Miyra sits inside of June's room within the JB bunker. June, after crying for about three hours straight, has finally gone reluctantly to sleep. She sighs while looking down at June's sleeping body This is pretty hard on me, but it's even worse on her. She's too young for everything that has happened to her, including what just happened yesterday.... Miyra thinks before being cut off by the room's lights being switched on.

Miyra's head swivels towards the room's doorway. Inside the door frame stands Sherah, now wearing both a green long sleeved shirt and pants with a white leather jacket over top of her shirt. She is also wearing a black headband, one of the many she has in her wardrobe. “What do you want...?” Miyra asks in a harsh tone. “June's already been through enough, just let her rest....”

“Wake June up and bring her to the cafeteria. Raphael wants to see both of you.” Sherah says while smiling at June.

“Wait, did I just hear that right? Raphael's alive!? But we all saw him dead in the infirmary!” Miyra says in disbelief.

“I know, I even remember killing him, but he said that June brought him back. I'm going to leave for now and get the rest of the JB ready for the meeting that we're going to have at the C&I room. Just tell June that there's a surprise for her in the cafeteria. Bye.” Sherah says before exiting out of the doorway and back down the general's barracks.

Half of Miyra's mind is telling her not to trust Sherah, while the other half is telling her to believe what Sherah had just told her. Reluctantly, she gets up from her chair and reaches over to June and begins to nudge her awake.

“June. June, wake up. We've got a surprise for you.” Miyra says while nudging June.

June's eyes slowly open before she rolls her body away from Miyra to get further sleep. “Please Miyra, I've been through enough. Can you just let me get some more sleep...?”

“No June, this is really important. You need to wake up and come with me right away!” Miyra says with enthusiasm.

June let's out a loud, angry grunt before saying “Alright alright, I'll go, just let me get changed first.”

Miyra gives June a nod and says “Happily.” before getting up from her seat and leaving the room and shutting the door behind her.

Miyra rests her back against the wall next to the doorway to June's room as she waits for June to finish getting prepared. “Thank God if Sherah is correct. The JB has only just started and we definitely don't need to lose our leader within the first damn week since our creation. This better not be some kind of sick joke to get our morale up or an attempt to sway our vote on whether she should stay or not. If it is, then I'll personally kick her ass through the roof....” Miyra thinks patently to herself.

About three minutes later, June exits her room with her long hair still a mess. With a yawn, she says “What kind of surprise do you have for me that you needed to wake me up this early for anyway...?”

“The surprise is in the cafeteria. Trust me, you'll love this.” Miyra says before making a following gesture with her left hand and walking down a corridor in the general's barracks.

Reluctantly, June follows after her down the hallway. She definitely isn't in any kind of mood to leave her bed. With everything that has happened within the last few days, along with Raphael's death, she doesn't even want to move an inch from where she is standing.

June and Miyra exit the general's barracks and continue to make their way to the northern-most stairway. “So what kind of damn surprise is this anyway, Miyra...?” June asks, clearly still half asleep.

“I wish I could tell you, June, but that would give away the surprise. Trust me on this one, this will definitely cheer you back up.” Miyra says after getting to the four-way intersection in between the C&I room, the general's barracks, the War Room, and the staircase.

“Tsk, whatever. I barely give a shit at this point....” June says as Miyra opens the doorway to the northern stairwell.

The two remain in silence throughout their ascension up the stairwell. When Miyra gets to the top of the stairwell, she sees the unhinged and dented remains of the door are still laying against the first floor railings. Miyra sighs as she walks by the door as what will go down in the JB's history as the 'Sherah Incident' begins to weigh down on her. “I've never given it a lot of thought until now, but Sherah has really become a liability since the JB was formed. She killed Raphael and nearly got June killed too... I don't think I can forgive her as outright as Raphael or June can....” she thinks before exiting the stairwell.

“Alright June, your surprise is right ahead, at least, that is according to what Sherah has told me.” Miyra says as her and June walk down the eastern first floor hallway.

“Oh, so Sherah was the one behind this. Although she is a little on my bad side right now, she does look out for me, so I guess it's going to be good-” June says, only to interrupt herself halfway through her words as she gets within eye view of the cafeteria.

Her tiredness seeps away as tears begin to well up in her eyes. Standing against the cafeteria's left wall with his back up against the wall is none other than the friend she had seen die on the battlefield protecting her life.

Raphael hears her whimpering from outside of the cafeteria. He looks up to see June's face contorting in a mixture of happiness and unbelievability. He smiles at her, expecting no other reaction from someone who had grown so incredibly close to him in the past few days.

“Raphael...” she says as she slowly begins to walk towards him. Acting on instinct, Raphael also begins to walk over to June at a slow pace with his arm's crossed.

After three slow steps, June sprints to Raphael and grapples him in a wide-armed hug. Raphael holds himself straight and takes the brunt of the tackle, grabbing June back in a hug.

“Thank you Lord, thank you for letting it work...!” June screams into Raphael's shirt, tears still welling out of her eyes. Raphael pats her head and chuckles under his breath.

“I'm not going anywhere, June. I'll stay with you until the very end of this war, no matter what!” Raphael whispers into June's ear, making her cry even harder.

While this entire scene is going on, Miyra is standing at the entrance of the cafeteria, unable to accept the truth in front of her. She can't accept the fact that Raphael has returned and begins to think that Sherah got a soldier under her command to use a decoy device and make themselves look like Raphael.

Miyra walks up to Raphael, and with a cold stare, says “As much as I want to believe that you are Raphael, I can't help but think that you're using a decoy device. If you would please, can you demonstrate some of your powers, just to ease my curiosity?”

With a slight push, Raphael says “I'm going to have to let go of you, June, but only for a second. Afterward, I have a few questions for the both of you, okay?” June backs away from Raphael and gives him a nod before escaping his grasp and walking back to Miyra.

Raphael exhales and lowers his head, clearing his mind. Slowly, his body begins to ascend into the air until he is exactly five feet high off of the ground. He extends both of his hands into the air to his sides. Using his left hand, he sends out a light kinetic push, the lightest he can muster. The blast rocks a few of the tables and chairs to his left, but isn't powerful enough to send anything flying. In his right hand, he pushes his fingers together and flicks his arm to bring up his armblade.

Figuring that this display is enough to curb Miyra's skepticism, Raphael lowers himself back down to the ground and flicks his arm back to the way it is suppose to be. “I hope that is enough of a demonstration to convince you, my friend.” Raphael says with a sly smile on his face.

Miyra shuts her eyes, small tears welling up in them, and then lowers her head and let's out a grunt of approval. She then looks back up and gives June a slight push towards the cafeteria food line. “Not bad, I guess this isn't a trick after all. It's a pleasure to have you back, Raphael. If you can give me and June a moment, we need to get some breakfast, would you like something too?” she says as she and June make their way to the cafeteria dispenser.

Raphael shrugs his shoulders at Miyra's request. He hasn't really thought about food since he was revived earlier. “Heh, sure, I'll get something to eat.” he says before walking behind June and Miyra and getting into line.

Raphael sits down at the table nearest the cafeteria dispenser with a plate of scrambled eggs and hiberin juice. Sitting opposite to him are June and Miyra, who have both gotten the same thing for breakfast that Raphael has. “So, Raphael, what do you need us to do that is so important that it has to come before this meeting that apparently is going to happen soon?” Miyra asks before sipping her hiberin juice.

“Well, first off,” Raphael says after eating a large fork full of scrambled eggs. “Miyra, I need to run a few things by you before the speech. It mainly has to do with a few technicalities and some repairs to my damaged property.”

“Alright, I can hear you out, but I do have one question, if you would be so inclined to answer?” Miyra asks, then waiting for Raphael to give a confirmation.

“Heh, fire away. I'm open to my entire squad, including my right-hand girl.” Raphael says while toying with the hole in his shirt.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

“Right-hand girl? Does that mean that I'm one of the people that he trusts the most out of the JB?” Miyra thinks, her mind trying to wrap around this concept. She shakes her head, not wanting to dwell in the odd silence for any longer. “A-Anyway, if you only need me for this, then why did you ask for June to come along?”

“Isn't it obvious? June should be the first person to be notified about my revival, since I'm sure that she was the one most effected by my death.” Raphael says before drinking some hiberin juice

“Oh... I didn't think of that....” Miyra says with her head tilted downward. “Well anyway, what do you need to ask me?”

“First off, I'm going to need you to gather an engineering squad to fix up all of the holes in my house, like the hole that June made when she first unlocked her powers. Also, I'm going to need some new windows for all of the ones that got broken this week. I want you to begin work on this as soon as possible and I will need it finished before tomorrow, is that clear?”

Miyra does a salute with her fork still in her hand and says “Sir, yes sir. I'll gather the troops after the speech and get to work as soon as possible. It shouldn't take too long, we'll be done before the night's end!”

“Alright, that's very good. Next order of business, then. I noticed during my battle with Sherah yesterday that my nanobots ran out of charge incredibly quickly, it seemed as if I only took a small amount of damage before they crapped out on me. Are you sure that you didn't give me low-grade nanobots?” Raphael says while scooping up more egg bits.

“Funny you would say that. I noticed something odd about your nanobots during the infusion process a few days ago. I didn't give it much thought back then, but thinking on it now, the abnormalities make more sense. Apparently, your immune system didn't react well with the nanobots and started depleting their charge over time. I think it's mainly due to what kind of nanobots you have. Your nanobot problem can easily be fixed by extracting your nanobots and then re-injecting you with a different, more high-grade group of nanobots. It shouldn't take long, we just need to get an upgrade for our current nano-machine and then we'll fix you right up.”

“Alright, awesome, now the last order of business.” Raphael says while spinning his fork in between his fingers. “As you probably both know, my parents are going to be coming home very soon, and I also want to keep my life with the JB as active and as secretive as possible. So here's what I've been thinking. We get together a small group of people from the JB, soldiers or staff that don't do anything extremely important, and we give them decoy devices that are specially attuned to match my body perfectly. They will basically act as body doubles when I have to be away on missions and other similar tasks. We'll have three or four of them in a team that swaps during school hours and during nighttime. Do you think you can make that happen, Miyra?”

Miyra counts with her fingers while muttering lightly to herself. When four of her fingers are raised, she nods her head and says “I think I can work something out, it shouldn't be a problem at all.”

“Alright, that's great news.” Raphael says before finishing off his hiberin juice. “I don't need you for anything else, so I suggest that you make your way to the C&I room for the speech.” Miyra gives him a nod and gets out of her seat. June follows suite after Miyra, but Raphael says “Except for you, June, I need to discuss something with you.” which convinces her to stay behind.

“So, what do you need from me?” June asks in a nice tone.

Raphael's eyes grow cold, expecting an unexpected answer to the question he is about to ask. “Enough beating around the bush. I know almost nothing about your past and I'm getting tired of guessing. So please, can you tell me about your life and how you were apparently 'discovered' seven years ago?”

June looks downward and takes a large breath in and out before responding as she attempts to piece together her response. She raises her head to say something, but then shakes her head and continues to think. Finally, she answers. “Yes, yes you're right, you deserve as much an answer to my past as anyone who has sacrificed as much as you have for me. Alright, I'll tell you everything.”

“I've already told you about how my ancestors had escaped from the Demu attack, right, so that doesn't deserve much explanation. On their trip throughout the universe to escape the Demu, they made a few stops in an attempt to migrate, but they normally didn't stay on a single planet for long. After thousands of years venturing through the stars, my family and the other colonists on the ship finally came to a stop on a hospitable, intelligent life-barren planet on the other side of the universe. There they built a large, peaceful empire where they lived as the only living, intelligent organisms for the next hundred-thousand or so years.”

“My father and my family lived as the heads of a prosperous village in a peaceful, quiet valley. Walls were built there to signify the edges of the village and how much territory my father's village controlled. I lived the first five years of my life there. It was a very relaxing and easy time in my life, but it wouldn't stay like that for long. On my fifth birthday, they came....”

“A rogue Demu ship somehow was able to wander past the front lines and get as far back as my planet. As fate would have it, the Demu attacked our village first. The village was on fire in seconds. Luckily, my father had ties with the UMA and was able to call in a UMA ship for back up, but they weren't able to get to my world before the village was completely razed. Before the Demu ground forces arrived in the village, my mother, my sister and I were able to escape out of the village and into the surrounding forest. My father chose to stay behind and remain in contact with the UMA for as long as possible, which ultimately ended in his death...”

“As the rest of my family, along with myself, were making our escape through the forest, we started to see shadow's moving through the trees. As it would happen, those were Demu Watchers, nearly a hundred of them were scouring through the forest. We had hoped to make our way out of the forest to another village on the other side, but the Demu were on us about a quarter of the way through. I swear, half of the Demu inside the forest were chasing us.”

“I lost my footing during the chase and fell to the ground. Given the circumstances, I understood that my mother couldn't turn around to pick me back up. Thinking on my feet, I rolled out of the way of the advancing Demu and hid in a crevice inside a tree trunk. There I hid for a full day before the UMA found me. I don't know why the Demu didn't take me then, and I've chalked it up to being because the Demu either were stopped by the UMA or they thought my family was more important, that or because they just plain didn't see me.”

“The UMA took me back to their ship and did a few tests on me to see if I had any other relatives on my planet. They soon realized my blood's unique abilities, and thus gave me the codename of 'the Key'. I soon figured out that my village had been completely razed and my family was nowhere to be found. I still haven't seen my mother or my sister since that day.... If the Demu know about my family's abilities, then they probably would or would not have killed my sister. The reason for that is that when me and my twin sister were born, our power's were split. While I have the power to shut the gate to hell, my sister has the power to open the gate, or at least that's what the UMA believes. The UMA have tried everything they can to find out my sister's fate, but so far, they have found nothing....”

Raphael's head sinks at the words June has just spoken. He had no idea that the circumstances that brought June into the UMA were so... horrific....

He pulls his head up and says “I had no idea, I'm sorry that I brought it up....”

June giggles to herself over Raphael's manners. “Oh, calm down, you needed to find out anyway.”

Raphael turns his head back up and looks at June, a promise gleaming in his eyes. “June, I swear that we will find out your sister's fate. I will make it one of my personal goals to track her down and discover what happened to her, and if she was taken by the Demu, then we will bring her back.”

June nods her head at Raphael's promise, agreeing and accepting his help in the matter. “Thank you, Raph. With the JB heading the advance on her location, I'm sure that we will find her. Now, I think we have a meeting to get to!” June says before getting out of her seat and waiting for Raphael to get out of his. Once Rapaelh is out of his seat, they both throw away their trash and continue onto the C&I room.

Raphael stands in front of the C&I room doors, preparing himself for his entrance. “June,” he says with his hand pointing towards the doorway. “you go in first. I still need to get my bearings....”

June gives Raphael a quick “Alright” before going through the doorway. Within the room, Raphael can hear the members of the JB speaking to each other in a loud cluster of voices. It almost sounds to him like a school cafeteria. Still, he knows that they will calm down when he enters the room.

Before entering the C&I room, Raphael gives himself a moment to catch his breath and to think about everything that has happened and will happen in the future.

He takes a deep breath as he recounts everything. Before this week had even started, he was a normal pre-teenager on the planet earth that didn't have a single friend, or even anyone he could rely on. When that spaceship landed in the forest, everything changed. He met Chiot, Sherah, June and Miyra, and from then on, everything had just gotten completely out of hand. First there was that battle aboard the Starlooper, and then there was that battle with Ponretin, and then all that shit with Sherah, which he hopes has finally been dealt with....

And then there's Sentient Society that's coming up in a month. If what June had told him is true, then Raphael has no choice, he needs to help them. It's both what him and June want. “It's been one hell of a ride... and there's still tons more for me to do....” Raphael thinks. He sighs before saying under his breath “Here we go....” and walking through the door to the C&I room.

As Raphael pushes open the door to the C&I room's catwalk, the entire room beneath him becomes completely quiet. He enters the room and sees June standing with her back against the wall to his left. He gives her a quick nod and a smile before going to the catwalk banister. From what he can see, the entire JB is inside the room. The generals, the soldiers, the staff, everyone. He lowers his head and contemplates what he is going to say for a second before lifting his head and beginning his speech.

“Everyone!” he says with his head held high. “The past week has been a great hardship on all of us! From nearly losing the Key to all of the hard-fought battles we have fought, all of us have demonstrated what it means to have true valor on the battlefield and to be truly dedicated to keeping the most important person in the universe safe! Thus, I hereby decree that June has free-will to go wherever she pleases, whether that may be to the battlefield or to anywhere off-base! I say this only because I care for the Key enough to know that she deserves to have the free-will that all other human-beings deserve to have! She may leave to wherever she wishes, as long as she is armed for any kind of battle or she has an escort!”

“Throughout this week, we have all proven ourselves, each and every single soldier and general within this organization known as the JB! I am glad to have fought alongside you, my friends, on the fields of battle, and wish to fight with you as my allies till the end of this accursed war! Yes, I may have died on the battlefield yesterday facing off against Sherah's possessor, but June revived me from my eternal drift through heaven! And thus, I hereby announce that Sherah is allowed back into our ranks! She will be known as June's personal bodyguard and her stand in for second in command! Also, she is the leader of all UMA forces joining in with us, so she will still have a seat of power when it comes to both leading our forces and protecting June! That is, if June still will accept her back!”

“The future does not look bleak for us! Your leader himself has defied death itself, all thanks to our beloved June Twara! You, all of you, are my own personal friends, and all of your lives are now my own responsibility, and you will never die under my command! From this day forth, we shall go around the universe helping those in need, whether they may be from vision quests or otherwise! We shall fight on! For June! For our friends! For the innocent! And for the end of this accursed war! We! Shall! Fight!”

At the end of Raphael's speech, he throws his fist up into the air, signifying a crowd reaction. Everyone in the crowd throws up their clenched fists and a fierce “HOORAH!” echoes throughout the room.

And that is how the tale of the JB begins....