He reluctantly cut his rest short to quell his officer's supposed worries, and when he finally regrouped, he was met with a solemn atmosphere. Rita appeared to have only just awakened.
Apart from her missing limb, she was essentially stable. That could only be thanks to Clarisse.
He wasn't sure how to initiate a greeting with any of them again, much less with the girl herself.
For some reason, they grew increasingly wary the closer he approached her.
Perhaps they feared he would come from a place of aggression, so the only remedy he could think of was to begin as thoughtfully and gently as possible.
"Hey…"
That should have been easy enough.
"...Do you want to die?"
!!!
Yon and Red were visibly startled.
Shockingly, Blue turned away and said nothing.
Oliver had been left with the repairs of the team's damaged A.D.As upon his arrival and hadn't looked up once since then.
Clarisse remained silent as well, only observing without any clear intent to intervene.
The obvious outlier, however, was the one now standing in Cosmo's way.
Quite frankly, standing was an overstatement.
He could barely remain upright without trembling like a fawn, but Tyson disregarded his fatigue without hesitation.
"Wait," he said, "Can't you at least hear her out?"
Cosmo tilted his head at the words, but Tyson continued. "If that's your decision after all this, then what the hell were we fighting for?"
Cosmo's eye twitched slightly before he exhaled a heavy sigh."Watch out," he warned calmly.
In response, Tyson spread his arms and made himself a barricade.
"I can't. Not until you explain your intentions from here on. I know I'm making things difficult, but I'm just too stubborn."
"We already know that, jackass. But I'm talking about something el– never mind, it's too late now." Cosmo spoke with apparent exasperation, and in the next moment–
"Gaaaaahhhh!!!"
"""Tyson!"""
Tyson collapsed to the ground in agony, clutching both his chest and abdomen as if trying to tear out his own insides.
It felt as though he had swallowed molten magma and was being roasted alive from within, yet even he was unaware that nothing physical was happening to him.
"Back up a bit, all of you."
Despite saying this, Cosmo crouched beside the suffering boy, who could only cry out in relentless pain.
"There are some things I won't blame you for, considering our circumstances at the time. But I will reiterate how much I warned you about the consequences of breaking a covenant. It seems you took it lightly."
Tyson didn't seem to be listening, or even registering that he was being spoken to, but Cosmo continued anyway.
"Looks like your punishment manifests through pain. You will experience as much as you can process, regardless of your tolerance. And no matter how long you endure it or how many times it happens, it won't get any better. You will always wish you had chosen differently."
Finally, Tyson managed something resembling a response, gritting his teeth and shifting his eyes, glaring at Cosmo with what looked like all the hatred in the world.
"I know what you're thinking. You wish I'd just shut up, right?" Cosmo persisted. "Unfortunately for both of us, you'll have to pay attention to my voice. Straying toward any kind of distraction right now will save your sanity once this is over."
Sure enough, Tyson's nightmare ended soon after, leaving him panting on the ground.
Though the episode had ceased, a phantom pain still tormented his mind rather than his physical senses.
Seeing this, Cosmo ended things there and turned back to Rita, who was sitting up with Clarisse's assistance.
"As I asked, do you want to die?" he continued, and she met his eyes.
"This isn't something that can be swept under the rug. This boundary is meant to be a new settlement for displaced populations, meaning everything that happened here will be investigated by experts. If your involvement is discovered, you will wish you hadn't turned back."
It finally became clear to the rest of them what his words truly meant.
"If Rita dies here, there would be no perpetrator to prosecute for putting the Nebula Branch in a precarious situation. What remains will be dealt with by us. This is a favor afforded to you only because I lost a last-minute bargain…"
Blue seemed to smile at this, though she remained quiet.
"...So what do you say?" He gave her the choice and waited for her response, though he knew it wasn't a question easily answered–or so he assumed.
However, her first words were unexpected.
"Your last name… It's voided too."
'Third-generation Captain of the 56th's Nebula Branch, Cosmo ■■■■■■.'
This had been how Cosmo introduced himself to Artoria before their battle. Acknowledging that also revealed that Rita had been observing their ordeal.
"The first day we met, I fully believed you were simply making a joke of me. If I had known you were…"
"It doesn't matter. We weren't in the same boat, so you hold no fault in that regard. Yours was the result of an unfortunate circumstance, while mine was the result of my own mistakes. And it was done of my own accord."
In the world of Eminents, since a last name serves to facilitate parity, it is only natural that it can be revoked through the same system.
If one is rejected by the family whose name once fostered their strength, then its reveal as means parity becomes automatically invalid, leaving it blank when spoken or written alongside the Eminent's name.
To call it shameful would be subjective.
But for the two of them, an inconsiderate decision had caused a rift that they now understood could have cost Rita her future.
"I don't want to die," she answered, "And I won't ever regret turning back from such a foolish future. No matter what price I have to pay." She began to stand, rejecting Clarisse's offer to help.
And once she managed to stand tall, she immediately dropped to the ground and kowtowed before them all.
"I'm truly sorry!" she cried, the loudest they had ever heard from her.
Rita was never the type to put much effort into expressing herself, so naturally, this startled almost everyone present.
"What I did was foolish and wicked in every way, and I know there's no amount of apologies in the world that could ever make up for it! You don't have to forgive me, and you probably shouldn't. But if you'll let me, I would even… No, I will spend the rest of my life making it up to you!"
Because of this, Cosmo's gaze drifted elsewhere.
Then he rubbed the back of his head with a hint of embarrassment.
Blue unintentionally let out a laugh.
"I told you," she said to Cosmo as eyes turned toward her.
"Yeah, yeah," he conceded, "Every one of you is as ridiculous as the last, after all."
Rita slightly raised her head, blinking at their interaction in utter confusion.
"What is–"
"Sorry, Rita. That was very rude of me," Blue said as she pulled Rita off the ground. "But you did really well."
Now Rita was even more lost. She resorted to glancing at Yon and Red for an explanation. But–
"Look, we're just as confused as you are. I have no idea what's going on in their heads." Red answered, spreading his arms to portray his ignorance of the situation.
"Speak for yourself. It was obvious from the start what these two were up to. And I think it's probably better if they cut to the chase and just told her."
"Well, it really is obvious," Blue affirmed. "Why would the Captain so easily let someone else deal with us when he's supposed to be responsible? He's way too immature for that."
Rita looked to Cosmo, who was still sighing toward the sky.
"While I don't appreciate the reasoning she settled with, that's more or less the gist of it. What happened here was always between us. No one else was hurt because of it, so no one else can get involved."
"But you said I'd be easily traced–"
"Yeah, if there was anything concrete," he responded. "But now, since the Spire 'self-destructed,' there's nothing but each of our signatures on the battlefield with no clear evidence of intent."
That was blatant misdirection, and it was so easy for them to recognize.
Sure, the Spire had been half-responsible for the explosion, but the other half was his own doing, making her wonder if that had been his intention from the start.
Still, she could not accept that outcome.
"I already made up my mind to follow through with whatever happens."
"Then you'd be repaying no one." He replied with an unreadable tone this time. "If everything I've discovered about your past and your future happens to be true, then the kindest outcome would be that you're buried beneath the surface for the rest of your life."
"..."
"Don't even get me started on what happens if the Center HQ and the CBC catch wind of this. By then, you'll only wish they'd just kill you. That kind of fate is something even I would never test."
After that kind of confession, she found no reason to argue.
He was right. She'd never be able to pay them back as she claimed if she wound up in those situations.
The best apparent choice was to accept whatever punishment he had for her and let the matter be settled among them.
"Now, as for your immediate punishment," he began, "I'll be taking away a most fundamental liberty–your freedom."
"My… freedom?"
"First, for the foreseeable future, your whereabouts, choices, and your identity security shall be overseen and regulated by me."
As he declared this, the purpose of the punishment seemed to fly over their heads.
The truth was that if Rita was truly being targeted by the Desolation, then that measure was more or less inevitable.
But to the rest of them who were oblivious to that fact–
"Captain, could this just be you trying to be a parent?"
"Shut up, Yon."
"What?! It was a valid question."
Red wanted to respond to Yon that the validity of the question was irrelevant considering the mood, but he was more eager to hear the rest.
"Secondly…" Cosmo continued. But his expression made it clear that his next words left him conflicted. "About that arm. It would cost the Nebula a ton…"
"It's alright." Rita suddenly interrupted. "I don't want it healed. I will accept letting it remain this way so the Nebula won't have to spare a dime."
"Hold on, that's not–"
"I know, you intend to have me repay the debt with suitable interest. But I find that too lenient a punishment."
"What? That's–"
"If anything, you should take as much time as you want meticulously choosing the worst form of payment you can muster for me. That is the best way I feel would soothe the minds of everyone here."
'What the hell is this? She barely said a word to me before, but now she's come back all talkative. Am I missing something here?'
Cosmo was losing.
It was the first time in a conversation with his officers that he felt he was being pushed into a corner, and that was something he had never prepared for.
"Uh… well, I agree with that assessment, but until then, the alternative would be that you owe each of your comrades here a favor within your capabilities. Since they were willing to put themselves on the line for you, then it's only fair." Grasping at straws, he said whatever came to mind, trusting none of his officers would abuse it.
"Hold on, I don't want that crap!"
"Yeah, that's such a lazy choice! You didn't even try."
"Boo! Captain's a boring bum!"
"Zip it, you three! After much consideration, I find it to be a suitable placeholder. If you have any complaints, you can direct them to the DoA complaint services. Otherwise, you can shove it."
To Yon, Blue, and Red's protests, Cosmo expressed his dismissal.
And in response, a voice came from someone who was just finally standing up.
"Wimp…"
"Tch… I'm surprised you can stand up so soon. Are you that eager to bite someone again?"
Tyson got up as if nothing had happened, but that wouldn't stop a petty exchange between them.
One would expect a higher level of maturity from a Captain, but toward the stubborn officer who barely listened and had inadvertently tried to burn him more than once, it wasn't a chance he could let pass.
"So that's your new ammo, huh?"
"Of course, and I'm pretty sure it won't get old anytime soon."
Between this, Clarisse suddenly tapped Cosmo on the shoulder from behind.
"Apologies, may I borrow you for a moment?"
Cosmo turned his head to her.
"Hm? Yeah, sure."
He waved at the team and left them to their affairs while he and Clarisse moved away a considerable distance.
However, when he turned to catch one last glance at them, he could have sworn he saw Rita sticking her tongue out at him. But that was most likely just his imagination. There should have been no way the result of their conversation had been purposeful on her part.
Surely there wasn't.
But as he walked a bit further and thought back–
"That little sh*t!" He exclaimed, and Clarisse couldn't help but burst out laughing.
"I must admit, you lost horribly. I'm quite impressed at how well you danced in the palm of her hand."
Cosmo could only be embarrassed.
He had intended to reveal that he wouldn't take any action to restore the limb she had lost, and that would have been the end of her punishment.
This was a measure he believed best to set an example for the others, as he could not think of many other ways.
However, even as he was about to say it, he didn't know if he could accept the repercussions that might have followed.
The truth was that since Rita hadn't lost her limb naturally, and the nature of the damage bore signs of spatial scarring, he didn't have the resources required to restore it.
He only wanted to take advantage of that fault while feigning it was a matter of choice rather than a hopeless situation.
"I guess she saw through you. The others may have judged your choice as merely cruel. And the effects of that are not so predictable. I'd go as far as to say she might have saved you."
"That's just an exaggeration. It wouldn't have been that bad of an outcome. As long as they trust each other again, then however they feel about me is only secondhand. All I want is for them to listen, and the rest can be something to mend later."
That was his conclusion, yet there was no clear basis behind it.
"That bad habit of yours… painting yourself as the common antagonist? I suggest you cease that nonsense. It might lead you to be betrayed in the worst possible moment. If you ever intend to listen to any of my advice, let it be this one"