Pyra tapped her fingers on the diner table nervously, her head in one hand as she breathed heavily.
"What's taking them so long…?" She wondered aloud.
"They'll be here any minute, Pyra, just be patient…" Frankie said solemnly as he rubbed her shoulder.
"Patient?! You hit us with a bombshell like that and you expect us to be patient?!" Mythra hollered.
"I-I'm sorry Mythra… I… I didn't think that… it'd open up so many things for you…" Frankie responded shakily. Mythra looked at him and sighed sadly, turning away with her head down.
"It's… it's okay, Dummy… this is great news, really it is… but there's just… a lot to think about… you understand, right…?" She asked.
"…I do…" Frankie replied with a somber nod. Mythra glanced his way with her head still hung low.
"That's all I ask…" She responded as she scooted closer to him. Frankie grabbed the hand closest to him and held it softly, gesturing Pyra to hand over hers so he could do the same to it. With both Pyra and Mythra's hands in his grasp, the trio sat quietly as they pondered down very hard about what… any of this meant…
Just as they did so…
"Big brobro?" The unmistakable voice of Kaito called out sympathetically. Frankie, Pyra, and Mythra turned their attention to both him and Miko at his side, all of them with their brows furrowed.
"Hey big sis-sisses…" Miko said…
"Hey you two…" Mythra sighed.
"Would you like to have a seat?" Pyra asked.
Kaito and Miko nodded as they sat across from them.
"You're not still mad at me, are you, Miko…?" Mythra suddenly asked.
"No, Mythra… not right now… we're here to help… you just have to talk to us…" Miko explained.
"We brought plenty of stuff from Mexico that we've been uncovering in our downtime… if you're ready for it, that is." Kaito said.
"We ought to be… now is as good a time as any." Pyra responded.
Both Kaito and Miko noticed the trio across from them looked very anxious and nervous, all of them barely meeting their gaze. The two looked at each other for a moment…before nodding and moving their books and laptops to the side.
"Actually Pyra, I think it's best that we…"
"N-no!" Pyra interrupted Miko somewhat sternly. "W-we've waited long enough to get some more answers…u-us e-especially…" Her voice was shaky, definitely uncertain.
The diner had other patrons spotted about, but even when attempting to raise her voice, Pyra's naturally shy tone prevented anyone not at the table from taking any note.
"Pyra…" Mythra reached over to hold her hand whilst Frankie rested his hands on Pyra's lap to help calm her down.
"We're in this together, Pyra… don't forget… if you need to cry, then cry…" He calmly said.
"N-no, Frankie… it's okay, I… I just…" Pyra groaned uncomfortably as she rested her head on Frankie's shoulder. He immediately reacted by wrapping his arms around her and pulling her in closer while Mythra placed a hand on Frankie's free shoulder.
Miko wondered if she was in the wrong to suggest a bit more time before having these two both reveal and discover all this information about themselves. She figured they should wait as much time as it took for them to be comfortable, but as Pyra's tone suggested, no matter how many days passed, they weren't going to feel very well about digging all of this up.
Kaito put a hand on Miko's shoulder and nodded reassuringly.
"Listen big sis, think of it this way. I do interviews for articles all the time, and one thing that helps get the best answers is if my subject is at least somewhat relaxed, I'm not interrogating them after all."
Pyra, understanding the basics of that logic, simply looked down and shifted in her seat.
"We won't wait another day for this, but we just got here, how's about some tea and sweets before we really get into it, eh?"
The trio across from them looked at each other, a hint of warmth returning to their faces at this suggestion.
"Forget the tea and sweets… I'm hungry… I want REAL food…" Mythra commented lightly.
"I want hot chocolate…" Frankie added.
"Anything sounds lovely just about now…" Pyra finished.
Miko chuckled at their responses.
"Heh, then let's do a quick brunch, you dorks."
The group made their orders and struck up casual conversation in a manner that almost felt like routine at this point. It took no time at all for the tense atmosphere and Pyra and Mythra's dour mood to soften considerably as Miko chatted about how annoyed Irma clearly was after cleaning up the driving incident while Kaito told them about his latest float at the nearby elementary school, reporting on the state of the place's staff and ethics where a coach accidentally booted a ball through a nearby house's window.
By the time the food had arrived and the catching up had all but finished, Pyra and Mythra felt…better. They were still very anxious over just about everything this conversation might unfold, but…being here and talking with everyone really helped set their minds at ease as they knew that, whatever happened, these people would all still be here to give them support.
"And… you're sure you're okay with this…?" Miko asked one last time, intently looking at both Pyra and Mythra.
"Not… completely…" Mythra admitted.
"But… y'know…" Pyra shot a nervous look at Frankie, who delivered a similar one in turn.
"Ripping the bandaid off?" Kaito suggested.
"Just… shut up and get to it already… before I change my mind." Mythra growled.
And so they began. Kaito and Miko pulled their books and laptops back out to fully recount their findings. Once they did so, Kaito took what looked to be storybooks and a few manga volumes.
"Right so, bit of recap here, you guys all remember that stuff we chatted about back at the library? About how this old history has been rewritten and rebranded as the basis for a bunch of these fictional stories?" He shook a volume of Heart Snacker as he mentioned this.
"Oh my…that was just around the time I first arrived, well before the trial…it feels so long ago now…" Pyra held her head in surprise.
"Tell me about it," Miko bemoaned. "I mean, technically speaking it's only been around a month, but it sure feels like it's been something around…12 months and 6 days?"
"That was…really specific, Miko." Kaito chimed.
"I'm a very date-oriented lady."
"...sure, anyways-"
Kaito put the volume down and proceeded to some of the others in his pile.
"I took a look through some more manga, some by the same author, some by the same publisher, but the most stuff I got were from ones clearly based on the same general cultures. Seems pretty clear everyone is drawing inspiration for these types of stories from this same history, it's not just one guy."
Kaito placed all of the books face down on the table.
"Unfortunately for us, most of the actual content in these series didn't give us much new information. They all just kinda did the same thing as Heart Snacker -stuff that sounds a lot like Blades and Drivers and some similar-sounding locations to Elysium- but beyond that the stories diverge in pretty drastic, and sometimes very investing, ways."
"Yeah, no shit. They're stories, dumbass-" Mythra scowled.
"Mythra, please…" Pyra hushed her older 'sister' while Frankie patted her leg discreetly.
"I know, Mythra… I'm sorry, just… I'm relying on Kaito and Miko on this as much as you guys are… I wouldn't have turned to them if I didn't trust them."
"I know, I KNOW! It's just-" Before Mythra could go on, she felt a rush in her head and laid back on the booth quickly. The four others at the table all reached out to her to keep her steady, only for her to shake her head and sit up straight again. "Getting another one of those… memory rushes again…"
"You're okay, though, right Mythra…?" Frankie asked.
"It's… whatever, I'll be alright… sorry…" Mythra apologized as Frankie patted her leg in concern, just to Pyra's side, as she watched the ordeal in worry.
"...if you say so, Mythra." Kaito nodded in understanding before he continued.
"That all being said, you shouldn't underestimate stories. Some would say that storytellers are a lot like journalists, they both report their surroundings in ways to compel an audience, which brings us to…"
The young man pulled out a large, decrepit tome of some sort, traces of dust lingering which said a lot considering how much Kaito must have been moving it around. He plopped it onto the table with a very audible thunk.
"Alright, and what the sparking hell is this?" Mythra suddenly asked.
"Sparking hell?" Frankie asked in turn, cocking an eyebrow her way.
"It's a sentence enhancer I came up with, shut up."
"Kaito, Miko… this isn't something you find buried under the couch cushions… what is this and where did you get a hold of it?" Pyra asked.
"Well if big sis would let me finish-" Kaito bobbed his forehead in Mythra's direction, "-we found this old gem in a super dusty old library around those dinosaur museums we told you about."
"We didn't pick it up while we were there the first time because someone wanted to read a bunch of manga first instead-" Miko gave Kaito a mildly annoyed glare.
"Hey, Double-Star Necromancers was really cool! But like-okaynotthepoint…we later went back to that place and took a look around, and found this big storybook, and it's called…"
"The Wondrous Tales of Addam the Great…" Pyra had read the title of the book as Kaito was talking and cut him off. Frankie scoffed at the mention of that name. Mythra noticed and glanced concernedly his way.
"Right, and I know what you're all thinking, but…I think you'll wanna read some of this. In particular…" Kaito opened the old book and flipped through a chunk of its delicate, almost crumbling pages, making very careful work as he found the spot he wanted to show them.
He found the page, turned the book to the three of them, and pointed at where to start. Pyra read with great interest and seriousness while Frankie and Mythra did so with more trepidation. But all three soon lost themselves in what they were reading.
"On all of my travels, I had slain mighty, ferocious beasts, tussled with some of the finest warriors of the land, to the point where I felt I had lost my ability to fear anything! But nay, that bluster was swiftly cast aside when my daughter was born. Raising a child is a…telling experience, makes me wonder whether being a true warrior has anything to do with mastery of the sword at all."
"Sounds like a real piece of work if you ask me." Mythra commented.
"It still bothers me how you don't remember him at all…" Frankie replied.
"It's the way it is… plus… I don't think we want another repeat of… you know what…"
Frankie shuddered.
"N-no…"
Mythra sighed.
"P-P-Pyra?" The two of them shot up at the sound of Miko's voice, as neither of them had noticed Pyra reacted to the text quite differently from them.
She was crying. Still reading intently, but crying.
"Oh, jeez- Pyra I'm sorry, I didn't…" Kaito started to pull the book away, but Pyra stopped him.
"Pyra, Pyra… breathe… we're here… we're right here-" Frankie said with a quiver in his voice.
"C-c-cut it out you! Now's not the time for this!" Mythra hollered, beginning up to well up in tears herself.
"I'm okay…I…" Pyra quickly grabbed a napkin from the dispenser at the side of the table and wiped her face. "I'm alright…"
"D…did you read something that…brought up some memories…?" Miko asked.
Pyra simply stared at the page a bit more, before slowly pointing to the part of the passage she had gotten to.
"Even four years after little Adelle came into this world, I'm so thankful to my beautiful wife Evve for being so much stronger than I am in this area of life…and to the lady I view as Adelle's older sister, who sadly passed before she got the chance to meet her. I do hope she knows that I draw upon her strength too, in times like this…"
More tears streamed from Pyra's face as she rested her hand on the words of the page, this time Frankie did his best to wipe them clear as Pyra brought up her other hand to his to show her gratitude.
"I…I'm sorry, I can't explain why, but…reading this…I feel like it should mean something to me but I just can't…"
Pyra turned to Mythra, who simply looked back at her in concern and some confusion.
She wanted to say the words "And they should mean even more to you, Mythra."
But she felt like this matter being pushed onto Mythra would only do more harm than good. So Pyra simply wiped her tears more thoroughly and gestured at the table to calm down.
"I…know this will sound confusing, but…it's…like my body is remembering something my brain doesn't…or…something to that effect. It's so strange."
Frankie kept hold on Pyra's shoulders and Mythra held her hands, as the smaller couple across from them exchanged a somewhat pensive look. Kaito promptly yet gently closed the book and slid it away.
"Alright, so clearly that might be worth hanging onto…but the gist we got from it is that this Addam guy was tasked with transporting something important."
Miko chimed in to finish his thought. "And we've basically concluded that this something -or someone- is…" She gestured to Pyra and Mythra, both of which looked like they were unsure of how to process this information. Frankie just as much so.
"While we're still trying to figure out some of the finer details, we came to the conclusion that, whenever he's referring to his kid's 'older sister'..."
Pyra's hands grasped Mythra's a bit tighter as Kaito spoke.
"...he's talking about you. Which one, I'm not really sure. He doesn't seem to separate the two of you."
Frankie grasped Pyra's hand back as he began to speak.
"S-so… this Addam guy… was married and considered Pyra and Mythra his daughters…?" Frankie shakily asked as his breathing grew a bit heavier.
"Seems like it, big bro." Miko answered.
Frankie looked down at the table, as if he was searching for something to say, but all he could muster up were a few more shaky deep breaths… clinging on to that sudden revelation. He'd been so anxious, almost frightened really, of this individual named Addam and what his role was in Pyra and Mythra's past lives. But not only getting some clarity on what kind of person he was like, but also seemingly hearing the man describe how he felt about them in his own words really…begun to change Frankie's perspective.
"I think someone's really happy about that…" Miko snidely commented. Frankie responded with a quick shiver and blush as he removed his hands from Pyra.
"W-well that's… one… thing cleared up I guess…" Mythra suddenly said with an even deeper blush.
"Y-you know… I bet we can clear up a lot more things with yet another fancy little artifact…" Pyra suddenly added.
"Pyra-" Miko began before letting out a sigh. "It's really sweet and noble you bring that up but… you remember what happened the last time we tried to investigate it…"
Pyra glanced Frankie's way, who just stared at her with great worry and concern, with Pyra sharing just the very same emotions as she really analyzed his furrowed brow and pleading eyes. Of course, she was referring to the monolith, the strange fixture the group had looked into before Mythra had even appeared. With the last event being rather… taxing, physically and mentally.
"No… no you're right… it's- it's stupid, I should've just stayed quiet…"
"Maybe someday in real life with the right funds, Pyra… but I don't wanna go through that again… and I'm not even sure how it'll affect Mythra… and don't call yourself stupid!" Frankie replied.
"We can discuss what ifs and buts later, if you twerps have anything else to say, then say it." Mythra said, still turned around from the group.
Miko looked over at Kaito expectedly.
"Well…alright, but this one kinda goes deep into journalism territory so just like, strap yourselves in I suppose."
He opened up his laptop and typed around a bit, before pulling up what appeared to be a collection of news articles and reports spread across various tabs.
"Baby bro…what is all this?" Frankie asked.
"Well, let's start here." Kaito pointed to his screen as he began navigating from behind his laptop.
"Around a decade ago, some scuba divers were exploring the ocean floor and found some sort of bunker." Kaito pulled up an image of that very expedition as he mentioned it. The picture didn't show much, just a few people in scuba gear under the surface of the water, but the headline read "A New Discovery At the Bottom of the Sea? Finally!"
"Well… sounds like they're in a good mood..." Mythra commented.
"Oh reporters go nuts for this kind of stuff. People love the idea of discovering uncharted territory." Kaito nodded. "But what's weird is that normally with a discovery this big, there'd be a follow up of some kind when they actually analyzed what the heck these guys found down there."
"I mean, of course. You'd only be getting half the story otherwise." Pyra pointed out.
"Exactly. But that's the thing…they didn't."
The three across the table just looked puzzled, and Miko piped up to help explain.
"Even though they made this discovery and caused a big fanfare with articles like these, there's no articles or any piece of information about what ever happened to that discovery or any information pertaining to what it was, or its origin. Heck, the fact we had to use the WayBack Machine for this little bit of research should speak volumes. Almost as if someone was trying to hide it…"
"Hide it? You mean like…covering up what was found?" Mythra put both her hands on the table in some slight shock.
"That's… not okay… crazy, even…" Frankie muttered to himself, but Pyra turned to him as he said that.
"It does sound crazy, but…considering how little information on the world we knew before we got here remains intact…I'm inclined to believe it."
"As you should, big sis. I followed the same logic." Kaito directed them back to his presentation. "Normally I'm not that much of a conspiracy theorist, but knowing what I know about you two, I figured there must be something more to all this, which is why I looked around for related information on this to begin with. So, I went onto some internet forums-"
"Which are?" Mythra interrupted.
"Toxic landfills, just commonly with people's opinions instead of trash." Miko explained.
"Ah-"
"-and I looked around for people talking about the bottom of the sea discovery article, and a bunch posted and directed to this link." Kaito circled a link he had saved on a word doc. "This puppy right here is an archive of a deleted article that does go over what they actually found in that expedition!"
"Wait, really?" Frankie imitated Mythra's pose. "And you…know it's real?"
"Well, no, unfortunately. You know how online information is, most of it can be shaky at best."
Both Mythra and Frankie slumped back in some disappointment.
"Buuut…I have reason to believe this is legit. Namely because whoever initially deleted this article really seems to want it to stay deleted. They keep taking down any attempt to archive it that they can find, but because the internet is a stubborn mistress, people keep posting it right back up in shifty ways to keep it under wraps."
"Shifty?" Mythra raised her eyebrow.
"Oh it's a whole process-line here, sister, you see-"
"Oh dear…here he goes-" Miko rested her chin on her hands as Kaito indulged in his explanation, very much oblivious to how little the three across from him were able to follow.
"So you see, these links they kept using kept getting taken down cuz of how they directly linked to the article, so the workaround was to turn it into Base 64 code, and that worked for a while. But because most Base 64 can be converted with a simple algorithm tool it didn't last very long, but that was just another hurdle to hop over. The next move was to translate the base 64 into binary! Can you imagine? Binary? This double-layered protection method worked the longest, probably because whoever's going around taking down these links is using bots to track them down so they'd need to code the bots to un-code the material twice which isn't something most would think to do. Now this method still got figured out and countered at some point, however the sneaky guys behind this whole operation got creative, and they hid the URL in a collection of pictures of real world locations that the bots can't easily track as well as the human eye can. It all comes together a bit like an ARG, you know what an ARG is, right? Anyways the urls to the images themselves were also encoded with the Base 64 plus binary protection so all I had to do was go and find each piece of the url for each ARG-like image to find the individual characters of the url for the- you guys keeping up?"
"Vato- Kaito- you know I love you, but for the love of all that is holy, please, don't EVER do that again- I didn't lose hours of sleep for the past six years to get thrown back into all this coding caca!" Frankie screeched as he slammed on the dining table, shocking Pyra, and awakening a sleeping Mythra, who muttered flustered nonsense as she sat back up straight and wiped the drool from her mouth.
"Y-yeah! We know this stuff already! The N64 is my favorite vintage console!" She exclaimed.
"Seriously, Mythra…?" Pyra asked, clearly exasperated.
"Oh, like you followed any of that half as well as I did!"
"I will neither confirm nor deny the statement, but hearing out our friends is important!"
"Can we move it along muy rapído, por favor? I'm gonna start crying in a few seconds."
"Ah. Yeah. Mhm." Kaito nodded in awkward understanding. "Got carried away with nerd-stuff again, didn't I?"
"Yep." Miko lightly bonked the man with one of the manga volumes.
"Right…so the short version is, I found the article-"
Kaito clinked the text link, which pulled up another article, one that was much less well-constructed than the previous, with the text awkwardly shoved to the far right of the screen and clearly lagging as Kaito tried to scroll through it.
Pyra, Mythra and Frankie all leaned forward and squinted to get a read on what the article actually contained. Kaito waved them down.
"It's alright, most of the text doesn't tell us stuff we don't already know. What's more important is the record of what was actually uncovered." He pulled his laptop back and tabbed over to his notes.
"Basically, if this article is real, then what those divers found down there was something…'crazy', you could say." As he built suspense, Kaito pulled up the image to show to the group.
It was a grainy photo of what appeared to be a large device. Said device consisted of three hexagon shapes surrounding one smaller hexagon shape. Within each of the three surrounding pieces there were imprints for what appeared to be gems, two of which were filled in with such stones. What was immediately eye-catching was the shape of the gems themselves, being practically identical to Pyra and Mythra's Core Crystal in everything but their color. Rather than the emerald green hue they contained, the two crystals on the device were a bright red and a cosmic purple. This definitely seemed like some form of alien tech.
"This bad boy is..."
"The Trinity Processor." Mythra interrupted Kaito. The whole table looked at her in some shock.
"You…know what this is, Mythra?" Kaito pointed to the grainy photo.
"I…think so…yeah, I know it. It's just…it's a complicated thing to explain."
"Well, go ahead, we're all ears so long as you're willing." Miko patted Mythra on the shoulder.
"Don't stress yourself too much, Mythra… if you need to, we can hit some stuff back home…" Frankie suggested.
"I'll be fine, Dummy, I don't wanna go through those kinds of emotions again…" Mythra responded with a smile, Frankie smiled slightly back.
"Yes… I think it's coming back to me too…" Pyra said with a strain, before settling down and turning to Mythra, "But for now… you have the floor, Mythra."
"...right, I'll try to keep it simple. You guys remember how me and Pyra…how our role as the Aegis is to collect and record data of other Blades?"
The group nodded.
"Well basically…you could say this thing is where we came from, and it's how we were given those tasks to begin with. I…can't say I understand it enough to explain everything it did, but…"
Mythra lightly tugged her shirt to reveal her Core Crystal while pointing at the single empty slot on the device in the photo.
"...as you can probably tell, our Core Crystal used to be in there. It's…where we were created, sorta."
A beat of silence struck the table as that revelation -and the bluntness of its delivery- settled in. Kaito and Miko were unsure if the two Blades needed a breather after the rather complicated aspects of their creation were just pulled to the forefront. Frankie looked to both of them at his sides with his own levels of concern.
"I uh…you…you two alright?" Kaito asked.
Frankie very gently nudged the two ladies, who seemed somewhat perturbed, but otherwise not all that bothered.
"Yeah, we're fine. It…would take a lot longer to explain, but me and Pyra's…consciousness I guess…uh…" Mythra seemed to struggle to get the right words out.
"...if I may-" Pyra interjected to help her out. "You could say we weren't yet a part of this world. Mythra's first awakening happened a good while after our crystal was created, so while we know the circumstances of how it all happened, we weren't exactly there to experience it ourselves…"
Pyra trailed off, about to add the words "...but someone else was…" yet backing out at the last moment and ending her statement there.
"So…yeah…like Pyra said, we weren't exactly there ourselves, so…that's why we probably aren't reacting all that much to saying it, and stuff." Mythra tried to casually summarize the situation.
Yet another beat of silence was felt across the table as the non-Blades wrapped their heads around this rather perplexing situation.
"I…do…guess that makes sense…" Kaito scratched his head. "It's…kind of a weird thing to think about, though."
"Yeah…yeah I get it…" Mythra kinda shifted around awkwardly as Pyra nodded and did the same.
"Cálmate, niñas, Cálmate…" Frankie spoke gently as he rubbed their shoulders caringly, settling them down a fair bit.
"...well uh…with that bombshell out and about now, all this article really has to say is what can be seen in the picture, as well as some labels they found alongside each of these cores here… you told me about this a little bit ago, remember Pyra?" Miko asked
"That's right." Pyra replied simply.
"And just like you said, the article here states that their names are Ontos, Logos, and-"
"Pneuma." Frankie suddenly said, in a low, almost distant and sorrowful tone. He had everyone's attention with his odd speech, now.
"Big bro…?" Kaito asked.
"The way you said that makes it sound like you know something… something Kaito and I don't know." Miko pointed out.
Frankie sheepishly shifted his eyes to Pyra and Mythra, who both gave silent, approving looks for him to say what needed to be said. With a sigh, he sat up straight, and spoke.
"Kaito… Miko… Pneuma is real. Like… she's a person."
Frankie explained his dream regarding Pneuma to Kaito and Miko similarly to how he explained it to Pyra and Mythra, albeit omitting details that could lean them into a…more teasing mood. It wasn't exactly unexpected that the longest, most drawn-out silence followed this explanation.
"Uh…huh…" Kaito nodded as he tried to process it.
"Just when we think the bombshells are done with, another one bombshells it's way in with little regard…" Miko just took a long sip of her iced coffee.
The trio across from them sat nervously, as this was not exactly the premise they expected to deliver this news to them.
"If…this is all too much for you two, that's fine…" Pyra started. "...we…can try and handle it ourselves-"
"Pfft-" Pyra was cut off by a scoff from Kaito that shocked her and Mythra alike.
"Pyra, you dork, if two magical multicolored women showing up out of the blue on our doorstep wasn't enough to drive us away, why on earth would a third make any difference?" Miko explained.
"We told you guys that we're behind you all the way, stop thinking like we're trying to get something out of helping you, got it?" Kaito eyed the two ladies. They simply looked down before turning to Frankie who gave a bemused shrug, looking the calmest he had all morning.
"Phew…that all being said, I think we deserve a proper break-" Kaito closed the laptop and began to pack up, much to the trio's surprise.
"H-hey…" Mythra gestured as if to stop him.
"Aren't you going to…ask us about…Pneuma?"
Miko placed her hand on Mythra's shoulder.
"Really, look at yourselves." Miko knew they didn't exactly have mirrors on hand, but even just with her mentioning it, Pyra and Mythra envisioned how tired and emotionally drained they appeared from this conversation, them and Frankie.
"Ah…yeah, you've…got a point…" Mythra admitted, with Pyra and Frankie nodding in solemn agreement.
"Ever since Mexico, you could say this specific topic keeps us a bit… on edge…" Frankie said.
"Yeah… we could tell…" Kaito replied back as he sucked his teeth.
"And surely you must understand these memory flashes of ours- as infrequently as they occur- when they DO happen, it's usually something we either don't like to think about, or in general is just… taxing." Pyra added.
"Well the one about the Gormotti and Titans wasn't half bad…" Mythra meekly helped.
"Sometimes I wonder why we're even doing this at all…" Pyra sadly commented, earning a sad look from Frankie.
"Well… cuz… we all deserve to know, don't we…?" He sheepishly asked
"Yeah, yeah, you brought this all up before, but like, WHY? Why can't we just forget about all that stuff and focus on what's happening now?" Mythra asked.
"Is that really gonna help though, big sis? I don't want you going through all these emotions because you keep asking questions." Kaito asked.
"Well… I… I mean…" Mythra looked around nervously to think of an answer before quickly settling on Miko. "M-Miko! She's the one who told Pyra the most human thing we can do is wanna forget the past and move on to the future! …or something like that!"
"Hm? That's what you're fixated on? Becoming human?" Miko asked.
"Mythra, is that even possible?" Pyra questioned, a bit worriedly.
"I don't know, but… but… I just want all this nonsense to end already! You wanna stop being the Aegis- and so do I! After all this time, I've never been more sure of that than before!"
"Then that means we all need to keep doing what we're doing." Miko commented.
"What? What do you mean?" Frankie asked.
"Big bro, you're the one who awakened Pyra and Mythra in the first place, and what have you been doing?"
"W-well I mean… not a whole lot really… just going places with them and letting them pick up on some new things here and there…"
"In other words, letting them live and grow in the world they want to live in, right?"
Frankie opened his mouth to speak again, only to fall silent, as he really had no comeback for that. All he could do was look at an intrigued Mythra, and a rather whimsical Pyra, lost in thought over Miko's words before turning back to Frankie with a smile.
"And he's been doing a great job at doing that. The fact that Pneuma's finally showing herself in one way or another is proof of that alone." She explained. Frankie sputtered nervously as he hid himself lightly with a blush.
"B-b-b-but… she was always there, I didn't… I just-"
"Yeah… I think I get what you're saying… progress is progress, right, Miko?" Mythra asked.
"That's right, big sis… but here's the icky part… I don't know anything about converting Blades to humans or whatever or, like Pyra said, if it's even possible, and while I do still maintain my sentiment about the memory stuff… the sad part is that we just don't have the luxury of doing that, we learn and grow FROM those mistakes… that's what it means to be human… that sound familiar, big bro?" Miko eyed Frankie slyly, expecting a specific response from him.
"L-like how?" Frankie asked with the smallest of chuckled. It was Kaito's turn to egg him on.
"Oh, I don't know… anything a wise old friend of yours might've given a certain someone or something…?"
Frankie chuckled further… he knew exactly what the two were pushing him to spell out. He sat back and posed tiredly but wisely as he brought his knee up to his chest and placed his hands on it dutifully.
"Oh, yes… de past CAN hurt… but de way I see it, you can either run FROM it… or… learn from it!" He spoke in a scratchy, vaguely Jamaican accent, getting a round of chuckles from the whole table.
"Yep! Just like that, big bro!" Kaito exclaimed.
"S-stop it you big Dummy… we're supposed to be sad right now-" Mythra pleaded, completely failing to hide her fond smile as she turned away.
"Well… he does make a good point, I suppose… but the issue is really getting started…" Pyra asked.
"Aaaand, that's where we come in!" Miko excitedly chirped as she brought Kaito in closer to her, giving the three taller people on the other side of the table a cheesy grin.
"W-well… I mean… don't leave me out too much, okay?" Frankie asked.
"We weren't anyway, big brobro, but what're you talking about all of a sudden?" Kaito asked.
"O-oh… well… just… keep me updated on the stuff… maybe like what we talked about with this Addam viejo… and, you know… after everything Pneuma showed me, I wouldn't mind learning about what Pyra and Mythra's culture is like too…" He explained.
"Mm… it would be nice to bring both sides of our worlds and people into our home, wouldn't it?" Pyra asked fondly.
"Yeah… I guess I'm in… just don't get too mad if I get on your ass about all this crap." Mythra spoke as she glared Kaito's way.
"H-hey… why single me out?"
"There's a reason I'm the one wearing the pants in this relationship, Floater Boy~" Miko teased as she pinched Kaito's nose. Everyone laughed again before Miko looked at the opposite trio intently one last time.
"So, again, if this is really what you want, we're here to help, so long as you help yourselves…" She said.
"And you know… those memories couldn't have been all bad… some just stick out more than others, for better or for worse. But I'm sure big brobro will be able to muscle through it himself just as well!" Kaito pointed out, getting a shy shrug from Frankie.
"Of course! If helping ourselves is just as lively as it's been of late, we wouldn't dream of leaving you in the dark!" Pyra said.
"Yeah… just keep on moving for ourselves so it helps you all too… that's the way it always should've been…" Mythra realized.
"Well it is now, Mythra… I told you I was gonna be right here and I wasn't going anywhere…" Frankie pointed out.
"And we wouldn't imagine doing anything else ourselves…" Pyra added.
"Yeah! No Dummy left behind! You're stuck with us whether you like it or not!"
"Hah… after everything that happened the past year… I'm okay with that…"
"As are we…"
Kaito and Miko smiled at each other to the trio's conclusion, satisfied with the results of this whole confrontation.
It was at this point that Miko needed to return to her work, however, as while this was a Sunday she still had some paperwork to finish up before she could truly relax. The short pair said their farewells and left the cafe, leaving Frankie, Pyra, and Mythra to themselves.
However…once the couple entered the car, a nervous air settled alongside their relief.
"So…we got through…most of the big stuff, yeah?" Miko checked to make sure they brought all of the books with them.
"Uh huh…" Kaito simply stared at the road.
"And…when exactly do we tell them about…this?"
She gestured to a large label stuck to the back of the book with Addam's stories on it. Much unlike the book itself, the label was very modern and bolden, almost oppressive-looking. Kaito simply eyed the book and sighed.
"I'm…not sure, Miko. As far as we know, this…could be nothing. But…especially if it is something…I don't think any of them are in a place where they'd benefit from hearing about it." He started the car and began to look for an exit onto the lane, peering around his shoulder more carefully than usual.
"Let's just hope that it isn't what we think it is, no point in calling a fire when there's no smoke."
Miko slumped in her seat, looking at the label, before reaching behind her and placing it in the backseat.
"I sure hope you're right…"
The backside of the book now lay up, the oppressive label in plain view.
It read in big, bold letters:
"ACCESS LIMITED. All access of this reading material must be approved by the Amaluthus Media Corp. Do not read without express permission."
…