Upon entering, Matt and Will noticed that, despite it was way past 10 AM, the landship's cafeteria was quite lively, many operators sitting on the tables and having small chats between themselves. Not thinking much about it though, they went to order their food.

"Hi there, boys!" At the counter, the two were met by Hibiscus's merry face. "Welcome to the cafeteria! What will be your order?"

"Ehmm... I'll have fried eggs with bacon and toasts." Said Matthews.

"Me some sausages and beans, please." Added Will.

"Ok, just a sec and I'll get it ready!"

Few minutes later, she served their breakfasts and the boys went searching for a free table. As they were looking for one, however, an unexpected voice drew their attention.

"Will, Matt, over here!" Upon turning, the two saw Exusiai on a nearby table, along Mostima. Matthews waved at them.

"Good morning, ladies!"

"Hi there, Matt." Greeted Mostima. "Has the old hag screwed you up a lot at the meeting?"

"Not that much, fortunately." Replied. Matt. "Leaving that aside, we were hungry, so... yeah, here we are."

"Good to hear that." The fallen sankta patted the empty seat besides her. "Here, come sit with us, it'll be better."

"Hmn, why not?"

That said, the two friends sat down besides the girls. Matt reached for the cutlery, and looking down at the fried eggs before him he said with eagerness.

"Hehehe... time to have breakfast!" He grabbed a chunk of the egg with the fork, and then he ate it. For a moment, it seemed like everything was fine, but suddenly Matt's expression contorted, and just mere seconds after that he spit out the food.

"What the f*ck is this?! Someone's put a shitload of pepper on my eggs!"

Mostima let out a laugh.

"*laugh* Oh boy... He's just tasted one Hibiscus's plates!"

Will stared at her in confusion.

"Is her cooking really that bad?"

"Like if it wasn't." Said Exusiai. "There's not a single person in this landship capable of eating her plates, even if they paid for it!"

Matt gave a deadpan look.

"Seriously...?"

"Hey, don't put that face." Exusiai reached for her pocket, and seemingly out of nowhere she took out a pie. "Here, have some Apple pie!"

Matt remained silent for brief seconds, but then he exclaimed.

"I take your offer!" To his friend's absolute disbelief, he ate the apple pie in the blink of an eye.

"Oh my... I think Exu has finally found a soulmate~." Teased Mostima.

/ /

The group continued the chat for a while. They talked about many different topics, but Exusiai and her fellow sankta showed a special interest on what was Earth like. The boys tried to describe as best as they could. They related them how life was back in their world, about its history, culture... and also about how the people viewed them as part of Arknights. Without going even further, Matt even showed the two sanktas in his phone some fanart of themselves and some other people from Rhodes, a small courtesy of the deceased Edward.

Mostima and Exusiai couldn't help but be amazed by their popularity back on Earth. However, one thing that Exu noticed was that, in some of the images tagged with her name, there was a blur preventing anyone from seeing their content. When she asked Matt about this, he laughed nervously.

"Well, those images can be... rather disturbing, so forget about it."

Exusiai decided not to ask any further.

Anyway, around half an hour later, the boys finally finished their breakfasts. Letting out a grunt, Will stood up and said.

"Ugh... it wasn't the tastiest breakfast, but at least my stomach's full."

"Yeah, that's something." His friend replied.

With nothing else left to do, the boys thought on returning to the dorms, but at that moment they saw out of the corner of the eye that a large multitude had formed around one of the tables.

"Huh? Why is everyone gathered there?" Asked Matthews.

"I don't know." Answered Exusiai, equally puzzled. "Let's go take a look."

The rest nodded. Upon getting close, the group soon began hearing the people's cries.

"Come on, bro! You can do it!"

"Yeah, just one glass more!"

"You're almost there, Misery! Show her what you're made of!"

Moved by their great curiosity, Matt and Will made their way through the thick crowd till the front rows, and there they saw what was going on at last.

The operators around them were all immersed a state of frenzy and sheer excitement, yells and cheers being heard all across the place... and the targets of such excitement were the two people sitting at the table. One was a sarkaz man that wore a pair of very odd-looking googles, whilst the other was a female of long, black hair and sky-blue eyes, apart from the cat ears on top of her head. To their side, two bottels of what seemed to be whisky could be seen along with a pile of empty glasses, making the boys realize this was a drinking contest... and by the look of things, the sarkaz male was on the losing end.

"And well, Misery? Are you giving up already?" Spoke the feline with a smug face as she finished her glass of alcohol.

Upon hearing her words, the man that Matt supposed to be Misery raised his head and cried out.

"*hip* No! I can still... continue..." He tried to reach for the glass with his trembling hand, but suddenly one of his fellow operators grabbed and prevented him from continuing.

"Misery, I think you've had enough for today..."

"But Stormeye... *hip* ... I'm not going to let Blaze... *hip* win again. Just one..." Unfortunately for him, his body wasn't able to take it anymore. His eyelids closed, and with an audible bump he fell asleep.

"Damn it, Misery. I had just warned you..." Sighed his partner. He then turned to another operator and said. "Hey Pith, help me bring this d*ckhead back to his dorm."

Adopting a resigned expression, the liberi woman slid her arm under the man's and, together with Stormeye, carried him away. Watching this, Balze couldn't help but feel pity for her companion.

"Poor Misery, shouldn't have tried to beat me I guess..."

Taking a small breath, she tilted her head toa the side and glared around with evident disinterest, but at that moment moment she spotted two figures among the crowd, which picked her interest. She squinted her eyes to look more closely at them, and... The moment she recognized their faces, Blaze abruptly jumped on the table and exclaimed.

"Oh my gosh! You're Will and Matt, the guys from Earth!"

"Yeah, those are our names." Replied Matt while scratching the back of his head. "Our fame precedes us, it seems."

"Yes, of course it does!" She extended her arm towards them. "I'm elite operator Blaze!"

"Nice to meet you, Blaze." Once they had exchanged handshakes, Will looked over to the bottles of whisky and said. "Well, we saw the contest you were having with that guy earlier. That was intense...!"

"Absolutely! That was a bet between Misery and I to see who could take the most liquor. The guy thought this would be a piece of cake..." A proud expression appeared on her face "... but he underestimated my capacity to drink whole bottles of the strong stuff without even blinking; so that's why he ended up losing."

"..." Will wasn't going to say anything else... but then he got an idea. It wasn't the best one, yet he was going to do it anyways. He spoke "Oh, so you're saying you're the best drinker in this ship? Well, what about... I confirm your statement?"

Blaze shot him an intrigued look.

"Hnn, interesting... Are you challenging me~?"

"Sure I am." He answered with a smirk on his lips.

"Ok... let's do it then!"

The boy nodded. The two sat on opposite ends of the table, facing against each other. They would remain silent for a brief while, but soon Will turned to one guy near him and said.

"Bring us the strongest stuff you have in the kitchen."

The dark-skinned man showed some reluctance to this.

"You're sure? Your choice is a bit too reckless..."

Blaze shrugged it off with a gesture.

"Don't worry, Sharp. Just bring us the damn bottle."

"If you say so..." Minutes later, he returned with two bottles of vodka on his hands and placed them in front of the two contenders. Will looked closely at the liquor.

"Hmm, vodka from Vyatka... where did you get these?"

"From a Russian officer's personal minibar." Replied Sharp. "I've taken a sip, and it's by far the strongest stuff that exists."

The feline smirked to that.

"Perfect, this is what we wanted..." She turned to his rival, and finally. "Are you ready, Willy?"

"I've always been." He replied.

"In that case... LET THE CONTEST BEGIN!"

/ /

The battle between the two contenders was long and arduous, but after ten minutes it came to and end... long story short, Will stood triumphant before a defeated Blaze. The alcohol had crippled the feline a lot, leaving her resting against the table, yet even in that state she managed to mutter something.

"Ugh... My God, how did *hip*... you do it? You've drunk *hip* two whole bottles of vodka. Not even I *hip*... can take that much..."

The boy simply smiled at her.

"Well, there's a reason for Muscovites to be considered the best drinkers in the world, I guess..."

"Alright." Said Matt. "Now we can consider this contest as over." Once the crowd had dispersed, he turned to the two, but there he realized that she had passed out. "Oh crap, she's asleep..."

"Don't worry, I'll take care of it." Shard took a glass of water with his hand, and to the absolute surprise of everyone, poured it over her.

Shocks of electricity rippled down her body as Blaze jumped on the chair, waking her up.

"What the f*ck was that for?!" She angrily jelled.

Sharp shrugged his shoulders.

"Sorry Blaze. I wasn't planning on doing that, but we need you in good shape for tonight's raid."

"Whatever..." She took a breath, and slowly returned to her usual lively demeanor. Now that she was back on her senses, the feline turned her attention back to the boys and said. "Damn, I still feel my head a little bit dizzy, but what matters is that I had a lot of fun... Anyways, where are you planning to go next?"

"We hadn't thought about that, to be honest." Replied Matt. "We don't know that much about what's on this landship, and..."

Upon hearing this, Blaze had an idea and her expression turned on.

"Oh, it's that so? Then what about I take you on a tour around Rhodes? It would be great!"

Will and Matt exchanged glares. They weren't that sure, but in the end decided to take on her offer.

"Fine, we're up for it!" Exclaimed Will.

Matt was going to second his friend, but at that moment he remembered that Exusiai and Mostima were still there. That said he turned to them and then said. "Hey, want to go with us?"

"I don't see a reason why not." Responded Mostima.

"Ok, let's go then!" Sentenced her friend.

X-X

Matt and the rest spent the next hours exploring the landship along Blaze. She showed them many of the important areas of this place: The Control Room, the Engineering Department and the Training Room among others. However, at some point during the tour, something interesting happened...

The group was walking down one of the corridors, having just left the Factory Section. They were just minding their business, but suddenly a voice came from behind.

"Exu, Mostima!"

Matt and Will turned to see who it was, and they were met by the sight of three that were quickly approaching the group. The first was a woman with short orange hair and bull horns, and the second a short girl that had her long blond hair tied in two twin ponytails. As for the third, it was a pretty young boy of common appearance, short brown hair and two horns. Exusia and Mostima recognized them almost immediately.

"Hey there, Croissant! What brings you here?"

With a smile on her face, their colleague responded.

"We had heard that the two dudes from Earth were on the landship, so we decided to come here!" She turned to the boys. "That must be you, right?"

"Yeah, you've guessed it." Said Will. "If I may, who are your other two friends?"

"I'm Sora, member of Penguin Logistics!" Exclaimed the idol, and then pointed at the boy. "And this over here is Bison!"

"Hi there." He simply answered.

Matt was going to say something, but Mostima intervened first.

"One thing, where's Emperor? I thought he wanted to meet the boys..."

"WHAT'S THAT YOU'RE SAYING?! I'M HERE!"

Suppressing a yelp, Croissant moved to the side... and indeed, there he was. The penguin was looking at them from below, with a pissed glare on his eyes. Matt couldn't resist and let out a chuckle.

"Holy sh*t, is this man really your boss? He seems kinda... short."

Hearing that, Emperor angrily waved his wings at him and shouted.

"Short? You think I'm just a cute, inoffensive bird?! Then look at this...!" He suddenly pulled out a pistol from God knows where and pointed it at him. "Now what you say to my Lil' Cutie, kiddo?!"

Sensing the impending danger, the boy tried to calm down the situation.

"Hey, hey! Let's calm ourselves, okay? I'm sorry for what I've said earlier, for real. Please forgive me."

After pondering his words, Emperor calmed down and put the gun away.

"Ok, apologies accepted. Don't mess with my height ever, understood?"

"Yes, very clear."

"Seems good enough..." Now that the matter had been settled, the penguin turned back to Will and his co-workers and said. "Putting that aside, I can't help but be impressed by the fact that, just right before me, I have two people that came another world... and from the era before the Great Disaster, no less!"

"You think so?" Will scratched the back of his head. "Well, it can't be helped..."

"Nah, it's just..." At that moment Emperor's phone began to ring. A bit annoyed by this, the penguin let out a sigh and answered the call. "Yes? Oh, it's you Dylan. Tell me... Aja... Wait, they did what...?" He paused a bit. "Oh my... You know what? Just wait there, I'm coming now." And with that he hanged.

"What did he want?" Asked Sora.

"Seems like Texas and Lappland are fighting at the bar... yet again." He threw a look at the boys. "I would have liked to talk a little bit more with you, but I'm afraid that duty calls..."

"Nah, don't worry." Matt reassured.

"It's good to hear that." He then turned to his fellow workers and exclaimed. "Alright everyone, come with me!"

Mostima said goodbye to Will and Matt.

"See you later~!"

And with that said, Emperor and his people left the scene. Blaze couldn't help but smirk a bit.

"Ok, are we continuing with the tour?"

"Yeah." Answered Matt. "Let's keep going."

Some time later, the trio entered the Medical Bay. The place was massive, holding dozens and dozens of beds across the room, all of them with commodities like soft blankets, lights... and so on. The medical devices there were all cutting-edge, and some were so advanced that looked more like taken out from a sci-fi movie.

"Wow..." Matthews didn't have words.

"Cool, isn't it?" Said Blaze in a merry tone. "Today there aren't any patients, but normally this place is always full, specially these days."

"It's because of the ongoing war?" Asked Will.

"Pretty much, yeah. Imagine, before the war I used to go here once a month, now that rate has increased to two times per day!"

"Uff, that's though indeed..." Matt didn't say anything else. He instead looked around, just admiring the how clean and tidy this place was... but then, he noticed something. On the other side of the room, there was a small door that laid half-open. Curious, the boy came closer to it, and with a light movement of his hand he fully opened the door.

The room that laid on the other side was empty. There were no lights, no furniture... but, embedded to the wall, Matt saw three mysterious hactches. Two of them were rusty and covered in ash, but the other... The third hatch was covered by a thick layer of ice, with some even grasping the surrounding wall.

"Hmm... very calm, isn't?" Matt was relieved when he saw that the person behind him was Blaze. However, the boy soon noticed that her expression had become... sad.

"You know what's this place?" He asked.

"Yes... You see, when an Infected dies, the deceased transforms into Originium crystals and becomes a potential threat to everyone around. In consequence, their bodies are cremated to prevent new infections..."

"I see, but in that case..." He pointed at the ice. "Where did that ice come from?"

She was silent for a while.

"... The body inside belonged to a young woman. She was Infected, like me or many others... and just like us, her life was tough. She endured pain, discrimination, slaughter of many loved ones, and endless suffering... yet despite all the hardships, she stood her ground and fought back. Fate wanted her and Rhodes to be on opposing sides, but still she was a great warrior. I had a clash with her once... and to this day I hold a great respect for her bravery." She let out a sigh. "Unfortunately, that battle also became her last; she succumbed to Oripathy in the end... When she died, the Doctor carried her lifeless corpse aboard the landship... and here she rests since."

"I know who you're talking about..." Will muttered, taking a step past his companions. "... Her name was Yelena."

Matt's eyes widened when the realization came.

"FrostNova... God, I cried at the last cutscenes, her death was truly heartbreaking... but at least people do remember her."

"..." No more words were said. The three simply stood there, silent and alone with their inner thoughts. Like that, long minutes passed, but eventually Blaze and the boys ended up leaving the room; deep silence and sadness were the only things left behind...