The long awaited morning arrived only to learn no one held any interest in noticing its arrival. Many were grateful for the light it gave, but their attention lay elsewhere. Chaos of one sort ended, yet a different form surfaced. It was never ending. No one complained. No one said anything. Everyone worked.

Unmoved from the Command Tent, Simonides sat alone in the dark interior. All of the sources of light left with the soldiers. He needed nothing. All he could do was think over everything that happened. Questions were the only thing of comfort afforded to him. Soldiers died in a failed mission. Their prisoner disappeared in the fighting, already assumed to be rescued by his comrades. Everything possible went wrong.

Simonides couldn’t remember the last time he miscalculated so poorly. ‘It’s like plans are pointless with them…but it doesn’t explain what happened. What happened to Vangelis? He was supposed to have stalled them enough for me to get answers from the captive. They attacked before I understood them fully.’ The thought of Vangelis’ team shifted his focus. He relied on his team to slow them down, but it never happened and they weren’t prepared for it. ‘Where is he? What the hell is he doing?’

“I’m going in circles,” remarked Simonides, as he stood up. A breeze from the open tent flap drew away his attention to the camp. The ruins of his camp displayed with even greater effect in the morning. No imagination required.

He needed something else. Plenty existed beyond the tent. His search didn’t last for long. All of the thinking wasn’t going to get him anywhere. Something different was necessary. He needed a new focus.

Clean up in the camp carried on with no signs of change. The ruin of tents and supplies left everything short, but they all came together. Simonides knelt down picking up one end of a wood pole from a large tent. The soldier opposite him looked up in surprise to see the Captain helping with clean up. “Captain, sir! I’ve got this!”

“It’s fine. There’s no reason for me not to help out. I’m the one that caused this after all.” Words spoken from Simonides’ eyes told the soldier to start moving rather than keep standing around trying to protest.

“Sir, you weren’t the one that caused this, it was those rebels.”

They tossed the wood into the pile meant for material components for the MPs to rebuild the camp. Simonides gazed out at the nearby craters from the fighting. “From a literal standpoint, you’re correct.” The soldier looked a little hopeful and confused, but he raised his hand to stop the man from agreeing. “However, it was my plan that allowed it to happen. It is my responsibility, both the lives and the property.”

“But, sir! There’s no one here that regrets what happened. We all believe in you, sir! They must be stopped! If they aren’t halted another rebellion could break out!”

Simonides’ stare turned empty as he turned inward. ‘If this is really about a rebellion that is…my gut is starting to tell me something I don’t want to hear…’ He thought back to the words of Bakkhos before he fell conscious again.

‘There’s something unique, special, about them, but not in the way we think. They aren’t like anything we’ve faced before.’

‘Was this what Athene was trying to tell me before?’

‘I-I saw it! Their world…it’s not like us!’

‘Be…careful…he’s…’

‘So vague…’ Simonides pressed a hand to his head and looked up to the sky. He tired of running around seeking answers when it seemed like others already understood. ‘I wish they’d be a little more direct. I can’t do anything without knowing who they truly are!’

“Captain!” called Abeiron.

It took him a second, but his eyes moved to his peripheral to check on who approached. “Abeiron, you have a report?” Simonides shifted his weight to clear everything from his body. He returned to work.

Abeiron stretched out his hand with a folder to hand to the Captain. He was a little short of breath, but kept his control. “We’ve completed the check of all personnel. This is a list of those either missing or confirmed dead.”

“I see, thank you, Commander.” Simonides accepted the file and opened it immediately despite his personal hesitation. The list was longer than he wished, but shorter than he feared. ‘I can’t feel relieved by this, but we did come out better considering the circumstances.’ His eyes stopped on the list of missing soldiers with one standing out to him.

Turning his head to Abeiron, he expected an answer. “What happened? Why are they on the missing list?!” He turned the paper file showing the Commander the name of a MP user.

“We searched everywhere for her, but we haven’t been able to find her. I have men investigating the area to learn more, we’ll know more soon, sir!”

Simonides’ hand tightened up, losing to his emotions. He turned away to look into the horizon. ‘Damn, they captured you…is this revenge? How long will fate keep spitting in my face before I know what’s happening!?’ A severely dark shadow painted Simonides’ forehead and eyes making only the whites show through the shade.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

Chapter 171 – Accepting the Fallen Pieces

A sneeze came from Seiji, suddenly breaking the silence of the long walk. He juggled the balance of carrying Yori on his back with the weight shift from his movement. Once everything was together Seiji continued, but grumbled a little. “How long is he going to sleep? There’s people worried…”

“I think you’d do better to worry about yourself right now,” snapped Chiharu. She shifted around the weight of what she carried, but the size made it difficult for her.

Seiji turned his head, annoyed almost instantly by her voice. “The hell’s the matter with you?”

“I should be asking you that? Making me carry this…” Chiharu turned around to show it off to Seiji to get her point across to him. Draped over her shoulder like dead weight was Nerine, also still unconscious. “I think some answers are in order. I’ve only been carrying this woman because it was simpler than wasting time debating while still in the enemy’s camp.”

“Seiji?” Fumiko spoke, approaching him as well. She felt like Chiharu, not wanting to complicate matters while things were still dangerous. “What’s going on? Why did you bring someone like Yuki?”

Yumi approached in the line holding the sword resting in her chest. She stared up at Seiji, not saying anything to him.

All of their looks made Seiji want to step away. He saw the missing arm and sword feeling as though they shouted out at him. His eyes darted away to look over at Nerine. All of the images of his fight with Cosmas came back to him. He kept picturing what he did to Nerine. It made his arms shake in anger. Seiji turned his eyes back forward with his brow turned down fighting against him. “I couldn’t leave her back there…”

“Huh?” questioned the girls.

“You do realize that this is the enemy, right?” checked Chiharu. She came to a stop and dropped Nerine’s body to the ground. The impact was rough enough to make her cough a couple of times.

Seiji immediately knelt down at her side to check on her. Once he saw she remained safe, his head turned to glare back up at Chiharu. His face didn’t have the same look of annoyance he usually showed her. The look forced her back a step as she narrowed her features trying to read him. She crossed her arms and fixed on his eyes. “Pick her back up.” A struggling strain in his voice made his demand take on a new tone.

Chiharu held her ground with him, but felt rather curious about the new side of Seiji she had never seen before. ‘He’s surprisingly serious about this. What happened between them?’ She tilted her head a little looking closer at him with interest. “Give me a reason.”

A small bit of Seiji’s teeth exposed themselves. ‘We’re all already involved. It’s unlikely to change anything…’ They were someone he had to face again. It was something Seiji felt. They wouldn’t be satisfied. “You want a reason?” Seiji stared back into Chiharu’s eyes. He could see she wasn’t going to let it go either. Stubbornness was a bothersome trait he saw. “’Cause her life’s in danger.”

“Hmm?” questioned Chiharu. Her stance hardened a little, not pleased with his answer.

Yumi stepped around them with her sword unintentionally dividing the two. “What happened to her? Are her injuries related?”

“It’s complicated.”

“Stalling doesn’t make it any less,” remarked Chiharu.

“Listen here, brat!”

Fumiko stepped in between the two of them opposite of Yumi. “Enough, both of you!” Flames erupted down her arm to engulf it completely. The tone in her eyes turned both of them a little blue.

“Chiharu, forcibly confronting Seiji about it is not the best way to do it,” added Yumi. She looked back and forth at the two of them. “Seiji, we're willing to listen. We know you have a reason for doing this. If you don’t tell us we can’t help.”

Seiji sighed a little. “Fine, it’s a bit of a long story. So I’ll try to keep it short.” He spared a hand to reach out to Nerine. Memories of their fight flooded back to him. Her smile still burned in the back of his eyes. His hand tightened thinking about what Cosmas did to her for such a stupid reason.

Pulling away, he faced the group. “Her name is Nerine. She’s the one that I fought first. You should remember seeing her, Fumiko.” Seiji looked over at Fumiko to get her to recall the woman.

A hand raised to Fumiko’s lips as her memory cleared. “I remember! She sent you flying with her fists and you disappeared. But…” Fumiko looked down at Nerine’s body, specifically the arms she lacked. “You didn’t, did you?”

“What?! How can you even think that I would!?”

“Then how?”

“I’m getting to that.” Seiji glanced back at Nerine quickly. “I fought with her and managed to win. She said she wasn’t going to stop me from returning back to the camp. However, someone else showed up at that moment.”

“And they did this?”

“Yes…” The memories remained fresh in his mind. As he spoke, it forced him to relive it. It made his body set on fire just seeing his face. “I did everything I could to stop him, but he planned to kill her for sympathizing with the enemy.”

Yumi gasped, stepping back. “How horrible!”

“Do you know anything about them?” asked Fumiko.

Shaking his head, Seiji had very little to go on. He didn’t even know their name. “I just know he said something about the Omega Division.”

“Omega Division?” repeated Chiharu. “The one I fought mentioned the same thing as well. It must be an organization different from the regular military.” She only had speculation to go on, but the name had significance. The way Miltiades tossed it at her she understood it was important.

“So now you understand. I’m going to protect her. She did nothing wrong and they want to kill her for it! If you won’t carry her, then I will!” Seiji stretched out for Nerine planning to carry two on his back. However, Chiharu’s hand reached out and stopped him. “The hell! You still—“ Chiharu moved his hand aside and pulled Nerine back up over her shoulder.

Chiharu began to walk away again acting as though nothing was wrong. “We’ve got to keep moving. The weakling is likely getting himself into trouble. We can’t linger around here.”

Fumiko grinned a little watching Chiharu. She looked over at the others with some silent words between them. They all quickly rushed to catch up to Chiharu. The morning was still young and they had a lot of ground to cover.

* * *

Simonides’ hand tightened around the paper seeing two names on the list. Two MPs disappeared during the fighting. The first was Nerine who he put on the defense of the camp. ‘She fought with one of them and Miltiades confirmed to have seen her gravely injured according to Abeiron. But she wasn’t with Miltiades. However, more disturbing is…’ Below Nerine’s name on the missing list was the other MP. The second concerned him even more than Nerine. She went missing during the fighting, but no one saw her. No one knew anything. ‘Where are you?’

In the middle of an endless field of grass, a lone figure staggered forward barely standing on their legs. A cruel wind blew through whipping at their white military uniform. It threatened to knock them over, however they refused. They were unwilling to allow anything to make them falter.

A dark shadow fell around their eyes turning their features harsh with deep determination. They stared blankly forward unconcerned with any of the scenery. They saw nothing. It was empty to them, completely white. None of it mattered to them. One thing lingered in the distance, always taunting them. It kept them going. It allowed them to ignore everything, even the fatigue their entire body felt.

Nothing would keep them away. They would keep going until they reached them. “I’ll find you…I’ll find you! You can’t escape! I will have my answers from you, Yori Mizuno!” A stone cold expression came across Athene’s face. Nothing would stand in her way.