Cammuravi And Ethel's Rebirth

This is a separate story from the main one, that talked about Cammuravi, and later, Ethel. Feel free to skip this one and go to the next. If you did not, assume that, after finishing this story, the Ouroboros would be back on their track.

Cammuravi, per se, shielded the defenseless colleagues comprised of both Kevesi and Agnians outside Y's experimental colony. It was a dark evening; the sun cast just enough light to reveal the Lost Numbers encircled Cammuravi's group. Cammuravi took to the offensive, swaying his lance¹ that brought flames that burned so close it reddened the face of the Lost Numbers. "Urgggg... I thought... I thought we injured him?!"

Cammuravi deepened the crease in his eyes as he got more cautious of the possible pain the Lost Numbers could bring to him and his mates. That did scared the Lost Numbers a little, "Urggg..."

But not all. Another ordered for unconditional surrender, "You can stop resisting now! Victory is already decided. Surrender quietly!"

To which he replied, "Enough! You will find... I don't do as my foes bid me."

"The enemies you seek..."

"Huh..." He was alerted by Mio's approach, quickly slammed his pike into position, pointing at her face.

She showed no fear despite, finishing her sentence, "are no more."

"It's you..."

"Your senses returned suddenly. You must be feeling confused. If we startled you, we're sorry." Then, she turned to the Lost Numbers and commanded, "Everyone, please put away your weapons." They turned to their head of the team, whom agreed with the sheathing.

Sena felt nervous, "Mimi..."

"It's OK. It's Cammuravi. He wouldn't attack a defenseless opponent."

"What makes you so sure?"

"I don't believe it's consistent... with the Warrior's Way you follow."

They were looking at each other's eyes to seek for more information. Mio showed unwavering faith in him. He therefore sheathed his, exclaimed, "...You've got some guts." Then closed his eyes and got into a meditative posture. After the other Ouroboros joined in, he continued, "You must want something of me. I'll hear you out."

Taion did the introduction, "I'll start from the end. We want you to come to the City with us."

"City? Which Colony is that?"

Sena scratched his head, "Is it a Colony...? How to explain...?"

Taion: "It's a special place. Safer than where we are at present. Of course, we don't intend to hold you against your will or force you into anything."

"Then what has it to do with me? What do you seek to gain from this?"

"We want you... to live true to yourself."

"True to...? Explain."

Noah took the stage, "Someone once showed us it was possible... to live life as we wanted to. We want to pass it on... and let you be free."

"Free...?" The word triggered an intense throbbing in his left eye as he raised his hands to covered it, trying to ease the pain. "Urgggg..."

Mio was alerted, "Are you OK?"

"I-it's... nothing. Just a little twinge."

Sena hypothesized, "Could it be... Miyabi's lingering influence?"

Cammuravi rejected, "No, this is innate. I can't see through it, but it's fine."

Noah and Mio looked at each other, the latter speaking, "Remember the fight with P and O...?"

"It could be from that. That pain was the price. What Cammuravi paid for freedom. Or maybe... still does."

"About what you asked of me before. I have one condition." He turned to signal to the others he'd shielded, including Hackt and Mwamba, whom had lost their direction, senselessly and nervously looking around, wandering and wondering about their future. "Promise me that they will receive the same treatment as I."

Noah reassured: "That was our intent from the start. You needn't worry on that count."

"I thank you. Whatever the circumstance we find ourselves in, the crucial question is always, how do we live... They will realize it too, before long." Standing up, he continued, "I wish to find the path I should tread... To discover my Warrior's Way. For now, we're traveling companions, headed for this place you call... the 'City'."

"Thank you. You will be welcome there."

Mio changed the subject, "By the by, Cammuravi... How are you with heights?"

"In what sense?"

"I thought you might be startled, so I wanted to give you a heads-up."

"...Hm?"

Noah lightly spoke out, not willing to call out the surprise, "You'll understand when you see it. We'll let you know once we're ready to go."

"Understood. I await eagerly." Poor soul, you didn't know what you'd waited for.

The ship took off headed for the City.

"I am a leaf on the surface of a lake... I-I am a stone, warming in the sun... " Cammuravi slowly blinked his eyes and saw his feet on the metallic tile ground, but that does not ease him. He closed his eyes back and chanted, "I am the clouds on a windless day... I am the reed that bends but does not break..." He therefore opened his eyes, looked at his clenched fist and legs, slowly tilting up. Manana stopped to look at him, and his focus was on the ground in front of her. Looking afar, the group had already walked some distance. As he saw the short building in front, the empty space (plaza?), and the lights escaping the windows in the far vicinity, he could not resist but passed out.

Some moment later, he was meditating on the ground, with Sena reassuring him, "You can relax! We've landed now."

Noah: "Guess he didn't like heights after all..."

Lanz: "Funny, considering how gung-ho he was riding around in his Ferronis."

Eunie: "Yeah, OK, but... I don't think we should talk about the past in front of him... He's just been born, and in a tenth-term body...² I'm sure he just wants to focus on the here and now..." Seeing how Lanz and Noah looking at her, she don't understand so she asked, "What're you smirking at?"

Noah answered, "Oh, just... You're a genuine good egg, Eunie."

"Huh? Where did that come from?"

"Hey there!"

Noah: "Hey, Travis!" They turned and saw him running up approaching the group.

He was in an emergency, and quickly spit out his words, "Man, am I glad to see you guys. Something terrible's happened, you won't believe it... Oh, but no word of it to the boss lady, yeah? My salary's on the line here!"

Lanz pushed for the actual, "That's a corker of a preamble, mate. you gonna actually tell us what's going on?"

"Somebody opened one of the cradles."

Noah: "You think it was an intruder?"

"I don't know! But there weren't any obvious signs of it. The soldier inside has gone missing as well. Someone you knew, I gather? It's, uh... Uhhh, tch, come on, it's on the tip of me tongue... Y'know, what's-her-name... Uhh... With the silver hair?"

"No way... Ethel?"

"That's it, Ethel! Urggg, why is all this happening on my watch...? Ah, never mind, now's not the time for reflection."

Eavesdropping all along, Cammuravi approached the group and offered, "If such is the situation... I shall assist as well. Where shall we look?" The group looked at him for a pausing moment, making him feeling dumbfounded, "...What?"

Sena: "Erm, we were just... surprised? That you were so, er... concerned...? Uhm..."

"I am also recently of a cradle born. It may be some kind of fate at work. This soldier named Ethel, she may also find herself at a loss."

Noah, thinking in his head, "So he... didn't actually remember...?"

"And also... You... good sir."

Travis: "Huh? Me?"

Shaking his head, "You must be frightfully exhausted... Do not push yourself, please."

"Heeey, watch it, fella. I know I'm no spring chicken, but there's no need to rub it in!"

Lanz: "Sorry mate, he's just been born... I'm pretty sure he didn't mean anything bad by it."

Eunie: "Anyway, moving along! Movement in and out of the City is strictly regulated, so if there weren't any incidents reported so far... both the perp and Ethel must still be somewhere inside."

Noah: "Yeah, you're right. Let's first search for clues in the module warehouse."

"Good luck to ya, whippersnappers! In the meantime, we'll take custody of the friends you contacted us about."

Sena was concerned, "They're called Mwamba and Hackt... What's gonna happen to them?"

"They're not quite back to themselves yet, right? We'll... give them a checkup, make sure they're all there. And after that, well, keep 'em under observation, I s'pose? Either way, you can leave 'em with us."

Cammuravi: "We leave them in your able hands, then."

"Yeah... Yeah, sure thing. They'll be safe as houses. I'll be in the war room. Keep me abreast of any developments."

The cradle lying on the ground, opened, empty. Observing from the module warehouse behind the glass windows, Sena announced, "Well, it really is empty..."

Taion: "It's definitely Ethel's module. But why would anyone want her...?"

Lanz: "If we wanna know that, we just gotta catch 'em. And whaddya know, they left us a clue. Nice of 'em." Footprints on the ground, huh!³

Mio analyzed: "There's footprints all over the place... They seem to be in a rush."

"They're not Ethel's, are they? But then, whose...?" Who have triangular foot?

Noah suggested, "We only have to follow them to find out. They can't have gone too far. Let's get going."

A blue Nopon standing atop a building overlooking the City, on the ridge as if he was prepared to jump off it and end his life. "Mehhhhh.... What Cubibi do now...?"

Mio and the group had already searched till here, "Um, excuse me...?"

"Meh-meh?!" He turned and saw himself surrounded by the group, thinking they're here to capture him.

"C-C-Cubibi sorry, sorry, so sorry!"

Eunie: "We haven't even said anything yet." Well, that's the culprit in shame!

"Cubibi know without saying! Friends come looking for naughty boy Cubibi! Cubibi never meant to do any harm... Cubibi just... Just want to enjoy game of Ultimate Hide-and-Seek..."

Cammuravi was more interested in "Hide-and-seek... What is that?"

He temporarily forget his situation, excitedly announced, "Is ultimate pastime of daringly go and hide where not allowed to go."

"Daringly...? Defying a prohibition?"

"Meh-meh?! Cubibi please asking to not make scary face!"

Taion brought back the main topic, "So why did you open the cradle, then?"

"When get on panel, it open by self! And when it open, girl wake up... Cubibi really-truly sorry..." And tears flowed from his eyes like fountains.

Cammuravi: "We get it now, so... wipe your tears. Look, you're getting your tummy wet." And his tears subsided like a fountain losing its water supply. "And what happened afterwards? Did you go somewhere with the awoken soldier?"

"Cubibi get scared and flee from scene of hide... But can tell morely or lessly where she go. Cubibi think it direction of Centrilo Parade." The group went over to the fence overlooking the City, and Cammuravi started chanting his Warrior Song again,

"I am the morning mist in a pine grove... I am mythrice, growing across seasons..."

Cubibi was shocked what the heck is he even doing, "...Meh? Friend OK?"

Mio: "Don't mind him, he's just, ah... trying to maintain his cool."

Sena: "I updated Travis on the situation. He says he's coming to collect Cubibi."

"Is Cubibi in serious troubles...?"

"I don't expect him to be too severe, but you will need to do some repenting."

"Meh meh meh..."

Noah: "Let's leave Cubibi in Travis's hands, and go track down Ethel. She looks quite distinctive. Someone on Centrilo Parade should have noticed her."

Cammuravi had finished his chanting, "You are right... Yes, let us go."

"Ethel!" Noah shouted as he and the others ran towards her. She was trying to climb a giant metal container-like building, fingers clinging on the edge of the room and legs pushing against the bolts. Hearing his call, she temporarily lose focus and thus her grip, falling towards the ground. The others thrust forward their body, but only Cammuravi instinctively dashed forward and caught her in his arms. Mio closed her eyes waited for an impact that never came.

While putting her on her foot, he felt relieved, "Ahh, I barely caught you in time." Ethel was still examining who had approached her; the guy whom brought his face closed to hers and asked, "Y-you're not hurt?"

"Uhm..." And she nodded in assurance.

"I think... I know you. Yrgh..." The pain in the left side of his head came back haunting him.

"What's wrong with you?" She carefully put her fingers on his head, trying to sense it, and retracted it as he said

"Nothing... I just can't see. Anyway..."

"...Cammuravi. You're Smoldering... Cammuravi?"

His eyes widened by her recognition. Noah was shocked too, "Ethel, you recognize him?"

She looked down and spoke to herself, "I have to... go somewhere? I have to... But why?" She shook her head in confusion.

Mio: "Take it easy. Let's take our time, yeah? We'll help you look, no problem."

Looking at Cammuravi nodded to her, she agreed, "...Mm." The others walked near them and joined in.

Some place inside the City, they were deciding. Taion: "Now comes the tricky part. What do we do from here?"

Lanz: "What can we do, except foster her in the City? A first-termer won't be any use in a fight..."

Cammuravi asked for her thought, "Do you find that acceptable?"

"Mmm I... don't know."

Cammuravi thought for a while before speaking, "I have a proposal. Would you leave her with me for a while?"

Mio: "Wait, you're saying you wanna look after Ethel?"

"Just until she settles on her own path. I want her to have that freedom. I don't know why... but I feel it strongly."

Noah suggested, "For now, let's see what Travis thinks. As the City's concerned too, we shouldn't decide alone."

Shaking his head, "Travis... I fear we will wear him out again."

Lanz explained, "It's not fatigue that that guy struggles with... You know what, forget it. Maybe just don't say that to him, yeah? He's kinda touchy about it."

"I understand. I will mind my ways around him."

Inside the war room. Noah explained the situation and the proposal to Travis. Looking attentively at Cammuravi, thumb on his chin, "Ahhh... Well, I guess I... mostly understand. Are you sure you can handle child rearing?"

"Child-rearing...? What is that?"

"In a nutshell, I'm asking if you're capable of taking responsibility for the proper upbringing of this little princess."

"I'm not 'princess'. My name is Ethel."

And he just laughed at that, "Awhahahaha... Too precious."

Cammuravi: "If you would consent to it, I will serve for the good of the City. I am sure I have my blind spots, but I always complete the duties assigned to me."

Ethel: "I'll help too."

"...Hm? But you cannot fight."

"I can be your eyes, though. I can see that which you cannot, no?"

"By the flames... Spirited, isn't she?"

Travis: "Oh yeah, too spirited I'd say. Look, lemme bend your ear a little..."

Mio: "You don't think its going to work?"

"It's... not really my position to think anything..."

Noah suggested, "Right... Well, I'll try talking to Monica then."

Now that put his salary at stake, he quickly shot, "Auggghhh!!!! OK, FINE FINE FINE, I-I get it! Let's do this. I'll take care of Ethel, and instead, we'll have Cammuravi help out on the combat side! That'll be perfect, don't you think? Eh? Eh?"

"You're that scared of Monica?"

"Oh, I'm scared all right! But I'm... not just trying to cover it up from sheer terror, OK? It's just... that woman takes on way more than she should. I bet she doesn't know how to... take it easy. So I figured, you know, I'd lighten her load by... doing this much at least."

Cammuravi eyes rolled up, "Your Warrior's Way is unimpeachable, sir. I will never forget your kindness. Be sure, the debt will be repaid."

"Oh yeah? Well, make it hundredfold, then."

Ethel spoke for him, "Don't get greedy, Trav."

"Ooooh, we're doing nicknames now? How about we start with 'Lieutenant Travis' and go from there, eh?"

While Ethel continued speaking with Travis on the background, Cammuravi turned to the group and appreciated, "I am deeply indebted to you all as well."

Mio: "Don't sweat it."

Cammuravi: "No, this is truly a grave debt. Especially... Taion... You said, I should live true to myself. I haven't discovered exactly what that means yet... But now I understand what you meant at least, and am grateful to you for setting me on the right path. You were the source of the spark that set my flame alight. Thank you."

"Erm..." He was in shock, don't know what to say.

Mio nudged, "Taion, he's talking to you."

"I know... I-I just... n-never in my life thought I would be on the receiving end of this kind of speech. The future... Really, it's a foreign country."

"Huh! I suppose it is."

"I'm sure in time you and Ethel will find it. The right path, the right code to live by."

"Yes... Until such time, I, Cammuravi, remain ready to do battle for the City, and for you as well."

As a reminder, the group would continue their path on the way to find the Queen next, at the snowy mountains.

Translator's Note: There's a continuation to this story in the more about. Read more!

Footnotes:

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1: Actually, one still don't know what to call Cammuravi's weapon. One sometimes called it lance, other times called it pike, and other times called it spear. So, just bear in mind, all of it means the same thing.

2: One don't remember the scene for this, but Y had mentioned they'd been reborn and accelerated to their tenth-term, if you'd remember.

3: Now this seems weird, how do they went pass the glass windows from this observation room? Instead, there should be another door in the warehouse where a transporter used to enter and exit that should be accessible to that room, not this room separating via glass windows. And none of the windows are broken! Not to say there are no doors from this room to the warehouse!