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Gannon…

"Actually, I said only a few of us should go. I never said we should split up. Some of us should stay here while the others get her to Seraca." He looked around the room, trying to decide who to take.

Gannon…

While Gannon was trying to work out a plan, he was distracted by a sound coming from behind him. He turned, confused at first. For the first time in years, the communications device he installed in the hideout had come to life with an incoming call. "The hell...?" Gannon shot a glance around the room at those gathered before stepping up to the comm unit and activated the floor to ceiling view screen. At the site of the red headed woman, the Teru's blood ran cold.

"Naomi!" He spat the name like a curse. The air around him began to chill as his anger momentarily caused him to lose control of his power. It took him a few moments to get his anger in check. He needed to have a level head when dealing with this woman. A slip of judgement could cause disaster for the group. "What the hell do you want?" Wait a minute... Something was wrong. Looking at the woman, he had to admit that she looked a little off. He wasn't quite sure what it was about her that caused him pause. He always knew her to have a certain look. A professional appearance that never seemed to go away, yet here she stood, looking a mess. She looked tired, disheveled. Something was definitely wrong.

Naomi had been asking herself how he would respond when he saw her face, and how she would handle speaking to him. What would she say? As soon as he appeared on the screen, all other thoughts escaped her. Suddenly she was transported back in time to years back, in a similar situation when they were friends. Sadly, she knew that he hardly considered her a friend; quite the opposite, actually and she was pretty sure he wouldn't hesitate to kill her if they were alone.

And Naomi wouldn't have blamed him. She wasn't proud of what she had done. At the time, she may have believed in the President's ideals, but she wondered if she'd believed his lies because of his fervent enthusiasm, or because she'd been smitten with him. It didn't matter now, because what had been done, had been done.

This in mind, she brought a hand up to her temples, massaging them to combat a stress headache that had started to form. "There isn't much time..." she began softly. "I wish I could explain, explain everything. But then, I doubt there would be anything I could say that could make things right." She shook her head, immediately intent on changing the subject. "Something has happened. In the beginning, I truly believed that the C.P.G. had everyone's better interests at heart. But, I'm afraid its purpose has become corrupt... or, maybe it always was." She paused, knowing full well she wasn't making sense and restarted her explanation again. "Resonance, I'm sorry. Something's gone wrong, and people are in danger. Melody... she's in danger." Naomi bit her lip and couldn't meet Gannon's gaze. "They know you're here, and they know they have no access. So they plan to use Melody to lure you out. It's a trap. However... the trap hasn't been sprung yet, and so I had to warn you. Melody is in danger. The one in charge of this mission isn't me..." Her gaze chilled as she stared back up at Gannon. "You have to get back to the Steppe. For Melody's sake." She reached up to end the transmission. "I will do what I can from here. I need to keep using C.P.G's resources to research the Fau Pira. I'm the only one pulling for them now. If I can't find the cure," she gazed upon Hikari with pity. "Those poor girls don't have a future."

The woman shook her head. "I don't blame you for thinking that way. If you must think of me as an enemy, then do so. I have done terrible things to you." Naomi hesitated before continuing. "I know what I am doing. I will never be on the wrong side again." She turned her attention to the Reyvateil behind him. "Hikari. I forced many things upon you. If I told you now that I believed it would make life better for everyone, I doubt it would matter much to you. And so I won't apologize because it is meaningless." She smiled, somewhat sadly, but turned serious once again. "The C.P.G. is taking the long way up the Tower. They are unable to move through the Tower, but I heard you had a ß-Type in your party with Administrative Priviledges. If you're able to move through the Tower, you'll be able to cut them off. An Administrative entrance into Ar tonelico can be found in Seraca. It's under the protection of the church, I believe." The woman swallowed hard, trying to figure out how she was going to explain it to Gannon. On one hand, the woman he loved was dead. On another hand, a woman who looked like Tessia with the same memories now existed, but her Cosmosphere had been tampered with and her personality had been completely altered. She wasn't the same person; Naomi knew that. But would Gannon? She cleared her throat. "Another thing, the one leading the ambush party, she isn't what you think she is, she's..." A noise just outside her door sounded and she jumped, terminating the transmission immediately.

Someone was outside. There was a knock on the door. She composed herself before answering. "Yes?"

"Your presence is needed back at HQ, Director," a young-sounding girl called through the door. "There seems to be a problem with the ECCHRA system."

Inwardly, Naomi breathed a sigh of relief. "I'll... be right there." Though if ECCHRA was failing, that would cause many more problems for the FPDs.

Gannon…

Gannon shook his head at Aaron's question. "No. Not unless that one with you's a ß-type. We got separated from the one we were with. Gannon cursed to himself, not sure what to make of the end of Naomi's transmission. And what was the nonsense about the person leading the attack? "Damnit..." He looked back to Hikari before turning to Aaron. "Looks like we're out of options. We've got to get everyone outta here. Mana, Miko, I need you two to grab what supplies you can and divide them up between everyone." He turned to the one eye'd girl. "This ain't yer fight, but if ye'r willin', we could use the extra hands. We gotta make it up to Seraca as quick as we can, and we're gonna be under attack along the way. You in or out?" Though he didn't mention it, he'd be back in Ce Palym with all the speed he could summon. The Goddess herself couldn't even stop him from getting to Melody before anything happened.

--Aaron Leon Cecil--

Aaron turned to Nel. "That would make sense, actually," he muttered. He decided to explain himself a bit more. "When I met Nel here, the C.P.G. was after her for something or other. Normally they don't bother with a Reyvateil unless she is an FPD or a rare and powerful ß-type or something. Normal Third Gens don't show up on their radar usually. The only Third Gens they keep are ones that are employed there for a living." He crossed his arms and redirected his gaze to the Teru in front of him. "Wherever Hikari goes, I go, simple as that. I'm guessing she's gonna want to tag along with you, so, I guess you've got my support."

Mana~


Mana put a reassuring hand on her sister's shoulder. "We're going along to help them. Don't worry, nothing's gonna happen to Melody. Time to get packing." She went to go and start packing up their belongings for the trip. "I'm ready when y'all are."