Lighter
Cathi Gata was awake but she was not. She was aware, but she was not. She lay on a slab of stone that was warm underneath her. She wore no armor and was surrounded by forms she did not know, but she was not afraid. They were singing something softly in a language she did not knew, but…
Wait a minute! She did know the language! And what they were singing! She knew that too!
'Somewhere out there beneath the pale moonlight
Someone's thinking of me and loving me tonight
Somewhere out there someone's saying a prayer
That we'll find one another in that dream somewhere out there'
How could Cathi Gata forget that? That had been Eliza's favorite song as a child. She had been so lonely, so lost and terrified even before her mother had started the evil that had been done to the poor girl. After her youthful misadventures, the girl had been so quiet and so careful for so long that many worried about her. That had actually been why Cathi Gata had been posted to protect her in the first place. Everyone had been worried about her. Daughters of the Emperor were not supposed to be introverts and Eliza had worried everyone when she had withdrawn so far. With the help of Cathi Gata among others, the girl had exited her cocoon, only to have horror land on her full weight when her mother's evil had been given free reign.
She bit back a sob as the music came to an end and white light shone around her. She felt bereft for a moment, but only a moment before a strong male voice spoke up from nearby.
"You are safe here, Guardswoman Cathi Gata." The Tenno opened her eyes to find herself lying on a crude bunk in what looked like a small cave. There was no door, but what looked like a hand woven blanket hung to block the sole exit. Her warframe was gone and her leg was bandaged, but careful movement showed no pain. A dark skinned man with a scraggy beard stood by the blanket, his face solemn. "How do you feel?"
"Strange." Cathi Gata admitted. She was clearly in no immediate danger. She should have felt wary, confused, angry? All of those. She didn't. She felt calm. "I feel strange."
"You came closer than I would have liked to never waking up. Ulthane is calling it a miracle and maybe it is? I don't know." The man said with a frown. "May I come I? We need to talk, you and I."
"Considering that I have no idea where I am or what happened?" Cathi Gata sighed and then nodded. 'I guess there is no need to be rude. I am Cathi Gata as you said. You are?" She waved him in and he nodded. No, that was a bow from the neck. Formal.
"My name is Strife." The other took one step in and then stood by the wall. "You were ambushed and critically injured on a mission." Cathi Gata stiffened and the man nodded. "Your prisoner was delivered. Your mission was done."
"I saw things that did not make any sense." Cathi Gata said with a frown that deepened as the other nodded. "So… What? Why am I here?" She paused and then sighed. "And where is 'here'?"
"I can answer some of your questions." Strife replied easily. "You are currently within a haven that was set up in a realm called 'LostLight'. You will not know that place. This reality."
"Reality." Cathi Gata repeated slowly and Strife nodded. "Send me back! I have no intention of angering the wardens!"
She didn't know much about said wardens, just what she had gleaned during a mess with a pair of traitors to the Tenno. What little she knew of the wardens showed they had few scruples about using extreme overkill and less use for political correctness. Even now, Galintra's betrayal hurt, but Atlas had been right. Such a role was a life sentence at hard labor. More than one life if half of what Galintra had told her was true. The two Darkstorms she had dealt with had been scary powerful and if the others were just as powerful or more so? No, she had no plans to anger them.
"They know about this." Strife reassured her. "We told them as soon as we felt the prison start to break. We may have lost a lot of who and what we were, but a few of our duties were not limited by the Council. We encountered the wardens of reality a few times and deemed them colleagues of a sort. We had our duty. They had theirs. Such rarely interacted and we were never at cross purposes. Our masters eventually betrayed us, but we still do follow a few of the oldest ways. You are in no danger here. The hosts of both Heaven and Hell bar the way to any who would harm you."
"What?" Cathi Gata asked, stunned almost beyond imagination. He wasn't speaking metaphorically. "This makes no sense!" She shook her head savagely. "None of this makes any sense! Gemina Horati is dead!" She paused as Strife held up both hands in a warding gesture. "What?"
"You need to be calm right now." Strife all but begged her. "You came closer to true death than any of my family have seen recently. If you die, so will she! Then things will get very bad, very quickly as hurt as Eliza is. You are linked. You and Eliza are linked and she needs you right now."
"WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?" Cathi Gata was on her feet, barely aware of the flimsy white nightgown that was all that covered her. "Leave the poor woman alone! She has suffered enough!"
"That she has." Strife was unmoved by her vehemence. That spoke of silliness or incredible power. The Tenno knew which way her senses were leaning and it wasn't towards 'silly'. "Her torments match any of ours. But no one in your reality has asked the single most important question right now." Cathi Gata stared at him as he bowed his head. In sadness? "How did she survive what her mother did?"
"Eliza is strong." Cathi Gata scoffed only to stiffened as Strife laughed. "What?"
"Of course she is strong." Strife snapped. "But no one has bothered to ask how she got so strong, so fast. How she endured horrors that gave my sister pause. You saw my sister. Nothing gives Fury pause, but she nearly puked when she saw what Eliza endured. How long did her mother abuse Eliza, Guardswoman?" Strife demanded and Cathi could not meet his gaze. "How long?"
"Years." Cathi Gata's rage faded and in its place, sadness rose. "And I helped."
"You did." Stride's tone was odd. Not condemning. Agreeing? But with what?
"I..." Cathi Gata sank back to the bunk, anger gone. Tears were falling freely. "I thought I knew what I was doing! I did! Eliza was such a good kid and she was so hurting, lost and alone even in a crowd and I… I helped that monster hold her! Drugged her for the others to abuse and I..." She was sobbing fully now and a weight settled beside her, a warm arm surrounding her. "I thought I was doing right!"
"I know the feeling." Strife said sadly as he hugged her gently. "Betrayal is never a good thing, but for people like us, with all the power we wield? Worse. It is never a good idea to push us too far. When we break, it gets bad. For us and everyone around us."
"I couldn't help her! I can't help her!" Cathi Gata sobbed as the other held her. "I want to and I can't!"
"You can." Strife said quietly and Cathi Gata stilled. "But it will change you. For the better? For the worse? I cannot say. I am not the Creator. She needs you now more than ever Cathi Gata. She needs you."
"She has guards, allies, minions." Cathi Gata grinned through her tears as Strife choked back a laugh. He had to know Eliza and her response to such a word to react such a way. She was rarely polite when people said she had 'minions'. "How do you know her?"
"I and my kin met her when she came through the worlds warded by the Council. That was a very long time ago even as I count time." Strife replied. "She was one little girl, lost and adrift in a universe filled with hostility. Luckily, she was not alone as she tried to desperately to get home." Cathi Gata stared at the man, confused.
"I do not understand." The Tenno's confusion mounted when Strife nodded.
"I know. You do not remember." Strife sighed. "That was for the best for all concerned at the time, but it does make for a mess right now." He released her, rose and stepped back to the wall. "I know what happened to Eliza and her father..." He paused and made a noise of scorn. "If that was her father" He said grimly. "He may have meant well, but he just made a serious mistake."
"I do not understand." Cathi Gata repeated.
"I know." Strife shook his head. "I will explain as I can. Will you listen?"
"I have to get back." Cathi Gata said after a moment. "But… If this is another reality, then time means… little..." She inhaled. Where had she heard those words before?
"Yes, time means little when crossing the barriers between realities. You should not even remember that." Strife was gentle but worried. "The memories were not just removed, they were supposed to be expunged completely from both you and her. She was needed there." He shook his head with a grimace. "Not that any of us had any idea of how bad it would get."
"I was with Eliza? Here?" Cathi Gata asked softly and Strife nodded. "When?"
"You met Eliza when the youngest daughter of the Emperor turned six." Again, Strife's words were not a question. "You were posted as her guard and she was less than enthused."
"Yes." Cathi Gata drawled that word out for at least three syllables worth. "She had every right to be annoyed but the Emperor commanded."
"At her mother's urging." Strife said quietly and Cathi Gata nodded.
"Hindsight is so much clearer." The Tenno said sadly. "She was unhappy. I did what I could and she eventually accepted me. Until… Until it got bad."
"And even then, she never blamed you." Strife wasn't asking, he was stating!
"No." Cathi Gata replied, pursing her lips in thought. "I didn't understand why. I never did. To this day, I don't understand. I tried hard not to hurt her, but I had to obey. I think in my heart, I wanted to tell her, warn her, beg her to flee and I couldn't! I couldn't let her get away from the horror."
"She knew." Strife reassured the Tenno who stilled.
"How?" Cathi Gata demanded. "The compulsions were buried deep in my soul! I couldn't tell her! I barely knew which way was up!"
"That is the way of mind control." Again, Strife was speaking facts. "You had no way of defending against a control placed so deep inside your own mind. She didn't understand, Cathi Gata. It wasn't her fault or yours."
"You speak in riddles." Cathi Gata slumped on the bed. "Is it truly that bad that I have to be led to such a thing so carefully?"
"Yes." Strife was completely serious and Cathi Gata went totally still. "There are many who would simply drop the horror on you and expect you to survive it again, but that is what happened before and we learned. Even such as Nephilim, angel and demon can learn when the lesson is properly tailored to their needs. That one hurt quite a lot of people quite a bit."
"That bad?" Cathi Gata asked weakly. Strife nodded. "What did I do?"
"You? You saved Eliza and every one of our Realms." Strife sighed deeply. "There are few things that Heaven and Hell agree on in this reality. The fact that pushing Eliza so far was a bad idea is one of them. The fact that if not for your heroic intervention, everything in this reality might have ceased to exist is another. Even the Council won't do dare that." He shook his head. "Lilith was insane to push Eliza like that and she was chastised by everybody!"
"Since time has no meaning here, maybe we should start at the beginning?" Cathi Gata asked a bit plaintively. Strife nodded but paused when she spoke again. "But I do have one major question: Was that Gemina Horati?"
"Yes." Strife replied as Cathi Gata fought her emotions. "And no."
"What do you mean? My head is hurting." Cathi Gata said weakly as she lay down on the bed. Indeed, her head was spinning!
"Eliza was given power with the idea of said power corrupting her. It is what Lilith does, corrupt people, but even she wasn't prepared for what happened." Strife came close to the bed and his face was worried. "Headache?" She nodded although the motion hurt. He touched her arm and the pain faded. He made a soft noise. Almost despair? "This is beyond my skill."
"What is happening?" Cathi Gata begged as the world seemed to shimmer around them.
"Eliza is dreaming and it is leaching into you as we feared. I can ease you, but I need to call in a specialist to see if this can be fixed. I don't know if it can be. The only good news is that Eliza always had tight control." Strife said quietly. "We are in no danger of dissolution."
"'Dissolution'?" Cathi Gata said and then fought hard not to scream as raw power flayed her mind.
"No! Get something in her mouth before she bites down!" That was Gemina! Terrified, but... For Cathi? "She bites herself to keep from crying out! She will bite clean through her own jaw if we let her!"
Rage came, but then pain followed and it crashed across Cathi Gata in waves of unending torment. She was being held down by strong hands. Some that felt armored, others felt like flesh as the pain increased again and again. Then it vanished and all she could do was sob. Something metal was in her mouth and it felt both hard and soft.
"Wow." A very deep voice sounded and something nudged the sobbing Tenno's cheek. A finger? If so, it was far larger than a human finger. "You told me, Horseman, I didn't believe. She bit into adamantium!"
"Reality is warping around her, Ulthane." Strife was worried, very worried. "Can you help her?"
"You know what she has to do, Strife." What had be Ulthane sounded upset. "I ain't getting in the way when the likes of her go tossing such about. It gets unhealthy if you know what I mean."
"I know, but she may be the only chance we have." That was Gemina again, but Cathi Gata was too spent to even flinch. "Whatever price needs to be paid, I will pay. I owe them both."
"Girlie..." Ulthane heaved a sigh so deep it might have rocked a planet. "I can't fix this. Don't know of any of my kind who can. You know who can delve that deep into a mind." Several voices chorused negatives in several languages.
"I am not letting her touch Cathi Gata again!" That was pure Gemina Horati! "You know happened the last time! Eliza did not take it well. Do you really want Eliza to wake up and find that that wicked thing has done it again? I am sure Lilith would be amused, for all the time it took Eliza to wipe her, and all the rest of us in all likelihood, permanently from existence!"
"I know." Far from offended, Ulthane sounded as if he agreed. "There are others who can ease such hurts, but few who dare to delve so deep into the psyche. There is always a cost as that idiotic witch found out with Eliza. She can reach the hurt, fix it. The question is, will she?"
"If asked properly by the right person? Sure she will. They do not want to be obliterated any more than we do." Strife wasn't happy either. "Plots, plans, counter-plots and plans, all of these are meaningless if we all cease to exist."
Cathi Gata hawked and tried to spit the blockage in her mouth out. The thing in her mouth wouldn't budge. Huge, incredibly strong fingers took hold of her jaw and eased it open. Then the thing was gone.
"I think I am gonna keep this piece as a souvenir." Ulthane chuckled, but there was little mirth in it. "Might make me a bit less rash about thinking such indestructible. Should know better by now, dealing with you lot. You Horsemen can break anything."
"I… I better leave." Gemina Horati sounded almost beaten but Cathi Gata opened her mouth.
"What did Eliza do?" The sudden stillness in area was deafening. "I get that she did something bad. For me?"
"You needed help and she was still just a little kid. No one blamed her for what she did. She did it to save you and herself from a fate even worse than the one that befell her when you got back." Strife reassured her. Then he laughed more than a bit bitterly. "Lilith did learn her lesson about poking certain people in places they do not want to be poked. That had to seriously hurt even one such as her."
"What did Eliza do?" Cathi Gata all but begged as she tried to opened her eyes and they would not. "I can't see!"
"Not yet." Ulthane commanded "Lights in here are very bright. Dim 'em, ya pigeons! Yeah, now!" That was also a commanded. A huge finger touched her forehead and then he spoke again. "You will be able to open them now."
"I..." Cathi Gata opened her eyes to wonder. She wasn't in the cave now. She lay on a white platform made of some kind of stone in the middle of a large still brightly lit large room filled with beings in golden armor who all had wings on their backs! She swallowed hard as a huge hulking form stepped back from her and Strife stepped forward.
"You are in no danger, Cathi Gata." Strife said formally. She looked away from him at another golden armored form. Gemina Horati stood as if resigned. "It wasn't her fault."
"What did Eliza do?" Cathi Gata did not ask that of Strife. She was asking Gemina who bowed her head.
"You were down, disabled and being changed against your will into a demonic mockery of yourself." Gemina Horati said softly. "You vehemently disagreed with Eliza seeking answers there, but she was the Princess and you were the guard. Add to that? They did have information that others lacked. Which they gave up to get us out of there without tearing it down around that idiot demoness' ears. They were not to be trusted and you knew it, which is why you had backup on standby. No one expected the Lady of the Black Stone to act so swiftly to confine both of you. No one expected her to try and seduce Eliza of all people!" The Equinox warframe shook her head. "No one blamed Eliza. Not angel, not demon, not Nephilim and certainly not me."
"What did Eliza do?" Cathi Gata begged.
"She needed a mighty warrior to save you both so she Created me."