Chapter Text
Takumi heard screams around him and for a second was transported mentally back towards the moment the Hemocrypts had attacked the complex. When he had to save Karua from the invaders as commanded by Sirei, though unlike that time. Gunfire joined the sounds around him. ‘’What is going on?”” He shouted to Eva who was looking around. ‘’I don’t know! These.. no these cant be humans.. why would they?’’ She said before another explosion interrupted them as they both fell to the ground. He stood up despite the pain and helped Eva do the same. ‘’I need to get to Kamyuhn!’’ She said, holding her mask as if she was wounded and sprinting inside, maneuvering past the escaping civilians.
These couldn’t be his friends, he looked around him and saw that gunfire was coming from one of the skyscrapers. He had to do something, even if he didn’t have his infuser with him. He sprinted towards the building. Things were hectic though the streets became more abandoned the closer he got to the building. He spotted one commander, Parmith, who was looking around in a panic. When their eyes met, he quickly made his way towards them. ‘’Where is Eva? She should be around here to escort you.’’ Their tone clearly sounded pissed off.
Another commander behind them appeared, it was Quenzelle. ‘’You better not have anything to do with this invader.’’ surprisingly Parmith came to his defense. ‘’We don’t have time for this! Quenzelle, you need to transform so we can get up there. Takumi, I hope that coward has teached you how to fight because this is going to be your first battle for the winning side.’’ They said as they handed him his infuser. He put it into his chest as he saw Quenzelle transform at the same time by cutting open his neck.
‘’God of the planet. Hear me and lend me thy strength. Blood of my bond, release!’’
He was met with a familiar sight after he transformed into his battle uniform which he could only describe as a small whale with wings as Quenzelle transformed into his form. His ability in the previous timeline had been one of the more peculiar ones. What were the two of them planning? Quenzelle was standing ready on the road. Parmith climbed onto his form by using one of his fins. Takumi followed behind them. It felt.. wrong to grab onto Quenzelle like they did. ‘’Don’t lose your grip and watch me Takumi, I am going to show you what true devotion looks like. Let’s go!’’ They shouted as Quenzelle took off. He slowly started flying above the city, giving the nervous Takumi an impressive view of it. In the TRC he never had flown, and in the previous timeline he had only fallen from high ‘’in style’’ during the battles with the invaders. Once they were atop the rooftops, Takumi could hear the assailants firing in their direction. He had to keep reminding himself that they were bulletproof.
Judging from the sounds, it didn’t appear to be assault rifles, instead reminding him of the bolt action rifles he had seen in the movies with Kurua. Takumi peered over the edge of Quenzelle’s form and he felt a bullet impact with his body. While it did sting, and he certainly wouldn’t like to keep feeling it. He was otherwise unharmed. He could hear the people on the rooftop now.
‘’Her minions have arrived!’’
‘’Why won’t the bullets work!?’’
‘’Don’t listen to her! He wouldn’t lie to us like that!’’
‘’Enjoy the adrenaline Takumi, those rebels are a rare easy treat’’ Parmith said before they stood up. Quenzelle was flying around the rooftop now. He made a bit of distance before he flew to it again. Parmith jumped off as it passed over the rooftop.
‘’God of the planet. Hear me and lend me thy strength. Blood of my bond, release!’’
What they turned into could only be described as a messed up octopus with red eyes on every part of their white and black body. Their body was spinning in the air before the tentacles grabbed onto the building. He had seen their ability before. Red waves started coming out of their body. The rebels were visibly shouting at each other though the waves were drowning it out. After a few seconds, their eyes turned red and they started shooting at each other. Takumi could see their eyes tear up as it did with his allies during his battle against Parmith.
It only took a few seconds for one to remain. Who put a rifle in their mouth before killing themselves. Takumi was absolutely horrified, he never realized their ability could be used so brutally. In the previous timeline they had used their ability to cause his comrades to shoot at the academy defense system but to think it also could have resulted in this with his friends.. It was horrible.
Takumi followed behind Parmith, jumping onto the rooftop. His landing softened by the power of Hemoanima. Quenzelle made his way back to the ground. His companion shortly turned into their normal form as well. ‘’Usually they aren’t this stupid you know. Though what can you expect from the people who defy V’exhness..’’
‘’I just don’t get it.. Why would they attempt to fight you when they should know that bullets won’t work against your transformed states? Perhaps we can find something about their motives.’’ Takumi asked but they replied with a shrug of their shoulders. ‘’Feel free to play detective.. Perhaps someone of your kind can make sense of these.. unfaithful. I am not going to bother with dirtying my hands like that.’’
Ignoring the comment Parmith made, Takumi walked on the rooftop. Besides the corpses of the rebellion, there didn’t seem to be anything special. Heading towards the edge of the side that was facing the ministry, he could see the bazooka on the ground. He hoped that Eva and Kamyuhn were alright.
‘’Can I see what they have on their bodies?’’ He asked Parmith who was talking to someone through her mask.
‘’You can throw them off the rooftop for all I care..’’
‘’Doesn’t V’exhness want to investigate this? You are talking about this like its normal.’’
‘’She does not care about these puny people. They are a threat that only matters to the paragons beneath our Beloved Supreme Commander. Why would she waste her time worrying about them? It would be like worrying about a wasp when you have a gun pointed to your head. These sinners are mere annoyances.’’ They said, kicking their foot to one of the corpses.
Takumi looked to the one who stood closest to the rocket launcher. He felt around their robes and managed to find a note. ‘’Parmith, would you mind reading this one for me?’’
They shook their head. ‘’It’s like I am with a preschooler… but alright.. Lemme see it.’’ He handed over the note to Parmith.
‘’Brothers and sisters of the Alician Resistance Army,
The false prophet has been hiding behind the shield of the paragons for way too long. Today we will make a stand against them. We will make them see that their invulnerability is no more. Take these weapons and make a stand. The Children of the Stars will be our end if V’exhness stays in charge.
While the false prophet has slayed our queen and the royal family. She and the god of the planet are watching us.
Fight back.’’
Parmith started chuckling, ‘’Our supposed invulnerability is still very much intact, how dare these people say something against her. I can’t wait to hunt these sinners again proper once the Children of the Stars have been captured.’’
Takumi found it weird, Eva had said that none of their kind would assassinate the paragons. There were those who didn’t agree with V’exhness living on the outskirts but why would they attempt to rebel in such a.. violent and obvious way.
‘’Parmith may I go to the ministry to check on everyone?’’
‘’Sure.. not like our friends here are going anywhere..’’ They said before taking a seat on one of the ventilation units on the roof.
Still in his battle uniform, Takumi took the emergency stairs. He wasn’t sure if the elevators were still working or if the rebels had sabotaged them. He was surprised by how casual Parmith seemed to treat the situation. The rebels were in their mind truly not anything to be concerned about. Seeing them brutally take their own lives hadn’t affected them in the slightest.
He heard sirens outside and could see older cars that reminded him of those he saw in a museum in the TRC. The people stepping out had dark blue uniforms, they eyed him suspiciously at first but didn't say anything as they moved into the building. It appeared they were informed about his battle uniform at least.
The way to the ministry was chaotic as ambulances like he had seen in the desert were driving on the road towards it. When he got closer towards it, he could see that the left wing of it had been destroyed because of the explosions. There were no civilians around anymore that weren’t wounded or dead. Takumi went inside of the ministry and saw Zen’ta helping some of the staff get freed from the rubble. The two looked at each other for a second and paused though she quickly resumed. All of the staff were thanking her like they were saved by their god, and in a way, Takumi thought, they were from their point of view.
When he climbed the stairs, he could hear the two shouting.
‘’You are endangering us all with this mess!’’ Eva shouted.
‘’The Shiloh Freedom Front would never do something like this! Don’t blame this on us!’’
Takumi stayed on the staircase, he wasn’t proud to be eavesdropping but this was the kind of information he was here to get. The information that would make things easier when he jumped back in time again.
‘’I told you before that you should not get yourself involved in groups like that. You know that there is no chance of fighting back… You need to accept that she is in charge.’’
‘’Like I told you, this is not our doing. Do not accuse me that I would approve an attack like this. I need to get these results of the tests to her now so just leave me alone.’’
Takumi did not have time to sneak away or find a hiding spot. So instead he walked like he was worried about their safety and headed inside. ‘’Are you two alright? We took care of the rebels.’’
The two looked at him with a slight annoyance and ignored his question. ‘’Come Takumi, we need to see what we can do out here.’’ Eva said, slightly clutching her cape and walking away. Takumi looked towards Kamyuhn who gave him a weird look. Not hostile but like she was investigating him. He stopped his hemoanima reaction as he turned into his normal form
In general the attack hadn’t cost them many lives, the particular wing of the ministry was only manned by up to 20 people at a time as it hosted their archives. The gun fire which had followed the explosions appeared to not have a particular target with the only consequences of note being broken windows of surrounding offices. Takumi’s and Eva’s willingness to help the wounded had been politely denied by the various emergency personnel though Eva had taken a sort of leading role for about an hour. Coordinating the various personnel. It slightly reminded Takumi of his leadership of the LDA. Though everyone who Eva commanded did so without questioning. Takimu stayed back, falling into the background with his white robes as he was like any other civilian for a minute.
Eva walked up to him as he was waiting. ‘’Everything here will be fine for now. It’s time for your audition with V’exhness.’’ The two started walking towards the palace again.
‘’Do you think she is going to ask questions about what happened?’’
She shrugged her shoulders. ‘’There is no point in trying to prepare yourself for this. Just answer what she asks. Just… avoid saying what i did alright?’’
‘’I was glad to see that you and your daughter were all right, you know. I promise I will not say anything.. Are you worried about her being mad that you did not come to action?’’
There was a hesitancy in her reply, as if she had difficulty responding to his question. ‘’There.. there was something between Kamyuhn and V’exhness.. Just avoid mentioning her name around her okay? I don’t care what you say to her about me. Just not her.’’
‘’Of course.. I was glad that both of you were all right. I do not blame you for heading inside to see if she was alright.. I know we might not exactly be friends Eva but I hope you will stop seeing me as your enemy.. I promise I wouldn’t do anything to harm either two of you’’
‘’Just.. just take your duties seriously alright? A paragon is not a mere title as you know. We will be spending a lot of time together.. I was never quite friends with the other paragons.. Even Clarice is someone I am merely friendly with.. I am not sure when we will be send to go after your fellow humans, but i will try not to kill any of them okay?’’
Takumi smiled with a nod ‘’For a world where your daughter can use her powers for the good of your world.’’
He realized something, he had noticed Eva wasn’t a person that loved fighting. Perhaps she could be useful to get to know better not just out of his own feelings for forgiveness but also as a way to make allies within their enemies.
He had thought that the palace would have some sort of police presence because of what happened though as usual it was eerily empty in front of it. Its many monuments stood alone.
‘’Does the name Alician Resistance Army tell you anything?’’
‘’Well as you may know we live on a planet called Futurum, there used to be 3 nations. One of them was called The Kingdom of Alician which ruins are where we are standing now. It was ruled by the Alican royal family though when V’exhness rose to power it was defeated and now like the others it is ruled by her. Why do you ask?’’
‘’Me and Parmith found evidence of the rebels calling themselves that.’’
Eva hummed thoughtfully before she shook her head. ‘’Again only answer what she asks. She might not even care to know about what happened around the ministry.. or she might see it as an insult on her own ego.. Even as a child she wouldn’t stand up for that.’’
Hearing that surprised Takumi. ‘’You have known her for that long?’’
‘’She is my sister..’’ Her tone was plain, almost like she was hiding her true feelings about that statement.
‘’Oh i see..’’
The two walked through the hallways of the palace, Takumi had learned the structure of the building and knew where the throne room was. He had even gotten to be a bit comfortable. The two women couldn’t be less alike yet they were supposed to be siblings. From what he had experienced so far. The two didn’t seem close. It would be for the best to not push it.
Upon walking in the throne room itself. He could see not only the supreme commander but Kamyuhn talking to each other. The two spotted him and stopped talking.
‘’Ah the Child of the Stars.. we were just discussing what to do with you.. You see, we discovered something interesting didn’t we.. Kamyuhn?’’ The woman nodded to her with an evil grin.
The girl appeared to be hiding her nervousness. Her white eyes were darting over the floor like she was internally panicking but her body remained unmoved. Eva took a step forward but didn’t do anything, seemingly wanting to intervene.
‘’Yes.. I spent my time researching the blood sample I took from Takumi. I… I mean- we found out that he.. somehow.. is related to the person we know as The Second Coming. While his DNA is altered, he is definitely a Futuran. His DNA is not comparable to the samples we have of the humans in the archives.’’
Why would they come up with such an obvious lie? ‘’What are you talking about? Who is this second coming? You must be mistaken. I never even left the TRC before.
‘’Are you saying that I am mistaken?’’ V’exhness said as she leaned forward in her chair with a frown. ‘’While your DNA has been messed around with to the point of being unable to call you two family. The evidence is clear.’’
‘’The Second Coming was a gift given to us by the planet. He was but a baby when the paragons discovered his existence.. At the time they foolishly decided that the ownership of his parents was more important than safekeeping. As such a time came where humanity attacked the village he was in and overwhelmed the skeleton defenses that were employed at the time. They believed that the planet would defend the Second Coming. You can see where that led.’’ She said with a chuckle. ‘’Whatever happened before, you share our blood Takumi. It must be why you can wield it to the extent that you do. We know you must be hiding the Second Coming in one of your bases. Those purple flames are known to us’’
He wouldn’t have believed it if it came solely from V’exhness but Kamyuhn wasn’t a person that would lie. In a messed up way it did make sense. He kept going in circles in his head thinking about it before V’exhness intervened ‘’What is it? Can’t face the truth that you wanted to fight against your own kind? Surely you can see how foolish it is to fight for the humans now…’’
He shook his head, ‘’Whatever the truth is. I am not going to kill anyone. I have made my stance clear on that.’’
V’exhness leaned back on her throne with a clearly annoyed look. ‘’Out of the kindness of my heart, I am giving you some time to truly think about which side you belong to. Tomorrow you will be granted the honour of officially becoming a paragon. You will be tasked along with Eva, Quenzelle and Parmith to.. enter the proper battlefield. Kill them, capture them, taunt them, tomorrow I don’t care… Enjoy the city while you can. Leave me be.’’ The Supreme Commander waved him off, looking at her right hand, as if he was a bug.
Takumi left the throne room and entered the grand hallways, he could hear the steps of Eva behind him. He just wanted to be alone. He didn’t know what this could mean. Was his mother his actual mother? Did she know about this?
“I assume you don't have a problem with tomorrow?” Eva asked, it felt like an insensitive question yet her voice did not hint at wanting to bother him. “Takumi.” She stated his name. “I really need a favor from you.”
“And what could I possibly do for you?” He said, frustrated that he wasn't being left alone despite being clear in his body language. He turned around and saw that she was fidgeting with her cape again.
“There is a place I want to visit, before I have to face the possibility of dying on the battlefield. I am not allowed to leave you alone so I was hoping you would come along.”
“And what makes you think I would possibly want that?” Takumi exclaimed loudly. He knew it was wrong yet he just wanted to scream at someone.
“Fine then.” He could not see her face but her voice was angry. She walked past him, assumedly to her room. Why did this have to be so difficult? He wanted to see his mother, just to see if she was alright. He didn't need to know the answers about his past, he just wanted to know if she was okay. In here he just felt so alone… did he even have a room here? Avoiding Eva until tomorrow was not an option he should consider even if it seemed like the easier one now.
Whatever, if things went wrong. He could just travel back in time. He swallowed down his feelings as best as he could and went to the direction Eva had come from. It led to a hallway with names on doors. He walked past them until he saw one that had the Futuran number six on it. At least he recognized it from her uniform. He knocked on the door.
After a few seconds, it opened and he saw Eva standing in front of him. He waited for a greeting but when none came he cleared his voice. “Let's go and visit that place that you wanted to.”
“Why now?” She asked.
“Because I am honestly lost without you here, and I want to distract myself from tomorrow.” He said plainly. The feeling of awkwardness with her mask on bothered him slightly. What he didn't say however was that because of his time travel ability that he just felt.. Less need to rush stuff. Wherever she wanted to visit, it didn't matter to him. All of this would stop mattering when he traveled back in time and perhaps he could learn something.
He couldn't help but to take a peek inside her room. It appeared to be filled with all kinds of plants.
“I appreciate it, we don't have to talk if you prefer that. Just don't mention this to anyone else.”
Takumi nodded and the two left to the underground garage. Eva had picked a military off-road car and the two left. Driving around and watching the city was a unique feeling for Takumi. In the TRC people rarely had a driving license at all, and the metro that he took around the district was underground. It was certainly relaxing for him. “Where are we even going?” He asked casually.
“I guess you could say my home…” Eva replied, Takumi waited for her to say more but she didn't. It appeared both of them were struggling with something in their own way.
The roads became rougher and abandoned as the car continued, they almost seemed to be going back to the base where he met Quenzelle when Eva had taken a turn. After they had passed through a forest, Takumi was met by an amazing sight. An ocean as wide as the eyes could see. He had seen it before during his excursions, though now was the only time he had seen it without being fearful of his life. The sun was on the horizon, giving the sky an orange glow. The car went past a village which seemed to be completely abandoned. Trash littered the streets. Eva however, kept on driving. They stopped at an empty parking lot in front of the beach. ‘’I trust that you won’t run away from here, so if you prefer, you can just stay in the car. I don’t think I need to worry about you sucking up to her like Quenzelle would.’’ She said as she opened the door on her side.
It was a tempting offer, he sure wouldn’t mind catching an extra nap, but finding out more about the state of this planet was more important. He opened his door as well. ‘’I would just get bored..’’
As they walked to the beach itself, he could hear the waves in the distance. There was an eerie silence. The sand was a darker colour than he had seen in the books of Karua, the water had a greenish hue but on the shore itself he could see the corpses of various fishes and birds all in a state of decomposing. The smell was similar to rotten eggs. He didn’t even want to get closer, yet Eva kept on moving. He followed.
Eva took a few steps in the sea while he remained on the sand. The suit which was likely waterproof would protect her from the cold. She stopped when the water was to her knees. ‘’What happened here?’’
She didn’t look back. ‘’Merely the result of a war that has been going on for generations… They call me the Paragon of Nature yet look at what’s happening to our planet.. The Paragons before our generation had so many plans, to try and at least solve this, but when she came to power. It was seen as unnecessary or wasteful.. It might not even have been the solution anyway. The planet appointed me as Nature to likely try and solve this, and instead of doing that, I have to fight a war.’’
‘’Perhaps we can work together to solve all of this once this war is over Eva.’’ It was a naive thought. He shouldn’t forget that he supposedly wasn’t a human like those on the TRC. Apologizing over the war now would mean nothing.
‘’It is the children like my daughter who will suffer from all of this. I would gladly sacrifice my own life if it meant a proper future for them..’’
He looked at Eva, it had been quite a while since he had seen her face, and he wondered if his imagination was even right anymore.
Her gaze shifted from the sea to the left of the beach. He could see an abandoned house overlooking the water. Similar to the village, it was in a state of disrepair. Likely affected by the salty winds of the ocean. ‘’That’s where me and V’exhness grew up in with our family.’’
Family.. His imagination shifted back to the mother he hadn’t seen for 106 days by now.
‘’What.. What exactly happened between you all?’’
‘’I don’t mind showing you, I probably should not. But you are the only one that I can even talk to about it. None of the other paragons take me seriously and if I talk to someone outside of our clergy about it, she will certainly punish me or worse.’’ She sounded lonely, he already knew that she wasn’t friendly with the other paragons. It’s not like he loved the idea of fighting, but he certainly wasn’t an extreme pacifist. A pacifist who was only going to fight because her daughter was threatened.
The two walked to the derelict home. The rotting door wasn’t even locked when they stepped inside, the insides had been greatly damaged. Not just because of it being abandoned, but it seemed like a fight had happened there. Chairs were thrown in the corners, closets were lying face down on the floor and a painting had been destroyed by what seemed to be a sharp tool.
‘’You told me that something happened between V’exhness and Kamyuhn. Does that have something to do with what happened before?’’
Eva stopped as she stood in front of the ruined painting. ‘’Me and my sister grew up without our biological parents, I was 4 when our adoptive parents had us, both of them were from the clergy and for a while I was happy. It also meant we got an older stepbrother. After 2 years, we both were found to be capable of wielding divine blood which was unusual, since paragons tend to be predicted from when they are still within their mother. We both underwent our training, shortly after that my sister defeated the previous Supreme Commander Dahl’xia. Both of our parents were so proud of us, even at me despite my insistence on not fighting back then. My brother had Kamyuhn with his wife when i was nine, and for 10 years, things were.. okayish i should say. I didn’t see my sister a lot, because I stayed around our home. and she lived fully in the capital and rarely came by. My father especially was.. not pleased with the way she was introducing changes to the paragons, he invited her to talk. He accused her of sacrilege by not respecting the right of autonomy of the three nations, she made fun of him, he yelled, she yelled, my brother and his wife yelled and… I tried to stop her, but Kamyuhn was right there and..’’ Her voice became difficult to hear. As if she was tearing up underneath the mask. Takumi put his hand on her shoulder. She looked behind her in surprise as if the sensation of being touched was unusual for her, but she didn’t show a sign that it made her uncomfortable.
‘’You had to protect her.. you felt powerless to stop her.’’ He said, trying to be careful with her words.
‘’If I could I would kill her, regardless of my own feelings, just for Kamyuhn to not be at risk of being killed by her. Instead I live in a world where I have to make Kamyuhn swallow any potential feelings of revenge, she is a smart girl but she misses her parents.. I won’t have her be a victim to her like the others were. I much rather let myself get killed.’’
It was touching to see someone talk about protecting others like she did. He wondered if his mother would have done the same. ‘’Takumi, could you head back to the car? I want to take off my mask for a bit.’’
For a moment he wanted to press if he could stay, that he could see her face again. But there wasn’t a need to rush this, especially if this one of the many times he would have to potentially travel back in time. He left the car. It gave him time to think alone about what was revealed to him today. Being Futuran was likely related to his powers, and in turn, meant that there was a chance that the others were Futuran as well, but what could that mean? How could he have grown up in the TRC as a Futuran? Was he adopted? Was his mother Futuran too?
After a while Eva had appeared and the two started their drive back to the capital. The abandoned villages became even more eerie as they were completely dark. Often she had to slow down to maneuver around rubble on the road that they only had noticed when the headlights shined upon them. When they reached the palace, Eva had shown him to his room. He felt tired, probably because he used his power today, he quickly went to sleep.
Day 6 - 20:30
Kurara Oosuzuki
Kurara sat down her mask carefully on the table in front of her bed. She did her best to avoid looking at the mirror near the door as she started her night routine. She took a shower while signing a very cringy pop song. She didn’t care about keeping the figurative mask on alone, especially not after all the chaos she had been experiencing. She did look forward to her bed. Making curry the previous night had made her pretty tired and she had a few hours to catch up with. She had been worried about Nozomi, that girl was way too sensitive, and Hiruko hadn’t held herself back in the least during her false accusations. Nigou had defended her but Hiruko didn’t falter, and when she threatened to get Sirei involved if this wouldn’t be investigated properly, their commander relented. She only would consider taking Hiruko's side if she had seen evidence coming from their supposed commanders of the TRC. She hated being lied to, and knew that Nozomi wasn't the type of girl to do that.
It was frustrating that now they were the ones that had to also deal with the rogue classmate that Hiruko told them about too. Why would someone side with the invaders? How badly did that supposed Sirei have to mess up to have someone willingly go with them? And now it was their problem too.
She turned off the shower, dried herself and dressed herself in sleeping wear. Before falling onto her bed. She had to be strong, she was an Oozuki. She and the others of the academy were going to get past these hundred days and return to the TCR as heroes. Hopefully they could remain friends. She wondered if she could ask Kyoshika to be a bodyguard for her then.