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Full Circle (Razgriz x Candira)

Yoko was still uneasy, but Kamina's reassurances were enough for the time being. There was nothing she could do about it but be vigilant and go on more patrols. Just to throw out another reassurance to herself, she needed. "Yeah, we'll make sure they never bother us again." The question was...where the hell were they all coming from?
 
Kamina smiled, "Indeed we will". He then looked at Yoko, "Hey don't worry so much. We'll be alright." After a short while of searching, Kamina couldn't find anything to bring back to Littner. "Well, I'm.... he started to say, but then he heard a strange noise. He looked around, seeing nothing until he looked up. It was here saw a some strange, large winged creature flying lazily overheard. "Food!" he thought.

Kamina couldn't help but grin, "Looks like we just found lunch." He then turned to Yoko. It's all yours." he said courteously, stepping out of her way to give her a clear shot. With her skill, she'd take it down no problem.
 
Judging by how big the shadow it cast was, this was a huge bird. Even far off it looked big. It didn't faze her, but it did give her a better idea of its strength. "You want it? Say please," she teased with a smirk. "Just kidding." She looked up at the sky and took a stance with her rifle. And with three well placed shots, the bird was down. "Your meal, good sir."
 
Kamina smiled even wider, "Hot damn, I can't wait to sink my teeth into that beauty! Kamina then took off into the dense underbrush, looking for where the bird dropped. Luckily, it didn't take long to find it; however, when Kamina went up to examine it, he found a large arrow in its side. "What the....." Kamina said before another voice was heard, "Hey! Get away from my kill!"

Kamina turned to see a strange, blond-haired, clawed-hand man approaching him. He carried what appeared to be a large cleaver. "Are you deaf, stupid human? I said get away from MY kill."

He then pointed his cleaver at Kamina and said with a menacing grin, "Don't make me cut you up!" Kamina grimaced, "Your kill? I'll have you know one of my comrades shot this creature three times! And as if that butter knife will hurt me!" He then unsheathed the sword he always carried with him on patrol. "And just who the hell are you? You obviously aren't human!"

The man just snickered, "As if I have to answer to a human, but in the sense of honor, you should learn the name of your end-bringer. I am Viral, lieutenant to Supreme General Thymilph of Lord Genome's Army!" Kamina snickered, "Only a lieutenant, huh? How pathetic! But I guess you're right, you should learn the name of the thing that kills you. I am Kamina!" Viral grimaced, "How dare you berate me! Die, scum!"

And with that, the two charged each other; Viral swinging his massive cleaver whilst Kamina used his sword to try and land a fatal blow. The two continued to trade swings; it was obvious, however that Viral was slowly winning.
 
Yoko laughed as Kamina went off to get the kill she'd made. She sat back for a few minutes just enjoying things when she realized it was taking him a pretty long time...And in the distance if she listened carefully... was that steel?! She got up and ran toward the place she'd last seen Kamina. She didn't blow her cover before she saw what had happened. Dropping down, she got into a prone position and opted to snipe the bastard. Judging by the features she saw through her scope, the enemy Kamina was fighting was a beastman. Instantly rage pumped through her and guided her steady hands.

"Die you son of a bitch." She took aim and squeezed the trigger, sending a bullet straight for the blonde bastard who'd just been pushed back by Kamina. He could still dodge if he heard them coming in time, but she doubted he would be able to avoid the bullets entirely.
 
Viral was still fighting Kamina when he felt someone off in the distance. "Heh, you'll have to do better than that." he growled, easily picking up where the bullet was and evading it. Looking to his left, he gave whoever it was a mock-friendly salute with two of his large, clawed fingers. "Until next time, human" Viral growled as he took off; he could fight them one on one, but with someone sniping at him and attacking him at close range, there was too much room for error.

Kamina got cut up pretty bad, but it wasn't anything he couldn't handle. "Damn, that was close" Kamina grunted as he sheathed his sword. He assumed that Yoko must have wondered where he was; he was more than thankful. Grabbing the large bird Viral left behind, he made his way back to Yoko. Who the hell was Lord Genome? Thymilph? And there was a whole ARMY of these things? Kamina's face remained in one of confusion and thought as he neared Yoko's location.
 
When Yoko was sure he was definitely in retreat, she stood up and put her gun back in the holster. "Kamina!" She rushed to him and the bird he was carrying. Gotta give a man credit--he had priorities. She saw that he was scuffed up pretty badly, though. "Come on, let's get you home. We can worry about hunting another time. Who was that guy?" she asked, walking with him, ready to either support him or take the bird.
 
Kamina looked up when he heard Yoko speak. He was still in disbelief that there was a freaking ARMY of Beastmen; this fight would definitely get a whole lot tougher. "I'll be fine, just a few minor scrapes. But thanks for the assist, that guy was definitely strong. That blond, he called himself Viral, god knows why. Said he was a lieutenant of ' Supreme General Thymilph ' of ' Lord Genome's ' army.

Kamina then slapped a hand to his forehead; why the hell didn't he think of it sooner? "Damn it! Why the hell didn't I try to capture him instead just trying to avoid that cleaver of his?" Kamina felt like an idiot; if he was a lieutenant of a General, that would have been a gold mine of information!
 
She shook her head in disbelief. "You're telling me there's an ARMY of them?!" She put a hand on her head. "Of course they're organized. It makes more sense now that they're searching like they are..." She frowned and looked up at her sword-bearing friend. "Why didn't you try to capture him? Are you crazy?! He would have killed you if I hadn't stepped in and you're way better than me at close combat. If he managed to escape, there's no telling what might have happened to Littner." She paused and looked off in the direction Viral had run. "One thing's for certain though. We need a beastman to talk to us. A weak one. The more we get out of him, the better...It might be time to go off on a journey soon."
 
"Hey! If I had managed to capture him....." Kamina started to say, but stopped. He was talking hypothetical now; he never did that. "You're right. We should just try to go after a grunt, a standard foot-soldier." Still, it peeved Kamina that some Beastman scum was able to overpower him. "Damn it, I can't believe I almost lost." he thought to himself as he looked over his wounds; he would need to see a doctor to get these patched up.

Of course, Kamina felt he couldn't really complain; Exodus had it a thousand times worse than he did, and he didn't bitch about his injuries. His mind then flashed back to that woman Exodus had a picture of, "Hey, did Exodus ever tell you anything about the woman in the picture? I'm really curious to know who she is. But it seems like a really sore subject for him, so I don't know how to approach it."
 
"He told me once that we were really similar...that girl and me. But it was a painful memory and he didn't want to talk about it. I figure it's not really any of my business, but I'd like to know why he keeps looking at me the way he does...From what I can gather...he watched her die." She looked up at Kamina and frowned. "And the longer you spend out here when you're bleeding like this, the longer you risk getting an infection or something. You're making me nervous, Kamina. Jeez." She placed a hand on his back and guided him forward with her, pushing him so he was a little faster.

"Anyway, let's talk to him. He seems to have had plenty encounters with those freaks. He might know a lot more about this than we do..."
 
When she told him about what Exodus said, he replied "Is that so? Well, can't say I disagree. You and her do look quite a bit alike." When she mentioned how he looked at her, he cocked in his head in confusion, "He looks at you a certain way? Does he stare at your chest or something? 'Cause if that's so, the mystery's solved right there. No man in their right mind wouldn't want to look at those beauties."

"Ok! Ok! I'm moving!" Kamina said in a semi-agitated tone as he felt her push on his back lightly, forcing him to walk a bit faster. "Look, we're almost back. And I told you, they're nothing but small scrapes. Just some bandages and a bit of water, and I'll be one hundred percent."
 
She gave him a bland look at his comment on her chest, but decided to let it go since he was injured and carrying dinner. Besides, she didn't know if Kamina would get it any way. It wasn't like it was easy to explain. "Yeah, yeah, Mr. I'm-a-man's-man. Just make sure you get it treated, okay?" She helped him back to the village. Once they arrived, she handed the bird over to the butchers and guided Kamina to the infirmary where they'd have a little talk with Exodus as well. He must know something about all of this.
 
Kamina made his way with Yoko to the infirmary; it was indeed time to have a talk with Exodus. If their hunches were right, Exodus must have spent enough of his time running from the Beastmen to learn a thing or two about them. It was only natural to gather information on an enemy if one is to survive against them. Reaching the room where Exodus was, a nurse was helping Exodus eat a small bowl of venison broth.

Exodus looked up at the sound of approaching footsteps and saw Kamina and Yoko enter, the former being covered in lacerations of varying length and depth. "What the hell happened to you, Kamina?" Exodus said; Kamina just grinned and said, "Oh, you know, random Beastman attack, nothing big." Exodus' eyes widened; it was an odd mix of fear and surprise that overtook his expression. "Damn it..." he muttered; had they found him again already?

Kamina was about to ask what was up with Exodus when suddenly, "Hey guy......Kamina, what happened!?" they heard Simon say. The nurse meanwhile, had forcefully sat Kamina down having finished helping Exodus eat, and began treating and wrapping his wounds.
 
Yoko caught the look on Exodus' face. His expressions were much easier to read now that he was starting to gain a little wait. He was still super scrawny, but at least he looked a little less delicate. She was about to ask some questions when Simon came in. "You bro over there got into a fight. A beastman that claimed he was in some kind of army attacked him." Yoko frowned and then her gaze turned to Exodus.

"I know you've been through a lot because of them, and you can be certain we'll make them pay for it...But we need to know. What do you know about the beastmen that are chasing you? And why did they want you so badly? If we know the answers to that, we'll be much better off."
 
Exodus was hoping to never have to discuss this with his rescuers; however, he did half-expect it to eventually come up. He resolved to word his answers so that they would hide the fact he was a partial Beastman, while at the same time giving them as much information as possible. It was the least he could do after they saved his life. However, he did not want them to exact vengeance on his behalf; once fully recovered, he would be well enough to do that himself.

Exodus gave a sigh, "I really was hoping not to have to talk about them for a while, but I guess they must be getting close if you're coming to me for information." Kamina nodded, "Yeah, they're getting close alright. One of them attacked me, called himself a lieutenant, said his name was Viral." At that moment, Exodus froze, 'Viral' reverberating in his head. What the hell was Thymilph's lieutenant doing out here? His mind flashed back to a period where Adiane and Thymilph were talking; Adiane had had Exodus drugged so that he couldn't move while she held his body like a ragdoll and saying she would gladly pit her soon-to-be lieutenant against Viral, to see who was the better leader. These two always tried to better each other through various competitions, saying it was 'showing who was the stronger warrior'.

Simon noticed this and asked, "Exodus, you alright?" This seemed to snap Exodus out of his stupor, "Huh? Yeah...yeah, I'm fine. Anyway, while I was on the run from the Beastmen, I learned that they definitely have a chain of command. Most Beastmen are just standard foot-soldiers, but some are Staff Sergeants, Field Captains, etc. Then you have the Four Divine Generals." He then held up somewhat-bony hand and raised a finger for each name, "Cytomander the Swift, Guame the Immoveable, Thymilph the Crasher, and......" He stopped, shaking visibly with sadness and rage; he found himself unable to utter the fourth name out of sheer hatred.
 
((Were you going to add on to the end of that post?))

Yoko listened intently, as Exodus explained. She found it difficult to imagine an entire military race out there gunning for the humans that were scattered on the surface. "I don't like this...If they're organized enough to have ranks, there's something else to consider. What's they're goal?" She frowned thinking about this as she leaned against the wall. And then he started naming off generals and he stopped. She saw the rage and sorrow in him and came to sit next to him, putting a hand on his shoulder. She smiled and shook her head. "That's enough. You told us more than we could ever hope to know...there's just one last thing, Exodus..." She paused and looked into his eyes. "Why do they want you?"
 
(lol, sorry. That was a discarded thought that never got fully deleted)

Exodus felt someone put a hand on his shoulder; he looked up and saw it was Yoko. After taking a deep, shuttering breath, he smiled back and said quietly, "Thanks." As she proposed her self-question, Exodus kept silent; he knew that telling them would blow his secret. And as much as he trusted them, he felt that revealing his identity as a part-Beastman freak would make them turn on him in an instant. and he couldn't afford to die, not before he ripped Thymilph's head off and beat Adiane to death with it.

However, when she asked why the Beastmen wanted him, Exodus paused himself; he perused how to answer this question. With any luck, his pause would have them believe that he was searching for an answer. However, Exodus' prayers would be answered; Kamina then spoke up, "Come on, Yoko. How the hell is he supposed to answer that? They could be any number of reasons the Beastmen would want him. Probably some sick thing where they capture humans and pit them in fights to the death against each other or something." Exodus mentally thanked whatever powers at be for Kamina's interruption; he just hoped that it would satisfy Yoko's curiosity for now.
 
"Hmmm...I guess that's true. The intentions of others don't always make sense...but I don't think it's so simple as that..." She frowned, unable to put her feelings into words--something that was rather uncommon for Yoko. Oh well, nothing she could do now, and it seemed as though Exodus either hadn't given it much thought or didn't know the answer to her question so she let it go. "Well, if you think of anything, let us know. The better informed we are, the better prepared we can be." She shrugged and squeezed Exodus' shoulder a little.

"In any case, how are you feeling today? Any better?" she asked.
 
Exodus let out a mental sigh of relief as Yoko decided to let it go. He smiled as she asked how he was feeling, "Well, except for having nearly died not long ago, I'd say I'm doing a helluva lot better now." He then looked around to each of them, "I know I haven't said this yet, but thank you. For giving me a second chance."

However, Kamina had a few questions himself, "OK, so who was the fourth general? You just kind of stopped, but like Yoko said, we need information." Exodus gave a small sigh, making his discomfort known, but pushed through it as he uttered through gritted teeth in a low, growling voice "Adiane...The.....Elegant." Kamina couldn't help but burst into laughter; that name was easily the most ridculous of them all. Exodus just gave him a dirty look, Kamina then stopped and said, "Sorry, but these generals have some weird-ass names. Especially that one, I don't see how anyone could take her seriously with a name like that."

Exodus just looked away from the three as tears of pain rolled down his face and his emotions overrode his better judgment, "She's the one who killed Harbinger." Exodus sensed Kamina's confusion, and continued with "The girl in the picture". A look of realization dawned on Kamina's face, who now realized the gravity of his error. "Hey, look, I didn't....", but Exodus raised his hand to silence him. "It's alright, it wasn't something I shared." In truth it wasn't alright; Kamina's mockery of Harbinger's killer cut through him deeper than any blade could have hoped. His throat began to tighten as the memory of the exploding Gunmen returned, "I tried to stop her....but.....she sacrificed herself....to save me." His bony hand closed into a weak fist as it delicately hammered the bedsheets, "Harbinger.....I'm so sorry.......I was the reason you died....and I couldn't do a damn thing to stop it. I'm so pathetic...It should have been me."
 
Yoko didn't like the direction this had turned. 'Adiane...were you talking about her before when I asked you about Harbringer?' Yoko wanted to know so much more about what was going on and who Exodus was and his relationship to Harbringer, and their role in all of this. But she could see that Exodus was slipping into something of a depression with each question they asked. Maybe it was too much at once...and Kamina's obstinate pressing for information and moronic laughter did little to help.

She put her arms around him in a gesture that was meant to be comforting but she kept the contact relatively light. "Hey, it's okay..." and then he cut her off with the story of Harbringer's death. His story made her wish they'd never asked him for information. "I'm so sorry, Exodus...So sorry you had to go through something so awful...but if Harbringer sacrificed herself, I'm sure she had a good reason. People don't just throw their lives away." And then, she realized..."Wait a minute...Generals don't usually visit the frontline when beastmen are out and about...So that would mean...you were fighting a divine general!?"
 
Exodus felt Yoko embrace him; this made his semi-depression to ebb away. He slowly started to calm down, the sadness melting away before his very eyes. Yoko was such a compassionate person; he was infinitely grateful to her to help him not just physically, but emotionally as well. He gave a small sigh of relief and "Thanks, Yoko. I'm sorry you had to see that."

However, when she asked if he was fighting a Divine General, he froze. He knew he had said too much, now they were going to wonder why he would be crazy enough to take on a Divine General. Still, he could lie a bit, and they would be none the wiser. He then spoke solmenly, a hint of sadness still in his tone, "No, I didn't try to fight Adiane. I was trying to help the Trio by locating her base without getting detected, but she caught me. Harbinger used a hijacked Gunmen to slow Adiane down, to give me enough time to run. I refused to leave without her, but then she used the Gunmen to throw me away from Adiane. Thinking back, I guess the Beastmen hunt me because they think I know where Adiane's base is, even though I don't have a clue."

Kamina cut him off, "So wait, who's the Trio?" Exodus pondered for a moment on how to explain without giving away that he was one of its members. He was never close to a town named Littner, so that led him to believe that he and his former comrades never operated in this area. "They were three powerful Gunmen warriors who had rescued me. I figured I would try to find the location of a General so that they could take her out, and divulge her location to them the next time I saw them."
 
Yoko felt him relax as she hugged him and felt relieved when he came back to himself again. Putting stress on someone in his condition wasn't exactly a great plan for their recovery. The redhead only nodded when he apologized for his "weakness." What was it with men and not wanting to show their emotions? It was okay to be sad now and then...

She was still in shock that he might have been in combat with Adiane, that it took her a moment to register what he was telling her. So he'd just been caught up in the fight? So then, who was Harbringer? Awww! she was so confused! But learning more about her would have to wait. They had other things to find out about. And Kamina was pretty adamant about finding out everything he wanted to know. She offered morale support for Exodus, but didn't feel like she was doing much for him. In the meantime, she just didn't ask anymore questions.
 
Kamina then asked, "OK, there are still some things I don't understand. When I encountered Viral, he mentioned someone named 'Lord Genome'. Any idea on who that is?" Thankful that they had finaly steered clear of a rather touchy subject, Exodus shook his head, "No I don't know a lot about him. I just know that he was the one who leads the Four Divine Generals, well, three now." Kamina cocked his head once more in confusion, "Three? What do you mean three?"

Exodus sighed again, "From last I heard, the Trio had taken out one of the Generals, although who it was I couldn't say." At this point, he was definitely telling half-truths, but he gave no way for his three comrades to decipher any hint of withholding. "OK, but I'm still confused as to who the Trio was. You said they were powerful Gunmen warriors, but who were they exactly? Did you see what they looked like at all?" All of this talk of Exodus' former team was starting to get to him; his body began to shake subtly, he could feel all the unpleasant emotions, see all the unpleasant images roiling in his mind.

Exodus took another deep breath to calm himself, "No Simon, no, I didn't. They probably didn't operate around here, but I'm not that familiar with the geography surrounding Littner. People around here probably never even heard of them."

However, something Yoko said a bit earlier then provoked him to say, "What gave you the impression I was fighting Beastmen at all?" Simon then spoke up once more, "Well, we found you wearing a pair of weird-looking gauntlets, and our mechanic told us that you had used them to fight Gunmen." Exodus just laughed, "Your mechanic is off his rocker, then. Those can't go through a Gunmen, but they can kill Beastmen. I developed those as a means of self-defense. And who said you could go through my stuff? Hmmm?" Of course, Exodus was lying when he said they can't go through Gunmen; when the Trio was still alive and well, he had done just that many times.
 
She could see that they were just agitating Exodus at this point and frowned. "That's enough, guys." She stood up and put herself between the three men, looking at Kamina and Simon. "You two need to lay off! We got the information we needed to protect ourselves, so just take what we've got and go with it. We know about the generals, the army, and this lord genome guy. And we know there are other people like us out there and why the beastmen might be looking for Exodus, so just back off."

She gave them a glare and then turned to face Exodus. "And you could be a little more grateful, you know! We took the gauntlets off of you because your body couldn't handle the stress and we needed to heal you. Simon took care of them. He was curious as to what they were so he asked our mechanic. What's so horrible about that?" She frowned and crossed her arms. "Everything we've done is to help you, so don't go yelling at Simon for thinking to ask what those things did--they might have been dangerous."

She frowned and then sighed, putting her head in her hand. "Jeez, you all give me a headache." At that, she got her rifle and left, not wanting to deal with this kind of thing anymore.
 
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