Yamaguchi had gotten rather sick of the ocean by the time he and Suga reached the shores of Fukoni. The constant rocking had made him feel ill, the hiding place was dark and stank of fish, and the sailors stomping about above deck filled him with a bubbling rage. His only solace was Suga's good company and the occasional seabird he managed to coerce into the hull. In their two-day journey, Suga fared much better, his legs were far more suited to the bobbing ship, and the silver-haired man managed to keep his spirits high.

The scant hope that Suga had managed to cultivate, however, was thoroughly dashed upon the ship's docking. While Yamaguchi and Suga managed to sneak off the vessel unharmed and unnoticed, the information they gathered along the way was truly grim. According to the navy officer that had instructed the crew upon their arrival, Fukoni had been effectively isolated from the rest of the continent. The crew aboard the first few ships had spread across Fukoni's borders; all trade routes, message services, and roads in and out of Fukoni had been barred and shut down. For all intents and purposes, Fukoni was a prison for its entire population.

With Fukoni largely helpless and unprepared, the snakes had laid siege to the port city and capital, Odanii. Suga and Yamaguchi looked forlornly at the wreckage as they slunk around the city. It was difficult to tell what damage was a result of the revolution and what had been caused by the siege. It didn't matter all that much, Yamaguchi supposed; in the end, the result was all the same.

Trees, already a scarcity in Fukoni, had been felled, and all that remained were the scattering of stumps around the city outskirts. Any building made of wood had long since been burned, something Yamaguchi could only figure from the vacant ashen lots with nought left but singed foundations. None of the stone buildings, of which there were many, seemed to have fared well either, at least not on the city's outer edges. Walls were missing cornerstones, the mortar crumbled under a lack of maintenance, and more than a few buildings had caved in and become nothing more than abandoned piles of rock.

It was then, cautiously wandering about Odanii, that the two synergists ran across their first real bout of trouble. One minute, they were alone in the night, and the next, they were surrounded by a sombre group. The people dressed in dark and ragged clothes, and in the light of the moon, Yamaguchi could see that all five or so carried knives. Their cloaks were hooded, and each one wore a leather mask that curved outwards from the face. Only their eyes were clearly visible, and the uniform struck Yamaguchi as almost owl-like.

The apparent leader of the group, the one with stern grey eyes, spoke and gestured roughly with his knife, "You're incredibly stupid to think you can walk around so poorly protected, snake scum."

"Oh, we're not-"

"As if we'd ever work with-"

Yamaguchi stumbled over his words as he and Suga spoke simultaneously. One of the owlish people snorted in amusement and earned a slap to the back of their head for it. Yamaguchi continued with his original thought, "We're not working with the snakes, not at all!"

Grey-eyes looked unimpressed, or rather, he raised an eyebrow and didn't lower his knife, which Yamaguchi took as some kind of disapproval.

Suga placed his hand on Yamaguchi and gave a placating smile to the surrounding group, "Yeah, we actually want nothing to do with the snakes."

The leader sighed but lowered his knife arm slightly, "Then you'll have no problem if we ask you some questions. Come."

Yamaguchi looked to Suga, who just shrugged; it wasn't like they had much of a choice. The two walked in silence, surrounded by the owlish group on all sides. Yamaguchi desperately wanted to talk with Suga, to form some kind of plan in case things went south, but the wary glares of the mysterious people made him keep his mouth shut. With any luck, they'd be enemies to the invading snake army and, thus, friends to the synergists. At the very least, Yamaguchi and Suga could try to talk their way out of the situation. They took many backroads on their way to wherever it was that they were headed. The alleys twisted and turned and seemed to Yamaguchi an incomprehensible labyrinth.

Finally, they stopped at a building, just as destitute and run-down as the rest, and entered it. The furniture was broken and coated in a heavy layer of dust, shelves had been torn from their places and disassembled haphazardly on the ground, the walls had many cracks, and with every gust of wind, small bits of rubble fell from the ceiling. Suga looked around the room, and his face scrunched up with a sour expression as he poked warily at the cracked walls. Yamaguchi, however, stared fixated on the floor. The wood was warped and weathered, floorboards sticking up in odd places and clearly missing more than a few nails, but it was clean. Aside from the freshly fallen bits of ceiling, there wasn't a speck of dirt on the floor, no dust, no rocks, nothing. The building, Yamaguchi decided, despite its disarray, must have been frequently used. The only reason anyone would bother to sweep the floor of an abandoned building was if they wanted to hide the tracks they would otherwise leave in the dirt.

Yamaguchi was proven right when the leader pushed aside an overturned table and lifted up a well-concealed trapdoor. Suga and Yamaguchi were promptly ushered down a rickety ladder, and into a dark tunnel. The walls were made of packed dirt, and everyone had to stoop over to avoid hitting their heads. The trapdoor closed above them and enveloped the group in darkness. A moment later, the leader lit a kerosene lamp, and in its dim light, they moved forward.

The tunnel twisted and turned just as confusingly as the alleys above, and Yamaguchi clutched the back of Suga's shirt for security. The grey-eyed leader strode forward unhesitantly every time there was a fork in the tunnel, and Yamaguchi wondered absently where the other branches led.

It took almost a half-hour in the cramped tunnels for the group to reach their intended location. They came to a rounded metal door, out of place among the dark soil, and as the leader fiddled around with his keys, Yamaguchi found himself tempted to use his synergy to unlock the door. It was nothing more than a passing whim, however; he didn't know these people and wouldn't dare reveal his abilities so soon.

They entered a cavernous room full of people, and Yamaguchi almost gasped with wonder. It was as if there was a whole other city underneath Odanii. Most of the people were dressed similarly to the group that had grabbed Suga and Yamaguchi, although there were a few in more casual garb. They milled about the open space and conversed seriously with each other; the usual roar of chatter present with large crowds was muted, but still present. Many of the people possessed weapons, guns and some type of mechanical knives, but Yamaguchi could tell they were old and in bad condition.

The underground society paid the group little mind as they made their way to the back of the cavern. There, they opened another door and travelled through a tunnel, albeit, a short one, to another, smaller, room. There were only three people in the new room, and only one of them dressed like the owlish group. Seated at a desk was a middle-aged gentleman with broad features, glasses, and short grey hair. Yamaguchi could only assume he was the leader of the operation. To his left and right were two women who had just looked up from a map on the desk. The woman on the right was tall with light hair and freckles, and the one on the left wore the same outfit as the owlish group, but her lowered hood revealed auburn hair and intelligent brown eyes.

Conversation in the room stopped the second Suga and Yamaguchi walked in, and the greying man stood up, "You don't often bring me guests, Washio. Please, introduce us."

The stern-eyed leader, Washio apparently, stood straight and kept a firm grip on each of the synergists' shoulders as he addressed his superior, "My reconnaissance team found them wandering about the rubble by the coast. They showed up not too soon after the new bout of snakes but claim they don't work for the bastards. I didn't trust them enough to leave them be."

Suga stepped forward from Washio's grip and met the grey-haired man's unwavering gaze with one of his own, "My name is Sugawara Koushi, I hail from the western tribe, Kar. My friend here," Suga waved vaguely in Yamaguchi's direction, "is Yamaguchi Tadashi. He comes from, well," Suga paused for a moment, unsure of what Yamaguchi would consider his home, "the Nekarasi, I suppose."

When it was clear Suga would not continue, the greying man sighed, "I suppose I can't expect anything further without at least introducing myself first, huh?" Both Suga and Yamaguchi fervently nodded, and despite Washio's protests, the man continued, "Well, you can call me Yamiji, these are my associates, Suzumeda and Shirofuku." The girls on the right and left waved as they were introduced.

Suga, seemingly placated now that he could put names to faces, took it upon himself to explain their situation, "Like we told Mr Washio here, we don't work for the Slithering Isles. In fact, we'd like to work against them, if at all possible."

Yamiji cocked an eyebrow and shared a conspiratory, it looked conspiratory to Yamaguchi, at least, glance with the women at his side and waved Washio out of the room, "We can take it from here, young man. Go tell your team to settle in for the night."

Washio left, and Yamaguchi felt a sudden chill go down his spine, Yamiji wouldn't kill them. Right?

Suga ploughed forward, undaunted, "I'm taking a gamble here, but something tells me you're our only hope at fixing any of this mess. Let's start with the important stuff, Tadashi and I, we're synergists, you can believe that, or not, but it is important to the rest of our story."

Yamaguchi had half a mind to tackle Suga there and then to make him stop talking, he even lurched forward to do so, but the rapt faces of the three others stopped him dead in his tracks. They believed Suga. Yamaguchi could see it in their eyes; the mistrust was gone, replaced with the exact kind of attention one might give to a surgeon or professor, someone with life-changing information. Yamaguchi stilled and let Suga talk, and talk he did.

He told them everything, much of the information was no longer useful now that the Slithering Isles had started their attack, but it was information nonetheless. In turn, Yamiji told the two what had happened in Fukoni. The snakes attacked, obviously, and things had not gone well. The resistance, those who had revolted against the king, were forced underground, literally. Yamiji was the resistance leader, as expected. Suzumeda was a nurse, now in charge of the civilians stuck underground, and Shirofuku dealt in espionage; she organised the groups of spies and kept a sharp watch on all the information. Together, the three had formed an underground colony of sorts, it had started out small due to the short notice, but the civilians constantly dug more tunnels to expand. Surprisingly enough, the former supporters of the king had not, in fact, joined forces with the snakes. The king and his guard stayed above ground and fought the snakes at every turn. While they no longer fought each other, neither organisation worked together, both too focused on their own worries. By Yamiji's own admittance, the king's men fought the snakes more actively than the resistance, but their numbers were dwindling.

When they were all filled in, Yamiji looked at the two synergists expectantly. He wouldn't force them to stay, he wouldn't force them into any decision at all, but the request for help hung clearly in the air, unspoken and weighty. Yamaguchi and Suga didn't even have to confer to come to their shared conclusion; they joined the revolutionaries that same night.

The first week and odd change was gruelling. The work was hard, and while both Suga and Yamaguchi had grown accustomed to spy work, there seemed to be little hope. Suga pulled out all the stops, birds, rodents, and insects all came to him with information at all hours of the day. For every glimmer of good news, there was bad news tenfold. Suga kept his cheerful demeanour as best he could, but the cracks had started to show already. The burden of knowledge was not a fun one; Yamaguchi did not envy his companion. Not that his position was much better. The resistance had Yamaguchi stationed with Washio and the reconnaissance squad. They moved quickly and quietly under the protection of night. Mostly, they dealt in sabotage and survey work, both of which Yamaguchi was excellent at. Every war machine, every transmission device, gun, vehicle, anything mechanical that belonged to the snakes; Yamaguchi shut them down, permanently.

Sometimes, Yamaguchi thought Odanii was too beautiful for war. On the days when there was no fighting, which was most days, Yamaguchi had learned that most of war was a waiting game. Odanii was a lovely city, even with the rubble, it was gorgeous. The air, when not thick with smoke, was fresh and warm, and the cool breeze that came from the ocean was pleasantly refreshing. Yamaguchi had thought the city lifeless, but upon second glance, he was wrong. Seagulls and terns frequented the beach, snakes and lizards sunned themselves on the fallen rubble, mice and other rodents Yamaguchi couldn't name scurried about as they might have always done. It was a city too beautiful for war, too beautiful to deserve its fate.

Sometimes Yamaguchi missed the consistent monotony of scraptown 16-B, other times, he missed the thrill of travel in the Nekarasi. Yamaguchi missed the quiet intelligence of Kenma and Akaashi, Bokuto, Hinata, and Kuroo's boisterous chaos. He missed Kageyama and Miwa, steadfast and safe and the closest thing to family he truly had. He missed Tsukishima, his snark, his skill; Yamaguchi missed what they could have been, the budding romance that hadn't gotten a chance to bloom. He missed the days when he felt safe, when war was a far away and foreign concept, the days when he wasn't armed to the teeth with knives and a gun. He missed feeling safe in the daytime and living above ground. Some nights, it was enough to make him cry, comforted only by Suga and the shaky promise that things would sort out. Yamaguchi didn't know if he believed it anymore.

Hope came in the form of new visitors from Inari. Whispers had made their way to the underground; they spoke of a ragtag group from somewhere north. There were eight of them, they said, and they wanted to reunite Fukoni. Even before they described the group, Yamaguchi knew it must have been the Nekarasi crew. They had come for him, Suga's birds had delivered their letters, and they finally had backup. Yamaguchi wanted to rush to the king's barracks and find his friends himself so he could see them after the long months. Try as he might, he could never find a spare moment to do so; the revolution had rapidly consumed his every waking hour.

Even with the joined forces of the revolution and the kingsmen, the snakes still outnumbered the forces in Odanii. Supplies were almost out, and the troops definitely felt it. Yamaguchi was exhausted from the ceaseless use of his synergy and the dwindling rations, and Suga looked just as bad as Yamaguchi felt. It had been just over a month since the pair had arrived at Odanii, and the time had done their appearances little good. Suga's face had become gaunt, and his eye bags looked more like brises, he had cut his hair to its usual length, but it was shaggy and unkempt. Suga had barely smiled since his posting as intel gatherer, instead, his face bore a near-constant grimace at the onslaught of bad news. Yamaguchi, although he had yet to find a mirror, was sure he looked no better. His skin felt grimy with sweat and dirt, and he was almost certain that he was back to the malnourished weight he had been in the scraplands. His hair, although he could not see it, had grown long, long enough that he had to tie it back with a leather strip to keep it out of his face.

As much as Yamaguchi wanted to go and see his friends, he was worked to the bone; what little downtime he had was spent asleep or on machines to help the resistance. The Nekarasi crew, he was sure, were just as swamped with work. Yamaguchi didn't know who was in charge of the upper guard, as the resistance had started to call them, but he doubted his friends were in a high enough position to visit. Everyone was stretched thin and running on empty; something needed to change before the snakes dealt the final blow. What they really needed was backup, preferably backup that numbered in the hundreds, not the half-dozens.

Suga roused Yamaguchi in the early hours of the morning, the late spring air not yet warmed by the sun. To say he was frantic was an understatement. "Tadashi, I need advice, desperately."

"Wuh, uh, sure?" Yamaguchi already knew he wouldn't be able to sleep again after he was woken, a full day's work on two hours of sleep it was then.

"Daichi wants me to return to Kar." Suga blurted it out so fast it was hardly a sentence, more of an indistinguishable amalgam of sounds.

"What, why?" Yamaguchi tried not to panic, but he didn't know if he could manage to stay sane without Suga at his side in the war.

"So, a couple of weeks ago I sent a letter back home to Daichi, but he didn't reply. Instead, I got one from Yaku, he's Koma-Nek's leader." Suga spoke in a hushed whisper, but he sounded mad enough to scream. "Apparently, Yaku and Daichi are fighting over what to do about Fukoni and the Snakes. And Daichi, he… he doesn't want to go to war. He's refusing to send anyone down! And now, now, he wants me to come back to Kar, says my job down here is done, and he wants to make sure I get back safe!"

Yamaguchi grabbed Suga by the shoulders to keep him from pacing, "I mean, can you blame him though? I wouldn't want someone I loved fighting in a war either."

"Yeah, well, I'm involved, and I'm damn well not going to leave like a coward!" Suga huffed.

Yamaguchi chewed the inside of his cheek nervously, "Do you think you could convince him?"

"Convince him of wha- ooh. I- maybe?"

"Go home, Suga. We have other ways of getting information, and help from the western tribes could really turn the tides for us. This, you don't need to be in this war, it's not yours to fight. Go. Try and get us some help, and if you can't, be happy for your safety."

"If this isn't my war, then it's not yours either, Tadashi, yet you still fight."

Yamaguchi stayed quiet for a while, five, maybe ten minutes, "Go get us some help, Suga. Goddess knows we need it."

Yamaguchi did not mention that he felt responsible for the war. Didn't mention that if he stayed out of it, the snakes would have just targeted the Firefly Empire, hopefully failed, and gotten squashed. If Yamaguchi hadn't allowed Kageyama to follow the Firefly box, if he hadn't tried to take Tsukishima's place as Daishou's pawn, maybe everything would have turned out alright. Instead, he gave Suga the most reassuring smile he could manage without crying and sent him off with a hug.

Yamiji wasn't happy to hear the news; Suga was important, and gathering information was significantly harder without him. Still, the prospect of reinforcements softened the blow, and Yamaguchi offered to step up in his place. In a matter of hours, Yamaguchi had gone from a soldier to a leader of a squadron. Yamiji had placed him in charge of the espionage squadron, only the man himself and Shirofuku outranked him. The position of power did nothing to ease his nerves, but he could handle it. It was for a good cause. He'd be fine, he'd get out of it alive, and it would all be fine.

Except, things weren't fine. There was a rat in their midst, and they caught him too late. He had been a reedy man, tall and thin, unnoticeable. No one had paid him any attention, but he caused damage, and Yamaguchi's troops were caught in the crossfire.

The snakes caught the troop off guard, Yamaguchi's men were armed and skilled fighters, but not when they were so greatly outnumbered. Yamaguchi had to make a split-second decision, he didn't like it, but it was him or his troop. Never let it be said Yamaguchi was a selfish man.

The snake troops stopped harassing Yamaguchi's men the second he exploded their guns. He removed his hood, and used his synergy as dramatically as possible, in the hopes that they would recognize him and get tunnel vision. They did, and they all rushed him like bats out of hell. Yamaguchi bolted, ran at a dead sprint; he just needed to lead them away from the other revolutionaries, just needed to give the others a chance to escape.

The snake troops tackled him to the ground after twenty minutes of running, Yamaguchi was surprised he made it that far. They slammed his face into the cold stone ground, and he tried not to wince as he felt and heard the sickening crunch of broken bone. His nose, probably, if the sudden throbbing in his face and the smell of blood was anything to go by. They roughed him around and jeered as they put him in cuffs. Yamaguchi could've broken out of them easily, but the fight had left him. He was tired, he had lost hope, and, on a less personal scale, one of the soldiers jabbed him in the back of the neck with a needle. He felt his synergy drain and go dormant.

His last thought before unconsciousness was 'oh, they've found a way to turn that awful sedative into a shot'.