By her will
"Eliza… Created… You."
Cathi Gata felt her grip on sanity start to fray. Everyone stepped back except the golden Equinox warframe as Cathi Gata felt something happen within her. Something she had no words for.
"And I am just supposed to believe this?" The supine Tenno sat up, aware that at least half of the odd beings in this place had hands on weapons.
"Is it so hard to believe?" The being who looked and sounded so like her old commander asked quietly. Her calm tone was intended to help Cathi Gata stay calm, the unarmored Tenno knew that. It didn't help much. "You saw how many things Orokin created. Possible or no, they made marvels both wondrous and horrifying. Eliza was young, perhaps a bit foolish, but many young are. It is part of the definition of 'youth', is it not?"
"You… Lie!" Cathi Gata managed to snarl that as the world shifted underneath her. When her vision cleared, her eyes widened. Why was everyone suddenly looking like painted flowers? When she blinked, the golden room and the crowd of beings within were both back the way they had been. All of the faces she would see looked very worried. "Eliza never had that kind of power! She never wanted that kind of power! She wanted to be-"
"An artist." Gemina Horati interrupted Cathi Gata's almost rant, the armored Tenno's voice sad. Cathi Gata stilled. No one was supposed to know that! No one! Eliza's mother had pushed Eliza into being a singer instead, and the girl had blossomed into the only role she was allowed, but in the deepest recesses of her heart, recesses known only to her closest bodyguard who had found her crying in a garden one day and sat with her until the girl calmed, Eliza had always wanted to be an artist. Cathi Gata had sworn never to speak of that and Eliza's mother, being focused on other things, had never pressed on that minor issue. The evil harridan might have known and but if so? She likely hadn't cared. After all, her offspring's desires were irrelevant. Would she have told Gemina? The Equinox bowed her head. "Elizabeth wanted to be an artist."
"What have you done?" Cathi Gata rose to her feet and everyone made way for her as she stalked towards the still Equinox warframe. "What have you done to Eliza now?" She demanded.
"I didn't." Gemina said very softly as she bent to one knee before the furious unarmored Tenno!That made no sense! Regular Tenno bowed to no one and Gemina had only ever bowed to Eliza's mother! No one else."I came into being to find you screaming in agony as your body was remade, your warframe becoming part of a new you. To find Eliza crying in cage, bleeding. I reacted rather badly to seeing her like that." Her tone spoke of monumental understatement.
Strife all but choked and more than one person winced as Gemina bowed her head further as if to invite a death stroke. The world blinked again and everyone was a painted fish? Another blink and they were back. Cathi Gata shook her head, even more confused and then looked up as another voice spoke up.
"I'll say! You tore one of Lilith's wings off, Gemina Horati." Fury stepped forward, a faint smile on her face. Said smile faded. "Then again, she earned that and so much more." The not-human female laid an oddly gentle hand on Gemina Horati's shoulder as she looked at the unarmored Tenno. "This Gemina is not the one you hate. She never was."
"This makes no sense!" Cathi Gata declared, still furious.
"You need to calm down." Fury shook her head. "The power is reacting to your emotions, trying to seek an outlet through you and you have no idea how to use it. How to control such. What was it she said?" She frowned in thought and then nodded. "Ah yes. Be true to your Code, Tenno."
Cathi Gata stared at the female form whose hair was now the color of blood and not shimmering with energy. "Who told you that?"
"Eliza did." Fury shook her head, a faint smile tracing her features. "The last time she came to check. She told us you had survived. She didn't remember us any more than you do, but we remembered her. She was kind of hard to forget. We made her welcome."
"How... many… times?" Cathi Gata felt faint and then she slowly knelt into seiza. She took several slow cleansing breaths, ignoring the Equinox warframe as her rhythms calmed.
"She has been back four times, each time she has been older, sadder, wiser." Fury shook her head. "She never asked about what she didn't remember. Smart woman."
"The best." Cathi Gata said weakly. "She has no evil in her, no matter-" She broke off as everyone stilled. "Um..."
"There is a reason for that." Fury took a step to stand beside the kneeling Tenno. "One that no one likes." Cathi Gata inhaled, but Fury continued. "It is not her fault and it is certainly not yours. Gemina here is not at fault either. She is not the one who trapped you, who hurt you and helped her mistress enslave you. She has been with us since you and Eliza left. She is a great help."
"She won't believe that any more than Eliza did." Gemina said from where she knelt, but Fury looked at her and she subsided.
"If she is half the being that she was when I first met her, then she won't believe anything without concrete proof." Fury replied. A snort came from the ranks and yes, the skull faced being stood by one wall of the large room flanked by the huge red robed swordsman. "Hush, brother." Fury glanced at them and then focused on Cathi Gata. "You need help, Cathi Gata, but the only being who can in our reality is never to be trusted. Lilith knew what she did was wrong and she did it anyway. Twisting Eliza was a bad idea. Infusing her with such power was a worse one."
"I am linked to Eliza?" Cathi Gata asked, working her way through her stumbling thoughts.
"You linked to her when she was caged." Fury said quietly. "When she was tormented. You were disabled and bound by arcane chains, but you still fought as your kind do. You helped her cope with the power she was suddenly able to wield. It is part of you too, if lesser."
"Wait a minute..." Cathi Gata inhaled in shock this time. "She has done things since I have been awake that she should not be able to! She has gone places and done things..." She broke off as Fury laid a hand on her shoulder, an oddly gentle hand from someone who was clearly not gentle.
"Her story began with us. It does not end with us." Fury shook her head as Cathi Gata looked confused. "You both went your own way, a path of pain and fear. She needs help now. You can give it, but I do not know what such will do to you. I do not know if you can survive such, even as powerful and durable as you are."
"Eliza is important!" Cathi Gata declared. "I am not!"
"You both are." Fury retorted. "You are both keys to a lock that must never be opened again. If, when, you perish, we fear that the lock will unravel. That what is behind the lock will be released and in that case?" She shook her head. "None of us have a chance."
"I don't understand!" Cathi Gata said with a growl of annoyance, then she focused on her breathing again until she was calmer. When she spoke again, it was slow, careful. "Eliza is not a bad person."
"No." Gemina replied. "And you are the reason."
"Me?" Cathi Gata asked, stunned. "Do you know what I did to her? She hates me!"
"Yes, she does. She has cause." Fury allowed. "But she also loves you. She knows on a level far deeper than any mortal can touch just how much you care for her."
"I hurt her." Cathi Gata felt her eyes start to burn and then she was sobbing softly.
"You did bu then, you defied your mistress. You let her go." Gemina said into the silence that fell.
"That is not what happened!" Cathi Gata snapped. "I tried to find her when she dove into the ocean! I did!"
"You could not fight the controls that had been placed in you, so you had to try and save her when she dove into the ocean to commit suicide." Gemina was still quiet, but remorseless as ever. "But..." Cathi Gata felt a sudden tension as Gemina looked her full in the face. "No one but her knows that the drug she gave you didn't work."
"No." Cathi Gata was shaking, both in rage and remembered fear mixed with shame. "I… She disabled me for a moment, dashed to that cliff and jumped… I..."
"It didn't work." Gemina said with a growl of annoyance. "And you know it! You let her go!"
"Gemina!" Fury warned, but the Equinox warframe shook her head.
"She has to face this, Fury." Gemina said with a growl of her own. "She has to. She has to face what she did and why."
"I THOUGHT SHE WAS DEAD!" Cathi Gata screamed and tears were falling like rain. "I couldn't find her! I..."
"She wanted to die." Fury knelt down and gathered Cathi Gata up in her arms as the kneeling Tenno started to bawl like a baby. "No one knew that the currents in that area were so strong. How far she would be pulled by the tidal forces in mere moments. She was barely coherent when she landed in my arms."
"What?" Cathi Gata stared up at the fiery eyes and the ancient warrior female was sad.
"She screamed for help. I remembered her voice and came. I got in a lot of trouble for doing it, but I would do it again." Fury smiled at Cathi Gata's stunned expression. "I like her, but more importantly, way back when? She scared me." The other admitted as Cathi Gata stilled.
"Eliza...scared you?" The unarmored Tenno said weakly.
"She was just a little girl who was suddenly given power beyond belief." Fury gave Cathi Gata a squeeze and then released her. "And instead of turning evil or trying to make the entire universe one big happy family of kittens, puppies, ponies or whatever, she thought before she acted. Do you have any idea how rare that is?"
"Yes, I do. But..." Cathi Gata slumped. "I thought I had failed her."
"You searched over a hundred square kilometers of ocean from surface to floor for three days. First in the hope of finding her and then just to find a body." Fury said quietly. "She was long gone. I had no idea where to take her, so I asked for assistance." Again, Death snorted and Fury shook her head. "Brother..."
"I believe your exact words were 'Help me with this stupid half drowned brat or I will hurt you'." The skull faced being said as he stepped forward. Fury made a rude gesture at him and more than one person smiled. He nodded to Cathi Gata. "We reported what Fury had done to the wardens. They were not amused but when we explained, they understood. Eliza slept through all of that."
"And woke up on the beach in front of Sun's door." Cathi Gata was incredulous. Death inclined his head to her. "She disabled me long enough to do that. To try and die."
"Cathi Gata, you were in warframe." Gemina chided her. "The aerosol sedative that she hit you with wouldn't have done anything to you." Cathi Gata stilled and the copy of her former commander nodded. "Unless you let it."
"I..." Cathi Gata was losing control. She was sliding deeper and deeper into a dark pit and then, light flared in her mind. Everyone flinched back as white light poured down from nowhere to bathe the shuddering Tenno. She stared up… At Eliza!
The Empress was old. Ancient even! Her gray hair fell unbound to her waist. Her face was wrinkled, but she was unbowed. She wore a white gown and no crown, no gaudy jewels, but the sheer majesty in her presence had everyone, even Fury, stepping back as she stepped down out of nowhere to stand in front of Cathi Gata.
"Hello, Cathi." Eliza's voice held old pain, old sadness, old fear, but her face was radiant as she pulled Cathi Gata up into a hug. "Oh, Cathi. Thank you. From the bottom of my heart, thank you."
"I failed you." Cathi Gata said in a tiny voice. "I failed."
"Not yet." Eliza hugged Cathi and then released her. Cathi Gata felt odd, but whole as bio-armor suddenly surrounded her. It felt wrong but right. Not like her Valkyr warframe. She felt light, almost airy. "What was set in motion so long ago has now reached fruition. We will not be able to handle this alone. We will need the wardens' assistance and possibly the Tenno's as well." That was to everyone.
"Ma'am..." Fury started, only to pause as Eliza glanced at her. "Apologies, Creator."
"Creator?" Cathi Gata all but begged.
"You do not remember what was done. For your safety and everyone else's your memories were destroyed." The elderly Eliza in front of her was sad, so sad. "Eliza's memories could not be destroyed after what she became. After she became me. So, I made another Eliza who went home with you. Who suffered and even now suffers for her mother's sins."
"You… made…?" Cathi Gata did beg that as she fell to her knees. "Eliza? What have I done?"
"I was drowning in darkness and these Realms would have followed me. I had no idea what I was doing. Neither did you, but I was in trouble, so you saved me as you always did. My one, true knight in shining armor. You pulled me out of that darkness. Now? I can repay that debt." Eliza smiled as she pulled Cathi Gata up into another hug. "Don't cry, Cathi. What will be, will be. I have blocked the link. It won't bleed into you for a while, hopefully long enough. I have no regrets for this life that I lead. So much to do and so much hope to spread now." She turned to the other Tenno. "They come! Host! Nephilim! Gemina! Ward Cathi!"
Then she was was gone.
"To arms!" A cry went up around the area as golden power shimmered in front of Cathi and warframes started appearing, but… odd. They all looked off. Not quite right. Or… No, the frames looked right, but the colors looked garish. As if painted by a child with no color sense at all!
In moments, half a hundred of the odd looking warframes stood in front of Cathi Gata, but now, all of the golden armored forms with wings were between her and them. Gemina was beside her, Ninkondi at the ready as Fury and her brothers stepped up as well. One of the warframes, a Rhino that was the worst shade of pink that Cathi Gata had ever imagined, stepped forward, his Scindo ax shimmering the same awful pink.
"You will come with us." The Rhino's voice was as nasty as the color of his armor. The power from that voice resounded in Cathi Gata's skull but then Gemina laid a hand on Cathi Gata's shoulder. Cathi Gata jerked as she was in control of herself again. She stepped back, shaking her head. "You will come with us."
"No." Cathi Gata said as firmly as she could. Not very. This frame wasn't her Valkyr. She didn't know how to use it.
"You have no choice."
"There are always choices." What the hell? The Lotus appeared beside Cathi Gata, twin swords held in her hands. "She chose not to do as you wish. You should abide by that or this is going to get very messy."
"They can't." Another voice heralded a dark haired human female into view. Or was she human? She looked sort of human, but her pale skin was almost scaled? She was glowing an odd shade of green and the staff in her hand also glowed that color as it morphed and a wicked spearpoint emerged from the end. "They have about as much free will as Catherine Gata did."
"She will come with us." The Rhino was readying his ax as Cathi Gata fought to understand this sudden change.
"No, she won't." That was Fury whose brothers moved to flank her as she started forward. "She doesn't want to."
"She must." The Rhino flexed and his Iron Skin activated.
"No." Another voice! Cathi Gata was beyond shock now as Hayden Tenno appeared beside the Lotus, his Glaive in one hand and a pistol in the other! Other Tenno in warframes were shimmering into being beside him, some Cathi Gata knew, others were strangers, but all moved to ward her. "She made her choice and we have made ours. We stand with our sister."
"Oooh." Now, the only thing holding Cathi Gata up was Gemina's rock hard hand as another voice sounded and Eliza appeared nearby in a flash of white that was dirty somehow. Dingy? Not clean? Her robe had been white once, but now was smeared with things that Cathi Gata did not look too closely at. This Eliza was a little girl whose smile spoke of madness as she looked around at the battle that was about to unfold. "This is going to be fun!"
"Eliza… No..." Cathi Gata begged as the full force of the mad girl's gaze landed on her and she hit the ground with a thump. What energy she had was gone! Drained.
"Don't worry, Catherine." Eliza moved to stand beside the pink warframe. "Me and mine will take really good care of you. Rest now. You have earned a nice long rest in the arms of one who loves you." That wasn't comforting at all!
"You wouldn't know love if it bit you, brat!" Fury snapped and then snarled as off white power flashed from the mad young Eliza to her. Whatever was supposed to happen didn't and Fury smiled back as Eliza recoiled, the madness in Fury's own smile just as fervent as Eliza's. "You did that last time. I can learn. Can you?"
Far from cowed, the mad young Eliza smiled wider and were that bloody chunks of meat in her teeth? Again, Cathi Gata did not look closely.
"Let's find out."