A World of Bloody Evolution Chapter 56
Chapter 56: It's All Wrong
"It is often said that Cadians unable to strip, clean, and fire a lasgun by the age of four are born on the wrong planet. This is an exaggeration. Cadia's children are usually ready by the time they are three. Darron was ready when he was two." - Major Jenna 'Hell-Filler' Marius
Yang twiddled her thumbs. How very interesting her thumbs seemed at this very moment.
"This is un-fucking-believable," Darron said, burying his face into his hands. Chera sighed too, reaching an arm around her husband's shoulders. A life-line rendered in flesh and olive fatigues. However, Yang didn't think Chera offering support was the best idea - the Lieutenant shook and shuddered, her knee bouncing to a hectic beat.
"I'm sorry you found out this way," Yang tried. "Though, if anything, it should help explain a few things about why Weiss has been acting the way she has." It feels good to just… say her name.
"And the Red Woman?" Chera demanded.
"Ruby?" Yang asked. "I have a guess as to why you've been seeing her. But do I have some questions of my own about that."
Darron laughed. It didn't sound right. "You have to be joking. You have questions? You, Yang? What fucking right do you have to say that?"
"She's my sister," Yang growled, resisting the urge to ball her fist in his collar and smash his face into the hardwood floor. Instead, she took a deep breath, centering herself. They don't know. They couldn't. "I get it… I understand what you're feeling. To understand that someone you thought you knew is someone else entirely. It sucks."
"Ah," Chera said, sneering. "Tell me then, what did you think of the clones Our Lady made of you and your husband?" She demanded. Yang blinked, before realizing what the Lieutenant meant.
Aw, hell.
"And what about the friend you nearly sacrificed to keep us alive?" Chera continued. "Ah shit, that's right, my bad," she said, slapping a palm to her forehead. "I got that backwards. We'd been cloned. We risked our lives for you. That was us. My bad, memory's a little fuzzy thanks to all the witchery bullshit these past few minutes."
"I…. am trying to play… nice." Yang said through clenched teeth. They ground against each other, loud enough to roar like a lumber mill. "This is some crazy shit, I get it. I just showed up in the Imperium a year ago, and let me tell you what kind of an adjustment that was. I'll do my best to explain some things… and... help you. So unless you have some more bitchy quipping to throw at me, I suggest you get started."
Chera started forwards, before Darron's hand caught her shoulder. He shook his head, and the steel glint faded from her eyes. In its place, a tear formed.
"Start talking," Darron said. Spoken evenly, but with a hint of command. "How'd you end up in the Imperium? Where are you from?"
"Well," Yang began hesitantly, "the Lady Inquisitor and I used to be close friends on a world called Remnant. Back then, she was just Weiss Schnee - an heiress to a powerful company. We trained at a… military academy of sorts, the most prestigious one on the planet. There were… complications. Racial tensions." That's putting it mildly. "A war. We lost a lot of friends and family, but we won in the end. Sorta."
Yang sighed, letting her fingers tease out the knots in her hair.
"For me," she continued, "that was only three years ago. For her, it was ninety. Maybe more. I don't understand the mechanics of how or why, but we both died and landed in the Imperium. Apparently, another good friend of mine arrived as well, only… outside Imperial borders."
"The hybrids," Janos spat, eyes narrowing.
"Let's go with Pyrrha's family," Amat said, biting off Yang's reply. All for the better, she supposed. I'm trying to put a leash on my temper, after all. Need more practice.
"Yes, Pyrrha's family," Yang continued. "Thank you. The only real explanation I can offer is that there's some warp fuckery behind it all. You've all known Weiss longer than I ever did. You deserve a better answer, but I'm afraid I can't give you one."
"And… the Red Woman… Ruby," Darron said. "She's your sister? You look nothing alike. What happened to her? Why is she not here as well?"
"Half-sister," Yang clarified. "Same dad, different moms. As for what happened to her, she sacrificed herself to end an ancient threat on Remnant. It was my fault she died, and there's not a day that goes by where I don't regret it. I'm working on getting past it though. It's… not easy. As for where she might be, Josephus might have a clue or two. You mentioned something happened in Shao-la?" As one, the inquisitive purple stares shifted elsewhere, searching the corners of the atrium. A chill breeze whistled through the hole where the door once stood. It smelled like rain.
"The Lady Inquisitor lost herself," Darron said. "In the twenty years I've served her, she's never lost control of her witchcraft. "She stumbled upon some kind of revelation… and… she just snapped."
Janos hunched over and vomited, spilling bile through his fingers. Yang shifted her boots a few inches away from the mess. It was like there was an open, gangrenous wound on their collective memories, one her explanation didn't help heal.
Unbidden, a half-remembered dream swam to the surface of her consciousness, a white haze that
WHERE IS SHE
faded away as quickly as it came. Yang squeezed the bridge of her nose. "I might be able to explain that one, actually." The kasrkin perked up, and Janos wiped his chin. "On Shao-la, Weiss found out that Josephus might know of Ruby. My sister. That's probably why you started seeing her. Weiss and her were close…" If that's the word you wanna use for it. She shuddered. How an innocent crush became… whatever it was now wasn't relevant at the moment. "Inquisitor must've lost her shit, and given you all a kind of psychic bleed-over." Yang shrugged. "Sorry I can't give you any more than that. I'm not really an expert on this kinda stuff."
But you are. You know how Gamma looks at you now, how they dreamed of you, and- Yang bit her tongue to keep the thought from continuing.
"And what about the things the Red Woman says?" Chera asked. "She always speaks in metaphors and riddles, references to things we can't begin to understand."
"She speaks to you?" Yang asked, a pang of envy flaring up within her. Not once had Ruby spoken to her in her dreams.
"'White is cold and always yearning,'" Casser recited.
"Riven by a long-lost grief," Darron finished grimly. "Sometimes she sings."
"Sometimes she just cries," Chera added, huddling herself against an invisible assailant. "She makes me sad. She's never really seemed… evil or corrupted, but she doesn't seem whole either."
Yang bit her lip. I'll take uncorrupted. But if we find Josephus, should the worst come to pass… No, can't think about that. Won't.
"Well," she started, "the important thing for you guys to know is that she's not some kinda warp-waif or something like that. She was a person. My sister. We baked cookies together and watched crappy TV. She had crushes on our classmates, stressed over homework. She was the strongest Huntress to ever walk the face of Remnant, but she was still just a human being." They took that in silence, brooding over her words with scrunched brows and pursed lips.
"All right, Sergeant," Darron said. "I'll be honest, this is still difficult… nearly impossible to believe. But you're not lying. Or at least, you don't think you're lying, which is just as good to me. I've been part of a number of investigations, and I've gotten a knack for when people are spewing groxshit." He paused, reaching into his shirt pocket to no avail. Chera handed him a pack of lho sticks. Mumbling his bitter thanks, he lit one, inhaling deeply. "I don't know what kind of heresy all this Remnant nonsense is about, but I'm inclined to believe you, Sergeant. Emperor help us all."
"Weiss will confirm everything I said once she gets back," Yang said, nodding.
"I can as well," Amat said. "With her telepathy, our Lady showed me much of her life on the world of Remnant. I don't blame your hesitation Captain Sir," he added. "I had a difficult time processing it all."
Yang threw her friend a reassuring grin, squeezing his knee in solidarity. "Thanks man," she whispered. He nodded sagely.
"Then your business with the xenos?" Darron asked. "What did the purple one say about a Library?"
Yang threw her hands up. "Honestly, I have no idea," she replied. "I always get a bit twitchy when people start throwing words like 'destiny' around. Though it did sound like they might have a lead on where the Chariot of Salvation could be. Where Josephus is headed. Maybe some stuff about why all my friends ended up in the Imperium. Stuff that definitely has my interest."
"Mission-critical information," Amat reminded them. "The eldar were led here under false pretenses, and don't have the information we require. It would be… remiss of us to not see our Lady's orders through."
Yang cracked a smile. You sly dog.
"Do you think she knew?" Chera asked. "About the eldar?"
Yang shook her head. "For once, I don't think she left us in the dark on purpose. She doesn't know about Pyrrha's kids, that's for sure." She would have mentioned it otherwise. She would have.
"Then what are we supposed to do?" Janos asked. "Just follow some clearly conflicted xenos on the smallest chance they have information we can use?"
"Yes," Yang said. "If nothing else, they're my friend's kids. I have to trust them… xenos or otherwise," she added. Eldar. They're called eldar. "I want to stop Josephus just as much as any of you. This Chariot thing sounds pretty nasty too."
Plus, there might be some clues about Ruby.
Darron closed his eyes and prayed, lips moving silently as he beseeched the Emperor for His blessing. Beside him, his wife took his hand, squeezing tight.
"We stand with you, no matter what," she said. "Kasrkin to the end."
Nodding, he took a long drag on his lho-stick. "Very well. We'll follow these xenos to their Library. I don't like it, but if we're to stop Josephus, we must do whatever we can. The Chariot cannot fall into enemy hands."
/
Darron smoked in the master bedroom, letting the smoke curl around him before the draft from the open bay window sucked it out into the Gartenwald night. Lightning crackled in the distance, a spear of pure white light that stabbed at far away mountains. The rumble reached him a few seconds later, throaty and low.
On the wind, he could smell the rain. A storm was coming. His lho stick burned down to a nub, a small stick of ash that smoldered against his fingers. It burned, but he barely noticed the pain. A flick of his fingers and a spray of sparks sent the stick spiralling away into the night. Its replacement danced across his fingertips before kissing the end of his lighter.
A storm is coming. Not just to Gardenwald, but the Imperium as a whole. Already, the Thirteenth Black Crusade threatened Cadia, but the recent developments crawled under his skin, fat brown roaches that scuttled up and down his veins. They demanded attention. Josephus. The Chariot. Sergeant Xiao Long. The eldar.
He wasn't much more than a child when the Lady Inquisitor selected his troop for duty. Sure he resented being torn away from Cadia, but a quieter part of him swelled with pride when his comrades were chosen above all others. They were selected for a higher calling.
Now he didn't know what to think. He knew service under the Lady Inquisitor would challenge everything he'd learned. He'd known she was a witch. In time, both seemed insignificant. Now, a war-party of xenos argued under the very floorboards he sat upon.
And his Lady's name was Weiss Schnee.
She came from outside the Imperium, a traveler across universes, across time and space once thought unconquerable. She came from a world named Remnant.
Now he understood why Yang Xiao Long had disturbed his Lady's calm. Emperor, the way she screamed. The pict ate at him. Never had he seen his Lady smile so broadly, so warmly. The revelations of the past few months seemed insignificant in the simple face of his Lady's youth.
Darron breathed deep of the lho that filled his mouth. He knocked the end of the stick against the window sill, watching the sparks flicker down into nothingness.
He missed his mother. He missed his father. No doubt they were fighting for every inch of Cadia... if they hadn't already sold their lives in its defense.
That's where I belong. On a battlefield. Thunder boomed, echoing against the mountains. For a hopeful second, it sounded like artillery. This isn't what I trained for. None of this is. The lies. The truths. The reveals and misdirections.
He didn't care about travelers from other universes. He didn't care about xenos craftworlds.
Darron just wanted to be with his kin. His wife. He wanted to serve the Emperor with grace and devotion, bring his talents to bear in the searing heat of a hellgun. Slowly, his fingers laced through his hair, pulling at his pointed brown locks. Why? Why Me? He'd made his decision, though it roiled against his stomach.
Chera… if I've thrown her life away on some groxshit mission… a tear gathered in his eye, before it rolled down his face. Emperor protect me. Emperor please, give me guidance. I've walked forever in your light, please… show me the way.
Lightning split the sky once more, and for a heartbeat's time, all of Gartenwald was visible.
The implications of Yang's words… the pict… the xenos' ancestry... Beyond me. I am Cadian. I live to serve the Emperor. It was all real… he'd been assured of it. Didn't make any sense, but he knew witchcraft. Served under a sanctioned psyker. He knew when warp-craft was afoot, and despite his desperate wishing, there was none poisoning his mind here. They all spoke the truth, even the xenos. Emperor help us all.
"Knock knock," Chera said from the hallway. When Darron did not immedietly respond, her boot bashed the door in, and it rattled on its hinges.
"Hey babe," Darron said, returning his gaze to the encroaching storm.
"I was wondering where you got off to. Yang and Amat disappeared to the kitchen I think. The xenos are still arguing."
"Good to see it's not just humans who are incapable of agreeing," Darron huffed, cleaning the salt off his cheek. "Honestly, I thought eldar solved things by stabbing each other in the back or having tea parties."
Chera chuckled, shaking her head. "Couldn't make out a word they were saying, but it was fun listening to. Even when they're pissed, it sounded like singing. Buncha fuckin' fruit."
Darron smiled wanly.
"You… okay babe?" Chera asked, her boots edging closer and closer. Before the oncoming storm, their scuffing was barely audible.
"Yeah," Darron said. "Yeah."
"Your fingers, babe."
Once more, the lho-stick was burning his fingertips. He'd ashed it in less than a minute. "Fuck," he said, flicking it away.
"Darron, don't groxshit me."
"Emperor," Darron cried, flying to his feet. "I'm fine!" His boot snapped the wooden chair in half. "I told you I'm fine!"
Chera crossed her arms, clearly unimpressed. "Your boot's through a chair, darling."
"I-" Darron paused. "Fucking hell." He collapsed backwards onto the bed, digging his fingers into the bridge of his nose. "Fair point."
"It's fucked up out there, Darron," Chera said, sitting on the edge of the bed. Her finger traced the nalwood frame, a single pale digit against the cinder-grey wood. "We've been caught up in something… we were never built to deal with."
"Fucking 'A'," Darron said. "This isn't what we're meant to do. I can feel it. None of this. We should be on Cadia right now."
"I know," Chera said. "Believe me, I know. But we're here now. We have to make the most of it."
"Most of it? I just decided we're diving into the fucking webway of all places. Just so we can find some Throne-damned answers. We're up to our tits in groxshit."
"Well, we got married, didn't we?" Chera asked.
"What does that have to do with anything?" Darron countered, suddenly confused.
"If the Lady Inquisitor hadn't swept us off Cadia, do you think we coulda gotten away with it back home? Made it work?"
Darron thought about his own parents before grunting an acknowledgement. "Wouldn't be easy."
"Woulda been a nightmare. And then what? We'd grow to hate each other, start fucking whoever we could out of desperation. Or spite," she added, chuffing. "Instead, this is what the Emperor chose for us. A life together." She curled up beside him, resting a hand on his chest. He took it in his own and squeezed tight.
"Yeah," Darron sighed. "Probably."
"Emperor help me Darron, if you add a 'but' there, I will smash your fuckin' head in. That was pretty sappy for me, and I need you to acknowledge how sweet it was."
Darron laughed and pressed a kiss to his wife's temple. "It was very sweet, until about two seconds ago."
Chera rolled her eyes, patting her husband's chest condescendingly. "I'll take it. Very low effort, but I'll take it."
"What if I lose you," Darron said. "What if this is the time one of us doesn't come back? All just so Yang can feel better about herself?"
"And Josephus," Chera reminded him.
"And Josephus. But what are the odds? What if we throw our lives away for nothing? I can't help… I can't help but feel like I've doomed us all."
"It'll be okay," Chera said. "Our lives have turned… have turned upside down lately, and… and…"
"Chera?" Darron asked, turning over to face her. She was crying, weeping into his shoulder. Her fingers tightened, digging into his fatigues, desperate for a semblance of solidity, of normalcy.
Something Darron couldn't give her.
"I just don't know what to th-think anymore. Nothing makes sense," she said.
Once more, a tear welled in Darron's eye. Instead of wiping it away, he let it flow. Soon, more joined it.
Together, they wept.