An entire division of Reis had their weapons trained on the woman, who knelt, bound hand and foot, in the bed of a heavy transport vehicle. As Artemis advanced, flanked by his own guards, she lifted hate-filled eyes to meet his.
"You have defiled the Garden," she spat.
"Regrettably, yes," said the young man. "If you had let us pass through, we would not have needed to decimate your system. But you did not, and you have paid the price for meddling in our affairs."
"Without my protection, the Garden will be destroyed. The balance of the cosmos will be altered."
"And it is entirely your fault, O great Rosalina," retorted Artemis. "Take her to the brig."
The truck's electric motors hummed loudly as it began to trundle away, but they could not drown out the Guardian's voice.
"There will be retribution for your sins! Seven times seven, the Garden will pay back that which you have done!"
"Tell them to hold off on the check," said Artemis. "I have a funeral to attend."
The Illuminati had not planned on anyone dying aboard the ship, but due to the dangerous nature of their mission, they had to make preparations. The entire Cathedral Cosmos featured a single funeral parlor, nestled towards the bottom of the ship. It was equipped with several pneumatic tubes which could launch a memorial marker into space- the bodies could not be disposed of in such a manner, since they were extra-universal materials. They had to be burnt, and the remains kept aboard. The parlor was not very large, and featured soft blue felt trim. On one wall was a large projection of the very space their ship was passing through, in front of it was a podium and a set of portable risers. Against wall adjacent to it were the coffins and the doors for the tubes. In the center of the room was the seating, divided equally between bench-like pews and individual chairs. The atmosphere the room created was as blue as the carpets, and Hermione found it almost fitting that all of the bodies bore blue hair as well. Not all of the victims were on display, as Forty-Seven could not have been made presentable. Fifty-Three, however, could, since she had but one wound. The other ten were fine for open coffins, since their injuries had all been internal.
"It's kind of weird, seeing them like that," whispered Sanageyama. Their group huddled closely to a wall as mourners moved in and out of the room. Artemis was supposed to make a speech, so many higher-ranking officers had appeared to make sure that their leader did not have any second thoughts about their position. Hermione saw a few faces finding spots among the black-dressed chairs that she did not recognize at all- she wondered if they were brand-new additions for the voyage, or members that had joined during her hiatus.
"Seeing them all like what?" asked Inamuta.
"All… dead," replied the first boy. "The same face in every coffin."
Hermione silently agreed. It was a little unsettling, but she knew that she felt for every life that was lost. Another head of blue moved past, but when Hermione spotted a pin on her uniform, she reached out and lightly touched her shoulder. Rei Two looked back.
"Mrs. Granger? What is it?"
"Can I speak with you, for a moment?"
"Yes, you may," said the girl in her usual monotone. The Elite Four spread apart so that the chief clone could enter their little circle.
Hermione tried her hardest to not sound awkward. "If you don't mind me asking, how do you feel about all of this?"
"I am not sure I understand the question."
"I mean, about the others. That died."
"I regret the loss this tragedy has brought to our organization," she said. Hermione felt disappointed. The line sounded pre-programmed, like she was reading off of a script. She had hoped that there was more to the clones than their absolute obedience. Rei Two finished her statement with a shallow nod, and stood silently next to them for a few moments. Slowly, her breaths became shorter and closer together, and she began to blink her large red eyes more frequently. When she spoke again, there was a small crack in her monotone.
"When I first suggested the program to Commander Fowl, I did it as… a necessity," she said, stumbling over her words as if something had become lodged in her throat. "I was surprised when I met Four and Five because they were so like myself. Never-" she had to swallow again- "Never had I found someone who was just as alone as I was. I cannot say that we were friends, that is too strong of a word. But we all understood each other. And for us, that was astonishing. We could sit quietly together. We could read Nietzsche together. We could lie awake at night, all pondering our meaningless existence together. We all have the same thing instead of a soul. There has been a shared pleasantness among us from this commonality. Upon losing our friends, we did not experience physical pain, but we are now feeling a mental one. There are now twelve fewer of us to sit quietly together. New ones from Cloning will replace them, but they will not be the same ones."
She looked back up, tears running down her cheeks. "Forgive me. My face is wet."
Hermione's disappointment was gone. She opened her arms and pulled Two into a hug, patting her back gently. "It's okay. It's all right," the witch said softly.
"I am feeling a pressure in my diaphragm," stated Rei Two.
"That's called sadness," explained Hermione, not letting the girl go. "And it's okay. You can cry. You can cry if you want to."
"Aham," gagged Rei Two. "Oh. I made a sound with my diaphragm."
"That's crying. Go ahead. You need to do it."
Rei repeated her flat cry, and instantly began to bawl. Hermione made comforting sounds, and rocked her back and forth slowly. "It's all right. It's okay," she repeated.
The doors in the back of the parlor opened, and Artemis walked through. Several seated mourners stood, and soon the rest were standing as well. The young man motioned them back into their seats, which they reluctantly took. He moved to the projector wall and came to a stop behind his podium, where he tapped at his microphone.
"My Brothers and Sisters in this organization, I welcome you with a heavy heart today. In the span of a day, we lost twelve lives. Twelve lives that were striving to do all they could for us, that put every ounce of their being into their work. These valiant soldiers and officers will not be forgotten, as there will always remain a gap in the numbers of their comrades. Some of you may have heard reports that this was a case of homicide, those reports are correct."
Hermione did not like where this speech was going. Eulogies were not meant to be political.
"Despite some shortcomings on the part of Regulations, the killer has been arrested, and is currently en route to a maximum-security cell. There is no cause for alarm. Rest assured, you are safe in this organization and on this ship. I will now turn the floor over to Chief Program Director Suzumiya."
He left the podium to applause, but none of it was Hermione's. How could he discredit Regulations? The program had no idea what was going on until it was too late! Furthermore, it was obvious that Nui had been after access to Research and Development- she wasn't killing because she was insane (which she was), she had an ulterior motive. And that indicated something bigger. Haruhi Suzumiya took to the podium and lamented that she could never eat her birthday cake, even though they spelled her name right, such was her anguish. A drill sergeant said that the ten that he had lost were the finest soldiers he ever trained, jumping when he said jump. Pinkie Pie, whose voice was still a little jarring to the ear, wept at the microphone for five minutes. Finally, Artemis returned to speak again.
"There is little doubt that the loss of these twelve has dug a hole that can never be filled again. Brothers and Sisters, there is little that we can do for these friends of ours, but pour our hearts out in remembrance. To that end, I present our official glee club and their director, Nonon Jakuzure."
Nonon scooted out from the wall, and Uzu, Ira, and Hoka followed. Rei Two gave Hermione one last hug and left as well, as they began to take formation on the risers. Hermione had seen them all, since they had practiced in Piccolo's room. She was surprised to see the Namek sitting next to an empty seat, and decided that since her company was busy, that she could sit with him.
"I thought you hated their singing," she said, slipping into the pew next to him.
"Maybe I did. Maybe I didn't. I'm here for the funeral."
"Sure you are."
"Can you believe Suzumiya made us come to this?" growled Vegeta.
"Well, yeah, actually," said Seras. "I mean, she's here."
"If I wasn't here, I could be filing reports, getting done early, and getting to go work out! But no, we've got to be at the funeral."
"Maybe you ought to respect death a little more," the vampire muttered.
"It's not like I haven't- hey, is that Shadow?"
Seras looked towards the risers, and sure enough, their coworker was hauling a small stool and guitar case into place just in front of the gathering singers.
"Oh, he's going to sing with them, isn't he?"
"Probably something stupid, like show tunes."
Nonon checked the microphone in front of the risers, and spoke to the crowd.
"We know it's not much, but we'd like to offer this song as a tribute to all of those we've lost. And a big thank-you to Shadow for writing it for us."
The crowd struggled into half-applause, unsure of whether they really should clap beforehand. Shadow removed an acoustic guitar from the case, and ran through few chords to make sure it was still tuned. Nonon turned her back to the crowd and drew a baton, nodding to her singers as she began to lay out a silent rhythm. Shadow drew a pick from inside of one of his gloves, and began to pluck at the strings, forming a slow, mournful melody. Soon, the singers joined in, their voices forming not words, but soft noises that swelled and rolled behind the guitar, an ocean of sorrow. As a measure expired, Shadow began to sing.
"All around me are familiar faces/worn out places, worn out faces." His voice was just above a whisper, soft and soulful. "Bright and early for the daily races/ going nowhere, going nowhere."
"It's… 'Mad World', right?" whispered Seras. "It's an arrangement of 'Mad World'."
"And their tears are filling up their glasses/ No expression, no expression. /Hide my head, I want to drown my sorrow/ No tomorrow, no tomorrow,"
Seras was familiar with the song, so she didn't expect the choir to back away just before the chorus. Yet they did, their tones winding down into near silence. Elsa and Miku stepped forward to flank Shadow on his mic.
"Maybe in another life/ I could find you there," sang Shadow and Elsa, while Miku provided a sweeping cry. As they approached the next lyric, the girls swapped roles, with Elsa cooing as Miku supported Shadow's vocals. "Pulled away before your time/ I can't deal, it's so unfair-"
The choir surged back in, louder than they had been before, their burbling waves of sound now reaching a boil. The trio in front built in volume as well, as they dove into the true chorus.
"And it feels/ And it feels like/ Heaven is so far away!/ Yeah, it feels, / Yeah, it feels like / The world has grown cold/ now that you've gone away!"
"No… wait… that's a mashup," said the vampire. "That's The Offspring, isn't it?"
Shadow strummed his guitar more furiously than before, quieting his voice as his fellow members of the trio continued to sing.
"And I find it kind of funny/ I find it kind of sad/ That the dreams in which I'm dying/ are the best I've ever had. / I find it hard to tell you, I find it hard to take/ When people run in circles it's a very, very/ Mad world… mad world."
Shadow's guitar calmed back down, and the choir did as well, as they approached another verse. Again, the hedgehog sang as he plucked pure sadness from his metal strings.
"Leaving flowers on your grave/ To show you I still care. / But black roses and Hail Marys / Can't bring back/What's been taken from me."
"I reach to the sky/ and call out your name," wailed Elsa.
"And if I could trade/ I would," continued Miku, against the crescendo of the guitar and choir, heading towards another chorus.
"And it feels/ And it feels like / Heaven is so far away!/ Yeah, it stings, / Yeah, it stings, now/ the world has grown cold/ Now that you've gone away!"
Shadow stopped singing again, letting his other soloists take over as he strummed the guitar passionately.
"Children waiting for the day they feel good/ Happy birthday, happy birthday / Made to feel the way that every child should/ Sit and listen, sit and listen/ Went to school and I was very nervous/ No one knew me, No one knew me/ Hello, teacher, tell me, what's my lesson? / Look right through me, look right through me…"
The hedgehog joined back in for the chorus, as did the rest of the choir, in marvelous unison:
"And I find it kind of funny/ I find it kind of sad / That the dreams in which I'm dying / Are the best I've ever had. / I find it hard to tell you, I find it hard to take/ When people run in circles, it's a very, very/ Mad world, now that you've gone away!"
The final words echoed through the room, the audience still unsure if they should applaud at a funeral. Seras noted that her colleague had something wet below his eyes.
"Are you crying?"
"The song fit very well," sniffled Vegeta. "It was just very fitting."
"I never knew Shadow could do that," said Hermione. "I mean, you've seen him sing. But I didn't know he could write, too."
"A real Renaissance hedgehog," grunted Piccolo.
The audience finally gave in and applauded, no matter how bad it made them feel. After all, the song had been very fitting. Artemis congratulated the choir and read verses from several holy books before launching the black markers into space, to be discovered by some inquisitive explorers and shown as proof of alien life. The club packed their risers onto an unusually quiet Gamagori's back and went on their way. Hermione congratulated them as they went, but found herself returning to the caskets and looking into those perpetually-blank faces one last time. Rei Two arrived next to Hermione as she passed Fifty-Three.
"Mrs. Granger?"
"What is it, Rei?"
"We cannot keep them around anymore. They need to be disposed of."
"R-right," sighed the witch.
"And Mrs. Granger?"
"Yes?"
"Thank you. For earlier."
Without another word, the girl departed.
"Rei, I want you to send a memo to Captain Littner," said Artemis, settling into his office chair.
"A memo on what?" asked Rei Two, taking a seat at her workstation.
"I want her to know that the shields are a last resort. I don't want to spill any more of my spring water. It's very expensive."
"Yes, Commander Fowl."
She began typing away, but the doorbell rang. She almost rose to get it, but Artemis waved her back to her seat, and motioned for his butler to answer the door. The man checked the viewscreen, found that the visitor had been scheduled to appear, and let them in. The small yellow Pegasus trotted to a seat in front of Artemis' desk. She wore a bandage around her head that enclosed one of her ears.
"Fluttershy, it's good to see that you're recovering so well," said the young man.
"Oh, yes! I'm doing much better now. I did not like having a Life Fiber in my brain at all."
"No one would. You should be pleased to know that you've been cleared of all charges against you. Our legal team worked overtime on that."
"Oh, that's wonderful! Thank you, Commander Fowl."
"But there is one thing I'd like to let you know."
Fluttershy looked slightly more concerned than usual. "Yes?" she squeaked.
"We're going to be increasing the security for the Menagerie."
"Oh, that's nice, Commander Fowl. Thank you-"
"Because we're going to be adding a few hundred Xenomorph XX121 to your collection."
"Ex…cuse… me?"
"One was involved in those killings, right? It was able to completely circumvent our detection procedures, crossing the length of the ship in a few hours. That's very impressive for a creature."
"Um, yes. But I don't think that-"
"They really are fascinating creatures. We could learn a lot from them. So I'm beginning a new research program devoted to them."
"I don't know if that is such a good-"
"And as of now, you possess top-secret information. You may tell no one."
"Oh… I'm not so-"
"Well, I think that wraps up everything. Keep those containment protocols memorized, Fluttershy."
He nodded toward his butler, who escorted the whimpering pony out the door.
"I think that went rather well," he chuckled.
The room was kept dimly lit for their meeting, as to avoid arousing suspicion from passers-by. If they stood in the shadows between the bubbling tanks, no one would even know they were there, excluding Ragyo, whose hair was a constant source of light. They put her as far from the window as they could.
"Let us review," she smiled darkly. "Mr. Ikari graciously provided me with my beloved Nui. Nui retrieved that which we desired. Nui is now being held captive, where she will be interrogated."
"And she'll spill the beans and get us all killed," hissed Opal.
"Miss Koboi, your continued assumptions about Nui are the only thing likely to get you killed," replied the woman. "Nui will not talk. In fact, she is most certainly plotting her escape now."
Gendo pushed his glasses up. "So what should our course of action be? Wait for her escape?"
"No. We merely need to continue with our plan. I will meet with our contacts. Then, we will move into the second phase."
"Who will die next?" asked Rei One quietly.
Ragyo's mouth worked its way into an even-more twisted grin. "With any luck, my daughter."
The mobile cell trundled along on the back of its transport vehicle. It was a gigantic block of acid-treated titanium, with thick panes of one-way glass that revealed the girl in her restraints within. Mechanical arms were clamped down over her body to prevent her movements, but also produced hundreds of tubes for life support, as her vitals indicated that she was only just hanging on. Her arm hand been destroyed, her heart was half-perforated, and several of her blood vessels had scarred beyond function. Still, she was smiling. And, as Satsuki noticed, moving her lips.
"She's talking," the Chief of Regulations said. "Get the audio on. I want to hear it."
One of the Reis escorting the transport vehicle along hopped into its bed, pressing a button on the mobile cell that activated its speakers.
"Alouette, gentile alouette… Alouette, je te plumerai," the girl croaked. "Je te plumerai la tête, je te plumerai la tête… et la tête, et la tête… alouette, alouette…"
"Turn it off," Satsuki snapped.
I will make mother pay for this. Even if I have to do it over Artemis' dead body.