Chapter 13: Across a Land Bare and Dark

A moonless night was not uncommon for the Belobogian living in the Overworld, with the harsh environment of Jarilo-VI the normal weather itself was always cloudy and gloomy. Unobscured sunlight was a rarity, a far and between occurrence that happened only at times in weeks. Once, the planet had summers but now the hottest of days were barely reaching a few degrees higher than the normal days.

The cold wind howled at the darkness in stead of the long extinct wolf species native to the land, few if no records about them were available at all for the children to learn. In the past, Belobog was a symbol of hope and fortitude, the willingness of humanity to win and persevere against the tidal wave of outer world invaders, but nowadays the city had decayed and deteriorated past glory became nothing but a secondary concern.

Its citizens were accustomed to it. Living in the dark night and bitter cold. It was a part of their lives, their normalcy, yet something felt different that one particular night.

The whispers of the wind was disquieting, slithering through buildings and walls alike like an elongating vines of poison ivy, carrying with them a silent promise of a warning in its deceitful, gentle caress; anyone who dared to mingle would know the consequences for it was not compassion that filled the air but disdain.

Disdain of a woman who was so utterly disappointed.

Shadows dominated the room, blanketing the room in the blackness of abyss but she felt no fear for her eyes had been gifted with the power to saw through it. It made sense for the force of darkness to rule over the dark itself. After all, it needed its monsters to stare at their victims in the face before they jumped and maimed them apart.

That's right. She thought to herself, watching the door open before a figure entered through it. The only monster here is me.

She looked at her victim up and down, what little light coming from the hallway providing the unnecessary assistance but was welcomed no less. Despite herself, she couldn't deny the sweet warmth blooming in her chest at the sight, though it was easily suppressed by years of training.

Still, the sight of a woman who undeniably gave her a second chance to happiness brought back pictures of idyllic past long gone but not forgotten, moreso when she looked to be on her prime compared to her actual foster mother rotting in prison in her own world. Her Matushka had never looked so young anymore with stress lines and depressive frowns ravaging her beauty until nothing was left. Nothing but an empty hollowness in her once radiant eyes.

When she was still in the orphanage, scared and wary like a feral kitten brought onto a new environment, it was her that reached out her hand to her first, unheeding the fact that she had tried to take her life in the endless snow. For her, it was just another job and if she was honest, she would've never thought that she would receive a new life and path towards happiness.

It was funny. Her mother was the reason she met her beloved and it seemed it was also true in this world, in a twisted way. Had she never ordered the arrest of her friends, her counterpart would've never chased after them and met Seele in the Underworld, opening an intertwined destiny that bounded across the stars and galaxies. Fate, as it was, had an odd way to reunite the soul and its armor.

She was pulled out of her thought when the door clicked shut, blinking she then focused back to matter at hands. Without a warning, she turned on the small study lamp on the desk before her, making her victim jump in surprise at the noise and sudden explosion of light.

Cocolia stared at her with wide eyes and Bronya returned her gaze with her pair of cold silver, though she knew all Cocolia could see was the blinding light and her glowing eyes due to her deliberately pointing the light ahead of her. The Supreme Guardian reached for her dagger in her dress and held it in defensive grip.

"Who are you?! What are you doing in my personal chamber?!"

Cocolia looked terrified and angry like a cornered animal. Bronya took no pleasure in seeing her like that but she didn't feel sorry either. She watched as the woman who wore her mother's face slowly inched back towards the door and opened it, ready to dash and warn her personal guards stationed in the outside of her room about the intruder sitting on her study.

Bronya did not allow that.

She tapped into her Truth power, transforming the interior material of the walls and door into thick, soundproof metal. Cocolia twisted the knob and pulled but the door was now quite literally glued with the wall, effectively trapping her inside her own room.

All the while the guards were being utterly oblivious.

"It's no use." Bronya stood up, still watching Cocolia who tensed up the moment she spoke. She rounded the table and stood before the light, casting a shadow upon the woman. "You cannot go."

"Bronya? You're back?" Cocolia began, shocked, before it turned into indignation. "What's the meaning of this? Why didn't you report back to your post?"

Bronya kept a rapt attention to the dagger still in Cocolia's hand. Although lowered, it's still in her grip. The implication didn't lose on Bronya.

"You don't even trust her, do you?" She asked, crossing her arms and sitting on the edge of the table. "But it's not always like that, is it?"

"Who are you talking about?"

"It doesn't matter," Bronya sighed, her stoic silver eyes turning sharp as she regarded the woman again. Contempt and disappointment filled her gaze but they were not directed at Cocolia particularly. "What matters is you."

"Me...? Bronya, what are you—"

Bronya raised a hand up and Cocolia immediately fell silent, tensing up as her grip tighten around her dagger. "I shall talk and you will listen." She stepped forward, nearly entering Cocolia's personal bubble, and narrowed her silver eyes. "I am so, so disappointed on you."

Cocolia frowned in confusion. "Is this about my earlier order?"

"No, I have no knowledge about it whatsoever."

"But how could you not—"

"I told you I'm not her." Bronya's expression hardened. "Look closer."

Cocolia did as told. Looking Bronya up and down with a frown until, as Bronya predicted, it clicked on place. Almost in an instant, Cocolia had her dagger up and swung it to Bronya, intending to stab her in the neck as it was the most efficient way with their current position.

She did it with a practiced ease of a military woman, swift and fast and effective. To normal person, it would've been a successful surprise attack but Bronya saw it coming from miles away.

Bronya caught Cocolia's hand, pivoted on her feet and kicked Cocolia in the back of her right knee to force her down onto the table. Cocolia grunted in pain as her head was slammed onto the wooden surface with a loud thud, the sound of the impact muffled by the modified walls to the outside world. Bronya wrenched the dagger off of her grip and brought both Cocolia's hands together behind her, twisting them to the point it was almost painful.

"You're an imposter!" Cocolia hissed amidst her daze, raising her head only for Bronya to push it back against the table with her left hand. Her right hand kept Cocolia's own together until she created a pair of handcuffs to lock them in place instead. "What have you done to Bronya?!"

Bronya gazed at the woman with near cold indifference. Bending against the table with her face pressed on the table. She didn't want it to come to this but Bronya knew it would, regardless her wish. "I'm here to talk," Bronya told Cocolia with a level tone. "If I wanted to kill you, I could've done it differently but I didn't want to do you any harm. You forced me to this, just like you always did."

"Where's my daughter?!"

"She's fine. She's on her way to meet you and will be here soon," Bronya told her as she put the dagger down on the table right beside Cocolia's face who looked at it intently. "Now, this could've been an easy conversation had you not been such a rash woman but that was to be expected. Especially from you."

Cocolia gritted her teeth. "I am the Supreme Guardian. I don't know who you are but I will find and punish you accordingly for what you do to me right now. You are trespassing a state owned building and assaulting a government official, an attempt on my life."

"Did I not tell you? If I wanted you dead, you would be already. I could get close and personal or far and away you would never see it coming, but I'm here for a talk." Bronya released her hold and Cocolia slowly straightened up, glaring at Bronya all the while as she circled the table and sat back down on the chair of Cocolia's study. "Now, let's cut the chase because we don't have much time. The last thing we want is for your daughter to walk on you when you're like this. That would be terrible, no?"

Cocolia's grounded her jaw at the blatant humiliation but kept her mouth shut, earning a pleased hum from Bronya.

"Fine, you have my attention."

Bronya smiled, not kindly but not hostile either. If anything, it lacked all the emotions necessary for such action. There was no warmth to be found nor comfort, just a silent blow of the wind before a blizzard came and ravaged a land where it then forever lost under the blanket of an impenetrable plain white snow.

The bitter stoicism was not something she loved to have. It was a disability that she slowly overcame throughout the years. She had troubles expressing her emotions to her loved ones and those strangers around her, not just once drawing an odd look from the ignorances. But times like this was the one time Bronya actually was grateful for it as it masked her deepest feelings very well from the woman who, ironically, indirectly crippled her in the bygone past and impaired her for life.

Her incapability to show something, anything, was both a practiced skill and an outcome of her predicaments, though right now Bronya applied the former more than the latter as she kept her cold silver on the woman before her. A lot of times it was a normalcy, a default in her routine, but when her emotions were in rampage they might slip and reveal themselves to the world regardless to her will. She had only ever cried a handful of times since her brain was damaged, before she somewhat repaired it with her Herrscher power, and Bronya could remember two instances very clearly amongst the few.

The first time was when she finally got Seele back from the Sea of Quanta, right when the quiet finally settled after a full day of laughter and wonderful memories shared on the beach with her other orphanage sisters. Bronya didn't even know how or why, but she remembered the tears that flowed freely that night when years worth of longing, anxiety, sadness, anger, self-loathing and loneliness were finally scrubbed free off her soul with one wash of relief. Relieved that Seele was home with her and not trapped in an ambiguous plane between existence. She had cried herself to sleep only to wake up with a pair of warm arms around her body and a head of purple hair filling her vision, at one point in the night Seele had sneaked into her bed when she was tossing and sobbing in her slumber to offer her comfort. To this day it was still one of her most precious memories, a comfort to her soul whenever she recalled the groggy smile Seele gave her after how many minutes she spent staring at her ethereal beauty.

The second time Bronya cried it was for the sake of her best friend when they had to separate for the first time on the Moon. Kiana and Mei were her closest friends, closer than anyone else she had been friends with. They were like sisters to her, sisters she never had by blood. Their relationships were forged by blood and tears, shared in both battlefield and home. They had laughed, they had cried and they had burdened each other with the weight of the world around their necks and shoulders. They found solace in each other and that would never change.

It took time for them to fix the Stargate on the Moon, time they had to spend apart. When Bronya thought of a life without Kiana, every stupid actions and decisions the Kaslana had taken in the past suddenly flooded the forefront of her mind. Oddly enough, instead of feeling annoyed or upset about the times Kiana pranked her, a gap formed in her heart with the realization that they would never experience them again in life and with it came the tears.

"It was just 2 years, 3 at worst," Tesla had tried to comfort them after they broke the news to them. Back then, it sounded so short and simple because how long 3 years could be? Turned out, when someone had been a huge part of your life, those 3 years might as well be a lifetime.

Bronya fared a little better than Mei, though. She had Seele with her unlike Mei who lost her beloved. They had promised to stay in touch, to game at nights when they had the time but Mei aspired to be a teacher, a profession she took seriously and thus had little time to spare even at nights where she would drown herself in knowledge until it snapped badly for her.

Frankly, Bronya was terrible at comforting others. That was a job Seele great at, which thankfully she could take when Mei stumbled upon their apartment one particular night looking like an absolute mess. It was their second year without Kiana and Mei decided to bite the bullet and drink senseless for the first time.

They spent the night huddling close to Mei with Bronya on one shoulder and Seele on the other, listening and offering words to the distraught woman as best they could. Bronya didn't quite cry but she did go glossy eye, feeling what Mei was feeling in her own heart.

When morning came, Bronya called Mei's institute and told them she wouldn't be attending lessons for the day and informed Welt to take over their company for her. Afterwards, they called Kiana and spent the day doing nothing but talk until the sun settled over the horizon.

Sadness, however, was a feeling she could easily associate to one person; her Matushka. While she didn't cry, the pitiful state her foster mother was in did make her feel sorry for her. She couldn't hate her for what she did and she was alright with her inability to think negatively of her. That, perhaps, was the reason why she felt the way she did about her mother. Visiting her was a torture to Bronya because every time she saw the malnourished form of her mother, she would always be reminded of her powerlessness to help her. The stress had gotten on her and it robbed her of her beauty, leaving nothing but a shell of a woman she knew behind.

Bronya had hoped that Seele would agree to talk to her one day before it was too late for them. Amongst other Cocolia's children, she was the only one who refused to visit her regularly. Bronya couldn't blame her refusal, though.

Seele was sweet, loving and kind. A quality that made up her character. Bronya loved her for that. But it was also the reason why she couldn't bring herself to talk to Cocolia. Seele blamed herself for what happened to their mother, a feeling shared between the two. As far as Bronya knew, Cocolia never stopped blaming herself for having Seele torn away like that.

They understood the necessity of the X-10 experiment so there was never an evil at play, only desperation and hope. Hope for them to find a light in their darkest hours. They just accidentally burned themselves in the fire when seeking it.

The silence stretched for a long time to the point Cocolia became unnerved. Bronya was not moving, still holding that smile only this time she hadn't moved a muscle. Still as a statue carved of a smooth, pale stone.

Finally, Bronya blinked and the smile disappeared. "Much obliged." She straightened up on the chair, fingers interlocking together on the table. A stance she adapted from her time as the CEO of the Reason Studio, one she would use whenever she wanted to talk about a serious matter to her employees and business partners. "Now, let's begin."

While a snow storm raged on in the Overworld of Belobog, a heart melting scene was happening in a nondescript alleyway as soft giggles and coos reverberated between the walls of the buildings, unheeding to the coldness outside.

A pair of sparkling golden eyes glowed in the darkness, their crossed irises set on the ball of fluff twisting and stretching on the ground as their owner grinned from ears to ears. Sirin petted and combed the stray cat before her happily with her fingers, a notion the animal shared as it continued to play along with her.

It nibbled and swiped on her hand, causing a slight twinge of pain to flare up the appendage but Sirin knew it was just being playful because it refrained from drawing blood. "Aren't you cute?" She mused out loud as she scratched it between the ears, earning a content purr as a return. "Oh, you are!"

"You really like cats, huh?"

"Of course I do! They're cute and so squeezable! Hey, what if we bring one back home? Can we?"

"Eh, we can. I just don't think Himeko will allow it. It's a dangerous journey, after all."

A huff. "What about Mei? I'm sure she will allow it."

"Mei is a guest just like we and Bronya. We can't impose."

Sirin pouted, scooping the cat up onto her arms and hugging it close. It played with a strand of white hair on her face, melting away her displeasure into another fit of giggles. "I suppose this is fine, too."

"We have Stan back home already."

"Stan is too cheeky. I don't like him."

Kiana laughed, the sound reverberating in the deep recess of her mind. She watched cross-legged on the plain white bed her mind conjured for her as Sirin continued to play with the cat, rocking it back and forth while mumbling nothing to it. It was a strange view to see everything happening through what basically was a screen but not something Kiana was unfamiliar with.

Since she learned how to relinquish control to Sirin, she had been watching everything through this screen whenever she did so. Sometimes while munching on food that wasn't really a thing as it was just a simple imitation of the real deal. Kiana didn't mind giving Sirin control every once in a while. She hated it even more to keep her other half locked in her own head. Most of the time Sirin was in this position doing nothing but watch with Kiana at the helm and Kiana knew how boring it could get.

It had been a while since she gave Sirin control so Kiana decided to give her now when they waited for Bronya to return from her personal business with Cocolia.

Although Sirin controlled the body, Kiana could take over any given time unlike before when she struggled against the Herrscher of The Void. She was the ultimate ruler of her soul and body with Sirin being the passenger in their little ride that was life.

Of course she would never do that. Unless during emergencies, Kiana would allow Sirin to have control as long as she wished until the girl had enough for the day. Kiana was more than happy to sit back and watch every now and then because she wanted Sirin to be happy. She believed her other half deserved as much.

After all, she was the continuation of Sirin's will. Her desires for love and companions she couldn't have in her previous life. Kiana loved Sirin and she genuinely wanted her to be happy.

It went on like that for another ten or so minutes. Sirin playing with the cat while Kiana offered her some words of remarks as response. Good thing, however, never lasted and it had always been true to all of them.

The moment met an abrupt end when the air shimmered and distorted on the alleyway entrance. Both Sirin and the cat looking up to see Bronya appearing out of seemingly nothing. Her sudden appearance startling the cat which then jumped out of Sirin's arms and scampered away into the darkness further down the alley.

Bronya met Sirin's golden gaze and smiled. "Hello, Sirin."

"Bronya, you scared the cat away!" Sirin whined with a frown and Bronya adapted an apologetic look.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to," she told her, genuinely feeling bad. "Do you mean if I talk to Kiana?"

"Sure. I've had enough playing around, anyway." Sirin shrugged then and closed her eyes.

Bronya watched with a fond smile. She never thought that she would open up to Sirin who, supposedly, was the Herrscher of The Void after all the pain and sufferings she had caused her and her family. Sirin was the reason she was orphaned. Her actions in 2000 took both her mother and father from Bronya, granted she never really knew them for she wasn't born yet.

Yet, when Kiana revealed her existence to them she couldn't bring herself to hate her. Sirin might've caused her pain but she was also the one who opened this path to her. A path where she met her beloved and new family she could call her own. Mei said that often, that tragedy wasn't the end but the beginning of hope and Bronya's life was the proof of its trueness.

Along the time, she and Sirin grew close. Close enough for them to become friends. They spent nights playing games together, switching between Kiana and Sirin, and Bronya made sure to ease up with the latter whenever they competed.

When those eyes opened again, they were colored in sapphire blue instead of gold and Bronya immediately lost it. She squatted down and sobbed, hands over her face to cover her rapidly wetting eyes. Kiana was right over her immediately, wrapping her arms around Bronya to comfort her.

"I've got you... It's okay, I've got you."

They stayed like that for a few minutes. Not once Kiana asked her the question because she knew the answer already. Bronya used all her training to will her emotions back under control.

She put her hand on Kiana's shoulder and squeezed, a silent gesture for Kiana to release her. The Kaslana gave one last squeeze before she retreated back, still keeping her own hands on Bronya's arms.

"Sorry," Bronya apologized, wiping the last of tears from her face. Soon, her expression returned to its usual stoic without a strand of hair out of place. "We should return."

She stood up and Kiana nodded, standing up too. "Did it work?"

Your talk with Cocolia?

"No."

Kiana nodded again, staring past Bronya towards Belobog's Administrative District. "You knew it wouldn't."

"Yes, I did."

"Then why trying? Despite knowing it'd only hurt you like this."

Bronya followed her gaze. In the distance, she could see a group of Silvermane Guards surrounding a certain white haired woman as she ascended Qlipoth Fort with measured and dignified steps before the blizzard swallowed them from view. "I felt compelled to warn her."

"You have the tendency to throw away everything around you so you can reach your goal to protect everyone you hold dear. You are contradicting yourself."

"I have burdens I must carry."

"And you are selfish for trying to carry them alone. Do you not realize it? That you are hurting the very people you want to protect?"

"Selfish? For carrying everything alone?"

"You don't have to be alone."

"Then who? Who can carry these burdens besides me? I refuse to subject my daughter or anyone else to them."

"But you already did. You just haven't realized it. I've seen this. I've seen you walk this same path towards damnation so heed my warning; you don't have much time left in this. Soon, you will have to face your fate and it won't be pretty."

"Are you threatening me?"

"I thought we've long past pleasantries."

"You love her that much, huh? Your mother I mean," Kiana said softly and Bronya blinked back to reality. "It wasn't an obligation that drove you to her here."

"I don't want her to suffer the same fate Matushka had," Bronya admitted to Kiana, opening her heart whole to one of few people she allowed herself to be vulnerable with. "She could still fix everything and be happy. It's not too late yet for her."

"But you couldn't," Kiana put her hand around Bronya's shoulders. "She didn't want to be saved and you knew it."

"Yeah. It doesn't make sense for me to even try."

"Love never makes sense."

Bronya smiled wryly. She knew as much but just because she knew didn't mean she understood. "We should return."

Bronya stepped off from the half hug Kiana gave her but not before she flashed Kiana a genuine smile full of gratitude. The Kaslana smiled back and nodded. "Alright, back to business I guess."

A golden portal emerged from nothing, its bright light banishing the shadow around them. Kiana's eyes flashed with the same color for a brief second before they returned to their original blue. She began to walk towards it, hands in her jacket pockets, and ready to enter when Bronya called her name.

"Kiana. What happened here... Can you keep it between us?"

Kiana glanced back and shrugged. "Sure thing. Your snotty face was funny to see and I want the view for myself, anyway."

"You're insufferable, you know that?"

Kiana laughed, waving her hand dismissively all the way until she disappeared into the portal. Bronya chuckled and followed her, not sparing a glance to behind her.

The Underworld was easily the worst of Belobog with poverty running rampant on every of its corners. Mei realized this, but she obviously knew so little about it still. A fact she so unceremoniously be reminded of the moment she stepped foot on Robot Settlement.

Boulder Town was the heart of the Underworld and, despite the slum it was, still leagues better compared to Robot Settlement. There was no building, no Geomarrow heater, and no steady supply line to support it thanks to its rocky terrain. People here lived in makeshift tents, owned by nobody in particular, cramped like a can of sardines to the brim. Firewoods were their only source of heat and they were forced to constantly burn the precious oxygen in the area so they could live in the harsh environment, trading their breath for the slightest bit of comfort upon their freezing muscles.

The state of the settlers was no better either. A lot of them was malnourished and sickly, the former from the lack of food supply and the latter from the shortage of medicine available. In Boulder Town, medicine was a rarity. Here it must be as rare as gold, or whatever this planet's equivalent of gold was.

Mei's heart clenched at the pitiful sight of men and women hunching close together to share what little warmth they could provide to each other.

She dropped the large sack on her back gently on the snowy ground and sighed, the noise it created drawing a few suspicious stares. Mei offered them a friendly smile, pulling the first item out of the sack.

It was a pack of biscuits.

"Everyone, please gather around! I have food to share!"

That was perhaps her first mistake.

All hell set loose as she suddenly found herself surrounded by starving vagrants who immediately rummaged through the sack, pushing each other away and taking in the various foodstuffs inside the sack before running away with their heist. Mei tried her best to direct them but she was just one woman against tens of hungry people so it was easy for her to get overwhelmed.

Order was an odd thing in this part of the Underworld and Mei failed to acknowledge that. Even so, she refused to use force to tell them off. She understood that they meant no bad thing, that they were as much as a victim as they were the aggressor.

Natasha told them that these people came from the now lost districts of the Underworld. Their home was lost and their family was gone. They had nowhere to go so they made an encampment in Robot Settlement where safety could be found under the protection of Svarog and his robot army.

The sack was emptied not even a minute after Mei put it down, some looked and tugged at it expecting something, anything, to fall off for them only to be met with dismay when they realized nothing was left. Mei grimaced and shook her head apologetically.

"I'm afraid that was all."

They nodded dejectedly and dispersed, forced to go another day without anything to eat. Except for one pair of kids who still had hopeful look on their faces.

Mei's hand clenched gently around the pack of biscuits she still had on her and offered her free one to the kids, a girl and a boy who looked a little less to their teen with the boy being the older one, at least by a few years.

"Come with me," Mei told them, smiling, and they shared a glance. "I'll give you this."

The boy was wary but he took her hand anyway, his other one wrapped tightly around the girl's. "I'll do anything, just leave my sister out of this," he said resolutely.

"I'm not asking anything in return."

Mei dragged them to nearby fireplace, gesturing for them to sit around the burning blaze and giving the biscuits to them once they were comfortable. She watched with a mixture of sadness and fondness when the boy practically shoved a whole piece of biscuit into his sister's mouth.

"Eat, Lydia, quickly."

He did it again and again until his sister's mouth was full and she was having trouble swallowing. Mei wordlessly passed them her water bottle.

"Thanks," mumbled the boy quietly and Mei nodded.

"You should eat, too." Mei told her, stealing a glance at the now a quarter full pack.

"She's first. She's more important."

"You can't protect her if you don't eat." That roused the boy from his seemingly mindless stupor. He glanced up and met Mei's eyes, seemingly pondering on something until his sister gripped his side and tugged on his clothes.

He turned to see her pleading eyes and sighed in defeat. "Okay, I'll eat."

She smiled and Mei mirrored the action. He took one measured bite and munched slowly, offering the other half to his sister who shook her head in refusal.

"What's your name?" Mei asked them both.

"I'm Kurt, this is my sister Lydia."

"My name is Mei. Nice to meet you."

Kurt nodded. "Thank you for the food, and sorry for being cautious."

"It's okay," Mei said, making sure her tone was soft. "It's understandable for you both to be cautious."

"I don't think I've seen you before, Miss Mei."

"I'm not from around here."

"Here?" Kurt asked, intrigued. "What do you mean? Are you from the Overworld?"

"No," Mei smiled. "My home is very far away."

"Oh, are you a traveller?"

"You can say that."

"So, not a soldier or anything like that?"

His eyes found Seven Thunders and Mei glanced down to it. She could hear Thunder snorting in amusement in her head but decided to ignore her.

"Sharp kid."

He recognizes a possible threat.

"He's prodding your character to determine your intention. He doesn't trust you."

Which is entirely justified and understandable.

"I'm a teacher," Mei answered instead. "I teach children how to read, count and fight."

The boy was silent for a moment afterwards, obviously not expecting the answer. Mei waited patiently for him to sort his thought. "Oh, I see..."

Mei's eyes widened when the girl started to make deliberate gestures with her hands to her brother, smile vanishing.

"My sister asked if you miss your home."

It took Mei a moment to answer. "No, but I imagine I will one day. My wife and best friend are with me so I don't really feel lonely," she paused and bit her lip. "I'm sorry, is your sister...?"

"She's mute," he said plainly and the girl smiled to Mei, an action that sent a painful throb to Mei's heart. "Our parents they... When my mother was pregnant with her, we were forced to leave our house and come here. They said the bad air caused some complications on her pregnancy."

"Where are they now?"

"Dead," Kurt said bitterly. "Mother died when she gave birth to Lydia and father killed himself out of grief not long after. Useless bastard. The only positive of it is he did it when I was old enough so I could look after my sister."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't," he snapped angrily, glaring at Mei until his sister put her hand around his arm. Kurt took one shaky breath to steady himself. "Lydia is all I have left."

"... You really love her, huh?"

"She's my everything, the only one I trust because I know she'll never betray me. Even if she did one day, I wouldn't mind it. I don't matter, she does."

Through it all his sister had been glaring at him with teary eyes, pulling on his hand and shaking her head vigorously. Mei watched it all with a poignant smile. "That is very commendable of you, a noble cause if I had to say," Mei complimented honestly because she meant every word. But... "But that only makes you a terrible brother."

His head snapped up towards her, the glare returning but this time it was also filled with confusion. "What do you know about abandonment and betrayal?" he hissed through gritted teeth. "What do you know about it? Have you ever loved someone so much you feel like giving up the world for them?"

Mei only smiled. "I have." Her answer stunned the boy who could only stare at her in surprise. "I love her like I do nobody else. I was ready to sacrifice the world and myself because to me she was my only world, my only important part, and the world meant nothing without her regardless. She had this tendency to throw herself into danger and I had to pretend it was okay to see her sacrifice herself again and again for everyone. That was my first mistake, I think."

She continued. "It was painful. That form of selflessness is a form of selfishness in itself. You see, when you love someone, you must understand that you are also loved by that someone. That you are also precious to them. Love goes both ways, that's a lesson she and I learned the hard way, and I wish you to not go through said way. Your sister loves you as much as you love her. She doesn't want you to sacrifice yourself or all that. You are her world as much as she is yours."

Kurt had his eyes on her sister through Mei's speech, looking at her with newfound realization. In return, Lydia was also looking at him with her pointed brown eyes, ones she shared with her brother. No words were exchanged between the siblings, one due to her inability to speak and the other was due to his lack of need for one. Silence was something he associated with his sister so he knew and understood what flowed beneath it just from looking at those glassy orbs.

"I'm sorry," he finally said, hugging Lydia in a tight embrace which she returned with a smile. "I'm sorry for not realizing it."

Lydia nodded on his shoulder, eyes flicking to Mei with a hint of gratitude in them. Mei simply smiled back and stood up, leaving both children to bask in the warmth the fireplace emitted.

Said warmth faded from her skin with each step away from its source but the one in her heart wouldn't dissipate any time soon.

When Natasha heard of their next trip to Robot Settlement, she immediately signed up to join her so she could treat the injured vagrants there. Mei told her of Clara's recollection and reason why she was looking for medicines in her old orphanage and being a doctor herself she found it necessary for her to take a look personally and assist however she could.

Natasha knew the terrible life quality the vagrants were forced to live in so she somewhat had an expectations on what to see. She told Mei that none of these people chose this life, that many of them were the victims of monster attacks in the lost districts. They had no family or relatives, a literal nowhere to go, so they converged here in Robot Settlement where a medicum of safety could be found.

Robot Settlement was that; a place where robots settled. It was formerly an underground mining district, some many centuries ago or so, when Belobog was still thriving. It had been abandoned long ago and due to the abundance of spare parts left a certain combat robot from the Old World had found it fit to call it home for the robots.

Automatons were a big part of Belobog. Many of them was created from the lost technology so not a lot was known about them. Their program, however, was to protect the humans so they served the people quite well. Natasha knew for a fact that the robots were almost impossible to fix due to the lack of knowledge and whatever maintenance the mechanics did was mostly rudimentary at best. One girl in particular, however, had quite the extensive knowledge of it.

She knew Clara. She had been fascinated by her for quite a long time now. A girl in red hood who trekked the harsh environment of the Underworld bare foot to buy supplies in Boulder Town for the robots, sometimes without an escort. Clara was kind and soft spoken but above all, she was exceptionally mature for her age. She was naive, which was normal and good for a girl her age, but she also understood the adults and their way of thinking.

Clara's simple hope was to make everyone in the Underworld happy so she helped practically everyone as much as she could. Not once she saw her in local workshops working on a damaged automaton and not once Natasha stopped just to admire her.

She had this gaze in her ruby red eyes when was working, one she found in her own pair of red whenever she operated on a patient. A mixture of determination and confidence along with hope, that she willed it to work and the surety that it would all the while hoping it would, no matter the cost. In that, she and Natasha were truly a kindred spirit.

Clara was a good kid, there was no doubt about it. Which was why she knew no harm would befall Seele and the three teenagers as she assured Mei.

March, Stelle, Seele and Dan Heng went to talk with Svarog while she and Mei stayed back on vagrant encampment. Natasha so she could treat the injured vagrants while Mei acted as her escort, always subtly keeping an eye on her from the outside of the makeshift medical tent.

Despite what she said to Mei, that she wasn't a fighter and all that, Natasha was far from powerless. She had with her her trusty grenade launcher slung over her back along with her bag of medicine and equipment as a message for those who might be daring enough to attack her to stay away, a deterrence than a threat. She knew she had no use for it in such an enclosed environment but the message was what important.

Mei did gave her a look of disbelief when she saw the grenade launcher for the first time, probably surprised she had something like it despite her profession as a doctor, so it must mean something.

She just finished dressing up the burn wound of a vagrant woman in bandages when Mei entered the tent, her tall stature drawing more than just one pair of eyes. "How's it going?" She asked Natasha quietly.

"All good."

"No problem or trouble?"

"No."

Mei nodded, accepting the answer. "I don't know what Seele and the kids are talking with Svarog but it's been going on for a long time now."

"Are you worried about them?"

"Yes. I, um... I have a bad feeling about it."

Natasha smiled encouragingly. "Go on, then."

"What about you? I can't leave you alone."

"Yes you can. They said a soldier's gut feeling is rarely wrong so you definitely must go and check on them."

Mei chewed on her lower lip before she nodded in defeat. Sighing, she gave Natasha a nod of concession. "Alright, call me if you've got into trouble."

"I will. Don't worry about it."

Mei threw Natasha one last glance and exited the tent.

Shaking her head, Natasha had to suppress an amused chuckle from slipping out of her throat. It seemed that Mei and her other self had quite the friendship for her to worry about her well-being this much. Natasha appreciated the concern, she really did, but Mei didn't have to dot on her so extensively either. She could take care of herself and she doubted any of the vagrants would harm her, anyway.

Mei, on the other hand, was proven to be right.

Precisely half a minute after Mei was gone, a distant explosion rocked the area causing a commotion in the camp. Natasha hastily finished her work on a patient before she ran to the outside, eyes widening in shock when she realized that the explosion was coming from Svarog's place. Her thought was further halted when a flash of purple shot towards it at an impossible speed, sending snow flying in a trail of crackling electricity.

"Mei...?" She mumbled to nobody in particular. Natasha thought she saw Mei but she couldn't be sure.

Things went from bad to worse and to utterly unsalvageable for Seele and the three teenagers when Svarog suddenly declared their intention as harmful to the interest of the Underworlders. Their reasonings were denied and he accepted nothing of everything they proposed so now they had to fight him because they were a threat according to him.

It was terrible because it was entirely avoidable but alas.

Svarog was no pushover, either. The moment he declared them hostile, he quite literally vanished into thin air before reappearing right next to Seele. The scythe wielder barely had time to react before he suddenly punched her with the force of a speeding truck, sending Seele flying meters away onto a pile of empty crates. She was the biggest threat amongst them so she was prioritized as the first target to neutralize.

Not a second after Seele was punched, Svarog turned to Dan Heng, intending to do the same thing he did to Seele. Dan Heng, however, was more prepared so he easily side stepped out of the harm's way, using his spear for balance and his momentum to drive it to Svarog's back.

The sharp blade met his armored shell and bounced harmlessly, finding his counter useless Dan Heng then jumped back to rejoin Stelle and March who had their own weapons ready.

"March, freeze the joints. Stelle, you and me on the attack. Don't let up."

Both girls wordlessly nodded.

"Ready?"

"Yes."

"On your mark, March."

"Go!"

March let loose a whole bunch of quivers, each hitting Svarog directly on his motoric parts and freezing them. Dan Heng and Stelle went into action immediately, dashing ahead parallel to each other. Dan Heng thrusted his spear ahead of him, intending to hit Svarog on his chest plate, while Stelle gripped her bat on both hands and swung with all her strength.

Svarog's monocular eye zeroed in each of them, calculating at extreme speed, and finding the counter for their combined attack almost immediately.

He vented his reactor, the excess heat melting the ice surrounding his armored case, and charged ahead to meet both Dan Heng and Stelle who were now too far in their attack to back down.

Dan Heng's spear hit his chest first but instead of skewering through the metal plating, he simply angled his body to let it slide to his side. Surprised by the action, Dan Heng couldn't react in time when Svarog suddenly grabbed and threw him towards Stelle.

The impact was painful, the stop was even more so.

With the two vanguards taken care of, March was the only one left. She began to panic when Svarog's back opened up, showing rows of micro missiles which were all primed up and ready to fire. She wasn't stupid enough to not know what, or rather who, the target was.

"No no no no no," she began to chant in terror, shooting quivers after quivers with little to no effect. The cold projectiles failed to leave an effect, each shot hitting only to evaporate into mist on his hot frame that did nothing but to obscure and make him even more ominous with his glowing red eye the only thing visible.

That was until small fires erupted from his back, streaking high into the air before arching down towards March.

March's eyes widened and she began to book it.

She dashed away but the missiles kept track on her, closer and closer they came until all hope seemed to lost for the pinkette. March braced herself and closed her eyes, resigning to her fate, only to open them again when her breath was stolen from her chest by a sudden intervention.

Literally.

Seele crashed on her so fast March's feet was swept off under her, not long after the ground where she stood erupted into a brilliant explosion of gold and red. They both fell onto the ground with Seele on top of March, shielding her from the debris shower.

March was still catching her lost breath when she gasped in shock.

Seele's face was covered in blood, the crimson liquid trailing down her cheek before they fell down her chin onto the snowy floor in steady trickles, painting them red. There was a large gash above her right temple where she accidentally cut it on sharp wood during her crash earlier.

"You alright?" Seele asked March who nodded. The pinkette opened her mouth to point at her wound but Seele shook her head dismissively. "It's nothing serious, don't worry."

Seele stood up as she summoned her scythe. March, who was still sitting on the ground, yelped when its heavy blade landed on the ground with a loud thud. She watched, fascinated, when Seele's body started to flash with strange dark blue energy, buzzing and rippling like she was a mirage of a nonexistent sea.

A Fata Morgana.

"Svarog, I could tolerate you hitting me but them? They are outsiders, they don't have anything to do with this whole ordeal. They're here to help with no recompense whatsoever yet you intend to hurt them no less."

"Places of origin of the threats are irrelevant to the equations. They have concluded they will help in your plan, therefore they must understand the risks and consequences they will face."

"Equation this, equation that. Do you really not understand the value of emotions? I know you do because you care for Clara for fuck's sake."

Svarog's eye turned towards Clara who was being held by a small automaton. The girl was frantic, crying and wailing for them to stop fighting which cut a deep wound in all those who heard her.

"... irrelevant. Emotions are irrelevant for decision makings. Rational actions must be undertaken with the absence of emotions for the best of outcomes."

"Stupid fuck," Seele spat. "Fine, I'll put you down like the guard dog you are."

Her eyes bled red, a pair of sharp ruby as she tapped into that endless Sea. A soul skipping over the surface of a boundless plane of non-existence belonging to the order of the universe itself. Like a shadow, her form began to flicker under the light as she soaked herself more and more with Quantum energy.

Seele took a stance, repositioning her scythe behind her with its blade just over her head, its blade glinting an ominous silver to the world. Her scythe was death's instrument and she was the reaper coming to reap the souls of her enemies.

She shot forward. So fast all that left of her was a trail of purple butterflies fluttering in the wind, the incarnate of the Sea and its chaos manifest, all flowing freely out of her into the real space as she was the gate between life and death, the exist and non-exist, despite her ignorance to it.

Her speed picked up with each step until she was speeding in inhuman velocity, an experience that akin to surfing to Seele. To normal people, it would have been impossible to track but Svarog saw her coming although barely. His sensors detected the fluctuations of energy coming from her and his processors processed all the information provided at lightning speed before, eventually, he made a decision.

He charged ahead to meet her.

His steps were heavy with metallic clanking as he weighed almost a ton, servos and motors whirling in perfect unison with each flare of command from his synthetic brain. A serrated blade emerged from a compartment under his right wrist just in time as he pulled his punch, ready to deliver it to the approaching woman.

Their intentions set on defeating the other, at least until a shrill scream filled the air followed by a small figure dashing towards their paths. Seele's eyes widened in the midst of her charge, watching Clara throw herself right on her attack way helplessly as she was too fast to stop and too close already. All Seele could do was to shift her scythe so she wouldn't cut the girl in half, though with the speed she was moving in the momentum itself would injure the girl gravely.

"NO!"

Shit!

That was when thunder struck.

A blinding red lightning explode right next to Clara, the searing heat of the electric discharged by the emergence washed over Seele like a superheated air. She closed her eyes and flinched when she felt herself coming to a sudden stop, breath exiting her lungs in a wheeze.

She gingerly opened her eyes, seeing a strange, red mechanical arm holding her in place with her scythe's blade crumpled on its armored side, failed to dig through, and Mei

"Clara." A synthesized voice called out with great concern. Svarog had his bladed arm held in a grip by a similar mechanical arm. Clara didn't answer as Mei kept her in her embrace, the purple haired woman kneeling down so she had her protected by her bigger frame.

"It's okay," Mei whispered to Clara, tenderly rubbing her back. "Everything is going to be okay."

Clara was shivering uncontrollably from the sheer fear wrecking her body as she continued to sob and cry on Mei's chest. Mei simply held her close while whispering comforts for the girl.

"I don't know what started this, but I have a feeling that this could've been avoided," she said after a long while, finally looking up to Seele and Svarog. She released both of them and the glow in her eyes dimmed until they returned to their normal amethyst, the arms disappearing into nothing. "This was unnecessary."

Seele glared at Svarog. "You tell Tin Man over here that because he started it."

"It doesn't matter now," Mei told her as she scooped Clara up into her arms. "Go help the others and talk for real this time. Maybe we wouldn't have to hurt someone this time."

"Hey, guys. How the— fuck happened here?!"

Kiana emerged from her portal with Bronya close in toe only to see a sight of pure devastation, the latter rising an eyebrow in wonder.

"Oh, you missed all the fun," Stelle chimed in sarcastically before she groaned in pain, closing her eyes and hissing. She had a bag of snow pressed against the bump on her head as she sat on a boulder.

"Bro, did you run head first into a pole or something?"

"No, just Dan Heng's spear."

"What."

"His spear, Kiana. It flew and hit me in the head. I can still feel my brain bouncing around from the impact."

"No shit? I mean, how did that even happen?"

"Well, Robodad over there," Stelle gestured to Svarog with her thumb who was talking with Mei with Clara hugging his leg close, "saw it fit to beat our asses because he's a stubborn old boomer."

"What about Dan Heng?" Bronya asked worriedly. "And March?"

"Dan Heng is fine, he's helping Natasha treating March and Seele."

"What happened to March and Seele?" Bronya asked again, this time more urgently.

"March scraped her knees and Seele was bleeding—" Bronya moved to find them before Stelle could finish, she raised an eyebrow at Kiana. "—from accidentally cutting her forehead open. Is she always like that?"

Kiana shrugged. "With Seele? Yeap."

"Huh. I heard Seele is her girlfriend in your home world?"

"Yeah, she is. Wait, who told you?"

"March," Stelle answered flatly. "Word of advice, keep your secrets from that girl. She likes to gossip."

"Eh, it's not a secret anyway and I'm sure March meant no harm."

Stelle shrugged. "Just telling, take it however you want at your own risk."

Kiana chuckled at that. "So, what is Mei talking about with Svarog?"

"The Stellaron," Stelle said seriously. "He's a combat robot from the Old World, remember? Apparently, he has some information regarding it."

Kiana frowned at that. She was a little surprised when she heard who, or rather what Svarog was from Natasha a while ago. To think he's the one taking care of Clara... Well, I guess robots can have feelings, too.

"Whatever crumbs we can get to end this wild goose chase," Kiana muttered and Stelle snorted.

"Right. I just hope it doesn't mean more troubles for us."

TBC.

Guys, I know you are excited as much as I am about future character interactions but it's for the future lol so let's just wait until then, okay? This is a slow burn story so it might take a little bit of time until then.