Paragon Mar

**Date Completed:**6/13/2021
**Previous Role-Play**:
**Users Involved:** User:Katokonia
**Setting:** An Island in Paradise
**Date:** August 3, 1510
**Marines Involved**:
* Nibiru Hysteria
* Anthea Cassiopeia
* Anthea Serenade
* Sayid Barto

**Scions Involved**:
* Strodes Cain
* Koda Alyss
* Raine Lilith

**Metrics**: Paragon Mar/Metrics

**Freedom, or Order?**

It was a calm Saturday afternoon. A warm breeze blew across an island in Paradise, songbirds singing, and a port village bustling with activity. It was quite small, though the village had a lively market, and the people seemed to be enjoying lazing around on this weekend day. Leading away from the port was a thin road, though it was well-kept, leading towards a rather blocky structure some ways inland.

The island itself was by no means large, so the small castle where the mayor resided wasn't all too far from the port, though it distinguished itself as being the largest structure, easily seen from far and wide across the island. A show of power, perhaps, or maybe simply a means of defense in the event of an attack. There was a small marine installation to one side of the island, though it was quite small, housing perhaps only a couple dozen soldiers.

There really wasn't much value in anyone plundering the island in the first place, though. It was small, didn't have any notable features or resources that couldn't be found in greater and higher quality elsewhere. It's people were simple, though this did lead them to be happy as well.

At least, that's what one would assume upon visiting the island, though some people simply just want to watch the world burn.

A dispatch from the G-12 base, the closest marine base to the island, was recently deployed to patrol the area. There had apparently been a sighting of a rather unscrupulous bunch that had raided a couple of the trading ships that came through roughly a week prior, looting the entire cargo, though allowing the traders to keep their lives.

When the traders arrived at port, they immediately reported the incident to the town mayor, who decided that it might be a good idea to call in the navy to scout around for the perpetrators. He had low expectations of the grunts that resided on his island, and used a Den Den Mushi to phone the G-12 marine base directly, where he was successfully authorized to ask for a small group of marines from the base to investigate.

He could be considered very lucky, or very unlucky with the help that G-12 decided to send along towards the island. Nibiru Hysteria, captain within the marines, and one of the most unpredictable people within this region of the sea was reporting for duty, alongside three of the marines working under her, who were arguably there just to make sure Hysteria didn't make any unnecessary mistakes.

It had been a day since they began their search, probing both the townspeople and navy presence alike after they made their initial contact with the mayor, yet to no avail. There was no sign of whoever had done this, so the trip had become almost a vacation for the four, who had no qualms with such an arrangement.

"Yaaaaawwwnnn."

A lazy voice rang from a pair of individuals in marine uniform walking along the marketplace in the village. The voice belonged to Anthea Cassiopeia, who was being accompanied by Sayid Barto to "patrol" the port for any suspicious figures. The two had spent most of the time just sitting around watching waves crash and roll from the shore, with no suspicious people in sight whatsoever. It was just business as normal, traders called out to passers-by to try out their merchandise, fishmongers competed with each other to attract the most buyers, as townspeople flocked to all the mentioned stalls to buy food for their families, and maybe some antique merchandise from travelers from abroad.

No belligerents. No fights. No nothing.

"This is soooo boring. Why did that idiot mayor call us out here anyways? There's not a damn aggro in sight." Cassiopeia placed her hands behind her head in obvious annoyance, looking to Barto for conversation.

"Now now Cass, it's nice to laze around every once in a while isn't it?" The response came from Barto, who was interesting himself by dribbling a pebble as the two walked around town. "Anyways, who knows, maybe something could happen this very minute, and we'd be right here ready to respond!" He said cheerfully, though not entirely in earnest.

Cassiopeia gave him a glare, before responding back, "I almost wish I traded with Serii, watching over the captain is probably more interesting than this." She waved her hands around, motioning to the completely ordinary port before them, where even the seagulls seemed to have good manners, flying overhead without the usual bombardment of the land below with white filth.

"Well I can't say I disagree with that statement..." drifted Barto, "But at least the place is safe, right? It's our job to make sure order remains, so if it's here doesn't that mean we've done a good job?" He asked Cassiopeia, with a hint of seriousness in his voice.

"I guess so...but still, I mean come on, you can't honestly say that you don't wish something just magically happened right now can you?" Cassiopeia replied.

\*\***Crash**\*\*

Barto stole a glance at Cassiopeia, "So you asked, and so hast thou received." Before he promptly ran towards the sound to see what was the cause of it.

Upon arriving at the scene, a rather strange sight laid before Barto. There was a short, blonde girl leaning lying halfway underneath a capitulated stall...fully asleep. Cassiopeia caught up the Barto, remarking, "What happened here Barry Boy?"

Ignoring Cassiopeia's nickname for him, Barto replied, "Honestly not so sure myself, though it looks like this stall collapsed onto this girl here." He crouched down, and started trying to move the rubble off of the girl, who was still under it. "Maybe she got knocked out? Looks like's she's pretty deep asleep."

"Right..." Cassiopeia didn't offer her support in moving the debris, just standing there as she watched Barto, and a few of the townmembers who had begun to help him, move the rubble off the girl.

When Barto and a couple of the townsfolk finally got the girl free from under the crashed stall, the found that she was completely uninjured, and completely asleep. As Barto pulled her up, she opened one eye, and said, "Oh...Thanks for the..." Before falling back asleep mid-sentence in his arms.

Barto looked to Cassiopeia for some form of assistance, but she just smirked, seemingly enjoying the first mildly interesting thing that's happened today, though the situation was cut short when a pink-haired girl approached Barto.

"Aww here's where you ended up. Sometimes it nice to relax, but I think you might want to pick a better place next time." She told the sleeping girl, who didn't even seem to be listening. Realizing this, the pink-haired girl turned her attention to Barto, "Well he-llo there handsome," she placed a hand on Barto's shoulder, "This here's my dearest friend, would you be so kind as to let me take her from here?"

Barto was obviously uncomfortable by how touchy the pink-haired girl was getting, and stuttered a response as his face reddened slightly, "Um, yea alright. I recommend checking up on her in a few hours to make sure there's no side effects, though she doesn't seem to be hurt." He regained composure midway through his response, as he handed the sleeping girl to the newcomer.

"I appreciate the advice, really." The pink-haired girl slumped the sleeping blonde on her shoulder, in a fashion that couldn't have been at all comfortable for the latter, "Well I'll be off then, thanks for helping her out~" As she began walking away towards the opposite side of the port.

Barto was in a slight awe, simply standing there as he watched the two distance themselves from the scene. Cassiopeia walked up to him, "You're a real sucker for a pretty face huh?" She teased, before her tone lowered slightly, "But seriously, what was that all about? I asked the vendor what happened, and he said the stall collapsed on that blonde chick, yet, not even a scratch! That can't be normal can it?" She asked Barto.

"Well...yea I suppose not. Maybe she just got really lucky? Who knows." He replied, his focus obviously still recuperating. "Well, want to head back to the barracks? I don't think there's much left to do around here."

Cassiopeia nodded her head in agreement, "Yea, sure." She responded. *"Maybe I'm just being overly cautious since this place seems so normal, but there's gotta be more to those two, right?"* She thought to herself, though didn't voice her concerns, as the two began to make their ways back towards the barracks where they have been given rooms.

As the two found themselves back at the barracks, they quickly made their way towards the room they had left Serenade and Hysteria in, praying that nothing had gone wrong. When they opened the door there was a strange sight, though not necessarily a bad one.

Hysteria was laying with her back on the ground playing with what looked like a strange abomination between a frog and a cube of sugar, holding it up in her hands before letting it go to hop around the room. Serenade was sitting on a chair next to the bed, half-reading a book and half-paying attention to Hysteria's antics. Serenade noticed that the two had returned first, as she closed her book shut with one hand.

"So did you guys find anything?" She asked bluntly, awaiting the Cassiopeia and Barto's report.

Cassiopeia nudged Barto as if telling him to do the talking, as she walked over to the bed and plopped herself onto it.

Barto sighed at this, though he had planned on doing the talking anyways. He was used to Cassiopeia's temperament by now, "Right then. Reporting now." He cleared his throat, "There was absolutely nothing of interest for the first 5 hours of our patrolling shift, however at the very end there was a single event that could be called 'irregular' I believe."

Cassiopeia interrupted him from the bed, calling out, "There's a super-girl in our midst." Before she turned to the pillow and promptly shoved her face into it.

"Ah, yes what she said. Additionally there was a pink-haired lass who came to escort the invulnerable girl away from the scene. I would argue that they seem to not be from around here, though I would say that that is inconclusive evidence towards any form of guilt." Barto continued, trying to stay formal in his opinion.

"Tell me more about this invulnerable girl, can you profile her for me?" Inquired Serenade, who seemed to be intrigued by the event more-so than Barto or Cassiopeia were.

Barto thought for a moment, before responding, "I believe so. She was fairly short, around 5'4" or 5'5" I would say. She was very light when I was carrying her, and she has loose blonde hair. I thought she was knocked unconscious when I found her, though it turns out she was just asleep."

"I don't think her being asleep is relevant towards her profile." Cassiopeia mused, her voice muffled from the pillow.

Barto and Serenade glanced at her, before Serenade turned back to Barto, "And you said there was a pink-haired girl as well? Other than that could you describe her?"

Cassiopeia responded before Barto had the chance to, though still with a muffled voice, "She was a flirty, touchy, bitch."

Barto let out a chuckle, though a glare from Serenade made him stop, "She was wearing rather frilly clothes. Had a very flirty undertone to her voice, and she was rather touchy..." He drifted for a moment, "When I first looked at her she seemed disappointed, in the blonde girl I believe, though I'm not sure if that's relevant."

"Thank you Barto for your report," Serenade smiled, before looking to her sister, "and thank you Cass for being as useless as always." As Serenade pounced on top of Cassiopeia and started wrestling with her.

Barto felt as if now was the time to leave the room, but before he could walk away he felt a nudge on his foot. It was Hysteria, who he had actually forgotten about, laying on the floor.

"Heyyy Sayid check this out." Hysteria started poking around in the air, where strange balls of light began rising towards Sayid.

"Captain, please if you would just let me leav-" Barto began to say, as the balls of light burst, exploding into a rain of candy that unceremoniously scattered across the room.

Cassiopeia and Serenade stopped play-fighting each other and let out a sigh in unison, both putting their hands on their foreheads gently.

Barto, who had been right next to the burst, now found various pieces of candy scattered all over him. "Captain...."

Hysteria shoved a handful of candy into her mouth, before jumping up.

"Haha did you guys like that? These taste great! Anyways let's get to hunting! I think I have a lead." As Hysteria began marching out the door.

The three left inside all looked at each other, with a knowing look on each of their faces, before grabbing their gear and following their captain outside.

When they got outside, Hysteria could be seen sprinting away towards the castle lying center of side of the island, obviously not waiting for them to catch up.

"Well, you said you wanted some excitement, right Cassio?" Barto remarked, before chasing down Hysteria, the Antheas close behind him.

As they ran towards the castle, Barto and the Antheas could see that there was a black smoke coming from the building, though no fire had yet been seen. As they drew closer, a bell could be heard ringing as some of the guards of the place seemed to be advancing towards something, one of them shouting, "Put your hands up! Surrender yourself now or face the consequence!" The guard's voice was not very convincing in it's fortitude, though backed up by several other armed soldiers his pride must have been inflated.

Barto told the Antheas to go find where their captain had went, who they had lost sight of by this point, and then ran up to the guards to see what was going on. "You there!" He shouted at one of them, "What's going on here?"

Upon seeing the marine the guard who had been talking could seen to sigh in relief, "We aren't entirely sure yet ourselves, but all the gold in the keep has been stolen, and there JUST SO HAPPENS to be someone sitting right here with a bag full of gold." He points at the individual in question with his spear.

As Barto turned to look at the accused, he was surprised to see that it was the blonde girl from earlier that day. He scratched his head, before asking, "Miss, I'm going to have to ask you to return that gold..."

The girl blinked a couple times, looking at Barto, then at the bag full of gold in her hands, then back at Barto again. "Is it less work if I just give it to you?" She asked innocently.

Barto wasn't quite sure if he understood the question correctly, but he responded with "I think that if you di it'll be less work for everyone."

She then responded with a simple, "Ok." before tossing the bag of coins towards Barto and plopping herself on the ground, falling asleep on the cold hard stone below her.

Barto and the castle's guards were visibly confused, though Barto picked up the bag and handed it to one of the guards, asking him to see if that was everything that had been stolen.

The girl continued to sleep as the guard counted the gold, after which he stated that it was only half of what was stolen. This time the guard walked forward, "Look here you little brat, you're going to tell us where the rest is or we're gonna have to-"

The guardsman was cut off by a rather strange sound that began to ring in the air. It was like the beginning of a lullaby, that of a music box.

The guards all looked around in confusion, and Barto unslung his gun from his back, waiting for a cue for something to happen.

Suddenly, a massive explosion erupted, sending stones flying, and immediately killing one of the guards. This sent them into a panic, as they all pulled out their arms to look for the perpetrator. The guard who was going to interrogate the blonde girl seemingly forgot about her in the moment, as he rushed towards the manor, dropping the bag of gold on the ground in his stead, and leaving Barto and the girl alone.

Barto walked up to the girl who was sleeping yet again, noticing that she was unhurt from the explosion. *"Guess this is a lucky one."* He thought to himself, before poking her on the cheek. "Hey, wake up. This place isn't safe, I'm taking you out of here."

The girl opened one eye before shutting it again, and muttered "I don't wanna get up," and turned to her other side to face away from Barto, as if she was going to pout but decided it would be too much work, simply resting once more.

Barto sighed, as he slung his gun back on his shoulder, and motioned to pick the girl up, but before he had the chance to a voice spoke from behind him.

"Well well well, looks like we meet again Mr. Marine. Maybe the red string of fate binds us together?" When Barto turned around, he saw the pink haired girl that had taken the blonde with her earlier, however this time he reacted with great suspicion.

"Are you the one who caused that explosion just now?" He asked wild mild anger in his voice.

"No, but I am the one that robbed the safe." She stuck out her tongue playfully, and presented a bag of equal size to the one that was still on the ground, shaking it so that the gold inside could be heard. "Now look, under different circumstances we might have had a little more...fun, but today we're just here for the money. That explosion from just now wasn't even meant to hurt anyone, though I guess Cain fucked up as always." She said, though towards the end she was more speaking to herself than to Barto. "If you just look the other way I'll take my dear Alyss over there and be on my jolly old way, how does that sound pretty boy?"

Barto unslung his gun once more and pointed it at the pink-haired girl, "I don't care who you are, or why you robbed this place. But I order you in the name of the Marines to surrender yourself!" He shouted, motioning for her to put her arms up.

The pink-haired girl let out a sigh, placing a palm on her face, "Look, can we just let this go? It's not like they were using the money anyways..." She starts, but then the blonde girl, now referred to as Alyss, begins to speak from being Barto.

"Lilly, can we go now?" She asked bluntly, though with a very tired voice.

Barto was confused, but it looked like the blonde girl, Alyss, really was in on the objective of stealing the gold as well. He didn't want to believe that someone so innocent-looking could do something like this, but he had no choice given the circumstances. He bit his lip for a moment, before barking out, "Surrender yourself," he moves his gun to point at Alyss, "Or Alyss might get hurt." He wasn't actually going to shoot her, though he may resort to butting her on the head.

Much to his surprise, the pink-haired girl began to laugh, "Oh so you're going to shoot her? I don't think you have that in you, but by all means please do." She persuades, as if she couldn't care less if Barto shot the girl or not.

"How can you act so carelessly about your own friend!" Barto shouted, but suddenly Alyss leaned her head forward into the barrel of the gun, and pushed Barto so that a shot would fire straight into her head.

Barto tried to stop the shot, but it was too late. He dropped to his knees, but after a moment he realized he was the only one who had fallen, well, both him and the bullet. The girl was still standing as lazily as ever, without even a dent in her forehead from the shot.

She spoke to the pink-haired girl, "Lilith, can we go now?" With more force in her voice this time, though still riddled with sleepiness.

The pink-haired girl referred to as Lilith gradually stopped laughing, as she skipped over to pick up the second bag without any resistance from Barto, who was still struggled to comprehend what just happened. Grabbing it, she called for Alyss to follow her, which she complied, and made to leave the castle, calling back before they reached outside of Barto's line of sight, "Hope we meet again cutie~" Before the two disappeared entirely.

It was at this point that Barto simply passed out from shock.

## Left, or Right?

When Barto opened his eyes he found himself staring at the ceiling of his guest room in the barracks. A fan circled slowly overhead, and the light blinded him for a brief moment. He blinked a few times and tried to get up, but as he moved his legs they hit something.

It was Cassiopeia, who was sitting on a chair next to the bed half-asleep, her suddenly being kicked by Barto woke her up fully, startled. When she saw Barto awake, she put her hands to her mouth in a gasp, "YOU'RE ALIVE?? I'VE BEEN SO WORRIED FOR YOU!!" She said in an excessively melodramatic manner, a sly look peeking from her left eye, though she was trying to act sincere to see what reaction she'd get.

Barto had been with her long enough to know she was just playing, though, and rubbed his head with one of his hands. "How long was I out Cass?" He asked, not playing along with her charade.

Disappointed that Barto was acting normal, Cassiopeia sighed in reply, before saying "It's probably only been about an hour..." She stood up and walked across the room, picking up Barto's gun that had been placed on the ground there, "The Cap' and my sister are already chasing after those thieves," she paused, offering Barto his gun, "You feel up to the challenge of catching up?" She asked sincerely.

Barto grabbed his gun from Cassiopeia, promptly standing up and slinging it around his shoulder, "You damn well know I'm up to that. Which way did they go?"

"Mmm, best just follow me, ok?" Cassiopeia replied, as she began to walk out of the room.

Barto followed her, and the two quickly entered a sprint with Cassiopeia in the lead, heading towards the far side of the island. It was already past dusk, though the land was surprisingly visible even in the dark of night.

Barto, as the two ran, asked Cassiopeia, "Hey, where did you end up finding the captain anyways? She went missing before."

Cassiopeia rolled her eyes mockingly, "You know talking just uses up more energy, right?" Though neither of them were actually tired yet, "We found her talking to some guy surrounded by toys next to the castle, it looked like the Cap' was going to fight him, but that's when the explosion happened. For what it's worth, Cap' snapped out of her crazy state when it did, hopefully it's lasting..." Cassiopeia said wishfully, before abruptly saying, "This way." Breaking off into another direction.

The two approached a forested area full of trees and rocks, as well as a small road that had appeared to have gone unused for quite some time. As the two ran along this tattered road, they came across a fork. Cassiopeia stopped for a moment, as if she wasn't entirely sure which was to go from here.

"Hey what's the hold-up? Which way are we supposed to go?" Barto asked impatiently, which merited a glare from Cassiopeia.

"This is as far as I remember..." She said. annoyed in her tone, but mostly annoyed at her own lack of knowledge on the matter.

Suddenly a loud explosion was heard towards the left side of the road, gaining both of their attention. Barto was about to run towards it immediately, when he heard a voice to the right side of the fork.

"Oh wow! Didn't think you'd be here so soon! Did you come to see lil' ol' me?" A voice teased.

When Barto and Cassiopeia looked over, they saw Lilith standing some ways off to the right. "You..." Barto began, but Lilith started quickly running off down the path to the right, quickly disappearing from Barto and Cassiopeia's sight.

Barto cursed, unsure which direction to go. He looked at Cassiopeia, who seemed to be equally conflicted. "Cass. which way should we go?"

When Cassiopeia failed to respond, he repeated in a firmer tone, "Commander! Which way should we go?"

Being called by her title snapped Cassiopeia out of it, and she asked Barto honestly, "Do you think you can handle her alone?"

Barto thought for a moment, before replying with a resigned "No."

"Ok, we'll go towards the explosion. That must be where the captain is right now, and we should be there to back her up." Cassiopeia responded decisively, beckoning Barto to come with her as she began to run down the path to the left.

There were multiple subsequent explosions as the two drew closer and closer, with strange intervals of music lining the space in between the explosions themselves. They weren't sure what to make of it, but what mattered first was reaching where they were coming from.

Barto thought to himself just before they arrived at a clearing in the trees, *"Then again, will we even be any help to the captain anyways? She's pretty strong by herself..."* But his thoughts went undeveloped, as he spotted in the clearing three people. The first was Anthea Serenade, who was leaning against a rock away from the other two, with noticeable injuries and blood spilling from multiple points on her body. Cassiopeia quickly ran over to her sister, though Barto continued to observe the situation.

A short distance away were two people standing, confronting each other. The first was his captain, Nibiru Hysteria, who had her arms crossed and could be see with an angry grin, if those two things even fit together. The second person was someone that Barto had not yet encountered thus far.

It was a man who looked to be in his early 20s. He had short, blond hair, and was wearing a depressed expression on his face. Surrounding him were a swarm of tiny boxes, though they looked as if they were simple toys. He didn't look to be nearly as threatening as Hysteria did at the moment, though as Barto was about to begin his approach to back up his captain another strange tune began to fill the air. It came from where the man was standing, who was seemingly playing with one of the boxes.

Suddenly, he began to speak with a heavy and longing tone, "Ahh...and now there's more of them..." He looked at Barto, and tossed over the box that had been the source of the music to Barto's feet, "Why must you all make so much trouble for me...I just want to go take a rest, maybe enjoy myself for once..."

The box at Barto's feet continued it's song, though it sounded like the tune was about to come to an end. Barto kicked the box to his side, and shouted back at the man, "You're the one making trouble you thief! If you hadn't started blowing things up then maybe we wouldn't be here. Now show me where your explosives are and maybe we can give you a reduced sentenc--"

Suddenly, an explosion erupted from the small box that Barto has kicked to the side out of irritation. He had not known that it was, in fact, the explosives he was referring to and those that had been heard prior, and such a small, blind, act had just saved his life. Barto's eyes widened as he realized this, quickly pulling out his gun and aiming it at the blond man. He wanted to approach closer, however he wasn't sure if his captain's aura was active, or if it had any of her creations within it. He didn't want to risk getting too close and finding himself as a target for any of her unscrupulous imaginations.

"Back up away from the boxes or I'll be forced to engage!" Barto shouts at the blond man. To his genuine surprise, the man took a few steps backwards, drawing closer to the shoreline that stood some ways back from where the confrontation was occurring.

Upon seeing compliance, Barto now called over to his captain, "Captain! Please move to your left!"

Hysteria turned her head slowly towards Barto, with swirls in her eyes indicating that she was currently experiencing the effects of her fruit. She seemed to remain competent enough to do as instructed, as she began to move, though made a strange reply while she did, "Ok, but watch out for the invisible man next to you!"

Barto sighed, assuming that it was simply one of her delusions, but suddenly he received a large whack to the head from what felt like being punched by a diamond, as Barto collapsed onto the ground, knocked out cold. Before he fully went to sleep, he caught a glimpse of the outline of what had hit him, it was a person, though they were nearly completely transparent, though she looked familiar for some reason...

Seeing Barto collapse on the ground with nobody around him, Cassiopeia quickly got up from tending to her sister. She had been giving Serenade medical attention since getting to the site, however she now attached what appeared to be chains onto her left hand. She kept her eyes on the blond man, whose face was still visibly depressed, and made her way over towards Barto's body, scanning for what had been used to fell him. She had not seen the nearly-transparent figure from before, so she carelessly made her way over to where Barto lay unconscious.

Suddenly, Cassiopeia felt her senses screaming danger, and instinctively moved slightly to the side. Sure enough, a gust of wind, that which would be present in the wake of a punch, rushed directly in front of her. Cassiopeia flung her chains forth, hoping to hit something. She wasn't sure what was going on, however she had delegated full control to her body rather than her mind in the moment. The chains made impact seemingly in midair. Cassiopeia then reasoned that her target must somehow be invisible, though before she could voice the though, a blow to the head knocked her unconscious as well.

Hysteria looked over to where her two subordinates had just collapsed, shouting over, "Didn't I tell you to watch out? What am I going to do with you kids..." She starts walking towards the invisible figure, but as she approached, the pile of boxes that the blond man had left lying center of the battlefield began to sing in unison. Hysteria's eyes began returning to their normal make, as she quickly regains her wits, and darts her eyes between the blond man, the pile of boxes, the collapsed bodies of her subordinates, the currently barely-conscious Serenade, and lastly, the transparent figure that she was somehow able to see.

With a burst of speed, Hysteria grabs Serenade, and uses Soru to dash past the invisible figure that was treading towards her, grabbing both Barto and Cassiopeia as well. She bit her lip, drawing blood, and suddenly one of her eyes began to swirl, as a very wide horse appeared next to her. While the invisible figure saw this horse, the blond man farther away did not, as Hysteria jumped onto it, her soldiers in tow, and made away back down the path in retreat.

The blond man stood there in complete awe. What he saw was four people floating in the air while dashing away, no horse in sight. The invisible figure saw the horse initially, however after the distance between her and the four grew, she too began to see what the blond man did.

Becoming visible, the formerly invisible figure reveals herself to be Alyss, the girl who had spent the majority of her time sleeping in past interactions. She called over to the blond man, asking, "Hey Cain, maybe I'm just tired...but did you see that?" She asked in a voice of both genuine confusion and concern.

The blond man referred to as Cain replied, "If you been how that delirious chick suddenly found a brain inside her head and proceeded to fly off into the distance, then yes, yes I did." As Cain sits down on the ground. The boxes were still playing a song, though as Cain snapped his fingers, they stopped. "And here I was about to show off too for once..." He looks over towards Alyss, "How come you always get to take the lead role?"

Alyss looks at him, confused, "I don't think they even knew I was here, though." She also sat down, however soon this turned to her lying down sprawled on the ground, as she dozed off without another word.

Cain sighed in defeat, as he got up and walked towards the pile of boxes. "Well, at least you guys care about me..." The boxes suddenly all begin to drag themselves towards Cain, disappearing inside of him, though none of the marines were remotely near to be able to witness this.

"Hey Cain!" A voice came from the trees to the side of Cain, "I heard the music, it was just lovely. What do you say we head back to base now? We got what we came for, so no point left in being here. I'll grab Alyss, you can be the ferry 'kay?"

When Cain turned, the voice found itself belonging to Lilith. He grumbled an unintelligible response, though it seemed to be an affirmation.

Lilith beamed at him, as she quickly hopped over to cradle Alyss in her arms, then skipping back towards Cain.

"Alrighty, looks like that's a wrap, waiting on you now Strodes!" Lilith smiled, as she hugged Cain tightly, with Alyss smushed somewhere in between the two.

Cain simply sighed, as suddenly music filled the air. However, this time it was coming from Cain himself. His legs slowly became more cube-like, and after a few seconds, the three rocketed into the sky, as they quickly soared away off the island, though to where, remains a mystery.