This chapter takes place after Chapter 52 in SFTD.

This wasn't fun. None of this was.

Of course this would happen to him. Mordenna was just the universe's plaything, after all. So naturally it'd be just fucking hilarious to lose one of his Sight-gifted eyes, leaving him to deal with the fallout of it—and just because losing it wouldn't be enough, it had to be his fucking old man to take it from him. Suffice to say, Mordenna had been going about the last few days in the worst of moods.

Naturally, this was also the time he was thinking of apologizing.

He'd been avoiding Odette ever since he'd pretty much pried information out of her when he was mistakenly furious at Jax. Yes, he knew he very much got on Jax about avoiding Eliza afterwards, but... this was different. He'd taken out Odette's eye and traumatized her. He was very certain that she never wanted to see him again, much less talk to him.

But as he was staring at his notebook, full of hypothetical plans for replacing his eye... it was all that was occupying his thoughts. Maybe it had been some sort of divine punishment from the universe for letting things lie this long. He'd apologized, yes, but that was about all he had done. He hadn't tried to reach out to her or talk things out. Jax pretty much just shoved him in front of her and made him say sorry. Hardly a resolution at all in his book.

"Dad?"

Mordenna looked up. Vix was just across from him, working on some of the Skulljack plans. He'd been teaching her all that he knew over the past couple of days to distract himself from matters, so she must've caught him blanking out at his notebook. Mordenna massaged the spot above his remaining eye. He thanked whatever god that would listen that he didn't have the capacity to flip out at Vix. Everyone else he could get short with, but her? Not in the slightest. "Not gonna lie and say I'm alright," he began softly. "You dad's thinking over what kind of jerk he was in the past."

Vix hummed in concern, tapping her pencil against the table. "... what are you thinking about this time? Maybe talking about it can help."

"You're not my personal therapist," he protested.

"Maybe I'm not, but I'm concerned all the same. Please, dad."

Oh, he couldn't bush that off. He sighed, letting his hand drop. "... I'm just stuck on the fact that losing my eye might be less of the universe tormenting me and more... just desserts. I did something pretty reprehensible to one of my own Priests back in the day that ended up with her losing her eye. If you saw Odette out there... yeah. That's my handiwork. So I'm agonizing over that."

Vix looked understandably downcast at that. "—did you ever apologize?"

"Yeah, but. It definitely wasn't enough." He gestured vaguely. "And she's skittish enough of me now that I'm sure that trying to further make amends would just freak her out more." His eye dropped to his papers. "Wouldn't blame her for laughing at me now. Not at all."

She shook her head, getting up and teleporting to his side, hugging him. "I'm sure she isn't. And... I think you should try again. You won't know how she really feels until then, right?"

... that was one of Eliza's lessons that she was throwing right back at him. Mordenna slung his arms around her, using his nanos to generate a third arm to rub at his head. "You're too smart for your own good, kid, but I guess that just really means you're mine. Your old man's just afraid of spooking her on approach."

Vix looked up at him. "Maybe you could ask Jax to be on standby?"

Mordenna considered that. On one hand, he didn't want it so that she thought she had to go along with whatever he said because he and Jax were close. On the other hand... he wanted her to have a source of comfort so she didn't have to face him alone. In the end, he nodded. "Yeah. the pros outweigh the cons on that one. I'm gonna go ahead and shoot Jax a message for the meetup, alright?"

She nodded, backing out of the hug. "Alright. I'll keep working on the Skulljack."

"Go right on ahead, kid." With that, he moved the nano-hand back into his scarf, pressing his communicator to Jax's channel. "Hey, Jax? You busy? I, uh. I have more apologies to make. To Odette. And I want you to be there while I make them so she has someone to lean on."

There was a moment of silence, but Jax eventually responded. "I would be more than happy to facilitate such a thing, brother. What should the meeting spot be?"

"Resistance Ring, I suppose. I don't think Eliza's got business in there today—or if she does, she's already handled it."

"Understood. Odette and I will meet you there."

Well, that was set up, at the very least. There was a feeling of dread brewing in Mordenna's gut, but he'd signed himself up for this. He looked over to Vix, hard at work on potential improvements to the Skulljack. Lily was off elsewhere—the basement, he thought—so he was essentially the only person who could tell himself to move.

So that he did. He took a deep breath. "Ok, Mordenna," he muttered under his breath. "You're getting up out of this seat..." A second later, he rose. "... and walking out the door. No pressure."

He'd give himself credit, he got around to doing that fairly quickly. Mordenna lumbered out of the Workshop, feeling like he was in a trance. He wasn't really guiding himself on where to go—just trusting that his feet would get him there eventually. Mordenna was trying to think of what he'd say to Odette, but what was there to say? "Yeah, sorry to put out your eye, I suddenly see it sucks now that it happened to me?" He scowled. "Yeah. That'll go over well."

Halfway through the trip, he squeezed his eye shut, stopping. "Mordenna. What are you doing." You hear yourself? There really ain't a point to doing this. You're just going to make things worse. "And what's keeping our distance doing?" Not making the problem worse, that's what. You're going to frighten her again, Jax is going to get angry, and you're going to snap because you're sore you've suddenly lost something. You think nobody else here has lost things? Do you think you suddenly get special treatment? For all of the wisdom and knowledge given to you, you just can't seem to grasp anything.

Mordenna opened his eye, staring mournfully at the floor. Fantastic. This was precisely the last thing he needed. Perhaps you'll pay attention for once when everyone else isn't coddling you. After all, can you say, in your right mind, that anyone here actually cares about you? They just pity you. They pity the worthless piece of trash that Eliza dragged in.

"Brother?"

He froze, head shooting up. That was Jax. Of all the times he could arrive, this was probably one of the more bad ones. From the sound of it, Jax was behind him. Undoubtedly he had Odette along. So was this how things were going to go? Would Jax try to reach out to him and he'd snap back, ruining any chance he had at reconciling with Odette? Losing everything he'd grown to love? Isn't this how this always goes? You never learn. You'll always be—

"Jax. I'm..." Mordenna swallowed. "I-I'm not in the best of ways. Could... could we put this off? I'm sorry. I—I know I called you down here."

Mordenna had learned something, through all of the outpouring of love. If he really didn't want people around him, he had to say it ahead of time. People would listen to him. He just needed to say it.

Heavy footsteps sounded off behind him. An earlier Mordenna would have become tense, waiting for some sort of strike—but at this point, Jax was compassionate enough to be predictable. Jax's arms closed around Mordenna and he hugged him after coming around to his front—and that hug from the back must've belonged to Lucifer. "Do you mean that, Mordenna? Or do you need some support?"

He'd never thought he'd have a line of support like this earlier in the year. It'd just been him against the rest of the universe, with everyone else hating him too much to go along for the ride. But now? Mordenna returned Jax's hug, fighting with the urge to cry. "D-do... do you really care about me, Jax? Or do y-you just..."

Jax hugged him tighter. "Of course I care. If you have any thoughts otherwise, rest assured they have no basis in fact."

Short and simple, but that was enough for Mordenna. Taking in a deep breath, Mordenna successfully stuffed down the urge to cry. He wasn't putting it off permanently, he just had other things to deal with at the moment. One of those things was assuredly Odette, behind him and likely having no idea what to feel about the situation. He let the breath out, squeezing Jax again before backing out of the hug, Lucifer backing off as well. "I'll... get into what's going on later, but to sum it up, I'm still not really having a good time over my eye. But... there's other things to handle."

Mordenna didn't want to turn around, but he knew he had to face her eventually. After hesitating for a second more, Mordenna turned, eye landing on Odette. To her credit, she wasn't as spooked as Mordenna thought she would have been, but she clearly wasn't fearless regarding the situation. Their eyes met and Odette was the first to look away, hands behind her back and mouth in a thin line. If he was spooking her by just being here, it was best they got this over with quickly, then. He nodded to Jax, walking around him and towards the Resistance Ring.

Once they got to the door, he stepped in, checking inside. Nobody was there, which helped out a lot. Mordenna made his way over to one of the couches, watching as Jax sat down, Lucifer choosing to float in a sitting position. His brother left a clear space between him and Mordenna, and as Odette followed, she looked at it. Jax had left plenty of room for her to sit as close to or as far away from Mordenna as she wanted—and there was even a spot on the other side for her to sit if she needed it. In the end, she swallowed, sitting next to Jax but on the side next to Mordenna.

Best not to frighten her by staring at her too long. Mordenna averted his gaze, focusing on some point on the floor. "Hey, Odette. Thanks for humoring me and coming down here. You had every right to say no."

He stopped talking in an effort to not completely dominate the conversation, but it seemed Odette had no intention in speaking back. Feeling like garbage that he knew why that was, he moved on. "I know I apologized to you regarding what I did. But... that's not really enough, in my eyes." He gave a dry chuckle. "It's... a bad look for me to do this after I lost my eye, I know. But it gave me some much-needed perspective. So I want to say I'm sorry, again. And... is there anything I can do to make it up to you?"

Mordenna finally summoned the urge to look at her again as he said that. Odette was focused on her hands, and Mordenna was sure she wasn't going to speak at first. Eventually, however, she spoke up. "... I accept your apology, M-Mordenna. It... it was my fault, what happened that day."

He shook his head. "No, that's... far from the truth. I was the one who, well, shot at you, because I was in a bad mood and I chose that action as how to deal with it, which was wrong."

"But I..." Odette wrung her hands together, turning her head away from Mordenna. Jax settled an arm around her shoulders, and she seemed emboldened to continue. "You... had your b-busy message on the Network. I should have waited. What I had was not so important a-as to interrupt your work."

"Even if that's the case," he softly assured, "what I did was wrong, and not at all how someone should react in that situation. Would've been bad enough if I'd yelled at you to get lost, but at least that wouldn't have been as bad as it was. You're not at fault, Odette. I am."

From here, Mordenna couldn't see much of Odette's face, but it was clear that it was squeezed in distress. "I—no, y-you can't be. It wasn't your fault. It wasn't. I was the one who..."

This wasn't going anywhere, and Mordenna could clearly imagine what would happen if he pushed the point. He sighed gently, pressing his hands together. He had to come at this from a different angle. "Ok. It's not either of our faults, Odette. That or we're both to blame, but I've got a point to make with the former." He pointed at her. "The Elders drilled it into your head that you are to be subordinate to the Chosen at all costs, right?" When she nodded, he continued. "So that's why you're blaming yourself for this. That's why you're agonizing over it being your fault. As for me?" He looked away. "That's a list a mile long, but to be concise: I learned how to lash out from Odin. I learned that if I was in a bad mood that it was everyone else's fault and I should react appropriately. So, in a way, both you and I are right. If I can't be blamed, and you can't be blamed... well, that just leaves the Elders, now, doesn't it?"

Odette was quiet for a moment at that, but at the very least, she seemed to be calming down a bit. She nodded, not leaning against Jax as much. "I think... I think that's what I felt a-all along. But I didn't know it, if that makes sense...? Because I can't blame you. Not because the E-Elders told me to. But because..." She moved her head back towards him, but didn't meet his gaze. "B-because I've seen everything you've gone through. I know what the Elders—what Odin did to you. To the Chosen. So I couldn't blame you." She squeezed her eye shut. "You're not still angry, a-are you...?"

Mordenna's heart seized and his hands shook. She'd been going on this whole time thinking he was still angry at her. Why didn't he do this sooner...? Of course, he knew why. For as much grief as he gave Jax for not confronting his problems, Mordenna had a blindspot in a few areas, too. For those he cared about, mostly, and even back then...

Slowly, not meaning to startle her, Mordenna moved closer to her on the couch. Of course, he still did, with her jumping mildly and opening her eye. "Odette. Of course I'm not still angry. You didn't deserve it back then. You never did." Mordenna wanted to hug to assure her—but a movement like that was likely to scare her. Remembering Eliza's way of going about things, he spread his arms out to his sides. He still felt a little silly asking, but... "Could—could I please hug you, Odette?"

Odette looked at him with a wide eye, clearly judging his intentions. She didn't judge long, though—after that she moved and buried herself into his chest, arms wrapping around him tightly. As he returned the hug, she sniffled, hiccupping. "I—I'm sorry."

"Don't be." Mordenna hugged her close, his nanos rearranging to add another set of arms to the hug. She didn't flinch at that, so he considered it ok. "You've got nothing to be sorry for. If it's for leaving this alone for so long, that's my fault more than anything else. Please, Odette. I just want to make things better by you."

"Y-you..." Slowly, Mordenna watched as her psionics gently unravelled from their distressed state. "You already are. Thank you."

"Of course," he murmured. "And if there's anything you need out of me, anything at all, don't hesitate to ask. It's the least I can do, after all."

"Um..." She moved to have her head resting on his chest. "I'd... I want to see you more often. And I want to introduce you to someone. She's been wanting to talk to you, but I..."

Mordenna could figure who it was, based on who hung around Odette a lot and engaged in some PDA with her. "Jeanne, right?"

"Yes."

Mordenna gently patted her head. "I'd be more than happy to. Call a good meeting time and I'll let you know if I'm available." He gently sighed. "'Emotionally' is also a qualifier in that. I don't want to turn up in a bad mood."

She nodded against him, not particularly looking like she was budging. Mordenna looked up at Jax, catching him regarding the scene fondly. Jax gently cleared his throat, looking away, while Lucifer smiled with his eyes. The sheer care Jax showed for both Mordenna and everyone in his congregation was staggering. He only hoped he could do half of what Jax did for Odette.

Well, it seemed he was well on his way. Mordenna gently stroked Odette's back, breathing calmly and steadily. Today was ok. Tomorrow would be better. He just had to believe it.