Return of the Emblem Chapter Thirteen: Revelations

[-Cynthia-]

"You might have to make a decision on that soon. There are a lot of things happening right now," Veronika answered Jethro with similar vagueness. When it comes down to it, am I ready to take a child away from her father? Even if it's what she would have wanted...is that the right thing to do?

[Phoenix]

Barracks

"Look," Jethro began, "I need you to keep the others from talking too much. Raquel needs to be reintroduced to what's going on slowly, or not at all." Little to no use hiding his intentions from Raquel or anyone else at this point. "Don't forget, she's fifteen, right now, at least mentally."

"So you really don't remember anything from the last three years?" Zachary asked.

"Is it really three years?" Raquel answered with a question of her own, "I don't really know. What I do know is that today really sucks. Between this headache and not being able to go to Horizon ..."

"Forget Horizon," Nadine stepped closer and shook her head.

"I did," Raquel muttered as she looked away. Right before she looked away, she noticed the pendant Nadine was wearing. Save for being a different color and shape, it looked a lot like her own. While Raquel's was a simple design, with a gold frame and a green gem to match her eyes, this girl's had a heavy, elaborate looking silver frame with an extra, smaller gem right at the bottom. The frame itself had four wings that pointed outward to form a small cross shape and a long shaft that held the smaller gem to the rest of the pendant. Was that one of the other three her father had told her about?

"Stop thinking about it," Nadine demanded.

Raquel had to wonder why someone who was probably an old friend wanted her to just forget all of that and not focus on it. "Was it really that awful?" she asked, frowning. She'd been looking forward to going to Horizon for so long ... and now this.

"Trust me, there are things you can do that the students and masters at Horizon wouldn't dream of," Zachary said encouragingly. "I bet they've got anything left to teach you, anyway," he smiled. Jethro was a little wary of the encouragement, since he knew the thunder mage was on about the emblem. That was the last thing she needed to be reintroduced to, but if he tried to take it away from her, it would only make her more curious. She might even stumble onto one of those emblem powered spells of hers trying to get it back. Getting rid of the emblem had always been a difficult puzzle, but now Jethro was at a loss for how to go forward. Raquel was far more interested in power before she went to Horizon.

Tents

It seemed that Cecelia was back to her impossibly dutiful self. Miguel knew what that meant. That meant it was time to abuse his authority a little in order to balance out her schedule. Pointing a thumb over his shoulder toward the fortress, he said, "Have you eaten breakfast, yet? Not the army rations, I mean real food." They were extremely undermanned as it was, otherwise Miguel would have also had her relax for a while after breakfast, but he wasn't stupid. If they were attacked again, they would need every able person to defend the area.

Edited September 24, 2015 by Phoenix

[Mercakete]

"I assure you that I am keeping myself well-nourished. Whatever task you have in mind, I can handle it," she replied, straight-faced but aware that that might not have been what the lieutenant colonel had been getting at. It seemed like just about everyone made it a habit to worry about how much she worked, but Cecelia herself figured that the more she did, the closer she was to promotion. Everything was an opportunity, and it was better time spent than loafing about. It was a bit different today, though. Today was about making sure that Fortress Nature was operating as close to normally as possible, partially in some attempt to make up for what Cecelia considered a failure on her part the previous night. Hopefully, Miguel would take the hint and not emphasize time-wasters today. "I have recovered from last night's injury as well, if that is what you are concerned about."

[Phoenix]

Ideas

Cecelia could be recovering from twenty something broken bones and her work ethic in the wake of that would still stand out as the bigger concern, so as far as Miguel was concerned, her injuries from last night weren't to be compared. The real trouble was actually finding something for her to do. While it was true, the fortress was down to a third of its numbers, in addition to Langley's battalion, this was only a general issue and not something that left critical areas unguarded. Their defensive coverage was spotty, but they would likely notice anyone approaching the fortress in broad daylight and could respond accordingly. Placing a captain in one of the numerous gaps in their security seemed like a wasteful assignment in every sense.

There was something, though. It wasn't necessarily suited to a captain, either, but it couldn't hurt to try and gather some more information. "Why not try asking around and see if you can find anymore details about our enemies. Our people already turned in their reports but there are still the mercenaries Belo brought in, and some of the people living nearby saw the battle from a completely different vantage point from the rest of us. They might have noticed something we didn't."

Edited September 24, 2015 by Phoenix

[-Cynthia-]

Apparently, Jethro didn't see the need to be discreet anymore. It would have been a hard act to keep up, lying to your child for the rest of their life. "I think we should tell Raquel everything that's happened in the past few months. It's going to be a part of her life regardless, so she might as well know what's happening," Veronika stated, looking at Jethro. Raquel definitely isn't the same...this is a very strange situation.

Edited September 24, 2015 by -Cynthia-

[Mercakete]

"Yes, sir," she replied with a salute before immediately heading off to collect her pegasus and some note-taking materials. She wouldn't be able to do this job properly without either of them. Maybe a map, too, if the fortress still has any that they didn't mind sharing. She would've taken one or two of her riders with her, too, but they were all in a continuous patrol pattern at the moment and it wouldn't really be worth the time to break the pattern and form a new one. No, she could handle this herself...and she may as well begin with those mercenaries.

[Nanami Touko]

"Oh, I doubt that, Robin. Has Raquel ever been someone to discriminate simply because of where someone was born? I suppose if you were fallen, I could see her doing so, but... I am sure that, even there, there are worthwhile individuals. Just like there are worthwhile Neviskotians, no matter where her allegiances lie, and all that." Amalia nodded, leaning back against the table a bit. "We should wait and see if her memory comes back before we worry further. Her father is here, and he'll take care of her, I'm sure."

[Phoenix]

The Weird

"If you people just start blurting out whatever comes to mind," Jethro began, his voice steadily climbing, "you're only going to raise more and more questions. Can you honestly think of something positive to tell her in all of this that she doesn't already know?"

"We rescued you," Zachary pointed out, though he immediately regretted not doing so a bit more subtly. "That was kind of the whole point, at least until Wrath got involved. Now there's even more we have to take care."

"As far as she's concerned," Jethro turned toward Zachary with paternal fury beginning to manifest in his eyes, "nothing happened to me in the first place. You need to start thinking about what really matters here. She's lost three years of her life, for gods' sake. Just telling her everything you can remember for the sake of her knowing isn't going to do any of us any good, especially not her."

"This is the weirdest argument I've ever sat in on," Raquel quietly chimed in, worried about the details her father was hiding, but also ever so slightly amused. There was also something else, a somewhat warm sensation. It didn't feel real, but more like something that her wandering mind conjured up all on its own. Still, as the discussion dragged on, she began to notice it more and more until she could actually pinpoint the source. It was that golden hunk of ore on the bed. It looked like it was one half of an impossibly hourglass shaped nugget and had been broken off. According to Jethro, it was the 'emblem,' though that was about as vague and misleading as a name could get, seeing it for herself.

The Problems

Basil was surprised to be getting as much out of Anna as he was. He'd stayed for a few minutes, helping the woman review what she knew about the enemy by asking various questions; he found her quite forthcoming, though he supposed she had no reason to hide this information from a soldier. "You've fought one besides those two?"

"Yeah, one of their lackeys," Anna, nodded, "Had a whole armory in her pockets and wasn't a bad shot with a rifle, but I'm more worried about Samael. If we brought a magic seal, they'd see us coming from a mile away, and then Zerachiel would be an even bigger problem for us."

"Right, because they both heal extremely quickly and without magic, your team won't be able to keep up," Basil nodded his understanding.

"Yeah, so, the magic seal's out ... at least for now ..." Anna pondered the situation in silence for a moment. "Can't bomb the place, either, not unless they're hiding out somewhere in the outskirts, but even then I can't recommend it since they might be keeping Lois somewhere nearby."

Basil was going to ask where she'd even get the explosives for that approach, but he could think of a few places ...

[-Cynthia-]

"That's why I planned on telling her everything from the beginning. It will probably be overwhelming, but less confusing in the long run than trying to piece everything together. It's her life, she should at least know what's happened in it," Veronika argued.

[Phoenix]

In the Beginning

If there really was a beginning, it was long before the group started fighting against Sardis, Samael, and the rest of them. The big events that came to mind for Jethro were of course, when Raquel first found the emblem, and much further back, when she was attending Horizon with Nadine and the others. Nadine didn't want Raquel so much as thinking about her time at Horizon, and Jethro himself was trying to avoid the emblem topic. If Raquel found out what she was capable of while possessing the emblem she would never willing part with it, not in this mental state.

"Well start from whatever the beginning is for you, then," Nadine said, "Horizon's off limits," she added, leaving no room for argument.

The emblem was also off limits, Jethro thought, though he knew he couldn't forcibly omit such a crucial detail for very long. Sooner or later, either Veronika or Zachary were going to bring it up and draw Raquel's attention to the blasted thing. Sooner than he thought, actually. "You see that golden thing next to you?" Zachary pointed at the emblem, "if I heard the story right, after you found that, the org came after you and your father. That's how all of this got started." It was all Jethro could do not to smack the thunder mage in the back of the head. "It's not just any old emblem, either, it's the Fire Emblem, the creation artifact."

There was only one thing to do now, point out every negative associated with the emblem and hope that was enough to turn her off of the thing. Even if the idea worked, he couldn't let her just throw it away, however. Until they had a way of treating the dependency she was likely still suffering from, completely separating her from it wasn't a good idea. "Listen, it's not the whole Fire Emblem, it's just a piece of it, and quite a few people have died over it, already." He had much more to add to that, but noticing Raquel trying to speak, he paused for a moment.

"Yeah I know it's not the whole emblem," Raquel said as she looked down at the thing. Even if not for the obvious separation from another part of itself, she remembered the story of how The God of Wrath shattered the emblem to keep the rebels, Obelisk and Lilith in particular, from getting a hold of the immensely powerful whole. She regretted knowing that people had died over this thing, especially since she somewhat doubted its authenticity. Still, she was intrigued by this strange warmth coming from it.

[Snowy_One]

"I do not know. I have known her for only a short time. She does not appear to be that way but it is also not impossible that who she is now is not who she was three years ago. What if, three years ago, she was a little hellion who shouted obscenities everywhere and wrote bad poetry and it was only two years ago she changed?" said Robin before sighing and shaking her head.

"I am afraid. Just like always. Not sure how to act. Like when Erion came over to try to talk to us before. I did not know what to do and was far too defensive because I was scared he would either steal away a chance to make a friend unintentionally or hated me enough to try it intentionally."

[Nanami Touko]

"I... Find it hard to believe that she would change so drastically so quickly. Most adults tend not to act like that." Amalia couldn't help but chuckle, just a bit, as Robin's wild and fairly troubled imagination. "Raquel isn't about to change entirely, and you're going to be just fine. In the off chance that's she just a bit different, it's not going to change her core beliefs. That happening on top of amnesia would be far too outlandish to imagine."

[-Cynthia-]

"All right then. Listen to our story. For us, it began one day in Sergio..." Veronika began and once she got started, it didn't feel like she was able to stop- the words poured out of her like a fountain. She talked about the attack on Sergio and the day that they met, she talked about all the people who had joined them on their journey- even the ones who were no longer with them for one reason or another.

She talked about the artificial humans, Siv, the Wrathites, Purgatory, Lilith, Sanctuary...at times she felt like a raving madwoman with so many wild stories, but she just kept going. It felt like it was almost impossible to capture every emotion, every person and she imagined Raquel must have been horribly overwhelmed at this point, but missing something felt like it would have been much worse.

She finally stopped just as she got to the 'meeting' with the Organization as Jethro looked like he wanted to speak. Veronika felt like she could use a small break anyway as she had lost track of time while talking...it had been quite a while it felt like.

Edited September 28, 2015 by -Cynthia-

[scorri]

Erion had turned to look at the rest of the hall to try and see if any of the other group was around and just rolled his eyes at Robin's comment. She needed to grow up if she thought that he was trying to steal friends from her. It's like she thought that people could only be friends with one person. And the fact that she apparently thought that he hated her was just ridiculous. But whatever. It wasn't worth commenting on. So he instead turned back to the table with a shrug. "One way or the other, the gate needs to be dealt with. If she can't come with us, we'll still need to go. It's as simple as that."

[Nanami Touko]

Amalia paused for a moment. She didn't know if she should ask or not, but it was a curious thing, and she didn't want to comment on Erion's other thoughts. "Er... Perhaps I missed it, but, gates?" She was sure that she hadn't heard anythig about any gates. Like, castle gates? Why would they need to deal with those?

[scorri]

"You know, the gates. The whole reason we're going to 'Skotia in the first place. The whole thing with the Fallen trying to invade the human countries all at the same time? Our group split in two. Half to go down to Kigen to warn them and half to go up to 'Skotia to warn them. Weyland is going to deal with the one here." It hadn't occurred to Erion that no one would have told the new members of the group about what was going on.

[Snike]

It took a short while for Blake to make it to the medical tent, and a while longer to find a healer who wasn't preoccupied. Eventually, however, he managed to acquire a vial of headache medicine. All without being sidetracked by Cain or one of the group's other members. Excellent. Now, all that was left was the return trip. With that in mind, the swordsman quickly left the impromptu camp and began to make his way back up to the barracks.

[Nanami Touko]

"...What?" Amalia was getting worried, now. Fallen invading, all at the same time? Weyland? Gates? The insetting panic was becoming slightly apparent on her face, as she continued not to have a clue what Erion was talking about. "I... A-Are you sure you're alright after that fight, Erion? I haven't heard a word about this..."

[scorri]

"... Right. We uh... we hadn't told you two about this... Uh... Right. Weyland is a human, owner of a big company, an inventor, that sort of thing. He's friends with a Fallen prince who... well I don't really know the whole story behind that. But point is, Stein, the prince, told us about this plan that the current leader of the Fallen has. They're going to try to take over the human world. The way they're doing this is by making three gates that will allow transportation from their home to the location of the gates. Our job is to warn 'Skotian leaders about this so that the gate up there can be taken out before the invasion begins. I uh... I know this is kind of a lot. But it's true. I promise."

Edited September 28, 2015 by scorri

[Nanami Touko]

Taken aback would be an understatement. She stat there, staring at Erion for a good thirty seconds, before any gears in her brain started to turn. "I... Alright." She couldn't think of anything else to say, still looking shocked, feeling stunned, and slowly turning her gaze to the floor. The fallen were attempting to invade everywhere, all at once, and the public didn't know about it? Why? Or, no, he just said-- right. Alright. That's... That's good. She managed to take a deep breath, trying to quiet her mind. "I see."

[scorri]

There's no way she's taking this as calmly as she seems to be... "You ok? I know this is a lot of information and... well... pretty world changing. It's not exactly something that people expect to hear. I suspect we didn't tell you right away because we didn't want you and Uri to panic or whatever. But uh... apparently I can't keep my big mouth shut." He hesitated and then reached out and put a hand on her shoulder. "You know you don't need to hide what you're thinking, right? Whatever you're thinking, someone in our group has probably said out loud."

[Nanami Touko]

"Ah--" she flinched slightly as Erion placed a hand on her shoulder, simply coming back into reality and getting out of her head. "No, I'm-- I'm fine. I'm taking it calmly, I promise-- er, ah..." You've got to stop reading his thoughts... "It was just... Worry. A lot of it. But if that's why you're all here, then I can't say I regret being here. I'd love to be a part of the group trying to help against the Fallen. And if it's something as large as that, Uriel and I must help. It'd be wrong not to, I think." She finally ended up smiling, just a little bit. "Maybe we'll drive the fallen off, if things go well."

Edited September 28, 2015 by Snake Mom

[Phoenix]

The Information Business

Originally, Gaston hadn't been sure whether the garrisons' little war with Invictus would improve business or harm it. It turned out to be doing both in unprecedented extremes. He sighed heavily as his fingers ran across his graying hair and tucked some of it behind his ear. He used his other hand to do the same with the other side before adjusting his glasses and staring down at a thin pile of reports. They were five minutes old at the time they'd arrived, and everything else was stacked several feet high behind him and around the desk. On the one hand, there were plenty of rare contacts now coming frequently, both to deliver and receive information from him and his associates. The whole network of spies and informants they had going was abuzz with various accounts of the fighting. On the other hand, there was far too much data to comb through, now, and finding the truth of the last couple of nights' worth of activity was bordering on impossible. Anything unrelated to this war in the capital was being neglected just to make time for sorting through what was related, and between the visits from the army's shadier officers and people from Invictus itself, Gaston was starting to feel truly worn out, even with his assistant, Amanda's, help. He was playing a dangerous game here, and a taxing one at that.

Speaking of his assistant, Gaston saw her coming in from the other room, and it looked like she'd brought someone with her. Probably another officer trying to find Invictus' hideout. They couldn't pay him enough for that information, even if he did have it narrowed down to less than five square miles. "Please just be another weak minded gang member," Gaston mused aloud just before she gently opened the door.

"Sir," Amanda stepped out of the way so Gaston and the visitor could get a good look at each other, "this is Kenta. Kenta," Amanda looked to the young man, "this is my employer, Gaston. If he's willing to work with you, I'll see if we can find the information you need."

Gaston was a little sorry to hear her offer to help Kenta with the information. He was Kigenese by the looks of him, a foreigner, which meant it was far more likely than usual that he wasn't looking for information about Invictus or the ridiculous amount of fighting that went on the previous evening. Gaston could certainly use a break from all of that. Oh well, it was time for business. "Welcome to my office, Kenta. I'm sure you already know what we sell here, so ... what can we look into for you ... and ... how much is it worth to you?" A businessman's grin crossed his lips as he uttered those words.

Fighting the Good Fight

"I think that's enough for now," Jethro said, giving Veronika a warning look. It had been a long story thus far, but this was also the part where the subject of the emblem's power, and the dragon head, which had apparently been manipulating Raquel, could no longer be avoided. Both were critical details in the events that happened at the meeting as well as those that followed, though he'd sorely wished he'd thought to speak up before Raquel's doppelganger, Cassandra, had come up. "She's got plenty to think about for the time being."

Nadine hadn't gotten as much detail about their journey since Sergio and was even more surprised now that Raquel had actually survived up to this point. They were involved in some serious issues, including one that she didn't see any way of them coming out ahead in. No one was going to be coming away from a battle with the gods in one piece.

"A lot ... a lot of that was ... really depressing," Raquel finally spoke. She looked downtrodden, but her heart was racing. "What you're doing ..." she shook her head suddenly, "what we're doing, it's a ... I think it's a good thing." There was so much to take in and she couldn't focus on a single part of what she'd heard long enough to truly grasp it. What she did know was that what she had gone through prior to losing her memory was the most important and exciting series of events in her life thus far. She might not be able to get any of that back, but she couldn't just turn away from this fight.

Raquel had no love for war and violence, but what she did love was justice, the kind of justice she read about in the various novels she passed her time with. It was what led her to believe that being trained at Horizon would be such a blessing. She would leave that place with the kind of training only a military academy could offer and she would put all of it to use in something other than endless war as soon as the mandatory service period within the military was up. That was the plan she had until today, when she suddenly found herself three years in the future. It sounded like her plan hadn't completely fallen through, though ... "I'm sure I can help."

"We know you can," Zachary nodded in agreement. "You still have the emblem so I'm sure your other abilities still work, even if you don't remember your normal spells, anymore." Jethro grunted, projecting just enough irritation to let Zachary know that he was the cause, and sat down on a nearby bed. "What? Do you want her to walk away from all of this and just sit at home?"

"For now? YES," Jethro held his head, figuring he would be needing the medicine Blake was out searching for at this rate. "You two will understand when you've got children of your own, someday."

Somewhere in the back of his mind, Zachary had framed the statement a differently than Jethro had intended. He sighed inwardly to himself and after a moment of playing around with the idea, squished the tranquil little thought of Veronika's children also being his.

At this point, Raquel knew Jethro wasn't just being overprotective, but she couldn't let that scare her out of this. She just had to get stronger so she wouldn't get injured as often. She decided not to argue with him about it and instead just focus on what really mattered, right now. "Okay, so how does this work?" she held up the emblem piece. It wasn't encouraging to see Zachary shrugging helplessly in response.

Eavesdropping and Such

Natalia had known better than to barge in on such an important discussion as the one she was overhearing inside the sleeping quarters of the barracks. Instead, she stood just outside the door, leaning with her back against the wall in the same spot Nadine had been only a short while ago. The talk about the pieces of the Fire Emblem and the shenanigans surrounding it were interesting to say the least. So was the knowledge that Raquel was suffering from severe amnesia. Sooner or later, Natalia was going to have to act on this information, but when and how, that she was still mulling over.

Dark Punches

At first, Anna was barely listening to his suggestion, but eventually, he convinced her to take a little break, noting that distancing herself from the problem for a time would allow her mind to approach it from different angles, increasing her odds of solving it. It also helped that Anna was hungry and wasn't stupid enough to risk going into battle on an empty stomach. He was glad he'd convinced her to take a break, but he was hungry too, and left ahead of her.

What he saw in the courtyard on his way to the mess hall was a strange combination of terrifying and hilarious, like a vicious beast closing in for the inevitable kill while wearing a fancy hat. What he saw was a human figure bathed in darkness and sparring with the air around her. Her aura looked volatile but not active, otherwise, there would be far more to worry about than simply being struck by a stray punch. Still, he kept a relatively safe distance as he approached, stopping roughly twenty meters away and crossing his arms as he watched. This darkness empowered martial art was new and interesting, but it also reminded him of an old friend, also a mage, who was just as likely to throw a punch in battle as he was to smack someone with a singularity.

In So Many Words

The Major General had settled in at her table in the mess hall by the time the indentured 'skotians had finished their breakfast, but they hadn't left yet for some reason. Eventually she learned why. Liza, the little passive aggressive one, asked her directly after a few minutes of quiet debate with her twin sister and Bron. "Are you ever going to let us go home?"

Patricia just stared back at her with a faintly hostile look on her face. "Do you think you've earned your freedom or something?"

Liza didn't have an exact answer for that question. "I'm just wondering why you're still keeping us here. It's not like you've ever liked having us around, and you sent Robin off in a big damn hurry." She wasn't going to point out that Robin was essentially back, now, even if only temporarily, and of course, not as a servant. "What, do the rest of us have to really annoy you to get cut loose or something?"

"Idiot," Patricia turned back to her food, "if you wanted your freedom so badly, you should have slipped away during the chaos. I've got no reason to send you away, and now that we're down about two hundred men, I need every able body I can get my hands on. Better get comfortable because you're not going anywhere anytime soon."

"Urgh! You ... you," Liza could barely restrain herself.

"If that's all you wanted, then buzz off," the Major General dismissed her with barely veiled contempt.

[spoiler=Disappearing Act]

Alexis had been alone for at least several minutes, she knew, but it wasn't until she heard more footsteps that she even considered turning her head back to its neutral position. Doing so prior would have put the door to the room and the faint light coming through its tiny window in plain view. Now, however, she was curious. Instead of four sets of footsteps, there were only two sets. She leaned forward intently as something previously unimaginable crossed her ears.

"Where did you two come from?" came a guard's voice from right outside. That was right, there were two men stationed outside her cell at all times. The two new arrivals weren't the same people. "Hey what's going--whoa!" Alexis heard a loud clash of metal on metal, and immediately afterward, caught the distinct sound of blood splatting against a nearby wall, and then ... a short series of thumps and clanking noises as one of the guards collapsed.

"MAJO-" the other guard called out before his voice was suddenly cut off by some small swishing sound. It sounded like a thrown knife or similar object had caught him in the throat. Alexis could hear several seconds of gagging and staggered footsteps as the guard struggled against his attackers, but after that, he fell dead, too.

"It's too soon," Alexis' thought escaped in her shock.

She could hear the sounds of a ring of keys being lifted from one of the corpses and then applied to the lock on her cell door. A moment later, the door began to slowly creak open. Light poured into the room ahead of the tall dark figure that entered. It only took a moment for Alexis' eyes to adjust, and then she saw one of her two visitors. The shorter of the two was dressed like an ursian soldier and she didn't recognize him, but the latter was Zerachiel. He was the strangest combination of fury and happiness she'd ever witnessed in her entire life. "What the hell did they do to you?"

Alexis forced a smile. "They had worse things in mind, but my dignity is intact, if that's what you're worried about. I didn't tell them anything about the compaction spell, either." To her surprise, he approached her slowly and knelt down in front of her, rather than rushing to free her before someone came to investigate the noise from before. Even more to her surprise, he gently held her chin and rose her head to face him, directly. "W-what ...?"

He had one more surprise for her. He moved in faster than she could react and kissed her. It was so sudden that she'd lost any and all awareness of her surroundings. She'd even missed the second man, dressed as a soldier, crossing his arms in his impatience. Zerachiel's kiss was warm and almost sweet to her, and carried with it the admission of more than just carnal affection. Zerachiel wanted more than just sex or loyalty from her. She'd felt something within herself when it happened, as well. It wasn't Zerachiel that came to mind when he kissed her, but Jethro. It only lasted a split second, and then it was gone, but it had still happened. Zerachiel pulled away after what seemed like a lifetime and sighed. "Don't ask me to explain that," he shook his head, "just brace yourself." With that warning, he raised his tomahawk and Alexis knew he was about to do a real number on the chains binding her.

Alexis' chains fell from her body as she struggled to her feet. As soon as she was upright, Zerachiel scooped her up, figuring it would be easier that way. "How did you get here?" Alexis finally asked. She couldn't figure it out, herself. Sure, it was certainly possible to sneak into this place conventionally, now that there were far fewer guards, but Zerachiel was the least subtle of the artificials in the organization ... that she knew about, she reminded herself. There was almost no chance he could get past any of the gates without making a scene and alerting the whole fortress to his presence.

"That would be me," the man in disguise raised his hand before crossing his arms again and beginning to pace about the room. "I was about to warp in when the beacon changed positions which was ... well ... suspicious. I managed to hit the original target, though. No one was there, so I had a look around and decided to stay for a while. I've been on the inside ever since, gathering information, hampering the rescue efforts wherever I could, and so on. When I realized I wouldn't be able to get you out of here on my own, I decided to go back and get the boss, first. It took some convincing to get him to agree to do this my way, but it worked ... he still had to make a mess with the guards, though," he shook his head at the thought. "You can just call me Darnell."

"Tch, you killed the other one, yourself," Zerachiel smirked.

"Because you're so wrathdamn slow, boss ... Merz. He nearly said a mouthful. I had to take him, myself," Darnell threw up his arms in protest. "Don't get me wrong, it looked amazing, but I'm sure someone upstairs heard that."

"Did any of our men survivor or are they just with Invictus?" Zerachiel asked them both, ignoring Darnell's comments. He wasn't going to waste his time on the other prisoners if they weren't already allied with the organization. It was one thing to rescue comrades, but this was completely different. Invictus and all of its people with the possible exception of Perugia, were just tools for them, nothing more. While he could offer a place for them if they would join him, he wasn't exactly in the mood, and more importantly, he didn't have much faith in the capabilities of the survivors. He figured they had either surrendered, or the enemy thought better of killing every last one of them so they could glean some new information through interrogation. Either way, they weren't his problem, anymore.

"None of your men, no," Alexis shook her head gently.

"Then let's go." Zerachiel's tone was frustrated and menacing, like he was passing up on something important. It only took Alexis a couple of seconds to realize what it was. He wanted to fight Belo, but this wasn't the time. Without reinforcements, he might defeat her, but they would be quickly overrun by the fortress' remaining soldiers. They wouldn't be given the chance to escape. It wasn't worth the risk. He knew that, but clearly he was becoming enraged by the need to pass up such a good fight.

[spoiler=Preparing for the Future]

Thanatos unceremoniously arrived at the cathedral, still clad in black. Almost unconsciously, he made his way over to the archive of Truth. The door was closed, and unobstructed, yet there were a few rune knights in the area.

"Am I to contribute to your scrap pile today?" the vasilus asked, as he approached the door to the archive. "Or can I just get away with walking in?"

With a sudden tremor, the massive doors began to slide apart from one another, slowly opening the way into the archives. The rune knights didn't move an inch. Inside, the same inexplicable blue light shined down from a small port in the ceiling, and the walls were lined with books stretching all the way up to the ceiling. There were some significant differences from before, however. While the benches were still present, located in front of the throne, two either side of the entrance, and two more on the opposite ends of the chamber, they were far more ornate looking than before. Three of them were even occupied. Sitting in the bench to the left of the entrance with a slightly bruised cheek, and smiling innocently, was Hypnos. He was no specter this time, now being in possession of a true physical body. On the bench to the right, a woman could be seen lying there, completely unresponsive. She didn't look like a corpse, having healthy looking skin and a pulse that, at the very least, a vasilus could detect. She was arranged like someone that was going to be occupying a coffin, soon enough, despite this. The center bench is where Nyx could be found, and another woman was with her, unconscious, with her head resting in Nyx's lap. The former appeared to be using dark magic on the woman's mind. The unconscious woman shared a remarkable resemblance to the older sister of Thanatos and Hypnos.

The biggest difference about the Archives was, in fact, Nyx's own throne. Before, it had been a bench like the others, precariously balanced atop an impossibly tall pile of books. Now, however, a golden throne was situated at the summit of a cone shaped bookshelf, a bookshelf that now housed most of the books from the old pile. The throne was, for the moment, empty, as Nyx was tending to Nemesis, who had yet to awaken.

"Thany ..." Nyx looked up from her work and cocked her head slightly, "what took you so long?"

"I had to prepare a few countermeasures in Ursentius," Thanatos said, as he nodded to Hypnos, then glanced at the woman on the right bench. "Who is the other shell for, Mother?"

"That," Nyx glanced briefly at the other bench, "is for the Goddess Nature. Interesting she would want an artificial body, and a human one at that, but it will certainly spare the Archbishop's feelings, knowing there was supposedly no one else worthy to serve as her avatar. I suppose it will also allow her to move about without having to kill any overzealous dragon slayers." That was the who, at least. "As for why," Nyx continued, "she's taken an interest in the little war that's going on between the emblem wielders. She refuses to let Obelisk kill them off before she can witness the outcome of the battle, though I'm not entirely certain how far she'll go to protect them, or which ones interest her the most. She asked me to construct that body for her, and I agreed. After all, if she's going to be keeping Obelisk busy, then the rest of us can focus on our own problems."

"Mother doesn't want you risking your spirit spring--and your life--fighting Obelisk," Hypnos said, "Instead, she thinks we'd all be better served preparing the defenses here in Europa." Hypnos was thankful for the urgency of the situation, especially since it was the reason Nyx created a new body for him. He wasn't a vasilus like his brother, anymore, and neither was Nemesis, but they were both a quality of artificial human above and beyond anything mortals could hope to achieve in this era, and that would be enough to make them useful in the coming battles.

"Artificial is probably relative to the Gods. As for the emblem wielders, I have this feeling that the ones that may interest her the most are the ones aligned with Leviathan. But this is neither the place nor the time for that discussion," Thanatos said, almost smiling at Hypnos' words. "Even if I didn't want to fight, I don't think I have a choice, brother. Once Obelisk realizes he can't destroy the wielders, he'll come for our spirit springs. Even if Nature delays him, that's all it is: a delay. He will still be a threat to us at the end of the day, unless he is dealt with.'

"I'm interested in hearing the rationale behind preparing the defenses in Europa, however," the vasilus said, continuing on. "I agree with it to some extent."

Not if it meant allowing Obelisk to attack the city, though. There'd be too much destruction for him to abide by.

"I knew Obelisk would come for you, eventually, but I was under the impression he would start with more vulnerable targets like Aisha or that old dragon," Nyx explained. "If he isn't hunting down the emblem wielders, he will most certainly be going after other vasili, which is why I plan to make a stand right here, at the Grand Cathedral. I have no intention of leaving for the time being, so Obelisk will have to come here if he hopes to utilize my spirit spring. The more vasili we have gathered here at the time, the better our situation will be. I've even made arrangements with Lilith; when he makes his move, we'll be waiting for him, and once we dispel those shadows of his, Ascension will devour his spirit spring, instead."

"Neme and I are going to be leading the rune knights on the ground ... in case Obelisk decides to bring those minions of his," Hypnos chimed in, again. "Your followers would come in handy, here, too," he smiled widely.

"Yes, everyone has their role to play," she nodded at him, "If there's anything the Rebellion taught us, it's that facing Obelisk alone will never amount to victory. Lilith has to strike him with Ascension, but she's going to need our help, or she'll fail once again." Lilith had fought Obelisk several times during the Legendary Rebellion, but her final fight with him only wounded his pride, if anything, and did not put an end to his schemes forever. As long as Obelisk could obscure his form and buffer any attack with his shadows, he was invulnerable to attack, even to Ascension, which is why even with all of her power, Lilith had failed to deal the finishing blow and absorb his spirit spring into the blade. Nyx had no intention of letting history repeat itself.

"...Do you trust Lilith enough to believe that she won't turn Ascension on us after Obelisk loses his spring?" Thanatos asked, slowly nodding his head at the idea of dealing with Obelisk at the Grand Cathedral. It would be easier to evacuate that instead of the whole city, and the scale of the destruction would be significantly less than a full blown attack on the city. Yet if eliminating the shadow dragon meant inadvertently sacrificing their own spirit springs, what was the point?

"Just don't do anything to provoke her," Nyx worded it gently, "If there's one thing to appreciate about Lilith, it's that she announces her every intention with that hilariously overbearing, self righteous demeanor of hers. During the war, I knew long before it actually happened that she and I would wind up working together against Lord Wrath ... and I also knew that if the situation ever truly resolved itself, she would go right back to being his most loyal follower. She is a wrathite through and through. That's simply who she is. You need only bear that in mind. I do trust her ... I trust her to do what she always does, destroy his enemies, even when those enemies are his own, supposedly flawed solutions."

"I appreciate the spirit spring-consuming sword, as well, I suppose," Thanatos suggested. "Very well, I'll stay on my toes and off of hers. Can't say I can guarantee that for Morpheus, though."

The Angel of Death wasn't sure if the spirit was a loose cannon or not, but seeing as he was already on thin ice with Lilith, it probably wouldn't hurt to bring up the issue.

"I can't really say for sure, either," Hypnos smiled apologetically, "but if he's as intimidated by Lilith as I am, then he'll probably keep his head down. If he does make a mistake, he'll wind up homeless and come back to me, though. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not, but it would solve at least one problem." Hypnos wasn't one to frown, much. Most mortals would never catch him doing so, but with only his family and the unoccupied artificial avatar body, it seemed he would let his inner feelings show.

"You broke away from that part of yourself for a reason," Nyx said, firmly but with empathy, "no need to reunite until you're able to accept everything that comes with that."

"Well, he's handled himself well enough to avoid that so far," Thanatos said, figuring that the fact that Morpheus wasn't evicted at the estate was proof enough. "... Anyways, I suppose I will cooperate with your efforts, Mother. Especially since I'd have to eventually face Obelisk here, otherwise."

There was also the fact that Nyx's plan was simply superior to any of his plans he had in mind so far, but he was loathe to admit that.

"Excellent. There's still a great deal of preparation to take care of."

"She's turning the grand cathedral into a rune fortress," Hypnos began elaborating, "The commoners are still a problem. We can warn them when trouble's on the way, but unlike Leviathan, we can't make everyone take shelter in an orderly fashion. Mother's also making more rune knights and wants your help with that." Hypnos had been living inside his mother's mind along with thousands of other spirits for some time, now; however, she'd been sharing part of her consciousness with him at all times, allowing him to remain in an awakened state despite not having a body of his own. The result of this shared consciousness was that now, even while inhabiting his own body, he knew the most intricate details of both his mother's short and long term goals and could explain them to others. Everything Nyx said and did was deliberate, which included her vague explanations, but she didn't seem to mind Hypnos going into detail after her.

"Hypy and Neme won't be able to do much without access to their full power, so the task of shoring up the ranks will indeed fall to the two of us," she affirmed what the youngest of the siblings had pointed out. "I won't lie to you, Thany; if Obelisk suspects he can hurt us in any way by targeting the populous, he'll do so relentlessly, which is partially why I'm concentrating our defenses around the cathedral itself, and only implementing sectioned barriers to contain individual buildings once the fighting begins. The rest of the energy stores being prepared are solely for general countermeasures and the defense of the cathedral." There was slightly more to the cathedral's defenses than what Thanatos had heard up til now, but the results of the prioritization were obvious. The civilians would be trapped wherever they were at the time the barriers were activated, but would be completely cut off from the fighting, while those defending the city, would likewise, be cut off from any nearby shelter. This in turn, would give them enough spare energy to stop Obelisk's large scale darkness attacks which could potentially atomize entire districts. Surrender was already impossible, but in the streets, retreat would be, as well. Only the best of the best had any business being there. "Regardless of what's happening on the ground, the fight with Obelisk himself has to be conducted in the air, or he'll overwhelm and take our defensive position as his own and force us to come to him. We won't be able to win that way."

"I can't wait to see if the cathedral can actually fly, heheheh. Oh, but the local garrison's going to want to pitch in against Obelisk's army, though, which ... I don't think is going to help matters," Hypnos said, his smile more pitying, this time.

"I'm glad I had to do some rune craft in the near past, in that case," Thanatos said, as he heard about the need for more rune knights. "Don't worry about the garrison or filling the non-rune knight ranks. I've got a few ideas regarding those."

Speaking of whom, they were waiting for him at Weyland's estate, where they were going to set up a backup base. Which he'd may as well disclose, even though Nyx already knew through Ryder. "By the way, I'm setting up shop at Seth Weyland's estate for the next while. I'm assuming that doesn't pose any major issues?"

"Not for me," Nyx shook her head slightly, "that might even keep Weyland in line a while longer." It was an amusing thought, and quite convenient. Seth Weyland had no idea that Nyx's eldest son wasn't an extension of her own will, ready to enforce the many restrictions she'd placed on him ... and he didn't need to know, either. Neither of them had to do or say anything. As long as Thanatos and his followers were occupying space at the estate, Weyland would likely be hard pressed to continue certain projects, which suited Nyx just fine. The restrictions hadn't been truly necessary for a couple of decades, now, given Wrath's imminent return, but there was still no telling just how quickly the nations could once again assemble overwhelming engines of destruction if left completely unchecked.

"Excellent. In that case, unless there's more to discuss, I should probably go break the news to him," Thanatos said, beginning to turn away. "I need to attend to a few other matters, but I should be able to come back and start later tonight, at the latest."

"Yes, there is one more thing," Nyx looked up from her unconscious daughter, "We still need something for this battle besides Lilith and Ascension. We'll need an emblem wielder, as well. I've no doubt that Obelisk is still in possession of at least one piece of that relic."

"I realized something recently," Hypnos interjected, though Nyx had been expecting as much, "Obelisk didn't take away my spirit spring and destroy my original body out of malice, sadism, or anything like that. He was testing a theory, trying to see if a vasilus, robbed of their power, could become an emblem wielder."

"Right, the emblem isn't very useful to our kind outside of special cases. It can keep any explicit curses in a dormant state, hence Lilith being conscious, again," Nyx said to both of her sons, "however, it won't manifest anything that directly reflects our own will, and it won't bring us any closer to our goals, not like it does with its actual wielders. To keep Obelisk from falling back on the emblem's power and becoming one of them, we're going to need to relieve him of it around the time Ascension devours his spirit spring."

"Otherwise, he might become even stronger. Obelisk had a theory that turned out to be true. I've got a theory, too," Hypnos explained. "You probably remember it, Morpheus was testing it on Discovery this time, trying to use her as a reservoir of energy until there was enough to create a new spirit spring. That will be the first thing Obelisk does if he loses his own spirit spring."

Nyx smiled. "The theory is all but proven, but I'm more interested to see what my little guinea in the mountains discovers. That aside, I want you to consider keeping Cassandra in reserve in case we need her, Thany. I imagine that having to pull her out of Samael's ranks later on would be inconvenient."

So, they wanted to use Cassandra to fight Obelisk, or rather, steal his portion of the emblem after taking his spirit spring. The rationale behind it was to prevent the shadow vasilus from creating a new spring, which made sense. Problem was, if he did so by holding her in reserve, there went Cassandra's chances of infiltrating the Organization and stopping or hampering that particular threat. As a result, there was a lot to consider.

"I'll have to think about it," Thanatos said, noncommittally. "Though you mean Cygnus' ranks. It may be inconvenient, however it'll depend on the risk versus return on that."

"No, I indeed meant Samael's ranks. After all, she's expected to serve him directly, and that really has little to do with Cygnus for the moment. These children of his won't follow his instructions to the letter, anyway." That was the very nature of children, Nyx noted to herself. "If you're so reluctant to use Cassandra, then bring me Sardis and I'll have him prepared for this role."

"...That could be arranged, but again I'll have to think about it," Thanatos said, simply. The fallen wasn't anywhere near the asset Cassandra was, and so would be a better candidate in the long run, but he needed to be interrogated and flipped, just in case. "Now, then, time to attend to business. Farewell, Hypnos, Mother."

And with that said, the Angel of Death began to walk out of the archive.

Edited October 19, 2016 by Phoenix

[-Cynthia-]

I really don't know how the emblem works other than it involving that dragon head somehow. "How long is 'now'? The Organization will not wait, the Fallen will not wait, whatever this Wrath's day Lilith was talking about isn't going to wait. Events are already in motion- there just isn't time for Raquel to rest for months," Veronika explained to Jethro before taking a brief pause.

"Blake, Zach, and I all agreed that defeating the Organization and seeing this emblem business through to the end was what Raquel wanted. I realize that letting your loved ones go into danger is difficult to do- but she made this decision as an adult. Even as her father, you have no right to decide for her," she said firmly.

[Snowy_One]

"What do you mean maybe? There is no maybe. We MUST fend them off." said Robin firmly. "These are beings trying to openly invade for the sake of being monsters. If they succeed they will gleefully destroy all they can. I have..." Robin slumped down a bit onto the table. "I do not know what else can be done. We fight so much, against so much, have dealt with so much. Been kicked around by so much. Failure may as well be death for us all at this point, so we must succeed. I do not know what else we can do."