A Trace

**This page is the property of Holo. Don't take any stuff from this page without his permission, he shall make sure to take attitude. Thanks for respecting it. Stay cheerful.**

There was a gathering of Centurions standing in a circle around a table and on the table was a sprawled out map. There were point markers around key areas in the district. Each of them had been reported by scout units to be a center of attention. The Centurions have been looking for a criminal organisation for a long time. One which might be the explanation to the Dust Drug which was spreading like a plague across the Nexus. The captains were briefing their subordinates about how to go about this situation. That was all until a door swung open, revealing a figure which had every guardsman inside to tense up. "Master on the floor!" A centurion shouted. Every man and woman stood in salute in respect of the one who had arrived.

A Crusader. This order of warrior explorers were considered the elite of the elite in terms of military forces in the Nexus. And while this one was someone the Centurions were familiar with, it was still an unnerving thing to have one present. 'Where a Crusader walks, catastrophy will follow.' Such is the expression that testifies for the importance of the quasi-religious order. Crusaders are not sent on these sorts of missions without due cause. The crusaders had deemed the situation dire enough to send one of theirs. The Centurions briefed the woman on what had been discussed and how to proceed. A quick, swift and decisive assault on their compounds. The Crusader would have none of it.

"If they are empty, we will have dedicated forces for an insignificant endeavour. No. Take your men to guard the suspected locations. Once one compound is struck, they will find reason to flee the others. I'll post a few of my beasts with you to track if there are any traces of them." She spoke. The Crusader wasn't the tallest in the room or seemingly strongest, but she still held an authority that could not be denied.

"Understood, Ma'am. Who do you want with you?" Asked the captain. While techinically a higher rank in terms of the respective organisations, he was still subservient to a Crusader.

"None. I'll go there myself." She spoke. The Captain was about to protest before realizing that it was no use. Nodding because no one interjected or refused the proposition, she placed a hand on her hip where her blade was holstered. "Just keep a few men around to arrest those who might try to make a run for it. Ultimately I'll be alone in entering the building. Just be ready to jump."

"SIR!"

Standing before the building in question, having heard the clear that the other men were in place, she listened the sounds of her beasts that roamed. Their senses were undeniable, and they confirmed everything; There were people present. "I'm going in." She said, moving up to the door, dressed in a robe and hood that had been confiscated from a crime member. Knocking on the door, her beasts proclaiming that they were still inside, she pulled down her visor and began.

Bashing in the door with her massive shield, she sprang into action, her animals right behind her, proceeding to take out and subjugate the men with weapons and pinning down the workers. It was a quick and decisive win within the first couple of seconds, the relatively well prepared men not having expected a single woman to burst down the door and put a wrench in their operations. The centurions reported that the people in the other locales were making a run for it. Hearing growls and roars as her beasts made quick work of the threats, she felt good about a job well done. Loa was pleased.

That was when a she saw a figure running out of the building from another exit. How did her beasts not catch that one? "Delta, Exody, with me!" She shouted as two dire wolves came running with her. "Halt in the name of the law and God!" She said, pulling out the hilt of her sword, and with a squeeze did the blade of energy and heat shaping up.

A black hood pulled over the figure's head obscured their identity, making even telling the gender of the escapee difficult from this angle of approach. "Like hell." The criminal responded to the crusader's command to halt. Knowing the pruser could not hear their words made little difference to the fleeing individual.

Though they'd had the headstart and kept a good pace ahead of the crusader the same could not be said from the beasts that had joined in the pursuit who gained ground with every step. Turning a corner the escapee seemed to slide along the ground as though tripped up by the gravel and trash that made up the alleyway. However, Loa would quickly learn that it had been no such mistake as when the dogs turned the corner she would hear their growls turn to sudden cries only to then hear them many paces behind her as though they'd disappeared and reappeared telling her that she was most likely dealing with someone using magic.

Turning the corner herself the woman would see only a deadended alleyway, the target of her pursuit now running along the rooftops as though suddenly being teleported there.

"Don't think you can escape!" Loa shouted to the runaway, channeling her magic into her legs as she leaped up to the rooftops and continuing the pursuit. Doing her best to catch up, made easier with her now enhanced speed, she was starting to gain ground on the escaping criminal. Regardless of commiting a crime or not, to try and escape a Crusader or Centurion when being ordered not to is a misdemeanor in and of itself.

Channeling a new beast into her lower body, applying the leaping strength of a Frog, she lept forward, intending to bash the person from behind with her shield, hopefully incapacitating them."

Seeing the shadow of the crusader along the rooftop getting bigger as she descended from her leap the escapee opened another portal, falling into it and closing it just as Loa slammed down into the rooftop throwing up clay shingles and stone in her wake while the formerly fleeing criminal found themselves a few feet away with spear in hand and reering back for a strike. Though the weapon itself was deadly, the experienced Loa would be capable of telling the strike had no intention of being fatal. It was a low blow aiming for the woman's legs. "Just piss off already!" The feminine voice spoke from behind the hood, warning the crusader to leave her be or face the consequences.

"You have no idea what you're getting yourself into!"

"I care to disagree!" Loa shouted back at the now revealed female criminal, the helmet on her head giving an echo and a almost raspy feel. Holding her shield in a way that would make it seem as if she had revealed a weakness, it was in fact still held in such a way and within a range to be quickly brought into defense. This strategy had served her well in the past for causing people to believe her to be more vulnerable than she really is. "I have just laid siege to the compounds of a drug cartel and found a dilinquent trying to outpace me as I give an explicit order. The dangers, the variables, and even runaway's. I've accounted for all of it." She spoke, her radiation sword pointing at the woman before her. "Care to put the final piece in place for me?"

"Typical, barge in hollaring and hooting thinking you've made some difference bagging handful of nobodies while the real criminals don't so much as stir in their sleep at night. You ruined my best chance to find out where they're getting these drugs from. But I'm sure you'll rest easy tonight thinking you did something praiseworthy. And you wonder while the people think you're all inept." The woman spoke with a hiss in her voice, a warning before the venom would come. Holding her spear in a ready stance she knew it was better to wait for the crusader to make the first move. "Leave or things won't go the way you seem to think they will." The hooded woman gave her final warning to the crusader she hoped would back down.

"Oh? Well then, do enlighten me," Loa began, her words trailing off, twisting the sword in place as if it was being twisted in the chest of an enemy, to cause more pain. "What would a lowlife criminal know about making a difference?" She spat, feeling a level of contempt towards this person for trying to insinuate that she and her order are incapable of fulfilling a job which this 'vigilante' seems to think she can handle herself. "Don't worry, you and your little friends back there will have a lot of time to spend conversing soon enough." She hissed, in more ways than one, as her lower body morphed in but a second, as a serpentine aura took form around her lower body, which she quickly put to action, leaping forward for a shield slam of mighty proportions before pulling back to her original location, all of it within the blink of an eye.

Having the wind knocked out of her from the sudden and violent bashing of the tower shield into her body, the woman opened a portal behind her which she fell back into with another opening slightly behind and just above the crusader. Hitting the rooftop feet first the woman with nose bloodied and face revealed sent a thrust of the spear aimed at the crusader's side, her black hair flown black with the power behind the thrust. Clearly she was no longer simply trying to inhibt Loa's movements, instead going for more serious blows.

Hearing the woman land behind her, she was quick to react, spinning around, slamming away the spear with her shield and then taking hold of her blade to interlock with the spear that had just attempted to pierce her. Had she not managed to react to that... Well, she was currently glad to be clad in this armor. Twisting the blade and thrusting it into the ground, thus locking it in place. "Attempted murder of a Crusader? Then I see no reason to hold-" She hissed as her shield was preparing to swing around and deliver a blow to the person's chest, to knock both air and consciousness out of the woman, only to see something she had almost given up on seeing again. A face. *Her* face... The shield stopped just inches away from the targeted spot. Head tilting slightly to the side, an instinctual move born from curious denial. Could it really? "Luka? Luka De Rege?"

Luka let go of the spear, letting it fall into a portal she opened just beneath it, stumbling back before pulling it out of another she'd opened at her side. It had taken her a moment but she registered the woman's words, what she'd said, speaking her name out loud and causing the disoriented Luka's ears to perk up. "How do you know that name, huh? Who the hell do you think you are?" She demanded an answer, still dizzy from the earlier shield bash that had knocked the wind from her lungs. Even now, she hadn't put two and two together even as she felt something was off about all of this. "I-if I wanted you dead you'd know it..." She continued to hide just how bad things were with a mask of bravado, at least until she could catch her breath and stop her head from spinning.

*It is her... It has to be her... But why now?* Loa thought to herself, feeling dizzy herself despite not having received any hits of note yet. Retracting her blade and putting the handle away, she reached for her helmet. If she was wrong about this woman's identity, she would likely come to regret this decision... But if it was her and she didn't do this, she would regret that for all time. Unbuckling the clasps at her jawline, she took hold of the plated helm and took it off, shield still in her other hand as to not be completely defenseless. As she moved to remove it, her blonde hair flowed out from it and settled over her shoulders and back, longer than it had been back in the day, but never the less. Soft features made a bit sharper from years of training, and bright yellow eyes. Eyes which spoke lengths of her current mental and emotional state. Confusion, relief, happiness, sadness, and a hint of anger. So much going on all at once, she didn't know which emotion to rely on at the moment, so she ended up at acting out stoic resolve. "It is you, isn't it? Luka?"

From her hands slipped the spear, the metal object falling to the ground with a clang of metal against the stone and clay rooftop on which they stood. On the face of Luka was a mix of shock and fear as though seeing a ghost staring back at her. "L-Loa?" She asked, lips quivering as though fighting off saddness in the mix of her shock. "Loa... It really is you, after all this time..." She nearly took a step forward but decided against it. The shock on her face fading as she raised a hand to wipe away the mist from her eyes. "Yeah, It's me, It's Luka." Her words seemed to be filled with relief to be able to confrim those words, to say them outloud again as though for some time she hadn't even been sure of that herself.

Silence fell between them, neither seeming to know how things should proceed from here, only moments ago the two fought for their lives against the other and now they stared back at each other with hestiation and uncertainty with tension in the air thick enough to suffocate them both.

"So, you're a bigshot Crusader now? Who would have thought, huh? Back when we were kids probably neither of us... But look at us now..." Luka was the first to speak up, her mind in the past as she looked at the woman who held the greatest impact in her life, the person that mattered the most to her back then and even now.

"Yeah... Look at us," Loa muttered, looking to the tiled 'floor'. Taking a deep breath and looking back up to Luka, she continued talking. "You know, protocol and the expectations of the order would tell me that I need to make an arrest here. The compound is under arrest and you have been a witness to it. And judging by what you said, you know more than just being a passer by." She sighed. "Such would be the orders if anyone was here to tell me," She said, looking to her shield. Letting go of it, she walked up to Luka, a straight look on her face. "But I know you, Luka. Or at the very least, I know who you were. For that, I'll let you go." She said as she was getting a buzzing sound from her communcation device. "Master, come in. Master Mercer, come in!"

"Mercer here. Report." She demanded to hear from the device.

"The two compounds have been detained. We are on our way towards you now. There has apparently been a scuffle occuring a bit beyond your location according to reports. Is everything going well?"

Loa looked up at Luka, a hesitant look in her eye. "No. Must have been a gang messing about. No one left my building."

"Thanks for your efforts, Master. We'll take over from here, with your permission."

"Permission granted." Was all Loa said before turning off her device. "I... I want to meet with you later, Luka. Discuss this thing that's happening. To know why you were so close to an underground operation. What's more... I just want to know more of what you have been doing. How you've held up... Just call my phone later. Number's unchanged." She said, trying to be stoic before taking a few steps back. "Sound agreeable?"

Luka looked to Loa, more, looking at the way she looked at her, and it frustrated her. "I didn't want you to get involved in this, Loa. I still don't." She spoke with hesitation in her tone as she crossed her arms before raising her hand to wipe away the blood that was already beginning to dry on her upper lip. Part of her wanted to deny her request, the turn around and pretend this meeting did not happen and yet, she could not. Though every bone in her bone ached and screamed that the right thing to do was turn away, Luka selfishly could not. "I'll give you a call later tonight... I wanna catch up too." She spoke before giving a snort followed by her spitting the undried blood from her nose onto the ground.

"I guess... I guess I'll see you later then." She continued, not moving for another few moments before forcing herself to turn around, jumping down from the building a disappearing into the streets below.

**...**
Luka washed away the blood from her nose, staring into the cracked mirror of her small apartment as she brushed her teeth to cleanse it of what little had ran down into her mouth. Finishing up and turning off the water she was in the midst of drying her hands when she entered the living room, dark and dusty with the only bright object being that of her phone which emitted a blue glow from its thin screen telling her that it had just finished charging. She couldn't remember that last time she'd used it, her actual phone and not a disposable one. Missed calls and texts appeared, some from friends, some from family, some from Loa herself. All more than a few months old now, most nearly a year old. She swiped them away, knowing that reading any of them would do no good now before pulling up her contacts. Still at the top was her most frequent: Loa. Though she'd picked up the phone with a degree of confidence she hesitated now, barely having had the strength to turn away from her earlier that day. Would she really contact her again? What would all this have been for if she had? Would she ever forgive herself if she dragged Loa into this? But if Loa was investigating the Dust already, would she regret not helping her?

"Gods Damn it all..." She hissed, throwing the phone back down onto the couch and plopping down into the seat beside it with head in her hands.

"Why do you hesitate?" Came a voice from around the corner. Walking into the room was a young man with a mask that covered his eyes and forehead. He looked towards Luka, although the mask would make almost any man or woman that sees it imagine that he should be utterly blind. "We both know that you have longed to return to her, hampered only by your personal duty towards your cause. She is just as involved in the predicament as you are now. Why should you keep pushing her away when you are both gonna head into the same danger?"

She didn't even look toward the man, instead leaning back on the couch and putting her forearm over her eyes before letting out a sigh. "We don't know that yet. This could just as well have just been a drug bust to her. I don't know what she knows or what the Legion knows, for all I know they could just be as ignorant as ever and if that's the case then what good would come from dragging her deeper into this? Especially when all I have now are theories, nothing hard, nothing concrete, would she even believe me?" She gritted her teeth before lifting her leg and kicked the coffee table further away from her before throwing herself back into an upright position.

"Besides, you should have seen the way she looked at me, like she was looking at an entirely different person. We've known one another since before we could hardly spell our own names and she looked at me like she I was someone she used to know." With clear frustration in her voice she took hold of the necklace that hung down from her neck and bringing it into her view. She looked at it, a strange and almost alien looking symbol on it, a made up language she and Loa shared, using it to speak in secret well into their adult years, even giving each symbol a sound so they could speak it aloud. "It's ironic... growing up she was such a wallflower; So shy and quiet, the slightest loud noise would have her jump ten feet into the air. But now she's so strong, brave, and more beautiful than ever and now I'm the one who can't find the confidence to act, too scared to even so much as see her again".

Garrolt's expression appeared passive at best. A result of the mask... Possibly. "I see... As much as it must sting to see her react to you like that, it is to be expected, isn't it? You left her and she has been forced to grow up on her own merits due to it. Perhaps that growth is something you can grow to like yet again?" He asked as he moved over towards one of the chairs next to the table Luka had kicked away. "You have both changed. Whether for better or worse is not for me to decide. But if she still means something to you." he said, gesturing towards the necklace she was currently holding in the palm of her hand. "Then maybe you should seek out before you outgrow eachother. She looked at you like a stranger? What look do you think she'll give you if you don't try and contact her now?"

"None, because I wouldn't see her again." Luka responded curtly, finding his advice equal parts understandable and nonsense. Letting the necklace fall down again she let out a quiet, frustrated sigh. "I left to protect her, to keep her out of all of this. I knew she wouldn't agree to that if I'd stayed, perhaps even more so now that she's gone and found herself in the middle of it all. Maybe leaving in the first place was the real mistake if this is how things ended up..." She continued, more thinking outloud than to Garrlot directly before she picked up the phone again, pulling up Loa's old contact and though having yet another moment of hesitation this time she pushed through it to call her.

The ringing seemed to last forever, anxiety building inside her as every second that past felt like years until she heard a click followed by background noise and finally, the voice of Loa on the other line. "It's me... I called to see if we could maybe meet up?" Luka asked, listening to Loa's response before speaking up again, "No,no, not today, that's fine. Maybe tomorrow afternoon? That cafe we used to have lunch in across from where I used to work?" She tried setting up the meeting. Though Garllot could only hear half of the conversation, the smile that formed on Luka's face was sure to tell him that things were going well if nothing else.

"That's great, I'll see you there... I, uh, I look forward to it." She finished before hanging up the phone throwing it back onto the couch before letting out another sigh, this time of relief. "There, we set up a meeting. That wasn't so hard." An awkward chuckle escaping her throat before another sigh that was quickly followed by a "I hope things go well..."

"I'm sure they will. She's likely missed you as much as you've missed her." He said in a tone that definitely tried to make her at ease. "Now come on! We have some training to do. Even if you feel relieved now, you should learn to try and keep the more surging feelings in check if they come up again."

Across the city sat Loa looking over the distance from her perching appartment. Somewhere out there was Luka, her childhood sweetheart. She felt a sense of relief to know that she was well. Happiness at the prospect of her maybe coming back. And a bit of fury that it had taken her this long to get in touch again. The Cafe... Their old happy hunting ground. Memories flooded her, memories coming back at her like a surge of nostalgia. But how would nostalgia keep them going?

She felt a tightening in her heart. The way Luka had moved. The way she acted and had struck. She was going for severe injury maybe even the kill... She had come at peace that she might have turned to such things against the criminals of the world. She wasn't all clear from such deeds herself after all, but to see her so carelessly go for such things against a woman of the law? That was... unsettling... She wasn't all too sure why she was going through with this.

She began to pace the room, looking to and fro in the appartment, feeling the swell of emotions in her breast. She needed to think and figure things out. Why was she doing this? Why did she agree to this? Why did she ever even propose to meet again in any sort of way without handcuffs? What is wrong with her? Why did she-?

She walked and processed this line of thinking for an eternity before she caught a gleam in the corner of her eye. There, hanging on the wall, having collected a little bit of dust from not being cleaned this week, rested the necklace from her youth. Cautiously walking up to it as if it might catch fire and explode, she stroked the crest case, showing the 'word' her girlfriend had picked for her. 'Courage'. A trait Luka had seen in her many years ago and predicted she would grow into some day. She had had confidence in her those years ago... It clicked to her why she wanted to do this. Why she wanted to see her again despite everything; Her Luka was back. She had come back, even if just for a scarce fortunate moment. But she wanted more than that. She wanted her back in her life... Time to secure that return. The next day she was walking down the streets dressed in formfitting jeans, a shrug-off jacket and a shirt that left some open space that showed the start of her cleavage of her cropped up chest, with her necklace resting there. She never had it in her to readjust the chain to it.

Luka sat in the corner of the small cafe, the place felt equal parts familiar as it did alien, the placed swarmed with off duty doctors, nurses, and medical students from the nearby school just as it had all those years ago and yet she did not feel she belonged here. Was it because she'd turned away from her medical practice? Her oath to always work toward saving lives? No, she was still doing that one. She looked over to see the hospital across the street, all pretty and new as it'd been rebuilt after the fire that had left her own heart burning for answers. She couldn't stand the sight of the place.

That was when Loa passed by, the sight dragging her from her darker place and for but a moment bringing her back to simpler times. She was just a nurse working toward becoming a doctor and Loa was meeting her on her lunch break. The two would talk, about their day, what they would do when they got home, any events coming up. But she quickly snapped back to reality, such a thing was indeed in the past and this meeting was not some lunch date. Frankly, she didn't know what it was, another mistake perhaps?

Luka waved a hand to get the attention of the woman when Loa entered the cafe, drawing her attention and having her approach. Before all else, she noticed the necklace handing down over her chest, the dark haired woman freezing up for a moment as she reached up to grasp hold of her own. Taking a moment, she eventually broke eye contact witht he necklace and looked to the woman's face. "Loa... It's good to see you again, I hope you don't mind that I already ordered for us, our old regulars." She tried to speak normally but every word spoke to the awkwardness she felt in the situation.

Loa had been a bit caught up in her own thoughts as she walked up to Luka, fearing that it was alll a mistake. But she culled her nerves as she stood next to their table, trying to be happy that Luka was back. She nodded with a smile as she sat down on the opposite end of the table. "Absolutely! Let's see if you remembered my raisins for my scones this time." She teased. "You always forgot about that. Though I guess my latte orders tended to blend out that little bit." Loa giggled.

"It's good to see you too, Luka... Outside work hours." She joked a bit tensely. Shrugging off her jacket, hanging it on the backrest and awaited their order. Her top was a slight bit revealing as it was a rather hot summer day. Midriff revealed and a bit of her chest being at the front and center. She didn't seem to mind it in the slightest, a bit of a contrast already to how reserved she was back in the day, even with her clothes, having prefered full covering even during the hottest of days. "You seem to be in good health. Life treating you well I hope?"

Frankly, she wasn't sure how to answer that question. A dingy apartment and a dangerous job, she certainly wasn't living the life but there was no need to tell Loa all that. "As well as one could hope, all things considered." She responded with a half-smile and a nod. "Thanks for agreeing to meet up, this isn't the way I hoped we'd see each other again." A melancholic tone in her voice as she spoke, her eyes looking Loa up and down causing her mood to brighten if only a little.

"It looks good on you, never thought I'd see you wearing something like that and yet it feels right. You've always been a ray of sunshine, Loa, even on your gloomiest day. Back then I was the only one to see that but now that you're a famous Crusader I guess others have started to see it as well. I'm glad and yet I'm jealous all the same even if I have no right to be. I-I'm sorry about yesterday, if I'd kno- I never wanted to hurt you."

Loa tried her best to maintain a smile, despite the memory. "I should certainly hope not." She teased back. "But you did try to hurt *someone*. I could live with you hurting criminals and the scum of the underground, but a woman of the law? That... That is a harder pill to swallow." She replied as their orders arrived. Nodding in gratitude, Loa took a small bite of her scones. "Mmmh. Just as delicious as I remember them! No raisins though." She teased the woman across the table, to which she looked to the waitress and asked for some of that dried treat for the scone. "What exactly is it that you feel jealous about? That you weren't there to see it? You saw it to begin with. The first to see it. It inspired me to keep going on even so."

Luka didn't know if she should explain herself, why she'd been so willing to attack a Crusader, and so she pushed it aside for now. Whether it was a mistake or not, she didn't want Loa getting deeper into this than she already was. Yet, if that were the case then why meet up with her to begin with? Purely selfish reasons? "I was glad because other people could see what I had seen all these years, jealous because for the same reason... Because it meant you didn't need me anymore. It's selfish, awful even, I know. But I've never shyed away from that and you loved me all the same. Maybe in spite of it, maybe because it was just a small part of the whole, only you know for certain or maybe not even." Luka let out a chuckle that ended in a sigh, both as half-hearted as the other.

"Do you resent me for it? For leaving?"

"No." Loa said rather swiftly. The words had barely left Luka's lips before Loa gave her answer. "Not now. Not then. I was sad and angry, yes. I mourned that I wasn't enough to keep you around." She sighed. "Don't need you?" She trailed off. "In a way, yes, you are right. In that I am no longer dependant on you. I kind of had to stop being that. But... I did need you. I needed you in those hard times when not even family comfort could hold me up. When I struggled to move forward with my life. When I underwent the trials to become a Crusader as they tried to break me down. I wished you were there through it. But you weren't." Loa laid it out quite plainly. "But I never hated you, Luka. I never could. You are my first love. How could I possibly hate you?"

"I don't know but it was a fear that stuck with me from the day I left until now. At first I thought I was fine with it, you coming to hate me for leaving so long as it kept you safe. But as time went on and the trials and tribulations added up my resolve toward accepting that hate wavered and I longed for that consistency again, the knowledge that no matter what would happen I'd always come home to your smile. By then I thought it too late and now I feel like an idiot. Especially given how things have turned out, I thought if I dived head first into the dark by myself you'd be free to live in the light and yet in your own weird way you dove right into your own darkness and now we've met again. All this time my leaving didn't mean a thing and frankly I'm still reeling from that. Seeing you on the rooftop was like a stake through the heart, my Loa, a crusader, out fighting monsters beyond the walls? The same girl that bury herself in my shoulder while we watched scary movies now fighting the living breathing horrors..."

Luka rolled her head from shoulder to shoulder as if fighting off exhaustion, not of the body or even mind but of the spirit, "So... Why'd you do it? Become a crusader that is?"

"Well... I wouldn't say that it meant nothing. Even if you weren't there to see it, it made me grow up. I caught up to my own growth. One I should have had a long time ago. Your little Loa had to adapt to the world you left me behind in. If nothing else, that is a positive, if we are going to try and delve into the topic of what good came out of it." She playfully scoffed. "Still... I can't help but feel a bit of that old girl coming back now... It is weird. How just being closer to you brings all that back. I don't feel as confident... It's..." She trailed off before deciding to answer the next question. "Become a crusader? I suppose I wanted to challenge myself. See how far I could go and just what I was capable of. It was... Quite a change from being a Centurion."

"I went outside of those walls to see what truly lied beyond. To see for myself what we have lost. But above all, I suppose I just wanted to get stronger than I was. I also guess that I hoped... I guess I hoped somewhere deep within that it would give me the resources to find you again."

"And here I am. So, I guess in a way you weren't wrong." She made a dry joke, in truth, she was amazed by Loa's growth. Were the two any less close than they had been she might even have believed she was staring back at a wholly different person. Though, she was sure Loa herself could say the same. She picked at her food, unsure if she could even eat with her emotions as run high as they were, "And now that we're here, in front of each other again, I still don't know what to do. Why do they have you investiaging the dust? What was that all about? I thought I was so close but then you and your buddies came bursting in."

Loa shook her head softly. "I don't know, Luka. I don't. But it is a threat to national security, and thus has to be dealt with. Why they point Crusaders at these affairs is beyond me." She whispered, feeling discontent with where the topic was going. She had hoped for a calm, casual and fun reunion. But no. Maybe she hoped for too much. "And even if I did, I wouldn't be able to tell you. Our work is classified more often than not. To share such sensitive information with a citizen would be irresponsible and dangerous. Apologies." She sighed. "And you don't quite have to know 'what to do'. Just... Do what comes naturally. Try to talk? Like we used to?" She suggested with hints of a sweet smile.

For a split second she nearly bit back at that mentioning of things being classified, to tell her that's exactly why she felt the need to looking into things herself. But when Loa showed her those subtle hints at a sweet smile she bit her tongue and it took everything in her not to feel overcome with exasperation. Resting her cheek in her palm she let out a huff and a sigh before her eyes met Loa's again. "I can't do that, Loa. After all these years I know things can't be exactly how they used to be not yet at least, not starting out anyway." She explained, a sorrowful pain in her tone she tried to hide behind it all.

Luka looked out the window toward the newly rebuilt hospital, a near replica of the old but it wasn't the same. Just like her and Loa now, they were the same people and yet neither of them were the same they were last they met all those years ago. Turning back to look at her old friend, former lover, she forced a small smile onto her face. "If this were back then we'd be sitting here during my lunchbreak, chatting up a storm about silly little things. What movie we should see, what we should have for dinner, how work was going. Despite it all being so silly it all still meant the world to me and I..." She stopped herself, knowing that she couldn't say what she wanted to say next, she couldn't bring herself to do it.

"I guess what I'm saying is I'd like to get back to something like that someday. Until then, what's it like outside the walls? Is it as scary as they say?" She asked, trying to make conversation with Loa, to steer away from heavier things and try to just be there again like they were before.

"What's so silly about having a good time?" Loa asked quite seriously while still maintaining the smile. "But I suppose that you are right... Things can't be quite how they were... Doesn't mean we can't try to become friends again. Let bygones be bygones. Any less won't do us any good, right?" She suggested. "The outside... It is rough. I have seen my fair share of comrades lose their lives out there. Apparently I hold a record for least deaths in my expeditions in terms of how many I've done. My percentage is the lowest. Feels like a real odd thing to supposedly feel proud of."

"I don't know if you might have missed it, but I am responsible for most of the exotic animals in the Zoo these days. Made quite a fortune off of it. I could easily buy some houses with the money I've earned from that alone. Then there is the Crusader work, which compensates me well too. I am not quite so scared anymore, but yes, my first times were... Intense. Scary. Terrifying even. Seeing a fellow private be killed before your eyes is haunting. I eventually managed to take to the front and fight for everyone like I always should have. You... You helped in that regard in a way." She said, seeing the confused look in her eye. Loa sighed playfully. "I just... I imagined the men and women having your face. Suddenly I would have the strongest urge to keep them alive, even if it cost me something."

Luka blushed at that though deep inside she felt a sense of guilt, knowing that had she not left Loa likely would never have joined the cursaders and had to experience such things, things even she didn't think she could face. "T-that's sweet..." She responded, knowing there was no sense in apologizing, no sense in saying things should have been different. If they were to let by gones be just that she needed to accept how things have turned out and more than that, the most important thing is that Loa was here now. "I hadn't heard about the zoo, I don't tend to have a lot of free time on my hands so I never kept up with things like that. But I'm glad, you've always loved animals. I guess it makes sense that that love extended to ones out there too though I never would have guessed it myself." She spoke, her body loosening up just a bit, trying to relax, trying to let by gones be by gones.

"It sounds like you've been a good leader. I always knew you had it in you somewhere deep down in there, you've always cared about others, always been kind even when other people weren't, and when you finally put your foot down about something no one could change your mind. To think all those things helped you become a crusader, to go outside. I wouldn't believe it from anyone else but you and well, I definitely can't deny it now." Luka spoke with a slowly warming smile. "Above all of that I'm glad you're okay... I sh-" She stopped herself from should haves and could haves. "I'm glad you're okay."

"Well, I always was 'sweet as honeyed sugar'." She teased the woman of an old expression she had used against Loa when she sometimes were too sweet for her own good. "Yes, I am doing quite well I'd say. I shouldn't complain about my life. I've made good by the people and doing good for myself. And... Thank you. For always having had faith in me. How about you, Luka? What work do you occupy yourself with these days? How do you pay your bills?" She teased, clearly circumventing the vigilante aspect of her as to not get her in trouble in public. She sipped her drink and sampled her scones, adoring its rich and juicy flavor. "You always were talented and able to find jobs very quickly when you wanted to. No matter where. Something I always admired."

"You're right. I never really had much of an issue finding work, not always the most luxurious of jobs but a job is a job." She agreed with the woman, "The past few months I've been working as a bartender, the pay isn't good but the tips are enough to keep the lights on. It's a bit ironic isn't it? I can hardly stand the stuff but it turns out I'm not half bad at serving it." She said with a shiver as she remembered the first time she'd drank liquor and how terrible the burn in her throat was. Taking the first bite of her food she had during the whole conversation she chewed quickly and swallowed, not having realized the butterflies in her stomach had been masking her hunger. "I guess always did have a hard time settling into a position but I made due enough to get through school. Made sure we even had enough for a few luxuries here and there." She gave a small laugh before clearing her throat. "No matter what we always made due, didn't we? You and me." She looked back fondly on the memories of their youth, their young love, and how they'd spent their time together. Though it felt like a distant memory now Luka couldn't help but wonder if that had to be the case. If she gave all this up, looked the other way when it came to her suspicious about the dust. Could they go back to better times?

"We did. Me and you." Loa concurred. She looked back on their memories of their relationship. Things weren't necessarily good all the time, but with the support of their parents and their unflinching ability to be there for each other at any and all times, they always managed to pull through. It wasn't necessarily an extravagant life, but it was a good one. Luxury had been lacking when compared to the life of her life before, but the time with Luka made up for all of it and more.

"And really? Bartender? Last place I would have expected you to end up. I remember how you once could hardly sit around the stuff as you detested the smell. Well, character growth all around." She said with playful cheer, hand reaching up to her necklace, placing her fingertips against the glass. "Those were some really good times. Simple. Fun. Happy. Well, saying that makes it sound as if we are miserable now." Loa giggled. "We need to continue doing this. The memories alone is a trip of joy worth taking more of."

"Yeah, we should. It's been a long while since I've sat down to think about all those times together. After everything that'd happened I'd worried thinking too much on the past would only hurt. But seeing you again, even if I'd wished we'd met again under different circumstances, all those memories feel so precious to me now that I'd half consider cursing myself for not realizing just how much they all mean to me. It really feels like we were just kids back then despite how mature we liked to think we were. But it's true, we made due all the same. They were a lot of fun." Luka reminisced on their old memories.

She let out a content sigh, "The first week you showed up at school, you'd brought a stuffed animal to show and tell and the others made fun of you for it. I told you I thought it was cool. I was lying of course but the way your face lit up when I said that... I didn't have the heart to tell you about it until we were nearly grown ups. Or the time you nearly passed out when one of the boys asked you to the dance, I had to tell him no in your stead..." Luka listed off some of their fond memories, lost in the past. "We share our first kiss at that dance... among other things."

"When we went apartment shopping and I ended up locking myself in a walk-in closest on accident. Ended up having to pay for the door before I kicked it down since the damn agent couldn't get it open..." She went on before snapping back to reality, a red blush to her cheeks as she realized she'd been going on and on. "Sorry, got a bit lost in my own head there." She admitted embarrassingly.

Loa progressively smiled more and more, feeling overjoyed to hear Luka recollect such memories with such accuracy. It might seem like such things should be obvious, but having been so afraid that she was a thing of the past to Luka, it was relieving to hear it. Her face grew completely flushed at the mention of their dance. Loa had a very keen memory of the night. The two of them were hormonal and emotionally uncertain young women, not sure where they were leaning and who they wanted to go to the dance with. Loa had been asked to it by Luka under the pretense of it being as 'friends'. In hindsight, she should have predicted something off that night. Dressed like it was nobody's business, and having hired a limousine to take them to the dance. Once there, Loa was invited to dance a few times, but she never had the courage to accept. Until Luka did.

She remember how it went from just two friends dancing casually to Luka beginning to take charge of the situation, leading them into pair dances, whispering things that made little Loa's heart race. She had then pecked Loa's lips in the heat of the moment, catching the insecure woman off guard. Luka, with both the gesture and some words, confessed her love for Loa. Loa hadn't at the moment been sure whether she loved her as a friend or as a woman, but she felt that the one peck wasn't enough to decide. So she had asked for another.

It wasn't long before Luka stormed off with her back out and towards the Limo. There they discussed their feelings, the kiss, where they would go from here. They had then continued to kiss as they agreed on exploring this. They explored one thing after another in that Limo until... Loa giggled softly, a blush on her face. "That dance was certainly something! The limo driver and owners probably didn't care for the smell and stains." She chuckled with crossed arms under her chest. "I still remember when I got home and then told my parents about it. Mom was discussing the details and wanted to figure me out in this. Dad? To quote him; 'So, you like girls? Me too.'" She giggled at the memory. "You sure knew how to brighten my day, Luka. These stories. These moments. This place... I love it all." She sighed. "You have been part of big steps of my life and pivotal moments in my development. I can never repay that, Luka. But then again, you took my virginity, so maybe we are even." She teased with a wink.

It wasn't fair of her to get all flushed over the topic, after all, she'd brought it up even if she'd only been thinking out loud. "It wasn't so much a take as an exchange ya know. It was a first tango for both of us" She tried to recompose herself before a small smile appeared on her face. "Even if it was far from the last." She let herself giggle for a moment, seeming to forget about it all the dust, the years apart, for just right now the two of them were together again as though nothing bad had ever happened between them.

"But yeah, it definitely was an unforgettable thing that dance was. Luckily we never needed a limo for anything again, doubt they would have let us rent one. Hell, with all the money in the world I wouldn't call them today just in case they remembered my name." She let out another laugh, warm and cheerful. Letting out a quiet and content sigh she looked to Loa again, the blush on her own face starting the fade a bit. "Sure, I might have always been the one taking the lead back then, the one protecting you, but I don't know what I would have done without you either, Loa. I never fit in with the other girls, and they guys never wanted me around either. I realized pretty quick they only ever talked to me to get to you. But you were always there, rain or shine. Even when I got the flu and had to stay home from school, you convinced your parents to let you skip so you could come over and keep me company... even though you knew you'd probably end up getting sick too and you did. I don't think I ever told you how much I'd appreciated that, it meant a lot. You were my only friend and before I knew it you were the woman I loved. Love." She corrected herself with that last word, her feelings were not gone, not even faded, she'd only done her best to suppress them.

"Damn, you're right. Guess we are not quite even yet then." Loa chuckled. "They always sold you too short. All of them. But it all worked out in the end. I ended up with the world's best girlfriend as a result!" She said cheerfully. "And I do mean that. We might have done much for one another, but you really did the heavy lifting. But we kept all others off our shoulders until we could get together. I think that was fate." She smiled. "You're my first girlfriend, Luka. I can never do anything less than love you for that." Loa sweetly said, feeling happy to be able to have these kinds of conversations with her again. "I know that work probably keeps you busy most days but... Would you like to hang out again some day? Catch a movie? Go to one of those costly restaurants that I can actually afford us for once? Or maybe just come look around the Zoo I've helped keep stockpiled?" She said, feeling positively giddy to be here again. It felt right again to just be with Luka and share the same space. "We've done so much for each other over our years of knowing one another. I would do it all over again. And I would love to do more with you yet again. To us!" She said with cheer as she raised her less than halfway emptied cup for a toast.

The raven-haired woman smiled, happy to be given the opportunity to reconnect with Loa. Not just now in this cafe but in the future as well. Even if their paths would still be rocky and perhaps even put them at odds in some instances, she'd treasure the time they'd have together. So, following in Loa's footsteps, she raised her cup and touched it together with hers. "To us!" She repeated before downing her drink. With her cup emptied she let out a content sigh, "I'd like that a lot, Loa. To continue with these sorts of things, hanging out again like we used to." She responded to Loa's former question as she rose from her seat. "This was a lot of fun," Luka continued as she leaned down and pressed a peck to Loa's cheek, her tone having been somewhat sorrowful as though she did not wish to leave. "I'll call you later. Maybe we could pick something to do then?"

Loa felt her racing heart return, her blush rise into prevalent note as a result of the small kiss. It made her feel differently than for the majority of the meeting. Her heart beat with greater strength, feeling as if her organ would beat it's way out of her chest. She looked up to Luka and smiled. "I-I would love that. H-Hit me up at your earliest convenience and we'll make up a plan." She said happily, getting back up on her legs, a part of her hoping that it was just a friendly cheek kiss and no deeper meaning. But there was also another part of her that really wanted it to have a deeper meaning. Once up, she took Luka into a hug, feeling her present with her like this again. She couldn't wait to see her again. Parting from her but still holding her by the arms, she grinned. "Don't be a stranger. I will be eagerly anticipating your call."

Though surprised by the hug she took it in stride, enjoying it while it lasted as well as the lingering touch as Loa held onto her arms. "I won't be, I'll call you as soon as I get home. Just to let you know I got there safe of course." She said with a warm smile as she slid her arms out of Loa's grasp, giving her beloved a nod before she left.