The sun outside had barely peaked over the horizon, the dawn of a new day only just becoming visible. Within the cavern of Babylon, however, only the ticking clocks gave any indication of the hour as its interior was illuminated at all times.

Letting out a wide yawn, Graam stumbled through the hallways of the small barrack doing his best not to make too much noice. Risking a glance into the room of the kids, the old shark couldn’t hide a small, amused grin flitting over his lips as he saw their sleeping forms. Jak had somehow gotten buried under the duo of Myra and Vee. The bunny cat had slipped halfway out of her cushy burrito, draped over Jak’s stomach, and was snugly hugging Vee’s middle who laid sprawled over his chest. Myra looked quite smug in her sleep in comparison to the annoyed mumbling punk girl, tail twitching. All the while Rehn was cuddling the bunny cat’s fluffy tail, drooling all over it in her slumber.

“Heh, he’s a real lady killer, that one.” Graam snickered quietly, pulling away.

Tiptoeing into the small dining room, the shark relaxed and turned to regard the pantry with glowing eyes. His stomach was growling impatiently, he hadn’t eaten anything in what felt like forever! And now the hunger was gnawing agitated at him.

“Ohoho, let’s see what you have to give.” Graam drooled, rubbing his hands together in anticipation before poking his head into the cold container.

“Up early, huh?” Saia’s voice startled him as she stepped into the room from behind, making him twitch and hit his head against one of the upper trays.

“Himmel Donnerwetter noch eins! D-don’t scare me like that!” Graam gasped after quickly pulling his head out of the refrigerator. Hand over his rapidly beating heart and the other rubbed his sore bump. A glowering pout puffed his cheeks as the swallow giggled lightly at his reaction.

“Come on, I will make something to eat, you big baby~” Saia teased him with a wink and a grin, flitting over to the kitchen.

“You recruits have been getting far more cocky since last time…” Graam grumbled good-naturedly under his breath, feeling both amused and embarrassed by his own reaction.

A few minutes later any and all misgivings Graam could have still had were washed away by the warm and filling early breakfast the swallow had cooked up. The hot pot of delicious coffee had definitely been the crowning part of it all.

“Aah, that hit the spot.” Graam sighed with a wide smile, leaning back in his seat to pat his large and satisfied belly.

“Thanks for the compliment!” Saia laughed, sitting across of him with her own breakfast finished by now as well.

“So, worried about the kids, huh?” Saia spoke up a short minute later, head resting in her hands. The sudden topic send his smile into a frown.

“That obvious…?” He exhaled heavily. The swallow snorted.

“You have been glancing in their direction every few minutes, kinda hard not to notice.” She smiled. “It’s nice to see they’ve got someone who cares for them like this.”

“Yeah… they got thrown pretty much into the deep end of things… well, not fully. Thankfully.” Graam muttered.

“Right, I doubt they will be able to get back to a normal life.” Saia sighed. “Not here. Not in Ebenerz. Never mind Dampfstadt.” She rolled her eyes at that idea.

“Doesn’t help that we pulled them right into the secret.” Graam snorted self-deprecating, a brooding glower casting his face. He stared down into his coffee for another sip.

“Speaking of, they’re planning to sneak out and get to the Lebensfest.” Saia grinned, making Graam cough as he nearly choked on his next sip. “Grant’s been keeping an eye on them the whole time. That Rehn girl got a pretty powerful Arc, been peeking in on yesterday’s debriefing. But she didn’t think about checking for anyone nearby before telling them all about it.”

“… Well, that explains how she knew to even rescue Vee.” He said, wiping the coffee from his chin.

“Yup, and so Grant and I have thought… why don’t we take them to the Lebensfest ourselves?” Saia’s grin grew wider with mischief. “Would show them that we aren’t about to just keep them locked up like prisoners. Hopefully give them a better impression of us.”

“And you two would get to visit the Lebensfest as well, heh.” Graam smirked, eyes twinkling with understanding.

“Just a nice little side benefit.” Saia waved modestly, whistling deliberately innocently, before shattering even this crude cardboard facade with a deadpan stare. “But seriously, this Abyss damned cave is murder for my wings! I really need to stretch them and get some flying sunlight!”

Stretching her wings wide her feathers flared and she groaned as there simply wasn’t enough space to give them a good flap. Not without sending everything flying in a gust of wind. Graam had already protectively grabbed his coffee lest it was about to be splattered all over him.

“Y-yeah, I can see that, haha…” The shark chuckled nervously, breathing a silent sigh of relief as she pulled them back to her side with a pout.

Then he smiled back at her.

“Did you already get the clear on that…?” A hopeful look on his face.

“Grant should be on his way right now.” Saia smiled. “I don’t think Qilby would have anything against it.”

“Heh, true that.” Graam grinned.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

———

Roughly two hours into keeping an eye on the Babylon group wandering through the Steam ways and Rehn was bored out of her mind. They had just been sitting there, waiting, and any interesting topics they may have been talking about were impossible for her to hear since it was too dim for her to get a good read on their lips. Ugh, she just wanted to get back and get some sleep. But then she would…!

Rehn blinked owlishly as her aggravation made way to curiosity as a niggling of her power helpfully informed her that she could just… tag something, so to say. A direct link to quickly call her eye back to whenever she wanted. Convenient!

Right, she would just tag one of the bikini clad girls and…! She groaned annoyed as the tag just slipped off of them. Grumbling, she tried again, this time tagging that big weapon. How did a small woman like her even carry that?! She sighed in relief as the tag too hold and she pulled back into her body.

Just for a short rest before looking around the hideout. Just… a short… rest…

She had barely pulled back her mind when the exhaustion of the entire day, nearly full 24 hours, pressed heavy on her body and mind. The weight had soon lulled her to sleep. And this time her dreams were but dreams, uninterrupted by random visions send by her Third Eye. It was the most restful sleep she had in months.

For that reason she was more than a little bit annoyed when something poked and prodded at her and pierced through the serene peace of her wonderful slumber.

“…ake up! Come on, time to get up, Rehn!”

“Mugh, don’ wanna… five more hours… mmph…” Rehn mumbled still half asleep, swatting at whoever was bothering her.

Vee was less than impressed as the cat girl’s hand more stroked than actually hit her cheek, her deadpan stare unable to hide the amused and happy twinkling within her eyes. It was the first time she had actually seen her friend sleep so soundly and not just nap restless between classes.

“Five more hours and I will throw you into a tub of ice water.” Vee smirked, meaning every word of her threat. She was sure she would able to find both somewhere around this place. It sounded exactly like a threat a military place like this would love to use. It also popped the dream bubble the cat girl had been curled up in, Rehn shuddering as the mental image overtook everything with an ocean of icy cold water and she was snapped back awake. By a mental bath of freezing water, ironically enough.

“I-I’m up!” The cat girl squeaked out wide eyed, bouncing upright.

A few minutes of annoyed grumbling and embarrassed back and forth bickering later Rehn had freshened up considerably. There had been a shower near their room, just a simple thing, and fresh clothes had been put aside for them as well. Something Rehn was quite relieved to find as she had been in only her pyjamas since her unplanned flight from the Dampf Tower.

Vee was also clad in cleaner clothes and body, looking downright normal in the simple shirt and jeans combo. At least they were of the darkest colour she had been able to find. Rehn had chosen a pair of blue shorts and a light blouse instead.

The smell of breakfast filled the air and the two joined the rest of their group who had already gathered within the dining room.

There was a quiet sombreness weaved through the atmosphere but it was blunted by the bright cheer that filled the room as well. The swallow, Saia, Rehn remembered, was smiling as she worked in the kitchen. The big shark Graam was helping her out, looking quite comically with his size besides her but was no less busy than her.

An amused giggle escaped Rehn as she saw the jackalope snoring in one of the seats to the side, completely out of it and oblivious to the markings Jenny had been drawing all over his face. The young girl was trying her best to cheer Mina up, and succeeding as her antics and the general atmosphere did manage to break through her gloom at least a little bit. A tiny smile tugged at the parrot weasel’s lips for a moment, weak but it was there.

Grant had wandered into the room shortly after Graam, given Saia and him a thumbs up in regards to their plan before promptly collapsing into a snoring heap within the closest chair he could find. He had been up for far too long!

Quickly Rehn and Vee joined Jak and Myra at the table.

“Hey, morning Rehn!” Myra cheerfully waved as she saw her finally awake. “Hehe, this is the first time we actually met, isn’t it? I’m Myra!”

“It’s nice to meet you…?” Rehn awkwardly replied, sweatdropping as the bunny cat shook animatedly her hand at her. It felt weird. Knowing she had been watching the other girl the whole time through her Third Eye and yet this was their actual first meeting.

“Yeah, yeah. I’m starving, what’s the food options…?” Vee broke through, relieving the cat girl from her awkwardness. Vee’s gaze wandered over the table. Cereal, toast, jam and juice stood prominent. The smell of freshly boiled eggs above it all.

“I can also make some scrambled or fried eggs if you want.” Saia called out, a bright smile on her face.

A minute later Vee sat across Jak and Myra with a plate of steaming, scrambled eggs on toast, a glass of juice to the side.

Rehn plopped down besides her and after hesitating for a moment, the loud growling of her stomach had her grab some grub as well. A small blush dusted her cheeks as the others threw her an amused look. She looked down at her own plate. The first time her breakfast hadn’t been made by any of the maids or the Dampf Tower’s cook. It wasn’t professional. But there was a homey feel to it… it was really good, actually. A soft, melancholic smile played over lips, though not even she noticed.

“So, how was the night…?” Jak asked curiously, eyes flicking towards Rehn pointedly. Something said girl completely missed as she answered with a wide grin.

“The best sleep I ever had! … And now I feel bad.” Her smile fell into a groan as she realised how that sounded. Jak and Vee gave her a deadpan stare. That wasn’t at all what he had been poking at.

“I slept pretty good as well…” Myra admitted guiltily from the side, poking at her soft boiled egg with a piece of toast.

The bunny cat had been told about their plan in a quiet whisper shortly after they had been pulled out of their sleep by Graam poking his head into the room. Luckily Jenny and Mina had been two far too sleepy zombies following the big shark with mindless groans of hunger to actually remember anything that had been said, if they had even heard in the first place.

Myra felt a bit torn. Her gramps was great and she trusted him in regards to Graam, and anything he was apart of. Running away? Myra understood why they wanted to do that. But maybe it was the fact that she was a stranger around here in the first place, but she didn’t mind staying in this hideout for the time being. There was also all that fascinating Amber Tech they probably had around here… She would still help her friends, however!

Unnoticed by the group of teenagers, Graam and Saia exchanged some knowing nods. Yeh, this was about the perfect time.

“Okay! Listen up!” Saia clapped into her hands loudly, making everyone jump where they stood, eyes drawn towards her.

“Huwha…?” Blinking bleary, Grant startled awake. With a big yawn he stretched himself wide and tried to remember where he was. Or how he had even got there. Or why his face felt so weird.

“I… ugh, look, you went through some really horrible shit yesterday. Sorry if I don’t really have the right words. But we know that being just cooped up here all day long won’t really help either.” Saia sighed, rubbing her neck with an apologetic grimace, before pushing a smile back on her face. “So, Grant got us permission to chaperone you to the Lebensfest today!”

“No need to thank me.” Grant called out, humble bragging so obviously that even Mina gave him a deadpan stare.

And then the jaws dropped as they processed what she had just said.

“…YEEEESSS!!!” Jenny squealed in pure excitement, drowning out every other voice as she hugged Mina tight from the side. Her eyes were wide and a massive grin threatened to split her face in two.