Chapter 4 "Prisoners of War"

"Okay… that should be everybody," Commander Colin scanned the surviving soldiers of Colony 25 in another post-battle assembly. Noah stood tiredly with his fellow salvagers, hardly taking his eyes off Mio whose group remained in a patrol squad's custody. For the second straight night, the Kevesis had surmounted an invasion from the vengeful Agnians, although this time it'd gotten too close for the former's comfort. "We've lost nearly a dozen personnel, including my lieutenant. Additionally, several of our Levnises were destroyed, and our Ferronis sustained considerable damage along its right side. Consul, sir, I assume full responsibility for the oversights which led to the breach."

"Cease with the miserere, for victory has been attained yet again." The consul stepped calmly into view, unbothered by the disarray. "Colony 25 now stands tall as a beacon for Keves!"

"I-I'm afraid I don't quite understand, sir," the commander brought his heels together to steady his trembling legs. "We are but in tatters, laid vulnerable by those who sought to end us."

"Is this how you see it, Commander Colin?" the caped man peered down the nose of his mask at him.

"It is," his subordinate swallowed audibly.

"Then you are blind to your own spoils," the consul shook his head slowly before waltzing towards the center of the plaza.

"Consul, sir?" the commander held his breath, as did the rest of the colony.

"Observe! A Flame Clock filled to the brim! Oh, how it bursts with life!" The red-armored orator outstretched his hands at the object in question.

"It's full?" Commander Colin's eyes widened with this claim. "Completely?"

"Undeniably so!" the consul stifled a laugh. "No further embers could have fed it!"

"No further embers?" Noah quietly repeated to himself, having carefully listened to every word of the sordid discourse.

"Sir, is this why you made the call for us to capture the remaining enemies?" the commander asked precisely what the pacifist was piecing together.

"Very good, Commander Colin," the caped hierarch's voice became thin and wiry as he turned towards the captured Agnians. "Once a Flame Clock reaches capacity, the embers taken by those who serve it can no longer feed it. So you see, I simply could not stand idly by and let your efforts go to waste."

"You didn't want us to keep killing because the deaths were no longer counting," Commander Colin found the answer at last, no longer fearful of punishment.

"Therein lies the waste. The Flame Clocks sustain us all, but alas, they can only hold so much. It is the cruelest of ironies though no less a fact." The consul turned his attention to Mio and the other captures, prompting everyone else to do the same. His right Iris glowed red as he focused on the Agnians' wrists, forming ether bracelets around them as inexplicably as his method of travel. "Understand this, Colony 25! Your quarry, now suitably disarmed… shall be your reserve!"

"Our reserve?" his subordinate raised a brow. "You mean to save for later?"

"You are most perceptive. I was right to appoint you commander." The red-armored boss stepped away from the crowd, landing his far-reaching gaze on an iron cage situated beside the Ferronis. "Lock away your quarry at once!"

"Huh? Oh, y-yes, sir!" The leader of the patrol squad which had been overseeing the captured Agnians fumbled with their salute before complying. Noah's breath became unsteady as Mio marched out of sight.

"Commander Colin, you must guard the prisoners until it is time to feast!" the consul crossed his arms, tilting his decorated head upwards. "I shall return when your Flame Clock desires sustenance once more!" Satisfied with the events of the night, he dematerialized off the plane without so much as a farewell.

"Ahem… right, we will adhere to the consul's wishes, eccentric though they may be," the commander reassumed charge of the colony. "Every group will have a turn guarding the prisoners!"

"Great… not only did the Agnians kill Lana and storm our base, but now they're slumming here, too," Denize grumbled from the salvager group, understandably bitter.

"I wonder how long we'll have to keep them imprisoned," Fonse looked around for someone with an answer. "Noah?"

"No idea," the swordfighter's gaze fell to the ground with Mio taken away. "I don't like this one bit." Consoled only by the knowledge that she'd be spared at least for tonight, Noah left with his team upon their dismissal from the commander. The walk back to the barracks provided no such comfort, however, as he found the Agnian husks of his teammates' victims right where they'd left them. In fact, it was rather disturbing for the pacifist, trying to fall back asleep with the cold, lifeless bodies lying right outside their door.

By morning, the colony grounds had been adequately cleared, leaving the northern sands for the salvage branch to tend. Although the mess wasn't quite as big here as it was in the south, the task wasn't easy with the weight of two straight nights of war and the loss of a friend on their minds. Furthermore, Noah could hardly go three or four minutes without thinking about Mio.

"We've fallen on hard times, huh?" the mace-wielder tried to kickstart a conversation. "Um… how's everybody holding up?"

"What do you think?" the swordswoman shot him an indignant look.

"It's been… tough," Noah minced his words, staring across Devil's Skillet, the largest sinkhole of the desert, "but it could've been worse."

"How?" she promptly challenged him. "How can it possibly get any worse?"

"We could all be dead," Yuzet offered what Noah was thinking.

"Most teams lost more than we have," Fonse agreed, tossing his latest find into the scrap pile.

"Those Agnians lost everything, thanks to us," Solon added his thoughts. "Well, we have what's left of them… locked up."

"Do we even know which colony they were?" the redhead broached a question which he was surprised that nobody had asked sooner.

"I don't know," the ponytailed soldier dimmed his eyes, "but we'll soon have a chance to find out when it's our turn to stand guard."

"I'm not speaking to those mudders!" Denize swung her hands laterally, shaking her head in disgust. "You can ask them if you want."

"Thanks, I will." Noah contributed to the haul while she stared blankly at his face, stunned by his willingness to interact with those whom she steadfastly considered to be the enemy.

Since most of the destroyed Kevesi Levnises never made it out of the colony during last night's battle, there wasn't much that the salvagers could bring back for the mechanics to reuse. At any rate, they had little downtime after returning to base as it would soon be their turn for guard duty. With the sun hanging low in the sky, Noah led them to the rear of Colony 25 where the captured Agnians were being detained. His face felt both hot and cold as the anxiety gave way to relief upon the headcount of all four Agnians behind the iron bars.

"Oh, good, our turn's up!" one of the Kevesi guards expressed relief of their own. "I got tired of looking at them!"

"Well, gee! We sure can't wait to do that, ourselves!" The swordswoman pelted them with sarcasm as the other guards stood and happily handed the responsibility to the salvagers. Contrarily, Noah made no such fuss, slowly approaching the cage normally used for the colony's own troublemakers. At first glance, he noticed that Mio was still wearing her helmet, minus only the bottom half.

"Why are you still wearing that?" the concerned Kevesi asked but received no immediate reply. "It's hot out here."

"Noah, you're seriously talking to them?" Denize couldn't believe that he'd actually gone through with it.

"You'll swelter with it on," he ignored her, noticing how soaked with sweat Mio's neck and the top of her military uniform had become.

"Go away," his former opponent eventually spoke.

"Not for a little while," Noah lowered himself to her level. Glancing into the cage around her, he spotted a small, wrinkled booklet with her name and the number 10 scribbled on the cover. "What colony are you from?"

"We're not talking…" she crossed her arms like a pouting first-termer.

"Don't sit so close to them!" the female salvager tugged at his shoulders.

"Why? They've been disarmed." The pacifist focused on the bracelets which the consul had placed on the Agnians' wrists the night before. The constraining material was a translucent mixture of ether-infused green and an unfamiliar purple.

"They're the enemy!" she admonished him. "Gross by every fiber!"

"You're no less repulsive, yourself!" chided one of the prisoners, a girl with lavender skin.

"Shut the spark up!" Denize drew her Blade, aiming it toward the cage. "Your skin's weird and you've got rocks under your eyes!"

"You think my skin's weird?" the insulted Agnian glared at her before pointing to Yuzet. "What about him? His is all kinds of gray!"

"Oi, leave me out of this!" the healer shouted from behind.

"That's enough, everyone," Noah waved his hand, climbing to one knee. "I'm sorry I caused such a stir."

"Hmph!" the swordswoman withdrew her Blade, retreating to sit with the other salvagers. "Doesn't matter much. They'll be dead soon enough."

"Yeah…" Mio lowered her head, not sounding the least bit bothered by the prospect. Her soft, breathy murmur hadn't gone unheard by Noah whose frown began to harden on his face. Peering up again, she noticed his reaction instantly. "Look, man, I gave you two chances, earlier."

"Why do you want to die so badly?" his voice was delicate now.

"Like I'd tell you," she turned her head away.

"Don't you think I deserve to know?" he wasn't letting her get off so easily. "You'd chosen me, remember?"

"Mio, what's he talking about?" the Agnian sitting beside her inquired, curiously speaking into the top of her helmet.

"It's nothing, Bowan," her shoulder bumped his.

"Wanting to die is hardly nothing!" his hands were nearly flailing.

"Nobody talk to me anymore!" Mio burst aloud, clearly upset by the attention. "Please! I'm just… waiting for this to be over."

"Mio…" Noah whispered to her, saddened but unsurprised to hear this mindset persist.

"Hmm?" she unwittingly responded before recoiling at the thought of a Kevesi knowing her name. "Ughwhat?"

"I'm sorry… that it has to be this way." Submitting to his recently formed habit, Noah's eyes searched for hers through the visor of her helmet. Dropping his gaze down the exposed, lower half of her face, he began to wonder if some of her sweat were tears. "And I'm sorry that I've only made you feel worse. I-I'll leave you be, now."

Her teeth showed briefly as she inhaled sharply, fighting to keep herself together. All at once, he felt another pang of guilt rumbling in the pit of his stomach, grounding him the moment he tried to stand. Although Mio was the one in the cage, Noah felt just as stuck. Holding his breath, he swore he could hear the ticking of some ethereal clock. The seven other nearby soldiers seemed to disappear while this moment became punctuated by an air of unnerving silence.

"W-what's your name?" Mio finally got on her knees, mimicking his position on the other side of the bars.

"I'm Noah," he managed to get out, feeling the dryness of his mouth. Scooting closer, she placed her hands on her helmet and slowly lifted it to reveal the eyes which he'd yearned to see. Indeed, there were streaks of tears drawn over the impressions left by the overworn headgear. Noah studied every last detail of her face as she continued to expose more of it. Her whitish-beige hair was visibly damp, crowned by a pair of catlike ears which twitched at their first chance at movement in well over a day. The helmet was off at last, and it couldn't have felt better for the deeply troubled Agnian.

A new feeling began welling within the transfixed Kevesi, scaring him into clutching his chest like he'd been mortally wounded. Realizing that all four prisoners were ganging up on him with their various countenances, Noah willed himself to retreat to his group. Nothing more was said for the remainder of the salvagers' watch until it was time to pass the baton to the next group and head for the showers.

Like before, Noah relished in the hot water as it not only cleansed his body but also cleared his head as well. This time, however, it was from the bath where all five salvagers had gathered to decompress.

"So… are you planning on telling us what happened back there, Noah?" Fonse broke the silence, peering across the steaming water to his teammate.

"Hmm?" Noah cracked one eye open, not quite ready to leave his personal headspace.

"With the Agnian, mate," the mace-wielder specified, eager for the lowdown. "You two spoke like you knew each other."

"We fought… both times her colony attacked us," the unique swordfighter palmed his submerged knees.

"She's the one with the giant rings?" Denize joined the conversation, seated beside Fonse.

"Yeah," Noah breathed out, wearily, "that's how I knew it was her, the second time."

"You sought her out?" she leaned forward, teasing the water's surface with her chin.

"No, she sought me out," he corrected her. "She'd already seen my face, not to mention my Blade…"

"Why do you suppose she hid her face for so long?" the wingman tossed in a question of his own.

"Sitting in a cage must be humiliating," Fonse stared at the rippling reflection of the overhead lights.

"I'd wanted to see her face, but now I wish I hadn't," the ponytailed Kevesi expressed his regret. "She looked… so sad. So inconsolably sad."

"She looked different, that's for sure," his fellow swordfighter placed her hands on her head, fingers pointed upwards. "Did you see her ears?"

"What about that other girl?" the redhead glanced around. "Her skin was unlike any of ours."

"The guy sitting next to her had blue lines on his face," Solon kept the ball rolling, "and the guy sitting next to the crier had blue fins behind his ears!"

"Agnians sure are strange, huh?" Yuzet contorted his face, partially in repugnance.

"They must think we're strange, too," Fonse folded his arms, studying his friends' varying features.

"Why?" Denize swiftly turned to face him, the tips of her hair launching a barrage of droplets. "Because Solon's got wings and Yuzet's got that pattern on his arms?"

"Your chest is different from the rest of ours," the mace-wielder made sure to include her, "and you have freckles, too."

"I don't have freckles," she contested his second claim.

"Yeah, you do," he pointed above her nose, "right there."

"No, I don't," her hand slapped his, and soon the two of them were splashing each other silly.

"Every soldier is different," Noah circled the conversation back around, marginally amused by their antics, "whether you're Kevesi or Agnian, male or female."

"Why are we so different, though?" Fonse posed the next question, his face now soaked. "Shouldn't everybody under one nation be similar?"

"Shouldn't we all look like the queen?" Denize blew at her clumped hair that was dangling over her mouth. "We all came from her, after all."

"Yeah, you'd think we'd all at least get wings," the healer tilted his head towards Solon who couldn't help but grin.

"There are many things we don't know," the pacifistic Kevesi stared out the steam vent, "and we'll never know as long as we continue to isolate ourselves."

"Isolate?" The redhead was bemused by this choice of words. "What do you mean?"

"We've spent our lives fighting for Keves, limiting our experiences of the world," Noah explained before dropping his sullen sights on Fonse and Denize. "You two in particular have only been stationed here, in the desert."

"Right," Fonse nodded, slowly catching his drift, "and you transferred from Colony 17."

"On the region's northern border, yes, until it was wiped out by Colony Iota," the ponytailed soldier expanded on his history. "The other survivors went to Colony 23, but I requested to move here."

"How come?" the swordswoman was casually curious.

"Because… this team, the salvage branch had an opening." Noah surveyed the bath for reactions, feeling the familiar heat of being put under the microscope.

"Really?" she found it hard to believe. "Until recently, we'd always be stuck in the back, handling defense."

"I think that's exactly why… isn't it, Noah?" The mace-wielder knew him well. "Less combat, less chance of… you know."

"The only problem is that we're usually the ones to discover those we lost." The pacifistic Kevesi's lamentation resounded with his teammates in a heartbeat.

"Yeah…" the lone girl of the group let out a long-drawn sigh, still upset over Lana's death.

"And now we're doing just as much fighting as any other team," Noah closed his eyes again, feeling the mental exhaustion seeping in. "Seems like… there's no escape."

"Escape? From fighting?" Fonse experienced the onset of drowsiness himself.

"The Agnians we captured might be the ones sitting in detention, but we're all prisoners of war, here." The ponytailed soldier turned away from the other salvagers, retreating to his personal headspace for the remainder of their turn in the bathhouse. "MioI think I'm starting to understand her…"

That night in the barracks, Noah found great difficulty in falling asleep. It hadn't been too terribly long since Mio had finally revealed her face to him, but he'd already committed it to memory. The saddest of eyes that he'd ever seen stared back at him as long as his remained closed.

In due time, the rest of her appeared before him as his mind conjured the scene. The air was cold, a sensation Noah could never feel in the desert during any season or time of day. Looking down, he found his feet planted deep in the snow which was even harder through which to traverse than sand. Still, Noah attempted to plod onwards, willing himself to leave this place like his life depended on it. A single source of warmth tingled his body while the winds began to sweep across the unknown tundra. It was Mio, her hand clutched to his as the two of them made their way up the unforgiving hill. He had no idea why they were running, but soon she was faltering in her steps behind him. Up ahead was a giant rock, hardly a shelter from the storm. Out of ideas, Noah found a spot against it for them to rest their weather-worn bodies. With death circling around them, he wrapped his arm around her to bring her closer. Mio's chilled right ear poked his chapped lips while their breathing slowed, their dwindling gazes too heavy to maintain.

The next time Noah opened his eyes, he saw nothing but the ceiling of Colony 25's barracks. Such a vivid, wretched nightmare had never taken control of his subconscious before. Propping himself on his elbows, he observed the morning light invading the tent and illuminating the dust that flew off the feet of his fellow soldiers. The stricken Kevesi had so many questions, but only he could provide answers to them and now was not the time to do so.

The day would be filled with more trips outside the colony to salvage war-strewn material until it was time to report for another round of guard duty. Suddenly terrified to see Mio again, Noah's sights dragged along the ground as they approached the cage. Looking up, he counted four Agnians again, including the girl whose face had potentially triggered something deep within his overactive mind. Her helmet remained off while she chewed on her stale bread. The moment their eyes reconnected, Noah could swear that Mio's frown was softening, or maybe that was what he wanted to see. What he did feel for certain was that his newfound fear of her had vanished. Taking a seat with the other salvagers, he wondered how many more days would play out like this.

"Hey…" his former adversary called out.

"Y-yes?" Noah crawled towards the cage before realizing that she hadn't specified to whom she was talking.

"Do you have an extra pen lying around?" Mio scanned all the Kevesis, but the others behind Noah paid her no attention.

"A pen?" he blinked at her request. "As in, to write?"

"Well… what else, huh?" she looked at him like he was the daftest person she'd met.

"Oh, uh, sure, I'll grab mine," the fumbling swordsman climbed to his feet. "Wait here, I'll be right back."

"I can't go anywhere, genius," her brows lowered further.

"R-right." Embarrassed, Noah avoided eye contact with the other seven soldiers in the area upon his hasty retreat to the barracks. Plucking his pen from his colony handbook, he returned to the cage to find Mio waiting patiently for him. "Here you go."

"Thanks," she grabbed it through the iron bars. "I'd lost mine out there."

"I see," he sat in front of her again. "You like to write?"

"No, but I do it sometimes…" the caged Agnian fetched her wrinkled booklet, "well, most times." She carefully counted the pages that she turned, checking a tiny square at the top of each. The moment she began writing, however, she lifted her eyes off the paper to catch him staring at her activity. "Do you mind?"

"Oh, sorry!" the curious Kevesi fell backwards off his knees.

"Hmph… that's better," Mio resumed her new entry. "This is for me and no one else."

"Like a diary?" his mouth let out another question without thinking.

"It's… my journal," she clarified tentatively. "Same thing, I suppose."

"I had to write in one during my first term," Noah offered for light conversation, scooting closer to her again.

"Me too, and… that's exactly what this is, a first-termer's journal," the cat-eared Agnian paused her writing once more to explain. "I pilfered them from my colony since we hardly got new arrivals."

"But those only have enough pages for one year," he crossed his arms, lightly stroking his chin.

"Helps to keep track, doesn't it?" Mio flipped through the empty pages to the end before returning to her current entry.

"Of your days?" his fingers latched onto one of the crossbars.

"That's correct," she focused on the last square that she'd checked, "though I don't think I'll need to count them anymore."

"You're a… tenth-termer," the concerned Kevesi noticed the mark on her neck.

"Hardly matters if I'm going to be served to you ruffians soon," the resigned Agnian looked past him to the other salvagers.

"Mio…" his voice thinned into a whisper.

"Do you need your pen back? I'm almost done." Her depleted gaze upturned towards the setting sun. "Almost done…"

"I-I don't need it back." Noah wanted so badly to ask again why she wanted to die, but his prior apology for making her feel worse prevented him from acting upon it.

"Hey…" Mio halted him just as he rotated on his heels to return to his group.

"Hmm?" he pressed his shoulder against the cage.

"Look, I don't know what your consul has in mind, but…" she shut her eyes, sighing into her lap, "it would mean a lot to me if you could be the one to take my life, when it's time. I think… I could retain my dignity if I surrendered my embers to you."

Facing him again, Mio observed the face of a most conflicted young man. Noah couldn't bring himself to acquiesce outright, but he knew how trapped she felt. And yet, this death wish of hers was a trap of its own for the pacifist who'd never killed another soldier. If there was a way for both of them to cut the ties which bound them to the infernal war, then he hoped to find it.