"That's why we've given up," the present-day Ziko, who was the young boy, explained to Sumire, Corlean, and Charlotte surrounding a freshly lit bonfire. He spun a kunai knife with his finger and tossed it between his left and right hands. Corlean productively recorded information regarding Lucine and Ziko's past in her notebook with her feathered book and quill. Sumire and Charlotte listened carefully as they rested near the flaming hearth. "It's been ages since we've talked. Seeing my face won't do any good. All she's done is accumulate power. It's only a matter of time before she gets what she wants."
Sumire pressed her chest gently while recalling all of Ziko's memories with Lucine. She was also able to piece together the information that Lucine forwarded her at the tower when discovering records of her existence. "Lucine…" She said, barely breathing out a single word due to a lack of willpower and strength from Ziko's story. "To think she was a completely different person. I just… can't believe it."
Charlotte sighed. "Just goes to show how anyone can make or break their lives," She said, facing away. "She was my friend too, but all she's done is want to hurt. She's stored so much pain inside her that she wants to inflict it all back against those invaders."
Ziko nodded in agreement before looking back at Sumire. "I didn't mean to offend you earlier," He apologized. "But this plan will go nowhere. She will never change. She's too far gone."
"No!" Sumire shouted, scanning the crowd around her. "It's not over. She still doesn't have the crystal. Without it, she'll never be able to power her accelerator. We can find it and withhold it from her. Then we can-"
"We can what?" Ziko stood alongside her, affirming his stance on Lucine. "You don't understand. Lucine never trained me or the other soldiers ever since those invaders attacked our planet. She isolated herself then and has never changed ever since. You just have to admit that she'll never be the same person again. Everything that made her beautiful… is all gone."
"We have to try," Sumire insisted. "If you won't, then I will. I know I can reach her."
"You're a fool," Ziko said, turning his back and adorning a tattered hood around his head for warmth. "You and this goal of yours, what is it for? If you ask me, you shouldn't dwell in places you don't belong. Outsider scum." He finished, power walking away back to his nearby settled campsite away from Yendo territory.
"Ziko!" Corlean cried, shutting her book and placing her quill into her equipment pouch. She exchanged glances with Sumire before chasing after him to settle his temper down. "Please excuse me, Sumire." She said before running off.
Chilled winds began circulating around the bonfire, decreasing the temperature of Sumire's two hands despite being close to the flame. She wrapped her arms around her knees as she tucked them near her face, covering her mouth with them. Sumire knew that Ziko was right. She was an outsider to all of Sagittarius and all of Aries in general, but her job was to settle and dispute any criminal cases. But she knew there were other people out there who could potentially handle the case better than her. She cautiously pondered about her next move and wondered if she was making the right decision seeking to create Lucine's freedom from her echoing pain.
"Don't mind Ziko at all," Charlotte informed, sitting next to Sumire and the bonfire. "The kid's been through a lot. He's seen things that most people like you haven't seen, and he loved Lucine. You can imagine how much pain he's feeling right now after being separated from her true self."
Sumire sighed. Despite Ziko narrating his side of the story, Sumire knew that she could never resonate on the same pain level as he did. "What if Ziko's right?" Sumire asked. "Maybe… maybe this is all just a pipe dream. Maybe I really am just a fool."
"That mindset is nothing to quarrel around and about," Charlotte said. "Your intentions of saving Lucine and protecting her do not need to meld with Ziko or the other Fon's reasons. You have your own reasons for doing so, I'm sure. Otherwise, why else would you be here?"
"I didn't really plan for this to happen," Sumire said, thinking about her sniper wound and her relationship with Lucine. "Ever since I was young, I always thought about being too weak to protect my family. The way I see Lucine is like family, in a way. She's like a little sister to me; you can't help but just want to stop her from turning grim."
"I know what you mean," Charlotte replied, holding her hands close to the flame. She sighed and attempted to cloud her earliest childhood memories with Lucine in an attempt to push forward. From her equipment pouch, Charlotte pulled out a rough map of the Sagittarius District and showed it to Sumire. The map was primarily all grasslands and mountainous cliffs, but Sumire noticed Charlotte had marked an ivory white area on the map that resembled the color of snow. "Before we came here, Ziko told me that they located a Genesis facility in Sitan. I doubt Corleancia can convince Ziko and his expedition to come with us, but that's our next target." She informed.
Sumire took a gander at the map and noticed the heavy distance between Yendo and Sitan. She nodded in understanding and returned to map to Charlotte. "I hope Ziko sees the value in trying," She said. "If I leave here without Lucine, then I break my promise and everything that I stand for. I'm sure my brother and my friends will be disappointed in me. Giving up isn't one of my fortes."
Charlotte patted Sumire's back with her gloved palms. "As long as one of us is trying, then that's enough for me," She saluted. "You're a good person, Sumire. Now get some rest. I'm about to hit the hay too."
"Okay," Sumire said, extinguishing the flame by pouring a bottled freezing agent on the bonfire. "Good night."
The graveyard shift in the midst of the Yendo campsite was one of the most numbingly difficult and treacherous experiences that someone could experience in Sagittarius. Not only was Genesis on the move because of their retaliation against their assault to capture the Fon, but they were ill-equipped and had able bodies to lose when being attacked during bed rest. It took an ungodly amount of Yendo teenage guards to protect the vicinity. As Sumire passed through countless amounts of them roaming the massively crafting campsite with their battle and survival gear, she imagined Ziko utilizing Lucine's knowledge about her elegant training regiment to prepare the rest of the young soldiers for battle.
She moved courteously through the dimly lit grass pathways to her designated resting area, thinking about the end of Ziko's story. By piecing together Lucine and Ziko's narrative, Sumire discovered a commonality between them. In both instances, Genesis seized control of the deceased bodies and carried them away on flying machines and transportation mechanisms. Not only did they retrieve and capture a sizable amount of Fon to force for their energy, but the reason behind them keeping the deceased was still a mystery. Yet after piercing Ryo's personal experience on the botched heist, she was able to recall his experiences of seeing human-like bodies preserved in sleep pods and chambers filled with an unknown bubbling liquid.
Sumire shook her head in denial. Could those bodies have been the ones fallen from Planet Vicious, she thought. It seemed too perfect to be true, how a single Genesis facility could house so many bodies from an otherworldly planet. Yet the thought continued to cross her mind; she knew it wasn't impossible.
Progress was being made on solving the case of what Genesis was truly behind. Their motives and intentions for their invading actions and siding with the creation of Aries would soon be discovered, Sumire thought. As long as she kept her own motives and guard up, she knew she would eventually understand the truth.
Sumire threaded her fingers through a neatly woven tent specifically for her and Corlean. Yet before she entered the lantern-lit room, she caught a familiar figure standing beside his own tent. It was Maven who exited, seeking to watch the starlight sky in the midst of the Sagittarius District with his aviator goggles on. Sumire wanted enough rest to make the journey to Sitan, but she took this opportunity to approach Maven to break the ice.
"Oh, hey," Sumire greeted with her hands tightened behind her waist, bowing in respect. "I know we haven't really talked to each other much, but I wanted to thank you for protecting Captain Charlotte and Corlean. I think it was really brave of you to do that."
Maven didn't turn his head and continued to glance off into the far horizon of stars stretching across the twinkling sky. "Thanks." He simply stated. Those were the first words that were ever uttered out of his mouth.
"You… you must have a reason for being here, right?" Sumire continued, standing beside him. "Aren't you friends with August?"
Maven shook his head. "I don't have any relationship with that man." He clarified in a deep tone.
"O-oh," Sumire mistakenly and embarrassingly scratched the back of her wrist. She looked at his tall and stout figure remaining still to soak in the night breeze where the moon shined down on them. "Then, you must have heard a lot about me and the others talking about Lucine, right?"
"It's hard not to hear." Maven said.
"Y-yeah, you're right…" Sumire replied, stuttering after realizing that all she had talked about since her arrival was Lucine. "Um, by any chance, did you ever meet Lucine when you were young? I mean, were you ever on Planet Vicious? You never really told us where you're from."
Maven was silent for several seconds, inhaling the fresh air. "I wish I had met her before this happened," He said, sitting down on the tiny blades of goldenrod grass beneath his feet. "Before she changed. Then, maybe we could have done something."
Silence filled the air as Sumire ran out of words to say. Maven turned his head and revealed his goggled eyes. Sumire could not see where he was looking because of his shrouded eyes and head. Maven's next question completely caught Sumire off guard, as if he understood the road that Sumire rode on.
"That nanosuit you wore during combat…" He began. "Didn't that belong to Lucine?"
"So, you know about the suits too, huh…" Sumire was reluctant to say after remembering that Lucine was the inventor of the nanosuit. All she had worn was a carbon copy. There was no satisfaction in wearing the armor of the person she was attempting to save. "I know Lucine made the first suit. This one is just a remanufactured version of it."
"Interesting," Maven said, turning back again to face the stars. "Remanufactured nanosuits. No wonder all of the soldiers we've faced so far have a variant of them. And yet yours is so… unique."
"Oh," Sumire chuckled, unsure of whether or not his statement was a compliment. "Thanks, I guess. I designed it myself. But I was thinking that I shouldn't have control over that considering Lucine made them in the first place. But I need it if we're gonna get that crystal."
Maven remained silent. Sumire couldn't help but continue, wanting to know more about Maven's mysterious presence in Sagittarius as a guest. She sat beside him and wanted to bring up about where he came from or his purpose, but he interrupted with a question of his own.
"What do you think of… Lucine?" Maven asked in a hushed tone.
"Shouldn't you know the answer to that by now?" Sumire reminded him.
"I do," Maven said. "But what if I told you… that I was madly in love with her?"
Sumire's eyes and mouth widened in astonishment. "Wh-What?" She stuttered her words. "You're in love with Lucine? But… how can you be in love with someone you've never met before?"
"I never said I never met her before," Maven said. "I only said I wished I had met her earlier so I could stop her."
"Wait, so you did meet her?!" Sumire shouted, holding onto her stomach with her palms. The ends of the soles of her feet began to tingle at Maven's response. "Wow," She said, pressing her cheeks together with her hands. "Being in love with Lucine… I'm not sure what to say. That was really unexpected. Why would you share that with me?"
"It's only fair that I share my motives for being here," Maven explained. "Although… I'm not sure if I even love her anymore."
"Oh…" Sumire said. "Why's that?"
"It's evident that even if Lucine does change from this, she will never be that same person that boy mentioned before. She will never be that beauty that changed the course of her planet's history. She may change, but the memory will remain. The damage has been done."
"Oh," Sumire said. "Well, I hope, after all this is done, that you and her can both move on from this."
"Do you think that's possible?" Maven asked.
Sumire did not hear his question. She was fixated on her relationship with Lucine after Maven explained his reasons for not falling in love with Lucine. The same could have been saying for her mother. The damage had already been done to her and her father. Despite returning to both of them, Sumire knew that the memory of their abuse and trauma would remain. She wondered if anything that she did to build up her strength would change anything.
Maven deliberately coughed after seeing Sumire's eyes stuck in an endless wandering trance to the skies.
"Hmm? Huh? What?" Sumire quickly broke free from her daydream.
"Do you think it is possible for me to move on from what Lucine has done?" Maven repeated.
"I… I really don't know," Sumire admitted, reaching a conclusion. "I don't know your relationship with Lucine all that well. I'm sorry."
"That's okay," Maven said, gazing back at the stars. Sumire's heart tightened up as she knew she was unable to provide an adequate and positive answer regarding the shape of their love. Chills shot through her fingers as she pressed them against her stomach, leaning forward to warm them up. Maven looked back at Sumire. "Have you ever fallen in love with someone before?" He asked.
"Me?" Sumire said. She clenched her knees together and rested her chin on them. She laughed softly after reminiscing the memories of her past. "Yeah, I guess so, when I was in the 10th grade, I'd say…" She said, closing her eyes to think broadly upon it. "His name was Minami. He had a nerdy side, a little bit of a wild side, and a lot of goofiness. Not to mention he was really cute."
"Oh?" Maven was piqued.
"It's funny, the things we do when we're in love," Sumire said, chuckling afterward reminiscing about her awkward memories. "When I was adopted, my foster father used to watch so many romantic movies on his VCR after work. Sometimes he'd take me home and sleep, but sometimes I'd join him late at night with some dessert and tea. One of the main characters fell in love with this mysterious man who saved her from getting attacked, and she wrote this poem to him expressing her feelings. I remember she always loved abstract images, so she compared his kind heart to a brimming and warm sunset. So, like an idiot, I did the same thing to Minami knowing full well that he never really saw me as an interest."
"Then what happened?" Maven asked.
Sumire snickered. "What any normal high school guy would do, tell his friends, use it as a joke, and tell all the girls in the school about it," She said, covering her cheeks in embarrassment. "Although, I don't blame them. I compared his appearance to a really popular anime character in Japan, and he hadn't heard of it before. I had no clue what kind of abstract images I could have used. So, you probably know how that went…"
Maven did not laugh. He stared straight into Sumire, who remained still with her eyes buried into her knees.
"When you're in love, I guess what I'm trying to say is…" Sumire began. "You do really stupid stuff, even if it's against your character. If you told me Sumire wrote a poem to some guy she never really talked to, I wouldn't have believed it. I don't know. I guess this comparison doesn't really help. I'm just ranting about Minami and my past. He was nothing like Lucine was, and-"
"It's okay," Maven said, looking back into the sea. "He might have not been who Lucine was, but the feeling that you provided was very much real. It means that you try to take risks without knowing the consequences."
"Consequences, yeah," Sumire laughed. "Consequences of getting your locker stuffed with fake love letters."
"My point is," Maven began, but stopped. A quick breeze swung by the both of them. Sumire clung onto her knees to try and shelter from the cold winds. Maven turned around, stood up, and noticed that Sumire was sobbing. "I… are you okay?" He asked. His hands began to numb up, and his shoulders became tense and weary.
"Oh, it's nothing," Sumire attempted to laugh her tears away. "I just think it's so funny that people will brush away your emotions even if it matters the world to them. But then again, I was young and naive. I'm sorry. I shouldn't be crying. But even still… There's just so much on my plate right now. The Fon, my family, Lucine, and now there's you that I have to worry about..."
Maven remained still. "You can save it for later. We have a task to focus on," He said. "Stop crying."
"How can I?" Sumire said, jumping up from her seat to meet her eyes with Maven's goggles. "Right now, there are people out there who purposely ruined your relationship with Lucine all because of some soil and useless shit. I don't know, it just…" Sumire closed her eyes to let a wide stream of tears fall down her cheeks before she turned to wipe it away. "It just hurts. It hurts knowing that these people brushed our emotions away without realizing it. Now… we're left with nothing but our own destinies."
"You're handling too many things at once," Maven said. "Take it one step at a time."
"One step… at a time?" Sumire asked, wiping away her tears.
"Focus on one thing at a time," Maven continued. "We don't always have control over everything, so focus on the things that we do have control over. Lucine, for instance."
Sumire finished wiping her tears, understanding the position that they both were in. "You're right," She said, fixing her voice before giggling at herself. "Look at me. I'm crying the same way I was when Minami and his friends shot me down. I'm still a kid. I'm so pathetic…"
"Sumire," Maven called her name for the first time before walking past her. "You already know who you are and what you stand for. Don't let anyone take it from you. Live freely… away from your father." He said, entering his tent and turning off the lantern light source.
"My f-" Sumire turned around, rushing towards Maven's tent. However, one step after she dashed forward, she stopped and pondered about the information that she revealed to the people. She couldn't remember speaking to the Sagittarius Fon about the details of her family, but she believed that she did because of her vulnerability and presence in unknown territory. She held her hands together, remorsefully shocked at what Maven had brought up. "How did he know? I never told anyone."
"Sumire!" Corlean's voice rushed towards her position. "I need to show you something. Quickly!" She whispered, snatching Sumire's hand and pulling her towards the direction of where she came from.
Corlean pulled Sumire towards the destination of her campsite. Sumire's eyes could not stop tracing towards Maven's camp as his words rattled her brain. She was pressured to return to Maven and demand an explanation, but she did not want to aggravate Maven based on their conversation about affection for others. It was such a sensitive topic for Sumire and Maven, and she was astonished about how she disclosed so much information to a stranger like him. It was an indescribable feeling that she could not quite make out, yet she knew that in the future, it would return.