"Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus."

Ferdinand I


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With more time on her hands than she could feasibly run out of, Elena found that she could waste only so much of it by watching her slender, clawed fingers twitch and twiddle, stuck in front of her as they were.

Instead, she had decided to devote some of her boundless free time towards a more productive end: teaching the medium of language to their last sister, who had yet to. What was most curious about her, other than her habit of running laps around the walls, was that she had been excluded from such knowledge, unlike the others, until now. Yet, once those floodgates had been opened, Elena was soon to learn why they'd been kept shut in the first place. This was also the cause for the current argument Elena found herself in with her more maternal sister.

Oh, for the love of- Did you really have to teach…her? Her sister emphasized the last word with an almost pleading disbelief.

How was I supposed to know? Elena responded defensively. She was the only one of us who didn't know how to by that point. I thought it was a bit cruel to keep her in the dark like that, so I didn't see any harm in teaching her. Elena would have crossed her arms and stuck her head to the air if she could. You should have told me instead of keeping me in the dark about it, too. If you ask me, this is for the best. She hasn't been too much of an issue.

Maybe not YOUR issue, but neither are you the one who's been subject to her constant gibbering rambling that starts and ends in exactly the same place: Nowhere! Elena could almost feel her sister shaking her head as she talked. We never taught her because she never cared to know, never wanted to. We tried, let me tell you, we did, but almost as soon as we made any progress, her mind would start chasing butterflies, and she wouldn't remember a thing. I don't know how you managed to get her to listen and learn, but it's given me quite the headache now that you have.

You don't have to be rude about it. She has the right to speak like the rest of us.

I'm not saying she doesn't! It's just that-Agh! Her sister seemed to give up. If only you could hear some of the nonsense that she subjects us to. Not only was it for you that she finally decided to sit down and listen to someone other than our…mother for once. Her sister stopped with a sigh but soon continued. But now she also leaves you alone after the matter and doesn't pester you with the fruits of your labor like the rest of us.

Well, what am I supposed to do about it now? I'm sorry, not really, but the deed is done - she knows, and we can't quite take it away now that she does. And either way, I'm sure she'll slow down eventually…maybe…hopefully? Elena sounded less and less sure about it with the grating annoyance she felt over the link and began to feel embarrassed as she went on, but her attention was slowly drawn elsewhere.

Wait. What's a butterfly? Elena suddenly asked.

Oh. Well, it's… Her sister stammered, searching her mind. Well…I've never actually seen one; only heard about them. But they're supposedly small flying insects that humans seem to find distracting if what I've heard is true.

Hmm. Elena loitered at the thought of them. I hope to see one someday. She said quietly, her mind chasing its own butterfly now. I hope we all do.

Yes, Elena. I hope we do… I can only hope that we do. They both sat in silence for a moment before her sister began again on a new note.

Have you been eating? She asked softly. Are you hungry?

Yes, I have. Elena answered after a moment, but her voice betrayed her as she spoke. What I have is enough. I'm not hungry.

Don't lie to me, Elena. Not about this. You know I can tell when you do.

I'm not! She exclaimed. I have been eating!

Not enough! Her sister's stern voice silenced Elena's outcry. You're hungry, I know, because we all are. What we get is already hardly enough for us, but you need more than us, more that you aren't getting! You may not care right now, and you may not believe we do, but we care, Elena!

I-I just can't… Elena whimpered. I'm sorry. I try, but I just can't. I want to throw up with every bite.

Ah, look at me. What a fool I've made of myself again. Her sister sighed. Please don't be sorry, it's not your fault. In no way could it be. I shouldn't have yelled. I'm just worried for you–for us all.

I know. I am, too.

Is this why it's hard for you to eat? Her sister asked.

Because I'm scared. She answered. I'm scared that I won't see him again.

Elena, we've talked about-

I know! Elena grew quite riled again. I know what we talked about, about how I need to hold onto that hope–that idea of him; I haven't forgotten! It's what's been keeping me going, and I try to hold on to it–like I promised I would, but it gets harder to every day. Elena cooled down again, but it was the grief and longing that brought her back down.

My connection to him is so faint that I can barely feel him, and what I can feel, it…it scares me so much. Her voice rose and fell between desperate pleas and worried whispers. He's in trouble out there, and he's all alone to deal with it while I'm stuck here, unable to do anything like some…some…! She spit and sputtered for a word nasty enough to describe herself but relented when she couldn't bring herself to. They've already torn us so far apart that I can barely feel him, but that wasn't enough for them, was it? They had to put this thing on me to try and steal what's left of him. She finished her barrage somberly. And I'm scared it might.

They could only wish to have any power like that over the bond between you and your host. But in all of that, you can see it, can't you? Through the cracks of their efforts? Her sister said with a sureness as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

See what? Elena demanded bitterly.

He's millions of miles away, and you can still feel him. Elena could practically hear the smile on her sister's face, and it stirred something within her own heart. Of all of us, no one would still be able to feel anything that far away like you. And most importantly, do you know what that means? That he's alive. That despite EVERYTHING, he's still alive and living for you…just like you are for him.

Elena wanted to find a retort for this, something to keep her anger alive so she could have an excuse to be alone in her grief.

In the end, she could only cry like she had many times before.

Oh… She moaned, pulling away from her sister for a moment to speak to herself. Oh, Adrian. I miss you. I miss you so much, and there's so much more I wish I could do, but I just can't, and it breaks my heart. It feels like it will split into two if this goes on much longer.

It's okay, Elena. We're here for you, and it will be alright, no matter how much it may hurt. Her sister comforted her and tried to pull her from this new hole she was in. I know you don't like to talk about it, but…maybe it would help if you told me his name?

Elena had yet to tell any of them. She had foolishly believed that such information should be privileged, that his name should be known to her and her alone. Such naivety had only served to add another barrier between her and her sisters.

She thought about the question for some time, her heart full of sorrow and the tantalizing warmth that his name summoned every time she thought of it. Slowly, she answered with a bitterness so sweet that it enraptured her.

It almost hurt to smile, but she couldn't help it when she said his name.

/|\


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Adrian.

The word bloomed into reality and echoed its whisper through his mind. Adrian shot his head around, trying to find who had said his name. Yet, for whatever reason, he already knew who it was.

"Elena?" He asked so hopeful yet so quietly that the word barely entered existence.

His head spun around, but no one was there save for Jules, who stood, weapon in hand, just behind him.

"Howzit?" He asked, snapping Adrian out of his stupor as he stood braced against the wall where they hid next to a corner. "Something the matter?"

"I… No." Adrian shook his head. "Everything's good."

"You sure? You stopped out of nowhere and seemed a bit spooked."

"Not spooked, just thought I heard something."

But I did hear something, I heard… her. The thought sent a buzz through him. Adrian's eyes darted madly across their surroundings, wondering how and where he'd heard it from while at the same time, gauging if they were safe to move.

"Don't wait to tell me if you hear something. That stuff's kind of important right now, just as much as us moving."

"Yeah, I know." Adrian narrowed his eyes, focusing ahead again. "Important? Maybe. Just not for you."

Jules pinched one corner of his mouth into a tight scowl as Adrian finally decided it was safe to move, and they rounded the corner.

"You're a strange one, Knight."

"Just say Adrian."

"Should I prefix it with 'Comrade' each time?"

"You've got a lot of lip for someone who's still in the shit." Adrian shot his head behind him at Jules.

"Not like you aren't. I'm just saying I didn't expect this kind of career change, but love will do things to a man, eh?" He chuckled as he kept on.

"The hell do you know about it? I've probably just thrown my own ass into the fire with you trying to get yours out, and you still want to keep this shit up?!"

"Call it a coping mechanism."

"You'll be coping with my goddamn foot up your ass." Adrian muttered and turned away but glanced back at Jules' defeated sigh.

"Hey, listen. I-" Jules struggled for words, or more likely, an excuse as Adrian glared at him. "I don't know what to say about back there—back up there, that is."

"Then don't say a thing."

"Nah, Nah, listen, man! I haven't got a clue what to say, but…sorry. Alright? I blanked. I froze up for the first time in a long time–almost longer than I can remember! I just…I know it's a lot to ask, especially now, but try to understand where I was for a second. You'd never even seen a bu-" Jules stopped himself from saying bug, but Adrian still caught it and scowled. "A–uh–xenomorph in person before yesterday. I have, and it's dirty work. Real dirty. It changes a man, and I'm no exception. But after everything that happened back there, it…I just didn't know what to think, I still almost don't. It had just grabbed me at that moment, and I-"

His stumbling apology stopped as Adrian rested a hand on the side of his shoulder.

When Jules had mentioned the incident again, it incensed Adrian nearly to the point of rage. That boil, however, simmered before it could spill over as he listened and realized the whole thing really did leave a pit in the man.

Adrian didn't know how much better he would have fared in Jules' position, which concerned him deeply.

Adrian opened his mouth to say something along the lines that "It was alright" or "he forgave him," but he couldn't bring himself to. He didn't have that strength. Not yet. So, he said what he could - the truth.

"There isn't…" He sighed, collecting himself. "We're beyond it now. All I can say is there's only one person to blame for letting what happened happen, and it's not you. This isn't the time or place for this, though. We need to keep moving."

"One? Don't you think it would be the lot of them?"

Adrian looked at him once more with a subtle, regretful smile, but turned and walked away from the question.

/|\


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Their slow roll to the landing pads had continued smoothly, yet slower than Adrian would have liked as they ducked, dodged, and weaved their way along.

The distant thunder of war kept them on their toes as it crept ever closer to the compound, growing louder.

The only reason the expeditionary forces hadn't immediately gone for the throat was thanks to the hijacked air defenses that lined the complex.

"So, how the hell did you even end up here?" Adrian spoke in a hushed tone as they measured each step. "And if you don't mind my asking, what were they trying to get out of you?"

"Oh, you know. The usual." He answered nonchalantly. "Got shot down as we were landing. It's lucky that it happened then of all times, though. Can't imagine walking away from that crash if we'd still been up in the air when it happened. But, next thing you know, I'm getting the crap beat outta me every other hour with no food or sleep-"

"Welcome to the club." Adrian butted in.

"Yeah…" He didn't sound too sure. "Besides, I'm not sure if these UPP groupies got the memo, but torture isn't exactly the best at getting reliable info. Doubt they'd care. Either way, they didn't get much of use outta me."

"There's not going to be much left to care about on this lost cause of a planet pretty soon if we don't speed things up. Come on. We should be right on top of it by now."

"Yeah, but now comes the hard part. A few unremarkable halls are one thing, but you don't really think they'd leave the ships unguarded, would you?"

"No, I know well enough they wouldn't, and normally that wouldn't be an issue." Adrian turned to face him. "But it is right now because I'm not feeling like a fight. Especially when we don't know a damn thing about what we're facing, and you don't look an ounce better off for one than me."

"Not wrong about that one, mate. Listen, there can't be more than a handful of them–if that. Let's just book it onto a ship and get ourselves off this sinkhole."

"If they've got one…Let's look at what we're dealing with first, and then we'll make our call."

Having made their way to a second-floor observation window after encountering a persistent lack of people, thanks to their focus being diverted elsewhere, the two peered down into the small open-roof landing bay.

It wasn't very big, being in the center of the north wing and closed off by the outer sections of the building that surrounded it. The ship itself wouldn't matter so long as there was something for them there.

That something came in the shape of an Arrowhead courier ship–which looked much like its name implied. It sat on the larger pad towards the back and just below the supervision room. That reminded Adrian of another issue. That room, which sat above and surveyed the courtyard, also controlled the locks, clamps, fuel lines, and other functions, including the Identify-Friendly-Foe system for the air defenses.

Every other landing pad was empty or otherwise too small that any ship able to fit on it shouldn't have been large enough to be FTL capable. 'Shouldn't' be the prime word, as one other ship was in that courtyard.

What was too small for any conventional FTL drives was, in fact, a rather pricey and discontinued experimental Micro-Drive ship. They were discontinued due to their impracticality at both cost and a relatively slow FTL speed and thus never saw enough consumer interest. The tech just wasn't there yet for practical large-scale use. Now, they were more of a collector's item for their novelty or, like it was here, a show of wealth.

If anything, it was a physical piece of evidence for this rebellion.

"That courier ship seems to be our best bet." Jules chimed in as he scanned the courtyard with him. "Security is light and they seem to stick close to the walls with their eyes to the skies. More worried about what might come from above than around, I figure."

"My thoughts exactly, but take a closer look at the ship. Right there by the landing gear."

Jules pressed his nose to the glass as he squinted at what Adrian was pointing at.

"Can't see what you're talking about. Eyes aren't what they used to be."

"The clamps," Adrian answered. "That thing's not going anywhere unless you feel like tearing the bottom off or carrying them away. I doubt it's a risk either of us care to take."

"Ah shoot, man." Jules nearly laughed. "That's light work. Nothing compared to what we've dealt with so far."

"Even the small things can make all the difference, good or bad." Adrian shook his head and pulled back from the window. " Especially the small things. They make us lazy and careless. Not to mention, to unlock them, we need to be both down there," Adrian motioned towards the landing pad itself. "And up there at the same time." He moved his finger up towards the supervision studio.

"Yeah, and it's empty. That should be obvious enough when even I can tell with my vision being shit as it is."

"Don't count on it staying that way with our luck…" Adrian chewed on the inside of his cheek like a goat before quickly turning back towards Jules. "Alright, don't even argue with me about this. I'm going up there and disabling the locks while you get to that ship and start her up. Got it?"

"Hey, now look-"

"What did I just say? I'm not going to argue about it, and neither are you because I won't bother to listen if you do. So listen to me instead, you little weasel. If anyone can worm his way in and out of just about every place they're not supposed to be, it's you. That, and I trust myself to get those locks down sooner than you can get onto that ship. It's dumb, I know, but dumb's all we got right now."

"I'm not gonna have to drag your ass back out of the shit again, am I?"

"Hey! That was then, and this is now. You wouldn't have had to if you didn't get all gung-ho to leave me up in that control tower on the station. And hell, I'm the one who just saved you! We're more than even." Adrian grasped Jules' shoulders with a squeeze. "Look at me. Can I trust you to get onto that ship?"

Jules only smirked.

"Can I trust you to keep making bad decisions? If you thought anything but 'yes', then I'm gonna have to start thinking you might have some bad judgment, as well. But, it's a good thing you have one of the best, otherwise you might never get off this planet."

Adrian patted his shoulders with a smile.

"Then go prove it, soldier. It's high time we got our asses out of here." Adrian hopped away a few steps before he began to jog to his part of this performance.

"Wait! What about the air defenses?" Jules suddenly stopped his own roll and yelled out to Adrian.

"Don't worry! The IFF should already recognize the ship, and I'll make sure if it doesn't!"

"I'd hope so!" Jules yelled out one last time before sighing with a smile that bordered on nervousness and began to run again.

/|\


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There was an issue.

Thankfully, it wasn't with the control panel or the friend-or-foe system. That was all well and good when the tech decided to work for once. Instead, and almost as bad as it had been one of the prior, Adrian had completely forgotten–and so had Jules, it seemed–that neither could contact each other until they were both in position.

Speaking of the man, Adrian hadn't seen a speck of him since they'd split up.

Either he really was one of the best–which Adrian didn't have much reason to doubt–or he hadn't even made it to the courtyard.

He'd been so focused on the courtyard and was still stuck on the foreign utterance of his name that he'd heard in his mind earlier that he hadn't even noticed the receiver light blinking away on the console, beeping lightly with each flash.

"Oh!" Adrian flinched when he noticed it, extra jumpy as his mind raced.

His hands bumbled with the terminal briefly before he opened the line.

"Control-uh, landing service here…" He continued to fumble around, but this time with his words.

His distraction was only amplified by how his hair stood on end and felt like it had for some time as a malevolent apprehension ran amuck inside him, making his breath shallow and heart race like a snake had coiled around and constricting his lungs as its fangs pierced his heart and its venom went to work on his soul.

"Uh-huh. Sure thing 'control landing service.'" An unamused yet amusingly familiar voice sounded from the other side.

While it was certainly a relief that Jules got on, it did little to quell the nerves that were quickly taking over.

"I've been pinging you for a bit now. I thought you said something about you being quicker than me?"

"I didn't even see you get on." Adrian reluctantly answered but failed to keep his mind from drifting away.

"You weren't supposed to." Even over the static of the console's radio, the pride was rife.

"Right." Adrian had to take a deep breath and force his eyes back into focus as his heart beat rapidly in his ears. "The locks are down, have been. I was waiting on you."

"Don't try and act like you got done first! I wasn't the one jackin' one out and ignoring the radio."

"You won - I won. Who cares? Just get those clamps off."

"Talk about a sore loser." Jules' said, barely reaching Adrian through the static as he left the radio to do as he was told.

"I heard that."

"Good!" Jules yelled from where he was to ensure the radio picked him up.

"Just hurry up." Adrian muttered to himself as he tapped his foot sporadically, his eyes darting across the grounds below him and the door he'd entered from. "Damn reprobate."

"And I heard that!" Adrian looked back at the radio but merely shook his head.

The idiot. Was he doing this on purpose? Using everything in his power to make Adrian second guess his decision to risk it all for him? He acted like he was Adrian's priority, wasting his time and patience.

At least he wouldn't have to be stuck on that ship with him, even if Jules didn't know that was the case quite yet.

A whirring in the courtyard drew Adrian out of his growing frustration and anger that had been tunneling his vision.

Hydraulics whirred, and steam flowed from where they'd just been latched as they twisted and pulled away from the ship. It had been loud enough for him to hear in here, and it was sure as hell loud enough for the few guards down there to hear, too.

The show had started, and the curtain was raised—time to get to work.

"You might want to hurry on down here." Jules called out over the connection. "It's about to be a lot more than just these two."

"Right you are, Mister Carter." Adrian answered.

A newfound fire ran through his blood, driving off the fear and loathing that had just been. Or maybe that was what had brought it.

"But I'm not done here. There's something in the depths of this Hell that waits for me, and I cannot leave without it."

"What? What the hell are you-What do you-" Jules stuttered, horribly dumbfounded by that curveball that had come spinning right into his cranium. "Why didn't you just grab it first, then?! Or while I was with you?" He spat almost unintelligibly over the radio.

"Two simple reasons. One, I owed you and two, you were in no shape for a fight all the way back here if we were found out. Don't try to act tough and say you were." Adrian eyed the guards as they tried and failed to enter the ship. Something else tickled his mind, and he continued.

"Not only that but…I must walk a different path now. One that I don't want to drag you down. You've yet to become 'persona non grata' in Weyland's eyes, unlike yours truly. You still have your life ahead of you, a big, wide one with any number of paths to take. But me? This is the only one I have left, and I wouldn't trade it for the world."

"You fucking cunt." Jules' hiss was magnified over the static. "Don't be a total dickhead on me now, and get the fuck down here! We'll make quick work of those two!" It sounded like he got closer to the mic to make sure it would pick up all his grave, almost desperate, overtones. "If you don't get on this ship, you're never leaving this planet."

"I don't think I'd ever want to if I left without the chance to find her."

"Her? Who are you-" Jules grew annoyed again but stopped suddenly. "Oh. Ah Jesus, mate…" He groaned. "Then it's real, isn't it?"

"As real as night chases day."

"Fuck man…Don't hate me, but I had thought it was just the neurotoxin talking back up there."

"So you believed him, then? Richardson? It wasn't just 'the safest way forward' like you'd said?" Adrian's heart thumped in his chest as his vision unfocused.

"Don't put words in my mouth! All I'm saying is that you, as well as me and everyone else there, know what they've done to people! What they still do, and still will! What would you have done in my position? Would you have believed the opposite of all you've seen and heard and gotten yourself put down in Weyland's little black book in the process? I didn't want to, what I said was true, but the cards were stacked well against us back there."

"Things aren't as they seem, Jules, and I'm afraid we've terribly been wrong this entire time."

"How could I have-"

"Leave, Jules." Adrian muttered, cutting him off. "Turn the engine on and go. This is your only chance just as much as it is mine."

"You know I'm not leaving you down here."

"Go ahead then. Waste what I've given you. Waste me risking my only chance forward, and die down here with me. I'm leaving. I'm going to find what I need and…everything else is up to you. Reinforcements are probably close if not already here, and they'll turn the air defenses on you if you're still here by then. There's hell to pay, and it's time to see who's going there today. I'll see you on the other side."

There was nothing else to say, and as he left, Jules' cursing, garbled and unintelligible as it may be, followed him to the door as well as a few steps beyond until it shut, cutting it off. Only a final sigh came through the receiver when it was obvious that no one was there to hear it.

"Go get her." The receiver light flickered and faded.

Adrian stood beyond the door, slightly swaying as his eyebrows incessantly twitched.

Don't waste your chance, Jules . This may just be my own that I've given you.

These felt like the last lucid thoughts that ran through Adrian's mind as he pulled the pistol from his holster. As once he had, it felt like everything that had chased him to this point converged on him at once, out for both his blood and sanity.

Be it his past, those who had torn him from Elena, those who stood in the way now, all the way to his very mind, it all closed in on him, and the thin and fickle ledge he on which lucidity stood finally gave way. But, more likely, he had been falling for some time, and darkness had finally engulfed him.

Indeed, his skies had grown dark, for that terrible storm had finally arrived.

It was TIME—time to know how sickly sweet the air can ripen with the bloody stench of iron when death's machineries are not found wanting and the pulp is ground fresh.

Death comes easy when life is cheap.

/|\


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The oxidized slab of freezer-burnt meat was utterly unappetizing. Not only because she could tell it wasn't fresh–which it wasn't–but more from the dark feeling that had grown and now festered in the back of her mind.

Her dark blue-hued claw, a slightly lighter shade than the rest of her body, pricked the meat and left a shallow hole in her meal as she tried to work herself up to eating it. She needed to eat; she knew this, and her sisters nearly constantly berated her when she didn't. Their concerns were most of the reason she ever did eat, but right now, the more she tried to force herself, the more repulsive the prospect became.

This current repulsion to her food wasn't due to the usual aversion her pervasive and persistent melancholy roused. No, something distant from across her bond with Adrian was reaching her and stealing her appetite, seeding dread in its place. This odd feeling forebode upon her very soul and set off alarms in her head that turned her stomach over in growing fear.

Something was coming, but it wasn't coming for her, and that's what scared her the most.

Her focus drifted from the meat–had it ever held it in the first place–and towards an apparently random spot on a wall. Its only vestige of remarkable importance was, to her at least, that it was where she currently felt Adrian's ever so distant and fawned-over presence that she held dear. Yet, just as much as she held it dear, his sheer distance, paired with her psychic restraint, kept her in the dark about practically everything; aside from that he was still there - still alive. It was why this creeping dread, as distant as her muddled bond to him, struck deep.

This was the first of anything she'd felt of him besides the fact of him being alive that she'd felt in any discernible detail across their bond since they had been torn apart.

It was like the faint beating of drums deep within the jungle when its shadows had grown tall. Distant and unseen, but all the more foreboding. And it was growing louder, though neither party grew any nearer.

"SEPIR," a voice harshly sounded from the speaker that buzzed above. "I will not be playing this game again. Either eat now or go back to your containment. I'd advise toward the former. Because, as usual, this is all you'll be getting today."

The threat did little to break her stare as her mind continued whirling uncontrollably, summoning ideas of the worst and worries she could do nothing about.

Elena? A second voice sounded in her head, this one concerned. Are you alright? It feels like something has you spooked.

She did not answer them either. Slowly crawling away to that spot, she stared at it and pressed her forehead onto the cold, hard surface. Her lips quivered and slowly curled into a pained snarl as she began to shake, rubbing her head into it.

No, no, no… If what she feared was happening really was, then she was sure to break. Don't take him from me.

"I don't understand you, SEPIR. Then again, you are a prototype. A remarkably flawed one at that." They buzzed annoyedly. "You have twenty seconds to get back into your holder before we administer active incentives."

Hello? Elena? Her sister joined in again, adding to the cacophony in her head. I can feel you there. Why are you so worried? Are you alright? This is the worst I've felt it, what's going on?

Wouldn't they all be quiet and leave her alone? They couldn't feel it like her, but something was happening to Adrian. Her claws scratched against the wall. She needed to get out of here; she needed to do something. But how could someone as weak as her do anything? Her lips peeled back to bare her teeth in her grief.

She-she needed him to make it through this, to live, and be happy… to be with her. She shuttered and suppressed a sob as her heart wracked and felt like it was tearing.

"They really messed up somewhere in that head with this one. Let's hope they get it sorted out by the next." The voice above said distantly, likely talking to someone else before it sounded like they had returned to it. "Don't say I didn't warn you."

Please answer me, Elena! The others are growing very concerned for you, but I've had them stay away for now so they don't overwhelm you any more than you already are. I need you to talk to me. I can't help you if you don't, and I want to help you. Please believe me—we all do!

A harsh scraping ground across the metal surface, as her claws dragged sharp scratches across its surface, peeling back a shiny layer of the metal.

Breathing had become entwined with a panicked hissing as her body shook with each staggered breath.

Adrian… Elena whispered in her mind, projecting all of her focus toward the far-off and beautiful flickering star that was him. I'm trying to be strong for you. Another sob that she couldn't suppress this time came forth as a mix between a growl and moan, and she continued in a struggling, shuttering tone. I really am because I know you already are. Oh, how I know you've been trying so hard for me and how you are, especially now. It's all we can do, but if we-if we keep trying, we can find each other again. I know we can–that we WILL–but only if we're strong enough to make it through this. A slight new whirring made her flinch, but she took a deep breath and steadied her mind the best she could. Because I can feel you - I can feel what's come over you, and I can only fear why, but you'll need to be stronger than ever before. It's so selfish of me to ask you for even more when I've just been STUCK here! But I want you with me–I need you with me, and I know you feel the same. It's why you're alive, it's why you're still fighting. She felt a tingle on the side of her head that signaled their horrid 'incentive' was almost here. I'll keep pushing through for you; I'll keep fighting like you have for me. I promise, I will! You're strong enough to make it through, and I can be, too…but only if you can, because I can't live without you. She braced herself for the sharp jolt of pain that approached. I just can't! We'll find each other one day, one way or the other, and nothing will ever tear us apart again. I believe in you…I-

Then it came. A sharp, stinging flash of pain ran like lightning from her head down to the tips of her toes, burning her throughout.

She struggled against it, trying to keep it away, but it grew worse and worse in mere seconds until she could barely struggle to raise her head high in defiance.

Summoning a screech as loud and terrible as she could, she let all bear witness to her pain: her grief, woe, and most of all, the yearning she held that inspired it all.

She collapsed onto the ground, shaking and convulsing from the electric currents.

She struggled and fought against it, however pointless or vain. If she needed him to be stronger than ever, then so would she need to be, no matter how difficult.

/|\


\|/

No…NO!

Adrian nearly screamed out but merely clutched and clawed at his face as he felt her go. It all mingled and combined into a strained, croaking laugh.

He had felt her. For a brief but irrefutable moment of joyous clarity, he'd felt her again - it was his Elena!

As faint as it had been, and from where he couldn't tell exactly, it was unmistakable.

But then, at its peak, it was cut off like a cry into the night. He'd felt her hope-inspiring presence convulse and quiver in a pain that could not be mistaken for anything else.

It drove him to the brink, as he could not even say a word before it disappeared just as briefly as it had come to him.

That was it; he could bear no more patience nor pity for any of them.

Time. It had always been time that was the most precious resource in his crusade, and yet, he'd had the gall to use it at his leisure - to divert his course toward ends that didn't lead to her. What a folly his sense of 'morality' had become.

These…these things, they were less than human. No, they were never human! They were mere agents of entropy. They worked as the devil's hands - his puppets sent to sow discord and chaos amidst all that wasn't yet dire and grim. Only one place deserved to serve as their host, and that was back in the pits they'd crawled from.

He could still hear her–feel her. Her words and presence drifted around him so tantalizinglyly, and he was unwilling to let go. Yet the storming of boots and reverberating yells approaching from halls unseen fought to tear the desperate latch of his focus away from her.

The impudence! The folly!

Very well. He'd long learned that there was one constant in this universe that had the power to trump all, and he was more than willing to show them.

God save him from this dark path ahead, for there was no other left to take and, but one no one else could.

He brought his Armat Scattergun to bear, rubbing his thumb down its ridged side.

It would be the rock to break the coming storm—the one to weather him through the crashing waves of blood that came for his own.

A glorious symphony it shall be. Let thunder fill his lungs so that he may cry havoc! Let the hounds of war roam and let them gnaw on bone!

Here it was, the dark shadow that had trailed him from the jungle, sneaking up on him from behind. He could feel it. He would use it.

They were there, just around the corner, but they were like gnats to a beacon that they did not know would sunder them until their shells held only ash.

He was one, and they were many. The remedy to this stood raised and ready as he stood just next to the bend, ready to deliver his first and final farewell to each that came to claim it.

As if time reduced to an eternal blink, the first of them rounded the corner with slowing and heavy pounding steps. As if predestined, they were tall enough to stare right down the barrel. It took them a moment too long to process what they saw. Their eyes widened under the shadow cast by their heavy helmet. They had been going full steam ahead but going backward the whole time.

The trigger depressed under his finger's command, a blast sounded, and a red mist was cast forth for the wall behind to catch.

The body was felled, but not soon enough for the second to realize what was happening as they skidded to a halt just next to it. His second mistake was looking at the body for half a second. It left only enough time to look up and see the gun now leveled towards them, and their sight of life, too, was cut to black.

The rest had privied up by then, but their scrambling yells from around the corner meant little as Adrian roughly pulled a bandolier from the first fallen man. It was quite the generous donation of a variety pack of explosives and crowd clearers.

After pulling a bright red one from the sling, he tore the protective cap off and rested his thumb on its button.

First up, a high-explosive appetizer with a flash-bang entree to follow and to finish would be a fragmentation cloud for dessert. If they were still hungry after all that, they could have some incendiary for takeaway—quite the meal indeed. Quite the costly one.

A smile, almost involuntary, pulled itself painfully wide across his face as he squeezed the primer. Bon Appétit!

The first one disappeared around the corner and was answered with a chorus of screams followed by an explosive crescendo. They must have been quite the fans, indeed! Well, he had no choice but to provide an encore.

A Genesis flashbang was soon to follow, and now it was time to feast.

/|\


\|/

The current had continued to run and run without stopping, cycling its electric fire through her as she fought against it in a battle that held no other outcome than unending pain until she'd fallen with no more fight to give.

What exactly had happened afterward was unknown to her, but she was back where she'd started: caged, with her rage to suit.

The world was a blur. The edges of her grasp on reality felt slick and did not let her have a solid grasp on the room around her or even much of her mind.

One thing remained constant: her ever-vigilant focus on Adrian's presence despite her current state.

The creeping danger that she had felt approaching him, stirring ineffable dread in herself, had turned into a cacophony of madness that now surrounded him like a whirling inferno.

It was a whirlpool that had caught her and drawn all of her attention to it despite the current drifting nature of her consciousness.

The overlapping concern of her sisters all yelling out to her was dulled and indiscernible compared to the inferno she felt tearing its course of havoc not only through him, but which now bled into her. Yet, he was still there. It hadn't taken him.

The more she stared into that abyss, the more she wished for his deliverance from it. It was all she could do from where she was, and the more she focused on it, the more she realized she had no clue what it was or, more so, who it worked for and against. But, it wasn't so much a question of who it worked for but for what it ends, as such things could never do any modicum of good for anyone.

But if there was one thing to be found in the chasing of these phantoms that she believed were after Adrian, it was the truth that she almost wished she hadn't known

For then, she could feel exactly what it was–what it meant. Adrian wasn't the one that this current of darkness raged against and threatened to pull below. He was the one guiding it. He ebbed and flowed within its wake for he had summoned it. It carved his path and any found in its way were dashed against the rocks.

Her twitching stilled as her mouth slowly opened to a slack jaw at this slow revelation.

Of course, it was a relief that he was not fighting against something that wrought only death, but worry fought this relief for its active place in her mind. She could only wonder, and thus come to fear, what had driven him to summon such a thing, and how long it would be before it might turn its fangs on him once the sacrifices had run dry.

She could not dwell on it with the same feverous and compulsive self-destruction she had with nearly everything so far. She had to force her view on it to a different angle, to see it as a mere spectator wishing and hoping with all she could summon that he would win, for things not nearly as dire as this had already almost brought her to ruin and this surely would if she let it take what was left.

She'd asked him so selfishly to be strong, to keep fighting, and this was all she'd brought. A dark shadow that trailed him. He didn't deserve this, and she didn't deserve him, but the gears were already in motion, and she could only cry for him and woe her wishes and words.

She didn't know if she was the one who'd started him down this path through her wishes, but now all she could wish for was his survival so that she may one day hope to obtain his forgiveness.

/|\


\|/

She was a beacon that called to him, inciting him forward with a strength surreal.

Her call was as beautiful and enticing as a siren's song, promising redemption for them both.

He needed her. He needed to live for her, to keep her from the cold clutches of solitude that he knew would tear her apart as it did to him. So he kept moving. He kept fighting. At this moment, it was all he knew how to do, and it was in her name that he did. And it was glorious.

But is this what she would want? Him reduced to a beast?

The question rang true, louder than before. It took great effort to cast it away as he tread on, wide-eyed and huffing as he slumped forward, and his eyes never stopped shaking.

Hesitancy would provoke a punishment far worse than it had the first time - one that would not leave him with any more chances. This was what he had to do, what had to be done, as there were no other choices left. Or so he hoped, so he prayed. Because now that he was so far down this path that, had he the strength to turn back, he was not sure he could find his way back, for the path back disappeared with each step forward, leaving nowhere else to go.

There was only here and now. To live or die. Very well, then. If it was all or nothing, then let it come.

So, come one, come all! There are bullets aplenty! Come and get your own, or even a few. All would get their share, and none shall be left wanting.

Just as soon as he'd offered up his gift, another came to claim it, eagerly getting into their place in line for the ride that would carry them across the River Styx. But that line was not of this Earth, and they slumped into another unremarkable mess of limbs and blood to enter the world which it was.

Mediocre. Unremarkable. Forgettable. The winds of time would strip the flesh from their bones and turn even those to dust long before anyone would cry for them, having never returned home.

On to the next, then.

The ride continues.

The ride never ends.

Shoot until he couldn't, find a gun left lying next to, or even on, its previous possessor now departed.

Its type was irrelevant—rifle, SMG, shotgun, or otherwise. Pick it up, keep moving, and keep shooting until it didn't.

Where is she?

Move, tear a gun from curled fingers not yet cold, shoot, and again.

I can feel her.

Repeat. Repeat. Repeat, and don't stop moving.

I will find her.

Never stop.

Yet, as he had been tearing his way through, so had the burning sensation of a piercing pain that he had been running from until it finally caught up as its writhing sting crawled into his mind.

He hissed and grit his teeth, faltering for a second. His wounds were inconsequential, and he shook that which they wrought away, or merely their hold over him. Suffering would never leave its host so easily. But by now, he almost wanted it. There was only one way forward, so let him use it to drive him.

The path was rife with weeds and vines that glutted his way, but they foolishly carried the means to cut them away as if a tree kept an axe resting on its side to scare away those who wished to cut it down.

He strove forward with a raving mania. The means had overtaken him, this he knew, but it was all he had left, and he would see this through, one way or another.

While it may have to be done, when it was all said and through, he must leave it behind–never to look upon it again, or if there was no other choice, to see it without passion, without feeling.

He must reign himself in, away from the neuroticism that had turned him into such a terror not only for those who stood in his way, but himself included. He could not allow himself to be branded with the mark of these actions today as being true to his soul. It was no more than a means towards an end that, to him, warranted so much more than this.

He could not be blamed, he told himself. They'd all chosen to fight, but they'd had the chance to get out of his way, to turn the cheek. He didn't have that luxury. His goal was not to be found in their deaths, but they made it so.

Either they were finally heeded to this truth, or there were simply none left to know it, as the further he got, the fewer they became. Soon, none came at all, and his path lay clear as it neared its end. He pulled his knife, slick and gleaming, from the man now left motionless against the wall, much like his dead eyes. The final stepping stone.

Only one set of wooden doors remained. They were remarkable because they were the only ones he'd seen that weren't metal in quite some time. That did little to stop them from becoming two that burst open, sending splinters flying from the broken latch as they swung in and bounced off the walls.

No one. Empty like the rest of this husk now.

Perhaps none remained - that he was all that which remained, and this accursed place was only waiting for him to leave like a final dying breath.

Between him and the expeditionary force that was surely closing in by now, it wasn't much of a surprise.

It was the usual utilitarian prefab that littered nearly every colony but with an added-on wooden aesthetic that lined and highlighted the edges of the floor and ceiling in an attempt to extenuate the constant and pervasive brutalism that ruled everywhere else.

The layout of the room itself was not too dissimilar to that of the control tower back on the research station but on a smaller scale. Most notable was a large table in the middle of the room projecting a blue, floating copy of the planet itself dotted with red warnings and exclamation points across nearly all its colonized portions.

Cautious steps slowly led him inside and trailed him with their unnerving echoes, and his darting eyes chased the shadows of his imagination into the corners of the room.

He was wired, on edge, and felt like his mind and body were constantly cycling through a state of shutting down and booting up. As did this room, it seemed, when the light flickered briefly, followed by the hologram. In the few half-seconds that it had vanished, he had seen a silhouette that had faced nothing other than himself from the other side just before it came back to life, concealing it again.

Adrian jumped when his mind churned to this realization slower than he was at all comfortable with, and he hastily pulled his gun up to bear.

"Hmm. So it would be you to get here first. Interesting." An old, weathered voice hummed with a notable pitch from behind the hologram.

Adrian could barely make out the man who stood behind it, and he continued in a joyous tone that made Adrian's eye twitch.

"Yes, very interesting. However, not very surprising. After all, you were already here!"

Every word from this man felt like a hiss of thinly veiled contempt in an accent he couldn't quite place thanks to it.

Adrian debated whether he should even bother wasting time on words, and his finger came deathly close to making sure he didn't have to as he kept the gun trained on him. What finally got him off the fence between the way of words or the way of the bullet, as he tip-toed into full view of the man, was the idea of his temporary usefulness.

Adrian lifted his itching finger from the trigger where only a hairbreadth remained before it would have clicked.

The man was bald and gaunt, with no lack of wrinkles that surrounded his sunken eyes and thin lips. Or were those scars?

Those eyes might have been old, but age had neither rusted nor dulled them. The wiry venom that they bore into Adrian with a mere smile proved that all too well.

"Don't you think it's strange that out of everything to know at a time like this, it's me?" Adrian asked as he finished rounding the projection. "I'm pretty sure there's better things to be doing than waiting around to talk."

"Waiting? For you? No, no, no." He clicked his tongue with each 'no,' almost laughing. "That's quite the delusion of grandeur–even for someone like myself. See, I was soon to leave, but when I heard your antics out there growing closer and closer," he made a small walking motion with both of his hands, "I was of the mind that if I was to be shot down, I would rather it be by a professional. Not some ravaging dog."

Adrian damn near pulled the trigger but bit down hard on his tongue to stop that before continuing.

"Then what about what you said just a moment ago? How did you know there was a chance it would be me coming here? I doubt I'm at the top of your list of issues."

"It wasn't hard. You made it quite obvious, in fact… or at least to those with the sense to see which way the dominos were falling. But you're right; you weren't my first choice, although there is little to change that now."

German. That's the accent that had been holding Adrian up. It had been hard to focus in on it when he wound around every syllable like a rattlesnake that beat its tail on every word. Despite everything else today, it still managed to make his skin crawl.

"I hoped you all would have had much more pressing issues than myself because, unlike those other issues, I'm not looking to burn this place down. I just wanted one small thing - a name. I would have left you all be if you had just gotten out of my way! But now look. This place is a goddamn tomb."

"Akh!" He waved a hand dismissively. "No need for such theatrics! The show's already over."

"Given up then? Just waiting for them to come and shoot you just so that this 'ravaging dog' doesn't?!"

"Not me, but it will make little difference if the rest of these missteps do." He reached down, nearly making Adrian put an end to him right there, but only turned off the projection and began striding across the room towards a packed case on a desk. A sudden memory from earlier, suppressed by the guilt of the one woven right next to it, resurfaced as he cautiously followed behind.

"You're Reynard then, I take it?"

He stopped at the mention of his name and turned to face Adrian, his look of confusion soon turning back into that perverse smile.

"With lips as loose as theirs, failure was inevitable. Me being here only delayed that." He sighed and shook his head but soon returned to his strangely excited spirits. "I saw it coming. Any fool could, but I can always tell. And this? This was just another rabble of fools and dreamers."

"So that's it then? Leave these poor souls to their fate and just run off back to Earth? What exactly were you even doing here in the first place if you knew the whole thing was doomed?"

"Believe me, there are many other places I would have rather been than here. Much more important work to be done elsewhere. Still, there are many bleeding hearts in the council on Earth, and they are rather keen on wasting time and resources wherever possible. I was sent here in an advisory role carrying promises of more direct support had they managed to take the Intra-Stellar Control Site intact." His everlasting smile faltered for a moment. "But I'm sure you saw how that went. They have hope and hate in their hearts but not much else. They lack the skills and means to see it through. If anything, they did not hate enough."

Adrian had to keep a smile of his own at bay. A fact that was not lost to Reynard, who caught the twitch of his lip.

"Hate." Adrian mused at the word. "People like to toss the word around like they know what it means. Do you? And I mean, do you really know hate? It's a strong word, but it's never been more applicable than it is right here, right now. I believe you described evidence enough of that about my approach."

"So you think." He continued as if Adrian were only a rowdy child. "But I'm more than aware of its weight, Herr Knight."

Adrian took an uneasy step back as his mind reeled from the surprise of Reynard knowing his last name before he cast it away and furrowed his brow again.

"You're not making this any easier for either of us."

"Oh, don't look so surprised." His laugh was low and grave as he slid the briefcase off the table. It must have weighed quite a deal with how it made him awkwardly lean in the opposite direction to balance himself. "Your name was in the flight logs. Very sloppy work, I must say. Those pigs–Weyland-Yutani–have become far too complacent and careless. So much so that they cannot see the fire that's beginning to burn them from underneath the fat of their bellies."

"So they recovered the logs, then? Good. That makes the two of us lucky today. You already seem well acquainted with what I need, and they're all I need. Give them to me, and we can both be on our way."

"Very well." Reynard judiciously requited without any resistance. "There's a copy of them on one of these computers. Feel free to look. Otherwise, I have a flight to catch." Reynard gave a half bow before he began for the door. "Lebewohl!" He didn't make it past Adrian's hand that halted him.

"That was half the truth." Adrian pushed him back a few steps. "The other half is you're going to tell me exactly where they are. We both know time's up, and you seem especially aware of not only that but what I'm looking for specifically."

"Ahhh." His smile crept into a clinical excitement. "I'd wondered if you were here for that. At first, and most logically, I assumed you were here to turn any traces of yourself into ash so you could disappear, yet…" He got closer to Adrian, looking at him intently. " Unglaublich.. ." He quickly backed up, a fire in his eyes. "Yes, that's it! I'd thought the stories false - eh, the fever dreams of the dying, or perhaps even the delusions of the shock-ridden! But you! Ohohoh. If I were a younger man-"

"But you're not, and we're out of time! Hurry up and tell me what you're getting at!" Adrian snapped, patience having run its course as he pressed the barrel against Reynard's skull. "And what's it got to do with any of this?!"

"I know what you're after–who." He did not flinch or shy away from the gun in his face.

"I don't think you do." Adrian said as more of a warning than anything.

"So it isn't what they call the 'asset' that you are looking for? That awful look on your face tells me everything I need to know."

Adrian pulled the barrel away from his head, but only to give him room to press his elbow into the butt of the gun and slam it forward into Reynard's head.

Reynard fell, dropping the case as he clutched the spot he'd been hit, it beginning to flow with the blood that quickly ran down his face.

"After everything, you just had to make this even more difficult, didn't you? The only rabid dog here is you, and I'll be doing everyone a favor by putting you down!"

Such a man cared little for pain. He only reveled in the fact of its existence. Worst of all, he was possibly even thankful to be reminded of its terrible intricacies.

Adrian could only stare with vivid disbelief and back away a few steps from Reynard, who laughed croaky and wheezing as he pushed himself up to his knees.

"Not just rabid…You're a goddamn freak!" Adrian muttered and he peered down the sights right at Reynard's skull.

"Ah!" Reynard quickly held up a remote.

The quick movement alone nearly made him end this conversion with a bang, but a single button on its end was already squeezed down under Reynard's bony thumb.

"Ah, ah, ah! It would be wise to consider some tactful restraint, seeing as you're the one who muddies himself in the waters of untamed and manic violence. For both of our sakes."

A detonator. Adrian quickly glanced around the room for any signs of truth to the implication.

"Is that a risk you are willing to take?" Reynad brought Adrian's attention back as he stood, still flaunting the device.

"Are you?" Adrian reluctantly lowered the gun again. "Why now are you so willing to die for what, in your own words, is a lost cause you were more than ready to jump ship from?"

"Because it's easy to die for something - much easier than most would believe." His smile was highlighted by a bright red that ran between and stained his teeth down to the lip. "But tell me, are you willing to live for it?"

"More than you could ever believe. Why do you think I even gave you the chance to make this nice and easy? Death is too vain an end for me, and at this point, I'm starting to think I might be the only one here without a wish for it."

"Truer words than you may think." Reynard began to slowly back away. "Very well. You seem a driven enough man, and I'd hate to throw away such a promising tool against Weyland." He kicked the briefcase, and it slid to Adrian's feet.

Crouching to grab the briefcase, Adrian didn't break eye contact for a moment as he brought it up.

"Giving it up so soon? You weren't very enthused about that idea just a moment ago."

"I believe you'll put it to better use than the Ministry could." Reynard said as he stopped just before the doors. "Live as we may, Herr Knight, we die as we must. But that is neither here nor now. So try not to die too quickly. You have quite a ways ahead of you, and it would be a shame to see my investment thrown to waste so soon." He gave a sarcastic half-bow before he backed around the corner and out of sight.

Listening to his boots as they echoed away down the hall, Adrian turned his attention to the briefcase in his hands.

As badly as he wanted to open it now, he needed to get out of here, and left as quickly as Reynard had.

Adrian didn't get far before his impatient anticipation got the better of him.

Dropping the case to the floor and himself onto his knees, his fingers sat nervously on the latches—time to see if this was real or an explosive parting gift.

With a heavy swallow and deep breath, he looked away as he flipped both latches. Now for the hard part, and it was especially so now that his senses were returning and the weight of the world came bearing down on him again.

What a fool I might be for this . Adrian thought with a grim weight as he looked away and opened the case. No trap? Not dead?

Adrian squeaked one eye open. Still alive and well. Actually, 'well' was debatable. Very debatable. How lucky he was that his foolishness hadn't been rewarded in due. He could not be taking risks headfirst like that at a time like this, but it was already a done deal, and now it was time to see if there was even better news in store.

Adrenaline couldn't be blamed now for how his hands shook as he sifted amongst the contents of the case. All of it had been spent.

Most of the case's contents were interesting but useless. However, after finding the flight logs, he'd become engrossed with every line and sifted through the entire timeline until he found the transcript of his fateful flight, whose contents that treated his imminent death with such casualness unnerved him and sent a shiver down his spine. It, too, was ultimately unimportant, but it didn't take long after to find the logs of a certain "WYS Crucible."

While much of it was redacted or blotted out, Weyland's overreach and overconfidence would become their blunder and his crux. Because nearly everything in this system was Wey-Yu owned and operated, they had left the most important things available to be read.

Namely, one very crucial to-and-from clause.

The paper shook in his grasp as he wrinkled its edges with his tightening grip.

He couldn't help but laugh as his sight grew blurry from his tremendous and joyful excitement.

A drop landed on the page after running its course down his cheek.

He'd always liked to tell himself he wasn't one to cry, but this past day–or two–had disagreed.

It blurred a few words, but like everything else on this forsaken planet, they weren't important now. He had already memorized every detail of what he needed anyway. But, for good measure, he pocketed the paper.

Toska, Adrian repeated the planet's name in his head, second planet of the Shahan system.

With each breath, he let go of some of the terrible tension plaguing him, but eagerly filling its place was a dizzying vertigo and shortness of breath that slowed down the process and made it hard to stand, his legs wobbling fiercely as he did so.

Despite this, he couldn't help but squeeze his eyes shut tight, pushing the few tears from them as a final shuddering, elated sigh got him moving again.

Joy could only last so long when this hellscape wanted his only moment of it to be short-lived when a rather strong blast rocked through the facility not too far away from where he'd come. Half of the lights were snuffed out immediately, leaving the rest to flicker.

Seems Reynard hadn't been bluffing…and Adrian had just been in there at his mercy.

No need to get hung up over it now because, like so many times before, it was time to go.

He left with a new resolve, even if the lingering effects of that… episode, as he would leave it. That impractical museum piece of a ship would have to do.

His initial excitement on his way back quickly dimmed as he slowed to a hesitant and wary pace.

Treading with footfalls heavy and measured, he ventured back through halls of blood–his path carved.

A sobering clarity returned and shone a light upon his deeds.

Brass splashes across the puddles as they're kicked aside. Shells clinking and glistening in their new crimson coats roll into darkness, leaving trails behind.

The wolf of reality bears down on him like a specter, bringing its terrible weight to bear, whispering his sins come to life as the bodies pass by - those of his creation.

From bodies on the stairs to the bodies in the halls, from bodies left in pairs to those left lying against the walls.

Lights flicker, and guns ring out. As distantly close as they are, their dire insinuations are drowned out by Hell's call ringing in Adrian's ears.

He stopped and braced his hand against the wall as his stomach rushed up his throat without the warning to suppress it–if he even wanted to at this point.

There wasn't much in his stomach to begin with, most of it being acid that burned his throat, only making him cough and struggle for breath even more as he heaved and gagged.

Without feeling.

He reminded himself in mantra to steady his breathing and dull the cavity that was swallowing his chest, making him shake like mad.

Without passion.

He spit and stood again with a sigh.

Being too stuck in his head trying to perform the mental gymnastics to separate himself from the acts, he almost didn't notice the green dot that lingered on his chest.

Freezing when he noticed it, he looked closer and saw it slightly jittering in place. Another blipped into existence close to it, and then another.

He didn't want to look up. He couldn't look up. So, the solution was simple: he didn't.

The better alternative he soon employed was to jump backward and around the corner he'd just come from. A few small gusts of air whizzed past him right as he had.

He had what he needed and could neither afford nor weather another fight. Especially not when the only noise he'd heard from their projectiles had been when they slammed against the wall at the end of the corridor.

These weren't the revolutionaries driven by passion and bitter hearts. They were likely almost all dead or dying by now. These were the people who had seen to that.

The Marines were here. It was the Bootnecks - the 3WE's Royals.

They weren't to be trifled with, especially not with him already spent and done as he was.

They were better supplied, better trained, and more willing to put you down without pity than their UA counterparts. This brutality was mainly a necessity on their part with how small their forces were kept through lobbying.

Why expand your armed forces when the mega-corporation that makes up a third of your economy can fill that niche with their mercenaries and say no to any legislation to amend that? So, they put most of their already meager military budget for their size towards their marines and navy and let the rest fight over two sticks and a rock.

Adrian, on the other hand, was out of just about everything from grenades and ammo all the way to his already long run of adrenaline, now barely rolling on fumes - and it was just enough to get him sprinting as fast in the other direction he could.

If there was one thing he had to his advantage, it was at least a modicum of knowledge of where he was going. That, and he doubted they'd rush around every bend and corner blindly like their predecessors. Adrian hoped this would be enough to make up for their edge on him in every other department.

Nearly tripping as he skirted around the last turn to a side entrance into the courtyard, he blasted full speed towards them and hit his shoulder on one as they opened, sending him spiraling to the ground, but he kept that momentum to spring back up just as quickly.

Thank God.

That wealth display of a ship was still there, and the already nominal guard detachment was now null. Either pulled to go die somewhere else or had realized that staying would be in vain and ran for the hills or, worse, the jungles. All that mattered was that no boot would be on his neck today.

Waiting for the ship's side door to open and then for it to boot up all felt like an eternity as his eyes flicked rapidly between the doors in the courtyard and the control panel. For what seemed like the first time in his life, he'd used his head and had some useful foresight to unlock these clamps while he'd been up there.

When the engines finally blared to life with their high-pitched whir, his hand moved to unlatch the clamps but flinched away when something slammed into the reinforced glass, leaving a small web of cracks.

Individuals in blotted shades of off-white and drab green were pouring into the courtyard through the main doors at the far end. Most of them moved to get around the ship, swarming him like a riled ant nest while the web of cracks in the window grew as more rounds followed it.

Hand on release, pull release, hand on throttle.

He sat down without the time nor care to latch himself in.

"Sorry that I can't hang around to be shot, but I have places to be and someone very important to see." he gave them a hasty two-fingered salute. "Word of advice? Hold onto something."

The spreading cracks in front of him quickly came to a halt as those standing near the ship were knocked off their feet with a few of the daring ones who'd gotten next to it sent tumbling away. The rest had to shield their eyes and brace themselves against the onslaught of dust kicked up by the thrusters' fury as Adrian pushed the throttle up.

The ship rumbled up and away with the occasional plink hitting the bottom. As he cleared the compound's walls, he was presented with the picture of a city aflame under a rising sun.

It was another peoples to be burned and forgotten with their ashes ground into the dirt under the boot.

Adrian shook his head.

A pity, but unfortunately, one he did not have the time nor much room in his heart for. He had already kept Elena waiting too long, and she carried with her his heart in full.

The city and its flames were left to smolder as he continued his hastening ascent beyond the firmament.

Light twinkled between the glass's outer layer of cracks, and he watched the horizon blend into a lush shade of green with barren, jutting mountains and the hilly plains that lie beyond. From here, where the horizon curved away and out of view with clouds dotting its skies, one could not tell of the struggles and death that lie upon the surface, only that this was a beautiful planet lush and teeming with life–an oddity in the universe. But he knew. He knew it all, and he was leaving it to its fate. He had something so much more beautiful to find, even if it took time to get there.

In the ship there was no stasis pod. Just a small bed, an even smaller desk, and a cramped restroom you could barely fit in. Just more reasons why this model never saw itself on any notable scale of production and use. It was nearly useless for traveling more than a few light years at a time and even that must have been miserable. He wouldn't be wining and dining in here either, even if he had the stomach for such delicacies while Elena likely suffered. There was barely enough water for the already short trip, and only basic nutrient bars paired with protein and amino supplements made barely palatable via simple flavor additives. On top of it all, there were only his thoughts to keep him company, and if anything, they were more dangerous to him than anything back down there.

What reigned unsurprisingly supreme in those thoughts that would be his only company was a source of indescribable warmth and peace when he focused on that bond–her presence. There were not only his memories, which he looked upon with soft eyes that soothed his heart, but he could feel her now. He could really feel her! It wasn't just her fleeting presence that came to him upon the rare winds that carried it anymore. It was here with him again. Constant, even if faint, like the caresses of a light breeze under the heat of a summer's sky.

For now, it would be enough to stomach the time and his solitude, but that wouldn't stop anxiety from itching every kilometer of the way as his mind found new ways to trouble him. At least he would have time to recuperate and figure out what came next as he tended his wounds.

From what he expected, this next part would make his time on Khasban look like he was fighting kids with sticks. That wouldn't stop him, though.

Dreams of her would occupy his time and mind as they eclipsed the countless stars that twinkled around him. When he got there, those dreams would come true.

They had to.

/|\


\|/

Elena could only stare ahead blankly like a husk, empty and spent.

After the torrential waves of pain had finally ended, once it could finally claim victory over her through the cold grip of unconsciousness, she let fear take its place.

Stuck again and aching from the remnants of her punishment, she had let worry find purchase and sate its gnashing hunger with her when she could do nothing about it once again. There was only the strength left for her to focus on any ripple between their link that she could.

She had only watched and waited as the storm spun its wrath around him, wrecking all in his path and with what she feared would be a terrible price. But how steep could any price be to see him again? She didn't know; maybe there was none. Yet she had let that fear latch to her and run havoc until that storm quelled.

It had slowed to a breeze, and when the leaves finally stilled, he was still there. Still alive.

It was still her Adrian, standing tall, with his soul still bright and bearing a heart that blazed so supreme that it was almost anathema to that creeping darkness that shrouded his soul with its severe shadow. She could still feel the traces of that shadow still following him, but that didn't change who he was or how much she cared for him. Even if it had, it would always be her Adrian, and most importantly, she could feel he was coming.

She almost couldn't believe it, but she knew it was no lie

Her anxious twitching stilled, and her tense head strained to move for a moment more before she smiled weakly despite the pain, or perhaps to spite it, and lowered to rest the best she could.

An indescribable hope filled her, and joy's insurmountable beacon cast away her pain, woes, and worries—if just for now, while they were in the deceiving calm of the storm's eye. He was strong, though. She could not describe it in a way she felt did it justice and could only gaze upon it proudly and hold it dear, for even if such strength had been summoned by dark means, it gave him the chance he needed.

They had a chance—a real chance! One at life—a life she wanted to give him and spend with him! She wouldn't accept anything less; she never could because anything less would never be worth living.

The dream was still alive and boundless as it danced through her. She could only smile even if those dark pits in her wanted to caw and cry, reminding her of her weakness and imposition. But right now? She would not hear it; she wouldn't let it distract her from this dream.

The storm had yet to pass, but he was coming, and soon they would leave together, whether these fools liked it or not, because they had also given her the strength to earn a chance of her own.

She would be strong and hated that she had waited for Adrian to suffer to show her this, but now she knew she could be and would be as she followed in his example.

They'd unwittingly, and so far unknowingly, given her the means to make a late entrance into this fight against their plight.

The device buzzed and whirred in its strained attempts to keep her mind contained. It hardly did a thing now, but it wasn't broken yet. They would have replaced it while she was unconscious had it been. She could feel how it sat precariously close to the edge, though. One last push would see it through, and Adrian wouldn't be alone in this anymore.

There was a word that sat paramount above everything right now. It was all she wanted to say, to scream out the second she had learned the word, and wished she could have when he first held her so close to him in his warm embrace, but it would have to wait until he could again.

It wouldn't be long now; soon, they would never be apart again. Not so long as she lived to make sure that was so. Not so long as she finally had her own chance to see this made right.