A/N: Thanks to my editors: Elsannity and Halladelle.
Present Day
Ariel stands on the patch of land above the League base along with Calhoun, Emma, and Kida. We won't be enough. Ariel learned first hand how quickly everything can go to shit when fighting a hell meta, and they need more Elites than this if they want to win.
"Why isn't Ares fighting with us?" she mutters to herself, but it's so quiet on the isle that the others can hear her.
Calhoun shrugs her bulky armoured shoulders as if she hasn't explained why a dozen times before. "It's better this way."
Ariel doubts that, but she won't argue. The instinct inside her to care, love, and protect is so buried inside her she can't reach it anymore. So she won't question what is, undoubtedly, a suicidal decision because who is she to talk? She knew the odds before jumping on this bandwagon.
Now the rest of her life will be measured in minutes, she suspects. The fleet hasn't yet entered Sol, but it has to be close if the whole counter-strike team is armed and topside. There's no other reason Ariel can think of that would justify abandoning preparations.
An alarm cuts through the air.
Calhoun trudges over to the small speaker and crushes it under her heel. She sucks in a harsh breath through her teeth and pulls her helmet over her head. "They're here."
Rho and Elsa flash into existence between everyone.
"Weapons up!" Rho commands. She turns to Emma. "Did you open all your seals?"
Emma raises her hands helplessly. "Yes, but I have no juice to use any of my powers. Sorry, I didn't think—"
The metal around Rho's left hand dissolves into thin air and she grabs Emma's bicep with her glowing golden hand. "Don't be sorry," Rho says as magic crackles between them. "Be vicious, and blow them from the sky."
Emma hisses and clamps her hand on Rho's shoulder for support. Her mouth opens in a silent cry as golden steam starts wafting out of her eyes and glows like the sun at the back of her throat.
The air on the island pressurizes and nearly pushes Ariel to her knees. I wonder if this is what other people feel when I use my trident on them.
"Now destroy them," Rho says, even as she holds on tight to Emma. "You need to stop them from launching their initial volley or all of this will be for nothing. Give us a chance." She releases Emma's arm and steps back.
Emma collapses to her hands and knees with magic misting from her skin and puffing out from under her collar. Every muscle in her body tightens, her fingers crunch into the rock, and she roars.
Ariel falls back on her ass when the vibrations smack her in the chest with the force of a meta's punch. She scrambles to her knees in time to see Emma launch herself into the air and concave the ground that once stood beneath her feet. "What the f—"
Light burns through the sky and Ariel slams her eyes closed against it. She turns her head aside and tries blinking the spots out of her vision.
Blusterous laughter tumbles out of Calhoun's mouth. "My! It's been a long time since I've seen wings like that!"
"That's not what we have to worry about," Rho says. She doesn't sound like she cares about the juggernaut show of force, but she doesn't care about anything. "Under my shield, now."
Ariel staggers towards the voice without her vision to guide her, and someone pulls her in then pushes her to the ground. In the sudden darkness, she looks back towards the sky. She expects to see nothing, but Rho's shield isn't metal. Ariel can't say she knows what it is exactly, but whatever it is it's a wide tinted see-through material that allows her to gape at the golden wings that appear to engulf the entire sky.
"She's not—Rho, isn't she too close?" Calhoun asks. "The last time—"
Air sucks upwards like a vacuum, stealing sound and leaving a silent void in its wake. A blinding orb grows from the center of the wings and for a beautiful, terrifying moment, it hangs suspended. Then it explodes in a gigantic beam aimed into the darkness of space.
Shockwaves crash into the noiseless sea, sending towering waves arcing into the sky and crashing against the tiny island the heroes crouch on. Ariel touches her trident and uses its power over air to create a hard bubble of oxygen around them that the water rolls off of.
Ariel listens to the blood rumbling in her ears, deciding to focus on the only thing that still has sound, even as they continue to be submerged under gigantic surfs.
Time drags on, with no beginning and no end, until finally the rumble of the ocean greets her ears once more.
Calhoun huffs out a tight laugh. "That's . . . fuck, she makes Athena look like a petty meta."
A muscle in Rho's cheek spasms at the mention of Athena, followed by an eyebrow twitch of confusion and then nothing. Just a neutral expression and smooth skin, marred by the blue nose tattoo Anna never wanted. Though Ariel supposes it doesn't matter what Anna wants anymore.
The ground beneath their knees tremble from a force greater than the turbulent ocean.
Rho hums and taps Ariel's knee with the back of her hand to grab her attention. "Can you expand the air bubble?"
Ariel complies before Rho's last word can lilt into a question. It's so easy she can't discern the slight pull of her powers and the unconscious act of breathing.
Rho's shield evaporates into thin air and she stands, tall and firm with her chin held high. "You're leaking."
Leaking? Ariel turns her head, and every muscle in her body jolts in surprise.
Emma walks through the wall of water with gold magic dripping from her ears like thick syrup. She makes a face and spits the same golden material on the ground, where it sizzles and burns the rock like acid. "It's harder to contain my powers with the hole Crossroads punched into them, sorry." She rolls her shoulders and sucks in a sharp breath of air when yellow lightning starts crackling around her fingers. "What's the verdict? Did I hit them?"
A voice Ariel doesn't recognize hums in response. "You got us, alright."
Everyone sans Rho whips towards the newcomer with their weapons at the ready. Emma and Calhoun are the first to falter.
"Son," Emma says. Her gaze flicks above Hades' head as if looking at something no one else can see. Then she rubs her eyes as if she hasn't slept in years and takes a seat on the same rock she spit on. She doesn't speak further, but Ariel suspects it may be more because she can't find the words rather than not wanting to.
Hades takes off his crown, revealing his rugged features and an ecstatic grin that makes his eyes glitter with excitement. "I missed you, too, mom." He turns to Calhoun and throws his arms out wide. "Old pal! You have no idea how excited I was when I heard you were able to get your body back. It was long overdue, in my opinion."
Something . . . isn't right.
Ariel glances at the other leaguers and finds some comfort in the fact that they look as confused as she is. She saddles up to Rho and nudges her in the side, trying to get an answer—when she notices that Rho's eyes are wide and her breathing is uneven.
"Were you?" Calhoun asks in a conversational tone, but it's hard to tell what she's feeling with the helmet distorting her voice. "Why's that?"
Hades' eyebrows furrow as if he doesn't understand the question. "Because you didn't deserve to be stuck in a computer your whole life. Why else?" He glances around and looks as if he's noticing their offensive stances aimed his way for the first time. "I . . . I'm sorry, am I missing something?"
"Tainted hellfire smoke wasn't supposed to turn anyone insane," Rho chokes with a jagged breath. "I didn't think—this extent—" She clamps a hand over her mouth to muffle a strangled scream. She grabs her wrist and rips the hand away from her lips as if her body were fighting with itself.
Hades' eyes harden and he gestures with both hands for everyone to get behind him. "I'm sorry it took me this long to get back to help you all. Please step back and allow me to rid this world of a mistake."
Ariel grits before her brain can register the words. Anger like she's never known before courses through her veins. She knew she was capable of feeling such a thing after falling through a hell gate, but now it's just under her skin. It thrashes and it screams, begging for release, so she reaches out to the safest thing she can—the ocean—and pours her rage into an explosion of power that rends through the water. It stops, shutters, and settles back into the ocean without so much as a ripple across the surface.
People blink against the sun that now burns against them, but Ariel doesn't flinch. She's too busy listening to the screaming darkness, telling her she needs to do more, make someone hurt.
Her arms tremble with ire she can't contain and she steps over the now completely dry land with her teeth bared like a predator. "The only mistake here is the fact that you're fighting for the wrong side."
Hades frowns. "Anna's instability has left this planet in turmoil for years. She may have made her amends to you now . . . but look at her. There are three people in her head struggling for the wheel, and not all of them have your wellbeing in mind." He gestures to himself and takes a hesitant step forward. "Just let me reclaim the family scythe and I can help you more than she ever could."
Kill her, you mean. Ariel tries not to scowl.
"We were friends." Rho sobs, and it startles Ariel so badly she gives herself whiplash in her hurry to turn around. Rho blinks at Hades with wide, disbelieving eyes. "James," she begs. "Don't—if you're still—please don't make me fight you."
That's Anna. Ariel's heart stutters, then she grinds her teeth together. The old Elites. It always comes down to them. They were the people who haunted Anna every night, so of course they're the only ones who can drag her out while under Rho's control. I've only ever been a bandage on a gaping wound. Helpful, but never enough to truly heal her.
Hades ducks his head so he doesn't appear as tall and offers Anna a remorseful smile. "Hey, champ. How are you doing in there?"
"I-I missed you," Anna chokes. Tears spill from her eyes and she collapses to her knees with her hands clutching at her chest. She doesn't try justifying what she's done, nor does she apologise. All she does is stare at Hades with an honest expression that begs him to understand.
Hades' smile falters. He clears his throat once, twice, before he offers a hand. "Come with me. Perhaps, if you're willing, we can fix what's happened in your head. We can help you, Anna."
Anna grits her teeth. Tears drip off the curve of her jaw. "We can't trust the Ambassadors."
Hades sighs and lowers his hand. "You don't know them."
"I lost everything to them!"
"And I've lived with them."
Hades offers her a polite smile, but it's somehow less friendly than his expression before. He shuffles his front foot back as if to put more space between them. Tense silence stretches between the two original Elites, and Ariel can sense neither of them are willing to back down.
A muscles jumps in Anna's jaw and she pushes to her feet. "Be careful, Emma." Her voice is dead, defeated, but it has enough hardened resolve for a thousand legions. "All his seals are open."
Hades' eyes pinch and he clenches the crown he still holds. "Anna, surely you're not—now that I've seen you, I know that we don't have to fight. We don't have to do this." He doesn't sound like he believes it.
An Ambassador ship, nothing but a small cruiser, comes sharp stop in the sky above them. Moments later, the broken sound barrier catches up with a type of rumble Ariel's never heard before.
Anna hums with an indifference that makes Ariel wonder if Rho's come back. "Seems we do." She turns to Ariel with impassive eyes. Rho it is. "Take them out." She snaps her metal fingers, and suddenly Ariel is standing in the middle of the bridge of a ship.
Goat horns and horizontal pupils turn her way in shock, and Ariel's lips crack into a humourless smile. "Sorry," she says with no sincerity. She pulls her trident from her back and hefts it in front of her. "You get how orders are." She sucks all the air from the room and pushes back the air trying to get in from the vents.
The Ambassadors grasp at their throats, eyes bulging, and Ariel makes quick work of running her trident through those foolish enough to reach for their weapons. She only allows the air back in once everyone is dead.
She half expects the guilt she used to get when hurting people, but it never comes. She doesn't feel guilty, and she certainly doesn't feel like she's wrong.
Okay. Let's go gut everyone else.
Elsa stares at the empty space Ariel once occupied and curls her hands into fists. She wonders if this is necessary, if by some cruel joke it's Hades that's right. How could she know any different when the only old Elite she's ever dealt with is Arson?
And Arson . . . she's the opposite of the old legend standing before her now.
Hades' grits his teeth and he whips his head up to the cruiser. He does say anything despite the fury radiating off him. When the ship starts listing to the side, slow but far from deliberate, he turns back to Rho with his lips pressed into a thin line. "I wish you hadn't done that."
"You came here with the intent to ravage this planet," Rho replies will little care in her voice. "I'm only ensuring I'm not making the same mistake she"—she taps her temple—"made back then."
"We didn't come here for the planet; we came here for you!" Hades shouts. "You've killed millions of people because of a mistake—yes, a mistake—the Ambassadors made. They thought the only way to correct this error was to kill you, but that isn't the case, is it? All you have to do is stop and everything will be fine." He offers his hand once more. "Don't put us on opposite sides again."
For whatever it's worth, Hades believes what he's saying. Elsa can hear the conviction in his voice, the absolute belief that he's doing the right thing. Maybe he's right. She believed the media, before the first Incident, and after that she'd believed Anna and Calhoun. At no point after becoming an Elite had she read over the official reports to form an opinion of her own.
Rho's expression crumbles and, for the second time in so many minutes, she's Anna again. "I'm not—James, I am in the Ambassador systems. I know what they've been planning to do, I've read it."
Hades shakes his head, slow and cautious. "You have an AI in your head you can't control. Who's to say that AI isn't warping your reality the same way the hellfire smoke serum did?"
Anna tilts her head to the sky, her eyes wide and wild. "N-no, I still remember what the Ambassadors tried to do to Earth before all of this. They didn't want to help us, they wanted to control us."
In the distance, the cruiser crashes into the ocean.
Hades tilts his head and touches a small comm system he has in his ear. "I know, but wait. Give me a second to—yes. Okay." He lowers his hand to scratch at his beard, his eyes lost in thought.
"He's not right, is he?" Anna asks as a quiet, panicked whisper. "Is this reality? Am I wrong, somehow? It wouldn't be the first time." She slams her eyes closed. "It wouldn't be the first time," she repeats with a cracking voice.
Seeing Anna having a crisis over what Elsa only considered in her head makes her stomach turn. Anna has always been confident and determined even when everything crumbled around her, so to see her drowning in doubt makes her wonder if this was the Ambassador's plan. The easiest way of winning a fight is to make sure the other team won't push back.
Elsa takes a step forward, then hesitates. What if she's wrong? The Ambassadors aren't a foe she's ever had to face. She doesn't know—
Kida pushes past her with purpose in her step and her cape billowing in the wind. With hardened eyes and teeth clenched hard enough to snap steel, she grabs Anna's jaw and forces her to her knees.
"This is what the Ambassadors do, they're political," Kida hisses. Ire simmers in the back of her throat, as hot and deadly as any bolt of lightning. "You hesitated back then and it was the worst error you'd ever made, and now you're doing it again."
Anna stares up at the electric meta like a deer caught in headlights. This is the first time they've been this close to each other since the second Incident, and it doesn't appear as if Anna's processing it well.
Kida curls her fingers until her nails bite into Anna's cheeks. "It's about fucking time you learned from your failures because you were wrong then and you're wrong now." She pulls Anna from the ground and all but headbutts her when they're both standing. "You sacrificed so much you've lost your way," she snarls with her nose digging into Anna's. "All I've heard these past months is how sorry you are. How tired you are. How you want to die when all this is said and done.
"We deserve better than that. We deserve more than you." Kida pushes the fire meta away with a force that sends her spiraling on her back. "We don't need you, Anna. That's my judgement. Just lay down, stop fighting, and give us Beta Rho."
A heaviness crushes Elsa's wildly beating chest, and she wonders if anyone else feels it, too. The tension. It's so thick even the air is getting dragged down by the gravity of it.
Ariel leaps onto the island from the water and lands beside Calhoun with all the grace she's always possessed. She takes a moment to observe the scene, then narrows her eyes as if realizing she's missed something vital.
Anna's haphazard breathing evens out the longer she meets Kida's gaze, then something settles within her eyes. Every nerve in Elsa's body jolts at the change, but she can't fathom why for the life of her.
A serene smile graces Anna's lips and she relaxes into the rocks pressing into her spine. "I suppose this is far overdue."
Calhoun takes a step disbelieving step forward. "Anna?" Her own breaking voice sets her feet into motion and she rushes to Anna's side and scoops her up into her armoured arms. "Whatever you're thinking, don't do it. Don't—I can't—not again."
Hades strides forward like he isn't quite sure what to think. He eases Kida out of the way and kneels by Anna's side with a hovering hand that he isn't sure is welcome or not. He curls his fingers towards his palm and drops his arm. "If Jennifer were here, I suppose she'd be panicking right now," he muses. "But you're still going to be in there, somewhere."
Anna reaches out and traces the contours of Hades' nose, his cheeks. Her smile widens and, for the first time in Elsa's memory, Anna appears completely at peace with who she is, with what she's done. And that's scarier than any outburst of anger, any glow of red eyes.
"No matter the lies spread throughout all of this, you were right about one thing," Anna says with an eerie sense of tranquility. "Three is far too many."
Hades' eyebrows furrow. "Three?" His shoulders jolt and his breathing hitches. "Yes, but it's the other two that don't belong, you're still—Anna? Anna!" He grabs Anna's arm when her body slumps. When her eyes slip shut.
He shakes her, harder and harder, until Calhoun pulls the limp body out of his reach and sits away from everyone else. She cradles Anna against her chest and mutters under her breath, low and incomprehensible.
Hades' harsh, shaky breathing is the only other thing that cuts through the oppressive silence. He points a trembling finger at Anna's chest. "She's still breathing," he whispers, as if anything louder could break whatever hope he clutches to.
"Someone is," Calhoun mutters, before going back to murmuring under her breath. Elsa wonders if it's a prayer to a distant god she doesn't know. Is Calhoun even religious? Elsa doesn't know. She never asked.
Ariel stares at the distant horizon and clucks her tongue. "So much for saving each other." She launches her trident with the force of a bullet, but a hell gate prevents it from severing Hades' neck from his shoulders. "Hm. Worth a sh—ahh!" She collapses to her knees with the three spokes of her trident protruding from her stomach.
"Don't test me right now," Hades hisses, and it sounds vile with the rage that vibrates within the words. He pushes to his feet and storms over to Ariel with his limbs starting to wisp into incomprehensible black smoke. "With everything I've gone through, everything I've lost, I finally realized there was family still out there for me, and you—no. Not you." He turns to Kida with a deadly promise flashing in his eyes. "I swear on the Dof, girl. If Anna is gone, you will be, too."
Ariel hacks up blue tinged blood and lets it drool down her chin. "You still have Emma," she gurgles, then winces. She runs her tongue along her blood-stained teeth and spits out a glob of blood.
Emma. Elsa looks to the last place she saw the woman, and sure enough she's still sitting in the exact same position, as still as a statue. "Emma!" she calls, hoping that somehow her voice can cut through everything else. "We need you!"
Emma doesn't move.
"You promised Rho you'd help," Ariel says, but her voice is weak. Her lips twist into a sardonic smile and she stands, trident and all, and reaches behind her. She rips the weapon out of her and slams it into the ground like a makeshift walking stick. No blood leaks from her wounds, as if she's using her powers to keep everything where it should be. "But this whole day's been a disappointment. I suppose it's only fitting you become one of them."
Elsa opens her mouth to protest, but finds she can't find the words to do it. As much as she hates to admit it, Ariel has a point even if she's undersold it. It isn't disappointing that Emma isn't leaping to their aid, it's deadly. At this rate, it would have been better to risk their cellular integrity to Rapunzel's heaven healing.
"He's not like Grim or Reaper," Emma finally utters. "This—he's still him. He's still my son and he hasn't lost himself. I can't oppose that."
You can, but you won't. Elsa wishes she could begrudge Emma for that, but the truth is that she would do the same thing, in her shoes. If it wasn't for the fact that being here is protecting Rapunzel and their families, Elsa would have fled with her tail between her legs.
She doesn't want to be here. She doesn't want to fight, to kill people, but the alternative of abandoning everything . . . she wouldn't be able to live with herself. Perhaps she thinks she can minimize damage in a way the old Elites hadn't in the last major battle in Earth's orbit, and that's enough, she supposes.
Anna's body raises from Calhoun's lap and the muscles in her jaw works as if there's food stuck in her teeth.
"Then leave the fighting to us, but for the sake of something, keep us healed." The voice is too monotone to be Anna, and her gold ringed teal eyes show no sign of turning red. She's Beta Rho again.
Hades' limbs stop misting out of shape, making his body whole again. His eyes shine with an uncertainty the tautness of his muscles doesn't betray. "Anna?"
Rho blinks and stares at Hades with the closest thing to uncertainty that Elsa has ever seen, but it's gone as soon as it appears.
With a hum Rho rubs at her chest and glances at the sky, her pupils darting back and forth to catch sight of something Elsa can't see. "Gone," she finally says.
"Gone?" Hades repeats.
The metal over Rho's left hand snaps back, revealing the golden energy underneath. She teleports to Emma's side and touches the golden fingers to the back of Emma's neck. "Gone," she affirms when Emma starts squirming underneath her.
Emma scrambles away from Rho's hand with a groan, and she shakes her head over and over. It doesn't stop the bright yellow steam from raising out the corners of her mouth and arching into the air like an artist's wild stroke across a canvas.
"So that's it, then?" Hades takes his own seat, far away from everyone except for Calhoun. "Anna's . . . what would that be, dead? Is she dead?"
The metal encloses Rho's hand once more and she tests the mobility of her fingers several times before she gives Hades the courtesy of looking at him. "People are made of memories and in that sense she is not gone, but she kept true to her word. Where once there were three, now there's two. I can't say I'm happy about which one stayed."
Hades bows his head and doesn't ask anymore questions.
It's odd, looking at him like this. It makes Elsa realize that he still cares about Anna in spite of everything that's happened between them, and he has more reason than anyone else to loathe her.
Elsa glances at Calhoun, still sitting cross-legged with her hands in her lap and her head bowed. It was the same with her, too. She trusted Anna no matter what happened, no matter how much evidence piled up against her. The old Elites . . . they may have been flawed but they shared a loyalty that ran so deep not even being on opposite sides could break it.
Then there's the new Elites, who can barely bother to cooperate. A bitterness stings in Elsa's chest but she shoves it away. Not now.
Rho drops her hand from her chest, but her hand twitches for a reason Elsa can't begin to understand. "Emma, heal Poseidon," she barks. Orders. "Everyone else, try not to get blown out an airlock. I may not be available to teleport you back to safety."
Calhoun glances Rho's way, but her helmet bars Elsa from seeing her expression. Know what she's feeling.
"The battle continues?" Calhoun asks. There's nothing in her metallic voice that betrays her emotions, or perhaps that's the most telling sign of all.
"It does."
Calhoun stands and summons a nasty looking turret into her hands. She nods, and that's the only confirmation Rho needs before teleporting her to who knows where.
Rho turns to Kida. "Ready?"
Kida grimaces but falls into a fighting stance regardless. She disappears before she can say anything, and Rho looks at the next person, Elsa.
"Wait, wait," Hades says, finally catching up with the situation. "I can't let you attack the fleet. These people—they're my people now, and I can't let you hurt them."
Rho hums. "What nasty business, your people against mine." Armour forms out of thin air, wrapping around her as if it has always been a part of her. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry." Her body faces Elsa once more.
Then Elsa feels her insides twist and sees her surroundings change. "Fuck," she grunts, if only to supress her urge to barf. She summons her icy armour and sprints her way through the hallway Rho dropped her in.
An Ambassador exits a room in her path, and Elsa punches his head clear off his shoulders before he even knows she's there. Alarm raises in the room he left but with half a thought—just half a thought—she plunges the room into ultimate zero and keeps running.
She keeps her eyes peeled, keeps her senses alert for the next threat. As long as she keeps focusing on the present, she can't look back.
As long as she doesn't look back, she can make it through this.