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Chapter 11

After a quick shower, the brothers got dressed in their clothes again. Neither said much, both too embarrassed about being caught by Flint. Rex was afraid he would blab to the others on what he saw, but Noah managed to convince him that the tiger would keep his mouth shut. It was obvious the tiger was even more embarrassed than they were, so Noah doubted he would tell anyone. (plus he was also sure that the tiger would probably use that image while he was jerking off for a good long while if Noah didn’t imagine the tiger saying it was hot.) Once they were fully dressed and absolutely sure that neither smelled of sex, they walked down through the mayor’s home.

This was honestly the first time Noah had ever seen the inside, and while it was by no means a mansion like the infamous Cross Keep it was still a nice home, probably one of the nicest he’d ever been into. All on the walls were portraits of all the previous mayors who had called the place home, and once he reached the portrait of the current mayor he had a feeling that the poor man was probably going to have a hard time being re-elected. He kinda felt bad for the man. Mayor Donnahue was a good mayor from what all he had seen the man do. The Inquisition raid was hardly his fault.

Soon enough they found themselves joining the rest of the group. Flint went bright red as they entered, which made Noah smile a bit, nobody else seemed to notice or care about his reaction. Emily looked relieved to see them and even Dawson looked happy as he seemed pretty bored beforehand. Aidan was talking with Sheriff Geller, the tall dragon seemed intent on what the Lieutenant was saying. The girls were talking with the mayor and his wife who both seemed worried. He briefly wondered where Raymond, his son and one of Noah’s classmates was, but he noticed the sulking bobcat was sitting near Emily and was looking at her with googly eyes which Emily seemed to be oblivious to which made Noah chuckle a bit. He had always figured Raymond had a crush on the girl, but Emily had always seemed to not pay attention to him.

Aidan seemed to finally notice that they had arrived and smiled at them. “About time you guys got here. We were waiting for you.” Noah and Rex both nodded, and Aidan looked over the map of Crosstown. “As I’m sure you are aware, Commander Reaper of the Inquisition is holed up in the local high school.” He said pointing to where the school was. “They have gunmen on the roof so approaching straight on is too dangerous. We’ll need to find a way to sneak inside. After that we’ll have to figure out a way to disable the gunmen without being seen and allow us to raid the school and take out the members within the building.”

“I know a passage! It’s actually common knowledge amongst the students. Within the boiler room, there’s a corridor that links to the sewer. I don’t know why it’s there, but I know a lot of students use it when they want to skip class.” He noticed Dawson bent his head down a bit in shame, he figured Dawson would be the type to skip class, they didn’t have that many classes together, but he had seen Dawson’s grades, so it added up. Aidan beamed glad at hearing this.

“Perfect! We can use that as an initial access point! Now we need to make an infiltration party. Who all is willing.” He said looking over the collective group. “Commander Reaper, you should stay behind to coordinate things between us and MODD properly. You are the highest ranked person here, so it makes sense as the next highest ranked active person here I will lead the mission.” Rex didn’t look happy at being told to stay behind, and seemed almost put out at being told to by someone of much lower rank, but he couldn’t really argue with the other wolf’s logic.

“Fine, that makes sense, Lt. Hart. I will continue contact with Gale. He has Hive Queen docked in Shellington with reinforcements which can be here within an hour if we need it. But given we have already taken out a large part of their forces I doubt that is needed. But please be careful.” Noah noticed that he seemed to be directing that towards himself. Guess he figured that Noah had no intention of staying behind, and he was quite happy that Rex had no intent on stopping him.

“I volunteer myself!” He said calmly which caught everyone's attention. Aidan nodded and Dolan gave a dark look at the young Lt. but he seemed to ignore him. Dawson also stepped up.

“I’m coming too!” He said, giving Noah a glare as if daring him to say anything and Noah sighed and nodded. Emily however looked down.

“I think I’ll stay here… I’ll do what I can to help the Commander and the others.” Noah and Dawson both let out a sigh of relief before looking away from each other. Actually agreeing with Dawson on something was something he needed to get used to as he had a feeling he would be stuck with him for a good while. Loni also decided to stay behind as did Dolan but Flint and Elena both volunteered to join as well. With that they got their team, Loni would act as a link between them all. After fully working things out Noah’s team quickly went off into the sewers thankfully due to the many glyphs that made sure the sewers were clean and devoid of foul smells.

I’m so glad our sewers aren’t like the ones in other places. The smell would be awful! Plus, could you imagine going through waste filled water? he let out a mental shudder at that.

“You alright Littlesea?” Dawson asked him with a curious tone, grabbing his shoulder causing the wolf to jump a bit and glare at him for startling him. Dawson just shrugged unbothered by the glare.

“You were spacing out, so I was seeing if you were alright. We can’t have you doing that in the thick of things.” He said firmly which made Noah blush a bit. Dawson was right, as much as he hated to admit it. If he spaced out in the middle of the battle he could get not only himself but everyone else killed. He couldn’t allow that to happen, he still needed to get to Graesham after all. He shook his head and took a deep breath and refocused himself and nodded.

“You are right, sorry, I was just glad that the sewers in Mortaelis aren’t disgusting like you’d think they’d be. I mean given what all goes into these places? Could you imagine if everything wasn’t cleaned by glyphs?” He noticed Dawson’s nose scrunch up in disgust which made him give a grin of satisfaction.

“You are so weird Littlesea.” He says before going on further. Noah just let out a chuckle while enjoying messing with the Alsatian. He eventually followed him and guided the rest of the group through the sewer until they reached a discolored part of the wall and with a few taps from Dawson it opened up and showed a small passage leading into the boiler room which everyone snuck inside. It was your typical high school boiler room. Noah never knew why they even had a boiler room. All the hot water was heated by glyphs so having a boiler room seemed almost primitive. Maybe they were there in case the glyphs failed? He shrugged and brought his mind back before anyone could notice him spacing out.

Aidan looked around and nodded, it was empty from what Noah could see, seemingly untouched by the Inquisition. Once again it did make sense, the boiler room would generally be considered a useless room anyone would ignore, and they wouldn’t know about the passage, so they wouldn’t have people guarding it. “Looks like a good entrance, good suggestion you two!” Aidan stated which made both Noah and Dawson smile but look away blushing when they noticed they were both doing this. After a few moments the team gathered and started planning phase 2.

“Okay, so right now we need to split into groups. I think it would be best to have someone who can infiltrate them and learn what makes them tick and find any weaknesses they have.”

“How would we infiltrate? They would be able to figure out that we aren’t like the rest almost immediately.” Dawson stated bluntly, Noah also nodded, hating that he was agreeing with the Alsatian, but he had a point. Aidan didn’t seem offended at the question but smirked as if amused.

“Simple! I planned ahead!” He said, taking out several Inquisition uniforms. “I took these from a few of the soldiers we captured. One of them was your guy’s age, believe it or not.” He said, giving a sad sigh. “It always pains me seeing kids get involved in stuff like this. Not really their fault since they were probably raised into it, it still sucks.” After shaking his head he refocused on the task at hand. “We are one short of our group though.”

“Okay, you got a uniform from a kid our age, so what now? What’s the build? If one of us are too different, that means we will still stick out.” Dawson pointed out, another point Noah agreed on.

‘Okay, I think that is going to take some getting used to. If someone had said I would actually be agreeing to something I would think they would be high on some mind-altering drug…` He glanced over towards Dawson taking him all in. It was really odd, it was as if he was a completely different person. Noah couldn’t really wrap his head around it. The Dawson in front of him was a lot different from the one he had grown up with. He actually seemed pretty cool, why he felt he had to hide his supposed true self he didn’t fully understand. Then again he didn’t grow up in an abusive home, so he doubted he could fully grasp his reasons. Everyone knew his dad was a worthless drunk but knowing and actually living it were completely different things.

“Hey Littlesea, can you please stop staring at me? It’s creeping me out.” Dawson’s sudden words caused him to snap out of his daze and notice the Alsatian was giving him an odd look which made Noah blush and look away.

‘Geez what's going on? I’ve hated him for as long as I can remember. Why is it so hard to hate him now?’

Everyone stayed silent for several minutes before Aidan got everyone back to task. “Okay, back to what we were talking about! The guy was built similar to you Dawson. So I guess you could be our spy.” He said before they heard the door open and a young voice sounded out.

“In-intruders!” The voice rang out, and they turned to see a tall, skinny masked figure. He looked like he was about to run and inform everyone but before anyone could even react Elena came out of nowhere and knocked him out with a quick display of martial arts. There was a good amount of silence, everyone looking at her in stunned silence, even Flint who had known her before was surprised. She noticed this and almost seemed offended by the seeming surprise.

“What? My grandfather was a Tribal Chief back in Oxis, he taught me some Oxian martial arts since I was a little girl. Why is that so surprising? Most children back in Oxis have some fight training, even those who live on the Civilized Islands.” She said with a huff.

‘Okay, note to self, don’t piss her off… like ever.’ Noah thought to himself. Once the shock had worn off they got to stripping the person. He was a male wolf like Noah with gray fur and brown hair, he was even around Noah’s build. After they took away his uniform he was left in his boxers and was tied up.

“He’s our age…” James noted with a bit of surprise. “I know the Lt said they did have agents our age but actually seeing one that young is surprising… it puts in perspective how insane they are… they got children working for them, raised in it.”

“Yeah, they are a deranged cult, when they take over an area they typically kill all the adults and then indoctrinate the kids left over. It’s pretty sick really. The kids either convert or they are killed just like their parents. It happens all over the Southern parts beyond the Graesham Wall… honestly if it wasn’t for MODD I doubt the Weleshnan government would be able to fight them off.” Aidan said with a sigh. “When we get kids like this we generally send them to a cult deprogramming place. They generally don’t have kids pull their worst crimes. Sometimes we have success but other times the kids are too far gone and are locked up in a secure faculty which deals with mentally damaged youths. It’s sad, but we do what we can.”

“Wow, that’s fucked up…” Flint stated in horror. “Cresentia has never had to deal with them. I’ve heard stories and seen them on the news, but I can’t really grasp the horrors of what they have done. Why hasn’t MODD obliterated them completely?” Aidan just shrugged and sighed.

“Commander Clearwater has asked this numerous times, she has been very hard line on MODD directly taking out the Inquisition, but the higher ups are reluctant to do a direct result. We don’t know how big they are exactly and while they would be no match for MODD in a direct military fight they would definitely ensure a lot of people would go down with them. The higher ups are afraid that if they are directly engaging them with the full force of MODD they would retaliate with mass terrorist attacks. While they are most active in Weleshana they likely have agents in other countries. That could have been how they got into Rillotia. They could have had agents in the border control bureau… there will be an investigation into that no doubt, but the fear is they could activate any sleeper agents they have and cause global chaos.”

Okay, that’s actually terrifying. Noah thought to himself. ‘I always thought they were just something exclusive to Weleshna but the thought of them not only being global but could have members anywhere, and you’d never know about it is frankly nightmare fuel.’ He shook his head and looked at the young wolf. ‘I wonder which one he was? Was he one who had his family killed right in front of him or was he born into it? Either way I honestly feel bad for the guy. Hopefully that deprogramming thing will work on him. It would suck if he was stuck in one of those asylums.’ Noah thought to himself as he looked over the uniform. It looked like it would fit him easily. “Okay, I think I’ll take this one, we are around the same height and build plus we are both wolves, so it should work.” He said, catching the others by surprise.

“You sure kid?” Aidan asked, looking not really that surprised at all. Noah just nodded as he turned his attention to the others. Flint looked a bit conflicted, not seeming to really be a fan of the idea, but he also looked like he couldn’t come up with an argument, so he stayed silent. Elena was harder to read, keeping her face blank, but she ultimately nodded in agreement. And Dawson didn’t say anything, just shrugging lightly.

“I’ll take the other one then. Just leave this to us!” Dawson said with a crooked smile and Noah quietly thought to himself how attractive the Alsatian was when he did that. Noah swiftly shook his head violently to get that thought out of his head, he really didn’t need to deal with that right now. Or ever at all, honestly. He was not going to let himself become attracted to his bully. How messed up was he for that?

‘Then again I *did* fuck my own brother… and a super hot buff older version of me let himself be fucked by our much smaller dad… guess I am kind of fucked up after all?’ His reverie was however broken once again by Dawson speaking up.

“Littlesea? Hey Littlesea! Snap out of it!” Dawson said as he shook him a bit. Noah let out a yelp of surprise and blushed as he was snapped back into reality. Dawson just gave him an exasperated look of irritation which made Noah blush even more. “Seriously, what did I tell you about spacing out Littlesea? You are going to get yourself killed if you do that in the middle of a fight. We are literally about to infiltrate a bunch of murderous loonies who wouldn’t hesitate to kill any of us.” He said firmly.

“You are right… sorry… just got lost in thought.” He said gently, focusing on Dawson. He legitimately looked worried, something Noah couldn’t fully understand. The Dawson he grew up with and the one he had in front of him were like two completely different people. ‘God, why am I letting this get to me? Everyone has some depth to them, so why am I surprised that Dawson does? And why does my stomach feel funny when he looks at me like that?’ Before he could continue that thought he shook his head and refocused on the task at hand, he would deal with these clusterfuck feelings when their hometown wasn’t being invaded by a bunch of lunatic cultists.

“Okay, you two will go ahead first and the rest of us will focus on taking out the snipers on the roof so the rest of the MODD forces can storm in and take out and arrest the leaders. Hopefully we can do this without too many casualties, these assholes are worth more alive than dead. We can get them to tell us what they know on their high-ups plans and find a way to counter them.” Aidan said calmly. “You two will focus on reconnaissance, no combat unless it’s absolutely necessary to, do I make myself clear?” He says as he hands them both a radio. “Just stay quiet and listen in, got it? Don’t play the hero. Once we take out the snipers and the MODD group storms in head back here and change out alright? These will let us keep in contact and act as recorders as well.” Both Noah and Dawson both nodded and once everyone was sure their disguises were up to snuff they exited the boiler room.

It was placed in the basement of the building, so it was empty and Noah and Dawson led them upstairs and thankfully the hallway was empty. After a quick thumbs up the groups split and Thomas and Noah began walking around trying to not draw attention to themselves. Eventually they found a group of them in what was their science classroom chatting amongst each other and some of the things they were saying made Noah’s blood boil a bit. But he kept his cool and started recording and Dawson did as well, each getting what they could get. Nobody seemed to bother noticing them as they looked just like them. They stayed like this for several moments and Noah was getting anxious wondering what was taking the others so long. He was sorely tempted to go search for them before two women in what almost looked like nun robes came up and grabbed his arm, taking him by surprise.

“He-hey!” He cried out as he tried to jerk his arm away, but the lady kept firm.

“You are coming with me Moses, Abraham wants a word with your worthless ass.” She said as he kept dragging him away, and he felt he had no choice but to follow, not wanting to blow their cover yet. He saw Dawson panic a bit, but Noah just gave him a gesture telling him to wait for a bit until he did anything. As they headed toward the commandeered principals office the nun kept calling him useless and how he should have just been shot and killed considering how worthless he was. Noah was honestly kind of feeling sorry for this ‘Moses’ guy as it seemed they treated him like absolute shit. He really hoped they could get him out of this; he truly deserved better. Eventually they reached the office and a fat old pig was sitting at the desk with several others sitting around him, his advisors Noah guessed. He seemed to be yelling at them, it seemed he didn’t expect MODD to react as fast as they did.

“I thought you said they wouldn’t mobilize as fast as they did!” The man yelled with fury in his voice. “We were on the verge of getting the Vessel but those damn MODD soldiers appeared out of nowhere, and they even brought along a goddamn Elemental Lord!” He continued to shout to a cowering man in front of the desk. He was a porcupine, a particularly portly one, he looked terrified at the other man's rage and Noah could practically smell his fear.

“I’m sorry master… My source assured me that it would take longer for MODD to respond, they would have had no idea an Elemental Lord outside Gale Winthrop would intervene let alone the Elemental Lord of Space.” He said, but the pig just let out a nasty snort before he took a gun out and blasted the man’s head into a bunch of bloody chunks causing the man’s body to fall over and splat against the ground. Noah barely held back the desire to vomit at the site before him, the man just murdered one of his own people out of spite, this man was an obvious psycho. Nobody seemed to react to it, as if this was perfectly normal to them which both bothered and scared him a bit. He knew they were insane but not even reacting to one of their own being murdered was still shocking.

“It doesn't matter! You gave me false information.” The man grumbles before focusing on Noah which made the young wolf shiver a bit. “There you are Moses you worthless piece of shit!” He snarled out in pure hatred which made Noah feel even more pity towards the Moses boy. He was really treated horribly. “I don’t know why we brought you along!” He said getting up and walking towards the boy with a cold ruthless look in his eyes. Noah greatly resisted the urge to use his sigil but stood straight as he could. Once he got close the man slugged him knocking him on the ground causing Noah to let out a pained yelp. “I always knew you were ruthless. Should have had you executed before you even hit puberty.” He said before beginning to kick Noah causing him to wince and let out another yelp of pain. The man aimed another kick, but before he could reach the boy Noah’s sigil activated and his time powers slowed the kick to a point where Noah could get away from the man.

“Wait… you aren’t Moses are you boy?” The man said with a vicious smirk as he lifted the boy up and removed his mask. “Oh, perfect, you are just the person we are looking for.” He said with a dark chuckle. “You saved us a lot of trouble, boy!” Noah struggled against the man, but he was just too strong for the skinny teenager. He lifted him up by the neck to the point Noah’s feet weren’t even touching the ground and his arms were busy trying to free his neck as his legs kicked in futility at the man they were absorbed by the man's sheer fat.

“Wh-what do you mean?” Noah huffed out feeling his head go fuzzy as he couldn’t get enough oxygen into his lungs. “Why… what do you want me for?” The man just let out a dark chuckle as he tightened his grip even more.

“You don’t know what you have, do you? Why MODD took you in the first place?” He said with an almost dark sense of glee. “You are the vessel! The chosen wielder of Realm-Breaker! A weapon so powerful even the Elemental Lords themselves feared it! A weapon that could shape reality itself and bend it to its will or even destroy reality itself. All that in power in your body!” He said his eyes growing increasingly fanatical. “We want that power! You will help us take down MODD and make the world in our glorious image!” He said, starting to laugh maniacally.

“Why would I help you?” Noah shouted out trying his best to fight against the man and trying to escape from his grasp, even trying to use his powers, but he couldn't focus with him struggling to breathe but everything he did failed to affect the man which made him laugh even harder.

“You don’t really have a choice boy!” He said with a smirk as he took out a vicious green substance in a syringe. “With this little shot everything you are will be erased. Our informant had a coworker that was working on a chemical that would erase any traumatic memories from a person. Unfortunately the man vanished and erased all his work, so our informant had to make a crude version of it with what he could remember. Either this works and you become our little puppet or it will just kill you which is unfortunate but a risk I’m willing to take.” He said and right as he was about to inject the struggling wolf, loud bangs erupted around the building as MODD forces entered the school and were swiftly overtaking the Inquisition forces. The shock from the noise caused the man to drop the syringe which shattered onto the ground and with a furious roar he threw Noah into a wall making the boy let out a pained yelp.

Chaos was erupting in the room as all the people inside were running around like chickens with their heads cut off and the man roared and aimed his gun at Noah. “If we are going down then I’m going to take you down with me boy!” He growled out, but before he could pull the trigger a shot rang out and suddenly the pigs brains were splattered everywhere and as he collapsed he saw a shaking young Alsatian holding a gun with this crazed look in his eyes, hands shaking.

“Dawson?” he said, a bit surprised, the boy looked like he was in shock, but after shaking out of his own shock he got up and ran towards the Alsatian and grabbed his arm and ran out of the room before the other Inquisition members could snap out of their own shock and do anything in retaliation.

“I-I killed someone… I just blew a guy's head off…” Dawson mumbled mostly to himself, still in shock from what he did. As he did so Noah heard shouting from behind him and with a sigh he activated his sigil and thrust himself and Dawson into the shadows.

“Stress later! We gotta get out of here before we get caught in the crossfire!” He heard Dawson let out a tiny scream when their bodies were absorbed into the shadows, and it continued when they found themselves in the boiler room.

“Wha-what the hell was that? You just shoved us into some shadows, and it felt like they were eating us then suddenly we are in the boiler room!” Dawson asked, looking around in an almost crazed fashion.

“It’s my sigil.” Noah said as he showed it to the other boy who just stared not sure what he was seeing.

“Your tattoo is glowing? You didn’t use any radioactive ink did you?” Dawson asked as he poked at the sigil which caused Noah to roll his eyes and poke him back with a bit more force.

“No idiot! It’s not a tattoo… Well… not really… I didn’t get it like you normally would and no it had nothing to do with radioactive ink does that even exist?” Noah stated head tilting a bit before shaking his head. “That doesn’t matter, it’s like a seal in a sense… but not really. I can control Dark and Time and I can use this awesome wolf guy called Thanatos… he calls himself an Animus.” Dawson was looking at him like he had grown a second head and Noah let out an annoyed huff. “You think I’m lying, aren’t you? I’ll show you when we get out of here got it?” Dawson just nodded. “But right now let’s wait for the others.” He says as he changed out of his Inquisition gear and back into his own clothes and Dawson did the same.

“So what was that guy saying? Something called Realm breaker? What is it?” he asked curiously and Noah sighed and shook his head. He had no idea what it really was, the explanation he was given by that psycho didn’t really make sense.

“I don’t really know. I’ll ask Aidan when he gets back. He works for MODD, so I think he would know better than anyone I think.” Dawson just nodded. “But it’s scary, I can’t believe they attacked Crosstown of all places. It's just so weird.”

“I know… but it’s over now right? MODD secured the last of them hopefully, and they will probably be taken to Pollenburn to face judgment… but Littlesea can I ask you something?” Noah just gave him an odd look, confused on what the Alsatian would ever want to ask him. It was still a bit weird, being on friendly terms with the dog but after everything he had been through it was not the strangest thing he’d been through.

“What do you want?” Noah asked, not being able to hide the suspicion in his voice. Dawson looked a bit nervous as he stared at the ground for several moments before taking a deep breath and spoke up his voice a bit shaky,

“Take me with you to Graesham, I want to leave here… I was going to join MODD, but I can’t wait any longer, I need to get out… I can’t stay here anymore… I won’t ever be able to unsee Samy and all the destruction.” He shudders. “Plus I killed someone in this very building… I know it’s stupid for me to ask, but please take me with you.” Noah just stared at him like he had grown a second head.

He can't be serious? Sure we seem to be getting along a lot better than we did before but seriously? He wants to go to Graesham with me? He stayed silent for several moments still trying to process everything. “You want to go with me? Seriously? We’ve fought and were at each other's throats for years, and suddenly you want to be my friend? I just don’t get it.”

“I know, but I’ve always liked you actually… remember when we argued at the bridge? You know during the summer?” Noah tilted his head and thought back a bit trying to remember, and then the memory flashed as he snapped his fingers.

“Oh yeah! I was heading home after going to the movies with Em, you were even bitchier than usual.” He said with a shrug causing Dawson to let out a huff. “What about it though? It was hardly the first fight we’ve had.” Dawson looked down on the ground for several moments before taking a deep breath and spoke his voice low.

“You saved my life… before you showed I was honestly about to throw myself off the bridge…” Noah stared at him, surprised by his sheer honesty.

“You were going to kill yourself?” Noah asked, he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. If anyone who he had guessed having suicidal thoughts Dawson would have been the last, he seemed so in love with himself that it never crossed his mind. ‘Wow, I really did judge him a bit unfairly, huh? Sure he was an ass, but I guess I wasn’t much better. I never really thought about what issues he would have like with his dad.`

“Yeah, Dad had just been arrested again and mother almost overdosed… I was feeling hopeless and miserable and alone.” He said, looking down, looking almost pitiful. “I just didn’t know what to do. People only cared about me when I was scoring goals on the field. When I wasn’t people didn’t give a shit about me, I was just the son of the town drunk and the town bicycle. I was never going to amount to anything according to them.” He says, sounding as miserable as he looked. “So I just got tired, and I just wanted to end it all. Dad wouldn’t miss me nor anyone else in this godforsaken town and I doubt my mother would even realize I was gone. I was right about to jump, but you suddenly showed up and for whatever reason seeing you just pissed me off… and the argument made me feel alive… for whatever reason it gave the desire to keep going it’s what made me want to join MODD, so I would show everyone I was better than what they thought I was. Who knows, maybe I would even impress you.”

Noah just looked at him but didn’t say anything, what could he say exactly? He was no expert in psychology, and they still could barely be considered friends since for the longest time they hated each other’s guts. So the fact that Dawson was basically spilling his guts to him was something he couldn’t fully process right yet. His entire world really did change since the events of Eldra in ways he still wasn’t really sure he was comfortable with. He wasn’t the same kid he was before they made that trip, and he didn’t know that was a good thing.

“Can’t say anything, huh? Must be crazy that the person who made your life a living hell just spilling their guts out after they just blew someone's brains out.” He gave a dark chuckle. “I killed someone… I’m not really sure what I should feel… I mean he had it coming, and he would have shot you. But he was still another person, I feel like no matter how many times I wash my hands I’ll never get the gunpowder and blood of my hands.” Dawson says as he stares at his hands. “But at the same time I don’t regret it… I guess that’s how a soldier feels, huh? They’ve killed to protect something and I killed someone to protect you.”

“I mean I’m glad you shot him before he shot me…” Noah said a bit awkwardly. “But I agree it is scary, huh? I don’t think either of us are the same as we were before all this, I’m not sure if that’s a good or bad thing right now, but maybe we’ll get that answer to that one day?” He stares at the ceiling after that. “But as weird as it sounds I’m glad we got this moment, honestly I never really thought about all the problems you had in life. So I’m sorry about that.” Dawson just chuckles, opening his mouth to speak before the communicator sparked to life.

“Coast is clear! Come join us at the office.” Aidan’s voice rang out before the communicator went silent again, the two just looked at each other before giving each other a mutual shrug as they got up and headed towards the office again. MODD officers and police were everywhere and Noah noticed a few bodies of cultists who had resisted and got blasted full of holes from the laser weapons. That made Noah wince, it was obvious quite a few of the Inquisition members weren’t willing to be taken alive. As they continued up they saw even more officers and a few more Inquisition members, this time alive and bound by binding glyphs on their arms and legs, so they couldn’t move or get away. As they passed by Noah heard whispers from the MODD officers a few he could make out.

“You think he’s the one? He looks about the right age right?’

“So he’s been here the whole time? Who knew...”

“So this kid is the one who merged with Realm breaker? He’s so skinny!

All the voices and whispering made the tip of his ears burn, he really could not wait to get to the office and rejoin the others. ‘These guys know I can hear them right? Or do they think I’m deaf?’ He thought a bit irritated but kept his cool, even Dawson looked a bit uncomfortable. Eventually however they finally found their way into the office and Noah was almost immediately swept up in a hug by Rex who held him tight enough it was getting hard to breathe.

“Thank god you are safe!” Rex cried out in relief. “I was worried sick the entire time!” He continued which made Noah blush, feeling a bit embarrassed this was happening in front of so many people.

“Rex! Not in front of everyone! You are embarrassing me!” Noah whined trying to get away from his brother, but Rex was stronger, so his attempts were futile. His ears burned even more as he heard people chuckle around him. ‘This is so embarrassing! Dammit Rex!’ He thought mentally cursing his brother at the moment. Eventually the older wolf finally let him go and Noah just brushed himself off blushing. He looked towards Aidan.

“So what now?” He asked the wolf.

“Right now? We'll likely take Commander Reaper’s airship to Greasham. We’ve done all we can do here.” He nods towards the chief who thanked them both for everything.

“That sounds good!” Noah said before sighing. “Can we do something right fast though?” Noah asks which received a nod and a smile.

“Sure man. What do you need to do?” Aidan asks curious as he patted Noah on the shoulder which made Noah blush and his heart skip a beat. Dawson seemed to notice this seeing the tiny frown on his face.

“I want to spread my dad's ashes here before we leave, this was his home as much as it was mine…so he deserves that.” Aidan just smiled and patted his head.

“Very well, where do you want to take them to spread?” Noah thought for a moment, where would his dad want them to go, he always seemed to love everything about the town, but an idea took hold of his head, where else should he do so than their own home? Where they had their lives together.

“My home, I feel it should be nowhere else. It’s where we spent our lives together, what better place for him to rest for eternity than the place where we had our happiest memories.”

“That sounds good! Show us the way alright?” Noah nodded and did so leaving them away from the school. As they went through town Noah saw the damage first-hand. Plenty of buildings were burning as the firefighters did their best to contain the fires. Seeing this made his heart hurt as he saw all this. His town where he grew up was wrecked beyond belief. Thankfully MODD was there to foot the bill, but he was a bit worried their changes would make things look different. Crosstown always had a nice almost old-timey feel to it, far different from the ultra modern cities he had visited on school trips.

“This place must have been beautiful before the Inquisition attacked…” Flint started looking around. “I grew up in Anelton with my family, so I’m more used to the city. It must have been nice growing up in such a nice quiet town.” The tiger said, smiling brightly before it dimmed a bit with a sigh as he went to his necklace where his rings were. “I miss him, it still doesn’t feel real.” He sighed and shook his head. “But I’m okay, he would be unhappy if I just moped the rest of my life.” He said his face sunny again. Noah just nodded, he could understand how he felt in a way losing his father but at the same time he couldn’t imagine losing a long time lover like Flint did, his heart truly did go out to the tiger.

Eventually they managed to reach his house. Amazingly the place was largely undamaged which he was thankful for. He was glad it managed to survive the damage. He noticed piles of flowers resting on the porch, and he could feel tears fall down his face as his heart warmed, they really did seem to care. Embarrassed that he was crying in front of everyone he wiped them away as fast as he could. Elena noticed this and let out a chuckle as she patted his head.

“It’s okay to cry silly, you feel gratitude. It must mean a lot to see that your neighbors cared so much about you and your father.” Noah nodded, still wiping his tears.

“It does mean a lot really, I grew up here and leaving is pretty hard really… I’ll miss everything here. But without dad it just won’t feel like home.” Noah says, shaking his head as he enters the house. Resolved to finish his new path. ‘I’m scared, but now it’s time to move on, I love you dad`