Epilogue

Somewhere outside of time and space

"If you ever go back there, she will kill you. Liza is not someone to piss off and you did."

The voice of the dragon who called himself Will was calm but tension sang around the large, well appointed room. A dozen assorted forms, some human shaped, others not even close, sat or stood around the room, watching the discussion with a mix of amusement and worry.

"She cannot stop me!" Helen declared from where she stood against one wall. The Hildryn warframe still had her weapons, no one had bothered to taker them from her. She did not draw them. She was surrounded by wardens and even her arrogance had limits.

"Yes, she can." Will retorted. He was in his human shape since the room was not really large enough for his true form. "She has killed Tenno before. One who tried to cross the barrier. Another who tried to kill her protector. You are powerful, girl, but you have no chance against Liza. Hell, we don't!" He shook his head and many of the others nodded agreement. "Your mother asked us to keep you away to save your life. Liza let you go for one reason. Because Catherine asked it. You owe your mother your life."

"I owe that witch nothing!" Helen snapped. "She left me!"

"She did not know you existed!" Will replied, scorn oozing from every pore. "You know that. Just as you know what happened to your brothers." Helen stared at him and he scoffed. "Or did you think we sat on our hands while the many Eliza's plotted?"

"You cannot hold me!" Helen declared, her hand on her Sicarus Prime.

"Actually, we can and will." The dragon in human seeming replied. "But first? You are going to tell us what you and the mad one did to your brothers. You are going to do it now."

"Or what?" Helen snapped. "You will torture me?"

"Nothing so kind. This will not hurt." The dragon made a gesture and Helen's warframe stilled. Silver energy held it in place and slowly cut into it. In moments, it fell away from a very surprised looking female Tenno. The pieces vanished as they fell along with her weapons. The same energy that had destroyed her warframe clasped around her and forced her to a sitting position on the floor. She could not move or speak. "This will."

Another warden rose from where it had been seated and it wasn't human! It had a large conical had and a face that was utterly alien, but it was where the mouth would be on a human that drew the eye. The many tendrils that came down from the bottom of the face writhed.

"I do not like this." The alien form was neither male nor female, but seemed slightly masculine. "She will resist. It will cause harm."

"Less harm that Eliza will do." Raviine said from where she sat, staring out a window into deep space. "We made her very angry. I just wanted to help." She said weakly. "She was so hurt, so lost, so alone. I wanted to help her!"

"I did too. We all did." Will said heavily as the alien form approached Helen. The Tenno stared at it in horror as the tendrils opened and a wide, suckered mouth appeared underneath them. "But sometimes? The only proper answer is to do nothing. I forgot that and she paid for it. Her and Catherine both. We need to know, Sarissoliao. We need to know what she does and none of our dedicated telepaths are available."

"This goes very much against the grain but the need is acknowledged. I too liked Elizabeth." The alien knelt down behind Helen and laid oddly gentle hands on her skull. The tendrils swept around her head, pulling it closer and closer to his mouth. Also secreting a potent toxin that paralyzied her. "This will hurt, Tenno, but I will be quick and as gentle as I can be."

Then the Illithid bit down and Helen could not even scream as he fed. There was a reason his kind were called 'Mind Flayers'.

A bit later

"Sharlina will be very annoyed with all of us." The tentacle faced being said quietly as Helen was laid out on a bed, the gaping wound on her skull treated. He was far gentler than most of his kind. Most Illithid on feeding wouldn't simply take the chemicals that made up memories in most sentient forms, they would take the whole brain, killing their meal in the process. One of many reasons they were feared and hated. He was a basic telepath, but not very powerful as such. He didn't need to be. "Me especially."

"I did rush and I apologize. I know you do not like doing that ever since Sharlina cured you of your hunger. Did we have time?" Will asked.

"No. We did not." The Mind Flayer replied, his face to the floor. "What I found… We need to tell them as soon as possible, but if any of us go to that reality any time soon, Elizabeth will likely make good on her threat."

"She never made idle threats that I know of." Raviine said quietly. "How bad?"

"Bad. The boys are likely alive. That is the only good news." The tentacle faced being laid a hand on Helen's arm but she did not stir. She would not until healed. Her memory had just been wiped completely clean by the Illithid's judicious feeding. "She thought Catherine responsible for what happened to them. That is what the mad one told her."

"She wasn't. Was she?" Will asked and the Illithid shook his head. "Damn."

"No." The human shaped monster sat beside Helen's bed and sighed. "Helen figured out that her mother had never been involved too late. Her hatred for her mother made her easy to manipulate. It will be better if she does not remember. This was wrong but what happened to Catherine's other kids was worse."

"We wardens do many awful things in the name of a greater good." Will agreed. "Sarissoliao? You are the gentlest of all of us present for such things. Without a dedicated telepath, which we have none, she will need a lot of help to recover, to heal. With her entire memory gone, she will need retraining. You can help her. When she wakes, you can do as you wish. She can be your apprentice if you wish." The Illithid thought about that and then nodded. "One thing." The dragon warned. "Don't lie. When she is capable of understanding, tell her what happened. All of it; good, bad, indifferent. This is on me. I bear responsibility for all of this."

"No!" Everyone chorused.

"We need to try and fix what we can of this. Liza is so mad at us and we have to keep watch on that reality." Will slumped. "Sharlina, Zephyr, Galintra and Oris are all busy. Tell me what you found and I will take it to someone who Liza won't shoot on sight."

"You do not want to know, my friend." Sarissoliao said very quietly.

"No." Will slumped. "I probably don't. But it is the job."

The Mind Flayer looked as pensive as his kind could and then started to explain. It was a good thing Helen was comatose. The sheer rage that was evoked in the room would have woken anyone from a lesser slumber.

A far different reality

"Lady? I have news."

Will was very careful not to move as he materialized in the presence of the Ethereal who called herself Lady or Helen Cooper in select groups. Several people were aiming at him. If he hadn't been who and what he was, he would have run away from Colonel Kelly or the Lotus. But it was Angela Weaver whose innocuous looking pistol worried him more. Such weapons could and had torn wardens apart. Like angels and demons in another reality, they would reform, but it always hurt like hell.

"News of Catherine?" Falcon said as she hovered nearby. She broke off with an all too human gulp as her Mother glared at her. "Sorry."

"None of you will want to hear this." The dragon said quietly. "But you asked that any news be brought to you, Lady. Liza will kill me or any of us that she sees. Heaven knows, she has the right."

"Thank you for admitting that!" The Lotus snarled, her Dex Sybaris not wavering from where it was aimed. His head.

"Rebekah." The Lady's voice held gentle rebuke and the Lotus nodded.

"What was done so long ago was wrong." Will said calmly. "Every one of us agree with that. The fact that one of Liza's ancestors managed to stop the breach without our help gave us hope for the first time in far too long. What we did..." He bowed his head. "There can be no excuse. So many of Liza's family paid the price for our desperation. We knew it still existed, that the Royal Family was using it."

"Being abused by it." A new form shimmered into view. Rebekah's mother was as unhappy as the rest of them, but only present as a hologram. "That was just plain wrong!"

"I agree." Will said quietly. "I loved Naomi. I love Liza and I cannot..." He bowed his head further. "I cannot change the past." He looked at Falcon who stilled in place. "And you will not. Trying to fix this would kill you."

"We are all on the same page." The Lady said softly. "Falcon's power is dangerous, to her and many others. She bears many scars from its use and does not wish to use it further. She has asked me if I can bar it in her mind. I cannot." Sorrow sang in her tone.

"Thank you for trying, Lady." Falcon's tone was warm.

"Your power is as dangerous as Liza's is. Yes." The warden shook his head. "I wish I could help but your family would not react well."

"Not a chance!" The Lotus and her Mother chorused.

"You found Catherine's boys?" Falcon asked when no one else spoke.

"Yes and no." Will said softly and everyone tensed. "We found where they were taken. But before that? They were mindwiped. They are not Catherine's boys anymore."

"I was afraid the mad one had given them to Stalker or something." The Lotus said softly.

"She was insane." Will said quietly. "What she did was insane. Such a fate as you feared could have been undone. This? No. We cannot interfere there."

"Where?" The Lotus demanded.

"A reality both familiar and not. One we are barred from. They have their own wardens." Will shook his head. "This must not be bandied about." He warned.

"I will be in touch." Colonel Kelly glared at the dragon in human form before vanishing. Weaver didn't move, didn't shift her aim.

"Angela." The Lady said softly, but with command. "He won't hurt me. Go."

"I don't trust him!" The raven haired woman snapped.

"Don't." Will agreed and everyone stared at him. "I failed Liza. I failed Catherine. I have failed her boys. I… Helen didn't know why she was sent there! She didn't know why she was carrying two unconscious humans there. She did not know they were her brothers until she returned. The wardens of that reality do not like us. Liza's copies do not like us. We have earned the ire of both groups, but this? No." He shook his head again. "They will like this less."

"Where are Catherine's boys?" The Lotus demanded as Falcon flared.

"In the reality where Catherine found her black armored judge." Will said quietly. "Their memories were wiped and they were remade as fully human. The mad one was gentle and thorough." Everyone recoiled. "I know where they were sent, but nothing beyond that. It was an orphanage of sorts."

"I kind of hoped those were the boys that Helen brought into the Tower." The Lotus said softly. "They were not?"

"No." Will replied. "After she returned to your reality? Helen rescued children in distress. She felt it her punishment for what she did. She thought it was at her mother's behest that she took those boys to a place far away and realized after that they were her brothers. She realized just a little too late that it wasn't Catherine's doing and that made her rage fester even more. She blamed Catherine for everything. She will likely never return to your reality and even if she does someday? We tore her mind apart getting this information. She will not be the same Tenno."

"Eliza will still kill her if she can." The Lotus warned and Will nodded.

"I want to tell Catherine in person, but I cannot." Will said heavily. "Liza has every right to hurt me. We made this mess. We created this. We set these events into motion. We were trying to save Liza, but that doesn't excuse kidnapping and imprisonment, which is what Raviine did. We wardens cannot fix this. I am trying to find a way that I can. There are few wardens available and none who could go there. We are spread too thin."

"You are." The Lotus said very quietly. She looked at her Mother. "We owe her."

"We do." The huge green Sentient said firmly. "And then Catherine is technically family now since she all but adopted Falcon, so…" Will stared at her, jaw falling open and Mother pulsed green. Was she amused? "Problem?"

"No!" The warden said quickly enough that everyone chuckled. "I have enough problems with my own family!" He sighed. "Of which Helen is now a member. It will take some time for her to heal what we did and then? She will not return to your reality if I have any say in the matter at all." He said firmly to the Lotus who nodded. "I do not know what kind of personality will grow, but we will keep an eye on her."

"Um..." A new voice was not familiar to many, but the Lotus jerked as a familiar horse appeared out of nowhere. The white horse that sounded like Eliza! The one who had carried the Lotus away from the extra reality fortress. "Is this a bad time, Lady?"

"No, Elizabetta." The Lady sounded old and tired. "I do not think there is a good time for this kind of thing, but it is no worse than yesterday was."

"Um, the egg hatched and she wants to talk to..." She stared at Will and went completely still. "Oh dear."

"If I am a problem, I will leave." Will offered. "I can give coordinates, but I cannot go there. The Bladeborn..." He broke off as the horse threw her head. A nod?

"...do not take kindly to your trespass." The horse said with a growl that was utterly unlike anything that any normal horse might make. "We will handle this."

"They are not going to let you in there either!" Will warned.

"If I do not try to sneak in, yes they will." Another new voice. A female form, humanoid but not a human. Her skin was metal and her hands were tools of some kind. They looked medical in nature. Some kind of robot? The face was sort of Catherine's but stiff metal with black skin and an odd symbol on the shoulder. The Lotus stared at it and then blanched. "It is all right, Lotus." The being said with a nod. "This was planned for too."

"Oh?" Will inquired. "You know where she took the boys?"

"No." The newcomer said quietly, but menace sang in her tone as she turned to the warden who had frozen. "Helen refused to tell her and hid the memory far too deep to pry out without causing irreparable harm. She told you." Not a question.

"Not 'told'. We did harm her getting it but we will care for her." Will admitted, but no one reacted and he continued. "She took them to a specific orphanage on Vardos. She left them there."

"We will handle it, warden. Be gone." The metal woman commanded.

"We owe her!" Will all but pleaded. "We may not be able to go there, but we can help!"

"And we cannot trust you." Came from the Lotus and the horse. The horse continued. "If they sense anything of your energy there, they will react badly."

"Is there anything we -I! – can do?" Will did beg now. "I like Catherine too!"

"And that is the problem!" The metal being said sternly. "You are too close. You will not react well to seeing what they are likely now. Could you stop yourself if they shot at you?"

"I... I don't know." Will conceded the point. "They were Tenno. They likely passed every test with flying colors. I… I want to help."

"We are not the ones who will need help." The droid said. "Because when the Bladeborn realize what the First Order has likely done to Catherine's boys? Things are going to get messy."

"It always does around them." Will sighed deeply and nodded. When he spoke again, it was deep and formal. "I owe her. We owe her, but I owe Catherine so much more. If I may aid in any way, send word. Not to the wardens. To me. I swear it by my name and honor. So swears Kalenath aul Rauglothcagor." He gave his full, true name and everyone in the room stilled as he bowed to the metal woman and vanished.

"He will not break that oath." The metal woman broke the silence that greeted his departure. "Not after what his sister did to him. He will never break that oath." She offered the Lotus who sighed.

"I know." The Lotus slumped. "I cannot go. Being here is straining my limits even with the Lady's aid." The metal woman shook her head. "Can any of us?" She stilled as the metal woman looked at Falcon who seemed to perk up. "Falcon! No! You are not healed!"

"She gave the reproduction tech to us, Mother." Falcon said as she hovered closer to the metal woman. "She could have asked us to destroy it, instead, she gave us hope! What right have I to stand aside if I can repay any of that debt?"

The Lotus looked at the holo of her mother who seemed to slump.

"Serves us right for teaching children honor and responsibility. It will take time to adapt to our needs, but it will work. I am seeking a suitable nest, hidden and defensible." The large Sentient replied. "Lady?" She pleaded.

"Falcon is as well as I can make her. She does need rest." The Ethereal warned.

"Even with a starting point, it is a big galaxy to search." The metal woman agreed. "We will have help and they are odd to say the least. I will keep an eye on her and not let her overdo it again."

"Please?" The Lotus begged Falcon who did not react. "Falcon, I..."

"I love you, Mother, but I love Catherine too." Falcon heaved sigh and turned to face the metal being. "What do I call you?"

"Call me CA-E1." The metal woman had a smile in her voice that did not show on her face. "I am neither of my progenitors. Catherine stopped the mad one and we must aid her boys."

"Will it hurt?" Falcon was a bit timid as she swept close to the other. No one blamed her.

"No." CA-E1 reassured her.

"Where are we going?" Falcon laid an appendage on the other's hand and they were flying or falling, But she wasn't afraid. Not now.

"A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. Vardos. I might have known. Catherine's boys are likely stormtroopers. Tenno are the best soldiers in your reality, so it stands to reason they would be in demand for such a role." The very strange droid replied. "To hunt First Order stormtroopers, we need to know how such think."

"What little I know about those does not fill me with pleasure." Falcon said weakly. "How do we hunt such who will likely shoot us on sight?"

"Carefully." The droid replied with grim humor. "But first? We are going to a world called Sulon to see a man named Kyle Katarn."

I am betting any fan of Star Wars video games knows who Kyle Katarn is/was before Disney took over Lucasfilm and retconned him out of existence. Jedi Outcast is still one of the best games I have ever played. The story will continue in my next fic. This ran longer than usual and I hope it made sense. Then again, does any of my stuff make sense?