Garden Of The Abyss

[Old Treyna, Hollow Foundation : Two Years Later]

"It's bothering me, y'know?"

Sitting at the table as he picked at his nutritional dish with his chopsticks, the brown-haired, tan-skinned man sighed his words out.

"I don't know what you're talking about. Don't be so vague," Kazuya muttered with his mouthful as he chewed his seasoned chicken.

The graphite-haired delinquent had grown in height, just a couple inches, which still made him the shortest among the group. Though what he lacked in height, he packed on in muscularity–barely fitting into the same uniform that he refused to swap out of.

Fai sighed again, "I'm talking about everything, obviously!"

On the other hand, Fai had grown a stubble over the passed time, wearing a black, gold-accented vest without sleeves.

"..." Kazuya squinted his eyes at the clear miscommunication, or rather, the hot-headed man not being one to listen to reason.

"Ren and Iris are probably de–I mean, still in Purgatory…" Fai looked down with a pained expression, "and to top it all off, we've been in the dark this entire time! Not a single ounce of information about the Argonauts or Belmon–they haven't made a single fucking move!"

Fai slammed the table with his fist out of anger as he finished his words, but the cold-eyes delinquent remained unflinching–he grew accustomed to the peculiar attitude of the Outlanders.

"Isn't that a good thing? The lack of Argonauts or "Belmon", I mean," Kazuya asked, taking another bite of his chicken, "I never faced them myself, but they sound like something better left untouched."

"No…Hell. No. You don't know the Argonauts, Kazu," Fai told him, "if they aren't at your throat, then they're planning on how to slit it. In all of my time here, the Argonauts have always been inhumanly persistent, and aggressive. The fact they've remained stagnant for this long means we're in deep shit here, my friend."

By the bags held under Fai's eyes, and the stubble he accumulated despite previously being someone who took care of himself to near perfection, it was clear the passage of time wasn't kind to the man.

"Take it easy, Fai," A feminine voice told him.

Seating herself beside him, the silver-haired, mature woman sat, holding herself with her usual promiscuity as he kept her white-uniform buttoned down exactly enough for her cleavage to be on display.

"Easy for you to say, Natalia," Fai scoffed, "you've never cared about anyone."

Natalia's usual, high-strung expression shifted just a bit, revealing a bit of sting that was carried from his words to her ears.

"...I'll ignore that, Fai. I know you're not in a good place right now, so–"

Just hearing the words leave the lips of the women, who in his eyes, was uncaring and did nothing to further their mutual goals, he began to seethe.

"Shut the he–!" Fai interrupted her, but was stopped.

–Just as the hurtful words were about to be dismissed from his lips, the doors to the Outlanders' cafeteria were pushed open abruptly.

Standing in the doorway, it was Strife, of all people.

"What's the big idea, slamming doors open like that, Strife…?" Fai squinted at him.

It was odd for the stoic elf, who tended to remain to himself, commit such a loud, abrasive action. But the out-of-breath appearance of him as he huffed and puffed, catching his breath as he stood in the doorway with sweat clinging to his pores.

"Your comrades–they're back!"

–More than anything, the words hit Fai like a thunderbolt; recharging his stagnant heart as it was pulled from the depths of self-pity, just from that one, single utterance from the former Argonaut.

Fai didn't say a single word.

He immediately launched himself from the table, sprinting through the private cafeteria and pushing straight past the doorway as he abrasively passed by Strife.

Going from the cafeteria, he sprinted down the corridors of the private section of the foundation isolated for the Outlanders, pushing past doors as he nearly tripped over as he descended the stairs to bring himself to the main lobby of the grand structure.

He hardly even processed the existence of the Obsidian Hand—the military force of the Hollow Foundation, as they stood like black-armored statues in the halls.

From atop the metallic stairs, he could see Sirius, Sora, Charlotte, Tristan, Beatrice, Brahmi, and Donatien gathered around something he couldn't quite get his sights on yet.

"Iris…! Ren…!" Fai yelled desperately as tears clung to the corners of his eyes, but his voice was drowned out by the flood of adventurers that filled the lobby.

As always, the main lobby of the Hollow Foundation was flooded with coming-and-going adventurers, as well as merchants coming in with carriages full of tradable products.

The colossal, metallic walls hung around them, exhibiting a size as large as a town itself that was bustling, despite supposedly being a criminal organization, according to Mastorn.

He could see the tears flowing from Sora as he had someone held in a bearhug, and it was no different for Sirius, who wept with a smile.

Fai sprinted towards the group, pushing through the sea of adventurers without a care in a run that more so resembled a continuous fall.

The looks of restrained tears on Donatien's usual, cold demeanor as the navy-haired man turned to look at him told it all.

A soft smile, and a nod–that simple gesture from Donatien confirmed it for Fai Meng.

He finally reached the huddled group, having sound resume to his ringing ears as he stopped. Tears trickled down his cheeks as his mouth hung open.

"Cut it out, man! This coat cost me a fortune!"

–Ren's voice playfully let out as he was held in Sora's massive arms, being hoisted up by the vermilion-haired man.

He was finally let down after Sora laughed with utter joy, though happy tears fell down his cheeks continuously.

Meanwhile, Iris, who Fai looked at in perplexion as she seemed more mature than he had last seen her, was being embraced by the primordial, platinum-haired sage.

"Mother, I'm fine…" Iris smiled, assuring the sage.

As Sora stepped out of the way, Fai finally got a look at the long-since missing young man.

It was a surreal sight: the once relatively short adolescent now matched Sirius in height, now boasting snowy-white hair and a matured appearance, devoid of his former blemishes.

For a moment, he was unrecognizable to Fai's eyes, but his smile was unmistakable; the same, geeky smile he always had.

By all means, he was now a proper man, standing before his eyes as he held himself differently–with confidence, rather than a constant state of trying to hold himself up like a fractured vase held by tape.

"Ren…? The hell? Is that you, buddy?" Fai questioned with his mouth hung open, "Tell me my eyes aren't playing tricks on me…"

Scratching his cheek with a hint of bashfulness, he looked at Fai, "Yeah, we're back."

–Without hesitation, he was brought into a tight embrace, held by Fai as if the man was afraid he'd be swept away by a passing breeze.

"Geez…I forgot how much you guys love hugs," he chuckled.

"When the hell did you get taller than me, you little bastard?!" Fai asked with tears accompanying his smile.

Sirius stood behind the pale-haired adolescent, ruffling his snowy locks, "I know, right? They grow up so fast, don't they? My little brother isn't so little anymore!"

"Cut that out! Why're you guys still calling me "little", huh?!" He barked back, moving Sirius' hand from his hair as he was relieved from Fai's embrace.

Sora added in, still standing over him, "I've been meaning to ask: what's up with the eye, bro? And the hair…rocking a new style? I kind of dig it. Just me?"

"Long story…" He muttered, running his hand over his neat, black eye-patch that covered most of that half of his face.

The other two men stared at him intently for a moment at Sora's question, though Sirius answered first, "White does suit him. It's a bit jarring to see my little brother undergo such changes, but that just means he's grown into himself!"

"Eh, I liked the old hair better–dig the eye-patch, though!" Fai nodded vigorously.

As Sora, Sirius, and Fai only shared a laugh, he held an annoyed smile as a vein pressed against his forehead.

"You know what, I was planning to save this for a better time, but you guys are as annoying as ever…" He muttered, beginning to remove the glove from his left hand.

Iris noticed this with widened eyes, attempting to stop him from sliding his black, leather glove from his hand, "Wait, Ren! Not yet!"

"No point in holding it back any longer, Iris–you show them too!" He smiled.

The group was left confused as to what he was referring to, but the focus was on Iris for a moment as she hid her hands behind her back.

"Now that I think about it…why've ya' been keeping your hands behind your back, Iris?" Brahmi asked, folding her arms across her chest.

Iris' face flushed with a flustered red, averting her eyes, "N-n-n-n-o reason…."

–Though, he didn't let her aversion to answer keep him from giving it away as he grabbed her left wrist with his right hand before displaying both of their left hands to the curious eyes of the group.

All of their eyes fell wide, even Beatrice's, though only slightly.

"No. Damn. Way. I don't believe it," Sora spoke as if looking at a ghost.

Sirius whistled, "Little bro is a player!"

"Gah–! What the–?!" Fai reacted in total shock, bringing his eyes close to what was shown.

"...Damn, didn't know ya' had the balls, Ren," Brahmi commented.

"Cool," Tristan spoke only since he seemed prompted to, huffing from a cigar.

"Hah…?" Charlotte blushed at the very concept of what she saw.

"Simply unbelievable. Why was I not invited to the ceremony?!" Donatien asked, fixating on a different aspect.

Beatrice spoke with narrowed, seemingly offended eyes, "I share the same question as him: why was I not invited?"

–What was shown to them were two, golden rings worn on each of their wedding fingers.

There was no mistaking what it meant, not in the slightest.

While Iris averted her gaze with a face flustered beyond compare, he smiled proudly at his betrothed status.

"That's right! Feast your eyes," He proclaimed, "you're looking at a bonafide husband and wife!"

"Ren-goddamn-Nakamura! I didn't take you for the ballsy type when it came to ladies!" Sora said, grabbing the man's hand to inspect the ring as if believing it was deception.

The vermilion-haired, burly man looked between the two newlyweds, raising a singular eyebrow as he whispered to them, "Have you two…?"

Immediately, both of their expressions came over with a cherry fluster, both shoving the intrusive, hulky man away.

"You haven't changed, you tactless, nosy bastard…" He huffed, shaking his head lightly.

As Brahmi, Charlotte, and Beatrice pulled Iris away to discuss things between the girls, he was now the man of the hour between the man side of the Outlanders.