Duties
Whack!
The golden skin girl jumped as the flat of the circular Bladeborn sword slapped her on the rump! The girl jumped, but the snap-hiss of a lightsaber igniting had her freezing in place. The Dark Lord's red blade did not rise to a ready position, but only an idiot with a death wish would take him lightly.
"You asked for punishment, insane one." Darth Vader said coldly. "She is giving it. If you move, I will maim you. I will not kill you."
That was not a threat. That was a promise. The golden skinned girl swallowed hard as Cathi Gata's blade impacted her rump again and again!
"I did love you." Cathi Gata said with a growl as she spanked the girl. "I loved you from the moment I saw you try to heal that tree. I loved you more when you fought off that arrogant bully. You are not sane. I know this. I should not blame you for acting insane but I am not that strong." She hit the girl again with the flat of her sword. "You wanted me to hurt, Helen wanted me to hurt. I am! Well done, both of you!" She spanked the girl again.
"Cathi..." Eliza said softly as Sera all but ran towards her mother. Eliza grabbed the Nova warframe and hugged her as Sara heaved. "You are stronger than them. Better than them. Don't let them win."
"I am in control. I am no one's slave now." Cathi Gata said with a growl as she slapped the girl's rump one final time and stepped back. Darth Vader and Nia Korr both nodded approval.
"'Through victory, my chains are broken. The Force shall free me'." Darth Vader quoted part of the Sith Code and Cathi nodded.
"I am not Sith." Cathi Gata said firmly. "If I was? I would kill her and probably let her mind loose from that form."
"That gets quite inconvenient." Darth Vader agreed as he deactivated his lightsaber. "You Bladeborn limit yourselves in so many ways, but it is always interesting watching you work." He was appreciative!
"To each their own, Lord Vader." Cathi Gata inclined her head to the Dark Lord who nodded back. "I was a slave once. Never again. Not to her. Not to my anger."
"It is a good thing you are unlikely to come back to my reality." The Sith replied. "We would in all likelihood find ourselves in conflict."
"That would not end well." Cathi Gata agreed. Then she sighed. "All I can offer is my thanks, Lord Vader. I hope this has entertained you."
"Every time I see Bladeborn, things get interesting. Often messy but always interesting." Darth Vader nodded to her again. "The only thing that I can always be assured of around you sword welders is that I will not be bored."
"We try." Nia Korr stepped forward to stand by Cathi Gata. Her smile was a cold thing of anger, but he took no offense. If he understood anything? Darth Vader understood anger and betrayal.
"You succeed. I need to get back before the Rebellion gets any further ideas." A portal yawned behind him and he strode into it without a backward glance. Only after he was gone did anyone relax.
"And I thought she was crazy." Will nodded towards the frozen golden girl who morphed back into an ashen faced tiny form of Eliza. "Why did you call him?"
"Because I needed someone totally impartial and I remembered a bit of Nia's tales of her time hopping. As he was at that time, he didn't take shit from anyone but his Master." Cathi Gata did not lower her sword. "He was never a good man, but he meant well. Just like I did." She shook her head as she looked from the young Eliza to Helen and back. "He is powerful, smart and very experienced in ferreting out the truth from morasses of lies. I didn't want to believe him, but when he was presented the evidence, he came to the proper conclusion. He saw the truth even as buried as it was in lies."
"Sith he may be, but Darth Vader was never stupid." Nia Korr agreed. "Driven. Angry. More than a bit blind to some things, but never stupid. If he acted that way? It was planned. By him or his master." She stretched a bit. "Admittedly, he does fear better than anyone else I have met."
"No one else would have made her freeze that way." Cathi Gata agreed and the young Eliza snarled at her. "And now? We come to it. Your desire to end was a lie too. You have hurt me, you and Helen both, but that is not good enough for you, is it?" She looked at the restrained Hildryn warframe who was struggling against her captors now. "If you wish, I can ask him to come back. This time he was amused and curious. If I do it again, he is likely to be angry. You would not survive such." Her tone turned cold and hard. "She is immortal. You are not. Calm down."
"I have nothing to say to you!" Helen spat the words at Cathi Gata.
"Good." The Wisp clad Tenno replied and the Hildryn stiffened as Cathi Gata turned to the two dragons. "This whole mess started because someone tried to make people to take your role." She glared at the female dragon who met her gaze. "What was it you said? 'Molding people into the role doesn't work'? That was experience talking, not caution."
"What I did was wrong." Raviine said softly. "They said they would destroy it, but then, they used it."
"And you didn't want to destroy it because it might actually have worked." The Tenno replied, still cold as ice and about as soft. "Might have made people who could do what my Empress can. Naturally walk between realities." Eliza stilled and Cathi moved to her side, her tone gentling. "All I ask, Empress? Please try to find my boys? Sera! Ward the Empress!"
Sera was in motion, moving to stand between the Empress and the younger version of her as the girl shimmered with power. Then Cathi Gata moved away and the girl's attention was split. She couldn't seem to decide who to attack.
"Will Darkstorm." Cathi Gata's tone was not steely and everyone stilled as she took a long, slow step towards the younger Eliza who stared at her, confused. "The Tenno named Helen has really irritated my Empress. From what I understand, you could not hold the Empress."
"Liza was hurting, grieving and all but inconsolable from her injuries and all the losses she had seen and suffered. Her family, her friends, her entire world!" Will said sadly. "I wanted to help. What I did was wrong, I know that now, but all I really wanted to do was help my friend. We took her, held her, sedated her and tried to heal her. We failed." He slumped a bit. "She cannot trust me now. Such would be foolish."
"Rebekah woke me up from my grief and the drugs. I woke in their healers' care. They were gentle, but..." The Empress said softly as Sera moved to stay between her and the young Eliza. "You wardens did not want to let me go. Yes, Rebekah tricked you, but you would not have let me go any other way."
"You were weak, sick and bleeding, Liza! Nothing we did stopped it!" Will said heavily.
"It was an Orokin bio-weapon designed to keep a person bleeding until they perished from blood loss." The Empress winced in memory. "No. Nothing would have stopped it except Rebekah's unique brand of healing." She made a face. "Still hurt like hell."
"For a time, I thought she had killed you instead of teleporting you both back to your hideaway." Will was lost in memory. "I was very angry. I am still angry that she tricked me, but it was for the best. You were needed there. We would have welcomed you, but your people needed you."
"The crown would have latched onto anyone with even the remotest hint of my genetics and it would not have ended well. Maybe one of my girls. Maybe someone else." Empress Eliza said heavily. "If they were lucky, it would have destroyed them. If not? It would have driven them mad. With the power of the Orokin database accessible, they would have tried to use it and in all likelihood, destroyed everything in our solar system." She gave a shudder. She looked at the young version of herself. "Is that what you want? The crown?"
"Fuck you." The girl snapped and the Empress shrugged.
"We cannot let her go." The Empress said softly and it was echoed by many around the room, all of whom looked worried.
"You can't stop me!" The girl rose but stilled as Cathi Gata moved to block her path. "You cannot kill me! I am the only one who knows where your boys are!"
"I am not going to kill you." Cathi Gata's quiet and calm words stilled the murmurs that had started and everyone stared at her. "I am going to stop you."
"What?" The young Eliza stare as the Empress paled.
"Cathi! No!" The Empress started forward, but Sera was there to hold her back. "Cathi! NO!"
"I hope you find peace, Empress Eliza." Cathi said softly and then she threw her blade to Sera who caught it, staring at it as the colors shifted to match her warframe! "Maybe you will find love? We would not have fit, despite Jesse's machinations. We only share our horrible pasts. Nothing more. Sera? Do not let her approach me." That was a command and Sera nodded, head bowed.
"CATHI!" The Empress screamed as several of the others moved to assist Sera in holding the flailing woman back.
"That is not my name." The warframe dropped something that started to glow as she started towards the young Eliza who back up, but hit something invisible and snarled an obscenity as Fury moved to stand by the Tenno, matching her movements.
"What do we call you then?" Fury asked, her tone kind as another small object fell from the warframe and then another. The small glowing objects surrounded the young Eliza who was snarling and trying to get past something that could not be seen.
"My mother named me Catherine." The Tenno said quietly. "My father's surname was Gata. He was a dockworker and she was a middle manager. I know little more about that, mainly feelings, a couple of recordings and a few vague memories. They both died in a Technocyte outbreak when I was four years old. I was infected, but survived. Changed." She took a deep breath. "When I was old enough, I sought out my past and discovered both good and bad, as is the way of all things. I gave my name as Catherine Gata when I joined the Royal Guard. To honor them both." She looked at Fury as the female Horseman nodded slowly. "You have been hurt the worst by the insane one. What form do you wish me to take?"
"What?" Fury asked, clearly taken aback by the question.
"I have some leeway in how I do this." Catherine Gata said softly. "If she is bound in any inanimate object, it will eventually crumble or decay. A properly designed animate object if maintained, will last as long as it is maintained."
"You are not saying what I think you are saying?" Fury asked, stunned. "Are you?"
"She insulted your horse's memory." Catherine dropped a final object. There were six of them surrounding the now clearly furious fake child. The Tenno who was working towards something shook her head. "Would you like me to become a horse? You, I would trust to ward said horse."
"Ah..." Fury stared at the Tenno and then to the side where her brothers shimmered into view. Power was pouring off of them in waves that were clearly hindering the insane being's escape. "I don't think I have the right to ask that. Rampage was my companion in so much." She bowed her head. ""Killed by my arrogance as much as Envy's evil. No, I need time to grieve, time to think. No. Thank you, but no."
"Well, I thought I would offer." Catherine said softly as the Empress slumped in the hands that held her and started to cry. "She hurt you very badly."
"She did." Fury allowed. "But… You will confine her?"
"Killing her won't work. She is, at her core, energy, not physical. Kill that form and she flows free until she can reform a physical shell." Catherine agreed. "The Royal Guard learned a lot about such things. The Royal Family had its share of 'Oops' moments. I can confine her. I will."
"You can't!" The girl sneered in her prison. "This won't hold me!"
"That doesn't have to hold you for long." Catherine replied absently as she looked at Helen who was still struggling. "Darkstorms? I have a recruit for you." The Hildryn froze and Catherine continued. "If Helen goes to back to our reality, she won't live out the day. The Empress is nothing if not vindictive to those who harm her loved ones. I know she loved the boys and she knows how to kill Tenno."
"I did!" The Empress was crying in the arms of a golden scaled snake woman who was crooning softly to her. "Cathi! No! We are outside of time and space! We crossed the rainbow! We can-"
"She is out of control." Catherine cut the Empress off. "Insane. She is still my responsibility! I can stop her and I must. I am her guard. My first duty, Empress! I will do my duty!" The Empress bowed her head, still crying.
"What?" Came from Fury and the young Eliza as Catherine raised her hands and golden power started to build in around them.
"The Royal Guard are the protectors of the Royal Family." Catherine said as she focused on the power growing around her hands. "But that is our second duty." The girl in the cage of energy blanched and insane amounts of power started flashing from her, but they went nowhere. Catherine shook her head as power flared from her hands. Each of the objects she had dropped flashed with the same energy and the girl in the cage screamed in agony as her power faded. It would not last long. Long enough. "I have her, Horsemen. My duty, not yours."
"We would aid you." Strife said as he stepped forward.
"You have your own duties and they are likely just as harsh as mine." Catherine said softly as she raised her hands again, this time separated from each other. A tiny sphere of light appeared and started to pulse, growing slowly. She paused. "She made you sing and play, and I know you clearly hate the music she made you do, but..."
"But?" Strife asked as he stepped up to her, wary of the power that she was showing.
"I shouldn't." Catherine said sadly. "It is both absurd and probably a bit humiliating. I won't ask."
"You want music? I think I can guess why." Fury asked very quietly, her face shrouded by her hair. "We can do music. Just not that, please." She made a face.
"I would give anything to hear Beethoven's 9th symphony right now." Catherine said sadly. Fury stared at her and Catherine bowed her head. "As I said? I found some of my past. My mother loved Beethoven."
"Fourth movement?" Fury asked. "'Ode to Joy'?"
"Yes." Catherine sighed. "Hard to believe a deaf man wrote that, but-" She broke off as familiar beautiful music sounded from the side of the room. War of the Horsemen had a cello in hand and he was playing! She stared as Death joined in with a violin! Then Strife was beside them and he had an oboe in hand! They were… "There is no need!" Catherine pleaded.
Fury shook her head, reached out to pat the Tenno's shoulder and then retreated to the group as other instruments joined in from all around the room. Keyboards of various kinds, brass, woodwinds, strings! Some, Catherine could recognize, some she had no idea what they were. But the music… It was 'Ode to Joy'! Fury took her place beside her brothers and at the proper time, she opened her mouth and fluent German flew unerringly. The alto part of the movement came from her lips to join three other voices, two low, one high from around the room. It was so beautiful. So perfect. Pure music. Pure joy. It was...
The Tenno was crying with joy as the music swelled all around her. The girl shaped being in her cage had recovered a bit. She was staring at the Tenno as Catherine focused herself and power grew between her hands.
"Don't do this!" The girl screamed, barely heard over the gorgeous tones. "I will give them back to you!"
"Anything you say will be a lie or an attempt to escape. This ends now." Catherine focused her self as the music faded almost completely and then, as the chords dimmed into a bare whisper and then exploded into the rousing chorus joined with orchestra that crowned Beethoven's masterpiece, she threw every single piece of herself into the sphere and into a bright beam of multi-colored light that flew at the cringing girl.
It was the job. The sole purpose originally of the Royal Guard had been to keep the Royal Family in check. They always worked hard to make sure that they outnumbered the Royal Family for a single, simple reason. They always had to stand ready to do their duty. Even the Empress' guards had always been wary of her and her expanding brood. Ready to do their duty if needed. Always and forever. Their duties had expanded over time, but that had always been their first and most important duty, so all knew how to do this. How to stop something that could not be stopped.
Catherine was singing along with the chorus as her personal energy shredded! It didn't hurt. Odd, but she was glad of that even as her very being unraveled and tore into the screaming girl in front of her. She couldn't kill the girl. She didn't have to. She pulled the flailing girl's energy into her own, seeking to separate every bit from each and every other piece, holding one piece of energy away the rest, bit by little bit. Every iota of energy that made up the little girl was taken and matched to a bit of Catherine's stored and borrowed power. The girl would not be able to reconstitute as long as Catherine's new form was maintained. It seemed to take an eternity, but it was likely only moments before Catherine felt her warframe start to fall apart, drained utterly of power as the process continued. It would as long as Catherine's physical form had energy. Which would not be much longer. Even the energy binding the cells of the biotech armor together was pulled into her final duty.
She was suddenly tired. So tired. She had known all along, she realized. As soon as she had seen that insane version of Eliza, she had known how this would end. The first duty of the Royal Guard was fatal to the one who did it. Always. Perhaps, Eliza could break free of her prison of grief and pain now that her constant reminder was gone? Maybe. Either way, it was no longer Catherine's problem. The beautiful music faded.
Everything did.
Was it her imagination that she saw an egg start to from under the combined and diluted energy before her vision went dark? Was she dreaming as a soft familiar voice crooned to her as she fell into darkness from which there would be no coming back? Crying as it faded with her own mind.
I am so sorry. Thank you for stopping me, dear Catherine. Rest now, my one true knight.
Only then did Catherine Gata, one time unknowing mother of four, one time Masterblade of the Bladeborn, one time Champion of the Orokin Royal Guard, one time slave to a horrible mistress and one time almost matriarch of the Karl's Shadow clan of Tenno, finish her duty and die.
Beethoven's 9th symphony is one of the greatest pieces of music ever written. His last complete and arguably most magnificent work. He was almost totally deaf when he wrote it. When he conducted it, he couldn't hear what was played, so he messed up several bits of it. No one who heard it CARED!
Beethoven's 9th Symphony, 4th movement, commonly called 'Ode to Joy', stands even today in the 21st century as one of the seminal pieces of western music and likely always will as long as humans remember such things. I listened to it every time I worked on this chapter and yes, I cried. Not in grief. In joy. Catherine died as she wished. Free and with no pain. Doing her duty on her terms surrounded by beauty and people who loved her.
May we all be so lucky when our time comes.