act42side

I cannot imagine it, but I have faith it will be beautiful.

You have given too much for it. The granddaughter you never have time to be with, the old friend whose name you've forgotten, and the other old friends you've exiled as guardian of order...

To deny Laterano's future is to deny everything that you have given and sacrificed for it. It is to deny yourself.

Have no fear. A sliver of that future has already revealed itself to you.

If the faith of Laterano can bring comfort even to the faithless, if Sarkaz can pray side-by-side with Sankta...

Then our order shall open its arms to all.

There will be no barriers, no one left behind, no unwilling partings.

Sounds like you're describing a dream.

Are we not about to lift the veil that separates dream from reality, before the eyes of all?

A miracle will befall this land when everyone believes that even the most fantastical dream can become reality.

The Nativity must go off without a hitch, Patrizion.

I'll do my best, Matriarch.

You're blocking the screen, 'Holy Debt Collector'!

You're the one who decided to sit that far back... not that you're missing anything if I block a few scenes. It's just <i>Eight-Armed Chainsaw Guy</i>, after all.

And stop quoting random lines from the movie. You're not on a mission or in a briefing. You're in my house!

I kind of like that name. Maybe you can use it as your code name for your next mission.

Not you too, Lemuen...

You two sure can work together, when it comes to making up bad code names.

Haha.

How's life as a cardinal, Lemuen? Keeping busy?

Busier than when I was in a wheelchair.

When was it that you got out of it for good, anyway? I don't remember.

You don't really care much about me, do you? I'm so sad, and the only thing that can comfort me is if you let me feel your horns.

Why don't you ask if Holy Debt Collector might let you touch her ear plumage?

Go ahead. I don't mind.

I never thought it would be the Summit of Nations that brought us back together after all this time.

It's like every Lateran out there got called back to the city.

I can understand Legati like Mostima getting recalled, but the old man brought me back when I was in the middle of a high-priority mission to Sargon!

Say, where is your grandpa anyway? He's the one throwing the party, right?

Should be back soon.

Who knows what he's up to? All he said was that since he was retiring, he wanted to make an important announcement while everyone's still here.

It's nice to see the kids having fun when I get home from work. Makes me feel ten years younger.

That still makes you really old, Patrizion.

Reverend Gun-Knight.

Now, now, are you angry at me for being late, Fia?

I had to turn the office upside-down, trying to find this thing.

What's in the package, Reverend?

Open it. Find out for yourself.

Wow! A guardian gun?

Looks like it's been around for a while.

Patrizion. Unless my eyes deceive me...

The first patron firearm I ever had. I picked it when I was twelve. It stayed with me for over a decade, until I became a gun-knight.

Soon, it'll become a true relic, when firearms workshops fade into the history of Laterano.

Take it, Fia.

What?

A little token. Think of it as fulfilling an old man's wish.

As your mentor, your guardian, some of what I did was... how should I put it...? Regrettable.

You know you weren't the only student I cared for. But I was never a licensed teacher. The other one should have walked a better path.

Aurela, the gun-knight who killed her cohort? That's a whole different thing.

If I never walk that 'better path', it's not because of anything so drastic.

It's because you don't have the little whatsis I have over my head. I know.

But I took you in precisely because you were Liberi.

You never told me that.

What regret are you trying to make up for <i>this</i> time?

*sigh*... I didn't want to tell you.

The loss of a friendship made me realize that I never truly knew a Liberi.

I thought I was too clumsy. I thought I could learn to get along with the Liberi.

But I was never very good at it.

I worried about your nerves that were constantly on edge, about your obsession over the accident, the anger that boiled within you, and how you struggled to fit in...

But I never knew how to guide you.

For the Sankta, empathy is a window that helps us understand each other. For you, it became a wall that kept you out.

Hold it, hold it right there—

Do old people always get so sentimental?

Haha. You don't get it.

What I'm trying to tell you is that everything is going to change after the Summit of Nations.

The prohibition on patron firearms for non-Sankta will be lifted, along with other rules like it. The Law's acceptance of the Liberi will extend far beyond just allowing you to live in the Holy City.

We will truly become one people, Fia.

Do you think it's enough to just issue a few edicts, close a few workshops, build a shrine, and take in some wanderers?

See? That's your first reaction.

It means that, deep down, you want to share true understanding with Lemuen, with Mostima... with us.

You will understand, Fia.

Then, if you're willing, you can take my place and become a true gun-knight... or go and do whatever else you want to, things that were once open only to the Sankta.

When that day comes, your friends will be there to bear witness, as they do now.

Now, take your guardian gun for a spin.

Fiammetta does not fully understand what the old man said, and her two friends say nothing, but everyone present smiles at her.

Fiammetta raises the old patron firearm.

She has held many grenade launchers in her time, but she feels a strange sensation come over her as she touches the gun's barrel, like a terrestrial creature touching the sea for the first time.

She cannot tell if the indescribable connection among Sanktas has opened itself to her, or if it is simply a reaction to Patrizion's words.

We were born different, Fia, but our paths must eventually converge.

Nothing makes an old man happier than recognition from his child.

Fiammetta holds the gun tightly and lines up the sights with the door.

Fiammetta... it's been a while.

Did you invite him, Lemuen?

I knew he was coming, that's all.

It was I who invited him.

Letting go of hatred is also part of achieving true understanding.

Is there anything I can help with, El? To make up for me not recognizing you.

Not so fast.

There's a few things about Laterano I'm really interested in... it's been a long time since I've been here.

Oh?

When did the Curia decide to shut down every firearms workshop in the city?

It was recent... the edict was sent to all the workshops in the city on the same day.

It wasn't that much of a surprise... arms control had been around for as long as I could remember, and it was about time they turned their attention to reforming gun control, after all these years.

Don't you find it strange?

Should I?

Magister Paganini said there was nothing unusual about shops shutting down and opening up. He'd been talking about closing up for years.

But this is a firearms workshop!

D-Does that make a difference?

This is where all Sanktas meet their guardian guns!

Have all of you forgotten the meaning a Sankta's patron firearm carries?