Equal and opposite
For a long moment, no one moved, then the newcomer slowly shook her head.
"I am here, Elizabeth. I will see what I can do. Go home before this gets any further out of hand." The mad version of Eliza looked as if she wanted to argue, but he newcomer smiled at her. "It is all right, Elizabeth. You have made a mess, but we can clean it up. It is what we are for, no?"
"You and the Bladeborn clean up my messes far too often. You and Ina and Sara and all the others are far too good to me, Grandmaster Nia." Eliza said weakly as the garishly painted warframes all vanished. "I don't deserve what you have done for me. But Catherine doesn't deserve this either." She looked at Cathi Gata who stood stunned. "I… I am sorry?" She all but begged and Nia shook her head.
"Go on, Elizabeth. Let me see what I can do." Nia made a 'shoo' gesture and the girl smiled a far more natural and sane looking smile before vanishing. Just like that, the tension in the area lessened. It didn't vanish, but it did lessen. The dark haired woman nodded to Cathi Gata and if her smile was a bit strained? No one would comment. "I didn't imagine I would ever see you again. This is not how I ever hoped of meeting you again, battlesister."
"I don't know you." Cathi Gata said softly. Nia shook her head. "But from your words, you know me."
"I did. From what little I have gathered here, your memory was wiped?" Nia asked and Cathi Gata nodded. "I see. I can guess by who." She glared at the spear wielding woman who did not flinch. "Killing her would have been kinder."
"You would know." The spear wielder had not relaxed at all.
"You are not going to get what you want, whatever it is." Nia took in the rest of the tense warframes with a glance and then sighed. "Our Elizabeth will fight to the death to protect the Tenno she knew as Catherine. You know this. Provoking her is a bad idea." The spear wielder did not move and Nia shrugged. "You know what will happen if you press this. Do yourself a favor, let me talk to them, try to salvage some of this before you and your husband get stupid." She paused and then scoffed. "Again."
"What is going on?" Cathi Gata demanded, her Glaive in her hand now for all the good such would do against two incredibly powerful beings. Warden and someone who could just order an insane copy of Eliza to obey and have the crazy being do it? "Who are you?"
"As I said, my name is Nia Korr and I am not your enemy, Tenno." Nia said as she crossed her legs and sat in in mid-air! Hovering like a Tenno but there was no Tenno energy around her. "Elizabeth woke up screaming. Poor dear's nightmares have both teeth and claws, but we have dealt with such before. Then she screamed your name and vanished right out of our reality. She came here." She shook her head. "Back to where it all began." The glare she leveled on the spear wielder was incandescent. "Back where you did what you did to her."
"We helped her." The spear wielder said softly, only to pause as Nia was on her feet again, her hand on her sword hilt.
"Nerf Osik!" Nia snapped. "Do not even try to lie to me, warden. As powerful as you are? Right now, I am just as powerful and you know why. I am well within my rights to defend Elizabeth. She is a good kid and you hurt her! You had no right!"
"I did not hurt her. She should not exist." The other retorted.
"Yeah, the only one who should exist is the one you all but enslaved!" Nia snapped and everything stopped. No one seemed to be breathing now. "She was nice to him, kind to him and what did you greedy grasping fools do? You took her and tried to make her yours. She didn't want to go!"
Cathi Gata had a really bad feeling. This was going to get very messy, very fast. She didn't want to be anywhere nearby if a warden and this clearly furious other went at it. But there as more going on here.
"I get that you are angry, but there are limits, even for you. If you ever say such again, I will kill you." The spear wilder warned as green energy flared across her spear. "I do not enslave people. Any people. She was hurting! Crying! I took her in, yes. I tried to help her."
"Stop!" Cathi Gata commanded as Nia seemed to swell. "Right, wrong or indifferent, whichever Eliza we area talking about here..." She shook her head. "They are the same person, aren't they? Different times. Different timelines. The same Eliza."
"Even without your memories, you are just as sharp as when I knew you. Yes, they are." Nia replied even as the woman with the spear growled at her. "Do shut up, lizard breath! Istara taught me how to kill your kind. I know you will come back from even a mortal wound, but don't think I won't if you keep acting like a Hutt."
"Stop!" Cathi Gata snapped as she slid forward to stand between the two irate and incredibly powerful females. "Both of you! Stop! Whatever is going on here, it is about Eliza." Both women looked at her and she growled. "Or is she not the important one here?"
"She is. Elizabeth is the focus." Nia replied and slowly forced herself to relax. The spear wielder still did not react. "Her and you."
"My Eliza just went through a very traumatic ordeal. And… I bet she is remembering things in her sleep that she either forgot or was made to forget, like I was. We traveled into alternate realities." Cathi Gata said softly and Nia nodded. Falcon, Gemina and Sera all moved to ward Cathi Gata again. Stalker did not move from where he stood, ready. "Can you say how many?"
"I don't think anyone but Tanah may know how many you visited trying to get back." Nia said and smirked as Cathi Gata stared at her. "And yes, I know him too." She gave a sniff at the immobile spear wielder. "Another you wardens hurt. Be very glad Istara stepped down when she had her second kid!" She scoffed. "If she had heard the summons instead of me? You would be in about four pieces right now. You hurt that kid very badly and you do not do such around Istara Sharlina Andal."
"She is not a 'kid'." The other replied. "She is manipulating you."
"Yes, she is." Nia replied offhand and everyone stared at her. "Elizabeth is a lost, sick hurting female. She is not human but that does not make her evil. She doesn't want to be bad, she doesn't want to hurt people, but every time she shows herself people have to try hurt her or take her or use her for their own ends or abuse her. She got sick of it! Wouldn't you?" She shook her head. "She has never lied to us. She asked our help and we gave it. That was and is manipulative of her, but we use her as well. If slightly more kindly than you did."
"I get that whatever history you and the warden share is not good, but is this germane?" Cathi Gata asked as Nia looked at her. "My Eliza is going to wake up soon and she is not going to be happy."
"The crown doesn't hurt her anymore, does it?" Nia asked and Cathi Gata stilled. "Yes, Elizabeth told me about that. She begged our help when she found you among us. We didn't know or care where you came from when we found you wandering alone and all but mindless. We did not understand where you had come from, what you were or who, but we take in orphans all the time. Broken or hurting and Force sensitive is not a good combination."
"I don't have the Force." Cathi Gata said weakly.
"Not here, no." Nia smiled a bit sadly. "There? You did and you were one of our best, sister. When Elizabeth came to us, found you with us, she was heartbroken. It took some time to calm her down, to get her to explain and when we did?" She sighed. "I am not a nice being or even a good one far too often, but there are limits. This passed those limits. She hurt you unknowing. You tried to help the poor kid and she lashed out. She cast you into between realities. She blames herself to this day but from what we understand, it wasn't really her fault. Or yours, Catherine." She turned to the woman with the spear. "Was it, Lady Raviine?"
"We did not understand." Finally, the woman relaxed and her spear shifted into a staff that she leaned against heavily. "I can make no excuses of what happened. We thought her a potential. Nothing more. I mean,… She saw right through the warding! That is power and skill. Then she was so empathetic… So kind to a being who anyone will say is terrifying. Even me." She admitted. "What happened was wrong. We have never said otherwise, Nia Korr." She slumped a bit. "I do not see a happy outcome here for any of us."
"Me neither, but we have to try." Nia said with a shrug. "I am very angry at what you did. I am very angry why you did what you did, but as Catherine says, her Eliza is the important one here. When she wakes, the prison will break."
"What kind of prison are we talking about?" Cathi Gata asked as Falcon moved to her side again. She held up a hand, but the Revenant warframe moved to stand beside her, looking from one side to the other, distrust clear. "Is Eliza the key or the actual prison?"
"Both." The warden said heavily. "Either. We do bear the responsibility, Bladeborn and we know it. What happened to her was unforeseen by anyone."
"What happened?" Cathi Gata demanded. "I… What I remember doesn't have any of this. Eliza was always a good kid." The two mismatched women on either side of her shared a look and then Nia shook her head, bowing it. The warden spoke.
"You know that your mistress commanded you to ward Eliza after her sixth birthday and requested of her husband that you be reassigned as such." The warden said slowly. "You do not know why your Emperor granted the request." Cathi Gata stared at her and the woman shook her head. "He did not have to. He did not know all of her ambitions, but only a fool took her for a wall flower. Even before she became what she did, she was dangerous and everyone knew it. You do not know why he allowed it, do you?"
"No." Cathi Gata said after a moment's thought. That had never occurred to her. The Emperor had commanded and her mistress had accepted the command. That had been that. She hadn't known that her mistress had asked for such, but looking back? It made sense. "I never found out why."
"We asked him for it through intermediaries." The woman called Raviine said very quietly. "You see… She was special even as very small child. Fearless. Kind. Compassionate." She bowed her head but her grimace was clear. "So very young and so very sure of her own immortality."
"That is not atypical of any youth. What happened?" Cathi Gata repeated, fighting back anger. Such would not help here.
"We met her and the universe itself trembled." Raviine said sadly. "Our kind have learned not to trust, not to love outside of our own ranks. It causes complications that can have dire repercussions. Your Eliza was one of those lessons." She held up a hand when Cathi Gata started to protest "Through no fault of her own! She was not to blame any more than the copy we just saw is." She sighed deeply. "That said? It did cause problems."
"What did she do?" Cathi Gata demanded, anger rising.
"She found someone in pain and tried to help." Raviine was very sad now. "Her compassion very nearly destroyed her and it may do so even now. I do not want that. She is good soul. Even fragmented as she is, she is better than most. Even the insane one is better than most when she is not attacked. We do keep a wary eye on her and that is as the Bladeborn has stated."
"Elizabeth is good with the kids." Nia said heavily. "We all love her, but she always knew her time was short. If this is it, then I will not interfere, but I can grieve. You cannot deny me that."
"We have our disagreements, Bladeborn." Raviine replied. "But this… No. We did not know what happened to Catherine. When Elizabeth lashed out we feared Catherine destroyed utterly until our warden from your reality reported what he found in your ranks." She made a face. "And you call her crazy."
"What did Eliza do?" Cathi Gata snapped, all patience fleeing. "Why was I posted to her?"
"She met a my mate."
A very long time in the past
Eliza walked with more haste than decorum through the halls of the Royal Summer Palace. Her eyes were burning, but she would not cry! Not here. Not now! It wasn't fair! It just wasn't fair! She had been so happy making pretty things. She loved to draw, to build and she was always careful when she painted to not make a mess. Unlike so many of her family, she did clean up after herself when she did made messes. There hadn't been anything anyone could do though. When her mother had commanded that Eliza put aside her desire to do art in the need to sing for her mother's amusement. Eliza had protested that she was not a very good singer. She had done so respectfully for her age. Even a few days before her sixth birthday, every waking moment of Eliza's life had been spent on training for her eventual place in the Royal Court. She was a Princess, even if she was unlikely to ever be close to the Crown. She was also hardly as silly and spoiled as some of her elder siblings who she and many others prayed never touched the Crown. She had hoped to be made a Royal Artist, but instead, her mother had quashed that dream and when Eliza had retired to her secret place in the garden to mourn her dream, one of her siblings had clearly found it and done what her siblings did most anytime they found something pretty of hers. Since it wasn't something they could take, (which was always the first choice) whoever had found the garden glade she had worked so hard to make and hide had decided to destroy it. Every tree was burned, hacked or blasted with power that had become all too familiar to Eliza. Her secret garden was ashes now and what was worse? The flowers that she had so carefully tended as they grew into beautiful arrangements had all been uprooted and tossed into the fires. There was nothing left of what she had hoped to surprise her mother with. The girl hadn't done it for herself. She had wanted to make her mother smile again. It had been some time since Eliza's mother had smiled in a way that the girl had enjoyed. And now? That was impossible.
Eliza's siblings all said that they hurt her in so many ways to make her strong. It wasn't for that. It was to make themselves feel strong or important or powerful or whatever. It wasn't about character building. It was about putting down their youngest sibling. She had to know her place and she did.
The youngest daughter of the Orokin Emperor truly knew her place.
But…
She wasn't sure where she was. This portion of the Royal Palace was disused. It was immaculate as only Orokin tech could make something, but from various things that Eliza's implants could discern, this area hadn't been used in some time. Power readouts were low, in standby mode for the most part. Anything that had any traffic at all would have more power available. It wouldn't do for one of the Royal Family not to have power if they-
"She went this way!"
Eliza fought back a shudder was the voice of her chief tormentor, the third son of the Emperor, came to her ears. She crept back into shadows that seemed to grasp hold of her, but she ignored that as she slid further and further back into the place she was in. It was odd. It wasn't an Orokin hall now. The walls looked to be rough hewn stone but matched any Orokin hall for size. She paid little attention to her surroundings as three forms in golden uniforms stepped into her view, still in the golden hallway. She needed only one look to see that yes, it was Edward and his cronies, but it was odd. They were looking right at her, but they didn't seem to see her.
"She came this way!" The head bully of the Royal children said with a growl as his minions looked this way and that. "Where did that spineless little freak go? She cannot have gotten past us! This time, we will teach her a proper lesson again."
Eliza shoved her hand into her mouth to keep from crying out. The last time he had decided to 'teach her a lesson' he had stolen her gown, jammed her communications and made her walk back to her quarters in her underthings. She had been four at the time and he fifteen. Now? She was almost six and he was seventeen. He was far too big and strong to fight. But now? He couldn't seem to see her. Was that good or bad?
"And what kind of lesson might a spoiled little brat teach? Hmmm?" A very deep voice sounded from above and behind Eliza. She started to turn, but something wrapped around her and held her face to the wall! It wasn't Orokin energy, whatever it was. It was physical! She swallowed hard as she stared down and saw a huge claw around her waist. It was at least a big as she was! She stared up… and up… and up… She couldn't see far into the darkness, but whatever held her was BIG. It was also gentle. From the look of the claw? It didn't need to be!
"Whoever said that, you insult a Prince of Orokin!" Edward blustered, but Eliza heard fear in his voice.
"Do I now?" Was the deep voice amused now? "Do yourself a favor, little bully prince. Find prey elsewhere."
The sheer power in that last word had all three of Eliza's nemesis fleeing for their lives, but for some odd reason, Eliza wasn't afraid. She stared up again as dim light grew around her and what she saw made her heart break.
The dragon was crying.