Return?
Cheeers! Clamor!
The president had just stepped off the stage, publicly addressing the situation with Preut, and swearing to bring peace to the old state that has become riddled in unwanted war. It's been only a few days since the world knew of Preut's actual happenings after almost 2 years of silence, where no one could tell what happened inside. Now, with everything known, Lýmoca's declaration of peace-making not even 10 minutes later gained the entire world's eye. All eyes on the 'royalty eagle' of the world.
The people of Lýmoca, independently of their thoughts on this pariah nation state, felt overjoyed after the news of the terrible situation to their people unfolded. There had just been news of the ‘naval’ cooperation between the Lys and countries down south. But this overshadowed that.
The moment Lýmoca presented the Lys with footage from within, and simply the number of millions taking over every major road in Preut, flooding the nation state in movement, a commotion spread. Not just in Lýmoca, but all of the world.
Without delay, the national leaders of the world named Preut’s civil war as the world’s most Disastrous War. For all the civilian casualties during just the beginning, and the massive hundreds of thousands of soldiers who have died so far, taking only a few months to nearly destroy the armies the 3 sections once built.
Furthermore, it was the first time when early age recruitment was seen with neither side suffering major defeats, simply employing it because they could. According to the information spread throughout, more than 400k young boys and girls were recruited by the military camps, and this was ignoring the criminal and paramilitary groups’ numbers.
In an overly populated nation state, the moment the world couldn’t see into their little ‘island’ in an enormous sea, the powers within went over their heads with power and lust. At least that’s what any person with intelligence could see after reading and seeing Preut’s demise.
Preut’s civil war was on its way to finishing. How long? It was still unknown, but Lýmoca had prepared to receive tens of millions of refugees in no time, beating quite the record…
The Disastrous War would soon end…
***
1,021st year, 11th month, 2nd week, 3rd day. Prona’s outskirts, northeast from its main road, tens of kilometers away from the center of the nation state of disaster.
“Come over here! There’s a line! Don’t cross it! Bring your families around that place! Here, only single entries allowed! No, ma’am, go that way!” - “Over here! Any families, be it small or big, just come to this side, please!”
Prona and Prequa’s borders with the Eusat state of Lýmoca were flooded with countless heads of various colors, and generally curly. On the western borders, refugees rushed to the improvised ‘ports’ the Lýmoca navy built on Preut’s coasts, lighting the load of civilians rushing to the eastern borders.
On the way to these, of the tens of millions, who didn’t worry this was all a ruse? With the congregation points’ situation, one might’ve thought the Preutians wouldn’t trust any military force again. However… how could others know what they went through?
If they weren’t taken by the military camps, more so by the criminal groups or paramilitaries, then they died of starvation. What was a better off fate? Struggle and walk aimlessly like they’ve regressed 4 Sanctum Orders to the past? Or die without knowing how, nor having heart for a country that has completely betrayed them?
Even if it meant death, kidnapping, or worse, they were tired. Almost 2 years of hunger, who didn’t want love?
“Come this way. They won’t accept us for family or anything,” Gustavo said after checking the various segments amidst a sea of people. Phesx Caolia and Maria, along the rest of the surviving squad, looked at Gustavo before following him.
They held each other hands, with Phesx at the end of their little line, held by Maria. Otherwise, he would just continue sweating and release his hold to clean his palm, even if he didn’t sweat. They arrived at the single entry passage that more than a thousand uniformed soldiers guarded.
Although they were there to put pressure on any wrongdoer thinker, they wielded no weapons. Their military vehicles were there, much more advanced than anything they saw in Preut, with steep, flat surface pieces of armor. These didn’t have a machine gun, but after learning from Diego, and with his own craftsmanship skill, Phesx could ‘see’ they were uninstalled.
All in all, although they had the capacity, these Lys showed no intention to repress them. Of course, their weaponry might be just hidden, or around a corner, in case something did happen.
The gem squad still had Diego injured, which gained them attention from the crowd around them and the Lys working at the passageway with sweaty temples. They were rapidly addressed, with other individuals, mostly young people, besides the occasional grieving middle-aged person, giving pass to them and others like them.
They knew… those were soldiers. They suffered, too. Maybe they could eat and do more than them as refugees, but they were the people still. Who didn’t want to feel safe?
Phesx and the others were attended rapidly. The people at the entrance on their side only took their names and thumbprints as a flash went off 8 times, taking everyone’s faces pictures. Then, they were allowed inside, but they had to register themselves with other uniformed people.
Looking at a nearby section for families, Phesx Caolia could see they only had to give their name after crossing the passage and wait for a few minutes before an enormous, armored bus arrived. They would board it and off into Eusat, finally leaving Preut. Of course, he couldn’t know the specifics. There was too much noise around.
Meanwhile, on his side, they were approached by a brown female soldier with only uniform, of much better quality color, and the symbol of an imposing eagle on her left chest. “Come over here. You’re all soldiers, did I get that right?”
“…Yes,” Maria said after everyone hesitated. The soldier didn’t frown and just waited, already aware of how some would feel being interrogated like this. The soldier nodded and passed them a clipboard another soldier brought to her, “Put your information here. Everything, and if you have some things you feel you should write on the ‘notes’ space, go ahead.”
“How do we know we should write… something?” Ulises asked, looking at the hundreds of sheets placed just on this clipboard, looking freshly resupplied with pens and papers. The soldier looked at him and calmly voiced, “If you feel you should hide it, you might want to write it down.”
“…” The squad didn’t question any further and began writing. Phesx Caolia looked around, waiting for his turn. He could feel the squad’s hesitation and troublesome pondering as they debated on whether to write in that note blank space.
When his turn arrived, Maria passed it to him, waiting at the side as the female soldier attended others, but remained nearby, checking them from time to time. Just as Phesx wrote his name, rank, and the military camps he served in. When he looked at the ‘Hellcat’ alias again, he stopped. His right hand holding the pen visibly trembled for a moment before stabilizing.
“I think I’m returning,” he whispered. Maria looked at him, flicking her hair before setting her celeste eyes on him. The rest of the squad did, too. The female soldier, who was just walking towards them, twitched her eyebrows but didn’t interfere.
“Are you sure?” Maria asked him. Phesx didn’t feel like talking, and instead, he just nodded with a blink. He stared at the squad before resting his light black eyes on Maria, who didn’t stop staring at him. Looking into each other’s eyes, Maria broke the silence with a soft sigh.
“Sigh… Maybe you’ll just take more time to come out. Good luck; with whatever you’re going to do now.” Maria extended her right hand towards him, looking at him with an understanding glare. Phesx looked at her hand before holding it. However, she looked up at him and pondered before hugging his neck. She buried her face in his neck.
After almost 2 years, Phesx had grown a little more, making it a little better for her to hug him. It also made their last few talks about life quite memorable, especially with the sudden new-found slow passion he flooded her with. Either way, he was staying now, while the others were leaving.
‘Oh.’ Before Phesx knew it, he was hugged by Karla, followed by Edwin and Diego, and then everyone else. He blinked twice, stiffening his shoulders, neck, and spine inside their group hug, but he let it be. Shortly after, they let go of him, with Maria holding his jaw before eskimo kissing him.
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“A pleasure working with you,” she gently smiled a small portion of her lips before saying. Still with the tips of their noses together, Phesx nodded. “It was, indeed. Maybe we’ll see each other in the future.”
“Mn,” Maria simply nodded. The others just looked, each looking with a similar but differing stare at Phesx Caolia returning… they were leaving him.
“Since you’re returning, would you like to check the records of people who have come here? You wouldn’t be the first. I can bring it to you while you bid your comrades farewell,” the soldier proposed, pointing backwards with her thumb. A large tent was pitched behind her, looking rather ‘futuristic’.
Phesx nodded, before the soldier returned the gesture. She left, with another soldiers bringing them and other groups to the exit, where they could wait for smaller buses to come get them into Lýmoca. Before that, though, they were brought to another stand, where they were asked if they wanted to become Lys right away.
With no much surprise, everyone agreed. With Lýmoca finally making a move, and such a big one, it would be strange if Preut didn’t end up back into Lýmoca’s states in 5 years at most. They were required of a blood test, thumbprints, their signature, and footage and photo as proof.
Afterwards, they were brought to the gate, where a soldier stopped Phesx from walking into the exit. They were surrounded by thick railings, but the guards were still there. The squad stopped and nodded and waved at him before walking away. Only Maria looked back and stopped. She faced towards him, and they exchanged glances again; for longer this time.
Before they could be interrupted, she closed her eyes while pressing her lips and turned around, exiting Preut and advancing into Lýmoca with her squad. Her closed eyelids looked beautiful, as always. For the first time, Phesx Caolia felt a twinge in his heart; his little chest… But it wasn’t comfortable, nor warm. Yet… he felt addicted to it.
From a few hundred meters away, on a side of the flood of people swarming into the passageways, military officers watched the crowd. Some used binoculars, others just looked around, searching for some people. One of them was none other but the commander who recruited Phesx into Prona’s military camp.
“Sir Alexis, she’s just leaving. Won’t you try to stop her now? She might listen to you! General Salazar would be content to know this!” Another officer said to the commander, who just threw his binoculars down the stand he stood atop and sighed, feeling relaxed. “There’s no time… she’s too… free now.”
“…?” The officer looked at the commander, frowning and feeling it was such a waste. Prona had taken the parliament in the end. Such a special force’s expert was of good use.
“There you are. Here, you can check them, but don’t walk away from me. It’s precious stuff, alright?” The soldier came walking from his back. Phesx turned around, wearing an indifferent, neutral expression. She stared at his face as the young boy took a thick panel.
He checked the Caolia family name records immediately. After specifying his search to Prequa’s southern rich districts in the western half, he found the name of some of his dead family members before finding 1, yet missing another.
“These are dead,” Phesx Caolia blinked and thought for several seconds before pointing at the panel. The soldier looked at it and wondered, “Are you sure? Proof is vital for these things.”
“I buried… ‘them’ myself.” Phesx Caolia said before returning the panel to the soldier. She ‘oh’ and grabbed it, before watching as Phesx firmly walked to the passageway. He pushed some people apart, ignoring the guards’ warning, and just swam into the flood of people again. Many frowned at him, but they forgot right after, wanting to enter the passageway.
‘Sigh, there’s a door for that. Young people…’ The soldier thought, lowering her head before shaking it. The last name the young boy searched for was in the retention zone, where those who were already reported to Lýmoca’s authorities weren’t allowed immediate safety to Lýmoca.
After walking for 20 minutes through the crowd, Phesx Caolia arrived at a smaller place. This time with the guards wielding some weapons. There was a ‘wall’, where some soldiers also supervised the surroundings and the inside. Mostly the latter.
“What are you doing here, kid?” A soldier nibbling on a small, cylindrical pink gummy candy stopped Phesx with a shout. The young boy looked at him and said, “Cansa Caolia is my sister, she’s inside, and maybe the only family I have left.”
“Agh,” the soldier stretched his neck, annoyed, before stepping backwards. He urged the young boy inside with a quick, forceful gesture before ignoring him. Phesx Caolia walked in with a few other soldiers stopping him to question him. He said the same he did to the first guard before someone helped him find her.
Phesx was brought to a circular building at the side, left alone. He went inside, finding several dozen people sitting in detention, with a dozen armored guards keeping the place tidy and silent. He stopped at the entrance, where 2 receptionists behind thin armored glass looked at him after staring at their phones. “Who you looking for? You’re not sent to stay here, are you?”
Phesx Caolia ignored them. When he found his sister, he walked forth, still not seen by her. Many people here were depressed, some with crossed arms, maybe thinking it was unfair someone did report them.
“Gasp,” when Cansa Caolia finally saw him, with Jord sitting beside her, she opened her mouth in surprise before superficially gasping. She was good at making it sound genuine, though. They brought some attention, with guards and refugees thinking a family scene would develop.
She had longer hair, combed backwards and tied into a ponytail, but it looked like she wanted to make a hair crown for herself. It was dusted, with separate tips, and her face was between unnecessary fat and emaciated.
‘Does she still want to look good for Jord? To keep her safe keep her close?’ Phesx Caolia thought as he looked at them. Jord was emaciated as well, but none had actual injuries on them, and they sat comfortably.
“Where is she?” He directly asked. Cansa retracted her neck, straightening her back before relaxing. She narrowed her eyes and pouted a little, “Who?”
“…” Phesx Caolia’s light black eyes paused, becoming still as the air in the room stagnated. Seeing this, for whatever reasoning, or one she knew really well, Cansa slightly smirked and whispered a hmph through her nostrils. “…”
“Our mother,” Phesx unwillingly said. Cansa coughed, covering her mouth with her forearm, before clearing her throat. “Ah, her. I don’t know. Maybe she already went to Lýmoca. Is that what you came here looking for us?”
“…” Now, his eyes really fixated on her. Phesx’s mind worked its usual magic. The general vision of the room appeared in his brain, checking the possibilities. Then, he looked to the right, where Jord frowned slightly, looking at him in support of Cansa.
Pa! Phesx Caolia threw his right hand, opening like a pincer with his thumb and the rest of his fingers put together hitting Jord’s neck and sending him backwards onto the floor. Then, he slapped his sister with the same hand before grabbing her neck just below her head.
“What did you do?” Phesx lowered his face, fiercely frowning, albeit just a bit. Cansa looked left and right, but the guards and receptionists around were only startled before calmly watching. A few guards seemed keen on finding Phesx’s intentions. They couldn’t allow someone to die here, or so on.
“What?!” Cansa screamed through the tight lock in her throat, still with those eyes looking at him. Phesx gripped a little harder before loosening to let her speak, “What did you to her?”
He was still calm, even though he was clearly altered. She looked at Jord, but he had worse trouble breathing, with his head all red and his body coiling under the bench. Returning her eyes to her little brother, she shouted with her hands moving side to side with open palms.
“She went with a criminal group on our way here! We were found by some guys, and they wanted to take us away or kill us! Mom sent herself with them to let us go! They said they’d go near home” Cansa confessed, but Phesx’s voice became hoarse, “You sold her?!”
“!!” Cansa’s eyes contents shrank, stiffening at his words. ‘How…?!’
Phesx Caolia’s brain buzzed. His body began trembling. 1, 2 seconds went by as he debated. After the Centralized Parliament, he could sharpen his nails and teeth in 5 seconds. 3, 4 seconds went by. The thought gladdened his heart, making him feel at ease. But in this place, if he isn’t shot dead, he won’t even be retained here, immediately sent to Eusat to be persecuted or something.
“Aaah!” Cansa yelled, more than anyone thought necessary, which made them frown; when thrown to the floor. Phesx Caolia now knew why nobody shouted warnings at him. They must’ve known what those 2 did, and now he did, too.
Phesx felt… so damn bothered. He was really going back there. Wasn’t he? His hands tightened into fists, and his entire body felt a strange burning flame, invisible and harmless, rise from within. Without a thought, he exited the retention zone with sharpened nails, unnoticed by the guards, which became ordinary when swimming into the flood of hairy heads.
He walked and walked, and before he realized it, he had rushed out of the flood of people. He was a few tens of meters away from them at the side of a hill, where people were still waiting their turn to get inside and be brought back to civilization. Looking back, he ignored the lapse of time before noticing a group of young men with the demeanor of soldiers farther away.
Phesx didn’t even bother pondering before he walked towards them. They were about 14 people, all with backpacks of their own, seemingly not wanting to get rid of them, like he and Maria’s squad did before coming here.
“Hey… which camp where you from?” A chubby young man with regular height noticed him and asked. Phesx ignored it, walked into their circle, and asked them. “You’re returning to find someone?”
“Well… yeah, we’re debating if it’s a good idea.” Another person said, speaking with a worried tone. Phesx Caolia went past any more possible chatter and went, “I’ll go right now. Whoever wants to come, meet me down this hill in 3 weeks. Look around for ammunition and other people. Don’t bring too many, and only let those who seem experienced in the group.”
“…” Not caring whether these people would listen to him or not, Phesx Caolia went back to the flood of refugees, this time to cross to the other side, where some of Preut’s military camps' officers stood. They were watching the people come and go, making many soldiers of Preut in civilian clothes hid their faces from the right side.
Yet, right now, Phesx Caolia walked towards a pair of military officers who were just walking away. One of them was looking back constantly, unsatisfied and with depreciation for everyone here trying to escape their home in his eyes. The other seemed pleased and at ease.
“Hey.” Phesx Caolia greeted with that sole word at the latter, who looked around with a frown, finding that voice somewhat familiar. Just as Phesx presented himself with such stern and determination, he stood before the commander, and he was not going to step back now.
The flood of people continued moving, but just like back then, the young boy went against the current, and swiftly escaped it. Disappearing somewhere off in the distance…
…