The Architect Codex

Inferno - Commitment

The noise of the hangar might as well have been silent for all the attention given to it by Tobias. He'd been sitting and staring at the people and Titans as they bustled throughout the frigate for nearly two hours now, waiting for KT's but his mind was elsewhere.

He kept replaying that ultimatum in his mind, mentally distancing himself from his past iteration until it almost felt like someone else entirely, a stranger wearing his clothing.

So, I'm proud to have failed. It's because of her that I'm alive, and I'd like to return the favor.

With that sentence, he might have just signed away any hope for asylum he had left. He could have simply taken the offer, been dropped off on Harmony and lived out his days there until this war was over. Instead, he'd gone against every instinct he had to stick his neck out for a Titan of all things.

Why? Why did he keep taking so many risks where she was concerned? He didn't run from her when they met, he found a battery and saved her from the snow, and now he'd just given up an escape from the war just to keep her from being decommissioned.

He shut his eyes, sighed, and bowed his head between his legs as he leaned against the cargo crate behind him. Was it shock? The traumatic experience of seeing his squad incinerated by an explosion might have triggered some small bout of insanity within him. He could simply be latching onto her psychologically because she was all he had left.

Or maybe it was her Pilot. Maybe it was the way that the man had embraced him as a friend rather than an enemy. It could have opened his eyes and shown him that there were far more shades of grey than the black and white that he'd been determined to see before that fateful moment.

But—and he feared that this was the likeliest answer—perhaps there was simply a part of himself within him that recognized it was time for a change, as much as he hated to admit it. Groaning, he raised his head up again and was once again back to people-watching.

Six years he'd been fighting for the IMC. Not once had he ever felt like he'd been making a difference—though, truth be told, he hadn't cared. All he'd cared about was—

Fighting past a lump in his throat, a brief memory of the past chose to momentarily reveal itself and drown out all other thoughts ...

...

The roars of military ships above were all too prevalent in the otherwise quiet night. High in the air, they circled the settlement with spotlights and watched over the town.

They claimed it was for their own safety, and it may have very well been, what with the rising feelings of unrest shared by man amongst the frontier; there were always those who chose to take drastic measures. But for now, it was simply a source of fear for a mother and her young son.

Peeking through the curtains once again, the woman sighed with a mixture of stress and frustration. She knew that these measures were necessary, but that didn't mean she had to enjoy them. And she knew that he certainly wasn't—

"Mom, when are they going to go away?"

She gave another sigh, but not one of consternation; this one was full of sympathy for her son's anxiety towards the ships and looming threat of danger.

"I don't know," she admits, "but you know it's for the best, sweetie. They only have our safety in mind." She wished she could believe those words as easily as she said them.

He seemed just as unconvinced as she was unenthused to say it. "What are they keeping us safe from?"

"Life on the frontier can be dangerous, but it can also be freeing. Now though, the IMC are trying to protect us at the cost of adding a few restrictions." More than a few, but the law was the law; she would abide by it.