"Transfer complete."

"Proceed to the awakening stage."

"Understood."

"Sir, what about the body?"

"Dispose of it. We don't need it anymore."

It was floating. It was in a cage.

It saw nothing.

It felt nothing.

It only heard voices.

"Charge it up."

~~~~~

Kousuke took a deep breath. "Okay. I'm only going to ask once. What the hell are you two doing here?" If Charlotte and Kyouji felt guilty, they're doing an amazing job keeping it hidden.

They were in the children's common room. Jenock's first, sixth, and seventh platoon, with the exception of Wataru, were present. So were Yuno, Kiyoka, and Harness' first platoon. He had no idea what they were doing before, but when he recieved a call from Takuya, practically begging him to rush over, he wasn't expecting this.

The girls were pushed to the back of the group as a means to protect them, with the exception of Hana who seemed about ready to throw hands. Haruki and Hikaru each had their arms locked around Arata's elbows to keep him from physically harming their guests, with Sakuya hugging his waist from the front and using his entire body to stop him from moving. Mikhail, Yuno, and Kiyoka were keeping Vanessa and Kageto at bay while Muraku and Nikolai were holding on to Hana. The Harness children only had wary faces as their eyes shift between them.

All the while, Kyouji and Charlotte simply stood by the door as if they were the normal ones.

"Not our fault you didn't pick up when I called. I wouldn't come here either if I had a choice." Kyouji had his arms crossed, hardly amused.

The two blondes exchanged glances before realization hit. That holding cell was meant to isolate that man in every way possible. It's no wonder the calls couldn't get through.

"We found out the general location of where their primary base is." Charlotte stated, getting to business. "Though, it's a little too general..."

"As long as it's narrowed down from the entire globe and space, I'd take anything we can get."

The two turned to each other before the boy stated bluntly. "The Pacific."

"... Huh?"

"The Pacific Ocean. It's somewhere there."

It was silent for a good, long, while as they all processed those exact words. Eventually, Kirito was the one who broke it.

"Of fucking course it is."

~~~~~

Submarines.

That was the first clue they had ever gotten when they first started going against the World Sabers the year before.

That time, Seredy Kreisler's 'base' was a submarine.

They should've figured it out sooner.

Kirito and Kousuke occupied a single monitor in Tiny Orbit's base, some of the other Seekers surrounding them. They got to work, trying to compare the information they got from Seredy to what the two kids had told them just then.

"'A surprise attack from the depths'..." Takuya nodded slowly to himself. "The ocean does make the most sense given that context."

"But the Pacific is still huge!" Asuka exclaimed. "We can't just dive in and look around like that!"

"We don't have to." Kousuke stated. "Kirito and I went to get more than a few clues. We got a code for the base's more specific location."

"And where did you get that sort of info?" Niara was staring straight to her partner, who seemed to be, for the first time ever, nervous under her gaze.

The two blondes exchanged glances before Kirito finally sighed. "We went to see Kreisler."

The group surrounding them either screamed "WHAT?!", or choked on air.

"The... There's just so many things wrong with that, I don't know where to start..." The Russian shook her head. "Putting off the question of how can we trust him, how do you two even know where he is? Last I check, even Yagami-san had no idea!"

But Yagami himself wasn't as shocked about that. "Eva told you, didn't she?"

Kousuke shrugged. "She made me her personal driver for that specific place."

"Okay, I'm changing my question. How does Eva know and Yagami-san doesn't?"

"It was for security purposes." The auburn haired male explained. "Back then, Eva's job was only to bring Seredy Kreisler to mainland. Arresting him was supposed to be my responsibility, but other urgent matters popped up."

"With the late Prime Minister Tougou." Jin stated.

"Yes. So Eva volunteered to take care of it. She took him to an isolated chamber somewhere, and handled all the papers regarding the safety and security."

"She did way more than just that." Even Kirito was confused by the other blonde's words now. "She and her brothers made a device so that Seredy could speak a lot easier, since he's really old and all. And every couple of weeks or so, she went to that place and they actually spend hours chatting."

"... Why am I still surprised?" Jin didn't even try to resist his urge to facepalm. "It's Eva. Of course she would. Only she would."

No one else seemed to be able to comment further, so he continued. "The first time she was there, it was the day of his arrest. Since Eva's in charge, she got a ride home from one of the other officers. I think it was like, a week later that she came to me? She asked me to drop her off there in the morning and picked her up again in the afternoon."

"Did you know she was seeing Kreisler at the time?" Ban asked.

"I did, but I didn't question it. I thought she was doing interrogations, until..." His face showed an annoyed expression, as if whatever he was imagining was happening at that very moment. "Until she stared bringing boxed lunches."

"Of course."

"I had absolutely no idea what she was thinking. And it just got more confusing when she started bringing books or random contraptions."

"Did you ever ask?" Kazu raised an eyebrow at him.

"I did." His expression turned from exasperated to completely serious. "And her reply back then was..."

"I know he's an enemy. I know all the terrible things he did. I'm not forgiving him for any of that. I can't." Despite saying so, she still had a small, sad, smile on her face. "But that man had also lost everything. None of his friends or peers are going to come and 'save' him, and he has no family waiting for him. Even though he posed such a threat, he's now powerless and abandoned. He's alone. Deranged maybe, but alone. And no matter how bad a person is, no one deserves that." Her gaze turned to the scenery out the window. They were passing through the coastal area. "I'm not expecting you or the others to understand, but... Even right now, any moment that passes could be his last. If possible, I want him to see the peaceful ocean he's always dreamed of before his time really comes."

"It sounds stupid coming from me, but..." Kousuke sighed. "If you had been there yourselves... If you'd seen the look in her eyes when she said that, you wouldn't be able to tell her off either."

"It's just like her to take pity on the enemy." Kirito muttered. His tone was far from mocking. He was once that 'enemy', after all.

"Well, that's all the more reason for us to save her." Ban stated. "If we want to hear her say those words for herself, we need to take her back!" They all nodded.

"Then, Kousuke. What was that you said about a code?" Takuya asked.

"Yeah, well... We just got it a couple of hours ago so don't think we've cracked it yet." He nodded at Kirito who typed it out in a document.

4522912'19 1951

"... Okay, I give up. What is it?"

~~~~~~~~~~

Reverent: Feeling or showing profound respect or veneration