The Southeast Military Base

51:23

[RY4N]-Nothing! Nothing at all! We got nothing ever since he disappeared! We are not progressing if we keep this shit up!

The young Officer seems to be talking to himself in the Great Leader's office, moving around mad about these times of his life. Some of his teammates seems to be present for a while as well.

[KYR4]-And what do you expect?? We didn't have a normal mission of ours for days now! The Great Leader was the only one making these missions possible! If those cowards didn't leave us one year ago, we could've gotten more information without Him present! It's obvious that we have nothing now!!

[MY4]-KYR4, take it easy...

[KYR4]-Okay, then YOU handle him, MY4!

[MY4]-*sigh* RY4N, those times aren't any better for us either. Please, just relax and clear up your mind. You were brothers, I'm sure you will find a way just like He used to.

[RY4N]-I don't think you understand something, MY4! I will never be like him! No matter the situation, he always found a way out of any problem, but I can't! Okay!? I can't do it! Don't you see?? I'm his shadow, nothing more! After all these years, I'm still not ready to be the Leader! I'm still not ready to face reality!

[MY4]-But--

[RY4N]- --No! No buts! Just admit it! If he was here, he already knew what to do! He would've already solved the problem! But he isn't here anymore!

[MY4]-Maybe He is still out there, RY4N!

[RY4N]-Then why didn't he return!??

MY4 doesn't say anything in return. In the end, she feels the same as him. Though LUK3 managed to make her feel better, she still worries about this whole incident deep down in her heart.

[RY4N]-...It's happening again! The past repeats itself again! The previous Great Leader died in the City of Above ten years ago too! But that time, the former Leader of the base was there to witnessed His death! He witnessed how the General killed Him in person! We knew He was dead for sure! What about CHE5TER then? Nobody knows where he went! Nobody knows what happened to him! Not even the soldiers managed to find his body! Back then, even without a will, we managed to continue the Great Leader's work! What about now? What about his work??

[KYR4]-So what if He isn't here!? Hm?? CHE5TER managed to continue your father's work because He didn't give up no matter how hard it was for Him! Why do you give up!? You said you want to continue His legacy, yet all I see is you complaining every single day of your brother's condition! So what if we have nothing? We had nothing from the beginning! 250 years and we still didn't have any progress in our freedom, with or without the Great Leader!

[RY4N]-Then, if you are so sure of yourself, what do you suggest, Officer KYR4?

[KYR4]-I suggest that you shut your mouth and stop crying about everything! Like it or not, you have to lead us now! Master was planning to make you the Leader of this base anyway, what's so different?

[RY4N]-...

[KYR4]-I swear, sometimes you manage annoy me more than LUK3, and that's a huge problem!

[MY4]-...Can we stop all of this? We should take a rest now. We are all tired, that's why we are so angry now.

[KYR4]-*sigh* Fine! I will see you all tomorrow morning!

KYR4 leaves a bit mad. Of course they are tired and angry. In the past days, all they could do is to investigate the enemy's city and they didn't manage to find anything new at all. The only way for them to find something useful was through their old missions, but since the last Investigator is nowhere to be found, that isn't possible.

The only one left with the Officer now is MY4, who is looking at him from the entrance, before she leaves too. Who can blame him after all? The cruel story of two brothers, successors of the Great Leader who once ruled over these lands and found His last moments in the misery He lived His whole life, and now only one of them survives to tell the past, until he too falls trying to save this city from this agony.

For them, the glory during a war is when you do not lose your true self because of the suffering you have to endure, and it seems as that glory faded a long ago, as they both became someone they didn't want to be only to survive. There is no glory, there is no peace. What is left are the ashes from that fire that burnt these lost souls, what remained from their true form and remade them into these individuals they cannot recognise anymore.

03.05.1642

The Underground City

00:09

RY4N seems to wander alone the streets of the city and goes towards many locations. First, he went to several merchants, buying things that only he knows what they are used to. Then, he went to the Statue of M1NERV4 and placed an offering, standing on a knee and looking down at the ground, praying for the future of this city, praying for the future of his own brother.

And then, he arrives at a specific barman which he seems to know for quite a while, but he isn't the only one after all. His family and the previous Leader used to come here quite often. It's obvious that he will come to him if he needs to take a rest himself. The barman is a retired member of the Southeast Base as a bit of background, but now he seems to be closing his bar because of the time.

[RY4N]-Mr. AD4M!

[AD4M]-...RY4N? Well that is a surprise! As much as I would like to give you something from the bar, I'm afraid that I've just closed.

[RY4N]-Doesn't matter. I didn't come to drink anything anyway. Can we just... talk?

Mr. AD4M was a bit worried about the young man standing in front of him. He was looking kind of upset, and it was a surprise to see him here after all. It doesn't seem as he visits this place that much.

[AD4M]-Okay... Follow me.

He takes him behind the bar, entering a door and going upstairs, leading them to an apartment right on top of the bar itself. RY4N takes off his shoes and follows the old barman into a room, where they sit down on two small couches.

[AD4M]-Are you sure you don't want me to bring you anything?

[RY4N]-Yes. Don't bother yourself with that. I'm fine.

[AD4M]-*sigh* Alright. What happened? If you came here to ask me about your brother again, I'm afraid I still don't know where He is. Or perhaps He came back?

[RY4N]-No. I'm... afraid he didn't.

[AD4M]-...

[RY4N]-...It's been a month already since we last saw him. I've tried contacting him several times but... still no response.

[AD4M]-Did you ask around? Maybe the others that had retired saw Him.

[RY4N]-I did, but still in vain. Nobody saw him in the city in the past days.

[AD4M]-Maybe He did tell you something before He left, right? There is no way He just disappeared!

[RY4N]-Unfortunately... no. Nothing about this. All I know is that he went in the City of Above to investigate something... and didn't come back. A bit later, after I've asked you about him, we went in a mission and found a conversation between two Colonels talking about Seven Two.

[AD4M]-And what did they say?

[RY4N]-*sigh*...Seven Two was chased down by some soldiers after they've tracked Him down in the city. Later on, they caught Him in an explosion but... they didn't find His body. All that was left was some damage on the buildings... and a small river of blood.

[AD4M]-But He can't be dead, right?

[RY4N]-...I hope so. But I've waited a day, two... then it turned into ten, and now... in a month. Nothing.

[AD4M]-Though the odds seem horrible... I still think He is there. They didn't find His body, right? Maybe He survived! Your brother is a warrior, He wouldn't give up so easily!

[RY4N]-Heh... yeah...

[AD4M]-Oh, if only we lived in better times... I feel so miserable every time I see Him when He visits me, knowing how He used to be and, well... what He had become. Who would've thought...

[RY4N]-...If only our father didn't die that night... maybe he wouldn't have changed so much. All I know from him now are lies over lies. It just feels that we are not siblings anymore. All he says is that he has responsibilities, that he cannot lose time over these small old things. What happened to the CHE5TER that didn't give a damn about these responsibilities?

[AD4M]-*sigh* It's true that people change over time, that nobody stays the same. But the change doesn't have to be a bad one, RY4N. Let's say He wasn't chosen to be the Great Leader that day. What would have happened then?

[RY4N]-Probably I would have been the one who took the role.

[AD4M]-And you think that you could've just remained the same innocent child forever? It's in our nature to adapt to the current situations. If we don't, then we cannot survive. Even if we don't like it, He only adapted so He can face this burden, so He can survive, not fall because He can't bear the situation. If He remained the same irresponsible child we once knew, this world could've just eat Him alive.

[RY4N]-But he might as well just kill himself one day without us knowing. Is it really such a good change?

[AD4M]-Don't think it that way, RY4N... I know that He put Himself in danger so many times, but I don't think it's because He wants to end His life. Even with this change, it doesn't seem to be something He would do. I know it hurts you seeing Him like this every day, but there is still a part of His old self that remained. Just trust Him, the same way of how He trusted and still trusts you.

[RY4N]-Yeah... Maybe you are right, Mr. AD4M.

There is a moment of pause between them for a while, before the man starts talking again.

[AD4M]-But... to be honest now, the more I think about it, the more I feel that something is strange about this whole incident. Doesn't this feel familiar to you?

[RY4N]-What do you mean?

[AD4M]-..."Warrior, warrior, / Where did you disappear? / The suns shine bright, but you aren't here. / What happened that night that made you fear? / Were you afraid to face the truth?"--

[RY4N]- --"Or maybe was our end near?"... What does this have to do with him? It's just a legend.

[AD4M]-For me, this situation does feel a bit the same. Doesn't the legend say that the God of War left one night without anybody knowing where He went and He never came back? After that, historically speaking, the war was lost and General 4RTHUR ruled over these lands. It was the end of that era... and the beginning of ours, when Great Leader M1NERV4 killed him.

[RY4N]-...So?

[AD4M]-It just feels like whenever the Great Leader disappears, something huge is about to happen. When the God of War disappeared, M1NERV4 killed the General and then gave birth to the Renaissance. When She died, the descendant took Her role and continued to build this city, protecting every citizen all those years. And then, centuries later, when your father died, CHE5TER was immediately titled the Great Leader, and for more two years, the city was in a huge mess. Maybe something is about to happen now too. Who knows?

[RY4N]-But in every situation, there was someone who took the role of the fallen one. Who takes the role now?

[AD4M]-Maybe it doesn't need for anybody to take the role. I'm not saying He is dead. I'm just saying that maybe something is there, waiting for us all.

[RY4N]-Like what?

[AD4M]-Like... the end of this era.