And another quick chapter. Fast updates came unexpected, even for me, but it's over before we could all get used to it because the next weeks will see a lot of work for me. So yeah, please don't expect another chapter next week already.
That being said: Here's some more flashback. Next chapter will then go back on progressing the story.
Chapter 31
Trouble in Paradise
Part II
Sternenheim
Still shortly before the journey to Aiur...
Paula didn't know when she had fallen asleep. Not that it mattered. Sternenheim was unique in the sense that time seemed to be non-existent. It was one of the more beautiful things about this world. Beautiful...and dangerous.
Imagine a world where everything is perfect. Unless you're a night person. In that case, Sternenheim is a goddamn nightmare. But for everyone else...
You want to take a nap? Just lay down on the beach and do it.
You're thirsty? Just jump into the ocean.
You're hungry? Just grab a squidfish and have a snack. Though you should roast it first. Then again, Paula's mother would tell everyone that living squidfish had a certain appeal to it...
To quote Paula's father: "I take your word for it."
So yeah, Sternenheim was the very definition of the word tranquil paradise. And that made it so dangerous.
Perhaps it was only natural that Paula was drawn towards everything that lay beyond this horizon, far away from this world she called home. For a long time, she had tried to deny her own doubts about whether this place was truly good for her and her family.
In a place where there was no hunger, no pain, and not even a sense of time you could grow...detached. Of the worlds around you. Of the people around you. Paula had never considered Sternenheim as a golden cage, for her parents had never kept her on a leash. They had always allowed her to travel the galaxy, once she had turned old enough, and meet other people.
The same, however, couldn't be said about Sarah and her sisters...
If there was one thing Paula truly regretted in her life, then it was that she hadn't been able to help Izsha's kids sooner. They were still family. At least to Paula.
Being the (so far) only kid of Sarah Kerrigan and James Raynor wasn't that bad. Most likely because Paula scored it big time when it came to the quality of her parents. As for Izsha's methods of parenthood, well...
At the end of the day, Izsha was not just Paula's mother's best friend, but she was still the very same Izsha that had served her for centuries. There were several constants in the universe: Gravity, time is relative, nothing is faster than light except, you know, when it is, that stuff...
...and Izsha would always, always remain faithful to the former Queen of the Swarm.
Sure, good old Izsha had developed quite the attitude throughout times. And on occasion, she would decide to whip Sarah Kerrigan into shape. But it was her way of showing her affection. And her devotion was indeed boundless. It was so deep that, to make sure that Paula would actually have the honor of being the real "firstborn", Izsha had decided to keep all the eggs she had produced over the time on cold storage, only to allow them to hatch once Paula had been born.
Uncle Joe hadn't been happy about that, but for all of his bluster and snarky humor, he was exceptionally bad when it came to standing up to Izsha. So, to make sure that Sarah (Paula's mother) would have the honor to bring the first offspring into the world, Izsha had kept her own brood on hold.
Sounds extreme?
Well, buckle up, because it's about to get worse...
To call Izsha a bad mother would be unfair. And suicidal. She did care for her offspring...probably. And for Joe. Hopefully. But at the same time, she had decided a long time ago that her job, her sense of purpose was to stay at Sarah Kerrigan's side, as her most trusted friend and aid. That had been Izsha's decision, which was fair game. Unfortunately, it was what she expected of her offspring as well.
And this is where things get complicated.
Just because you like something, doesn't mean that others have to automatically like it too, right?
If life would only be that easy...
Izsha's self-image revolved around the fact that she was Sarah Kerrigan's friend and aid and of unshakable loyalty. So, in her set of mind, it was only reasonable to assume that her kids would be the same. If not for Sarah Kerrigan, then at the very least for Paula. So Izsha had focused her parenting on training her daughters to be the most useful minions you could imagine.
Needlessly to say that this didn't go down as planned.
Sarah and her sisters had no intentions of serving anyone but themselves. And you know what? That was completely fine. Everyone could live with that. Everyone except Izsha. To call her relationship with her daughters "rocky" would be the understatement of the century. And while Joe was running for "greatest dad of the universe" regularly, he just didn't have the spine to stand up for his girls. They had never been allowed off-world on their own, unlike Paula. The only time they had traveled to other worlds was when Paula's mother had taken one or two of them with her. Sarah Kerrigan wasn't too happy about Izsha's parenting skills either, but no matter how powerful someone is: No one wants to get on Izsha's bad side.
No one.
For Sarah and her sisters, those journeys had been torture. Sure, they were all linked together. They were individuals and a collective at the same time. Either all of them experienced something, or none of them did so fully. Izsha had ordered them to remain on Sternenheim until they were willing to serve Sarah Kerrigan or Paula. And there was no chance in hell that something like that would happen anytime soon.
So yeah, even Paula wasn't really responsible for it, that was the reason why Izsha's kids didn't like her. And she couldn't blame them.
She had tried to be their friend, a couple of times actually. But if there was one thing they didn't need, then it was a friend. No, what Sarah and her sisters truly needed...
...was a partner in crime.
Even then the plan they had cooked up was dangerously stupid. And should they screw up, then Izsha's wrath would be truly a thing of nightmares.
What was far worse for Paula, however, wasn't the fact that they would end up making Izsha angry either way. No, what truly bothered Paula was that Sarah and her sisters would most likely take all the blame, and Paula Kerrigan would be cut all the slag. It was unfair.
"Better not screw up then." Paula sighed as she opened her eyes.
All Sarah and her sisters wanted was to get off this world and be the masters of their own fate. And the Hyperion would be a great tool for that goal to achieve. Hopefully.
"Sssssssaaaaaaaaa..."
Suddenly a hiss reached Paula's ears. It sounded like...rattle-snakes. If she knew what rattle-snakes were. She got back up and looked over her shoulders at the lush jungle behind her. She could see how something moved behind the trees. Something big. Something mostly made out of muscles. And teeth.
"Sssssssaaaaaaaa..." Another hiss, this one downright evil.
"Oh no..." Paula whispered.
She had found her...
What emerged from the jungle was the stuff of nightmares. Think of a Zergling that has been beaten with the ugly stick, only far, far worse. The creature walked on all fours. It was almost double the size of a Zergling, and its whole body was covered by light gray, almost white leathery skin. Its tail was long and flexible and ended in a sharp tip that could easily tear through flesh and bone.
But what made this creature truly special was its head.
Oh gosh, that head...
It resembled a hammerhead shark. Only way, way worse. Yellow eyes stared at Paula, and she could see the rage in them. This creature was angry. It opened its maw, presenting countless needle-like teeth.
"Sssssssaaaaaaaaaaa!" the creature hissed again...and then pounced forward.
"Oh nonononONOOOOOOOOO!" Paula screamed and tried to get back on her feet. But it was too late. This predator was fast, too fast for her to get away. All she could do was bracing herself for the impact.
"WHOA!" Paula managed to scream as she was hurled through the air and landed on the soft sand. Her mother would probably have been able to deal with such an attack even without using her powers. But Paula was not Sarah Kerrigan. And thus, she was utterly helpless as the huge and terrifying creature stood right above her. It hissed once more, opened its ugly maw, pushed out its long and flexible tongue...
...and began to slobber all over Paula's face.
"Eeeeeeeeeew! Moby! Stop! Stop it, girl!" Paula squealed, even though it was pointless. The creature going by the name of Moby unleashed all of her rage by furiously coating Paula with drool. And that was not enough. After this hideous thing was done licking Paula clean, it simply dropped itself on the young woman and buried her beneath itself.
"Unf...yeah...I missed...you too...big girl..." Paula managed to groan as the huge kriecher kept her pinned to the ground.
"Ssssaaaaa ssssaaaa sssaaaaaa..."
"Sorry...for not...bringing you...along..."
"Ssssssaaaaa ssssaaaaaaa..."
"...but I was worried...that people would...shoot you...on sight..."
"Sssssssaaaaaaaaa!"
"Could you...get off me?"
"Ssssssaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa..."
"I take this...as a... no..." Paula groaned. Gosh, Moby was so heavy! Having your own pet-kriecher was nice and all, but boy was she getting fat! Paula tried to wiggle her way out of this predicament but Moby would just make herself even heavier while producing hisses of happiness. To everyone else, it probably sounded like a monster trying to win a hissing contest. To Paula, however, this was the sound of her most beloved pet.
"You think...you got this, don't you?" Paula gasped.
"Ssssaaa sssaaa ssssaaaaaa..."
"You think that I'm helpless and that you will only let me leave if I get you some treats...right girl?"
"Sssssssaaaaaaaaaa!"
"Well, how about...THIS!" Paula pushed her hands against Moby's armpits, or rather "front-leg-pits", and delivered a crushing blow when she attacked the once weak spot of this dreadful, dreadful cuddle monster.
"SSSSSSAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Moby hissed in bliss as Paula began to scratch the kriecher as hard as possible. The huge animal threw her head from one side to the other and wiggled her tail as she enjoyed it to the fullest. It was so good, in fact, that Moby rolled around and on her back and allowed, no, demanded that Paula would give her a proper scratching.
"Oh, now I got you! I discovered the one weak spot of the mighty and fearsome Moby! Well, that and treats of course!"
"Sssssaaaa ssssaaaa sssaaaaaaaaaaa!" Oh, how the tables had turned! Now it was payback time! Or, rather, scratch-back time! Paula climbed on the chest of her oh-so-fearsome pet and gave her the scratching of a lifetime.
"Yes, I know I left you behind. But it's all for the greater good, believe me." She was pretty certain that Moby didn't care one bit about any of that. What she craved the most were treats, a good scratch, and sleeping in other people's beds.
That made her an instant favorite among locals.
Who didn't want their very own hammerhead shark on four legs who had no concept of personal space and loved to be spoiled?
The scratch-attack, however, proved to be super effective. So effective, in fact, that Moby gave up all resistance and just allowed her favorite human servant to continue to worship and spoil her. As it should be.
Sarah, Paula's Mum, had once lamented that in reality Moby was in control of them all. And there was no doubt in anyone's mind that Moby thought that everyone existed solely to please her.
"Sssssaaa ssssaaaa sssaaaaaaaaa..." the huge kriecher hissed happily.
"That's the life, huh? Lying here on the beach, getting your favorite human to scratch you. All that you need now is someone to put treats in your mouth, yeah?"
"Ssssssssaaaaaaaaa!"
In case people didn't know what this meant: "Yes!"
Paula was too occupied playing with Moby to realize that someone was approaching. Only when she noticed a shadow falling over them, she looked up and offered a goofy smile.
"Oh, hey, uhm..." It was one of Izsha's daughters, and it was not Sarah. This one was a bit smaller. But since there were over 400 of them, it was kind of hard to tell which one this was.
"Annette." the newcomer replied. "It's Annette."
"Right, I knew it! Haha! Want to-" Paula stopped to scratch Moby for a second, but a second of being not scratched was all that Moby needed to grow restless again. So, back to more scratching!
"If you're done petting your...pet..." Annette growled. "...we are good to go."
"Already? You fixed the Hyperion?" Paula asked in surprise.
"Enough to get her space-born again. But we wasted enough time here. Come on, we want to get off this rock. Before she returns." When Paula heard that, she stopped scratching Moby once more and sighed. The cuddle monster hissed and looked at her, demanding for Paula to continue.
"Sorry, girl, she's right. We gotta go." Paula sighed. It was time to move out.
If they had managed to fix the Hyperion, then it sure didn't look like that. Parts of her hull were still smoking.
"Come on, come on, get a move on sisters!" Sarah yelled as Paula and Annette arrived. "We wasted enough time already! Remember; the longer we waste time here, the bigger the chance that she's gonna show up." Paula could swear that they all began to move even faster at the mentioning of her.
Behind Paula Moby had decided to trot along. Every now and then she would nudge her head against Paula's leg, either to get more scratches or some treats. Sadly, there was time for neither.
"You're done?" Paula asked as she stopped next to Sarah.
"No. But we managed to patch her up just enough to get out of here. She will require some more work though. So, it won't be a short trip to Aiur, I'm afraid." Sarah's co-firstborn replied. Well, that sure sounded like a spanner in the works.
"How long will it take to fix her up?" Paula groaned. "I don't want to keep Artanis waiting for too long. He's really old, you know."
"Yes, we know, we know. It is what it is. You want this to be over quickly? Then get on board and let's take off. We gotta scramble soon." Well, simple enough. That was something Paula could do. But first...
"I'm sorry, Moby, but you can't come with us." she said and knelt down in front of Moby, who hissed at her in a sign of displeasure. "I know, I know. But I will be back, I promise. And then I will scratch you as long as you like, and feed you all your favorite treats."
"Geez, I wonder how it's possible that your little critter ended up the way it did." Sarah muttered before she turned around. Behind them, countless of her sisters suddenly emerged from the Hyperion as if on cue. Paula frowned when she saw that.
"Something the matter?"
"None of your business, prodigy." Sarah explained. "Also: Do me a favor and just stand there, keep petting your pet, and for once in your life: Be quiet for 5 minutes."
"I can be qui-"
"Shut it!"
"But-"
"I said be quiet."
"I didn't even-"
"Put a sock in it, or you can walk to Aiur!"
This time Paula remained silent.
All of Sarah's sisters gathered around the oldest one and Paula realized that she should indeed keep her mouth shut. What she witnessed was probably a personal and private moment. Come to think of it...she couldn't remember seeing something like this from Sarah and her sisters in, like, ever. More and more mini-Izsha's appeared, and so Paula actually had to grab Moby and make room for all of them. She was pretty certain that they didn't want her to be around for this moment. But what else could she do?
And so...
"Sisters..." Sarah began. "It is time. I know we are all in sync. I know that we all agreed to it. But even though we all share a connection, we are also all individuals. I know that some of you are afraid. I know that some of you do not really want to do this, and I feel the same." She sighed. "But we all know that this can't be our future. Father always told us we deserve more than just serving someone else. I don't want to live with the shame that he put all his heart and soul into raising us, only for us to fall in line and do as mother tells us to do." A lot of them nodded, some hugged each other, and Paula could see even a couple of them crying.
It was actually pretty heartbreaking.
Paula realized that she should indeed keep her mouth shut. While she had been allowed to travel the galaxy, they had never all left Sternenheim together. To them, it was a huge step. And there was no way to go back anymore. Not when Izsha would find out...
"So, for better or worse, we are about to embark on a journey where we don't know how it will end. We might bite off more than we can chew, and we might end up in a place worse than where we started, but remember this..." Sarah said and held her breath for a moment. "...we will be together." There was a moment of solemnity, and Paula had to admit that it was hard to watch. She really wished that things had turned out differently. Really, the thought of her being best friends with Sarah and her sisters was something that she wished had happened.
But, alas, things had turned out differently.
"That being said, there's still one thing we have to do." Sarah sighed. "And I know we all hate ourselves for doing this. But it has to be. Rose?" The sisters made way for one of their own. Paula had a problem with remembering their names, sure. But she knew that Rose was the youngest of them. And it showed.
Have you ever seen a Zerg...pardon, not-Zerg that's so cute that you want to cuddle her?
Well, that was Rose.
She looked like a baby-Izsha, complete with stubby arms and a tail that seemed far too small to make her move around. And yet she did. Pretty fast, actually.
"Here I am!" the tiny mini-Izsha chirped. "Leave it to me, sisters!"
Paula had to fight the urge to just add an "Awwwww..." because this little thing was just so darn cute. Sarah lowered herself and placed her tail around little Rose.
"Rose, thank you. You are so brave. I... we all promise that we will be back as soon as possible."
"I got this!" Rose confirmed and grinned from one end of her face to the other.
"Remember; if her reaction is even worse than we think, run. Or ask Miss Kerrigan for help."
"Oki-doki!" Rose replied and gave Sarah a thumbs-up.
"Awwwwww..." Paula whined. So cute. Why did it have to be the cutest one? Several sisters looked at Paula, and it seemed as if they were thinking about tearing her apart for ruining the moment. Her mere presence was enough for that right now...
"We will return for you. It's a promise." Sarah sighed and hugged her little sister. Others approached too and slung their arms and tails around Rose. It was a touching moment, and Paula did her best to just keep a low profile and Moby from ruining it by making a scene.
Which meant more scratching.
A lot more scratching.
Once everything was said and done, and Sarah and her sisters had said goodbye to Rose, it was time to board the Hyperion. Standing in a safe location, Rose was staring at the huge vessel as it began to rise into the sky, causing even more unwanted destruction as its thrusters scorched what was left of Jim Raynor's stone garden. Rose watched in awe as the giant ship was launched. Next to her, Moby whined since she too had been left behind.
"Goodbye, Sisters!" Rose yelled and threw her little arms into the air. "Don't worry, I got this!"
She really wished she could be with her sisters, but she had an important job to do!
Suddenly the whole Hyperion began to tremble, and for a second it seemed that she was about to come apart. That's when the vessel made a jump forward and vanished within the blink of an eye as its FTL drive came alive. And then the ship was gone. And Rose was alone.
It felt weird to not have her sisters around. It felt...scary.
But Rose had to be brave. Besides, she was never truly alone. All she had to do now was to wait and-
"-can't believe you let her get away with it!"
Or not.
A bright flash of light illuminated the scorched forest behind her, and both Paula and Moby turned around and faced the newcomers. And what she saw...
...was magnificent.
Right above her in the sky, there was a figure of a woman. Her body seemed to be made out of pure energy and her hair floated like fire. Right beneath her, on the scorched ground, stood four figures. The first one, who was shouting at the celestial being, grabbed his head and seemed to be pretty angry at something.
"Who knows where she went! And what the hell does she want to do with a battlecruiser anyway? Has Paula told you about any of that? Hey! HEY! Sarah, I'm speaking with you! Don't you dare to ignore me!" James Raynor barked.
I'd never ignore you, Jim. Sarah Kerrigan's voice echoed through all of their minds at once. You know that.
"Yeah, well, you're not even looking at me when I talk to you! Don't you dare to play godlike entity right now, Missy!" he growled.
I'm a woman, Jim, I can multi-task.
You could actually hear the amusement in her voice. Something Jim Raynor wasn't too fond of.
"I don't see what's so funny! Our girl is out there doing godknowswhat, and you're just gonna sit here and twiddle your thumbs?!" Next to him, Tesson and Joseph looked around. They immediately noticed that this place had changed.
"Uhm...people?" Joseph muttered as he recognized the destruction.
"What the...?" Tesson whispered as well. However, neither Jim nor Sarah seemed to realize what had happened. And they were not the only ones.
"It is clear that Sarah does not wish to talk about this topic, James." Izsha chirped. "Whatever Paula does or does not, it is of no concern to you." When Jim heard that, he faced Izsha and his eyelid began to twitch.
"She is still my daughter, Izsha! And if my daughter decides to go reckless and harm others, then it's damn-well my business!"
"Uh...guys?" Joe asked again. "Perhaps you should look around."
"Yes, I agree." Tesson said. He raised his hand and it appeared that he was about to activate his psi-blade, but then he relented when he saw a certain mini-version of Izsha next to a certain ugly pet, and the mini-Izsha was waving her little hand like crazy.
"While I agree that Paula's actions seemed reckless, it is her privilege to do so." And then Izsha leaned down and looked straight into Jim's eyes. "If there is a failure in the way she behaves, then I am certain that the reason for that can be found in her upbringing."
"Are you implying that Sarah and I raised a dud?" Jim growled.
"No. I'm saying that if Paula is a dud, then you are to blame for that, not her Majesty."
Above them, Sarah smirked. Yet that smirk vanished when she too finally looked around.
Uh...oh.
"That's rich, criticism from someone who doesn't even bother raising her own kids!" Jim shot back at Izsha. "If I remember correctly, then Joe is doing all the work!"
"As he should, for it is his duty!"
"That...it...I don't...you're unbelievable, you know that?!" Jim yelled. "Yo, guys, could you back me up over here? Guys? People? What the...hell." Only then Jim looked around and noticed the carnage around him. His face went pale in an instant.
"What...happened." Everyone seemed to be shocked. Or at least baffled. Until Joe finally spotted Rose.
"ROSE!" he yelled and ran over to the tiny version of Izsha.
"Daddy!" she replied and raised her arms. He grabbed her and picked her off the ground before inspecting every inch of her body.
"What the...? What happened? Are you hurt? Where are your sisters? WHAT HAPPENED HERE?!" The others approached Joe and Rose, and at first Moby seemed to be really happy about that. But when she realized that she wasn't the center of attention, she hissed and shook her head before trotting away. Pah! If no one was willing to treat her the way she deserved, then she would find herself a nice and comfortable bed now and roll around in it until it smelled of her.
While Rose was suddenly surrounded by Joe, Jim, Tesson and Izsha, Sarah remained where she was, floating above them and looking at the carnage from up above. And as she studied it, she realized that it looked as if something had crashed into the surface. Something big. Something roughly the size of a battlecruiser...
Should have asked for more details before I handed her the keys...
"Rose, what happened?" Joe wanted to know. "Where are your sisters?"
"Gone." Rose replied truthfully with an innocent smile on her face. That answer caused Joseph to go pale in an instant.
"G-gone?" he whispered, already imagining the worst.
"Yes. They left with Paula."
"Paula was here?!" Jim gasped. "When?"
"Two minutes ago." Rose told him. "They left in the Hyps...Hypte...Hyptla..." she tried to pronounce the ship's name before throwing her fist high up into the air. "...the batacruser!"
Awwwwwwww...
"Where did they go, Rose?" Joseph wanted to know next.
"On an adventure!"
"And where would that adventure take place?" her father wanted to know.
"I can't tell you, it's a secret!" As cute as that answer was, it resulted in Izsha stepping in.
"Daughter!" the huge snake-lady boomed. "You will answer that question immediately!" Yet all Rose did was to throw her head from one side to the other.
"Nu-uh! I promised not to tell! Promised it!" Rose replied. Jim and Tesson watched how Izsha's eyelid began to twitch. That was definitely not a good sign.
"You will answer the question, Daughter!" Izsha hissed.
"Her name is Rose, Izsha. And maybe you should-" Joseph tried to reason with her, but Izsha wanted to hear none of it.
"I demand you to tell us immediately where your sisters went. Or else I shall discipline you myself and-" The moment she said that, Izsha brought her tail around. A tail that could also be used as a whip. Joseph pressed Rose against his chest and looked at Izsha in shock.
"You can't be serious, Izsha!" he yelled. Luckily this was the moment for some divine intervention.
Whoawhoawhoawhoawhoa! Hold it! No one is getting disciplined when I'm around!" Sarah Kerrigan declared as she dropped from the sky and returned to her human form. She stepped between Izsha and Joseph and gestured to her friend to calm down. "Come on, Izsha, I'm sure that there's a perfectly reasonable explanation for this. Perhaps I can try to get an answer out of Rose?" Izsha stared at Sarah for a while before she sneered and crossed her arms in front of her chest.
"Fine."
"Thank you." Sarah sighed and turned towards Joseph and Rose. "Rose, would you tell me where your sisters went?"
"I'm sorry, but I can't. I promised no one to tell." Rose told her with a sad look on her face. Gosh, even now she looked adorable.
"That's fine. Who told you to tell no one? Can you at least name them?"
"My sisters did." When Rose said that, Izsha's tail began to stir behind her in anger.
"I see..." Sarah mumbled. "...but they left you behind, right? Why's that?" And that's when the smile returned to Rose's face. She looked happy because she could answer that question.
"Because I was supposed to tell Mother something, from all of us!" she beamed. When Sarah heard that, she blinked a few times in surprise and then looked at Izsha, who was equally surprised.
"Very well, Daughter." Izsha growled. "What is it that you and your sisters want to tell me so badly?" That's when Rose raised her little fists again and grinned like no one had ever grinned before.
"Bite me!"
For a man who looked as sickly as Joseph, he sure was a fast runner.
"SHE'S A KID, IZSHA! A KID, GODDAMMIT!" he yelled while the snake-lady of his life was right behind him as he pressed Rose against his chest.
"Faster! FASTER!" Rose yelled, clearly enjoying this "game".
"You will release the Daughter, and I shall discipline her!" Izsha roared. The last time he had seen her this angry was when the Tyrador Zerglings had lost the championship. Man, that had been a dark day indeed...
"HER NAME IS ROSE!"
"I told you that naming them was a mistake!" Izsha hissed behind him. "That way you only form an emotional bond with them!"
"THEY'RE OUR KIDS, THAT'S THE WHOLE IDEA!"
"They were brought into this world with a specific purpose. And until they do not accept that purpose, they have not earned the right to make their own decisions." What was truly unnerving for Joseph was the fact that he had to yell his lungs out while Izsha was using her normal sing-sang-voice. And she was gaining on him. "Whatever I do to the Daughter, the others will feel it as well."
"THIS IS NOT WHAT I WANTED TO HEAR! AND HER NAME IS ROSE!"
"You know..." a new voice suddenly spoke up. "...I understand that we agreed on not commenting on each other's parenting skills..." Sarah Kerrigan, who was running alongside Izsha as if this was yet another workout, didn't seem too fazed by any of this. "...but I have to side with Joseph on this, Izsha. Why don't you cut your kids some slack?" And so, while Joseph was running for his dear life, with Rose pressed against his chest, while huffing and puffing like an asthmatic Zergling, Sarah and Izsha were having a conversation. Sorts of.
"I am afraid that this is out of the question, Sarah." Izsha declared as she slithered around a tree. "As we agreed, we shall refrain from educating each other on how to raise our offspring."
"Yeah, I know." Sarah sighed. "But...I still think that you should stop and re-assess the situation."
"I REALLY LIKE...THAT IDEA!" Joseph agreed.
"I do not." Izsha replied. "My Queen, Sarah, you cannot compare my daughters to your own. Paula is irresponsible, has virtually no control over herself and her power, and follows only her instincts. In other words: She is completely selfish."
"Are you dissing my daughter?" Sarah asked with a slightly amused tone in her voice before jumping over a root.
"No, I am just stating facts. Paula is completely unqualified to one day rise up to the challenge to be on the same level as her mother."
"Which is, you know, completely fine!" Sarah reminded Izsha.
"It is."
"It is?" Sarah couldn't hide her surprise this time.
"IT IS?!" Joseph asked at the same time as he kept running for his dear life.
"Of course. It is the privilege of your offspring, of all your offspring, to act completely selfish and without regard to anyone else. However, it is my duty to make sure that these things do not get out of hand. And it is the same duty that drives my-"
"OUR!"
"...daughters. It is not open up to discussion." Izsha said as she tried to put her foot down. Figuratively speaking of course. Further up ahead Joseph began to run up a steep hill. The sounds he was producing were anything but healthy. But since he was probably the fourth oldest human in history (after Jim, Sarah, and the newly reemerged Alexei Stukov), chances were low that he would suddenly die of a heart attack.
No, a blunt trauma was more likely.
"Aside from the fact that I'm somewhat worried about how everyone perceives Paula..." Sarah sighed as she jogged next to Izsha without even breaking a sweat. "...I do feel like I should offer my help in this specific decision."
"Your concerns have been noted." Izsha just replied. "But this is my duty, and I intend to make my daughters-"
"OUR DAUGHTERS!"
"...to understand their proper place."
Further up ahead Joseph reached the top of the hill, only to stop and curse.
"Ah, shitbuckle!" he groaned as he stood right at the edge of a cliff.
"Daddy cursed!" little Rose squealed and threw her hands high up in the air again. At least someone was having a good time.
"Joseph! Release the Daughter so I can apply swift retribution!" Izsha demanded as she stopped right behind him. Joseph faced her and pressed Rose tighter against his chest.
"Forget it!" he shot back. Izsha blinked in surprise, clearly taken aback by such a reaction. She wasn't used to get any backtalk from him. At all.
"What did you say?"
"I said: Forget it!" Joseph barked. "I ain't gonna hand over our daughter to you so you can beat some sense into her! That ain't gonna happen!"
"Beating?" Izsha asked, still surprised. "What do you mean?"
"I mean that I won't stand by and watch while you will beat a goddamn child into submission!" Joseph shouted. Izsha's expression turned sour when she heard that.
"I was not about to deliver physical punishment on her, Joseph." Izsha replied.
"You...were not?" He seemed surprised by that. And behind Izsha, Sarah sighed in relief.
"I was to make her clean up and repair the damage that she has caused and then have her study the entire history of the Zerg to understand her place in the greater scheme of things, followed by an oath of servitude to Sarah Kerrigan, right before forcing her to tell us where her sisters went."
"And how're you gonna do that, huh?" Joseph wanted to know.
"I do not need to use force." Izsha told him and looked straight at Rose. "No more chocolate cake for you. Ever." When Rose heard that, she looked up at her father with an expression of pure terror on her face.
"Daddy, I'm scared!"
"Me too, kiddo. Me too." Joseph agreed. But perhaps he was premature with this statement. Because Izsha was not done with him.
"You think I would inflict physical pain upon my daughters-" she growled.
"Our...daughters..." Joseph corrected her once more before Izsha rose to her full height, which made for a pretty damn intimidating picture.
"...and question my plans for them? How do you come to the conclusion that I would do that?" Izsha snarled as the focus of her rage shifted from Rose towards Joseph. Rose looked up at her father and threw her hands up in the air once more.
"You're screwed!"
"Perhaps I got this all wrong..." Izsha declared. "...perhaps you are right and I shouldn't be disciplining the daughters. Perhaps I should start with you." Izsha then brought her tail around in a very menacing fashion. "The Daughter watching me discipline you should help her and her sisters understand that your attempts to raise them has been, in total, a complete failure."
…
…
…
"Wow..." Sarah whispered. "...that got dark quickly."
…
…
"What did you just say?" Joseph growled.
"I said: Your skills as a parent have been lackluster. Because of you, my daughters are not acting the way they should and-" However, instead of allowing Izsha to finish her declaration of superiority, Joseph suddenly straightened himself and walked over to Sarah.
"Can you hold on to her for me?" he asked and handed Rose over to Sarah.
"Uhm...sure. For how long?" Sarah Kerrigan wanted to know and took Rose in her own arms.
"For as long as this will take..." Joseph replied before looking at Rose once more. "Now, Rose, be nice to Miss Kerrigan, do what she tells you to do and most importantly: Cover your ears."
"Oki-doki!" Rose replied and pressed her tiny hands against her ear openings. Joseph patted his daughter on the head, turned around in an almost military fashion, stomped up towards Izsha and stopped right in front of her.
"Now ya' listen to me..." he began.
"Pardon me?" Izsha asked with a surprised look on her face.
"...I don't care if you decide that work is the primary reason for your existence, and I can live with the fact that I will always only be playing second fiddle in this concert..." Joseph continued. "...and I don't care if you're the big spoon in this relationship-"
"No details, please." Sarah mumbled while holding on to Rose, who was still pressing her hands on her ear-openings as she began to hum a melody.
"...but what do you know about raising kids, huh? You handed them over to me and then you were off doing whoknowswhat!"
"I did so because I believed that you would be as competent at raising them as you are at gardening." Izsha declared.
"Raising kids is NOT the same as planting plants!" Joseph hissed. "And you're the last person in the universe who gets to call me a bad father. I'm an AWESOME father, and our daughters deserve more than being Sarah Kerrigan's minions!" He then looked at Sarah. "No offense."
"None taken." Sarah replied before Joseph focused his anger on Izsha once more.
"So, if you got problems with them doing their things, you have to go through me first!"
"Is that a threat?" Izsha cooed. She sounded slightly amused.
"A challenge." And then Joseph took a deep breath. "You suck at motherhood, you don't deserve your daughters, and you sure as hell don't deserve me." It was unclear which point it was that bothered Izsha the most, but the reaction was immediate. Her yellow eyes flared up in anger and she gritted her sharp teeth in anger.
"What did you say?!" she roared and brought her tail around to capture Joseph, who managed to evade it as he ran towards the cliff. He faced her once more and grinned like a madman.
"They say that Zerg can't grow fat, but you've grown fat, lady!" And then he jumped off the cliff and into the ocean below.
"JOSEPH!" Izsha roared and catapulted herself forward. She too slithered over the edge of the cliff and a few seconds later Sarah Kerrigan heard two splashes.
"Well...didn't see that one coming. Guess the universe still has some surprises left for me after all." she mused and looked down at Rose, who was still keeping her ear-openings shut. Sarah gestured the little thing that she could now stop what she was doing, and Rose did so. She then pointed her finger at the cliff.
"What are Daddy and Mommy doing?"
"Sorting out their marriage I guess." Sarah replied. "Come on, let's leave them to it."
"Okay!" And with that Sarah turned around and walked back the way she had come from. She still had to deal with her own marriage issues. Even though she wasn't even married!
"Miss Kerrigan?"
"Call me Sarah. What is it, Rose?"
"Where are we going?"
"Back to Jim and Tesson. And then home."
"Can we fly there? I want to fly there!" Rose asked and a grin appeared on Sarah's face.
"I think we can do something like that."
"Yay!"
"Bite me!" When Jim heard those two words, he actually had to force himself not to chuckle. It was about time that someone stood up to Izsha. He had to admit: That little one, that Rose, she sure had some spine.
The same, however, couldn't be said about her father.
"Oh crap." Joseph mumbled as he saw how Izsha was about to go nuclear. And so he did the most reasonable thing one could do in such a situation...
...he turned around and ran for his dear life, his daughter pressed against his chest.
"Joseph, hand over the Daughter so I can discipline her!" Izsha demanded as she slithered after them.
"Our daughter! And no, I don't hand her over!" Joseph yelled as he ran into the dense jungle. Or what was left of it.
"Uh..." Sarah sighed right next to Jim. "I'll better follow them and make sure that this won't end in tragedy." Before Jim could say anything, Sarah was gone as well. And so he was left behind, only with Tesson beside him.
"What just...happened?" he whispered.
"Looks like someone dropped a bomb." Tesson muttered. "A big one." Jim didn't reply anything. This was his stone-garden! Or rather: It had been his stone-garden. It had been the place where he had placed his best works, many of which were truly special to him. Right in front of him was a piece of broken marble. He knelt down and rolled it to the side until he realized that it was the head of a statue.
"Oh Matt...I'm so sorry." The cold, stony eyes of Matt Horner stared at him. Jim imagined that they were accusing him of allowing this to happen. He got back up and looked around. These statues, he had worked centuries to create them. And all of them had been wiped out just like that. This was the act of a monster!
That's when suddenly Jim's eyes widened in terror.
"Oh no... please no..." he whispered, turned around and ran.
"Where are you going?" Tesson yelled after him but didn't really bother to check it out. Instead, Tesson just shrugged his shoulders and walked in the other direction. "Whatever. I need to get back to Korhal anyway. Got a big fight coming up. Oh, and I need to check if the Emperor has caused another diplomatic crisis by exposing his butt in public." And as he said those words, the form of Tesson shifted and changed until it turned into that of a male human.
"Honestly, if the Emperor would only be half as well-behaving as Paula, my job as chancellor would be so much easier..." Chancellor Harding sighed. "Guess I should beat someone up before I go back to work..." Saturday-Night-Slam, here we come!
And that meant that Jim was all alone.
And right now, he truly felt alone as well...
The last few hours had been...strange.
It felt as if half the people he cared for had gone crazy, and the other half didn't give a damn. Paula's behavior was...it was...
He didn't even know what to call it.
Reckless? Unjustifiable? Downright cruel?
Jim was not one to brag about how awesome he was. But he had always believed that he had done his best to raise his daughter to become a responsible person. Now that he walked through the ruins of his stone-garden, he began to doubt himself.
The stone garden had been Jim's happy place. Here he had placed statues of all the people he had known and that meant something to him. Centuries of hard work had gone into this. And every single statue had been special because he had poured all of his skills and devotion into this. And that was what hurt the most; Paula's blatant disregard for someone else's feelings. It worried Jim. Not because she had ruined his happy place, but because she might do something like that again, to someone else. She was, after all, the daughter of Sarah Kerrigan. Which meant that their powers were equal, at least on paper.
Jim knew that Paula had the affinity to have her head up in the clouds, so sometimes she would do things without thinking them through. But this?
This was not what Jim Raynor had raised his daughter for!
As he walked through the carnage, he came across more destroyed statues. Some had been utterly obliterated, so much that even he could not tell who they once had represented.
And that's when suddenly a new thought crossed his mind.
"Oh no..." Jim whispered and began to ran. While the entire stone garden was dear to him, there was one especially important place. One might even say that it was sacred to Jim.
"No, she couldn't! She wouldn't! Please no!" All those statues represented someone Jim had either known, respected or both. So, while he felt bad for Tassadar being turned into rubble, it could be worse. Far worse. Far far worse.
Jim ran over a small bridge, around the smashed remains of Horace Warfield, who, in all honesty, hadn't been that important to Jim, but had been an ok-guy. And sooner or later everyone runs out of friends he can turn into statues. That didn't mean that seeing them smashed into pieces was easy for Jim to handle. No, it wasn't. He had taught Paula to always respect others. That included their property. Stealing was bad, and so was smashing other people's stuff.
He ran, ran as fast as he could until he reached the most important part of the stone garden, the one that mattered most. And when he reached it...
"Oh, thank God..." Jim sighed. There they were. All four, well, three of them. These statues were the most important to him. One of them showed actually two persons. It was a woman holding a baby in her arms. These were the two women that he loved the most, Sarah and Paula. He hadn't created a statue only for Paula yet, and after today's events, Jim had his doubts that he would do something like that anytime soon. The statue was one of the few works he considered a true masterpiece. Even though it was made out of white marble, the woman holding the infant looked so alive. And as this stone-version of Sarah smiled at the baby in her arms, Jim felt some relief. Especially since the two statues right next to Sarah's were also still in one piece. There was a woman and a young boy holding hands, looking at Jim lovingly.
Liddy and Johnny.
His deceased wife and son.
His first family, the one he had lost ages ago.
They were still in one piece.
Jim gasped and realized that his hands were shaking. He had to sit down and stared at the statues. They were still intact. Thank God. Jim didn't know why Paula had spared them in her rampage, but he was just glad that she did. If these statues had been destroyed then...then...
"Oh, hey, seems these ones are still in one piece!" Jim jumped back on his feet when he heard Sarah right behind him. He turned around and faced her, only to see her holding one of Joe's daughters in her arms.
"What...what...?" Jim stuttered. This whole situation was still taking quite the toll on him, yet Sarah acted as if nothing had happened.
"Oh, you mean this?" Sarah misinterpreted his stuttering and looked down at Rose. "Yeah, seems like Joseph and Izsha are finally starting to work out their marriage issues, and Joseph asked me to look after little Rose." Rose looked up at Sarah with big round eyes.
"Will Mommy and Daddy be okay?" she asked.
"I'm sure they will." Sarah replied. "Sometimes adults just have to blow off steam. Don't worry."
"Don't worry...DON'T WORRY?!" Jim yelled in barely contained anger. "LOOK AROUND, SARAH! LOOK AT WHAT PAULA HAS DONE!" He was close to tears. Sarah looked around and then she shrugged her shoulders.
"Meh."
"Meh?" Jim gasped. "Meh?! She hijacked a battlecruiser, crushed this place, and now she abducted Joseph and Izsha's daughters! And all you have to say is: Meh?!" Sarah blinked a few times when she heard that.
"I think you got at least one part wrong. Rose, did Paula abduct your sisters?"
"No!" little Rose replied. "They...we wanted this ship! Paula brought it to us because we wanted it!"
"See! Paula didn't abduct anyone." Sarah beamed. "Relax, Jim. You should have more faith in your daughter."
"Oh, no! Nonononono!" Jim shot back. "She still wrecked this place. She did those things to the locals on the world where she found the Hyperion, and she didn't tell anyone about it! This is getting out of hand, Sarah! Can't you see it?!"
"Please..." Sarah sighed. That's when she spotted a bunch of little stone marbles, remnants of one of the many destroyed statues. She put Rose down, grabbed some of the pebbles, and put them in her pocket. Those would come in handy later on...
"So, what are we gonna do about this, huh?" Jim demanded to know.
"Well, once she's back, Paula can help you clean up this mess." Sarah suggested. "Until then...I think we got a broom back at the house and-"
"THAT'S NOT FUNNY, SARAH!" Jim yelled, and Sarah only sighed once more.
"Come on, let's face it..." she told him before picking up Rose again. "...I did things a lot worse than wrecking a stone-garden when I was young...er."
"That isn't the same!" Jim protested.
"You're right, it isn't! So, unless Paula decides to conquer the Swarm, and then sets out to overrun the entire Koprulu-Sector, I don't think that there's too much of a reason to worry."
"We cannot let her get away with it! We have to find and stop her and... hey! HEY! Sarah, where are you going?!" Jim yelled as his lover turned around.
"You know what? You do that. Tell me how it worked out. Me? I'm spent. Could use a break and all. I'm gonna head back to the house. Hey, Rose...how about we check if there's some chocolate cake left?" Sarah suggested to Rose, who threw her hands high up into the air.
"Yay! Chocolate cake!"