NorthernMage here! A bit over a year ago, I published a fanfic called Silence of Division. At the time, I never thought I'd write a sequel for it, and assumed it would be a standalone story. However, I began to collect ideas that came to me, and a while ago, I began planning this sequel.

Anyway, I'm a bit nervous posting this story, because with six months of planning going into this thing, I kind of expect it to be awesome. There aren't really any warnings I think I need for this story. There's a large amount of hurt/comfort and angst. The plot is a bit darker than Silence of Division's, at least in my opinion.

While there's a lot of angst and sci-fi in this, that was also in Silence of Division, so that's why I picked different genres this time. Those themes will still appear, but so will others. Also, don't read this without having read the rewrite of Silence of Division. I've updated the summary, so that should make it clear.

I'm not sure on how regularly updates will be coming, either. Hopefully it won't be too long.

Enjoy!

I don't own FTL or Pokemon.

N: Hey, what happened to using us for the disclaimer?

Me: Not enough new people to do a new one each time. I'd have to reuse you and Renina repeatedly.

N: *shrugs* Fine.

Chapter 1: Three Months Later, It Begins

General POV

Tiredly, Renina rubbed her eyes, forcing herself awake while she looked at the clock. Eight in the morning. Dammit, I really need to get up, the seventeen year old thought, irritated.

So, as she yawned, she swung herself out of bed, and started to get ready.

It had been three months since N and Renina had found Lithana, and three months since they had removed Ghetsis as the leader of the Plasma Empire.

In those three months, a lot of things had happened. The Federation and Empire had gone back into negotiations, with Renina now able to assist. Thankfully, the alliance had developed without any problems so far.

With N's eighteenth birthday two weeks after they had found Lithana, and Renina's seventeenth just a month later, things had been hectic. Both days had been spent with the three of them together, despite Lithana's efforts to find any people who either of them wanted to come with them and spend the day with.

In the end, N and Renina had both stayed out late on their birthdays, long after Lithana had decided to let them have some time alone.

'You know, part of me never thought I'd see this day.' N said quietly as they looked over nighttime Atiris. It was about ten to midnight, but the capital of the Plasma Empire had only seemed to get busier as the night went on.

'Really?' Renina looked to her brother, standing a bit back, out of the wind. 'I never doubted it.' They were on the rooftop of an older building. It was one of the taller buildings, but it was completely deserted that night.

'You didn't? Even when we had to try and talk to that group of Mantis?'

'Ugh, don't remind me.' They were both quiet. 'Maybe I doubted it a little, but I had confidence in our ability to not die.'

N laughed softly. 'Yeah, our "ability".' He paused. 'Not being responsible for anything we were apologising for.'

'So, does it feel different? Being eighteen?' N was silent, looking at the lights shining across the city.

'In a way, yes. But at the same time, it doesn't.' He turned to Renina. 'It's hard to describe.' She shrugged.

'Great, you're going all philosophical on me.' Renina smiled. 'Knowing me, I won't understand until next year, when I'm eighteen.' The city seemed to quieten for a moment, as if silently acknowledging midnight.

'Maybe it's like that.' N admitted as they headed back to the senate.

Renina, now dressed, grabbed a hairbrush and as she brushed her hair, slipped her holoplate into the bag she had slung over her shoulder. Stretching, she also put her hairbrush into the black and white bag, and walked over to the hyperspeed elevator. Once inside, she pressed the button corresponding to the ground level.

As she shot downwards, there was a series of five beeps, and Renina quickly dug out her holoplate.

Lithana Harmonia: Answer or decline call? the screen asked her. She tapped the screen, answering the holocall.

'Hi Lithana.'

'Hello Renina. Do you remember those negotiations about that agreement for assistance on rebuilding Quariane?'

'Yeah. It was moved because of that FTL malfunction.'

'It was changed to this morning.' Lithana paused. 'The same time you and N are leaving.'

'Oh.'

'I can't skip the meeting. Do you think N could delay the departure?'

'He couldn't delay it long enough for the meeting to end, and anyway, we need to get going.' Renina was silent for a moment. 'It would only make things harder if we delayed. You can handle the politics, and we'll go and start on fulfilling our part of the alliance.' A hint of sarcasm was in her tone.

'Make sure you remember the vaccine and the cure as well.' Lithana said.

'Don't worry, we won't forget it.' Renina assured her mother.

'Be safe out there, both of you.'

'We will.' As the doors opened onto the ground level, Renina ended the call and put the holoplate back into her bag as she headed outside.

The Captivity was stationed just outside, and hundreds of crew members were carrying boxes of medicine to the spaceship. Knowing she had time, Renina let herself take a good look at it. It was absolutely huge. Ever since she had first seen it, at fourteen years old, she had never been able to find words to describe it's size.

She frowned at the memory of when she had first seen it. That had been when N had been forcibly put in charge of it. While she'd been furious, hating the fact her brother was going to be forced to do things neither of them could agree with, N hadn't been.

He'd realised almost straight away what this had meant: he had been seen as loyal, and therefore been given a huge warship with enough firepower to do absolutely anything...

...when he was fifteen.

Of course, N had been and still was anything but loyal to Ghetsis.

It was a black mountain of metal, shining in the sun. The glare reflected brightly off it, and Renina couldn't help but look at the bridge, where she knew N was.

Her eyes scanned the ship for the lift that brought people up to the bridge without needing to traverse the inside of the ship. Spotting it, she started to head towards the lift.

As Renina headed to the ship, she noticed that it wasn't just the political situation that was different. All of the crew members seemed happier. There was a spring in their step that she hadn't seen before. Usually they were completely schooled into silence and respect, but now it was like they were actually enjoying the work they were doing.

Never mind the fact the boxes they were carrying were as heavy as hell.

Is this doing something more than helping the galaxy? Renina wondered as she looked around. Seeing members of the Plasma Empire, never mind the crew of the ships, happy, is surprising. She allowed herself a small smile as she went up in the lift, and entered the Captivity.

'Sir, we've loaded three quarters of the cure.' The officer turned to see the boy standing up at the control panel.

'Good. What about the vaccine to Kirau Olumi?' N Harmonia asked, his eyes trained firmly on the computer in front of him, displaying all the systems on the ship.

'Almost done as well, sir.'

'Notify me when they're done.' he instructed the officer, opening a menu on the screen.

'Sir.' N scrolled through the supplies being loaded.

This should be enough to cover the systems we were assigned to cure. There's relief supplies as well. That's good, I doubt they'll get back on their feet straight away, he thought.

Changing to a different menu, he looked through the ship systems. Everything seems fine. Huh, we've even got some power left over.

There was a slight hiss as the doors to the bridge opened, and Renina walked up beside him. 'Everyone is so busy.' she commented. 'How long have all of you been down here, anyway?'

'I came down to organise things around seven, but everyone else arrived sometime between six thirty and seven.' N yawned. 'Not really an ideal morning, if I'm honest.'

'Yeah well, Lithana can't come down to see us off.' N looked to Renina.

'Well, that definitely reminds me of someone.' She sighed.

'I know, that reminds me of Ghetsis too. Either way, at least this was important. It was about rebuilding Quariane.' N was quiet for a moment, and his eyes dropped from Renina.

'Well, you know what we agreed.' he said softly, so only she could hear as he looked back to the screen.

'Yeah.' Renina replied in the same soft murmur. 'Anyway,' she began, her voice back to it's normal volume, 'how long have we got until the rest of the cure and vaccine are loaded?'

'Not too long. Most of it was already loaded when you arrived.' N said, his voice back from the low murmur it had been seconds before.

'Sir! We've loaded all of the supplies.' an officer called.

'Good work. Set the FTL drive to jump to Tactarus V.' N replied. He looked back to Renina. 'Are you sure we want to go there first? It's been three months, we don't know what shape that settlement you tried to help is in.'

'The medical staff took care of me until those Plasma members arrived. God knows where I'd be if everyone at the settlement hadn't taken care of me until they arrived.'

'Sounds like I owe them too, then. They made sure you survived.' The air was filled with a soft humming, and the Captivity slowly rose, until it was into the atmosphere. The sky around them was a light purple.

'So, at normal speed, how long until we get to Tactarus V?' Renina asked N. 'Still as long as last time, a few days?'

'Yeah, but we have a bit more power than last time.' he muttered, keying in a passcode to access the power distribution menu. Swiping upwards, he transferred the last three bars of power to the engines. 'That should get us there in an hour, two hours if there's a problem.'

'Yeah, I'm going to put my bag away and rest. You going to stay up here?' Renina asked. N looked at the door that led out of the bridge and back to the room full of officers. I should probably stay up here, but I should probably get some more sleep too...it's not going to be good if I have to try and get stuff done on five hours worth of sleep...

'This is stupid.' he breathed before calling out. 'Arot! Take over, I'll be back in around an hour.' Arot nodded and walked up to the controls.

'If I may ask, why, sir?' N rolled his eyes.

'This dumb eighteen-year-old needs to sleep, dammit.' Arot nodded, before freezing as the words sunk in. He stared after them as they left.

'You're never going to let him off for that, are you?' Renina asked in the lift, referencing the time N was called a dumb seventeen-year-old, three months earlier.

'Eventually, yeah, I probably will.' N admitted as the lift began to head to their separate levels and rooms.

N's POV

I hadn't really understood why Renina had wanted to head to Tactarus V first.

After all, it would be just like any other planet with Kirau Olumi. It was going to struggle, and yes, Renina had been taken care of there, but I hadn't really understood why she had fought so hard to go there.

But now, I stared in near horror at the settlement. I knew it wouldn't be good, but...I hadn't expected this. Renina turned to me.

'Yeah, this is why I wanted to come here first.' she replied to my stare.

Obviously Renina had had more experience with these things. There was a handful of buildings which looked like they'd been picked clean, and groups of dying people all over the place. I felt like I was going to be sick.

'Come on,' I whispered, trying to keep some control, 'let's find the people in charge of this settlement.'

Renina led me through the groups of people, until we arrived at the largest building, which from what I could tell, was a hospital. We entered, and Renina slipped out her holoplate. 'Everyone's looking for you.' she said, looking to me. 'How fast did you run off?'

'Oh shut up, I nearly threw up.' I replied as a woman came up to us.

'Who are you?' she demanded, not seeing Renina behind me.

'I'm N, from the Plasma Empire. We agreed with the Federation to become allies, and we have a cure and vaccine for Kirau Olumi.'

Her eyes narrowed. 'Plasma Empire, huh? So you're part of the group that was hunting down the Fallen Angel.' Oh joy, she's going to start on that.

'Yes, but-'

'What did you do to that girl you found here? Renina?' Obviously having finished on her holoplate, Renina looked up and saw the woman.

'Asaria?' The woman stared back.

'Renina? I never thought I'd see you again!' Renina shrugged.

'Well, I knew what I was doing when the Plasma Empire came looking.' Renina looked to me. 'N, this is Asaria, she was one of the people who stayed with me before you turned up.'

'Thanks for taking care of her. I don't think she would have survived without anyone's help.'

'Oh, it was no problem.' Asaria looked at the two of us, her eyes moving from Renina, to me, and back again before widening. 'Are you two...'

'Are we what?' Renina asked. Asaria sighed, smiling.

'All I can say Renina, is damn you work fast!'

'What do you mean?' I asked.

'Well, it's only been three months since you two would have met, and you two are obviously together.'

Renina's POV

Hang on...

She thought N and I were together?!

N looked like he had just taken a bite out of a lemon. 'I'm sorry,' he gasped, 'what?!'

'He's my brother!' I insisted. 'Not...not my boyfriend!' I couldn't even imagine anyone dating N. It wasn't that he was...not likeable, even factoring in sibling rivalry, he wasn't that hard to deal with most of the time.

It was more the fact I had never seen him look at a girl twice.

And the fact Asaria had thought I was dating N, who was my brother...

'We-we're related!' N gasped. 'Not together!'

Couldn't have put it better myself.

'But...physically, you two are nothing alike.' Asaria frowned, folding her arms.

'Y-yes we are!' I protested. 'Same eye colour!' She raised an eyebrow.

'Blue is a fairly common eye colour, especially for Atirians, which I assume you two are.'

'Yeah, but we just look really different because Renina's blonde!' N gasped, still trying to get over the idea of us being together.

Which I honestly couldn't blame him for.

'Seriously, are you going to say we're together because I look more like my mother?!' I asked. 'I mean, N just got less of our mum's genes!'

'We're both...kinda tall.' N said, looking to me for a moment. I glared at him. We'd both gotten a bit taller over the last few months, and at the moment, I was only about half a head shorter than him.

I'll overtake you one day, I told him.

Yeah, keep dreaming, he thought back.

'Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't know.' Asaria apologised, seeing our reactions. 'We don't know much of the Empire out here.' That was when it properly sunk in. 'So, Renina, you were just spying on the Fallen Angel.'

'No, I wasn't. When Quariane was attacked, I had no warning, and just tried to get out of there. I'd been separated from the Empire for six months before that.'

'Ah. Well, why are you two here?'

'Like I said before, we have a cure and vaccine for Kirau Olumi. As part of an agreement with the Federation, we've shared it with them.'

'We were heading out to cure planets of the disease, and well, I remembered this dusty place.' I said, my eyes on Asaria.

Asaria put her hands over her mouth. 'Are you serious?' she whispered. 'You...you can save us?'

'That's right. We just wanted to see if it was alright before we started.' N explained.

'Is this going to come back and bite us? I know the cure is very hard to create, and therefore very expensive.'

'We're not going to charge you to save a planet, Asaria.' N said gently. 'We chose to come and help, it'd be wrong to expect anything in return for something like this.'

Asaria's shoulders started shaking, and she quickly wiped away her tears. 'Oh god...thank you. Thank you so much.'

'Well, I think I'm going to go look around for a minute.' I said. I needed to find out if any of those people I met last time were still alive. I remembered a conversation with one of them.

'But...my sister is really sick! This has to help her!'

'Wait, neither of you have quarantine suits!' Asaria said. 'You're going to get infected!' I held my right arm out and rolled up the long sleeve. In the middle of my forearm was a light blue patch of skin. Around it, all my veins were more obvious.

'Both of us were vaccinated against Kirau Olumi. We don't need suits.'

'I'd be surprised if we weren't immune, after all those doses.' N said, wincing as he rubbed where he was injected with the vaccine. 'Either way, we're fine,' he finished as I walked out.

Asaria's POV

As Renina walked out, I saw some of the other leaders of our planet. Tactarus V only had this one settlement, so we weren't just leading it, but the entire planet.

Sometimes that felt like too much. I looked over at N, who was glancing outside, and barely hiding his horror at the situation on the planet.

Isn't he eighteen or something? That's what I heard, anyway. To think he's one of the next people in line to rule the Plasma Empire... To be honest, the idea that Renina and N, who were at least three or four years younger than me, would be in charge of one of the largest galactic empires ever one day made me worry.

Renina seemed relaxed, but at the same time, she was clearly very close to N. I frowned as I waved over one of our leaders. They shook their head: they couldn't come right now. I shrugged back, communicating it was fine.

Now that I thought about it, I would have heard of something about the heirs to the Plasma Empire at some point. Thinking hard, I realised that all I had really heard at all was in the last few months. There had been a rumoured change of leadership, but then again, there were always rumours about those kinds of things. My eyes drifted back to N. Could I ask if they were true? It might be a sensitive topic. He looks a bit young to be next in line, anyway. Maybe I had been wrong, and he wasn't one of the Plasma royal family. Although, to be eighteen and obviously pretty important in the Plasma Empire...

The differences between him and his sister were huge. Renina seemed more open, while in a way, N was quieter. At the same time, it was like he protected Renina, but I had no trouble believing that he might be much more determined than her.

It was something about the way he acted, something about him. I couldn't put my finger on it, but it was there.

Something about the way he and Renina acted...a lack...

A lack of trust. The answer clicked into my mind. It was like they didn't trust anyone but each other. Or, I thought, they just don't trust me. Who knows, maybe they're prejudiced against non-Atirians. I doubt either of them have had much time with people who weren't trying to win them over. Then, a group of six people rushed in, all dressed in the same plain black uniform.

'Sir, you need to have this with you.' one said, holding out a small round metal circle. N sighed.

'Fine. I don't see the point, though. If things got serious enough that I'd desperately need it, I wouldn't be able to use it.'

'It's a precaution only.' They were silent as he took it. 'Is there anything you need us to take care of?'

'Go and help everyone else. We need to make sure everyone is cured and immunised.' They nodded, and walked out. I looked at the circle. To my surprise, it was a portable electromagnetic pulse generator.

'You must be pretty good with your ship to get one of those.' I commented. That model was able to knock out all machinery and electronics in a huge radius. Also, that ship they had turned up in was beyond impressive. When I had seen it descending into view, I had been lost for words. He frowned and rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, like it was an uncomfortable subject.

'It's not really like that.' N replied, looking at me. 'I'm the prince of the Plasma Empire. They get like this around me.' So I hadn't been wrong: this protective young man in front of me really was going to rule the Plasma Empire, likely quite soon.

'Really? Does that mean you have a title I need to call you by?' N shook his head.

'No, I don't usually get called anything special.' I heard him mutter something, but I couldn't make it out. It sounded a little like '...anyone else did.'

'Guess this must be a fair way from what you're used to, then.' I gestured around us.

'That's putting it mildly. Also, Asaria?'

'Yes?'

'If the crew of the Captivity start going all tense, and freak out, it's probably better just to let them do it. I'll sort it out, so don't worry if that happens.'

'Do they freak out sometimes?' I asked, a small smile on my face.

'It's more likely to happen around me.' he admitted. 'Being the next in line for the Plasma Empire does that to a person.'

'Okay, I'll let you handle it then, if something happens.' I told him. He nodded, before looking outside again.

'I need to go and make sure everything's working out there. Do you mind?'

'Oh, no. It was good talking to you, though.'

'Same back to you. I'm sure I'll run into you again before leaving, though.' N headed out of the hospital building, and I watched silently as he walked out of view. Definitely an interesting person, I thought to myself.

Definitely interesting.

Renina's POV

I smiled softly as the sister of the boy I had met last time held her arm out to the medic.

'This is going to sting a little, okay?' the older woman said warmly to the little girl. The girl nodded, looking anxious. The moment the syringe was revealed, the cure an electric blue, the girl moved back, scared.

The medic tried to calm her down, but after a few minutes of this, it obviously wasn't working. I stepped up to her, and gently held her arm. 'Hey, don't worry. It's not going to hurt you.' She stared in confusion at me, and her hand pushed my sleeve up, to reveal where I had been cured. Eyes wide, she poked the blue skin, and bright blue shining veins.

Tilting her head, she looked into my eyes. I smiled, keeping her attention. She looked back to the needle and nearly started crying.

'It'll make everything better.' I told her, kneeling down and putting my arms around her. She pushed her head into my shoulder, and I held her arm as she was injected. I heard a soft whimper of pain, and she moved back, scratching her arm.

'Rub it, that way it won't bleed.' I suggested, rubbing the now bright blue veins. She nodded, and as she did, a smile came over her face, and she ran off, maybe back to her family. I stood and watched, looking for her brother. Please say he made it...

A boy stumbled out of a building, and ran to the girl. They talked for a moment, then he turned in my direction. He waved to me, and I waved back, thankful. He's probably been cured too, I think I can see the blue skin patch. The patches and bright blue veins would go away after a day or two. It was just a side affect of the vaccine.

I started to head back to the hospital, trying to find N. I wonder how we're going so far. I looked around, searching for him.

As I walked, I saw a gleam of silver out of the corner of my eye. Frowning, I glanced in the direction they were aiming.

A sniper rifle was resting on top of a pile of boxes. I couldn't see the person on the other end. It looked like they were about to fire. Out of curiosity, I turned in the direction they were aiming.

My heart stopped.

Right in the firing line was N, who was turned away from the gun.

My mouth opened, about to scream a warning, because he was my brother I couldn't lose him no no no!

But before I could do anything, the gunshot rang out through the hot air. N jerked, and spun around, a hand shooting to the back of his head.

We made eye contact for a moment. All I could see was pain, confusion and terror.

Then he crumpled to the ground.

I'd really like nobody to know about this. Seriously, this is practically a diary, and well...

Oh for the love of God if it helps me get through this I guess I'll do it. Even if I look at this and end up wanting to scream at how stupid it all sounds.

If we'd known what would happen, I'm certain neither of us would have gone to Tactarus V that day.

Well, that was certainly a cliffhanger, wasn't it?