Chapter 36: Rearmed

A few days ago...

For being trapped in a two-man vessel with someone as chatty as Saturn, it was an unexpectedly quiet trip. Riku and her made it to their destination in a couple of hours and it was only when gravity took hold that he was jolted from his nap.

"Well, here we are!" Announced Saturn with a mild cautionary tone, "Back in dangerous enemy territory."

The glass roof slid back into the vehicle and she sprung right out onto the ground. Riku climbed over and took in the sights yet again, and found they were unchanged.

Though the appearance of the clones certainly were. Just different variants, nothing more. Its hard not to look at them and assume they're being made as an army, but none of them captivated on his suspicions to do anything beyond wave their hand and say "Hello".

The host of this clone planet seemed to be nowhere in sight, however. Saturn took a couple steps ahead of him and cupped her mouth, "HEY MACROS! GET YER BUTT OUT HERE!"

Riku glanced with the possibility of his ear drums popping, and received another shock when all of a sudden he heard in response "I'm here, I'm here" coming from behind.

He turned around and saw Macros standing there all aloof with his hard-to-read smile. He had his attention on Saturn as he said, "You arrived a couple seconds sooner than I expected. Did you make improvements to your Gladius VI again?"

"Of course!" She puffed out her chest in pride, "I always gotta maintain the element of surprise against you!"

"I do so love our games of cat and mouse Catherine," Macros then glanced aside at Riku and his smile deepened, "Now. Shall we?"

The three of them walked to his lab and Riku remained cautious at all times. For a moment he could've sworn he heard Macros sigh.

Once in the lab Riku saw that there was a pseudo-metallic table set up in the middle of the room, connected to an upright series of pulsing blue nerve ends.

"That's it?" He said, surprised at the lack of visual flare this go around.

Macros looked to his table and then swung his head a few times at him, "Oh no no don't get the wrong idea. We have a lot of work to do, but as far as your seating arrangements go a table will suffice."

He wagged his hand out and Saturn walked right on up instantly, handing over a compact tablet that unfolded to head-size at touch.

"Here you go, all the data I got from my fight with your partner in crime Mew," She said and began to give him a finger wag, "Don't-"

"I won't fiddle around, I promise," Macros smiled softly and let out another sigh. Saturn raised her brows extra high and hummed increasingly louder as he put two crossed fingers and whispered, "Cross my heart and hope to die."

She crossed her arms and arched her brows, "Darn straight."

"Now that the pact's been sealed, shall we?" Macros bowed his hand towards the table and Saturn crossed his path stretching her knuckles out.

"How do you ever get anything done without me?"

"Oh I haven't the faintest clue." Macros smiled and followed her over, taking residence on the left side of the table while she went on the right. Saturn reached into her pockets and pulled out a small round device that expanded into a portal on the ground. There a large conveyor belt strapped to a complex machine popped out.

"You're helping too?" Riku asked on approach to Saturn.

"Duh!" She said, fiddling away at the hundreds of unreadable buttons on her contraption, taking a break to give a shoo'ing motion towards Macros, "You tell him, I'm busy!"

Macros had a wire in each hand, like the kind doctors use to get heartbeat readings, "Come here and lay down Riku."

Riku slowly made his way over and took a seat. The metal was a little cold, but not for long. He started to remove his shirt when suddenly...

"Ah! No need for that. Besides, wouldn't want her getting distracted." Macros winked and Saturn turned her head back.

"Ha. Ha." She did a terrible job hiding her red luminescent cheeks.

Riku then slowly laid himself flat out, and found he was a perfect fit. Macros then began sticking those wires onto his arm and legs.

"I told you how your elemental energy is out of balance. Creating a new arm from flesh and bone won't solve the problem."

"It won't?" Riku said, mildly surprised.

"The energy inside of you flows like a circuit whenever you use it," Saturn chimed in, clapping the metal dust off her fingertips, "Think of it like feeding electricity through cables. If you break the connection, then the electricity has nowhere to go and stops!"

"But the energy still exists, and if you try to use it, you get feedback."

Riku looked at his stump and remarked, "So when I tried to use elemental energy, I was forcing it through a broken circuit...And that caused a feedback."

"Yeah, you picked up on that quick!" Saturn smiled happily.

"In theory I would be able to replicate your arm perfectly, but that circuit would remain incomplete because that arm was not originally there when the loop was made."

"Buuuuuut...!" Saturn propped her fists against her hips and raised her head high, "With the power of my technology, we can fix that!"

"The data I collected fighting your brother allowed me to chart out just what the energy circuit looks like, and replicate the flow perfectly!"

Macros hovered over Riku and remarked, "I will provide the framework and analysis for the finishing touches. Her machine there will put together the new arm."

"So I'm going to have a mechanical arm?" Riku said, raising his stump partway in the air.

"And hopefully that'll be the only mechanical part you have!" Saturn chuckled, but faintly raised the rim of her glasses, "Though..."

"No, this'll be the only time. I won't make this same mistake again." Riku relaxed his stump on the table and took a deep breath.

Macros pulled away and remarked, "If he says so in confidence, then we have no choice but to believe him. Catherine, shall we begin?"

Saturn zipped her fingers along the top of her watch and chuckled, "Hehe! I'm already three steps ahead of you!"

Riku felt a small, tingly jolt through his nerves and his eyes stayed bulged out for five whole minutes. He looked at Macros and the man shrugged, giving the faintest apology of, "I may have overestimated the voltage a tiny bit."

He propped up the tablet Saturn had given him below his face and walked around, giving it a fine comb over with his eyes.

All the while, Saturn's machine whirred and a screen near the buttons began etching out the design of the new arm. Saturn's head made a hard turn towards him and then she whipped a cloth from her upper pocket to cover the screen up.

"No spoilers allowed!" She began wagging her finger at him.

"I-I don't really care what it looks like..." Riku closed his mouth and now curiosity began gnawing away at him over the next hour.

It sounded like it was going to be a long process. Given the circumstances it was fine. He's used to sitting around with nothing to do. But that never included being on a table like an experiment.

"(YOU ARE SUPER STAR! BORN TO FLY! SAAAAAATURN!)" Some strange Japanese sounding sound came blaring out of Saturn's right pocket and she pulled a flip phone out to answer it.

"Saturn here! What's happening?" She suddenly threw her head forward and exhaled, "WHAT?! That's a lot of happening! Of course I'll be there as soon as I can who do you think you're talking to?!"

She slapped the phone shut and shouted out "Bah!" as she suddenly made a dash for the door, "Emergency came up in your quadrant Riku! I gotta bail for a bit, so don't try anything funny while I'm gone Macros!"

Macros' brows sank as Saturn exited the lab. Riku curled his fingers inward and pushed himself up, "D-Did she say my quadrant...?"

Macros gently pushed him down on the chest and remarked, "You can't go anywhere now. Just relax, and trust in her."

Riku took him on in a staredown for a few seconds, and then relaxed upon the table with a long sigh, "You're right. She's competent."

"Sometimes, a little too so..." Macros' words got Riku's attention but he shrugged and said, "But that's part of why I like having her around."

He rounded the table and stared at her machine, "Another is her ingenuity with autonomous machines."

He laid a hand flat on its surface and smiled, "I wouldn't know the first thing about running this. Thanks to her consideration though we can continue our work uninterrupted."

He then continued pacing back and forth in front of the table while staring at the tablet. He gave off the occasional hum but was otherwise quiet.

For the next hour, Riku stared up at the ceiling and just decided to relax. The moment he gave any consideration to the oppressive silence in the room, he'd probably tense up, and ruin the tests.

"Your brother..." Macros suddenly spoke up, tapping on the tablet with a flick of the finger as he stopped beside Riku, "What are the differences between you two?"

"Where'd that come?" The scientist had his quirks but even that felt a little odd to ask, "Maybe...its part of the test?"

Without giving it much thought Riku decided to go along with it, "He's...a really great guy. He's almost always happy, looking out for others...I've never seen him lose confidence, and he smiles in the face of death."

When he faced the man he was surprising to find him fluttering his eyelids like he'd been caught with his pants down, "...Oh! Pardon me, I meant in how your powers manifest."

Riku's heart skipped a beat and Macros gave a dry chuckle, "Though that was quite the telling answer."

He smiled softly and placed his arms behind him, "You hold your brother in high regard. I can tell he was one of the reasons you decided to come here."

Riku's eyelids sank deep, then closed with his sigh, "I can't be a burden to him, or anyone, anymore."

"I understand that." Macros replied.

"How could you?" Riku snapped right back.

Macros gave a brief, narrow glare and then remarked, "Not in terms of being a burden to family. I mean the general emotion of understanding."

There was a quiet pause between the two, a rift closing from their misunderstanding. Macros filled the silence in the void by shutting the tablet and putting it behind him.

"But...I do have a family."

Riku's eyes widened and Macros smirked, "You're surprised? Yes, I have six siblings. Four brothers, two sisters."

He laid a hand out and his smirk wiggled with mischievous intent, "And I do mean REAL siblings, not my clones."

"You don't look like the family type." Riku remarked.

"I'm not," Macros' answer caught him off guard, "I haven't spoken to any of my siblings in at least..."

He turned his head up for a few seconds and then shook it down, "You know, I can't remember. But sometimes, I do feel a little...longing for one more get together between us all."

A sly chuckle slipped through his lips, "They are a strange bunch though, I doubt I'd get along with them now."

Riku's stare turned soft and Macros' expression changed to befit the moment, just like it always seemed to, "There I go, going off about nothing again."

He flicked the tablet right back out and tapped the side a couple times like the last two minutes were non-existent, "There's something I found curious about this data...Your brother has the ability to call out a sword at will?"

"...All three of us can." Riku slowly replied.

"Ah, so you and the deceased one share the same ability?" Macros tucked the tablet back and leaned in closer with his eyes widened a little more, "Can you show me yours?"

He inched closer and his smile grasped firmly onto a brief stint of ecstasy, "Pretty please?"

The growing lack of restraint aside, Riku saw no reason to refuse. He carefully raised his hand up and summoned his sword. Macros recoiled and his mouth popped into an "o" shape.

"Fascinating...! Yours is completely different."

When his brief awe faded, Riku put the sword away and felt a little tired. Macros then chuckled, seemingly at him, "I recognize the design too. One of Dyntos' yes?"

"You know him too?"

"We crafters tend to keep an eye on one another...Either out of convenience or worry."

"What does he feel towards you?" Riku narrowed his gaze.

"Worry," Macros gave a quick, decisive answer, "But that's hardly his fault. My body just naturally radiates suspicion, even long before he was born."

"...!" Riku felt a shock in his heart.

"I make no exaggeration in saying that I am and shall be the oldest person you ever know Riku," Macros waved his hand out by his hip, "I know my way around the world, and that includes sensing things at a...supernatural level."

"You can try and hide it but your soul tells all. You can't bring yourself to trust me." These words would normally be used to hold the person in contempt, but Macros was hardly fazed.

"...I appreciate you doing this for me Macros, but that won't make you my friend."

"I don't want to be one," Yet another surprising response, spoken quick as if premeditated, "...Nor do I need one. Never saw a need."

He turned aside and cracked a smile, "But I do like people. I like you."

"You're someone special. Unique, in a way I can't quite describe..." Macros tapped his chin a couple times then gestured his fingers at the air, "Me, at a loss for words. Hohoho, the world works in mysterious ways."

He relaxed his arms to his sides and turned his head at Riku, "Please just stay relaxed during your time here and understand this...You deserve love."

Macros left matters between them quiet after that, and it gave Riku a lot of time to do what he suggested and relax and think. About friends, about family...about himself.

He's always been a shadow, the mirror image of his brother. Always chasing, but never surpassing, the kind of man he's seen him as. Thinking about what he has to change, perhaps that should be one of the first.

Time passed on by uneventfully.

Then, Macros began acting odd. He stood motionless, leaning his head back to gaze emptily at the ceiling. A single tear trickled down his face, and the only thing he had to show for it was to smile and say, "I believe Catherine will be returning soon."

A couple more hours passed, and the door suddenly opened with Saturn waltzing inside. She was glugging down a bottle of water so hard it was splashing off the sides of her face. She then slapped it against the floor and brushed her mouth dry.

"WHOO! Haven't needed that many bottles of the good ol' H2O since the Repression of Lavasps!" Her usual lab coat was a little soaked in sweat but she tucked her hands into her pockets and went up to the operating table. She slapped her hand down between Riku's legs and leaned in to him with a tired look in her eyes.

"You missed out buddy! We fought werewolves, gargoyles, and a giant tapeworm in a coat!"

Riku blinked twice and felt himself forced to remark, "T-That's it...?"

"Oh and there was some giant pale worm apparently," Saturn shrugged up and rolled her eyes with an excruciating degree of restraint in her voice, "But that delinquent brother of yours took care of it...I guess!"

"That's good to hear." Riku softly smiled.

"Hmph!" Saturn begged to differ, crossing her arms and waltzing off to her machine, "Hmmm, everything looks spic and span here!"

She spun right back on one foot and stamped the other down to kick up dust, "Alright sorry about that! Lets make up for lost time and get right on to Phase 2!"

"Ah yes, Phase 2..." Macros closed his eyes and chuckled as he glanced aside at Riku, "Sorry to say Riku, but you're going to need to sleep for this next part."

Riku stared with a blank expression, "Oh...Ok?"

He didn't recall getting much say in the matter afterwards. Just a quick fade to black, and then suddenly, he blinked and was back to reality.

Saturn and Macros were hovering over him both covered in sweat and a bit of soot in Saturn's case. She cast off a pair of working goggles and her smile was brimming with pride.

"Yep, totally mean to boast, this is one of my finest jobs yet!"

Macros grabbed his chin and gave it a long rub, "You never cease to amaze me. Its beautiful."

"And it only took us three days!" That was a much-needed shock to the system. It had been three days? His body felt like he'd only been out of it for a second.

He started to lift himself up and felt unrestrained by wires in his system. His onlookers backed off slowly, and graced his rise with a smile.

"Look who just woke up!" Saturn gestured towards his right side, "How's the new arm feeling?"

Bracing himself on both elbows, Riku...

"...Huh?" He looked to his right and his heart narrowly escaped his chest. Staring him right in the face was a metallic arm shaped like a mirror replica of his original. Made of black and gray metals, there were yellow lines going from the back of the fingers to the top of the shoulder. Underneath was a smooth surfaced palm, that morphed as he tried to squeeze into a fist.

The insides of it cracked like bones, and as he unfurled the fist there was a pop in his knuckles.

This wasn't a new sensation. Every feeling and detail was familiar, and comforting. The phantom had been banished, nay, it was like it was never there to begin with.

He slid off the table onto his two feet. His body wobbled a bit, but only as it should. His weight was perfectly balanced, as it should be.

Saturn stretched her cheeks wide and chuckled, "Sooooo? C'mon. Lemme hear your thoughts!"

She leaned in closer and her anticipation, admittedly, was contagious. Riku waved the arm down before his face and smiled, "I-Its perfect..."

"Yep!" Saturn whipped upright and reached into her pocket, pulling out a small remote, "And its got a bunch of cool features too!"

She tapped one button and a hard light layer surrounded the arm, causing it to take on the appearance of actual skin. Riku stared at it some more, only for his ring finger to pop open and a fan to shove out, blowing a cool breeze into his face. Then his pointer finger popped off and summoned an ember at the tip.

"Skin cloaking! A fan! A lighter! Ooooh, I even gave it a Rocket Fist mode cause of course you gotta!" Right as she was about to press that button down harder than the rest Macros snagged it from her grasp and dangled it to his left.

She quickly popped another one out from her coat and wagged it around with a smile. Macros waved his head out and the remote was trapped in a strange cybernetic bubble, then taken far, far above her head.

She crossed her arms and gestured her hand out, "You can also activate all these features by thinking about it...Though its not as fun. I'll give you the manual later."

Riku closed his eyes and shut off the fan and lighter with a thought. He then flipped his hand around and his heart was filled with elation, "I...I don't know what to say. Thank you."

"Don't thank her yet." Macros drew his attention towards him as he laid his hand on the table and pushed it into the ground.

"There's still one last test you need to perform." He gave a smirk that made his intentions clear as day.

"...Yes," Riku faced him and raised his new hand before his chest, "I need to test my elements."

Macros nodded and raised his right hand forward, and when he stretched his palm thin streaks of azure light pulsed through his skin towards his face.

"Then allow me to be your opponent."

Riku's expression turned eager and he raised his own hand towards him, "You sure about this?"

"I'm not worried. You're just testing the basics, I can handle that," Macros turned his head aside and murmured, "But tell you what, if you can land a clean hit on me, I'll do you another favor in the future."

"Huh, this guy fighting? This'll be iiiinteresting..." Saturn rubbed her hands and waddled back out of view.

"Don't get your hopes too high there Catherine..." The space behind Macros' lens glowed momentarily and he set his eyes on Riku, "This'll be over quickly."

Riku took a deep breath and steadied his arm out, covering Macros with his palm, "Focus the energy inside...Let it flow through you..."

Something clicked inside him, and he immediately thrust his hand out with a yell. A giant red inferno exploded right on Macros' location. He stood there and let the temperature rise, crossing the thousand degree threshold in a second.

"You're able to reach very high temperatures. Very impressive." Macros smile was illuminated by the glow lines over his body.

Riku put the flames out with a closed fist and saw that Macros wasn't even sweating. He then swung his hand out and instantly the room became flooded with water.

Saturn put a barrier to keep the air in. Macros had no such luxury, yet smiled with the best of them.

"Looks like our efforts have proven successful so far." He commented faintly.

Riku drew the water out through the door and then reeled his hand back, firing a bullet of compressed air into Macros' body. Macros caught it on his hand and squeezed it into nothingness.

"Winds of up to thousands miles per hour...More devastating than any hurricane," A brief blue spark flickered through his hand to his fingertips, and he pointed them all his way, "But you can go faster, yes?"

Riku flicked his hand up and launched a massive lightning bolt. Macros shifted a little to the left, then Riku pulled his hand back to call the bolt back to him. All before either of them blinked once.

"Fascinating," His eyes lit dimly on a face unmarred, "What do you have left to show me?"

He was instantly frozen over in a spike of ice, which was entangled in a blend of heavy stone and tight, steel crushing vines and dragged off the ground. Riku punched the floor and smashed the cage against the ground, and it shattered to pieces.

Macros took one step out and rolled his head around, ushering out a crack from his neck, "Brrrr...! And here I forgot to wear my jacket."

Riku closed his eyes as he rose, taking a deep breath through his nostrils. A perfect calm, illuminating the depths of his subconscious. Shining, shining, a white light enveloped his body and allowed him to draw a katana in his right hand.

He spread his angelic wings and charged Macros, attacking his head, then turning back for his legs, and then finishing with an upward slash for his arm.

Macros ducked, hopped, then turned away gracefully through all three attacks. The afterimages of their clash blended together, and Riku repelled off the flap of his wings.

He then fell towards his knee, a brief glint of azure static clinging to his chest. Macros raised his head with a smirk and then swung his hand up, inviting him forward with the wiggle of his fingers.

Riku felt some frustration, and made that his power. Darkness, the black abyss, consumed the light, and enveloped his body. He ripped off the ground and leaped into a dark rift, using the darkness to conceal his attacks upon Macros.

Surrounding him in a cage of strikes seemed to keep Macros on his toes. When he emerged from the last rift he stared where the man was and saw an afterimage disappear like mist, and a weight applied to his shoulder.

He glanced up to see Macros standing there, where he immediately hopped back and took a kick at the back of his head. The toes scraped him as he backed away.

Macros landed with his hands back and rolled his head around a little more, "So, that's all the elements accounted for. The experiment was a success."

Riku hunched over and the subtlest smile crossed his face. His emotions swirled. Light and darkness coalesced inside his mind. A perfect balance formed. Yin AND Yang.

He ran forward, carried by a weightless feeling on his mind and soul. A flash of surprise appeared on Macros' face, and he began to swerve away to the right. Riku's katana nicked his lens, and right at that moment he spun around and stopped, now in Chaos Form.

Macros took a couple steps back and tapped the nick. He jostled with a quiet laugh, then held his head high and let it loose merrily.

"Hahahaha!" He lowered his hand to his back and shook his head, "So...it was I who was caught being arrogant. That's hilarious."

Riku lowered his arms and returned to normal, raising his new arm towards his chest, and clutching it into a fist before his heart, "This arm feels great. Macros...again, thank you."

"Yes well..." Macros wiped the space underneath his eye and shook off the last laugh inside him, "This will be the only time you'll need this, correct?"

Riku nodded, and laid his arm by his side.

"Good," Macros put his arms back one more time and remarked, "Well, a promise is a promise. Whenever you need a favor, just call."

"Actually...I'd like to cash that in now." Riku watched as Macros fluttered his eyelashes quite a bit.

"A-Are you sure? I can offer quite a lot, think about it."

"No," Riku shook his head, "This is really important."

Macros rolled his shoulders and sighed, "Very well. What do you require?"

Present time...

Riku wandered into his home and was surprised at all the new faces that had popped up. And the growing number seemed to have left his brother in a predicament.

"Shoot I forgot all about him...!" That seemed like a good as time as any to surprise him.

"I haven't been gone that long brother," He cracked a smile and watched his brother turn around and look surprised, "But it seems a lot happened in my absence huh?"

His brother's eyes widened and he began to smile, "Guess I could say the same to you. Welcome back Riku!"

"Heh, of course you'd notice right away." Not just the new arm, but also that he had Macros cut his hair short. Didn't really have him do any styling. He wanted to keep it clean, but relatively neutral, so he can decide what it'll look like on his own.

"Phew...!" Mew whistled and started rubbing his brother's head, "Liking the haircut! Looking sharp Riku!"

Riku fluttered his eyes a couple times and muttered, "T-Thanks...brother."

Mew stood aside and waved to the others, "What do you guys think?"

"Looks like my hair when I was a kid..." Joe Dark murmured.

"Looks stupid." Said Solaris.

"I-It...looks really nice on you." Lunis said, red in her cheeks.

Alura and Venus both stared, the latter snickering.

"Seems the room's split," Mew turned back and immediately went for the new arm, rubbing it thoroughly, "Whoa! Feels like I'm touching skin."

"That's nothing. Look at what Saturn did." Riku closed his eyes and concentrated, peeling off a bit of the concealment so his brother now touched metal.

"Hahaha!" Mew reeled back and then bent down and slapped his knees, "That's so cool!"

He then stood up and patted him on the shoulder while facing the others, "Anyways you came back just in time Riku. We got a lot of new faces living here and were deciding on the living arrangements. Maybe you could-"

"Actually that won't be necessary." Riku knew his words would freeze his brother in his tracks but he wasn't expecting the slight mix of surprised and dejection as his brother turned his head back.

"Huh?"

Riku waved his hand down and told him, "I'm going to be moving out now."

While Mew stared dully into his face, Joe Dark picked up the slack, "Where do you plan to go?"

"Hmm..." Riku rubbed his chin and then gestured outward, "Lunis."

She sprung upright with a stutter, "Y-Yes?"

"Do you want to go live in that palace on the moon?"

She grew a massive grin and chuckled, "O-Of course! I'd love to!"

Solaris' brows furrowed together and he glared at the two of them. Then he threw himself up, thrusting his palms at them, "HOOOOOLD on a minute!"

He aimed his pointer finger and ire straight at Riku, "You're not going up there alone!"

Then he gestured at his chest twice and grit his teeth, covering Lunis with his stature, "We're a complete package! And I ain't trusting you with her!"

"That's...that's perfect!" Mew suddenly intervened with a sharp clap.

"Really?" Joe Dark had his doubts.

"Y-Yeah!" Mew crossed his arms and began nodding his head an odd number of times, "It'll solve the spacing and food problems, and...and it'll stop Solaris from breaking more of my dishes! And..."

There was something unhinged in the way he spoke. His arms trembled, and he slowly turned his head to face Riku with a sinking look in his eyes.

He stared quietly for a long time before whispering, "This really what you want Riku?"

"Brother, I..."

"Haaaa..." Mew placed a limp hand on his shoulder and pulled him in closer. He smiled, but it the one time he was putting on a front.

"You only just got back," He whispered, then pulled back a little and closed his eyes, "...Nah, I can't guilt you into staying."

Riku put his own hand out onto his shoulder and remarked, "I'll always be around brother."

"I know I know its just..." Mew tucked his hands into his pockets and hung his head. He then gently kicked him in the leg and said with a smile, "Don't be a stranger, ok?"

"I'll be back before you know it."

"Sure, sure...But in the meantime," Mew leaned in closer and snickered, "Do us all a favor and teach sun for brains some manners."

Riku patted him on the shoulder and laughed, "Haha...I'll try."

Mew pulled back slowly, and shook. He clutched his fists into his pockets, and tried not to cry one tear. Even up until Riku, Lunis and Solaris had gathered their things together for the trip to their new home, he succeeded.

It wasn't a fast trip at all, compared to the length of their goodbyes, including the thanks Lunis had to give for the hospitality. Riku used his powers to start making new arrangements in the palace. There was plenty of space to utilize. Lunis offered her aid. Solaris' only contribution was declaring that they'd all be sharing the same bedroom.

He couldn't stop looking at his arm, and thinking back to the people who helped him get to this point. He clutched his fist to his chest, and took this opportunity to thank them.

"I won't waste this second chance. I'll do things right this time...With the help of my friends."

STORY 5: Banquet of the Twilight END

NEXT: STORY 6: Summertime Shenanigans