Fall Of The Empire
Rating: T (for now.)
Disclaimer: I don't own this. If I did, the second season would have been out already, and I would be all over that like white on rice.
Author's Notes:
1.) Aw. Yeah. 15k! Time to part-ayyy! Talk about exciting, huh? 15K! *Blows a noisemaker.* I told you guys we'd hit it before the final chapter, and we did. Hello to 15K readers!
2.) I hope you checked out Aurelya's drawing of Echo on dA! If not, you should. Just because it's literally that stunning.
3.) Behold, the season finale. I hope you all enjoy it. Is it the last chapter in FOTE's history? Spoiler alert: no, there will be an epilogue. FOTE's sequel (and my season two of the show) will be announced via the epilogue as well. So just keep an eye out for it. Another spoiler alert, the epilogue will not crack more than about 5K words, so it won't take me too long to whip out. Probably a day or three.
I won't say much more because, damn. I'm not sure how people are going to react to this season finale! BUCKLE YOUR SEATBELTS, KIDS. THIS RIDE GON' BE CRAY.
4.) For artistic purposes, I changed canon for this chapter. For one, it made no sense for a certain shop to be located in one place, so I shifted it to another locale.
Enjoy!
Warnings: Nothing, except for stylistic things FF loves to om nom. Mild cursing. If you see anything with the first-person in it, it should be italicized. That is all. Present tense is how I transcribe eps, if you see any confusing verb tenses, tell me and I'll fix them!
. . . this text is here for a mysterious reason.
She was going insane.
Slowly and surely, thoroughly, and certifiably insane.
In the darkness of her sleep, the same dream played, a million times over. Sometimes it started at different points, other times later, but the course of it was the same. Echo shivered as she stood in the middle of a grassy field, the sun beaming down happily on her. In the distance, she could see a small knoll, with a beautiful oak tree standing high and proud. She knew that tree by heart - all the days and nights she'd spent lounging under it, hands behind her head, carefree and happy. . .
Echo swallowed. She didn't want to go through another round of the dream. Not again.
She felt a small touch at her elbow, and Echo turned, discovering her shadow. The girl, still wearing her heavy black cloak, dropped her hand.
"Why are you doing this to me?" Echo asked, her voice cracking. "I don't want to see it anymore. I wake up screaming, holding my stomach, hoping I can stop the blood. . ."
The girl said nothing.
The dream around her shivered, and Echo bit her bottom lip, feeling helpless, alone, and frustrated. She also felt the insanity, the desperate panicking of her mind that she stop it now, before the cycle repeated itself and the dream played for hours and hours and hours. . . But it was already too late for that, and she knew it. Once her eyes closed, she sealed her fate. Dreams, over and over, time stretching seconds to eternity, and when the dream finished, it just replayed.
Echo stayed awake as long as she could, but it didn't help her, in the end. . . Humans had to sleep.
And the dream would always be waiting for her.
She knew it was the shadow - there was nobody else who had access to her mind (unless one excluded Markata, but unless he sought to make her a babbling mess on the floor, then this wasn't his doing), and being that the shadow had always been there, since the beginning, and she'd said earlier that she was showing her her memories. . . Echo knew it had to be her. But there was a certain amount of betrayal and resignation whenever she looked at her now.
If the shadow cared about her, if the shadow was made of just a pinch of human, she would have felt sorry for Echo. She wouldn't have been subjecting her to her memories, day after day, night after relentless night.
"I'm cracking. You know it. I'm hardly functional anymore. So why do you keep doing this to me?" Echo pleaded, her voice wavering and shaking.
If the shadow wanted her to beg, she'd do it. She'd get on her knees and plead, casting away all dignity - if it meant that the dreams stopped.
"No," The shadow replied. "I will not. Because you're finally ready," The hooded head turned to her, in its depths, Echo could make out a pair of thinned lips, pressed into a solid line, "And I'll be damned if I don't drill it into your head. You will commit this to memory. Because. . . When the choice is yours, I want you to make the right one."
And she stepped away, leaving Echo standing in the middle of an open field.
Tiny white petals fell from the sky, and Echo felt her lip tremble as the petals singed, turning to embers.
And then fire raged around her.
Screams, the sound of the dying and the damned, combined into a cacophony of noise and pain, crashing against her. Echo screamed, but her voice was drowned out by the thousands of others that cried out, begging to be saved. Echo fell to her knees, brain feeling like a pile of barbed wire as she felt every injury, every fatal blow belonging to every screaming voice. Echo died a thousand times, and just to make sure she knew how painful it was, she was murdered a thousand times over.
Through the wells of the screams, she thrashed, bleeding and broken, searching for an anchor, trying to find her way out-
And she staggered onto her feet, a dark, disbelieving smile on her face.
All around her, metal breathed alive with screams and blood, dripping with the darkness of their betrayal. Before her, a heavy steel door laid between her and one of her deaths - one of many. But she was lucky. Fate had given her a head start. Her lips moved automatically, locked in a pattern that she'd grown to know very, very well.
"I-I'm sorry that it h-had to be like this," She hiccuped, her throat raw and hoarse from screaming. Tears dripped down her cheeks, but she didn't wipe them away. Her tears were all she had left. "B-but it's either you o-or me-"
A blood-curdling roar cut her off, wilting her voice in her throat. Ahead of her, a steel door buckled, four inches of reinforced metal caving under his might. There was a viewport, and just beyond it, red light illuminated a bloody pane of glass that separated her from the red-haired terror within. Claws and hands scrabbled at the glass, frantically clawing at the window. He wanted to get her. He wanted to get her and tear her to pieces.
Echo's hands shook as she brought them close to her chest, and pressed them over her heart. It was fluttering, just barely alive. Fear, desperation, and horror had killed it.
With a screech, the door buckled inward, and fierce, sharp winds swept her back up with the masses. Tearing her through a few more memories (a clawed hand flaying her face, another one bringing a sword 'round to decapitate her, and one more shooting her point-blank), Echo was deposited roughly onto her knees.
She stared up at a very familiar scene.
Lion-O, holding Omens above her, the tip dangling just a few inches from her face. She opened her mouth, ready to beg, to scream at him to listen to her-
The sword came down, and Echo woke up, eyes snapping open, a foreign name tumbling from her tongue.
It was a name she'd never uttered before.
Echo breathed, shaking, her entire body drenched in a cold sweat. She sat up, and removed the makeshift gag from her mouth. She was kind enough to the person who had saved her life, and just because her recurring nightmare made her scream didn't mean he needed any less sleep.
But that name. . . Echo touched her lips, furrowing her brow and trying to recreate it. It felt so damn familiar on her tongue-
"Now you're beginning to understand," The shadow said, appearing next to her bedside, "The truth that I've been trying to show you."
Echo ignored her. Night after night, when the nightmare ended, she'd always screamed, "Lion-O."
And tonight. . . Well.
That name most certainly didn't belong to the lion at all.
She wasn't a lot of good for a whole lot, most days.
She tried. She honestly, really tried, but Echo either walked around in a dazed stupor, pining for sleep but refusing to give into the urge, or she stood around in a hallucinogenic fever-dream, staring at things and people that weren't even there. Yeah. . . It pretty much made her a useless, babbling mess. She'd be caught more than once talking to people and voices that weren't even there (and scare off customers), or she'd actually fall asleep and wake up screaming, terrifying everyone in the general vicinity.
Both options weren't welcome, and Echo hated them equally. She was more and more mentally unhinged every day.
. . . And the worst part?
It had only been two weeks.
Fourteen days since she'd been found, and nursed back into a passable state of health. The three laser wound entries still blistered, and the injuries that she'd received two weeks ago were slow to heal. Echo smiled bitterly as she remembered the amount of wounds Cheetara had healed for her, small or large. Debilitating injuries had been reduced to merely a fraction of their heal time with the cleric around, but without her, Echo was forced to rely on her body's slow rate of mending itself. In just fourteen days, the bruises she'd sustained had lightened from an ugly black to a disgusting green/yellow, and the open wounds were finally starting to heal at a turtle's pace.
Echo had sunk a lot of money into going to the town's doctor to make sure none of her injuries got infected. She also spent a decent amount of time getting stitches. Mumm-Ra's generals had done quite the number on her last time they'd met.
"It was your fault. You weren't prepared enough. . . you still aren't prepared enough."
Echo shot an irritated glare at the shadow, who had decided to appear at her side. Tenderly, Echo picked up a small box of goodies and moved them to the front of the shop, careful not to aggravate the wounds on her body.
"I'm really not in the mood to talk to you. You are the cause of my sleep deprivation, and the reason why I'm going insane. Go away." Echo snapped.
"Last night, you finally began to understand just what I'm trying to show you. The truth you've been looking for since the beginning-"
"If Kaynar, Addicus, or Slithe come crawling around, I am defenseless because of you. I don't have my swords, I'm injured, I'm tired-"
"They won't," The shadow replied, "Nobody is going to disturb you. I've made sure it won't happen."
Echo paused, setting down the box, and looked at the girl. At her sides, her fists clenched, and Echo was sure that her eyes were blazing under her cowl. But why? What stake did the girl have in anything? As far as Echo was concerned, the creepy thing was nothing more than a figment of her imagination, not some spirit or ghost that was wandering around. On top of that, when she'd been alone for a month and a half, the shadow had been. . . kind. Affectionate, almost. Hell, Echo could remember the first time that they'd actually met.
Now, her mind was pulling a mental Pumyra. The shadow was cold and distant, constantly subjecting her to hallucinations and the dream. In the span of two weeks, it had just. . . become something else entirely.
"What the hell do you mean, you made sure. . ." Echo trailed off as the door opened. She straightened, using a counter to help herself up to her feet, and smiled tiredly.
An old, weathered dog stepped down, hands massaging his back.
"Jorma. I was wondering when you'd wake up." Echo greeted genially.
Jorma chuckled. "As a young pup, I used to be able to sleep in. Now, I wake up at the smallest of noises. . . I take it you haven't been drinking your sleeping draught?"
Echo felt herself blanch, and she coughed into her hand sheepishly. Jorma, in a bid to help her with her relentless nights of waking up screaming, had purchased her a sleeping potion. Once, Echo had tried it - and she'd regretted it immediately. Instead of sending her into a dreamless sleep, like it was supposed to, it had dragged out her torment exponentially. Instead of having her torment prolonged, Echo had chosen to sleep with gags and handcuffs on. . . but that didn't help with the hallucinations too much.
"Oh, I did," Echo answered sheepishly, "I'm afraid it doesn't seem to help too much, though. I really am sorry, Jorma. I can go somewhere else-"
Jorma waved a paw airily at her. "Nonsense. I did not pull you from that wreckage to have you sleep somewhere else. Echo, my dear girl, you suffered horribly at the hands of those monsters. It's quite normal, and I'm sure it'll go away in time. I can mind it, don't you worry about old me. Besides, it's only been three weeks since the ThunderCats left - I don't mind the company in the slightest!"
Damn lucky it had been that long, and not any shorter. Echo didn't think that the Cats would take too kindly to her showing up to whatever they were doing, half-dead as she was. Jorma shuffled over to the front of the shop and began to lift the windows. Sunlight fell on his technology, little gadgets and doodads stirring and waking as day dawned upon them again. One in particular, Flicker, a strange little bug that reminded her of a firefly, chirruped as he woke and took to the air. He'd gone missing three weeks ago, Jorma had told her, but had returned, whole and safe and sound.
"If you say so. . ." Echo replied meekly. She rubbed at the back of her neck, where the neuron scrambler still resided, dull and throbbing.
A week ago, Jorma had tried to remove it.
As he tugged on the wires, Echo subsequent loss of consciousness had sent Jorma into a frenzied panic. Luckily for the both of them, she'd woken up approximately four hours later, and the dog deduced that whatever it was had a fail safe to prevent it from being removed. But, Echo reasoned bitterly, that meant that her telekinesis, an integral part of who she was, was strictly off limits. Lately, however, she'd concocted a crazy, absolutely insane way of getting it removed. . . and that plan was to be carried out today.
"How are you doing today, my dear?" Jorma asked, shuffling over to her.
Echo smiled as best as she was able and patted the old dog's hand.
"Better. A little better every day that goes by. But I have business to take care of in town today. The doctor said she wanted to remove some of my stitches - it'll probably take a good deal of time, too. But I promise I'll be back before nightfall."
Jorma beamed up at her happily. "Oh, yes, yes. Don't you worry, you take care of yourself, my dear girl. Oh, you're leaving now?"
Reaching down, Echo picked up a backpack and threw it over her shoulders. The straps rubbed against her injuries, but Echo was wise enough not to make a wince. Not when Jorma was looking, anyway. She had no reason to cause the dog any more worry than she already had. Two weeks ago, he'd pulled her from the hovercraft wreckage, had taken her in, and paid to have her nursed back to health. . . all without blinking an eye.
Echo didn't want to know if he knew the truth about her departure from the Cats or not.
She didn't think she would survive another soul-wrenching wound like that.
Giving Jorma's hand a squeeze, Echo made for the door, and shot a wave over her shoulder. Wrapping her scarf around her face (one of the items to survive the wreck, magically), she wrapped it around her head, protecting her from the desert sun. Jorma had holed up in a small town on the edge of the desert, right next to a pile of technologic trash. Echo had gone with him once or twice on his ventures, but she hadn't stayed for very long. The Necromechs did a good job of freaking her out - and so did the magical deposit of junk from the sky.
More mysteries always seemed to unravel about Third Earth the longer she stayed. It was like a giant, convoluted puzzle Echo just couldn't leave alone. Maybe one day, she'd get to know what all of it meant.
But today, she could handle just one mystery being solved.
There was only one person on the whole of Third Earth who had better technology skills than Jorma, and today, she was going to seek that person out. Irritatingly enough, her shadow appeared at her side, silent footsteps gliding over the ground.
"Are you sure you want to do this? You're hardly in the health to manage it."
Echo paused, drew the pack off of her back, opened it up, and fished out two holsters. Re-shouldering the backpack, she clipped the holsters to her thighs, and resumed walking, drawing the handguns from their sheathes. She tested their weights in her hand, flicked the safety on and off again, and when she made it a passable distance outside of Tech Town (as the citizens had named it), she fired off an experimental shot or two. A white-green laser spit out of the gun, leaving a dark scorch mark in the ground. Satisfied, she holstered them again and kept walking.
"Absolutely positive. I'm already half-crazy. Look, I'm hallucinating even now - hello, shadow demon - might as well go all the way with it."
The shadow frowned at her, and fearlessly, Echo walked through a shadowy demon with golden eyes. She'd seen enough of them to not be afraid. When she was awake, her hallucinations wouldn't hurt her - it was only when she was sleeping was she wracked with pain.
". . . You're crazy. My god." The girl muttered.
Echo grinned. "As a fox."
They walked in silence, skirting around the forest line to avoid most of the sun's harsh rays. Her shadow never left her side, and for that, Echo was actually grateful. It had only been an hour or two, and already Echo was exhausted. She just didn't have much energy nowadays, what with the stitches and all. They trekked over the desert/forest landscape together. During that time, Echo cast secret glances at the cloaked girl, and she hoped she could feel the potent mixture of hate and love she felt for her.
Hate, for subjecting her to torment and anguish night after night, day after day. When she demanded answers, the shadow immediately replied with, "Because you need to know."
Know what? How the girl had suffered in some time of her life? How thousands of other people had suffered at the hands of demons? The shadow was back to talking in cryptic gibberish, never explaining herself despite being given every chance to. Echo despised her for cracking her mind open a thousand times over, for making her utterly insane. She was unable to walk in public without breaking down and sobbing, holding imaginary stab wounds, or go to sleep without dreaming of thousands of deaths that hadn't been her own.
And love. . . Love because, through all of this. . . She'd always stayed by her side. The cloaked girl didn't cast judgements on Echo for believing her to be a spy - she hadn't even broached the subject with her. Despite the hell the shadow was putting Echo through, she was always there after she fell on the ground to stare down at her and tell her she was strong enough to stand on her own two feet. The cloaked girl had taught Echo a valuable lesson over their time spent together: no matter how many times Echo fell, was punched, kicked, or bruised, she could always get back up.
And that, Echo reasoned, actually made it all worth it. To find out that she had been the strongest creature of them all, to skirt around and dance with the hands of insanity and live, well. . . it made her feel damn near invincible. Two months had gone by, and already, she felt the throbbing, emotional ache of the Cat's exile of her fading.
Her banishment was nothing compared to the dreams.
The ground beneath her changed, slowly becoming riddled with technological parts, and Echo paused, glancing around her. The forest began to thicken, and tension rose in the air. The shadow stopped next to her, head turning this way and that.
"We're here. Just over that rise." She pointed.
Echo nodded, and they set off again. It only took another five minutes to climb the knoll, and Echo's legs burned, warning her that she only had so much energy to budget for the trip back. And if a fight was involved, well. . . she could kiss all chances of making it back to Jorma.
Alive, anyway.
The human peered down into the small forest glen and she felt a strange sense of familiarity. Deja vu made her head spin, and with a startling realization, she found it was just like the time she'd looked at the elephant's steps. Messy, moss-covered stairs led down, into a lair she knew was probably much bigger on the inside than it appeared outwardly. Massaging her temples, Echo sighed - and caught the shadow staring intently at her.
"What?" She snapped.
The girl shook her head. "Nothing. Are you ready?"
Echo rolled her shoulders, unbuckling the guns and holding them. "As ready as I'll ever be. Let's go meet this Soul Sever."
Within moments, she was at the steps, and carefully placing each foot down, Echo began to descend the mossy staircase.
Soul Sever's base was. . . quiet.
Echo actually like that. Yes, it felt alive, like every speck of darkness was brimming with Necromechs, who all wanted to detach from the walls and pounce on her, but it was tranquil in its own way. As they walked on, the cloaked girl leading the way, Echo followed close behind, critically examining the walls. She wanted to think that they would come alive, like they had in the Astral Plains, with glowing, alien lines and runes in the walls. Or, at the very least, resemble the technology she'd seen there, too.
But no. It didn't, and for some reason, that really frustrated her.
"Just up ahead." The shadow said.
Echo cut her a sharp stare. "How the hell do you know where we're going?"
"I've done this a couple hundred times. Human or not, all of these bases are practically designed the same way. Just make sure you're friendly."
A bitter smirk tweaked at the corner of her lip. "Friendly. Me. The insane, homicidal human. . . You've got a good sense of humor."
She heard a chuckle, and that made her stifle a giggle of her own. The shadow paused at a closed doorway, and Echo stood before it, knowing, just knowing, that Soul Sever laid on the other side. Her fingers wrapped around the triggers of her gun, which she drew silently out of their sheathes, and battle calm settled over her. If there was a fight, so be it. She'd get her way, though. Even if that meant torturing Sever. Licking her lips, Echo nodded, and the shadow waved her hand over the door - and it opened.
"I didn't know you could open doors. . ." Echo muttered as she passed by the cloaked human.
"There's a lot of things you don't know about me."
Fair enough.
The pair strode into the atrium, lighted dimly by half-broken fluorescent lights set into the walls and ceiling. Tanks lined the walls, bubbling and holding containers filled with strange specimens the likes of which Echo had never seen before. Other tanks held glowing lights that floated hopelessly at the bottom of their tanks, depressed and dead. Charming, Echo thought. She examined the room, stride confident as she pressed on, and stopped in front of a raised dais surrounded by computer consoles.
She locked eyes with Soul Sever, and she smiled.
"Well. You look like the Grim Reaper."
Her shadow frowned at her. "Knock it off."
Soul Sever straightened, impressive height and appearance standing tall. Glowing green lenses focused on her, and his hands dropped off of the computer console he'd been typing on.
"What is this curiosity that intrudes into my sanctuary?" The robotic voice asked.
Echo got her first good look at Soul Sever, and she committed him to memory. He certainly did look like the Grim Reaper. . . wearing MC Hammer pants. Shaking her head, Echo demanded her mind focus for once. The insanity she was experiencing just wouldn't leave her alone. Humor aside, however, Soul Sever did look quite frightening. He resembled a machine and a skeleton, all mixed into one. Two scythes stretched from his back, giving him the appearance of a skeletal angel of sorts, glowing and alive.
In the darkness, Echo could see Necromechs stirring, green eyes glowing, waiting for an order from their master to move.
"I'm here to get help. I understand in the field of technology, you're unparalleled."
In the quiet, Echo could hear his lenses whirring, zooming in on her. Soul Sever quirked his head to the side, as if examining something he'd never seen before.
"Cats, dogs, fish. . . These creatures I have observed on this organic mudball. But you, white-haired marvel, are nothing I have ever laid optic on. . . Regardless, I have no interest in being sociable. Leave my domain."
"Convince him." The cloaked girl ordered. "Or the neuron scrambler will stay on forever."
Yeah, she wanted her telekinesis back.
"I'm not leaving." Echo said. "You and I need to talk."
"Begone, or I will remove you." Soul Sever snapped, his tone dropping thirty degrees.
The Necromechs moved out of the darkness, just waiting for an opportunity to stride. Echo could see shoddy, rusty, serrated blades gleaming what little light was available. Echo tensed, casting quick glances to either side of her. At quick count, there was a decent ten or twelve of them, and one gravely injured human. If a fight broke out, Echo would be incredibly lucky to last ten seconds, tops. If she had the neuron scrambler off, then she might stand a better chance. . .
"You need to talk fast or you'll die!" The shadow snapped.
The Necromechs rushed her, and Echo raised a gun, prepared to fire- but they stopped. Just like that. They'd taken two steps, intent on ending her life, but something had stopped them cold. Echo breathed heavily, her wounds already throbbing in protest. Slowly, as if they were glaciers, the Necromechs eased back into the shadows, the green lights fading as they powered down.
Is this some kind of trick? Echo thought, crouching, guns still raised. It has to be.
"Say that again, anomaly." Soul Sever said, his voice quiet, reverent. Those green lenses were focused on her, blazing and bright. His hands were clutching the computer console tightly, his entire body rigid.
"What?" Echo asked, her voice raspy.
"No no no," Sever continued, "With your other voice."
Is he talking about my telekinesis?
". . . That's impossible. It's disabled-"
Sever jumped, startling the both of them, his lenses dilating as he landed on the ground.
"You. . . You a strange marvel, you are. Speaking with a voice that does not belong to you - and I can see your shadow moving. Explain that to me, creature."
It dawned on Echo what he was talking about. She turned, slowly, ever so slowly, where the cloaked girl was standing, still and silent.
"He can. . . He can see you?" She croaked.
"Not clearly, no." Sever replied. He approached, slowly and carefully as though he were afraid of scaring her off, "But there is certainly something there. Look, can't you see the glitching in the spectral sphere?"
Echo felt like running. Numbly, her guns tumbled from her hands, and she began to shake as she took a step back, and then another.
All this time, she figured the shadow had been a figment of her mind. There was no other possible reason why she had existed. Even Cheetara hadn't seen her, and the cleric was blessed with second sight. And magic. Her entire time with the Cats, and not a single one of them had mentioned seeing her strange shadow. The cloaked girl turned to her, finally, completely ignoring Soul Sever as he advanced on the pair.
"We're connected, you and I. Is it really so horrible to know that I'm not some hallucination you cooked up? How else can I interact with you, or even that door for that matter? I'm not a ghost, so don't be so afraid."
"Not a ghost? T-Then what the hell are you?" Echo said. She tried to yell the words, to say them with as much fury as possible, but it came out a small whimper instead of a bristly bark. A darkness fell over her, and Echo jumped, turning her head up to see Soul Sever standing right beside her, luminescent eyes boring down on her.
"No, white-haired wonder. The true question is what are you? What being has the ability to tether a soul to their own so tightly that it can interact with this plain?"
A. . . A soul?
Echo felt like she was going to be sick. The world was spinning around her, and it felt as though somebody had pulled a rug out from under his feet. It wasn't a shadow, a cloaked girl - it was another soul. Echo's breathing was short and raspy, and everything shook as she struggled to remain upright - and she lost her balance. Echo fell, wincing as she expected an impact, but sinewy, strong arms caught her, gently helping her back up to her feet.
"It would not do to have my latest subject break. No, not now, when I finally have in my possession the object of my deepest dreams-" His grip tightened on her, and Echo cried out, pain lashing through her body. But just as quickly, his hands loosened again, and Echo tried to see what made him stop, what made his feverish voice cool off.
And she saw the cloaked girl, one hand phasing through his chest cavity, fingers wrapping around something on the inside.
"Release her, and we'll have a civil conversation," She spoke, voice calm, but cold, "She's not your test subject. We're here to ask you to do something for her, and if you don't do it, I'll tear out this thing you call a heart."
Obediently, Soul Sever released Echo, and the human gratefully stood on her own feet. Sever spread his arms, exposing his chest completely, and stared down in wonder and awe at the hand sticking into his armor plating.
"A miracle. You are everything I strove to create and more. . . But too late. Much too late. They are gone, my family. . . My love. My children."
His scythes drooped, and a wetness began to spread over his faceplate. Calmly, the shadow drew her hand out of his chest, and rejoined Echo by her side. Echo looked at her in fear, the revelation she'd just experienced still overwhelming her. The cloaked girl wasn't some ghost, nor a hallucination. She was a soul. A soul that had been with her since the very beginning.
"Cry about it later. Everybody dies. Now - look at me when I'm talking to you - you see this?" Clapping a hand on her shoulder, the shadow spun Echo around, and tugged down her scarf, revealing the neuron scrambler, "I want it removed."
Soul Sever stopped his keening, and Echo felt him approach a second time. She panicked, wanting to be free, but the shadow held her firm, cutting her a stare. "I'm helping you. Stand still. If he does anything, I'll rip him to pieces, and he won't be able to do anything about it."
"I take offense to that," Sever said, his voice directly behind her, "I would never do anything to harm such a precious speci-. . . creature. Hold still."
She heard a shink noise, and a shiver crawled down her spine as she felt something tickling the back of her neck - and wires stuck into more ports around the site that Kaynar had sliced open. The shadow's hand melted off of her shoulder, and Echo felt her knees buckle again - and Sever caught her.
"Get off me." Echo said, vainly trying to push his hands away.
"My diagnostics are still running. It is intriguing to note that the companion soul's ability to remain tangible depends on your physical health-"
"Not exactly. Try anything, and I'll make good on my promise."
Soul Sever was quiet for a moment, and Echo looked down at the arms that were holding her, morbidly intrigued. They felt. . . warm. Warm and metallic, but somehow impossibly organic at the same time. She was still incredibly creeped out by the Grim Reaper look-alike, but with her shadow there, she felt a certain measure of peace. Her phantom wouldn't let anything happen to her - the cold, deadly threat in her tone promised retribution if Sever tried anything.
". . . My diagnostics are finished. This is a piece of technology the likes of which I have never seen before. . . You are a piece of technology the likes of which I have never touched. Complicated to understand as it is, however, I believe I can detach it."
His tone carried a heavily implied, 'for a price.'
"Do it, or I tear you to shreds." The shadow compromised. She had excellent negotiation skills.
"I would be more than pleased. This horrendous piece of trash cripples you and her. But if I remove this, you must swear to me that you will tell me your secrets."
"No."
"I am owed some form of repayment-"
"Take it off, and I leave you your life. You can keep the scrambler as your payment."
"I'll tell you what I know," Echo said, headache already beginning, "But after that, I have to go."
There was a beat of silence, before Soul Sever heaved a great, weary sigh.
"Agreed. You and your companion drive a hard bargain, anomaly. Remain still. I must integrate with your cerebral connections. You should not feel any pain."
Echo waited for the sensation of Soul Sever to connect to her cerebral connections, but she didn't feel anything save for a tingling sensation at the top of her spine. She waited, feeling more and more awkward (who knew a cyborg-creature-thing holding a girl could feel so awkward) but then she gasped as something pinched her neck, and a shot of agony moved down her spine - snap snap.
The weight of the neuron scrambler fell off of her head, and Soul Sever released her. Echo rubbed at the top of her spine, ignoring the way that it came alive, like it had fallen asleep. Mentally, she felt at least three times better, but physically. . . that was another story. She turned, seeing Soul Sever looking at her with interested eyes, holding the neuron scrambler in his hands. It looked strange, and being that this was Echo's first time looking at it, she made sure to remember it. Wires and ports stuck out of a half-moon piece of plastic that clipped around the backside of her head, and she vowed she'd never get it stuck on her again.
Once had been enough.
"Now, if you would be so kind to hold up your end of the bargain?"
The shadow looked at her, and crossed her arms, no longer wanting to be of any assistance.
Echo faced Soul Sever, and she launched into a very lengthy dialogue. She explained that she was a human, the only one of her kind (no need for him to know about Mumm-Ra), and had come to one day, bloodied and wounded, in Thundera's slums. She explained that had been with the Cats, but her interests had since changed, and she decided to go her own way. She told Soul Sever about her shadow, the one that had been with her since the beginning, and elaborated on the fact that she had amnesia. A decent amount of time had passed before she quieted, and Soul Sever looked thoughtful.
"You have those same blue eyes. . ." He murmured.
Echo perked up. "What?"
"I ran into this ThunderCat lord you spoke of. My first laboratory was destroyed during our. . . altercation. I moved to a more reclusive place."
"Well. He has a tendency to wreck and run."
"But, had I known this not but four weeks earlier, I would have revolutionized nature and technology. What you wore - it could only be crafted from another human. Which leads me to believe that you may not be the only human present on Third Earth. . . An interesting quandary. But a complex and perplexing puzzle at the same time. You speak the truth, human. Investigation of your cerebral connections revealed damaged neurons. It's likely you may never get your memories back. . . not completely. But there were enhanced kinetic neural relays in your nervous system connections-"
Echo put up a hand to stop him. "That makes no sense."
". . . Forgive me. You have an untapped power in your mind that this. . . neuron scrambler meant to block completely. But the nervous system connections served other purposes. Do you know what they are?"
"No." Echo answered honestly. "I told you about the whole amnesia bit."
"And this concludes your payment." The shadow interrupted, "The day is dwindling away, and we must return. Goodbye."
Soul Sever said nothing as her phantom seized her hand and dragged her out. In his eyes, however, Echo could see a strong measure of longing and obsession, as though he'd just had his first toy ever in his life, and he never wanted to let it go. But another forceful tug on her arm, and her shadow dragged her out of the atrium. Before long, they were hitting topside, where the sun was beginning to set, and she still had a decent two hours of walking to go. Only when they were above ground did the shadow release her hand.
"You were a soul. This whole time. And you didn't think to tell me that?" Echo said, her tone slightly wounded.
It would have saved her a lot of heartache in the long run.
"I didn't remember until very recently, myself. But that's not important. What is is that you have free reign of your abilities again. Now you need only to rest. Let's get back to Jorma."
Echo nodded, falling into step beside her phantom.
Things just. . .
Keep getting more and more complicated.
This dream. . . Was not like the others.
Her phantom was not present, as she had been, so many times before. Instead, Echo was alone. She was running down a metallic hallway, her breath burning her lungs, tears in her eyes, and horror and sheer desolation taking place all around her. Here and there, she spotted battles, but it hardly seemed fair to call them that. Battle implied that two opponents agreed to fight, and both stood an equal chance. Here, it was more of a genocide, of a slaughter.
Blood coated everyone, and everything that she saw.
And the more she looked, the more she saw.
Everywhere, humans knelt, ran, fought back, but it was a losing battle. Within the span of an hour or two, she knew, there would be no more humans. Men, women, hell, even children - none of it mattered. Each one was murdered, blood splashing everything and pooling on the ground. And in one room, Echo could see a dog, holding a short knife, bringing it down-
But still, Echo ran, determination the only thing that was keeping her going.
A force struck her in the side, knocking her down. Echo wheezed as she moved, getting to her hands and knees, broken fingernails gripping the metal surface of the floor. She looked up at her attacker, and every ounce of hope she had drained out of her as she spotted a familiar mane of red hair. Blue eyes blazed with a contempt so strong, Echo felt like she was getting burned. She looked up at him, her lip trembling, tears dripping freely down her cheeks.
"P-Please," She whimpered, "Don't do this. I l-loved you. I l-loved all of you."
The sword raised itself just a little bit more, and Lion-O glared down at her.
"P-Please." She begged.
Around her, the dream shivered, losing its integrity for the first time ever.
Things began to change. A window that hadn't been there before came into existence, a doorway lay open, broken on its hinges, and even Lion-O. . . His armor bled out to gray, and clothes began to unfurl on his body, long sleeves and pants covering up his arms and legs. His armor changed into something much slimmer and form-fitting, offering better protection and concealment. The color of his fur changed, tinging slightly more gold.
His head morphed, too. His hair lengthened, just slightly, strands of red framing his face in an oddly boyish manner, his spiky mane hanging down a little lower. A heavy metal visor rested on his head, blotting out his face.
Echo's eyes widened. L-Lion-O. . . is that you?
Before she could get a closer look at the lion, the sword went plunging into her, and she screamed.
"Masai!"
Echo bolted upright, her heart racing, her eyes wide, sweat drenching her.
"Oh my god. Ohmygodohmygod." In her chest, her heart was pounding, and her stomach was roiling.
She rolled over, and scrambled to the closest bowl she could find. She threw up, revulsion and nausea searing through her blood like poison. Echo trembled, holding onto the bowl for dear life, even as she collapsed onto the ground. It was just a dream. Just a dream. . .
But why did I say that. Who is Masai? That wasn't Lion-O. He looked bulkier, that lion, and his hair was longer. . . Lion-O of the future, maybe? But christ, all those animals, and all those people. . .
"It wasn't a dream."
Echo looked up at the shadow, who stood above her, looking out the window.
"W-What?" She asked, scrubbing at her mouth, "Yes it was. It was a dream."
"My memories, not your dreams. I told you this once before, didn't I? I wanted you to finally understand the truth. And that was the truth."
"No. No, no, no. NO!" Echo didn't care that her voice had risen to a shout, that she might wake up poor, sleep-deprived Jorma just a few rooms down. All she cared about was proving this shadow wrong. Her dreams were just dreams. Her phantom stood, still and calm, not even caring about what she was saying. She simply stared out the window of her room, staring at the rising sun.
"Yes. I told you I showed you my memories. And I wanted you to understand, all this time. The fate of humanity. What happened that day on Terra. The war on Terra was won, but we lost, not but twelve days, six hours, and five minutes later. I remember those screams, the blood-drenched hallways. . ."
Echo scrambled up to her feet, and lunged for the shadow - but it was quicker. It spun her around, pinning her to the bed, hooded face not but a few inches above her own. Echo writhed in its grip, trying to free herself, but the shadow's warm touch kept her held fast.
"Why the hell should I believe you? I'm here - I'm alive! So is Markata-"
". . . Markata. . . Yes, he knows the truth, too. Remember all those times you talked with him? He had this gleam in his eye - don't shake your head, I know you saw it too - like he was just waiting for you to find out something. The only other human on Third Earth knows this truth."
Echo stilled, her head spinning, her stomach roiling again. She thought she was going to throw up a second time, but she couldn't be sure. Is that what Markata had meant? When he'd looked at her with pity, he'd told her he'd made the wrong choice, and she'd fallen from grace because of it. . .
Even her shadow had told her that she wanted her to make a choice, the right choice. . .
"There. Think about it. Yes, Markata was feeding you those dreams - but he was triggering my memories. He told you you'd engraved this story into your very bones. He invited you to look into the eyes of your demons. Think! In all of those nightmares, they're shadows with glowing eyes. Some are gold, others are blue. . . They're the eyes of animals."
She wasn't lying to her.
The shadow wasn't lying.
Echo laid there, her entire body shaking, and she closed her eyes, but the dream flashed before her again. The shadow's doing, no doubt, but the longer Echo looked, the more she could see it. She'd seen a dog in the nightmare earlier. But the more she looked now, the more the darkness over those demons dissipated, and she could see cats, dogs, lizards. . . all manners of animals, murdering every human they could lay their hands on.
The animals murdered humanity.
The revelation was something that made her feel like she might faint.
This was what Markata was warning me about. God, he even told me my scars were made by claws and teeth. I suspected. I always suspected, but I just never wanted to admit it-
Violently, Echo threw off her phantom, and scrambled for the bowl a second time, where she threw up again. Finished, she sat back, eyes wide, her entire body numb.
"I. . . I suspected. I t-thought. . . B-but why. . . I d-don't want it to be t-true."
The cloaked girl came over to Echo, and brushed away hair from her forehead, the first act of kindness she'd shown Echo in a few weeks. "It is. I'm sorry, but it is. I know you don't want it to be true. But why do you think I subjected it to you, night after night? You may have doubted Markata, but you know I would never lie to you. I am a soul attached to you. I have witnessed it first hand, and I knew it was time to show you the truth."
Echo felt like she'd been torn to pieces.
Learning that she was the only human in Third Earth, finding out Mumm-Ra was a human, discovering that he was her commanding officer? Yeah, those revelations had rocked her world. But this. . . It just blew it up entirely.
Echo buried her face into her hands, and curled up in a ball.
"No." She whispered, trembling. "Please, god, no."
Gently, her phantom brushed the back of her head with her hand, stroking her white hair. "Yes. You were subject to the darkest betrayal of them all. That is why I beg of you not to trust them a second time."
Echo craned her neck back. "B-But who was th-that lion? Masai?"
"My Masai is your Lion-O. I think it is a warning, that if you trust him again. . . You will be met with the same fate."
"W-What fate?"
The shadow looked at her pointedly, and Echo pressed a hand to her still-aching stomach. Oh.
"Please, commit my words to memory. Do not trust them again."
"Lion-O wouldn't kill me! Once I kill Markata, he'll understand."
"Think about how easily they turned on you. They didn't even give you a chance to explain yourself. They just turned on you. Even Omens turned itself against you. He struck you. He doesn't care about you. Not anymore. But. . . the decision is yours. I just pray, with all of my heart and being, that this time, you will learn from my mistakes, and you will make the right choice."
And she disappeared.
Echo curled in on herself, shaking and trembling.
The truth. . .
It turned her - everything, her heart, her mind, her soul - into stone.
Echo died on the inside, the screams and blood of thousands of humans and their animal murderers cementing her death.
Despite knowing the truth, the dreams refused to stop, or slow down. Either did her hallucinations.
Echo was treated to hundreds of murders every day, men, women, and children begging for their lives as a variety of animals murdered them in cold blood. At first, it was difficult to concentrate, but as three days passed, she had become numb to it. Her shadow left her alone, probably to give her time to adjust to the truth, not that Echo was used to it. The fact, cold, hard as steel, and terrible, rested in her heart like a piece of ice.
Every time she looked at an animal, she saw the sickening glee and snarls on their faces as they robbed a human of their life. Breathing out slowly, Echo closed her eyes and massaged her temples. She was minding Jorma's store as the old dog went about scavenging for tech, but she hardly felt like doing it. She wanted to pace, wanted to strike out and hit the closest thing - anything to keep her mind from wandered to thousands of screams of the dying.
Anything to distract her from the truth.
Echo got to her feet, prepared to do just that.
Sitting still and doing nothing invited a lot of thinking, and she wasn't ready to think. She wanted to keep her mind occupied.
The door to the shop opened, and Flicker buzzed happily, leaping into the air. The bell over the door jingled, and Echo turned.
"Store's closed, sorry, lunch. . . time. . ."
"Echo!"
Two tiny bodies rushed forward, leaping up into her arms, and not batting an eye, Echo caught them, squeezing their tiny, furry little bodies close. Kit and Kat laughed and giggled, reaching for any part of her they could hold to clutch tighter to themselves. Echo held them as close as possible, her day brightening, if just a little. When she looked at Kit and Kat, she didn't see the faces of murderers. he saw the faces of two golden-eyed kittens, happily beaming up at her. Reluctantly, Echo set the kittens on the ground, touching their faces and their shoulders - she almost started crying.
"Have you two grown? It looks like you've grown. Have you been eating enough? You look a little thin. Look at you two! Oh, come here."
She squeezed them to her a second time, but the kittens extricated themselves in quick order.
"Echo! Where have you been all this time?" Kat demanded, planting his hands on his hips.
"Do you have any idea how worried we were about you?"
Her excitement died in her.
"I. . . uh. . . I had to go." She said lamely. "I was. . .-"
"Are you going to tell us you're a spy?" Kit said, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Yeah, because everyone knows that was just silly."
Echo knelt there, shocked beyond all repair.
"What?" She asked, blinking at the two.
"Well, duh," Kit said, reaching over and smacking her face, "You've been there since the beginning! There was no way you were a spy, Echo!"
"Are you forgetting the day we met?" Kat continued, shaking his head in exasperation, "A spy wouldn't have saved two stray kittens. They would have left us."
Echo knelt there, and despite herself, tears gathered in her eyes. Two kittens, having blind faith in her, was more than she could ever hope for. Lion-O and the others had told them all about her being a spy and forcibly outcasted, and this was their response. To hug her and greet her like she was a big sister. To tell her that she was most certainly not a spy.
"Echo? We didn't mean to make you cry." Kit said softly, reaching out and touching her cheek.
Echo caught her hand in her own and squeezed it, kissing her knuckles.
"Oh! This'll cheer you up, Echo! We've been through so much since you've been gone! First there was the Soul Sever, and then we lost the ThunderTank - but it's okay!"
"Yeah!" Kit said, scrambling into her lap, "Because we got a ship that flies! We called it the Feliner. And we flew up into the sky, where there's a city!"
"And there are mean, stinking birds that are rude," Kat said, plopping himself down next to them, "And they have the Tech Stone! How cool is that? We found the next stone! But the birds caught everyone and rounded them up, and Mumm-Ra's there. So Kit and I are collecting forces with this!"
He shoved a bag into her hands, an ordinary duffel bag that couldn't have weighed more than five pounds at the very most. Echo turned it over, looking in it and out it, and then back to the kittens.
Kit laughed, understanding her confusion. "You have to say the magic word to make it work. But we got it from this raccoon named Tookit in Dog City. He's a crook! A dirty, no-good pickpocket. We'd say the magic word right now, but if we did, everyone would come out of the bag."
"I see." Echo said, finally managing to find her voice.
"So yeah. We can't stay for too long! Lion-O really needs us. But we have to go to the elephants first - our hoverboards are super fast now. Echo. . . Do you want to come with us?"
"To. . . To where?"
"The sky!" Kat said, pointing up. "The birds have a floating city."
Oh. Well. Echo supposed that made sense.
"I don't. . . I don't think I can." She said, pain creeping into her voice. "Lion-O and the others. . ."
"Don't know what they're talking about. Here." Kat said, getting to his feet. Whispering a word under his breath, he dug around in the bag, and from it, produced a hoverboard. Before Echo could say anything, he shoved it into her hands, and Kit jumped up to her feet. "Take this! Kit can ride on mine. But we gotta go!"
"Lion-O's waiting for you. You know that, Echo! He's missed you!"
The kittens started running out the door, and Echo scrambled up to her feet, following them. "Kit. Kat. Wait!"
"Bye, Echo! See you in Avista!"
As Echo burst out the door, the kittens were already sharing Kat's hoverboard and zipping away, becoming a speck on the horizon. She caught one of them pointing into the sky, but that was it. They were gone, leaving with a hoverboard, in front of Jorma's shop. She looked at the hoverboard, which would fit her, thanks to her small stature. She glanced up at the bright blue sky, and then down to the hoverboard. . .
And she made her decision.
Marching back into the shop, Echo headed to the living quarters. She snatched up what meager belongings she had, threw them in her backpack, and got a piece of paper. As she did, a her shadow popped into existence, wringing her hands.
"Please don't go. Don't do this."
"I have to," Echo said, scribbling her note, "Lion-O is about to fight with Mumm-Ra. This is my chance."
"You know all that's waiting for you is pain."
Scribbling out a very hasty note, Echo left it by the register, and made sure to close up the shop and lock the door behind her. When she closed the door after her, Echo felt a certain thrill weaving through her, excitement and giddiness being the forefront of them.
Today. . . Today, something was going to happen. She didn't know what, but something huge. Her shadow disappeared, unable to convince her, and Echo was glad for it.
Tossing the hoverboard, it powered to life and floated in the air. Ignoring curious onlookers, Echo jumped up, and immediately set off. She'd had limited practice with the kitten's hoverboards, but she knew how to use them, and was halfway good at it. So long as she took it slow, she'd make it there alright. . . And so long as she didn't look down. Heights didn't nearly bother her as much as water did, but the fact that she was so high up over the land really unnerved her. But something that startled her even more. . . was she didn't know what was going to happen next.
Truthfully, Echo didn't know what she'd do when she got to this bird city of Avista.
And in the back of her mind, she could hear her shadow quietly whispering to her.
"Please. . . Remember what I said."
I have to be there, Echo thought back, you know that. I have to be there.
This could be the only chance I have to kill Mumm-Ra.
". . . it'll be painful. The worst wound you'll ever get." The shadow warned, her voice barely rising above a whisper. "You'll be in so much agony you'll want to kill yourself. . ."
"Then let that be my fate." Echo said, her voice a bare murmur in the face of the winds and her scarf. The voice in the back of her mind fell silent, and Echo hit the cloud banks, water vapor clinging to her skin, making her clothes damp, but then she burst above the cloud line. For a brief, brief second, Echo was without time or place. It was absolutely stunning above the clouds - endless shades of blue intertwined with the puffy white of the clouds. The air was slightly thinner up in the sky, but it was gorgeous and beautiful all the same.
Minutes ticked by, and Echo canted this way and that, looking around, trying to figure out where to go. The kittens were lovely, yes, but they were lousy at giving directions. Up meant a lot of things. It could be 300 miles that way up, or 250 miles this way up, or 1,000 the other way kind of up. So Echo set to meandering around, keeping her eyes and her ears peeled. Sooner rather than later, Echo got her wish.
A bright, purple flash filled her vision, and Echo heard a semi-distant explosion. Banking, she turned the hoverboard in the direction of the purple light - it could only belong to one man. Placing her weight on the back, Echo stepped on the throttle, and she was speeding through the sky, her scarf tails fluttering in the wind. She drew closer and closer to the sounds of war, missiles and guns firing, planes exploding in the sky-
Echo broke through a cloud bank, and she got her first eyeful of the city of Avista. It was a large, grand city, straight out the pages of a sci-fi novel. Black dots circled around it, some exploding midair and going down in a violent plume of smoke and flame. On instinct, Echo reached for her swords - but they weren't there. She cursed, but pressed on, satisfied with the guns at her side. She wasn't as good as guns as she was with a blade, but it'd have to do.
Besides, she seemed to have better luck with grenades, and lizards seemed to have those in ample supply, if she could get her hands on them.
Echo sped off again, heading right to the heart of the explosions and the fire. She was still healing, and she knew she wouldn't last long in a fight - she'd have to go about this delicately. Each scuffle would have to be carefully planned and plotted, or avoided altogether. Which meant no tangling with Slithe, Kaynar, or Addicus. She had to go straight to the big bad himself. But, as Echo flew around aerial dogfights, the question remained as to where he was.
"There. Can't you feel it?"
Hm?
Feel it. . . Yeah, Echo realized, she could. Her gaze was drawn to a strange dome-like building covered in opaque windows. A building that tried just a little too hard to fit in with all the others - she could see the additional armor plating and reinforcements given to it. The other buildings looked sleek and gorgeous, but this one appeared. . . clunky. A laser shot flew right by her, but Echo ignored it and sped for the building. In her chest, her heart picked up, and she swallowed against a thickness in her throat.
Chaos was wrought all around her, but over the din, Echo could hear the sound of a hovercraft getting closer to her. She poured on the speed, crouching on the board to give her more of an advantage aerodynamically, but lasers shot in the air around her, shooting around and over her- until it hit the tail of the board. The hoverboards were not made for battle, and nor did they have a lot of armor around the outside.
It exploded under her, sending her through a terrifying (and sick) dive through space, but Echo got her desire. She smacked against the side of the building, and rolled down the side, stopping on a raised lip of it. Gritting her teeth against the pain, Echo took precious seconds to recollect herself, and shook away phantom images that crawled into her eyes. She'd been in a domed room before, with blood and fire raging, screams rattling in the air-
"I can't concentrate with that!" Echo snapped, "Stop it!"
"No."
The hallucination grew stronger, and Echo snatched her hand back as a green laser singed it. She peeked over the side of the outcropping and found lizards there, aiming at her. Reality shivered, and they weren't lizards. Quite suddenly, it was a pack of dogs, blood dripping from their muzzles, bloody swords in their hands-
"I said stop it!"
"NO!"
The entire city of Avista trembled, and Echo clung to the lip of the building, praying she wouldn't fall off.
"Warning. Warning. Anti-gravity field deactivated. Evacuate. Warning. Warning. . ." A computerized voice announced. Sure enough, Echo felt her stomach drop out from her, and the tail of her scarf began to flutter upwards.
Avista was falling.
In the opaque windows, Echo could see two incredibly familiar red and purple flashes as they clashed for dominance, and she knew she didn't have any time to waste. She scrambled up the side of the glass, finding foot and handholds were there were none, and her arms and legs ached as she scrabbled up to the top of the glass dome. She had to get into that room. Everything in her life was leading her to this moment, and she knew it.
Through some miracle, Echo made it to the top without getting shot, and she pulled out her own guns. Pressing them against the glass, she fired. The laser rebounded, very nearly hitting her head, and realizing her stupidity, she holstered them. Of course the birds would reinforce the glass. But. . . she bet they'd never run into anything like her before. Placing her hands against the glass, Echo concentrated, flexing her mental muscles-
And it shattered.
God, that feels great to be using that.
She fell, but it was controlled, into a dimly-lit green room. Shards of glass glittered as they fell alongside her, and clattered, breaking into beautiful piles of dust as they hit the platform. Echo landed, a little rougher than she would have liked, and got up from her crouch. A blue flash brightened the room, and she looked up. Mumm-Ra was in his grotesque, muscly body, and Lion-O was fighting him, Omens extended, a look of determination and hate on his face.
Shhhhkkkk.
Bump.
Echo looked down, and there, laying right next to her foot, was a rock quite unlike anything she'd ever seen. Oh. . . The Technology Stone. Giddy, Echo bent down to pick it up, a smile on her face. She'd give it to Lion-O, and he'd know that she wasn't a spy, that history wouldn't repeat itself-
A blade came out of the air, glittering in the light as it sought to struck her. Echo reeled back, dodging it just in time, but her scarf wasn't so lucky. The front of it bore a vertical cut, the fabric so torn it was slipping off. Echo jumped back, reaching for her gun, but when she caught a flash of red, she stopped. Instead, she smiled, and lifted her second hand, the one bearing the stone, to offer it out to Lion-O. . . only to have her hand falter. Lion-O stood over her, Omens raised again, the blade just a few inches away from her face.
For a moment, everything stopped.
The room dwindled just to the two of them, and Echo stared up at him, up at those eyes reeking of contempt and disgust. . . and her hand dropped. She sat there, disbelief and shock and everything pouring through her.
"Get the stone, Lion-O!" Pumyra yelled, her voice faint but approaching.
Echo might have felt better if the shadow popped into existence and told her 'I told you so.' But it didn't. And the silence only made it worse. Lion-O's eyes slitted, and with a decisive stab, he brought the sword down-
And Echo screamed as Omens pierced her stomach. She writhed, and felt her blood pool underneath her. She cracked open her eyes to find Lion-O reaching over her, to her closed hand, where the warm Technology Stone laid clasped in her fingers.
"I knew this would happen." He said, forcibly grabbing the stone from her hand, "I knew you would show up to protect him."
He glared down at her, his eyes filled with nothing but hostility and disgust.
"Lion-O!" Tygra shouted.
A bright, purple blast of energy plowed into him, bodily taking Lion-O from her. He held onto his sword, and Echo felt the sickening sensation of Omens leaving her. She shuddered, and numbly blinked at a small green rock that dropped onto her chest. The Tech Stone. He'd dropped it. She sat up, and although it took all of her willpower, she got to her feet.
Blood was spreading around her in an alarming rate, but Echo hardly cared about that. She touched one hand to her wound, and pulled it away, looking at her skin.
"Echo! Don't do this - please!" Cheetara pleaded, rushing forward-
Mumm-Ra dispatched her, easily batting her aside, as he had Lion-O.
"If you've ever had a shred of honor, human, you won't commit this crime!" Pumyra snarled, her eyes narrowed.
Mumm-Ra waged war on all of them, somehow keeping Tygra from using his whip, keeping Lion-O occupied - hell, not even Panthro could gain an inch.
Echo. . . Echo took time to think.
Lion-O hadn't said anything to her. She could understand that - she was a spy in his eyes. But she'd been planning on giving him the stone. She'd been one second away from holding it out to him, telling him to take it, and she'd fight against Mumm-Ra with him. . . Just like old times. She'd been prepared to sweep all of the spy nonsense under the rug and call it water under the bridge. But he hadn't even given her a second to tell him that.
No, instead, he'd run her through with his sword.
And that was what gave Echo pause.
Omens. . . Omens couldn't be used against a force of good. There had been many times the sword had failed Lion-O. Viragor, in the forest, had been a prime example. When Lion-O had been possessed with nothing but rage, the sword had refused to function.
But he'd been able to run her through.
He'd used the sword on her.
Omens won't cut a force of good.
Echo stood there, staring down at her blood like it had branded her. Twice. Twice Omens had been used against her.
That meant. . .
That meant. . . everything that everyone had said was true.
". . . it'll be painful. The worst wound you'll ever get." The shadow had told her. This was the first (second?) time she'd been run through with a sword. But. . . but the part that had come after. . . "You'll be in so much agony you'll want to kill yourself."
Her stomach wasn't the wound. It. . . it didn't even hurt. But her heart, her soul. . . Echo felt like they'd been ripped in two and set on fire. She glanced down, looking at the other gun she had in her holster. The shadow had been warning her about what would come in the future.
History repeats itself.
She reached down with her free hand, grabbing the gun. She heard Mumm-Ra growl, and then scream in power - and a bright, purple flash of light engulfed the room. It was quiet as she stood there, testing the gun's weight in her hand. It would be quick and painless. She wouldn't feel anything. She could take herself out of this horrific cycle, repeating over and over again. Idly, Echo wondered if she was trapped in a curse. If she killed herself. . . could she take herself out of it?
Or would she come to, stumbling back into the slums of Thundera?
"Zero-zero-twenty-one." A calm voice announced.
Echo blinked, and looked up.
Markata stood not too far away from her, black eyes assessing her carefully. He took a step forward, but she held up a hand to stop him, and he obeyed. Blood dripped down the gun's stock, and for a second, she watched it.
"I have three questions." She said, her voice weak, but coherent. "And I want answers. Truthful answers, captain."
"I've only ever told you the truth." Markata replied, leisurely tucking his arms behind his back, as though they had all the time in the world. ". . . But I caution you to be quick, child. You're bleeding out."
Dark, bitter laughter poured from Echo. "All I've ever done is bleed. This. . . this is nothing new. . . Question one, captain. . . did animals slaughter humanity?"
Those black eyes flickered, and he glanced to his left, where the Cats were picking themselves up off the floor, looking weary.
". . . Yes." He answered. "After we declared the war on Terra won, the animals revolted. The genocide lasted only a day."
In her eyes, ghostly images of dogs and cats and all manners of creatures arose, slaughtering equally ghostly forms of humans.
"Question. . . Question two. Was there. . . a lion named Masai?"
Markata nodded. "Officially known as W.A.R.-0059. . . Later given the name Masai."
The fire in her soul raged further, becoming hotter, burning everything it touched. Echo swallowed, her vision going dark around the edges. Stubbornly, she remained standing. One more question to go. One more answer to decide. She felt tears burning in her eyes, hot drops rolling on her cheeks. Voices called out to her, but Markata stared at them, his eyes dangerous as he lifted a hand, and purple lightning struck them a second time.
"Thir. . . Third. . . Question." She said, her voice trembling and faint, "Did. . . Did M-Masai. . . kill me?"
For a moment, Markata was silent. He looked away, and then back to her, and began to approach. "We can discuss that at a later time. You're dying-"
"Answer the question." She breathed. It was getting harder to draw in air, but she managed.
Markata drew even closer, but Echo let him. Finally, he drew flush with her, and stood directly in front of her, gazing down at her with deep, ancient black eyes.
"Yes. He ran you through with his sword while you begged for mercy."
Yeah, he wasn't lying. That was her memory.
Echo felt like she'd been punched in the stomach. A thousand times over. She felt like every inch of her had been scoured clean, and there just. . . wasn't anything left. Echo felt her legs shake, but she refused to drop to the ground. She stood, feeling her body growing colder with every second, and she laughed. It was insane, bitter, and dark. It aggravated her wound, but she laughed anyway, tears crawling down her cheeks, the taste of blood hot on her tongue.
Why does this always happen?
Why is my life wracked with nothing but pain.
Her laugh tapered off, morphing into a sob. Echo's legs gave out on her, and she let them, white hair messily pooling around her face as her scarf slipped off her head.
That meant. . . all that time ago, the shadow said I picked the wrong choice. . . I picked them. The animals. And I was killed for it. And Lion-O. . .
"I picked the animals, didn't I?" She asked, her voice barely audible.
Despite the Cats collecting themselves up again, Markata crouched next to her, his hands reaching for her chin and tilting her head back. He didn't go for the stone. He could've torn it out of my hands a hundred times by now but he didn't.
"Technically, lieutenant, that was four questions. But yes. You did. And I watched you tear yourself apart over it. But now, I give you a choice. The animals. . . or your race."
He was giving her options. Echo broke eye contact, watching as Tygra snapped his whip, becoming invisible, and Cheetara became a blur, rushing forward, and Lion-O snarled, Omens flashing in the light, raised to strike them both down-
Echo lifted a shaking hand and pressed it towards Markata, barely having the strength to keep her arm up.
I won't make the same mistake again. Even if this feels wrong. . . I chose them. Twice. And look where it got me.
She felt his hands capture her own, gently retrieving the Technology Stone, and he smiled kindly down at her.
"Rest, now, lieutenant. I will protect you, as I always have. I will win this war." He brushed her hair away from her face, in a strangely kind, affectionate manner, as though she were some treasure buried under the rubble and recently unearthed. Markata stood, lifting the stone and pressing it to his gauntlet, despite Lion-O crying no, screaming at Echo to stop him-
And in a flash, Markata was gone.
And something more terrifying than death stood before them.
"Allow me to remedy this problem!" Mumm-Ra growled, his voice sounding as though seven others spoke along with him. He lifted his arms, armor clinking, and purple energy gathered around him, something Echo had never seen the strength and intensity of before.
He hit the Cats, who toppled over like featherlight bowling pins.
"Now, if there are no further distractions-"
"You didn't forget about us, did you?"
Kat.
Echo felt her shattered heart ache.
I am the traitor they told you I was.
She had no more strength to move her lips or to form her voice. She was cold, and it took everything she had to stay awake, to bear witness to what was happening.
"Do you think I will hesitate to destroy two kittens?" Mumm-Ra bristled, red eyes flashing.
"Kit! Kat! Get out of here!" Lion-O shouted, getting onto his hands and knees.
"It's okay, we brought backup!" Kit chirped.
"We went to everyone you've ever helped, and we told them it was time to return the favor!"
From the highlight of the service tunnel leading to the Tech Stone room, Echo could see a hazy outline come into focus. Only one silhouette appeared, and came into her view. A fish, she recognized. A fish from very long ago.
"And that's all you could find?" Lion-O asked, sounding terrified.
"Nope!" Kit chirped again.
"He just didn't like riding with all the others." Kat continued. Both kittens grabbed the bag, and together, they shouted, "Rankenbass!"
The bag writhed, alive with movement, and in seconds, Echo found herself staring down a sizable force of elephants, dogs, fish, and hell, even some Berbils.
One of the elephants approached Lion-O, and it took Echo's groggy mind a very, very long time to finally discern him as Aburn.
"Because you once stood by us, Lion-O, we will now stand by you." He said. He glanced up, and Echo met his eyes. She remembered every word he'd ever spoken to her, negative as they'd been, and when he frowned, Echo smiled.
Yeah. I gave him the stone. And now I know I made the right choice.
"Now take 'em down!" The twins cried.
They stilled when they saw Echo.
"What's Echo doing over there-"
Lion-O cut off Kit's question, shoving the kitten roughly behind him. "She's not with us anymore."
His tone was cold, brutal even.
That made Echo's smile widen.
The elephants advanced, stomping on the ground in unison, and the wind buffeted Mumm-Ra. . . and her. Maybe, if she had been in perfect health, it would have hurt more. But as it were, all Echo felt was pressure against her skin. She was already bleeding out due to a major wound in her stomach. . . what more did she have to lose? The fish and dogs attacked next, firing spears and throwing axes - Echo watched as a spear flew through the air, aimed at her.
I've already been branded an enemy.
She sat there, letting fate decide if she would live or die, and the spear passed a few inches away from her face, embedding itself in the podium behind her.
They advanced, and Echo looked up as a shadow fell over her. Mumm-Ra's ghastly form stopped just a few feet in front of her, where he stopped, and relaxed.
"A pale victory. This city will become your tomb, and I'll dig this stone from it's shattered remains. . . Come, beloved. This fight is over."
When his tattered cloak wrapped around her, helping her up and depositing her into his arms, she didn't fight. Echo just closed her eyes, ignoring the battle cries and last attempts on their lives, and she finally gave into her exhaustion. The wind brushed against her as Mumm-Ra took off, but Echo relaxed, one hand numbly wrapped around her stomach.
Echo passed into the blackness of sleep, cold, numb. . .
And alone.