/An Excerpt of a Conversation between Gray and Rozana/
"...hrm."
"My my dear, you've really gotten into a troublesome spot, haven't you?"
"Hmph."
"Being Shania Reid's minder is one thing...but for another former Moebius as well? I have to wonder if Monica thinks you have a type."
"Don't talk nonsense."
"Honestly, if you were this interested in looking after troublemakers, you could have joined me with my job at the nursery with all of the ankle-biters."
"The urge to hit them would be too tempting."
"So you indulge in your need for violence against your proverbial ward?"
"Wouldn't change anything if I did; she's still stuck, even after all these years."
"And you think this newcomer is the same? This...Dee? Or was it Dirk?"
"He's the opposite: he's running away. Where to...is something I'll apparently have to help with."
"Ah, for such an old fogey, you're so soft-hearted..."
"...tch."
xxxx
/Six Years After the Rejoining/
/Seven Months after Dirk Ran Away from Home/
The place where Gray had set down was on the other side of a mountain that he and Shania had reached upon their last foray. The topography of the peak, despite being covered in trees, was rather steep and perilous to traverse; further mapping and exploration would be for the future. Their task was simply to keep going, and see what else this world had in store.
(Simply flying to the limits of uncharted territory had been deemed verboten years ago, especially in light of the mysterious android from beyond the stars; if they encroached on the realm of a foreign power without realizing it, the chance of being attacked was...nonzero. Slow and steady was the way to go.)
All told, despite the seeming acrimony between Shania and 'Dee', there was a strange sense of professionalism...to a degree. Shania was mostly focused on treading ground, as if to walk out her frustrations. Dee, on the other hand, was attentive to his surroundings, and was actively asking sensible questions: are there any dangerous fauna or flora to be aware of; have you noted any edible forageables; do you know for sure what's poisonous, venomous, or otherwise toxic; and so on.
Quite frankly, were it not for the tension in the young man's shoulders, Gray would have thought the boy was treating this like a grand vacation of sorts...and there was an almost lackadaisical air to the proceeding, as they traversed windy grasslands between numerous mountains.
Alas, it wasn't to last.
xx
Less than an hour into their trek, Dirk felt the ground rumble beneath his feet. "What the-?"
"Move!" commanded Gray, withdrawing his handguns and manifesting his gun drones.
Dirk did so, as both he and Shania moved in opposite directions; from the ground burst a serpentine monster with pincer-like mandibles, hissing madly at them. It was akin to an Aspar with a bad attitude.
Gray quickly gave said attitude an adjustment, firing mercilessly upon it. But, as the perforated corpse slumped over, more emerged from the beneath the grass. "A whole nest!"
"Then we need to leg it!" yelled Dirk, smacking his baton square between the eyes of an Aspar. (The loud crack of the baton against the skull — likely cracking something — was darkly satisfying.)
Shania grimaced, firing what appeared to be some kind of revolver that unleashed ether bullets; as one Aspar slipped by, she seamlessly flipped the barrel, turning it into an energy blade that cut through the monster's flesh with ease.
The trio of scouts swiftly retreated, veering towards foothills and rockier ground; sure enough, the serpentine beasts declined to follow, apparently unused to prey fighting back.
As Dirk hopped atop a small outcropping, he remarked, "Well, that was a quick one." He glanced over at Gray, who was establishing a small probe of sorts. "What's that thing?"
"Passive scanner and signal booster. Solar-powered. It'll catalog data about the local area." Standing up, the man briefly rolled his neck (an admission of weakness and age, not that Dirk knew that). "And it'll ensure we can signal for our Levnis."
"Handy." Dirk glanced at Shania, who was staring at the sky; carrion-feeders were beginning to gather over where the Aspars had fought, ready to dive and pick at the corpse. Judging by how mandibles slowly hovered over the wavy grasses, the Aspars were hoping to test their luck. Two sides, looking for a chance to strike it big: the bloody game of nature in stark display. "Nifty weapon, there."
"...it is," murmured Shania, looking at Dirk's batons out of the corner of her eye. "Those blunt weapons won't do much against bigger foes."
"Is that an admission you and your chaperone aren't enough?" cracked Dirk with a grin, hoping to catch her off balance.
She snorted, saying nothing more.
Not much of a sense of humor with this bunch, Dirk thought to himself.
xxxx
After a couple more hours of hiking, they stopped within a ravine threading through two forested peaks; as Shania and Gray pulled out ration bars, Dee went about searching for food. "I've been a patrolman long enough to know how to forage a bit...and hunt, if I need to."
Gray quietly watched the young man aim for small passes in the sides of the ravine, intent on pursuing him if he got too far away. He briefly glanced at Shania.
"I'm not sharing," she grumbled.
"Hmm."
"You can stop looking at me like that," she growled. "I'm not going to hold his hand."
Gray arched an eyebrow.
"It's simple; if he wasn't told what his 'punishment' involved, then it either means they're trying to get him killed, or they think he's strong enough to survive. He seems confident enough." To emphasize her point, Shania took a large bite of her ration bar, grimacing at the taste. "He might find something tastier than...this."
"A simple dichotomy, in your eyes," observed Gray; it spoke of Shania's enduring pessimism and self-deprecation.
Shania frowned. "For what other reason would they stick him with me as 'punishment'? I've not forgotten that this blasted 'job' is retribution for what I did." Left unsaid was the pointed accusation that the only reason he was here was to be her minder. "I'd...appreciate it if you don't remind me of just how little I actually matter."
"...hrm." Gray sometimes marvelled at how self-centered the young woman came off as sometimes. It was sometimes impressive, just how much her bitterness had rendered her seemingly incapable of self-reflection...or perhaps she reflected upon herself so much that she was unable to see anything beyond what she had done and her punishment, convinced that this was all she had left. A pity.
Suddenly, there was a wild shout, followed by an angry buzzing; Shania and Gray leapt to their feet, watching as Dee vaulted down a craggy pass with something in his hand. Pursuing him were dozens of winged bugs — more akin to Wisps than Skeeters — that were the size of his head. "You might want to start runnin'!" yelled the young man.
Shania cursed, grabbing her supply pack and taking off. Gray moved with long. loping strides, arranging himself so that he could take aim properly. The boy, to his credit, was quick on his feet, keeping ahead of the swarm; with measured aim, Gray's guns unleashed a stream of ether that soared over the boy's head, incinerating all of the buzzing monsters. "Hrm."
"The hell did you do?!" demanded Shania.
"Saw what looked like a Wisp nest, wedged near a cave wall," explained Dee, breathing in deep gulps of air. "Their hives have honey...so I just reached in, grabbed a chunk, and bolted." He held up his prize: a chunk of raw honeycomb. With a cocky grin, he took a bite, chewing with a smile. "Tastes like victory."
Gray simply crossed his arms, staring expectantly at Shania.
Shania, with an irritated scoff, said, "If you're going to play at being an idiot, we'll share our rations...if only to keep you from doing something that gets us all killed."
"Eh, we're fine aren't we? But I won't say no." To punctuate his statement, Dee took another bite of his honeycomb.
As Shania seethed, Gray pondered the dynamics between the two. Hmm...
xxxx
After clearing the ravine, they ended up trekking several more hours, dropping more of their passive scanner/booster devices along the way. As they went, they saw hints of aged structures: some from wood, splintering to pieces; others were made of hardy stone (or perhaps some variety of clay?), looking like ancient blocks. It was in one of the latter type that they elected to stop for the night.
"Wonder how old these buildings are," wondered Dirk, looking at the dusty floors with a frown. If there had been any people living in this house, they were long gone; no hint of interior furnishing remained, save for chairs or tables constructed of the same clay-like material. "Surprised there's any hint of wood still standing."
"Climate's dry enough," said Gray by way of explanation, quietly turning on a portable ether furnace. The red glow cast a warm ambiance within the small hut, alongside sharp shadows. "I'll take first watch."
"Second," said Dirk, glancing at Shania. "Gotta earn my keep, eh?"
"...then I'll take last watch," murmured Shania.
A few minutes after Gray stepped outside, Dirk — laying on his side, staring lazily at the furnace — was cajoled out of his thoughts by a question. "So," asked Shania, her arms wrapped loosely around her knees, "What did you do to piss off Ghondor?"
"...this question again, eh?" muttered Dirk.
"Is it so small a thing to wonder?"
"Must be close friends to be so concerned on her behalf," he lightly observed.
He did not expect the woman's bitter snort in return. "Sure...why not." Staring at him over the furnace, she asked once more. "Well?"
...feh, might as well answer, if only so she'll stop bothering me. "I murdered someone. Someone she knew."
Shania looked legitimately shocked. "Who?"
"Was back in Aionios," he amended, so as not to mislead. "Back when I was a grade-A arsehole. Didn't remember until I was literally right in front of her." He shrugged in the manner of someone trying to brush it all off. "Even though I'm not the same person I was...facing the consequences was only natural."
The subsequent silence was suffocating. "...who was it?" asked Shania, after what seemed like minutes of tense quiet.
"Does it really matter?" grumbled Dirk, rolling over on his side. "Can't change what happened..." He said nothing more, hoping the woman would get the hint.
("Can't change what happened...can't change who you are. Why resist?" his own voice said derisively.)
He finally fell asleep shortly thereafter.
xx
Shania stared critically at her erstwhile 'companion', having been sentenced to accompany her and Gray on these 'scouting' missions that were essentially an excuse to keep her away from the City. If the proverbial Powers That Be had deemed such a fate to be appropriate for him, then who had he been in truth?
Who had he been in Aionios, that could have murdered someone Ghondor knew?
(Who had there been that Ghondor would have even considered close?)
Those who met those criteria were vanishingly few in number...and Shania only knew one person within living memory whose murder Ghondor would have truly been incensed by. "Guernica," she whispered to herself, staring quietly at the sleeping form of the young man. Is it possible...is he...?
"It would be typical," whispered her own mind. "Yet another reminder of just how little we've changed...to have our old sin thrown back in our face. No matter what, we're still nothing but Moebius to the people of the City..."
She couldn't shake the thought. If they had been within range of the City's Iris network, she'd be able to connect with a database and confirm the details herself.
Yet even when she finally fell asleep, thoughts of a spear piercing Guernica Vandham's chest; of her hand picking up his fallen eyepatch; of a deal with the proverbial devil (with crimson eyes, masked by an X-shaped helm); all that and more lingered within the mental miasma that she could not dispel...
xxxx
It was the very next day that Shania's suspicions were confirmed.
Past noon, they cleared a long stretch of rolling hills, eventually coming across the corpse of an ancient Titan. Dee, being a native of Agnus, went alight with interest at the sight of a long eel, its rocky surface littered with cracks and evergreen forests. Amidst the dry plain and grasslands, the ether lake pooled underneath the long-dead Titan was a proverbial smorgasboard of creatures.
Some of those creatures had obviously seen them from afar; to their surprise, a small pack of five bipedal reptilians — "Kromars," growled Gray — ambushed them, each riding atop a burly Rhinon. With two riding within their line of sight, the other three had gone around the hills about them, two flanking from the right and one flanking from the left.
"Sparks!" cursed Dee, jumping and grabbing onto the snout of a Rhinon before it could run him over. The Kromar riding the beast hissed loudly, separating the young man from the group.
Gray huffed, summoning his gun drones to form a protective array of lasers around them. The ether beams splashed against the hardy sides of the Rhinon, which seemed to be covered by ablative armor of some kind. "Tch."
Shania took potshots with her pistol, trying to take down the Kromar riders as they rode around in a circle; however, they expertly used the shields bound to their forearms to block her shots, moving with an almost casual grace. The Kromar were tightening their riding radius, waiting to get to a point where they could block off any avenue for retreat. Well, this could be better...
"Prepare for close quarters," warned Gray.
The seriousness of the situation made the fight crawl by, even though it had been barely more than a minute. However, moments before the Kromar slowed their Rhinons — obviously preparing for an inward charge to bullrush them — a distant shout was heard.
"Bright Edge!"
A storm of spears, formed from Light Ether, showered upon the four Kromar, knocking them off of their Rhinon. Bereft of the riders pulling at their reigns, the Rhinon huffed and snorted, moving about in a disorganized stampede.
Shania and Gray quickly took advantage, darting between the Rhinons to take down the Kromars before they could gather their bearings. They took down two, then double-teamed the other, before turning to the fourth; the reptilian humanoid was barely holding back a smaller Dee, his wrists now sporting a unique Blade: thick gauntlets, sprouting glowing spears which were...iconic, in a sense.
"Unstoppable Spear!" Twin spears fired, piercing through the last Kromar's chest. As it collapsed to the ground, Dee (and oh, how on the nose that name was!) turned towards them, revealing a slash wound along his upper arm. "Managed to get the fifth one..."
"We're retreating," ordered Gray, brooking no complaints. The trio swiftly retreated from whence they had come, weaving between the foothills until they were a good distance away from the fallen Titan. Gray promptly took out a small medical kit, ripping open Dee's sleeve to patch the slash wound. "You haven't used that Blade before," he observed, critically looking at the gauntlets on the young man's wrists.
"That's 'cause I couldn't," he remarked, dismissing his unique weapon before pulling familiar bracelets out of his pockets. "Not when I had these on." With a pained hiss, he slapped them back on, and all traces of ether emanating from him were brutally cut off.
Gray huffed, clearly displeased by Dee intentionally limiting himself (and yet, not shocked by it...?). "And you aren't using them because...?"
"Because his name isn't 'Dee'," observed Shania, staring with a strange sense of delirium. (No wonder the City had decided to stick them together; what better way to reminder her of her past as Moebius, than to stick her with another Moebius?) "He was Moebius D...the one who killed Guernica." Gray said nothing. He didn't react at all, in fact, not even with momentary surprise. That could only mean one thing. "...you knew."
"Of course I knew," he said, looking between both Dee — who appeared stubbornly contrite, if such an expression were even possible — and Shania. "Monica would not have assigned him to us without telling me first."
"And you didn't say anything to me?" Even knowing what that would have implied...?
"His secrets, and yours, aren't mine to tell." He said it so matter-of-factly that it was honestly befuddling. If there were anyone who would have (should have!) been incensed by Dee's presence, it should have been Gray. "We're calling the Levnis and heading back to Polis." His tone was enough to cut off any possible hint of revolt or complaint.
The awkwardness and anxiety seemed to escalate as Gray retreated up a hill to get a better signal, leaving only Dee and Shania.
Finally, Dee sat down with a heavy sigh, looking akin to a condemned prisoner awaiting execution. "So..." He pulled off his bandana, letting his blond hair free. "When'd you figure it out?"
"...I began to suspect it last night," she admitted. "Guernica Vandham was the only person I could think of whose loss Ghondor would have been truly upset by."
"And you seem to think Gray should have been as upset," observed Dee, indicating that he wasn't blind.
"He and Guernica were comrades from a very early age. Practically brothers." Shania sat down on the grassy slope, staring down at Dee. "Ghondor used to call him 'uncle' when she was very young."
"...well, he must be a better man than most, if he's willing to let me be here without shooting me dead. And he'd have the right."
Shania tried to compare her knowledge of Moebius D with the young man sitting before her. "Every Moebius had a reputation...some worse than others," she admitted. "Moebius D was one of the worst...which is why I'm finding it unusual that you would call yourself something so close to your own Moebius name...unless Dee is your name?" What cosmic irony that would be.
Dee snorted. "Nah. It's actually Dirk. But don't wear it out."
"Dirk..." Shania scowled, feeling a strange bout of frustration over this entire turn of events. "Why the hell did you even agree to all of this? Why bother coming to the City when you had murdered someone as important as the former Elder?"
"Beyond the fact I didn't even remember I had killed the poor bastard when I got there?" he bitterly sniped. "I don't know how you Polis people think things go for Agnians or Kevesis who were part of the cycle in Aionis...but for most of us, we don't get to choose what memories get retained. Just like we don't get a choice as to who we used to be." With a tired grumble, he tied his bandana, hiding his hair once more. "All of this is...I guess the best way to put it is an attempt at atoning." With a self-deprecating grin, he added, "It just so happens that I'm pretty shit at it."
"...I see." Shania didn't know how to feel about that.
Nor did she know how to feel about the strange stirrings of empathy within her heart.
xxxx
Author's Note: I think this provides enough of a foundation to justify another time skip.
Next chapter should be the end of Dirk's brief tenure in the City.