Following Ayn's request, Louis and Yakumo accompanied him to the Area H-14: Dried-up Trenches is a section of the seafloor brought violently to the surface when the land changed in the Great Collapse. A variety of what was once vivid coral lies dry and exposed to the air, and ships that once floated on tranquil waters are utterly still, a portrait of tragedy.
Louis looked around his surroundings, seeing how much this place has changed. "This place has changed completely too."
Yakumo stopped walking when he heard Louis talking. "Yeah... It seems everything changed since the great collapse. The only thing that stayed the same is our appearance."
Louis stopped behind Yakumo, directing his gaze towards him. Then his eyes focused on the landscape, seeing how the great collapse affected the earth. Ayn like always was a little distracted, his eyes wandered here and there, analyzing everything.
Yakumo started walking once again: "Come on. We won't find the source by reminiscing."
Louis already knew that standing still still reminiscing won't help them in any way so, he started walking, being followed by Ayn. They walked slowly, with Yakumo as their lead, but a sudden voice attracted Yakumo's attention.
"It's my fault..."
He stopped abruptly, looking behind him: "You say something, Louis?"
Louis and Ayn stopped walking at the same time, Ayn's gaze fell on Louis, while he looked at Yakumo.
"No."
Louis didn't say anything, then why did Yakumo heard someone talking with the same voice as his comrade?
"Why didn't I..." There it was again, the voice of Louis.
Feeling shocked by the sudden voice, Louis looked behind him, seeing a vestige lying on the ground. "Is this...is this really my...?" He turned around abruptly, gazing at Ayn who was standing behind him.
Ayn nodded and crouched down near the vestige, he was going to pick it up and see the memories within the vestige, but he heard the voice of Rathion.
"Don't touch it, he doesn't need to see."
"Why?" Ayn asked, making Yakumo and Louis look at each other.
Those two didn't heard the voice of Rathion so, hearing Ayn talking to himself was weird in their point of view.
"Those memories are to painful for him to bare. I don't want to see sadness in his beautiful red eyes."
Ayn felt the same way, even so, he knew that Louis wanted to know what's inside that vestige. That's why Ayn couldn't comply with Rathion, he grabbed the vestige, then he slowly stands up with difficulty.
Like before his arm glows with a blue light, but this time everything got covered by a white light, blinding the three revenants. When the light dissipated, the three revenants found themselves standing inside the base, looking at Yakumo talking with Louis.
"You can't let him continue like this, we need to stop him!" Yakumo grabbed Louis by the shoulders, he was desperate.
"What do you want me to do! We can't stop, not when we are this close in discovering the truth." Louis avoided looking at Yakumo in the eyes.
"His life is more important, I thought you wanted to find a way to save him." Yakumo squeezed Louis's shoulders, he couldn't control his anger.
"I wanted to...!" Louis voice broke. "He told me it was futile to continue looking for a way to save him, he wanted me to stop!"
Yakumo let go of Louis and apologized, he thought that his comrade was going to throw away the life of their friend, just to find the source of the Bloodsprings. Feeling distressed by everything, he kicked a chair to vent his anger.
"He's always like this, doing everything on his own, not letting anyone help him." Yakumo clenched his fists.
He knew that getting angry wouldn't help with the current situation, but not being able to do anything for his close friend was frustrating, and the worst of all is that he is a especial revenant, leaving them with no choice but to stand back; seeing him risk his life.
"You guys are fighting again," the lifeless voice of a man attracted the attention of the two revenants: "Don't fight, I made this decision by myself so, don't blame Louis."
"That was never my intention." Yakumo confessed, feeling the tension in the air.
"I'm grateful for everything you two done for me, but it's time to part ways, before it becomes more painful for you two." He forced himself to smile, he didn't want to show his sadness, or how bad his condition was.
Bringing his friends more sorrow was something he didn't want to, he wouldn't be able to bear seeing them cry, that's why he wants to leave the base and die in a far away place.
"I won't let you leave, we are together in this to the end." Louis was firm with his words, not letting his comrade refute him.
"What am I going to do with you? it seems I can't never bring myself to refuse you." Sadness painted his face like a monotone canvas, the colors of life were not longer visible in his life, everything was black and white.
Louis could notice that his comrade lost the will of living, his beautiful blue eyes were much less vibrant than they should have been, they were lifeless like those of a doll. Seeing him in such a poor state broke his heart, with each day that goes by, Louis guilt grew bigger. This guilt was etched deep inside his heart, and he blamed himself every time he saw Rathion suffer.
Yakumo told Louis a million times, 'it's not your fault', however, his comrade refused to listen to him. He blamed himself over and over again, like he was trying to bury his guilt more deeply.
This was the guilt the current Louis forgot; the painful feeling that Rathion didn't want him to remember, because his suffering was not caused by him. Rathion's condition was a mystery, but maybe when he awakened as a Revenant something went wrong, leading him to suffer after effects.
The blood beads could quench his thirst, however, it was not enough. Rathion was turning into one of the lost, slowly but surely. The blue marks on his left eye were the proof, those marks that never disappeared no matter how many blood Rathion consumed.
The worst of all was that his condition worsened every time he used his blood to bring back to life the dried Bloodsprings, and seeing the vestiges memories. There was no one else to take his place so, he continued risking his life in order to find out the truth.
...
After seeing his own memories, Louis remembered a few things about the man named Rathion. Not everything was back, there was still a lot of things that Louis couldn't remember, specially the day of Rathion's death.
He was changing into one of the lost, but did he really became a lost? Maybe Yakumo or Louis killed him before that happened, and if someone turned back the time, Rathion is somewhere out there.
"Nobody would want to relive that," Louis turned his back on them: "At that time I was desperate, I researched without resting any single day, just to gain nothing."
Louis did everything in his hands to find something that could have helped Rathion, but no matter how much he researched, he never found anything useful. Forgetting those memories was a way to escape his frailty, and the guilt that was drowning him everyday.
Louis closed his eyes, then took a few steps. "But... If we can find the Source and ensure a stable supply of blood beads, then revenants will be freed from their thirst. Once that happens, there will no longer be any need for Silva's levy system, and humans and revenants will finally be able to live together in peace." His words carried a heavy burden.
Yakumo noticed that Louis was trying to carry on with this burden all alone, so he hits his shoulder slightly. "Then stop talking about it and let's get it down. Are we ending this nightmare or what?"
Louis gaze focused on Yakumo, hearing him say. "You can't charge foward if you're always looking back."
Louis closed his eyes: "Yeah, I know."
Ayn walked foward, while telling Rathion that Louis is not as fragil as he thought. Rathion was relieved to know that his loved one was not blaming himself anymore, that he was able to overcome it and continued moving foward.
"I'm glad to see that he's doing fine, I can go now without worrying about him."
"Where are you going?" Ayn was surprised by the sudden words of Rathion.
"To the place I belong, it must have been a nuisance borrowing your body like this, sorry for causing you so much trouble."
Those were Rathion's last words, and Ayn could notice how his body felt different from before, the proof that Rathion was no longer with him. The first thing Ayn wanted to confirm was his feelings for Louis, so his gaze fell on him.
When Rathion was linked with Ayn, the moment he saw Louis, his heart would beat faster. This time he felt nothing at all, this was for the best, because they don't belong together.
They moved foward, following the linear path along the ledge, while being cautious of enemies that tend to pop out behind corners. They eventually come to a split with two possible paths --- a cave on the left and the path that continues along on the right.
"Which way we should go?" Yakumo asked feeling unsure.
"How about we enter the cave? Maybe we can find something useful." Louis suggested.
Ayn agreed with him, and they take the path that leads you to the cave. After walking for a while and clearing the path from the lost, they saw to a drop-off point on the left. The three revenants jump down and followed the path, until they reached a ladder. Before climbing up the ladder, Yakumo saw a enemy in the corner, guarding a chest.
He took care of it with one blow, and quickly opened the chest. It was empty, seeing this, disappointed Yakumo. Then they head up the ladder and followed the path all the way to the end.
"A dead end." Louis sighed.
"If we jump down here, we are back to the entrance." Yakumo said while looking down the ledge.
"I don't like this place." Ayn complained quietly.
They drop down, back to the starting area. Then took the left path, heading back to the cave entrance, searching for another place to jump down. Ayn looked down the ledge, seeing a spiky tail-like platform.
"I think we can land on top of this." With that said, Ayn jumps down, landing perfectly in the platform. Louis and Yakumo followed his lead, jumping down to the platform too.
Once they land, Ayn head to the right, finding a ladder down. They go down finding a mystle. Ayn purify it, and since he was tired he sat down for a while. Yakumo leaned his back against the wall, while Louis sat down on a rock.
"We are almost there," Ayn mumbled.
After resting for a couple of minutes, they continued moving forward, reaching the end of the cave, arriving at a wider area. In the distance they saw a Bloodspring, like before; it was not dry. Louis crouched down, pouring the yellow liquid on the tree.
"So, where are you dragging us off to next?" Yakumo wondered.
The yellow crack in the ground appeared, leading the way, but it was to the ruined city. Louis looked back in surprise, he didn't expect this outcome.
Yakumo got close to Louis: "What?"
Louis searched carefully the Bloodspring with his eyes, but there was no mistake: "The Bloodvine here leads to the old city ruins." He stands up, turning to look at Yakumo.
"Huh? Wait, hold on a second. Shouldn't it lead from the old city ruins?" Yakumo was confused at this point.
Louis touched his chin, thinking about possibilities. When they were thinking, the voice of a woman singing attracted their attention.
"Singing." Said Louis, looking around.
Yakumo was the first one that saw something at the distance. "Hey, look at that."
Ayn and Louis focused their attention on the big transparent barrier in front of them. The barrier suddenly disappeared, and with Ayn leading the way, they moved foward.
In the distance they saw a man and a woman crouching down near a corpse, the man took something from inside the corpse body, then slowly stands up.
Louis immediately recognized who that man is: "That's..."
Yakumo's eyes focused on the blade covered in blood of the man. "It's him."
The only one who couldn't understand the situation was Ayn, but now is not the time to be asking questions, since he noticed that there was a vestige lying on the ground not to far away from where they are standing.
Louis and Yakumo readied their weapons, seeing this, Ayn did the same.
"Be careful." Louis warned.
"Is that woman his partner?" Yakumo asked.
The woman was singing, it was like she was singing for the corpse, maybe a song of praying for a lost life. The man got closer to her, then he inserted in her chest the artefact he took away from the corpse. The woman screamed in pain, her blood splashed all over the place, but the man didn't stop this atrocious act.
Yakumo couldn't bare to see such a scene. "I don't know what your story is, but let go of the woman now." Yakumo was ready to fight the man to ensure the woman's safety.
The man looked up, glaring at Yakumo. Ayn took this opportunity to quickly approach the vestige. When he was going to pick it up, the voice of that man stopped him.
"There's no point in recuperating those memories."
Ayn's hand stopped moving, then he lifted up his head, looking at the man a few steps away from him.
The young man has white hair that seems to be gelled back, with a fringe covering the right side of his face, right eye included. The tips of his hair are blond.
A scar adorns the left side of his face, running through his light blue eye, and the skin enclosed by it is a light shade of grey as opposed to his rather fair complexion.
"You can't decide that." Ayn confronted the man.
"It seems you don't remember me." He walked towards Ayn.
"Don't take another step!" Yakumo warned him, not wanting the man to get closer to Ayn.
Maybe this man is Ayn's precious person Io was talking about, if that's the case, he needs to talk to him.
"You know me?" Ayn took a step foward, but Yakumo grabbed him by the arm not letting him get closer to the man.
"I do, we know each other, the same with this girl named Eva." There was no hint of him lying about knowing Ayn.
"If you really know him, then show us some proof." Louis would never believe in the words of a Revenant Hunter.
"Proof?" He snorted, "If is proof that you want, here." The man throws a pendant, landing near Louis's feet.
Louis picked up the pendant, seeing a photo of two kids inside it. "This kids..."
"What's wrong, Louis?" Yakumo approached his comrade, seeing the pendant he's holding. "This is... Ayn and that man."
"Want more proof, or that's enough for you." He taunted.
Ayn didn't like the cold actitud this man was showing to his comrades, he doesn't care if their meet before or not, right now he can't remember him so, Yakumo and Louis are his precious friends now.
"Even if we did know each other, I can't remember it anymore." Ayn reached out his hand again, to try and pick up the vestige.
The man kicked Ayn in the face, the blow was enough for his mask to fly away from his face.
"Why did you do that, Jack?" Eva looked at Jack, with concern in her eyes.
"This place has been purified from the miasma, he's going to be fine." Jack stepped on the vestige.
"You bastard!" Yakumo wanted to kill Jack for hurting Ayn, but he was stopped.
"Don't," Ayn grabbed Yakumo's arm. "Let me handle this."
"Are you sure?" Louis asked concerned.
"This is a problem I must solve alone, but if I can't, I am counting on you guys."
Ayn stepped foward, ready to put an end to this meaningless fight, and recover the vestige before Jack crushes it.