Wailing Plains

"Whoa, hold on a minute. That's — okay." Lenka paused, taking a deep breath to collect his thoughts as he paced anxiously back and forth. Being called into the veteran's room had initially been a relief, looking forward to getting some insight on the events of the last few hours. Unfortunately, after listening to his ex-corporal's explanation, he was met with more questions than answers. And the other ex-corporal wasn't faring much better.

"I… don't understand. You're telling me that Ren was… is… an actual person?"

"Yes. Well, no. I mean — kind of." Lindow scratched his head, freezing for just a moment as his clawed fingers passed over his scalp. It was going to take some time to get used to that. "He's an Aragami… somehow given physical form. And his consciousness was visible to Reap — Neo because, uh…"

"Because your God Arc was stuck in her hand. The cells were infused within her own body." Ichiro assisted, taking note of the corporal and his stumbling words. His explanation was finally starting to make some sense to him, though he couldn't say he was any less unsettled by it. Lenka had a similar expression to Lindow, looking utterly lost and nearly as uncertain as the corporal himself.

Soma, however, seemed relatively unaffected. "It makes sense. At its core, a God Arc is just an artificial Aragami. We utilize them as weapons, but it's basically a living thing. When it merged with Neo, their Oracle cells were able to communicate."

"Creating Ren as a physical manifestation visible only to her." Ichiro finished.

Lenka sighed, clearly growing overwhelmed by the entire situation. "Okay, so we've established that she isn't completely insane. That doesn't make her stable and it certainly doesn't make her safe."

"I'm not saying that it does," Lindow replied, "what I'm saying is that we need to give her a chance."

"She's had a chance, Lindow… she's had many chances, both now and before I even arrived."

"A real chance, Utsugi. A fighting chance. Listen… when I was in Neo's mind…" Lindow paused his recollection with a grimace, visibly shaking his head to rid himself of the frightening image. "Let's just say I learned a lot about our New Type." Lenka crossed his arms, leaning against the wall with a pensive expression. It was clear that he wasn't getting through to him. The ex-corporal sighed, settling his gaze on his suspicious teammate. "All right, look, I'm just gonna come out and say it. The kid's messed up. Seriously. And after spending an hour in her head, I can see why. Neo needs help. A lot of it."

The room fell into silence, each God Eater focusing entirely on him. It wasn't until a few moments later that he realized the sharpness of his own tone. Lindow gave a nervous chuckle, offering an apologetic look to the other veteran. "No offense."

"None taken." Ichiro shrugged, fully understanding the sentiment behind his words. "Neo does need help. And I think I know how to provide it… we just need a little more time."

Lenka gave a heavy sigh. "I don't know… Look, I'm not entirely against keeping my silence at this point… but setting her loose? Shipping her off and unleashing her on another branch? That almost seems even worse. What's to say she isn't going to snap again?"

"Nothing," Soma replied, "but we have to try." Utsugi shifted his eyes back to his old mentor, still not completely convinced. It was only Ichiro's following assertion that finally changed his mind.

"Let us help her, Utsugi. I do believe that with the right treatment she can show improvement."

"And if she doesn't?"

Ichiro sighed. "And if she doesn't…" Soma and Lenka fixed their gaze to the older God Eater. They waited with bated breath to hear whatever he was planning to say. Lindow watched him as well, meeting his gaze for a brief moment before giving him a silent nod. "If she doesn't… then we will leave. We'll go far away from the branch. Then, she won't pose a threat to anyone anymore."

Lenka blinked. "Leave? What do you mean, leave?" The room was utter silence as the captain gaped at him, trying to absorb his words. Then, his mouth fell open. "You don't mean… you're not talking about leaving the Wall… both of you?"

Ichiro gave a solemn nod. "I will not hurt Neo, Utsugi. I refuse. And I won't allow anyone else to harm her either… but I can't deny the danger she poses… not anymore." He took a single calming breath, steeling his resolve. When he met the captain's eyes, his own were filled with grave determination. "If we do this and Neo truly is beyond help, then we will forfeit our badges and flee the branch. We'll leave Fenrir's walls… and you will never hear from either of us again."

Lenka held his gaze, a tired frown forming on his face. Turning his eyes to Lindow earned him a stern nod. Soma gave no reaction at all, but he could almost feel the animosity radiating off of him. If he handed over Neo, he would never forgive him. That much was clear. And the 1st Unit was already splintered enough as it was. Finally, with a defeated sigh, he grudgingly relented. "Fine. Do what you have to do. But this is your last chance, Hamasaki. Both of you."

. . .

A heavy sigh escaped Lindow, drawing a confused look from the other three members of his squadron. A pair of New Types lifted a curious eyebrow in his direction. It was a clearly pained sound, and every member of the group was beginning to grow concerned about him. It wasn't like their happy-go-lucky ex-captain to behave in such a depressed manner. But it was only Kota who was brave enough to address it.

"What's up, dude? Missing Sakuya already?"

A loud chuckle was his response. "Nah, it's nothing like that. I'm just…" Worried. Lindow paused, taking note of the three pairs of eyes watching him. Of course, his first instinct was to speak honestly, and express his deep-seeded concerns. But he knew that right now that was something he couldn't do. He was sure that Kota would be understanding, as he and the 1st Unit members were the only soldiers aware of Neo's status and whereabouts. But their other New Type was out of the question. To him, her condition — and as far as he knew, existence — was entirely unknown, and the goal was to keep it that way. With that in mind, he changed course. "Just got a lot on my mind, know what I mean?"

Kota frowned. He did know what he meant. From his tone, he knew exactly who he was thinking about. He knew because he was worried about her too. Because he missed her too. He also missed her blonde-haired companion. He hadn't heard from any of them since their departure, and the suspense was starting to wear on him. Flicking a quick glance to their newest recruit, he forced a smile onto his face. "Well, I'm sure whatever it is, it'll work out fine. Just gotta stay positive, right?"

"Hehe. Yeah, that's all anyone can —"

"Incoming!" Lindow spun at the sound of the voice, taking note of a Sariel descending toward them from the skies.

"Wagh!" Startled, their fourth member took aim and fired. All three shots missed, the Aragami twisting around through the air and passing around each one. His eyes widened at the sight, stumbling backward as the creature drew near. "Crap…"

Seeing his teammate in distress, Kota stepped in, firing a more well-placed bullet, and striking the monster along its blue skirt. The force knocked it off balance, leading it tumbling sideways and spiraling downward. Lenka and Lindow took advantage, leaping forward as the Sariel tried in vain to right itself. It never got the chance. Two Long Blades tore through the creature's center, passing by on either side. Both veterans landed with a splash in the mud, turning back to the other two as its body hit the ground.

"Ah… s-sorry…" The rookie mumbled, his flaming red hair falling over his eyes as he hung his head. He had caused trouble for them again.

"Don't worry about it, kid. I still can't handle my rifle either." Lindow soothed, resting his mutated hand on his hip.

"Heh. I doubt that," he retorted with a bitter laugh.

"No, seriously, my aim is terrible. Honestly, I have a hard time even getting the thing to shift sometimes." Of course, Lindow spoke the truth. One of the side effects of his Aragami transformation had been altered genomes, shifting his compatibility, and changing him into a New Type. While one would expect that to be an advantage on his part, for the ex-captain, it had caused him nothing but trouble. To prove his point, He lifted his blade and concentrated, willing his God Arc to change its form. His lips pulled into a grimace as he focused, ending in a frown as the blade hummed, trembled, twisted, and fell back into place.

"Wow… I had no idea."

Lindow shrugged, giving the New Type a reassuring smile. "That's because I hide it well."

"It's fine, dude. Shooting is hard, you know?" Kota offered a goofy grin. He could still remember how awful his own aim had been when he first arrived. Learning to properly handle his rifle had been nothing short of a nightmare. And those two had to manage it while shifting back and forth between melee. He still had nightmares about his early days. So many training sessions. So many lectures. If it hadn't been for their first New Type, he would have never… "Oh! You guys should ask Neo for help when she gets back!"

Lindow froze, eyes growing wide at Kota's sudden outburst. So much for discretion.

"…Neo? Who's Neo?" The redhead questioned, round eyes widening with genuine curiosity.

Kota smiled. "She's one of our teammates, and she's really good! Like, the best."

"Wow! That would be a godsend. Uh… no pun intended." The New Type's relieved smile last only a moment before being replaced by a solemn expression once again. "Oh, but I wouldn't want to trouble her."

Kota could see the apprehension in his eyes. "It's no trouble! She's great!" The moment the words left his mouth, images of the tiny terror flooded his mind. With an inward shudder, he shook his head and corrected himself. "…Okay, I'll admit, she's a little scary at first. But she's actually really nice. Trust me, she'll help you if you ask."

The New Type raised an eyebrow at his reversal, and slowly looked to the other two for guidance. From Lindow, he received a warm smile. From their captain, he received nothing. Utsugi instead kept his eyes forward, searching for any other potential threats in the area. The determination in his gaze didn't escape his notice. The veteran was looking pointedly in any direction except his own. It was concerning, to be sure, but in the end, the score was two against one. So surely, she couldn't be that bad. "Well, alright… Yeah, maybe I will. Where can I find her?"

"Oh, you can't right now. At the moment she's —" Kota paused, mouth snapping shut as Lindow shot him a warning glance. It was bad enough that he had mentioned their teammate in the first place. Now, his mouth had landed him in dangerous territory. It was important to tread lightly from that moment forward. Thus, he gave a sheepish smile and continued. "She's, uh… overseas. On an assignment! Even other branches recognize her talent, haha!"

"Wow… she must be really good then."

"Yeah. I'll introduce you when she gets back, okay?"

"Cool."

Quickly changing the subject, Kota continued on. "Oh, have you gotten a chance to check out the Norn's old database?"

"Yeah, a few times. There's a lot of media in there. I was interested in this animated one, actually. Buger… Bugga…"

"Bugarally! Oh, man, it's so good!"

With Kota's trigger activated, their conversation quickly descended into nonsense. Lindow tuned them out, instead joining his captain in searching for further adversaries. He couldn't ignore the nervous lump in his throat, the thought of Neo thrashing about in a lab room sending shivers up his spine. But he appreciated Kota's optimism. When she gets back. Perhaps that was just what they needed; to be hopeful. Neo would need that positivity if she was going to succeed.

"Come on, guys. We've gotta finish the mission. Let's scout the rest of the perimeter and get back to base. Soma's waiting on our report." Lenka called.

The two redheads nodded, bringing themselves back into work mode and following the captains into the plains.

. . .

Far East Branch - Sakaki's Office

"Huh?!" Soma woke with a jolt, bolting upright from his position in the plush red chair. He looked around, eyes adjusting to the sudden change in surroundings as he returned to sentience. Realizing where he was, he shook his head and sighed, resting his head on his hand. He had fallen asleep again in the office, it seemed. Such was a common occurrence in recent weeks.

It had been nearly three months since Neo left the Far East, traveling to the northern continent with Ichiro and Alisa by her side. As was agreed, the New Type had gone to undergo acute psychiatric treatment, as well as create some distance from the Den. In the meantime, he would generally receive weekly reports from her caretaker and, in recent days, occasionally speak with Neo herself. An activity that he found himself looking forward to far more than he realized.

For the most part, their plan had worked as intended. Although the workload had grown tremendously, the members were slowly growing accustomed to the changes. With the Far East's most proficient troublemaker gone, things had quieted down in the branch. In fact, they had calmed so much, that Soma now found himself rather bored. In between his work with the Remnant Facility, he spent his days wandering aimlessly between Headquarters and the field. He hadn't realized just how much activity she had brought to the branch until she left it.

For the sake of keeping his sanity, he was now going over some research reports from his most recent experiment. Studying Oracle cells had become a new hobby that, surprisingly, he was growing to enjoy. Learning of their functionality, multiplication, and communication was something he had been curious about, even more so following his lessons with Neo. He needed to figure out the root of the Oracle cells function if mirroring was ever going to be a possibility for him. The work was challenging but rewarding. It granted him new knowledge and also allowed him to relax, focusing his mind on a task other than worrying about the missing New Type. At least, that was what one might think.

Currently, despite his best efforts, he was doing exactly the opposite. After waking from his unexpected nap, rather than returning to his work, his fingers scrolled mindlessly along the keys. He sifted through emails and reports, eyes falling on his most recent contact for what felt like the 100th time. The update had come nearly four days ago from Hamasaki, giving a status report on Neo's recovery. At this point, he had read it so many times that he nearly had the message memorized.

Treatment was going well enough — or about as well as one could expect given the New Type's extensive traumatic history — under the careful guidance of Fenrir's best mental health specialists. With the help of memory suppressants, mood elevators, antidepressants, and a series of other medications, it seemed that they had finally reached a point where they could get Neo through a single examination without absolute disaster. The worst of the storm appeared to be nearly over, but that hardly meant there was room to exhale. There was much work to be done, both in counterconditioning, reactivity, and cognitive triggers, as well as acute dissociation and hyper paranoic disorder. At least for now, it seemed that she was no longer flying into a violent rage.

The news had come as a relief to him, indicating that no matter how slowly, Neo was showing signs of recovery. Of course, how much she would recover in general remained a mystery. It was very possible, maybe even likely, that the New Type would need to remain on medication and periodic treatment for the foreseeable future. Possibly for the rest of her life. But regardless, it was better than the alternative. If there was even a chance that she could live a semi-normal life, Soma would be supportive of it.

His hand was hovering over the refresh button for the fourth time when he was suddenly interrupted. "The hell?" Shooting up from his position, Soma's eyes blew wide from the foreign feeling. It shocked him from the pit of his stomach erupting all the way to the top of his spine, leaving his entire body rigid. There was no way for him to describe the sensation... He had never felt anything like it before.

It resembled an Aragami, triggering his Oracle cells as they often did in the appropriate proximity, but something about this one was vastly different. It was more powerful. More volatile. Almost familiar. But that was impossible. The only signature he had ever felt that differed so greatly from the run-of-the-mill monsters was Neo, and she was currently over 3,600 kilometers away.

Soma closed his eyes and concentrated, trying to see if he could pinpoint the feeling once again. About a minute passed without any activity. Nothing more than radio silence. With a scoff, he sighed and leaned back in his chair, rubbing a hand over his eyes. He really needed to get some actual rest. "Mind's playing tricks on me."

Taking a moment to stretch, the veteran decided he should do just that. Considering the time of day, it wasn't likely he would be receiving a video call any time soon. He was one motion away from standing when a screen of flashing red caught his attention. "Wait, what?!" There was an urgent communication coming through. Leaning forward, he immediately pressed the receive command, turning up the sound. "Soma here."

The shouting that came through was a frantic one that he was all too familiar with. Kota's voice rang through the speaker system, reporting the findings of their most recent scouting mission. "Soma! Dude! You've gotta come see this! I've never seen anything like it!" The sound of other indiscernible voices were audible in the background, yammering over each other. It was impossible to tell what exactly they were talking about, but it sounded important. And Soma was growing impatient.

Pressing the microphone, he halted his teammate's senseless ramblings. "Someone, tell me what's going on."

"I don't know, dude. We found a Vajra out here, and the bite marks on it... it's wild!"

"What is it? Has the Hannibal returned?"

"No way, man. I don't really know what these are, but they're not from anything we've seen."

"Are you certain they're devour marks? Where are they?"

"Near the outskirts of the plains, not far from HQ. We found it on our patrol."

"Acknowledged. Stay where you are. I'm en route to the outer wall right now. I'll come meet you."

Soma terminated the connection and rose from his seat. It seemed he wouldn't be resting after all. Grabbing his supplies from the side of the desk, he looped around the office furniture and stormed out of the room.