"Damn, this thing sure got a beating of a lifetime. That flip almost broke the main axle and the shock absorbers, good thing the engine and the transmission is still intact. If I can just get it to start..."

Ren was busy repairing the Kettenkrad after what it had endured during the battle against the Celentrepoda. While it survived the ordeal, the boy could not make it to start, indicating that something went wrong with its landing. He got a four-legged hydraulic jack from the repair toolbox that they always carried along the journey and positioned it to the four stable corners of the vehicle. Having prepared everything for the lift, he inserted the metal bar on the central manual pump of the jack and began pumping, slowly lifting the vehicle up. Although the jack does ease the work, Ren still had to exert a huge amount of force to raise the heavy Kettenkrad.

As he pumped, several Fenrir pups surrounded him, observing his work just like what human children do. They sat down, staring with puppy eyes and wagging tails, distracting the boy.

“Oh, come on. Can you wait until later to play? I’m kind of busy here, you know.”

Seemingly understanding those words, the five pups lowered their head and the wagging of their tail stopped. Their display of gloom then made Ren feel bad, making him lock the mechanism for a while and began patting them one by one, in which they liked so much. Seeing them happy again, Ren could not help but be glad himself. After a minute of patting, he went back to work, and another few minutes later, the vehicle was raised enough for him to check its underside. While he went down and checked the Kettenkrad, the five pups eagerly waited for him to finish, sitting down on the snowless ground.

It has been over a week since they left Axria to hunt, so he knows that their parents were worried sick about them back home, specially his mother Hailey. Thus he worked as fast as he could to fix their vehicle so that they could go back to the city. After hours of searching for the cause of the problem, he finally found it. Some wires had been disconnected from the starter, and the solenoid gears jammed themselves due to the shock of the fall, preventing the engine from starting properly. Immediately, he applied temporary fixes to the machinery. These remedies were spontaneous and could fail at any time, but Ren had no choice, for the complete spare parts of the vehicle were back at their home.

It took a while for Ren to finish the repairs, the sun was almost over the horizon by the time he was done. After lowering the vehicle, he turned the starter, this time the engine responded with a rumble, ending with a stable idle run. Mounting the vehicle and making sure that the transmission was set to neutral, he pressed the pedal, making the engine roar loudly and startling the pups which still followed him. After a few seconds of auditory check, he released the pedal and let the engine sit on idle again.

The repairs, albeit temporary, were successful, and they could finally go back to Axria by sunrise the next day.

After washing the dirt and grease off his body at a nearby hot spring, he went to the cave to check on Tsukihime, but the pups were waiting for him at the entrance, preventing him from going in.

“May I come in, please?” he asked them, putting a broad smile.

As expected, he received no reply, instead they wagged their tails in excitement.

Not trying to avoid the inevitable, Ren instead opened his arms as wide as he could.

“Come and get me, boys! IT’S ON!!!”

The signal given, the pups wasted no time and jumped towards him like wild dogs catching up with their prey. Although still pups, their combined weight was more than the boy could carry, causing him to lose his balance and fall on his butt. Their attacks were relentless, with play bites and licks overwhelming Ren’s barrage of pets. Laughter and playful growls filled the air as Tsukihime at last went out of the cave to check on Ren.

“Wow, Ren. I did not know you became close with the kids.”

Out of breath, he tried to sit down, with two of the pups riding his back.

“I know, right? Ever since we arrived here, these little critters just won’t stop playing with me. Not that I complain, anyway,” he said, petting one that sat on his lap.

Tsukihime smiled, observing a very rare instance of interaction between two species that before had no contact with each other. It made her think of what else could have changed at the five-hundred-year nap that she had on that capsule.

But with a part of the truth now guiding her path, Tsukihime only needed one more thing to clear things up.

And he has yet to awaken himself from the nightmare that he had all those millennia ago.

***

Arriving from the Port of London at the River Thames, the boat which carried the emissary of the 8th Cardinal Saint docked at the newly-rebuilt port. About twenty-six of the finest maids and butlers the London magistrate has to offer awaited the advent of one of the most prominent faces of the Earth Occupation Force. The honor could not be higher than that, unless it was the actual Saint who took their precious time for the check.

Standing at the end of the path was the Magistrate of London, James Oxford Crowley, who tried his best to look presentable in the front of the emissary. In preparation for the arrival, he read all the books of the past pertaining to dress codes, and for that, he sported a typical 1980s attire, wearing a tuxedo with a bow, black pants and shoes that shone with the sunlight from above.

The magistrate pushed the populace to a very intensive reconstruction operation, almost restoring the high and middle class areas to their former glory. Although still not completely wiped out, though, most of the lower-class, where almost half were the Catastrophe survivors, were casted out of the city of London into the outlands. The administration area was specially renovated in anticipation for the emissary’s arrival.

Everyone was breathless. One mistake and their reputation would be off the drain. That was especially true for James, he knew that the Council of Saints tolerates absolutely zero imperfection. Every second felt like hours as they awaited the emissary to come out of the ship.

A young man, clad in a white robe, stepped out of the ship, his very presence giving a holy aura all around him. His descent felt like an angel came down from the heavens, even his steps were as graceful as a dove’s flight. Seemingly basked with an utmost amount of holiness, everyone below him could only bow down in his company.

“With utmost honors, I welcome you, Sir Emissary Julius Zespertan, to our humble city of London. May your stay here be satisfactory to your liking,” James said, ushering the man in.

The emissary just raised his right hand in response, imposing his authority to everyone around.

“I can see that you’re handling things here well. Do not worry, I will deliver your achievements to the Council, as long as you do NOT make me lose my trust on you.”

His deep, somewhat gentle voice, while posed no ill intent to James, still made the magistrate’s heartrate soar to dangerous levels. There was no room for error, for the Empire had always been about perfection.

As he walked down the carpet, the coach in which he will ride alongside James had just arrived. It was a very large stagecoach without wheels, instead floated above the ground with misteria levitation devices installed beneath it. Pulled by two giant white Sleipnirs, that stagecoach was a sight to behold, with all the luxuries that they could offer fitted in what could be called as a luxury carrier. The seats were lined with the finest foam around, covered with a royal red embroidered cloth. The coach’s roof was high enough for them to be able to stand up, and another maid was inside waiting for their arrival.

“Please, Your Excellency, we can discuss matters inside,” the magistrate invited Julius inside, opening the door for him, in which the emissary accepted. As soon as the coach’s door was closed, the maids and butlers swiftly removed the carpet and the golden railings, and started to clean the area.

The stagecoach roamed the streets of a London rebuilt from the ashes of the Catastrophe. The whole city was way different from what the first settlers from Paladinus had seen, wreckage and rubble surrounded of what was left of the old civilization which prospered on the planet. With the Holy Empire’s guidance, though, Earth has started to see a new life boom with Paladinian’s migration to the planet, in hopes that they could strike fortune in there.

James the magistrate then started to talk, breaking the silence between the both of them.

“As you can see, the complete restoration of the old London from the Earthlings’ past is almost complete. Alacrity stone mining is at an all-time high, with new nodes being discovered almost every day. Most of all, there’s no threat of the Collective ever attacking this city, the whole island at that matter. They’re stupid if they ever thought---“

“Do not underestimate the enemy, Magistrate. They are crafty little bastards. Always keep your guard up for anything, understand?” Julius interrupted, his tone drove a commanding aura at James.

“Y—yes, sir. I’ll keep that in mind.”

The emissary sifted through the paperwork that James submitted to him as they went along the path.

“Good, good. I see that you’re working hard around here. And yet, your production is still lower than Axria’s.”

That phrase made James tick. He always hated being compared to anyone, especially Plio, to whom he had a grudge with. Hiding his anger, he tried to smile back at the emissary.

“Well, London is still being rebuilt. But fret not, we will find more nodes and mine those stones in the name of the Empire, good Sir.”

Julius nodded, liking what he heard from the magistrate.

“Our war with the Collective has gotten worse. We lost most of the East because of their last offensive. I’m sure that the Emperor will demand more stones, and at worst, men.”

The magistrate did not speak a word, distancing himself from the war against the Collective.

“Anyways, I’ll leave to Axria at dawn. I have no more reason to stay here any longer,” Julius commanded as they arrived at the palace in which the administration has lived.

“But sir, can’t you just spare a bit more time in here? I still have much to show yo— “

“That’s an order! I have an urgent business to attend there, so I have to go there as soon as possible, do you understand!?”

If the emissary’s normal voice was intimidating, then what he unleashed at the entrance was horrifying. The magistrate could barely hold his balance together, and everyone else could only bow down to Julius’ presence.

Stunned mentally, James could only whisper his reply.

“I understand. I will prepare the travel wagon for your Excellency.”

As he left the palace grounds, he could not stop his teeth from biting his lip in anger. A man of pride, his attempt to appease with the higher-ups failed. He then went to the basement of the palace and closed the door, locking it from the inside.

***

Tsukihime sat down on a small hill, staring at a sky which she was unfamiliar with. Instead of a big white moon, it was replaced with a red one which reminded her of the planet Mars. Even though she could see it only as a crescent, Tsukihime could see some features which made it very different from Earth’s old satellite. In addition to that, the stars were also completely replaced, the old star maps of her era now unusable in the current environment.

Her mind drifting away from reality, Tsukihime remembered the time which she first met the Celestial Gaia.

It was a night like that, a child Tsukihime catching her breath after running away from her caretakers back at the Institute. She got sick of all the procedures that she had to do every single day, and adding her homesickness, she began to doubt every adult that she encountered. All of her fears were amplified when she mistakenly saw an ailing child as a dead one, causing her to run away. She ran, and ran, and ran, until her captors were out of sight. She then hid in a small bush, letting them pass through without noticing her, and then continued running until she ran out of breath climbing a small hill.

With only the leaves of the tree and the grass making sound by swaying with the wind, she began to be afraid once again, this time with the darkness which she did not notice when she was running away. She was scared of the unknown, of what she will have to encounter.

And then, she appeared in front of her. Easily mistaken as a ball of light at first glance, her figure could be seen if stared enough. Just like the present form of Gaia, the past was an opposite reflection of Tsukihime. The Celestial was barefooted, she instead hovered the grassy plains. She then offered her hand to the scared girl, which after a minute of second thoughts, accepted the offer and walked with her at the darkness of the night.

Tsukihime was later found by the scientists asleep on her room, but none of them could recall any sightings of the girl, neither the cameras helped, for there was no footage to be found. In any case, though, the encounter changed Tsukihime on a fundamental level, now helping the cause that she tried to run away from in the past. For this, she became one of the most valuable personnel of the facility, along with Noire and two others.

She was pulled back to reality by Ren, shouting to her as he ran as fast as he could.

“Tsuki!! He’s awake!! You have to come with me, HURRY!!!”

Hearing those words, she wasted no time and raced back at the Fenrirs’ home, preventing a major disaster from happening.

Confused and ready to fight, Noire kept himself at a readied stance, prepared to attack at any moment. The pack was also reared to go, the alpha at the front of the action ready to retaliate.

“Wait, Noire! These guys are good! They’re the one who helped us. So please, take it easy and--- what!?”

She was quite surprised at what happened next.

She was greeted with an embrace from the boy, who was obviously relieved that she was fine for some reason.

“Thank goodness you’re alright.”

Still tired and confused herself, Tsukihime just let Noire hug her, even patting his head, postponing the explanations for later to let all of the events sink in to her already tired mind.