Winter firmly had Arcadia in its grasp. As Isaac limped across the base, he found himself shivering, even while wearing his heavy greatcoat. The newspapers predicted snow in the coming weeks and now darkness settled in without waiting for the afternoon to come to a lazy, natural finish. Overhead, the usual twelve stars visibly shone down upon a rebuilding city and base. The Cartwright construction workers and engineers were still hard at work; most of the debris had finally been cleared away, and now they were busy building new lodgings, offices, and other buildings.
A room in a dormitory that had remained intact would serve as Isaac’s new lodgings once his house arrest ended tomorrow. In preparation for it, a Combined Fleet guard escorted Isaac across the base to give him a sneak preview. And considering Isaac had spent the last week either confined under house arrest or fighting for his life - whether it was the train attack, the estate, the stadium, or the armada in the sky - it felt good to finally just walk around and take in the air, even if it was frigid. He looked forward to the day once his wounds healed up and he could finally get back into the usual routine of just cultivating and training.
The guard remained outside, smoking a cigarette, while Isaac checked out his lodgings. It very well may have been identical to his setup when he first arrived here - a small square room, a lone bed, desk, and chair. His (very tiny amount of) worldly possessions had already been moved inside. No longer would he have to worry about hiding a journal page. As much as he would’ve liked to keep it, the utter destruction of his old dorm had blown away Reed’s room and disintegrated the journal page hidden inside. He had the contents of it memorized, anyway - how could he forget such esoteric writing?
It would’ve been nice to keep for another reason - as a token of his brother. As mysterious as its contents may have been, the journal page did contain direct writing from Greg. The penmanship served as a memento of the bond they shared. He didn’t even get to bury his brother, so it would’ve been nice to have something small like the page as a keepsake. Fortunately, he had one more memento from his brother - the black-and-white photo of his family in Patuxet, taken by a traveling photographer.
Isaac now held the frame in his hands. The Spallacio men - the two brothers and their father - had dark brown hair, while his mother was the lone blonde. Disease took his mother, a mining accident took his father, dictatorship took his brother. Yet they seemed content in that photo, unaware of the trauma that would soon come to seize them. Isaac was only nine in the photo, too young and too unfamiliar with the modern world to really understand what was happening when the flash of the camera appeared. He had a puzzled, yet happy, youthful expression on his face. From a certain point of view, he still had the same expression today.
He had come a long way since Patuxet. He had felt the sunlight on him and knew he could never go back into the darkness, nor did he even want to at this point. He had goals and ambitions now; he had friends and comrades; he had a wider knowledge of the world. He would’ve loved to have seen a meeting between the Isaac of Patuxet and the Isaac of today. It would be one hell of a drinking session, he could tell you that much.
Beyond the clothes he took with him before departing his hometown, he had one more possession, so quaint he almost forgot about it. The Lightning Shock Knife - the normal Ka-Bar with a charm attached to it - felt light in his hands. When Isaac first arrived on the base and was struggling with the new world he found himself in, Babs had given it to him as a gift. Only just a few months ago, they sat on the ground, their warm backs pressing against each other, unaware of the coming struggles.
Babs had genuinely given him this gift. Maybe she was trying to recruit him to her cause, but she honestly saw Isaac as a friend, as Isaac did with her. She betrayed him, no doubt about it. But it was only a betrayal because they cared about each other in the first place.
He elected to keep the Lightning Shock Knife. Just like Reed, Isaac couldn’t forgive her for the betrayal and harm she caused, but he could remember the kindness she had shown him before that. The world wasn’t black-and-white, just varying shades of gray. Friends could turn to enemies, and the faceless opponents he ran down to defeat her were all human, too. The Lightning Shock Knife would serve as a symbol and reminder of all that. Everybody felt that they were fighting for good - it’s just that their definitions of good differed. That’s where conflict arose. But Isaac wouldn’t allow himself or his definition of good to lose their humanity in the process.
Satisfied with his new home, Isaac departed the room. Outside, the guard had struck up a conversation with a familiar face that smiled wide when he saw him.
“Isaac!” Lieutenant Derry greeted. He ignored rank and all that by pulling him into a man hug. Behind him were the two marines who stormed the estate with them, along with a few Zhanghai officers. “Thank the Skyfather you made it out okay! We didn’t want to leave the estate without you, but the officers convinced us you were on the way to Four Eagles and there was nothing more we could do.”
“I’m glad to see you guys are okay, too,” Isaac answered. Considering all the death that greeted Isaac during his time in the military, it felt good to see some survivors.
One of the Zhanghai ex-samurai said something to a new conventional marine that served as a translator. “He’s asking about the final moments of Dai Hong and the lieutenant.”
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The memory flooded through Isaac, the look of happy regret on their faces as they passed. Upon hearing Isaac's story of the dusty basement below the estate, the translator relayed the message to the officers, who all gave animated responses to the news. The ex-samurai formed a line before Isaac and gave him the Arcadian salute; he gave them an earnest salute right back.
“The Navy’s the only branch not extraditing the samurai,” Derry explained. “So a lot of them have been surrendering to us. Most of them are stationed at the rail depot for now. Just think of all the new techniques you cultivators can learn from them. Not to mention, they’ve been teaching me the Zhanghai version of checkers!”
“That’s great,” Isaac answered, though he did hope the New Year would inspire Derry to learn a new game. “I’m just glad everyone’s okay.”
“Same here.” Derry nodded at the guard. “I’ll leave you to it, Spallacio. Make us proud!”
Isaac intended to. The two parties went off in different directions, with the guard escorting Isaac back to his final night of house arrest. They came across a patrol of Naval Police officers who merely gave him suspicious looks before heading off on their business. Their faces added to the chilly nature of the night. Not only was a war brewing, but the threat of a Naval purge was still in the air. Spinelli was now one step closer to gaining total control of the Navy, an act the people of Arcadia seemingly supported. But when Isaac really thought about it - most people just wanted to keep their heads down and be left alone. Only the vocal minority made their opinions known - the Navy still had a chance to turn things around before Spinelli sunk his teeth into it completely.
Inside the Combined Fleet building, the guard ushered Isaac into his room and then took up his normal position outside the door, closing it behind him. The commotion in the barracks room was already in full swing. The bunk beds had been pushed to the back, making enough space for a table in the center of it. The survivors of Squad 1, 2, and 3 - sorry, Squad Reed - sat around the table, munching on what else but reubens.
“These are actually good,” Mackenzie said aloud as she ate next to Reed in her wheelchair. When the last member of the group entered, they all smiled and waved for Isaac to sit down. Dan Turner slid a sandwich in front of him.
“How did the acting go?” Isaac asked. “I hope you didn’t get in too much trouble.”
“We had them fooled,” Dan regaled, “Until we didn’t. Lynn threw up when they had her smoke a cigarette. And I…may have forgotten what your brother’s name was.” He laughed at the water receding under the bridge. “But then the armada struck, and in the chaos, Stockham freed us and assigned us to guard duty at the seized rail depot. With everything still in flux, the Naval Police isn’t going to pursue any further action against either Lynn or myself.”
“My friend, I’ve heard you’ve had one hell of a week,” Demetrius said to Isaac in his booming voice. “But please, relax now. You’re in good company.”
Good company. Compared to previous get-togethers, this one had a more somber air to it. All of them had been through battle, leaving two of them temporary cripples. And not to mention, they were down two other members - Kieran had passed on to greener pastures, while Isaac still recalled the bony crunch of caving Babs’ chest in.
Recognizing the mood, Oksana licked Isaac’s face to cheer him up. Little Oksana the snake, to be clear, not its master, who sat next to Demetrius with the usual passive look on her face. “I suppose we’ll be facing more battles in the future.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll be here to lead you guys,” Reed and Mackenzie said in unison. The two rivals immediately locked eyes on each other, but their faces softened into smiles. Mackenzie stood up and moved behind Reed to do her hair back up into the bun she sported during the assault on the estate and the armada. Perhaps she was the one who did it up like that in the first place.
Isaac felt himself relaxing at the scene of all his friends. Lynn mimicked Mackenzie by playing with Oksana’s hair; Dan and Demetrius discussed what romantic comedy film they wanted to see next. As Mackenzie’s nimble fingers went to work, Reed and Isaac exchanged glances. Reed tilted her head and gave that cocksure grin of hers; Isaac could only smile in return.
And then a figure appeared behind Mackenzie. She walked slowly, gracefully, translucently. With her short stature and long brown hair, Isaac knew her identity right away - the Gardener of humanity’s dreams. She and Isaac made eye contact; she gave him a proud smile, an acknowledgement of his accomplishments. The Gardener stepped off to the side and gave a grand, theatric sweep of her hands.
Behind her should’ve been the wall, but instead, Isaac saw an endless expanse of green. Meadows and rolling hills, painted by a careful brush, lined the countryside. A tall oak tree stood behind it all, rising into the sky, meeting stars. At its foot were the two chairs, the garden, and the slow-moving stream. Isaac knew a lot more now. This wasn’t just any garden - this was the Garden of Eden, the Paradise built by God for the first two humans. This Gardener - is she the Soul? Is she Eve? And if so, where's Adam? Realization dawned on Isaac.
Am I Adam?
The woman stepped in front of the vision she created and tilted her head. No sound came from her mouth as she spoke, but Isaac understood it all the same.
|Take care, Isaac Spallacio.|
With that, the vision ended. The wall was the wall and the night was the night; his friends were his friends.
“Eat up,” Reed chided him. She, like everyone else, was unaware of the vision. “Considering the embargo, these are gonna be the last reubens we get for a long while.”
Isaac couldn’t argue with that. He ate slowly, basking in the taste and camaraderie around him. Reed once told him reubens were the Skyfather’s gift to the world. Babs said it was dancing. What did Isaac think the Skyfather’s gift to the world was? Surrounded by his friends, the answer was obvious.
Moments like these.
BOOK 1 - END.