Rain Volunteers, Part 1

"Mom, I'm home," Rain called out as she entered the house in the terraced neighborhood. She glanced briefly at the dark house next to hers to see if anything had changed, but there was no brooding, pale, young Master sitting on the porch nor was there any indication that he'd returned from Antarctica. Communication with the young Master had been sporadic at best, and had stopped completely two days ago, but Rain still hoped that he would return soon.

"Did anything happen at school today?" her mom asked as the girl threw her school bag on the table.

"We've been given an assignment for our Humanities class."

Her mother looked from the stove, curious. "What kind of an assignment?"

"We can either volunteer at a local orphanage, one of the hospitals where some of the survivors from Antarctica are being treated, or at the Academy to take care of the Hollows."

"And which one are you thinking of?"

"I think I want to go to the hospital. Sunny is serving down in Antarctica. Maybe I will run into someone who served with him."

"That's a good idea. When do you have to start and finish?"

For the next couple of hours, the mother and daughter sat and worked out the details of when the girl would go the NQSC Hospital for the Antarctica survivors. While they were working, Rain's siblings and father wandered in. They all joined in the conversation. Soon it was time for their evening meal. The conversation switched to the boys' homework while the adults listened, thankful for another peaceful day in their family and city. As everyone went to bed that evening, Rain was excited about going to the hospital. Maybe she would get news of Sunny. Maybe, just maybe, she would even hear of some of his exploits.

Rain was bouncing in the PTV. She couldn't contain her excitement. She was finally going to the hospital. She was finally going to be able to meet some of the soldiers who had served during the Antarctica campaign. She was finally going to get some answers, dang it. Her mother reached over and placed a hand on her knee to calm her daughter but knew it wouldn't do anything to calm the girl down. After a few more minutes the PTV pulled into the drop-off lane, and Rain all but flew out. Her mom informed her that she would be back in a few hours, but the girl barely heard her before slamming the door closed. She eagerly reported to the volunteer station and was sent to the fourth floor. When she walked in, there were several wards of soldiers, all of whom had been injured and were in various stages of being healed. As she walked through the wards, she heard several soldiers mention The Devil of Antarctica.

'Huh, I wonder if Sunny has met him. My friend's sister was rescued by him,' Rain thought as she wandered through the ward. 

A snippet of a conversation caught her attention as she drifted. "I swear to the dead gods, I saw him kill a hundred Nightmare Creatures with a single arrow once. There was also this one time..."

"When he summoned a whole damn bridge out thin air. He also fought a Titan to a stalemate. You've told that story a thousand times already. But don't you think you're exaggerating a bit," one of the other soldiers in the ward retorted.

"Say what you want, but you can ask Luster. He was driving the Rhino. He had a firsthand seat to the Devil's antics. Luster is an Original." This caught the young girl's attention. She now had a new mission. She was going to find this Luster person and ask him about the Devil. It didn't take her long to find the correct ward. She knocked on the door and received a response to enter although Rain heard some angry muttering.

"I can't believe they're making Mongrel a woman!" the man on the bed yelled angrily just as Rain pushed the door open. 

"Do you know Mongrel's identity?" she asked, her curiosity piqued. "I'm Rain, by the way. I'm doing a volunteer project for my school. I heard your name being mentioned from some of the other soldiers.

Luster looked at her, flustered. Of course, he knew Mongrel's identity, but he had also been instructed by the Devil himself to keep it a secret. Luster didn't know what kind of abilities his former Major had and if he was somehow listening, but he also didn't want to lie to the girl in front of him. "My name is Luster. What kind of project is it?" he asked, hoping to deflect her away from that dangerous topic.

Rain brought over a chair and settled next to Luster. She noticed that he seemed to be missing part of his legs. Luster noticed the girl's glance and shifted his partially regrown legs. They were longer than they had been when he'd first arrived, but he still had a few more months of healing to go. "Don't mind them," he said, sadly remembering how his cohort had been lost shortly after.

"Do you want to tell me what happened?" 

"According to Cap…the Major, it was a Corrupted Devil. The damned thing waited until my cohort was in full retreat and then ambushed us. I pushed my now fiancée out of the way, and the bastard managed to sever my legs clean off at knees. The Major stayed behind while the rest of us ran. The Major told me later that he killed the foul beast."

"If you don't mind me asking, who was your Major?"

"The Devil of Antarctica himself," Luster said, puffing his chest up with pride.

Rain smiled and giggled. "I meant what was his name?"

"Major Sunless, of course." 

Rain's eyes go big. 'Sunless, did he mean Sunny', and before her brain could stop her, she asked the question out loud. 

"Hmmm, I did hear Master Jet call him Sunny on occasion. Do you know him by any chance?"

"Well, I think maybe. There's a Master Sunny that lives next door to me. He was going to Antarctica. He was my combat tutor before he left," she answered.

Luster perked up. It was nice to be able to talk to someone who knew the Major. The two of them spent the remaining time in easy conversation. The young soldier was only too happy to regale the teenager with the many antics of the Devil of Antarctica while Rain had trouble wrapping her head around the concept of the same man who was her combat tutor doing the things that Luster described. 

Over the course of the next few weeks, Rain visited many soldiers in the hospital, but she always found herself spending the most time with Luster. He eventually told her that three members of his original cohort had died when they tried to face off against a Titan called Winter Beast, but that his fiancée was stationed in East Antarctica. Or rather she was before the three Category 4 Gates had opened and all hell had broken loose during a battle between Clan Song and Clan Valor. The government Saint stationed there had merely relayed that the Masters working for the government had yet returned from the Dream Realm. Both Luster and Rain grew silent. They knew was that meant. Sunny was lost. 

"Hey, you listen to me, kid. I've seen Cap…Major Sunless, The Devil of Antarctica, do some really incredible things. He won't die. That thing about fighting a Titan to a stalemate, that wasn't an exaggeration. We all saw it. He left the convoy to fight a Titan. He came back. Battered and beaten, but alive. That Titan may have come back at Falcon Scott, but the Major took him out," Luster said with pride in his voice, and who could blame him. He loved talking about his Captain, even if those who heard his stories thought he was exaggerating or crazy. But Luster was there; he lived through it all. Granted, he knew that Master Sunless was probably a little more insane than most Masters but he wasn't about to tell the poor girl in front of him that.

Rain brightened up hearing he encouragement in Luster's voice, and then she asked the one question Luster had been hoping that she'd forgotten. "When we first met, I saw you watching the advertisement for the Mongrel movie. You were screaming something about you couldn't believe they're making Mongrel a woman. Do you actually know who Mongrel is?"

'Damnation,' Luster thought as he paled. 

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable or anything," she stammered.

"It's not that. I know. I'll tell you…but you have to promise that you absolutely under no circumstances won't tell a single soul. He'll kill me if he finds out I told you. Understand?" She nodded, and he beckoned for her to lean in closer to him. He wasn't sure if there was monitoring or listening devices in the room so he wanted to be extra careful before sharing this sensitive information. "The thing is…Mongrel is Sunny." He said it so softly that Rain was almost unsure that she had heard him correctly. But when she leaned back to look at him questioningly, asking for confirmation, he simply nodded. She gasped as her hands flew to her mouth in shock. 

"It was our second day in Antarctica. We were dealing with these stone beetle Nightmare Creatures with Saint Tyris. My fiancée, Kim, can share her perspective with those in her cohort. I guess Major Sunless can somehow amplify this. Anyways, we were fighting, and we all saw him using the same armor and weapon of Mongrel. The next morning, we asked him about it, and he confirmed that he was, indeed, Mongrel, but that he was supposed to be a secret. So please don't tell him I told you." 

Rain blinked in surprise, trying to take in the information that the Awakened solider had just given her. She had to remind herself to close her jaw. Even after watching 'A Song of Light and Darkness' and hearing from Lady Nephis that it couldn't be further from the truth, the girl was still having trouble connecting the Sunny she knew with the Sunny that Luster knew. The Sunny she knew always seemed a little absent-minded, but the Sunny that Luster knew was a battle-hardened and seasoned Master, one who could pull off incredible feats. Mongrel had once held a manifesting Gate almost single-handedly. Mongrel won nearly a thousand duels in the Dreamscape. Mongrel challenged Master Morgan. But Sunny…Sunny was none of those things. Sure, Rain knew that he was a powerful Master, powerful enough to serve the Antarctica campaign, but Sunny was Sunny. How could Sunny be both the Devil of Antarctica and Mongrel? Rain couldn't make her mind make the connection.

"You ok, kid? You seem a little pale. Well, paler than usual," Luster asked, concerned.

"Yeah, I'm good. Hey, would you mind if kept coming, even after my project ends? At least until you're discharged?" she answered shakily, still trying to wrap her head around what Luster had told her.

"I…I would like that."

"Bye Luster, see you." Rain left the hospital in a daze. 

'Strange kid. Kinda looks like the Major a bit,' Luster thought as he laid back. His previous light-hearted mood dispersed as he saw yet another advertisement for the Mongrel movie knowing the real identity of Mongrel yet unable to say anything about it because if he did, his former Major would likely throttle him. 

Somewhere deep in the government facility that monitored all of the soldiers who had been returned from the Antarctica campaign, the monitoring devices from Luster's room were frantically being pulled. Master Sunless was...Master Sunless, the Devil of Antarctica, was Mongrel…the press and media were going to have a heyday with this. But at the same time, they were going to hold on releasing this information. A decision was made to increase the surveillance on Awakened Luster's room. Much could be learned about he enigmatic Master Sunless if they played their cards right.