glaive right to his head.

"Shoot! Shoot!" The troopers quickly opened fire at the black figure, but he disappeared in a puff as soon as the first shots were fired. Kage rushed upside down on the ceiling while the troopers were still trying to figure out where he is. When they finally looked up, they came face to face with a dozen kunais, one of the poor bastard had the misfortune of being charged glaive first by the dark captain as he fell. Kage immediately rolled as he yanked the glaive out of the man's chest while the remaining troopers opened fire, blowing more holes on the corpse. Kage also loosed a couple of shots of his own, but with his poor aptitude with a gun, he only managed to scare them off to cover. But a lucky shot managed to hit some guy in the knee, earning a scream.

Kage quickly took cover behind a metallic pipe. The troopers also took cover, some loosing suppressive fire. Each shot holed the pipe, sending streams of steam with every hole it made on Kage's cover. Kage realized he had only 3 seconds before his impromptu cover are shot to hell. "How many bullets this thing had left?" Kage checked the rifle's chamber: 1 round left. "Fuck. I hate guns."

BANG! BANG!

1 more second and he's as good as naked. It was then Kage noticed this large barrel underslung the main gun barrel. 'What's this?' He checked the chamber, it's loaded.

A few more shots and his cover is bust. At that moment, Kage immediately came out and fired the big gun. The helldart rocket streaked out just as the troopers came out en masse.

BOOOMM!

Kage took cover to shield himself from the blast as blinding multi colored phantasmagoria erupted. When he finally dared himself to peek out… there wasn't much left of his assailant… safe human shaped markings on the walls. "Well… whatever works."

No sooner than he said that, he heard noises from the other end of the hallway. 'Holy… is everybody aboard this train Corner's assassin?' He knew the old man is definitely a sore loser… he just didn't expect he can go to these extremes. Anyway, with his minimal equipment, Kage will have to use everything he can salvage. 7th division law: you keep what you salvage. And in this case: you can salvage what you kill.

He grabbed a pair of short swords, a pair of handguns… and another rifle with half loaded ammunition. "Okay." He looked at the knives… he need to conserve arsenal, and most of his enemies will give him a hell of a time if he's to go melee. He may have to throw knives away… "Oh. Not okay." He grabbed a pair of ropes and tied them to his knifes. Now they're reusable.

Kage quickly took cover on another pillar just as another pack of assassin troopers are coming. They haven't seen him yet, but they're sweeping in. Kage grasped his rifle tight. In this narrow hallway, he won't have much room to maneuver… then again… so will they. Time to fight his way through.

One last deep breath and Kage sprang out of his cover and fired. His first shot cratered a man's head. His next two shots caught the troopers by surprise, his amateurish aim was able to fire another two shots before they start opening fire. But he's out. Using his small size, Kage took cover behind the shadow of the falling dead bulky trooper, and the others were halted by a few seconds of hesitation. In that time, Kage hurled his empty rifle, in glaive mode, over the dead trooper and killed another trooper. At the same time, he pulled out the two handguns and dual wield them. He quickly fired. His aim is rapidly improving, this time he start scoring kills without luck. The remaining troopers kept firing, but Kage kept zooming from the shadow of one trooper to the next at blurring speed, they can't get a clean shot. In the midst of it all, he kept firing his guns, killing one trooper after another. Finally, both of his guns release that meaningful clicking sound. Empty. A trooper quickly tried to fire but Kage threw the empty handgun at his head. In the mean time he grabbed another gun from a dead trooper. He quickly closed in on the disoriented trooper before he can recover. He jammed the gun down his jaw and pulled the trigger. But he won't let the man fall just yet, he used his corpse as a shield. The troopers futilely fired at the dead body, Kage fired from the man's armpit, scoring more kills. As soon as his gun clicked empty yet again, he grabbed the man's rifle and fired as soon as the dead body fell as he continue to charge forward. Another trooper attempt to shoot him with a handgun just as Kage's rifle rang empty yet again. The Dark Captain quickly threw his roped knife and stabbed the man right in the palm. "GET OVER HERE!" Kage yanked the rope, and the screaming man, back towards him. He grabbed his gun off his useless hand and fired at the one last guy at the end. As he fell dead, Kage turned around and shot the punctured palm man in the head. And he's out of bullets.

He looked back the hallway… it was filled with corpses. "Well… is that it? Is that all you got, Corner!?" He asked to no one in particular. More footsteps down the hall, a peek and Kage had enough time to duck as soon as he saw a trooper with a sniper rifle opened fire. It missed him by a hairbreadth. Still… that was enough time to get a glimpse at yet another battalion on the way. "I had to ask."

Inside the officer's room…

Kaite had heard the shots, heard the explosion… the song he knew all too well.

Jess had cowered beneath the table under his order. "Oi… Kaite… what happened out there?"

"That Corner geezer is a sore loser. That's what happened." Kaite grunted. "Then again… if the guy killed my boy and drove me out of business, I'd be pissed too."

"…so… what are we going to do?"

"The Captain told us to stay here, didn't he?"

"He also told us that he won't have time to cover our arses. We have to cover our own." Jess thought for a moment… and the only idea he came up with is… "Let's stop this train."

"What?"

"I think that's one course of action we can take. Stop this train. Corner placed his men inside the train… we stop this train, everyone will gather around to find out what happened. Both those who are under Corner's payroll or not. When everyone are gathered together, the assassins won't be able to act so brazenly."

"I'm not gonna say that's a wrong mindset…" Kaite blinked. "…but… shouldn't we discuss something like that with the captain first?"

As soon as Kaite said that, he heard a clicking sound… Kaite immediately jumped towards Jess. The ceiling was suddenly blasted apart by shotgun pellets. 'Above!?'

More assassin troopers had crawled from the overhead ducts. "Hrmph." Kaite immediately armed himself: a shotgun battle axe, and an arm lashed shield so that his free hand can grab a rifle. He unloaded a couple of shots at the ceilings. He managed to kill one. The shock was too much and the ceiling plating broke, along with all the Assassin troopers hiding up there. Kaite quickly charged in before the troopers can recover.

The first axe swing quickly beheaded the first unprepared victim. The second one managed to raise his shield, but Kaite's sheer brute strength cleaved the man in two, shield and all. The last two were about to take aim, but Kaite shot them dead in the head with a couple of shots before they can fire.

Seeing these dead Troopers who nearly killed them, Kaite immediately concluded. "Alright. We can't stay here. You're right."

"So… how are we going to get there?"

"Hmm…" Kaite looked at the dead troopers… and then where they come from. "Well… these gentlemen had already provided us with an idea."

"Ah!" Jess also looked up. The engineering ducts up above. "Okay. I'm gonna leave a note so that the captain will know where we're going."

0000000000000

Outside, the Assassin Troopers are gathered around the entrance to the hallway where they know Kage were at the ready… two groups of troopers armed to the teeth are standing by on both sides of the entrance… but upon seeing that corpse filled hall, they're starting to have second, even third and fourth thoughts on the duty entrusted to them.

"Hey!" A trooper on one side asked.

"What?" a trooper on the other side replied.

"What are you waiting for? He's in there! Get him!"

"YOU get him! Did you see the hallway? He just killed like… 30 plus and he hasn't taken a scratch! That guy's a blacklist for a reason!"

"Tell you what… we jumped in on three… and then we fire on every single thing we see in that room."

"I think those 30 plus people thought the same… look where that got them."

"Can't you at least summon enough balls to take a peek, you sissy!?"

"Okay… okay… I'll peek." The trooper timidly peek out of the corner… all he sees is a hallway filled with corpses… but no sign of that nightmarish dark captain. "Okay…" He dared himself to step out of cover… And then he opened fire once, twice… thrice…

"What are you doing?"

"I'm spraying… I think he's hiding under the corpses." He fired one last time… no reaction. "…Eh?" at the fourth shot… still no reaction… "Don't tell me he's not…"

A roped knife fly out of nowhere into his throat. And before he can say anything, he was yanked into the hallway. The rope dragged him across the field of corpses and sucked his whole body right into a pile of bodies. There's a short slink and a disgusting slash… and his head was thrown out of the hole from whence he was sucked in. The head bounced and landed right on the trooper squad at the other side. Everyone thought it was some terror tactics… until they saw a wad of Explosive tags stuffed on the man's mouth.

When the second trooper squad saw their mates turned to bloody pile in a conflagration… they finally understood Kage's brand of terror tactics: it's not terror if only one got killed. And it's working. "Fuck this shit… I'm getting a bazooka!"

"Bazooka?" The trooper shook his head. "That's not gonna be enough."

"Then I'll bring a DOZEN Bazookas. We're gonna blast everything on that room to kingdom come!"

"A dozen?" Underneath the pile of corpses, Kage twitched.

The trooper quickly ran to a nearby heavy weapon armory while his friends frantically sprayed the room for cover to keep the dark captain suppressed. More Assassin troopers were on standby in the armory when they saw the panicked and terrified Trooper arrived.

"What happened?"

"A massacre. But we're about to take care of it." He grabbed a bazooka… and another… and another… until the man get a dozen bazookas… and the spares. "Oi, help me too!" Twelve bazookas are too much for one man to carry.

"Take care of it?" Everyone rolled their eyes seeing that overkill amount of heavy weaponry. "We're supposed to be killing one guy, aren't we?"

"A high functioning psychopath, if you recall. Now help me!"

Back to that hallway, the troopers kept spraying the area. They've already determined that Kage's hiding beneath a bulging mass of corpses at the center. When the trooper arrived with bazookas, they all uniformly aimed all twelve into that one spot. "FIRE IN THE-"

"-hole." Kage suddenly sprang up and fired a shot from his salvaged rifle. The bullet flew straight into the barrel of one of the bazookas. Then he had to slink back into cover as the massive explosion that followed engulfed the whole room.

The explosion from twelve misfiring rockets was powerful enough to shake the car, which in turn, shook the whole train.

For a while, Kage felt the heat numbed everything. But as he regained his senses the smell of burning flesh assaulted his nose. Kage quickly climbed out of the roasted bodies and saw a charred hallway filled with burnt bodies. That's about as dead as they can get. Kage rolled his eyes. 'One shot and it did this?' He only shoot one bazooka… he didn't expect the explosion will be that big. He looked at the rifle… it's out of ammo. Again. "And they call this civilized? Sheesh." He threw the useless gun away.

"…now then…" Kage looked around. It doesn't seem to be more people will be coming here… not yet anyway. That noise can be heard all over the train. They'll soon send more people to check what's going on. He's not sure how many more are on Corner's payroll… but the last thing he need is scoring a friendly fire. "…" First he went back to check his room. It's empty. The four dead bodies on the room told him all he needs to know. After that explosion, Kaite must've followed his orders. Good. One less thing to worry about. He also read the note Jess left behind: "They're going to stop the train, huh? Not a bad idea…" If needs be, they'll have to find some other way to get to Shu Han… worst case scenario: on foot.

"Still… the engineering shaft eh?" Kage looked up at the hole on the ceiling. "Okay." Kage also climb up the ceiling. But instead of heading the same direction Jess and Kaite had taken, Kage take the opposite direction.

…and he didn't realize it.

0000000000000

Crawling through the Engineering shaft, Jess and Kaite easily made their way forward through the car without being spotted. Still, what they see is beginning to trouble them greatly. For a start… it seems there's really a lot of Corner's men inside. All troopers they see from the vents are armed… and out for the kill.

But what concerns them even more… is that they also see dead bodies of troopers. Ones that definitely weren't killed by the Dark Captain. Judging by the way they were shot down without even unholstering their weapon… they really didn't see it coming.

Jess frowned. 'What is going on here?'

Eventually, they arrived at the first car, the locomotive room… where they realized their plan to stop the train may not work as well as they had hoped…

…because they've arrived at the sight of a bloodbath. All machinery crew, engineers, the guards, even the driver, are dead. Shot, execution style.

"What the hell…?" Jess grunted. "What are these guys doing? I thought they only want to kill Kage? Why kill everybody?"

"It's not just Kage they want to kill." Kaite immediately piece things together. "After everything he's done, he's a hero. You want to kill a hero, you have to kill his name first. They're gonna kill everybody… and pin it on him."

"They'll never get away with this!"

"That's why they're gonna kill everybody. To make the damage bad enough that no one cares who's right and who's wrong… and so that no one can create any contradicting story."

"But… they won't be able to stop this train… or… don't tell me they don't intend to?"

"Corner may be an insufferable wretch… But I'm sure he's not crazy enough to brave Rena's wrath." Kaite looked around. He quickly pulled Jess into the corner. As expected, a couple of fishy looking mechanic managed the machinery, seemingly unaware of the dead bodies around them… a holstered smoking gun explained they simply didn't care. Hence the reasons why they have no qualms of killing even the important mechanics that determine the life and death of the train. "There, see what I mean?"

"This is… too much…"

0000000000000

Kage also came to the same conclusion as Kaite when he crawl through the shafts and saw dead troopers everywhere. 'He did all this just to spite me… I think I'm starting to understand why Rena wants the Logos dead. In any rate… I should go to the engine room… but… why haven't I arrived yet?' Even now Kage still hadn't realized he took the wrong way round.

Eventually, Kage arrived in what appears to be a massive hangar… At which point, the Engineering shaft ended there. The hangar housed yet another tank. A Slayer tank. But unlike the previous massive and larger than life two in Beijing, this one is significantly smaller and far more lightly armored. He only spotted a couple of Gatling Guns on each of its four separate wheeled tracks. The centerpiece however… is a massive gun obviously too big for its undersized chassis strapped to the body of the tank itself.

"…this is… the armory?" That was when Kage finally realized his poor sense of direction had messed things up for him… again. 'But… does this mean the condition just got better?' Kage dared himself to climb out of the shaft. As soon as he landed he saw blood wet the floor. He looked around and saw more dead bodies piled all around, gunned down. More people killed for his name. Kage wrinkled. That old man just went to the top of his shit list.

"Aargh!"

The scream came from the corner.

An engineer, apparently the last one alive, was squirming on the floor with a bloodied shoulder. A trooper barely missed his head. "Found one here!"

The engineer grunted. "W… Why are you doing this!?"

"Trust me… it's not out of grudge." The assassin trooper coldly stated. "If it's any consolation… I'll have you know… we need you dead for the sake of pure and blue world."

"Huh?" The engineer clearly didn't get it. But before he can argue, the trooper already aim his rifle at his head, and he can see his would be killer's finger is about to squeeze the trigger.

BANG!

The bullet snapped half a meter away from the engineer's head.

"Huh?" The trooper blinked. How can he miss at this range…? That was when he realized something trickling from the top of his head and his eye is now seeing red… red blood coming from his head, stabbed by a knife from the back. "Ah?"

And as his comrade realized he was dead from being attacked by a straggler, they turned around, only to see a black blur with gleaming knife flowing about its person engulfed them. In a single moment, blood sprayed out of their slit throats.

Though the troopers are now dead on the floor, the Engineer was more terrified than relieved, for the one who rescued him may not be better off if not worse than his would be killers. A black clad figure who looked like the avatar of grim reaper stood before him with blood still dripping from his knife. "Are you okay?" The death personified asked. He didn't answer.

Kage couldn't exactly blame the scared shitless engineer for not answering. "Hey… hey!" He knelt and shook the man off his terrified stupor. "Hey! Are you okay?"

"I… I…" And that was when the Engineer realized the black clad man just saved his life. "I… I'm fine…"

"What happened?"

"I… don't know… I was just working here like usual… and then all the sudden, those bastards just waltz in here… and they start killing everybody! I mean… I just worked here… and all the sudden… they told me I had to die? What kind of fucked up assholes are working here!?"

"The crazy kind." Kage shrugged. "What he said to you just now… for the pure and blue world… that's the catchphrase for the order of Blue Cosmos."

"I don't even know what the fuck that is!"

"You better off not knowing." Kage chuckled. "What's your name, soldier?"

"I'm not a soldier, I'm a mechanic! M… My name's Rygart Arrow."

"Mr. Arrow. My name is-"

"Kage. I know. The black thing kinda gave it away."

"Right. Well… let's just say you pick one hell of a day to go to work."

"Yeah? What day is it?"

"The day this train get boarded by me." Kage snarled.

Rygart raised his eyebrows. "All this just to kill you? What the hell did you do?"

"I killed their boss' bastard, and then I tried to kill the boss as well. Can you walk?"

"I… I think so."

"Can you use one of these?" Kage showed a rifle to Rygart.

"No… I'm a mechanic. Remember?"

"Right." Kage looked at the situation. "Alright… you're a mechanic. We need to stop this train, do you know how?"

"Well… the first method will be to… go to the engine room… the foremost car… I think you took a wrong turn sir."

"Duly noted. And I also note you said first method. So there's another method?"

"…the second method… we can do that from here."

"I'm listening."

"Qin Shih Huang is a very big train, Captain. 250,000 long tons moving at 120 km/hour. Presently, no single engine on earth can move something that big on land. Now, this train has 7 cars, Qin Shih Huang has two main engines at the front and at the back that needs to operate in tandem for it to move or stop. When we're going forward, the rearmost engine is put on reverse. However, the five cars inbetween the two main locomotives also have secondary engines of their own, allowing each car to theoretically move individually. We use that for maintenance."

"Theoretically?"

"It shares its steam power from the main Locomotive. Without it, it can still move quite a distance, but it still needs the main locomotive to recharge the engine."

"Okay. How are we going to use this to stop the train?"

"When the train is assembled together like this, the five cars secondary engine worked as conduit to keep the steam flowing in one direction. But if during the trip one of the engines had its flow reversed, the flow will be cut off and the pressure will build up to dangerous level… before it finally explode. In theory anyway."

"That's your idea to stop the train? Blow it up?"

"No. There's a safety mechanism to prevent that. There's a heat sensitive locking mechanism that detect any pressure build up. Once the pressure reached a certain point, an automatic brake system will be triggered on the rearmost car, and the engine will stop. Significantly slowing the train."

"Not stopping the train?"

"Not directly. Like I said, one engine cannot drag all this weight. The significant slowdown works as a warning to the mechanic that something's wrong. So they HAVE to stop… or risk blowing up the engine."

"That sounds good enough for me. Can you do it?"

"Not with those maniacs gunning for my head, no."

"You leave those maniacs to me."

0000000000000

The mechanics on the main engine room were still busy maintaining the engine. After they killed almost all of the mechanics, their workload doubled. It almost made them regret having to do what they've done… but orders are orders.

"Excuse me?"

The mechanics looked around and saw Jess… with his pants down.

"Sorry! I was in the bathroom just now and I seem to run out of toilet paper! Do you know where I can get some?"

The two mechanics didn't even know what to make of this situation. Their only response is a simple one: "Kill him."

"Oh." Jess sighed. "I told you it's a bad idea for a diversion!"

"!"

BANG! A mechanic was sent flying with a shredded torso. Kaite suddenly, literally, appeared out of thin air with his smoking axe shotgun. He cocked again and fired another shot and sent another flying. The last one was reaching to a rifle, but Kaite's shotgun slugs are way faster. "One more move and I'll blow your ass off."

"Kill me… and nobody else can stop this train."

"Good. Remember that because that's pretty much the only thing keeping you alive."

The mechanic knew he can't outrun bullets so he raised his hand in defeat… doesn't mean he's any less spiteful though. Seeing the way Kaite just appeared out of thin air like that and he spat in disgust. "Fucking Advanced monster!"

"Guilty as charged." Kaite kept his shotgun aimed.

"You'd kill everybody on this train… just for the sake of a smear campaign against one captain!?" Jess could barely keep his temper in check, being unable to see any sanity in this wanton brutality.

"For the sake of a better pure world, some sacrifice is needed."

"Funny you psychopaths didn't do any of the sacrifice part." Kaite growled. He had heard that the members of the Order of Blue Cosmos were a bunch of murder happy nutcases, each and every one of them. He stands corrected: they're way worse. Even funnier… they weren't supposed to be around anymore. Yet here. They. Are. "In any rate, you will stop this train."

"Fools. You really think stopping this train is as simple as flicking a switch?"

0000000000000

In the armory…

Rygart, escorted by Kage, quickly climbed down into the sub engine room. Through it all, Kage had to literally cut a swath of carnage, killing every trooper he sees with ease… almost too easily.

"Captain… how do you differentiate which one is Blue Cosmos and which one isn't?"

"If they're shooting at you, they're bad."

"Ah."

Soon, they arrived at the sub engine. It was massive. The train has 12 floors, 3 lowest floors were spent to house the sub engine. And it was sizzling hot and loud. Good thing is, no noise can beat the roar of the engines – they can set off a bomb here and no one will even hear a pop. Bad news is, the only way they can relay message in this noise is through written memos and hand gestures.

Amidst the noise, Rygart gestured the section he'll be working on, Kage nodded, and the men get to their respective work. For his part however, Kage also kept an eye on Rygart as the man picked a giant monkey wrench and start unbolting plates. Despite what happened earlier, Kage still grant the man some benefit of a doubt. There's no evidence that he was part of the group sent to do him harm… unfortunately there's also no indication to the contrary. His near death experience through a botched legal court had taught him another lesson of just how deceptively far a Logos' minister hand can reach.

Blue Cosmos. Considering what he had learned, he really shouldn't be surprised. He saw remnants of them in Junius… Azrael bloodline still survives to this day… it only make sense that the Logos' old military arms are also resurrected… and their zeal are way worse than ever.

Rygart finally finished unbolting the segment of the plate and he immediately disappeared into the crevice of interlocking machines.

And just in time too. A couple of troopers made one turn just as Kage decided to look back over his shoulder… right as they were about to open fire… at him.

Kage ducked as the bullets scraped a strand of his hair. At the same time, he threw his roped knives at their throats. He yanked them back towards him, and another group came in, going for the kill. Kage grabbed the dead troopers' handguns and returned fire. But more are coming from both sides. "Mr. Arrow, you better hurry it up!"

"WHAT!?"

"YOU BETTER HURRY IT UP!"

"WHAT?"

"YOU- oh, never mind." Kage shot another soldier dead, but he had to take cover when a whole squad barraged from one side, and more are pouring on the other. He immediately duck into cover, but with enemies barreling down from both sides, he's surrounded.

Meanwhile, Rygart decided to ignore the Captain's question on the account he's almost done. He's at the central valve that channeled the steam in one direction. He just need to cut it off here. He start pulling the crank backward. The metal grunt and moaned as years worth of rust on its joints began to peel. No one has ever done this. No one dares, for doing this risk damaging the train, ergo risk the wrath of the General Captain – an ordeal none ever survived. With one last pull, Rygart fell on his back when the crank finally gave. The engine's noise almost instantly reduced. The train didn't stop… yet… but Rygart realized it's about to happen. He had to warn the Captain about this: "CAPTAIN! PREPARE FOR A SUDDEN DECELERATION!"

"WHAT!?"

"I SAID: PREPARE FOR SUDDEN DECELERATION!"

"WHAT-?"

And the rear engine chose that time to stop moving. The whole train had its speed reduced significantly and in an instant abruptness. Everyone on board was caught unprepared and they were thrown a few feet forward. The lucky ones were thrown down until they fell on all fours on the floor. The unlucky ones were thrown helplessly against whatever sturdy object that happens to be right in front of them.

In the case of Kage, he was thrown face flat onto a steel wall. So one can probably count him as not so unfortunate.

In the forward locomotive, Jess and Kaite was the lucky one… the mechanic… not so lucky, because in front of him was the open furnace of Qin Shih Huang super engine: big enough for a full grown man to be thrown in… and hot enough to roast any poor bastard get thrown into it in an instant. "AAAAAAAAAAAAARGH-" And toasty was the word. And "oh Shit…" were Jess' and Kaite's swear words.

When Kage dislodge his flattened face off the wall, he's officially out of patience.

"I did it! I did it! I can't believe I did it!" Rygart cheered happily as he sprang out of the engines to find the less than pleased Dark Captain. Now that the engine sound has been significantly reduced, they can hear each other just fine. "Captain? Are you okay?"

"What do you think?"

Judging by that bloodshot bloodthirsty eyes, Rygart went with a solid no.

"…" Kage grunted and panted like a wounded angry beast. He looked at the corridor, the troopers that were thrown on the floor are regaining their footing, grabbing their weapons and reassembled themselves. The good thing is, the troopers that moments ago are pinning him from both sides are now gathered in one side. Forward.

Issue: Kage clicked his salvaged rifle… and again he ran out of bullets. But at that time, Kage had decided he had enough of guns for one disastrous day. He tossed the rifle away and start making a series of handseals. When he walked out, the seals are done, and his cheeks are swelling.

"KATON: KAEN-JOSHO KABE! (Fire Element: Flame Surging Wall)"

The troopers were about to fire when a wall of erupting flames suddenly erupted from the Captain's mouth, filling the entire corridor all the way to the ceiling and swallowed their bullets for appetizer… and now its charging to devour its main course: them. The troopers turned tail and run, but the wave of flaming wall chased them with unrelenting ferocity, matching the fury of its caster. When the searing wall died down, the charred steel corridor before Kage stretched far, nothing left of the troopers but ashes.

Rygart made a mental note not to piss this guy off. Something that everybody had done, apparently.

"You've slowed the train. Now what, Mr. Arrow?"

"Now… we have to force them to stop the main engine. They have to. Unless they're stupid enough to force the engine to blow up."

"Okay…" Kage looked around and saw a communication horn. The same system used in Archangel.

"That's a train wide broadcast system, Sir."

"I see." So if he speaks into this horn, everyone is going to hear him. "Attention! All crews of the Qin Shih Huang. This is Kage, Captain of the 7th division. Yes. That Kage, who was crazy enough to behead a Logos minister in public. In the last few hours… I've been fending off attack from a bunch of psychopaths and maniacal terrorists under the payroll of a certain Logos Minister, who had infiltrated your ranks… because that Logos Minister is a very sore loser. Considering the potential damage that might ensue if this conflict continues, I've decided to start the emergency braking procedure by shutting down this car's sub engine. As I understand it, this has resulted in the automatic shut down of rear main engine, hence the massive deceleration you've felt just now." Kage gave a gesture at Rygart. Somehow, the Engineer understood. He grabbed his wrench and slinked back into the engine blocks. A loud banging sound can be heard: the sound of Rygart damaging the reversed valve system beyond simple repair. "And as of right now, it is irreversible. Therefore I order this train to be stopped and the main forward engine must be deactivated. Right now. Unless you want to risk Rena's wrath for damaging her priceless train?"

Kaite and Jess listened to the announcement, looked at each other, and gulped. "We are so screwed."

"I don't know if everybody aboard this train is on Corner's payroll… or are you really true soldiers of the 10th Alliance Regulars. If you're the latter, know that these psychotic zealots had been killing your friends and comrades for no reason… other than to satisfy one man's ego. We need to stop this train, because I'm not sure I'm going to like what they're going to do with it in the endgame. If you're the former… I'll make this simple: you get in my way, you die. This is Captain Kage, over and out."

As soon as Kage sent that message though, he felt the world spin. He took a few steps forward before he collapsed to his knees. Red drops marred on the floor. "Eh?" Kage touched it. And then saw his hand marred by the same drops. It took a while for him to realize those drops of blood came from his nose. "Ah… I see…" His brain injuries. Throughout this ordeal from the time he was arrested in Shanghai until now, Lacus never had a chance to give him any form of medical treatment. She's done healing as much as she was able, but it was never fully healed. The Adrenaline rush had also blunted his sense of pain… and he already went well past the time limit she gave him.

"Captain?" Rygart's voice felt like they echoed from miles away. "CAPTAIN!" When Rygart saw the only person keeping him alive in this dangerous situation and condition are on all fours with nose flooding blood, he knew he's in trouble. "Captain, are you alright!?"

He can hear him clearly, for now. "No. I'm not. How long does it take for the forward car to stop the main engine after that announcement?"

"Usually about five minutes flat."

"Then we wait 5 minutes." Kage rested his back against the rumbling wall, trying to control this nosebleed and recover some precious strength. 5 minutes later, the nosebleed finally stopped… the train however, did not. Another 5 minutes, and the train doesn't show signs of stopping. "Is it usual for them to be this late?"

"Once, Captain Rena ordered the train to stop due to a critical malfunction. When she found the order was not complied in the 10 minutes it took her from her office to the main engine room, she had one of the tardy mechanics executed on the spot. Ever since then every mechanic wouldn't even dream of being late even if it kills them. Especially if it's because of machine malfunction. So, no. I don't think this is usual."

Just then, another voice reverberated from the horn. "Hello! Hellooo! Anybody there?"

"Who is this?" Rygart took it.

"This is Kaite Madigan… just some random guy in the front car who had heard the announcement, and Houston… we have a problem."

"What's the problem?"

"The problem is… we heard your announcement… but the last guy who can stop this train just… went out for a steakhouse takeout."

"What?" Rygart blinked. "What do you mean, takeout!?"

"I think the word I'm looking for is either well done or overdone." Kaite's voice continued.

Kage's eyes widened. Kaite and Jess are at the front most car. Synching their words with the current situation, Kage assumed the last person in the front car who can stop this train had either taken a stray bullet to the head or an accidental one way trip to a barbeque oven. Ergo: he's very dead. "Rygart, can you stop this train?"

"I…" Rygart gulped. "No. I can't."

"Why? Didn't you know all that stuff!?"

"I know only enough of the engines in my section and the overall structural steam network of this whole train. The Main Engine at the front car however… it's well beyond my skills to deal with."

For that answer, Kage groaned in pain. His already aching head felt like they're about to split apart in stress. Still he forced himself to think, straining his damaged brain to work out a solution. "…one thing left to do… we have to destroy the front engine."

"DESTROY IT!?"

"If you have any smarter way to stop the machine, I'm all ears. I need your calculated opinion as an engineer, Mr. Arrow… I'm not going to kill you if you don't comply, but at this point they're gonna kill you anyway."

"…I could give them you." Rygart blurted. "They want to kill you! I give you… the killing will stop!"

"…I'm too weak to stop you. Good thinking for you." Kage chuckled. "But… consider this: you may be able to survive if you do that. At least for now. But how long will that last? Mark my words… sooner… or later… you'll…" Kage struggled to get back on his feet… but as soon as he did, his knees buckled and he fell.

Rygart quickly rushed to his side, and just in time to see blood spurting out of the seams of Kage's mask. "Holy…" He quickly supported the captain. "Capt! Capt! Are you alright? What am I saying, you're gushing blood out of your nostrils, of course you aren't!"

The strength that had helped him murdered his way here was sapped out of his limbs with every drop of blood dripping from his head. Now even his eyes start tearing up blood. Kage choked several times… until he finally collapsed and darkness took his vision…

Rygart Arrow is now left… with the final choice before him…

Basically, the question translate as: would you like to die now at the hands of those psychos, or would you like to die later when Rena finds out what happened to her train.

Rygart looked around. There's no one around here yet, but they're coming. "…" Slinging the barely conscious captain's arm over his shoulder, he dragged him away. It was surprising for Rygart that for all his murderous feats, the Captain was actually quite light.

0000000000000

"So… what's this about the soup?" That was Simca's question to Kaguya and Salamandine, about an hour after the unconscious Hikari was declared to be healthy and will only be nursing a headache from hell when she wakes – by Lily the Pink Haro.

Simca had asked that question before to Setona, but since she had no chance to taste the dish in question, she had no answer. So, only Kaguya and Salamandine can answer. Except the answer cannot be told. It has to be cooked.

And they're short on cabbages.

"The best cabbages are on Mao Street!" Salamandine stated.

"No, no… if I'm not mistaken, it's in Ra Kan alley!" Kaguya declared.

"Let's buy them both and we'll decide later!"

"Anooo… I need to go elsewhere a bit, so you might wanna leave one here to guard…" Simca's question hung uselessly in the empty air where Kaguya and Salamandine had been.

"…really? All this because of a soup?"

"Don't worry, I'll take care of things here." Corleone assured… a still very uneasy Simca.

"O… Oka~ay…" Simca herself is starting to question if she wants to taste that soup, for fear of her barely holding common sense.

What Simca didn't realize is that her innocent question of the soup had caused the two girls who was so enamored by its taste to be reminded of the heaven they had glimpsed, and they're insatiable craving switch turned on… so let's leave behind a bunch defenseless kids and a very unconscious doctor in a pretty vulnerable house in what is still the most dangerous city in China so that they can satisfy that craving.

Yes. Tien Zi's cooking was destructive to common sense to such extent.

It wasn't until they get their hands on the cabbage did some measure of the common sense finally returned to their conscience.

"What the hell are we doing?" Kaguya felt no small amount of regret as she dragged a heavy load of cabbages on her back. "We could've just asked Hikari to pull something out of her spatial storage when she wakes up! I'm quite certain she had some specimen of cabbages in there…"

"To leave behind her majesty because of my gluttony, I'm a failure as an Imperial Guard…" Such was Salamandine's remorse, along with her grocery of cabbages, she's also dragging her face across the pavement.

"We'll make it up to her. Get her to cook, and then once that's over and done with, we'll force Hikari to bring Tien Zi back to the Forbidden Palace, even if I have to wring her pretty neck." Kaguya stated. "And when Xing Ke asked, we tell him she did it and kidnapped us too for good measure."

"…but that's the truth."

"Exactly."

BOOOM!

Their conversation was immediately cut off when the explosion echoed from a certain direction. It took only a few seconds for Kaguya and Salamandine to realize where the explosion came from, and their blood froze. They drop everything and run towards the explosion, the exact opposite direction of where everyone is going. The cabbage no longer mattered. Nothing else… mattered.

When they get there, it's like a scene straight out of Salamandine's worst nightmare. Setona's orphanage is now a collapsed ruin, with smoke and fire belching. "Your majesty… the Empress! She-"

Before Salamandine can rush headlong into the ruin, another explosion erupted… a figure streak out of the smoke, revealing a bone white armored doctor, surrounded by swiveling multi colored swords.

Hikari gently landed the tip of her toe atop a crumbling pile. Such was her grace, the pile didn't even shift by the slightest by her seemingly nonexistent weight. Her five swords of different color stood ready at her back like pinions of an angel's wings. And next to her, is a white haired little girl floating helplessly. Not by her own power, but by the strings extending from her protector.

Two identical figures quickly followed as they too burst out of the smoke and headed straight towards her, closing the distance between them at incredible speed. One sent a kick, and the other throw a punch. Two of Hikari's sword merged and formed a shield to stop them… but the twins easily tore through it and continue to push forward.

Sora launched a roundhouse kick at Hikari's neck while Nike punched her in the chest, pummeling her as they crashed the pile… and leaving nothing but a bundle of mangled strings that was her replacement clone.

"Huh?"

"Where did she go?"

The real Hikari is watching all this from another spot, hidden from view with Tien Zi at her side. She nevertheless watched in disapproval at the destruction all round her. And the ones who did this, all in the name of 'rescuing' the Empress. The twins, they call themselves… Sora and Nike, both had identical faces and they both wear identical sergeant suit, but they were armed differently. Sora who wear a reversed cap and had the leaner thinner build wear roller blade boots, similar in shape and design with one Simca often wear. Nike had a sleek down long hair, and he's incredibly muscular. Much more muscular than his brother. And he had equipped those muscular arms with a pair of gauntlets, with spikes protruding out of its knuckles, the same spikes that shot out of those gauntlets when it punched through her string puppet. Apart from that, he also wears roller skates like his brother's, albeit distinctly less advanced. But more interesting still… it's what they were made of. Metal, obviously… but… they added something to it. It has this familiar red tint on it…

But her ears also caught up to several familiar figures amidst all this chaos, especially her old classmate. So…

"Kaguya!"

Kaguya jerked when Lacus' mirthless voice, sent straight into her eardrum, is delivering a message only she can hear.

"As you can see, we have a problem. So, I need you… to take Setona, the children and everyone, away from here… straight to Archangel if you have to. Corleone can help you, but he's trapped under the rubble, so you may need to clean up first."

"But Hikari… those twins…! They…!"

"Yes. I know." Lacus see quite clearly how easily they tore through her shield. "Tell Sala-chan, I will keep my promise." And then she whistled sharply.

In an instant, Kaguya was given a sonar imaging of the area, revealing to her the locations of those who are in need of help underneath this mess, as well as earmarking those with less than friendly intentions around the perimeter. The image only appeared in a flash, but as Lacus' former classmate and a full blooded Jounin herself, that's more than enough time for Kaguya to memorize all the information she needed to make her next course of actions very clear. Kaguya put on a pair of silver gloves and when she pulled them apart, a series of spider like web strings extended in-between her fingers. Unfortunately, the whistle also revealed Lacus' location to the twins, who shot a look at her with blatant bloodthirst.

"Tien Zi-chan! (koff) Hold on! (koff)"

"Hold on to wha-AAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

Lacus didn't have time to explain, she jumped out of her hiding spot just as the twins arrived and crushed the place with their brutal onslaught. But midair, Hikari turned around and launched a tirade of swords at them. They easily blocked the attack by parrying and knocking away the swords. In fact, Sora kicked one of the swords skillfully, allowing Nike to catch it and throw it back at Hikari.

Hikari had just landed on another platform when the sword is one second away from cleaving her head… but the sword immediately stopped itself inches away from her. The Haroes would not harm their own mistress.

"Return what you've taken, you thieving witch!"

"Eh… Why should I? (koff)"

"What?"

"I'm a Kidnapper and this is child abduction. (koff) That is to say, I am a criminal. (koff) Now tell me, since when a criminal return what they have taken just because some goody two shoes cop tell them to? (koff)"

"…Good point." It took a full second for the twins (and everybody else) to realize that Lacus didn't even bother denying that she's committing a crime.

Lacus smirked, and she snapped her finger. The bundles of string that was once her replacement clone suddenly erupted and swarmed the twins. Sora quickly tossed his knife at Nike while he used his bladed rollerblades to slice through the incoming string. Nike used the knife from Sora and tore through the strings to shreds. They quickly tried to look at where Hikari had been, but much to their surprise, a sword was launched straight towards Sora.

SLASH…

Sora managed to slice the sword with his kick right in the nick of time, but the leftover blade still pushed on and managed to scratch his cheek. But before they can react, Hikari had already flipped her fingers, and once again the strings around them moved and instantly encircle the twins and closed in on them rapidly. The twins had no choice but to jump away just as the strings tightened its grip. The twins landed on another rooftop just as the strings converged back to their owner as swords.

The twins however learned their lesson. Either they get serious, or they're in for some hard time. The two now charged full force at the Armored Doctor.

'That's right. Come and get me!' Hikari smirked and jumped away as she launched a barrage of swords at the pursuing twins.

It wasn't long before she, and the twins, disappeared out of sight.

Salamandine watched this with much distress. Among other things, she watched helplessly as Tien Zi's even more diminutive figure disappeared far quicker than the rest. But then Kaguya shook her out of stupor. "Sala-chan! Sala-chan! Get a grip! We need to save the other children!"

"The children… the children!"

Two troopers had just walked out the ruined orphanage when they noticed these two armed girls coming at them. "Hey! What are you doing here? This is a restricted area-"

"Ninpou: Ito Dama (String Sphere!)" Without hesitation whatsoever, Kaguya throw a ball of condensed strings at the two troopers. The trooper readily blocked the attack with their rifle… but the sphere exploded upon contact, and before they knew it, both troopers were glued to the street wrapped in a mountain of webs. And while they're still being restrained, Kaguya launched kicks, one for each heads, knocking them out cold.

"Eh…?" Salamandine gasped at Kaguya's blatant hostility. "Kaguya-darren? Aren't they Alliance troopers? Diplomatic immunity notwithstanding, will we be okay attacking them?"

"I don't much care." Kaguya growled. "They used high explosives and lethal ballistics. On an ORPHANAGE. Filled with KIDS! I don't have the patience to sympathize with those kinds of people!" Lacus had gone through the trouble of drawing away two of the most dangerous of the lot so that the two can get to work. "…listen. I know how Hikari dragged Tien Zi into all this is disconcerting. Whether or whether or not their mission is to rescue the Empress, it was obvious they don't give a damn about the other kids. And these guys are the type who clearly doesn't care on how the job is done. What do you suppose might happen when Hikari gave them too much trouble?"

"!... I understand."

And thus, the next two troopers walked out of the ruined building found two armed girls that are unhesitatingly hostile. One had just lifted his gun, but Salamandine already closed the distance and sliced the gun barrel. The other trooper raised his gun at her, but Kaguya shot a string of web that instantly tied down his gun wielding arm. Before he can understand what's happening, Kaguya yanked the string hard, and the rifle was swung violently until it smacked the wielder's head hard, knocking him unconscious. Salamandine knock the other soldier unconscious with the butt of her Jian.

"First, we need to get to Corleone. Pretty sure he's in the first floor…"

Or rather what used to be the first floor. The fragments from the second floor had collapsed and made a mess of the place. Not to mention it was crawling with less than friendly faces. But none of the troopers can match the invading attackers. The two girls were unstoppable… until… they take a turn to a certain room. When they saw five armed troopers… and one kid in the center, their fury rose up to the zenith.

The first trooper was instantly struck in the face with a web splash, covering his eyes, mouth and ears. The sudden loss of his senses caused him to panic and he starts firing blindly, causing further panic among the other troopers. This gave time for Salamandine to close the distance and sliced their rifles. Meanwhile, as this happened, Kaguya quickly webbed the blinded trooper's gun before his wild firing gets too dangerous and yanked it off his hands, before she immediately bashed another trooper's head with it. Meanwhile, Salamandine launched a pair of swift kicks at the next two troopers, bringing them down in short order. But just as the girls were about to go after the last one, they froze.

The last trooper, terrified out of his wits watching his comrades gets taken out one after another, began to desperately try to find a way out… and when he saw this helpless child, he smirked. True enough, the two girls stopped when they saw his gun barrel pointed at the child's head.

"Put down your weapons!"

The very worst scenario that Hikari feared the most played right in front of them. The two start thinking of ways to get out of this situation… until…

"Didn't you hear me!? Drop your fu-"

A large hand belonging to a very much angry and alive Corleone Bege grabbed the man's hand by the wrist and instantly twisted the gun away from the child. His other hand pulled the trooper's shoulder and turned him around. With much practiced ease, by the time the trooper looked at the former Sergeant face to very angry face, the trooper had been flawlessly disarmed.

"What the…!? YOU!?" The trooper gawked at the former sergeant in recognition.

"Yes, me!" With blood still pouring from his temple, Corleone angrily placed both hands on his throat and throttle him up until feet dangled helplessly off the ground… He need only squeeze a finger and his neck will break… but then a child is watching…

WACK!

So he'll settle for a headbutt.

The other guy fell unconscious, but Corleone's head injuries also worsened as the giant of a man finally collapsed on his knees.

"Hold still." Kaguya pulled out another set of strands from her gloves as she approached the man. A quick handwork around the head later, and Corleone's head was bandaged nicely.

"Aren't you gonna do something about that guy?" Corleone pointed at the last poor trooper… the first one that Kaguya had smacked with a web shot in the face. He's flailing dumbly like a broken zombie now…

"Whoops." A clearly unapologetic Kaguya shot a string, caught his leg, and then she pulled hard. The man went to sleep when his head hits the floor like a champ.

"I take it you girls take out the others this way?"

"Not everyone. Not yet. But the kids. Where are the kids?"

"Most of them were in the other room when the explosion started. They're fine. Setona and the rest are there too." Corleone explained. "I managed to shield three with my body when the ceiling collapsed. I was pretty much knocked unconscious, but when I woke up they told me one's missing." Corleone looked at the last child next to him. "I guess this is the last one."

"Okay. Good, that's very good." Kaguya nodded. "Bege, I need you to look after the kids. Wait for us there. If you don't hear any more gunshots after 5 minutes and we still haven't showed up yet… take the kids straight to Archangel."

"Roger that."

With the children's safety ensured, the two girls let loose and clean house in a roaring rampage, no holds barred. Particularly, in this case, was Salamandine, who became decisively more ruthless in her approach. "…I always thought Alliance regulars would have more discipline than this…" the recent incident with the child had clearly shaken her a bit.

Kaguya can somewhat sympathize. "If you're using the standards on which Rena and Xing Ke directly managed their troops, then that standard is not wrong." Sala turned to Kaguya. "But… this is less about discipline, more on reach of control. The lower an army gets in the chain of command strata, the more tenuous the discipline becomes. It's a problem with every army, even Samurais had to deal with rebellious characters from time to time."

"I… see."

It didn't take long before the last of the trooper in the building was hogtied and bruised proper.

"…now then… with that over and done with, let's hurry up and catch up to Hikari!"

"Those two she took with her… I can sense they're indeed the strongest… but… I felt something… nauseating…"

"Well, if you mean they're not just strong, you're not wrong."

0000000

"Well, they're fast." That's what Hikari easily surmised when Nike almost reached her toes by the inches. They're easily faster than Kira, at least.

When Lacus start running she made it a point to focus everything she got on evasion and disappearing. In Academy, when she ditched classes she didn't like, she was infamous for being able to outrun all of her teachers and when she hide, they had so much difficulty locating her, it gets to the point they even consider employing ANBU trackers. Not bad for a 6 year old troublemaker-Genin.

Now she's a 16 year old fully-fledged-still-troublemaker-medic-Jounin. At the 'relative' prime of her life… Who had a serious lack of shinobi practice for years - now that she think of it… and wear armor… and carrying a child at her side…

"Okay. This could be a problem." Lacus sighed. This is what you get for ditching all those P.E. lessons, you dumbass! She can already hear her conscience yelling already.

It's against her non violence stand, but given the circumstances…

One last hop after Sora nicked the sole of her boot, and Hikari tapped three of her swords: red Megi, Navy Blue Ghienny, and Deep Blue Levi. The red reacted first by bursting into flames. It spin and slashed, sending a plume of very hot fire that instantly reddened Sora's rollerblades close to melting point. "WHOA!" Nike reacted in the nick of time and yanked his twin back before the wheel melts away… but right as that happened, the blue swords cross slashed a wave of water and snowflakes straight into the flames. The water and ice instantly vaporized and turned into an explosion of mist.

The shockwave of the Steam Explosion throw the twin way back, and the mist that followed completely blinded them.

"Is running all you can do, bitch?"

"Indeed!" With voice devoid of any shame whatsoever, Hikari's answer echoed amidst the mist. "I'm a criminal. (koff) You're the cops. (koff) My job is to run, your job is to catch me. (koff) If you can catch me."

Okay, so she admits she's playing with them.

"Your mistake girl… We're not cops. We're the army." Sora picked up a couple of grenades, as did Nike, and after they pulled the pin, together, they kicked them all into the mist. When the grenades exploded, they expected the explosive blast will clear away the fog… and when it did, the flog did clear away…

…and give way to an onrushing firestorm descending upon them… courtesy to the colorless, odorless methane added into the mix, courtesy to Adra the green sword of air. A trick Lacus learned from her experience against the Trinity siblings. "One spark really make things go boom…"

The twin managed to get away, of course. Lacus had carefully measured the artificial firestorm, and there's a considerable gap between them.

"Oi… what the hell? I thought she was rumored to be one of those peace loving conscious objector whatshits!?" Nike hurriedly put down his slightly singed hair. "Isn't this a bit violent for a pacifist!?"

"No, brother… this is strategy." Sora gestured with his chin. The firestorm died out very quickly, they were never in any danger. The smokescreen was cleared out, and there, standing on the tip of a pagoda imperiously, the cross armed armored doctor with all of her 5 swords of various colors stand ready. "She's not running anymore. She knows she can't outrun us…" Sora smirked… "Or so she'd like us to think…" Sora aimed a finger gun… first at the armored doctor at the top… and then down to the second floor and fired.

As if answering his air gun, a giant bullet flew out of nowhere and went straight to where Sora was pointing. It easily went through the wall and headed straight to the REAL Hikari's head.

Thankfully, she had heard the bullet coming after she heard the clicking of the sniper rifle's trigger. But it still surprised her that even when she welcomed the bullet with four layers of shields, the tip of the whirring bullet still managed to get through. "Whelp… they managed to figure this out pretty quickly…" She can hear her copycat, Lea and Rea, are already fretting up there as she observed the bullet that was meant to blow a hole in her chest. It has that same red hue color on the iron… but more disturbing to her was the size… "The last time I saw a bullet this size, it was in Africa. (koff)" Hikari walked out of the pagoda she was in into the balcony to look at the Twins slightly down below. "They told me it was designed to kill elephants. (koff) I had nightmares about dead elephants that night. (Koff) So… reignited childhood trauma notwithstanding, don't you think this is a bit too much!? (Koff)"

"Says the doctor who brought down a building with a sneeze and dropped a firestorm at us!"

"That wasn't my sneeze! (koff) Where did that come from!? (koff)"

"I don't give a damn!" Sora growled. "Return the Empress and surrender… or this will only get worse for you!" The twins are about had it being wrung around at this woman's silly pace-

"I didn't save her from one pack of murderers only to deliver her to another."

The minute that playful tone turned deathly serious, everyone shut up as this chill went down their spine…

"But now, I can speed up my timetable and give the Empress a flash tour of Shanghai. (koff) She will return to the Forbidden palace this evening with a full, if abridged, information of this wonderful city. (koff) So thank you! (koff)"

And she's back being silly again, causing the twins to literally trip on their faces. Again.

Hikari merely chortled. And after giving a nod to the definitely befuddled sniper several miles away, she jumped away again and back to running before the twins recover their wits… until a familiar figure stepped right in her way across the roof.

"…Simca? (koff) How nice to see a friendly face at last. (koff)"

"Hikari… they just told me…" Simca sighed. "Is that… Is that really who I think it is?"

"Oh, yeah, you mean Tien Zi-chan? (koff) Why yes. (Koff) Say hi Tien Zi-chan! (koff)" The confused Tien Zi can do nothing but to wave her tiny hand as she float helplessly next to her kidnapper.

"You kidnapped the Empress of China from the Forbidden Palace…" When she received that urgent message from Beijing, she really thought…nay…wished… they were joking… Then again… this is Hikari. "…I have my orders. You need to give her back to me."

Around the same time, the Takeuchi twins finally catch up and landed behind Hikari, blocking her escape.

"…sure." Hikari wasted no time and approached Simca. "I think you should take her straight to Genesis. (koff) I trust you better than these thugs. (Koff)"

"…"

"…Simca?"

"I'm sorry."

CRUNCH!

Lacus' eyes widened as she can see Simca's fist sank into her stomach. She had enough time to see Simca's remorseful look before she slumped into her arms. The strings that held Tien Zhi aloft also dispersed, as do the swords. Tien Zhi landed gently on her feet, but immediately collapsed to her knees in confusion. "W… Daifu? Hikari-daifu? HIKARI-DAIFU!"

"Well that's that." Nike smirked. "Bring her here, Simca. We'll put an end to this."

"…" Simca still looked unsure of herself, especially seeing a panicking Tien Zhi keep asking for Hikari. But then she took one look at the twins at the distance… and she lost her nerves.

"…you know…"

"!"

"It's a point of professional pride that I can always tell when someone's lying. (koff)"

Hikari's voice murmured behind her neck. That's when Simca realized she couldn't move her arm… why, she can't move her whole body! What she thought to be Hikari's crushed abdomen turned into another bundle of strings that are now tying her arm… and her whole body in place. Worse, Hikari shifted her position on her and tightened her grip into a hug.

The twins finally realized something's off and Nike quickly charged towards the entangled girls with all due haste.

"And you're not lying… not entirely…(koff)" As Hikari said this, she placed both hands together. The strings suddenly converged and formed a set of extra hands that quickly made a series of handseals… "But you ARE afraid. (koff)"

Even as the Takeuchi twins closed the distance, Simca's eyes widened and resigned herself…

"Ninpou-Mahou-Gattai… Hikikomori no Rakuen! (Ninpou Magic fusion: Shut-in heaven)"

Multitudes of swords of various colors rose up from out of nowhere, and as one, hurled themselves towards the entrapped Hikari and Simca, and Tien Zi was caught in the crossfire. They stopped inches away from the three, and they floated around them, forming the framework of a sphere… And indeed, a sphere made of strings began to form around them at a very rapid rate.

Even Nike who had a head on start and throttled his legs as fast as he can, by the time he swing his fist in, he barely had time to see the sight of Simca's resigned face enclosed behind a wall of crisscrossing strings. His fist made contact just as the sphere finished forming, and the next second, the bigger Takeuchi twin was thrown off the air when the force of his own punch rebounded right unto his face with 10 times the original strength.

Sora looked at the sphere… it is covered in runes of various colors, slithering on its surface…

"Interesting…"

As this happen on the outside, on the inside… Lacus' guests are still having a hard time adjusting to their new situation. They seem to be inside… this space filled with light. The hardest thing is figuring out which way they're facing because all but one of the occupants of this space was clearly unused to this new surrounding.

Hikari noticed the plight and merely twirled her fingers… and then the two girls reoriented and finally had a firm grasp which way is up. Hikari brought Simca in particular to her eye level.

"Now then." In here, her voice is strangely undistorted. "Let's talk."

00000000000000

Meanwhile, in another location…

"No matter how many times I see it… Boaz never fails to amaze me." Nichol held his breath as their ship finally arrived at the shadow the gigantic continent sized lifeform.

"I still remembered the day when I arrived here the first time as a snot-nosed recruit." Rosso rested on his halberd. That was right after his falling out with Kira. Back then, he was still in an all time low, blinded in anger and conceit, to actually pay his proper respect to this sight. An emo kid. But… gradually, as he worked his way around… together with his others friends… Nichol, Dearka, Yzak… Rusty… he began to feel the humility to be living at the backs of these mighty beings. They're talking about a lifeform as big as continent! And it's a Regalia, which means it was created by the Old Ones… somehow. It's a testament to the technological and scientific might of the ancient that far outstrip anything conceivable by their mortal progenies.

The continent sized whale was big enough, and sturdy enough, that entire cities had been built on its back. Foundations to castles of fortresses had been planted deep into the ground, farms was sown unto the fertile soil that formed its outer crust, and it was sturdy and thick enough, the creature felt no discomfort. Or that if it did, it was magnanimous enough to let it slide. Due to its strategic importance, almost all of these buildings are military in nature: The Military Academy where all recruits were schooled, the Emerald Knight Command Citadel where recruits received further training into fully fledged knights, the Forge Corps Main Forge central where the bulk of the military hardware is produced, the Exorcists Grand Monastery, the Zaft Central Military Command, and Circle of Lustitia's Forward Base. It also held vast complexes of apartments and even its own farm to provide housings and supplies to accommodate hundreds and thousands of knights.

But even with all that, today, everyone can see that they are over capacity. Never before in his life had Athrun saw so many Zaft ships carrying so many Knights gathered together in one place. He even saw dozens of the mass produced Nazca already sailing about the fleet. One million Knights is a huge number. This is by far the largest concentration of Knights ever assembled in history. "All this… just to take on one man."

"Not just one man. A blacklist Captain, who, according to our latest intel, had taken up refuge in the Alliance HQ in China." Waltfeldt joined in the marveling of this breathtaking sight. "If you recall, that place is the dominion of Rena Imelia, the mightiest of all Captains, yet another Blacklist."

"And you will not come with us, will you, my lord?"

"Look at me." The Hakutenkun's arm is on a sling, his leg is cast… by all rights he shouldn't even be able to stand much less walk. "Raww's in prison – and he'll stay there until the politician returned to their senses, Veia's… dead… still having a hard time believing that… and the last Hakutenkun we have was just… well out of the question… this is the first time in history we launched a campaign of this size… and not a single Hakutenkun can be fielded to lead them. And we have Kage to thank for that."

"So they try to offset it with numbers." All knights in Zaft had heard tales of how the Sakura Burst general turned 20 fortresses into bonfires in one night. And Athrun had stomached the measure Kage can unleash upon them. Slaughterhouse was the first word came to mind as he watched all these young knights that had no idea what awaits them in the grinder.

Suddenly, they saw a couple of patrol ships approaching them. Athrun frowned. Sure, a single Nazca suddenly appearing should draw attention, but with so many already floating about, he expected the attention to be minimal. The Judge backed away, trying the best he could to be unseen and thus ignored.

"AHOY up there!" the Patrol crew shouted.

"AHOY Seaguards!" Waltfeldt replied as he popped his head down. "What news from the seas?"

The Seaguards' eyes widened. "L… Lord Waltfeldt! Forgive me, my lord, I did not see you there!"

"Can I help you gentleman?"

"My lord. We saw your ship, we saw your flag. The flag of the Clynes. We had not heard of your coming, my liege."

"Every continent sent in an armada or two for this endeavor, how can we not at least send in one more ship to help?"

"Of course, milord! Of course. You are more than welcome. But…"

"But…?"

"Since you've raised the flag of Clyne… I have a personal request to ascertain the presence of a certain individual?"

"And who might that be?"

"Lady… Lamia Clyne. I say again, is there a Lamia Clyne on board?"

Waltfeldt shrugged back, exchanging a brief look with Rosso, who merely nodded to Lamia. The pink haired Lady Knight step forth to the edge of the ship and presented herself for the Seaguard to see as she stood firmly on the Ships' deck. The Seaguards hastily bent their head down. "Milady, welcome."

"What business has you with me, Seaguard?"

"Milady. It is not me who had business with thee." The seaguard raised his head up. "Now that we have confirmed your presence, it is now requested by the one who had sent us. The very same one who had noticed your flag ahead of everyone else." He tossed something up the decks of the larger ship and Lamia caught it with a swipe.

She looked at the object, and she instantly knew who had sent for her. She nodded. "Then I shall be on my way. I thank you, Seaguard."

The Seaguard gave one last bow, and the patrol boat quickly moved aside, giving way to the vastly larger Nazca to proceed.

Lamia showcased the object to Rosso, it was a badge with the sigil of a Lion, facing its tail of a serpent. Rosso, as in Athrun, only took a deep breath. "Well… no way around it. Prepare yourself, lady Clyne."

The Nazca sailed across the now crowded ocean as they watched the Knights of Zaft made preparations for war. Some they can see are practicing their maneuvering aboard their ships' decks, some are shouting orders to bring out provisions, some are cleaning the barrels of their cannons, to make sure their shots flies straight and true. There's tenseness in the air. A tenseness that consume everyone's attention up to the point none caught sight of their ship even as it sailed across their midst. Everyone knows that the greatest assemblage of Zaft's military might happened for a reason, and that reason is fast approaching.

They finally reached their destination, another Nazca awaits them. Identical to the one they're currently using except that the owner had taken the liberty of painting it purple, with regal gold ornate decorations on its edges. One of the sails sports the same emblem as the one on badge, albeit grander and bigger. Once the two ships are aligned side by side, a plank was extended from the Purple ship. As if knowing who it was meant for, Lamia climbed over it, followed swiftly by Rosso and Nero. Citing his injuries are hurting him again, Waltfeldt opted instead to remain.

Inside, Lamia was immediately welcomed by a familiar face. "Lord Guilford."

"Lady Clyne." The gentlemanly bespectacled Knight welcomed Lamia with a smile. "She's been waiting for you." To his credit, Guilford was also wise enough to keep his silence and his questions to himself when two masked figure also followed behind Lamia. He glanced at Rosso in recognition, but he immediately opted to merely nod, and dare not to question the Judge's intention to follow through this meeting.

Guilford led the entourage across the ship, straight into the main bridge. Throughout the trip, Lamia can hear whispers of her name, but they were all swept aside by an even louder whispers, questioning if another legendary figure is following behind her. When they reached their destination, the door was closed and all that noise was cut short.

There seated firmly on the Captain's chair was a young woman in her prime thirties with long magenta purplish hair. She wears a red royal suit with a white cape over her figure. The cape also features a rather high collar that sprayed open into white petals around her head. Encircling her in neat formations are knights draped in pale purple color with gold trimmings to match the theme of the ship and their lord's own personal heraldry.

Standing at her right hand side was another Knight, his face was older and more ragged than Guilford, but he wears the same uniform, denoting their equal rank. A fact that was further pronounced as Guilford left Lamia as soon as his duty was completed and stood at the Woman's left hand side.

Lamia took one last deep breath and walked towards her fate. She didn't say a word, but she merely knelt in front of the Master of her Knightly Order, Cornelia Li Britannia.

She didn't say a word for a long while as Cornelia's purple eyes sharply narrowed upon her form. And then suddenly…

"Stand up." Cornellia hissed. "Let me have a good look at your face."

Lamia immediately stood ready before her master. Without sparing a glance at the two uninvited guests, Cornellia glared up and down her figure, the same skeptic look she always throw at her whenever she was trying to find a flaw in her performance. "Hm." The tone on her scoff was unreadable, even to Athrun. "Now as I recall…" Cornelia suddenly produced a scrap of paper. "…this letter of yours that you left in your room stated you resigned from your post. You did not even have the guts of handing it to me personally, you just left to Junius without my permission."

Lamia didn't flinch. Athrun merely raised an eyebrow at the news, though he's hardly surprised.

"…and for what? To stop your sister from committing a grand suicide in the world's largest Advanced Mass Grave." Cornelia grunted. "…did she die?"

Nero was about to reply but Rosso immediately stopped him with a glare.

"Well? Did she die?" Cornelia repeated.

"…no." It took every ounce of Lamia's self control to keep her voice firm. "…but… we have to send her home to Februarius. The experience was… too much for her."

"And it serves her right. So the next time she had any more bright ideas to take away one of my best knights, she'll think more than twice this time."

Nero blinked. 'Wait. What did she say?'

What happened next happened so smoothly, Nichol was completely caught off guard.

Cornelia just stood up from her chair, and without pause, took Lamia's tense head and let it rest on the taller woman's bosom. With a voice significantly softer than her initial firm tone, she gently rubbed Lamia's head. "I'm so glad you're okay, Lamia."

At that statement, Lamia's body trembled and she finally cracked in a heartbeat. First there were droplets of tear forming at the corner of her eyes, and finally the rigid discipline she had kept for god knows how long crumbled as she fell upon her Mistress' embrace and cried. Just like a younger sister finally letting all out in front of her older sister.

Some of the attendants and knights merely smiled knowingly at this scene. Darlton and Guilford also nodded in approval. The only person caught off guard in that room was Nichol. Athrun knowingly whispered: "It's funny isn't it? Everybody always thought that Cornelia hated Lamia to the guts because she was less talented in the sword than her sister. But the reason Lamia gone AWOL in the first place was because she knew Cornelia would never give her up to go to Junius even if she was given 10 Lacus Clynes in exchange."

"Something happened… right? In Junius?" Cornelia lovingly caressed Lamia's sobbing head. "Something bad happened to your sister. Otherwise, you wouldn't be here on a warship. You would be beside your sister where your heart lies." Cornelia knowingly looked at the Judge. "Is that why you have come here even though she was invited aboard my ship and you are not, Judge Rosso?"

Only Guilford and Darlton were able to keep their calm. The other knights were awash with shock and awe as they stare at the masked figure in disbelief. They really are in the presence of that legendary Judge?

Flustering, Lamia snapped back to the Judge. "Umm… Judge Rosso… I can explain…?"

"Lady Clyne. Your older sister is a compulsive hyperactive, and you're the doting overprotective little sister. Of course you've gone AWOL. A simple puzzle I solved from day one." Rosso's tone was distinctly jovial. "In any rate, I think this is the moment where we must part ways. You are in good hands now. I can vouch for Lady Cornelia's… trustworthiness." That was a cue for Lamia regarding that particular issue. "Not sure about the rest, but I leave it to your discretion."

"You're not… staying?" Lamia asked.

Rosso shook his head. "We've made a deal. I asked you to take me back to Boaz, and here we are. As you say, I've been gone for years. It is pastime I report back to my superiors and accept their Judgment." Rosso tucked his head down. "Also, I owe you a debt of gratitude. If it weren't for you, I would still be stuck there on the edge of the Mirage Fog, starving and marooned. Alas, I have nothing valuable enough in my possession to repay your kindness…" Rosso gestured his halberd to the side where his Nazca lay. "…except that ship. You can take the Nazca, it's yours."

Lamia gawked as she immediately sprang away from Cornelia's embrace. "What!? My Lord! I could never-!"

"Just take it anyway. Most of the crews were already yours to begin with. Besides, I have a feeling I won't be needing it anytime soon where I'm going. YOU on the other hand…"

Rosso gave everyone a single nod, and without another word turn around and left behind the overawed stares and held breath finally exhaled in relief, with Nero tiptoeing behind him. At the deck, he immediately requests to commandeer a small boat, a request which was quickly given without much argument. As soon as Rosso put his feet on the boat, it just sailed away at speed through some unseen means of propulsion.

As soon as their boat are far enough from any perceived range of detection…

"Nichol… I think you should go see your superiors. The Onyx Hassansins Main HQ is here right?"

"What do you think I should tell them?"

"…well… what channel did you usually use to report to your superiors? About me, that is?"

"Well the usual ones. Your work, your inventions, your psychological profile, through codes and etc2."

"I see… so I take it they'll be anything but suspicious if you just knock at the front door and say: I'm back!"

Nichol chuckled. "So what should I tell them?"

"…well… tell them everything. Everything usual, everything you have observed out of me during all those times you've been watching over me. Tell them I've escaped, tell them how I've gone errant. And that somehow… I managed to find out who you are and thus I eluded you. But you know for a fact that I came here. Right into this place. Which is why you're here as well."

"But word of your return… as Judge Rosso, not Athrun Zala, will definitely spread. People could connect the dots."

Athrun snorted. "Yeah. Rosso came back… at the same time Athrun Zala gone rogue… or to be more precise… Athrun Zala gone rogue BECAUSE Rosso came back." Athrun mischievously smiled at Nichol. Bending truth with half lies is also something he learned in the underworld. Yep. He's definitely corrupt to a certain extent.

Nichol's eyes widened in epiphany, now fully understanding what Athrun want him to tell to his superiors. "Wait… wow… yeah… that MIGHT actually work. But… are you sure…? Your name… your FAMILY name will blacken with this…!"

"My Father recommended the Death Sentence to me. Do I look like I still care about my name? Or my family, for that matter?"

"…" Nichol scratched his cheek. "But this thing would work much better if the Judge in question supports my testimony. I meant some official assignment."

"Well that is why I have to go back and report to the Incumbent Supreme Judge. And even I don't know what will happen next. So this is a bit of a gamble." Athrun chuckled. "But first… I need to go back to the command school. Need to pick a few things I had left behind there."

"Alright then." Nichol stood up. "Then this is where I get off. Good luck… to us both."

With a nod from Athrun, Nichol fade to thin air without even a shift to the still moving boat.

The boat slowly moved towards the massive Boaz. But even with the tiny rowboat, the sea around the island was so cramped with ships, at some point, Rosso found his boat cannot go no further. These ships had extended planks, connecting their decks into a makeshift platform, allowing anyone to walk their way into the mainland on foot. The boats were rive with so much activity no one noticed when a single row boat landed on the peripheral edges of one random boat, and Athrun easily shift his appearance back to his Forge Corps disguise and just as easily mingled with the already overcrowding number of knights.

He's having a hard time walking through the crowd of armored figures without at least bumping to 2 or 3 of them, earning the parties of the collision a scratch or two, but no one seem to care. At least for the moment. "Fatum, you better climb over my head." The last thing he wanted was these knights accidentally step on his pet, and then said knight lost a limb for his misstep. It wasn't long before his footsteps left the crisscrossing planks of the artificial wooden foothold and finally start touching actual terra firma. Once he reached land, that's when his trip really begin.

Though technically, it's still some distance away. He may have been gone from Boaz for a few years since he graduated… but there seems to be more buildings today than he remembered. More spires, more towers. Zaft is a very aristocratic nation in the extreme where nobility rules. No more was this more obvious than the tragic history of Boaz' twin, Jachin Due.

Back in the day, before the presence of Judges, Jachin Due was known simply as the platform in which the legendary Land Creator Regalia was entombed. Even after it was broken, entire armies were still stationed to guard it. Fortifications and housings were built to support them… but as time went by, it was decided that Jachin Due must effectively become a mobile fortress that guarded the approach to the Zaft continents and so the mobile island needs to be fortified. During the early days of Zaft's founding, this was no easy task for the nascent government, so it was entrusted to other nobilities in the private sector with the resources to do so.

This proved to be a big mistake. Because if there's anything the Nobles of Zaft loved more than wealth and power… is to show them off to everybody else. This was the ridiculous but aptly named Construction War that lasted for almost half a century. Rivalry among the Nobles is a natural thing. But, shedding blood is a luxury none can afford at such times, so the Nobles opted to showcase their 'superiority' over the others in alternative ways.

No one was quite sure who started it, but it all began when a noble build a Fortress. One noble saw it was bigger and grander than his, so he made a bigger one. And then… other major families, like the Britanians, Zalas and Clynes… felt the need to show the might of the strongest nobles in Zaft… soon, one construction project after another followed… What started as a joint and earnest military project quickly devolved into a competition of ego and pride, one striving to outdo the other with ever larger and more elaborate creations. By the time the Emperor put his foot down and ordered them to stop, Jachin Due was an overconstructed mess: a bloated mountain of buildings burying one atop the other under their shadows. And when everyone finally remembered about the military project, there's barely any space left to do it. Less of a fortress, more of a gallery of men's unchecked ego gone too far. Thankfully it was nowhere near as bad as what had happened to Aprillus, and in hindsight, Jachin Due IS fortified… and many think it won't hinder it much in its appointed task… but when Junius occurred, just as many point accusing fingers to the disaster that is the Construction War, believing that if Jachin Due had not been so encumbered by its excessive burden, it might still be able to stop that heinous fleet of demon summoners from accomplishing their damned mission.

Right now, Jachin Due is still in the process of refurbishment, repurposing some of those buildings for some proper military use. And when Boaz was activated, the Emperor made it a point that this must be a purely military project. Hakutenkuns were given full reign on the initial constructions. But… 72 years later… and Boaz began to show the same signs as to what had happened to Jachin Due. Between corruption and greed that overcome practicality (and some advances in construction technology) new castles and fortresses were built by private parties in Boaz as a show of prestige and wealth. It was on the verge of suffering the same fate as its twin… Thankfully, this time, Knightmaster Ray Yuki drew the line when he established the Judge Forward Base here. The rate of these constructions greatly decreased to a halt around the time Athrun entered the Academy to begin his training as a Knight. But apparently, after the Knightmaster's passing… they began to pick up again.

"Well… at least there are some buildings they wouldn't dare to touch." And those are the buildings he needs to go to.

First, the Combat Academy. This is more than just a place where Squires first learned how to swing their weapons around and defend their life with their shield. It was compulsory that children of nobles were trained from early childhood in basic combat skills. But in the Academy, those basic trainings are fine tuned to perfection. And most importantly, in here, they were taught what it means to fight as an army rather than individual warriors. Every Emerald Knight, Elemental Knight, even Hakutenkun, they all started here at the start of their military career.

Now, see, there are three things that makes up the identity of a Judge.

The most obvious one: they always wear a mask. The Mask symbolizes the abandonment of the Judge's previous identity, and the embracement of their new life as the servant of Justice. On a more practical reason, Judges will become target of some of the most dangerous individuals in the realm, a threat which will inevitably extends to those close to them: family, friends, lovers, and so forth. Concealing their identity will ensure anonymity and protection to those the Judge cared for from repercussions. For the same reason, Judges also abandoned their original name and was granted a new one. A codename. An unspoken unofficial tradition regarding the name is that the name must represent a color associated with the Judge, using a language that was not the Judge's native tongue. (E.G: Kira: Japanese, Codename: Noir, French for Black. Athrun: German, Codename: Rosso, Italian for Red) There's no official rule that enforce this, but it does sound a lot more formal than 'the first color that comes to mind in whatever language that pops up in the Supreme Judge's head.'

Athrun's career as a Judge had been bright, but also brief. After his mother's passing, among other things, his heart was too broken to continue this profession. Such was his gloom, he decided to just forget and wash his hands clean of the whole damn affair altogether. So when Athrun first entered the Combat academy to begin his training as future Knight, he decided to crush and scatter his original mask to the sands of the Academy's training arena. He was angry, at the time. Angry of the loss of his mother and his mentor, the apparent rejection of his adopted brother, the coldness in his father… Athrun didn't even bat an eye when he crumpled the mask to dust with his hand. It is apt, he thought; that now he will recreate his mask using the iron filtered from the sand of that very same arena.

The second most distinguishable feature is the Judge's cloak. Advanced had methods to recognize a concealed individual even without facial recognition. For example: the Clynes can recognize someone by listening to the distinct rhythm of their heartbeat. The Hahnenfuss can just see the flow of liquid distinct to each person. And so on and so forth. A mask can only conceal so much. That's why the cloak was specially woven with a unique feature. Interwoven inbetween the fabrics is a single layer of cloth jammed to the brim with a very complex runes of spells. It serves one purpose: to completely distort the distinct characteristics of a Judge's vital signs. Their signature heartbeat, their blood pressure, their tell tale body temperature, the sound of their muscles when they make certain facial ticks, all the way to the frequency of their breathings… a Judge's cloak distort it to a different set of signatures, tailored to correspond to the actual vital signs to produce an altered vital signs unique unto each Judge. So that if a different person wear another judge's cloak, it would produce a completely different vital signatures.

And unlike the customizable and functionally cosmetic mask, apart from its color, a Judge's cloak is non negotiable for obvious reasons. Tampering with a Judge's cloak in any way without permission or supervision carries with it a heavy penalty, ranging from excommunication to execution. Once though, Athrun, with permission from lord Yuki, dissected his cloak to see how it ticks. Lord Yuki probably didn't think Athrun can remember all the 3,031 runes that composed the distortion spell embedded on that cloak.

Even if he knew that Athrun had a pre~tty strong eidetic memory… he just knew he wouldn't be able to reapply the runes perfectly. And he was right. Athrun may be able to memorize them, but to replicate them completely was beyond his skill. Truth be told, it didn't even occur to Athrun to implement the runic vital sign alteration spells unto his new Obsidian King armor until the whole prison breakout ordeal happened. His makeshift runes applied to his cloak managed to fool even a Clyne, but the sensors on the Judge's HQ are a few grades higher. The smallest of misaligned details can mean the difference between being welcomed and being arrested. Which is why digging up his original Judge's cloak is essential. The Cloak, unlike the mask, was understandably a much more potentially dangerous hardware. He can't just simply bury it underground, neither did he had the heart to burn it. Thusly Athrun kept it very close to his chest throughout his years in the Battle Academy until he was promoted (at only 12 years old) to his Specialized training to become a Forge Corps Legionnaire.

This one, he kept in his personal safe, his locker in the Forge Corps HQ. Undoubtedly, since the news of his prison breakout had spread, this locker had been broken into. His locker is a custom made safe with 9 digit combination on three different locks that has to be entered within seconds of each other. After he was promoted to Elemental Knights, he still kept his original Forge Corps Legionnaire armor here. When he tried to open that safe… as expected, the locks had been broken. The less apt investigators had used brute force to punch through his security. And in doing so, those idiots had completely sealed the safe, its content completely inaccessible. '…well… I designed this thing when I was in a moody state, keeping secrets and stuff… heh.' Athrun had to use his Alchemy to fix the keys and open the safe, properly this time. And as expected, his Forge Corps armor and even his favorite Halberd is still there. The lack of mounting dust that covered them signified they were unexposed to open air for many long years. "Hmm…" Still… he completely ignored the armor. It was not why he's here. People always seem more interested in the content of the safe… with little attention given to the safe itself. Like, for example, they wouldn't care less over this uniquely magenta colored velvet cloth draped on the safe's ceiling…

Transmuting the ceiling wallpaper back to its original shape, Athrun draped his old original Judge cloak over his figure. Back when he was young, the cloak always felt too big and it swept the ground every time he walked. 8 years and a growth spurt later, and he just realized the cloak is a bit too small, it barely managed to cover his lower legs. "Hmm… I definitely need to get this fixed…" Using Kokuyou, Athrun extended the cloak's lengths a bit, problem solved.

And thirdly, a Judge's Badge. A Judge's Badge depict the symbol of the circle of Lustitia: the Five Element Star, an ancient elemental symbol Ray Yuki adopted as his personal heraldry, encircled by twelve Wolves chained together in a link, each to represent one of the twelve Plant continents of Zaft. Of all animals, the Wolves are chosen for their pack mentality. This is to depict that a Judge's work is not just an individual duty, but a link in an interconnected chain that makes up the great Empire of Zaft. Which means, while each Magister Judge is responsible for the welfare of the Continent assigned to them, they must remember that their greater affiliation will always be the Empire as a whole. One of these wolves is colored in black, to depict Junius, a continent lost to the dead. Within each of these Badges is a single drop of the Judge's Blood, stamped with their own finger print, and then sealed shut in a cast iron sealant.

Now, unlike the previous two articles which has a more practical purpose, the Badge functions more as a way for Ray Yuki to monitor his Judge's sense of discipline. Ray reasoned that the single drop of blood within these Badges is the last recognition to the life a Judge left behind: a remnant of their true identity which they must protect at all cost… And yes, plenty of Facilities, such as the Hall of Lustitia and the many services and support granted to Judges require this Badge to be accessed. But really, this Badge is just an overglorified badge with a drop of blood in it. Anyone who knew a thing or two about forging (like Athrun) can manufacture a new one straight up from scratch should the need arise. Of course, due to their hazardous line of work, a Judge's badge are easily lost, broken or destroyed, so quite in fact, a Judge can carry several Badges, (3 at max) as backup. But despite the potential for loss, the punishment for misplacing it in any way carry the harshest punishment for the Judge involved. Depending on the severity of the infraction, the punishment can range from damning… physical… to just… outright humiliating. From excommunication, pushups in their hundreds, to latrine duty for undeterminable period of time.

Then again a Judge also made it a point of personal pride to never misplace their original badge, the very first they get when Ray Yuki once made them a Judge. Athrun once heard a tale that Ray Yuki punished a Judge who misplaced his first badge into the sewers by having him clean the whole sewers of Aprillus. He's to remain to that task until he can recover his Badge, no excuses. Seriously, a badge slightly larger than a pocketwatch, lost in a sewer system of a city the size of a continent!? Surprisingly, on the third day, the Judge managed to accomplish the impossible. Word has it that, even as he was covered head to toe in shit, slime, and muck, scaring the begeesus out of other recruits who thinks he's some kind of swamp monstrosity, he still ran around the Hall, laughing and smiling like a maniac as he proudly presented his lost badge before the Knightmaster.

For reclaiming his badge, Ray Yuki forgave him and reinstated him. For terrorizing other recruits with his wanton behavior and the mess he made on the hall though, he had to be on cleaning duty for the whole week.

Somehow, Athrun can easily correlate to how that Judge feels. The final article of a Judge… the badge. He kept that one piece of accessory in the safest place he can think of.

As soon as no one was looking, Athrun generated a short sword, and without hesitation, literally rip into his own guts. As his intestines spilled out, Athrun's hand rummaged within its slabs. After a bit of gore splattered search, he pulled out the object, covered in blood. A metallic medallion with the symbol of the star encircled by 12 wolves framing it. A Judge's badge. He always kept it to his person, taking care to never show it to anyone. And when he was arrested and condemned, Athrun took drastic steps to ensure this item will not be confiscated.

"Hah." Athrun chortled as his belly began to fix itself up and he looked at this gore drenched piece of steel. "To think… there was a time when I almost tossed you into the ocean…"

When he graduated from Forge Corps ahead of its class and promoted to Command School, an advanced class for the strategically gifted, Athrun had considered of tossing that piece of steel to the ocean or something. But… when it comes down to it… he just… can't. Time, new friends, and the rigors of military discipline had long since tampered his childish anger to solemn maturity. He had long since understood who's at the fault. The Badge was no longer a relic of a past he want to forget… it is now a symbol of honor and pride. Personal pride that has absolutely nothing to do with his family name, a luxury few noble born can say out loud. Hence his drastic measures.

Still… collecting his old paraphernalia was the easy part. More difficult still is getting into the Circle's main Hall. He made it sound so easy in front of Nichol… but now that he stood before its immense gate… he's starting to have second thoughts.

Even Kira have never been to the Hall of Lustitia office in Boaz. It's a large wide building, star shaped when one looked from bird's eye view. It is remarkably shorter than the other more towering citadels built atop Boaz. That's because the building extends downward, not up.

The Main HQ for the Circle is in Aprillus, the one that manage all domestic affairs within Zaft borders, training for all Judge initiates, and, indeed, that is where the Circle started. The second HQ, in Boaz, is the primary Forward Base of the Circle. It managed all judicial affairs that occurred outside Zaft borders. As eloquently carved on the plaque written atop its massive steel gate: 'to bring the law to the lawless' outside the safety of the Fog, outside Zaft. After all, as Athrun had learned… crime is most easily committed in the vastness of the world, too big for the overseeing eyes of the Judges to unravel them all. Assassinations of heir apparent in the warzone by an ambitious kin. Arranging for a 'stray arrow' to struck an unsuspecting political competitor during a fire exchange. Even the massacre of entire dynasties in a feud between families… Such a thing is not unheard of. Working closely with the military, the Field Judges also act as a military police to monitor their act in the battlefield. From what Athrun heard, the Boaz branch also doubles as military prison for the worst of all criminals: traitors and deserters.

"…Alright… this is it. Either I'll get in safely or be made permanent resident in its cells." Athrun took a deep breath… and start walking towards the entrance. Barely three steps towards the gate, and the decorations on the door opened up, revealing mechanical eyeballs. Athrun didn't stop, fully expecting this, he just keep walking. The eyeballs followed his every move. Athrun held his breath as the gate is right in front of his nose now… and then it opened up for him. Layers after layers of protection unravel like kaleidoscope and closed in behind him through unseen mechanism as Athrun stepped through them.

Athrun breathes again once he's finally in the building without a hitch. Inwardly, he was livid. 'Wow… it works. It actually works!' Then again Athrun never did visit the Boaz branch. Who knows? Maybe their information registry is out of date? When Rosso turned to face the occupants of the HQ, a host of masked individuals welcomed him. 'Well… this is Judge Forward Base. EVERYBODY wears a mask.' But fact is, whatever they were working on, they literally froze on their tracks when they saw him emerge. Now that he noticed it, all these masked individuals, they wear the conventional plain masks. They're all trainees. Usually they're diverted to administrative tasks or other seemingly menial tasks as part of their initial training stages. He alone in that room, wears the customized mask. A privilege reserved for a fully inducted Judge. Hence the attention. But that is also to say he outranked them all.

"What are you gawking at? Get back to work." One bark and their attention returned to their tasks at hand. Athrun sighed… His timing was just bad. A great battle is on the horizon. Tensions are high. Even this institution would have a LOT of work in their hands. But then… he began to notice a few things that he didn't remember seeing in Aprillus HQ. "…that's odd."

As he recall, when he visited the Judge HQ in Aprillus the first he get was an elicitation of a sense of… foreboding and silent oppressive feeling. Well, they're supposed to. If you're a criminal, walking into the Judge's HQ should feel like you're walking into a court, prison, and, if you're crooked enough, the execution ground. That's because that is precisely what a Judge HQ must be. A courthouse. This is the place where justice must be upheld. A house of law and order.

To his… discredit… Athrun had also never once visited the Boaz branch… but as Rosso reacquaint himself in what supposed to be familiar surroundings, he found himself questioning his own perception if he was mistaking a courthouse… to a lavish hotel reception desk. Black marble flooring, elegant ivory statues decorating the corners… everything here smells… clean and new. And by God, it even came complete with… a Receptionist? What is he supposed to do, checking in?

"…Uh… hum… excuse me?"

The so called Receptionist had been standing still like a statue all this time, but the expressionless man gave the slightest of nod to the awkward Judge.

Rosso frowned and reassert himself. Appearance aside, this should still be a Judge's HQ. Some things can be changed… but some things shouldn't have changed. "…operant code: ZGMF-X19A." And he placed his badge for the man to see.

The 'Receptionist' flinched at the mention of the code. He opened his book, plowing all the way to the middle of the pages. Each page contained the codenames of each Judge, as well as their personal operant code. Athrun inadvertently read some of them. There has been many more Judges come and go. There are those whose name still written and some were dashed off… Either they're KIA or MIA, an everyday occurrence in this line of work. Athrun's gaze, and the receptionist' finger trailed as the two inwardly read each and every name listed until at last, they reached a lone name standing out amidst a whole list of dashed names: "…Judge Rosso." His voice is soft and his tone is fluid and professionally elegant. But the atmosphere in the building was so quiet, it's like somebody shouted his name out loud. Everyone stopped dead on their tracks once again upon hearing it.

Ignoring the ceased activity, the Receptionist proceeded with his question. "I trust the sun is shining brightly today?"

"No. Somewhat cloudy. It might rain later."

"Is your walking stick prepared?"

"Nay. My raincoat is full of holes."

"Oh dear. You might get sick."

"I might. But that's why I bring my cloak."

"Do you not feel overly dressed for the occasion, sir?"

"Actually they do feel a bit stuffy."

"I imagine the temperature would work up your appetite."

"You have no idea. I'm full but still feel empty."

"Have you need then of, say… a dinner reservation, perhaps?"

"I prefer lunch."

"Of course sir. Would you like to hear an opera while you dine? We have Phantom of the Opera."

"I favor the Ride of the Valkyrie by Wagner."

"Excellent choice sir."

"No. A bad choice. Wagner usually killed my appetite."

The 'Receptionist' stone cold expression breaks into a smile as he nodded in satisfaction. Athrun also smiled behind his mask. Now that they've exchanged all the things that need said, his identity is confirmed. But that also means everyone's attention is now undivided.

"Welcome back, Master Rosso. It has truly been a while." The Receptionist nodded.

"Yes. It has." Athrun also sighed in relief, now vastly more at ease than he was a few minutes ago. Thank God. Something familiar from the olden days is still there. "A lot of things changed… I'm a bit at loss here. Since when a Judge's Forward Base get merged with a Hotel business?"

The Receptionist chuckled. "Around 5 years ago, as I understand it. But as you've seen yourself, sir, we really haven't changed much. My superiors had me memorized that password and stanzas within the inch of my life, told me to never forget it, and I've began to wonder if I'll ever going to use them."

Speaking of superiors… "Is there a Magister Judge here I can talk to?"

"The Branch Manager is away."

"'Branch manager'?" Rosso tilted his head. He understands now it is a code of sorts, but 8 years ago, they don't have all this business styled codenames. "Is there anyone else I can talk to? I have some urgent report to make."

"Worry not sir. The Branch Manager is away… but the 'Owner' herself is here."

"By your definition, Owner… as in… Big Boss? The Supreme Judge herself is here!?" When the Receptionist nodded, Athrun's eyes widened to a teacup. Thank god for the mask. "…can I talk to her? It's… kinda important."

"I'm most certain she will look forward to it. I shall inform her of your arrival immediately… but… you must understand that I doubt you will be able to see her immediately. It is a pretty… busy time for us all, sir."

"I really picked a bad time to drop in after all these years, didn't I?"

"I'm afraid so, Sir."

"Alright. Alright, I can wait. I will wait. Meanwhile, I think I'm going to kill the time in the Librarium." That's what he was here for to begin with.

"Ah." The Receptionist winced. "I'm… afraid… I cannot allow that, sir."

Athrun blinked. "…the Librarium still exist… yes?" Rosso also looked down and Fatum is also staring back at him. "Ah… errh… is it because of my pet? Do you have an animal housing here or something-?"

"This has nothing to do with your companion sir. Quite in fact, unlike other establishment, we do welcome pets here, even provide some services for them. Animal companion are all the rage these days. And before you ask, the authenticity of your identity is not in question, sir." The Receptionist bowed courteously. "But you have not checked in for the last 8 years, and the Head office in Aprillus had yet to report otherwise to us as well. While you're still signed in as one of us, your status as an active Judge are currently in suspension, hence we cannot afford the full services of the Circle to you, especially access to the Librarium. If you wish to restore your privileges, then you may indeed have to talk to the Owner… as in… the Supreme Judge first."

"And as you say… she's busy."

"Precisely sir." Still, the receptionist handed Rosso a key. "Compliments of this establishment. Our finest suite, top floor. For you to wait in comfort."

He did not come here for comfort… but… he had little choice. He took the key nonetheless. "…and… I'll take that lunch. Literally."

"Of course sir. Shall I show you the menu? We have some excellent sea bass-"

"Just… bring everything on the menu."

"Of course, sir. Do enjoy your stay, Judge Rosso." The Receptionist bowed eloquently as he pointed to the elevator.

As Athrun made his way, he found himself a center of attention once again, more intense than when he first arrived. They're looking at him as if he was the Knightmaster himself. A living legend that was once a subject to boogeyman stories now walked in the flesh before their very own eyes. It… is not exactly welcome.

"Where to sir?" The Elevator operator bowed humbly before the Judge.

"Top floor."

As he steps into the elevator, the whole thing budged a step down, on the account of his weight. The bellboys merely gawked and the other passenger looked at the cause with wonder and awe. But then, in unison and before Athrun can protest, they all stepped out of the elevator, leaving Rosso alone with the elevator operator. "I'm so terribly sorry."

Much to his inward discomfort, none of the former passenger seems to mind as the elevator and its sole occupant finally climb up. It was slow, and this cranking sound is just disconcerting for its two occupants. Even Athrun began to fear the elevator might snap and drop midway. When he finally arrived at his room, he was further perplexed at how… lavish it was. Plump bed, marble ceiling, canopied bed… the heck? Even Fatum whimpered behind his legs in terror of this… this excessive display of luxury.

Athrun was about to ask for a change, but the elevator had already gone down. Left with no choice, Athrun took to lay at the bed… he regretted the experience almost immediately. His weight and the softness of the bed caused his whole figure to literally sank down. It's like he lay on a bed of bubbles. He almost felt like he's going to sink all the way to the bottom. In half panic, Athrun jumped out of the now caved in bed. "No. Just… no." He finally resolved to just roll up his cloak to use as a pillow as he lay on the floor. But Athrun can't seem to sleep. The smell of perfumed air, the fresco on the ceiling… they're just too distracting. "What the hell happened here? What the heck is all this?" Not even the HQ of the Circle in Aprillus was this lavish… then again, that was during his days.

Not for the first time in these many weeks, Athrun really missed his old extended family. "Lord Yuki… what would you say if you see this? Kira… what would you do…? Kira…" He still remembered that night. The night before that infernal incident in Amaterasu. He offered to take Kira back to Zaft… he refused flat out without so much as batting an eye.

Considering their long history, he had expected some hesitation at least… but there was none. Somehow, Athrun wasn't surprised. Outside his time with the Zala family, there was no happiness to be found for someone like Kira in Zaft. The reason was as silly as they come: they never could figure out what his bloodline limit really is. Physically substandard by an Advanced's measurement, healing factor that works too slow, skills that are seemingly useless (his eye for detail)… The narrow minded idiots in their society, which cover almost the majority of the population in his opinion, didn't even took a glance over the fact that Kira is probably one of the smartest human being on this side of the planet. Kira never felt bitter about it… but that also means he would have no love lost leaving this country behind.

But doesn't that mean he has an excuse for helping the Alliance?

Athrun snapped in shock as soon as his resting mind voiced that little possibility. "No… it can't be. It can't be. That's just absurd." The circumstances in which the armies of Zaft was defeated by this… 'Kage' character was horrifying to contemplate. According to Lamia, Kage was a student of Ray Yuki. He said that was a large pool of suspects he must investigate, but is that really the case? Not many people could read his plans with such accuracy, and then counter with such precise manner. Even the strategies wielded by Kage felt strangely familiar. "But… if Kage was Ray Yuki's student… it's not impossible that Kira and I may have seen him before… probably converse and even exchanged ideas…"

But is that really your brain talking… or your heart who simply refuse to acknowledge the possibility?

"Gah!" Athrun growled in irritation. "It… It can't be… it just can't be…" He looked at Lord Ray Yuki's statue in the balcony garden of his room. But his thoughts travelled to a certain brown haired boy instead. "…it can't be… right?"

Ring ding ting…

A harmonious bell sounded from the door. When Athrun opened the door, he was welcomed by an army of waiters… carrying his orders, which, as requested, include every type of morsel written on the menu – bar the alcohol. Athrun rolled his eyes seeing a whole queue of trays carrying all sorts of food he won't find out of place in luxury restaurant. And they elegantly set them up in massive dinner table they brought in just for the occasion. "…uhh… Wait…. Wait, wait, wait…" He took a deep breath and glared. "I need to you all to… vacate the premises… for a minute."

"Sir?"

"Vacate the premises, for a minute. Wait by the door. I'll call you when I'm done."

"Do you not need help with your meal?" When the meal has been set on a VERY large table, several waitresses – in a VERY skimpy outfit - looked like they were even prepared to… feed him!? Now that just take things too far. "Compliments of the hotel, sir." They even dare to say that to his face!? Between his growling starving belly, his raging metabolism and the culture shock that compounds it, it was just too much for Athrun to swallow.

Rosso raised his hand. "No. Just… no. You guys are… no. Out now. GET OUT! All of you! Wait by the door! I'll call you… when… I'm… done!"

The waiters and waitresses gulped. It seems, their services were far from flattering for the legendary Judge. Point in fact, he looked so overwhelmed he was one breath away from exploding. They quickly ran out of the room in a terrified heartbeat and shut the door, and wait as they argued in whispers, questioning, and blaming, each other for what went wrong in that room.

"What's wrong with him? What did you do?"

"I don't know! I only gave him the usual VVIP treatment!"

"I don't think he likes being treated like that?"

"Are you crazy? What kind of a guy-"

"He's not just any 'guy'." The waiters' hushed chatters ceased when the 'Receptionist' made his presence known. "I'll have you know… Rosso was one of the old school Judges. One of the last and greatest generations trained by the Knightmaster himself. Comfort and luxury was a concept entirely outlandish for these kinds of Judges."

The Receptionist's comment was cut short when the guttural roar of an unspeakable horror erupted from the room. It only lasted for a minute, but the bestial sound was as inhuman as it is blood curdling. Then the door was opened again, and a far calmer Rosso addressed the terrified attendants as he wiped the small stain on his mask with a napkin. "Okay. I'm done. You can take them away boys and girls."

"Huh?" They all echoed. But when they reentered the room, it is exactly as the Judge says. A hundred or so empty plates had been piled in the corner, not a single crumb remained. Not even a droplet of the sauce or even the fishbones can be seen.

"I trust the food is satisfactory then, sir." The Receptionist asked.

"I needed them for the nutrients and sustenance, not the taste. Pass my apology to the chef."

"I will sir." The Receptionist bowed.

But Athrun grunted. "Excuse me, Mr. Receptionist?"

"Yes, Sir?"

"With all due respect… I've ventured… from China, to Indonesia, to Japan… I've fought entire armies, travelled halfway across the world, nearly died doing so… all that… JUST so that I can come back here and access the Circle's Librarium. I did not come here to eat or be molly coddled like some fat cat."

"Of course you aren't, sir." The Receptionist bowed again, still with that stone cold but polite neutral smile. "Which is precisely why I put you here in the first place, sir."

"Pardon me?"

"Let me just repeat sir." The Receptionist smiled mischievously now. "We REALLY haven't changed much over the last few years. Of that I can assure you, sir."

He gave one last bow, and then motioned all his subordinates to quickly leave and give the Judge his privacy. Rosso walked back to his room, pondering the Receptionist words. "We really haven't changed much…?" He repeated the word over and over in his head… and suddenly, his instincts as a Judge, personally honed by Ray Yuki and Kira began to resurface once again. Focus. Concentrate. Observation is key. Nothing in this world is exactly as it seems.

Now that he's no longer hounded by his starvation, Athrun found he was able to focus much easier. And that was when… he began to notice a few irregularities in his so called luxurious VVIP room. If the idea is comfort, then the placing is all wrong. A life sized marble white statue of Ray Yuki in particular, caught his attention. It was situated right in the middle of the room's hanging garden at the balcony… but something about it feels… off. "Wait a minute…" The statue was the Knightmaster, holding aloft a sword with one hand, a sheath with the other. The sheath however… the hole of the sheath is somewhat… large enough for… Instinctively, Athrun pulled out his badge… and put it in into the hole. And it fits, as expected. He heard a mechanism unlocked within the statue. And then he finally notices the hinge keeping the Knightmaster's hand aloft. Following his gut, Athrun grabbed Ray Yuki's sword arm, and pulled it down.

And the whole room literally transformed in a blink of an eye. The statues receded into the floor, replaced by weapons rack. The marble walls flipped open, and rows upon rows of books and reference material extended out. The fountain water shuts down, lifted up, replaced by a workshop and an atelier. The fresco ceiling rearranged its pictures to form a strategic map of the entire breadth of Zaft empire. The comfy bed flipped open into a portable torture rack. The fireplace spin around, revealing an armor locker. The only thing untouched in this whole room is the study. This… was the facsimile of their old base in Aprillus, the Hole! They moved the whole thing here!?

"2 minutes and 30 seconds."

Athrun jerked in surprise.

A blonde haired woman in her forties in a teal trench coat had just closed her pocket watch as she gave Athrun a meaningful smirk. "And THAT was after you filled your belly with food. Your early retirement made you rusty, boy."

"Lady Canaver." Athrun smiled again seeing yet another familiar face. "Are you the one I had to thank for all these drastic changes I see here?"

"Heh. No. These changes were necessary." The now Supreme Judge Eileen Canaver chortled. "The External activities of Judges at the front line outside the borders necessitate a change in how they operate. The Judge HQ in Aprillus is a court house and prison, but the Forward base here in Boaz serves more than just an information archive. It is a place for Field Judges to rest and recover before and after they venture outside the borders of the Empire, and in your case, studied some data in peace. Over time, they evolved into the Hotel services that you see now. We still have a fully functional court and prison, but you need to get through the back door. You wouldn't have known it because you've never been here."

"Never had the need to." Rosso shrugged. "When I left the circle, I had fully intended to never come back."

"And yet here you are." Eileen sighed. "Take off your mask."

Athrun obeyed without question. It is an order only the Supreme Judge had the right to give.

"You know… I'm under obligation to arrest you on sight. Especially after that little stunt you pulled in Bastille Secundus…"

"If you wanted to arrest me, you could've done that at the entrance." Athrun frowned. "I'm not here to clear my name, and quite frankly, I'm not interested on getting reinstated either."

"But you're here for a reason."

"Yes."

"Alright." Eilleen stood up and take a different seat behind the study, the same seat Ray Yuki used to sit on. Not as a Knightmaster, but as the Supreme Judge. "Alright. Judge Rosso, report."

Athrun put his mask back on. "Yes, ma'am."

Athrun wasn't quite sure how long his story goes, but when he's done, Eileen only nodded in understanding. "Yes… you're right. This wouldn't be the first time one of Ray Yuki's students turned bad. But… I highly doubt this and the matter of your inventions are correlated. There are only three people in the Circle who knew that Athrun Zala and Rosso are one and the same. That already includes me, Lord Yuki took that information to his grave, and then there's one other, whose name I will not utter here."

Rosso know full well who she meant. "That being said, it won't be the first time this agency stole my inventions without my permission. It wasn't until I became a Judge did I noticed you've done this long before I joined. And you never returned them intact if at all."

"For the record, your best friend and Lord Yuki did most of the thieving… and breaking."

"I'm aware. When I joined, they came clean and showed me this list. They're all accounted for: returned, broken, or destroyed to prevent misuse. Was there any record of the Judges continuing this 'tradition' long after I resigned?"

"The scale you speak of was far beyond anything this Circle has ever done." Eileen frowned. "But… I'm not going to discount the possibility. You knew about the Onyx Hassassin's project on keeping an eye on people of interest? We have worked hand in hand with them to keep track of your technologies, if there's a record of it, the Librarium would hold it. And the Onyx Hassassin holds a copy."

"And I need to get reinstated to access it?"

"…" Eileen didn't answer immediately. "…there's something I need to tell you." She stood up and unfolded a scroll which she handed over to Athrun.

Athrun took it and opened it up. As his eyes danced across its content edge to edge, his frown grew. "…are they serious!?"

"Yes." Eileen sighed as she rubbed her temple. "This was a crisis unprecedented… and everyone was desperate."

"I know we're short on good officers." Athrun sighed as he scratched his head. He understands the logic, of course.

The parchment contains a petition. A petition requesting all available Judges and Magister Judges to participate in this Campaign, to serve as ranking officers. An army this huge requires at least ALL Hakutenkun to take command, because this is just too much power for a single person to control. But… thanks to the recent incidents, with all Hakutenkuns absent and no immediate candidate to replace them, Zaft vast armies lacked the leadership needed to guide them in the coming conflict. For that reason, the rank Judge will now be granted a military authority equal that of an Elemental Knight, and the Magister Judge will have an authority above all yet just one step shy of a Hakutenkun. Even though they were meant to be an extra judicial law enforcement agency, they're still an assortment of the best brightest intellectuals in the entire nation. It should be a small matter (for the Judges at least) to adapt their intellect to the task at hand. This petition was made and signed by various prominent noble houses in Zaft: Joule, Elthman, Ikaruga, Britannia, Zala and even Clyne also agreed to it.

From a tactical standpoint, this request is logical. But… considering the Judges made it their life's work to sometimes arrest members of the Noble families whose seal he saw signing this petition… he could not help but to wonder if this was their way to get back at them or to be rid of their watchful eyes for good. What's more…

"Why do I see Papacy seal on it!?"

"Yeah, figured you'll growl at that." Eileen smiled bitterly. "But that's moot. That petition has been signed and sealed with a royal signet. All Judges are now part of the military apparel by order of his Majesty the Emperor himself. They had no choice. Some of the Magister Judges had already arrived here on this island."

"So… to access the Librarium, I had to get reinstated, but that also means I have to join the fight?"

"No."

"Oh?"

"I had this idea the minute I heard you're coming." Eileen smiled uneasily. "I don't want you to just join the fight. I want you to LEAD it."

"…what? You're not serious!"

"I am." Eileen sighed. "The seat of Aprillus' Magister Judge had stood empty for years now. I'm the Supreme Judge so I was able to fill in… but the authority is still vested in me to immediately promote you as the new Magister Judge."

It took a second for Athrun to absorb this. And even after he did, he was stunned in silence. "But I've been absent for years. Surely there are others. Someone older. Wiser!"

"Most of the Judges that exist today are third Generation Judges. Of all Second Generation Judges, you're the best one I got."

Insofar there are three generations of Judges. The Circle is an idea that had existed long before Athrun and Kira were born. The First generations refer to Judges trained by Lord Ray Yuki prior to his departure to Junius. Second Generation was trained after his return, and it was said to be the Golden Generation of Judges with Rosso and Noir at the forefront. But the succeeding Generations after that, generation that was trained by the Judges of the First and Second Generation, in short, after Ray Yuki's passing, these were coined as the Third Generation. And sadly they do not command the same respect as the first or second generation. But perhaps that is an unfair assessment. It's not that they were bad… it's just the Golden Generation's luster had yet to fade. Noir, Rosso and the rest of 2nd Generation did their job well… almost too well. Future generations didn't get the chance to prove their worth. Until now.

However, it is also fact that most of these Third Generations judges revere Rosso and Noir. They've been weaned on their legends. They would be more than willing to obey the words of a Veteran, especially from one of the last and greatest of the Second Generation: Rosso the Relentless. Which would make Athrun the De Facto leader of this massive campaign. He did say he needed an army… but this is way too huge.

"I'm not the best." Athrun bit his lips. "There used to be another. Someone worthier than me."

Canaver bitterly broke her own words: "…Noir's gone, Athrun. You need to stop blaming yourself. It was his choice."

"…"

"Just, think it over, okay? The circle is still a voluntary organization. Magister or not, I'm more than happy to reinstate you back as a field Judge. But consider this: I can just about imagine that your primary concern is rescuing your kidnapped fiancée. You will be in better position to do so at a higher station."

Just then, their conversation was interrupted by a few knocks on the door. "Come in!"

It was the Receptionist. Interestingly, he's not alone. "I'm sorry to interrupt but… they are here."

"Ah yes." Eileen smiled mischievously. "Rosso, this might surprise you… but… truth be told, I've been made aware of Lady Lacus predicament some time ago."

"You have?"

"I have informants. And after a bit of discussion and when made aware of your return, they insist to talk this out with you, in private."

"They?"

Eileen gestured her guests to come in, and as Rosso turned to see, his eyes widened. Faces from the past he saw in their respective younger days now stood before him… grown.

Godric Gryffindor's beard and crimson mane had grown healthily over the years, framing his firm and stout face in a leonine fashion. Yet he's not old. Far from it. His vibrant red hair springs with the vigor he had back in when he was but a warden, now tampered and reinforced with experience and training. Now, he's the proud Fire Knight, and one of most accomplished duelist in Februarius, and even beyond. His ruby crusted sword rest firmly on his belt as proof of it.

Salazar Slytherin now sports a silver lined brown goatee beneath his handsome and smooth face that matched his silken brown hair crowning his head. Unlike Godric's muscular form, he was of thin and leanly build, with smooth fingers that delicately held a staff of an accomplished Mage in his hand. They say his skill in potion and wizardry surpassed that of his father, as can be shown by the multiple flasks on his snakeskin belt.

Rowena Ravenclaw is probably the only one in Februarius that can match Salazar, as far as witchcraft goes. But many praised her to be more creative and inventive with her magic. If Athrun heard it right, C.C. had even expressed interest in inducting her into the Circle as her apprentice.

Hugo Hufflepuff seemingly unchanged – save for that extra girth on his stomach, but he stand tall and proud today in honor of the matriarch of the Hufflepuff family… which had enjoyed a meteoric rise to prominence over the last 8 years. They are now one of the most powerful noble families in Februarius, and one of its proudest defenders as well.

And Fayt Leingod… 8 years had changed him… like… A LOT. Athrun could barely recognize him. He's taller than him now. The tout muscle lining up his arms showed just how much he's grown. Wearing a grey leather armor and heavily armored from waist down, he made it clear that he had lived up his dream of becoming a Knight.

Here they stand before him now… but there's only one common denominator between these five…

"Lady Canaver, what is this all about?" Rosso knew right then and there this isn't a coincidence.

"I'll leave you here for now." Eileen stood up. "As of this moment, I, Eileen Canaver, by the power vested in me by yadda yadda and etc, etc, hereby reinstate thee, Rosso, as an active Judge once more. Bada Bing, Bada boom. You're reinstated. Now, all I can say is… you need to listen to what these people had to say. They insisted that you, and only you, had the right to hear the whole story."

Rosso raised an eyebrow and Eileen merely nodded one last time before she made her exit. Rosso eyed them for a moment and sighed. "Okay, gentlemen and Lady… how can I help you?"

"Are you… really, him? Judge Rosso, I mean." Hugo tilted his head. "I remember you a bit wee…"

"Yeah, I answered that same question a while back." Rosso shrugged. "Need I remind you, we're all standing in one of the most heavily defended place on the Zaft Empire. I don't know how you guys managed to get in the first time, but as for my case, if I'm not who I claimed to be, we won't even be having this conversation on account of me hanging by the gallows."

"O… of course. My apologies, My Lord." Hugo hastily bowed his head.

"Sigh… is Madame Helga well?"

"She's in good Health, Gods be praised." Hugo smiled. "Though none too happy that our family must answer the call of war."

"Name me a mother who would happily send their children to the slaughterhouse of war and I'll have her arrested."

"I know a few…" Rowena chuckled bitterly.

"Give me the list later." Rosso mimicked the bitterness in his own chuckle. "…so… back to my earlier question… how can I help you gentlemen and lady?"

"My Lord, if I may." Salazar Slytherin spoke first. "I don't know if you're aware… but we had divined that Lady Lacus Clyne may have been kidnapped and captured under enemy hands."

Rosso raised an eyebrow. "I'm aware. Her sister told me that herself on my way here."

"I see… were you also aware that she's still very much alive?"

"Hm." Rosso tilted his head. "I had my guess. But… humor me. How did you know it for sure?" He gestured them all to take their seats while he took his own.

"To explain this… will require a bit of backtracking." Godric sat right in front of Rosso. "You would honor us, Judge Rosso, if you can fill in the blanks. This, after all… concerns Master Noir's final months in Februarius."

"…truth be told, I wasn't aware of most of it myself." Nevertheless, Rosso found himself interested. "I did not stay in Februarius for long after that, as I'm sure you're all aware."

Around that time, he was informed that Ray was very much aware of his transgressions. And he will come to pick him up in a few days time. Until then, he is to accompany Noir as his escort. Athrun used that time to enjoy his brief stay in the land of his dreams for as best as he can… unfortunately, it was around that time when Athrun figured out what is wrong with Februarius…

…a serious lack of common sense.

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