(Content Warning: This chapter contains descriptions of blood and emotional manipulation)

Things didn't always come naturally to Gur-Rai, as much as he liked to pretend that they did. He'd really had to put in the work for this, and Tyche was not making it easy on him. Parysatis was a…decent teacher, but a lot of her instructions fell back into "it just works" territory, and that led to some frustration as he sat out there in the snowy steppe at half-passed fuck in the morning, shaking his arm to try and get Tyche to fly off him.

"You can't force her." Parysatis said, once again. "You need to coax her."

"I'm doing that!" He huffed and held the piece of jerky at arm's length from the eagle again. "Please just fly around that corner and come back, and I'll give you this."

"You sound really unconvincing." Parysatis deadpanned. "She knows you're not actually going to give her that treat."

"I will!" He lowered his hand. "Maybe if you stand down in the ravine again she'll fly to you."

"We've been practicing that long enough, you need to learn how to release her without my help." Parysatis walked up to him and took his arm, raising it slightly. "…Let's try something different. I'm going to teach you 'farseeing'."

"Farseeing? I forgot my telescope." Gur-Rai chuckled.

"No. I am going to teach you how to do what I do. How to see through my eagle's eyes." She scoffed.

"Already? I assumed the skill came before psionics." He chuckled, then stopped when Parysatis delivered a slap to the back of his head.

"Psionics is skill." She huffed. "And if you want to succeed in this, you need to realize that the skills of the arm and the mind are completely intertwined. Do we not use the whole of our brains to move the finger that pulls the trigger?"

"I thought we only used ten percent of our brains." Gur-Rai chuckled.

"Stop." Parysatis crossed her arms. "Close your eyes and reach out with your mind. I assume you have some rudimentary experience with psionics. You need to show her where to go, without your order she has no reason to leave the warmth of your hand."

"This fuckin' eagle has it better than I do." He grumbled, and closed his eyes, leaning slightly towards Tyche's beak.

It didn't take much effort before he felt his consciousness enveloped by something fuzzy, and opened his eyes to see the world around him was acutely sharp and colorful. His head turned quickly and he looked up to see himself, standing there with his eyes closed.

"One day we'll work on you maintaining your own position while you merge." Parysatis said. "But for now, can you feel Tyche beside you?"

The wind ruffled Gur-Rai's feathers, and he realized that yes, he could feel a presence in his mind other than himself. It was surprisingly calmer, much more focused than he was. The emotions it produced came to him in shades of soft peach and earthy brown, and the thoughts he could hear were softer than the wind around him. One stood out as the loudest, though: Fly. The urge was nearly overpowering, and he spread his wings…

He suddenly felt himself being pulled back, and as his consciousness snapped back into his body he stumbled. Tyche flew off his arm and went back to her master, who grabbed Gur-Rai before he lost his balance.

"I was doing just fine." He snapped. "What was that for?"

"You were losing it." She scolded him. "I could see your grip on your real self fading, you have to be careful or your body will die and then you'll be stuck in my bird forever."

"I'm sure I wasn't that close to death." He huffed. "I've survived psionic attacks that left my brain quite literally leaking from my nose."

"This is subtle." Parysatis insisted. "This is a gentle temptation, not violent, but more deadly. You won't feel that you've lost yourself until it's too late."

.

.

Aisha's steps echoed through the great stone hallway as she approached her Khatun, who sat upon her throne of bones and stared down upon her. The two met eyes, and the disconnect was intimately clear.

Aisha bowed low, kneeling and lying her bow at her feet. "I'm here, Khatun, as you asked."

"Good, I want my Jinong at my side." Drakaina said, and beckoned her to stand up.

"What's the purpose of this meeting?" Aisha climbed the steps to the throne and stood beside it, leaning against the back. It was covered in the hide of a spotted animal she had never seen, and lined with fur too soft to be real.

"You'll hear more during the announcement." Drakaina insisted. "But Senuna and I have chosen our first target."

"Target…?"

The city center." Drakaina hissed as people began to trickle into the palace. "We're going to liberate it."

Aisha swallowed. "That's wonderful. We can finally free all those people."

"Indeed." Drakaina smiled back at her briefly. "Where's Parysatis?"

"Training that Chosen, I think…" Aisha hesitated as she spoke, a pang of sadness stabbing through her heart as she mentioned the Chosen. "Do you want me to find her?"

"No, you belong at my side." Drakaina insisted. "Timur, yavj Parysatis khaij yav." With her words, one of the warriors detached himself from the crowd and opened the door, just as the one they were speaking of pushed her way past and stepped inside.

"I apologize, Khatun." Parysatis said, stopping to bow and allowing the tall, blue man behind her to catch up and stand there awkwardly. "Training ran late."

"I need you to remember your duty to your clan." Drakaina scoffed. "Even Chosen ones come and go, but the lineage shall last forever."

"Yes, Khatun." Parysatis looked back at Gur-Rai. "Go find a place to stand or something."

"Darkstrider." Aisha called out. "Are your siblings coming?"

"They should be, if this is a mission briefing." He leaned against one of the statues, an action that made Drakaina's lip twitch noticeably. "But I am not my brother's keeper, nor my sister's."

"I see." Aisha wilted slightly, and hoped Drakaina didn't notice her brief change in demeanor.

The other warriors kept trailing in and taking haphazard positions across the palace floor. Joining them was the occasional XCOM soldier or Reaper, but no sign of the Shrinemaiden yet. Dhar-Mon Madron stepped inside, donned in his purple XCOM armor, followed by his tiny lover Malinalli. When he sat down on the floor she climbed into his lap to make space in the rapidly filling room.

Aisha didn't feel like Kon-Mai would forfeit a meeting as important as this one. She never had before, but Aisha had no real way of knowing that for sure…

Then the door swung open, and Aisha saw a flash of white hair and green ribbon, and she met Kon-Mai's purple eyes as she stepped inside the castle hall. The latter bowed respectfully, and then stepped off to the left, relegating herself to a corner while the rest of XCOM followed her inside.

Drakaina smiled as Volk, Betos, Senuna and Bradford approached the throne. As they drew close, she stood, raising a fist to her chest. "Khümüüs mini! Tsag ni irlee!"

"What is she saying?" Bradford leaned over to Volk, who shrugged slightly.

"I can translate." Aisha beckoned Senuna and Bradford over to stand beside her. "She said 'My people, the time has come.'"

"Time for what?" Bradford obviously didn't trust the situation, but Aisha was good at making herself seem nonthreatening.

Drakaina looked out over her crowd of warriors and yelled something else, a long, elaborate speech in the coarse and flowing language they all knew, and Aisha leaned over again.

"Soon our people will be freed from the tyrannical clutches of ADVENT." She whispered. "Even if the steps begin small, soon the thunder of our horses' hooves will be heard across the planet."

"That's comforting." Bradford scoffed, and Senuna elbowed him.

"She's going over the plan now." Aisha raised a brow. "You gave her your lineup right?"

"Yeah." Bradford nodded. "The Chosen are going to be leading their respective teams: Gur-Rai will be taking two of the Reapers and a platoon of archers up to the cliffside and will pick off any ADVENT soldiers that try to escape. Konnie will be on the front lines with the swordsmen, and our Rangers are going to be following her orders. Dhar-Mon will be hanging back and acting as support, summoning those purple exploding zombies for when we get overwhelmed."

"Don't forget me, Bradford~" Senuna giggled quietly. "I'll be starting the show off by luring the civilians away from the line of fire. I'll need a decent amount of cover, though."

"And that will come from my Skirmishers and I." Betos hissed over, nodding toward them.

It was a decent plan, although Aisha noted that Bradford looked a bit nervous at the thought of putting Senuna on the front lines. "Why can't you fight alongside us?" She asked. "You're the Commander."

"Oh Sweetie, I'd love to, but Bradford would ground me for a month!" Senuna smirked and nudged her XO. "Really I think I'd be more of a liability out there. I'm decent with a gun but it's never been my favorite weapon, I'm better at making the decisions up top."

"What is your favorite weapon?"

To that, Senuna only winked and wiggled her fingers, blue light dancing in between them.

Aisha looked away, her eyes widening at the sight of the Commander's psionics, just as Drakaina let out a war cry that was echoed by all of the warrior's around her. Aisha raised her hand in unison with them, but no cry of bravado escaped her lips.

.

.

Jane met the Speaker's gaze, his eyes partially obscured by those stupid fucking glasses. Over the tops of them, she could see the yellow of his irises, and the slit pupils. He smiled, and from between his teeth she saw a forked tongue slip through and taste the air.

"I'm not telling you shit." Jane spat. "Go ahead and torture me, you're not getting anything out of me."

"Really, Sinéad, get a hold of yourself." He chuckled. "I have no intention of torturing you."

"You don't want me." She leaned forward. "I know this game. You want the Commander, and you're going to make me give up her location right? Well that's not happening, Fuckface."

"Hm." The Speaker stood. "You care a lot about the Commander, don't you."

"She's my boss, she signs my paycheck, of course I care." Jane snapped.

"She's also family." He crossed his arms. "Not by blood, of course, but she was there for you every single birthday, wasn't she?"

"That's none of your business." Jane sprang to her feet, only to feel a gun against her back. A guard, dressed in flashy trooper armor, gestured for her to sit back down.

"Oh, Sinéad, it is very much our business." The Speaker insisted. "How long has it been since you saw your mother?"

"…25 years."

"Don't lie, Sinéad, it won't make you feel better." He shook his head. "It was much longer than that, wasn't it?"

"I don't need you GRILLING ME about my family!" Jane screamed at him. "Just get your psionic probe and mindfuck me already!"

"You're being rude, Sinéad. You're an adult now, act like it."

"AND STOP CALLING ME THAT!" Jane sprang to her feet again. "My name is JANE! JANE KELLY! I haven't used my birth name since I was 8 years old, and I sure as hell won't start now that you're shoving it down my throat!"

"Why not?" The Speaker asked innocently, gesturing for the guards to lower their weapons. "I think Sinéad Vahlen is a beautiful name. It sounds so exotic. You'd have all the girls fighting over you~"

"It. Is. None. Of. Your. Business." Jane hissed. "My relationship with my mom is none of your business. You know what is your business? Killing me. Trying to kill my friends. Trying to destroy my planet. Keep doing that, I don't need therapy."

"I'm not giving you therapy." He insisted, leaning forward on the desk again. "I'm here to make you a deal."

"Fuck off."

"Not so fast." He straightened up. "Think of it from my perspective: I could just torture you for this information, sure. But how will I know if you're telling the truth? Psionic probes are very accurate, true, but a strong mind can deter them. And you're a strong woman."

"Don't hit on me."

"I'm not, you're a bit too short for me." He smirked. "I've found, however, humans are surprisingly honest when you help them. I'm here to help you, Sinéad."

"…Help me how?"

"I know it's been so long since you've seen your mother." He said, standing up straight again, and gesturing to the TV on the wall across from Jane. "I will help you two reunite."

The Speaker stepped over to the TV and pressed the power on button. Jane watched the screen flicker to life, and then gasped.

"Mom…" Her voice caught in her throat as the image on the screen lit up. "That's my mom…" She turned on the Speaker, enraged. "What are you doing to her?!"

.

.

Aisha was hoping that Kon-Mai would stick around after the meeting, but the second she locked eyes with the Chosen woman, the latter slipped out the door and away from human sight.

Aisha sighed and leaned back against the throne once again, listening while Drakaina chewed out Parysatis for being late yet again. Bradford and Volk were going over specifics beside one of the statues, with Bradford getting increasingly more frustrated, and Senuna had trailed off to examine the carefully sculpted walls.

One person was unaccounted for, and soon Aisha heard a voice behind her. "You look troubled."

She turned, and there saw the lined face and yellow eyes of Betos, the Skirmisher queen. Aisha bowed to her, hesitantly, and then shook her head. "I'm thinking about the mission, about how best to serve my people."

"I'm sure you are." She looked past her to Drakaina. "Khatun, may I borrow your Jinong, or do you require her still?"

Drakaina stopped, looking between the two hesitantly. "…No. I can handle the rest on my own."

"Are you sure, Khatun?" Aisha straightened up. "I could go over squad positions with you or-"

"No, Aisha." Drakaina snapped. "Go on now, I have work to do."

Aisha stood still for a moment, trying to process the stinging words without showing their hurt. "…Yes, my Khatun." She bowed, and followed Betos as she led her to the door.

"I saw you and Kon-Mai have been spending much time together." Betos said, opening the door for Aisha. "You have been growing close."

That did it. Aisha barely managed to step out into the cold air before tears hit her cheeks. "We were close…" She wished she had more to say in response, but all she could do was choke back a sob.

Betos reached out a hand, stopped herself, and then took Aisha's hand in hers. "I'm not angry…I was going to say how glad I am. She has always been a loner, I'm glad she is making friends."

"I've been driving her away." Aisha confessed through tears. "There's so much I haven't been…I thought she was someone else, and I-"

"What do you mean?" Betos' eyes narrowed.

"She reminded me of someone and I tried to push that onto her." Aisha said curtly. "But I made a mistake. It's not her, and I'm just…projecting. I miss her."

Betos hesitated, her eyes searching Aisha's face. "Who did she remind you of?"

"The…my…it isn't important." Aisha insisted.

"Yes, Aisha, it is." Betos said. "When you look at her and see this person-"

"I'm imagining things." Aisha pulled her hand away. "That's all!"

"The Chosen were human." Betos exclaimed. "All of them. They used to be human, like me, like many of the other Skirmishers, those that weren't cloned from others. It comes with the name: they were Chosen."

Aisha turned away, hugging herself. "What am I supposed to do with this information?" She asked. "She doesn't remember me, even if she was human once!"

"What do you want to do?" Betos asked. "What is the ideal outcome here?"

"I don't know!" Aisha shriveled in on herself. "I want Monkh back! That's what I want! I want my big sister back but she is gone! She's not Kon-Mai! She'll never be Kon-Mai! And I'm sitting here and wishing for the attention of someone who doesn't need me anymore!"

"I would not be so sure." Betos straightened up. "You and Kon-Mai have quite a lot in common."

"In what way? Because we both fight ADVENT?"

"Because you are both lonely. I knew Kon-Mai since the day she emerged from the tank. She's always been adrift in the darkness that surrounds her." She stepped forward and put a hand on Aisha's arm. "She'll come back to you, somehow."

"Monkh will never come back."

"That may be true. But it's not Monkh you're crying for, is it?"

Aisha wiped her tears aside, and thought of the thunder of hooves around her, the black braids catching the wind, and then a flash of blue skin and green ribbon.

"…I don't think so."

.

.

Night fell quickly, and the sun set below the snow-capped mountains. The warriors began bringing their horses closer to the city, careful to keep them close to the larger hills where it would be harder to distinguish them. Tyche and a few of the other eagles were scanning on behalf of their handlers, their glowing eyes examining the plains around them. Under the cover of darkness, they saw all.

Dhar-Mon was nowhere near as stealthy as his sister, in fact he seemed to always attract eyes wherever he went. At this moment, that was really working against him and Malinalli as they hid behind one of the stone buildings, waiting for the sky to be clear.

Malinalli took Dhar-Mon by the hand, and as he trailed the last bird with his eyes, he pulled her behind him, sprinting through the dark towards a nearby large rock, and hoping it would be enough to cover them both. Malinalli was small, he was more worried about blowing their cover himself.

They ducked behind the rock just as the eagles began circling again, and Dhar-Mon crouched and covered his arms as best he could, hoping his glowing blood wouldn't give them away. Malinalli put a hand on his back and kept it there until the eagle passed again, then she tugged him. "Now!"

They sprinted past the edge of the city, hopefully out of sight from the circling eagles that were making the rounds back to their masters. Malinalli reached up and took Dhar-Mon's hand again, panting harder than he was. "Sorry." She murmured. "I'm a little out of shape…"

"I'm sorry for pushing you so far." Dhar-Mon knelt down and scooped her into his arms, balancing her on one arm. "Not everyone is a Chosen."

"Bigger lungs, I assume." She leaned against his shoulder, and then felt along his arm. "…And muscle~"

He felt his face flush purple. "Yes, it was…another addition by the Elders."

"You never worked out on your own?" She smiled down at him. "Not even a little?"

"Perhaps, but only when my masters felt I required it…" He admitted. "Or when my sister requested…"

"That's really sweet! You trained together?'

"I am her older brother, it was my duty to help her. Too well, I think, because soon she was a more adept fighter than me, and it showed."

"Well, you have other talents." Malinalli added. "You have your psionics. And your dashing good looks~"

Now he could really feel his heart thumping, especially as Malinalli kissed him on the cheek. "I love you dearly." He mumbled, trying to formulate words around the cotton in his cheeks.

"And I love you." She slipped down from his shoulder and hit the ground. "I think I'm okay to walk now, I need the exercise."

"You do not, you are perfect as you are now." He wrapped one hand around her waist. "But if you would prefer to walk, then I have no issue."

Malinalli smiled up at him. "I can't imagine ever feeling bad about myself with you there."

The rest of the journey was spent in relative quiet, with Malinalli occasionally breaking into a soft song to drown out the silence of the steppe. Dhar-Mon had expected that the journey to the mine would take a while, but after the sun began climbing in the sky again, he was starting to worry he didn't actually know the path and was in fact leading them to their deaths.

Then Malinalli grabbed his skirt. "Is that it?" She pointed forward, toward the gaping mouth of the mine.

.

.

Aisha laid down her bow on the table near the wall, and not knowing what else to do with herself, she went to pray.

She took some kindling from the pile and tossed it onto the fire pit, grabbing some flint and steel and scraping the fire alight. Then she sat cross legs, staring into the fire's glowing depths.

Nobody came to her home that evening, save for Kadyr who only stopped by to ask if she needed food. He didn't join her, only standing outside the covering and asking if she was okay from afar. She wished he would join her, even if no one else would, even if it was unallowed, she just wanted someone there who understood.

…Kon-Mai understood.

But Kon-Mai was scared off by Aisha's assumptions. Maybe she'd been dreaming. Maybe Kon-Mai had no relation to Monkh whatsoever. Maybe that vision, the resemblance, maybe it was all coincidence.

But was it so bad to hope?

Yes, if it meant she was pushing her own hope onto others. She couldn't make anyone like her; as Drakaina said, respect was to be earned in battle, at the mercy of steel. And it wasn't even Kon-Mai she needed, not really. She had been fine before she came, she would be fine after…

After the Khatun died? She would be leading a tribe that isolated her regularly. She had tried to earn their respect, but without Monkh as a tether, that respect had worn away. Drakaina had wanted a warrior for her Jinong, instead she elevated pious little Aisha.

Why?

There was movement outside, and Aisha turned. At first, there was nothing, no sight or sound that she noticed after. "Who's there?" She called.

That was when the flap rustled aside, and a tall, dark figure bowed and stepped through the doorway, straightening up. Her purple eyes lit up the darkness like jewels.

"I…" Kon-Mai began, her voice shaking. "I am sorry."

Aisha jumped to her feet. "Don't be." She insisted. "I was-"

"Right. You were right." Kon-Mai walked briskly to the fire and sat down. "Something is wrong with me. I have known it for years, but I feel it even more since I came here, since I met you. Something is missing from me. I think you are the key to finding it."

Aisha sat beside her again. "What brought this on? Was it from before?"

"Yes. I didn't want to think about it." Kon-Mai sat on her hip, leaning over to look at Aisha. "I know I've been avoiding you and I'm so sorry."

"It's okay." Aisha scooted closer. "Whether you're Monkh or not, I don't care, you're a friend either way. But why the change of heart?"

"Betos found me." Kon-Mai admitted, like she didn't hear Aisha's words. "She told me…" She trailed off.

"…Told you what?"

"I need to know." Kon-Mai said. "I need to know if I was…if I am…"

Aisha hesitated. "…Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"I don't know how this will work." Aisha admitted, holding out her hand.

"I do." Kon-Mai said, and she took it and squeezed. "I have done this once before."

.

.

Vahlen's hair hung limply around her face, removed from the bun Jane had always seen her with in photos. Her lab coat looked dirty, the green XCOM colors faded from sun exposure and the ends torn and ragged with grime. She sat on the floor beside the metal cot, arms around her knees, head leaned back, and eyes closed.

Jane whipped around, her eyes full of fire. "You…you had her here the whole time…"

The Speaker smiled a toothy grin, his eyes glinting behind those glasses. "We didn't exactly keep it a secret. We were hoping the Commander herself would come along, I assume you know how close those two were, but it seems she's more content to send her Goddaughter into danger for her."

"Don't start with that. I ASKED to come here." Jane barked. "Senuna's not the bad guy, you're the one keeping my MOTHER in a CAGE!" She slammed her hands on the table, and heard the clock of guns cocking.

"Sinéad, don't get too excited now." The Speaker said coyly. "We still have terms to discuss."

"There's nothing to discuss. Let my mom go right now or I'll rip your fucking head off." Jane hissed.

"I encourage you to try. You'll be dead before your foot hits the floor." He smiled at her, and the guards at the door glared at her through their helmets. Jane shrank back slightly. But only slightly.

"…What do you want?"

"Information." The Speaker grabbed Jane by the arm and practically threw her back into her chair, sitting across from her. The image of Vahlen sitting in her jail cell hung above the Speaker's head. She held amazingly still, nearly unmoving, in what Jane assumed was the suffocating cold.

"…I won't." Her voice was shaking. "I won't sell out XCOM."

"I thought you might say that." The Speaker opened his jacket slowly and took out a flip phone (the sight made Jane nauseous). He flicked it open and pressed six buttons, slowly and deliberately, lingering on each one before he finally lifted the phone to his cheek. Into it, he spoke. "Apporto vx nukju lor exsequor."

There was a brief moment of silence, and then Jane saw the TV flicker, and the door of Vahlen's cell burst open, nearly hitting her. She scrambled to her feet as two armed ADVENT guards forced their way in.

"No." Jane stood up. "No, leave her alone! Take me! She doesn't know where the Commander is! Torturing her is useless, she can't tell you-"

"My terms are final, Sinéad." The Speaker shrugged. "If you won't sign, I don't need Vahlen anymore."

"She's a scientist! She could help you, couldn't she?! At least she's more useful to you alive!"

The Speaker leaned back. "She was merely a bargaining chip, we have far better scientists than her."

"There are no better scientists than her! Stop it!" Jane ran to the TV and began banging on it as the guards began to pull at Vahlen's coat. "STOP IT! LEAVE HER ALONE!"

"You can save her, Sinéad!" The Speaker stood up. "You can save her!"

"FUCK OFF!" Jane slammed her palm against the TV so hard it cracked, the image splintering and shards of glass embedding themselves in her hand.

"It's time for you to choose!" The Speaker grabbed her bleeding hand and yanked her to face him. She saw those gleaming yellow eyes, the color of pus and death, boring into her soul. "CHOOSE, Sinéad! A band of traitors or your mother?! Who do you love more!"

"LET GO!" Jane tried to yank her hand away, crimson streaks running down her arm. "MOMMY!"

"WHO DO YOU LOVE MORE!"

"LET HER GO!" Jane fell to her knees. "I'LL TELL YOU! I'll tell you! Just let her go! Please…"

The TV shut off, plunging the room into near darkness. Jane felt hot tears burning at her eyes, and a hot gush of blood down her arm as the Speaker let go of her hand.

"Your mother would be proud of you, Sinéad." He cooed, going to sit down once again. She heard the chair slide behind her. "Now that your little tantrum is over, take a seat. We have questions for you."

"Is she okay?" Jane growled, not a question, a demand.

"Take a seat, Sinéad."

"Call them. I want them to stop manhandling my mother." Jane swallowed hard, shaking. "Then I'll tell you what you want to know…"

Silence. Then, a flipping noise. "Tagh rursus nukju tou cenratu lokus."

Jane stood up, stumbled over to the chair in the dark, and sank down into it. The silence that came after felt like hours. Maybe it was.

Then the TV came back on, and despite the crack, Jane could see Vahlen sitting there, her hair covering her face, her knees to her chest, still in one piece.

.

.

Aisha let her hair down and sat across from Kon-Mai. The latter sat with crossed legs, hands in her lap, calmly staring to the side at the wall. Her eyes moved slightly when Aisha sat down as well, but she waited for the latter to make the first move.

Aisha put her hands out. "You're sure this will work?"

"I do not know." Kon-Mai admitted. "But I'm willing to try."

Aisha nodded, and as Kon-Mai took her hands, she gave them a squeeze.

"No matter what happens…" Aisha broke off, unsure what she wanted to say. "…Thank you."

Kon-Mai closed her eyes, and a few moments after, Aisha did the same. She felt the tingling in the back of her head that told her that she and Kon-Mai were communicating without words. And at first she let the image that drifted to mind be of Monkh, standing in the grassy steppe, black braids flowing behind her.

But this wasn't her image to conjure. She forced herself to stop, but the image of Monkh didn't fade. It changed, ever so slightly, but as she turned to look back at where Aisha stood, her brown eyes as intense as the sun above them, Aisha realized she hadn't seen her face clearly in 10 years, and the sight of it before her almost made her break down.

She felt a hand on her shoulder. Kon-Mai stepped up beside her, and Aisha looked up, realizing that the Chosen woman was meeting eyes with this forgotten spirit.

Kon-Mai stepped forward slightly, past Aisha, only stopping when she was halfway between her and Monkh. The woman looked at Kon-Mai like she knew her face, but could not place her name. Her lips moved slightly, but no sound emerged. Her brown eyes had a glimmer of crimson to them, and their rich darkness revealed more secrets than it hid. She looked from Aisha to Kon-Mai, then back again, then took a single step towards them.

Kon-Mai raised her hand in greeting. Monkh followed suit, raising her hand as well. The two were too far away to touch each other, but the slight connection still raised a tingle in their fingers.

Monkh lowered her hand. Kon-Mai did the same, but when she went to take a step forward, Monkh stepped back, pulling her fur-lined coat closer to her chin. There was familiarity, but there was also caution. Monkh grabbed the bow off her back and, with a wave of her hand, summoned a purple arrow to nock.

Kon-Mai raised her hands, and Aisha stepped back. "What happens if she kills us here?" She asked, her voice shaking.

"I don't know." Kon-Mai said quietly.

A horn blew in the distance, and Monkh's attention turned from them to the sound. She looked back at them once, her glare searing, before she turned and dashed off into the steppe.

Kon-Mai chased her, Aisha following behind, and the two drew upon a hilltop, from over which they heard the thundering of hooves. They saw a great many shapes and figures, horses and people alike, pouring into the valley below, where a glowing red ADVENT train was stopped in its tracks.

"It's a raid." Aisha said softly. "It's one of the raids." She reached for Kon-Mai, trying to assure herself she was still there. "I lost Monkh in a raid."

Behind the two women, they heard the whinny of a horse, and Kon-Mai grabbed Aisha and pulled her out of the way, just as the black figure of Nergui came rising past, with Monk atop his back. She looked back at them, only briefly, and smirked.

Then she drew her sword from her back.

.

.

Gur-Rai figured he should probably go inside soon, lest he catch his death out here.

He was never great with the cold, even though his internal temperature was so much higher than a normal human's. He wasn't as padded as his siblings, yet another thing Camazotz stripped him of during the process of changing him…or maybe he'd always been this way. He had no way of knowing.

Either way, he sat out on the steppe with Tyche on his arm, Parysatis nowhere to be seen, and the two of them shivering in the cold. Tyche was even less likely to fly now that the temperature was dropping so rapidly, she was far more content to stay here, feathers ruffled and scooting closer to Gur-Rai every few minutes or so.

"You're a cute thing." He chuckled, reaching up to pat the eagle on the head. "Must be nice being a bird."

Tyche chirped a bit and ruffled her feathers.

"…You wanna give it another shot?" He got to his feet, Tyche struggling to keep her balance as he moved. "It's cold out there. I won't be angry if you don't feel like flying."

Tyche stared at him for a moment, and Gur-Rai let his eyes drift closed. This time, though, he kept them open only slightly, a slit between his eyelids. He could still see a blurry facsimile of the scenery around him, but as he brought his head close to Tyche's, he felt the tingling pull at the back of his skull.

At once, he saw two images overlapping, the blurry vision of his own eyes, and the crisp visual that came from the eyes of Tyche. Instead of trying to dictate her movements, he instead let her keep control, and just watched as she turned her head this way and that. He saw himself, but it felt like he was looking in a mirror, rather than at another soul all together.

He approached her gently with his thoughts. "Fly." He asked quietly, saying it more with his mind than with his mouth. Fly.

Tyche spread her wings, flapped twice, and lifted off from his arm. In a moment Gur-Rai was aloft with her, as she was soaring through the air, clouds pulling on her feathers, he was aloft with her. Every so often he would flutter his own eyes, keeping tabs on the picture that he saw through his own two eyes, though so desperately he wanted to let go and slip into the mind of an eagle. He didn't dare. He knew how it would go and this time, Parysatis wouldn't be here to pull him out.

The sun began to slip into the darkness of oblivion, and Gur-Rai let Tyche take the lead, steering him farther and farther away, reaching forward into the desert…

He paused, and slightly tugged at her mind to turn back toward the right. Tyche obeyed, and Gur-Rai saw two figures dashing across the landscape, moving in quick succession, towards a gaping hole in the side of the mountains.

He pulled Tyche back, his blood running cold. What is my brother doing out there?

.

.

"I was looking for you."

"Many have been recently." Kon-Mai sighed, leaning forward on her knee and resting her chin in her hand. "I would rather be left alone."

"Would you?" Betos sat down beside her, and gazed forward at the sunlight hitting the hills. The yellow glow was quite a sight, especially in her golden eyes.

"Betos." Kon-Mai said quietly. "It's been 8 years and I think I deserve to know now."

"You want to know why I left." Betos sighed.

"Was I not enough?" Kon-Mai's voice was shaking slightly. "Were you not happy?"

"It is not a matter of my happiness." Betos insisted. "If I cannot be my true self, can I really say whether or not I am happy?"

"And who is your true self?" Kon-Mai snapped, loud enough that the horses on the paddock below lifted their heads.

"I'm going to tell you a story." Betos said, leaning back on her hands. "Picture a girl with tangled brown pigtails and golden eyes. She was 15 when ADVENT invaded. She was especially adept at volleyball, and she wanted to become a social worker when she grew up. Her name was Bethany Socorro."

Kon-Mai looked up, one eyebrow raised in questioning. "…Who are you talking about?"

"I am telling you my story." She said. "I am…I was Bethany. She is…was me."

"You know your human life." Kon-Mai whispered, her voice barely above a hair.

"I never forgot. Remember, I was always defective."

"Do you know mine?" Kon-Mai allowed herself the slightest bit of hope.

"That was out of my sight, unfortunately. I never had access to your file." Betos admitted. "But I do know that a human woman was Chosen by the Elders, like her brothers before her."

Kon-Mai pressed her forehead to her knees. "Why?" She hissed.

"I wish I knew the answer." In the silence that followed, Betos continued. "At the age of 18, with all her other prospects abandoned, Bethany joined the Peacekeeper Force. She was adept at basic combat techniques. She thought she could make a place for herself, she was…enticed by stability. Led on by promises that this would all make sense."

"And that was when they took her." Kon-Mai said.

"I remember laying down on one of the cots. The doctor said I was going to get blood drawn. A pinch, and then I was waking up. My head felt heavy and awkward, and when I reached up to feel my jaw…" She lifted a hand to the metal weldings that were drilled into her jawline.

"Why are you telling me this?" Kon-Mai murmured. "I don't remember the final loss of consciousness. I only remember waking up to…" She hugged herself "…to my brothers standing before me."

"I say this as assurance." Betos put a hand on her shoulder. "Bethany Socorro is dead, all I can do is honor her memory. But I choose to do that by living the life that they stole from her. Bethany is gone. But she is a part of me. Just as the spirit of your past is a part of you."

"And what should I do about that?" Kon-Mai snapped, perhaps louder than she meant.

"I can't answer that." Betos stood up. "Whether or not you want to recall your past is your path to choose. But I do know it is sometimes more comforting to remember the fallen than to forget them."

Summary: The chapter begins with Gur-Rai training with Parysatis once again. He is having an extraordinary amount of trouble getting Tyche to fly on his command, so Parysatis decides to try a different approach. She begins teaching him farseeing, or the process of merging his mind with an animal to control them. At first it goes well, until Parysatis pulls him out of the connection, saying that he was losing his grip on himself. When Gur-Rai protests, Parysatis reminds him that psionics are very dangerous, and he could end up dead.

In Karakorum, Aisha goes to Drakaina's side in preparation for the mission briefing. Parysatis arrives late with Gur-Rai, and Drakaina chews her out for not honoring the clan like she should. Aisha watches people arrive and waits to see Kon-Mai, who is still avoiding her. When Senuna, Bradford, Volk and Betos arrive, Drakaina announces the plan to her people while Aisha translates her speech to Bradford. As for the plan itself: the Chosen will be leading their respective teams: Gur-Rai will be taking two of the Reapers and a platoon of archers up to the cliff side and will pick off any ADVENT soldiers that try to escape, Kon-Mai will be on the front lines with the swordsmen, the Rangers following her orders, and Dhar-Mon will be hanging back and acting as support, summoning spectral zombies for when XCOM is overwhelmed. It is also revealed Senuna will be leading civilians to safety.

Meanwhile, Jane is being interrogated by the Speaker, who insists on calling her by her birth name to annoy her. She becomes more and more frustrated, until he finally reveals footage of Vahlen being kept in a cell. He agrees to release Jane's mother on the condition that Jane agree to give him information on the Commander's whereabouts. When Jane refuses, the Speaker calls armed guards on Vahlen, scaring Jane into a panic. As the guards begin to drag Vahlen away, the emotional turmoil finally makes Jane crack. In exchange for her mother's safety, she agrees to tell the Speaker anything he wants to know.

After the meeting, Betos confronts Aisha about her closeness with Kon-Mai, assuring her it is a good thing. Aisha breaks down, fearing she has instead pushed Kon-Mai away, and Betos comforts her, assuring her that even if Kon-Mai is not who she thought she was, they are still friends. Afterward, Aisha goes back to her home and is joined by Kon-Mai, who reveals she finally wants to discover her past life. When asked what prompted this, Kon-Mai vaguely alludes to something Betos said. The two join hands and call back on old memories, and are greeted with an image of Monkh standing in the open wind. The memory is clearly familiar to Kon-Mai, and Monkh also seems to recognize her, but ultimately the latter is distrustful of the two and draws her weapons before she is called away by the sound of a raid.

As night falls, Dhar-Mon and Malinalli sneak out of the city towards the mine in order to find what it seems to be hiding. As Gur-Rai sits out in the snowy steppe, he tries farseeing again, this time actually managing to do it safely, and while he is flying around with Tyche, he sees the two sneaking off towards the mine.

At the end of the chapter is a brief flashback from just after Betos confronted Aisha, when the former finds Kon-Mai sitting alone. Kon-Mai laments her uncertainty and questions why Betos left ADVENT, and her. Betos responds by telling her the story of her life as the human, Bethany Socorro, and says that she cannot live happily if she cannot live as herself. She assures Kon-Mai that her past is hers to explore or not.

.

(I want to thank everyone for being patient with me again, my health has still been less than good, and the depression that accompanies that is kickin' my ass, but I'm very happy and lucky to have such a wonderful support group to help me through it.

Speaking of them, if you want to see me on a more regular basis, I'm very active on the Sympathy for the Devil Discord Server, which is the designated space for the partial inspiration for this story! Sympathy for the Devil is another Chosen redemption story written by Big Demoband here on and on AO3, and I sincerely recommend reading it if you haven't already, and I double recommend joining us on the Discord and talking about how wonderful the Chosen are. :3

If you want to see more of my own work, this story is also up on Archive of our Own (AO3) and the accompanying Tumblr blog receives regular updates and supplementary writing that helps to expand the Chosen Stories universe. In the meantime friends, thank you so much for your patience, and I'll see you in the next one!)