Pieces of Heart

So, Tag Anaton thought to himself. Dragons do exist.

Only now, on the bridge of the Rogue, did he find the time and space to fully process that little nugget of information. Dragons existed. As in, giant, formerly crystal giants had existed from the earliest days of the universe, had chosen to take a nap on Crios, had been woken from said nap by Gem, Librarian, and himself, and were now flying throughout space, apparently quite miffed at having been woken up. How dragons could fly through a vacuum he didn't know, nor did he know how they could travel between star systems at FTL speeds. But, apparently that was the case. And the hows and whys of dragon lore seemed a bit redundant now in the knowledge that dragons bloody existed.

He sat on the command portion of the bridge, fiddling with some green crystal between his hands. Dragons. The Imperium. The Bioweave. Vagabonds. The Dark Times. The Rogue itself. Right now, it was too much. Hopefully not for too long, and he'd be back in the fight again, but right now, he needed a break. They all did. So did Zero, by the looks of things – Tag didn't know what Zero had learnt down there, nor had he ever seen the man look as haunted as he did now. All that he could guess was that it was something to do with that Parker fellow, and likely another run-in with General Vykar. A man that would give even troopers of the Imperium pause, provided they retained enough free will to experience emotions such as unease.

"You look uneasy Tag."

Emotions that he, as a mere cadet, could possess. Emotions that Librarian could pick up on. Tag folded the gems into his palm and looked at the alien approaching him.

"How'd you get here?" Tag asked.

"I walked. And I can be very quiet, despite these old bones."

"And despite a wide mouth."

It wasn't meant as an insult, but the mouth that was the subject of the jest nonetheless quivered. Tag decided it was time to change the subject.

"So, what now?" he asked.

Change it clumsily, but change it nonetheless.

"What now?" Librarian asked.

"Yeah. I mean, what now? The Imperium's still ruling the galaxy, the Bioweave still exists, and worst case scenario is (and really, I should expect worst case scenarios to be a given) that we run into those dragons again."

"What now?" Librarian mused. He walked up by Tag and looked into the darkness of space. If the void was looking back at him, Librarian didn't appear disturbed. "I am a recorder of history. I do not chart the course, only record the path after it's been taken."

"Yeah, well, Zero doesn't seem to be in the mood to lead us anywhere right now," Tag said. He fiddled the gem between his fingers. "And like him or not, he's about the closest thing we have to a leader right now."

"Are you suggesting you take his place?"

"What? No," Tag exclaimed, standing up. "Why would you think that?"

"Idle thoughts, I suppose. Idle thoughts that run through my mind like those gems do your fingers."

Shit.

Tag looked up at Librarian. He considered himself of average height for a youth of the Imperium – 1.78 metres. Even so, he was dwarfed by the alien before him, who was around 2.7 metres tall. Librarian was without any kind of armour or weapons, but Tag had learned not to underestimate him. Case in point, as he saw the alien's gaze linger on the crystals on his hand.

"They're not from the dragons," he murmured. "I just picked them up on the way out."

"While escaping the fire of a supernova?"

"What can I say? Gold and glory and all that." He forced a smile.

"Indeed." The Librarian matched Tag's smile with a smaller, yet wryer smile of his own. "Of course, those things in your hand are not gold, and I suspect that you do not sit here on the bridge playing with them dreaming of glory."

"Far as you know." Tag tried some humour.

"I know a lot. Enough to know that you are bothered."

Tried, and failed. Enough to force the young Anaton to sigh.

"Just…dragons, okay?" he asked. "I mean, my mother read me stories about dragons. Knights on Eden, slaying them, saving damsals, and all that."

"There is a damsel on this ship arguably, depending on how you view the world"

"And now I find that they're real," Tag continued hastily. "And that they separated their hearts from their bodies, and all that jazz. I mean…y'know…"

"I know," Librarian intoned, briefly bowing. "This is much for you to take in. So much so, that despite your unease of dragons, you wallow in reflection instead of reflecting on your own heart."

Tag's heart stopped dead. Just for a moment, but that was long enough. Surely Librarian wasn't going to engage in that line of conversation…right?

"Where is your heart, Tag Anaton? Is it within your body? Or like the dragons, outside it? Waiting to be reunited with its host, while the host himself exists in limbo?"

Tag pounded his chest. "My heart's still pumping blood, thanks."

"Very slowly, given your lack of movement." Librarian sighed. "Perhaps Zero's own unease has bothered you. Perhaps even now, you miss your family, and the empire they served. Perhaps Zero's failure to destroy the Bioweave has weighed your heart down even further – how now, can you save your species? Do they need saving? Have you picked the winning side, or more importantly, the right side? And if not, is it too late to change once again?"

"That's a lot of questions," Tag murmured, turning his gaze away from Librarian and out into the void. "Aren't you meant to be providing them?"

The void looked back at him.

"I am but a recorder of history."

"Yeah yeah, I know. Big whoop."

"All I can do is observe and comment. That perhaps you are not as different from the dragons as you think."

Was that a compliment, Tag wondered? He remained silent, and kept looking into the void – it didn't have any answers either.

"Though your heart is pulled in far more directions than yourself. Questions of loyalty are questions that no dragon has to answer."

"Great," Tag murmured.

"And likewise, no dragon has to worry about questions of reproduction with the opposite sex."

Tag froze. The void met his gaze and laughed at him. Turning away from the void, with the speed of a glacier as well as the temperature, he turned away from the window and looked up at Librarian. His eyes twinkled with the light of suns.

"G…Gem?" he stammered. "What…repro…what?"

"I can only observe that pieces of your heart go in her direction."

"I…I'm not…we…"

"That lately, you've taken to races through the corridors of this ship, in exercises that might be called bonding."

"That's just-"

"And that you are still a young human male who, despite the constraints of your society, is still subject to biological impulses."

"You know what, this has been great," Tag said, pocketing the gems. "But I've gotta go. Guardian needs an oil change."

"I did not think androids used oil."

"Yeah, well, retro accessories. Black market. Human stuff." Tag began walking away. Quickly.

"Mend your heart, Tag Anaton."

Walked even quicker, even as he heard Librarian's voice chasing him.

"Mend it, and return it, so that you too may find the grace of a dragon. Only then can you fly, and choose your own path."

"Yeah yeah, so you can record it." He didn't look back and existed the bridge. "See ya."

The bridge door closed and he found himself back in the corridors of the Rogue. A ship from a bygone age, once commanded by his father, now commanded by Zero, said command being allowed by…whatever Gem was to him. Sighing, he headed for his quarters.

Bloody dragons.

A/N

I know Prisoner Zero is science fantasy, but seriously, how are the dragons from Crios flying through space, let alone getting anywhere in a reasonable timeframe?