Return of the Emblem Chapter Thirteen: Revelations

[Ether]

Eventually stepping into the mess hall, and seeing a few familiar faces among the hustle and bustle, Faatina made her way over to the gathering, which appeared to consist of Robin and Erion sitting down, with Amalia standing nearby, seeming a bit out of breath.

"Good Morning... you seem tired, is something wrong?"

***

"Well, good to see that it's managed, okay. I'm sure that by the time I get back to head office, you'll have some crazy new prototype ready for me, anyway." Arietta replied with a chuckle, eyeing the tanks as she spoke.

"So, did they all make it out without too much damage? None of 'em look too bad, but y'can never tell from just appearances."

***

Even from across the Courtyard, Isabella had no issue making out the people who had entered, or the comments they were making. Not that it was of particular concern to her, at least not yet, the Disciple opting to continue her regime, increasing the tempo of her movements as she went... she'd get nowhere slowing down, after all.

[Snike]

"There's a difference between the 'correct' decision and the right thing to do, but that's a discussion for later," Blake said, as he too approached the door and opened it for the Neviskotians. "After you."

[Nanami Touko]

"Meat? Juice? Er... Alright. I'll see what the kitchen has left. Also it wasn't my first battle! Though, I suppose it was my first battle at such a large scale. Either way, I'm not so fragile as to be unable to take on something like that. I'll make it through anything else left to come!" Amalia smiled, praising herself just a bit. If she'd been being entirely honest, she wasn't sure if she'd be able to make it through something as awful as that fight had been, both during and after she'd woken up. Either way, as long as they were with this group, she'd have to do her best to manage.

But before she could rush off to fetch Robin her meal, she was being accosted by statements and questions about her stamina. Well! With a small huff, obviously a joking one, she braced her hands on her hips and shook her head a bit, taking one more deep breath to keep herself in check. "I'm fine! I've just been buzzing around and checking on all the soldiers, to make sure they've eaten. I've got to make sure everyone else is fine after that battle, especially since I am. Speaking of, since I am about to fetch Miss Robin something to eat, Miss Faatina, have you eaten? I can get something for you, as well."

[Snowy_One]

"Yes, I am tired and something is wrong." replied Robin, missing the intent of the question at first. "Well... Multiple... Oh! OH! Amalia! You were talking to Amalia. I am sorry." she said, pushing herself away from the table as she blushed slightly from embarrassment. How had this happened? She had just meant to talk to Erion, now Amalia AND Tina were here?

"Was I always this popular and just did not notice?" she idly asked herself. "Regardless, good morning Tina as well."

[Phoenix]

Visitors

Zachary normally would have let Veronika through first, a kind of gentlemanly gesture since Blake had already gotten the door for them, but his curiosity had been building up to levels that nearly made him consciously aware of his own urge to see exactly what was going on with Raquel. As he stepped through the door, he found the sleeping quarters to be nearly abandoned, with only a couple of others in view other than Raquel and Jethro. The former of whom had a curious look on her face when she saw him, and Jethro quickly turned to see who'd shown up this time.

Jethro stood up and began heading over, probably trying to intercept them in the hopes of warning them about her condition. He had no idea Nadine had already informed them, and that curiosity, along with new found concern, was what actually brought them here.

Nadine had suddenly decided to go in, as well. She couldn't let Jethro scare her off, or she'd never come to terms with Raquel's current mental state. Since Blake was holding the door open, she followed Veronika and Zachary inside. In doing so, Jethro realized that she might have already informed them, and rather than doing so himself, as he approached, he was instead silent for a moment. It was a little annoying to see Zachary peeking around him to see Raquel, but there was nothing sensible to do about that. Having nothing sensible to say, either, greeted them with a somber, "What is it?"

Room For Improvement

"They're doing okay, but ..." Raphael paused, a frown slowly making its way onto his face, "the truth is, the bombardment we took yesterday was nothing compared to what Invictus could do with those stolen tanks. The enemy was using hand cannons this time and that's all. If the tanks can only stand up to what's essentially 'light fire', they'd be a liability in the city, where they can't maneuver and the enemy gets to set up well in advance. The armor's not bad, it's great, actually, but we need mobility more than armor, right now. We might want to just go in on foot if we're still going to be hunting for the ones Invictus stole. These aren't going to last long if we get outmaneuvered ... and we will get outmaneuvered having these along."

Boredom

Wynn was quiet now that there was no one around to argue with, so James was getting a little bored. Striking up conversation with the boss would inevitably come back to putting on a pretty face for Belo in order to stay alive, which didn't interest him, either. There was nothing to do. When Thany started humming, he asked her about it, more out of near overwhelming boredom than true curiosity. "What's that tune, you're humming over there?"

[Ether]

"Well, if you're offering, something to eat would be great... just be sure not to push yourself too much..." Faatina replied to Amalia, a bit of worry in her tone, which was rather swiftly tossed aside by Robin's ourburst.

"Don't you push yourself too hard either, Robin." Faatina finished, sitting down as she spoke.

***

"Well, I didn't expect them to be very effective in tight spaces, so it's not surprising." Arietta replied, looking the tanks over as well.

[Thany]

"hm? oh this? its a tune i recall hearing when i was just a little child. i think there was a bard who would of visited our village every month or so and play us a tune that belongs to our little village, or so he said... i heard it so much as a child it just... kinda stuck to me. altho i can only recall half of that tune..." :Thany then paused for a second: "... it upsets me so that ill never be able to recall the rest of that tune since that village i grew up in no longer exists..." :as she takes a deep sigh and resumes humming:

[Snike]

"Morning, Major Valcyn," Blake said, as he pulled the door closed. It was incredibly difficult, but he kept a straight face as he turned around and faced Jethro, ignoring his curious daughter. "I actually wanted to ask you a few questions, involving the prisoners from last night. I think it'd be better if I asked them outside of the room, but I'll leave the decision to you." The implication being that it might not be a good idea to discuss those questions in front of Raquel.

[-Cynthia-]

Veronika gave Raquel a small wave, though she was unsure whether she made it past Jethro's body blocking. I suppose if she recognized us she would at least greet us...guess this is all real. She decided to stay quiet for now, thinking that Blake's plan should work.

[Phoenix]

Caution

The prisoners? Jethro was willing to hear Blake out, but he had the far more pressing issue of controlling the information Raquel was exposed to. There was absolutely no hope of briefing any of the recent visitors without raising Raquel's suspicions one way or another, but at least if he was here, he could intercept anything that might get in the way of his plan to keep Raquel away from the fighting. He looked over his shoulder after Veronika and Zachary waved to Raquel, only to find her waving back. Her expression was blank, and the wave unnatural; she was just haphazardly replying to their silent greetings, it seemed.

"Ask away," Jethro said, turning to Blake. "You don't have to name anyone." Raquel didn't even know who Wynn was or that he was here, so there was still the option of being vague, at least for now. If the others were going to be speaking with her in the meantime, she would be too distracted to care about their discussion.

"Raquel," Zachary waved again, stepping around Jethro to remove the only visual obstacle between them, "We've already met before, but you can call me Zach." Jethro nearly cringed at the mage's assertiveness.

Checklist

"Remind me to track down Anna, soon," Raphael said with a hint of concern in his voice, "I know she's planning another mission, but I'm worried she may have forgotten about the tanks. That's one thing we don't want to run into unprepared." There was plenty to consider, overall: their original goal of locating Lois, neutralizing or recapturing the stolen tanks, and dealing with the leadership of Invictus, as well as Zerachiel and Samael. They would be hard pressed to accomplish all of that in a single attempt.

Alive?

"What happened to the bard?" James asked, a bit of pity to his tone, "he's not dead, is he?"

[Thany]

"i wouldn't know, all i do know is that he was there for a wedding until the brigands showed up...he seemed nimble enough to escape... but i just don't know... i probably wouldn't even recognize him if i did happen to see him again... it has been so many years after all..." :she went into a deep thought for a few seconds. and thought about changing the subject since it made her a bit upset: "say... what made you join this mercenary group? do you have a reason?"

[Snike]

"I'm going to probably get the dark mage released. Am I to assume correctly I should keep him preoccupied after that?" Blake asked, bluntly. "My other questions are about the prisoner you spoke with last night. Well, more about her boss than her, actually. What do you think his next move is going to be? Also, does he usually abandon his subordinates if they get captured? "

[-Cynthia-]

Zach seemed intent on being forthright with Raquel- Veronika could hardly blame him and she had no intention of stopping him though this did not seem like the time to try and reveal everything. Focusing on the prisoners for now allowed her to avoid this awkward topic for at least a little while.

"I would like to see the dark mage and the young woman released if possible- I did promise her boss that I would attempt to make sure they are treated fairly. I won't fight the Ursian army over it though," she clarified,

[Nanami Touko]

"Wonderful! I'll be right back, for the both of you. And trust me Faatina, I'm fine~" She huffed, mostly to catch her breath, and scurried off to the kitchen. They'd had ham! Earlier... So Robin and Faatina would both have to deal with some beef cuts. Not that that was bad, but it definitely wasn't as good as ham. She snagged some fresh bread for the both of them, and a glass of juice for Robin, balancing it all on her arms. She came back over less quickly, making sure not to drop anything in her tired state. Plates and drink set down with a nod, she sighed, and collapsed down next to Erion, holding her hands together. "I think I should take a little break..."

[Snowy_One]

"How did you manage to balance things like that?" asked Robin, seemingly genuinely impressed. In reality that someone like Amalia would be capable of such a thing wasn't surprising, but it still was IMPRESSIVE! Quickly she grabbed her bit of beef and took a bite before taking a drink. "I needed that. I still feel cooked from last night. Anyways, I come bearing some rather dire news about Raquel. It seems that." Robin took a deep breath.

"It appears that, during the fight yesterday, Raquel was injured and may have, very well, lost several years of her memory. Three to be exact."

[Phoenix]

The Pronoun Game

"Um, hi," Raquel replied to Zachary's greeting, not sure what else to say. She was drawing a blank with his face, too.

Jethro considered both of Blake's questions in order, but wound up addressing the second one, first. It was far more pressing than Wynn, who Jethro figured Blake would be hard pressed to actually get released. Belo's fury hadn't completely subsided, yet, and until it did, none of the prisoners was safe. "She's the one that caused the explosions, the ones in the city, the one that set the main building on fire, and the one that flattened us just before the fighting started. I doubt her boss is going to let that kind of power slip away, even if he can have it given to someone else. The commander's going to try to get that information out of her, too, which I'm positive he doesn't want. He's coming for her, but I don't know when, or from what angle. I don't even know if it's going to be a rescue mission or not, but he is coming."

"For the record, guys," Raquel chimed in from the small bed, "the pronoun game is evil. An abomination unto the gods." Zachary resisted a chuckle at the holier than thou sort of tone Raquel took when she chastised them both. She was clearly joking, of course.

Jethro turned back to shake his head at her, saying, "Deal with it. This is a separate issue," and then answered Blake's first question, the thought of Wynn pestering Raquel relentlessly about their past together making him nearly cringe, again. "Yeah, find something to do with him ... or just leave him locked up until I take care of something else. I'm figuring Raquel could use some rest at home, which isn't too far from here. There are just some preparations to take care of, first, both here and there." They hadn't been back there in almost a year ...

Motive and Regret

James stared up at the ceiling as he laid his head back down on the bed. There wasn't even a pillow ... "Money," he answered, not minding that his motivations in life were so simple. "I found that I was far better off working in a group than alone. We could charge more as you probably noticed with the boss, and we were each less likely to die. It's not the first group I was in but it was the first one that was this large and not filled to bursting with jackasses. Wrathdamn, I'm gonna miss Lev ..."

The boss frowned inside his cell. They might have all died if they'd defied Zerachiel and not accompanied Alexis to the battle, but there was still that regret. Maybe if they had all just attacked him at once, Leo, Wynn, and his bodyguards could have overwhelmed him before Road and Perugia would even have a chance to take a side and Alexis could interfere. Maybe that would have been enough to put an end to all of this and avoid that gruesome battle. They would never know ...

Getting Settled

"Well, I'll see you people around," Belo said, turning to leave the handful of tagalongs from Wrath's Fortress alone in the courtyard. "I'm going to take care of breakfast and then I'm going to pay our prisoners a visit. Stay away from them unless someone asks for your help, understood?" There was no telling what would happen if these people got close to the prisoners. It was incredibly unlikely, but word getting around about the capture of the bomber might have caused some officers to want to deal with the woman, themselves. Belo trusted her own people not to do anything stupid or provocative, but these new faces ... no, she was simply going to deny anyone not under her command the opportunity to do anything about that woman, and that was that. She still needed a lot of information from her and couldn't afford another incident so soon after her capture.

"We understand," Natalia nodded. As Belo headed off, Natalia turned toward the five others from her unit. She handed off the reins of her horse to the closest of them, a heavily tanned blond haired man, a Lieutenant Basil Abraham. He'd been with the unit for only a little while, like herself, and just like her, he'd had to prove his loyalty, unofficially due to being a foreigner. The unit got along well, but Basil was the only other person in their whole group she actually considered a friend. She almost felt guilty handing her horse off to him, making him deal with the chore of stabling the horse, but he didn't seem to mind. He led both horses off along with the the others, while she stayed and had a look around the place. She wasn't looking for a position to take up, but rather something else ...

Edited September 21, 2015 by Phoenix

[Ether]

"Alright then. Go track down Anna, teach." Arietta replied back to Raphael with a smirk, before her expression sobered slightly.

"It'd be pretty bad to get ambushed by those things, huh?"

***

Accepting the offered food with a smile as Amalia returned... Faatina had watched the woman on her way out, just to make sure she was okay, which she seemed to be, the paladin couldn't help but giggle as the dancer plopped down. She would have spoken on it, but after Robin's news broke, there wasn't any time for that, really.

"I-is that true? That... that can't... that can't actually just happen... can it?" Faatina asked, in a bit of a daze. Three years? Gone, just like that? It didn't seem possible, and yet, that wasn't the sort of thing you lied or joked about... right?

[scorri]

Erion had reached out to gently pat Amalia on the back, but his hand froze when he heard Robin's news. Lowering it, he sighed. He'd been afraid of something bad happening, but this... He frowned. "I've heard of it before. You get hit really hard on the head, something gets knocked around. A lot of the time the memories come back, especially if you can trigger them with something. But still..."

Uri stretched and stood up, looking around the surrounding area. Tucking the small knife and dragon carving back into his satchel, he gently glided back down to the ground, taking a second to brush himself off once he landed. Looking around, he spotted what appeared to be a mass of dark magic in one of the courtyards. Frowning, he went to go investigate.

[Nanami Touko]

"Practice," Amalia said, finally getting her breath back. Balancing things wasn't the most difficult thing to do, especially plates. They were flat surfaces, only tilted by what they had on them. Of course, all small discussion left as it seemed her newest employer might've already forgotten hiring her. "Oh no... Amnesia? That's... That's horrid." Faatina seemed to have taken the shot of that fairly poorly, Amalia doing her best not to pry into either her or Erion at a time like this. Private thoughts were probably flying about left and right. "Erion is right!" she piped in with, nodding. "Amnesia is terrible, but, certain things can jog the memory. Perhaps this will only be temporary! We have to believe that Raquel will recover."

[-Cynthia-]

"How long will you two be staying at home?" Veronika asked Jethro, a seemingly innocuous question though hopefully he got the hint. If Jethro doesn't want to tell Raquel what's happened these past few years and other people do...well then we've got a big problem on our hands.

[Snike]

The knowledge that Zerachiel was prone to return was troubling, especially since the fortress's defenses were in shambles. Blake made a mental note to relay that both to Anna and Belo, the former to help with a strike plan, the latter to avoid yet another mess.

"Well, the gods hit their daily smite quota already, so you'll have to bear with it," Blake said indifferently to Raquel, before returning his attention back to Jethro. "I'll have to relay that to the commander, especially since a couple of notable guests have just arrived. As for the dark mage, understood. I'll free him and the other pink-haired woman, then busy them accordingly. Is there anything you need immediately for your preparations?"

[Snowy_One]

"Yes, it can." said Robin with a nod. "And... It is a confusing thing to say the least. I wonder how she will cope with being suddenly three years older. I hope it is fine. More directly, what... what will she do with us if she can not even remember who we are? Will she freak out at me for being Skotian and demand I leave? How will she react to the rest of you? Will we even be able to keep on going? I do not know."

[Phoenix]

The Barracks

Raquel frowned when Veronika asked Jethro how long they would be staying at home. Her first thought was of Horizon. Until Jethro told her otherwise, she'd been under the impression that she would be going off to the academy fairly soon. Now, however, it seemed like she would just be studying at home, indefinitely, not gaining any new experience or firsthand knowledge from seasoned instructors. Apparently, she already had gone through that process, but that was all lost to her, now.

"I don't know," Jethro admitted. "We'll see." He wasn't eager to go there; he'd left with his oldest daughter for several reasons, but it seemed too dangerous to keep her anywhere else for the time being.

Raquel's gaze narrowed when she was told to bear with the vague discussion going on, not once but twice. There were only two, albeit very similar, reasons for them to rely so heavily on pronouns and general vagueness while discussing things in front of her. The first was obvious, to hide that information from her specifically, for her sake or theirs. Either way, it didn't matter to her. It was annoying. The second was to shield a child from sensitive information they felt the child wasn't ready for. This was even more annoying. She was fifteen, no, eighteen, and certainly not a child, and she didn't appreciate being treated like one.

"See if there's any medicine for Raquel's headache," Jethro said, nudging his head back at her.

Zachary wasn't the least bit surprised to know Raquel had a headache after what had happened. Maybe the amnesia would fade along with said headache. That would be convenient.

Nadine was somewhat surprised by Raquel's behavior, even a little relieved. In their time together, Nadine had witnessed a slow but noticeable transformation happening to her friend. It wasn't very subtle, or surprising, not when she looked back at all the incidents as a whole. When she'd first met Raquel, the girl was optimistic and seemed to be under the impression that she would be leaving the academy as a master, on par or even stronger than the instructors who would be teaching her, but as time wore on, and the focus of their training began to focus more and more on the efficient slaying of men, and not on true mastery, Raquel began to become despondent. Although Nadine and Raquel had taken very different approaches to master alternative means of wielding magic, Raquel received most of the mockery and scorn for her efforts. No one had any idea what Nadine was up to and that was how she liked it, but Raquel was always out in the open, always in plain view. At some point, the ridicule from her instructors, the baited traps they led or outright forced her into, and the mockery of the other students began to crush her spirits until she became wary and introverted. That was the Raquel Veronika, Blake, and the others had come to know, but now the crushing weight of Horizon, and life in general, was lifted. It was still a sad occasion, but Nadine couldn't help but feel a little better when viewing it in this light.

The Stables

It didn't take long for Basil to finish up in the stables, even while tending to both his own horse, and Natalia's. It also hadn't taken long for a couple of his fellow soldiers to start talking about them both right in front of him. He leaned around the corner of the opening to the stall Natalia's horse had been placed in and listened, a half annoyed, half amused look plastered on his face. Natalia's horse, Lot, was watching him curiously as he did so.

"You think the two blonds might have some kind of arrangement going on?" the Wrath's Fort soldier asked the other. If Basil remembered right, his name was Alban. "I mean, it's not the first time he's taken Pradov's horse for her."

The other soldier, a woman named Ginger, Basil recalled, chuckled. "Come on. An 'arrangement?' Don't be silly. They're probably just an item, that's all." Unlike Alban, Ginger had the sense to make sure Basil hadn't heard that. As she looked in his direction, he had to move into cover to avoid being spotted. It was stupid of them to be having this conversation with him so close by in the first place, but Basil wasn't going to get to hear the whole thing if they knew he was just standing there watching and listening. Ginger didn't see him. Satisfied, she turned her attention back to Alban. "That's what he should be doing."

"You know, harmless or not, those kinds of relationships are against regulations," Alban noted.

"So?" Ginger stuck her tongue out at him, "nobody cares about those dumb regs." She suddenly took on a more studious expression and posture before reciting something Basil hadn't heard before. "We love, we live, we fight, we bleed, we die."

"What's that got to do with breaking the rules?" Alban crossed his arms.

"Didn't hear anything about rules in there, now did you?" Alban rolled his eyes at her response, and Basil grinned.

"Well that's why I thought they might just have some sort of arrangement, instead," Alban explained. "Those two aren't like you, so I figure what's going on is Pradov is paying him or something."

Ginger stared blankly for a moment. "With like ... love and affection?" She tried to sound genuine but even Basil knew she was just trying to annoy Alban.

Basil and Natalia did have an arrangement, but it was far beyond anything Alban or Ginger could understand. He was rapidly losing interest in the gossip and turned to face Lot. He hadn't known the horse long but it was the second time he'd cared for the mare in Natalia's place. She wasn't much of an equestrian, so he felt he should deal with that for Lot's sake. He wasn't the best, either, but he knew enough to get by. He wasted a couple of minutes just absentmindedly checking over the horse and Natalia's gear while waiting for the other Wrath's Fort soldiers to clear out, and then, securing a large but short sack over his shoulder, stepped out of the stall and out into the open.

"Glad that's over with. Maybe now I can find something productive to do around here," Basil muttered to himself.

"Took the words right out of my mouth," came a woman's voice. It was coming from the other side of the row of stalls and her voice was muttered. Basil recognized it, but he wouldn't be able to admit that. Still, he was curious as to who else would be in here while breakfast was still being served, so he made the long trip around the row of stalls and found a young red headed woman sitting alone with weapons and notebooks strewn all around her. It was Weyland Enterprises' own poster girl, Anna.

"What's all this?" Basil asked, coming closer. "What are you up to in here?"

"What are you up to?" Anna looked to Basil accusingly. It was like she was looking through him and not really at him. She suspected him of something, but wasn't calling him out on it, at least, not just yet.

"Nothing," Basil replied; the pitch of his voice had lowered slightly, the action somewhat involuntary. After a momentary pause, he smirked. "I was considering guarding the stables, but it looks like you'd rather be alone."

"Do what you want," Anna looked down at her notes, again, "I need to find a way to beat them without losing everyone."

"Beat who?" Basil cocked his head at her.

"Two artificial humans, Zerachiel, and Samael," Anna answered, indifferently, "By my estimates, we can all just gang up on the former and that'll be enough to bring him down, but anyone who even tries to approach the latter is going to get burned to a crisp. I'm not sure how many people it would take to overwhelm him, but the cost will be too high. Even if someone got through, they wouldn't be able to do enough damage to kill him. An ordinary death blow isn't going to cut it with either of them, but at least with Zerachiel we don't have to worry about our people getting vaporized. Long story short, he's the one thing I can't account for in any of these plans, and I'm running out of ideas."

"Sounds like you need more information on Samael," Basil said.

Anna looked up at him for a moment. "You're right ... but I'm not sure how much more we can learn before engaging them."

Tents and Tanks

"Devastating, if we didn't see it coming," Raphael nodded. "Anyone hit directly would be lucky if they just died on the spot. Hopefully we'll see an ambush coming, though." That was what Gabbie was for, but she had been keeping an eye on things all night. She had to sleep at some point. Raphael didn't know that she was already fast asleep. "If we bring Gabbie along, we might want to give her something to help her stay alert," he added, just thinking aloud by this point.

Alexis' Cell

Alexis looked up at the sound of footsteps. The door to her cell only had a barred viewing port, and no windows, so sound was all she could go on for the time being. She was in near total darkness, with what little light that was coming through, originating from that view port. There were four sets of footsteps, coming, four people, Alexis quickly realized. She slowly raised her right hand in front of her face. She couldn't see it, but that wasn't the point. Her severed tendons had all healed, though she'd lost any semblance of flexibility in each of her limbs due to the quick and crude healing process. The pain was still there, as well, hindering her movements even further, but she could at least force herself to stand and walk if she had to. That likely wouldn't be necessary, though.

As the door to her cell was unlocked, Alexis let her hand down and leaned back against the wall as she sat there in the corner, bound up and draped in chains spotted with dry blood. The door opened and a soldier carrying a bright lamp stepped in ahead of the rest of the group. He was the earth mage that fought alongside Belo the previous night. The lamp illuminated the entire cell, causing Alexis' memories of the horrors of the previous night to come rushing back. There were speckles and splats of her blood on the table, the floor, and one one of the walls. Shields seemed a little unnerved by the scene, and looked at her with caution. Alexis couldn't see or sense the apathetic look on her face; she had no idea she was casting an aura of complete indifference at the onlookers.

The next person to step in was the very woman whom had orchestrated her capture, Lyra Langley. She looked just as surprised as the soldier with the lamp. There was even a hint of regret in her eyes as she looked over and down at Alexis. To the latter's surprise, the remaining two visitors were none other than the Ursian royals, the Prince and Princess. The surprise didn't show on her face, however. She was too tired and drained to show any emotion.

"She's the one?" Athena asked. Things were slightly worse than she'd imagined when the torture first came up.

"She said she was," Lyra nodded, "and frankly, I believe her." She took another look at the room as a whole, noting the blood stains and Alexis' chains, as well as the captive, herself. "... and apparently, so does the Major General."

"This isn't necessary," Athena said. No one spoke a word of disagreement, but no one was planning on putting a stop to it, either. "She's going to pay for her crimes, so why does the Major General Belo insist on doing things like this? 'Standard procedure?' Ridiculous." Athrun seemed to be deep in thought, taking his sister's words to heart but still not ready to act on them, just yet.

"Hey," Shields called over to Alexis, "are you coherent?"

Alexis hesitated. For a moment, she'd felt that, yes, she was coherent, but she still felt like she was in some kind of daze. She could understand words and people just fine, but she had spent hours trying to resist and tune out the pain of the incisions and various beatings she'd suffered, and now, nothing but the lingering aches and pains felt real to her. She supposed she was coherent enough for whatever Belo's officer wanted. She nodded at him, slowly and weakly, as if anything more of a reply would be impossible.

"I suppose we should have a word with her about this," Athrun finally conceded to his sister. "There's no excuse for this, standard procedure or not ... and we should put an end to practices like this whenever and wherever we find them."

That was right, Alexis suddenly realized. These two were royals. Their power was often unofficial but still very real and tangible. Ursium's future king was standing there along with his sister, and in her weakened state, Alexis hadn't fully understood that, or the implications. She briefly contemplated gathering what little strength she had left, in an attempt to bring one or both of their lives to a swift and unexpected end.

"Why did you do it?" Athena suddenly asked Alexis, directly. The question had caught her off guard. "Why did you unleash such destructive magic on innocent people?"

Alexis didn't answer at first, instead focusing inward. Normally, her answer would have been something like 'because I was ordered to', but Alexis knew her own motivations ran deeper than that of an attack dog. Her awareness of the outside world was questionable, right now, but in her weakened state, it was a little easier for her to contemplate on more inward things, such as her own reasoning. It didn't take her long to realize that she was only trying to prove her loyalty, not to Zerachiel but to herself. She didn't care if the man thought she was actually on his father's side or not, she only cared how she felt about the matter ... and she hadn't been sure until she was able to bring herself to follow these, normally impossible orders. She did as she was told so that she would never doubt herself, again. It hadn't worked, though. It might have, if she hadn't learned the truth behind Jethro's departure, but now that she did know, there was something she wanted to do far more than simply continue to follow orders. She wanted to kill Samael. She wanted to kill him for putting Jethro in such an impossible situation and then using his inevitable defiance as an excuse to kill him. She could never forgive such a betrayal. The fact of the matter was, however, Samael was one of the highest ranking people in their nameless organization. There was no possible way of getting rid of him without dooming herself, as well.

"Not in a talking mood?" Shields asked, interrupting Alexis' thoughts, "or is something wrong with your voice?" Alexis was done; she had made herself too angry thinking about Jethro and Samael to deal with these people, anymore. She turned her head away abruptly and closed her eyes, planning to wait them out until she found herself alone in the dark cell once more.

[Mercakete]

"Sir!" the captain formally greeted as she approached Lieutenant Colonel Taylor. She stood at attention once she reached him. "The patrols are running smoothly and there are eyes on every angle of the perimeter at all times. I believe that my pegasus knights can handle their task without further supervision from myself directly. What is my next task?"

[Snike]

"Got it. I'll return in a little while," Blake said, ignoring Raquel's irritated look as he quickly left the room. Once he walked outside, though, the man let out a small sigh. Given how she had reacted to Zachary and how she hadn't pushed further on the discussion, the merchant girl truly had amnesia. And a significant case, seeing as she seemed significantly different than from before. Almost... lighter, less burdened, if anything. It was probably too early to tell for sure, but that was the swordsman's impression.

Enough worrying about that, though. Time to go see if there was any medicine at the medical tent. And with that thought in mind, Blake began to head towards the barracks' exit.