Chapter 2 - Hello There
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Cover Art By aldimaulana661 (Aldi) on Twitter.
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"I'm getting the distinct feeling that I'm not on Teyvat anymore…" Raoul sighed to himself as he continued on his march toward the buildings. The guardian had closed the distance enough to see that he had been right with his assumption, from just under a kilometer away, the buildings and structures didn't resemble anything he'd seen in the deserts of Sumeru before.
On closer inspection, they did not resemble any buildings he'd seen in his many years on Teyvat. Multiple stories, uniformly built, stretching on in squared streets. Considering his travels across the world, and his adventures in search of ancient civilizations, there had been little he hadn't seen of his own world.
Which only confirmed the theory that he wasn't on Teyvat anymore.
Now the important question was; where exactly was he now?
"This isn't like any other world I've been to before." Raoul said, muttering to himself, "More desolate and barren, lifeless in a way." And given how the structures and buildings looked deserted, long since abandoned with foliage growing out of them in places, it seemed this place had not seen intelligent life in a long time.
Not a good sign.
"Just my luck I end up on a dead world," Raoul thought, mildly annoyed by the fact but otherwise unaffected by the conclusion. "If I'm the only one here then getting back will take some time…"
Traveling to other worlds was never a simple experience, getting there could be easy enough at times but having to understand a whole new world from the bottom up wasn't trivial, it was time-consuming. There could be language barriers or political crises to navigate around.
One world Raoul had been to had him come across a Tyrant ruler that didn't take too kindly to a meddlesome outsider venturing across his land when there had recently been a rebellion. Assassins, political plots, branded a criminal with his face plastered on wanted posters.
That had been a fun one to deal with…
"My first priority should be to familiarize myself with my new environment," Raoul concluded as he neared the buildings that stood far above him. "Then establish a camp for myself to work from."
From there, he could hunt for supplies for his own survival as well as explore the area for anything that might be of use to him in his mission to return home.
But the warrior's eyes furrowed as well, "I should keep an eye out for any of the fatui or the abyss order that may have come through with me, if getting caught in the blast was what sent me here then I'm damn certain I'm not alone."
It went unsaid that two Harbingers were among those he needed to keep an eye out for the most.
With two harbingers around, one of which being Dottore, things would almost certainly escalate.
Pushing that thought to the side for a moment, Raoul re-focused his attention on the buildings that now stood before him. Entering the confines of the buildings at street level, the structures towered over the warrior. Casting the entire street in its shadow.
"Definitely not architecture from Teyvat," Raoul thought as his eyes swept across the buildings before him, "...although, they're not too dissimilar from ones from other worlds."
These were no doubt apartments. Although barren, the uniform nature of the buildings led Raoul to believe they were such. Used for housing people en-masse.
But if that was the case, then why were they so barren?
"This isn't exactly an encouraging sign…" Raoul thought as he continued down the street. "If people made these then where are they now?"
Only the gentle whistle of the wind answered.
But had the feeling something wanted to answer him.
"I'm being watched." Raoul realized as he continued walking down the street. His eyes flickered around him in search of who was watching him, he opened his senses in search of life energy nearby.
But much to his confusion, there weren't any life signs in his proximity.
"So, something inorganic then." The warrior summarized. "Not a traditional lifeform."
Whatever was watching him was careful not to reveal itself immediately. Perhaps waiting for an ambush.
At that moment he was ambushed.
"As if just to spite me…" Raoul thought with a subtle eye roll. Over two dozen spherical figures appeared out of nowhere. Some lept from atop nearby buildings whilst others seemed to barge through the walls on lower floors.
All of them the same in design.
A ball-shaped metal body, with multiple legs, and what appeared to be a giant eye looking directly at him. They were all looking at him.
"zHumanz-" The mechanical lifeform buzzed, its eye shifted and moved before narrowing onto him.
That singular, distorted word, was enough to send the others into a frenzy as they all lunged toward his direction.
The closest one lunged for him, a pair of blades arms swiped horizontally across. Raoul, however, was far too quick for the likes of such machines.
Dodging the attack by leaping into the air, Raoul summoned his sword. His Vision surged with Electro. Like lightning, he teleported toward his closest foe, slicing it in two in an instant.
One down, the rest to go.
With the initiative on his side, Raoul teleported to each and every one of his foes, slashing, slicing, and stabbing each of them in some form in such a way that it destroyed them. Electro buzzed around them, shocking them so violently that some of them began to break apart.
Within seconds Raoul had destroyed them all.
"...!" Raoul sensed a small build-up of energy from the machines, turning to his foes he saw they all began to glow brighter and brighter by the second.
Raoul came to a swift conclusion as to what that could mean!
With a boost of Electro, Raoul leapt into the air within the blink of an eye. Just before his mechanical foes exploded into fireballs and heated metal.
Moving through the air, at the arc of his jump, Raoul landed atop the building's edge just above the street he'd been fighting in.
"Note to self," Raoul thought as he dispelled his sword, "These machines explode violently when severely damaged." Whether that was due to his Electro disrupting their power sources, causing a chain reaction that resulted in said explosions he didn't know, but he would have to keep that in mind if, or when, he came across more of those things.
Learning more about his foes, especially if they are mechanical, would only benefit him.
Turning away from the chaos that remained below, the warrior found his gaze drawn to the bleak, although oddly beautiful landscape. A lot of the landscape in the far distance consisted of long abandoned structures, apartments, and other buildings like the one he found himself atop of.
But the rest of the landscape? That was a mix of beautiful green, lush forests or still, calm, golden deserts and canyons. It was quite… breathtaking, in its own way.
"Such a remarkable looking world," Raoul thought, eyes tracing across the landscape. Taking in all its little details.
Just a shame his first interactions with it had been so… violent.
Raoul's attention was shattered when several audible bangs drew his attention skyward, away from the landscape. Above, descending toward the earth from high in the sky were several bright lights, sixteen to be precise, falling together like they were in formation.
No, they were in formation.
Raoul knew nature didn't work in such uniform ways, not in all the worlds he'd been to anyway, these weren't merely meteors falling to earth, this was something else. Something unnatural, perhaps built by whatever civilization called this world home.
As if to confirm his theory, the descending formation changed direction mid-flight. Lights began flashing in the distance, like explosions, or laser fire.
Yes, Raoul knows what a laser is. That one world with laser guns had been a wild one to land on.
"Looks like a battle is going on over there," The warrior thought to himself, "So that means there has to be multiple factions involved for there to be a conflict." Unless of course it was a turf war between survivors, it wouldn't surprise him given the state of the world.
"Well, it seems I have a new objective to follow," Raoul said as he watched the lights flicker out significantly, shimmering out as they descended down across the horizon out of view, fewer than the original sixteen, far from his current location but still within reasonable travel distance.
Despite the distance, Raoul knew that heading in the general direction those lights had landed would likely be his best bet. If all that waited for him here were more of those automation's then he was better off searching elsewhere for other intelligent life that might be able to help him.
"At least there is other life on this planet." The warrior sighed.
Little did he know, however, what kind of life he would encounter.
/_\
"Clear your head and get to work!" Yelled Android 16G, startling her newly awoken captain who rushed to take control of the situation.
"S-" She stuttered for a moment, "Status report!" She yelled toward the support unit off to the side.
"Yes ma'am," The female android answered, "Attackers No. 2 and No. 4 accounted for. Gunner No. 16 accounted for. And me, Scanner No 21, accounted for." The support android turned to face her captain. "These four units successfully infiltrated enemy territory. Due to Captain No. 1's death, captain privileges have been transferred to No.2." She explained. "That is all, captain."
The newly anointed captain, attacker No.2, or A2 for short, seemed to seize up for a moment. Realization finally dawned on her that she was in command, replacing perhaps the best captain they could have had.
"I'm the captain…" A2 thought to herself. It was a… dreadful thought. Despite her best efforts the thought of being captain worried the android, scared her even, she had doubts she could even be a captain in this situation. Not like No. 1 was.
A moment passed as she felt the wind across her body, and her mind caught up to her. A2 turned to see a sight she'd only ever seen in simulations.
A beautiful sea and sky stretched out before her, with several large skyscraper-like buildings jutting out of the water's surface.
"This is Earth." She stated aloud, absentmindedly. For the briefest moment getting lost in the beauty of the world.
Before being forcibly brought back.
"Quit spacing out, No. 2!" 16G yelled, even louder than before, "You're our captain, remember?!"
"Ri-" A2 stuttered, "Right! I'm sorry." The flustered android apologized in an attempt to soothe her comrade's irritation.
Which didn't seem to work.
But what did, if even momentarily, was the small giggle from another of their members. A2 and 16G turned to the source, A4, in surprise at the sound.
The assault android smiled at the two, "It's not like we're in danger right this minute, 16. No need to be so upset."
"What are you saying?! Have you forgotten No. 1 is dead?!" The gunner answered, still louder than she really needed to be. "If No. 2 can't stay on the ball, what are we supposed to do?!"
"That's…" A2 thought, self-doubt worming its way into her mind, "I… don't have what it takes to be captain…"
Ignorant of their teammates' inner doubts, the conversation carried on.
"Anyway, No. 21," A4 continued, turning to the android in question, as calm as ever, ignoring 16's annoyed outburst, "I'm glad someone as calm as you survived with us."
"I feel the same," 21S replied to her comrade, "Other models tend to be emotional, lacking a tendency to be calm."
"...what did you just say?" 16G said in surprise.
"Putting that aside," 21S said, ignoring 16Gs reaction, "What we should be discussing now is how we should move forward from here because no matter how I look at it, it's impossible to carry out the mission with only the four of us." The scanner model turned to her captain, "So, No.2…"
"Yes?" A2 answered.
"I will contact command to make a request for the discontinuation of the mission." She explained.
"Yes!" A2 agreed, all too quickly, "I think that's a good idea."
21S nodded, "Understood, initiating communication to command now." The scanner model swiftly went about making it happen as a holographic projection appeared in front of her. Making short work of the task, with no drama or fanfare.
"No. 21 can stay calm even in a situation like this…" A2 thought as she observed her teammate, "She's amazing."
"Restoring laser communication," 21S announced to her team, "Command, please answer."
"This is command," The words of the command came through.
"Command, under the current circumstances, it is not possible for us to carry out the mission," 21S explained aloud. "Out of sixteen units, only four remain. We do not have enough people to carry out the mission."
Off to the side, only partially listening to the conversation between command and 21S, A4 spoke to her other two teammates.
"Since we failed the mission, do we go back to the bunker and reorganize?" A4 asked.
"Maybe another squad will be sent out next in our place." 16G answered without even turning to look at her squadmate.
"I repeat: We are requesting discontinuation of the mission." 21S reaffirmed.
"...YoRHa Squadron." The commander's voice came out of their comms after a hesitant second, "Command to YoRHa squadron: Permission to discontinue the mission denied."
…
The team of four were stunned into near-complete silence upon hearing those words.
"What…?"
"But that's…"
"You are ordered to carry out the mission with the current reduced number of units," Command continued, uncaring of their silence. "This is an absolute order. There will be no modifications from this point."
"No way…" A2 thought, comprehending the orders they'd been given, "That's completely impossible…"
"Concluding laser communication response."
"Command!" The assault android yelled but to no avail.
"...they hung up." 21S declared as her communication line went dead.
"Unbelievable." A4 said to the group, with a surprisingly calm and neutral tone, "Continue the mission with only four people?"
"Even though No. 1 has died…" A2 continued in her downward spiral, "I really can't…"
16G slammed her fist into a nearby piece of rubble, "Damn it! Twelve units were destroyed!" The gunner android pulled the blindfold from her eyes, "What the hell is command thinking?!"
"Oh~ What's this~?" A4 playfully remarked as she eyed her comrade's removed blindfold, "Removing your goggles is against military regulation, remember~?" She asked, almost completely tone-deaf with the situation.
"I can't aim wearing something like this, you know!" 16G yelled angrily, irritated by the chipper attitude and mood her teammate was in despite the grave news they were given, "Anyway, like you're one to talk!"
"Hm?" A4 hummed, "These are just custom-made for me." She gestured to her custom one-sided blindfold. "Anyway, I sure wish I could style my hair nicer~" The assault android said absentmindedly.
16G growled at her teammate, "Why are you so fucking clueless?!"
Seeing the tension rising, A2 attempted to step in. Literally, getting between the two androids.
"Both of you, settle down!" She ordered, weakly, "C-calm down, okay?"
But 16G just ignored her, turning her back on both the assault androids, but ultimately still dropped the argument.
21S observed the squad, watching at A2 failed to handle the situation. Not being able to hold her thoughts back, the scanner model spoke.
"No. 2," She said, pulling said android's attention toward her, "I can see that for a captain, you aren't good at controlling your emotional functions."
A2's hand reached out toward the support unit, "I… I-" She tried to defend herself but whatever defense she tried to muster died in her throat.
At that moment, A4 seemed to come to her rescue.
"It can't be helped," The assault android said as she laid a hand on her nervous captain's shoulder whilst trying to defuse the situation, "Even if you suddenly say she's to be our leader, No. 1 was the strongest leader we could have had, that's a lot to live up to right away." The android explained, "Then our leader died on the descent mission, so… y'know~"
Although good-intentioned, her words did nearly the opposite of what she had intended them to do.
"...No. 1," A2 thought, memories of her captain coming to the forefront of her mind, from times during her training, "Taking the place of such a reliable leader like her… it's too much for me to carry…"
"Hah," 16G scoffed, "There's no point talking about a dead attacker, no matter how good they were." The gunner model still refused to look toward her comrades, "Besides, if we're talking about raw power then I've got more than the old captain." She added, somewhat arrogantly.
"No. 16…" A2 thought sadly as she watched her moody teammate. She shook off her upsetting thoughts and pushed through,
"Alright," A2 stated, loud enough for all her teammates to hear, two of which glanced her way, "Listen, we need a new plan," The assault android began, attempting to take charge, "First, let's try-"
"Wait!" 21S yelled, interrupting A2, much to the surprise of everyone. The android was flicking through her holo system in front of her. "I've detected machine lifeform heat signatures, and there are…!" The scanner models android morphed, expressing her panic, "Approximately 128,000 Units!"
"What?!"
"Huh?!"
The other androids reacted, shocked, utterly stunned at the revelation of such numbers that far exceeded what their mission briefing had estimated.
As if to confirm their thoughts, 21S elaborated.
"That's eight times more than estimated by Command!"
"You'd gotta be kidding me." A4 said disbelievingly, "How could Command have miscalculated by that much!"
"There's nothing for it," 16G gritted out frustratingly, "We'll just have to take them head-on!"
"Wait!" 21S said once again, drawing their comrades' attention to her fully, "We shouldn't act too rashly! Although the machines far out number us, they aren't moving in our direction yet!"
"What?" A2 voiced the thoughts of her fellow androids, "Surely they detected us upon landing, right?"
21S hummed, uncertain, "I believe they did, but something else seems to have drawn their attention. Perhaps that spike in energy from the unknown tear in the sky Command picked up before our descent." The android flicked through several holographic screens before speaking, "Whatever the reason, the machines are heading in a different direction to our current position."
"Doesn't matter," 16G argued, leaning her AR on her shoulder, "If they aren't aware of us, or ignoring us, this is a perfect time to strike."
"Striking first might not be the best strategy if it means dragging all that attention onto us," A4 argued.
"We need to!" 16G countered back, "It's part of our mission!"
"Not necessarily," 21S argued, somewhat siding with A4. "I believe our first course of action should be to find out what exactly has the attention of the machines." The scanner android explained, "If the machines believe there is something of greater value elsewhere-"
"-then we should intercept them before they get it." A2 finished, drawing her comrades' attention to her. "I-if we, the sworn enemies of the machines, are considered a second thought compared to what they're after then we should retrieve whatever it is for ourselves."
"And keep it out of enemy hands!" A4 cheerfully added, "That's smart!"
"Tsk," 16G scoffed, "We could do that by simply killing the machines first."
"But then we might not learn what exactly they're after." 21S countered smoothly, "If I can triangulate the machines' current direction of travel, I can estimate where they might be heading so we can cut them off, search for and retrieve what the machines are after, and ambush them."
"Ambushing them would help us thin their numbers before starting a massive fight, we could complete two objectives in one!" A4 agreed with the scanner android. All the androids present mulled over the idea, coming to various thoughts, pleased with that line of thinking.
Given their own dire situation, preventing their enemy from completing their own mission and similarly thinning their numbers would only help them in the long run.
If only they knew what, or who, had drawn the machine's attention.
/_\
Raoul flicked the sword in hand as another one of the machine lifeforms fell, inert, not ready to explode. Thankfully. Electro buzzed from the edge of the blade, sparking off the ground several times.
"These things are everywhere," Raoul commented as he dispelled his sword, knowing that the immediate threat had temporarily rescinded.
At this point he has to have taken out thousands of these machines, en-masse, varying in size but most were at least larger than he was, slicing them to pieces or blasting them apart with his electro abilities. Ninety percent of the things were spherical ball things. Nothing exactly impressive in all honesty.
Numbers meant nothing, not when his enemies were so weak and he was so strong. None of them could compare to a man who had the power to match and surpass gods.
But these numbers were worrying. It was like that of an army battalion. So did that mean there was literally an army of these things? And they didn't like humans?
Many of the machines were quite literally chanting, or rather buzzing out the words, Kill Human as they went for him.
"Must be my lucky day," Raoul thought as he wandered through the newly created scrapyard that was formerly his enemies. "On another world full of automation's fully intent on killing humans."
The warrior really had shitty luck sometimes.
"...?" Raoul internally noted multiple eyes upon him at that moment. Although he couldn't make out what they were, they at least had signs of life within them. Not like people from his world, he noted, but they still had life energy within them. So they were at least different from the machines he'd just fought.
Not too far from him, hidden from visual sight, several figures lay ready to ambush him. He heard the subtle clicks of rifles and the like so they were clearly prepared to jump him.
With the intent to kill or not he would soon find out.
"Seems unlikely I'm going to find any friendly faces here," Raoul thought as he continued to walk around the metal scrap. "I might as well rip the bandaid off quick."
"So," Raoul said aloud, ready to move, knowing his stalkers were the only ones around to hear, "Are you all going to come out and talk or just wait for an opportunity to strike?" Not even bothering to look in the direction he knew they were.
In an instant, several figures rapidly emerged from the bush, from behind rubble, and from within one of the buildings. Every one of them had their weapons trained on him.
"Don't move!" One of them called out, feminine sounding, rifle aimed directly at him.
"Aggressive but not outright lethally hostile," The warrior thought, "They would have just shot me if they wanted me dead." Raoul flicked his eyes sideways in the direction of his foes, taking in their appearances briefly. They all wore ragged clothes, but it was quite obvious they were some kind of military unit.
"Seven in total, all armed with ranged weapons," Raoul observed silently, also noting how one in the middle of the pack, directly behind the one speaking, seemed to be observing him rather closely compared to the others. "They're likely the captain of the unit."
"Who the hell are you?!" The one closest to him demanded, "And who sent you?!"
Straight to the point he supposed.
"My name is Raoul," He answered, turning toward the one speaking slowly so as not to startle them, "And I'm not affiliated with anyone. I'm here on my own."
"Bullshit! As if we're going to believe that!" The one closest to him yelled angrily in response, jutting the gun forward as she spoke, "You want us to believe you're just some random android wandering around in machine-infested territory alone?!"
"Android?" Raoul internally noted.
"Well," Raoul continued, still as calm as ever despite all the guns pointed his way, "I'll be honest with you, I'm actually quite lost." His eyes roamed across all the people before him, swiftly noting the two likely weakest links of the group. The big woman and the small girl. "I don't know where we are right now."
The android closest to him scoffed, "Do you really think we're going to believe that?!" The android stepped closer, along with her fellow soldiers, pushing the end of her gun toward his face in an attempt to threaten him. "You better start telling the truth or we're gonna put several holes through your body!"
"I'm not your enemy, miss," Raoul replied to the threats, nonplussed. "I'm just looking for anyone willing to help me find my way home." It went unsaid about his additional objective of hunting down the Fatui and the Abyss Order.
"Words are cheap!" The female soldier yelled as she took another step forward aggressively.
Big mistake.
"You shouldn't move so closely to your target with a ranged weapon, miss," Raoul thought calmly despite the barrel aimed right between his eyes. The soldier was easily within physical striking distance. A place you shouldn't be when your weapon of choice is a ranged weapon. "You're making this easy for me." Flicking his eyes over her form, Raoul caught a glimpse of what looked like a knife's holster.
"Unfortunate that this is how things are going," The blonde warrior thought.
Although he wasn't exactly pleased with how this was going, or how he knew it would be going in a few moments, these people were leaving him with very few options.
"I'm gonna count to three-" The soldier didn't get the chance to finish before Raoul made his move. In an instant, he was upon her, re-directing her rifle away from him, he struck low to stun her before breaking the weapon from her grasp and tossing it to the side.
His sword appeared in his hand as he grabbed the soldier, spinning her around, as he placed a blade on her weapon.
"Anemone!" One of the others yelled.
"Enough!" Raoul shouted before any of them attempted anything. Reaching behind his new captive, he pulled her hidden knife from its holster with the hand he was using to retrain one of the soldier's arms. "Now," He continued, calmer than before, "I'd like for us to continue this conversation in a civil manner without all the hostilities if that's alright with you?"
"Tsk," One of the others sounded annoyed, "Funny way of showing it!"
"Only way of showing it really," Raoul countered smoothly, "The options you gave me were quite limiting." The warrior's eyes turned toward the woman he figured was the commander of this unit. "Are you the commander of this unit?" He nodded his head in the direction of the android he was referring to.
"..." For a moment, the woman said nothing. But when her eyes focused on Anemone and the position she was in she relented, "Yes, I am. My name is Rose, and I'm the Captain of this unit."
"I'm sure it would be a pleasure, Captain, if the circumstances were better than this," Raoul replied. "Now, I'd like to ask again, can we continue this conversation with less hostility?" Not waiting for an answer, he continued, "I'll release Anemone-" The woman in question struggled slightly within his iron hold, "-if you lower your weapons. I'm not looking for you to trust me but I'd rather we not converse with weapons pointed at each other. Is that acceptable to you, Captain?"
"How can we take you for your word? We have no guarantees you'll let our comrade go." Rose countered.
"What guarantee do I have that you'll lower your weapons and not shoot me on the spot?" Raoul answered, "It's a trust exercise, Miss Rose, we both have to trust in the other for this to work."
Moments passed, with no words being exchanged as Raoul waited for her response.
"Alright, you have a deal." Rose eventually relented, "Weapons down everyone." She commanded as she lowered hers. The others hesitated for a moment but slowly, one by one, began lowering their weapons.
Seeing their weapons down, Raoul followed up on his side of the agreement. Pulling his sword away from Anemone's throat, he released her arm from its hold and took a step back.
But the second Anemone was free; she dove for her rifle.
The soldier grabbed the rifle off the floor and turned on Raoul, finger on the trigger.
However, before she could act, or Raoul bothered to react in self-defense, Anemone's captain called out.
"Anemone!" She called out, giving the soldier pause before she could fully raise her rifle toward Raoul, "Stand down." The captain ordered firmly.
Raoul eyed the aggressive android, her eyes glared at him with fury and distrust. He could tell she really wanted to get him back for his little stunt but held back on account of her superior's words, her body tense and her finger on the trigger.
"Hmph," She huffed angrily, teeth gritted, as she slowly relented, "Fine." The soldier fell back, begrudgingly.
Raoul resisted the urge to comment, instead choosing to remain silent and allow their leader to begin the conversation.
"You got what you wanted," Rose said, stepping forward, taking a step in front of Anemone protectively. Likely wanting to avoid another repeat of what he'd just done. "Are you going to answer any of our questions from before?"
With the situation calmer, Raoul doubled down, "I wasn't lying to you Captain, I'm just a lost traveler wandering a foreign… land." Maybe retaining the From Another World thing would be wise for the time being given their distrust of him. "I was looking for anyone willing to aid me in my quest to get home when I was attacked by those automations."
"You seemed to have handled them just fine for a mere traveler," Rose gestured to the remains of the foes he'd slain.
"Hah," Raoul laughed quietly, "I'm quite well trained, I've seen my fair share of battles." The warrior glanced at his handiwork, "I've fought many mechanical foes in the past as well, these aren't my first."
"So you're a soldier?" The captain asked.
"Not quite," Raoul replied, "At least, not anymore." He added cryptically.
The implications of his vague answer said enough. Better to keep some cards close to his chest. Even if he was, honestly, no longer a soldier, it was wiser to not go into great detail regarding who exactly he used to serve with.
Commander Rose caught the implication, and by the looks of it was running through several scenarios in her head on what that could mean.
"...are you a deserter?" She asked softly, eyeing him up and down.
Wasn't that a question?
In a sense she was right, if Raoul were honest. Although there was more to his story there he needn't go into detail over it. At least for now.
"I suppose that's accurate," Raoul conceded, "I'm no longer with the people I once were, now I fight my own battles against injustice for my own moral reasons."
"You abandoned your units cause?"
"No," Raoul denied, "I merely serve a notion, not a nation. My enemies have not changed, I merely act as my own agent."
"..." Rose stared him down, eye to eye as if trying to deduce whether or not he was lying. Looking for any signs of deception.
She would find none.
"I'll believe you," Rose finally replied, "For now, at least. You have a long way before I'm willing to trust you."
"You don't have to trust me, Captain, or even like me if you do not wish to," Raoul replied, grateful that much of the tension between the two groups was beginning to settle. "I merely want us not to fight each other."
"Well, as long as you don't try anything, we won't need to." The captain responded, "But I have a few more questions I'd like to ask you before we move on."
"Then, by all means, ask away." The warrior allowed.
The captain nodded, ready to continue interrogating him. "First, I want to know wha-" She began before being cut off by one of her soldiers.
"Alright, hold up, I can't just not ignore it anymore!" One of the rifle-wielding women spoke up, much to the surprise of her captain and comrades. The soldier looked at him with a sense of agitation and confusion.
"Why do you have fucking stars in your eyes?!"
C2: End.
Sorry for the really long delays on this chapter, kinda got sidetracked with my other stories and personal matters. This one simply didn't take priority. Sorry again.
Anyway, here's the chapter. Not much happens, I'll admit that the YoRHa section is taken from the Pearl Harbour Descent story (which I recommend reading, honestly) nearly word for word, but I promise after this point it's all original content now that Raoul is involved. As you may know, Rose and Co have encountered Raoul first before YoRHa and the machines forces on moving in on Raoul's location since, you know, he's human and all that.
Expect things to go differently from here on out.
—
Review Response(s):
Harisnorw: You are everywhere, lol. Thanks.
ReailtyQuestions (Guest): I'll be real with you champ, even I don't know the exact year things took place in the game/manga but I can certainly respect your deduction of the timeline. It's around the time of the "Pearl Harbor Incident '' in the Manga, so you're correct. Well done. I tip my hat to you.
Pieceofcake-22: I do tend to post things out of nowhere, I appreciate the compliment, and thanks for your interest in the story.
Lexfrit: I'll be going down that route, kinda. I don't want it to drag on either, but we'll be having Raoul having to survive in this world. It's not just the mission involving the server anymore. There's more to it now. Raoul, the Fatui, and members of the Abyss Order.
Kamizuma24: Yesn't.
—
And that's that, I suppose. Hope you enjoyed, and I'll see you in the next chapter whenever the hell that comes out. Hopefully sooner rather than later.
Till then, best of luck to you all.
AlcatrazDGold - Peace!