Rhyder and Aeolus stood at the edge of the town, Aeolus' legs hanging over the ladder up onto the docks. Rhyder stayed standing up, his arms crossed and his eyes squinted to morning sun behind him reflecting off the marsh ahead, and even more the eventual white sands. The early dew still on the metal made for a cold seat, though the heat on Aeolus' back mostly canceled out his chills.

Rhyder sarcastically exhaled out, clicking with mouth. He tapped his feet and swayed around, rubbing his eyes occasionally, blinking rapidly after. Finally, he let out a clear sigh. "Any day now."

Aeolus looked up, narrowing his eyes as the rising sun behind them hit his left eye. He paused, just looking up at Rhyder for a moment, though Rhyder kept his glare ahead. "Romilly, right?"

Rhyder sighed. "Yep." He ran his hand behind his head. "Arriving isn't his thing."

Aeolus turned back ahead to the desert. Rhyder's white truck stood in the distance, glaring out as a beacon in which direction to watch for activity. "Do you think..." Aeolus forced down his fears, for the first time since yesterday morning. "...That those black vans-" He stopped, shaking his head again, fighting the regurgitating feelings. "Fea-"

"Oh no, never." Rhyder interrupted, just slightly moving his head along with his words. "He's a survivor."

Survivor, a word Aeolus had in his head, but strangely had never heard. The paradox took his mind off the events flooding his mind, as the silent sun filled up his vision. Within the silence, however, the faintest pin drop that was a familiar rumbling echoed past his ears. "I meant, what about Sc-"

"Speak of the Stars." Rhyder blurted out, vaulting down from the platform, down onto the marsh. Despite being a 10 foot drop, the soft ground averted most of the fall damage. Aeolus shuffled his hands behind him and climbed down the ladder. As they walked back through the green hills, growing into desert again, a thin column of white became visible over the horizon. The faint rumbling continued.

The white sands gave way to a greater reflection. As the duo reached the end of the march, a much taller vehicle blasted through the sands that attempted to surpass it. Revealing detailed showed a brown stained light arriving at the ends, as familiar drifts and swings excited the winds. Rhyder glared forward as the light started to distribute outwards. The faint rumbling became a familiar one, as the low height of vehicle made it appear to glide across the sands closer to them.

"Oh of course he would." He half-sarcastically said to himself. The vehicle was now approaching closer, and Aeolus recognized the make now. The aptly and ironically named car approached, fully visible to the naked eye, somehow even lower than before. Though, maybe, he had just not recognized it from that distance with it's changes from yesterday.

The car stuttered to a stop a few feet behind the white truck, the engine sputtering to a painful halt. Rhyder and Aeolus walked forward, as Romilly left the vehicle. Rhyder began laughed. "Rom!" He approached Romilly, laughing as they hugged. Rhyder patted Romilly's back, staring at his car. "Scotty came with you, didn't she?"

"Like father, right?"

Aeolus' eyes widened, his head shaking. "Wait, what d-"

He was interrupted by Rhyder yelling out. "Scotty!" The smaller scotty opened the back door, albeit sluggishly, rubbing her eyes and head. She scanned her environment before raising a smile to Rhyder. Scotty ran and jumped at his legs, laughing as she tried spinning him around.

"Oh man, it was so cool! I was like 'No you idiot!'..." Scotty began flying her hands around as Rhyder squatted down, examining her scratched up face. "And then this guy was like 'No YOU idiot!' and then we just..." She finally gave up her breathless raving. Rhyder rose to his feet, as Scotty looked dejected for a moment, but ran forward to the village after a short moment. Aeolus watched as she passed by, not quite skipping. Two pairs of thick goggles on her head looked like they would fly off at any moment, though the dust on her thick jacket seemed to actually fly off which each little jump she made.

As they all started walking back, Romilly and Rhyder huddled close together, with Aeolus mostly walking on his own as Scotty had already reached the ladder up to the docks.

"What's the word, then?" Rhyder threw over to Romilly.

"The Forge had to disappear." Romilly sighed. "I personally saw to it."

"Might have been the best play." Rhyder leered ahead, watching Scotty fumble up the ladder to the village. "Where'd you find her?"

"Held up in the garage." He laughed to himself.

Rhyder turned to Romilly. "Didn't get back out there?" He nudged Romilly's shoulder. "Seems you had fun." He scanned his attire, his leather and scattered metal armoring was torn and faded all throughout. Then his face went flat as he looked on ahead. "Any casualties?"

"Injuries, at the least." Romilly shook his head. "The sandstorm is our biggest asset."

"What, FEA lost it's edge?"

"No..." Romilly sighed again, more exaggerated this time. "It's more like they didn't care as much." He glanced his eyes over to Rhyder. "Maybe they really were tracking your boy."

"Yeah well..." Rhyder took a deep breath in. The sunrise in front of him lighting up their faces as the light was fully realized. "That won't be a problem anymore."

Romilly glanced his eyes forward. "Ah..." He shook his head, looking ahead to Aeolus. "I see. Shame nothing came of it."

"He's..." Rhyder stopped, holding the thought as it formed. "I mean, he's not brainwashed. I think he at least understands his nature."

"You tell him yet?"

"Not relevant."

"Rhyder..." Romilly dropped his flat tone for a more concerned one. "You've already ripped him out of his reality."

"I-I know." Rhyder held back interrupting, but waved his hand up a bit to silence Romilly. "Just give it time."

Romilly took a deep breath, then nodded his head as they picked up the pace forward. He chuckled a bit as Aeolus awkwardly climbed up the ladder, like he still wasn't comfortable moving his limbs like that.

The clear morning quickly filled with scattered clouds. The two vehicles were taken by villagers over to the westside of the village, where a suspended garage hooked them up on to the docks. The garage was just a block and some from the workshop, which let Rhyder watch over his prized motors while still working with Leon to find any remaining signals sent from the spies. All throughout the late morning though, the only sounds were the cranking and huffing of the mechanics. Dust had conglomerated in the engines and wheels, some of the brakes even corroding down. They insisted having the full day to work on them. Rhyder was annoyed, but Leon convinced him otherwise. Romilly, on the other hand, was helping villagers on the other end of town.

Out past the foothills on the north end, where the bog ran a bit dry, the village known as Ool came together once every 3 months to celebrate with a two day long celebration. They had speakers and tents set up in a flat area, and laid out a large foldable platform on the mushy ground. It was the last day of this, though, it seemed their music was to be louder than yesterday. Aeolus decided to join Romilly in helping with the set-up.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"Two days?" Aeolus asked Romilly, as they hoisted up metal pipes onto their stands, soon to be more tents.

"Well, more accurately, two nights." Romilly spoke through grunts, lifting up the other end of the tent.

"Why?" Aeolus exhaled out, the tent complete. Romilly walked over to him, rubbing his hands together.

"It's a festival from Europa. Many of these people came from there."

"Where's that?" Aeolus squinted up at the top of the tent. It was just 4 stilts and a canopy, but the effort of the weight had him on the edge of panting.

Romilly chuckled at the query, walking over to villagers connected various pieces of the platform together. "Well, I'm sure you'd understand if I told you."

Aeolus turned his body, walking a few steps forward. "I-" He stuttered, as Romilly picked up one of the large squares stacked under a neighboring tent. "I might."

Romilly walked over the center of the grounds and passed off the floor squares. He turned around the Aeolus, letting out his breath. "Hmm." He looked down at ground for moment, lost in thought. Finally, he swung his eyes back up to Aeolus, inhaling as a smile grew. "It's like a ship, much bigger though." He flung his hands up into the empty sky. "It's not metal, it's like the ground beneath you. It's-" He dropped his hands, but his head turned upwards instead. "It's life."

Aeolus followed his eyes up to the blue skies. It had almost been a full day up to this point. The moon managed to climb from the horizon to the top of the sky. Even though the sun still shone, subtle lights broke through the atmosphere. Romilly walked up next to Aeolus, and pointed his finger up to the sky. One of the lights seemed to flash colors, raging out against the dying of the light. "That's..." Aeolus swallowed down a strange vertigo. He had never looked directly up at the sky. His perspective filling with the gradient of blue revealed across the fast-moving strands of grey. If he hadn't had his bearings, his brain might have mistaken it for looking down into an abyss.

"Right there." Romilly said, thought chuckling a bit after. "Well, somewhere around there."

"You're kidding." Aeolus whispered out, laughing to himself as well.

"It's very far."

"How would you even get there?" Aeolus brought his head back down with Romilly. Romilly smiled at him, putting a hand on Aeolus' shoulder.

"Perhaps one day I'll show you." He grew his smile further for a second, patting Aeolus on the shoulder. He kept his mood as he walked behind Aeolus, going to grab more floor plates. The speakers behind them slowly increased in volume, playing something between a melodic tone and what seemed to Aeolus as clanking metal. Though, the clanking of metal may have been the only sound reference he had for it.

Rhyder and Leon sat at two chairs in front of the giants comms systems. Both rapidly typing on keyboards, turning dials, and flicking switches. Static burst in and out from various speakers, and inputted text ran down the smaller monitors on the side. Rhyder let out a long exhale.

"Someone's having fun." Leon muttered.

"Haven't done back-work in a while." Rhyder shook his head.

"I'm surprised you're still any good at this."

"Yeah, well..." He slowed down his typing, hitting the large enter key on the flat keyboard in front of him. He looked up at the monitor in front of him. Leon stopped as well, looking at the monitor. Rhyder leaned over to flicked a switch on the bottom of the screen. Green text flung in and out. He kept flicking it back and forth, until the text revealed itself a set of coordinates. Leon leaned over. Rhyder reclined back in his chair and his arms behind his head, a smile on his face. "Boom."

"You sure you intercepted the right code?" Leon kept her head to the screen, but glared her eyes over to Rhyder.

"I caught it before the function finished processing. They won't know."

"That's not what I asked."

Rhyder rolled his eyes. "Leon, I swear, sometimes..." He turned over, the smile still on his face. "It's like you forget who you're talking to." He sarcastically laughed, spinning around on his chair and shooting up. He started walking towards the door. "So when are we leaving?"

"Scotty wants to stay for the festival."

Rhyder shot his head up as he stopped his march to the doors. He sighed, an turned around. "Really?" He said annoyed. Leon returned the smile Rhyder left behind, shaking her head slowly. Rhyder rolled his eyes again. He raised his left arm and looked down at his constructor. After thinking for a moment, he pulled out his programmer and walked over to Leon. "Can you do something for me, then?"

"Oh?" Leon curiously responded. Rhyder handed Leon the Programmer pad. "You want me to return the favor?"

Rhyder glanced up at the coordinates, then back to Leon. "Not so much a favor, was it? Benefits everyone."

"Wasn't your style, is what I mean." Leon's smile faded, her face returning flat. Rhyder subtly shook his head with a deep breath.

"The pulse we sent at Vol, I need it again." Rhyder's face matched with Leons now.

Leon laughed. "Ok. I get you 'need' it, but no."

Rhyder sighed, snatching the Programmer and rolling his whole head this time. "Leon, come on!" He held his last word as he got more annoyed. "What is the worst-"

Leon jutted in. "The worst? You fucking saw the worst!" She shot her hand to her side, gesturing out the window. "Those were people. I don't care if they 'died free' or whatever bullshit you claim." Her voice was rising to a yell. "They were murdered. And that was on you."

"Did you forget we have an enemy here?" Rhyder jumped forward, leaning into her face. "Do not blame me for the actions of the devil. The Devil!" He began a manic laughter. "We are fighting the devil and you think you can blame me!?" Rhyder slipped the Programmer back into his jacket, and turned around the walk out.

"You can fight the devil, just make sure you don't turn into him." Leon said, as Rhyder punched open the Workshop doors. She sighed, turning around, typing the coordinates into another computer. "Don't lose yourself..." She whispered.

Aeolus and Romilly sat at a small table under one of tents at the edge of the grounds. Music and lights flurried across the entire 50 foot stretch, making a circle of color and celebration. Though, the platform in the center took up most the space, filling up with people waving their arms and bodies around in unique fashions. The duo watched on, Aeolus afraid to enter the crowd, and Romilly simply content with observing.

"So, Romilly..." Aeolus began. Romilly turned his head over his him. "Can you maybe..." Aeolus rocked his head back and forth, trying to find the phrase. Romilly lifted his feet up and raised them onto the table in front of him, leaning back in his seat. "Tell me a bit more about this place." Romilly's eyes widened, leaning hi head slightly over. "I mean..." Aeolus flung his hands up in the air in an acting motion, repeating the gesture both Rhyder and Romilly had given him. "Up there."

Romilly turned his head back to the dancefloor, chuckling as he brought his hands together at his stomach. "Well, it's smaller than here." Aeolus slowly dropped his hand, turning his head towards the crowd as well. Romilly chuckled. "I suppose bigger than The Aleutian, at least."

"What-"

"It's what we call this place. The deserts, the cracked stone."

Aeolus narrowed his eyes, but nodded understandingly. "Lot of strange names."

"Every name is a little strange." Romilly turned over to Aeolus. "What kind of a name is Aeolus? Or Romilly for that matter?" He nodded his head towards Aeolus. "I imagine any meaning has been lost to time." Romilly turned back ahead of him, Aeolus only glancing at him with his eyes.

"You should hear the real one."

"What? Your name?"

"A0L, um." He almost struggled remembering. "5S, M-12." Aeolus chuckled.

Romilly laughed along as well. "Mr. M-12? Hmm. Not very original at FEA, are they?"

Aeolus's laugh slowly died down to a concerned look. He sat in silence for a moment as Romilly's faded as well. He looked over at him, sighing a bit. "Romilly." Romilly turned towards him. "Who are FEA. Why can't I..." He shook his head. "Why can't I remember anything before that place."

Romilly started with a breath in. "Well, honestly..." He breathed out. "I can't tell for sure. FEA forced workers to stay here after the Nuvyron incident. No one could leave The Aleutian, much less go anywhere else on the planet." He turned towards Aeolus. "You might have been one of those workers." Aeolus' eyes widened at the thought. Maybe he did have a life he just needed to discover. He reveled that everything felt new to him, but he wondered what it might be like to live in a world where everything as familiar.

Romilly smiled, as Aeolus stuttered out, lost in his thoughts. "That's..." It was all he managed to coherently say.

Romilly turned back, finishing his thoughts once more. "Though, that still doesn't explain the chip in your brain."

"So it..." Aeolus stuttered, pausing to try and process ahead of his mouth. "That thing was from my head." He ran his hand up across his skull. The small metal shutter was beginning to surround itself with hair, eventually to be reclaimed and unseen by his skull. Romilly shook his head.

"I wouldn't worry about it too much." Romilly said. Aeolus turned to him in confusion. "You are you, who you are now." A smile grew on his face. "Be who you are now." He took his feet off from the table.

Aeolus turned back to the crowd to see Scotty jumping around the edges of the dancefloor. Romilly got up and pushed his seat in, walking towards her. Scotty acknowledged him and ran out to meet him, and they both faded back into the rave. Aeolus shot his head around, and then got up to start walking back to the village. The townsfolk had prepared a small enclosed hut for their guests to sleep in, an alternative to bunking into in a cold metal workshop. Aeolus crawled into his tent, resting out on one of the small hills.