Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Ugh! Now where did those overgrown birds go!?” Sena yelled out in frustration.

“Beats me, but our irises are showing us their tracks, so we’ll get to them sooner than later.” Eunie said with a shrug as she lazily crossed her arms behind her head. “Though I do prefer it to be sooner.”

“Riku’s feet are in terrible pain,” Riku muttered as the Blue Kevesi Nopon Mechanic looked down at his aching feet. “A nice bath at the Sparkling Pool would do Riku good.”

“Riku, we just left the Sparkling Pool not too long ago.” Noah said in exasperation with a form of sweat forming. However, he couldn’t help but be amused by the antics of the Nopon he knew since his first term.

“He’s right. Just endure it for a little longer, Riku.” Mio chimed in with a bright smile.

Noah turned his head to look at the face of his Ouroboros partner. “Mio…” 

Noah, Mio, and the rest of the party were supposed to just pass through the upper Maktha Wildwood after dropping off Juniper back to Colony Tau since Lieutenant Raine had personally requested the presence of their commander due to a disturbance from the local Maktha wildlife getting too close to the colony lately. 

The Ouroboros group was initially planning to meet up with Monica and the Lost Numbers back in the city so they could infiltrate the prison camp and break out this Ghondor person, but as usual, plans have changed due to some external variables that come across their path since the day Guernica Vandham entrusted them with the powers of Ouroboros.

The party members are currently making their way closer to Tirkin territory after overhearing a scheme discussed by two Tirkins from the nearby tribe while the party was resting at the Sparkling Pool Camp. Taion had suggested that they return to the Turkins’ Territory so that they could prevent the attack on the colony, which the rest of the group quickly agreed to be the best course of action.

“Guess you’ll be accompanying us a bit longer in this sudden detour, eh Gray?” Eunie said as she slowed down to the back of the traveling group. The Kevesi woman took a good look at the now maskless man from the City. It was going to take her and probably everyone else they knew to get used to not seeing his masked face.

Gray simply rolled his eyes and grunted. Monica and to his surprise, his wife Rozana, had requested for him to accompany the Ouroboros through the Pentelas Region as they brought Juniper back to Colony Tau. He wasn’t certain, but he assumed Monica wanted him to keep close tabs on what the Ouroboros are doing before their big mission. Not that she didn’t trust them or anything. 

“You know, I’m a bit surprised Rozana wanted you to come along with us as well. It seemed like she wanted you to get out of the city,” Sena added as she wondered about the wife of their expert gun-wielding comrade. “After that meeting with Monica and Travis, she just took off somewhere.”

Gray let out a brief chuckle. “That’s Rozana for you. She’s always been like that. Always wanting me to come home or get out of the house, honestly confuses me sometimes.”

“Do all of these… spouses act like how you and Rozana do?” Lanz asked, still not accustomed to one of many words they learned from the City. “Probably not, huh. After Romero and Joulietta had that marital ceremony back at the city, they were attached to one another like a pair of rival Volff packs going at it.”

“Like Mimi and Noah!” Sena exclaimed a bit excitedly at the prospect of gossip. She had learned that’s what the city folks call it when a group of people wants to talk about a certain topic. “They are always together. Whenever they eat, whenever they send soldiers off, whenever they spar with each other, whenever they want to practice making new melodies together. They even sleep on the same sleeping mat whenever we camp out.”

“Yeah right, they could be one of those couples from the city for crying out loud,” Lanz said with a laugh as he shook his head in amusement. 

“Manana agrees with friends! Friendpon Noah and Mio are always happy to be close to each other.” Manana pointed out her thoughts on the subject.

“Do you think Noah and Mio could have babies? Would they want babies?” Eunie wondered out loud. Ever since she saw a baby up close and personal in the city, she couldn’t help but be fascinated by the tiny humans that can be born from not a Queen, but by the union of spouses.

Gray scrunched up his face and facepalmed, wishing he could tune out the conversation. Even then, he couldn’t help but be amused at hearing what these Kevesi and Agnian soldiers think about the lives outside of Moebius’s reach. 

Even though Eunie, Lanz, Sena, Manana, and Gray were far off in the back of the group, a certain Agnian offseer with sharp ears heard it all. Her ears twitched violently as she heard every word and a blush was quickly forming on her face.

“Hm? Something the matter Mio?” Mio turned to see the other subject of conversation look at her with a curious, yet also concerned expression on his face. 

“Oh, nothing nothing. Just wondering if Colony Tau is going to be okay. Seems like all the Turkins are after them these days.” Mio said trying to give him her best on-the-spot lie. However, when she looked back at him, she could see that he still have a concerned look on him. 

“Of course, he can read me like a book by now.” Mio thought as she mentally sighed. That was one downside to getting really close with her partner.

“Mio…” Noah suddenly spoke again, his voice rich with concern and worry. “If there’s anything bothering you, please tell me okay? You can tell me anything. If you’re not feeling well-”

Mio nodded and gave him a smile. “Of course I know that dummy. I guess a lot has been going on recently…” she sighed and shook her head. Now wasn’t the time. “Let’s just forget it for now. I’ll tell you later. Sounds good?”

 Noah frowned but decided to drop the subject anyways. He secretly hoped that Mio would tell him eventually. He trusted Mio with his life despite where they originally came from and he wanted to believe that Mio felt the same.

 Noah looked forward and noticed that the Turkin tracks they were following were almost at an end. He watched as the tactician of their group turned his head and finally decided to speak after a few minutes of his silence.

“Alright everyone, we should continue moving with more caution. We are within close proximity to one of the main Turkin Territories of the forest. Stay vigilant everyone.”  Taion warned as his eyes scanned their surroundings carefully. The mondo that was sitting on his shoulder started bouncing up and down, somewhat agitated.

 “From what we overheard from those two Turkins, their tribe is planning a raid on Colony Tau for breaking relations with them,” Sena mused out loud as she looked at the group’s faithful tactician. “What do you think we should do, Taion?”

 The group had usually always looked to Taion or Noah for the best-calculated course of action. However, Taion seemed to be concentrating on something.

 “Taion, what is it?” Mio wondered as the entire group noticed the Agnian tactician suddenly stopped walking along with them.

 “Something is wrong. It shouldn’t normally be this quiet in this area of the Maktha wi-”

 “HOOMANS ARE HERE! ATTACK!” a loud voice suddenly screeched from the air. The group looked up to see about fifty to a hundred Turkins charging towards them with their bows and spears. Before the party knew it, they were surrounded from all possible angles.

 “We want to know. Is it true you are planning a raid on Colony Tau?” Noah asked defiantly despite their numbers. It was astonishing how he could keep his head in the game with a tribe of Turkins glaring at you and your friends.

 “SILENCE!! THESE HOOMANS BROKE CONTRACT AND OUR TRUST WITH COLONY TAU.” a large Turkin screeched. This one seemed far more aggressive than the others.

 “Oh, for the mudda of- PISS OFF!” Lanz shouted as his power frame glowed bright blue and his weapon formed in his hands. The Kevesi Heavy Guard swung his heavy sword upward, striking and killing three Turkins right off the bat. 

 “It doesn’t seem like these Turkins are interested in settling things in a civilized manner.” Gray noted to the group as he summoned his full metal jaguar guns. “We’ll need to cut them down quickly.”

 “Well then, let’s smash some birdbrains and kick their arses!” Eunie declared with her cocky smirk. She summoned her gun rod and readied herself in a battle position. “Gonna blast them into next week.”

 “Indeed. Let’s make quick work of them and be on our way.” Taion said, bringing out even more mondo out of thin air. 

 “Right, everyone. Be ready.” Noah said with a raised arm outward. In an instant, Lucky Seven materialized right in front of him. He looked over at Mio, who looked back at him, both sharing a nod of determination. They WILL protect Colony Tau.

≻───── ⋆✩⋆ ─────≺

  A few minutes later… 

 “Air Slash!”

 “Glow Ring!”

 “Overfall!”

 “Prominence Revolt!”

“Demolition!”

“Snuffin’ hell. These Turkins are such a pain in the arse, I’d say.” Lanz muttered as he and Sena separated from Sena’s Ouroboros forme. He began using his blade as a turret. He was firing rapid shots at the Maktha Wildwood native Turkins. “First they steal our supplies the last time we passed through and now they be plotting to attack Colony Tau.”

“You hear that Noah? Lanz wants something a bit meatier.” Eunie said with a smirk to her fellow Kevesi while also monitoring the time before the effects of her Power Ring move wears off on them.

Noah ignored her as he and Mio continued tag-teaming through Turkin after Turkin. 

“Air Slash!”

“Butterfly Blade!”

“Well good thing we alerted Juniper to set a barricade in front of the colony’s entrance just in case. No chance they’ll get past us though.” Mio said as she struck a turkin across the face with her moonblade rings. Unfortunately for her, she suddenly felt a twinge of dizziness in her head, causing her to pause momentarily. This left her wide open for an attack from another Turkin, allowing its spear to graze her arm. 

 “Ahhhhh! My arm…” Mio hissed as she felt the pain course through her arm. She could see a trail of red that will definitely leave a scar if not healed right away.

 “Mio!” Noah exclaimed with worry as he began rushing towards her. “You sparkin` Turkin!” Noah angrily cursed as he aggressively slashed at Mio’s attacker. “We need you Eunie!”

 “Eunie, you attend to Mio while I cover for your load in the meantime,” Taion said as he focused his Mondo on any nearby Turkin.

 “You got it four eyes! Eunie’s the BOSS!” Eunie responded in confidence as she prepared to unload healing ether energy.  “Group Heal!”

“Phew! You’re a lifesaver Eunie.” Mio said as she took a quick moment to absorb the healing effects of Eunie’s special move. Once the green light that surrounded her faded, she quickly rose back up and got back into defending against the onslaught of Turkins.

“Don’t mention it! This is about the last of these dirty Tirkins anyways.” Eunie replied as she fired another round of ether bullets. “... and done!” 

The party looked on as there were Turkin bodies everywhere, a result of the aftermath of their battle with the Turkins. Any surviving Turkins took off to the lower levels.

“I guess the sharpshooter training with Mwamba really paid off, eh Eunie?” Noah said as Lucky Seven disappeared from his hands. He walked up to the Kevesi woman and gave her a Kevesi salute, a gesture Eunie gladly returned.

Eunie wiped off the sweat from her forehead. “Yeah, as we said before. Mwamba helped us out of sticky situations plenty of times in the colony.”

Noah nodded before he cleared his throat and said, “Thank you. For healing Mio. I owe you one, you know?”

Eunie froze for a second and just stared at the Kevesi man she knew for all of this lifetime expressing his gratitude. She smirked. “Oh? Why are you only thanking me for healing Mio? The Group Heal was for all you guys.”

Noah felt his face instantly become hot as he averted his gaze. He seems to be doing that a lot lately whenever the topic of Mio is directed right at him. “W-well, uh… t-thank you for being our group healer-”

Eunie laughed and playfully punched her friend in the shoulder. “I’m only teasing you, you spoon.” 

“What did you just call me?” Noah asked in fake irritation. 

“I think it’s cute that you found someone you can really care for,” Eunie continued as she moved her gaze towards the rest of their group that was a little farther from them. Mio, Sena, Lanz, Riku, and Manana were having a conversation, while Taion was looking through his iris. Gray had his back behind a wall and his eyes closed. 

 “Say Manana, you think you could make a sparkin’ good dish with fresh Turkin meat? I could really use some grub right about now,” Lanz could be heard asking Manana. Eunie made a quick note on her iris to talk to Lanz about that later.

Noah could have sworn Eunie was looking at Taion for a bit longer than usual as her expression softened. “But I care for all of you-” 

“That’s not what I meant Noah. And you bloody know it too.” Eunie interrupted while crossing her arms defiantly. 

As soon as she saw Noah continue to fluster up, she couldn’t help but let out a laugh. She knew she had him beat. The first time she ever noticed Noah act like this was way back when they were raiding the containers left by Guernica and his squad back at the Gura Flava Lowlands in Alfeto Valley.

“Hey… you know what Monica said about… romance… back in the city..?” Eunie said, her voice lowered. When she saw Noah nod, she continued speaking in a more sorrowful tone, “We soldiers didn’t know about all of this. Fighting day in and day out, struggling for food, keeping an eye out for any incoming colonies… enslaved by the snuffin’ flame clock.”

“Yeah… we were nothing but fuel for Moebius. For who knows how long, we have been in a cycle of living, dying, and rebirth.” Noah said as he was beginning to catch on to what Eunie was getting at.

“Noah, don’t be afraid of what you are feeling for Mio, alright? Now that we are Ouroboros, we have choices. The choice to live! I-I know we don’t have much time left but…” Eunie said, looking back towards a specific person in the group, Noah following her gaze. 

“Mio especially…” Noah quietly finished her train of thought. He clenched both of his fists, trembling at what he was feeling. His mind flashed back to the words Monica’s father left for them before succumbing to his injuries by the interlinked DJ.

“You guys… you wanna survive..? Live on? Hold the Torch?”

…

“Ten years? You kids deserve better.”

 … 

“It’s not fair…” Noah muttered, tears threatening to escape his cerulean eyes. Why was life so short? Why were they forced to fight to live? Why were they born just to suffer…

“Exactly why you should give Mio what you both want with the little time she has left, Noah. I can see it in both of your eyes.” Eunie replied in a soft tone. 

“It must be pretty obvious, innit?” Noah chuckled.

“Yeah, it was.”

“And what, it only took you a month?”

“Actually, we knew since before we got attacked by Colony 4.”

“...” 

“Well yeah, we all see it. How close you two are despite our different nations duking it out for who knows how long.” Eunie explained dismissing his silence. “Course Lanz and Taion were slower to catch on, but I think that’s with all boys. I gotta ask Monica about that later.”

There was a brief pause in their conversation before the edges of Noah’s lips suddenly moved up and his eyes shined with gratitude. “Thank you Eunie. Truly. I think I want to make things official with Mio. If that’s what they call it in the City.”

“What are friends for? Snuff it, I’m basically like the sister of our team at this point!” Eunie said with a laugh. “C’mon. Let’s join everyone else. We still have a few good hours before it’s lights out.”

“A sister… huh…” Noah was left wondering as Eunie left him to join the rest of the group. He watched how Eunie was not hesitant to berate Lanz with comments on his stupidity for apparently suggesting Manana to cook up a feast out of the dead Turkins they have just slain . “Now that I think about it… Eunie does seem like a sister to me and Lanz ever since we left the pod… even to Mio and Sena recently…”

He thought back to a couple of weeks ago, how Monica taught the group about family relations and what it meant to be a family in the City. A brother and sister were people who share the same parents, the spouses of the family.  A family didn’t have to be blood-related, that’s what she said. “Actually, maybe we are blood-related. All human life of the nation of Keves come from the Kevesi Queen, Melia Antiqua…”

“... I like that,” Noah muttered with a small smile appearing on his face. He decided to join the group, standing next to Mio as they all watched Eunie show Lanz why she’s truly the boss. 

End of Chapter 1

Chapter Text

“I’ve contacted Monica and she just had Travis send a transport towards our coordinates. We’ll be meeting them at a rendezvous point nearby. I’ll be sending the location to your irises now.” Gray explained to the group as he activated his right eye. 

 Noah and the others obliged and activated their irises to receive the coordinates from Gray.

“Doesn’t seem to be very far, huh,” Sena muttered as she turned her iris back off.

“Mm…” Noah and Mio both nodded in agreement.

“What!? It may not be far, but we’ll have to pass through Gogols’ Tree to get there.” Taion exclaimed in surprise. “Rumors have it there’s a giant Immovable Gonzalez that had made its home there.”

“Oh, I’ve heard about that too kid. The rumors are the real deal alright.” Gray said with a grunt, looking past the group toward the direction they are supposed to head to. The party followed his line of sight to see a pathway leading to a secluded area. A couple of Gogols could be seen feasting on their prey, nearly causing Riku to hurl at the sight of the brutality.

“So I suppose you passed through there before, right Gray?” Lanz asked after the pause in conversation. “You must have seen the beast yourself then.”

“Indeed. Like your buddy with the glasses always say, stay alert.” Gray replied with a nod of his head. “Now let’s have a move on before the sun goes down. Monica will be expecting us to be back before supper time.”

“Gray’s right, we don’t have much time before the city transport arrives to bring us back to the City.” Taion added in agreement as he took a glance at a circular-shaped device he took out of his pocket.

It was a white pocketwatch, the very same one his mentor, Nimue entrusted with him before dying by the hands of their Kevesi enemies years back.

The group also quickly agreed and continued on their way towards their destination. They couldn’t wait to get back to the City and initiate the next step of their plan with the Lost Numbers. However, as soon as they had started walking, they immediately had to halt as a certain cookypon had a request.

“Friends stop! Manana just had a magnificent idea! Let’s beat up the Gonzalez so Manana can make tasty meal for tonight.” Manana declared with a certain shine in her eyes.

“Oh, you mean and I quote, “A mean Gonzalez eyeball” dish you said you can make?” Eunie asked as she recalled their little introductions back then. Manana simply nodded and did her signature happy dance.

“Manana really want Riku and Kevesi friends to try it,” Manana said with glee. She pulled out a ladle and twirled it around to place emphasis on her idea.

 “I don’t see why not?” Noah said as he looked at the group’s cooking Nopon. “It’s on the way. I’m actually fascinated by what this dish is.”

“Oh you’ll love it, it’s so good! Especially how Manana usually makes it.” Sena said to her friends. “She uses all these fragrant spices and peppers too.”

“Sounds tasty,” Eunie said and glanced over at the Tactician of their traveling group. “Have you had it before Taion?”

“Yes, maybe once or twice. It’s actually quite delectable.” Taion answered honestly as he adjusted his glasses. “It’s not every day we get a chance to run into a Gonzalez. From what I learned from Commander Isurd when I was still based in Colony Lambda, Gonzalez are one of the rarest creatures of all of Aionios. Not even the Consuls know how they got here.”

“Well, what are we waiting for? We got a bit of time to kill before we need to get back to the City.” Lanz said eagerly. “Let’s go round up this Gonzalez.”

“Time to saddle up again G-dawg. We are going to get us some Gonzalez eyeball.” Eunie said to Gray, who rolled his eyes in response. Looks like he’s being dragged into their shenanigans again.

“Well then, if there aren’t any objections, let’s start going.” Noah said, giving a thoughtful look towards Mio. Once she nodded in approval, Noah gave a slight smile and started walking towards Gogol's Tree. The rest of the group except Gray followed the Kevesi offseer.

“Can’t these kids just eat at the Michiba Canteen?” Gray muttered quietly with slight worry. Regardless, he followed the rest of the group that were making their way towards the Gonzalez’s location.

≻───── ⋆✩⋆ ─────≺

Roughly 15 minutes later…

The party had to get past a few Gogols and Fliers before they could even attempt to get close to the colossal beast. But finally, they have made it. They could hear the rustling of the leaves of the trees, screeches and agitated noises from the Maktha wildlife, and really just the cacophony of the general area.

“There it is!” Sena pointed out as she rushed towards the domain of their target. It wasn’t hard to miss the large creature that appeared to be… sleeping?

“Riku never seen a Gonzalez so big!” Riku exclaimed as the Nopon put his hands in the air. Of course, if you are the size of your everyday Nopon, many things in life would appear large in comparison.

“At least Lanz will get something a bit meatier from this.” Eunie mocked, prompting Lanz to roll his eyes at the female ex soldier with High Entia features.

 “So how do you guys suggest we take it out?” Lanz questioned while giving the back of his head a scratch. “Do we like, wake it uhhh-”

Suddenly, the Immovable Gonzalez’s eyelids lifted up and its eyes widened. Its nostrils sucked in some air like a powerful vacuum as the creature started becoming aware of its surroundings. It slowly got up and then quickly noticed Noah, Mio, and the others, giving them a hardened glare.

“Be careful everyone. One wrong move and we are done for. If we happen to get knocked off this platform, it’s a long way down.” Noah told everyone as he glared at the formidable opponent that could easily crush them as if they were Fliers and Bunnits.

The Immovable Gonzalez roared angrily, breathing in and out, nearly blowing our heroes off their feet. Regardless, they stood their ground. They were on a mission and were not about to back out now.

“Be cautious everyone, according to the iris, its power level is eighty-eight.” Taion warned the group.

“Well, this is going to be a pleasant bloodbath innit?” Eunie muttered sarcastically as she summoned her medic gunrod and got it ready to fire ether bullets when necessary.

“Friends make sure to keep eyeballs attached please,” Manana said. “Eyeballs won’t taste as good with dirt and blood all over them.”

“No promises!” Lanz responded as his Greatsword formed in his hands. He narrowed his eyes and immediately used his talent art to draw the attention of the opponent to him, prompting his allies to start their onslaught of attacks.

“Alright everyone, let’s stay focused here!” Noah shouted out on command as he started slashing with his blade with rhythm. Like how Mio uses the Agnian offseeing tune for her speedy movements and attack patterns, Noah gradually learned to incorporate the Kevesi offseeing tune to his battle tactics.

On the opposite side of Noah, Mio was using her moonring blades to repeatedly hit their foe’s giant legs while using her quick speed to avoid getting stomped on.

“Riku and Manana will help!” Manana declared, using her cooking pan to shoot out an ether projectile. Riku followed suit by throwing out a similar ether projectile using his electronic screwdriver.

Gray had used a combination of his arts “Dead Set” and “Demolition” to power up his shots, sniping different parts of the Gonzalez’s body.

“Ahhh!” Sena yelled as the Immovable Gonzalez had slammed her to the ground. 

“Sena’s down guys! Eunie!” Lanz called out to one of the group’s healers.

“On it! Time for me to try out this trick I recently picked up.” Eunie declared as she aimed her gunrod right at Sena, who was struggling to stand back up. “Heal Blast!”

Sena was immediately covered in a green glow as the ether was quick to give Sena ether energy, wounds disappearing.

“Phew! Thanks Eunie!” Sena said in appreciation before picking up her giant hammer once again and charged at the Immovable Gonzalez.

“Wow, that was a nifty art you pulled there Eunie, when did you learn that?” Taion asked as it was the first time he’s seen her pull off that specific art.

“I actually learned about it back in training. Apparently, a Kevesi medic named Sharla invented the art long ago.” Eunie explained as she shot ether bullets at their foe. “Despite being a medic, she was quite the sharpshooter herself. She also invented the Medic Gunner class, neat huh?”

“We’ll probably encounter her reborned self at some point.” Taion speculated while directing his mondo to act in unison. 

“Yeah, apparently she reached her Homecoming back in Colony 6 a couple of terms ago.” Eunie added. The Kevesi girl watched as her comrades were fighting hard against the Immovable Gonzalez.

“Eunie,” Taion uttered as he knew what she was thinking and gave her a smirk.

“Let’s do this, Taion!” Eunie shouted at her Ouroboros partner, both sharing a quick glance at each other. Taion simply nodded in response as a bright light engulfed the two of them, merging them into a single form. Eunie’s Ouroboros forme to be exact.

“Lightning Arrow!” Eunie/Taion shouted out as rays of light descended from the sky, hitting the Immovable Gonzalez multiple times per second.

“Eunie, let me take the lead.” Taion said to the partner as the forme of their Ouroboros morphed into another appearance.

“Multiply!” Taion/Eunie spoke out as dozens of illusions and afterimages appeared. “This will by us some time as the Gonzalez will need to find the right target.”

Meanwhile, Lanz and Sena were continuing to throw out their attacks as the muscleheads of the group. Sena had quickly regained her fighting form after being healed by Eunie.

“Lanz! Swing me around so I can build momentum and then throw me up!” Sena said. Lanz didn’t hesitate as he grabbed the small Agnian girl by her legs and started spinning around. Upon release, Sena was flying up high and managed to land a direct hit with her hammer on the creature’s face.

The Immovable Gonzalez winced from the impact and staggered back a bit, causing the ground near it to shake.

“Now’s our chance…” Noah thought. He looked towards the rest of the group just in time to see Eunie and Taion cancel their interlink before the time limit could run out.

“Everyone! Time for a chain attack!” Noah shouted out as he shared a look with Mio.

 “Alright, everyone get ready!” Mio added in agreement.

“Yippee!” Sena cheered as she gripped her giant hammer tightly.

≻───── ⋆✩⋆ ─────≺

After a few rounds of the Chain Attack…

“Alright good work everyone!” Noah praised his friends. The Immovable Gonzalez was swaying back and forth, clearly not going to last much longer. It was as good as finished at this point.

“Noah, you want to deal the finishing blow?” Taion asked the Kevesi offseer, clearly seeing as well that the Immovable Gonzalez was on its last legs.

“Yeah man it’s all on you now,” Lanz said with encouragement as he recalled his Greatsword. “Finish it off.”

Noah looked at the rest of his friends to see them all giving him encouraging looks with Eunie giving him a thumbs up. Manana had an eager expression on her face, probably excited at the prospect of cooking their victim as soon as they get back to the City. He looked over to Mio, who was giving him a nod of approval and a smile. Oh, he loved that smile.

Noah checked his iris quickly to see that his Talent Art was usable. He could end it all with Infinity Blade from Lucky Seven.

Just as Noah was about to remove Lucky Seven from its sheath, he paused. Something was wrong. Terribly wrong. It was… a gut feeling… Moebius? No, it was a different feeling of dread.

That’s when he noticed it. One of the Gonzalez’s arms was unconsciously moving, moving towards Mio. If she got hit, it would be a long fall down.

“MIO! LOOK OUT!” Noah shouted in fear. He can’t let Mio take the fall. He won’t.

Before he knew it, he pushed her out of harm’s way and saw her shocked face shifted into one of fear. Then he felt a strong force collide with his body. Then, before he knew it, he found himself falling in midair, screaming. Then, it became pitch-black.

"NOAH!" Eunie, Lanz, and Sena shouted as they saw their friend get knocked off by the staggering movements of the Immovable Gonzalez.

“MONDO! DESCEND AFTER HIM!” Taion shouted as his Mondo started diving down.

 However, it was too late. Noah was rapidly falling down, already lost consciousness from the impact of the Gonzalez’s hand.

“NOOOOOOO!” Mio shrieked as she looked down in an attempt to see if maybe Noah had managed to find a tree branch to hold on to or if he perhaps pinned his blade on the wide tree trunk to break his fall. She could see nothing but pure darkness.

“Mimi! You go check on him! The rest of us will take it from here.” Sena said as she swung her Hammerhead with as much force as she could onto the Gonzalez. They couldn’t afford to wait any longer and must finish off the Gonzalez immediately.

Mio didn’t respond as she quickly activated her iris and swapped to Taion’s Tactician class. She quickly summoned as many Mondo as she could to carry her down safely.

“Please be alright. Please be alright.” Mio whispered to herself in fear. She knew the drop down was at least two hundred feet down. When she finally reached the bottom, she got off the makeshift Mondo platform and started looking around worriedly for her Kevesi partner.

“C’mon where is he?” Mio whispered to herself. She was worried that she might have landed herself at the wrong spot until her gaze met a flash of red. Mio gave a sigh of relief when she spotted sight of Noah’s red jacket, dirtied and covered with a few leaves.

“There you are.” Mio sighed out as she rushed to his aid. When she got closer and cradled his head in her hands, she noticed that his body went limp. Naturally, that’s what happens when an enemy or monster knocks them out in battle.

Mio screamed when she didn’t feel any signs of a heartbeat. His body felt cold and there were very low levels of breathing, if any breathing was present at all.

“Wake up! Come on now, you’re freaking me out here!” Mio said as she shook his body repeatedly. When she didn’t get a single groan or movement from his body her golden eyes started diluting with tears as she started desperately performing chest compressions on him.

“Mimi!” Sena called out as she and the rest of the group managed to hurry to their location.

It could be seen that Taion and Eunie had turned back into Taion’s Ouroboros form so that he could make a larger Mondo platform to carry everyone down. Mio didn’t bother to look at her friends as her gaze focused only on Noah.

“H-he won’t wake up…” Mio muttered sadly as her ears drooped down. 

“Make way, I got this.” Eunie said as she kneeled down so she was at Mio's eye level. Eunie could see how fearful Mio looked as she clutched the boy she cares about so much.

"Don't worry Noah, you'll be back up in no time." Eunie said softly as she started focusing her healing ether energy onto his body. What startled her was when the ether dispersed as if the body was rejecting it.

 "W-what… my healing ether has no effect…" Eunie stuttered in disbelief. Up to now all her allies that were knocked out during battle would regain consciousness from the healing effects of the healer classes.

"How is that possible? I never heard of Healers unable to wake people up before." Sena said with a hand in her mouth. Seeing Mio in this state clutching an unconscious Noah was a little too much for her. 

“Well if Eunie isn’t able to heal him alone, then let’s all swap to Healer classes and try healing him at once.” Lanz suggested.

Sena was quick to agree with him and was about to swap to the Thaumaturage class before being interrupted by Taion.

“Don’t be absurd Lanz, that won’t work at all.” Taion asserted with confidence. “There’s nothing that suggests that this is a problem involving Noah’s ether energy.”

“Well I don’t see you coming up with ideas!” Lanz snapped. Taion was really getting on his nerves again.

“Friends! This is no time for meaningless bickering!” Riku scolded the two before things could escalate further.

Gray was quiet for the last couple of minutes as he approached Mio carefully. "Is he breathing?" He finally asked.

Mio remained silent but slowly nodded, eyes still stuck on Noah. "Just barely..."

“Come on, there’s no time to waste. We need to get him back to the city. The doctor will check him up.” Gray said with a sense of urgency in his tone. At that moment, Gray’s iris received an incoming memo.

“Hey Gray, we will be approaching the open area we sent to you earlier. Meet you and the Ouroboros there soon.”

“Roger that.” Gray muttered as he focused his attention on the group again. “Alright, we’ll need to take him to the city. Lanz, will you carry him?”

Lanz nodded and walked over to where Noah’s body was being cradled by Mio. Mio was hesitant but had to separate from Noah to let Lanz carry him.

After giving Mio a respectful nod in her direction, he carefully lifted Noah over his shoulder since he was the most capable of the group with the largest build of them all.

“Everyone, put on your eyepatches to cover your iris.” Gray ordered while putting his on. Everyone obeyed and Mio had just placed Noah’s eyepatch over his right eye. It was better to be safe than sorry, even if his eyes were shut.

“Please… hang in there…”

≻───── ⋆✩⋆ ─────≺

Back at the City…

“How did this happen to him?” The City Elder interrogated the group of Ouroboros members the moment the City Transport landed in Astelle Harbor. She was accompanied by Shania and a couple of other members of the Ouroboros candidates.

“Well, we were in the higher-up area of Maktha Wildwoods. We were doing our usual everyday thing, beating up Turkins that were plotting something against Colony Tau, until we spotted this humongous Immovable Gonzalez.” Eunie explained.

“When we got close to it, it then suddenly woke up in a state of complete agitation once it noticed us.” Taion had added.

Mio had completely tuned out the conversation occurring around her, who had remained silent throughout the ride back to the City. She watched as the two Ouroboros candidates assisted Gray in placing Noah on a stretcher. Once they got the nod of approval from Monica, Noah was wheeled off towards the emergency room.

“Well serves him right for going against a high-leveled monster.” Shania sneered, the insulting tone evident in her voice. “Didn’t they teach you to not bite off more than you can chew in your colonies?”

Lanz glared at the city girl angrily, “Shut your snuffin’ mouth you-”

“Does it matter anyway? He will just be reborn again.” Shania interrupted with a frown on her face at the thought. Sena could have sworn that she sensed… envy?

“That’s enough Shania.” Monica said sternly as she looked at the girl in disappointment. “What’s important now is that Noah recovers from this incident.”

“Manana really wanted friends to try fried Gonzalez eyeballs. A very tasty meal can come out of cooking it…” Manana said sadly with her facing the tile floor. She felt guilt that her good intentions led to a terrible consequence for their traveling group.

“Don’t worry Manana, it isn’t your fault. We all agreed to go after the Gonzalez, even Noah.” Sena said half-heartedly.

“Indeed, we couldn’t have foreseen this at all.” Taion said.

Manana sighed and slowly nodded her head. Riku gave her a pat on the back for support.

 “Alright everyone let’s head for the Maternity Ward, I’m sure Noah is being examined by now.” Monica said to the group. Nobody had dared to oppose so they followed the City Elder to the other side of the city.

≻───── ⋆✩⋆ ─────≺

  In the City’s Medical Facility… 

Now there they were, in the lobby of the City’s Medical Facility as they waited for Dr. Hollis and Monica to tell them the condition of their fallen friend. Gray had left the party to go fetch something from Mr. Samon for one of his stealth missions. He made sure to give condolences to the group of Ouroboros and he’d hope to meet Noah back on the battlefield soon.

The mood of the room was melancholy. Not a single sound was made with the exception of muffled voices and sounds coming from other rooms in the facility. It was only the remaining Ouroboros and the Nopon that were in the lobby.

“What good am I as a healer if I can’t snuffing heal when people need me most.” Eunie expressed, deciding to break the silence in the room. Her voice was filled with a downhearted tone, her face facing directly at the tile floor.

“Now don’t you say that Eunie. The situation Noah is in is beyond the help of ether.” Taion said as he wiped the condensation off his glasses. They had to run over since Mio wanted to get back to Noah ASAP and Taion wasn’t exactly the fittest person out there despite being from Agnus.

“You really think so?” Eunie asked as she finally looked at Taion who was sitting beside her on the sofa.

“Absolutely. The people of the City live outside the realms of what Moebius set up for Keves and Agnus, so they may have better insight into Noah’s condition. This is our best shot.”

“Noah’s tough. He’ll hang in there.” Lanz said with certainty in his voice. He was standing at the corner of the lobby, leaning his back against the wall and his arms crossed. “Besides, I refuse to let Noah die. Not after what happened with Joran back at Colony 14…”

“Poor Mimi…” Sena muttered quietly, her face sympathetic as she carefully watched the Agnian Offseer. Mio was sitting on a chair with her body curled up, occasionally looking towards the door to the emergency room. The fiery-haired Agnian soldier had noticed her reserved and distant attitude since the incident.

Everyone else had also noticed how quiet Mio was being but ultimately decided to let her have her space for the time being. People dealt with their emotions differently from others. Not to mention the close bond she had built from the ground up with Noah.

When the doors to the emergency room holding Noah finally opened, Mio’s ears perked up in awareness, causing her to look over to see Monica walk toward the group. Mio was the first to stand up and approach the woman, the rest of the group right behind her.

“H-how is he? Will he be alright?” Mio asked, her voice quiet but obviously anxious. These were the first few words she had spoken out loud for the past three hours.

There was a pause before Monica answered. “I think it’s best if Dr. Hollis informs you of his condition. But from what I can tell, I think he will be fine.”

There was a collective sigh of relief from everyone after hearing that news. There was hope afterall.

Monica sighed as she carefully scanned Mio. The girl’s hands were clasped together, her usually golden eyes had a hint of red in them, and her fluffy ears drooped down. It was so obvious to the City Elder that she was worried to death for the Kevesi soldier. “Oh, young love… I pity the two of them…”

“Did the Doctor find any abnormal symptoms when checking him up?” Taion asked Monica, one of his hands slightly under his chin in a thinking pose. It was quite a habit for the Agnian Soldier that specialized in the Survey Branch of his former colony.

“Again, I think it’s best to save your questions for Hollis,” Monica said. She turned around and gave them a gesture signaling to follow her to the room they were keeping Noah.

When the group got into the room, the first thing Mio noticed was Noah lying on the bed. His body seemed to be hooked up by wires and tubing to two different machines. One seemed to be measuring his heart rate, while the other seemed to be used to get internal scans of Noah’s brain. The latter was proven when they saw images of Noah’s cranium on the Doctor’s screen.

“Noah…” Mio whimpered seeing the 9th termer lying motionless on the hospital bed. She was grateful to Monica and Dr. Hollis for giving him a room on such short notice. She walked up to his bedside and began caressing his right hand with her fingers, hoping he would awaken soon.

“Well, he seems to be in stable condition. We have done both an MRI and CT scan on his skull and there was little trauma done to him. A small concussion at worse.” Dr. Hollis announced to the group of friends as he scanned his file. “But… just give him rest and he should be up and going in no time at all.”

“Well, that is some good news. We would have been SOL against Moebius if Noah was taken out of the equation.” Eunie remarked with her hands on her hips.

“Do you think that ether deficiency is involved in this?” Taion questioned as he then glanced at Eunie. “Eunie wasn’t able to wake him up even though she specializes in healing.”

“No, I don’t believe so.” Dr. Hollis said as he rubbed his chin in careful thought. “Though I cannot explain for why your friend wouldn’t wake up, I do know that his condition is nothing to worry about in the meantime. However...”

"However what...?" Mio asked tentatively, her grip tightened on Noah's hand.

“Well… this isn’t for certain lads and lassies, but when the lad wakes up he could perhaps-”

“Dr. Hollis there’s no need to scare them. The likelihood of that happening is slim.” Monica said in a dismissive manner before turning to the rest of the group. “How about you all get a bite to eat and come back later? We’ll call you if any new developments arise.”

There were murmurs of agreement within the group as they started exiting the room, although hesitant. Mio instead got a chair and brought it to Noah’s side, deciding to sit on it rather than go with her friends for a meal.

 “Isn’t Mio coming?” Manana asked, her question directed at the Agnian offseer in question.

 “No thanks. I’m going to stay here and watch over him…” Mio responded, her voice sounding dull. “You guys can go without me.”

 “But Mimi… you got to eat. You haven’t had anything since the morning…” Sena said with concern.

 “I-I’m fine.”

Sena wasn’t convinced at all and was about to continue to argue that it wasn’t healthy until she felt a heavy hand on one of her shoulders. She looked up to see Lanz give her a shake of his head, signaling for her to drop the subject.

“B-but Lanz-”

“Don’t worry about it Sena, we’ll just bring her some grub after.”

After a few moments of silence, Sena sighed knowing that she couldn’t win against Lanz in an argument even if her life depended on it. She quietly left the room with him and the others as they silently walked towards the Michiba Canteen.

End of Chapter 2

Chapter Text

When the group returned to Noah’s room at the Medical Facility, they were not surprised at all seeing Mio still at Noah’s bedside. She had the side of her head laying on Noah’s chest as she strained to hear his heartbeat. He was still in there, she can guarantee it.

“Uhh… Mimi…” Sena spoke out to get the Agnian Offseer’s attention.

Mio’s ears perked up and her body jolted at the sudden voice. She looked over at the entrance to see her friends had just returned. “Oh! You guys are back. Hope you all had a great meal.” 

“Oi, we brought you back some food,” Eunie said as she held up a tray of fried fish, white rice, and a couple of side dishes. “Sena saw they had fried fish on the menu, so we decided to take that to go. Also got you a slice of chocolit cake for dessert.”

“Food was extra scrumptious today!” Manana exclaimed. Seemed that filling their tummies for the night have brought up their spirits slightly.

“We also brought back some nice cool water for you and Noah.” Lanz added as he lifted up a steel pitcher of water for her to see.

“How kind of you, thank you. I’m sure Noah will appreciate a drink once he wakes up.” Mio said as she carefully took the glass and water pitcher from Lanz and set it aside onto next to her. She then resumed her acts of watching Noah’s unconscious being lying on the bed. 

“Mimi, aren’t you going to eat?” Sena asked as she tilted her head to the side. Mio shook her head in response.

“I’ll eat later. I just want to watch him sleep. He looks… so peaceful.” Mio responded, not looking away from Noah’s face. There was a groan and sounds of frustration coming from someone in the room. 

“C’mon, you gotta eat. We didn’t just bring this all for nothing.” Eunie muttered with irritation evident in her tone. She placed the tray down on the table with the water pitcher they brought.

“Mio, you have to eat to get your strength back.” Taion insisted attempting to be a voice of reason. Back in Colony Gamma he knew that Mio could be either persistent or really stubborn. Right now, she was the latter.

“Taions right, go ahead and eat before the food becomes colder.” Lanz said in agreement.

“...” Mio was silent, still watching Noah.

“For sparks sake Mio! It’s like… 9:30 in the snuffing night right now!” Eunie snapped at the Agnian offseer for her behavior as she checked her iris.

“...”

“Mimi… please…” Sena pleaded, her voice slightly cracking. The fiery-haired Agnian girl didn’t like seeing her role model beat herself up for an accident that wasn’t her fault. 

“I want some alone time with Noah.” Mio finally said after a few moments of silence. Then there was a brief pause before she spoke again. “Nothing personal. Just need some space.”

“Only if you promise us you’ll eat what we brought over.” Eunie proposed defiantly. The rest of the group nodded and murmured in agreement.

“I promise I will.” Mio responded as she gave the group a slight smile.

Eunie let out a sigh, finally accepting the answer. It was better than nothing. “Alright then, Sena and I will be heading to the dorms now.” 

“We’ll see you later at the dorms, Mimi!” Sena said as she bade her friend farewell and left the room with Eunie.

“Riku and Manana will be visiting the City’s workshop for tools we could use in the future.” Riku said, with Manana agreeing. The two Nopon were the next to leave the room.

“As for me, I’ll be heading back to the dorms too. Mio, be sure to take good care of him. I think the doctor and Monica will be coming back to check on him.” Lanz said as he excused himself and left, leaving Taion, Mio, and an unconscious Noah still in the room.

Taion remained in place for a couple minutes as he gathered on what he was going to say. It was getting quite awkward for him as he saw a motionless Mio observing an even more motionless Noah. After a few more moments he decided to break the silence.

“Mio, I’m going to go browse Cetrilo Parade to see if there are any books related to Noah’s condition. When I come back, I expect you to have finished your meal and head back for your room at the dormitories. I’ll be taking the first night watch tonight.” Taion stated and then gave her a stern expression “Understood?”

All he got was a slow nod from Mio. At least he got a response. Satisfied by that, he decided to make his exit as he desired to leave the tense atmosphere of the room. 

“Taion…?”

Taion stopped and looked at his friend, the Mondo on his shoulder also looking over. He could see Mio was looking up at him, her eyes red from crying for Noah and her face stained by the tears that trailed down.

“Thank you, for caring. You, Sena, and everyone else… I know I’m being difficult… so I’m sorry…” Mio apologized, giving him a small smile that quickly faded and morphed back into a sad one.

Taion stood there baffled as he glanced between Mio and his accompanying Mondo. The Mondo was just as confused so it gave him its best shrug. After a few moments to recompose himself, he smiled. “Anytime Mio.”

“Mm…” Mio sounded in acknowledgement, refocusing her mind and eyes on Noah.

“And just for the record, you’ve always been difficult since we met in Colony Gamma.” Taion stated as he then walked out of the room, shutting the door behind him.

Once Taion actually exited the room, a sigh escaped Mio’s mouth as she glanced at the tray of food. It did look appetizing, but how could she eat knowing that Noah isn’t conscious? After a few minutes of debating, she decided to eat the meal her friends provided her so they didn’t have to be worried about her anymore.

“This does taste good though.” Mio thought as she took in a spoonful of fish and rice into her mouth. While she was eating her meal, she was looking at Noah’s face. It just seemed so lifeless, yet peaceful. She felt shame fill her. Why was she able to enjoy her food while Noah can’t even have a morsel in his unconscious state? She made a mental note to have Manana cook Noah all his favorites when he wakes up.

“Oh yeah, we have those Gonzalez eyeballs and meat…” Mio realized with a small smile. Their Kevesi friends are definitely going to enjoy what Manana makes out of it. However, her smile faded immediately as she remembered the price Noah paid in exchange for the ingredients.

Mio shook her head and decided to finish her meal. Once she was done, she placed the empty tray back on the table and got out a cloth. She got up and walked to the sink, dampening it with the cold rushing water. Once she was satisfied with it, she turned off the water and walked back to Noah’s side as she carefully placed the wet cloth on his forehead.

She could have sworn she saw Noah’s body twitch slightly after she placed the cloth over his forehead. After a couple minutes of observing him for more movement, she decided to dismiss it as her eyes playing tricks on her.

An hour had passed as Mio never left Noah’s side. Every once in a while she would make sure to make the wet cloth cold again so Noah wouldn’t potentially get sick from his injuries. During the time, Dr. Hollis and Monica had stopped by to check on them to see if Noah was showing any signs that could regain his consciousness soon. It filled Mio with hope and relief when she heard from Dr. Hollis that Noah’s body temperature is returning to normal.

“Please wake up soon Noah…” Mio thought as she gently pressed her lips on his cheek. 

≻───── ⋆✩⋆ ─────≺

In the Boys room at the Dorms… 

Lanz was sitting up on the lower half of the bunk bed he would have normally shared with Noah if he wasn’t currently sparking unconscious at the moment. He was deep in thought as he reminisced of the past.

“You’ll apologize, right?”

“You dumb clod… Come on… Joran…”

“Watch out!”

“Joran… JORAN!!!”

“Stop crying, Lanz! It won’t change anything!”

“I should thank you, Lanz… ‘cause I get to be like this now, and I owe it to you.”

The Kevesi defender shook his head at the memories. Noah and Eunie had always believed and told him that he tries too hard to protect his friends ever since Joran “died” back then. Honestly, he felt like he’s still not trying hard enough. 

“Look at me… I wasn’t strong enough and Noah is now unconscious… Eunie couldn’t even bring him back to his senses…” Lanz muttered to himself as he closed his eyes. He felt like failed his friends once more. “What am I even around for!?”

“Don’t beat yourself up about it.” 

Lanz’s eyes shot open as his eyes darted towards the now opened door.

“Riku…” Lanz mumbled as he noticed that the Blue Nopon had made his entrance known. “What are you doing here furball?”

“Manana began feeling sleepy so we finished our shopping quickly and came back to rest.” Riku answered, placing his new purchases on the floor next to his bed. The Nopon then looked back at Lanz, staring at him for a few moments, causing Lanz to sweat nervously.

“Why are you staring at me like that?” Lanz asked with a raised eyebrow. Sweat was starting to form on his head. Did the AC suddenly shut off?

“Lanz… you should not burden yourself for what happened in the past…” Riku spoke after some more silence. “Think about the potential future… with friends by our side.”

“But Riku-”

“No buts. Noah once told all of us to move forward. Did he not?” 

“What does that have anything to do about it!? Noah almost snuffin` died from my carelessness and-”

“Stop talking and think.” Riku interrupted sternly. Lanz glared at the Nopon, but ultimately gave in. He knew better than to oppose the Nopon that helped him and his friends since their first term back at Colony 14.

“Now that Riku mentioned it… Noah did say something like that recently… after we found out Joran sided with Moebius.” Lanz thought to himself before the specific event relayed back in his mind.

“Everyone deals with things in their own way.” Noah suddenly said as he noticed Lanz walking past him. Lanz stopped in place and glared at the Kevesi offseer with a passion, noticing him practicing his swings and strikes with his blade.

“Is that right?” Lanz asked as he felt his emotions boil inside him. “And why are *you* acting all normal?” To Lanz, it was insane to him that Eunie and especially Noah of all people are acting all normal. They just found out their long lost friend survived a tragedy and is now their sworn enemy. 

Seeing that Noah looked away from his blade and met his eyes, Lanz continued to speak. “It was Joran! He was… He looked just like his old self!”

“I suppose… you think you are the reason for that, do you?” Noah countered, which left Lanz dumbfounded.

“Huh?”

“In that case, I’m telling you to drop it right now.” Noah demanded in a stern tone. “So Joran turned up. That alone isn’t so bad.”

“‘Course it is!” Lanz responded, feeling his anger about to explode. What does he mean it’s not a bad thing? He’s now the enemy and blames them for his suffering.

“Figuring out why it happened… That’s what we should do!” Noah argued. 

“Whaddya mean… “Why it happened”...?”

“The reason we became Ouroboros… The reason the world looks like this. It’s all connected… I’m sure of it…” 

“Or maybe you just want it that way.” Lanz snapped. He had enough of his nonsense.

“Better than being stuck in the past…”

“Better than being stuck in the past…” Lanz repeated in present time as the memory ended in his mind. “Noah did tell me that focusing on the future is better than being stuck in the past.”

Riku nodded. “Noah also said something about “atonement” remember?”

“Well yeah, but he was atoning for Joran’s mud puppets ‘cause apparently he felt he needs to. What you want me to do? Get a flute and start playing for Noah?”

“Maybe you need to find atonement in yourself.” 

“Atonement… in myself…?”

“You see, Lanz focuses too much to try to make it up to friends… you should learn when to forgive yourself.” Riku explained.

Lanz remained silent as he took the time to process Riku’s words. As he thought back, he did realize his motives and current thoughts are too focused on his past. Who could blame him though? The past has come back to haunt him. “Could I really forgive myself… is it that easy?”

Lanz stared up at the ceiling as he was deep in thought. Maybe Noah, Eunie, and Riku are right. He’s been too hard on himself for most of his terms. 

“I just want to protect my friends. I’ve always viewed myself as… weak.” Lanz finally admitted to the Nopon. “But… I realize now that I shouldn’t fault myself for everything. I’m not Moebius that tries to perfect everything. As friends, we got each other's backs and cover for each other's weaknesses. We give comfort when one needs it most.”  When he said the last part, he thought about Sena.

“That’s why, Riku knows that Noah does not blame you…” Riku said with a nod as Lanz was starting to get the full picture. He then gave a small smile. “And Joran deep down does not blame you either.”

“You really think so, furball?” 

“Riku does think so.”

After a few moments, Lanz’s lips formed a grin. He suddenly felt his chest feel somewhat relieved, yet he still felt a negative feeling whenever he thought about Joran and most recently Noah.

“Thanks for the talk Riku, I needed that.”

“Not a problem. Now be quiet, Riku wants to sleep.”

Lanz laughed and shook his head as he watched Riku stroll towards his bunk. After a couple of minutes, Lanz too felt like he could sleep easier now. Just as he was about to knock out, a thought suddenly came to him.

“Wait a minute… how did you know Noah and I had that conversation back at Colony Lambda?” Lanz asked the Kevesi Blue Nopon. “You were near the camp too busy oggling at our weapons and supplies.”

“Riku may have been busy fiddling and gushing about tools and weapons, but Riku is a very good listener. That’s what Manana and Riku’s masterpon say anyway.”

“Well you give good snuffing wisdom that’s for sure.” Lanz chuckled.

“Riku thank you for compliment, now let Riku sleep.”

≻───── ⋆✩⋆ ─────≺

Back in the Emergency Room of the Medical Facility…

Mio was feeling quite tired, her eyes threatening to shut and glue themselves tight so she couldn’t open them for a good few hours. She checked her iris for the time.

“10:46 PM huh…” Mio mused quietly as she sighed. It had been around seven hours since Noah was knocked unconscious during their fight with the Immovable Gonzalez. 

“So he still isn’t awake, huh.”

Mio looked up to see Taion walk in from the doorway. It seemed he was carrying a hardcover book with him. 

“What’s that?” Mio asked as she pointed at the book in Taion’s arms.

“Oh this, it’s a textbook about the City’s history and the six founders during their fight against Moebius.” Taion answered with a little too much enthusiasm in his voice. “I thought that maybe it will have insight on how they fought against Moebius so we can apply it to our tactics.”

“But I thought you were looking for books that may help us know more about Noah’s condition?” 

Taion sweatdropped and nervously laughed. “Sorry, I got kind of distracted so I didn’t find any.” 

Mio blinked for a few moments before facepalming. “Boys… I swear they are a different breed from us.”

“Anyways, I’m here to relieve you of your position as I’ll be watching over Noah for the rest of the night. I ran into Riku and Manana on the way back here and told them to tell the others that if Noah wakes up during the middle of the night I’ll call you all right away through our irises.” Taion informed.

Mio got up and nodded at the Agnian Tactician, giving him a grateful smile. She was very fatigued, yet still hesitant to leave Noah’s side, but she trusted Taion to take care of Noah while she got a quick rest. After thanking Taion for offering to take first night watch over Noah and giving Noah’s face another caress from her hand, she walked out of the room and headed for the dorms.

≻───── ⋆✩⋆ ─────≺

“Mimi! You’re back!” Sena exclaimed when she heard the door to their dorm room creak open with Mio stumbling in and collapsing on the nearest unoccupied bottom bunk.

Mio lifted her face from the soft mattress to see Sena on a mattress next to her, while Eunie occupied the top mattress of Sena’s bunk. Manana had succumbed to sleep earlier and was sleeping on a separate bunk by the window.

“Manana told us that Taion is taking the night shift before she got some shut-eye.” Eunie said from atop. Her back was against the bedframe as she had her hands behind her head in a casual manner. “Hope he doesn’t have to call us till the mornin’, getting calls and memos while you’re sleeping get snuffin’ annoying fast.”

“Yeah,” Mio agreed with a sigh as she looked out the window. It was pitch-black out, but she could definitely see the outline of the Medical Facility through it. “I know, but I can’t help but worry for him you know? Ever since we first met, ever since we first interlinked… ever since we joined forces… he’s become very special to me.”

“Mio…” Eunie uttered at Mio’s sudden confession. She got off from the top bunk to sit on Mio’s right, while Sena decided to occupy Sena’s left side. 

“Mimi…” Sena said quietly.

“I cannot help but fear… what if he doesn’t wake up? Will I pass on to my Homecoming without him?” Mio whispered her fears outloud. New tears threatened to drip down, so she buried her face in her hands.

“Everything will be okay, love…” Eunie comforted, putting a hand on the Agnian offseer’s left shoulder. “If I know Noah, he hates to disappoint his friends. He’ll pull through.”

“Yeah, Eunie is right Mimi.” Sena encouraged with a sympathetic smile as she placed her hand on Mio’s other shoulder. “Taion is taking the first watch and will wake us up through our irises if anything happens.”

“I-I must be looking silly to you both, huh?” Mio said with a sniffle. She was quite vulnerable right now, but if she was going to break down, at least it was for Noah.

“Not at all, it’s only natural to be worried about the people you care about,” Eunie replied sincerely as she shook her head. She shared a quick glance with Sena before taking a deep breath. “You know, Noah has his own shares of worries.”

Mio nodded. “Yeah, I know. He’s told me about how he’s worried if we would be able to free the world from Moebius, worried about Joran, worried that we wouldn’t meet the expectations of the people in the City-”

“No, no. Not about those things, though those are good things to worry about,” Eunie stated. “He really worries about you. He’s always talking to me whenever he notices you start slipping up and accidentally snuff it in battle. He gets worried, really worried.”

Mio’s cheeks turned slightly red, averting her sights to the floor as she ignores the gazes of her friends. “Does he care for me like I care for him…? More than allies?”

Mio took her words in as she thought back of a little conversation they had during their trek through a slippery muddy path.

“Mhm… You’re a kind man, aren’t you?” Mio asked with a tint of blush on her cheeks. This Kevesi man… he’s different.

“I-I’m just… being polite.” Noah claims bashfully as he turns around and continues walking. Unfortunately he wasn’t watching his step and ended up slipping on the mud and crashed into Lanz. 

“I just… hope everything works out in the end. I don’t like seeing him hurt. I guess we do really care about each other.” Mio said as she curled her body and hugged her knees.

“Should I just tell her…?” The Kevesi Medic Gunner softly bit her lip in thought. “No, this is Noah’s say in the matter. He wants to do it, so I’ll respect it.”

“We hope so too.” Sena said with a smile, her hands raised and clenched in front of her. “You, me, Eunie, Lanz, Riku, Manana, and Taion will all be there for him when he wakes up.”

“That’s right, love.” Eunie added with a deep yawn coming afterwards. “Now how about we get some shut-eye? Taion could call us at any moment.”

“Mmm.” Mio and Sena both hummed in agreement.

With Sena giving both Mio and Eunie a hug, she returned to her bed. Eunie climbed on top to lay on the mattress in her half of the bunk bed she shared with Sena.

Mio gave a forced smile to her friends as they bade one another a good nights sleep. After a few minutes, the Agnian offseer chose to lay down on her bed in their shared guest room of the dorm. Mio layed there for the next half hour, still awake as she worried about Noah. Her heart was breaking, knowing that he wasn’t here with them. She hoped that he will wake up soon so they could continue towards their destiny to free time from the shackles restraining it from ticking. She didn’t know when her eyes shut and her mind started initiating stages of the REM cycle.

In the Middle of the Night… 

Mio slowly opened her eyes, she could see that she was back in the Upper Maktha Wildwood. How did she get back here? It was eerie and unaturally quiet. Where were the native wildlife that naturally resided in this dense forest? She was looking around until she noticed a flash of red catch her eye. It was Noah’s red jacket!

“There you are.” Mio sighed out as she rushed to the aid of her Kevesi Ouroboros partner, her other half. His body twitched, showing that he was still conscious. When she got closer and cradled his head in her hands, she noticed that his body was surrounded in a red aura, red motes were slowly coming out of his body. Mio screamed.

“M-Mio…” Noah managed to mutter out as his eyes slowly opened. Noah looked up to see the beautiful face of his partner, one of his hands trembling as he moved it to land on her left cheek “It looks like my time has come…”

“Noah, don’t say that! Sena and the others will be here and then Eunie will-”

“Mio… I- I am losing all feeling…” Noah interrupted, his voice filled with longing and regret.

“No! No you can’t take him, Moebius!” Mio shouted to the darkened sky defiantly. She knew they were watching, enjoying their suffering. Moebius fed on the suffering of others.

“Mio… send me off…” Noah said softly as he winced in pain. The red motes emitting from his body were glowing more aggressively.

“No, Noah I-I can’t!” Mio cried as she clutched the body of the one she held most dear. “Please… don’t leave me…”

“You must… it’s our purpose…” Noah stated, this time his voice felt lifeless and full of void. The red motes around his body were replaced by white and blue ones.

“Noah…” Mio muttered, tears not failing to trail down her face. She felt the moment was right, so she leaned in to catch his lips with hers for the first AND last time. However, just as their lips were mere inches centimeters apart…

“Goodbye… Mio…” 

With that said, Noah completely disappeared from her arms, exploding into motes of light. With only his signature blade remaining, Lucky Seven remained on the ground without its master.

“NOAHHHHHHH!!!”

“O you, who floats in the currents… outside the passage of fate… did I not tell you to yield so many times before..?” 

Mio suddenly shot up from her position in bed, gasping for air. She felt as if her lungs were burning.

“It was all… just a dream…” Mio whispered in realization as she was regaining her feeling of the world around her. “And what was up with that ominous voice?”

Mio looked around the room to see her fellow roommates sleeping soundly. She could even hear Manana muttering in her sleep about someday meeting her Chefypon idol. She shook her head and got out of bed, careful to not wake up the other girls in the group. She had to check up on him. 

≻───── ⋆✩⋆ ─────≺

Elsewhere… 

“Gahh…” Noah groaned as he slowly regained his consciousness and bearings. “Why is my head pounding…?” 

He just had this awful dream. He had woken up in this very damp and dark place. Some weird floating pale-skinned man with glowing red irises came up to him, muttered what seemed like nonsense, and then snapped his fingers, causing him to black out. 

“Noah, thank goodness you’re awake. The others have been worried-” an unfamiliar voice spoke out to him.

Noah faced towards the voice to see a dark-skinned man wearing glasses, a white jacket, and black trousers. The most noticeable feature was his bright orange scarf, which was not helping his sudden headache at all.

“His clothes… they are Agnian…” Noah noted to himself as he narrowed his eyes. He wanted to say he recognize the man, but his headache wasn’t doing him any favors. He scanned the room he was in, but nothing looked familiar to him. He wasn't in the colony's sleeping quarters, he was sitting up on something soft… what is it? 

"You must be parched, Mio left you a cup of water by your bedside." Taion said as he gestured to the bedside table next to him.

Noah shook his head and looked back to the dark-skinned Agnian soldier, “You’re Agnian right? Who are you and where am I?”

Taion looked back at his friend, taken aback by his words. He nearly dropped the textbook he purchased earlier, causing his Mondo to flail around him in a panic. “What do you mean? It’s me, Taion.”

“Tai-on?” Noah repeated unsure what to make of the name. He paused for a moment before saying, “What does that mean to me, Agnus?”

Taion’s eyes widened. He searched his mind until he suddenly remembered something he read a while back. "Could it be…" 

The Kevesi offseer looked at the Agnian Tactician with uncertainty as he carefully observed his movements. “Could I be in Agnian territory? Possibly held hostage? I don’t remember-” Noah suddenly felt more pressure on his mind as he clutched his head.

“N-Noah! Are you alright!?” Taion asked as he was witnessing the Kevesi offseer’s anguish. Taion took a deep breath and activated his iris,  “I’ll call the others, contact Monica and the doctor.”

“The others… Monica… who is he referring to?” Noah thought to himself as the pain in his head slowly started to reside. “Could he be calling for reinforcements?”

Noah wasn't sure what to make of the situation at hand, so he chose to go with his survival instinct and quickly got out of the bed and summoned his blade in front of him. “I don’t know where I am or where my friends are at for that matter, but I do know I need to be careful around you.”

Taion immediately stepped back and activated his gauntlet to form Mondo to shield him. “Noah, put down your blade.” 

"Who are you? Am I in Agnian territory?" Noah interrogated, refusing to put his blade. He needed answers.

"Now Noah, there's no need for violence. The others will be here shortly." Taion attempted to reason.

“Others? Must be reinforcements.” Noah spat coldly. If only he could remember how he ended up in the hands of an Agnian Colony. “No… did Colony Sigma succeed and snuffed the colony up?” he muttered to himself.

“Colony Sigma…?” Taion uttered in surprise when he overheard what Noah said. “That Colony has been out of commission for nearly two months now.”

“What was that?” Noah asked, blade still ready to strike when necessary. 

“Noah, it’s me Taion. One of your allies. You must remember.” 

"Taion… but you're Agnian. How could this be?!"

“What’s all the commot- NOAH YOU’RE OKAY!” 

Noah looked over at the doorway to see a girl with cat-like ears run towards him and felt himself get engulfed into a… hug? Lucky Seven completely dissolved in thin air. His instinct was to push her away and summon back his blade, but in his mind he was seemingly enjoying the contact. Her scent… it was familiar but where?

“Who… are you…?” Noah asked under his breath. Mio’s furry ears tingled at the question, causing her to separate from him and step back in shock.

That’s when Mio’s world suddenly felt like it was crashing down. Snuff her limited life remaining in her short lifespan. She staggered back as she looked at Noah, his blue eyes showing no signs of recognition of her.

“N-Noah?”

“O you, who floats in the currents… how will the flow treat you this time… without your memories…?” 

End of Chapter 3