Story Reader / Main Story / 26 Cradle Parade / Story
26-27 "931206"
Several months later.
A woman who seems out of place enters the dimly light temporary base.
It's been a while.
Please pardon my uninvited presence, but I came because I noticed that you had obtained the key.
Yes, she's about to hatch.
His gaze falls upon the small Tree of Life—the egg, sitting in the crimson, beats like a heart.
So, the key. Would it be safe to see it as that commandant's... daughter?
I'd say the key is more like the actual commandant.
The introduction didn't go well. The memories and consciousness aren't entirely complete. I saw several shards that belonged to others.
Seems like this "return ticket" that you found isn't all that perfect.
The woman pauses for a moment, deep in thought.
What do you plan to do about the Hetero Zone?
I'm going to pay Luna a visit.
What's going to happen after you leave?
I'll leave it all to Lilith, since she's always wanted to be an agent.
Not to Lithos?
I need to set him free. I owe him that.
She smiles, returning her gaze to the egg.
I'm a bit curious.
Why did you choose this commandant when anyone with a stable M.I.N.D. can be the core of the key?
I need someone who understands the cost of power.
The key isn't just a tool. She possesses her own consciousness. Having to go down the same path again and again is torturing, and few have what it takes to stand that.
Most people use this power to satisfy their own desires once they realize what they are capable of.
And we both know what can happen when that happens.
...
I wish the best of luck to you and your new key with passing through the door.
Don't worry, though. We're not interested in seeing Earth's civilizations destroyed, and your growth would only make it more likely for the "rules" to be broken.
As far as I am concerned, you'll only have the time to take care of those little wishes when you're done with this here.
If you're talking about the war between the Punishing and humans, all I need to do is to find and train people who are capable of fighting the virus. It doesn't matter what their affiliation is.
Although I'm more inclined to believe in Ascendants and the Filtering.
...
You're far less interesting than when you were still alive, Professor... so much so that I barely recognize you now.
You might be able to get out of the closed loop of time now, but you're no longer the same person that you were.
The figure in the dark says nothing in response.
Regardless of the outcome, this path is exactly the one I set out to take.
And how's that for being "interesting" to you?
...
With it, the two fall silent, looking at the egg in silence.
She can no longer find herself.
She sweeps her cloak aside and holds the egg in her arms.
Let's give her a new name. A new name is going to help her hatch sooner.
...
How does "Billy Pilgrim" sound? Well, I guess this name suits you better now, doesn't it?
That's a terrible joke, madam.
The agent, with the same poker face, rejects the suggestion with a joking tone.
Chaos—let's stick with that for the time being until she names herself.
The Merciful One nods, placing the soon-to-hatch egg back onto the miniature Tree of Life.
The two wait in silence—until the egg's shell cracks with her restless movements.
As the blood on its body slowly disappears, the Hetero-Creature, roughly about the same size as a doll, sits quietly among the chains with its eyes closed.
...
She laughs, as if coming to a sudden realization.
So this... is your choice, huh?
In her whisper, the pale child quietly opens her eyes.
In the afternoon on the same day, Babylonia.
Returning Shorthalt's name tag, they concluded all summaries and reports of this operation.
Finally getting a break from all the tedious work, the Gray Raven Commandant is now back in Gray Raven's situation room.
"One of the clones of the Gray Raven Commandant died in the accident"—this is how they concluded the incident.
Commander Nikola believes this to be one of Ascendants' schemes.
They won't hesitate to leave your clones to rot as long as they have you back at Babylonia—and you know that they do this on purpose.
Clones have been around for some years now. When you first went missing, your disappearance was meant for your memories to be synchronized with the clones'—except the success was low, and they only ended up with one exceptional case with your memories.
April 16th, day 16 since you went missing.
A human awakened naked in an old, filthy underground laboratory.
Breaking free of your restraints and kicking down the door barefoot, you started looking for help in the deserted building.
Not long into looking for help in the makeshift shoes you came up with using discarded cardboard and strips of cloth, you ran into a Construct.
The Construct offered you help—but soon showed his true colors when he led you into yet another trap.
You thought you'd made it out of hell, only to be led straight back to Lithos.
The patrolling defectors, Corrupted strolling down the alleys, fanatics of Scarlet Revelation, their crazy minions... and it didn't help that the place was as complicated as an inescapable maze...
Then, Lucia told you that the Gray Ravens had saved a clone of you around Fort Winter in the early hours of April 16th.
The clone had no memories whatsoever and died in the emergency room soon after waking up... and that's when we lost yet another source of information.
On April 20th, the battered human got their second chance to escape. They knocked the guard guarding the refugees out cold—and took the liberty to "borrow" the guard's jacket.
Having learned your lesson the hard way and decided not to never trust anyone again on the way, you headed straight up the bumpy mountain path.
It didn't take long for your pursuers to catch up to you, except you were well-prepared this time around.
With the traps and boulders that you set up beforehand behind the rocks up the mountain, you took out a Construct that came looking for you with a terminal.
You were about to send out a distress signal when you realized that your pursuers' terminals were all on the lookout for just that. Stricken by despair and about to give up all hope, you see him...
...What are you doing here wearing someone else's jacket?
That was the first time you saw a familiar face in days—plunging you into yet another storm with the Forsaken...
But when everything was taken care of, the Gray Ravens finally found their commandant—who retained every last bit of memories.
Aside from a few minor physical injuries here and there and a gap in memory from April 1st to April 16th, the commandant was otherwise perfectly normal.
You went through proper examinations and a healing program upon returning to Babylonia.
Through the proper care they received, you made a swift recovery—to the point where you were able to enjoy card games by the bed in your hospital room with Vanessa and Simon.
Vanessa always looks bitter when recounting this thrilling escape adventure.
I'd only describe your luck as impossible. See, people are usually goners if they ever go missing for as long as you did.
The only sacrifice in the incident was an overlooked clone. The real protagonist has long since returned to their own story.
Life is full of unexpected turns, but you know that you would have made the same decision had you been given another chance, so long as you live with those memories.
The results are in. No signs of accelerated growth on account of medication.
Professor Hippocrates paid you a visit the day you were discharged from the hospital.
That means you're the real deal.
All the data came directly from the lab, so there is no way it could be wrong.
Or are you so on edge that you suspect there's a traitor even among the Star of Life?
She tosses over a case file.
Here, your test report is here, on paper. Hold onto it yourself. No one can do anything with this copy.
If you feel something's off, list out the issues and we'll redo the tests.
After leaving the Star of Life, you dove right into the next mission—helping Purifying Force eliminate traitors and formulate prevention and resettlement measures.
That which binds someone to a certain place is never any sort of chains or cruel punishments, but sweet home—as Bianca always says.
Rumor has it that Recall is a big fat lie, and that Babylonia has been deceiving people for years.
Some who claimed to have made it work were later found suspicious.
They might have defected for a variety of reasons, but this, I think, is the biggest one.
We can't just leave an execution chamber behind and try to stop people from running away by putting them to death—because people who know they're going to be tortured to death can do about just anything.
The reform plan she formulated is well underway, and it needs to be maintained going forward.
Most investigations into those who had gone missing yielded positive results—save for "Bethe", the old man who was seen by the river before going missing, was never seen again from April 1st until autumn.
After much deliberation, you decided to give Noan—who for some reason showed up at the river on April 1st and was, as a result, put under surveillance—the benefit of the doubt and showed him a video of the old man.
And, after a moment of silence, he slowly revealed the identity of this "old man."
He worked as an executive for an underground arms deal back in the Golden Age and was also one of those who financially supported the orphanage. When his boss died during the Great Evacuation, he took over part of his boss' business.
These are all things Rachel... my teacher told me.
Taking advantage of his connections with Akdilek Commercial Alliance, Kurono, and Babylonia, Bethe took weapons from them that they didn't need and sold them to people who needed weapons to fend for themselves during the apocalypse.
Remember how they said the blueprint of the Rev Blade was an old one that Babylonia had discarded 10 years earlier when the blueprint was sent to them?
I got this blueprint from that certain teacher, who had purchased it from Bethe herself. The blueprint then went into circulation... and somehow found its way back to Babylonia.
He rarely meets people in person unless they're his "regulars." I only saw him because of Fantine.
Do you remember Fantine?
She's Cosette's mother. After the disaster that hit Pulia Forest Park, the two of us walked to the conservation area together. You were still out cold then, right?
Fantine's husband and I are both merchants. He told me that Fantine had gone missing and asked for my help looking for her when we crossed paths with each other one day at a base.
...So, with the clues Fantine had left along her journey, we found Bethe's basement.
The smell of rotting flesh and excrement, scratches from fingernails on the walls, broken finger bones in the ventilation duct, and photos of the children...
Noan furrowed as he recalled the living hell he had seen in there.
Back then, we were so focused on trying to save Fantine that we let Bethe slip right through our fingers. What happened to you... wouldn't have happened had we gotten rid of him then.
Learning of what had happened, the young man, usually calm and gentle, became unusually upset.
...And after that...
...Bethe...
The sound of the bell reminding you of the strategy meeting pulls you right back from memory lane.
Looking up, you find yourself once again back in the empty lounge.
Celica did send you a message in a rush to check on you before the gigantic "whale" hopped out of the sea.
Back then, everyone thought it was a trick that the Ascendants were trying to pull.
Could things have taken a different course... had you taken the message seriously?
But had you saved your other self, how were you supposed to deal with everything that ensued?
You pull the drawer open and see the case file sitting quietly at the very bottom.
When you first got it and went through the first few pages of the report, you saw that they were full of medical terms and data.
Seeing as you could barely get any useful information from it, you put it back where it was.
It's been a year since, and you now lay the report in front of you across the table.
The pages are still filled with the same medical terms and, going through them page by page, you are still as clueless as ever.
Right when you're about to put the report back into the case file, you catch a handwritten serial number on the very last page, making you curious instantly.
Illegible to the point of being almost undecipherable, the letters and numbers seem to be saying...
...That the parade of the dead is still ongoing.
