Episode 23- You won't regret this!
"No one will stop me, not you or something, something? Princess, you don't want to become the same as our Imperator, do you?" The voices of Cerebrate and Overmind still were impossible to understand for Dobromir, but Kerrigan had this nice habit of talking with her mouth and mind at the same time.
Turning her head back, she asked with confusion on her face "What Imperator?"
"You don't know? There was the big message and Terran commanders repeating it over and over, like the time when…, ah wait you were in chrysalis that time. So what about… wait, still no, so maybe… huh, you really didn't have the chance." He stood and stroked his unfortunately naked chin, trying to remember all the times it was told.
Kerrigan fully turned around, and folded her hands just under her two mounds. "Just tell me already". She clearly was getting annoyed with all that unnecessary suspense.
"Mengsk, he is the newest Imperator of the brand new Dominion. Also, as a side note, Raynor officially became a Rebel."
"Don't compare me to Mengsk!"
"Then try with all your strength to not give me any chance to do so."
*Huff, huff* Her outburst was rather warranted and understandable. She tried to collect herself again, closing her eyes and massaging her scalp with one hand. "Wait, when did Jim become a rebel?"
"The question is obvious, don't you think?" After saying that he just stood there, silently waiting for her answer.
"What do you mean obvious, he left me die together with the rest! He was surely happy with getting rid of me, together with the rest!"
"Mhm, sound reasoning from a young princess hurt by the whole world, surely that's why he and the rest of the rebels are on Dominions target list. Think little brat, what's your heart telling you? Don't listen to brain, he is paranoid and tries to see a hole in everything "
Kerrigan puffed her cheeks from anger, but calmed down a little and tried to think it over. "If he became a rebel, he must have… no, he didn't!"
"Tried to save you? Well, it was already over for us, but it was the last straw. My ship had an amplifier connected to my earpiece so I heard all of the big arguments. Well, I was running like crazy trying to save you, but I remember it mostly."
Now Kerrigan's emotions took a big hit, it seems the whole revelation shook her quite a bit. She sat with knees close to her chin, and looked into the distance with unseeing eyes.
Dobromir let her mull things over for a while, until butting in with a sound proposition, "You can go all out during the whole information about ghosts thing".
"You know what? You are right, for once".
The feeling of being lost. Some just lost their way, others veered a little from the path. Mina, currently, was utterly lost, in more ways than one. First was the news about atomizing the Korhal, leaving her without any family and joining Mengsk. From a civil pilot to a military one, more or less. Then watching from the sidelines the arrival of Zerg, then Protoss, obliterating whole worlds. Things just started to look good, only for the Tarsonis to be wiped of Terrans too. The whole flight to her current location was a jumble of emotions, and she barely remembered anything, especially when the headache began. Then everything went hazy, like drunkenly walking through deep mist. Then the whole go into the forest, magic is real, psionic powers are a fresh concept, sea of stars, and go to another person in another place.
Currently, Mina was sitting not far from THE house of the de facto rulers of this planet, and just sat on the grass, keeping her knees close to her chin and staring into the distance. So many shocks in such a short time, it was simply too much for a poor girl. At last there, pretty much on the outskirts of civilization, everything was calm. The Sun shined gently, giving enough warmth to sit comfortably without sweating. The light breeze was swaying the grass and some wild wheat, creating a calming him. After so many intense moments, a lot of calm helped her immensely.
*Thud* "AHAHAHA!" *Thud* "OH YEAH!" *CRASH* "THAT'S MORE LIKE IT!", it was followed by curse said halfway through and a poor soldier being bowled over, as the six zergling charged forward dragging the infected carriage with its similarly affected passengers.
"You enjoy it more than I thought, princess!"
"There is nothing quite like chaotic destruction to bring mood up!" It was followed by more thuds, bangs, curses, destroyed doors and soldiers bowled over. This sight would bring a tear of pride to every crazies who saw it. It was simply magnificent.
"This will take even faster than the last time!"
The serenity of the moment was nice, the pilot girl decided to just lie down in the grass and close her eyes. A soft, yet pleasing aroma was blown in by the wind, bringing even more peace to the exhausted Mina.
The serenity was softly broken by the approaching presence of a person. It wasn't the sound of footfalls, because grass was all around and wind additionally dampened any sounds. She just felt someone with her, well, otherworldly senses.
"Hey there, pilot Mina, was it?" He was answered with an affirmative grunt, without changing the position or opening of eyes.
"O ho ho, hard day?" another affirmative grunt.
"Have you eaten anything yet?" negative grunt.
"Seeing as you are tired enough to not care about anything, I will just bring you some food,just don't wander too far."
He didn't need to worry, Mina wasn't going anywhere anytime soon.
"Anyway, why do you call me princess all the time?" The two were sitting inside an overlord, which was taking them back after completing the mission in ten minutes flat. The carriage was with them, badly beaten but slowly regenerating, and the zerglings in another overlord.
"Well, Overmind is like a king, ruling over Celebrates, the Dukes or Barons or something similar, with the rest of the zerg as feudal slaves. You, Kerrigan, are King's daughter i.e the princess."
"How did that idea come to your mind?" Sarah put the 'what are you raving on about?'.
"Currently, you are the second most important in the whole Swarm, right after the Overmind. You are new to everything, you are following your own ideas, the King's loyal servants must also serve you."
"That's it? Some weird fantasy of a loon?"
"Also, Ovemind called you daughter and you didn't refuse."
Kerrigan was stunned because Dobromir can't hear what the other zerg leaders are saying, "So how did you…"
"Maybe everything they say is mostly jumbled and unhearable for me, but this I heard the loudest and clearest, my daughter. By the way, the leader of the dreadful swarm being the greatest parent you ever had, isn't THAT wild?" He was waving his hands around, wildly gesticulating while speaking. It added to the narrative certain pizazz.
"I, uhh… I guess you are right." She said that with a hung head. During the ghost program her mind was completely wiped of her memories, including her life before being made to join. In the ghost academy itself she had only stern and brutal instructors, indifferent scientists and her fellow victims, who suffered the same or even worse. She raised her head, looking at her companion. The only ray of sunshine, however brief, was… "You, it was you!"
"I'm not a telepath, I can't read minds, so please speak clearly, princess".
"My first good memory was of you, when you barged suddenly into my room and called me stinky! It was so embarrassing but it is also the first pleasant thing that I can remember! You were my first ray of sunshine!" Immediately after saying this, her pupils turned to tiny dots and she immediately turned her face away.
"Ho, ho, ho, so it's like that huh?"
Kerrigan's face flushed, proving that zerg physiology couldn't entirely rid of Terran's signs of embarrassment. On the other hand, her face was already darker, so maybe weaker blushes wouldn't really be noticed.
"To think that I, simple and ordinary yet exquisite and very special, would be that important for someone of your Importance! And to think, it got delivered with such a cheesy line. Ah… simply marvelous."
Kerrigan completely turned away and hid her face in utter embarrassment between her hands. She hoped the memory of this moment would magically go away. Unfortunately for her, Dobromir's magic belonged in a completely different field altogether.
The gentle breeze, the softly shining light, gentle swishing fo grass and-
"Here you go, a pizza with five different vegetable toppings, extra large."
She cracked one eye open, then the other, and slowly raised to a sitting position. The leader of the colony before her had a big box, with heavenly smell wafting from it. She really was too tired to care about the status, so she just thanked with a node of her head, took the box and started eating like the starved person she was.
The man just stood observing for half a minute, until deciding to walk away. "If you need anything, you can go to my home and just ask, you deserve it. If you want to sleep in the open, the weather is warm enough, and night doesn't tend to go too cold so everything should be alright."
Mina just nodded between wolfing down the heavenly food down her mouth. There is nothing quite like good food to calm the nerves. Not long after, Mina would lay upon the grass again and this time, she would fall asleep, a half a day and a whole night passing.