Karabell opened his eyes and let out a colossal yawn. How long had he been asleep? His back hurt, but at least he wasn't tired anymore. A sweet fragrance filled the air. He slowly lifted his head from the table as he noticed a cup of tea patiently waiting for his awakening. The Captain jolted upright, almost knocking it over, and a few drops of tea splattered on his coat. He looked around, bewildered. His spear was propped against the chair he'd slept in. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. He downed the tea in a gulp and slammed the cup back onto the table. Where in the world was Dante? Karabell looked at his watch before grabbing his weapon and darting out of the room. It was already noon. Where in the world had he gone?
Dante whistled happily, staring at the newly created device. He'd deliberately outdone himself. Well, he still felt a little bad for waking Een up at six in the morning, but he couldn't have finished it in time without his help. The Captain was surely going to be pleased. The scientist cast his mind back on his conversation with Karabell, and fidgeted with the watch as he turned his eyes to the ceiling. Dante had learnt some truly interesting if disturbing things. First of all, his brother had lost his life.
"To think that even a guy like him wanted to be forgiven in his final moments..." Dante mumbled out loud. He still had trouble believing it. But Karabell hadn't had any reason to lie. And Frederick had always been... a little weird, anyway. "Don't worry, brother. We don't resent you."
He'd never hated his brother. They'd led separate lives, had different purposes for moving forward. In the end, Frederick had honored his promise. He'd defeated the enemy. But then he'd chosen to end his own life... Was he trying to atone for his sins? Somehow, he found it hard to believe. Perhaps it'd just been another one of his brother's whims.
The second thing Dante had learnt was that the Ringleader's death hadn't caused the other Aberrations to disappear. Just like he'd thought, putting an end to those two thousand years of terror wasn't going to be that easy. Nonetheless, they'd taken out their leader. A great accomplishment. Karabell had even managed to forge an alliance with Gull and Kirru. So many Aberrations had risked their lives for the purpose of saving mankind. Dante's lips curled into a smile. Marno Ress had been right, after all. Those creatures weren't a bunch of mindless, man-killing monsters. Aberrations truly were fascinating. Karabell really was leading humanity down the right path.
The door slammed open without notice, and in its frame stood none other than the Captain, panting. His forehead was covered in sweat. He approached Dante clumsily, struggling to catch his breath. Karabell glanced in the beds' direction. The commotion had waken up most of the wounded apprentices. The Captain apologized silently, but something else immediately caught his attention. Surprisingly enough, Shono and Annie seemed to have left the infirmary. He turned his gaze back to Dante.
"Do you have any idea how long it took me to find you?" he said as he let out a harsh breath.
"Sorry about that, Karabell. But trust me, you definitely looked like you needed some rest. You got some well-deserved sleep, and I managed to finish this little thing. Everyone wins," Dante answered promptly, showing him the small watch. Karabell immediately snatched it from his hand.
"How? When did you..." he managed as he studied the object. "Is this what I think it is?"
"But of course!" Dante exclaimed, pride coloring his voice. "Did you really think I'd let your request go unfulfilled? No, sir! I went to check on Bario right after you fell asleep, and one of the guards brought me the Ringleader's Stone. An Aberrations must've given it to her. The poor woman looked a little shaken, to be honest. It was a lot harder than working with a regular Stone, so I had Een help me. I really like the way it turned out, too."
Karabell stared at the device. It hadn't been turned on yet, but it looked almost the same as his own watch. Based on what Dante had just said, however, the Ringleader's Stone was different. The Stones had gotten that name because they usually resembled fairly small, round pebbles. In reality, they were small organs located inside the Aberrations' skulls, next to their brains. They didn't seem to ever rot or run out of energy, either. A Stone simultaneously acted as an endless battery, receiver and transmitter. The scientists had even figured out a way to create some sort of frequencies within the Stones, allowing them to have private conversations, too. And those makeshift phones had saved them time and time again. They didn't know who the first human who'd thought of using them that way was, but that person had, without a doubt, been a genius. At first, Karabell hadn't been able to understand how those strange Stones enabled them to communicate over seemingly infinite distances. But after finding out about Gull's ability, everything had started to make sense. The watches would guide them. Karabell's arms shook as he inhaled sharply and shoved the watch into his pocket.
"Come," the Captain gestured towards the exit. "We're going to where the others are. I want everyone to be there for this. I hope you don't mind."
*
They found Alice relentlessly shaking her brother in a futile attempt to wake him up. Shono was sitting cross-legged on the other bed, chuckling. He was pale as a ghost, but he was clearly feeling a lot better. Judging by the way the bandages looked, Dante's friends had somehow managed to close the wound. Shono waved to them, beaming. Een jumped to his feet and smiled apologetically.
"What brings you here, Captain?" he asked, as if nothing had happened.
Karabell simply showed him the watch. Allegedly, Kei had already gone outside, eager to have yet another showdown with an improvised training dummy. Lyra had gone with her since she didn't exactly have anything better to do. As for Annie, she was still sleeping in the girls' room. She and Shono had returned from the infirmary around the time Dante had decided to disturb Een from his slumber, pretty much startling everyone.
"Would you be so kind as to go fetch Lyra and Kei? I'll wake Annie up. Hopefully, I'll have better luck with her." Alice stared daggers at Een. Hr brother agreed without a second thought, almost running out of the room. He'd forgotten how scary Alice was when she got angry.
Karabell was relieved to see that Annie was... alive and well. She was in a better shape than Shono, anyway. After another five minutes, everyone had gathered inside the small chamber. A chill descended on the room as the Captain put the small device on the table and turned it on. Alice stared at the watch with a mix of excitement and fear. What was that thing supposed to show them? How was it supposed to guide them?
"Should we really be doing this? Who knows what might happen?" Een suddenly asked, tapping his fingers on the table. Shono didn't exactly seem to like the idea, either. They all felt the same way. That odd sensation reminded Een of the Ringleader's forest. They didn't even know if it was going to work. Dante was probably the only one who wasn't nervous. Nevertheless, they had to do it. They'd come too far to give up.
"Here goes nothing," Karabell said at last, reaching for the watch.