Episode 5- Human Hope

Days had passed after Flare had devoured the Kyuubi and found the photo in the underground ruined city, roaming the wastelands that were almost completely free from the Ash which was nice. Flare kept walking as he heard the sound of an engine in the distance that was heading in his direction, after a few minutes the truck drove by before stopping and reversing back towards him then slowly cruising next to him. The trucks driver seat window slid down as a woman looked over at Flare.

The woman turned off the truck as she spoke, "Hey big guy, what are you doing in god forsaken place like this?" She said as she got out of the truck while more people looked at Flare from the bed of the truck.

Flare looked down at the woman as he thought to himself for a moment, "I'm alone, all I really can do is roam around and survive..." He said as what he told the her was technically the truth.

The woman realized that what she assumed was a Port's spy was actually just another survivor, "Oh, then we're in the same boat. You can call me Luna by the way, it's nice to be meeting you." She said as she pointed to the bed of the truck, "Why not tag along with us, better than walking or being out here at all." She said while smirking to herself before getting back in the truck starting it up.

Flare climbed into the bed of the truck looking at everyone as he curled up sitting alone to not bother or annoy anyone, looking around as he was brought to a large well built shelter that seemed pretty well armored and secured as Luna drove inside while the gates locked up behind us. Soon everyone started getting out of the truck as Flare followed while secretly manifesting an armored glove over his hand that Utsaku's core was on, see a few guards approach him with weapons in hand.

One of the guards stepped forward looking at Flare, "You're a new face and an odd one at that, lift your arms so I can pat you down." He said as he started walking towards Flare.

Luna grabbed the guards wrist and flipped him onto his back rather hard, "I believe I'll be handling the inspection for this one, his appearance is rather odd and a simple pat down might not be enough." She said while walking towards Flare before speaking again, "Take off your upper clothes, and slowly." She said as she crossed her arms.

Flare was rather thankful that Luna dealt with the guard so he slowly took off his coat having to rip it off since the spinal armor was still merged to his back and couldn't be removed, after tossing aside the coat and shirt he pulled Utsaku's core inside his body so it wouldn't be exposed while he took off the glove as well. "Like this?..." He said as he tilted his head curiously.

Luna was a bit taken aback from Flares appearance as he was covered in several scars and markings all over his body, she'd nod as she inspected Flare making sure he wasn't armed or anything until she saw the spinal armor. "What might this thing be?" She asked while tracing her hands on it to see what it was.

Flare felt his body shiver as he felt her hand on the metal, "That thing helps me survive, I can't live without it... It also grants me some resistance to Ash so I can travel more freely, it was merged onto my back..." He said as he didn't exactly lie that time either.

Luna was impressed by its mechanisms as she finished check Flare for weapons before giving him a new shirt, "Well you pass, just don't cause any trouble." She said as she called someone over. "Hey Yuna, you're in charge of this new guy." She said as she moved Flare towards Yuna.

Yuna being Luna's Assistant would be in black clothing of course. Matching the style for Luna, she would nod as she would then bow to Flare. "Y-yes Miss Luna, please follow me Mr. Flare, I will show you where you will rest." She said as she began guiding Flare to her living quarters.

Flare would nod as he followed her to her quarters looking around the place, "Thank you, your kindness is appreciated..." He said as he sat down, not wanting to overstay his welcome.

Yuna would then see Flare begin to sit down, before she would then shake her head as she would reach out her hand to him. "How about we go walk around the base." She said as she looked at him.

Flare would slowly get up dusting himself off, "Yeah, that sounds rather nice... Lets do that..." He said as he get up and followed Yuna around the place, curious yet impressed with how many people there were.

"Everyone here is someone our port owner found that refused to be AGE's because they wanted to keep their freedom, this place is called Port Dusty Miller and things here are pretty free and relaxed." Yuna said as she held Flare's hand, walking around the Port with him showing him around.

Flare thought about how so many people were here as they all seemed nice, certain that he would be able to live a bit more happily with kind people. "This place seems rather nice, everyone looks happy here which is nice to see for a change..." He said as he looked around some more.

Yuna softly smiled as she'd nod, "Yeah, the port is own by our leader Ein but he's away on business right now so Luna is in charge. And don't worry, no one will hate you for being a former God Eater." She said pointing out that Flare still had his armlets.

Flare tensed up forgetting that he even had them on realizing that he never really cared to remove them since he liked them a bit, "Y-yeah, my God Arc was damaged in a fight and I managed to killed a strong Aragami with it... However the God Eaters I saved had called for back up to capture me, so I hid my God Arc and fled..." He technically wasn't lying since Utsaku was hidden under his glove and the God Arc itself a part of him in his body.

Yuna would nod as she didn't like sad stories but understood where Flare was coming from, "Ein said he was betrayed and had his work stolen. So before anyone could hunt him down he took his God Arc and escaped, with what allies he had left they created this port Dusty Miller." She softly smiled as she spoke.

Flare would nod as he looked at Yuna, "Are there other God Eaters here as well?... Would I be able to fight Aragami without being hated?..." He asked as he did want to continue fighting Aragami.

Yuna would laugh a little before nodding, "yes you will, the command center has terminals and there's an Operator who can give you missions." She said as she get a message on her phone. "Oh! Miss Luna needs me, go ahead and explore if you want." She added before running off.

Flare softly waved goodbye while looking around trying to make his way to where he could find the Operator that Yuna mentioned, eventually getting to the front desk after getting directions from everyone. Walking up to one of the terminals and using his armlet to unlock it, Flare accessed the terminals database reading and learning everything he could. Flare read everything from events, known God-Arc parts, Aragami information, and more. After learned everything he could he walked up to the front desk, softly waving to the woman. "Excuse me, is it possible for me to go on missions without a God Arc?..."

The lady behind the desk looked at Flare as she'd nod in response noticing his armlets, "it is possible since you seem to be experienced, depending on your capabilities I might need to restrict you from encountering Aragami until you can get a new God Arc. Oh, I'm Rikka by the way." Pulls up several missions that Flare could pick from. "I'll be your guide and Operator during missions." She said while giving a thumbs-up.

Flare looked at the mission list and picked a mission involving the core retrieval of two False-Idol's and one Quadriga, Rikka was a bit taken aback since he was going out without a God-Arc but still allowed it but put in a request for three God-Eaters to act as guards. Rikka had Flare wait until the three God-Eaters arrived before escorting him out to the field, while the God-Eaters dealt with the Ogretail and Axe-Raiders Flare would be gathering materials and tracking down the False-Idol's and Quadriga.

After the Aragami were dead one of the God-Eaters spoke up, "Name's Komi, so why were you so insistent on coming out to hunt Aragami without a God-Arc?" She asked as she looked at Flare.

Another God-Eater by the name of Ronan sighed in irritation, "Can't you see what he's doing Komi? He's able to track Aragami which isn't easy, to be able to track Aragami means you need to have full knowledge and familiarity with the Aragami itself. Meaning he's spent a lot of time fighting and confronting Aragami, making me assume that he doesn't need a God-Arc to handle them." He said as he sat down.

The last God-Eater who looked to be about 16 named Ren, "Well I can see why he's good at tracking Aragami, though it's not my place to say. I just know it." He knew something that the others didn't.

Ronan laughed and pats Ren's back, "Then you must have really good observation skills, as expected of the son of Lindow Amamiya!" Chuckles as he looks back at Flare, knowing that if Ren knew something was off then it had to be important and to be taken seriously.

Flare knew that Ren was part Aragami himself which explained why Ren had a feeling but that didn't bother Flare since they were similar in a way, "I've located one of the False-Idol's, let's get moving..." He said as he got up and started walking while the others followed him.

Ren looked around as the walked until Flare stopped them pointing at the False-Idol around the corner with its barriers down, "alright, on three we'll split up and corner it. On my mar- Hey!" Saw Flare run.

Flare had taken off running up behind the False-Idol activating and throwing a stun mine underneath it causing the False-Idol to get stunned, while it couldn't move he jumped and climbed on sticking several mines on it before jumping away. Once far enough Flare triggered the mines making them blow apart the False-Idol, "Go!... Finish it off!..." He yelled.

Ronan and the others quickly took this chance and bombarded the False-Idol with heavy attacks killing it rather quickly compared to how long it usually takes, once the False-Idol fell Flare held a knife made from Aragami Core and Bias using it to cut it apart giving the core to Ren. Flare asked them to look away and once they did Flare used his arms Predator-Form to devour the dead False-Idol, wanting to make good use of any abilities it might have. After giving the others the ok Flare began tracking and searching for the next False-Idol.

Ren followed while holding the core while Komi spoke out, "Hey, that was awesome. I had no idea that fighting Aragami like that could work so well, where did you learn that?" She asked curiously.

Flare thought about it and didn't think would be a problem to talk about it, "When you don't have a God-Arc and are struggling to survive out in the wastelands you learn to adapt, I found old bombs and was chased be Gboro-Gboro once... I lured the Gboro-Gboro and cornered it throwing all the bombs in its mouth before remotely detonating them, once it was blown open and the core was exposed I ripped out the core killing it... However this idea only works on 1 or 2 targets at a time, it won't work on groups of Aragami..." He explained before finding the second False-Idol.

Komi would nod being impressed by such a creative way to fight without a God-Arc, "You're really smart to use bombs like that, to be honest that method has never been thought of." She said as she waited.

Flare would nod as they repeated the same course of action to kill this False-Idol as well, he gave the core to Ren letting them devour this False-Idol this time. After they finished up Flare started walking again tracking down the Quadriga that might be nearby, it took a bit but eventually he found the Quadriga but this time he felt the urge to kill it alone. Utsaku tried to convince Flare not to but he didn't listen, Flare began approaching the Quadriga despite the others telling him to turn back but Ren stopped them.

The Quadriga saw Flare and started charging at him attempting to stomp on him but Flare put up the Barrier he gained from the False-Idol soon using the Kyuubi's divine spikes to erupt from the barrier stabbing the Quadriga, once the Quadriga reeled back Flare had released threads from his fingers and bound them to its exhaust pipes before ruthlessly pulling the threads ripping the exhaust pipes off. The Quadriga fired several missiles as Flare failed to dodge one getting half his face blown off but slowly began to regenerate, in irritation he summoned several small sun's firing them at the Quadriga breaking its armor apart. Once done the Quadriga tried charging headfirst at Flare, however it was futile as Flare made divine spikes erupt from the ground piecing the Quadriga killing it.

Flare let out a deep breath as he finished recovering before using his arms Predator-Form to devour the Quadriga whole, "This one gave me quite the trouble..." He said as he manifested the Quadriga core from his body giving it to Ren. "I hope seeing what I can do doesn't bother you, I honestly really like you people and want to live peacefully in Dusty Miller..." He said as he kept walking as he contacted Rikka to send transport to pick them up. After an hour long wait Flare and the others were picked up and taken back to Port Dusty Miller, once he got back he went straight to Yuna's living quarters since that was where he was told to stay.

Yuna heard Flare walk in as she quickly hugged him, "I heard you went on a mission without a God-Arc, Miss Luna had left me in charge of you so don't go out like that!" She said as she'd pout.

Flare softly sighed but warmly smiled patting Yuna's head, "Alright, if it makes you feel better I'll undergo training..." He said as he walked over sitting on the couch laying back.

Yuna would nod in approval as she sat with Flare softly leaning on him, "Good, then I'll be able to rest easy." She said as she slowly fell asleep on Flares shoulder.

Flare would relax a bit as he'd talk to Utsaku in his head, "What do you think of this place?... I kinda like it, do you think we can live peacefully with these humans?..." He asked curiously.

Utsaku would think about it and honestly agreed since everyone was so nice, "Yeah, I think so too owner." She said as she was genuinely happy that they could live among kind humans.

Flare would take a breath of relief as he slowly drifted off to sleep, "That's good..." He said before ultimately falling asleep, from then on Flare lived peacefully and met Ein knowing his true identity but was willing to keep the secret. In turn Flare revealed his true power and nature but was still cared for, he spent a year in Port Dusty Miller and never felt like he needed to search for answers about himself since he was always happy.

From then on Flare made little to no progress in getting answers to what he was, all that mattered was living peacefully...