Disclaimer: Don't own Trails, Daybreak or Going Through Them.

Bzzzzrttt….Riiing!

Bzzzrrrttt…Riiing!

Slowly the room came into focus, a figure was lying across an ashen-colored sofa, a magazine obscured the man's face making it impossible to discern his appearance for now.

Bzrrrttt….Riiing!

Bzzzrrtttt…Riiiiiing!

A groggy sounding groan emanated from beneath the cover of the magazine, and a hand slowly raised to remove it from the man's face. He rolled over onto his side and reached for the rectangular looking object placed on the small coffee table next to him and tapped the little crystalline button at the center, causing the device to click open.

"Call Accepted," the mechanical female voice emanated from the device's core and then a sound played, confirming the connection.

"Sorry to wake you, kid."

"I told you not to call me that anymore, c'mon I'm twenty four now."

"Right, sorry Van, force of habit."

"It's fine, anyway, what can I do for you? It's not like you to contact me so directly. Usually there's a hundred hoops for me to jump through and that's just for a message, not direct contact."

"This is about a job."

This piqued the man's curiosity. He pushed himself up and took a seated position on the sofa rather than a laid down one and swiped up the device off the table, immediately ceasing the speaker function. Lowering his voice some, Van spoke again, "Alright, let me hear you out and then I'll decide whether I want to take it or not, usual process."

"I need you to keep someone safe for me. He's a bit volatile, but I want him to learn how the world works from someone I can trust. Remember that Project I was working on a little while ago? Xanadu?"

"That organization that was doing alll that shady shit to kids, turning them into Assassins?"

" Aye, we've only found four of the children so far, the one I'm contacting you about, his designation was Thirteen. I was hoping you could take him in for a while, maybe have him work with you in the office. I managed to find families for most of the other kids to go back to, but this one-"

" They didn't even give them names?" Van asked darkly, ordinarily he wouldn't consider taking anyone on, he preferred working alone, things were just easier that way but after recently taking on another part-timer, someone with the skill and experience to protect her when he couldn't was enticing. Though, not as enticing as an old friend owing him a favor, "I won't do it for free, and I'm reluctant to agree at all, but I'll do it to help you out. Let me just talk to my landlady to see if I can get him a room here."

" That easy? I thought I was gonna have to bribe you or something."

"Make no mistake," Van said firmly, "I'm doing this as a favor. In combination with the usual fee, you'll owe me the usual. But I can't in good conscience turn you down. Oh, one last thing. We can't go calling him Thirteen for obvious reasons."

" Don't worry, I've covered that already. We've taken to calling him Kaiyuu Strife. "

"Good, I'll expect it any day now. I'm guessing he chose the name?"

"Your obsession with sweets is gonna get you killed one day, Van. Yeah, what gave it away?"

Van shook his head, forgetting momentarily that the person on the other end of the call couldn't hear him, then he quickly spoke into the receiver again, "Just a hunch, that aside I'm predicting this is only half the job."

" You'd be correct in that assumption, but I know you've already got a lot going on so I won't pressure you to take this on. But since we've already got this far. I want you to look into Project Xanadu for me. The trail here's run dry and I was hoping you could pick it up in Calvard. If anyone can find the trail again, it's you Van. I don't need you to do anything major, just keep an ear to the ground as you conduct your usual work."

Another sigh fell from Van's lips, "I suppose I can do that. When's Kaiyuu supposed to be arriving?"

| x | | x | | x |

Finally the train eased to a stop at the end of the tracks. It'd been a long journey but it looked to be that he was at the end of it. The young man looked down at his watch and sighed softly, "Later than I expected, but better that than never I suppose." Kaiyuu slowly collected his belongings, a long, thin red and black case and a single backpack which he slung on over his shoulder. He looked down to the watch on his wrist and sighed upon getting a closer look at the time, "I really hope he's not mad at me."

He disembarked from the train, silently navigating his way through the small crowd that had amassed on the platform. His hand near reflexively moved toward the clips of the case in his hand and just as quickly he lowered it again. Clutching the handle of the case a little tighter, he increased his walking speed and quickly got himself away from the crowding that was going on. First the train arrived late, then he was almost smothered, what was going to happen next in the attempt to ruin his day? Finally reaching the stairs at the rear of the station, Kaiyuu ascended them, his head raising curiously at the barrier-like structure above his head.

Another crash almost happened, but luckily, as with before, Kaiyuu was able to narrowly avoid the collision. He kept on walking until he stepped out of the station, exiting out into a large area that was lined with buildings on either side, separated by a road but was joined together almost by the bridge that had been erected above the ground.

"From here," he said softly, "I need to make my way to a place called old town, I better check my ARCUS." The young man detached a clunky looking object from his belt and flipped it open. After a button's press, a small holographic map was displayed slightly above the device revealing both his current location and also displayed where the exit of the current zone of the city was. Kaiyuu started off at a gentle walk once again, his eyes focused on the screen of his map and evidently quite far away from his surroundings.

And it was this distraction that brought about his third almost-collision of the morning. This time he'd almost collided with three people instead of one. All were dressed in what he recognized to be the Aramis Academy uniform. To the left of the trio is a girl with thick brown wavy hair and pale red eyes. She wears her hair into two thick bunches, which are tied with scrunchies, that hang over her shoulders. On the right, a boy with reddish-brown hair and bright blue eyes. Finally, the center of the group and the one he'd nearly collided with, another girl, one with bright purple hair and striking yellow eyes.

"Dear me, that could've ended badly," the purple-haired girl told him, a little smirk having curved up on her lips, "Do be careful, would you?"

"Sorry about that, I've not been here in a very long time."

"You're about our age," the boy interrupted, "Are you a transfer to the academy?"

"N-not quite," he said softly, "I'm here for my new job. It's why I was following the map and almost knocked all three of you over. Again, you have my apologies for that."

"Don't worry about it," the brown-haired girl said cheerfully, "None of us were hurt so I'm sure it's okay. It's nice to meet you, by the way. I'm Odette."

"I'm Albert," the boy put in.

"And you may call me Renne."

"My name's Kaiyuu. It's good to meet all of you. Uh, you guys wouldn't happen to know how to get to Old Town, would you? My map only tells me where the zone ends, not which one is next so I could be searching all day and I'm already running late."

"A job in old town?" Albert asked Renne, "You don't think?"

In contrast to the reaction of Albert, Renne smiled at Kaiyuu, "You're looking for Arkride Solutions, aren't you?"

Kaiyyu's eyes widened to the size of saucers. He didn't think he'd necessarily given this young woman any direct clues to where his new place of employment was but to think she'd formed the picture of where he was headed so perfectly in her mind with such little information, it was incredible.

Noting the look on his face, Odette smiled, "Don't worry, we're not stalkers or anything, we've just got a friend who works at Arkride Solutions as a part-timer. In a way it works out for the best, cause it means we can show you the way to Old Town. You're probably way past the point of being on time now but you won't add another hour to your time wandering around thanks to our help."

He'd heard something about a part-time employee from his new boss over the phone but he sounded incredibly reluctant about the whole thing. He nodded thankfully, to make sure that Odette had heard him, then finally closed his ARCUS and returned it to the clip on his belt.

"Which part of Zemuria are you coming from?" Albert asked interestedly.

"Erebonia," he said quietly. He said it in such a way because he wasn't sure how they'd react. Kaiyuu knew the war in the Empire had come to an end, but you never knew how people you didn't know were going to react to anything., "My pops is a weapon's manufacturer over there."

"Weapons manufacturer? Like a Blacksmith?"

"Sort of," Kaiyuu answered Albert as the four of them started to walk across the bridge together, "He mostly handles hybrid weapons like the gun-rifles Jaegers use. A lot of people with unique weapons rely on him for repairs and stuff as well. I understand basic maintenance but I'd be cooked if I didn't have someone like him around."

"I would guess the weapon is concealed in that case," Renne voiced. It wasn't a question.

"And you'd be correct. I didn't want to carry it out in the open in case I ruffled the wrong person's feathers. He wasn't officially working with the Spriggans yet, which meant he needed to keep his equipment under wraps. It was different once he got officially hired and put his name to paper but for now, the less people that knew what he was carrying the better.

"We'll be taking a left here," Albert said, taking the opportunity to shift the conversation again and return everyone's focus to the task at hand. As they quickly navigated to the next area of the city, Kaiyuu couldn't help but to feel incredibly thankful for almost crashing into these people. He was likely already in trouble but at least he wouldn't keep Arkride Solutions waiting the entire day.

The streets of Edith were far busier than the world he was used to, the streets were probably not that overcrowded to those who lived here if Renne, Odette and Albert's reactions were anything to go by, but Kaiyuu couldn't help but to feel uncomfortably weighed down. Like the very pressure of being surrounded was drawing on him from all sides. Another turn and Albert paused to point out another side street, "This way," he said, "We'll need to take a bus to cover the rest of the journey. There should be a sign near the end of this are..ah, there we go."

It didn't take long for Kaiyuu to spot the bus stop once Albert pointed it out. The small group made their way over to the sign and Odette smiled at it, "Looks like we've only got a two minute wait, good timing everyone."

Finally, after a few more turns the group had arrived in Old Town right outside the address that the young man was seeking.

"Arkride Solutions Office," Renne said happily, "We've seen you to your destination."

"Thank you all for your help," Kaiyuu told them, relief written all over the young man's face.

"We'd best be returning to where we need to be ourselves," Albert informed him, "But you're welcome and I hope you have a pleasant time here."

"See you later, Kaiyuu!"

In contrast to her companions, Renne politely bowed her head, a smile dancing on the young woman's lips, "Do take care to look after yourself and my friends, Kai. We'll be seeing you around, I hope."

Kaiyuu raised his hand for one final farewell, and then turned away from them, trekking over to the door belonging to the inn and without any preamble he whacked the side of his fist against it a few times.

"Kai?" Odette asked Renne once the three of them were out of Kaiyuu's ear-shot.

Renne shrugged, "It seemed to fit, think nothing of it."