37th of Baratus, 3000
3727 days to The Cataclysm

Tadashi walked through the halls of Eirini palace, with Elric and Gerard's immobilized bodies following him on floating diamond slabs.

Numerous navy soldiers followed Tadashi, worried about his health but Tadashi shunned them all away, visibly embarrassed.

"I'm fine for goodness sake," said Tadashi, repeatedly, to every single soldier that approached him.

When the soldiers wouldn't stop pestering him, Tadashi turned around and said, sternly;

"Anybody asking about my health again is gonna lose their pay for a month."

The crowd suddenly grew silent and dispersed.

Tadashi watched the dispersing crowd intently and turned around, only to find Zinedine standing right in front of him.

"You do realize you don't have the authorization to do that, right," said Zinedine

"Yes sir, but they don't know that" replied Tadashi.

"They were just genuinely worried about you. Anyways, how are you feeling?"

"As good as new, sir."

"Not many people can go up against Odysseus and live to tell the tale. I doubt even I could beat that guy. If you need anything, don't hesitate to ask"

"Well sir, would you mind if I take up your offer right now?"

"That was quick. Go ahead"

"I need access to the prison cell."

Zinedine was confused.

"Why?" he asked.

"My brother and Gerard used their gauntlets without gaining a proper license."

"So you're gonna throw them in prison for that?"

"Yes, sir, as you always taught us, the law is absolute."

"So you learned something after all, eh?"

Zinedine signaled Tadashi to follow him, and they walked towards the prison section of Eirini palace.

"Sir," said Tadashi.

"What is it?" replied Zinedine.

"Before I passed out, I heard Mazaviroc's roar. Was it the commander who took out Odysseus?"

"After the Commander came back from wherever he went, he was severely injured and certainly not in any condition to fight. Odysseus probably ran away the moment he heard Mazaviroc's roar, unknowing of the commander's injuries."

"THE COMMANDER WAS INJURED?" exclaimed Tadashi.

"Yeah. He refuses to tell us what happened as well, but we trust him anyway."

"Certainly, weird," replied Tadashi.

"Well, here we are," said Zinedine as both of them reached the prison section.

Zinedine walked towards the large door and said;

"Grant access to Vice Admiral Shirozou Tadashi."

"Well then, there you go," said Zinedine, turning around.

"Wait, sir, please can you grant me access to that cell?" said Tadashi, pointing at a blank wall at the end of the hallway.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me? You're not going to put them in with that monster just for unlicensed gauntlet use."

"I have something in mind, sir, it's about what we discussed on the jet."

"Well, they're your responsibility," said Zinedine, shaking his head in disapproval.

He walked toward the blank wall and placed his palm on it.

The wall remolded to form an entrance.

"In my opinion, you shouldn't go this far," said Zinedine, trying to talk Tadashi out of his idea.

"I know what I'm doing, sir."

"If you say so, Shirozou. If you say so," said Zinedine and walked off.

The moment Zinedine was out of earshot, Tadashi retracted the mouth gags and both, Elric and Gerard, took a deep breath.

"WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK BRO?!" screamed out Elric

"WHY ARE YOU BEI-"

Before Elric could complete his sentence, Tadashi tossed both of them into the cell and closed the door, while retracting their cuffs.

The moment the door closed, all light to the room was cut off. Elric wasn't able to see a thing, even after a couple of minutes when the eyes would generally adjust to the darkness.

Elric quickly got up and started to punch the wall in an attempt to break through.

"It's useless," said Gerard.

"You will never be able to break that wall."

Elric frowned and leaned against the wall.

"So what's up with you these days?" he asked.

"Sorta scared," replied Gerard.

"Why, what happened?" Elric asked, concerned.

"There was a soldier that tried to kill me outside my house, he didn't do anything though, I was able to take him down, but at that moment, he came out."

"He?"

"You know who."

"Oh shit, that's not good. why don't you visit a shrink?"

"Shrinks are fucking useless; my case is way beyond their understanding anyway, I might just end up killing them too."

Elric undid his hair and let it hang loose all the way down to his shoulders.

"Well, that's certainly true. I'm sure we can figure something out," said Elric.

"Thanks, man, means a lot. What's up with you these days, though?"

"I'm sorta confused."

A few moments of silence passed following Elric's statement. This silence was broken by Gerard who finally spoke up;

"The fuck are you waiting for, explain yourself already."

"But I thought you-" stammered Elric.

Elric shook his head and continued;

"Today, I killed a Zilevan soldier, I didn't even know his name, story, his motivation, I knew nothing about him, and yet, I ended his life. Is this what it means to be a soldier?"

"Look, dude. If you don't wanna be a soldier, then you can just quit, why did you even accept the offer in the first place?"

"I didn't technically accept anything. I thought it was really cool when I got selected and when Zilevo attacked, I made up my mind to give my life for the empire, but maybe that's because I don't know what to do with my life, I was so desperately searching for something to do, when an opportunity presented itself, I couldn't refuse"

"I'm no expert in this, but I say follow your instincts. I know you're a nice person and don't like to hurt others, but if you were to ask me, this war is inevitable, at some point in your life you will be forced to stand up and fight for yourself, so why not be prepared when that moment comes?"

"Yeah but- I don't know."

"Well, I've got an idea. Stick around for a few days, if you feel like you can't stomach this then quit, either way, if you're ever in trouble, I will be there to save your ass, just like I did with Odysseus."

"How do you even change your tone like five times in 5 minutes, jeez" chuckled Elric.

"That's my specialty," replied Gerard.

"Well," sighed Elric.

"I think you're right; I'll see if I'm fit for this. Probably a couple of weeks."

"You are fit for this, kid," said a voice from the darkness.

"Who is that," said Elric, perplexed.

"There's another guy here," said Gerard.

"Seriously? Did you get thrown in here because of unlicensed gauntlet use as well?"

"That's why you're here? That's rough. Since when did Eirini get so strict with their rules," replied the man.

"Since my brother became the Vice - Admiral."

"Who are you though, and why are you here?" asked Gerard.

"You can call me, Sebastian Vetrov and I'm in here because I used to be the Phoenix."

"The Phoenix? That urban Xenocyte myth?" asked Gerard.

"It's no myth, kid. It seems like you don't know the story of creation," said Sebastian.

"Yeah and I'm not interested-" said Gerard before he was cut off by Sebastian.

"It all started trillions of years ago."

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Don't forget to vote and leave your feedback in the comments, until next time, Shirozou, signing out.