The ties that bind
The Lotus sat beside Eliza's bed, her face somber as she watched her friend sleep.
"Um, Ma'am? Rebekah? You are needed." A quiet voice pulled the blue armored woman out of her thoughts and she looked up to see Lilly at the door, barring the way for one of the snake women form before. Arisha was not worried, not really. Lilly wasn't being forceful and if anything, the snake woman understood the problem. Sera was outside the door and had let her in, so, clearly there was no threat. She and the other snake clearly knew Elizabeth. Good and bad."She won't wake up for several more hours. Alley is good with such things."
"No offense to Alley, but if I am not here when she wakes, Elizabeth will do something dumb." The Lotus said sourly, but softly so as not to disturb Eliza's sleep.
"She will do that anyway." Lilly groused and the Lotus bit back a chuckle as the snake woman stared at the Guard. "She may be our Empress, but the woman has no quit in her and no sense sometimes."
"She is determined not to be her forebears." The Lotus reached out to pat Elizabeth's still hand. Eliza did not react. "She keeps throwing herself into things to prove that she is not her mother or father. We all know she is not, but she refuses to accept it. She cannot accept it. She snatches any responsibility that she even thinks is hers and holds it until her hands threaten to fall off. She won't let anyone suffer if she can help it."
"That is not a bad thing for regular people, but in a ruler, that is not good." Arisha said softly and the warframe nodded with the Lotus. "She cannot fix it all, no matter how powerful she is."
"No, but she seems bound and determined to kill herself trying." The Lotus said sadly. "She has power that she refuses to use capriciously. That is also good, but when she does use it? It always hurts her. I fear for her." She slumped. "I bet Alley explained what she sensed." The Lotus said as she rose. Arisha nodded. "This is the worst I have seen, but she just refuses to stop. If she can help, she must. No matter the cost to herself."
"I know the type." Arisha slithered aside as the Lotus moved to the door. The blue armored woman shared a nod with the Nova Prime clad Royal Guard. They had been together a long time. It took no words for the Lotus to beg Lilly to contact her if anything changed or for Lilly to reassure the Lotus she would. "I have linked the Guards to our com network. If anything happens, we will notified."
"Don't take any chances." The Lotus said as she followed Arisha out of the room, passing Sera who nodded to her. "Eliza brought us here hoping to find help for my daughter. Whatever she may have done here, I don't want to cause any more problems." She snorted a bit. "I have enough of my own."
"Just from what little I have gathered, I bet they are doozies." Arisha said with a nod. The Lotus matched it. "Can you explain why you and a human are working together?"
"Serendipity, I think." The Lotus frowned and then shrugged. "With Eliza, it is hard to say, but she rarely uses the powers she has so blatantly. She is usually far more circumspect."
"Can you say what happened?" Arisha asked. "None of us can tell a difference. But if she can warp reality so cleanly… Even then, we would sense something, wouldn't we?" She trailed off as the Lotus sighed. "She can do that?" Arisha asked, fear rising.
"I don't know." The Lotus admitted. "I don't usually sense any difference when I am the subject of her alterations. I only know from careful observation after the fact." She made a face. "And if the crazy woman starts bleeding internally. I do not know all of the specifics of what she does." The blue armored non-human said quietly. "I do know she has a solid core of ethics. She makes mistakes. No thinking race I know of doesn't make mistakes." Arisha nodded. "That said, she takes responsibility for her mistakes and tries to fix them when she can. She made a mistake here. I get that. She fixed it." The Lotus made a face. "And nearly killed herself doing it."
"What mistake could be worth her life?" Arisha asked as she led the way into a larger room. The Lotus followed and only hesitated a moment when she saw Falcon's Revenant warframe laid out on a table with Falcon's energy form lying still beside it. The Lady was hovering beside the table and Alley was coiled up erect beside the yellow alien.
"You don't know Elizabeth." The blue armored non-human said softly.
"Indeed." The Lady said very quietly as she turned to scrutinize the Lotus. "The better question for her is: 'What mistake wouldn't that being suffer for or die to correct if needed?'" The hovering female sighed deeply. "I can help your daughter and I will. But then you have to leave with Elizabeth and never return."
"Will it change her?" The Lotus asked. "Falcon?"
"Likely." The yellow alien said to the blue one as yellow energy fountained over Falcon's till form and she seemed to perk up a little.. "Such damage as she took will almost certainly leave scars in her psyche, if not in her energy. I do not believe the damage was intentional. It seems almost as if whatever hurt her was trying to get her to procreate." She froze as the Lotus did. "Was it?" The Lady asked carefully.
"That…should not have been possible." The Lotus said very softly. "My kind and the kind that the evil machinery was intended for are very different. May I approach?"
"She sleeps but the treatment is done. She will recover." The Lady reassured the worried blue armored female. "I promised to help her if I could help her and I have, but now you need to take Elizabeth and go."
"I cannot do what Eliza does." The Lotus said weakly and then froze as a familiar form shimmered into being beside the Lady. The dragon called Will bowed his head. "You."
"We made a lot of mistakes, Rebekah." The dragon said very quietly. "I don't know how many times Liza reset on killing me or Raviine, but eventually, she worked her mad out. She is needed in your reality."
"And I should just trust you?" The Lotus demanded, carefully not moving. She had to be under observation and likely under weapons too. "After you made that that… That thing?" She snapped. The Lady spun to stare at her and the Lotus nodded. "Yes, they made the Prison that hurt my daughter. It nearly killed Eliza and it did kill her chief guard!"
"Catherine is dead? Oh no. You made it?" The Lady inquired of the warden softly. He nodded. "That is insane."
"Hindsight. We know that now." Will replied. "Then? We didn't. Liza's ancestors breached the barrier. I lost two kin closing that breach. Gone permanently. After we cleaned up the mess, they set up safeguards, wards and guardians of their own, of which Liza became one if not in any normal way."
"Eliza? Normal?" The Lotus scoffed and the Lady matched her scorn. "Not possible."
"No. Liza is anything but normal." The dragon smiled sadly as Alley relaxed just a little beside Falcon as the sentient energy form seemed to glow brighter. "I had forgotten how much it hurts to fail those I love. I do love Liza and she will kill me if she sees me again."
"You are the reason Catherine is dead." The Lotus said with a growl.
"You of all people know that death is not the end when you walk the paths she and Liza did." The dragon retorted and everyone stilled.
"Don't you dare!" The Lotus' growl was pure 'mechanical angry predator'. "You have hurt her enough!"
"I didn't." The dragon said softly. "Falcon, can you sense her?" Green energy swept form him to touch Falcon's form and she gave a cry as she was bouyed up into the air. All three females moved to block the way between her and the dragon.
"Put her down. Now." The Lotus snapped and the Lady was bare moment behind, saying the same thing. Alley looked at the, shrugged and kept her mouth shut.
"It is not her." Falcon's voice was scared, scared and bemused equally. "I feel a connection, but it isn't Cath- Um... Catherine. It is not the same!"
"It won't be." Will sighed and let Falcon slide back down to the table. "It wasn't us. It wasn't the copies of Liza."
"'Copies'?" The Lady demanded. "Oh, god! There are more of her?" It was hard to say if that was awe or terror in her voice.
"Yes, but none with her exact power set, thank whatever deity you follow." The dragon gave an exaggerated shudder. "The one is more than enough."
"If you didn't do it, and they didn't do it and none of my kind certainly-" The Lotus paused. "Oh no… No..." She groaned.
"Liza always had a plan and multiple backups, mad or no." The dragon replied as the Lady groaned. "That one is no more, but she would not have let Catherine sacrifice herself. You know this, Rebekah. She loved Catherine."
"Did she?" The Lotus asked as the Lady sighed deeply. "You saw what she did! What Helen did!"
"She was not sane, Rebekah, but she did love Catherine." The dragon shook his head. "I do not know where she hid the copy of Catherine's energy, but she did make a copy of her Guard back when she made the first copies of herself. Liza won't trust any of us, but I want no war between us. I will get you home and then, I will find Catherine's energy and bring it to you. You can take it to Liza." He looked past them at Falcon who was pulsing softly now. "All I need is a direction, Falcon. Point me the right way. Give me the chance to make any of this right."
"Why can't you tell?" Falcon demanded. "You have power beyond belief!"
"There are powers far beyond mine. I am only a warden." The dragon said very softly, but hell itself seemed to sing in his tone. "You are her sister! I will save what I can of your sister! Give me a target! Please!"
"Don't listen to him, Falcon! He lies!" The Lotus pleaded as Falcon hovered in mid-air, her Sentient form pulsing with yellow power now.
"Not about this." Will bent to one knee. "Our Oracles are all in agreement, a first in my experience. Catherine's energy is still out there. Her boys are still out there! We are looking for them even now. We may not be able to find them, but we can save her and we must or Eliza will likely be lost to the prison of her grief and pain. If she goes mad, none of us will ever be safe. None."
"If there is even a chance to save Catherine, Mom, I have to take it." Falcon said weakly. "But I don't know what to do. This is not like my misadventures. This is unlike anything I have done."
"Falcon?" Alley said quietly when the hovering Sentient made a noise of dismay. "Don't think. Don't focus. Just feel. What do you feel?"
"I don't..." Falcon paused and then she gasped. "Cold! Black! Spikes! Black Stone! She is at Black Stone! Lilith has her!"
"Not for long!" The dragon replied coldly. "I should get you all back-" He broke off as Alley and the Lady both started to glow!
"They don't trust you." The Lady said in a mild tone that somehow conveyed danger. "I shouldn't trust you, should I?" She asked.
"Probably not." The dragon admitted. Then he smiled as he rose to his feet. "Liza needs rest anyway. I will be right back."
"What are you going to do?" Arisha spoke up for the first time from where she stood by the door.
"Something loud."
Black Stone, Darksiders Reality
No one dared breathe as the huge form of Lilith's master swept in the fortress, his very presence a palpable taste of horror and evil. In form he looked almost angelic, if one ignored the hellfire that burned in his eyes and the fact that his wings were on upside down. One also would have to try to ignore the demon scale full plate armor her wore that shone almost golden. Almost. He didn't have horns unless he wished them. He didn't need them.
"Where?" The Prince of Hell demanded as he stalked deeper into the fortress. He wasn't furious. That word did not do his emotion justice. "Where is she?"
"Master? This is an unexpected plea-" Lilith jerked as something long, thin and red shot from the Prince's hand and wrapped around her throat. It pulled her to him and every single demon in the area froze as he shook his minion like a terrier might a very dead snake.
"Is it?" The being who had as many names as he had faces asked as he shook her again and then dropped her at his feet. "Is it really? Did you really think to hide it? From me perhaps, but not from them. Where is it?" He demanded, the anger that seethed within him rising.
"What do you want?" Lilith all but begged as he kicked her down to the floor and then stepped on one of her wings. "I don't understand!"
"If you do not answer me, right now, I will rip both of your wings off and leave you to her mercy." Lilith's master declared. "Would you like a few million years of puppies?" Lilith's eyes bulged and she started to stammer, undone by the sheer horror of that idea. When her master spoke again, it was very quiet and very controlled. "Where is the soul of Catherine Gata?"
"What?" Lilith asked stunned by this sudden change. "I do not-" She screamed as he grabbed her by the wings! As if in preparation of tearing them off one by one. "Master! I do not understand!"
"I just had a visit from someone I detest." The Prince of Hell said in the same quiet and very dangerous voice. "The Creator tore down the entire front of my palace, Lilith. Then her associates got mean." Lilith was staring at him, eyes even wider.
The Prince's palace was in the Black City, the demonic counterpart to the angelic White City. If there was single more heavily fortified and defended place in any demonic realm… His words sank in and Lilith moaned. Demons and angels knew each other and detested one another. But there were a few powers far beyond any demon or angel, no matter how strong, skilled or cunning.
The Creator was one of those. If she was angry enough to destroy part of the Prince's palace? Not good.
"I… I don't have it!" Lilith said weakly. "I did! But it is gone!"
"And you didn't bother to inform me of such a threat to every realm I hold?" The Prince said softly, looking around. None of the many minions in the area would meet his gaze. Wise of them, if not very brave. "Why? Did you think to corrupt her? That worked out so well last time. Didn't it?" His sarcasm could have cut through a diamond with no effort at all.
"She said she would leave me in a universe filled with nothing but puppies forever if I told anyone!" Lilith snapped. "No! I wasn't going to betray her! I have some sense!"
"Which 'her', I wonder. The Creator is on her way here with her retinue." The Prince said and Lilith quailed. "If you are lying to me, you will regret it. You are a useful tool, but she is far too powerful to anger and you have. If I discover you have lied to me, I will break you and leave you to her." Not a threat. A promise.
"It is not where it was!" Lilith moaned. "I was having the fortress searched when you arrived!"
"That was a lie." A cold voice sounded and everyone stepped back as the Prince of Hell did. A human shape stepped out of nowhere. The warden named Will. He had his hand on his sword but did not draw it. But… Oh boy. Where the Prince was fury, the warden was ice. Just as angry or more so. "She had it. She knows where it is."
"I don't know where it is now!" Lilith all but begged as her Prince looked at her and then at the warden who frowned.
"A truth?" The Prince inquired and the warden nodded. "I see."
"You know who she gave it to and why. Your plots and politics are your problem. I am trying to save far more than this reality." The warden started for the gate. "I will try to head her off. Or not." He sighed as a massive explosion sounded and Fury of the Horsemen stood there in the huge gaping hole where a massive stone and metal gate just hung. Her hands flashed and the hammer that shone in them vanished. She took a step forward, but the warden shook his head. "She doesn't have it. They do."
"I see." Fury moved to flank him, eyeing the many demons who watched her warily. None of the denizens of the fortress dared move. "Then I guess it is time to go get her back."
"This is my mess, Horseman." The warden said slowly. "And you know they will have precautions in place."
"Perhaps for me." Fury agreed as they started off. "Not for all of us."
"This is my mess." Will all but begged as they took a step, the world shifted and they were suddenly standing in front of a huge tree. The Tree of Life. The other Horsemen stood there, ready. An angel and a demon also stood, wary of each other, but ready. It was the last one that Will bowed to. "Please? Let me help fix my mess?"
"They do not understand." The Creator Eliza was sad, so sad. "I do not think they can or will."
"Then we will make them understand, Creator!" Uriel, leader of the Hellguard, said firmly.
"As loathe as I am to agree with one of her kind, that is the truth." The demon who stood on the other side of the Creator said with a nod. "Just remember, sometimes the hero-" He paused as everyone growled at him.
"Just stop, Samael." The Creator shook her head. "We all know the stakes. If Catherine is corrupted, changed, whatever, Empress Eliza will never be free of her past. She will go mad and no one will be safe. Her reality will fall to her madness. And with it? Countless others. We cannot allow the Plan to fail."
"We will not allow the Plan to fail." Fury said with a growl as she moved to take her place with her brothers. "The Charred Council will surrender Catherine Gata's soul or we will tear it from their decaying forms."
"Let me try talking first." The Creator all but begged and everyone shared a glance. Will sighed but then moved to stand beside her.
"You are not their Creator, Elizabeth." Will said sadly. "They will not listen to you."
"Oh yes, they will!" Came from everyone else as the portal built into the Tree opened and the Creator stepped into it. The small army that followed her entered as well. Four Nephilim. One warden. Half a hundred Hellguard, half a hundred demons.
To face an ancient Council. To save a soul.
To save an Empress from herself.