NAVIGATOR

►▐░▒ The android reached for the back of his visor disguised as blindfolds and removed it to reveal his crystal blue eyes, similar to those most navigators have. Aside from the silvery white hair, Renall can blend well with the crowd of navigators for the most part. In fact, it was rather nice to have the blindfold off and walk around with his face fully shown, especially he wasn’t in the virtual training nor fighting the Colterrons anyways.

❝ Yeah, I can see with no problem with the blindfolds on, as it shows my area of vision albeit with interfaces which allow me to further assist my capabilities as a navigator, ❞ As the navigator unit placed his blindfolds down, he started drinking his main source of energy; water. DRINKING ENOUGH water was pretty much the only thing the androids developed by the Alliance’s robotic team YoRHa needed. Even though he could actually eat food ( except for Mackarel as it would congeal the android’s artifical body fluids ), it wasn’t a necessity for him to consume anything aside from water.

Oh. This guy had really beautiful eyes. Abel was almost at a loss and disappointed that he had to hide them with that blindfold, even if it made him actively better as a Navigator. Still, it seemed like such a waste to hide something like that. He was a little jealous..

[ƸӜƷ] ❝Well, I didn’t see anything wrong. The place was normal…❞ The old house was very near the forest, but now probably disappeared because of the dam and Mio wondered if the house was still in one piece underwater. Her childhood memories drowned in the water, her old house disappear and the girl will miss the old place where she and Mayu used to go and to play games like tag.

❝I lived around the Minakami area, not in the village, let it be clear!❞ She said by sniggering. She actually was lucky to not live in the Lost Village: that was a really bad place with hidden secrets and forbidden rituals.

“Ah, I see. So..still, you must be familiar with the area.” If that was the case, was it possible they were going to the same place? Abel didn’t want to intrude on anything, but if so, it might actually help him in the long run so he wouldn’t get lost along the way.

✪▐░▒ It was always Cain who would take the killing hit instead of Abel ( likely due to Cain being the offensive half ). It is no wonder Abel does not remember the moment when they lose in the war and are called back to the Throne of Heroes. On the other hand however, Cain always remembers how it feels to die numerous times, usually in the MOST PAINFUL ways as normal cuts and scratches are instantly healed due to their status as a heroic spirit. Therefore, it takes alot of power to fully kill a servant in battle and usually the methods of death are excruciating. The fighter still remembers this one particular war when he took the killing shot to protect a particular master and Abel from being impaled by a lancer’s spear, landing straight into his heart.

❝ We ain’t gunna die. Even after they take the grail and we all must return to the throne of heroes, we will make it this time. We are gonna teach these bastards a good lesson for real this time Abel, ❞ The Reliant Riders were among the final ones to arrive at the bridge for the GRAND BRIEFING. This was not only the efforts of the Alliance, but with the aid of Chaldea Security Organization’s many servants, hailing from mythologies, legends, literary characters and history makers who are here to restore humanity in this timeline. Up on the stage, briefing the mission were the leading magus, Shielder, Keeler, Encke and the voice of Dr. Romani Archaman giving out the plans for the grand assault. As soon as the voices settled down, those on the podium started speaking on the final assault, giving assuring words of encouragement for victory.

“..don’t get too cocky, Cain. If you get too hot headed out there, something could go wrong. I’m not trying to be pessimistic or anything like that, but I also want to be careful when we do this. If anything slips, even one little thing, it could cost us. But..I dunno. I guess I’m just worrying when I shouldn’t be. I should have a little more confidence at a time like this, right? The last thing I need to do is panic in the last second and ruin this chance.” Though he was hoping that wouldn’t be the case.

✪▐░▒ ❝ Yeah, I was picked on alot when i was back in school, more over back in lower and middle school. The bullying was really bad in middle school but towards high school everybody stopped and we pretty much learned that we all have our own differences and we should leave it at that. It was really hard to ignore them but it really does work in the end like you say to not give them your time, ❞ Looking back, Ethos WASN’T too surprised at the fact that he got picked on and bullied alot ( even though it was not ok for them to do so nontheless ), for the main reason was because he acted rather differently from most of the kids. ❝ Abel, did I ever tell you I have this thing called Aspergers syndrome? ❞ Ethos then changed the topic slightly as he took another bite of his savory ham sandwich styled croissant. The little linguist thought it would be important to bring the topic up to his close friend although Ethos wasn’t too bothered by it and can grasp social cues normally at most points…..EXCEPT for some minor misunderstandings which lead to awkward situations. ❝ Its kinda like Autism. Everything was really confusing for me at first until my parents paid the visiting psychologist who specialized with autistic children got me diagnosed and that was when things got less confusing for me. But yeah, that is kinda why my behavior is, you know different from most people, ❞

“That’s awful..” And yet, Ethos was such a nice guy. He was quiet a lot of the times, but he was smart, level headed, and sweet. Abel never understood why bullies tend to pick on people like that just for amusement. It really reminded him of Porthos and Phobos. They were the kind of high school bullies Abel couldn’t handle.

Though his head perked up a bit more when it sounded like Ethos was sharing something serious with him. He wondered if he was the only one he’d open up to about this, but regardless, he was glad Ethos could be more himself around Abel.

✪▐░▒ ❝ I understand…. ❞ I guess Cain hasn’t changed much even after death, but without this sort of thing it isn’t him anyways is it? Ethos wasn’t too surprised that Cain would get himself involved in THIS SORT of situation, usually the one bringing problems to everyone else. Even though Cain was the person who loved and will protect his dearest friend from the Alliance, the little linguist had to admit he was quite the troublemaker most of the time, and had hard time trying to be friends with the said fighter.

❝ I dunno how I can help out in this case but, if you don’t mind I can just be the listening ear alright Abel? ❞ At this point Ethos completely forgot about the data repairs as the topic changed to how Cain and Saber were the ones who caused this entire mess of the servers being damaged, that all navigator servants are called to commence emergency repairs ( even after the system blinged that the virus was cleaned off ).

“Well, there isn’t much to talk about on it..” And was this even the right time to do it? Then again, all he could do was wait for the system repair to finish, and it was a little more than half way done right now. Maybe sitting here in silence would drive him nuts while he waited, and talking or doing something else to make the time pass always seemed to make things move faster.

✪▐░▒ ❝ Yeah but, people shouldn’t just target you alone and I also do wish the commanders would do something about it too, ❞ The little linguist just can’t imagine being in Abel’s place as he did often take things to heart fairly easily. In fact, Ethos just knew he probably WOULDN’T fare too well if the bullying was aimed at him instead of Abel. Not that he would want Abel to be in this position anyways. ❝ So you see Abel, when i was back in middle school, I was well, bullied alot because I was just really different from the other kids, you know? So if you feel overwhelmed just know you aren’t alone OK? ❞

“You were bullied?” Abel was never the type that was picked on, but he did have things said about him behind his back that he knew of. He could sadly see why Ethos was a subject of harassment from people, but he was such a sweet guy and smart at that, that he didn’t really understand how people could do those sort of things. Well, it was sort of like how he was being targeted on the ship these days just because the Commander seemed to like him.

[ƸӜƷ] Mio jumped by hearing the name of the Lost Village. Even if the village was free from the curse, it disappeared completely because of the construction of Minakami dam and with it her childood place disappeared as well. When she was young, she lived in the Minakami area but then she moved after Mayu fell and injured her leg. It has been a very difficult moment for the family which left the house to go to Tokyo and to start a new life there.

❝Oh? Really? I heard about the Lost Village and… when I was young I lived in the Minakami area, near the forest. My mother used to warn me about the Lost Village to make sure that I returned to house at dinner❞

“You lived there?” Well that was something new that Abel had never heard before. He never heard about many people living there. Well, maybe a long long time ago, but this girl had to of been younger than him, so then why..

✪▐░▒ Sure, if they win this second chance and final attack against the Colterrons once and for all, their task will be over. However, being called back to fight again due to the holy grail, it also meant that they will forever be bound to fighting in various holy grail wars within the past and the future. Yet, Cain is REMINDED of the fact that he is a two-in-one Rider class servant alongisde Abel. Therefore, it meant that he didn’t have to suffer alone, but will forever stand by Abel whichever war they are summoned forth for.

❝ This should be it. Though, I guess we gotta remember that we are now heroic spirits and that we are gunna have to fight in the past and future in the other holy grail wars. But, As long as I am with you forever, that probably won’t be that bad as we would imagine. Cuz you know, the grail made it that if either one of us die, the other will also die too y’know? ❞

“That doesn’t make me feel any better about it. The..dying, I mean. I would hate to die and be responsible for your death as well. If it were you and I had to die, I’d probably be okay.” But Abel was a bit different when it came to that sort of guilt. He didn’t know how Cain would feel, but to be the reason why Cain couldn’t live even after he died always made him uneasy, even if it meant they would be together even after. It was all a matter of fairness.

“Neither of us are going to die this time, though. Even if we do, I..I’ve already forgotten what it’s like.” Sometimes Abel tried to record what it was like when everything vanished, but when he came to during each set of the wars, he always forgot the feeling, and it scared and frustrated him. He would think being tossed back and forth like this over time would make him get used to it, but he didn’t.

✪▐░▒ For a moment, Ethos stood dumbfounded at Abel’s reaction. In fact, Rider thought his friend wouldn’t be surprised that Cain is among the ones responsible for causing damage to Chaldea’s servers. Yet, Abel was very startled at what he just heard.

❝ Yeah like, it seems it started with a huge argument between Saber Mordred and Cain which escalated into a full blown battle in which some of the other servants joined either to take sides or just join the battle or got hurt because they were watching and trying to have fun and….Someone’s attack struck the servers and here we are, trying to get this fixed, ❞ All this information on what seemingly went down came from the words of Praxis who first reported the incident to Dr. Roman, then told Ethos what he WITNESSED.

❝ Oh! Looks like your program is working well! ❞ Though the gauge was filling through very slowly, Ethos could see Abel’s program going through and working through the damages.

“Ugh, Cain..” Saber of all people wasn’t someone he wanted Cain to have to pick a fight with considering how powerful they were, even though Cain was also relatively strong himself. He had to learn to control his temper better around them, because now it wasn’t just creating more work and problems for Abel, but the rest of the crew as well. They were already in a panic, and to know it was his partners fault on one end..

“O-oh, yeah. I think it just has a bit more to go. It’s about at sixty-five percent now. I think..that’s pretty good, don’t you?” He could have been a little more enthusiastic, even though he said he’d ‘deal with it later’, it still weighed on his mind that he would have to contact Cain and have it out with him verbally.

►▐░▒ Unlike Fighter Unit 2B, or Kanoyeel who is programmed to be stoic, calm and collected to make it easier to shoot down her enemies, 9S or Renall is programmed to be sociable and friendly to make it easier to cooperate with the other navigators. Therefore, Renall was able to comprehend why the other navigator would inquire about his blindfold, or better off his combat visor.

❝ I am tasknamed Renall, and yeah you can say I am different from the other navigators here, since I am an android created by the Alliance to help protect humanity, ❞ The Navigator Unit was not informed by the higher ups if he should reveal his identity as an android, yet he decided to reveal that he isn’t a human being to the other. ❝ Me and my fighter Kanoyeel are new to the Sleipnir yes, as we only recently finished our final programming check back on Earth. We just arrived here about a week ago, ❞ Being able to see through his blindfold which is an assistance visor, he glanced towards a female fighter who ALSO WORE a similar blindfold ( visor ) who just passed by him, giving her a smile and a wave ( in which she did not return ). ❝ ….Yeah, Kanoyeel wasn’t programmed to have a social personality. Anyways, we are equipped with visors which are meant to enhance our capabilities during missions, so we can see normally even without the visor, ❞

“An android???” Well it didn’t seem like something that was impossible to be a thing, but still, talking to one in person and having it be so..life like and responding was a bit of a shock to him. He never saw any androids on this ship until now, but there were two now that he knew of, which were assigned fighter and navigator? Who made these? Why were they here, and how? Were the rest of the alliance not doing that good of a job that they had to hire artificial humans?

“So..you can see even with it on..” He was a bit curious to know what their eyes looked like underneath that, but seeing one as it were...well, he was good looking. Then again, if someone made an android, they probably made it with something like ‘perfection’ in mind.

✪▐░▒ As soon as their lips parted and their embrace ended, Cain could feel the tight squeeze from Abel’s hand, tighter than ever, trying to pull him to the hangar to get the Reliant ready.

❝ ….We better gather to the bridge first where everyone is going, ❞ The fighter glanced at the navigators, fighters and other servants who were ALL HEADING towards the bridge to receive their positions and understand the plan for the final showdown against the Colterrons. Knowing he has a much firmer grip than his own navigator, the alpha dog took his strength in and tugged Abel to join in with the other crowd to get ready.

❝ We will definitely win this time Abel. We are gunna make it back and save not only our world, but their world too, ❞

“I’ll be okay, you know.” He could tell by the way Cain was squeezing his hand that he was anxious about everything, and also the fact he wanted to win more than anything as well. None the less, Abel headed behind up him to the bridge, somehow feeling a little more secure and not so anxious even though he probably should.

[ƸӜƷ] ❝Oooh… Urban legends, eh? What forest are you talking about?❞ She asked interested. When Mio was a child, she liked to play in the forest with Mayu, even if their mother always told them to be careful because they could find themselves lost in the Lost Village. The two girls actually found the Lost Village, and fortunately they survived to the experience but Mio would have seen the forests in another way since that. Her mother told her that her father got lost in the forest and died when they were very little.