Chapter 78: Giving and Taking

Perspective: Steve/Kay/Fire/Warnado


Steve had fallen asleep the second the fortifications were complete. Nothing fancy. Just two-block high walls to keep the mobs out. A small trench to discourage the Tower. Now, Steve didn't tire easily, but after marching for more than a full day, then overseeing the construction of fortifications sufficient to cover a camp filled with tens of thousands of people, he had finally reached his limit.

The fortifications weren't even completely "done" when he left - they were just good enough. As he and Jennifer sleepwalked back to their tents, the Mencur-Besh and pigmen kept on going, deepening trenches, strengthening walls, expanding artillery emplacements. It just never ended with those people!

He hadn't dreamt. No ominous portents of doom or oblique hints at how to win. Nothing. As far as he was concerned, he had just closed his eyes, and like flicking a lever on a redstone lamp, the sun had clicked on.

Jennifer was already up, sorting her inventory. As she removed a stack of cobble and replaced it with yet another splash poison potion, Steve rolled out of bed and walked up to the wooden door of the tent. He snapped it open and there it was: the Tower. With the sun glinting off the copper plating at the top it looked like a torch, and he was one of the mobs it was there to stop from spawning.

He reached into his pocket and eyeballed the clock. It was maybe an eighth of the way into daytime.

"We're supposed to meet with Fire later, right?" he asked, knowing full well that he was forgetting something.

"Yeah, later. He said it's about new equipment. Sounds a little late for anything serious to me, but that Halberdson guy does keep offering to sell him everything in the world, so maybe he's actually suggested something we could use."

Steve shrugged. It was Fire, he knew what he was doing.

Jennifer equipped and de-equipped her enchanted diamond, then tried a plain back-up set.

"Still, we've got some time before then, though, because people are heading to David's grave..."

That was the thing he was forgetting.

"Breakfast?" he asked.

"Sure. Ozen's cooking. It should be nice."

After a brief walk to the primary mess tent and saying hi to Ozen - who looked absolutely ecstatic in his apron and chef's hat - they found themselves sitting at a table next to Voidblade. As per usual, Voidblade was quiet, and they knew better than to bother him too much at this point. The most noise he made came from a large, slightly dry-looking chicken leg. For a few peaceful minutes they just sat and ate their sandwiches and mushroom stew. But then, of course, duty called.

The villager lady, Olanna, came up to Jennifer and began to discuss troop arrangements. Someone in her unit had sprained their ankle setting up the camp and now wouldn't make for much of a skirmisher, so Olanna wanted to see if she could reshuffle him to the artillery and maybe swipe one of theirs to replace him. Secretly, both of them seemed to suspect he wanted an excuse not to fight at all, and on any other day they might have let him take it. But this was the big game. All hands on deck.

Steve immediately found himself accosted by the hooded guy from Arcation, Gogyst. These guys were starting to bug Steve - they kept asking to be basically entrusted with an entire front to themselves, and that day was no different. He appreciated the can-do attitude at first, but at a certain point he got the impression Gogyst just wanted Steve to know how much tougher than him he was. Steve just hoped he didn't get anyone killed with that attitude.

One of the co-chiefs of the hunters came up to ask about their planned route through the outer complex so that she could potentially adjust the hunters' route. Something she and Kay were discussing. Jennifer shot Steve a knowing look and he chuckled. There was no chance Kay would let whatever she had in mind interfere with his grand plan to redeem himself.

Around this time, a man in a black hat sat on a table and started playing songs on his ukulele, just about managing to be heard above the increasing chatter of nervous troops. He took off his hat and placed it upside down on the table, and occasionally people would throw a scrap of food or a nugget of gold in there.

Astro and Shadow briefly flashed into view as Astro stabbed his head and arm into the tent to telepathically grab a small armful of apples. Each of his fingers had an energy-storing ring on them. He shot back out almost as quickly, chatting away to Shadow the whole time. Steve could have sworn he saw them laughing as they did so. He was glad they had managed to smooth things over. A few of the coven mages trailed after them, with Wolfric consulting a tome and bringing up the rear.

Urist sat down across from Voidblade and immediately began to explain a dream he had just awoken from about a mine that went up instead of down. Seth, kitted out in enchanted diamond, sat down as well.

Kay walked by, conversing with Raphoe and Clarke from the Remaining, the latter of which seemed substantially less happy to be a part of the discussion. Kay slowed down to toss a diamond into the upturned hat of ukulele-guy, before returning to his latest attempt to prove to Clarke that Destiny hadn't wasted her effort on him.

Rose also stopped by to remind Steve that she might need a lift between airships on the back of Drake. She proposed several signals but eventually they just agreed to use the radios Fire had cooked up with the detective guy.

At that moment, a booming laugh sounded out.

"You can't be serious! Steve, get over here!"

Several individuals turned their heads, but Steve Brine immediately knew he was the recipient. Across the room, clad in obsidian and beckoning to him, was Herobrine. The glowing-eyed giant of a man stood next to the ukulele-guy. Steve shot Jennifer an uneasy look and then went over.

"How can I help?" Steve asked.

"Your surname's Brine, isn't it? My equivalent's your father, am I right?"

"Yeah?"

"You'll never guess who this man is," he gestured to ukulele-guy.

Out of politeness, he tried, but he really couldn't recognise a single feature of the blue-eyed, brown-goateed musician. Steve felt like he was in a bad dream. Not exactly a nightmare, but one that was unpleasantly weird in just enough ways it might actually wind up traumatising him a little more in the long run.

"Who is it?"

Ukulele-guy rose from sitting to a dramatic kneel.

"It's your awesomest uncle and/or son of all time!" He exclaimed. "Dinnerbone!"

"Who?" thought Steve.

"No way!" said Steve with feigned enthusiasm.

Just to make matters worse, Herobrine brought them both into a profound bear-hug.

"Travel between worlds is mad!" chortled the man who looked distressingly like Steve's former archnemesis.

"You've got that right," he grunted, straining against Herobrine's massive arms.

Thankfully, Tyron arrived just in time. Today he wore a full set of diamond armour over his fur, engraved slightly to indicate his rank. An opening had been made in the lower back to allow him access to the blue portal of his inventory. Kir sat in a jewel-encrusted scabbard on his hip, lined with velvet on the inside for their comfort.

"Hey, Steve! We're leaving, I need you with me!" he called.

"Rescuing you," Kir explained in the telepathy equivalent of whisper-shouting. "Be cool."

"Dragoknight!" called Herobrine, "Don't you see the cross-dimensional family resemblance?"

Tyron squinted for a second. He resolved to humour the literal god.

"Oh yeah," he nodded. "That is cool. Listen, sorry, Clarke says they're holding the memorial-funeral thing in the next fifteen minutes. We've got to get over to David's grave."

Steve remembered how he had tried to dig the grave, but the hole he made in the ground had been too cavernously big, leaving Tyron and Fristad to actually do the job. Suffice to say, this did not make him feel more comfortable, but he was glad to have an excuse.

But, of course, ukulele-guy had to speak up.

"Is the demon-kid going to be there? Warnado125?"

And, of course, Steve's stupid brain made him say: "Yes, I think so."

"Good, I need to talk to him."

"Oh," Tyron half-groaned. "What about?"

"I'm from his world, I heard about all this from one of the emissaries you were sending out in the name of some ash-king guy. Glad to hear he's not around anymore, he sounded weird."

Steve felt his blood pressure reach as high as the sun then loop around it.

"Long story short, he's one of the heroes of this thing called the Dark Prophecy," Dinnerbone stopped and pointed to Herobrine. "You're part of it actually!" Then, to Steve. "You too, come to think of it. Kind of."

"Small multiverse!" howled Herobrine.

"But yeah, he's a hero of the prophecy, I'm getting the vibe that things are heating up. Jeb's been acting real weird, apparently the Lich got out a while back. It's probably best if the little guy starts making his way to Notch Island, and it's probably best if he hears it from me. I'm kind of the loremaster where I come from."

"I would also like to come along," began Herobrine. "To pay my respects to the woman who-"

"No," all three said in unison.

"Yeah, sorry buddy, part of the kid's job is beating you," said Dinnerbone. "Well, like, another you. It'll be weird just having you in the background, kind of worried about sending him mixed messages you know?"

"And the funeral's being run by people who fought a war to kill you," pressed Tyron.

"And won," Steve concluded through gritted teeth.

"Ah, I see. In which case, I'll see you on the front line. My condolences."

He excused himself and left the tent, barely looking fazed at all.

And with one final pained look, the three of them departed to say farewell to their fallen comrade.


The funeral went as well as it could have, from a personal perspective. I kept my distance. I tried to look appropriately solemn, but not devastated in a way that might distract from the primary mourners - the Remaining. And I developed a very good opinion of them out of it, even if they all rightly distrusted me.

They just buried those belongings of Destiny which they could find. A broken gold locket. A tattered bow. A hair tie Kami remembered lending her for her ponytail. Then Clarke sang a song. He sang it rather well. The odd fellow in the black hat probably shouldn't have started strumming along, granted, but Clarke took it in stride. Lupe stared at David's grave for a while, whispering something, and we all pretended not to notice. Then, it ended.

Now, I found myself patrolling the camp, occasionally being approached by one of the red-scarved men upon whom I have imprinted the likeness of my failure. No practical questions, just reaffirmations of loyalty. I tried to admire their fidelity. After all, they refused to believe the worst of what was said. It's not their fault it was true. I hoped I would be able to lead them to some degree of victory in the coming battle.

I caught a glimpse of Helix talking to black-hat. He looked upset. I recalled the era where I might have been the person to comfort him. Or at least, to accost black-hat for distressing him. I began to walk forward. The skin of my finger caught in the cracked glass of the goggles, and blood snaked across the surface. I had not realised I had even reached for them. I backed away, then turned and saw Him.

His eyes shone even against the slow-rising morning sun behind, pale and cool. He strode toward me, inevitable as a roaring tide. Still, I turned, trying to escape Him. I rushed towards a gap between two tents, made it most of the way down, and then it appeared before me.

The Wraith, the ragged ghost who wandered while He slept, stood before me. Its eyes shone a searing dark shade atop its brittle, twig-like form. Desiccated, dirty, and ragged, it stared at me. I knew there was nowhere to run to.

Herobrine approached from behind.

"Kay."

"My lord."

I turned and bowed. I dared not look up, but I heard His footfalls, heavy with obsidian, thunder forward like a distant storm. When the toes of His armoured boots finally came into view, Herobrine took a hold of my chin and began to pull my head up. I tried to resist, but then gave in. His pale, cool eyes shot into view. I felt the blood in my body turn tail and begin to run in the opposite direction, away from whatever punishment this was about to become.

And he didn't say anything. Until:

"We should have done better."

"No argument here."

He sighed and ran his knuckles down the fabric of the nearest tent. A gust of wind set it rippling against Him, like tremors in the earth. I could have sworn I saw the light in his eyes flicker. His mouth kept opening and closing.

"Your speech gave me much to think about…"

I straightened into a stiff, military posture. Not confrontational, but unwilling to bow.

"I assure you, you're putting more thought into it than I did."

He continued, making a point of pretending not to hear me.

"...I have often wondered what might have happened if I had kept you from leaving. Whether I might have prevented what came next…"

"...But, of course, I couldn't have stayed-"

"-Because of the Thaumlands, I know." He lifted his hand from the tent and put it on my shoulder. I drew back.

"You would have had to act fast," I continued. "There are already many things I wish someone had prevented."

I heard the crack of glass as Helix dropped the goggles again and again. "You piece of shit!" Astro howled in my ear once more, and my jaw ached in agreement.

"Perhaps," he nodded. "And I would have had to stop the burnings."

I waited for him to justify them. A necessary sacrifice, to show the Court of Whispers how strong we still were. 'Look at us, we have lost Notch, and we are still powerful enough to turn on our allies without fear of you.' And it had worked. The Court of Whispers had seen how strong they still were, and had slipped back away into unsettling obscurity.

"It was supposed to be a bit of posturing to discourage the Endlings, and maybe it achieved that. We did a lot of posturing at that time, so it's hard to say what worked and what didn't. But truth be told my family were still angry at us for the Onslaught. For spilling so much Divine blood. For making them look weak. And I was tired, and grieving, so I let them inflict that anger on my people."

I felt tears coming to my eyes. At last! Honesty.

"Jeb is my nephew, I love him dearly, but he is making the errors of his father, and I am making the same errors I made back then. When Notch cursed my people for the Golden Revolution, instead of trying to undo it, I entered my slumber. Jeb burned their land, and still I slept. I will not fight him, but this must change. Thank you for waking me."

He reached out and put a hand on my shoulder. I did not draw away this time. I threw my arms around his mighty form. He who I had fought for had returned. But could His Lap Dog still be recovered? Could I break free from the chains of history written-yet-unlived?

"Do you think I can change what is to come, my lord?"

He moved from my shoulder to stroke my mane of hair. He didn't say anything.

"By the mods, I swear that I shall," I hissed.

My streaming eyes drifted to the Tower, blazing in the sun - a cleansing fire that would redeem me.


Compared to the other division leaders, Fire's role as leader of the Mencur-Besh was less involved, at least to outside onlookers. Where others gave instructions and did last-minute rehearsals of battle plans, Fire had flown upwards using his flaming wings, overlooking the troops.

In reality Fire's task was just as difficult, thousands of information fragments from the Mencur-Besh network flashed through his mind each minute. Assuming the position of leader had placed him right at the center of the collective's shared mind. The number of sensations and information was staggering but Fire was still able to keep up, no doubt owing to how long he had been part of the network, the thoughts were almost like his own.

The Mencur-Besh collective was currently considering the ideal strategy to take for the upcoming battle, the overall consensus was that they should be fighting at the very forefront. This way they could take the brunt of the enemy attacks without putting the remaining troops at risk. Naturally some Mencur-Besh would stay behind, particularly the Ender-aligned ones would reinforce the Shelter's mages.

Once the strategy was finalized, Fire gave the order for the collective to fully link up. Over the course of a few seconds the frequency of the information fragments crossing Fire's mind increased hundredfold, then suddenly stopped. Fire could feel the presence of the consciousness that had now formed from the individual minds. He was no longer listening to messages in a distributed network, he was now in contact with a singular being.

He transmitted a request for a status report.

The Mencur-Besh replied: "This is larger than what I was after I first came here. I am something more."

Fire internally chuckled and sent back: "Welcome to being a full consciousness. Do you want a name?"

The reply came with equal amusement: "No, for now my designation as Mencur-Besh will suffice. I will think about a name once a more permanent arrangement is found. I am aware that I can not remain like this if I return home. Once we do, do not trouble yourself with the matter, you have already guided me to this point, I am confident that someday I will find a way for myself."

Fire said: "That is good to hear. I assume we can expect unprecedented feats of coordination in the upcoming battle?"

The Mencur-Besh answered: "Certainly. I may lose many bodies, but the collective will always survive."

No more needed to be said. Now that Fire's thoughts were freed up, he took in his surroundings again. Off in the distance the Tower dominated the horizon, impossibly tall and ever-branching. Droves of soldiers were already in position all around the outer perimeter, occasionally an artillery piece could be seen sticking up between the masses of bodies.

Closer to Fire were the Shelter's soldiers, roaming around inside the fortifications and getting themselves ready for battle. A bit further away were Shadow's mages, who still very much were the Coven, but had lost all of the hostility they apparently held, only some grudges against Kay in particular remained. Shadow was there too, giving some last instructions and making sure everyone was up to snuff on their spells.

Fire had seen the Sunbeam before, both through Claw's eyes from a distance and during the final training sessions Shadow held with the Coven before departure. Of course, he'd also seen it many times before that, the Sunbeam and many other group-cast spells were originally Mencur-Besh creations that Shadow had adapted for casters that were not mentally linked. He'd see the Sunbeam again soon, it and a handful of other spells that the Coven had practiced in the meantime.

As Fire flew over to the mages it seemed like Shadow was done with her instructions, she levitated upwards to join him in the sky.

"Everything ready?" Fire asked.

Shadow smiled. "As ready as it can be. I see the Mencur-Besh also linked up, it was quite fascinating to look at while it happened, I don't think I have ever seen magical energy patterns like that."

In the days between his return and now Fire and Shadow hadn't gotten to talk much, they had each been too busy with their respective responsibilities. Fire didn't exactly want to talk to his sister about a certain topic, but he knew that they both needed to.

It seemed that Shadow thought the same, she began: "So, about my whole… Void apocalypse situation. I don't know why it happened, something about losing you just, I don't know, it did something."

Fire nodded. "When the Entity tried to absorb me, it stopped once it found you in my memories, it seemed to understand that killing me would result in you being overtaken by the Void. Then, when it gave me my memories back it let slip a fragment of its own perception. It was like looking at myself, but I was like a big snarl of strings with one going off into the distance."

Shadow didn't answer for a few seconds, deep in thought. "I saw something similar, back when the Prophet died. I saw strings too, one of them pointed towards the Entity. The strings somehow point out causal relationships, but other than that I don't know."

Fire sighed. "I suppose we can investigate further once this is done. Are you still able to access your Void magic?"

"Yes, it's a little more difficult but I can still do it. I probably won't use it during the battle, seeing what happened last time. Still, good to have it as an option." Shadow paused. "So, what about you? You seem to have perfected the wings, with them not melting your armor."

Fire said: "I wouldn't quite say perfected, but they work well enough. I still have a little less than half of my initial energy, so it should last through the battle. I will fight with the Mencur-Besh at the frontlines, but I will watch out for myself, I know what is at stake."

Shadow gave Fire a smile. "I know you will."

Fire remembered something. "So, Shadow. I hear you captured the Entity's zweihander?"

The obsidian sword materialized in Shadow's hand, then handed it to her brother. Fire took it and swung it around. The blade was perfectly balanced and roughly the right size for him. He could definitely work with this.

Fire took a deep breath and entered an enchanting trance. First, he manifested runes made from densely packed flames, five big ones and several dozen small ones. The enchantment he had in mind was not particularly complex, but it would help greatly. With a low hum he began stabilizing the runes around the zweihander that had floated out of Fire's hand and was now stationary in front of him.

He slowly added layers to his voice to cement his control over the runes, positioning them around the sword, first the large ones, then the smaller ones around them. The runes shuddered once the final configuration was achieved, prompting Fire to erratically modulate his voice to keep everything in place. With a shout he channeled a large amount of energy into the runes all at once, causing them to violently snap into the sword. Once he was sure the enchantment was successful, he reached out. When his palm touched the handle, he could immediately feel the enchantment attune to his life force, the zweihander was now not just a weapon but an extension of Fire himself. To test this connection, he cast a pyromancy spell that immediately engulfed the blade in flames, extending far beyond its tip. With a quick swing he cast the flames outwards, arcing them across the sky.

With satisfaction Fire let the zweihander disappear into his inventory.

Shadow nodded in approval. "Very fitting, using the Entity's old weapon against its usurper."

Fire asked: "Shadow, do you mind teleporting us to the leadership tent? I have a few things to give out."

"Not a problem." Shadow said, and the next second they already stood in the aforementioned tent.

As expected, a fair portion of the Shelter leadership was present. The mood was cautiously positive, they had all finished with their respective preparations and were now waiting for the officers lower in the chain of command to report that their troops were ready.

Warnado and Amanda sat in the far corner of the tent, partially hidden behind a large fold in the fabric. Fire didn't need Shadow's magic to see the tension in Warnado's face, but it was clear the quarter-demon did his best to hide it. Astro stood over the central table, energetically going over the blueprints of the Tower's upper floors Fire had drawn up. Steve, Jennifer, and Tyron sat at the same table, engaged in conversation.

Fire however turned his attention towards Urist, Voidblade and Rose who were standing a short distance away.

He approached them. "How are you holding up?"

Voidblade looked to the other two to speak. Urist replied: "Na bad, na bad. Biggest battle o' me life ahead, na even tha Great Ancestral Blood Feud's culmination could hold a candle ta this."

Rose shrugged. "Job's the same as ever. Cut up the other guys. Just now I'll do it high up in the air from the back of a dragon, don't have those in my world outside of myths."

Voidblade seemed to have nothing to add.

Fire nodded. "Since I will be using the sword Shadow captured from the Entity, I won't be using my regular weapons. I thought that I'd give them to you, not just as weapons but as tokens of gratitude for helping me build up to this."

Fire handed his halberd to Voidblade, who simply said: "Thank you, Fire."

Next were his set of two daggers for Rose. She seemed positively thrilled at being given even sharper instruments of murder. Finally, Urist received Fire's mace, which was rather large for the dwarf, but Fire had the feeling that this was an upside from Urist's point of view, he always did like his heavy weapons.

"Use them well." Fire said before turning around.

There were two more weapons he had to give away, first his sword, but finding a recipient would prove rather challenging with the number of named-and-important-sword users in their group. The second weapon was his ghast bone bow, he already had a recipient in mind for it.

Just before Fire was about to walk over to the central table, the entrance to the tent was pushed open and through came Lucy, wearing a set of light iron armor, but still with her notebook in hand. She greeted Fire with a quick raise of her hand, but approached the people seated at the table instead.

She said: "Just wanted to quickly report that divisions three through eight are fully combat ready, except for their radios, but they said they're working on that. Siege engines are also constructed, and artillery will be ready within the next half-hour. Any orders I should relay directly?"

Tyron replied: "Nothing new, we'll get in touch with the airship crew ourselves. Astro is still looking for a good breach point."

"Found it," Astro said with triumph. "We're going in through the old prison cell - the fancy one."

Tyron snorted and Lucy noted it down.

And just like that Lucy was gone again, back in the Shelter, she had always kept herself busier than she needed to but here every bit of effort was required.

Fire spoke to Astro directly, but his tone indicated he was addressing all four of the people at the table.

"I still have some weapons I won't be using during the battle, and I thought I'd give them out to you."

Now that Fire had their attention, he continued: "My bow will most likely go to Jennifer. I also have a spare sword, but I don't know if any of you want it."

Jennifer stood up. "I'll take the bow if it's good."

Fire manifested his ghast bone bow from his inventory. The pure-white bones were etched with deep-blue patterns that slightly reflected the ambient light.

He explained to Jennifer: "It's made from ghast bones, due to that and its size, it has a high draw weight, but once it's drawn it takes very little strength to hold the arrow. It's enchanted to further enhance the speed and accuracy of the shot."

She nodded and took the bow, drawing back the string, getting a feel for it.

Fire looked back at the other three people sitting at the table, it was time to decide who would get the sword.

Tyron spoke first: "I can hardly replace Kir."

Steve said: "Excalibur has served me well, but I'm up for dual wielding if Astro doesn't want it."

Astro pulled out his sword.

"Amicus used to belong to Kay. I tried to rename it Doloris for a while, but I slid right back into the old name. I think I could use a change, and obviously I would be honoured to wield your sword, Fire. You have been an excellent leader throughout all of this, and I'm sorry if I've ever held back from acknowledging that."

Fire laid down the sword on the table. "Thank you, Astro, I appreciate it. The sword does not have a name, so feel free to give it one."

Astro returned Amicus to its sheath and took up Fire's sword. He smirked at Shadow.

"I think I'll call it… Dodgeball."

Shadow laughed out in response. "Well played Astro, well played."

And with that, Fire and Shadow joined the round at the table, making conversation while they waited for the remaining troops to be ready for the assault on the Tower.


Warnado sat on a birch-log beam holding up the airship docks. People ran back and forth upstairs, issuing orders, exchanging what might have been their last words, providing some necessary fluff. And it wasn't just nobodies, a lot of important people were talking and interacting in interesting combinations. Warnado didn't really care.

"Yeah, you should probably go to Notch Island. Wait, no come back-"

Dinnerbone had kept whispering to him during the funeral, and Warnado had kept moving to a different spot in the crowd. Not because talking during a eulogy was socially inappropriate. If he'd been in a better mood, Warnado would probably have been the one to do something like that. Not to be disrespectful, just to keep things interesting.

Regardless, it bummed him out. If they won today, everyone else would go back home, and he would go off to fulfil the "Dark Prophecy". While all his friends went on summer vacation, he was stuck going to a summer school where Herobrine was the mean gym teacher.

He looked down at his gauntlet, and readied to reach out with his mind. It was time.

He dodged as a clod of dirt flew up to hit his head.

"Helix! You okay?"

It was Amanda, kitted up for the fight and smirking up at him.

"I am, thanks to my lightning-fast reflexes!" he yelled back down. "What if you'd hit me and I fell off?"

"You can fly, donko."

"Since when?"

"You're terrible."

"Probably."

Amanda pulled out one of her axes and started climbing the struts up to him like a teenage lumberjack. Warnado's hand instinctively reached out.

"Hey, be careful," Warnado said.

"I am."

"Do it more." He tried to look away but kept being drawn back. "I worry."

"Okay," she laughed.

Amanda climbed the struts and tightrope walked along the beam to him.

"She's awesome," thought Warnado.

Finally, she sat down beside him. She reached out for his hand. He put an arm around her and rested his head against hers. He jabbed her with one of his hood-covered horns and quickly corrected, hoping she hadn't noticed.

"Ow."

He began to draw away, but she pulled him back in. They both laughed.

"You're not getting away that easy."

Amanda drew his attention to two of Astro's buddies and Steve's brother, Ozen, talking with Glowstar, the dragon who looked like the backdrop of a planetarium. The dragon was trying to look regal, and up there he was probably pulling it off. However, it wasn't the world's biggest walkway and, from down there, Amanda and Warnado could see how tightly his claws were packed together and how hard he was having to clench for the wind not to push him off.

He smiled, but soon looked back down at the gauntlet. Amanda's eyes followed his.

"Dinnerbone bugging you, huh?"

He considered shrugging, trying not to worry her, but she deserved better.

"That's a one-word response dripping with melancholy coming right up!"

"Yeah."

"Do you want fries with that?"

He almost laughed at how funny he was in his own brain, but Amanda spoke and distracted him.

"You know I'm going to be there with you, right? The whole way."

He felt warm inside and decided now was as good a time as any. He pulled out the necklace of shattered diamond and string. Just as they had seen so long ago in the crystal's vision, just as he had made it so long before that.

"Yes," he answered. "I do."

Amanda lifted it in her hand.

"Is this the same one?"

"Well, I made it the same way. The last one uh…"

He tried to think of a romantic way of saying 'was stolen by pillaging bandits'.

"Smart enough to make it twice," she teased. "You really aren't half as dense as you look."

He laughed. She handed it over to him and gestured for him to put it on her. He did so slowly, feeling her hair brush against his fingers, and watching the gems roll softly against her neck. He looked up, their eyes met, and it was like a magnet pulled him onward. Their lips touched.

"Say it," his brain said. "Say 'I love you' to her, right now."

"Kind of busy, bud," answered Warnado. "Buy yeah, sounds good."

He pulled back, and he tried to talk but only managed an excited noise somewhere between a gasp and a laugh. He collected himself, opened his mouth to talk, for real this time.

Suddenly, there was a high-pitched squeal in their ears - the communication system Fire had put together with Brit so Kir could finally take a break as the team's collective Zoom. He winced, as did Amanda.

"Okay, that should be it working. Can you hear me, Lupe?"

It was Kay.

Warnado could have sworn he heard Fire's voice as though he were on the other side of a very loud room.

"No… on open channel," came the muffled voice.

"Sorry, I'll try to fix that," said Kay. "Is that better?"

Kay sounded approximately 2% louder than before.

"You're on an open channel, Kay," said Lucy. "Please move to your allocated frequency."

"How's that?" said Kay, demonstrably still in the same channel.

Warnado and Amanda exchanged a look that communicated that they were both slightly horrified, and both enjoying every second of this. They were not the only ones.

"Settle in boys, 'Clueless with a K' is back at it again," muttered one of Astro's friends, the one with the skull cap… Aaron, that's what his name was.

"Clueless with a K?!" Steve wheezed into the mic.

"Don't worry lads," droned Brit with uncharacteristic wryness. "He's got ten years to figure it out."

Warnado heard Astro, who had just been about to speak, choke on his own tongue.

"I mean say what you want," said another guy, as though he were in a casual conversation. "Everyone knows the Third Legion's Remaining are the best-looking unit in this army."

"Clarke, get into your channel," said a girl.

Amanda craned her neck, her jaw dropped, and then she immediately squealed into her sleeve.

"Kami, you're right next to him, you don't need to say it through the mic!"

"I just want people to know I don't endorse this inappropriate use of army assets. We are so grateful for all the-"

"-Okay, how about now?" Kay said in a climactic return.

"No… now you're back… open channel," said Fire from some distance with his usual neutral tone, the only thing betraying his annoyance were some slightly longer pauses.

"He's on a streak, lads," said Aaron again.

"Kay, just… Fire adjust the settings," said Tyron, similarly muffled.

"No, I've almost got it."

"I'm… I can't get over that nickname," cackled Steve. "We've got to talk some time, let's grab a drink after this. Urist, keep an eye out for the wine cellar."

"Aye," affirmed Urist.

"There we are!" Kay yelped in high-pitched triumph. Everyone winced.

"So, in terms of things to bully Kay for, his nickname is only the tip of the iceberg, and as retribution for him almost killing my ears there, I promise to spill all the beans."

"Seriously guys," said Tyron, "This is open, but it's still a military channel-"

Unfortunately, around that moment, Raphoe decided to break into a version of "When the Saints Come Marching In" adjusted to say "We all know Ashen is our King," in what he seemed to think was a helpful gesture.

"Don't worry, I'm heading to the speaker-board," droned Brit.

"Oh, just so you guys know," said Ozen over the commotion. "If anyone's still hungry, we've got leftovers in the kitchen. Lots of sandwiches, stew and steak are all gone though…"

"No, seriously, they must have some crazy stuff in there, they have full-on interdimensional trade networks-"

"I just want to be clear I fully disavow all connection to the King in Ash, it was not my idea-"

"...I WANNA BE IN THAT RED SCARF!"

"-and I do not approve of this chant."

"Hey guys, it's Dinnerbone here, sorry couldn't see the button to talk. I'm taking requests if anyone wants to hear a song as we go into battle, I'll be on frequency one… four…"

Realising the chaos was reaching its peak, and that Brit would definitely reach the speaker-board soon, Warnado flashed a grin at Amanda and as she removed her earpiece, he made his move. He reached deep into himself, leaned close to the mic, and released a continuous, abyssal screech into it.

Amanda leaned against him with her fingers in her ears, crying with laughter as everyone else flailed in confusion.

Then, finally, all the voices stopped.

"There we go," murmured Brit. "Commander Tyron Dragoknight has the floor."

"Fun's over, everyone to their positions, we attack within the hour. Warnado, learn to use your inside voice by the next time you see me."

Warnado turned to Amanda.

"It was worth it."

She kissed him again.

"We'd best get going."

They balanced on the beam. Warnado looked out and for the first time saw the rows and rows of cannons and fighters moving into place, both at the encampment and around the Tower. Airships were already in the sky, a lot of them with the Tower's insignia on them. He looked down at his gauntlet.

He took her arm.

"Tell her, donko," said his brain.

"Listen, Amanda," he saw her face, then he averted his eyes. "I'm going to use the gauntlet out there. Just, be cautious around me."

"Yeah, sure," she said with a nod and a concerned, slightly proud smile. "That's really brave of you."

He felt a warmth that almost made him feel okay again.

"You know that's not what I meant."

"Shut up, brain."

He looked out again, and saw the Tower glowing, almost burning in the sunlight, like a lighthouse or an old signal fire, luring them in. He grabbed Amanda and flew off in search of Tyron.

"Get ready, tin-throne," Warnado thought. "Hold on to your seat."