Chapter 36 "All Join In"
"There you go, cover it all up." Gianna, the young brunette with green-framed glasses watched approvingly while her group of fellow militants and liberated soldiers carried out the latest mission for the City.
"Is this good?" Mio inquired after finishing with her and Noah's portion of the task.
"Yeah," their boss for the morning gave it a quick check, "pat it down so it looks natural."
"Are we just setting these Moebius traps on the beach?" the ponytailed soldier rose to his feet and brushed the sand off, as did Mio.
"We can put a few in the park as well," the brunette looked towards the nearby grassland which hosted a forest and multiple unoccupied campsites. Curiously, there were a few stray wisps of black fog too, though it was hardly a concern at present. "May as well, while this inlet is still in our control."
"Is it ever contested?" Noah kept the questions coming while other volunteers toiled away.
"I think Moebius knows better than to set foot here at Krezen Cliffs," she rested her hands on her hips. "This is the City's lone recreational spot outside of Patulia Bay, and it's popular among you lot."
"You mean us soldiers?" the tenth-termer seemed rather curious.
"It's great for camping," Gianna smiled at her two inquisitive friends, "among other… activities."
"I see some Kevesi Levnises on that island over there," Mio pointed southward to Lavi Sandbar as a timely gust blew in their faces. "They don't come ashore and cause trouble?"
"They're not built for water, so I think that colony's high and dry," the bespectacled girl speculated before refocusing on their task at hand. "Anyway, let's install a few more Moebius traps inland. Then we can go home."
"Sounds good to me," the moonblades-wielder followed her into the park, along with everyone else.
This noncombative mission was precisely what Noah and Mio had needed following their previous, perilous one to the Cent-Omnia region a couple of days ago. After having made his first kill on a Moebius, much less on anyone for that matter, Noah had been left in a state of confusion which Mio fully understood herself. Nevertheless, there wasn't anything that could be done to change it now, not that they were sad over the loss of a villain. It seemed like a good idea, then, to ease themselves back into the swing of things. Once the last trap was set, the group headed back for the shore where a sea captain and his boat awaited them.
"About time you returned!" Emerging from the cabin was a muscly man who didn't appear that much older than Gianna. His smiling face bore a goatee and his hair was tied back, though it was nowhere near as neat as Noah's. "Sakes! I was startin' to wonder if you mateys had forgotten li'l ol' me!"
"Triton, you did it again!" Gianna grumbled after peering past him.
"Ay? Did what again?" The sea captain spun back around to see the pile of aquatic creatures which he'd fished while they were away. "Oh, these? Huh… guess I couldn't help myself."
"You're gonna have to throw them back into the water so we can all fit in there," she continued to admonish him, arms now crossed.
"Are you kiddin'? These be some of me best catches!" There was ardency in Triton's eyes until an idea popped into his head. "Say, why don't we have ourselves a tasty seafood soiree before settin' sail, eh? Then we'll have plenty of room!"
"Ugh, you remind me of my father," the brunette shook her head before turning to face her crew. "Well, what do you think, guys? It's just about lunchtime."
"I think I could go for some," the cat-eared Agnian shyly clasped her hands in front of herself.
"Yeah, sure, me too," shouted someone from the rear, a sentiment soon echoed by everyone else.
"Alright, Triton, you win," Gianna conceded on their behalf, "but this is the last time."
"Cross me heart and hope to fry! All join in for the treat of a lifetime!" Wasting not a moment further, the goateed muscleman began toting a crustip and a couple of krodlaxes from the boat to a campsite near the Fourth Pillar Remnant. Thus, an impromptu feast was prepared and enjoyed under the midday sun. There was more than enough seafood for extra helpings, much to Mio's delight and Triton's pride. "Yup! This here be a meal fit for fine folks of the sea, and no mistake!"
"This is better than anything I've ever cooked over a fire," Noah complimented him after having finished early. "You even had seasoning on hand for it."
"Indeed!" Triton laughed with his mouth full, far from decorous. "One whiff of this will make any colony drop their weapons and come swimmin' for a plate or six!"
"Has that actually happened?" Mio wondered aloud, now clutching her second fish stick of the meal.
"Nope, but it'd be proper dandy," his head tilted back, eyes temporarily closed, "especially if it means gettin' Migrow Point back."
"Is that an island?" she asked between bites.
"It be the best place for moonlight fishin'," he failed to answer her question, apparently still lost in some memory or another.
"It's that cliffside way over there," the bespectacled girl pointed southwestward to a distant, grassy headland where the top of an Agnian Ferronis was barely visible. "Used to be ours until recently. Now it's occupied by Colony Mu."
"A real shame, it is," the sea captain rejoined their conversation. "We'd have all sorts of eating contests, like who could gorge the most tasty sausages without pu-"
"We suspect that Moebius overtook it so they could keep an eye on us," she continued to shed light on the situation. "Same goes for Lavi Sandbar."
"Has the City force done anything about it?" the former pacifist leaned forward, appearing rather interested.
"A lot, actually," Gianna tossed her empty skewer with the others and prepared to divulge further. "While we're not able to take those locations back, we've defeated multiple Moebius from both colonies. It's gotten to the point that they don't bother showing up anymore."
"Really?" the zephyr stuck out her lower lip, frowning confoundedly. "I thought all Moebius were fearless."
"Does that mean the City's been able to free soldiers from those colonies without issue?" By now, it was clear that Noah's interrogatories weren't for idle chatter.
"Yeah, it's a somewhat frequent operation, considering their proximity to us," the brunette was content to share her organization's vocation. "We tend to visit them when their Flame Clocks get low. Makes the City seem like an attractive prospect."
"And they do be gettin' low, last I peeked," Triton added after belching, finally back on track with his campmates.
"Is that so?" the swordfighter crossed his arms. "Hmm…"
"What are you thinking?" his special mate watched him mull it over. "You want to go there?"
"If we don't have to worry about Moebius interfering," the contemplative Kevesi turned to his Agnian counterpart, "then maybe recruiting those soldiers is something I can handle right now."
"Right." Mio put up no contentions, cognizant of his desire to continue building up his inevitable return to the City's Moebius hunts. "You have my support."
"Thanks," the expression on his face softened.
"There's no guarantee that Moebius will stay away," Gianna reminded them of the possible threat.
"Understood," he nodded at her before returning to Mio. "Guess we know what our next mission will be."
Surprisingly accurate to Triton's assessment, the Flame Clocks of Colonies Mu and 12 were confirmed to be running low when Noah broached the subject to military headquarters. And similarly true to Gianna's word, preparations for the next recruitment mission were already underway. One thing that hadn't been anticipated, however, was when Reynolds, the short, bearded man with a terminal offered a leadership role to Noah.
"Me? You want me to be in charge?" Both of his hands were on his chest upon hearing the proposal.
"Of course," the coordinator seemed adamant. "Feena told me how invested you were in trying to recruit soldiers from Colony 19 ten days ago."
"But I overdid it," the ninth-termer confessed his error at the time.
"Which means you know better now," Reynolds assumed with mild confidence, his tone expectant. "Besides, your enthusiasm is precisely what's needed to entice the unliberated soldiers."
"You can do it," the moonblades-wielder encouraged him. "I'll be right there with you."
"Very well," Noah shook away the jitters with Mio backing him up. "We'll handle it."
"Sounds golden," the bearded man entered their names into his terminal. "The mission will commence in two days. Would you like to lead the team going to Colony Mu or the one going to Colony 12?"
"Oh, um," the ponytailed soldier was caught off guard again. "Triton spoke highly of Migrow Point. Guess we'll take that one, then."
It was all coming together rather quickly, but Noah wasn't the kind of person to shirk any humanitarian duty assigned to him. After all, this was the mission in which he'd wished to partake, particularly after how he and Mio had sat out their previous opportunity to attract some new recruits. Regardless, they had the rest of today and all of tomorrow to make their preparations.
On the morning of the trip, Noah and Mio returned to military headquarters to meet their team of fellow liberated soldiers and militants. Once Reynolds had given the details to everybody else, they marched out the City's front gate and down the elevator at Mulus Depot to the harbor. Two boats were docked at the ready, one destined for Colony Mu and the other for Colony 12.
"Hey, isn't that…?" Mio's voice trailed off as she pointed to the sea captain of their boat.
"Triton?" the swordfighter recognized him as well.
"Ahoy! It do be lovely to meet you!" The goateed muscleman puffed out his chest, somehow unimposingly. "Always glad to see new faces!"
"Wait, you don't remember us?" she lowered her brows in befuddlement. "I'm Mio."
"And I'm Noah," her trusted partner reintroduced himself next. "We met two days ago at Krezen Cliffs. You'd ferried and, uh… cooked for us."
"I did, huh?" Triton scratched the top of his head before giving into an abashed grin. "Well, beg yer pardon, matey. I don't have the sharpest memory in the City."
"I thought that was part of aging," the zephyr looked to Noah before returning to their forgetful ally. "You're not old, though."
"Ha!" his fists rested on his hips. "I appreciate the compliment, so I do!"
"Anyway, you know why we're traveling, yes?" Noah's tone stiffened slightly, eager to start the mission.
"Of course!" the sea captain appeared to become serious himself. "I want to see what ruddy ol' Moebius has done to Migrow Point! Maybe me fishin' lines that I left on the cliff caught something by now!"
"Er, we're going there to try to convince the soldiers to come home with us," the uncomic Kevesi corrected him coolly. "We need you to guard the boat like before. Is that alright?"
"Aye, aye!" Triton saluted his boss for the trip before addressing the rest of the group. "Everybody who's with Neo and Mia, hop aboard and we'll make waves!"
"Um, actually we're…" Mio started to say, but he'd already sauntered away to direct the team into his boat.
The trip to Migrow Point was short as expected, a mere clockwise curve around Patulia Bay's western peninsula to where the land jutted into the ocean again. After Triton steadied the boat along the shore, Noah, Mio, and the others disembarked to begin their upward hike to Colony Mu.
"Let's take these final steps carefully," the former pacifist warned everybody shortly before reaching the hill's crest. "They won't be expecting us." As an added precaution, Noah summoned his Blade which he kept fastened to his belt for Moebius detection. With no vibrations felt, he led them the rest of the way to the colony where a couple of Agnians poked their heads out from behind an ineffectively placed barricade.
"Halt! You cannot enter!" Accosting first was a furry-eared girl with dark skin and striking green eyes, armed with a lance.
"Who are you lot?" inquired her comrade, a stylish, accessorized sharpshooter with a much softer countenance. Donning handmade jewelry, her long brown hair was swept to one side in the front and tied into a bun in the back. "You don't look like you're from Colony 12."
"We are from the City," Noah spoke for his group, clearly and confidently. "We're not here to fight."
"Back it up," the dark-toned girl staked her weapon in the dirt. "Did you say… City?"
"You've heard of it?" the moonblades-wielder likewise eased her stance, as did the others behind her and Noah.
"We've heard the rumors," the stylish soldier admitted to their uninvited visitors.
"Rumors?" he repeated in question. "What do you know about us?"
"Alex, I think he's Kevesi," the lancer whispered to her friend, "and there are more among them."
"You're right," the sharpshooter concurred just as discreetly before resuming their talks with Noah's group. "You're a bunch of rebels, aren't you?"
"I suppose that isn't a false description," the ponytailed soldier confirmed their suspicions. "At large, we are a band of liberators, including many who've deserted the war in search of a better life, free from fighting."
"Yup, just as they say," the furry-eared Agnian pulled back for a private conference again. "What do you think? Should we let them in, after all?"
"Well, they could easily trample us regardless," her comrade reasoned before tapping her temple for an Iris call. "Commander, we have visitors… claiming to be from the City."
"I take it our visit isn't entirely a surprise to you?" Mio started to piece together based on their responses thus far.
"You could say that…" the dark-toned girl observed her and Noah's City clothing.
"Right, everyone has been notified," the accessorized Agnian returned from her call with her immediate superior, having apparently received an order. "Please, come this way, but don't even think about pulling a fast one. You won't outnumber us inside."
"Understood," the former pacifist steeled himself for the next phase of the mission. "Thank you."
Grateful for no trouble thus far, Noah, Mio, and the others proceeded to follow their two hostesses into Colony Mu. The path immediately turned left onto what appeared to be the main throughfare, with tents and supply stashes on either side. Everything looked clean, fresh, undamaged, all characteristics of a recently assembled base. Noah couldn't help but feel a little nervous being this deep into enemy territory, though his veiled sword continued to give him no indication of Moebius presence. Past a canteen, the two Agnian girls calmly led their guests up a short hill to the right where the rest of the unliberated soldiers had gathered.
"So, these are the mysterious visitors from the fabled City," a tall boy greeted them with untrusting eyes behind a slim pair of glasses.
"Yes, Commander Tulgrim," the sharpshooter confirmed the obvious as she and her comrade fell into place.
"Hmph, I always wondered if this day would come," his hands clasped behind his back. "I see our enemy has become chummy with some of our own, or perhaps I should call them traitors."
"They are coexisting, certainly, but they're not traitors," the coolheaded Kevesi argued for his fellow liberated soldiers.
"Then what would you call them?" the Agnian officer now known to them as Tulgrim rumpled his forehead, sneeringly.
"Deserters, people who didn't want to fight anymore," passion filled Noah's words as he spoke them, "who wanted to live independently of their Flame Clocks."
"Don't we all?" Commander Tulgrim lamented, sighing at his feet. "Sadly, there is no way around it."
"Yes, there is," the ponytailed soldier hoped to perk him up. "That's why we're here, to invite you all to come to the City."
"We were chained once, just as you are now," his special mate took a turn to appeal to the local Agnians. "But we are free. We can choose what we want to do with our lives."
"The same can apply for you, too," he put on his friendliest face, hands held out.
"Oh yeah?" the unconvinced officer crossed his arms, standoffishly. "And just how would you go about freeing us, hmm?"
"Well, um…" the swordfighter stammered upon the realization that answering could compromise the safety of the Ouroboros Stone.
"That information is classified per military protocol," a male militant in his group responded for him, receiving a nod of thanks in return.
"You're expecting us to trust you blindly, is that it?" Commander Tulgrim scoffed, to nobody's surprise. "Not likely."
"Look, your Flame Clock is running low," Mio opted for a more direct approach, her face now stern. "What other options do you have at this point?"
"We can fight Colony 12, gather their embers…" an unliberated Agnian soldier with short blue hair and ether lines suggested, "r-right?"
"Have you any means of reaching them?" the zephyr interrogated her, as well as the colony in general.
"No… we don't," the bespectacled commander sulked, shaking his head in defeat. "Our Ferronis isn't seaworthy, and the castle constantly ignores our requests for transport Levnises."
"Our consul doesn't even show up anymore," the stylish soldier added to the complaints.
"We're stranded," her friend took it a step further. "We were all sent here for nothing."
"W-what are we gonna do?" their blue-haired cohort whimpered, nearly in a panic.
"Ugh, fine, we'll see what the colony thinks about the City," the Agnian in charge grumbled before standing in front of the ranks. "Anyone who wishes to go with the visitors, to abandon all that we are, raise your hand." The reactions came in slowly, some perhaps in response to others. After ten seconds of waiting, roughly ninety percent had their hands in the air, some waving emphatically, others meekly.
"Guess this means you're all coming with us," Noah presumed based on the results of the poll.
"Not quite," Commander Tulgrim pulled the reins on the custodial transfer. "Only those who voted in favor of desertion may go and suffer whatever fate has in store. The rest, like myself, shall stay to uphold our vows to Agnus."
"Commander, we don't… w-we mean no disrespect…" the ether-lined girl started to fret while most of her cohorts fell out of formation.
"I've made myself clear," his arm extended towards the colony's exit. "Go if you must. I have neither physical strength nor militaristic means of holding you back."
"Let's move out, then," the former pacifist announced his now enlarged group's departure. "Our ride to the City awaits us from whence we came." With his veiled sword still at rest against his hip, Noah corralled everybody out of Colony Mu and down the hill towards the shore. Both he and Mio could hardly believe that their mission was still going without a hitch. Upon reaching the boat, however, they discovered a snag after all. "Triton? Not again."
"Huh?" the goateed muscleman displayed his already familiar, clueless expression before remembering something. "Oh, did you happen to find me fishin' li-"
"Triton, we can't all fit into your boat with that gyaark you caught," Mio wasted no time explaining to him the inconvenience which he'd repeated for them. "You'll have to throw it back into the sea."
"Are ye kiddin' me? This here be the biggest catch o' the year!" Triton's eyes were rattling with fervor over his apparent triumph. "Say, why don't we have ourselves a real mariner's meal before movin' out, eh? Then we'll all fit in me boat!"
"I-I can't believe…" her own eyes dimmed at his denseness.
"I'm sorry, but this colony's Flame Clock is running low," Noah reminded the proud fisherman of the situation. "You were the one who'd told us about it in the first place."
"Aw, I suppose I did," the sea captain's hulking frame wilted like wet paper. Reluctantly, Triton did as Mio had instructed and slid his catch out the other door, only to receive a smack to the face by its tail fin. "Well, I'll be a gogol's uncle! It wasn't dead yet!"
"Right, let's all hop aboard so we can be on our way," the ponytailed soldier directed his team and the newcomers into the slightly smelly cabin. It was still a tight fit, even without the oversized fish. Luckily, the trip back home was short, and soon everybody was filing out of the boat into the harbor where another group had already gathered. "The other team's back as well?"
"It's… Keves!" the blue-haired Agnian stopped in her tracks, causing other passengers to bump into her.
"At ease! It's okay!" Mio stood between the two sides before tensions could rise. "They have deserted the fight as well."
"The City will free anyone from Keves or Agnus, in solidarity against those who instigated the war," Noah orated to the combined crowd of newcomers as the remaining chatter subsided. "Regardless of what you all learned from rumors, we understand that it won't be an easy transition. Please exercise patience and tolerance for one another."
"We have to… live together?" one of the unliberated Kevesis wondered aloud.
"Think of the City as one giant colony," the moonblades-wielder offered for comparison, "where we can prosper and grow."
"And there be plenty to eat!" Triton served his own plate of positivity. "Better than anythin' you've ever tasted afore comin' 'ere!"
"HQ has been notified of our arrival," a female militant with two fingers to her temple informed Noah.
"Good," the former pacifist acknowledged before returning to the others. "Not much further now. You'll all receive a warm… w-welcome…" His speech ended on a rather shaky note, distracted by a peculiarity among his audience.
"Hmm?" the tenth-termer noticed his faltering while everyone else began heading for the elevator. "Something wrong?"
"Um, n-not really," he shook his head, mostly to refocus. "Unless I'm seeing things, one of those soldiers from Colony 12 looked… familiar."
"You think you've associated with them before?" Mio pressed for more, the two of them now bringing up the rear after waving goodbye to the sea captains.
"Yeah, but…" his words trailed off again until it suddenly dawned on him. "No way, it's Lana."
"Huh?" the soldier in question slowed down to face them.
"S-sorry, let's keep going." Embarrassed, Noah held out his hands, palms open. After staring at him shyly, she soon set her sights forward again and sprinted ahead to rejoin the others. Further comments were withheld until they all had ridden the elevator up to Mulus Depot to begin the final walk towards the City.
"Lana…" the cat-eared Agnian whispered to Noah while they fell behind again, "have you mentioned her to me before?"
"No, um…" her trusted partner started to respond before bringing themselves to a full stop, out of earshot. "She was part of my salvaging team, back in Colony 25."
"Colony 25?" It didn't take long for Mio to piece together what'd likely occurred. "So, that means…"
"She died… during our first battle in Dannagh Desert," the ninth-termer summarized Lana's fate anyway. "Yet, here she is again, younger than how I'd seen her previously."
"Remember what they taught us in orientation?" she alluded to the mandatory class which the newcomers were due to take themselves. "About the cycle? About rebirth?"
"Must be it," his melancholic gaze remained on his former friend, realizing the parallels to their relationship with Finn and Terelda. "I want to… talk to Lana, but she doesn't know me."
"Moebius wiped her mind clean," the zephyr likewise watched the group until they disappeared past the front gates.
"Well, at least… she and the other recruits will be safe now," Noah took solace in their deed as they resumed their stroll.
"Yeah," her frown gradually morphed into a smile, too. "This was a good day."