Chapter 12: Farewells and Familiar Faces

The three made their way back to the village. Armin and Laura walked side by side while Nia stomped angrily. You could practically see the steam coming off her head.

“I swear, this girl has been nothing but trouble!” She furiously ranted to herself. “First, she wants to throw away her own life, and now she wants to put her own brother and friend in the same boat! Oooh, where did I go wrong?! I try to be a good mother…it’s hard! Dealing with a rebellious daughter and an entire empire!”

As Nia vented her frustrations, Armin wanted to ease the tension and patted Laura’s shoulder.

“Didn’t get to say this before,” He said, “but it’s great to see you, Laura.”

Laura smiled and replied, “Yeah, it’s great to see you again, too, Uncle Armin.”

“How have you been, kiddo? Been a few years, huh? You certainly look much different.” Armin laughed.

Laura chuckled. “I’ve been fine,” She said. “Do you like my new look? Mother never approved of my dyed hair.”

“You look good,” Armin replied, looking her up and down. “Although that’s a little too much black if you ask me. Really screams vigilante.”

Laura laughed, pulling at the hot pink stripe of hair. “I’ve got this for color.” She said, before putting it back down. She continued. “So how’s Hannah? How are the kids?”

“They’re doing great. Leopold and Freya are always begging us to visit you guys again.” Armin leaned closer to Laura, “You didn’t hear this from me, but Hannah’s expecting again.”

Laura gasped, her eyes lighting up. “Really?!”

Armin smiled and nodded.

Laura continued. “Wow! Congratulations! What’s the gender? What’re you guys hoping for?”

Arming waved off the questions. “We don’t know yet, and we already have a boy and a girl. So, we’re fine with either.”

They chatted a little bit longer until reaching the holographic waterfall that hid Amber Village. Before entering, Nia took a deep breath and exhaled, composing herself so as not to look so agitated. She straightened up and raised her chin, then walked through the fake waterfall. Armin and Laura followed her, and the three made their way to the defense force training grounds. Laura decided to wait by the entrance, leaning against one of the walls. Armin, confused at first about who to follow, chose to do the same and wait with Laura.

Nia walked onto the grounds. General Pierce was not present; only Captain Jesse stood atop the stage. The captain quickly noticed Nia’s arrival and made her way off the stage.

“Empress,” Captain Jesse said, “to what do I owe the pleasure?"

“I am looking for a Miss Cello,” Nia replied. “It was to my knowledge that she is amongst this group.”

Captain Jesse nodded and said, “Of course, madam.” She turned to the crowd and called out, “Private Cello!”

Cello, who was sparring with a training dummy, heard her name be called and looked to see Captain Jesse standing next to Empress Nia. She promptly jogged over to the two, wiping off the sweat as she did.

She bowed to both. “Captain. Empress.”

“Cello, come with me,” Nia said, motioning with her hand for her to follow. She looked at Captain Jesse and said, “I’ll be borrowing this one for a little while, if that’s fine?”

“I have no objections.”

Nia turned and walked off; a confused Cello followed behind her. They went back to the main entrance. Cello saw Laura resting against the left wall. Their eyes met, the wind gracefully blowing Laura’s long, obsidian black. She smiled brightly at Cello, and a new burst of energy filled the young warrior.

Cello raced over and hugged Laura. “Hey, Laura!” She greeted, grinning from ear to ear.

That’s when she looked to the right side beside Laura, and was surprised to see it was none other than Armin Atlas Jr. The friends slowly pulled apart, and Cello looked over at the doctor.

“Doctor Atlas,” She bowed. “It’s a pleasure to meet you again, Sir.”

Armin waved and said, “No need to be so formal, Cello.” He looked up at the tall young woman and whistled. “Boy, you guys are sprouting like weeds. What’re they feeding you here?”

Their friendly chatting did not last long; once Nia came over, they all quieted down.

Cello looked at the empress and asked, “Madam, may I ask why you asked for me?”

Nia wasted no time and said, “A mysterious masked man threatens the safety of all the empires. I have…begrudgingly elected that Laura will go and apprehend this villain. I want you to join her to keep her safe.”

Cello was taken aback at first, but didn’t hesitate for a second and stood tall and proud. “I wholeheartedly accept! You can count on me, Madam!”

Nia couldn’t help but give a small smirk; she knew Cello wouldn’t have turned it down. Nia placed a hand on Cello’s shoulder and said, “It will be dangerous, you know.”

“Doesn’t matter, I’ll protect the princess with my life.”

“Thank you, Cello,” Nia said. “But, I would prefer if you both came back safe.”

Laura took out her flute and played a note; one of her crows came flying over and perched itself on her shoulder. She took out a folded piece of paper and handed it to the crow.

“Take this to Berus, please. He should be in class right now.”

The crow cawed in response, snatching the paper with its beak and flying off.

Nia stared at her daughter and asked, “What did you send him?”

“It was a note I wrote while we waited,” Laura replied. “It gave a brief explanation of the situation and asked Berus for help.”

Cello raised her eyebrows when she heard Berus was getting involved. “The prince is joining us?”

Nia let out a sigh and said, “Yes. As much as it pains me, it’s best if both Laura and Berus leave. That masked man is an enigma in his attack patterns, so if he comes here while you all are gone, you’ll be safe.”

The four left the training ground and headed back to the front entrance of the village. They waited in silence, wondering if Berus would actually join. Nia said they would give it an hour, and if he didn’t show up, the three would have to leave without him. However, after a little over forty minutes, Laura’s crow came flying over to the group. Behind it, a sprightly Berus with a large grin on his face. As he got closer, he turned to his side and dug the sides of his feet into the ground to slow down.

Berus kicked up a large cloud of dust, standing in front of the four wearing his training clothes and long, tattered black cloak. It originally belonged to Ferral when he was younger, and was going to be thrown away because of all the holes and tears, but Berus fought to keep it.

“Are you kidding me?!” Berus said, overenthusiastically. “I get to go out and fight monsters and some masked bad guy? That sounds awesome!”

Laura and the others looked at him with joy to see how pumped Berus was. However, Nia’s right eye continued to twitch.

“Why am I not surprised?” She muttered, defeated.

Laura walked over to her brother and gave him a playful punch in the gut. “It’s gonna be pretty dangerous, bro,” She said. “Are you sure you're up for it?”

Berus pridefully raised his chin and said, “Please, I’ll take them all down!”

The two laughed. Nia looked at them, noticing the enthusiasm they had for this. She knew she couldn’t stop them, but also knew just how dangerous the masked man was. All she would do was pray that they would come back safely. Maybe he truly wasn’t that strong, right? Hopefully. Nia didn’t know if her heart could handle one of them, God forbid, both of them dying.

As Laura and Berus made their way back to the others, Nia dashed forward and gave them both a tight hug. The two were shocked, but smiled and hugged their mother back.

“Please,” Nia whispered, “please, just…come home safe.”

“We will, Mother,” Laura said.

Berus nodded and added, “Yeah, we’ll take that masked jerk down.”

Their reassuring words only did so much for Nia. She knew they were capable, but this foe they had to face…he wasn’t to be taken lightly.

“Just…promise me you’ll keep each other safe,” Nia said.

The two nodded, and after one final hug, joined Cello and Armin.

Nia looked at Cello and continued. “Cello, please bring my children back to me.”

Cello gave her a serious look and bowed. “I will protect them with my life, Madam.”

Nia continued. “Armin, be safe.”

Arming smiled and gave her a thumbs-up. “Don’t worry a thing, Nia,” he said, “I’ll bring them back in one piece.”

With that, the four headed off. Nia waved them off, taking another deep exhale as she continued to pray in her mind.

After they got a few feet away from the village, Armin stopped and stood in front of the young warriors.

“Alright, kiddos,” He said, “Here’s the plan; we’re going to head to the facility that is on this continent, grab some supplies and added protection, and head out to our first destination!”

Berus raised his hand and said, “But, I thought we were going to find the masked guy? Why do we need to go into human territory?”

“Pray tell me how you plan to find him?”

No one said a word. Armin continued, “Uh-huh, that’s what I thought. We head to the facility. I can send out some surveillance drones, and they’ll alert me when we find him.”

“If that’s the case, I’ll send my crows,” Laura said. “They’re more than capable of flying long distances and will find him.”

“Yes, but they’re too slow. Not to mention they are living things that need to eat and sleep, and we can’t afford to waste a second.”

Cello asked, “What’s our first destination going to be?”

“While the drones are out, we have to head to the places that the masked man has attacked. We’ll get samples and study the remnants of the creatures he’s created, figure out just what they are, and if we can counterattack with ease.”

The three nodded in understanding. Armin looked behind him and stared into the dense, dark jungle.

“It might take a while with how dense the jungle is,” he said. “We’ll have to tread carefully.”

Laura smiled and replied, “No need.” She took out her flute and played several notes; her crows came flying out of the trees and surrounded the group.

She continued. “Take us to the humans, please.”

The crows cawed in unison and flew west, their beaming red eyes lit the way.

Laura pointed and exclaimed, “Follow those eyes!” She bolted after them, Cello following suit.

Berus squatted down and put his arms back. He looked at Armin and said, “Hop on, Uncle Armin!”

Armin sighed with relief. “Oh, thank God I don’t have to run.” He said as he jumped onto Berus’s back.

The young man held onto Armin and burst forward, following the two girls. They traveled for five days on foot, navigating through the pitch-black jungle at their top speeds. Only using the eyes of the crows as light. They obviously had to stop for rest and food, passing through a few other villages that were a part of the Amber Empire. But still, they arrived tired and exhausted.

“We did it…whoo.” Berus, half-triedly cheered.

“Talk…about…a workout.” Cello puffed.

Laura gasped for air, resting her hand on a tree. She couldn’t even form a sentence. Her heart was pounding in her eardrums.

Armin got off Berus and headed over to the border that separated the humans’ territory from the Amber Empire. Several armed guards patrolled the border, quickly raising their weapons when they heard noise coming from the brush.

“Halt!” Armin shouted as he walked out. “It’s just me, calm down!”

The guards lowered their weapons, tilting their heads in confusion.

“Doctor Atlas?” A guard said. “What are you doing here?”

“And alone too.” Another added.

Armin pointed behind him and said, “I’m not alone, I have guests.”

Laura, Cello, and Berus came trudging out, still trying to catch their breath. The guards tensed up for a second, but noticed that the three experiments didn’t look all that harmful. Armin got closer, and one of the guards pressed a button that opened the gates to the border. Armin waited for the others to join him before making their way to the facility.

It was right beside the border, making it easy access for wherever outside workers came and went. The building itself was much like the one back in Germany, a stone structure with towers and several entrances. The group came in from the north entrance, and the trio of experiments were astonished by the sights. The clean, pure white aesthetic, all of the other scientists walking through the halls. It was truly a sight to behold for them.

“Wow, it’s amazing here,” Laura said.

Berus nodded and said, “It’s just like how Uncle Armin described his lab.”

As they made their way through, several of the other scientists noticed the famous Doctor Armin Atlas Jr., leisurely walking through the same halls as them. Chatter began to rise, and a few of them began to come up to the group.

“Oh my gosh, you’re Doctor Atlas,” a young female scientist said.

“What’s a legend like you doing here, Sir?” a male scientist added.

As more of them began swarming the group, Armin decided to take the time to greet them all. Some of the scientists even greeted Laura and the others. Laura and Berus were very social, praising how amazing their facility looked. Cello, on the other hand, stayed reserved. Smiling and gave small nods when a scientist would come up and greet her.

Through the clamor, the sound of heels clacking against the stone floor echoed through the hall that they were in, catching the attention of the experiment trio.

“Alright, alright, that’s quite enough.” A woman’s voice said. She sounded mature and professional. “Let’s not overwhelm the doctor and his guests.”

The group of young scientists began to disperse, revealing the beautiful woman who shooed them off. She had a slim, curvaceous build with short and fluffy snow white hair, and piercing emerald green eyes. She was an older woman, looking to be in her early forties. She wore black, small, high-heeled shoes with a gray suit and skirt. Over her clothes, she wore a white lab coat much like the rest of the scientists. Her expression was stoic and serious. The trio gulped quietly; this woman’s intimidating presence matched that of Empress Nia.

Armin smiled and walked up to the woman. “Good to see you again, Everett,” He greeted. “Nice to see you have such a rousing band of new hires.”

Everett sighed, smiling as she shook her head. “Honestly, it’s like they're still teenagers.”

Armin chuckled and said, “Glad you got my message before we got here.”

The trio exchanged glances, and Berus tapped Armin on the shoulder.

“Message?” He asked. “Is that what you were doing when you were fiddling with that little gadget?”

Armin asked, “My phone?” Then nodded, “That’s right.”

Everett looked at the three experiments. She locked her gaze when she saw Berus. She walked speedily toward him, and his eyes widened. He took a step back, not knowing what to do. She got very close to him, causing Berus to blush.

“Um…hi,” Berus said, timidly.

Everett examined the young boy’s face, lifting her hand, almost wanting to caress his cheek. His face grew redder, and the other two were not entirely sure what to do. Even Armin was confused by this sudden behavior. Everett gazed intently into Berus’s eyes, then pulled back her hand and walked back next to Armin. Berus’s legs were only a few seconds away from buckling, and he let out a long sigh, the girls giggling as they stared at the blushing youth.

“Well then,” Everett said, “Shall we go?”

Armin nodded and said, “Of course, come along, kiddos.”

Laura and Cello were just about to follow when they looked back at Berus, still trying to regain his composure.

“You okay?” Laura asked.

Cello looked at her and added, “Look at him, I thought he was about to swoon.”

They laughed while Berus took a deep exhale and joined them.

They made their way into a room labeled ND-H4. Everett opened the door, and they all walked inside. There were more scientists, young and old, who saw the group, and their faces lit up with shock and awe. They started to gather around the group and greet Armin. He truly was a famous man.

Laura and others pushed through the small sea of admirers and popped out the other side. She accidentally bumped into a man, and their eyes locked. Laura’s heart skipped a beat as she gazed into those icy blue eyes.

Both were stunned at first, but the man smiled and said, “Laura? Wow, it’s so great to see you again.” The man who spoke was Anthony.