The Path Ahead

After everything had occurred, what with Katie sobbing having seen her father again, Azazel stood in the middle of the circle of Riot's members. Coughing into his fist to clear his throat, everyone muttered around his presence, commanding such a confident aura, neither of the individuals could keep their eyes off him for long.

"Your missions are to locate new artifacts and recruit Hana Saiai, I see. However, the goal you two set for yourself doesn't match with the level of difficulty you set for the others. After you planned on rendezvousing with me at the border, what laid ahead for us?"

Ace stood up at the slightest mention of a challenge to his authority, now at the middle, Karlo standing beside his seated daughter. Revealing his arms' shapes as he shed the coat like old snakeskin, Katie couldn't help but hold her chin as she examined her father's muscles.

"I didn't wanna say it in front of the rest of the group because I didn't want them worrying for us, but after Katie and I would meet up with Karlo… we'd be going for the Remnant World ourselves. Not to intercept or aid Jeff or June, but to raid ANZEN's research facility stationed there."

All of them couldn't believe their eyes, for they all knew that was complete and utter,

"Are you suicidal?! Don't you know about the cautions of staying there too long? What if someone finds out you're there and they kill you..?" Jefferson dreadfully asked their leader, but he shook his head with arms over his chest.

"Trust me, I have no intention of staying there as long as we can. I don't doubt that if Alex's alive, he's somewhere in Riverton itself. However, there's another whole possibility that there are other Incarnated Artifacts like Griffith or Natalia. If we can manage to get our hands on them, we can work things out, gaining more allies in the process. Especially if we have Azazel by our side," Ace replied with a single eye peeking out at Jeff after his loud objection,

"Speaking of which, uh, what exactly is an Incarnated Artifact? You say Griffith and I can't help but think of that guy who was Zeus in disguise from Olympus Lite. And Natalia… wait, Natalia Smith?"

Azazel's abrupt interruption warranted confused faces and curious expressions, a plethora of question marks appeared over everyone's heads at the words he was stating. All, except for one person, and that was Natalia, raising her arms with a stuck-out tongue.

"The one and only. Sorry bout that whole thing about the Murder of Crows and shit back in the Old World. I didn't mean for it to end that way… it makes me sick to my stomach, knowing I took so many lives; I feel so violated. You saved me, back then, so, please accept my apology for tarnishing the Crow name!"

Natalia bowed in the presence of her savior, from just so long ago, Azazel couldn't help but smile, stepping just a bit closer, and placing his hands on her shoulders. Her head automatically raised at the touch of those familiar hands against her skin, his blue eyes reflected into her own, leaning in close just to peck her forehead, as if she were his daughter.

"Back then, when August and I had planned to infiltrate that headquarters of yours, we had a debate. I know you died- that he killed you, but I'd hoped for you, that there was the tiniest speck of your innocent soul still within you. That was what your father taught me."

Azazel turned to Ace, but what he was expecting was far from what he'd received, for that face of his… needless to say, the way the tears pulled from the corners of his eyes, his lip trembled, the way he looked away from everyone here.

'You looked like… you needed saving!'

"Ace?"

June ran over to her brother, grabbing at his arm and turning his head, but it was limp, guiding to her chest. Out of her control, the sobs that'd croaked from between those pink lips he named his lips, she could never understand the unimaginable guilt welling up within him. Screams of agony echoing from the confines of homes where they believed themselves to be safe, tears dripping down from eyes, that vision, that eternal sight he could make out with these cursed pupils of his: of their bodies tearing apart.

"I… I…"

It seemed that everyone was twisting away, one by one, at the mere presence of his arrival, remembering losses they'd rather not. Katie, then Natalia, and now Ace. Forced to stare upon their weakness like a gun had been slammed against the side of their heads, but even so, Karlo couldn't help but touch his hand to the shoulder of the young man.

Just from this specific pressure, signature to that of a hand, Ace didn't hadn't reacted to this as Natalia did. Instead, he wrapped his arms around his younger sister, but even so, he kept his ears open to what Azazel would say next.

"I read the reports of what happened that day, in front of that Smithsonian on Thanksgiving. I know the weight of that guilt, more than anyone. I've… killed more people than you can even imagine, across my entire youth, and that's only in the Old World. I know, more than anyone, how it feels, but I know when the Reaper came to you, and August resurged from the ashes of that chimera, he told you something, didn't he?"

'Even if you have to gnaw your way through… Live.'

But even so, those words his father left behind in the depths of his conscience, were they truly so inspiring? What point was there to living anymore, after everything he'd done, after the sins he'd committed without an ounce of visible remorse for months? Where was that darkness he ingested so willingly that the remnants of his humanity were but scattered fragments… cursed, to continue living forevermore, but without a motive? With what he's done and the things that have happened to him, what reason did this young man have to continue living as he was now?

That was what he asked himself so continuously, but even so, he hadn't realized who he was. Or rather, the people he was surrounded by. His sister, his cousin, and not to mention, no matter how much hate he told himself he had within his heart, her. Azazel moved thanks to the pat to his arm, noticing those feminine hands of hers, he scooted away so her hands could take his face, in comparison to his bulking face; the sharp jawline, scarlet eyes that held tears for others, those trembling lips.

"I'm sorry."

It was like his heart had been shot, the way he snapped his neck for their eyes to instantly meet, that glistening light flickering like a lamp running out of radiation to emanate. It was like everything else disappeared, for only she existed, he didn't even get the chance to say anything in return, it was almost like God had graced him with such a holy presence. Her face was wonderful as an Angel's bestowing such divination onto only him; it was almost Fate, the way his head slid to the right, blessing her palm with the most gentle kiss of all.

"I'm sorry, too.."

Ace buried his face within her chest, her hands drawn to his nape, caressing it as a mother would in a continuous up and down motion. Azazel couldn't help but stare off from the sidelines, smiling at the sight, despite the somber emotions shared by them. A melancholic sensation built up within him, one he couldn't escape, burning away at his stomach so a pit would form in the center, remembering a time where he stood beside the father of the Wilders… when he loved that girl with white hair.

"Alright, I want it to be settled then. Natalia, Katie, you're going with me to the Remnant World. Kima, you're heading with Ace to Saiai, the other two, you head to the Remnant World with us. We leave tomorrow at 8 am, so everyone should…" Azazel's stomach grumbled, hand hovering over his gut, "Get some food."

A foot stepped into a restaurant, the doors spreading to reveal the interior, broken glass crunching below his sole, blue eyes forever searching around while everyone else behind him started piling within. Ace jumped over the counter with Kim following, everyone else went to a booth. Azazel kept his hands in his pockets as he entered, his neck just barely turned, before resuming to follow the rest of his comrades seated carefully behind cushions aiding a tired back creaking from exhaustion.

"Ah…" Karlo moaned as his bottom plopped against a metal chair.

"Did you guys find anything?!" Yelled Katie to her allies, girls' call bouncing over to Ace and Kima behind the former workers' counter,

"We did!! But... it's like... we gotta cook it!!" Ace cried to his cousin, standing up with Kim coming from around the corner, arms over her chest.

"Wanna have competition then? Like old times."

Kim smirked at the teasing suggestion to her ex-lover, leaving Ace to chuckle at the proposal, shrugging his shoulders back, feeling his bones crack as he pulled back his fingers. At the same time, Kate was situated in front of her parent, hands against the table, June to her right while Jefferson took the right chair, composed, yet again, wholly metallically.

Meanwhile, the steps of Natalia resounded in the background, eyes, confined to the circular eyeball, searching throughout the plentiful amount of tables left unreserved. This curious movement of the former organization leader continued as the remainders of Riot sat together, with Katie being the first to part her lips, spitting a question she'd had flying around her mind's confines for a while.

"So, Dad, I wanted to ask... but how does this whole thing work? The last time I saw 'you, you didn't have any powers. Do you know how you gained them back?"

Azazel's eyes analyzed not only his daughter's features, but the awaiting stares of Darrell, not to mention June leaning her palm against her cheek, effectively squishing it. Holding his chin, leaning back while staying seated, the memories came rushing back. A sphere engraved permanently into the sky, long hair moving with the wind, scars littered across indented skin reverting to normalcy, flashing colors like an abstract painting devoid of reason...

"I don't remember exactly what happened. But, when it did, I could feel my soul hovering around a confined area, like a ghost haunting a specific house they perished in. When you returned me to my body, I remember having suspicions of how I'd been able to return. You informed me he'd been able to obtain the Requiem Artifact somehow. Do you remember anything on how he was able to do so, Kate?" Azazel's deductive prowess stood rusty, but that didn't matter, for Katie had inherited his detective intellect, too... for that profession, there begged for the ability to remember key details. And speaking of which.

"Yes. The whole point of becoming an Agent of ANZEN was to accumulate an individual's strength so they could be able to utilize the power of the Artifact without falter. But, in the end, it was clear he managed to bypass that assumption with something else. If that was the New Allfather's Artifact and he was related to Ace's dad, why would Alex be an Incarnated Requiem Artifact?" Katie curiously questioned, sitting forward from the laid-back stance she formerly held, arms together against the table, awaiting her father's deduction.

"Ah, I see. Alex's body is an exact mock of what it was in the Old World, I didn't know that. The Requiem Artifact is special in that it holds insurmountable power, capable of wiping out entire nations and even stopping time itself. There's only one granted to use that, and it's the Requiem Emperor himself, Ben Rivera. Alexander Amara was injected with his blood as a kid, thus granting him access to all Requiem abilities. I think Callum summoned all 'important' souls from the Old World around their new bodies, only granting them the old body's information. However, I wonder about something.." Azazel scratched behind his ear with only one finger, pondering silently, Kate just about to voice out before his voice interjected,

"Sorry to interrupt, but... Natalia, why doesn't she have her old powers? If she really is an Incarnated Artifact like she says she is, she should be able to rearrange molecules to destroy or repair. She said that earlier, didn't she?" Karlo reminded, leading Katie to nod, affirming his theory, Jefferson, staring down at the striped table, couldn't help but intrude,

"It's possible that it's locked behind a 'mental lock.' Unable to be utilized until a condition is bypassed, during a specific moment. I'm sure you've seen something like that happen in the years you've been alive."

"If that's you calling me old, I'll take that as a compliment. Hopefully, when we head to the Remnant World, she'll be able to unlock it again. I'd very much like to use that skill against the Founder when the war arrives."

"On the topic of Incarnated Artifacts, can you think of anyone from the Old World? Anyone, you or the Allfather were close with that warrants being granted another chance in the New World?" June butt in with that question, raising her hand as she asked the Crow, lids sliding to hide blue eyes.

"Hanniel Griffith. Natalia Smith. Hana Saiai. In the Old World, all these suffered unfortunate circumstances, thus leading to them being granted access to reincarnate into the New World. Griffith had his body stolen, Natalia was possessed, Hana Saiai died prematurely near the beginning of the Advent. Alex was incarnated because he was too young at the time of the Advent, in his mid-twenties, so that's why he still lives and is an exception to the forbidden energy rule. The most likely candidates to be the Incarnated Artifacts being kept like lab rats in ANZEN's research facility are the following:

Edward Singh.

Ashton Dabrowski.

Mei Rivera.

If my suspicions are correct, only one of these isn't an Incarnated Artifact and that's Mei, if anything, she's a rogue Agent of ANZEN with Madi's Artifact ingested in her. So, they keep her on ice. If the time comes and we have to challenge all three of these as pawns of ANZEN... it shouldn't be a problem. I have... faith in everyone."

And so, as Riot ate their meal away from the public's prying eyes, laughter filled this restaurant, like an inescapable virus that couldn't be extinguished, contagious to everyone as they sunk their hungry fangs into burgers, chicken, fries. This minuscule moment of happiness spread across all members of Riot's ranks was but a fleeting moment deemed normal to those unsuspecting of what lay ahead.

Next Chapter - Perfect Preparation: The Prologue to Disaster.

To Be Continued.