"THIS IS NOT POSSIBLE."

Thousands of years, lying in wait, hoping, praying, that one day God would show favor to him once more. Yet with each passing century, it became more and more apparent that it was not the case. At first, it was patient and hopeful, then as time flowed it began to question it.

It denied the possibility that maybe the Honkai had forgotten it. It excused its absence as merely convincing itself that it was unable to find him, or perhaps that it had simply been defeated. It was a foolish notion, that such a thing would happen. It would be blasphemous even to assume as such, yet it did because it didn't wish to be forgotten.

Yet as more days passed, becoming weeks, and weeks into months, months into years, Azdaha realized that it had simply…abandoned him. It still felt the presence of the Honkai, still heard its call. It answered every day, yet whenever Azdaha called to it, it never responded….it ignored him. Its…loyalty didn't matter. It didn't matter. He had lost to the humans, and he had lost his favor with his God.

Yet he couldn't accept it, he couldn't accept what had happened to him. His despair soon turned to rage, and his rage became hatred. Azdaha felt it bubbling inside him, building the longer it stayed. Perhaps this would have been his faith. To remain till the end of time, drowning in his own hatred and rage till his mind eventually eroded away. A sad ending indeed for what was once the mighty herald of Herrscher of the Earth.

That was until he felt it.

It was similar to his original Master. The core of the Earth, but in a different form, perhaps due to time. Azdaha had felt them entering, tearing through the seal as they dug into the earth, growing closer and closer. Eventually, they arrived before him.

"Azdaha." A voice called out to him. It was the first time he had heard his name in millennia. It wasn't the same as the previous Herrscher he had served. He tried to remember why, but the memories were already corroded. All he knew was that the voice didn't sound like the individual before him.

Slowly he opened his eyes for another first in the eons since he was sealed. To his surprise, there was a young lady standing before him. No, not a lady, he could feel the unnatural power inside her. She was a monster just like him, only in the guise of a human.

"WHO AWAKENS ME?" Azdaha questioned. His voice still carried the weight it had from long ago, shaking the Chasm where they resided.

"The New Herrscher of Earth," The woman announced as she looked up at him. She materialized an orb in a hand, the Core of Earth. "I have come to challenge you, Great Herald of the Earth, in the hope that you will become my stead."

"YOU DARE!" Azdaha growled as he called forth his dormant power. He was still loyal to the previous Herrscher of the Earth even if his memories were fading. He knew as much that his Master had died. Yet for the Honkai to forsake him only to send a new Herrscher to command him was an act of blasphemy to him. He was not to be played a fool again by the Honkai. He would prove as such by squashing this new successor.

"I figured you'd say that." The woman chuckled as two mechanical arms formed around her. Azdaha realized soon that this woman was no mere Herrscher. The core of Earth was not the only power she commanded. No matter…. he would not back down. He had nothing left to lose.

"One, two, three, three, two, one." Thunder counted as she timed his attacks. She had spared with Azdaha many times in her own timeline. His fighting style was always unchanged. A theory she had as to the reason was that his memory was slowly crumbling, making him forget his battle experience, and thus never improving.

It was an enviable trait, at least to her. To Thunder, the idea of slowly losing and forgetting everything seemed so appealing to her. She could forget all her pain, and perhaps all her crimes as well. Let it all go, and let it be swept away. She could forget all the bad deeds she did, deeds that would make her parents see her as the monster she was. Forgot all the loss she had and pretended everything was fine.

She knew she could never though. Even if her mind forgot, her heart remembers, and it would make her remember as well. Yet even if for only a moment, her body could let her forget. She moved almost instinctively, parrying and countering each of the Vishap Lord's attacks. A strange song and dance she performed with him, though she doubted he'd see it that way.

"You can't beat me, Azdaha." Thunder told him. Her voice never really rose higher than it needed to. Even if the noise from the clash continued to grow, both were now mentally linked. No words needed to be spoken.

"DO NOT MOCK ME!" Azdaha growled as he kept at it. He could fight for days if need be. Unbeknownst to him so could she. Thunder had no intention of ending this fight till both were satisfied. Azdaha needed to burn out all his rage and helping him do so was the excuse Thunder needed, to avoid confronting her parents and Flamescion.

Yet, of course, someone or something had intervened in her plans. As Thunder was readying herself to give Azdaha a free hit, a flaming slash struck the beast in his side. "DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH MEI-SENPAI, YOU MONSTER!" A white armored knight screamed as she charged at Azdaha.

"No, no, no." Thunder grumbled as she quickly intercepted Flamescion's sword. She had surprised Flamescion upon clashing blades with her, before sending the latter flying back. Despite knowing full well this wasn't Void, Thunder couldn't help but instinctively raise her sword at Kiana who looked both puzzled and hurt by her actions. "Stay out of this." Thunder ordered. "Head back to the house, right now." She added quickly.

"But Mei-Senpai." Kiana interrupted. Thunder winced, of course, she wouldn't listen. This was Kiana Kaslana. How was she supposed to know that Thunder was just sparring and not assume she was lying to push her away to do it on her own? "I'm not going to leave you." Kiana reaffirmed.

"Of course, you won't," Thunder told her. "Fine. You can stay but no kill shots. I need him alive." Thunder reiterated.

"Whether it's two of you, or two thousand, it makes no difference to me." Azdaha boasted. If it was anyone else that would be true, unfortunately for him, it was not.

A few minutes…. (or was it seconds) later.

"NO!" Azdaha cried out as he collapsed to the ground. "I will not be bested again." He struggled to get back on his feet. "I won't accept being at your mercy, not again."

"I know you are angry Azdaha. You feel a rage and a hatred unmatched by many, all towards those that had forsaken you." Thunder noted. "I sympathize with you; I've been there before." She told him. "I know what you've been through."

"DO NOT DARE CLAIM TO KNOW ME HERRSCHER. I HAVE EXISTED FOR FIFTY THOUSAND OF YOUR LIFETIMES. I WAS THERE WHEN THE OLD WORLD BEGAN, WHEN IT ENDED AND WHEN IT WAS REBORN. YOU CAN NEVER KNOW WHAT I KNOW."

"Be that as it may, we have a common enemy." Thunder added. She could feel Flamescion casting her a confused glance, but Thunder proceeded on. "We both have an immense hatred for the Honkai, for what it did to us and for what it took." Thunder explained.

"I SEE, YOU ARE LIKE THE TRAITOR….ELYSIA."

"I suppose you could say that." Thunder added. "Many Herrschers have come to despise the Honkai in this era, Reason, Void, Thunder, Flamescion, Sentience, as well as Wind, Rock, and Ice have all come to share some disdain for what happened. We are…. Herrschers of Humanity now." Thunder explained.

"HERRSCHER OF HUMANITY." Azdaha repeated, almost chuckling as the words left his mouth. "SUCH AN ABSURD CLAIM." He pondered.

"Absurd or not, we are now humanity's, best hope against the Honkai. If you truly wish to take revenge on the God that forsook you, would it not suit you to join our cause?" Thunder questioned.

"AS IF I'D LET YOU FOOL ME AGAIN." He argued.

"Why do we need to fool you, we both just beat you into submission?" Thunder reiterated.

"UH…"

"Look if you don't believe us….just ask Andrius. I'm sure he'll be able to answer your questions." Thunder added.

"THAT MUTT!" Azdaha exclaimed. He would have continued on but the two Herrschers were already walking out. "HEY WAIT DON'T YOU WALK AWAY FROM ME." Azdaha called out, his words falling on deaf ears.

The duo had walked out of the cavern much to the dismay of the Vishap. Once they were safely on the surface, Thunder proceeded to use her power over Earth to seal back the entrance. All the while Flamescion looked on at her.

"I'd advise you to stop staring." Thunder growled under her breath. She didn't know what she could do now, but her best bet was probably anything without violence. "It makes me…uncomfortable."

"Oh…uh…sorry about that." Flamescion apologized. "I was just…thinking." She admitted.

"About how different I am to your Mei?" Thunder questioned.

"Yeah…" Kiana admitted. "You don't seem so surprised."

"I've traveled across different timelines and multiverses. I've run into a few Kiana Kaslanas who had similar thoughts." Some thought her better than their Mei while others saw her as an absolutely worse version. She wondered what this one saw her as. "Why are you here?"

"Oh well…Paimon sensed something wrong and brought me," Kiana explained. Thunder's eye twitched slightly. Go figure. She could make out the most distinct sound whispering in the back of her mind. Ehe.

"I see." Thunder mused. "Well, it's been dealt with." Thunder dismissed. " Now you can head back and I can be on my way." She admitted.

"Wait…I was wondering if we could…talk." Flamescion added. "I have some questions for you." She added.

"I'm not the same as the one you met; our paths are already so far diverged that it wouldn't make sense." Thunder dismissed.

"You can still make a guess," Flamescion noted. "Surely if anyone can understand Mei-senpai's actions, it would be you." Flamescion pleaded. She could finally get some answers from Mei after so long.

Thunder paused as she was readying to leave before turning back to Kiana. She could see the pleading look on her face. Kiana was exhausted, not physically or mentally but emotionally. Thunder could see the tiredness and fatigue in her eyes. Blue eyes looked at Thunder with hope and despair, just barely balancing in between both extremes.

Thunder sighed.

"What do you want to know?" She questioned Flamescion. She wasn't ready for Kiana's next question. She never expected it.

"Why did you join World Serpent?" Kiana questioned.

To say Thunder was shocked by the question would be an understatement. She was downright appalled by it. She had met many Mei's across her travels but…none of them were that idiotic, or perhaps the older Mei she met was, but just didn't tell her. How low must she have fallen to consider let alone actually go through with joining world serpent?

"Kiana…what exactly happened in your world?" Thunder questioned. She knew they weren't similar, but she didn't think they were that different. This was worse than the time Thunder found a Mei that replaced Otto.

"Well…" Kiana's voice trailed off she began explaining some of the details to Thunder. The Herrscher of the Void had awakened, and Himeko had died as per usual but then things started to deviate with Kiana remaining in control. Bronya became a Herrscher just the same and Mei had spent months looking for her. The events were still lining up, however, everything changed in the city where lightning first struck.

"You were dying." Thunder noted, "You had absorbed so much Honkai in your system and you were starting to die from being overloaded." She knew about Arc City to an extent. In her own timeline, Void had handled it just the same, but she had never known how. She assumed Void was simply just that strong, or perhaps she had help from someone else, but from what Kiana described she wondered if perhaps Void had risked things just the same.

"I had to do what needed to be done," Kiana told Thunder wincing at her own words. "Someone had to save them. Otherwise…what then?" Kiana questioned.

"Ehe…same old Kiana." Thunder mused. The two of them were sitting at the river's edge as they gazed up at the sky. Thunder visualized Kiana flying upwards with a bomb, moving in a flash of light in the night sky, like a shooting star. "You're always putting others before yourself." Thunder grumbled as she laid on the grass.

"So…why do you think she did it?" Kiana questioned once more. "Why do you think Mei left to join World Serpent? Is it because I was truly that reckless with my life?"

"That could be one reason." Thunder mused. "But…knowing how thickheaded I am, and how desperate I can be…...I think World Serpent might have promised her a cure for you." Thunder pondered aloud.

"A cure?" Kiana wondered. It did make sense after all. Mei had been adamant on saving her and putting her before the world.

"A chance to save you." Thunder added. "A chance to give herself more time by your side. Raiden Mei is a selfish girl. I wouldn't put it past her." Thunder explained.

"Mei-senpai isn't selfish." Flamescion quickly countered. "I don't care what anyone says, I know Mei is a good person." Flamescion looked over at Thunder who didn't even seem to consider refuting her. Thunder just stared at the moon above them. Flamescion glanced at Thunder choosing her next words carefully. "What do you blame yourself for?" Flamescion questioned.

"How did you know I was talking about myself?" Thunder chuckled as her eyes shifted onto Flamescion. "Usually whenever I start deprecating the Kianas I meet think otherwise, and merely rebuke me."

"I've been down that path," Flamescion admitted. "Prior to becoming Flamescion, I was terrified of the Herrscher of the Void and what she represented in me." She hugged her knees.

"After all, how else do you react when you learn you almost tried to eradicate all life on the planet? What else can you think when you learn that the monster in the history books was you? How many would I have killed by my own hand? How many had I already killed?" Kiana continued.

"I use to try and deny it, that Sirin wasn't a part of me. I would sometimes like to tell myself she was nothing more than a parasite left behind from the previous Herrscher, the last remnant of her being that still wished for revenge and attempted to use my body to do so."

"But deep down….I knew I was lying to myself. Sirin/Kiana/ K423; they were just different names I used, but it was always me. Good, Bad, it didn't matter, it was all me." Kiana added. "And once I accepted that, well, I wasn't a fan of myself much after that. So yes…I get why you might hate yourself Mei, but just like your other self believed in me, I believe in you."

"Kiana." Thunder whispered. "As appealing as that sounds….we were still different people. Sirin suffered a lot, she witnessed a lot of death and pain around her. Yes you acted on her trauma, but you are forgetting something." Thunder told her.

"Sirin and by extension, you, were never malicious people, to begin with. You were pushed to your breaking point, both of you. Sirin was pushed with all the months or maybe even years of torture she underwent and all the loss she suffered. While you….you had so much happen to you. It wasn't any more your fault or Sirin's as it was those who pushed you." Thunder said. "But me."

"I'm not a good person Kiana. You may think I'm an angel, but you can't be further from the truth. I was bullied by a few people and that was enough for me to wipe out a city." Thunder explained. "I would trade the world in a heartbeat just to avoid my own loneliness. I am a coward and a liar and a monster." Thunder added.

"The moment I thought you and Himeko were gone; I threw away any moral obligations I had to punish Void. I deliberately ignore and pushed away others for revenge." Mei told her. "Even the so call love I have you… it's my own sick obsession. If I had loved you, I should never have done all those things. If I loved you, I would have stayed by your side and fought with you to the end. If I had loved you, I'd be able to let you go and accept your fate. If I had loved, you…I'd never have turned my back on the world you treasured so much." Thunder teared up.

"I'm not capable of loving anyone but myself," Thunder told her. "I'd even throw away what little morals I have left, to side with World Serpent. The same people who helped make me into a Herrscher, who framed my father, who was willing to sacrifice so many other lives for their own goal. I'd compromise what little was left of me and make a deal without even knowing if they are telling the truth."

"After doing all that…how can I not be a monster, Kiana!" Mei screamed at her. "I can't. I'm not the kind of person who deserves love. Least of all from you."

Yet despite it all, Kiana didn't pay her any heed. Instead, Flamescion simply rushed and hugged her, shocking Thunder. "Look I don't know what you've been through, but it doesn't matter to me. I'm not going to judge you for what happened back then, I'll judge you for what happens now. I believe you can change Mei." Kiana admitted. She believed Mei already did, but Mei's own guilt wouldn't let her admit that.

"Of course, you do," Mei told her. "You've always seen good in many people. Even when I first awoke as a Herrscher, you still saw me as a person."

"Perhaps I did that because I always knew deep down, I was one as well," Kiana pondered. "We both were capable of doing a lot of bad things in the past, but that's not how our story ends. Right?" Kiana added.

"Still quoting Himeko, no matter the life."

"Aunt Himeko…she always did know what was up, even if she was drunk most times."

"Believe me, Himeko's always been smarter than she looks. If she didn't become a Valk, she'd have just made a space laser to just shoot down the threats." Thunder admitted. As she looked up at the sky.

She and Kiana stayed there for a while gazing at the stars above. Perhaps she'd consider humoring Flamescion, if only for a while. Thunder didn't feel as if on edge now that she'd talked with Flamescion. She still didn't know if she could face her parents though.