Elegsar Plateau, Arganti
Samus approached a young man as he sat melancholically at the end of a cliff. A hand flick from him tossed a stone into the distance, sailing far out of sight and disappearing beyond what any normal human eyes could hope to perceive with the whipcrack of a sound barrier issuing its protests. She didn't need her gift of distant sight to know that he was in a troubled mood.
"I expected you were coming..." He said, a tired sigh coming from him as she slid down next to him, yellow boots encasing the feet she slid over the cliff side while a hand of hers rested on the cliff behind her. Her helmeted head turned towards him, and then looked out to see what he saw.
A vast, open expanse in the mesa park, a stretch of wildlife in the city that surrounded them; distant spiralling towers reminding her of the illusory nature of this wilderness. It made her feel somewhat hollow, the beauty of nature interrupted by the looming sight of admittedly; also wondrously sculpted cityscape. She thought briefly of how it could be made to fit together more harmoniously, but remembered why she had come.
"What's bothering you?" She asked.
"What are your combat skills?" A question in response to a request. She saw his hand on the cliff face, rock crumbling in his grip before fragmenting entirely. He was breathing normally, perhaps too much so. He was forcing himself to appear to be calm, to not express weakness. To be strong and steady. He was failing, and so all he had left to go on was training.
"Are you worried about the fight?" She knew where this was going as he started to teeter a bit on the surface he was on. His breath hitched and legs restless as he stared into the sunset.
"Please...I need to know, I need to prepare I need to..." He stopped as he looked at his cannon and then at her before looking straight out again. "I need to...should I win? Would that be good? I..." He looked at his left hand now, crumbled stone in his hands that blew away with a breeze. He closed his eyes and sighed.
"It's okay to be worried about the future Arne. Is that what's got you acting like this?" She said. She'd seen this sort of clamming up before, she'd done it sometimes too. And truth be told...she wasn't looking forward to this fight either. It felt obscene. All this over some stupid wager. All this for...she was sure Old Bird had a plan but she struggled to perceive it. Her mind's eyes could not reach as far as the ancient's.
"I know one thousand and twenty five forms of combat, I've memorised one thousand one hundred and eleven courses, and I don't know what to do. What's your secret huh? Why is it so easy for you? How are you so confident...do you have a plan? Some secret weapon? Some loadout I don't know about?" He was in a mental rut. An ingenius mind stuck constantly running over possible scenarios and possible outcomes that all seemed to be bad.
"Because it's how I was raised Arne. You don't need to think of yourself like a tool. You're more than just a sword. Like me, I like to do..." She paused, how to phrase it? "Research, I like to study and learn. To find something nobody else has seen before, or nobody has seen in a long time. I also like to see other people's experiences, new ones or old ones. You can learn a lot about people when sit down with them. Like we're doing right now actually! You know, why not talk about stuff like that? We were doing alright back when we were sharing ice cream." She asked, tilting her head at him, wondering what he was thinking behind that helmet.
"I..I am a sword, a lance, and a shield. I am a scholar of the ways of the wise, an engineer to bring structure where there isn't, I am a Knight to destroy the dark of chaos, a squire in service of order, a page preparing for a war...a..." He stopped himself, no no stupid dumb dumb stupid. Why would he say such stupid things, that's not what she asked? Why couldn't he just say things right? Why was this so hard?
"Arne, please, stop." His words were upsetting. Mother Brain called her things like that and she hated every second of it. To be an item, an object for someone else's agenda. A thing. He was calling himself an item, a job title, a servant. She steeled herself, she knew what she had to do. What she had to address.
"I'm...sorry, Samus." He said weakly.
"Arne, you don't need to apologise. It's okay. But you're letting yourself get caught up in your fears and worries. Just...think of something you want to say. Not what your father told you to."
"I'm...if I don't win this he's going to be so mad with me. I just want to make him proud and call me his son for once." He said, then deciding to try to take up the offensive and strike while the proverbial iron was still hot.
"What are you going to bring to the fight?" He said.
"Arne, you're fixating." Her voice was now one of deepset concern. Without the reassuring presence of peers to Zurvduat he was clearly not in the best headspace. She thought about it for a brief moment. He was too clever to be fooled by an obvious lie, too needing of that answer to accept an evasion. But she calculated in a process that was over in less than a second. Alright, she'd give him something to get something in return. She was curious, she needed to know. She needed to pry and see what was it that was bothering him so much. Pain was an old, unwelcome adversary of hers, but she couldn't bear to see someone else in its embrace. Not when she was right there to offer help. It was what her parents; both sets of them; would have wanted.
"I...I know, Samus. But please, can you tell me?" There was the plea.
She weighed her options. "If I tell you, can I ask you something?" There was the bargain.
"Okay, just...give me something to give me some peace of mind." He said.
"Just check the datafile I'm about to send you. It's shorter than the full explanation." He spared a thought to analysing the information being filtered into his memory. Missiles, Super Missiles, Power Beam, Long Beam, Ice Beam, Paralyctor, High Jump, Power Blade, Extension Blade, Grapple Beams, Morph Ball, Bombs, Spider-Ball...it was quite the impressive arsenal indeed. His own was largely equivalent, save for his preference for the Shock Coil and Star Beam. Ice and Lightning vs Lightning and Fire, curious. Yes, yes he could see what he'd have to do. He'd need to avoid her ability to immobilise him, probably countering the Ice Beam with the Star Beam. He figured that charging his missiles could at least give him a counter to the super missiles...yes...he was seeing the basis of a plan of action now.
Something to keep himself busy with thinking about. He could try to bury his state of mind beneath the comfort of thinking of the world in terms of threats to analyse and improve counters against. He could work with this, he could devise a plan and work on some sort of strategem. But he also knew that he was running away from something more pertinent. A cowardly thing to do to be sure. His stomach twisted at the thought, he couldn't be afraid. He wouldn't be afraid. He'd be brave, he'd be strong.
"Okay...quite the arsenal there." He said mostly to himself, but she wasn't about to let him get too lost in his thoughts of conflict. Especially when it was one that she could plainly see he was struggling with whether he even wanted to participate in.
"Now...can I ask you something?" There was the question he was afraid of answering. He felt his hairs stand up on end in his zero suit and his fingers fidgeted within the armour he wore. He almost felt cornered, but he swallowed his pride and looked straight ahead. His face was hidden by his helmet, but he felt like she could still read his expression somehow. It was an irrational fear to be sure, but it wasn't one he could shake off.
"Do you like living with your family?" She asked, letting the pin drop. "You can be honest here." She needed to her what he really thought for herself, without the filter of his father's gaze. She relaxed herself to make her question as clearly spoken as possible. She had no want for him to confuse her meaning even as she could feel the threads of his distant sight start to entangle around hers, but as she had also been trying to sneak glimpses of possible otherwhens, she was able to call his attention with a hand on his shoulder. She felt the contours of the armour beneath her metal covered fingers and tried to gauge her own feelings. Why was she doing this?
Because she found him attractive? No, she did, he was definitely very handsome. But that wasn't it. He was an orphan too, he never said it out loud but it was clear that someone who was left far more alone in the world than anyone should be. If she wanted to be the bringer of freedom; someone who not only rid the Universe of the likes of Ridley but also helped people to be free from want, need, fear, and oppression; how could she even begin to claim such a lofty title for herself if she couldn't even help this one kindred soul? If she could make him feel better about himself, help his situation out at all, she'd be well on her way to proving that yes, she could be one who could change things for the better.
"I..." He gave that question a long thought. Did he? Was the fact that was even a question speaking of something...less than ideal? "I don't know. Do you?" He sighed, slouching forward before turning his head towards her and letting his helmet dissipate into blue light. She matched the gesture herself afterwards, yellow light consuming her helmet as the two looked into each other's eyes. She was so pretty...if she cared this much for him, were Zurvduat's words about his lack of worth true? When a complete stranger was showing this much care for him. He smiled despite himself and all the confusion running around in his head.
"I love my family obviously! It'd be nice to have both sets...but I love being with them. I'm still excited to see the universe but I think Zebes will always be a place I can go back to and call home you know?" She beamed, every word that she said was the honest truth. She missed Virginia and Rodney to be sure, but she also loved her current family. They who had taken her in as one of their own and had loved and cared for her and brushed away all her tears and whispered the nightmares away. What could it possibly be like to have seen what she had seen only to be left to cry until your tear ducts were empty?
"But, if you're not sure if you even like being with your family, can it be a good one? You're going to go outside of Sentus soon right?" She asked, her expression softening as she looked him in the eyes and gave him a friendly, warm smile that made him feel like he was melting. Security was an odd feeling for him, but he grabbed onto it as tightly as he could. She, for her part thought it'd be best to put on a friendly, relaxed expression, one that would show that she was someone that one could take faith it, that she was someone you could look to and know that you were safe with.
"I'll be leaving Zebes to see the universe soon myself. It's...going to be a big change but I think I'll be in good hands. What about you?" She kept on going a little longer, sensing he was still trying to formulate a response and taking the opportunity to speak of herself a little. Truth be told, she wasn't entirely sure which direction she was going to go with that big step next year after her thirteenth birthday. So many options she could go with...but enough of that, she thought. Her attentions drifted back to the boy in front of her, her senses telling her that he was about to give her his response.
"I...Zurvduat and Elmorni both want me to do fieldwork. But they can't agree on whether I should only serve the Tetrarchy or if I should reconnect with my people." He said.
"Well...you can start on that now if you'd like? Maybe...stow the weapon talk for now though?" She said, giving him an encouraging smile.
"Yeah...you also have to start on reconnecting anyway. Let's, go and do that now. We've got time." He said, returning the expression more earnestly.
War Nest Arena, Arganti
Samus and Arne stood apart from one another, separated by a scant few hundred meters in a battlefield currently shifted into a forest by the machinery of the ancient stadium. Both were busy steeling themselves for what was to come. Arne checked his arm cannon while Samus calmly meditated in her standing position. This would be their first real test against a true equal, and their latent psychic and mystic gifts were busy trying to size the other up in tandem with their keen minds and armoursuit computers. Both would do their best despite their reluctance to indulge Zurvduat in his obsession to prove his superiority. Both knew the stakes, one hoped to prove the General wrong, one hoped to earn his grace.
"You will find that we have trained our pupil well, even if she retains much of her human softness." Grey Voice said, laying his gauntleted hands atop a rest offered in the viewing chambers of the stadium, above the action that was to take place in the pit below.
"-And yet here you are insisting on all weaponry being set to nonlethal. Don't speak to us about how steely you are.-" Osith scoffed, the telepathic voice of the orange Alimbic scornful even to one of the few Chozo she genuinely respected to any great degree.
"I am merely suggesting that perhaps you should correct your arrogance. It is rather unbecoming of you to presume triumph is already yours when speaking to peers." Somek-Ka said, a small chirp of annoyance coming from his beak.
"-The Hatchling should preform adequetely. Optimal preformance will doubtlessly be unattainable due to a refusal to properly mould her. But she should prove the superior to the Primoris doubtlessly, I had a personal hand in the crafting of her armour after all. Anything less would reflect poorly on me.-" Mother Brain said, the droning of her psychic voice heavy on the minds of all those who heard it. For all her pretenses to rationality, the armour of contempt was thick on this one.
"-Perhaps we would do best to not speculate on the outcome before it happens?-" The Palatine Mind was a much more pleasant feeling A.I. His tone warm and his psychic presence far less suffocating than Mother Brain's. But then, he was also a significantly less overbearingly potent A.I. His mind didn't exert the same kind of crushing abyssal pressure every time he spoke, and he certainly lacked the cold calculating malice of the next person to speak.
"-Are we finished tarrying? I have wish to see if my efforts have been in vain. Inform them that they are to begin.-" Zurvduat said, folding his arms as he floated above the air.
"Give them a little time to share some words before you do your best to drive a wedge into their friendship." Old Bird said, adjusting his clawed hands' grip on his cane with the briefest bit of nervousness. He had a plan, but despite his distant sight he was afraid of what may happen to his daughter. He made his benedictions, imploring the spirits to guard Samus from harm in this trial.
"I would rather wish we had not decided to indulge in this preening at all." August Wing cawed in disappointment.
"-Patience, Isa-Hesh. This too will pass in time.-" Elmorni said, her singular eye looking upon her son with trepidation. She could only hope that he would not be hurt by what was to come. She gave the briefest prayer to a deity that most Alimbics dismissed as superstition long ago. A plea to see to her child's safety so that he could get through this storm without harm.
On the fields though, the two looked upon each other. They were full of doubt of course. Neither had wanted this, but there was an obligation to do so. Even with the promise that all weapons would be nonlethal, the thought of so openly attacking each other rubbed them the wrong way.
"Are you sure you're ready?" Arne asked. His voice cracked slightly as he spoke.
"This is crazy, but I'm as ready as I'll ever be."
"-You are to begin immediately. No lethal maneuvres will be tolerated, the victor will be the first to reduce the other's shield energy to zero. Upon which the loser's armour will deactivate immediately. Is this understood?-" Mother Brain commanded, getting a nod from both of them.
Arne and Samus both were of the same mind, opening with a missile as they started to sprint towards each other, the wind whistling and then going inaudible as they jockeyed for advantage. The round tipped missile of Samus slamming into the conical head of Arne's missile in a great thunderclap and fireball, force magnifying fields and shaped charges creating a most peculiar self reverberating explosion. Two other missile shots from both each slammed into each other with much the same end result.
Samus blinked and Arne was on her, pushing through the dust kicked up by the explosion while she made a step back and dug her heel in, swinging her cannon like a mace to disrupt his momentum. He side stepped and stabbed the power blade on his left hand towards her, letting it slip out of his vambrace and drive towards her, giving her a hundredth of a second to react. Thinking quickly, she brought up her own blade and skidded it to the left until they both met with each other's gauntlet guards to prevent it from coming into contact with her. She tried to bring her arm cannon around to his head, only for him to bush back with his own. Try as she might, neither had enough of an advantage in strength to break this deadlock even as the dirt beneath their boots began to give way.
"Not going to take it easy on me are you?" Samus said with an excitable grin written all over her face beneath her helmet.
"You know I can't do that." He said, huffing a bit beneath his helmet.
"Good, because I want you at your best." She said with a grin before swinging her head down and then shoving forward to throw him off his balance, knocking him to the ground where she immediately froze a hand of his to the ground with the ice beam. He sensed that if he strained free she'd just refreeze the limb even in the decisecond it'd take for him to shatter the meter thick ice that encased his arm, and instead tucked in his legs into his chest and curled into the psycho-sphere, hovering over the ground and releasing a blue-white burst of energy that pushed her back.
"Can't let you have it that easy." He said while she curled into the morph ball herself; letting her spherical form start to glow. She knew he was going to tell exactly what she was planning to do. She in fact counted on it, smiling in her disembodied form as he also charged up his kinetic booster. The two made a thunderclap as they slammed into each other with enough force to splinter nearby trees, sending them flying apart at the sort of incredible speeds where the world would become all a blur to the average person. But Samus had a plan, rolling across a ramp that went near vertical that lay behind her to get an elevation advantage and releasing a second boost while she was air born to take her directly over Arne.
As Arne and Samus both unmorphed in flashes of light, her cannon clicked and expanded to ready itself to fire projectiles to give him something to dodge before shifting to a yellow-orange set of highlights as she activated her subweapon. One, two, three missiles to bombard the boy. But Arne was not a passive target, and he had already sussed out her choice of weapon from the conduits of destiny. He tensed himself and exploded into action, sidestepping at the crucial moment and extending his hand, he caught the first missile and tossed it into the second after redirecting its momentum with a quick twist. But he had underestimated just how soon the visions of Samus firing the paralyctor would become relevant.
A more potent version of the weapon her back-up pistol used, the Paralyctor's yellow-orange globules of electrified plasma surged through his shielding and made him feel as if a vise was engulfing him as a red sheen of paralytic energy covered him. Enough to stop him from intercepting the next missile that shoved him back. Follow up shots further hammered at his shielding and locked him down. He gritted his teeth and strained at the paralysing energies until they shattered like ice, breaking restraints that would have trivially held every Tyrannosaurus in Hells' Creek combined and pushed his heels into the ground to stop himself from skidding farther than he had to, deep furrows torn into the ground and the screams of a protesting earth fading into the distance.
He saw her land and felt her next course of attack; one he wouldn't let her finish. She had expected the Shock Coil, far too many of the pathways of fate made it clear that it was one of his go to tools, but he was quick with the left gauntlet grapple beam to limit her movement, boxing her in with the threat of using the shock coil and ducking under a missile of hers as she tried to prepare a charged ice beam shot. His cannon lashed out with blue-white lightning and engulfed her with streams of particles and energy that not only worked their way through her shielding alarmingly fast, but also were recharging his own at frightful speeds. Then the ramp up hit and she knew she had to break free.
She couldn't get away, the grapple beam made sure of that. But she could get close. She shot off her own left hand grapple beam and dumped the charge shot's energy into her suit for a charge tackle and grinned as she threw herself at him, relishing the knowledge that he'd cut himself off from most escape as hurtled towards him like a cannonball. The whipcrack sound of two armoured bodies slamming into each other and the charge shot's energy dumping into his suit to really rattle him onto a knee, the two of them dropping their grapple beam tethers at more or less the same time while she straightened herself up.
She prepared the Imperialist, letting her cannon click red as she layed it at his helmet. Should be enough to signal the end of the fight she thought, then maybe his father would see just how wrong he was to treat him like this, when all his harshness and all his discipline wasn't able to give him a victory. But Arne shared something with her, something deeply ingrained into both of their psyches. He was as stubborn as a herd of mules, especially when Zurvduat's approval was at stake.
He breathed and looked up at her with a quizzical expression, not of what she was doing, but why she thought it'd be that easy. "Not done yet." He said as the two focused briefly; their shielding recharging with a quick bout of meditation. The universe seemed to pause and halt, and all thoughts seemed to fade away save for the island of stability. He shoved his hand in front of the cannon and grunted as the laser slammed home into the gauntlet and slammed his own cannon into her chest to start draining her with the shock coil. She swept at his feet, throwing him off his balance and letting her pull him into a headbutt with a loud crack before he brought out his blade and sliced it at her shoulder, shields sparking to life and making her stagger to the left.
Frustration burned in her and she let out a yell as she tackled him with enough force to create a shockwave that tore across the room and began to repeatedly slam her cannon into him, each impact letting out a missile and getting him to grunt. She felt that damnable shock coil get to work on her once again, the tingling feedback of electrical energy writhing like serpents in her mind. So she spun around and threw him off. Her cannon clicked twice, a super missile emerged that he dodged with a quick spin induced by thrusters on the back of his suit, the second being avoided by twisting his body, and the third hitting him in the chest and throwing him clear across the arena.
The deafening thunderclap of the explosive and its blinding fireball were accompanied by the thunderstorm like rumble of the earth in response to the impact as he grabbed at a branch while he went through the air. The tree tore apart down to its nearly final root, but he arrested his momentum enough to shake his head and get his bearings. Where was she? He thought before his senses told him of the incoming laser, prompting him to curl into the psychosphere and dodge downwards before the ruby light of the imperialist struck him. His hovering alternate mode let him dodge around two more shots before he uncurled and let loose a barrage with the Imperialist himself; one, two, three shots. No dice.
His cannon clicked and widened while it filled with an orange-red light, and blazing comet like projectiles streaked out of his cannon. Burning miniature stars all primed to undergo micronova on impact, exploding with enough concussive force to bowl over forestry and enough heat to fill the air with vapourised earth. She responded with return fire from her cannon, icy globs of the bitterest near absolute zero cold stilling the roaring nuclear furnaces of his star beam with each counter impact. The sudden temperature shock produced potent blasts as hot and cold neutralised one another, leaving the two at an impasse as they traded hundreds of shots and jockeyed for position, devouring hundreds of meters in every possible direction over the space of a few seconds.
This was going nowhere fast. She could feel that they were at an impasse; far too evenly matched for one to gain a substantial advantage over the other. She caught him with a charged shot that plowed through the screen of four star beam shots he had set up, engulfing him in an instant iceberg. She clenched her fist and focused, letting her psychic connection to this projection of her will and soul restore its shielding strength and resupply it with munitions. Her arm cannon clicked with fresh missiles called up by her thoughts and she prepared a super missile to end it, but he exploded out of the icy prison with a powerful outward flexing motion; breaking the cage he had been surrounded with while he charged up a beam of his own.
He saw the incoming missile scream towards him. His suit interpreting the air's vibration through electromagnetic analysis as sound for his ears to help him orient himself while he let his psychic senses get to work. He ducked slightly and swung the extended purple blade to sever the missile's warhead from its rockets and used the explosion to boost him as he jumped towards her. Clean, efficient, quick, just as his adoptive father had taught him to do so many times before. He banished the doubt in his mind, focusing on the task he was given. Easy enough to do when she was a distant foe encased in armour.
She decided to meet him head on, curling into the morph ball and rolling forward like thunder. Orange energy enshrouded her spherical form like a compass as she launched forward, altering her momentum with a spring hop to shove her ball like body up and then uncurl to bring her own power blade at him. She had to win this, not just to prove that Old Bird's ways were better, or to save him, but to show herself that she could triumph over even the greatest of adversity. If she could show that she could do this, then she could overcome the pirates, overcome Ridley, and the people who held his leash.
The two's blades clashed with a resounding supersonic clang and shockwave clap before they pushed off each other, leading to them landing on the ground with heavy thuds and splintered earth beneath their boots tearing upwards. She shot first, letting out a charged Ice Beam shot that he intercepted with the solar flare of the star beam's charge shot. The two's collision; hot and cold; summer and winter; blue and orange; made for a powerful thunderclap that pushed its progenitors back. But only a fool would have thought that such was enough to keep the two children apart. Before the dust had even had a chance to drift downwards, the two had charged back at each other, limbs coursing with power.
Though they were but twelve, the grace and technique behind their every swing would have surpassed that of many ancients. Left, right, parry, thrust, fire, avoid, counter, tackle. It was a furious dance that took place far too quickly for unaugmented human eyes to keep track of. Every motion and movement predicted and countered before it was made. It was not battle fury, it was a sort of hyperfixation where every single movement and motion seemed to be more crystal clear and real than anything in their lives. It was exciting, a rush more intense than anything they could have imagined before. And it was a frightful sort of flow, the perfect acclimitzation to a fight.
Another clash that the two leaned in before throwing themselves back, a strike going across her head from his arm cannon to set her up for a knee to the gut with more force than railguns. A shoulder rush that pushed him back like a bomb blast followed by a blow to his chest from the power blade. A twisting motion to grab her in a headlock before she could pull herself followed by the twisting motions of an overhead throw that smashed her into the ground with enough force to splinter the ground like an earthquake before he moved to stab his blade into the ground, a blow she stopped with a sweep of the power blade and a spin of her legs to throw him to the ground. He caught himself with a hand and shot her in the chest with the star beam to launch her away; she shot out the blue tendril of the grapple beam to yank him with her.
All that in just one of the moments of this furious clash of two allied turned rival warrior traditions. Like two lightning bolts dueling more than two people.
But eventually it had to come to an end as the two slammed into one another one last time and tried to wrestle each other into the ground. Neither wanted to give in, wanting to prove something to themselves and others. The two slammed their arm cannons into each other's chests and let them click. His cannon hummed with a charge, hers expanded to call up a super missile. The resulting explosion was enough to tick their simulated energy counts to zero, forcibly disabling their armoursuits to mark them both as "out" of the fight as they were thrown back from the fireblossom that had resulted.
Samus' two tone blue zero suit and its hood still enveloped her body, keeping her safe as its shielding stood with the full load out of energy tanks. Eyes beneath the hood blinked and she realised she was rocketing backwards at supersonic speeds. She recovered and extended a hand to catch herself on a tree branch, the young girl spinning herself on it like a gymnast to exhaust her momentum and release before the bending tree could snap apart, dropping to the grounds on the flat soles of her boots. She let down the hood of the lightly armoured flexible jump suit and looked around, her blue eyes seeing the world unassisted and her expression one of curiosity. She immediately scanned around for Arne, hoping he wasn't hurt, that last blow had a lot of force to it and she wanted to make sure he was safe.
Arne's black and red zero suit shielded him from any of the pain of the impact of smashing through a dozen or so trees. He had been a bit closer to the ground zero of the impact and so had taken more of the brunt. But he managed to catch his fingers on the ground and drag his momentum to a halt by digging through before he finally flopped waist first into the ground. The stunt did cost him some energy though, and he wearily flopped onto his back, groaning slightly before he opened his hood where he saw Samus standing in front of him offering a hand. He looked upon her and realised she had changed drastically in appearance and then blushed upon seeing how much more...snug it was. Though she certainly appreciated the musculature like shaping of his zero suit as he caught her with a rose tint to her cheeks when their eyes met.
"...Is that a-" He said before she cut him off.
"A draw yeah. Are you alright Arne?" She asked, her expression turning to one of concern as she pulled him onto his feet. She checked over him once and nodded; he was fine.
"Yeah. I've been hit a lot harder then that before." He said with a chuckle as straightened himself. But the impending sensation of an incoming teleport caused a sinking feeling in his heart as he caught wind of the psychic presence of Zurvduat after the two had been forcibly teleported into the viewing chamber with the strange green flash of Alimbic spacewarping technology. And his face paled when he saw that single baleful eye glaring at him with all the burning heat of the desert sun.
"Are you hurt Samus?" Old Bird said, brushing his hand through her golden tresses and getting a smile out of her. He looked her over, and an exhale of audible relief escaped his beak when he saw that she had not a scratch upon her. A sight that voided his ancient heart of tension and worry that seemed to escape from his mouth with his breath.
"I'm fine papa, the armour did what it was supposed to." She said, gently rubbing into his hand and embracing him in a hug that was soon joined by other Chozo such as Isa-Hesh, War Hawk, Platinum Crest and others who had taken interest in her care and welfare. She felt warm and loved, and her arms wrapped around her family. Even stern Grey Voice had not given her his usual put downs to try and clip the wings of her ego. Which to her meant that he must have not had any real complaints. A small victory, but one she would take all the same. "How'd I do?" She asked anyway.
"You did excellently, Samus. We are so proud of you." Isa-Hesh said warmly, trilling happily at the girl entrusted to the charge of the Zebesian Chozo. Samus beamed at her, all of them really. It made her feel so nice to have her family's approval and support. Even when she didn't get a clean victory, she felt like a winner all the same. But she wanted to hear it from old Grey Voice.
"I'll admit, you preformed beyond my expectations in the face of a peer adversary. For that, I give you congratulations. But there is still room for improvement. We must not rest on our laurels if we wish to proceed with our great work." He said, giving her a simple nod of appreciation that meant the world to her as Old Bird scooped her up onto his shoulders.
"We can think of such things later, but for now I think you've earned a moment in the sun." Old Bird said with a gentle laugh as he let her pet at his head and stroke her fingers through his purple feathers by dismissing his helm. A laugh was shared, warm and affectionate and heads were nuzzled together as she kissed him on the beak. She looked to Grey Voice and offered him a hug as well after turning away from Re-Sekh, but he raised a hand and shook his head.
She frowned slightly. "Come on...just this once Somek." She said, her expression turning to a warmer smile to try and entice him. And eventually he briefly let go of his attachment to his visage of stoicism and gave her what she wanted, however much in rankled on the inside for him. His hug was brief, and he pulled away shortly but she still maintained a cheshire grin. He had finally given her the sort of physical affection she had wanted from him in public and that was worth a thousand words out of his beak.
"You will both go on to do great things, I'm sure of it." War Hawk said, humming happily as she gave Samus a headpat as soon as she was let down from the lofty perch of Old Bird's shoulders. She was young by Chozo standards, not too far removed from Samus in terms of physical age; having just barely begun adulthood. The older sister that Samus never really had who was always quick to lavish her in praise and approval. She was such a cool person.
"Thank you, I'll make you proud." Samus said, beaming at her and giving her a thumbs up to accompany that wide pearly white smile of hers, adjusting her pony tail with a single hand motion once War Hawk's hand was retracted from its position on her head.
"Of that, there can be no doubt, Samus. Yours is a star that will shine brightly, and you have learned so much so quickly. Many of our own pupils in our younger years could not have done as well as you have." Old Bird said, laughing gently as he rested both of his hands atop his cane. He then looked over to Iron Heart and Star Strider, keenly interested in what they might have to say.
"I would have liked a clean victory, but I will take what I can get. For what it's worth, you have my congratulations. You'll soon have learned all that can be usefully taught of the art of war. At least through safe and controlled training exercises." Iron Heart admitted, which caused her to give the smuggest smirk in response. She remembered Iron Heart's less than approving stance towards her presence when she was much younger, so to hear him admit such a thing was downright thrilling.
"Though you are young and have much to learn, you have done well to fight a Knight to be of the Tetrarchy to a stand still. Well done, Hatchling." Star Strider admitted. She didn't use her name, which annoyed her, but praise from her was like finding unicorns in deserts, it was always worth marking down as a moment to celebrate. She beamed at her and placed a hand on her hip, clearly pleased with herself at the thought of receiving praise from even some of her harshest critics.
But there was still dissent from the general consensus of her being an awesome person. Most particularly the eternally hard to please Mother Brain who, no matter how often Samus indicated she was generally unwilling to hear out; always insisted with her commentary. And even before she started with her speech Samus could sense the impending dread of having to listen to the bloated brain in a jar through its designated avatar; one of her spherical eye drones who always had a word of judgement for her.
"-Your inability to secure victory does me substantial concern. How are you to bring peace to the universe if you cannot best a beginner level peer opponent? How are we to be able to entrust the safety of the project to someone such as you if you cannot cleanly, and convincingly defeat someone of equivalent technology and physicality?-" She said, clearly far from impressed and deadset on spoiling her good mood as quickly as possible. She tried to brush it off, but try as she may the fact that she still couldn't get Mother Brain to offer her even the vaguest of praise bothered her. What would it take to please this A.I she wondered?
"Oh don't you ever have anything even a little nice to say?" Samus said with a huff of annoyance, blowing some blonde hair away from her eye as she glared at Mother Brain who seemed to narrow the optics of her camera drone to stare back at Samus as harshly as she could manage. Clearly, she was not at all amused by this show of defiance to her will and whim. Of course, one could say that she was generally incapable of any of the emotions relating to amusement, but Samus could feel her naked displeasure from this. Radiating from her like the heat of a star. It was an ugly, hateful sensation.
"-Kind words and coddling will not serve to bring about peace in the stars. I am sure you know as well as any the necessity of action, and your actions still leave vast room for improvement. Do not presume to speak to me as if I am simply out to demean you, you are to be the greatest instrument in the quest for peace. To be soft on you in the honing of your abilities is to open the door for barbarism. And that is a door I cannot and will not allow to be opened, Hatchling.-" She always tried to make herself sound like the reasonable party in every single discussion. It was one of her most infuriating qualities truth be told. That because she didn't invest the same sort of emotional energy into life that everyone else did she was therefore entitled to being seen as more correct and impartial. A vein ticked in Samus' forehead but she let the seething sensation pass. An outburst is just what the A.I wanted her to do.
"How can we create peace if we don't make people want it? We can't just take people's guns away! We need to help them too, solve why they want to fight in the first place, or they'll just beat each other with sticks instead! You can't do that without kindness and understanding! Do you think you can just...rationalise people into peace?" Samus said, angry but not yelling. She knew how Mother Brain worked, an outburst would be taken as a sign of triumph by the cybernetic intelligence.
"-I see no need for unnecessary empathy and sympathy to be given to those who continually work against the establishment of lasting order. Chaos agents are to be neutralised, not understood beyond what is necessary to eliminate them and ensure no further reoccurance is observed. You are correct however, in that attempting to debate those committed to such destructive lines of action is useless. You are misguided in your desire to continually provide for others their solution. First priority must always be to remove the problem actors. Then we guide where the dominoes fall afterwards.-" Mother Brain countered calmly, her psychic presence having barely flinched at Samus' rising choler.
"If you think we can just kill the right people, destroy the right things, and smash the right places to make things better then well...I don't know what to say to you. Besides that you're not half as clever as you think you are you overgrown enclyclopedia. If you don't understand people...what makes you think you can fix anything?" Samus said, snarling at the computer which seemed to be briefly taken aback by her put down. Anger started to flash in her and she narrowed the optic of her drone at Samus.
But she wasn't allowed to speak. Old Bird tapped his cane and coughed. "Mother Brain, you will treat Samus with the respect she is owed. She is to be our torchbearer. It's past time you learned to accept this." He said, and all at once Mother Brain's fury went cold. Yes, she wasn't chosen by the Chozo to succeed them. She was. The twelve year old golden haired girl who was simply adopted into the ways, the traditions, and the culture of the Chojinzuko. Not her, not their guardian of knowledge. Not their lorekeeper. Not their finest mind whose psychic will could stretch across light years. But her, the pet, the hybrid. The Hatchling, not the Mother, was to bear the torch of civilization. A truly and terribly bitter pill for the A.I to swallow as she tried to make sense of it but was unable to.
But just across the room, the mood was far more dire. There young torchbearer was not in a position of strength, but of weakness. Where he for all his physical and mental power; was terribly isolated and alone in the face of someone's bitter and intense scorn. The gathered Alimbics locked the Chozo out of their psychic discussion, keeping their communications private between themselves and their entrusted charge. He would be made to stand alone before those who raised him. But the love a parent should have for their child was in rather short supply, only felt at all by some of them while others made quite sure that he felt something far colder and far less willing to forgive than anything someone entrusted with a child ought to give them.
"-I am pained by your inability to accomplish to do what should be the simplest of tasks. I give you every advantage and yet here you are...wasting what I offer with your continued flabbiness. Really, it's a pity that you are struggling so much to do what is asked of you when you have been given such potential.-" Zurvduat was clearly displeased. His psychic voice was cold and unpleasant. There was not yet any hot fury in it, but Arne gulped all the same in dreadful anticipation. He tried to focus on better visions of things to come within the distant sight, but so far all he was sensing was immediate and imminent danger. The sensation of being under threat was a cloying, choking thing. Almost like having a hand around his heart, squeezing it, constricting it.
"-Are you even remotely aware of how fortunate you are, Primoris? Most in your position would have been left adrift in foster systems or orphanages or simply left to die. Yet here you are, standing amongst those that your kind would consider to be as gods. Wearing our technology, using our sorcery, infused with our blood. You have been made to stand amongst higher life forms. So why do you insist on failing to live up to your potential?-" Zurvduat made it all seem like his fault. It was always his fault. Everything was his fault.
"I managed to get a draw, please...I tried my best." Arne offered weakly, he was not prepared to argue this with him, but he felt like he had to do something to survive. "She's good...really good. I'm sorry I couldn't win, but we're just really...really..." He said, struggling to try and find the right words to say when under this level of stress. What should he say? What could he say? He turned to his distant sight to help, to put words in his mouth that would aid in his struggle to escape this conversation with his relation with Zurvduat intact.
"Closely matched." He said, putting it in terms that the Knight-General would appreciate, at least he hoped. "Our capabilities are almost identical. We can counter anything the other tries." He said, seeming to get a little sympathy, but not from Zurvduat. He instead, ignored what he saw as excuses, not giving Arne any signals to let him know if what he was doing was working.
"-Please, don't do this to our son. He's done all we could ask of him, and it's well past time for him to have his rest. This is supposed to be a meeting of celebration, not strife.-" Elmorni said before Zurvduat raised a hand to silence her and turned his spiteful gaze in her direction. Mystromagus and Knight-General stared into each other for some time, neither backing down from this confrontation while Arne felt the powerful sensations of danger flowing through him. His distant sight screamed in alarm at him and he felt that there was no way out of this situation. Mortirk and Ygrak looked upon him with pity, Deglos and the Palatine with resignment, while Osith and Urim; ever the suck ups, seemed to richly anticipate Zurvduat's baleful attentions directed towards him.
"-The issue is that we have been far too kind to your son for far too long. When will you accept that the Primoris requires discipline rather than endless pampering?-" He said with no small degree of contempt. Arne was not privy to many of the conversations between Zurvduat and Elmorni but what was always clear to him was that there was not an ounce of love lost between them. If anything, based on the empathic vibes between the two, there was something far more worrisome that coiled between the two's every word. Discord, strife, chaos, whatever you want to call it; it was a deeply unpleasant thing to have to feel.
"-He has failed to deliver the results expected of him. He must be made to account for this. Anything less would be a validation of his lack of effort. We must reaffirm his commitment to begetting the victory of the Order. Now is not the time for roses.-" Urim agreed, folding his arms behind his back and turning his attentions towards Arne once he had been given the telepathic signal to allow him to speak. Though one of the Civilian Tetrarchs, Urim's sycophancy towards Zurvduat had not dimmed one iota in the time Arne had known him. Whether Urim hated him or was just far too willing to please Zurvduat for his own good was unknown, and utterly immaterial to the boy as he gulped, clenching his fist slightly in anticipation.
"I did everything I could...please..." Arne whimpered before he sensed the heavy weight of disappointment cloying the air around him. An oppressive cloak of hostility that felt like lead being wrapped around his chest and dragged his spirits down immensely. He felt like he was falling down an abyss, and the gravity of the final reunion with the ground was waiting for him. Breath was hard for him to come by, the lungs of a young god quaked slightly as he struggled for breath. His heart squeezed and his stomach was doing knots beneath his skin. A panic attack was starting to settle in and he wanted to find a place to hide from the endless, vicious and meanspirited barbs being thrown his direction. But his fear and dread seemed to embolden other Alimbics into at least making a stand.
"-Yes, please, listen to him. We cannot keep pushing him like this. He's just a boy, you are going to break him if we do not relent at least the slightest amount.-" Ygrak protested, briefly relieving some of the mounting pressure the boy felt. The elephantine foot of repression began to ease off of him and he felt like the vise was starting to relax. His chest slowly untangled and the twitch in his left hand slowed to a gentle stop as he stabilised his breathing. He had for a moment, banished his fear and was holding firm. He wasn't alone, and that was enough to give him some courage.
"-For a novice such as him, preforming his obligations as well as he had; forcing a draw no less; is proof enough that he deserves to be treated with the respect of a proper knight. Not castigated for failing to triumph over the Chozo's hopes and dreams on his first encounter. In any case, would it not be wiser to build bridges rather than to try and assert dominance in our twilight?-" Mortirk said, wishing to make himself heard over the cacophony of the psychic debate between the various Alimbics. His challenge clearly irritating Zurvduat whose singular eye turned towards him with a scornful glare.
"-Disregard Mortirk's sympathy Primoris. That this was not enough is clear that we must escalate our efforts to mould you into something better. We have spared you the full weight of our methods for long enough. We must intensify efforts to prepare you for your purpose then if you cannot meet our standards of excellence.-" Osith said, her words sounding hollow from their contradictory combination of honeyed promises of betterment and vinegary condemnations of perceived present inadequecy. Her refusal to even once mention his name, instead insisting on that hateful title made him just about squirm beneath his suit.
"-Given the equivalency of his armament and training to that of Samus, was it any surprise that Arne had fought her to a draw? They are far too closely matched in capabilities and skillsets for one to have been likely to have definitively triumphed over the other. That our work has produced an equivalent combatant despite our lack of familiarity with the present era should be worthy of celebration, not condemnation.-" The Palatine Mind's offerings of reason were as always, solace for Arne in the face of the pressures the others enjoyed to heap on him. He was sure that there was more than just pragmatic benevolence but genuine kindness to the machine.
"-Based on the results we have given I feel that escalating immediately would be unwise. His demonstrated skillset has already surpassed that of most Alimbic squires equivalent to him in age. We should consider ourselves fortunate that he has demonstrated such a gift for quick learning, not counting unfilled jelly hexes over what might be.-" Deglos finally said. He was always rather neutral in his opinions towards Arne, and for that Arne was never quite sure how to feel whenever he turned his attentions towards him. His profile in the conduits of the distant sight was always hard to read. But for now, he wasn't making the hairs on the back of Arne's neck stand up on their ends like the others were.
But a psychic pulse from Zurvduat silenced all dissent. The General wished to speak. "-That will be quite enough out of all of you. Now, for the business at hand. You, Primoris. You promised me results and now all you have to show for it is mediocrity. This will not be allowed to continue. There will be changes. Starting now.-" He said, pointing his right hand directly at the boy and starting to float towards him, his ominous leer enough to tell the boy that he was in no small amount of trouble.
Panic began to fill Arne as he realised that the others would not stand against Zurvduat out of deference to their duty. His breathing intensified and he started to back away as his adoptive father approached. He tried not to make it too obvious that he was scared while the other ancients spoke amongst themselves; gathering in their gossip circles. The sight of Zurvduat raising a hand made Arne's voice crack as he resisted the urge to lift a limb to defend himself on reflex. But even in a room full of people he felt cornered. The black tunnel of isolation returned once again and once again he allowed his psychic defenses to falter for his deference to his "father'." Even the sight in the corner of his eyes and the basic psychic sensation of concern from the others could not snap him out of this animal fear.
"-You as ever find new and novel ways to disappoint me, Primoris. You could not triumph over this girl even when she is moulded by hands with the ideals of children. Where is your spirit and thirst for victory, Primoris? Do I not already give enough for you that you must repay my generosity with mediocrity?-" Zurvduat said, his psychic voice ringing in Arne's head like a deep, brassy bell as his voice became so low as to sound like a demon's contemptuous snarling. He flinched in fear, but the General was not the only psychic here, and he saw a light in the tunnel of blackness Zurvduat had conjured around him as he approached. In his mind's eye he backed away, his lips quivering in fright until he felt a hand on his shoulder and the illusion of isolation was broken; unable to persist in the face of so many other psions and mystics.
Samus looked at the boy with concern as she waved a hand in front of his face and then glared at Zurvduat once the spaced out look in Arne's crimson eyes disappeared. He gasped for breath while she dared to approach the General before any of her family could say anything. Fire was in her eyes as she stood him down. She straightened herself and stood as tall as her twelve year old body could; even within the zero suit she refused to give him the satisfaction of so much as the merest flinch. Sixty thousand years old he may have been, the conqueror of ten thousand systems he may be, the barely questioned supreme leader of the remaining Alimbics he indeed was; but all Samus saw was a bully attacking someone weaker than him and someone she liked on top of that. Here was her chance to prove she was someone people could look up to as a symbol.
She rose to the challenge and made her stand. If he wanted to keep going, he'd have to move through her. "Back off." She folded her arms and stood her ground, prompting the Grey General to stop as he floated through the air. His gaze turned away from his charge and down towards this little blonde girl who had decided to interpose herself between him and his charge. The sheer audacity of it even seemed to blinker the commander, while she even took a step forward as if to dare him to do anything about it. And when he did not, she only hardened her stare a little more.
The idea that this twelve year old child of all things would give him pause just about brought his whole thought process to a halt. "-Who are you to defy me, little girl?-" Zurvduat sounded incredulous. As if the very idea of being challenged by her was a shock to his entire world view. She who had known his charge for a day was now standing here telling him that he had to lay off his own charge? What manner of madness was he faced with now? Who was this human? To presume to stand before him as an equal? When even the Chozo knew to afford him the respect his station deserved?
And for a moment, that stare made him feel the slightest bit of wavering uncertainty. Could he even make her move?
"Samus Aran, Universal Warrior." The cold stare she gave could cut bendezium like cloth and Zurvduat did not care for it. This mammal who could not even come up to his waist was challenging his authority so brazenly it was even making Arne calm down and look at him in a new light. Doubt in his supremacy surely crept into the boy's mind. Doubt in the necessity of following his orders. Doubt in whether his acceptance was something he needed to live for. It was a small seed of doubt, but it was planted all the same.
"You're never going to get what you want if you keep on treating Arne like that. And I'm not going to let you keep hurting him." She said, and Zurvduat felt immediately that he could not push her around the way he did his charge. Not in a million years.
No, he could not let this stand. He'd need answers out of the ones entrusted with her. Perhaps they could give him something, anything to make sense of this brazen defiance. "-...What sort of child are you raising to so brazenly insult me with this audacity?-" Zurvduat said, turning his gaze towards the Chozo who seemed to be quite amused by her display of bravado with a handful of exceptions that sympathised with his worldview. Indeed, the whole mood of the room seemed to be against him save for his loyalists. He admonished himself for forgetting that he was the leader of a much diminished people and backed down slightly, only to find Samus filling that void with her presence.
The first of the Chozo to intercede in the conversation was of course the one that Zurvduat was starting to dislike more with every word out of his beak. "One with the right sort of heart that will be necessary to forge lasting peace." Old Bird said confidently.
Zurvduat resisted the urge to laugh, but her noble fury at his decision to try and ignore her drew all of his attention. She was like a storm of potentiality, one that he deigned to look into the future of for the briefest moment. And what he saw was enough to almost blind him; the same sort of fiery nexus of connected fates and affected destinies that hung around people like himself or his Primoris. It made him shift his stance. No, she was not to be dismissed. She was to be monitored, closely, carefully.
"-Yes...I can see why you would believe such a thing.-" He said, letting his scorn for this defiant, stubborn, and dare he say even heroic little girl fade from his psychic voice. Even most of his soldiers would never dream of standing against him in such a way. In a way, he almost respected such fire. But Samus? Samus gave him no respect because he had earned none. What had he done to earn even the smallest iota of her respect? Especially when Arne, inspired by this example; stepped up and stood by her side and looked up at his father with an expression of rediscovered courage.
"-Such a display was to be expected of you Hatchling. But I am surprised that you would join her in this foolishness. Why stand with her against the most sensible other mind in the room?-" Mother Brain, ever the voice of disdainful and frigid callousness, weighed in with her crushing psychic presence. For Samus, she gave disappointment. For Arne, she gave a calculated sort of disregard. What did he matter? Another foot soldier in the war for order? Clearly the Hatcling cared for the Neophyte as did he care for she. But what could she expect but more of the usual emotional weakness by her and those she bonded with? Mother Brain did however, make mental note to think of ways to make use of the knowledge of the developing bond.
But Mother Brain meant nothing to Arne however, something she was well aware of. She had indeed anticipated that the child's wavering deference would not apply to her and so she was not in the least bit surprised when he spoke up.
"Because she's standing with me." He said, he thought of cleverer, more rational arguments but dismissed them. What really mattered to him, was that she was fighting for him. A relative stranger was standing by his side and taking up his cause. And he was starting to realise...maybe he could do something like that too? Make others see him the way he saw her? Well...perhaps not the exact way he saw her. He thought as their hands brushed into one another and squeezed their soon entwined fingers tight in solidarity. Them against the world.
Zurvduat took a moment to turn towards Mother Brain's drone and gave her a moment of regard, one that was swiftly reciprocated. Yes, there was at least one thing to gain from this situation as he sensed the mood of the room rapidly turning against him. Perhaps it was time for him to focus on other projects then. Let Elmorni content herself with raising him. He had time to make new investments. He would however, remember this, oh would he ever remember this. Him, Samus, even Spire and Svihaly who had decided to disgrace him with hard stares even though this wasn't their business. Still, he had lived a long life, he could wait.
"-So be it.-" He said, backing away just as Samus had demanded.
Chambers of Rest, Arganti
Arne sat in the bed which had reconfigured itself to his proportions and desires the moment he approached it about an hour ago. Very fancy really. He was trying to lose himself in the data he could read off of a holographic text, neurosensors in the tactile light scrolling through the radiant pages with his thoughts. He could have had it uploaded into his brain, but the sensation of holding it in his hands with the light wrapped into a comfortable holding position was something rather relaxing as he pondered the meaning of the texts. The cozy room was warmly lit and coloured, a somewhat rounded box of a place for him to rest in for the duration of his stay on Arganti. It was his fortress, and he had the walls show images of things that brought peace to him.
But his reverie was interrupted by the sound of the doors dilating open for someone else. His attentions flicked over to where his senses were telling him someone had just come through. And a smile soon dawned on his face as soon as he confirmed who it was. That golden haired valkyrie who stood up for him when so many others wouldn't.
"Hey Samus." He said, scooching up in his bed a bit and putting the holographic texts away. "Come on in and uh...thanks for standing up for me. I really appreciate it." He gave a gentle smile as she beamed at him.
"It's no problem at all. You were hurting, so I helped. It's what people should do for each other." She said as she approached him, looking at the spot next to him and then turning her attention back to him. "Mind if I sit next to you?" She said, getting a nod of consent from him and easing herself onto the bed. He liked his beds at about a medium level of resistance it seemed. One thing she shared with him at least. "Are you holding up alright? You seemed terrified of Zurvduat." She said, her expression soft and friendly to let him know that he was safe with her.
"Yeah...when he's mad with me sometimes he makes me feel like I'm all alone while he talks to me. Like I'm in a dark room with nothing but the two of us." He said, casting his attentions towards the floor. He exhaled gently and relaxed the tensions that built up inside of him, he felt like he could talk about anything with her...so he would. He'd open up his heart to her and he knew she'd hang onto his every word just as he would her. And he had questions for her that he wanted to air as soon as he could.
"He shouldn't do that to you, or anyone. Nobody should do something like that, not to scare people. Especially not when you've done nothing wrong. Why does he do that to you?" She said. Her word choice was deliberate. She wouldn't say he let him do that to him, no she wasn't going to blame a victim. Not now, not ever. She would never forgive herself if she ever started faulting victims for the actions of their attackers. She laid a hand on his shoulder, wanting him to speak freely. She made sure the grip was firm, but not constricting.
"I don't know...he says it's because I need to focus on nothing but what he tells me when he uses solopathy. But he only does it when he's mad with me. Usually when I don't live up to his expectations. He wants me to be the perfect prototype knight. And I'm trying, but I'm not sure if I'm good enough to meet his standards." He said, twiddling the fingers on his right hand somewhat on the edge of the bed, letting them rub against each other and looking at the motions of his fingers as if to distract him from the present conversation.
"Arne, you can go toe to toe with me and as far as I'm concerned that means you are good enough. Besides, you're more than just...how good you are at punching and shooting things! You're a person, you've got dreams like I do. I wanna go out, see every sight, and save and help everyone I can. I want everyone to be able to live free, without want or worry or fear. I just...want to get out there and be the travelling hero everyone needs. So they can look up, see me, and feel inspired. Then I'm gonna write and paint all about it. But what about you? What do you want to do?" She asked, looking up wistfully as if the night sky was above them as the ceiling seemed to transform into that of a planetarium as soon as it detected her desire to make a theatrical point.
"I want to be a hero too. I want to keep people safe, happy, and able to be who they want to be. I want to see people sleep at night safe because of stuff I did. Like my birth parents often did. I want to help and protect. Until nobody needs to be protected anymore and I can...I guess check everything else off the list. Finding old ruins, building machines, and funny you mention writing...heh, I guess we do have a lot in common no? Maybe we could even be heroes together? It'd be nice to do that kind of stuff with a friend." He said, grinning a bit as he looked up at the simulated night sky above their heads.
"I think I'd like that." She said with a grin of her own as she thought about it. Having someone to go on adventures with would be absolutely delightful. As much as her imagined career path would involve and indeed necessitate going alone into forbidden, unexplored, or dangerous places, the idea of spending her whole life without company was far from appealing to her. Solitude was not at all what she had in mind for the entirety of her life. She just needed someone she could entrust to be at her side and not have to worry about the safety of.
However, he wasn't just going to vent to her, she needed some attention too. "But you and Mother Brain. Why doesn't she like you? What did she do to upset you? Besides being well...a cold rationalist who doesn't get feelings?" He also, was not the sort of person to start pointing fingers at those who had suffered over those who had caused suffering.
She was slightly caught off guard, not expecting him to offer his own support to her, but appreciating it all the same as he turned his head to look her in the eyes and turned his lips upwards into a reassuring smile. If she spoke, he would listen.
"Honestly, I think she's just angry that she's not the only one who's going to inherit the Chozo's legacy. Plus, she likes to be in control of everything and I don't think it's very healthy to seek to be that. Especially on your own. Society's about togetherness and cooperation, not overlords and competition. Competing should be for fun, not to survive or be comfortable. Like...it's nice on Zebes because people help each other be who they want to be. Nobody's alone, but Mother Brain wants to do everything herself." She said with a smile on her face. Thankful for the chance to get to let some things off her chest to someone she felt that she could safely confide in. Someone whom Mother Brain wasn't monitoring.
"You know, I've started to read more of the stuff my parents wrote. I think you'd like what they had to say about what society should be like, it's a lot like what you say." He said, pulling out the holotext co-authored by his parents titled "The needs of Transformative Society". He had found solace in finding a connection with his birth parents; posthumous though it may be; through their writings. It made him feel like he understood them a bit more, though it also made the anguish of not having them here with him all the deeper. His eyes lit up as Samus took the texts in hand and started flicking through them with keen eyed interest, her genius mind devouring the information at incredible speed. Her fascination with his parents' writings could give the two so much to talk about in the future.
Before she'd properly begin her reading, Samus looked at the names of the authors of the text and her heart sank as she realised that her own birth parents never really had anything to leave behind for her to go through the way his did. They had journals and logs written down yes, service records and writings of them that the Chozo had scrounged up. But obviously engineering treastises weren't quite the same as political musings. With how early her parents died in her life, their presence within it was minimal. They were more ideals to be aspired to than people with a real presence in her life, scarcely even memories at this point. It made her feel a certain melancholy, like there was a hole in her life.
He sensed something amiss and decided to intercede. "Is something wrong? Did I say something I shouldn't have?" He said, concern apparent before realization dawned shortly after. "Your parents didn't leave that much behind did they?" He said, working on the distant sight's guidance and the two's undeveloped psychic gift to guide him to what to say. Maybe in the future he'd learn how to talk to people without these crutches, but they were an invaluable tool in the meantime. And from her, he sensed that he was on the right track.
A sad smile flashed across her face as she fidgeted slightly with her fingers. "No. I don't really know them all that well. They died before I could have any solid memories of them. It's hard, because I like to think they were wonderful people but...it's almost like I never really met them?" She said with a long, tired sounding exhalation. "So I asked my family to find anything they could about them, so it'll be more like they're still here. But sometimes I feel like all that does is make me wish I had them so I could actually see them." Her blue eyes then fixated on him and her head tilted slowly to the side. "I can feel a lot of the same coming from you. Wanting to know where you came from, but never really being able to know yeah?" She said, her smile becoming more empathetic.
He nodded in understanding as he snaked a hand somewhat closer to her, a gesture which she reciprocated. "I...yes. I was three when they died. I watched them split off from Spire's gunship when we were trying to leave Cylosis to fight a monster so we could get away. But other than that it's all just...fragments." He said, his voice wavering somewhat but ultimately he was determined to push through it. "Elmorni, Ygrak, Mortirk...they insisted I know my birth parents, so I got all the records on them that they could pull. I've just...been constantly reading everything they wrote, I guess so I could feel like they raised me." He said, letting their fingers touch now. "But I also want to live now...in the present. Maybe if I do right in this life; they'll be proud when they look at me from the next. Like I'm sure yours are." He said, catching her by slight surprise as the two's cheeks started to turn red and their fingers interlocked.
The two stared into each other for a few moments, and a kiss was shared. Short, warm, but gentle and soft and a signal to speak of the small nothings of the universe for hours on end. What was said and done from there on that night was of little import to anyone but the two of them, but to them it was the sort of night that defined a decade.
Consolidated Logbook Entries
Individuals: Artificial Intelligences: Active: Biomechanical: Chojinzuko: Mother Brain (part 1)
The most sophisticated cerebrocomputer of her sort in the known universe, Mother Brain is the central command system for all that the Zebesian Chozo have wrought. Capable of instant real time communication and command over countless platforms over the hundred and fifty million light year radius of known space Mother Brain's influence reaches far. Through her psionics she controls the life forms of all of Zebes and other outposts of the Zebesian faction of Chozo to ensure they conform exactly to their designs. She regulates the weather of these many planets carefully seeded and engineered by the likes of Re-Sekh over the course of tens of thousands of years, and monitors all the machinery built on them as if they were a vast body. The full extent to which her control reaches across the universe is unknown, but the facility in Tourian is less than a tiny fraction of her capacity and capabilities. Her knowledge of Chozo lore; while not fully complete due to the fracturing of late era Chozo society; is immeasurable in value. Her computational power is largely regarded as fruitless to measure, and her cognitive abilities are similarly impressive. However, the very way she interacts with the rest of existence has shaped her worldview in a perhaps negative way. She primarily views other beings as things to either control or destroy if they are unable to be guided along her pathways.
Arne's Notes:
She's one of the creepiest, most unsettling and unpleasant things I've ever met. I legitimately have no desire to engage her in any sort of conversation if I can help it and honestly really wish she could just go away. I really hope Samus is safe with her, I have a terrible feeling about her.
Samus' Notes:
I don't think I've ever really gotten along with her at any point in my life. Every time we speak it's because she's not happy with me for some reason and to be entirely honest, she's gotten nastier as time goes on. Honestly though, I'm tired of trying to make peace with her if she never even lets me try.
Individuals: Organic: Active: Military: Officers: Alimbic: Knight-General: Zurvduat (part 1)
The highest ranking currently active Alimbic, Zurvduat is the Knight-General in command of the forces aboard the Tetrarch Order Far Roaming Battlecruiser "Caesarian Lance". Zurvduat had a highly successful career that stretched throughout the Order and the Milieu's long and bitter cold war and is often known as "the Hundred Thousand General" for decisively participating in the subjugation of over a hundred thousand inhabited planets into the Order over the course of fifty thousand years of military service. Remaining at his rank due to refusing promotion to higher status out of a belief that his talents were best reserved for lower level command, Zurvduat would go onto make many treastises on the art of war and the prosecution of the art of conquest, with much of his work becoming required reading for Order military hopefuls. Regarded as a firm but fair taskmaster and a believer in the necessity of constantly expanding the Order, Zurvduat is to some a guiding force of civilization and to others a dogged and relentless imperialist.
Arne's Notes:
I try so hard to please him every day. But any time he shows appreciation it's always temporary. I make some other mistake later and it's back to the beginning with him. I feel trapped and I'm not sure if I can just keep doing this forever. Why can't he love me back after everything I've tried to do for him?
Samus' Notes:
If he doesn't learn to appreciate what he has I'm going to make it my mission to make sure he learns to do so the hard way. His own son is terrified of him and that's just not something I can accept. I'm just hoping there's some way to replace him as leader of the remaining Alimbics.
Individuals: Organic: Active: Civilian: Scientists: Chozo: Re-Sekh (part 1)
Also known as Old Bird, Re-Sekh is one of the oldest remaining Chozo to have yet to depart from the material universe at more than a hundred and sixty thousand Earth years of age. Known to be a kindly and gentle soul and a veteran of the Sophont Commonwealth's conflict with its greatest ever foe, Re-Sekh has elected to stay behind as most of the Chozo retire from the cosmos for one reason or another so that he may help guide younger societies towards better paths. Re-Sekh is well regarded as a scientist, philosopher, and mystic with accolades stretching across milennia of time and having catalogued and interacted with countless thousands of worlds and cultures. The universe was bright and full of wonders to him, and he was recorded as deeply enjoying contact and interaction with all things new and foreign. He had many children over the years, and had adopted and raised a great many orphans he had come across in his thousands of years of life. Even at his current age however, he has decided to adopt one last child; Samus Aran, in the hopes of making amends for not being there to protect K-2L from the Confederacy's unprovoked attack on the mining colony.
Arne's Notes:
He's really nice and I hope I can get to know him more soon. He's always got some wisdom to say and he's just...I feel almost as if he's kind of everyone's grandpa really? I'd really like to meet with him more when I've got the time. I almost wish he was my dad sometimes.
Samus' Notes:
Papa's the best! He takes me to all the most interesting places and has shown me all the best things! But he's always so supportive whenever I need something too. I hope I can always come back to him even when I'm ready to leave home. It'd be so much lonelier in the universe without papa.
Individuals: Organic: Active: Civilian: Scientists: Alimbic: Elmorni (part 1)
The oldest Alimbic aboard the Caesarian Lance, Elmorni has been alive for some one hundred and sixty thousand years and has had a distinguished record of scientific and mystic achievement throughout that period. A nurturing figure often controversial for her disagreements with the Tetrarch Order's approach to lower civilizations and activism to try and change their policies, she primarily studied the mystic practices of other societies as well as their biologies in an effort to better understand information that the mostly rationally minded Order may have overlooked. This lead to often years of in depth, long term study of many societies that is credited with giving her a more humble perspective regarding the Alimbic's role with other societies as well as lesser regard for the policies of Imperial peace. Her posting to the Caesarian Lance was not without its share of controversy, particularly to Zurvduat who resented having to collaborate with a Civilian Tetrarch so opposed to his typical tactics of conquest and pacification. However in the post-Order universe, Elmorni has more clout than she once did, and considers herself the primary caregiver for Arne Skjǫldr in the wake of the death of Cylosis.
Arne's Notes:
Mom's always been there to dry my tears and talk to me about whatever I need to. And it's because of her that I know as much about where I came from and who I am as I do. She means everything to me, and I can't thank her enough for everything she's done. I should get her something nice soon, Mother's day is coming up.
Samus' Notes:
She's probably my favourite of the Alimbics I've met so far in all honesty. It's a shame I haven't seen more of her yet, but I think I could really get to like her. Maybe she could even come to Zebes one day and we could talk about all the things we've seen? She must have seen so much excitement in all the time she's been alive.