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Chapter 7: Wherein we reverse time and see the Oberhaupt and Vater's youthful days. Wherein we see the Drachen's dark work. Wherein we come to the present as Sena tells a story.

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A monster. It looked wrong. In all ways. In the way it looked. In the way it moved. It looked like it should not have existed at all. But against all reason, it did. An infernal creature that slogged through the darkness, that opened its mouth wide, almost the top half of its head falling backward, rows and rows and rows of teeth shining. And on its stomach, the raw and open maw of its distended belly that flopped on the ground was bloody spilling guts, as hands reached out, and Shin reached in with his arm, his foot on the monster's shoulder.

Hold.

The picture is frozen, the monster frozen, its horrendous mouth open, the hands pushing out of the belly quite still.

Before the creature that was once a man called Onihei met its demise at the hands of Shin Seijuro, let us reverse the reel, moving pictures running backward.

See Sena go back inside the monster's stomach. See all the skin, blood, and tendons sucked back into a shape of the distended belly, whole once again. See Shin swing his mace back. See him walk back into the dark. See the Dӓmon creep backward, from surrounding the monster in a semi-circle, to going back in a single line.

Let's reverse faster. See the monster pull back out food from its mouth. See the monster magically form together torn hands and arms and bodies. See the monster pull Sena from its maw at the tracks. See the monster skulk backward. See the monster vomit out all its food, all people. See monster pull up heads from the ground, forming whole once more. See monster jump backward. See monster pull out body parts from its mouth. Faster and faster, going back three years. See monster become more human. See monster's monstrous belly shrink as it grovels backward. See the monster shrink into a man. See the man sit down in the dark. See the man lie back down in the dark. See the poisonous green liquid flow backward. Above, in the ceiling of the cavernous caves, see a cloud, like a mushroom sucked back and bloom into a flash, and see the flash, the explosion, contract into a bright, bright column of light, while lace-like portrusions held little cocoons of yellow, and below, claws of little wheels where the masks and tubes are empty.

Hold. The picture is frozen. Pay attention as we reverse the reel. This is it:

See the people with scarves covering their faces, running backward, some carrying women, some carrying children, some hurrying back, supporting people who look weak, emaciated, disoriented, and pale. See the people with scarves put the emaciated men, children and women back, into the wheel contraptions. See the wheels spin again. See the masked men and women climb up the lace-like supports of the cocoons. See the masked men and women put the naked bodies back into the cocoons. See the cocoons close. See all the people in the little wheels connected to the bright, bright column of light, running backward, making the column dimmer, then bright, then dim, once again.

Among one of these scarf-masked men and women, see the sharp eyes of a man, who had not yet dyed his hair blonde, who had pointy teeth, and more pistols than anyone else. Among one of these scarf-masked men and women, see the angry eyes of a woman who looks normally kind and motherly. There were many of these men and women, gathered from different cells of the underground movement. And the two of them did not yet meet at this particular incursion. But here they were, freeing those who are in the cocoons and the wheels of the machine.

Hold. The picture is frozen. Do you see? Do you see the man they now call the Oberhaupt of Dӓmon? And the woman they now call Vater Mamori?

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The people (those that they freed and secreted away in the Freedom Trains) called them revolutionaries. But the Vatikan called them demons, who sow terror. The Vatikan called them extremists. Very softly, though, to each other, and to the robber barons. After all, the public knew nothing about the bright columns of light, and the people that hung from it or ran for it.

But they did not originally think of themselves as revolutionaries. Nobody does at the beginning.

The Oberhaupt was, prior to becoming the Oberhaupt of the Dӓmon, simply a very smart young man. But what a smart young man, he was. He could calculate odds at lightning speeds. He beggared the gambling houses doing so.

Smart young men like him could see through the Vatikan like stained church window glass. Abbadonians were mired in their own self-conceit, not seeing that slave labor made them rich. The Vatikan had waged wars in the name of holiness, to win back land for its chosen people, but of course, nobody would mind, if along the way, they happened to use the land for farming, and sold all the crops taking all the profit, while all the natives whom they tricked with their holy words worked the land for a pittance. The Vatikan had waged wars in the name of holiness, even against their own people, picking up heretics and the like and disappearing them to gods-knew-where; and being poor and outspoken made you a heretic, apparently, so that was quite many. And Abbadon prospered. Its citizens felt themselves bloat with how great their city was, how much it was the heart of an empire.

Smart young men like Yoichi Hiruma saw through this. But unlike some of the firebrands in the universities, Yoichi Hiruma was quite, quite materialist. He saw the mountain, saw how deep the problem was, and determined that he would not bet on an outcome with 0% chance of winning. And so, he avoided the firebrands on their soapboxes, preaching liberation, and made a personal fortune with his uncanny, uncanny intelligence.

Until a man with dreadlocks, named Agon Kongo, invited him into a profitable enterprise by the Vatikan that merely needed one thing: for him to decode and unlock a tile grid to find a humongous device the size of a Spiral City hightower, a contraption that could produce enough energy for a city, a column of light, a treasure beyond measure for a city desperate for energy. What Yoichi Hiruma did not count on, when he finally saw the device, was that the device relied on something quite dispensable to the Vatikan. And the best part for the Vatikan? Well, human beings are quite renewable, after all.

When Yoichi Hiruma finally saw how the device worked, there was no longer any question of not becoming involved. He joined the revolution.

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The Vater, prior to becoming a respected Vater in the Vatikan, simply was a young woman who wanted to do good, not be a revolutionary. She wanted to protect the weak and the poor and those without power.

Until she realized that the poor and those without power are powerful in their own right, as they organized labor unions, and neighborhood associations, to care and protect the people. She realized, she did not have to protect the poor; they would fight alongside her, for her liberation was bound up in their own.

She did not think of herself as a revolutionary.

Until the secret police began to follow her friends. Labor union leaders, the spokeswomen and men, the ones who held positions, they and their families would suddenly disappear, become Nacht und Nebel, the disappeared. And then, she found out, she saw, where they were disappearing to, underneath, deep below. She realized that the Vatikan would never give up their power without a fight, for the Vatikan to give up its power so that her friends and the people could live humanely is against the Vatikan's class interest. And so, she joined the revolution.

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Ikkyu, a member of the Drachen unit, hummed the song underneath his breath:

Hear the Drachen softly roar.

Hear the moaning in the door.

Why, my child, it is the Drachen tall.

Here to take you all.

Here to take you all.

Unsui looked at him stonily. Ikkyu stopped, raised his eyebrows, and shrugged, as if to defend the song. "It is a highly inappropriate song, Ikkyu." Unsui finally said.

Ikkyu laughed, "We do highly inappropriate work, no?" He looked back at the cart containing a coffin. The coffin was made of iron and steel glass, and inside a young woman was imprisoned, made Nacht und Nebel. Disappeared.

Unsui shook his head. "She is a danger to the city, with that uncontrollable telekinesis. At least this way, she is giving her life to a worthy cause."

Ikkyu shrugged. "Well, it's no skin off my shoulder. But it seems a shame to keep collecting them. After all, there hasn't been another one found, yet. Since the destruction of the last."

Behind them, a grating laugh sounded. They stopped and looked behind at Agon who was lying on the cart, to the side of the coffin. "That Dӓmon loser has probably found a Quelle. He's just hiding it from us." He said silkily, the violence glinting in his eyes.

Unsui ignored the waves of killing aura that Agon was exuding, and said, "even if the Oberhaupt of the Dӓmon hides the machine, Bombe Entschärfung Turnier will eventually turn up what this city needs."

Agon grinned in the darkness, "let's hope not. That won't be nearly as much fun."

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The White Knights and the Dӓmonen found shelter in a small, maze-like cave complex with only one opening, high up on a cliff.

They slid open one of the lanterns to the softest volume of white light they could provide back in the deepest part of the cave, almost just a lighter version of shadow. While one pair stood guard at the mouth of the cave, the twenty members of the Schergen des Gottes ranged around Sena, protectively ensconced in Shin's lap.

He had refused to let Sena go. And while one or two looked uncomfortable (or miffed, as Jumonji seemed), it seemed as if it were just an everyday matter for one of the Um der Ritter to cuddle a minesweeper. Then again, Sena had also just been pulled out of a stomach. Perhaps conventions were not so strict in these conditions.

Sena took a deep breath, grateful only for this. While he did not remember so much the time in the monster's stomach, there was still an uneasiness creeping. Of the dark, and of the small space. The cave was just high enough that Shin could stand up, but not much more than that. Ideal, maybe, for safety, but not for his peace of mind. So, he clung openly to Shin as he looked at the waiting and anxious faces around the dim light.

Yukimitsu spoke, breaking the silence. "What did you mean, Sena? Back there, in the…" he faltered, then spoke up again, "you said that you needed to tell us the truth. What did you mean?"

"It has something to do with this tournament, right?" Sakuraba jumped in, from the back, sitting on his haunches

Sena looked up at all of them. "Yes, that and other things. Things about the city, about the Quelle and the energy crisis, and the disappearances, and our mission—" Sena felt Shin's hand and realized he had started speaking faster and faster. He stopped, took a deep breath. Then, he smiled ruefully. "Right now, I may not have the right to ask you to listen to this story. But I ask you to listen. And the first thing that I want to say to you all, is thank you. Thank you for saving me. And, also, sorry. Because I've lied to you all…I…I am a psychic."

There was not so much a stillness, as a soft hush that fell on the group. But there were faces among the group that were nodding, as if confirming a suspicion already formed.

"Well," Ikari said, "We're in this shit storm already, fuck me if I care that you're a psyhic. I'm guessing that's not the main course?"

Sena looked taken aback for a moment, then thought about how he had just been pulled from a stomach not long ago, along with guts, and blood, from an infernal creature, and decided he understood where Ikari was coming from. He shook his head, "Well, this makes it easier, I guess. You're right, Ikari, that's not the main truth that I must share. The other one is about what I saw things while I was in the monster's stomach. Because just as I've lied to you all, the Vatikan has been lying to us."

Takami frowned, "What do you mean, Sena?"

Shin spoke up, "he means that the Quelle was already found."

A stunned silence descended on the group.

"—what do you mean—"

"—that doesn't make sense—"

"—why would we be formed, then, if not—"

"QUIET!" Komusubi whispered furiously. Everyone fell silent once more. Komusibi humphed at Shin to continue.

Shin calmly repeated, "the Quelle has already been found. A long time ago."

Sena shook himself, not even daring to ask yet how Shin could know what he was about to say now. "The Nacht und Nebel. Political dissidents. Supposed extremists. Agitators. And pyschics. All painted as sowed by the devil. But they were being taken away because…" Sena fell silent. Swallowed. "Because the Quelle itself needed them. The Quelle wasn't a source of energy; it was a machine. It was a machine to make energy."

Among the puzzled faces, there was a dawning horror, a faint understanding of what this would mean.

"The psychics," Sena continued, "were put into…these things that resembled a womb or a cocoon. And they were made to make nightmares and dreams to make people run in the machines, because their motion, their motion created energy. But they were all dreaming, all trapped. All of them. Until they died in the machine, and were replaced with new Nacht und Nebel."

"That's…that's ridiculous." Kuroki said. "That's plainly ridiculous."

Jumonji shushed Kuroki, and others began talking over each other. Arguing, the uneasiness seeping out now in their voices, and angry, flashing eyes. Musashi had compressed his mouth in a tight line. Kurita achieved looking worried and defiant, about ready to yell, when somehow, Monta's voice, not particularly loud, silenced them all again. "My mother was…Nacht und Nebel. She was disappeared when I was 10. I guess she must have died in the Quelle, then?"

It was almost conversational, the way he said it. But something in his voice killed retorts. And the air seemed darker, and heavier somehow.

Sena nodded, feeling his heart heavy. "But that isn't the end. That isn't the end. We, we're also a big part of it. See, there wasn't just one Quelle. There were more in the Abyss. That's why they still formed and kept the minesweepers. That's why the tournament happened." Sena licked his lips, "In the monster, I saw the memories of the psychic who was put into the cocoon. The last Quelle that had been found and unlocked, the last one that the Vatikan had been using to produce energy, it had been destroyed. Destroyed by an underground movement. And now, the Vatikan is becoming desperate."

"Next, you're going to tell us we'll need to still find this other Quelle," muttered Togano.

"No, I wouldn't say that." Sena said, waiting a heartbeat, his face shadowed in the pale, weak light of their lantern. "We need to find all the other Quelles."

The Um der Ritter and the Dӓmon were all united in their shock.

"Are you fucking nuts?" Ikari harshly whispered. "One has already killed how many, and you think we can find all of them? When we don't even know how many they are? And that's not even counting the crazy fucking monsters that apparently are making the Abyss their home. That's just fucking brilliant."

Sena looked up at Shin, who had been silent since his pronouncement. Shin shook his head and said, quite firmly, "We need to find all the other Quelles."

The cursing was colorful, and could have peeled the plaster.

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The End of Chapter 7

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MINESWEEPING GLOSSARY:

Automaton: Man-made machines that can perform complicated calculations, even human tasks. There are many, many types of Automatons, and new ones even mimic human form and motion. The Puzzle-locks are said to be regulated by Automatons.

Bombe Entschärfung Turnier: The Minesweeping Tournament. A mysterious move by the Vatikan.

Dӓmon: The secret name of the current minesweepers, or the Schergen des Gottes.

Decoder: The ones who solve the puzzle-locks.

Drachen: A military unit formed by the Vatikan. They have been ordered to join Bombe Entschärfung Turnier. Purpose yet to be revealed.

Ingenieur: Scholarly historians who have studied records of the Old City and extrapolate the presence of the Doors. They are also puzzle-lock solvers, or Decoders. Example is Yukimitsu.

Oberhaupt: Captain (Hiruma)

Um der Ritter: The White Knights, the police of Abaddon

Quelle: A mythical energy source that lies in the dark belly of the Old City, guarded by puzzle-locks that are rigged to explode if not solved properly.

Schergen des Gottes: The Hand of God, the minesweepers, originally had the nickname of Dämon. A unit of the Um der Ritter was added to them, under Hiruma's direction. Now, may have more arms from other parts of the Vatikan military that will be directly under the Vatikan, pending the Minesweeping Tournament.

Schild: The ones who protect the decoders and who act as walls or shields from explosions.

Sucher: Seeker of the Doors. Often plucked from the streets, as it is often the street children who have also explored the Old City. Finds the Doors through intuition, from previous experience. Also puzzle-lock solver or Decoder. Example is Monta.

Vater: Priest/ess (Mamori)

Vatikan: The state and the church of Abaddon

Nacht und Nebel: Night and Fog in German. Meaning forcibly disappeared. Commonly attributed to political dissidents.