A new day came by as Anya and Kikaro entered the Larussian borders, everyone else behind was still stuck at Gardard, having their plans shifted into the unknown. Those two days that passed by for them, were filled with equal questions left unanswered for their future, much like with their friend far away. Dante walked around in the lobby, checking his phone as he talked a bit with Yuno, heading towards the kitchen as they always did in their morning routine.
"And he just funded all of that?" Yuno asked Dante.
"Beats me. All I know is that after months on the go, I have somewhere to settle and a room to call mine. You also do realize I'm not strapped for cash either, right? I own a house."
"Do you though?"
Dante got irritated, "Look, are you trying to piss me off right now? Because the past two days I've had the party change from Thaddeus to god knows who, worrying about Anya, renovations and setting up a headquarters and the list goes on and on, and I surely am still tired after all this."
"Alright, relax, I get it. Let's just go find the others and have breakfast like we always do." Yuno pointed at the kitchen.
Entering the kitchen again, only Tiki was seen, up early as she was aggressively slurping down on a massive drink as her eyes flipped up, down, left and right in front of a holographic computer screen, her crumbling onto herself more and more by the second as she tried to make sense of anything.
"Good...morning?" Dante tried to greet her.
"Yeah, good morning or whatever." she shooed him off.
"I take it that after you carried all those packages and set them up yesterday, you opted to not close your eyes for an hour or so?"
"Unfortunately yes. Remember the device I was making two days ago? I finished it and plugged it up Luna's throat, and all I got was random signs and everything related to code, which I have no idea of. Whatever the hell 'H.I.V.E.' is, it runs on it's own encrypted language and script."
"So you tried to decipher it on your own? Again, what about asking Drima or something?" Dante suggested.
"Look, that's personal, but I can't. I very well would ask Drima for help, but when Luna is involved, I simply can't."
"Care to tell us how, so we are up to speed?" Yuno folded his arms.
Tiki pondered briefly, choosing her words in her head and assembling them together in order to make sure that whatever came out of her mouth, wasn't going to cause devastating consequences.
"Drima's method for erasing and replacing your memories, though momentarily, were also used on Luna, Lina, and a bunch of other kids that were attempted to be turned into super soldiers. Something, something, they stole his research and advanced the method, so now all the memories that were 'erased' from Luna's individual body are basically held captive somewhere within 'H.I.V.E.', which stands for 'Holographic Intelligence Virtual Environment' and was used by all that were connected in those experiments." she masterfully and discretely spout everything out at once without even a moment of reconsideration or hesitation between sentences.
Dante looked at Yuno, before turning back at Tiki, "Yeah, uh. So routing back to what I said, do you need help for that?"
Tiki got up and shut the computer off, "I need a break is what I need. Looking at this screen only pissed me off more and more by the minute, it's like having people use the old languages we used to have compared to this one, and talking to each other who knew it while everyone else who didn't know that language could eat shit and die." she finished her drink.
"How much caffeine was in that, by the way? Because you are oddly hyperactive." Yuno calmly said.
"Just milk, cookies and instant coffee blend together," Tiki answered.
"Alright, cool, but what quantity of each?" Yuno asked again.
"Hey, push it further midget, and my fist will be up your ass within the span of the next 20 seconds!"
"Did you honestly expect us to be calm in this headquarters? Or normal?" Dante asked Yuno.
"When everyone was fixing their rooms yesterday it was." Yuno shrugged.
"Speaking of which, where's everyone?" Dante looked around the kitchen.
"Hikari and Terna went for an 'extremely important' conversation up in the balcony of the top floor, Luna is playing with Lina in either hers or Lina's room and Anya...well, Magi hasn't told me about her since yesterday, but from what she did, things are looking rough on her. I suggest we give her some time." Tiki got up.
"Rough, as in?"
She sighed, "Her dad disowned her because of her transformation. She called herself a 'Turned' sometime after, but from the somewhat drunk texts on Magi's phone before, we gathered enough info to find out how it really went down."
Dante fell silent momentarily, genuine sadness like he was used to feeling running over him again, "Yeah...give her time. Do we know where she's at, at least?"
"As far as I and Magi are aware, she wanted to dart towards Larussia and Vardard, because Insinia as a whole is kind of 'bad' for Turned people at the moment. Caught up with the latest news?" she showed him her phone, "Raids, protests, the usual. Not that pretty."
"We will meet up with her eventually. At least we know that under the roof of Vardard's church, she will be safe since the nuns are accepting and the church in general run the place there." he nodded.
"That being said, has anyone made any plans the past two days? Because we went from hunting gods to playing ambassadors, to...well, here." Yuno reminded them.
"Hell if I know. We are currently stuck in the middle of a dilemma much too complicated. And we honestly don't even have the numbers to face either threat where we're at right now." Tiki thought out loud.
"Fight with gods or an army of mortals?" Dante shrugged.
"Mortals with godly powers, because I've been looking at each and every army of the world right now, and they are all bolstering their ranks with Obsulyte users. Really strong Obsulyte users. At least here, in this continent...though on the left is Disilia and on the right...I honestly don't know, some wacky names and shit. Doesn't really matter anyways, the eastern countries always secluded their cultures and everything within them in proxy or civil wars anyways."
"Let's think short term then because you're jumping at the future without thinking of today," Dante told her.
"Oh, I know what I'm gonna do today. First, take this." she handed him a box of cookies.
"Huh?"
"Limited cherry muffin flavored dough with cream filling, rainbow sprinkle topping, and double cream stuffed cookies. Your reward for helping me a couple of days ago. Didn't think I'd forget, right?"
"Uh, thanks, but-"
Tiki tightened her grip on the box, starting to lower her head from sadness as she did, "Just take them already! You have no idea how precious they are anyways...I promised it, so take them!"
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
Dante backed out, "If you really cannot separate yourself from the cookies then-"
"Thanks!" she happily took them back and went to hide them in a secret compartment she created, behind the top right cabinet.
Dante briefly stood there as he tried to comprehend everything with the speed that they were evolving, stuck between being worried and weirded out, as a hyperactive Tiki then quickly started leaving the kitchen and heading towards her room.
"Hey, come with me! Had to use your kindness against you to secure the cookies, but a reward previously mentioned is still up for grabs!" she signed him to come along.
Dante sighed, "Don't really have anything better to do while trying to figure out this mess. Care to tag along with me?" he looked at Yuno.
"With Tiki using me as a potential punching bag? Hell no. I'd much rather go up and meet with Hikari and Terna instead."
"Well I don't want to go into her torture dungeon of a room alone too." Dante worryingly said.
"Too bad." Yuno floated outside the kitchen window, "Look who of us can fly and who can't. Later!" he flew up towards the roof.
"Got to absolutely love when people do that." Dante facepalmed as he was left behind.
"Hey, meatbag! Get your ass moving, will ya?!" Tiki called out to him again, "One of a kind offer that I won't let you refuse, and you know it!"
"Yeah...I'm on it."
Dante then reluctantly and aside from his body and mind every call for an immediate backing down began slowly walking towards Tiki's room, the distance from the lobby to it feeling like an ever-spiralling staircase towards darkness as he was afraid for the very worse. Going inside first, Tiki began moving things around, as the clashing and clinging sound of metal items made Dante's walk ever more worrisome. In complete contrast, however, Yuno's ascend towards the roof of the building was anything but that, instead being calm as the wind that blew against his face while he ascended. Up top, in a small garden area made for visitors, Terna and Hikari each were completely unarmed and wearing their pajamas, still somewhat trying to wake up from their early rise as Yuno approached them.
"And honestly, I don't blame him. Ever since we started clearing the mist around here, it's been all too hectic for someone to take in at once." Hikari told Terna.
"Hey, good morning!" Yuno flew at them.
"Morning Yuno! How's everyone down below?" Terna replied.
"The usual, aside from the fact that I narrowly escaped Tiki's torture dungeon of a room."
"Yeap, all normal indeed." Hikari chuckled.
"Why are you all in your pajamas and everything up here by the way?"
"We were originally planning to come up and have a conversation with each other early, before hitting the stores to buy some new clothes that Terna wanted. Plus, there are more officials actually living here, and Drima told us it'd be alright to do so. You should also come and see our rooms when you can, we helped each other put the final touches this morning, and are planning to start with Anya's room shortly as well!" Hikari happily said.
"Honestly wasn't expecting everyone else to be up so early, hence why we wanted to come up here to not annoy you all. But I guess you are early birds today as well. It's like, 8:07 a.m. and besides all we did yesterday, everyone's already up!" Terna checked her phone.
"Well, some of us didn't even sleep, like what I suppose was Luna and definitely Tiki. She stayed up all night with her project or something. Meanwhile, Dante and I share our room and he's always been an early riser at 7:30 in the morning, so my options were limited. Not that I mind, however, because two and a half extra hours in a day compared to when I woke up at 10 is actually really nice, so I'm getting used to his schedule instead."
"At least we finally have an actual breather. I could no doubt get used to being this calm." Terna sighed, "I know it won't last long anyways."
"Almost didn't last when we saw Tiki being as angry as she was in the kitchen this morning." Hikari reminded her.
"Hey, at the end of the day, she's really nice, despite her short fuse." Terna vouched for Tiki.
"Someday she will increase that fuse's size...I hope." Yuno wished, "Anyways, what were you all talking about, by the way? Tiki said something about it being 'extremely important'."
"Oh, that. We made a massive realization, me and Terna, that is. After she found her diary and we started translating it, we honestly were baffled when we looked back at each other. As I explained in the video I made a couple of days ago, we uncreatively named the world Zero, as in 'Zero Point' and it was almost completely made after the world I knew. Terna over here was the first to point that out with her songs and everything that was in different languages that honestly, I am surprised at myself that I remember after not using them for years, but it all checks out." Hikari explained.
"Yeah, there's no doubt about it, although like Drima said, with the different land consistencies of this world, key differences remain across it compared to Hikari's. Simply put, Hikari and to an extension me, are from a place we remember we were at but don't quite fully remember how we got to here from there, called Earth. And moreover, certain civilizations, a thousand years after, even with the inconsistencies historically due to Obsulyte or otherwise, genetically mutated beings because of Obsulyte, still exist. For example, down below us, Terra's old language is extremely akin to what I and Hikari known as 'Latin', or better put, their much more developed form, Italian."
Hikari nodded, "Insinia's old language was one hundred percent 'French'. That I remember clear as crystal, from the older days I used to roam the land. The language, rather, 'Enemy' remembered for me."
"So it's indeed true that people can also go from world to world, kind of how Gates were first sent here during the Starfall? And you both came from the same world?" Yuno asked.
"Not exactly. I definitely did come from Hikari's world, but the things I remember, the stuff I did and the images in my mind only partially match with hers. It's as if I was...drifting through space and time, seeing much more beyond even the boundaries of her world alone." Terna traced back her memories.
"Little by little, we will piece everything back together for sure. I'm just super glad you also knew certain old languages in this world that I didn't because honestly, I had no idea how they used the same ones as well. I don't ever remember speaking differently anyways..."
"I have zero idea how I did it, truly, but languages, old or new are quite easy for me to learn." Terna scratched her head.
"Singers' trait?" Yuno thought.
"I guess so." Terna chuckled, "But if you want my humble theory, there could be more than just me and Hikari. For people who were brought in this world, that is. If we hadn't used any of the languages we knew besides the current one, with the old ones now forgotten having an identical match to previous ones in our world, this must either be the biggest luck roll in existence or people who already knew those languages, traditions or otherwise influenced this world as well. Kind of feels...nostalgic? Like we took a part of ours and made it into our home again."
"Whether nostalgic or otherwise, one thing is for sure. The correlation between the world I was in and this one that was crafted from my head's image is undeniable. But, we still need more proof on that matter before we can canonize the theory. Granted, with the way the world works here, being almost a thousand years more advanced than the world on Earth, with the scientific progression booms every couple hundred years and the Obsulyte factor, such clues will be...difficult to find, to say the least." Hikari tried to find a solution.
"If possible...I'd like to do something first. Victoria stands above Insinia and Insinia next to Sandaco on the right, with Galatea being just a couple borders below Sandaco. We have access to an airport, finally, so...I want to go to Galatea."
Hikari was surprised, "Really? What happened with you to wanna travel all of a sudden?"
"I just...I don't really know, but my entire body wants it. Ever since the correlation between Earth and Zero was made, I've been more than itching to go to Galatea. Plus, if we do choose to go, we can test our new papers as well, see if Drima succeeded in making the believable."
"Telling everyone to go on vacation so suddenly, with everything that's going on, is more than difficult, dare I say impossible." Hikari reminded her.
"Wait, if we were to go, how many days were you thinking?" Yuno asked.
"A couple only. Galatea has a large consistency of islands anyway, and I have specifically targeted one and only one of those islands in the Mesogaia Sea, in the Pillars Archipelago. Think its name was Mesonisi."
"Those are...specific, to say the least." Yuno was surprised.
"Yeah, way too oddly specific. But again, compared to where we are right now, how will that help us?" Hikari asked.
"I mean, we are more than stuck as is, with no clear target or goal, other than what I just brought up. I'm hoping to find someone there, someone that sprung up in my mind as soon as I reunited with my diary. Be it worth a shot or not...I'll leave that for you to decide."
Hikari then looked at Yuno as they both carefully weighed their options, being unable to find a different plan that didn't have them aimlessly wondering around until they were able to find a hint to move on, having the fear of separation further getting engrained in their minds, before eventually deciding based on the opportunity presented.
"I think it's worth a shot, for two days. It'll be a secluded island search anyways, so we can probably do it." Hikari agreed.
"Already up for vacation, I guess. But as soon as we return, we have to see what we will do, hopefully planning with something we also found in Galatea by then." Yuno agreed as well.
"Good! Thank you both for trusting my instincts! Now, to tell everyone else that..." Terna got a little worried.
"Luna and Lina are always relaxed and going with the flow, at the very least Luna who will always be followed by Lina. However, Dante and Tiki will be kind of tough to convince." Yuno stated.
"It's two days only? How hard could it be to convince them anyways?" Hikari confidently said.
Plans made above and confidence brimming through, back in their headquarters, Dante was instead receiving a reward he too never thought would be the case for how things were following up to it.