Apart from the rustle of the few trees that hadn’t been clear cut from the graveyard, the evening was devoid of any tremendous excitement or noise. Occasionally Junko would shift one hand off her weapons to touch where she placed the hourglass, as if to ensure it still existed and hadn’t vaporized in a poof of Agent magic. Some might consider it paranoid. In this case it was quite prudent.

Motonubu kept his distance as Junko made her final preparations for the long night. The jagged landscape around them grew only more eerie as the fading light warped their silhouettes into what looked like rows and rows of misshapen teeth, and with so little vegetation around them there was nothing but the dull sound of the breeze to fill the void. “The City of Kings even teaches its foot soldiers survival skills, eh?” Motonubu stroked his beard a bit in a thoughtful feint while Junko ignored him and continued her work. “A smokeless fire, a tripwire perimeter...I see it was a good choice to leave the boy in your hands.”

“Hmf.” Junko snorted out of her nose while tying one last knot. “You can’t be a bodyguard without knowing some tricks to stop scumbags like yourself from sneaking in.” Despite her tone Junko’s body language was now considerably less hostile, owing perhaps in part to the reduced risk Motonubu seemed to pose. Without the hourglass he didn’t pose a threat at all, or so she thought. All the better. It was hard to work under the constant stress of eternal vigilance.

After finishing her work Junko disappeared into the growing shadows of the graveyard. Motonubu kept his back to a stone and watched his surroundings carefully, both arms tucked under his cloak to conceal them. There was a remote possibility she didn’t return. It wouldn’t have made any sense to set up camp and flee, though, nor would it have been a good idea to not deal with the Agent right then and there. Confident in this dedication Motonubu whittled away his time by counting headstones.

Two pairs of footsteps shuffled towards him. His shoulders tensed up and he stood a bit straighter. That didn’t do much- no amount of posture correcting could make the rather short stature of Motonubu look any more intimidating. The tension was unneeded as the large form of Junko slipped into view, pushing the smaller body of the child in front of her. What might have been mistaken for pleasure coated Motonubu’s voice. “Ah, Cadet Tanuma Gekko. Pleased to meet you, once again.”

Any cordiality was one sided. Gekko looked like a mess. His Annitou uniform was in tatters and one arm was heavily swaddled in what looked like a makeshift splint. Bruises and scrapes decorated his arms and legs and some swollen redness across his face made his physical state less than presentable. Seeing this Motonubu cast a wary eye towards Junko.

“Kid is crazy.” Junko shook her head, nudging the child farther into the small graveyard clearing with her knuckles. “Did all this to himself, in case you’re about to complain I beat him too hard.”

Pursing his lips Motonubu again looked at the downcast Gekko. Despite his apparent misery there was something defiance in those eyes. “Is that true, Cadet Gekko? Did she beat you?”

The boy blinked slowly, turning only slightly to look at the worn face of his captor. “Like a rented mule. She’s a terrible babysitter.”

Junko looked prepared to snap back but Motonubu’s eerie chuckle seemed to cut any potential argument short. “Ah, ah, well, well. Hopefully we’ve learned our lessons then.” His eyes left Gekko and instead travelled to the tops of the surrounding gravestones. “I take it you’re still feeling reticent about providing some simple translations, hm?” A stern silence seemed to confirm this, and Motonubu made an effort to shake his head in a disappointed fashion. “I do apologize for your treatment. Had everything gone as planned the last handful of days would have been quite uneventful, and we could have had you back to your family by tomorrow morning.”

“Apology not accepted. Have we even met?”

If he was strong enough to backtalk then he couldn’t have been that hurt. Motonubu seemed to nod to himself and revealed one of his hands from beneath the cloak. “I am Agent Sawamatsu no Motonubu of the nation of Garion. You have met my cohort, General Hashimoto Daisuke, several days ago, did you not?” He turned to see if that got any reaction out of either Gekko or Junko, but neither seemed all that impressed. Time to get back on task. “I doubt you have been this deep into Jinchi before. Do you know where you are?” More silence. Perhaps the child remained quiet when he couldn’t think of a clever enough insult to spit back. “Perhaps none of the carvings here must interest you much, Cadet Gekko. Annitou has already translated all of them anyway.”

That earned a quick blurt out from Junko, who was doing her best to distance herself from the sordid little interrogation. “The hell does that mean? I thought you had me drag this kid here to translate!”

Motonubu used his sole exposed hand to wave away the accusation. “Yes, indeed. You and I can’t see it, Legionnaire Junko, but this graveyard is veritably full of messages left in the language of Bossa. It is quite a treasure trove of knowledge left behind by the ancient Jinchi peoples.” Half his attention fell to the still deathly motionless Gekko. “In your short time here, you must have read some of the inscriptions. Have you noticed anything yet, Cadet Gekko?”

“Yeah, once you showed up I started smelling something foul. When was the last time you took a bath?”

Unaffected Motonubu continued his lecture. “Ah, well, Garion intercepted Annitou’s translations anyway. Most of these headstones merely mark names and causes of death. Specifically,” for emphasis he tapped one such large headstone directly behind him. “Many causes of what we might call death by ‘divine intervention’. Lightning strikes, unnatural disease, curses, spontaneous combustion...”

A dismissive scoff came from Junko. “Sounds like another day in the office for me. Are you going somewhere with this ghost story?”

“Hm. A preacher might tell it better than me.” Again Motonubu laid some bait for Gekko, who once again remained silent. “I will try to summarize. Nobody knows why Jinchi disappeared centuries ago. There were no records of any cataclysmic event taking place.The best we have is an old Annitou tale, where some unnamed island was sunk by their god, the ‘Leviathan’, for committing the sin of heresy. That does not mean much, though. Every other story of Annitou's alleged deity has it throwing temper tantrums. Quite an unreasonable thing to worship, in my opinion.”

“That’s completely ignorant.” Gekko grumbled. “You can’t just sum up an entire religion like that.”

Further expressing her distaste for the man, Junko took the chance to jump in as well. “I’m super hungry and kind of pissed, Motonubu.” Junko squinted at the diminutive Agent slouching off into the shadows. “I don’t really care about this garbage either. Where is this thing you want the kid to translate? Let's get it over with."

The woman’s interruptions seemed to perturb Motonubu more than Gekko’s slander, but for this he seemed prepared. “Legionnaire Junko, if you wish, I have left a supply of provisions just over there to provide for you and the boy tonight. It isn’t much-”

“I’m not eating your food, it’s probably drugged.”

“-but there is a container of rum in there, if you felt so inclined.”

After a short silence, Junko moved away from the child and towards one end of the clearing. “I’ll give it a look.”

Exhaling Motonubu took his eyes off the troublesome woman and returned them to the boy. Gekko stood stock still even as his kidnapper moved away from him. He probably felt it too risky to chance an escape attempt with two adults keeping watch over him now. “Cadet Gekko, it must be hard for you to focus. You are in a difficult position. In the event of being captured, Annitou has instructed its soldiers to kill themself to protect the nation's secrets, has it not?"

“Hpmh?” Junko snorted from far away, blowing some crumbs of bread out of her mouth. Motonubu’s eyes threatened to roll out of his head after being interrupted again. “That’s nuts! What kind of dumb government tells kids to- oh, wow, there’s a thing of butter in here. Where the hell did you find butter on this island?”

Hoping this time the woman would stay quiet, Motonubu moved closer to Gekko. The boy stood his ground and kept his eyes locked on some pebble right at his feet. “Have you been hurting yourself for that reason? To pretend as though you tried to commit the deed, but failed, so that you can return to your people with honor? I have a hard time believing someone of your disposition would so willingly follow your country’s suicidal policies.”

“Get any closer,” Gekko’s seething was apparent from his strained tone alone, “and I might vomit on you because you reek so bad.”

That earned a small, almost pleased “Hm!” from Motonubu, who stopped his approach that same instant. “Here is what I offer you, Cadet Tanuma Gekko: freedom from that specter of dishonor which is consuming you. Annitou never told you why they bothered building a colony on such a flung island, did they?”

“For the artifacts, stupid-”

“Naive!” Motonubu stood back and smiled. Gekko’s gaze had come up just a bit. Motonubu need only provide a more enticing piece of bait to his hook. “To spend so much money, devote so much manpower, for a couple of mystical toys- even the thieves of Metsina could barely be bothered to rob these graves.” Motonubu slowly began to pace, circling around Gekko as he moved. Doing so forced the boy to keep turning his head to remain attentive. “The reason Annitou is digging so deep, why these nearby nations are scrambling for a piece of the pie, is because of these gravestones right here.” Reaching out, Motonubu slapped the stone with his bare palm. The impact was loud enough to clap out and stir even Junko out from her raiding of the nearby supply satchel.

“One of Annitou’s first expeditions here drove some of their soldiers mad. These stones spoke to them in Bossa, the language of angels, and revealed to them a terrifying and incomprehensible secret. Since then Annitou has bent over backwards to keep the contents of that message hidden. They even destroyed the original tombstones to prevent any other country from uncovering it. What prize could be worth so much trouble?”

He paused to see if Gekko was connecting the dots. From the boy’s expression it was clear the child hadn’t heard any of this- at least, not more than the rumors. As usual Motonubu opted to leave nothing to chance. “On this island, somewhere within its depths, the Jinchi civilization constructed a weapon capable of solving the scourge of divine curses that plagued them. Something so powerful it deleted this entire landmass from existence for hundreds of years. That, dear boy, is what your country scrambles so desperately to acquire. The power to thwart even a god.”

Now Gekko was looking straight on at Motonubu, fully engaged and wearing an expression of complete bewilderment. “That sounds like the ramblings of a madmad. And what? Even if I believe the nonsense you're foaming at the mouth about, you want me to turn traitor and let Garion run off with some super powerful artifact instead? Do you think I’m stupid?”

“Well, yes, but apart from that,” Motonubu clucked his tongue and finally met the boy’s gaze. “You speak so boldly despite knowing so little. Garion’s intention is not to steal this weapon. It is likely too large to move off the island without being noticed anyway.” Holding out one of his scar covered hands he clenched it into a tight fist.

“We will be destroying it to prevent any other country from acquiring it. I know for certain Metsina has sent Agents to this island to acquire it, and the Fenshingiri were attempting to research it prior to...well, I suppose that is not any of your concern. Let me cut to the chase.” Motonubu held his palm out now as if offering a handshake.

“You assist in uncovering this weapon, Cadet Gekko, and you will be able to return to your people with the location of the treasure your country has spent an ungodly amount of resources attempting to find. It will be in vain, of course, because the treasure will be useless by then. But...”

“But that’s supposed to be my reason for not killing myself? Because I wanted to tell my beloved home nation where the super secret Jinchi god-killing relic is? Rather, where it was, before the thug I helped find it blew it up?”

Motonubu furrowed his brow a bit and then gave his usual noncommittal shrug. “You will have some time to work on the phrasing. I would try to do better than that.”

Gekko kept looking forward but now his focus was on something far past Motonubu. Likely the boy had already read many of the messages written in Bossa around the graveyard, and perhaps he was already starting to piece together something. “And if I refuse?”

A very suspicious smile reappeared across Motonubu’s unsightly face. “Then I suppose you will get to learn first hand about Garion interrogation methods.” The sky’s color took on a much deeper purple color now as the last remnants of sunlight faded on the horizon. The night chill began to seep in even faster in the graveyard, as it lacked any trees to help keep the heat closer to the ground.

“Have an answer for me by morning.” Motonubu’s hand slipped back beneath his cloak and he resumed his slouched, submissive posture. “Legionnaire Junko, I leave him in your care. I must attend to other business.”

“Hm? Yeah, sure.” Junko took another swill from a dark colored gourd and wiped her mouth with a dirty sleeve. “The kid won’t leave my sight.”

“I have some questions-”

As if he hadn’t heard Motonubu made a sharp turn, putting his back to Junko and the cadet. “I have told you everything you need to know. The only place left to find your answers is in these old stones. Do your best, Cadet Gekko.” What looked like a swirl of shadow swept around Motonubu, and in the next breathless moment he was gone. Even the ground beneath where he stood was devoid of footprints.

“What a piece of work, am I right?” Junko grunted as she cracked the lid of a tin of some kind of meat. “Bet he isn’t even gone yet and is just lingering around to eavesdrop. Not that I have anything to add.” She scooped up some of the food and swallowed it in one gulp. “You want any of this? It's clean, as far as I can tell.” The incredulous look from Gekko made her follow-up sound just a bit defensive. “Don’t give me that look, kid. I didn’t know anything about that nonsense he was spewing. I’m just the hired muscle.”

“Yeah, okay.” Gekko’s voice for once sounded distant as something other than the immediate horror of the kidnapping now weighed on his mind. “You do seem pretty dumb, I can understand why he wouldn’t have told you.”

“That’s some cheeky mud to be slinging at the person holding all the food.” Junko took several long strides and swept past Gekko. Even her casual walking speed was surprisingly fast. As she passed she slammed a cloth-wrapped loaf of bread into the boy’s chest, which he had no choice but to grab instinctively. “I think I’d prefer you occupy your mouth with eating rather than talking.”

“What a coincidence, I was gonna say the same thing about you.”

“Glad we can finally agree on something.” Junko slipped past Gekko and took post right at the entrance of the clearing of tombstones, where she could stand watch. “If you refuse to help that nutcase Motonubu, my job is finished.” With her head turned Gekko couldn’t read her expression, and the blunt way of speaking didn’t help either.

“What does that mean? Is that a threat?”

“Doesn’t mean anything.” Junko spat quietly down at her feet. “My contract to protect and deliver you is complete. You’ll be Motonubu’s problem to deal with. Just thought you should know.”

Gekko didn’t seem to have an immediate snarky response to that, so Junko provided her own follow-up. “Enjoy your meal, kid.”