Chapter 22 - Attaining

"Though I've gotta admit, it was an impressive shot. I didn't expect you to help us, but I'm glad you did," Karabell said, and a smile flickered across his face.

Having lost their newly-acquired means of transport, they had no choice but to go by foot. And it didn't take long before Kei started complaining. Een smiled triumphantly at the thought that he wouldn't have to give her a piggyback ride. He could barely carry his own weight. Shono had apparently gotten himself a new job...

Soon, it was already dusk. They hadn't come across many Aberrations, and perhaps even more perplexing was the fact that they hadn't encountered any other soldiers. Karabell took a look at the map Frederick had given them. It was clear that the Upper District was considerably larger than the Lower one. Still, what were the chances of them not running into anyone?

"We're in luck. Looks like the skies aren't cloudy at all. Believe me, the moonlight will give us a huge advantage in case we run into more of those things. I mean, we'll actually be able to see them. Most of them can see just fine during the night, though," Lyra casually remarked, rubbing her shoulder.

"Wait, don't you think we should take a break? I've been looking at this map for quite some time now, and there aren't any safe spots marked on it. Surely you must have something like that, right?" the Captain asked, though the tightness in his gut feared a response.

"Look, there are only two cases in which soldiers would ever spend the night all the way out here. Either because they're forced to by unforeseen events, like us, either because they want to keep hunting. There're no safe spots or anything like that. I don't know how you did things in the Lower District, but there's no such thing as a place that can't be attacked by Aberrations here," Lyra spoke in a cold tone and cringed slightly.

The Captain clenched his fists. She was right. The Gargling they'd defeated had stopped their wagon by throwing boulders at it. It wasn't hard to imagine Aberrations agile enough to climb those spiral staircases that'd helped them so much before. Base Yuna was probably still a ways off. Because of Een and Kei, they couldn't walk any faster either.

"We should arrive at the base in a few hours. I told you, it's not that far away. Look, I didn't mean what I said. It came out wrong. We've been raised in different environments. It's only natural you wouldn't know how things work around these parts. The soldiers here... We're used to throwing our lives away." Lyra inhaled and exhaled sharply. "Honestly, I hate this situation as much as you do. I'm not that good an archer as is. Fighting during the night is almost impossible for me."

They were tired, but they couldn't rest. They were hungry, but they didn't have anything to eat. Alice wondered if leaving so soon had really been the best choice. She didn't doubt Kar. What was wrong with her? Surely he'd had a good reason for making that decision. Alice gazed at the sky. So many thoughts ran through her mind that she was almost feeling dizzy. The moon was so beautiful... The world Lyra and Karabell had described had seemed so peaceful. How'd things turned out that way? Having to fight for their lives daily, restlessly killing Aberrations. Would it ever come to an end?

"Hey, Shono..." she called out to her teammate. "Why do we fight?"

"It's funny you should ask that. In the past, I always used to ask Captain the same thing. No matter how many times I asked, his answer remained the same. Every time, he told me that we had to keep fighting because that was the only way. Because, for us, there was no other way to live. Now... I'm not sure even he knows anymore. He wants to eliminate the Aberrations. To finally win. And I fear that sooner or later he'll lose sight of himself."

"I won't let that happen. We won't let that happen. We're just a little fatigued. Besides, Kar's not that kind of person. I really hope he'll find what he's looking for once we get there. Base Yuna... I wonder what kind of place it is," Alice said pensively.

With each step, Een's knee hurt more and more. Both Karabell and Lyra had faraway looks in their eyes. And Kei... Well, Kei had already fallen asleep, still atop Shono's shoulders. A shiver ran down Een's spine. It'd gotten pretty cold outside. Though something else was bothering him. More than four hours had passed since they'd last encountered an Aberration. It was already five in the morning. The one's they'd defeated had been fairly week, too.

"Now that I think about it, it's been a while since we've last watched the sunrise together," He said with a yawn, bringing Karabell back to earth.

"Yeah, now that you mention it." Karabell's eyes sparkled with joy, but his smile was a little sad.

*

Naturally, Yuna was an underground base as well. Een wasn't sure whether he liked that or not. Unlike before, they weren't greeted by an archer. In fact, they weren't greeted by anyone. Lyra opened the door in one swift motion, and headed down the stairs. The interior looked exactly the same. In all likeliness, the base's layout wasn't any different either. Lyra seemed to know exactly where to go. Excluding the possibility that she'd been there before, that was the only plausible explanation.

"What's with you?" a hoarse voice suddenly came from behind them.

"Lyra from Base Miu. This is Squad Ress from the Lower District. Their base has been destroyed by Aberrations, and they came to us seeking help. Commander Frederick asked me to bring them to Base Yuna," she answered in a flash.

"Well, that's certainly unexpected. I was just about to drink my tea. Would you like to join me?" the young scientist replied, startled. His voice definitely didn't match his appearance. Aside from his short beard and square glasses, he didn't have any distinguishing features. He looked extremely young, probably only a few years older than Karabell.

"I'm afraid we'll have to turn down your kind offer. We weren't able to get any sleep last night, so we'd like to get some rest as soon as possible," Alice responded firmly. After their first meeting with Frederick, she'd developed a deep hatred for tea.

"My apologies. Lyra, you know where the dorms are, no?"

Despite being utterly exhausted, they all knew they wouldn't be able to fall asleep right away. Well, except for Shono. He'd already collapsed onto one of the beds, snoring obnoxiously. Een surveyed the room. He'd been right. The two bases' layouts were identical, down to the smallest details. If he had to guess, though, the training and sparring rooms he'd seen at Base Miu had probably been replaced by laboratories or something. Chances were they kept their documents in the same place as well.