Chapter 45: Mechanized Memories
"…fuck! Haa… Alain… seriously… why the hell is this so good?"
Alain chuckled as he and Rosalie shifted on the bed to a sitting position against the back wall of the cabin they had taken for their tryst. He wasn't too sure of how long it had been since they'd gone off and gotten lost in the lustful mood, but the haze was ebbing out for a bit. Rosalie had an arm across her forehead, taking measured breaths to collect herself, though the burning flush on her face said plenty of how she was still coming down from her pleasure high, her other hand still tightly clutching the thin sheets.
"Plenty of practice for one thing." Alain pulled open a drawer next to the bed, relieved to find a stash of water bottles within. He plucked a couple out and passed one to Rosalie as she managed to pull herself upright.
"Thanks…" Rosalie whispered, downing the water as soon as Alain handed it to her. Once finished, she let herself roll to the side and lay against him. "It's weird this is kind of only the third time we've done it, huh? And the first time we had sex alone!"
"Well you can say you beat Hilda to that one," Alain's dry snicker got him a soft nip on the shoulder from Rosalie. "I know this probably isn't the time to ask but… what happened during that battle? Before you guys met up with the Aurora and everything. Specifically about… you know."
"Not much to tell," Rosalie sighed as she took another drink from her bottle. "It happened when Hilda and I were launching. One of those drones came barreling in and rammed right into Chris's Hauser. It hit the cockpit and then… it just exploded. Hilda was sure there was nothing we could do."
"Any clue how she even survived?"
"Not at all. Not like we got the chance to go back and try to find her body before we found out about our new problem. We spent days playing cat and mouse with them as we kept picking at what was left of Arzenal." Now looking more than a bit frustrated, Rosalie shifted over to sit across Alain's lap, nestling her head into the crook of his shoulder. "Right now I don't really care what the reason is. Just thinking about it pisses me off."
"You're right to be. But… let's not give up on them just yet."
"Heh… of course you'd say that. You really are gonna try and find out why they betrayed us, aren't you?"
"I don't think I could move on without knowing." Alain supposed. "If you got the chance, right now, to talk to Chris about what happened, what's the first thing you'd do?"
"Slap her across the face. And then chew her out for making me worry about her so damn much. Maybe kiss her till she passed out." Rosalie gave Alain a look as he snickered. "Mmmgh… weren't we supposed to be not thinking about this stuff right now?"
"I've been told the post-coital period is a good time to air things out. Tends to leave you more relaxed and open."
"Well, I'd be lying if I didn't kind of agree," Rosalie sighed as she leaned into the crook of Alain's neck. "But anyway…" putting her hands on Alain's shoulder, Rosalie shifted position so she could more easily push him back down on the mattress. "My turn to take the lead. You ready?"
"I'm for it," Alain nodded. "But are you gonna be able to keep at it?"
"We've got time, so I'll see, Mr. Ace of Aces."
"We've passed the Walreich Line and are out of Mana Nation waters."
At Pamela's declaration, a wave of relief swept through the bridge of the Aurora, Jasmine glancing to the returnees as they looked all too intense even after getting a chance to rest. The elder Norma had to admit, she was anticipating Alain and Tusk's reactions to what was coming next.
"Get patched into the Outpost. Tell them we're back," Jill ordered as she looked ready to light a smoke until a quick look from Maggy made her hold off.
"Getting through now," Hikaru announced as she put a hand to her headset. "Attention Outpost. This is Aurora. We''ve returned from another Arzenal salvage run."
"Roger that Aurora," Alain and Tusk looked relieved when they heard Ray's voice over the line. "How'd the recovery operation go?"
"Well…" Hikaru glanced back to give a slight smirk to the returnees. "I'm sure you'll be surprised by what we found."
"Alright, be cryptic. You're clear to surface and come in to dock. Welcome back, Aurora."
"Nice to hear another familiar voice," Tusk said. "So, where are we anyway? If we went far enough to leave Mana Nation territory, then just how far from Sector D have we gone?"
"Ten years shouldn't have been enough for you to forget what nation watched the territory past the Walreich Line," Jill answered, smirking when Tusk and Alain realized their destination. "Take a good look once we're up." As the ship rumbled from breaching the surf, Alain and Tusk hurried to the front viewport, both giving sharp gasps at the view before them. All around them, ruined buildings stood in a ring around an enclosed port. They must have passed through an underground channel before surfacing. And as the Aurora moved in towards shore, the wonder from Ange only grew. Especially with how tense Tusk and Alain looked.
"What is this place?" Ange wondered..
"Farbanti," Tusk said, his hand gripping tight on the rail. "The city where the Ancient Humans lived ten years ago. Where so many of our comrades died during the First Libertus."
"A place way too many of us from back then remember because of that disaster," added Alain, his face then twisting into an unsettled smirk. "Of course it'd be this place they'd make an emergency hideout. It's the one place I don't think even Embryo would bother to look in."
Leon had to admit that, were it anything but an emergency situation, returning to Farbanti was something he and many others in CROSS would rather not have done. Even a decade on, the memories of the First Libertus never sat well. And being in the ruins of the city where it all went to hell still didn't sit right with him. But with how unsure they were of the potential for Embryo and his agents to start cracking down on the organizations they had agents in, retreating to a place that even they knew he was unlikely to look for a while was their best option.
After a week of adjustment, things had more or less settled for CROSS when it came to integrating the survivors from Arzenal into their routines. As most predicted, the Arzenal Norma dealt with some rather severe culture shock at first considering the hectic turn their lives had suddenly taken. Much less some of their reactions to meeting men other than Alain for the first time in their lives. And complicating matters further was learning that several of Arzenal's top pilots had turned traitor and had been given the Ragna-Mail. It made even salvage runs complicated when they had to worry about dogfights against machines that not only outclassed them but were handled by expert pilots.
These were the things running through Leon's mind as he watched the Aurora pull into port. His eyes trailed along as the Arzenal crew that had decided they'd be the ones to service the ship rushed into position to begin the offboarding of whatever was recovered.
"So what Ray was going on about one of the bridge girls saying they found something surprising? Better not be some bad joke."
"Oh, there wasn't a joke to be had," Jill's smug crack got Leon's attention, the Norma commander looking pleased to finally be where she could light a smoke. "Some troublesome sorts finally made their way back?"
"Really? Cause you seem bitter about something. Even more than usual."
"Just look."
Right as a commotion kicked off, Jill looked a bit unpleased that Leon's sole reaction to seeing Ange and Alain exit the Aurora's boarding hatch was his eyes going wide. And It only grew more aggravated when Leon started laughing.
"You could act more surprised."
"Not giving you the satisfaction of that," Leon raised a hand when he caught Alain and Tusk spotting him. "I didn't have that many doubts anyway. They've gotta have a hell of a story about what happened."
"Trust me, it is." Jill said as she took a long drag off her cigarette, letting out the smoke in a forceful huff. "Let's hope Dission's heart can take it."
"Boss isn't that old."
"Well then, what if I told you that…"
"You were in the world the DRAGONS came from?!"
Dission may not have been that old yet, but he knew it could not have been good for his health to have gotten the massive intel dump he and every other CROSS main officer had just received. As it turned out; Wyvern, Villkiss, and their pilots had turned up alive and well at Arzenal and their explanation for where they had been was a shock to say the least. Joining Dission in his surprise was of course Leon and Louis, along with several other of the squad captains and division leaders. And the news that Alain and Ange hadn't simply been transported away from Arzenal but to another world entirely was making for all kinds of shocked chatter.
[We always had an idea of what Villkiss could do… but to think it could go past the Singularity?]
[There's no way they're lying. Did you see the Wyvern? It got totally overhauled! No way those kids did it on their own.]
[I'm shocked our theory about the DRAGONs was spot on.]
"That's why we wanted to try and help them," said Ange. "When we got back the other day, it was through a Singular the DRAGONs opened. It was supposed to be over Misurugi, so that they could recover the Progenitor DRAGON Embryo is using to disperse Mana out into the world from the Dawn Pillar. That… didn't quite go as planned."
"Wait… you're saying a DRAGON has been powering the Pillar this whole time?" Louis's eyes widened as Ange nodded in confirmation. "Bloody hell, no wonder they had the Norma hunting DRAGONs. How else could they keep the Mana supply going? Tch…"
[So it was all just a ruse from Embryo?!]
[We all got played!]
"To keep a long story short," Alain spoke up, " the DRAGONs' goal has always been to free their Progenitor, Aura, who's the very first DRAGON. And if anything, their goal lines up with ours. That's why Ange and I want to propose a proper alliance between Arzenal, CROSS, and the DRAGONs. Together, we'd have a force that could actually put up a proper fight with the Mana Kingdoms and Embryo."
"Do you have a way to contact them?" Dission asked, Ange nodding again.
"I should be able to have Villkiss jump back to their world. Alain and I have a friend over there, one of the DRAGON's high priestesses—"
"Salamandinay," Alain cut in before Ange could screw the name up. Again. "Not to mention, along with the other pilots of those DRAGON Para-mails, one of them is piloting the sister-machine to the Wyvern. He and I… kinda took it on ourselves to settle things between our two sides. As far as the DRAGONs are concerned, our fight with them is over. We already took this up with Jill, but wanted to bring the idea to everyone else here."
"Personally, I'm against a proper alliance," Jill interrupted, flicking her lighter on. "We can't trust an enemy we've been fighting for decades."
"An enemy we were only fighting because Embryo set us all up," Leon spoke next, Jill shooting him a look. "Though even I can admit just dropping this on us out of the blue doesn't exactly make for a lot of confidence. I'm guessing your new pals got their asses whooped by the Ragna-mails, right?"
"Yeah…" Alain nodded. "Calling it a massacre would be… kind of appropriate." All could see Alain's arms tightening up as his hands bunched behind his back. Whatever lingering guilt was there for his own part in killing countless DRAGONs was evident. And while most in the command room looked sympathetic towards Alain, Jill's expression was a lot more cross in nature.
"And that's why I feel we need an alliance like this," Alain continued. "The DRA… the People of Aura are in rough shape after that ambush. They need our help as much as we need theirs right now. As far as Ange and I see it, everyone benefits from an alliance like this."
[Yes but who's to say the DRAGONs aren't simply biding time?]
[There's a chance for them to simply liberate this Aura and leave us to clean the mess.]
[But freeing this Aura would put us at the advantage wouldn't it? Mana would be cut off entirely!]
[So we should risk being tricked by them?]
"Enough! Squabbling over the intention of those you've yet to meet is pointless. At least consider what he's said. That the DRAGONs see the war between them and the Norma as over." A girl's voice cut through the room as the door into the round table chamber flew open. All eyes turned immediately, a few of the officers even shooting to their feet immediately. There in the doorway was a girl around Ange and Alain's age. Dressed in practical yet refined attire, her strawberry-blonde hair flowed in wavy layers around her pale, soft features. And yet, she had the most piercing blue eyes one could have, almost like chips of ice.
"Sorry, she kind of just barged through!" Tusk gasped as he rushed in after the girl. "Miss Finé, this meeting is kind of important!"
"Then shouldn't you and I also have a say, Knight of Villkiss? We're as much members of CROSS as anyone else in this room."
"Wait a…" Alain's eyes widened as he felt some old memories come up. "Princess Finé?! You've been with CROSS this entire time?!"
"Hold on. Alain who is this…" And Ange paused as she realized what Alain had just spouted. "Princess?! You're from one of the Kingdoms?!"
"Not exactly," the girl named Finé said as she gave a slight curtsy. "Allow me to introduce myself. I am the former princess of the kingdom once known as Solus, Finé Kagura Solus. Though you may refer to me as just Finé. It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Princess Angelise."
"No way…" Ange blinked a few times. "I know about what happened ten years ago, but I thought the Solus royal family had all died!"
"The story isn't false, but… more complex than a simple assassination," Finé strode to an empty chair along the table, her movements as refined and elegant as one could expect of a royal. "Everyone who survived the attack that reduced this city to rubble has a story. But there's one thing that always remains the same. The two who almost turned Farbanti to rubble and even attacked the capital of Solus. Embryo, and his enforcer."
"Cipher…" Alain glowered, the venom on his voice practically spreading to everyone in the room.
"To keep it simple, my family was among the many who died here at Farbanti. All except my brother. He'd gone missing before the battle happened. And with how long it's been, we've presumed him among the casualties."
"I… see," Ange wasn't sure entirely how to feel. "I… look, I don't really know how to respond. You can probably guess I don't have the best view of the nobility. Besides my own parents anyway."
"They must have loved you, if they risked so much to protect a Norma daughter. And I understand your feelings more than you may realize."
"Wait, are you…"
"A Norma as well? Yes. Though I didn't have the fortune to retain the Solus's family's royal ring when the kingdom fell ten years ago. Though unlike Misurug, my status as a Norma hardly made trouble for my family. I'm sure you've been told how our kingdom was something of a pariah state due to our stance on the Norma."
"Because you didn't send them to Arzenal like the others." Ange's words were a mix of jealousy and shame, remembering how she used to share the same view of the Norma as her former countrymen. "In any case, Finé, what do you think about our proposal?"
"I feel we should consider it. If it's the words of the Villkiss Rider and the Knight of Wyvern, what reason do we have to distrust them?"
[They're both still children.]
[Experienced as they may be, they hardly know a thing about the tactical situation we're in.]
[We already have a target on our backs with the Ragna-mail active.]
"Ragna-mails piloted by people both of them know," Dission interrupted. "Alain, I understand you're… familiar…with the Norma Embryo has working for him. Particularly the daughters of Tereshkova and Grimm." Alain nodded as some mutters went through the officers. It was times like this he was reminded how many of those close to him had been tied to people seen as important to the Ancient Humans. He couldn't imagine the way morale must have dropped for some when they heard the children of two of their best were now against them.
"Ange and I ran into them when we came back with the People of Aura, yeah. We don't know why they joined Embryo; but I plan to find that out. They're not people I'm just gonna give up on."
"Even if it ends up being a risk?"
"Well like you all said…I am a kid. We tend to be pretty irrational." Dission's raucous laugh boomed through the room, the man clapping his hands in his mirth.
"That you are. Alright then. Let us adults take some time and talk over your proposal. You've already ended the war, so we're free to do the busy work of diplomacy. For now, I think you kids deserve to take a break. Rest up for now because we're gonna be busy in a short while."
"Thanks, Dission"" Alain said as he looked to Tusk and Ange, both nodding along with him and heading out of the room. Finé also rose, giving a short bow to the officers before leaving as well.
"Now then…" Dission tented his hands as the door shut. "Let's talk about this idea of an alliance…"
"Well, that actually went better than I thought it would," Ange said as they left the command room. "Somehow, I expected a lot more bickering over the idea. Though now I worry Jill's going to have more people on her side."
"Well, Dission and Leon tend to be pretty convincing," Tusk added. "Odds are they'll come around and agree to our plan. But I can't help but admit I'm worried about Alektra too. Alain, what do you think? You've been around her since Libertus."
"You all saw it on Aurora. She's only gotten more stubborn with time. At this point though I'm wondering if it has anything to do with whatever happened to her during Libertus. She never told anyone the full details. Come to think of it, just before it went down, she'd actually…"
"Excuse me! Sir Alain, Sir Tusk, Lady Angelise!" Surprisingly—to Ange at least—Finé was trotting after them, the girl slightly out of breath from hurrying to catch up with them.
"What's up?" Ange asked. "Shouldn't you be back with the others?"
"Despite my former station I'm not exactly an authority figure here in CROSS," Finé answered. "Though now that we're not around that squabbling, I thought it a good time to do something friendlier. If you'll permit me, I'd like to show you around the parts of the city that are operational. I know that for Sir Alain and Sir Tusk, being in Farbanti is dredging up some… unpleasant memories."
"Eh, I think I got over the worst of it weeks ago," Alain put a hand behind his head, Tusk and Ange nodding along. The memory of his little freak out when first faced with Cipher ages ago was still quite clear in their heads. "But I'm surprised you're here yourself, Finé. I knew you'd made it out of the invasion, but nobody mentioned where you were hiding."
"As you can imagine it was for the sake of safety. Having the Kingdoms learn any of the Solus nobility were still around would make CROSS's job of staying beneath notice all the harder."
"A lot of CROSS's command staff is also made up of the surviving officers from Solus's military," said Tusk. "It was those survivors plus the Ancient Human remnants who wound up forming CROSS."
"An organization of those survivors, and other Mana humans who actually bothered to dig far enough to realize how messed up this world is," Ange mused. "I still find it surprising to learn even now that we're here. Still… do any of you actually know why this city was attacked? I doubt it was information that could have easily gotten out, right?"
"We're unsure of it to this day," Finé sighed, and her expression remained somewhat dour as they finally exited into the main streets of the city. "A lot happened just before the invasion. The crux of it, as far as any of us know, was the fact Alektra had gone missing for a time just before things began."
"Wait, missing?" Ange raised a brow. "She never mentioned anything like that when she told me about how things led up to this. Why would she leave that out?"
"Rather… it's probably something she never wanted to tell anyone," Alain said. "Wait… Finé, wasn't there also a ruckus because your brother also went missing?"
"It was actually around the same time Alektra had gone missing," Finé confirmed. "My brother, Mikhail, had been on a survey to the frontier. He was always interested in the Pre-Mana era and what it had to offer. But never returned from it. The last we'd heard was that he'd discovered… something there. And after that, nothing."
"Well at least you have good memories of 'your' brother," Ange muttered, Alain shooting her a dirty look.
"I suppose you're right," Finé agreed. "I was barely even six when it all happened, so I don't have many memories of Mikhail. Still… like my parents, he was kind and didn't at all care that I was a Norma. Sometimes I do wonder how things would go if he were still here." Pausing, Finé clapped her hands together. "In any case, let's not be so negative! I'd hate to bring you all down when you've finally reunited with everyone from Arzenal. There's actually something I want to show you. Sir Tusk, Sir Alain, this is for you two in particular. As you can see, restoring Farbanti to this state was quite a labor. And you've seen the ruins out at the coastline we couldn't do anything with."
"Honestly, seeing this place up and running at all is impressive," commented Alain, scanning around and taking it all in. Solus-being a close neighbor to Misurugi, Enderant, and Galia-shared an art-deco architectural style with those nations. Buildings were colorful and elegant in their simplicity, made more so by the visible repairs done to many of the structures surrounding them all. In fact, one could scarcely tell the city had even been waylaid by a full-on assault a decade prior if not for the ruins along the coast. "And having Norma and others getting along in a place like this…it really is what we wanted back then," Alain sighed as his right hand balled up. "But it won't really become a reality until we beat Embryo. Which is going to be all the harder now that he's got pilots for the Ragna-mail."
"Then I hope seeing what was built in the square helps ease that a bit," Fine offered. While it was a bit of a walk to get deeper into Farbanti, the closer to the city's center they got, the livelier things became. The repairs from battle damage lessened, and the bustle of military activity also died away. Eventually it just seemed like any other city one would come across with people going about their business as anyone else would. Parents with children, older teenagers milling about storefronts, couples lounging around on benches or milling about the shops, bands of friends doing much the same. But instead of Mana lighting every street, it was a stark contrast of electrically powered amenities while the engines of passing cars thrummed with mechanical noise rather than silent hums. For Alain, whose life had been almost nothing but fighting, his exposure to this kind of environment only through the lens of watching the Mana Nations came with a feeling he didn't really know how to pin.
For Ange, it brought a feeling of nostalgia. She knew what this kind of life was like, even if it had been one of royalty, status, and privilege. But after so long on Arzenal, it now felt so distant now, so different. And a part of her wondered if she could go back to that, if she even got the chance to do so.
"I'd introduce it but… I think it speaks for itself," Fine said as they finally reached the main square. Alain, Ange, and Tusk all looked up and their breath froze at what they saw.
Built off of what had once been a grand fountain stood a construct playing much the same role. But rather than some grand work of marble and concrete, it was machinery. Para-mail machinery. A sculpture built of the remains of several no doubt salvaged from Libertus itself. Time and weather had taken away any identifying marks of the former pilots, yet there wasn't a single mark of rust either. And the construct posed them proudly. Swords and rifles raised in a salute skyward, wings aflare as if they were in flight.
"We missed this from that far out?" Tusk whispered in awe as he approached, his mouth agape. "That's one hell of a way to remember Libertus."
"It's not just that, take a look," Finé gestured to the fountain itself, and through the crowd, another object came into view. A black, almost glassy monument at the edge of the fountain. Alain was the first to reach it, and as he reached out to the cool stone, he also found an inscription laid into it. On nothing but a whim, he chose to read it aloud.
"To those who lost their lives fighting for a world they believed in… for those who live on to continue that fight. To the men, women, fathers, mothers, sons, daughters… to those on the ground or in the skies. We reclaim out shattered lives and pursue the unknown, your wills carried forward on wings of our own. Wings to carry us to freedom."
"That's one way to remember the people who fought for you," Ange's voice was almost a murmur as she approached the monument herself. "It's weird. You'd think seeing Para-mail with weapons out would only make you think of war and fighting. But like this? It's more like…"
"Symbols of hope against a terrible world," Finé supposed, Ange nodding in agreement.
"And here I am having spent most of the last ten years cooped up on an island," Tusk chuckled as he shook his head. "Alain? You good?"
"Yeah. Just… a bit surprised is all," Alain stepped past the monument and to the fountain's edge. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out the coin Jasmine had tossed him ages ago, something he'd just about forgotten he'd had the whole time. "Wings to carry us to freedom, huh?" With a smile, Alain flicked the coin up, and after catching it, flicked it into the fountain.
"Since when did Arzenal use coins?" Ange muttered.
"It wasn't Arzenal money. It was something from my dad that Jasmine handed off to me."
"Eh?" Tusk's brow raised. "Wasn't that important? Why flick it into the fountain then?"
"Better than sitting around in my pocket all the time. And I guess I'm wishing for some luck from the old man. It's his wings I took on to fly. I may have made them my own, but it'll always be Dad who set the groundwork for me."
"You're talking about Marcus Pasternak, correct?" Finé asked as Alain nodded. "I'd heard stories from the others, of many of the pilots who lost their lives during Libertus. The others always mentioned it was the son of the Knight of Wyvern himself who'd decided to remain on Arzenal so he could continue fighting with the Norma."
"It's not the only reason he stayed," Ange smirked as Alain shot her a displeased look. "Oh, you know damn well I'm not lying."
"It's not why I stuck around though," Alain growled, earning a playful scoff from Ange. "Let's just say it's a title I've been doing my best to live up to. And now's my chance to prove I can."
"Yeah… a new Libertus," said Tusk, placing his hand on the monument. "Our chance to follow in everyone's footsteps. And this time, we'll do it. I swear…"
"Taking on that kind of responsibility so easily…" Ange sighed, but she couldn't deny that there was something about the looks in the eyes of both young men she certainly approved of. "Well, I've done the same more or less. But I think I'll take the chance to relax a bit first. Let the adults squabble. Then we can figure this out."
"Best to take chances to rest when you have them," agreed Finé. "So that there's no regrets when the time comes to act."
"I think some of us are well past that phase by now," Alain looked across the Para-mail monument again, a confident smile gracing his features as the sunlight glinted off the worn metal. "This time… we'll reach that goal."
