Chapter 39: Aftermath

The next time I'd be awake it would be inside my quarters aboard the Asterism. As soft as my bed was I couldn't help but notice the extreme amount of pain that was beginning to set in. Getting up wouldn't only make it worse so I just stayed there for a moment thinking about a naughty word that rhymes with puck in the loudest voice I could.

From what I could feel, my right arm had been strapped in a cast and I could feel bandages wrapped along my head. My legs felt like jelly, and my side hurt so badly I was sure a rib was poking inside my skin. My left arm was fine, although it still looked the same as when I transformed. A permanent change maybe?

That painful reminder that my injuries in Anima's form wouldn't heal as quickly came with a vengeance. I could at least turn my head a bit and as I did I noticed Edwin had been seated in the room with me. He'd been immersed in some cube-like puzzle that shifted vertically and horizontally. The cube itself seemed like it was made of smaller cubes that were color coded. He seemed a bit frustrated with the object as he shifted the thing about. After a few more minutes of trying, he finally managed to get one side the same color.

"The hell is that thing," I muttered.

Edwin's eyes widened. I seemed to spook him so badly that he dropped his little puzzle. "Dammit..." He swore as he picked the cube up. "Couldn't you have woken up a little later? I wanted to have it solved when you woke up."

He placed the cube on my nightstand, then shifted to my bed. "I'm sure you're feeling like absolute hell right now my boy."

"Understatement of the century..," I groaned. "What happened?"

"The remaining forces led by Arjun and Laufey were routed. We've managed to salvage a lot of technology originating outside of the Prime System. Of all the officers Alice, Claire, Andrew, and Satomi are the only injured remaining in sick bay. We did have several casualties but not enough to cause too much of a scene." He paused for a moment. "My apologies, I shouldn't make light of their sacrifice."

"It's not like you spat on their graves or anything. But thanks."

"Well, enough of the formalities. You awakening properly this time meant that you've seen it no?"

As I recalled the moments just before activating the Anima, I did remember the vision I was shown. I was supposed to recall the exact identity of the holder of the Arcanum Astra. But it somewhat didn't make sense. The confusing green light appeared which messed up any rationality in the world. It lasted much longer than last time as well, blocking the entire memory.

"Well... I awakened I know that... But I don't think I saw the right memory."

Edwin looked a bit puzzled by my statement. It was like he'd just heard someone say "I am the pizza king of tyrant castle." Before he could ask any questions on the matter, my door opened. I'd been Andrew and Talia, the former of which had his arm in a cast as I did.

"Yo Snow White," Andrew waved. "Still in bed I see."

"Well if I got up then I'd get yelled at by all of you."

Edwin got up from the bed and buttoned his suit. "I'll allow you three to catch up. We'll speak of this later Soran."

As Edwin made his way to the door he whispered something in Andrew's ear to which the latter responded with a slight nod. Turning to me he said, "We'll discuss that later boyo, enjoy some time with your friends before you have to go."

I hoped by then I'd at least have something substantial to say. Andrew and Talia came over to my bed, and by the time she was down, Talia seemed a bit annoyed.

"Ya stupid Vargit..." She spat as she flicked me on the head. "You could've died out there!"

"Ouch... I'm sorry I tried."

"We all kinda saw your fight," Andrew noted. He pulled out a datapad from his cast and its contents contained the battle between Arjun and me.

"Oh, crap... That means..."

Andrew knew exactly what he was doing. As he used the cursor to scroll right up to the exact moment I'd transformed I covered my face.

"Murugan Kaiser eh? I bet the ladies will love you now you adorable dork."

Talia elbowed Andrew in his bad shoulder, causing him to drop the Datapad.

"Shut yer mouth Blondie! I happened to think he was very cool."

"S-see," Andrew groaned. "It's already working."

"W-Whatever Blondie, can you focus for two seconds? Anyways, yer head on straight So-So? Do ya need anything?"

"As far as I could tell my head is on straight. A little pounding here and there but nothing too wrong."

Even though I said that Talia didn't seem to lighten up. Reaching into the pouch of her overalls she pulled out a bottle of medicine. Tossing me the bottle she went over to my fridge grabbing a can of juice. While she did this I read the contents of the medicine. It was called Animix, something to help with neurological issues.

"Any reason for this?" I asked as I shook the bottle. As Talia sat down she handed me the drink, then pointed to the bottle. "Take these at least once a day. Two if you pilot Ragnarok. As much as you've been using the Animus you'll need it."

She and I switched up the bottle and can and she opened the medicine for me pouring one red pill out. Holding up the pill she held it up to my face. Popping the pill in my mouth, Talia opened the can and I drank the juice.

"Will these really be necessary? All I've had are headaches."

"Yeah... That's the start of it," said Andrew. "Then you'll get the shakes, dizziness, nerve pains, and start to have hallucinations. Classic signs of Dissociative Neural Disorder. It's what Dad has."

"It's why I told ya to not use that Anti-Eidolon System," said Talia. It goes beyond the normal synchronization parameters most Eidolons have in exchange for increased performance and agility to outclass other Eidolons. You essentially become one with the machine...

"Your body might be able to handle the worst punishment but that egghead of yours can't..."

Come to think of it I have had some adverse reactions to the Animus. That probably explains the green light I saw a few months ago. As much as I wanted to say I'd be fine I also remembered the state Andrew's Dad had been in.

"Alright... I'll try not to use it too much anymore... So... What's up with everyone else?

Andrew and Talia filled me in some more about the situation on the outside. It seems that most of the Prime System bore witness to the battle on the surface. Though I was super embarrassed about it, people began to sing the praises of Soran Xenthos the hero. Though our troubles didn't end with that invasion.

After I passed out, the Megalith Arjun and I had been fighting on suddenly began to glow. It then began to move on its own and now floated above the Tower of Mercadia.

"I won't lie to you Soran," Andrew sighed, "We may have just jumped out of the frying pan and into a fire."

"Eh... I seriously doubted this would all be over with just repelling one attack," I scoffed. "Besides, we still have to stop Lucian from obtaining Arcanum."

"We still don't know who's got it or what it even is?" Talia crossed her arms seeming to retreat into her mind to think. Then something seems to hit her light a lightning bolt. "Weren't you supposed to remember something when you transformed?"

Although I did, it was probably something I shouldn't say too freely. Though I wanted to tell my friends they'd probably be able to discern anything from what I could say.

"It's probably better if we left that bit alone for now," Andrew spoke up.

As much as I wanted to tell them I didn't have definitive proof of what I saw. Plus it would be awkward to tell them that I didn't see the memory of who holds the Arcanum. How could I have? I didn't even see the weapon.

"Well... We at least gotta tell Claudia that he's awake," said Talia. "The council is gonna want to meet up with them asap."

I tried wiggling my toes a bit to see if they were even going to work. I'd half expected them to still feel like jelly, but they felt a bit more normal now. Swinging my legs from under the covers I stood up. I nearly tumbled to the floor after going up yet managed to hold my balance.

Going in sweatpants might send a bad message to the council so I went into the bathroom taking a pair of pants and my jacket with me. After changing for a time I care not to admit. I'd come out ready to go.

The Asterism had been just outside of Neo Arcadia's atmosphere so we'd have to go down in a shuttle. Before leaving I thought it would be best to check on the others who were still in sick bay. When we arrived we didn't find too many people still there. I guessed that most of our injured were sent planetside to recover. There were a couple of other soldiers besides Alice and Claire. Satomi had been nowhere in sight.

Out of the two, Alice was the one who was awake. She'd been reading that book she had a few months and seemed to be nearly done.

"Yo Alice. How's tricks?" I greeted. "You look a lot better."

"I'm feeling a lot better now that I know you're alright," she said. "Unleashing one's Anima often takes a toll on the body."

"Ya got that right," Andrew chuckled. "What's the matter with the little tyke?"

All of our attention turned to Claire, who had bandages covering her head and arm. She seemed to be covered in cookie crumbs as she slept peacefully.

"She's taking what she called 'an after-snack nap' as she put it. You should've been here for the shot she had to get."

Andrew and I winced as he recalled her last vaccination appointment. The only bad thing Clarke did was force us to take her to the doctor when it was time for her immunization shots.

"I guess the cookies were her incentive this time?" Andrew asked.

Alice just smiled although she seemed a bit worried about that.

"Anyways... The two of ya go on ahead to the surface," Talia started, breaking the small awkward silence.

"Nah Nat, I think you should go on with him this time," Andrew said

Talia seemed to tense up after hearing that, as she looked at Andrew the two shared rather strange looks.

"Fine..." She sighed "I'll go. But yer really makin' this awkward for me Blondie.".

"I don't understand?" Alice questioned.

"Nothin' ya need to worry about. Now come on Alice, let's draw on Claire's face before she wakes up."

I was just going to let the consequences of Andrew's actions tell him all the reasons why that was a bad idea. I tapped Talia's shoulder nodding toward the door. It was best that we left before things got dicey.

As we exited Sickbay we began to make our way toward the hangar. It was at its entrance we'd find Claudia who'd been working with two of the maintenance crew which consisted of a human and another Tau. Or maybe I was mistaken? They seemed to be pestering her about something.

"Please Ms. Bordeaux. We'd like your autograph!" One of them pleaded. "You were too awesome during the battle.

"I was honestly just doing my job ladies. Something you probably should be doing right now." Claudia pointed to the two of us and as the maintenance girls turned to us, they tensed up.

"B-B-B-B-Boss!?" The Tau stammered. We're sorry we were just askin' leavin'." The Tau pulled her friend along as the two scurried passed us.

"Sorry about that Lance Corporal, I'll make sure to give them double duty for slackin' off," Talia hissed.

"Please there's no need for that Ms. Vitalis," Claudia begged. "They were just enthusiastic. And by the way, it's Sergeant now."

"Oh, you got promoted?" I asked.

"Though I am an agent of the Prime System, the military rank is just a formality. However, the High General didn't feel right not granting me a sort of promotion."

"It's kinda strange you said that. It almost sounds like you're leaving us."

Claudia shook her head, then pointed at my chest in an almost playful way.

"My job is to watch over the system's golden boy. It'll take a lot more than a stuffy promotion to get rid of me."

How could I not smile? Even though I was a grade S problem child it still felt nice knowing Claudia would still be here.

"Anyways," she continued, "The Prime Council will want to meet with you immediately. It appears your work will never be done."

As she opened the bay doors, the usual busy atmosphere of the hangar had been vacant now. Some ships were docked sure and a few of the maintenance crew doing work. But there'd only been one shuttle.

At that shuttle has been Satomi who was waiting nearby near the open shuttle door. She hadn't been using her wheelchair at all now. Her cybernetic legs gave rise to her true height. Great another taller than me. She smiled as she saw us but something seemed to cross her mind. She looked at me then Talia and something inside her mind clicked. Her smile seemed to lose some of its radiance but it wasn't gone.

She motioned for us to come on over and then board the shuttle herself. As we all embarked on the vessel, we each took a seat nearest to the pilot's cockpit. Talia sat next to me while the other two sat adjacent to each other.

I admit it was a bit of an awkward space to be in. With Andrew trying to goad me into dating one of them, I thought I'd have to deal with something a bit above my pay grade. Fighting intergalactic threats that want to turn the universe into a one-race utopia seemed a lot easier than dealing with girls.

For a while on the trip everyone kept quiet. Claudia seemed a bit too engrossed in the datapad while the three of us seemed to be in an unspoken staring contest. I glanced over at Talia who'd been fidgeting a bit in her seat while holding onto my jacket with her small fingers. I hadn't noticed until now but, she seemed rather different than usual. It was very similar to how she was acting during the battle.

When I looked back at Satomi, she had her chin resting in her hand while smiling at us. "You know I can read minds right?"

While that was obvious, there was still this strangeness to it. I'm sure I hadn't been thinking of anything too weird I'd forgotten that I'm still a teenager. Embarrassing thoughts could pop up at the moment I was forced to think about it.

But the one most embarrassed was Talia. She now averted her gaze as she pursed her lips seemingly hoping the conversation would stop.

"It's fine Tali, no need to get so embarrassed," assured Satomi. "While I understand the way you feel I'd rather not get into some weird situation. You've been here much longer."

Talia raised her head and the two resumed their staring contest. I could sometimes tell when Satomi was using her ability to communicate via The High Priestess with others so whatever they were talking about now was probably something I wasn't supposed to hear.

By the apparent end of their discussion, Satomi leaned back in her chair and winked at Talia as the latter now had her arm around mine.

"Uh... What's going on?" I decided to ask anyways.

Satomi just placed her finger over her lips. "Nope, a girl's secret."

The door to the cockpit opened and from behind it, Edwin stepped out. "Alright... The ships in autopilot and... Oh? What do we have here?"

His grin gave me the same irritating feeling as Andrew's whenever he was thinking something devious. If he wasn't such a scary guy to deal with I'd have belt him one.

"Anyways, we should be arriving at Neo Arcadia within the next hour. Seraph will be there ahead of us since Alice couldn't make it."

Edwin turned back heading into the cockpit once again as we continued to descend into the planet's atmosphere. When we arrived in Neo Arcadia's skies it was somewhat still early in the morning. I hadn't noticed how used to the descent I got until I realized I didn't feel sick anymore. We were headed toward the Tower once more and I. The distance I could see the Megalith.

It glowed a bright red color as it remained stationary right above the Tower. It was there I fought Arjun to near death.

A place where I'd probably be much more than I cared to admit.