Both of them sit in a sealed tent biting down on rations found on the ship. Liean goes through half of his before giving it to Velonica, "Why?" She asks.

"You need it more than me." He pushes it to her and she takes it, eating the rest, holding back her need to vomit. The rations tasted awful but she had to pull through. "When you're done eating, we'll be removing the tent, keep helmets on, the atmosphere isn't breathable in long doses here."

She nods attentively, finishing her meal and quickly putting on her helmet, Liean does as well. Above them, a panel, he presses a button and the rest of the tent goes into it. "Why can't we keep it on?"

"We don't want to waste the tent's oxygen. It seals itself and pumps oxygen inside of itself, we can only use that when eating."

"Why not sleeping?"

"Too long a time. The tents only last for a few hours in long intervals."

She nods again before Liean pockets the tent. He crosses to the ship and sits down on some rubble. Velonica does the same, sitting next to Liean and leaning on him. "If we make it out of this... what are you planning on doing Liean?"

"To become the best leader I can be. I'm planning on attempting the Organic Miephal test... I want to..." Liean shakes his head, "What are you planning to do?"

"I'm still planning to become a Ddjöfull. If... If I am this weak now, I don't want to be this weak later. I want to become stronger as a person. I wasn't able to protect anyone I cared about so... I'd like to be able to do that in the future."

"Are you interested in anyone?"

"No...

"Who would you be interested in?"

"Uncle."

Liean lets out a light chuckle, "I want you to think of me as a brother."

"Why?"

"Because I care about you. You're like a sister to me and I want to be someone who can offer you a shoulder to lean on, as a brother would. I'm just a cousin for now but..."

"I still... don't entirely understand."

Liean thinks of a way to put his emotions into words before speaking, "Ever since I was young, I've wanted to have a big family. I wanted to be the older brother and having a younger sibling at my hip. I want... something. I don't ever want to be a father but I want a father. He's dead now though... unlike you, I didn't get to have a close relationship with him, and objectively, it isn't his fault. I can't help but feel bitter though."

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"I was bitter at my father as well... for a while."

"Yeah... what I can appreciate about Faust though is what he had given me as a result of adopting me. Now I have so many opportunities to do what I've always wanted. I want to become strong, I want a family bond. Wherein no one else could find worth, he could see it. I appreciate him for that."

"Hm..." Velonica gets up and quickly runs to the reserve oxygen tanks, taking out an air capsule and putting it into her mask. She takes a deep breath before it falls to the floor, used. "I can't even cry properly anymore... I'm supposed to be an adult damnit. I'm being treated like a younger sister by a kid younger than me..."

Liean looks down at his feet, "I stopped being a kid long before I realized it... I didn't even get to have a childhood huh?" As if confirming to himself, he nods.

Hours, then days. The moon they were on had a slow rotation, only being lit up by the sun halfway through its orbit showing how bright the ground they were standing on really was. Glistening metals, oily grounds. They've memorized the geography around them by now and are slowly running out of food. Waiting idly by for something to happen wherein they can do nothing for themselves. Days, turn into weeks. Weaker, hungry, trying their best to survive with what they can. One day, Liean wakes up from his slumber, something had awakened him. A memory that had not happened yet. He was confused by it for he knew it would happen in his future but did not understand why he knew. Liean shakes his head, clearing the memory from his mind thinking that the assumption was pointless.

Finally, something. The radio in the ship blares as a voice comes through announcing that they would come to the rescue signal. This was a one-sided confirmation that was needed in situations like these. There are cases where rescue signals reach another but the one who activated the signal cannot respond which created this procedure to be in place. Needless to say, Liean and Velonica were ecstatic.

A day passes. Above them, a massive bright white light comes down upon them, wind moving clothes layered on top of their Mexe suits. The rescue has arrived. They are dragged into the ship and immediately put into a medical psychosis, Liean hesitates for a moment but complies in the end.

After that, it was a blur.

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The battle at King Orlanis's castle was short-lived. The ones who had declared war in the first place, the Hierarch Maliea was swiftly taken out by outside forces and mercenaries. If it wasn't for the escaping vessels that had left the planet during the battle though, the damage would have been significantly worse than it actually was. The castle is currently recovering smoothly but, needless to say, the king was furious by how such a situation had occurred and was especially disappointed by the fact that the reason they did it was to gain a foothold for a greater war that would occur on Terra. They saw King Orlanis as a stepping stone and that enraged him.

The Hierarch was swiftly destroyed by the emperor shortly after the battle and everything is finally going back to normalcy once again. Honestly, Orlanis was just lucky, if people didn't evacuate, the situation would've been ten times worse than if they hadn't. Having people who couldn't properly defend themselves running about... it could've caused a massacre.

Commentaries from the Abyss, Ludis Minor, Commander of Terra.