Saturn was quiet as Onyx fixed him up. Tempesta was somewhere. Saturn spoke after Onyx finished.

"Why do you call him Nera?" Onyx hummed.

"So you were somewhat awake during the talk. Well, it's because that's how his name is actually said. Tempesta nera Avanguardia." He hummed. "I guess that info isn't normally mentioned."

"He hates his sister, but she has the same thing."

"That was bad luck." He chuckled as Onyx stood up. "That should work."

"Thanks..." The knight then paused. "What about you?"

"Hm?"

"How'd you get to know him?" Onyx hummed.

"Something happened to his family. He came down from somewhere and a few families adopted him." He paused. "My family was one of those families. He was very grateful and he guarded me." Onyx smiled before Tempesta slipped in.

"I found a path to Bale. Come on." They nodded before heading off.

~~~

Upon entering the Limestone Caves, Onyx kept teasing the older two.

"You two are acting like you're long lost brothers or something."

"If we weren't friends, I would've killed you off."

Onyx giggled as Saturn's face tried to figure out the right emotion for the whole thing. They had a slip up with some stepping stones and almost a friendly talk about some Rock Fireflies. They were nearing the end when a hiss filled the air.

"Look out!" Lightning sparked from his sword as he clashed with a large snake.

~~~

Onyx couldn't tell you what happened since he blacked out, but Saturn could.

The snake tried to get up and attack again when a powerful light from Onyx destroyed it. Tempesta was so worried about Onyx that he didn't notice the strange light. Saturn was silent as Tempesta picked up Onyx, letting him rest.

"We have to get to Bale." The merc paused at Saturn's silence. "All good?"

"Uh- yeah-"

~~~

Onyx woke up before they got to Bale, so he was able to walk into the city with them. After some goofing off and teasing Saturn, they went to the castle.

"Rosa alert."

"Ew."

The worst part was that the female knight went right over to them. The older acted like they didn't see her while Onyx watched the chaos unfold.

"Nera and Saturn. The two people I would never dream of working together to ignore me." Tempesta sighed before turning to her.

"Bianca. You are still a piece of shit." She clicked her tongue as Saturn glared at her.

"Nera, I heard about the Seles problem. It was fun laughing with the rest of the Elites."

"You never showed up. So like hell you did a better job. I at least showed up." She scoffed before glancing at Saturn.

"Where's the rest of your men, Sir Saturn?"

"Not with you. Which is doing better than me right now." Tempesta chuckled as Rosa scoffed. Onyx finally got up and dragged the two boys away from her.

"Let's go do something more important."

~~~

The King of Bale, Pearl, gave a lot of information. Between the Black Monster from Tempesta's home and the War, nothing was good. They rested at the balcony, taking it all in. Onyx finally spoke.

"So... what now?" Tempesta sighed.

"I'm no closer to the Black Monster than when I came here. So I don't know." Saturn hummed.

"I have to enter the front lines. There's no way for me to avoid it." Onyx took in their words before speaking.

"Let's go together. Nera, the monster will reveal itself eventually. But I think you need to travel more. We can help the war and maybe even stop it." Saturn smiled as Tempesta nodded.

"In that case, let's stop and get food. It'll be best."