#30k words later

[kittyt-hexxed]

Love Will Remember

Valkyrie | Kairi Imahara x Wraith | Renee Blasey

Word Count: 30k

Tags: Season 9 "Legacy" Medusa Vine Crisis, Retrograde Amnesia Recovery, Recovered Memories, Lost Love, Yearning, They Were Married But Wraith Doesn't Remember, Flashbacks, Blood and Injury, Falling to death, Near Death Experience, Past Brutal Murder, Medical Procedures, Wraith Preforms a Cesarean Section, Brain Surgery on a Child, Canonical Asshole Anita Behavior, Wraith | Renee Blasey-specific PTSD Triggers, Valkyrie | Kairi Imahara is a ride-or-die

Summary: Falling blindly to her death from Olympus with no jump kit is not the way Wraith expected to die. At least, until she’s saved by the new Legend, Valkyrie, and her whole life is changed.

“Kairi?” Her mother’s voice sounds through the house, “Kairi, for the love of God, where are- Oh… Honey, what’s wrong?” She hears her behind her, but Kairi can’t look away from the picture in her hands.

Her wedding picture.

It’s funny how the world works. The copy she kept on her ship got lost during an escort trip and she couldn’t find it. She tore her ship apart searching for it when she noticed that it was missing and broke down when she couldn’t. That had been months ago. Months ago. With the amount of times she’s washed her clothes since then she would have found it. But what’s the chance the same photo falls out of her jacket pocket after she gets contacted by none other than General Williams? It was like a sucker punch to the gut as her eyes followed it fluttering to the floor. Her two worlds collided as the date on the calendar made her stomach twist uncomfortably. 

So now here she is sitting on the floor of her bedroom, finally having the courage to go through the box she kept tucked away in her closet. The box contained things that made her heart constrict so painfully she wanted to rip it out and stomp on it until it stopped beating—her wife’s wedding dress which she took out and draped across her lap, breakable gifts her wife had given her, other photos and documents she didn’t want to lose, her wedding certificate, a gun her wife had specially made for her as a wedding gift and her wife’s wedding ring.

Memories of her new family.

Her family.

She sighs heavily as her fingers brush over the waxy paper. There was no way she couldn’t have found it if it was in her jacket pocket. How’d she miss it? She’d never know, but she was grateful. It was like her Dad was telling her not to give up hope. That her wife is still out there. What other sign could it be? Her wife’s old superior has contacted her out of nowhere and today of all days?

“It’s today, you know?” She sniffles, raising her arm and wiping her eyes, “Our anniversary.”

“How could I forget?” Her mother’s voice is soft and gentle as she kneels beside her, “It was the happiest day of your life since he died. Mine, too.”

“Are you sure it’s not because you finally got me to wear that kimono?” Kairi jokes, tears running down her cheeks as she finally looks at her mom. She laughs softly, a smile spreading across her lips.

“That was a plus. I spent weeks making it. A beautiful kimono for my beautiful daughter.” She looks at the photo and then sighs, “I miss her, too. I couldn’t think of a more perfect daughter to add to the family. Your father would have loved her.”

“Once I get to Blisk, I’m going to find her.” Kairi says firmly, her gaze going back down, “There’s no way my wife is dead. She could beat Dad in combat if he were still alive! I just… I don’t believe it, Mom.” That phone call will forever be embedded in her mind. The terror she felt, the hopelessness, the grief that swallowed her as the man on the other end of the line said her wife didn’t exist in their system. That she never worked with them. Kairi knew it was bullshit. She has copies of all the paperwork and a photo of her wife’s ID. Call it paranoia after her father’s death, but her wife indulged her and she had come straight home to read them just to soothe her mind. She knew she wasn’t crazy, but the confirmation was something she needed. That started her desperate quest to find out where her wife disappeared to. 

Kairi stares at the happy picture, studying that captured moment in time as if it weren’t her own memory. It had been a sunny day on the farm and everyone came to celebrate. They were eager to celebrate a happy moment. She was so nervous that for once, food was the last thing on her mind and she sipped on a cup of ginger tea to soothe her nerves. But the day had gone smoothly and she had everyone in the community to thank for it. Especially when she saw the pictures they took. This picture is of their first kiss as newlyweds. Underneath an archway of flowers, Kairi stood in her embroidered kimono embracing her wife who was stunning in her beautiful white and lavender dress with her hair—long and blowing free in the breeze. Her gorgeous, long, silky black hair that Kairi spent many nights running her hands through. 

Funnily enough, she had cut her hair after that day. With her graduation coming up and her area placement tests shortly after, her wife had reached her goal. So, Kairi watched her the next morning as she took a pair of scissors and cut her hair.

Then, a week later Kairi sat front row as she graduated with the highest honors a Science Pilot could get. It was the happiest she had been in years.

The picture in her hand is so bright and filled with warmth. You can tell that the kiss they share is not lacking in love. Kairi cradles her wife in her arms like she might blow away in the wind and her wife lovingly caresses her face as if she’s made of porcelain. It makes her heart clench in her chest. She’s going another year without her. 

Kairi subconsciously rubs the ring on her finger. It feels like it’s freezing against her skin. Her eyes drift over to it and she feels tears sting her eyes once again. The ring was a custom job by someone she was owed a favor by. Her ring was a pair of wings with a purple sapphire in the center of a V. Her wife’s ring was another set of wings with a dagger in the middle and a purple sapphire in the center. If she took her wife’s ring and stacked it onto hers, they would fit into each other perfectly. Her wife had cried when she saw them.

After all, purple sapphires were only found on Typhon.

Kairi never told her what she did to get her hands on those, but it was worth it. And she’ll do anything to get her wife in her arms again. A tear escapes her eye and lands on the photo as she leans over and picks up the small ring box, opening it with bated breath. Her wife’s ring glitters in the light, and a choked sob forces its way out of her lips.

“Kairi.” Her mother whispers, grabbing her shoulders and pulling her into a hug. She falls apart in her arms, sobbing as the grief returns full force as if she had just heard those words all over again. Those damn words that ruined the life she so carefully created.

Her mother pulls away once she calms down enough and gets up to make her some tea. Kairi lets out a long breath, running one hand over the dress, and stares back down at the picture. She’s not going to let the same thing that happened to her father happen to her wife.

“I’m going to find you, Renee.” Kairi promises through her tears, wiping away the teardrop that landed on the photo, “I promise.”

The wind blowing against her face and through her hair feels relaxing to Wraith. There’s never a moment where she dislikes being outside, even now with the situation they’re in. One moment they were celebrating Pathfinder and the next they had been called in to check out some kind of issue that appeared out of nowhere. Gigantic, thick, crawling vines started sprouting out of a ship and a woman who was involved with it is now dead.

Now, Wraith didn’t voice her complaints like some of the others. But, she didn’t understand why she had to be here. She understood calling for Dr.Somers or Natalie. Even Caustic. Shit, Anita is a smart choice since she’s the one leading them all out to this ship. But her? What’s her purpose? Dr.Somers and Anita nearly fist-fought each other over her, and she couldn’t understand why. There was no reason to. Yet they couldn’t come to an agreement and had her choose where to go in the end. So, she chose Anita’s team. It seemed like the most logical choice.

After all, what benefit would she be to Dr.Somers? Maybe another mind to add to the pile, but she’d just hold them back. She’d do much better out in the field, watching their backs as they dealt with… whatever this situation is. It makes her feel uneasy as she looks at the vines. Something about them seems familiar, but she can’t put her finger on it.

“Not without your jump kit, you won’t…” Anita dismisses, crossing her arms with a stern look on her face. Wraith looks to Loba and sighs. She knows that she relies too much on her bracelet, but that is not something she should be doing while they are on Olympus. Especially not when they’re so close to the edge and anything can happen. Wraith takes a moment to think it over and then begins unbuckling her jump kit.

‘I shouldn’t be doing this, but I feel like I shouldn’t be here either.’

‘You chose to be here. It was your decision.’ One of the Wraiths responds.

‘I think I should have chosen to stay in bed instead.’

“Sweet, Anita, but let a girl buy you dinner before going Mama Bear on her.” Loba teases Anita who looks unamused.

“Follow protocol and I might let you.” She replies as Wraith gets her jump kit off.

“Careful, Sergeant. I think you just agreed to a date—”

“Woah, mate!” Ramya notices Wraith walk past with her kit clutched in her arms, “What are you doing? Sarge is already irritated about one of us without our jump kit!”

“Relax, Ram.” Wraith gives her a small smile as all the attention turns to her, “It’s for Loba. I wouldn’t want her to miss out on a date with the Sarge if she plummets to her death.”

“Oh, Wraith, you’re too kind.” Loba coos as she comes up beside her, “But I have my bracelet, I don’t need one.”

“Nope.” Wraith shakes her head, starting to strap the jump kit onto her, “Not taking that chance. Besides, I can sit out here while you guys go in. If I need to portal in and evac you, then I’ll come in but you need this more than I do.”

“Thanks, Wraith.” Anita exhales, looking relieved as the jump kit is secured. Wraith straightens up and shrugs. It was no big deal. Unlike the rest of them, she was the only one who likely could save herself from falling to her death. Her portals were only limited within the Apex Games when the limiter device was strapped to her arm. Other than that, she was free to go wherever she wanted. No one had expected her to be able to portal onto that ship while it was flying, but she surprised them.

Would she try something wild like that because she’s confident she can? No. Would she do it because her life is on the line and she has no other option? Yes. But for now, she was going to find a bench and lay down until they needed her.

“No problem, Anita.” She flashes a smile and takes a step to the side, glancing at Loba to make sure she’s good before she moves away. She gets a nod in confirmation so she feels secure enough to walk away from her.

“Now that that’s out of the way. Let’s get in there—”

‘BEHIND YOU!’ A voice screams in warning. Wraith instinctually phases and feels something pass through where she had been just seconds before. She whirls around to see two vines switching directions and making a beeline for Loba who has no idea they’re approaching her. ‘That’s not just going to knock her over. That’s really going to hurt her if they hit her!’ She thinks in horror.

“ANDRADE! YOUR SIX!” Anita screams from behind her as she exits the void and shoves Loba out of the way of the vines. Wraith dodges one of them, jumps over another, and as she whirls around in the air she gets a glimpse of a group of them coming her way. Her eyes widen as she realizes she can’t do anything to stop them from hitting her, so she braces herself for the impact.

“Shit!” Wraith grunts as she’s hit in the chest, knocking the air out of her lungs with the impact. She goes flying and feels herself hit the ground, crying out as a sharp pain radiates from the back of her skull and her vision goes white. The next thing she knows, she feels the wind whipping around her body and that familiar pit in her stomach she gets when she’s dropping from Dropship. Except she’s not doing a controlled drop where she’s able to see where she’s going and she doesn’t have her jump kit. 

She’s falling blindly through the open sky.

“WRAAAIITH!” She hears her name distantly above her.

‘I gave my jump kit to her only to plummet to my death.’ Wraith chuckles to herself, staring above her with unseeing eyes. ‘I can’t even see to try to portal out of this. Is this really the way I go?’ She doesn’t feel panicked about dying, but she feels a sense of loss. There’s so much more she wants to do. There are so many more questions she has about herself that’ll go unanswered. That’s what pains her—knowing that she’ll be leaving all of that behind. That and the friends she’s made.

The sound of the wind whipping around her makes it a little hard to pick up the sound of jets until they’re close to her. Her vision also begins to clear up as they get louder, sounding as if they’re approaching her.

“Woah!” An unfamiliar voice exclaims as she’s caught in someone’s arms, “Don’t worry, I’ve got you!” Wraith turns her head in the direction of the voice and can make out a very blurry figure. Instinctually, she brings her arms up and clutches onto the woman holding her. Her only lifeline. The only thing keeping her from falling to her death. What are the chances she falls off Olympus into a woman’s arms? The statistics on that have to be like 0.001% or something, right? This is nothing short of a fucking miracle.

“You saved me…” Wraith breathes out, trying to see her better through the blurry colors that make up her face.

“I’m glad I did.” The woman responds, “It’d be a shame if I missed the chance to meet a beautiful woman like you.”

“Well, you didn’t… miss your chance.” Wraith feels her face warm and her vision clears up enough that the face in front of her is no longer just colorful blobs.

 “Oh.” She mutters as they merge into a cohesive image. The woman’s eyes move down to her, beautiful deep brown eyes showing concern for her before she looks back up to see where she’s going. ‘She’s… gorgeous.’ Wraith thinks, blinking a few times as her vision blurs in and out.

“Are you okay?” She asks in concern, slowing down and coming to a hover as her eyes move back over to Wraith.

“Um… yeah. I-I just need a minute- to- to sit down, I-I think.” Wraith stutters, her mind feeling foggy now that she’s not falling through the sky, and has to put in the effort to think about herself.

“You should get looked at by a medic. You don’t look too good.” Her gaze softens and Wraith is lucky enough to see it before her vision blurs once more.

“Valk?!” Ramya’s voice sounds.

“Ram!” The woman holding her exclaims happily.

“You two know each other?” Anita joins in, sounding more accusatory than curious, Wraith notes.

“Know her? I gave her wings!” Ramya says proudly.

 Valk – Wraith now has something to call the woman holding her – carefully puts her down and the moment Wraith’s feet touch the dock, she stumbles as if she’s a baby learning to walk for the first time.

“Hey, hey, hey!” Valk grabs her by her shoulders and Ramya puts a hand on her back to stabilize her, “Yeah, no, you’re not walking anywhere.”

“Fuck…” Wraith groans, holding her head as the pain increases, “Not fighting you there.”

“Lemme take a look at ’cha!” Ajay walks over.

“As much as I would love that.” Valk bends down and picks Wraith back up, making her gasp and grab for her again, “We have to get everyone away from these vines. STAT!”

“Wait a damn sec–” Anita protests.

Wraith rests her head against Valk’s chest and feels her eyes get heavy. The world fades away, and she can only focus on the heat radiating from the body against her. She can feel the vibrations coming from Valk’s chest, feel her talking, and then she’s in the air. The wind is brushing against her face and she turns her head and closes her eyes to keep the wind out of them. Sleep tugs at the edge of her mind and her chest burns.

‘Don’t fall asleep.’

‘Easy for you to say.’

‘Stay awake.’

“Hey. Hey, Wraith!” Valk calls her name, and she opens her eyes with some difficulty. She feels herself lowered to the ground, her back rested against something, and she looks up at Valk. The way the light beams down on her and shines through the gaps in her wings, makes her appear to Wraith like one of the angels she read about. Fitting, considering she saved her life.

“There she is.” She says with a smile and Wraith feels her heart flutter, “I’m going to get Ajay. She asked me to grab her and bring her over to you. I’ll be right back, okay?”

Wraith nods slowly, feeling unable to respond verbally. Valk hovers by her for a moment, examining her before nodding in return. She walks a good distance away before Wraith watches her engage the jets and take off to her amazement. She’s never seen anything like it before. It’s nothing like their jump kits. She’s actually flying and not just hovering or getting boosted. She’s genuinely flying. ‘She’s so cool.’ Wraith rests her head behind her, feeling completely sapped of energy. ‘Ramya said she made those. I should ask her how she did it.’ She stares in the direction Valk disappears, wondering what’s going on with the others. She didn’t hear any of the conversation after they brought up the evac, but she wouldn’t be surprised if that’s what they were doing right now.

‘Wake up!’

“Ohhh no ya don’t!” Ajay’s familiar accent greets her as she feels something pinch her chest, “Come on, Wraith. I need ya tuh open ya eyes for me.”

“Good to know I’m not greeting the angels yet.” Wraith jokes weakly, looking up to see Ajay, Makoa, and Loba gazing back at her with concern.

“Glad to see that you’re not a goner, beautiful.” Loba says to her, sounding relieved, “I wouldn’t be able to repay my debt.”

“But you don’t look good, sistah. You’re paler than you usually are!”

“Definitely a concussion, I’m afraid.” Ajay frowns, “D.O.C and I can get you back on your feet, but we gotta get ya back to the hospital an’ get you scanned. Make sure there’s no damage to your head.”

“Oh, good.” Wraith can’t help but mutter bitterly to herself, “More of a reason to call me brain damaged.” However, the sad looks she gets from the two medics show that they heard her.

Movement behind the two in front of her catches her attention. She sees Valk hovering behind the two of them and looking her way. Wraith’s eyes widen slightly as she sees her, taking in the way her body is clearly off the ground, and how effortlessly she seems to be doing that. Valk lifts a hand and gives her a small wave and Wraith returns it. Then she sees Anita approaching with a determined look on her face and tries to pay attention as Ajay fiddles around.

“Hey! We need to talk!” Anita calls out and grabs everyone’s attention, “Like who the hell are you and why are you here?” She demands, staring down Valk like she’s some kind of intruder.

“Name’s Kairi Imahara. Callsign: Valkyrie.” She introduces herself and Wraith shivers hearing her name. Something tingles in the back of her mind with that sentence. She stares at the flying woman, trying to understand why she all of sudden feels… off about her. But her mind isn’t clear enough and her vision still blurs as she tries to focus. ‘I really hit my head that hard.’ She sighs. ‘I’ve had worse head injuries. I’ve cracked my skull open for fuck sakes, but I can’t shake this?’

“You must stay away from the vines. You could have a fatal reaction to them. Starts with bleeding eyes. 72 hours later? You’re in a body bag.” Kairi continues with her warning from earlier. Wraith frowns and looks down at her hands. She was in direct contact with the vines. Does this mean plummeting to her death isn’t the only thing she has to worry about?

“What’s the cure?” Anita questions and Wraith looks up in interest.

“That’s the bad news, Sarge—”

“I didn’t ask for bad news. I asked about the cure.” Anita cuts her off and the look on Kairi’s face makes Wraith feel uneasy, “Cause if you’re right, I got three days to figure out how to survive. So talk fast, New Girl.”

Wraith’s body goes cold and Ajay and Makoa stiffen beside her.

“I…” Kairi trails off and finally lands, her feet touching the ground with a solid thud, “I think it’s better if we have everyone together. That way I don’t have to repeat it. Besides, Wraith needs medical attention.” She points over to her and everyone looks in her direction. Wraith shakily raises a hand.

“Don’t worry about me, I’m fi-” Her lungs burn and she begins coughing. Coughing so hard that her chest constricts and she can’t get any air in. Something hot and wet rises up her throat and forces its way out of her mouth, splattering onto her hand.

Even in the haziness, she can tell it’s blood.

“Oh, shit!” Makoa.

“Dat’s not good!” Ajay.

“We’ve got to go!” Loba.

“Hold on, Wraith!” Kairi. She feels herself getting picked up. When did she close her eyes? It feels like she’s falling. Or… flying?

“Just- Please, hold on!” Kairi begs desperately, her voice cracking and she sounds as if about to cry. ‘She must be a very caring person to get emotional over someone she just met.’ That thought is the last thing on her consciousness as it all fades away.

“I’m assuming you’re my pilot?” Renee asks the teenager hanging out on the dock she was instructed to report to. She’s skeptical, but none of the other ships seem to be ready for takeoff. In fact, the hangar is a ghost town. Likely courtesy of Marder who doesn’t want the base knowing she’s being carted off until she’s gone. 

“Yup. Name’s Kairi Imahara. Callsign: Valkyrie.” The teenager in front of her holds out her hand, “I’m your pilot for this trip. Normally I don’t give my civilian name, but the General insisted. So, call me Kairi. But around others it’s Valkyrie.”

“Renee Hope Blasey. Call me Hope and I’ll kill you.” She shakes her hand and then adjusts the duffel bag on her shoulder, “Aren’t you a little young to be a Carrier-class pilot?”

“Aren’t you a little young to be a grunt?” Kairi raises an eyebrow, crossing her arms as she leans against the doorway. Renee chuckles emotionlessly.

“I’m eighteen. And for your information, I’m not a grunt and I was born into the military.” Renee walks past her, hearing the sound of the door closing.

“Oohh, let me guess. Gridiron legacy?”

“Good one. I’m not like one of those pretentious fucks.” She scoffs and tosses her duffel on the bench next to her, “I’m a base brat. ARES Division. Typhon born and raised.” She turns and smirks at her, relishing in the stunned look Kairi gives her. She’s learned to accept that anyone she mentions that to is going to look at her like she’s a ghost or a saint. So, it became a point of entertainment instead of irritation for her after four years. After all, the number of people born and raised on Typhon can be counted on one hand.

“You’re the Typhon chick?”

“You’ve heard about me?” She raises an eyebrow.

“You’re not the first person I’ve smuggled for Marder.” She shrugs and sits down on the bench, crossing her arms behind her head, “Except they were chatty adults who had a lot to say about the brat Marder was favoriting.”

“Glad to know I’ve got fans.”

“Everyone needs a few.” Kairi grins, “And you are a grunt. I’m escorting you to Gridiron for training.”

“On paper.” Renee rolls her eyes and leans against the wall, “I’ve got more training and experience than my Commanding Officers. We had a training ground on Typhon and the Simulacrum that ran it did her best to make sure almost I died trying to complete the tests. But, Marder wants to do this by the book. So I’m being shipped out.”

“I’d love to hear more about that.”

“Are you going to kiss my ass for it? You and I have a month together until we arrive.”

“Oh, they’re going to hate you at Whitehead.” She laughs and then stands up, “Let me show you where you’ll be sleeping and then we’ll be heading out. I hope you like rations. That’s what we’ll be eating for most of this trip.”

“I love rations.” She grabs her duffle bag and follows her down the hall, “I wish they had prowler ones though. They probably taste better than the beef.”

“You’ve eaten prowler?” Kairi snaps her head in her direction, “What the fuck does that taste like? What possessed you to eat that?”

Renee thinks of her days exploring the Typhon wilderness, “I killed one and wondered what it tasted like. I think you trade your sanity when they make you a genius.” She jokes. 

“Beautiful, a genius, but lacking sanity.” Kairi ticks off on her fingers, “Got it. I’ll keep that in mind. Anything else I should know?”

“I have a horrible temper?”

“Emotional regulation. I’ll file that under the sanity part.” She taps her fingers against her lips, “I figured that with how emotionless your voice sounds. Although, that’s not a bad thing. This sounds like a trip I’ll enjoy.” She grins at her, genuinely sounding happy about it. That makes Renee wonder if this teenager is all there, too.

“I hope you’re getting your money's worth.”

“Well, now that I know you’re the Typhon chick, I’m definitely having him add on a few more zeros!”

Renee smiles to herself, “You know, I think we’re going to get along just fine, Imahara. How old are you anyway?”

“Fifteen.” Kairi stops in front of a door and inputs a code in the keypad, “And before you say I’m too young for this, I was flying my Dad’s Titan at eleven.”

“No. I was going to say that whatever you're after? If you keep up this pace, you’ll reach it eventually.” Wraith leans in the doorway and makes eye contact with her, “You’ve caught Marder’s eye. Keep it. He’s a bastard but he’s got connections.”

Kairi gives her a secretive smile, “No offense, Blasey, but what do you think you are? I get you to Gridiron safe and the sky’s the limit.”

“I guess we’re both using each other then.” Renee smirks and holds her hand out again, “Get me to Gridiron in one piece and I’ll make sure to leave a glowing review.”

“Deal.” Kairi shakes her hand.

“Fuck…” Wraith groans as she comes to. Her body feels like it’s been tumbled through the dryer like a pile of wet clothes. She opens her eyes, hears the steady beeping of her heart monitor, and makes eye contact with Natalie.

“You’re awake!” Natalie smiles happily, “Oh, Wraith, you really scared us!” She grabs her hand and squeezes it.

“Sorry, Nat.” She squeezes her hand back, “I didn’t mean to do that. It was just a concussion. Or, it was supposed to be.”

“You passed out. The new Legend um… Kairi? Said that you were bleeding from your nose and mouth the whole way here. Those aren’t symptoms of the virus, but it freaked her out.” Natalie frowns and Wraith realizes she has been crying from the wet look of her eyelashes, “The doctors said you don’t have the virus, but your concussion is a bad one. You broke your ribs at some point, too, and that is where the blood from the coughing came from.”

“I didn’t notice any of that.” Wraith sighs, leaning back into the pillows, “My pain tolerance is too high.”

“Mm, I do remember you mentioning that.” She nods and then makes a noise as she jumps up, “Oopsies, I forgot about Elliot. One minute! I’ll go and get the Doctor as well!” She scurries from the room and leaves Wraith by herself.

Now that she’s alone, her thoughts immediately drift back to the dream she had before she woke up. It was a strange one. Was it… Was it really a dream? It didn’t feel like one. It felt too real. Too vivid to be a dream. Like when she had nightmares about her time in the facility. She knew those were real memories coming back to haunt her in her sleep. But this? This is a dream about her and Kairi. Teenage Kairi. Why would she dream about that when she only just met the older version of her?

Wraith frowns and plays with the blankets. ‘No. That was a memory. It had to be.’ It feels like it. She balls up the blankets in her hands. ‘Does this mean I know Kairi? That she knows who I am?’ The heart monitor picks up speed and she takes a deep breath. She doesn’t know if she’s getting excited or nervous or both. What if this isn’t a memory? What if it’s some weird concussion fever dream? What if-?

“It’s a relief to see you awake.” Doctor Blaire smiles brightly at her, walking into the room with Natalie, Elliot, and Ajay hot on her heels.

“Hello, Dr.Blaire. I didn’t think you’d be the one treating me.” Wraith greets her, relieved that the one treating her is the same doctor who looks after her during the Games.

“They wouldn’t allow anyone else to care for you, Wraith.” She chuckles, checking over her vitals, “How are you feeling?”

“Like I can’t feel my toes.” Wraith admits.

“That would be the painkillers. They didn’t want me to give you any restorative until you woke up.” She writes something down, “Now, your CT scan came back negative. No cranial bleeding! That’s a good thing. Your chest x-ray showed broken ribs on your mid to lower section. Two managed to puncture your right lung, filling it with blood and collapsing it which is what led to your episode out there.”

“With my condition, shouldn’t I have gone critical much faster?” Wraith furrows her brow and glances at Ajay.

“Makoa and I did what we could to stabilize ya out there.” Ajay chimes in, “It’s t‘anks ta Kairi we got you here in time. She flew you all the way ‘ere.”

“A collapsed lung and filled cavity. You’re lucky to be here.” Doctor Blaire injects something into her IV line, “But, once the restorative gets through you’re cleared. It pays to be a top Legend, hm? Make sure you thank your saviors.”

“I will.” Wraith nods, “Um, so I’m not infected?”

“With the virus? No. All of the bleeding was from the perforation in your lungs. You’re not dying on us anymore, Wraith.”

“What about Anita?”

“Let the restorative take hold and you can head into the conference room.” She gives a sympathetic smile, indicating to the right, “It’s down the hall.” Then she disappears through the doorway and closes it behind her. The lack of information on Anita did not go unnoticed.

“I’m so glad you’re okay!” Elliot bursts out, “They’re getting set up in the conference room right now. But when we heard what happened to you and Anita, everyone freaked out. Dr.Somers started mumbling to herself like she does when she goes into scientist mode and Natalie started-”

“Elliot!” They all chime together, making him stop abruptly.

“Breathe.” Wraith tells him and he takes a deep breath, giving her a worried look.

“What I mean to say is that I was scared I was gonna lose you. What were you thinking?” He crosses his arms.

“I was thinking Loba was definitely going to get herself killed if I didn’t do something, and I was right.” Wraith says dryly, making him wince. “You didn’t see those things. I protected my chest and still got broken bones. If they had hit her, she’d be dead. If I hadn’t given her my jump kit, she’d be dead.”

“Kairi saved you from falling, no?” Natalie tilts her head, sitting on the bed with Ajay.

“And what are the chances of that? What if she hadn’t been there when Loba fell?”

The room is silent. She’s right. The time it took for her to put the jump kit on Loba and everything from there to her falling led to Kairi being in place to catch her. If Wraith had fallen sooner, she might’ve just fallen straight to her death without knowing of the woman’s existence. She didn’t want to think of Loba standing so close, by herself with her back to the unknown, without a jump kit. She wasn’t like Wraith with a sixth sense and her voices as backup. That wouldn’t have gone well.

“Patient: Wraith. You are clear for departure.” An automated voice sounds. She zones back in and realizes that she can feel her body. She flexes her hands, wiggles her toes, and sighs in relief. Ajay is already reaching for her, helping her out of bed while Natalie yanks Elliot out by his ear.

“Ow, ow, ow! Hey!”

“We’ll see you soon!” Natalie winks as they exit. Wraith and Ajay chuckle and they’re quiet as she gets dressed. She feels fine. Maybe a bit hazy still but restoratives don’t help with concussions in the same way they help with other physical injuries. The brain is a completely different matter.

“All good?” Ajay asks once she’s dressed.

“As good as I’ll be.” She shrugs.

“Then, let me take you to the conference room. I’ve got to head out after dat.”

“I appreciate it.”

The walk to the conference room is a quiet one, all because Wraith is caught up with everything going on. Now that she knows she’s okay, her worry for Anita is starting to creep up on her. Out of all of them, she was the one to get the deadly reaction? It’s almost ironic. Anita had been the safest out of all of them. She hadn’t even come into direct contact with the vines like Wraith had, but she’s the one whose life is on the line. Wraith sighs. How is it that she’s always escaping death by the skin of her teeth?

‘Because we don’t fear death.’

‘That’s one way to put it.’ She considers as she reaches the conference room. She says goodbye to Ajay and knocks softly on the door before entering. The tension in the room is so thick if she had her kunai, there’s no doubt in her mind she could cut into it. Her eyes land on Kairi who’s standing at the head of the table with Dr.Somers and Loba. Sitting down in front of her are Elliot and Natalie with an empty chair in between them, likely for her since they both would have wanted to sit next to her. Brooding in the corner is Caustic, looking ever the bit like he wants to be anywhere but here. Wraith silently agrees with him. Not that she doesn’t want to help with saving Anita and these people, but this is the one place she doesn’t think she should be. She’s not a scientist anymore.

“Wraith!” Dr.Somers brightens up when she sees her, “Are ya okay, deary?”

“Nothing a restorative couldn’t fix.” She deflects and takes the empty seat, “What have I missed?” She wanted to get down to it. There was no time to waste.

“Well,” Dr.Somers sighs, “Ya know why yer here. The Legacy Antigen. 203 people have already been admitted with bleeding eyes, and that number is climbing by the minute. If Kairi’s right? We have less than three days to find a cure.”

‘Less than three days. That’s right. We need to make this and distribute it before the clock runs out.’ Wraith zones out. ‘How are we going to do that? We can’t get close to the vines to study them or we’ll risk getting sick.’

“...greatest scientific minds among the Legends, working together to save lives.” Natalie’s cheery voice snaps her out of her thoughts.

“I’m not exactly in touch with my inner scientist these days.” She points out, leaving out the fact that she can’t even remember being a scientist. Wraith looks at Kairi and they make eye contact as she speaks. There’s something in her eyes as she says that—a knowing. A shock goes through Wraith and she finds herself straightening up.

“At least you were one…” Elliot’s voice fades away as they hold eye contact. She can’t look away from her, even as Dr. Somers grabs Kairi’s attention. What was that? Did she see right? She had to… right? Kairi understood what Wraith meant when she said that, but she shouldn’t have. Because she doesn’t know that Wraith lost her memories. Not unless she knew Wraith from before. But even then, sometimes people forget a face when they haven’t seen each other in a long time. How would she know that’s not the case? They would’ve had to be close. Wraith zones out as she stares at Kairi, her vision blurring and the room around her falling away.

“So you’re telling me you remember everything in perfect detail and all you have to do is study it a few times?” Kairi’s voice is filled with curiosity.

“Yes.” Renee lifts her legs and lays across the co-pilot chair, “I really wanted to join my parents in the field as a kid, but I didn’t know the protocol. So, I forced myself to memorize it. The more I practiced, the easier it got.”

“That’s so cool! I’m a fast learner, but not like that. I can only care about things that interest me. Don’t bother asking me about history. Boooring!”

Renee snorts, “Don’t worry, I’ve got you covered on that. Any other subject you find boring?”

“Not really.” Kairi looks up at her, lying upside down in her pilot chair, “What area are you planning on enlisting in? You know, since you’re transferring to Whitehead.”

“You’re asking me that knowing Marder is sneaking me out?”

“Yeah, and?” She raises an eyebrow.

Renee sighs, “My personal goal is a Science Pilot, but I'm sticking with the Army. Staying with ARES.”

“The IMC will let you do that? Choose where you want to go?”

“No, but when Marder demands I take up station with him there’s nothing they can do about it. It’s not like I’d tell him no anyway. The Division is my home. My people are there.”

“You have a lot of loyalty to them.”

“I wouldn’t call it loyalty.” Renee denies it, but what would she call it? She grew up in those halls. Knew those people by name. Hell, Marder carried her in his arms as a baby. Her mom and dad lived and died from it. And anyone else would leave and never look back after their home planet explodes. But, not her. If that’s not loyalty, then what is it?

“Love, then?”

“Definitely not.”

Kairi gives her a strange look and then laughs, “You need to think about your emotions more. Because if it’s not loyalty or love, something is keeping you with them. Unless you’re just in denial.”

“I’m not in denial.” She narrows her eyes.

“Dude, I feel like you’re the kind of person to have a crush on someone and go “I really like them but platonically” and misrepresent those feelings.”

“Oh really? Tell me more.”

“Well, I just think you- AH!” Renee kicks her chair and makes her go flying out of it with a loud thud, “Ugh, you could have just told me to shut up.”

“Where’s the fun in that?”

As the teenage Kairi’s voice cuts off, she can hear Natalie and Elliot’s voices going back and forth around her. Her eyebrow twitches and she raises her arm as she tries to reorient herself, knowing that whatever conversation is going on, it’s not the necessary one.

“Enough!” Wraith says firmly, her voice louder than intended and making them jump, “Valkyrie, what are we up against?”

Kairi seems a little startled at being addressed but she collects herself, “I encountered the vines when I found my dad’s Titan… No matter what I tried they wouldn’t come off.” She glances back down at the papers in her hands, “I found research papers in the wreckage and tracked down one of the scientists. They were genetically modifying the vines. Weaponizing them. Called it Project: Legacy. What do you expect from a planet like Typhon?” She looks up and makes eye contact with Wraith as she says it.

Wraith is out of her seat before she stops herself. She grabs a hold of the papers in Kairi’s hands and Kairi doesn’t protest or resist as she takes them. She feels nearly feverish as she scans the page, her grip on the paper tightening as if she’ll die if she lets it go. As if it’ll disintegrate or burst into flames if she so much as lets it slip between her fingertips.

“This thing’s from Typhon?!” She exclaims, the intricate handwriting making her stomach twist, “But those ships aren’t IMC. Or ARES.” Whoever wrote this could have been someone she knew. She can’t look away. She just… can’t. She searches the page for the names of the scientists that were working on the project. She finds it in one of the corners and her eyes hover over a name that makes her brain itch.

“Are you sure you want to join the ARES Division?” Kairi asks, kicking her feet in the sand. She snuck her way to Gridiron to see her, so Renee decided to indulge her.

“I never left. A lot of respectable scientists lost their lives on Typhon. Dr.Kippern was one of them. I looked up to him. He worked closely with my mom and would bring me along to his projects when my mom couldn’t.”

“Doesn’t the Division do inhumane experiments?” She frowns and looks at her.

“How’d you know that?”

“My dad. He was contracted to ARES. I overheard things.”

“Not everyone touches that sector.” Renee picks up some sand in her hand, “You have to have the right credentials for it.”

“Do you?”

“I was born into it.” She responds simply, watching Kairi’s face for her reaction, “That’s my credential. The moment they knew I took an interest in it, I had a scalpel in my hand as soon as I could stomach it. Marder is waiting for me to graduate and return.”

When Kairi doesn’t show a response, she continues, “Does that scare you? That I can be capable of that?”

“No.” Kairi meets her eyes, “My dad was a mercenary. My mom was an assassin before she had me. They were good people but didn’t do good things. You don’t scare me, because I know you’re not a bad person.”

Renee tilts her head, contemplating that, “That’s an intriguing answer.”

Everyone is scared of her. Even here on Whitehead. It’s what she’s used to, being who she is. People are afraid of her mind. Of the fact that she can do things and shove her feelings aside if it means getting the project done. But not Kairi. Those eyes look at her as if she’s the brightest star in the sky. As if she can do no wrong.

“It’s my answer.”

“Do you see anything on there, Wraith? Can you read it?” Kairi asks her, touching her shoulder gently, “I could read some of it, but a lot of it is in scientific terms.” Her voice is deeper than her teenage voice. Wraith nods, feeling a bit startled that she dissociated so suddenly.

“Um, yeah, actually.” She clears her throat, scanning the pages and feeling surprised that she does understand what she’s reading. Sure, someone who isn’t a scientist could pick it up and piece it together, but not very well. She can make sense of it perfectly. From the scientific names of the creatures to the chemical names to the formulas and the compounds they mention. It all makes sense to her.

“They talk in detail about the project, but these first few pages just explain what they’re trying to do.” Wraith tells them, flipping through as she goes along, “I should be able to find out how they mutated the vines in these other pages.”

“Let me hold onto those first ones then.” Kairi holds out her hand.

“Thank you, that helps.” Wraith hands the papers over to her and continues looking over the ones in her hands. There’s an ache in her chest as she does and she gently rubs at her ribs. A soft hiss leaves her lips as a sharp pain radiates from the area, but as fast as it was there it was gone.

“Are you okay?” Natalie walks over and gives her a concerned glance, “Did the restorative not work?”

“It’s likely a wee bit of phantom pain.” Dr.Somers smiles, “She’ll be fine with some rest.”

“What are you up to now?” Natalie asks.

“We’re trying to figure out how they were able to pull this off. It should be here in their notes, but it’s taking a minute to find.” She isn’t really lying about that. These research notes are incredibly detailed, so it’s taking her some time to read through them. It’s just that’s not the only thing. Part of her feels like she recognizes this handwriting. The more she reads it, the more she feels a sense of nostalgia and it kind of freaks her out. Yet, she’s relieved that she’s the one looking at them because it’s typical ARES Division notes. They’re straight to the point and don’t hold anything back.

“They’d need a roadmap. A blueprint. Somethin’ in nature that already has this trait. Find that, dear, and you’ll find your cure.” Dr.Somers chimes in as she reaches the part she’s been looking for. Wraith feels like she wants to celebrate. If there’s one thing she had to hand to ARES it’s how thorough they are. Every detail had to be written down even if it was an accident.

“They had one. A mammoth-class arachnid. Rare, emits a toxic gas from its abdomen.” Wraith says and starts to hear a high-pitched ringing in her ears. She winces, raising a hand to her head as Elliot says something. The lights in the room flare and she squeezes her eyes shut with a whimper.

“What do you want, brat? Calling me on an encrypted line at 2 am will not make me fond of you. I have a presentation in the morning.”

“A Science Pilot? You couldn’t do something cool like Armed Forces?” She jokes. They both knew Renee’s goal was never to be on the front lines. No matter what her COs tried to convince her to do after seeing her scores. Her calling is within the Division.

“I’m hanging up on you.”

“No! No!” There’s the sound of something falling and a soft groan, “What’s your project on? Tell me about it. Maybe it’ll help me sleep.” She continues with a strained voice. Renee has to stop herself from chuckling. That idiot fell out of her bunk.

Renee stops writing and puts her pen down, “You called because you can’t sleep?”

“Yes?” Kairi answers sheepishly.

She sighs and rearranges some papers around, “Are you scared of spiders?”

“What? No. Who’s scared of spiders?” Kairi sounds almost insulted that she asked her that question. Renee smiles as she stares down at her sketch of the creature.

“You might change your mind after I tell you about my area admission project. I won’t go into details of the actual project, but there are these mammoth-class arachnids on Gaea called Carthage spiders. Nasty fuckers. I’m going to be doing my presentation on them.”

“...That’s it?” She whines, “You’re not going to elaborate?”

“Do you want to sleep tonight?”

“Well, yeah! That’s why I called you! The last time you talked about a project, I was out!”

“You won’t sleep if I tell you how it hunts down and kills its prey. Considering they’re big enough to eat a human, I’m saving you from nightmares.”

“You know, sometimes I think you don’t like when I call.”

“What gave that away, Kai?” Renee puts her phone on speaker and picks up her pen, “Is it all the times I’ve hung up on you? Or the times I’ve left you talking to an empty room?”

“Neither. You sound bored when we talk.” Kairi sounds as if she’s pouting, “I can deal with that other stuff. You’re busy, Miss Genius Scientist-in-Training. But, do I bore you?”

“You want a genuine answer?” Renee rests her chin in her hand, feeling amused with the direction of this conversation. Leave it to Kairi to keep her on her toes and she’s not even on the same planet as her. She didn’t expect to end up with such an interesting investment when she shook her hand.

“Can you even lie to me?” There’s amusement in her voice, “Yeah, I do.”

“Most things bore me. You are not one of them. I’m sorry my tone of voice hurts you. I’ll… work on it. I guess.”

“YES! HAHAHA! I knew it! You care about me!” She celebrates on the other side of the phone. Renee can picture her excitedly dancing around her little bedroom on her ship and she shakes her head with a fond smile.

“Goodnight, Kairi.” She says, her finger hovering over the end call button.

“No, don’t hang-!”

“Wraith?” A soft squeeze of her shoulder, “Is the light bothering your eyes?”

“Huh?” She opens her eyes and turns her head to see Kairi looking at her in concern. Those beautiful, brown eyes glimmer in the light. Her breathing catches and she looks around realizing that they’re the only two left in the conference room. How had everyone left without her noticing? There’s nothing anyone can do without her picking up on it.

“I noticed you rubbing your eyes as everyone rushed out to get the things they’ll need for the trip. We’re going to get ready to go and then come back to go over everything one last time. I wanted to check and make sure you’re okay before I go prepare.”

“I…” Wraith doesn’t know what to say. Hey, I think I remember memories of you and me from when you were a teenager. That definitely makes her sound crazy. But, she wants to know if these are real memories. Because if they are then Kairi is a link to her past. Someone who is right in front of her that she can actually talk to and get information from.

“…I’m not feeling very well.” She lies, anxiety suddenly taking over, “I think they didn’t give me the right dose of the restorative. My head hurts and my eyes are still sensitive.” She crosses her arms. 

“You should get some rest when this is all over. You deserve it.” Kairi smiles softly, stroking her shoulder, “I heard what you did for Loba. That was sweet of you.” A warmth rises to Wraith’s cheeks and she flusteredly glances to her feet.

“Yeah, well, if you hadn’t been there to catch me, I’d be dead. So, thank you for saving me.” Wraith hopes she can’t see her blushing, “Not just from the fall, but for carrying me to the hospital, too. You saved my life.” She rests her hand on top of Kairi’s and gives it a small squeeze. Normally she’s not this touchy. Not with people she’s just met. But for some reason, it feels natural to do it with her.

“I’d do it again, without question. Besides, I can’t turn away a damsel in distress.” She jokes, grinning at her, “What kind of hero does that make me?”

“There’s a hero here?” Wraith looks around the room like someone else is going to jump out at them.

“Hey!” Kairi playfully hits her, puffing out her cheeks, “That’s no way to treat your savior!” She gasps dramatically, making them laugh. Wraith gets a good look at her while they do. Admiring the way she looks while her head is tilted back in laughter, her eyes squeezed shut with mirth. There’s this vibrancy the joy brings to her that makes the new Legend glow and it’s something that Wraith finds herself really liking.

“I’ll treat you when you come back then.” Wraith promises, resting a hand on her hip, “You get that cure and I’ll take you out to dinner. How about that?” She smiles, hoping she agrees to it.

“Oh? Dinner?” She perks up with an adorably excited expression, “I can eat. But, I don’t know any good places around here. Think you could show me around?” Kairi asks casually, crossing her arms with a tilt of her head.

“Yeah, I know this great place.” She nods, thinking about this curry place Ramya took her to, “If you can handle level five spices.” She eyes her. The first time Ramya took the Legends to the restaurant, they didn’t know what to expect so they let her order for them. Big mistake. Wraith had no issue with the spices. She enjoyed every second of it but the others who couldn’t handle it had the worst time. After the mechanic had her laugh she ordered them mild dishes but they swore to never return to the restaurant again. Wraith took advantage of that and made it one of her regular spots. The owners and her are close and she’s also picked up their language. An arena coming here only made them more enthusiastic about her learning.

Kairi laughs, “I can handle that. Food is kind of my thing. There isn’t anything I can’t handle when it comes to that.” She brags, winking. That makes Wraith laugh and shake her head.

“You’re something, Kai.” The nickname tumbles from her lips without her realizing it, “I shouldn’t keep you any longer, so let me give you my number before I forget. I can’t contact you if I don’t have it. Unless you’ll catch me if fall from another floating city?” She takes out her phone and unlocks it, quickly navigating to her contacts and pulling it up for her. She flips it around and hands it over to her, their fingers brushing against each other in the exchange.

“If you fall, I’ll be there to catch you.” Her eyes flick up as her lips twitch into a smile, “But, I’d prefer not having to save your life for a second time so soon. So please call me when you’re all dolled up and ready to go.” She saves her number, texts herself, and hands Wraith her phone back.

“Dolled up? I think you’re expecting too much. I’ll be going like this after we’re done here.” She chuckles and then her smile drops and she looks at her shoes, “Anita needs this cure. All these people do. They’ll die without it.” She sighs heavily. Kairi puts a comforting hand on her shoulder and Wraith meets her gaze.

“Then, I’ve got to get my ship prepared so we can head out.” Kairi gazes at her softly, caressing her shoulder as if she’ll break if she touches her too hard, “You need to go rest. You may have been given strong medicine but you’re not unbreakable. Stop thinking things will fall apart if you’re not helping. Take a minute, please.”

“I will.” She nods, the atmosphere in the room feeling soft and sweet, “You be careful out there. Carthage spiders are no joke. I want you back in one piece if we’re going out to eat together. I’d hate to lose such a handsome face so fast.” She impulsively runs her fingers under Kairi’s jaw.

“Pfft, I’m not scared of spiders.” Kairi grins, her cheeks a soft hue of pink as she backs away and heads for the door, “I’ll bring you back that cure. I promise… Oh! Do you like flowers?”

“I’ll hold you to that. And, yeah, I do.” Wraith nods, “Why?”

“I was curious about whether or not the mysterious Wraith liked flowers is all.” She grins, shrugging as she pauses in the doorway to wave, “I’ll see you when we return.” Then she’s gone and Wraith finds herself even more curious about this new teammate. 

She stares at the doorway for a moment and realizes that she feels fuzzy but in a good way. Not the “I’m sick and need to lay down” way she’s been feeling since she woke up. That short conversation with Kairi cheered her up faster than she thought possible. It’s strange how she’s feeling so out of character with her. ‘She really is handsome.’ She thinks, remembering how her whole demeanor seemed to brighten as she laughed. Wraith grins down at the dark screen of her phone. When was the last time she’d had a thought like that about someone and it was not simply an observation, but a genuine compliment? ‘Wait.’ Wraith freezes, tightening her grip on her phone. ‘That wasn’t me just thinking she looks good?’ A vibration coming from her hand has her looking at her phone. ‘Ajay?’ She shakes her head to clear it and with a quick swipe, she opens her phone to view the message.

Ajay: T’ink you can grab a contact fa me?

Any distraction is a welcome one. She doesn’t want to think about the visions, flashbacks, hallucinations, or whatever is going on with her right now. Especially not with how they’re starring the newcomer and making her feel… different. So there’s no hesitation on her end to reply.

Wraith: Whose?

Kairi wasn’t sure how she kept herself together until she got onto her ship. It must have something to do with the years she’s had to develop her skills in keeping her composure. But, her legs gave out once the doors closed and she slid down to the floor with an audible thud. The pain in her ass is a minor inconvenience for the thoughts circling through her mind.

Dazed, she stares ahead and slowly looks down at her hands. She rushed up to the ship to warn the group taken out to explore it, but she never imagined catching someone falling to their death in the process. It took her mind a moment to register who was in her arms and once she did, she never wanted to let her go. Kairi lets out a long breath and flexes her fingers. She held her. Her wife.

Renee clutched onto her body desperately as she flew her back up. Kairi could tell that something was wrong with her how she stared unfocused at her and her words came out all slurred. It worried her. She half expected her to start bleeding from her eyes right then and there, but she knew the signs of a concussion. Renee only proved her right when she stumbled after she put her down. Then she was back in her arms and cuddled up to her and Kairi thought she’d melt on the spot. Oh, how she missed her. She had to fight the urge to lean down and bury her face in her hair. They had to get out of there. For once, Kairi was the one supporting her sick wife and she couldn’t help but feel amused. 

That was until she started coughing up blood.

All she could focus on was the blood. It was coming out of her mouth and her nose, and she had fallen unconscious with nothing bringing her back. Kairi had never run faster. She was not about to lose her. Not when she just found her again. Not when she finally got close to her. She pushed her jetpack to its limit to get to the hospital and practically screamed her voice sore to get her help in time. The other Legends in the hospital had looked at her crazy at first until they realized she had Renee in her arms. Kairi had almost knocked out the first person who tried to take her from her arms before she realized it was Mirage. He backed off just as a nurse arrived and she followed after them to pace outside of the emergency room doors.

When Renee actually saw her for the first time, Kairi hoped there’d be something there. She hoped she’d look at her and curse her out, call her a brat, or ask her what took her so long. But, Renee walked into the room and there was no acknowledgment. She knew there was something wrong. From the first Apex Games, she could tell that Wraith was her wife. She was every bit of the brutal, wicked beauty she had come to know and love. The mysterious abilities she displayed made her heart palpate in her chest.

Project: Wraith. She knew all about it. There were no secrets between wives.

To be face-to-face with the woman she loves and has yearned for and grieved over for years, only to be looked at with no recognition made her feel weak. But at the same time, Renee flirted with her back there. She flirted with her even though she didn’t remember her. Kairi feels herself blush as she chuckles, slowly pushing herself up off the ground. ‘Not only that, but she called me by my nickname. So that has to mean something.’ She walks to the controls and picks up the picture of them, carefully tucking it into her pocket. She’ll be putting it into her room so she doesn’t lose it on Gaea or have any of the other Legends see it.

“Okay, Kai. You can’t let her down. She’s waiting for you to come back with her favorite toxic flowers and deadly man-eating spiders in time to save an entire city… in exchange for a dinner date. No pressure.” She says to herself as she messes with the controls, getting them set up for the flight. She pauses as she goes to turn on her solar core and laughs.

“I can’t believe I’m going back there…” She flips the switch and locks it into place, letting out a sigh, “Maybe they won’t be as bad this time. I don’t have Renee to save our asses this time if they’re in breeding season. Not unless Caustic knows how to make a stink bomb out of flowers… Although, I doubt he would.” She mutters.

God, the moment she was able to… she was going to kiss Renee until she couldn’t breathe. She knew the kind of woman she had when she lost her. She knew and she missed her. She missed her more now that she finally found her.

She couldn’t wait to come back and go on that date.

It didn’t take Wraith long to sneak out and get the contact information Ajay was asking her for. Emphasis on sneaking out, because if Dr.Somers knew she left she’d be in for a long scolding. That’s why Ajay asked her to do it in the first place. She’s the only one who can get in and out without being spotted. Coming back inside Wraith didn’t expect to see so many people within the hallway, especially not how many were children: teenagers and younger. It makes her heart ache as she weaves through them, looking for any sign of the medic.

“Che!” She calls out to her when she finally spots her. Ajay doesn’t notice her, so Wraith slips into her portal and makes her way through the crowd.

“Ajay!” Wraith says as soon as she pops out next to her, “I got-!”

“Jeez an ages, Wraith, yuh scared me to death!” Ajay jumps, yanking off her headphones. Wraith sheepishly rubs the back of her neck. She should have realized that she couldn’t hear her calling her because of her headphones. That’s typical Ajay.

“Sorry.” She apologizes, “This place is a zoo!”

“More infections ev’ry hour… but yuh got it?”

“Current contact info for one Chico Sawtelle, right here.” She says smugly, holding up the piece of paper for her to see. She’s pretty proud of herself for getting it. As one of the original Legends, people in the entertainment field tend to make it too easy for her. Most of the time, she didn’t even have to smile. They bent over backward to appease her the moment she asked for something. Nicely or not. They liked it better when she was a bit colder though.

Ajay snatches it from her fingers faster than she can blink, “Gotta go! If you see Silva, tell him tuh call me!”

“What do you want with a trashy gossip vlogger?” Wraith asks, more confused than curious about what Ajay’s got going on. It just didn’t seem like something she’d be interested in. But, she doesn’t get an answer. Ajay scurries away without another word leaving her there even more confused. Today is just… not her day.

“Are you a doctor? I’ve been waiting for three hours…” A young girl’s voice sounds from behind her as a soft tap hits her shoulder. But Wraith feels a chill go down her spine and she stiffens as the world seems to warp around her. This only happens in very specific situations.

“Did you hear me?” The young girl’s voice sounds far away.

Wraith blinks and she can practically feel the other Wraith’s presence next to her as if she was physically there.

  ‘FIRE IN THE HOLE!’ She moves before her mind processes it, grabbing the younger girl and pulling her down to the floor. There are screams from around them as ceiling tiles come crashing down and the hallway fills with dust and debris. She keeps herself positioned over the girl until it stops, carefully checking her over once it is.

“Are you okay?” She asks. The girl nods.

“Was that a bomb? Are we under attack?!” The girl panics and Wraith shakes her head.

“I don’t think so. There’s no heat. No fire.” Wraith lifts her scarf over her mouth, scanning through the dust, “This isn’t the sound of one either. Stay here.” She instructs her and makes her way through the mess. She needs to go check on Anita. That’s what she was going to do before Ajay texted her anyway. With whatever just happened, she needs to do that now. With every step she takes her vision blurs and the panicked voices and the hospital hallway fades away to a warm sandy training ground.

“You're going to be in a lot of trouble, Blasey.” Adams snickers as he looks between her and Kairi who shrinks behind her.

“I’m going to be in trouble? I’m not the one throwing grenades near civilians, Adams.”

“I’m not the one sneaking them on base.” He retorts, eyeing Kairi, “How’d you even get her in here? This whole place is on lock 24/7.”

“Now why would I tell you? You’re just going to whine to Sarge anyway.” She tightens her grip on the girl. More to stabilize herself than to hold her. She’s not a fan of Adams. Because they fell next to each other in line, he took it personally and saw it as competition. Renee didn’t care. He couldn’t keep up with her so he wasn’t worth calling competition, unlike Kroha. She was worth calling competition.

“Maybe I won’t… if you agree to go on a date with me.” He grins and crosses his arms.

“The fuck?” Kairi curses, “Gross, dude! Mhm!” Renee covers her mouth and tucks her into her side. Kairi struggles against her, shouting muffled complaints against her hand. The tight hold she’s using is one she learned from her mom. It takes decent arm strength, and it’s not meant to restrain someone who’s really trying to get away from you.

“Is that all? A date?” She asks, picking up something out of the sand by where she had been sitting, “That’s all you want so you won’t tell Sarge?”

“For now.” He shrugs, “This is a big breach.”

“Alright then. Catch.” She tosses what’s in her hand to him and he catches it. He cradles it in his hands for a moment before holding it up, his brow furrowing. His confused facial expression turns into one of horror as she holds up her hand, the grenade’s pin dangling from her middle finger.

“Sorry, I’m not into men.” Renee shrugs, spinning the ring around.

“BLASEY, YOU’RE INSA-” He screams, trying to drop the grenade but it doesn’t even slip past his fingers when the grenade explodes. Kairi screams, clutching onto Renee out of instinct as the older girl covers her. 

Renee laughs, genuinely laughs, as she sees the mess of blood, guts, and bone fragments splattered all over the entryway. Adams’ body is blasted apart and tossed onto the ground like an unwanted rag doll. They were far enough away that the blast didn’t reach them, but she could feel pieces of bone in her hair and blood on her skin. Kairi is limp against her and she lets her go, grabbing her chin and having her meet her eyes.

“Did you see it?” She asks, searching her eyes for a response.

“…Yeah.” Kairi swallows, nodding her head. The action draws Renee’s eyes to the red splatter mark on her cheek.

“We’ll talk about it later. They’re going to come and investigate what that was because it wasn’t down range. I want you to duck behind those rocks over there until I come to get you. Don’t come out.” She uses her thumb to wipe the blood off her, “I mean it.”

“What are you going to tell them? How do you explain… that?” Kairi looks at the corpse, flinching as she meets Renee’s eyes again, “You’re going to get in trouble.”

“Simple. He was too busy flirting with me to remember he pulled the pin and wouldn’t listen when I tried to tell him. Casualties happen when you’re stupid.” She turns Kairi around and nudges her towards the rocks, “Now go.”

“Why’d you do it?” Kairi glances at her. Renee already knows she’s not going to get her into cover without a proper explanation.

“Let’s say I went on the date to get him off my back. He doesn’t tell Sarge but now he has dirt on me. He can use that to get me to do whatever he wants if I really want to keep my place at Whitehead.” Renee tsks, glaring at the dead body, “Adams is the kind of guy to tell Sarge anyway. He’ll get what he can out of me and then get the reward for telling. My issue with that is it puts you in danger. You’re not IMC. They’ll kill you. I can’t have that.”

“So you killed him.”

“And I’ll do it again to whoever walks through that door if you don’t hide.”

“Okay, sheesh. You have more grenades hiding in there?”

“Don’t make them find out.”

Wraith blinks and finds herself standing with a card in her hand, her picture and information on it. Her eyes widen as she examines it and realizes that it’s a registered practitioner’s ID card. A shiny golden star glitters in the corner and the picture is her with her hair up in a set of scrubs with a doctor's coat on. It’s a picture she doesn’t remember taking. The information on the card consists of her name, her medical ID, the year she obtained her license, and a scannable barcode.

‘You’re thinking about it too hard.’

‘So I should ignore that this card has information I didn’t know about?’

‘You should go find your friend and think about it later.’

Wraith sighs in annoyance, but she’s right. She makes the short trip to the west wing where Anita is being kept. The Syndicate has a section of the hospital reserved for the Legends and it’s the area Wraith had been when she woke up, too. With Loba hiring a security detail for Anita, no one can come in and out unless they’re hospital staff or cleared by her. So, the mysterious ID card in her hand is useful. All it takes is flashing the card to the muscular men outside Anita’s door, along with a few placating words and she’s walking into the room to a stressed-out woman.

“All that time wasted making shivs…” Wraith flashes her ID card at Anita who scowls at her, “Just needed to wave one of these in someone’s face.” She jokes, trying to lower the tense atmosphere in the room. With the way Anita’s face looks, she knows that doesn’t work.

“Yeah, well, knowing is half the battle.” Anita says dismissively, “‘scuse me.” She walks past Wraith who raises an eyebrow and looks at her.

“Going somewhere?” She asks casually, still trying to keep her from getting any more agitated.

“Lo said they’re mapping out a plan. Finding a cure.” Anita pauses and turns to her, “I need to be there.”

“I just came from there. They’ve moved on to preparation. You being there isn’t going to be any help when you’re not a part of the expedition.”

“Wait. You were part of this meeting of the minds?” She scoffs, continuing to the door, “They really were desperate. See ya, head case.”

Wraith slips into a portal, moving in front of the door before Anita can process it, and shifts her out of the way in the void. She always finds it interesting how the others react to her portals. While she has full control of her time inside of them, they travel through them too quickly, appearing on the other side in a blink. It likely has to do with her innate abilities, but she hasn’t had the chance to test it out.

“Sooner than you think, it seems.” Wraith quips as they swap places.

“I don’t have time for this!” She huffs in frustration.

“I know this is frustrating but we don’t know enough about the spores to let you leave-”

“And you get to?!” Anita shouts, throwing her hands to the side, “Just hours ago you were half-dead and bleeding from your mouth, and now you’re standing in front of me like it never happened! You got sucker punched by the vines and yet you’re not in here bleeding from your eyes and on a timer counting down the hours until you die! If anyone should be locked up like some kind of guinea pig, it should be you, Wraith!”

Wraith flinches.

“You need to stop telling me what I need and let me leave the room.” Anita grabs her by her scarf, glaring at her like she’s two seconds from throwing a punch.

“Okay, you’re clearly unhinged.” Wraith remarks, taking note of how hysterical Anita is, “If you think Loba will let you travel across the Outlands like this–”

“I don’t give a damn what Loba wants, I’m not going to lie here, feeling sorry for myself, waiting to die! I don't get off on my own misery…” Anita lets her go and shoves her away, turning around, “I’m not you, Wraith.”

Those words are like a bullet to her heart.

‘You said I wouldn’t regret coming here.’

‘Trust me. You won’t.’

“You’re right, Anita. You’re not like me.” She laughs coldheartedly and lowers her head, her bangs falling in front of her eyes, “You could never do what I’ve done.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Anita’s voice sounds distorted.

“She’s a freak. Why doesn’t Sarge get rid of her?” Someone whispers behind her.

“Sergent Williams isn’t going to get rid of her, Lonnie. They’re using her to keep us in line. If we break the rules, rumor has it we’re going to die just… like… Adams.”

“Ugh, don’t even joke about that. I have nightmares about cleaning up that mess.”

“You don’t really believe Blasey killed him, do you?”

“She’s from Typhon. I heard rumors that they tortured people there. They cut them open and interrogated them while they were still conscious and could feel it. Of course, she killed him. She’s fucking deranged.”

“She… can hear you, Wells.” Renee turns and looks at the group huddled together behind her, “Why don’t you call me crazy a little louder? I don’t think the Militia heard you.”

Wraith looks at them unimpressed. They startle and Wells steps forward to say something when the hangar doors slide open. Sergeant Williams walks out and everyone straightens up, quickly moving into a line against the wall as he eyes them. His eyes linger on Wraith for a moment, taking in her appearance and eyeing her long ponytail before continuing down the line. She took a risk deciding to keep her hair in a ponytail today instead of in a bun, but they were going off-planet.

“Murderer.” Someone whispers behind her as Sarge walks back into the hangar.

She turns as he calls for them to come inside, “If you’re going to call me a murderer, make sure you don’t need my help during this research trip. You might not make it back alive.”

“Wraith!” A snapping sound in front of her has her grabbing the wrist of the person and slamming them into the wall. She wrenches their arm up between their shoulder blades, pinning them down with all her strength as she bares her teeth at them.

“Wraith, what the fuck?!” Anita shouts and she blinks, realizing that the person she’s pinning down is Anita and not… not someone from her vision. She abruptly lets go and puts space between the two of them, crossing her arms and looking away from her.

“Sorry.” She apologizes.

“Sorry?! You’re sorry?!” Anita hisses, rolling her shoulder, “You attacked me out of fucking nowhere after staring off into space. What the fuck is wrong with you? You really are a fucking head case.”

Again, Wraith flinches. This time a wave of anger floods through her and she clenches her fists. She glares at Anita.

“Doctor?! There’s something wrong with a patient and we can’t figure it out! Can you please come take a look?!” Someone begs, knocking urgently at the door. The anger in her evaporates with those words and they exchange a look.

“What are you gonna do? You don’t remember being a doctor.” Anita crosses her arms, “They’re going to know you lied.”

“I used to be one. Who knows. Maybe I can still help.” Wraith offers, but she knows that’s a lie to make them both feel better, “I’ll be back.” She heads for the door against the protests of Anita. If she stays in here any longer, she is going to fight her.

“Show me to the patient.” Wraith says immediately upon opening the door. The nurse nods and guides her through the hallways, having to fill her in on the patient’s status on the way. A little boy that’s infected with the virus, but he’s dying a lot faster than he’s supposed to be. He has all of the normal symptoms but he’s bleeding more than the others. They thought he might have some kind of blood disorder, but nothing turned up on their tests.

“Here he is. His name is Malachi.” The nurse motions into the room and Wraith peeks inside. Laying in the bed is a kid no older than six looking like he might fade away. Wraith’s heart constricts and she watches as his parents try to comfort him. Something has her walking inside against her better judgment.

“Good afternoon, I’m Dr.Blasey.” Wraith says, the words rolling off her tongue, “You must be Malachi!”

The little boy’s eyes widen and dart from her to his parents and back again, “No way. You’re- You’re Wra- Wraith! Mom! Dad! That’s… Wraith!” He struggles to get out.

“She is honey.” His mother agrees, smoothing his hair back.

“You’re one of the lucky ones who know I am a doctor, too.” She winks, grabbing his chart and reading it over, “But it’s a secret, so I’m going to need you to keep it for me, okay? Can you do that?”

“Yes, I can.” He nods and she smiles at him. Something on his chart makes her pause, causing her heartbeat to pick up and make her ears ring. But she doesn’t make it known to the people in the room. She keeps them talking, checks his vitals, gives him a high-five, and walks out to find three nurses anxiously waiting for her in the hallway.

“I need the operating room prepped now.” Wraith says as soon as the door is closed, “He has a ruptured tumor. Don’t ask me how I know, just trust me. He doesn’t have long.” Two of the nurses sprint off down the hall, shouting out for people she doesn’t know.

“We can’t give you anyone to assist with the extraction. We’re so busy all of the nurses and doctors have their hands full.” He frowns, looking distressed.

“I can do it on my own. Get it prepped.” Wraith says confidently, “We don’t have time.” She turns and heads back into the room, the parents looking at her in concern.

“Is everything okay, Dr.Blasey?” Mrs.Rin asks.

“Fortunately ma’am, I know what’s going on with your son and I have them getting the surgical suite prepared.” She says honestly, “There’s a ruptured tumor in his brain. The virus could have exacerbated the condition. It’ll be hard to say until I get in there. But, I need your permission to proceed.”

They gasp and his mother starts crying again while his father wipes his eyes. Malachi looks at them with confusion but grabs his dad’s hand to comfort him.

“Do whatever you need to to save my son.” His father says, “I’ll sign whatever you need me to.”

“Yes. Please. Please, save him.” His mother agrees, holding onto her son as if he’s going to disappear.

“I will.” Wraith promises, feeling assured in herself. She steps out of the way of the nurses as they enter the room and lets Malachi and his parents say bye to each other. She talks to him as they wheel him out of the room, gives him another high-five, promising to make him feel better, and lets one of the nurses take her to the surgical suite. She’s handed a spare set of scrubs and non-slip shoes, giving the nurse who gave them to her a sweet smile, she quickly changes in the bathroom before putting on the rest of her PPE. The gust of air that hits her when she opens the door feels oddly nostalgic. A feeling settles in her chest seeing the preparation room and she feels like she’s on autopilot as she walks to the wash station.

Wraith feels calm and secure as she goes through the process of scrubbing in, methodically cleaning her hands, and listening to the water run. It feels relaxing. Therapeutic, almost.

There’s a knock and her mind processes it to let her know the patient is ready.

She walks out and gets herself into her gown and gloves with practiced ease. And turns her attention to her patient. It’s just the two of them. For anyone else, she’s sure that they would be freaking out about it, but not her. Wraith feels calm. Dead calm. She feels at home as she walks up to the surgical tray and reaches for the first tool she needs. She promised this little boy she’d make him feel better and that’s what she intends to do.

So, she follows her instincts. It’s as if she���s watching herself work yet fully present in her own body. She wonders how someone would react if they saw the way she works. How she calculates the decisions she makes. Like the choice to make an incision in a specific spot or how she uses nothing but her hands and her eyes to find the tumor and remove it. At one point she uses her own hands to pinch off a vein, her facial expression seemingly showing nothing but deep apathy.

The clock in the surgical suite strikes 120 minutes as she finishes up, carefully wrapping up his head. The door opens and three nurses walk in, appalled looks in their eyes and she smiles under her mask. Wraith is sure she must be a sight. But, they take it in stride, taking over the situation and waving her off once the patient is secure so she can go through the degowning process.

Wraith discards her stuff in the biohazard bin, making sure to write down the procedure information on her way out, and walks into one of the dressing rooms to grab her clothes. As she picks up her uniform, a scalpel falls from one of the tables and a jolt goes through her as she watches it bounce against the tile.

“You’re not fooling me! Some of these look horrible but I know you saved their lives, Renee!” Kairi slams the folder onto the growing pile, a glare on her face, “What are you trying to achieve by showing me these experiments?!”

“I want you to leave me alone.”

“Well fuck you, because I’m not going anywhere. I could have done that last year when you blew up Adams in front of my fucking face!”

“Would you prefer to be my next class test subject, Kairi?” Renee questions darkly, the tip of her scalpel pressed to the younger girl’s abdomen, “I can make that happen.” The monotony of her voice makes Kairi shiver. It’s a strange skill to have a voice like that and be able to perfectly convey emotion without it.

“You don’t scare me, Blasey.” Kairi hisses, grabbing Renee’s wrist, “Everyone else may piss themselves when you look in their direction, but I don’t. I don’t. So threaten me all you want, but I’m not leaving your side.” She tightens her grip, making Renee glance down. The way Kairi holds her wrist is a way she taught her to disarm someone. It makes her proud. She may not see her as a threat, but she’s treating her as one anyway. 

“You’re awfully persistent.” She comments idly.

“Says you!” Kairi snaps, slapping Renee’s hand away and sending the scalpel clattering to the ground, “It’s like you actually want to be alone. I swear if I left you you’d have no problem with it, and I don’t know if that scares me or relieves me.”

“You’re bleeding.” Renee sighs like it’s an inconvenience, lifting up Kairi’s shirt and touching her abdomen where the scalpel nicked her, “It’s deep enough for stitches.” The feeling of Renee’s cold hands against her skin sends a chill through Kairi. That makes her pause and look down. Knowing Renee, Kairi being injured is an inconvenience for her.

“I didn’t feel it.” Her eyes widen as she sees it. It’s about two inches long with large beads of blood welling up in the cut that runs down like water drops.

“I keep my personal items sharp because the less pressure I have to apply to get the job done, the better for me and the patient.” Renee points to her bed, a stern look in her eyes, “Lay down. Are you going to make this difficult for me?”

“No.” Kairi sighs, laying down and holding her shirt up so Renee can get to the cut easily. She watches Renee as she grabs her medical equipment, and a towel and kicks her chair over. It rolls from the desk to the bed and she uses her free hand to stop it for her.

“You’re so adamant to stay by my side you wounded yourself.” She tsks, tucking the towel around her so no blood gets on the sheets. That would be fun to explain when they came in the morning for a room check, especially when she has no wounds. Renee works quickly, preferring to let Kairi bleed instead of stemming it, liking the way the bright red liquid mars her pale skin. She takes a deep breath, shoving those feelings down as she draws up the anesthesia. Her blood obsession has no place in this situation.

“They let you keep drugs in your dorm?” Kairi raises an eyebrow, a smirk on her face as she supports her head.

“No.” Renee glances at her as she aspirates the needle, “What they don’t know won’t hurt them.”

“You’re a bit of a problem child, aren’t you, Blasey?” She teases, “How many rules have you broken?”

“I think you should be asking how many of those broken rules revolve around you?” Renee puts the syringe down and gets to cleaning the cut, listening to the way Kairi hisses as she sterilizes it. Once she’s satisfied, she picks up the syringe and waves it in the air as a brief warning. She can feel Kairi tense and she sighs, tapping her body with her pinky as a way to soothe her.

“Relax. Just… relax.” She says, slowly inching the needle into the cut as she feels Kairi’s body unwind, “Good girl. Just like that. Now this might sting or feel cold.” She warns her, but once the anesthesia is applied there’s no issue. Kairi rambles to her as she stitches her up, unbothered by what’s going on, if not curious. She isn’t squeamish and doesn’t turn away from her. She even asks Renee questions as she does it, watching the whole time as she works.

“You have nice, gentle hands.” Kairi mumbles sleepily as Renee cleans her up, “Are you going to kiss it better?” She jokes, making her raise an eyebrow.

“Do you want me to pull these out now?” Renee motions to the freshly done sutures.

“No, no, no!” Kairi immediately shakes her head, looking paler than she was two seconds ago.

“I’m going to get you something to eat and drink. It’s okay if you fall asleep. You’re staying in my dorm tonight and you’ll leave tomorrow night.”

“Renee.” Kairi grabs her wrist as she’s removing her gloves, “I’m sorry for being an idiot. You might get in trouble because of me.” She sounds like she’s about to cry and that makes Renee feel frustrated. There’s no reason for her to get so worked up about the situation.

“You let me worry about the room check, brat.” She flicks her forehead, “Rest.”

Wraith gasps, tightening her grip on her clothes as she stares down at the scalpel. She looks around the empty room and places her clothes back down, leaning down to pick up the fallen surgical equipment. It’s cold in her hand, and the blade at the top looks like it’s going to fall out. ‘It’s not one I prefer. Removable blades never work as well.’ She walks over to the sharps container and drops it in. Whoever it belonged to will just have to get a new one. A hazard like that in the hospital’s changing room is asking for trouble.

She sits down on the bench and lets out a breath. This is the first time she’s had a chance to rest since she woke up in the hospital. She holds her head in her hands as she finally gets to think about what’s going on. Ever since that dream, she’s been drifting off and seeing visions or memories of her and Kairi. Not adult Kairi, the one she met today, but teenage Kairi. One she doesn’t recall meeting at all. That’s where the problem lies.

Not only that but now Wraith seems to be recalling how to function as a scientist and doctor. These were things she had no clue how to do previously. Parts of her that she shouldn’t remember are coming forward, and it suddenly manifested after that dream.

So, what does Kairi have to do with this? These memories show that they were friends. She cared about her a lot to be risking her future so heavily just to hang out with her. Wraith even… killed someone for her. She bites her lip, her eyes darting to the door and then she starts playing with her fingers. She blew up a guy to protect her. So she cared enough for Kairi to matter.

But… why does Kairi act like she doesn’t know her if they were such good friends? She needs to know more. Did something happen between them? Did they stop being friends? Or maybe these aren’t memories at all and she really is hallucinating.

‘You aren’t. They’re real.’

‘They are?’ Wraith’s eyes widen. The sound of footsteps in the hallway has her standing up and looking at the door cautiously. A knock at the door is followed by it opening and a different nurse than the one who had led her to Malachi pokes their head into the room.

“I was hoping you were in here, Doctor.” She gives Wraith a relieved smile, “I need your help with a patient.”

“My help?” Wraith asks.

“Yes, I heard what you did for little Malachi.” She holds the door open and beckons her over, “I have a patient I’m struggling with. They have the virus but out of nowhere end up with another illness. I can’t figure out what it is.”

“What are the symptoms?”

“That’s the problem.” She huffs, “There were none until now. They’re moving aggressively, complaining about a pain in their leg but we can’t find anything there with imaging. We’re so busy I’m nervous we’re overlooking something important.”

“I’ll take a look.” 

“You will?” She perks up.

“Yes.”

“Oh, thank you! Thank you! Their room is this way.” She guides Wraith to another section of the hospital, past the growing crowd of people waiting to be seen. They all catch sight of her, calling out to her feverishly, begging her to take a look at them, to help them.

“I don’t believe it.” Renee’s supervisor stares at her bloody, gloved hands.

“Martinez is stable.” She repeats, folding the soiled gloves off her hands and dumping them into the garbage bag, “If you don’t believe me, you’re more than welcome to see for yourself, Sir.”

“She broke her spine, solider. There is no being stable for her.” He denies it, writing something down on his clipboard. Renee watches as he crosses off Martinez’s name and frowns.

“Sir.” She says firmly, “I insist that you check on her before you mark her as lost. She’ll need a transplant but she’s not dead.”

“Yet.” Her supervisor looks at her, “We’ll use her as bait for the spiders. She can’t feel her legs anyway and we need samples of the web for your group to collect. These spiders are crafty bugs.”

“So you’re saying if she gets the feeling in her legs back, she’s back in?” She tilts her head. Her supervisor gets an uneasy look in his eyes as she does.

“If that miracle happened?” He quickly busies himself with his paperwork, “Absolutely.”

Renee turns and walks back towards the medical tent, already pulling another set of gloves from her pants pocket and tearing them open. If it’s a miracle he wants, then she was going to play fucking God. Martinez is her responsibility and she’s not dying on her. Renee ducks into the tent and Kairi jerks up, hurriedly putting the wet cloth she was using to wipe Martinez down. The girl is still unconscious and hooked up to the heart monitor. 

“So? How’d it- I don’t like that look on your face.” Kairi frowns, her eyes flicking down to her hands which she’s already shoving into the gloves.

“You’re assisting me. Put on some gloves. I’m going to be playing God.” Renee tells her, “I’m not letting this be a stain on my record.” To anyone else, it sounds selfish, but Kairi knows otherwise. That’s just Blasey’s way of showing she cares.

“Yes ma’am.” Kairi nods, not even questioning her. And Renee can’t help the smirk that tugs at her lips. She likes that. She likes Kairi’s unwavering faith. It fuels her and at a time like this, it’s what she needs. She was going to make that supervisor choke on his words. She will not allow anyone to doubt her. Not even Marder.

Wraith finds herself in a unique position after successfully helping out another patient in the hospital. She becomes the “we don’t know what’s happening but it’s an emergency” doctor who gets dragged around the building by her own small team of nurses.

They managed to procure a doctor’s coat for her from somewhere and insist that she put it on so people can tell the difference between her and them. However, Wraith doubted people would mistake her for another nurse by the way they were treating her. She had everything she needed and they listened to her when she told them what was necessary for these procedures. The interesting thing she’s figuring out as she’s going around to all of these different patients is that they’re infected. They arrived at the hospital due to the virus, but they were having issues with other illnesses that they didn’t even know they had. It has her mind spinning as she treats more people, especially as she catalogs the kinds of illnesses or diseases that they have.

‘It’s like the virus is exasperating these conditions and drastically speeding them up.’ Wraith thinks as she writes down some more information in a notepad Nurse Kathleen had been kind enough to give her. ‘That’s ten patients with the virus. Each one of them had a different problem pop up that put their life in danger. It’s not just the virus we have to worry about.’ She chews on her bottom lip and taps her pen against the paper. 

This piqued her curiosity.

What she would give to study someone who had been infected by the virus. Maybe then she could find out exactly how it was killing them. There was no time to properly look when she was treating Malachi, but she saw abnormal variations in his brain while she was there. It’s likely affecting the brain with the only symptom being ocular bleeding before death. If she could just cut someone open and study their brain, Wraith could help figure out a way to develop a cure. Some people have died to the virus that she could study. It wouldn’t be active, but it would show her the end result as well.

“You’re thinking hard.” Nurse Javid holds out a large chocolate chip muffin to her, “A muffin for your thoughts?” He gives her a kind smile. Wraith smiles back, the sight of the muffin making her stomach growl as she tucks the notepad into the pocket of her scrubs.

“Thank you. I didn’t realize how hungry I was.” She unwraps the muffin and takes a bite, relishing in the sweetness on her tongue.

“Hey, us Nurses got to take care of you, Doctors. If it weren’t for us, you wouldn’t remember to tie your shoelaces.” He jokes, making her chuckle.

“I don’t know what I would have done without my lead assistant, Bethany.” Wraith agrees, an intense feeling of nostalgia washing over her, “During those long nights in the lab she made sure I had a cup of coffee and a hot meal before I got too involved in my work.”

“You’re going to give me wrinkles, Dr.Blasey.” Bethany huffs, placing a bowl of stew over the paperwork Renee had been filling out, “You need to eat or that brilliant mind of yours is doomed.”

“Where’d you get this from?” Renee accepts the spoon handed to her, “This isn’t from the cafeteria.”

“Rick made it for you. He said a young woman like you should be eating a homemade meal and not cafeteria food.” She says as she moves the papers from under it, tidying up the desk, “I agree with him. You just graduated. You deserve a little love.”

“I don’t think the other scientist’s assistants are bringing them dinner and staying late with them on their passion projects, Beth.” She mumbles, blowing on the stew before taking a bite. The burst of flavorful spices followed by the tingle of pepper on her tongue makes her hum contentedly as she swallows. Beth watches her with a proud smile as she continues to eat the meal so kindly given to her. She’s been assigned to the reserved scientist for six months and Renee noticed it never fails to bring her joy when she can elicit a little emotion out of her.

“The other scientists don’t work fourteen hours to finish a project and have perfect records after just being assigned to the laboratory.” Bethany says bluntly, picking up her clipboard and looking over the things Renee needs her to do, “My team and I have our work cut out for us to keep your record spotless.”

“I don’t care about my record.” She moves the empty bowl to the side, sliding the paperwork back over, and catches a glimpse of the pressed flower keychain Kairi made her, “I care about the end results of my projects. That ends up with no failures.”

“Should I tell Rick to make more of the stew next time?”

“That would be nice.”

“Bethany sounds like a wonderful woman.” He snaps her out of her reminiscing and Wraith takes a deep breath, taking another bite out of the muffin. She squeezes her eyes shut as they burn, the telltale sign of tears trying to break through as she busies herself with the sweet treat.

“She was.” She nods, shoving the emotions down, “You asked about what I was working on? I was just writing down all of the emergencies I’ve seen so far. I’m trying to figure out what correlation they have with the virus. I can give the information to Dr.Somers when I figure it out.”

“You know… I still can’t believe a woman like you is so brilliant.” Nurse Javid motions to her, “I mean I watched you fight in the Games and I would have never believed you were a Doctor. You don’t talk about it. Not in interviews or anything.”

“I’m a very private person.” Wraith crushes the muffin wrapper in her hand, “Who I am in the Games is not who I am outside of it. There’s no reason for me to tell the public about it.” She isn’t lying. She is a private person. An extremely private person. Everyone she’s treated won’t be able to talk about who saved their life. She’ll fade like a ghost into the background of this chaos. It’s nice to be able to help out beyond checking in on Anita, but being able to do what she’s doing so suddenly feels unsettling. Wraith doesn’t hate it. It feels like she’s whole. Like she’s back home in her body again, but she isn’t sure she’s supposed to be remembering everything that she’s remembering right now. She’s not just getting her memories back but her skills, too.

“That’s understandable.” He nods, “I think that’s smart. Don’t worry, we’ll make sure your privacy stays that way after this is all over and these people go home.”

“Ready to keep going?” Wraith tosses the wrapper into a nearby garbage can and tucks her hands into her coat pockets, “I’m sure I’ll be hearing Patricia shout my name sooner or later.” That gets a laugh out of him as they exit the hallway they had been camping out in.

“She’s got a set of pipes on her. That’s why she’s on the emergency team.”

“DR.BLASEY!” Echoes down from one of the hallways, prompting them to take off running.

“Perfect timing!” He chimes and Wraith lets out a little laugh.

Dealing with her memories and the emergencies in the hospital proved to be a complicated task. Thankfully, her memories seemed to know when not to show up. They would wait behind her eyes as a light pressure until she was no longer focusing on her task. Once she stepped away, the memories overtook her senses.

The more memories she saw she could confirm that they all featured Kairi in some way. Even if she wasn’t physically or audibly present, there was something in the memory to represent her whether it was a gift or a letter. Wraith is vividly aware that they were close at one point. She feels fond of Kairi. More than fond of her. Even though she tried not to let it show that she was beginning to care about her in the past, the affectionate feelings that are forming in her chest with every returned memory prove otherwise.

Wraith feels so warm every time she thinks about Kairi. It grows as time goes on. It’s odd how affectionate she feels toward someone she feels like she shouldn’t know. But in reality, she knows that Kairi has a hard time keeping her anger in check when it comes to her loved ones. That she does this cute little two-fingered salute as her way of being playful. Or, that she once knocked out a guy for asking her out because she felt just saying no wouldn’t get the point across.

It makes this situation feel all the more strange. Why did Kairi not acknowledge their past? Did they end their friendship on bad terms? Has she not reached the parts of her memories where it all goes wrong? That part makes her feel sad. She gets to learn more about her life with someone else and if it ended on bad terms, she wasn’t sure how she’d go about navigating that. Especially with how happy Kairi makes her feel without even being there.

There’s this happy buzz Wraith feels and she finds herself looking forward to these memories as she works. She can’t wait to know more. To remember more about the past she shares with the new Legend and that excitement follows her as she continues to run around the hospital.

“HELP! HELP! BLASEY! BLASEY, PLEASE!” The girl—Collins, Renee had called her, screams as she runs for her life, her mask cracked and the spores thick in the air. Renee remains perched next to her on the tree branch, a hand gripping onto Kairi’s vest so she doesn’t slip off. The branch is sticky with sap, but it’s the only safe place away from the mess on the ground. They need those ferns and they’d lose them running from the prowler.

“Is there a way to save her?” Kairi whispers, watching as she narrowly dodges the prowler, “I know her mask is cracked and we were told not to breathe in the Harpy Claw spores but...” Her voice is warped by her mask, and Kairi is glad Renee told her to wear it before they found the plants. All it took was improper handling, Collins falling into the bushel of ferns and they ended up in this mess. She never wanted to curse out Renee’s superiors more than in that moment. She wasn’t stupid. She knew they switched her assignment to Collins because of what happened with Martinez. 

“Harpy Claw got its name from the way it grows. It nests inside your lungs and grows until you eventually suffocate to death. Gia is a lost cause.” Renee pulls out her Wingman and points it at her, the woman on the ground unaware of her classmate’s intentions, “The only help I can give her is a quick death.”

“You can make that shot from here?” Kairi stares at her in awe. Her Renee is so cool.

“What part of base brat do you not remember? It hasn’t been that long since we met, has it? Are you experiencing memory loss? Do I need to check you?” She looks at Kairi intently, removing her hand from her shirt to feel her temple. Kairi feels a heat rush up to her face.

“Renee.” Kairi says flusteredly, grabbing her wrist, “Help her go peacefully before that prowler takes a chunk out of her.”

“Peacefully?” Renee sighs in displeasure, “You like asking a lot out of me.”

“Take the shot, asshole.” She grumbles, feeling the emptiness gnawing at her stomach, “I’m getting hungry.”

“You want her to die just because you’re hungry?” She can hear the smirk under her mask as Renee cocks back the hammer and lines up the shot, “I’ve desensitized you to murder that badly?”

“You know that’s not true!” Kairi gasps, wanting to reach out and smack that smirk off her face, “I was just saying that I’m hungry-!” Renee takes the shot while she tries to explain herself.

Kairi stares at a patch of Harpy Claw. Well, more like the bullet hole in the rock above it. The bullet went clean through Collins’ head. Kairi can’t believe it, but this is a sign that she’s right where it happened. Now, she doesn’t believe in that superstitious stuff like her mother, but if she did, she’d be cursing it right now. What are the chances she’s back in the exact same fucking area she and Renee were all of those years ago? She can picture Collins’ bleeding body in the spore cloud as they walk past the Harpy Claws–thankfully not in season.

She can’t believe her luck in life. Her mother likes to say it’s because of when she was born. If she doesn’t count her father’s death and her wife going missing, her life has been very lucky even if it tends to flip to the other side from time to time. Everyone needs a healthy dose of Karma, and with her luck, that means she gets the more devastating side of it. She joins the Apex Games and gets to see her wife again? Here’s a deadly virus!

Talk about extremes. 

She’d been trying to make this trip bearable by getting closer to Loba, but the older woman had been making that difficult. So, they had been walking for the past fifteen minutes in complete silence and Kairi couldn’t help but hate it. Being here only reminds her of Renee. She feels like if she looks hard enough, she’ll see her crouched in the trees and smirking down at her with her Wingman trained on her.

“Looking for me, brat? Time for your shooting lessons.” She’d tease, firing and making Kairi run for cover.   

God, she gave her hell when they were out here and it was the time Kairi fell for her. She had been crushing on her since she met her, but it wasn’t until then that the deal had been sealed. Coming back here of all places would have her mother rambling about how it’s fate and that she needs to go for it with Wraith. ‘That feels a lot easier said than done.’ Kairi sighs and stops walking when a glint in the bushes catches her eyes. Curiously, she walks over to it and crouches down, shifting the fallen leaves aside to reveal a rusted keychain.

Her breathing catches and she picks it up, exhaling shakily as she rubs off some dirt. Even rusted, she can tell it was once a beautifully made flame with the name ‘Hope’ dangling in front of it. Kairi lets out a small whimper, continuing to rub her fingers over the small charm.

“I… I lost it. The charm my mom made me. I can’t find it.” Renee’s hands tremble aggressively as she searches her bag, “It’s meant to stay on my gun. It was a gift for passing my Pilot exam.”

“Hey, we’ll look for it. It couldn’t have fallen off far.” Kairi grabs her hands and holds them tightly, causing Renee to meet her eyes, “Let’s go look.”

Kairi clutches the charm in her hand. ‘I found it, baby.’ She closes her eyes, feeling a tear slip through. With one last exhale, she stands up and startles when she sees Loba staring at her. They don’t say anything, Loba just turns and continues walking through the jungle, and this time she prefers that. She doesn’t want to explain what she was just doing. That’s not something she wants to discuss with any of the other Legends. Her past with Wraith is too fragile with her not even remembering that it exists. This trip could be going so much faster if she had come along. A cure could even have been made by now.

Ah, she really has so much faith in her wife, doesn’t she?

“You were so talkative on the ship.” Loba speaks up, “Why are you quiet now that we’re out here? Are you afraid of spiders?”

“I’m not afraid of spiders.” She scoffs, looking at Loba with irritation, “I’ve got a lot on my mind, that’s all.” She tucks the charm into her pocket. There’s no way she’s going to leave it behind.

“Get in line.” Loba huffs and they stop at the edge of a slope, “So, are we going down?”

“Yup.” Kairi says, immediately sliding down, knowing that there’s a lake at the bottom of it. There are two reasons she needs to go there: for the spiders and the flowers. At this time of the year, she might be pushing it for the flowers, but she has to try.

The canopy clears and gives her a view of the waterfall. A smile crosses her lips as she takes it all in, turning off the light in her hand and walking out into the clearing. She can hear Loba sliding down behind her, but she doesn’t care about that. Her eyes land on a patch of red by the lakeside and she lets out a disbelieving laugh. Kairi’s sprinting over to the flower patch before she can really register that she’s moving. She drops to her knees, sliding in the dirt, and skids to a stop beside them.

“Holy shit, I can’t believe this!” She laughs, resting her hands on her lap as she stares at them. Her heart beats harder in her chest as she reaches out and caresses the red petals against her better judgment. She puts her hand into the water and rinses it off, not wanting to rub her eyes on accident with the contaminated fingers.

“What’s got you so excited?” Loba asks, walking up next to her, “A flower?”

“Red Spider Lilies.” Kairi grins at her, holding her hand out for their shared bag, “They’re someone’s favorite flower and I wasn’t sure I’d find any.”

“Oh? A special someone?” She asks, handing the bag over. Kairi pulls out a pair of gloves, her karambit, and a special container she carries on her ship specifically for flowers. She had made it years ago when she wanted to keep real ones on her ship but didn’t want to worry about breaking a vase.

“Ha, funny. They’re Wraith’s.” Kairi responds, putting the gloves on and carefully digging up the flowers, “I wanted to bring her some to cheer her up.” She wanted to make sure she didn’t harm the rest of the flowerbed. If they managed to stay here after all these years, she didn’t want to be the one to ruin it. ‘Wraith is going to freak out when she sees these.’ She smiles excitedly, collecting the flowers she picked and placing them in the container. It glows softly as she locks it, confirming that the stasis on it is working the way it should be and that makes her happier.

“You always do things without me asking.” Renee smiles.

“It wouldn’t be a very thoughtful gift if you ask for it.”

“That’s very thoughtful of you.” Loba looks around the clearing, “A girl would be lucky to be pursued by you if your first thought is to give someone flowers to cheer them up.”

“There should never be a condition to giving someone flowers.” Kairi stands up and dusts off her legs, then tucks the container into her bag, “It could be their first time getting them from someone and you make their whole day. You never know. I like making people smile.” It’s true. It’s something she enjoys, but these flowers are specifically so she can see the remnants of her wife’s smile. Kairi knows it might be a little dishonest, but her intentions are in the right place. She wants to see Wraith smile and hear her laugh… but she wants to hear Renee smile and laugh.

“Well, we’re in the right place. Bloodhound said the spiders like moisture, so we’ll set up camp here.” Loba moves over to a collection of rocks that are shaded and sits down. Kairi looks up at the edge of the rock wall and frowns, a shiver going through her body as an image of the spiders flashes into her mind. She doesn’t like the idea of waiting for them, but this is the best area for them.

“Try not to fall asleep on me.” She teases her, “I might just throw you into the lake.”

Loba scoffs and turns away from her.

‘Well, there goes the friendly conversation.’ Kairi rolls her eyes and sits down, taking out her gun and using the time that she has to do maintenance on it. If she’s going to be shooting at giant spiders, she rather know her gun is working. So she takes her time, going through the motions and carefully looking after it. Ramya had told her she should name it, but it didn’t feel right. The gun wasn’t anything special. It’s not like it’s the one her dad had gifted her.

“Here.” Renee hands her a pistol, “Your Dad taught you how to shoot, right?”

“I’m a mercenary’s daughter.” Kairi grips it, holding the gun out the way her Dad taught her all those years ago, “I have a custom P16 back at home.”

Renee’s lips twitch, “It’s blue, it’s it?”

“Sky blue, thank you.”

Kairi chuckles, resting her gun on her thigh and looking up at the sky. She got Renee of all people to warm up to her. It wasn’t like she couldn’t hear the whispers about her outside of Gridiron. People talked, rumors spread and Renee quickly became someone people feared even outside of the IMC headquarters. She was the promising recruit that they couldn’t get to fall in line. She had heard whispers of how coldhearted and cruel she was, how even her superiors were weary of her and her indifference to human life. Yet, Renee looked at her with love and adoration. She kissed her with passion even if those emotions were only felt for her. She married the onryō of the IMC and lived to tell the tale.

So why the fuck can’t she get Loba to talk to her?! This woman has sat here brooding next to her this whole time. Has she lost her touch? Kairi shakes her head. ‘What am I thinking? No, I haven’t lost my touch. I just haven’t brought up the right conversation. I’ve been trying to avoid personal topics, but that’s what Loba needs right now.’

“So that bodyguard detail you sent to Bangalore… what’s the deal with that?” Kairi looks over to Loba who whips around to her, “I’m assuming it has to do that simulacrum.”

“That simulacrum murdered my parents when I was nine years old.” Loba stands up and puts a hand on her hip, “He dropped my father’s body down an elevator shaft to me where I vowed to get my revenge. But now, he’s unkillable thanks to me…” She laughs bitterly.

Kairi stares up at her and frowns slightly. An unkillable simulacrum? Having your mind consumed by revenge towards something that you can’t even kill and then having to protect the people you love from them sounds exhausting. ‘I dragged my mom away from home to get revenge on Blisk and didn’t even go through with it. Two whole years wasted on nothing… Well, not nothing.’ She makes eye contact with Loba. She can understand the pain she must be going through, but maybe she can get her to focus on something else?

“You seem to be really interested in Bangalore. Why don’t you just stop worrying about Revenant?” Kairi asks.

“Behind you, brat.” Renee mutters.

“Behind me?” Kairi jumps up, whipping around and raising her gun as goosebumps prickle her arms. That’s an omen if she’s ever felt one.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” Loba snaps, looking at her like she’s crazy, “There’s nothing behind you. It’s just a bunch of rocks.”

“No...” She frowns, staring intently at the large mound that blends in too well with the dirt, “That’s one of them.” She points her gun at it, mentally mapping out its body in her head. ‘If I’m right, I need to shoot it… here!’ She shoots and the spider shrieks, revealing itself as Loba shouts in alarm. Her bullets tear through it and forces it to curl in on itself, the hemolymph splattering out onto the grass as she switches to shooting its legs. Kairi stops shooting once it stops moving and nods to herself. She approaches it and checks it over to make sure that it’s still alive, wrinkling her nose at the smell of the hemolymph.

“Nice shooting. How’d you know it was there?” Loba stands next to her, watching her inspect and bag up the arachnid.

“I’ve spent the last fifteen years of my life flying and hanging around people you could only dream of.” Kairi stands up, flicking the gross residue off her hand, “I’ve got eagle eyes.”

“Well, Ms.Eagle Eyes… how are we going to get out of this one?” She calls from behind Kairi who turns around and swears. At least six Carthage spiders are descending into the clearing and they’re all focused on them.

“Oh, great! It is fucking mating season!” Kairi lifts her gun and starts shooting at the spider closest to her, “Loba, bag the one I just killed! I’ll buy you some time!” The click of her gun makes her curse. She didn’t have time to reload after shooting the first one, even with an extended mag.

“How are you going to do that?!” She shouts, shooting at one trying to jump on her.

“By being incredibly stupid!” Kairi sprints for the Spider Lilies with only one thought on her mind. There’s only one thing that worked last time, except they don’t have gas masks this time. Strangely, she doesn’t feel as panicked as she should. She feels weirdly in control of her emotions. Maybe it’s because she can feel her wife’s ghost here. That she has her watching her back. She’s sure Loba can do that, but she feels more than secure with the echoes of her onryō here. She’ll be back on Psamathe soon. She’s sure of it.

“VALKYRIE!”

The screeching of the spiders only pushes her harder. The lilies brush against her fingertips and she’s slicing through their stems, hissing as her skin burns where she touches it. ‘I’m not like you, babe. So, let’s hope this works.’ She holds the flowers underneath the jets and flares them, catching the petals on fire.

“HOLD YOUR BREATH!” She screams quickly, covering her mouth before the fumes reach her. She runs back over to Loba with the flowers in her hands, dodging the sticky webbing, and drops the flowers onto the ground. The spiders freak out, scrambling back as the fumes waft into the air, but she doesn’t wait around to find out how long it’ll keep them back. Kairi grabs Loba’s hand and drags her towards a gap in the rock wall big enough for them. It won’t be long until she gets to see her wife again. She just has to make it through this, but now she knows they’re the ones being hunted. Not the other way around. ‘I wonder what she’s up to.’ Kairi tilts her head back and looks up at the darkening sky. The sound of angry, screeching spiders echo around them and she sighs. ‘Hopefully, she’s resting and not fighting for her life like I am.’ 

Kairi laughs.

“I’m glad you find this funny!” Loba huffs, “We’re hiding from giant spiders that are trying to eat us!”

“S-Sorry!” She struggles to stop, pressing the heel of her palm to her lips, “It’s just… Wraith and I traded places!”

“The baby is coming out!” Wraith calls, firmly guiding the small body out of the incision site. A nurse is immediately at her side ready to clean off the baby as she carefully unwinds the umbilical cord. They work quickly, moving together as a cohesive team and it’s not long before a soft cry fills the air. Wraith is quick to clamp the umbilical cord and slice through it, handing off the baby to a nurse to be looked after. She can practically feel everyone exhale around her, but she’s moving back to her other patient.

“We've got to get momma sealed up before we can breathe.” She says, reaching back inside to remove the placenta, “How are you feeling, Harper? Can you give me a response?”

“I’m okay!” Comes her response, but Wraith notes that it sounds weaker than she’d like.

“Someone get another blood bag.” Wraith demands, “She insists on nursing and I need her stable for that.”

“Yes ma’am.” Someone off to her left responds.

Wraith spends the next fifteen minutes deftly closing up each layer, making sure to have her patient say something to gauge her awareness. She can feel the tension in the air, the exhaustion wearing down on the nurses as they steadily approach the third day of this mess. Everyone in this room is running on nothing but coffee and spite. Wraith is the only one who likely had any rest before working, and she’s used to going extended periods of time without any. The facility was useful for some things. So while this isn’t ideal for her, it’s not something she can’t keep up with.

It takes some time to really get through the post-procedure process, but she makes sure that Harper has everything she needs. She doesn’t want to leave her after such a stressful procedure without the proper necessities, especially since this might be her last day. While she doesn’t want to doubt that Kairi and the others will make it back in time, the people in the hospital have been very in-between on that. Some are completely faithful in them while others are preparing themselves for their deaths. She’s had to help direct a few older patients to the right documents when she was passing by their rooms. It’s been so hectic in the hospital that she hasn’t run into any of the other Legends since she left Anita.

Dr.Somers has been keeping them updated, letting them know that the vines are burrowing into Olympus and are what’s causing the power surges. As she’s washing her hands the lights in the bathroom flicker and she sighs. ‘If it’s not the virus, then the city falling from the sky will surely kill us.’ She thinks while drying off her hands. ‘Maybe Kairi will catch me before I actually end up going splat.’ She giggles to herself in grim amusement. This whole situation has really made her realize how dark her humor is. It’s no surprise to her considering everything she’s been through, and her memories have been very insightful to her personality before she woke up on that gurney.

Wraith walks out of the bathroom and steps out of the way of a nurse who mutters an apology as she disappears around the corner. She lets out a small laugh and shakes her head, walking back toward the main hallway when her phone buzzes. She reaches into her pocket and pulls it out, feeling a little eager when she sees that it’s Dr.Somers. After operating on so many patients, Wraith had more than enough data to send to the Astrophysicist before telling her to keep it between the two of them.

Dr.M Somers: You’re right. The virus is causing these conditions to happen faster than they’re supposed to.

“Of course, I’m right.” Wraith mutters to herself, “I wouldn’t have sent it if it was wrong.”

Wraith: That’s great to have confirmation on. We’re doing our best to keep them alive while we wait for Team Antigen. Dr.M Somers: I’ll keep seeing what I can do to get the power back over here.

She shuts the screen off and tucks her phone back into her pocket. One of the nurses had begged her to go sit down in the lounge after performing that emergency C-section. They’re concerned that she’ll keel over if she continues to be on her feet any longer. Wraith finds their concern to be quite sweet and she doesn’t want to be another stress on their mind so she agrees. They’ll know where to find her if they need her, so she has no issue with it.

Once she’s in the lounge, she notices that it’s nice and neat. Someone has been taking the time to keep it clean amongst the chaos and she appreciates it. The tables are covered in trays of pastries and desserts, and a note on the counter mentions that the fridge is stocked with sandwiches and water bottles for anyone to take. A note with her name on it in red marker catches her eye and she picks it up, letting out a laugh as she reads it. ‘They really want to make sure I rest.’ She sighs with mirth, tucking the note into one of her pockets.

Following the note’s instructions, she grabs a muffin, a sandwich, and water and curls up in one of the chairs. She props her phone up on the water bottle and pulls up one of her favorite mangas. If she is going to take this time to rest, she might as well do something she finds relaxing. Besides, she was left on a cliffhanger after Elliot rudely interrupted her. The main character’s lover was about to find out that she was the murderer all along.

Wraith sits there and gets engrossed in her manga, scrolling through it as she eats. She feels at peace sitting in the lounge by herself, letting out a yawn as exhaustion hits her. For some reason, this reminds her of Kairi. Reading has always been something that she’s enjoyed, but doing this makes her long for the woman.

She sighs, resting her chin on her arm as she brings her leg up into the chair. It takes a bit of moving around, but she gets into a comfortable position. Her eyes slowly slip shut and she allows herself to fall asleep.

“Soooo, you like reading, right?” Kairi asks suspiciously, giving her a cheeky smile.

“Why are you asking when you’ve seen me read?” Renee raises an eyebrow.

“There are these books I like… they’re called manga but they’re in Japanese.” She pulls something out of her bag and plops herself onto Renee’s lap, making the older girl suck in a breath, “Will you let me read it to you?” She looks into her face with a hopeful expression.

“I thought you weren’t confident in your ability to speak Japanese?” Renee wraps her arms around her waist.

“If I can practice speaking it to someone…”

“Are you trying to manipulate me into letting you read to me, you brat?” She scoffs, pulling Kairi’s ear and making her yelp.

“Hey! Ow! Ow! Ow!” Kairi grabs her wrist, “Renee! Please! What if I just want to read to my favorite person?!”

“I’m not your favorite person.” She lets her go, feeling flustered by that exclamation.

“You are.” Kairi turns and grabs her face, smooshing her cheeks, “You’re my favorite person, grumps.”

“Shut up.” Renee fights a smile, grabbing her wrists and pulling her hands away from her face. “Do that again and I’ll bite your hands off.”

“You’re smiling!” Kairi gasps and then shrieks as she’s picked up and tossed onto the bed. Laughter fills the air as Renee tickles her, her cold hands gliding along her warm skin and making the sensation worse.

“You can’t help but be annoying, can you?” Renee teases her, using her weight to keep Kairi’s legs pinned, “Always getting on my nerves.”

“Renee, no! Please!” She gasps out between laughs, “You know I- Nooooo!” She squeals, squirming as she tries to get away to no avail. Renee laughs, stopping once she notices that Kairi is having a hard time catching her breath.

“You’re… cruel…” Kairi pants, lying under her with a grin.

“I know.” Renee shrugs and gets off of her, picking up the book and opening it to the first page, “Now come here. I want to know what they’re saying.”

Kairi is sitting in her lap before she can call to her again. She grabs her arms and wraps them around her waist, making Renee snort, but she complies and pulls her against her. They cuddle up with each other and Renee sits there as Kairi reads to her—first in Japanese, and then in English. This moment is the one where those fuzzy feelings Renee had began to turn breathless.

“Doctor! Dr.Blasey!” The lounge room door bursts open and one of the nurses from earlier staggers in, out of breath and panicked.

“Nurse Patricia?! What is it?!” Wraith shoots up out of her sleep, alert and no longer tired. She rushes over to her and her hand is grabbed.

“There’s- another patient that needs you!” The nurse drags her out of the room before she can protest and they sprint down the hallway together, “We thought it was just a cardiac arrest but it isn’t! That’s all we have to go off of! She’s critical! We’ve had to resuscitate her three times!”

“Is she one of the patients currently admitted with the virus?” Wraith questions, “What about her medical history?” Various things can have those symptoms, and if she’s right this virus might be exasperating pre-existing conditions. She only has one case to go off of, but if that starts climbing she’ll know soon enough.

“She is one of the infected. She was in perfect health before this but she’s an older woman. We had her hooked up to a ventilator because she wasn’t doing well.”

“Over here!” Nurse Javid directs them and Wraith is practically shoved into the small room, “We managed to resuscitate her, but if we don’t figure out what happened it can happen again. The young lady with her said they were speaking fine for one second and then she dropped.” She motions to a person standing in the corner of the room. Wraith is surprised to see Natalie standing there wide-eyed and nervously fiddling with her fingers, but she doesn’t have a moment to spare for her.

Wraith accepts the stethoscope handed to her and listens to the patient’s heart. The palpitations have her going straight for the lungs and listening intently. She can feel the nervous energy in the room, but it doesn’t affect her. The same as she was in the surgical suite and for every patient she’s looked after, she’s calm. Dead calm. Allowing her to take stock of the situation without her emotions in the way.

“We don’t have time to move her to the surgical suite before she goes into cardiac arrest. I need the sterilization kit, a surgical pack, and PPE now!” Wraith demands, glancing at the nurses as she starts going through the process in her head, “I’m doing the surgery here. GO!” She shouts, not giving them space to question her as she starts removing items from the countertops and putting them in the drawers and cabinets.

“Natalie, help me remove the stuff off the countertops. I need to make this environment as sterile as possible.” She looks at her friend who’s looking at her as if she’s grown another head. Natalie blinks but then nods and hurries to help her. They rush around the room and strip it bare in time for the nurses to arrive with the stuff Wraith needs for the procedure.

“You can do this, right?!” Natalie pleads as the nurses guide her out, “That’s their mother! The reason they’re working together!” It’s not hard for her to know who she’s talking about. There are only two people she’d be concerned about working together.

“Trust me.” Wraith reassures her, “I’ve got this.” The door closes and she ducks into the bathroom to wash her hands once again. This is a risky procedure in the hospital’s eyes, but they have no other choice. There are too many patients and not enough staff. The rooms are given to people who need them and with more people coming in as the three days are almost at an end, they’re all filled up. The lights flicker around her. She’ll be working in the dark if she doesn’t do this now. Wraith clicks her tongue.

‘I can use my void lights if the power goes out.’ She lifts her hands up and lets the water drip off, walking out to get into her surgical gown. ‘I have an important life to save.’ Wraith gets into her gown and in position much faster than she had with Malachi. After everyone she’s helped these past few days, she’s gotten faster with her movement and sharper with her cognitive skills. She feels more like herself, yet farther from herself at the same time.

“Don’t worry Ms.Ticacek.” Wraith mutters behind her mask, carefully cutting into the older woman’s sternum, “You’re not dying here. I’ve never lost a patient and Natalie deserves more time with her future mother-in-law.” She jokes, a pressure forming behind her eyes as she says it.

Wraith listens to the sound of the forceps’ clamp clicking in place and letting her know it’s secure. That allows her to move her hand and get to where she needs to be. The irregular beeping of the heart monitor doesn’t bother her. Neither does the shaking of the building and the flickering lights. She’s had to do risky operations in worse situations. Not that she remembers them, but she can feel it. She can feel that this isn’t anything worth freaking out over. She’s confident in her ability.

As she cuts into the artery, she finds what she has been looking for. A blood clot. Quite a large one lodged in the entryway to one of her chambers.

“I’ll take that.” Wraith murmurs, carefully extracting the blood clot. They’d have to give her blood thinners to keep this from happening but it’s better than dying. She’d have to find Dr.Somers and let her know about her findings—that the Legacy Virus is reacting with pre-existing conditions and exasperating them. It’s no wonder the hospital staff can’t get back on their feet, even with the power issue.

At this point, all they’re doing now is waiting for Kairi’s team to come back with the final pieces to make the cure. ‘I know they can get this done. Kairi is with them. She won’t let this be a failure.’ Her confidence in her is strong. There’s no doubt in her mind that they’ll bring back the spiders. Her shooting star won’t let her down. She never has. And that unwavering faith in her is what has Wraith continuing on.

Wraith hums to herself as she drops the clot into a container with some preservation fluid, and gets to work closing up the incision site. It’s odd how comfortable she feels doing this. Working alone, navigating a person’s body with ease, and being able to have the freedom to do things her way. It’s a release for her. Her wings.

She bandages up the site and cleans up the mess, watching the heart monitor beat steadily as she does. A smile crosses her lips as she seals the container, knowing that Natalie will be overjoyed when she learns Ms.Ticacek is going to be okay. Meeting the mother of someone you’re into and then they have a health scare must be terrifying. ‘It’ll be nice to be the one to soothe her worries.’ Wraith thinks, placing the sample into a ziplock bag and writing down the patient’s information on it. ‘All I have to do now is tell her.’ She places the sample onto the cart and takes a few steps away when the sign of her memory taking over comes forward.

“I can’t believe I’m meeting your mother.” Renee sighs, fiddling with the end of her braid.

“She insists on it.” Kairi glances at her, continuing to cut up some vegetables, “She said she wanted to meet the young woman her daughter spends so much time with.”

“Shouldn’t she be telling you not to disobey orders and sneak me off of base instead of having you do it?” She leans against the countertop and watches how deftly Kairi chops up the carrots.

“Normal moms, maybe.” Kairi snickers, “You’ll love my mom. She’ll be home soon. She went to help out Mr.Grand. He’s getting old but still insists on keeping those dairy cows. Ma thinks it’s because he likes freshly made cheese too much, but I think it’s because it gives him an excuse to flirt with our other neighbor, Mr.Darrik.”

“Kairi. If you’re going to gossip, my sweet shooting star, at least close the windows, hm?” A soft, sweet motherly voice sounds from behind them. They turn around and a tall, skinny woman with her hair tied back in a bun smiles at Renee as she enters in through the kitchen door. There’s a covered basket hanging from one of her arms and two bottles of milk in her other hand.

“Mama, it’s not like they’re going to hear me.” Kairi chuckles, taking the basket from her, and kisses her cheek, “The chickens might but they’d never tell my secrets.”

“Oh?” Her mother comes around the counter and places the glass bottles down, “I don’t know. Pebbles likes to talk if you give her enough feed.” Her eyes glitter mischievously and Renee can definitely see the resemblance between the two. Kairi looks almost exactly like her mother. ‘She didn’t get much from her father.’ Renee notes with amusement. She can tell where the similarities end, but side by side, they’re definitely mother and daughter. Just like she and her mother had been.

“You named a chicken Pebbles?” She looks at Kairi with a teasing smirk.

“She’s my pet chicken.” Kairi says defensively, a blush blooming across her cheeks, “She’s the first chicken I hatched all by myself.”

“It was so cute! Oh, I wish I could have recorded every moment of it. My little Kairi was so grown up.” Her mother reaches over and pinches her daughter’s cheek, making her whine and smack her hand, “Now, I believe I haven’t properly introduced myself. I’m Miyuki, Kairi’s mother. You must be Renee Blasey, the young woman my daughter is quite taken with.” She turns to her and holds out her hand, Renee not hesitating to reach out and take it.

“M-Ma!” Kairi sputters, dropping the apples she had been putting away, “I-I’m not- I-”

“I am, ma’am. It’s nice to meet the woman who raised such a wonderful daughter.” Renee gives her a polite smile, “I didn’t know your daughter spoke about me so much.”

“Please, call me Miyuki.” She waves her hand, “My daughter is in love with you. Of course, she talks about you. I was sure she would have told you by now. From the way I’ve heard you care for her, I’ve come to like you, Renee. You have my permission to be with my daughter. I don’t see why you can’t date.”

“MA!”

“What? If she’s going to be my daughter-in-law, she might as well know.” By the look on Miyuki’s face, she seems very confident in her words. Renee, on the other hand, is caught off guard. She blinks and looks to Kairi who’s mouth is wide open. So, she wasn’t expecting her mother to say that either. Miyuki says something and takes the empty basket with her, throwing a wink at Renee as she exits the kitchen. That leaves the two of them alone and the atmosphere in the room feels more intimate than before.

“Is that true?” Renee tilts her head, her lips twitching as Kairi’s blush only gets darker.

“I had planned on saying something after this trip.” Kairi meets her eyes, the sincerity in them taking her breath away, “But, it’s true. I’ve fallen in love with you, Renee.”

“So are you going to ask me…” She walks over to her and takes her hand, gently caressing her fingers, “or am I going to have to make that move?”

“Can you?” Kairi whispers, her voice wavering as she blinks rapidly.

“Will you be my girlfriend, Kairi?” Renee whispers, still caressing her fingers.

“I thought you’d never ask, you bitch.” She laughs and then gasps as Renee pulls her into a kiss. It’s soft and sweet and leaves the both of them breathless as they pull away. Renee closes her eyes and rests her forehead against Kairi’s as her eyes sting and her heart pounds in her chest. Her whole body feels like she fell asleep in the morning sun.

Wraith grabs ahold of the wall, gasping for breath as she clutches her chest. A whimper leaves her trembling lips as she presses them together, tears sliding down her face as she’s overcome with an intense ache in her chest. ‘Girlfriends? Kairi and I had been girlfriends?’ She gasps, leaning against the wall for support as she presses her hand harder into her chest. The pressure eases once she leans over, bracing herself with one hand against her knee but the hollowness doesn’t. ‘Okay, Wraith. Deep breaths.’ She instructs herself. She forces herself to take in a deep breath and slowly let it out, straightening up with every exhale until she’s standing up. She shakes out her hands and tucks one of them in her pocket to play with her pen before continuing her walk to the door.

Nurse Kathleen is the first person she sees and she grabs her shoulders, guiding her out of the doorway as the others dart inside. She asks her if she’s okay, if the procedure went alright, and if she needs anything before she heads inside with the other two. Wraith tells her that she’s fine and that everything went well, so she can head in there without too much to worry about. She advises her to keep a close eye on the area and resterilize it when changing the bandages since the procedure was done in a non-surgical safe area. Nurse Kathleen nods and heads into the room to let the others know what she said.

“Wraith?” Natalie’s timid voice comes from behind her. Wraith turns and sees her hunched in on herself, fiddling with her fingers as she looks at her expectantly.

“How… How is she?” Her eyes dart to the half-opened door, where all she can see are the lights spilling out against the wall.

“Normally I couldn’t tell you…” Wraith wraps an arm around her and guides her away from the room, lowering her voice, “but Ms.Ticacek will live. She had a blood clot in her artery that was throwing off her rhythm. That coupled with the damage being caused by the virus caused her to go into cardiac arrest.” They were going to the part of the hospital for the Legends. No one will bother them there.

“Oh!” Natalie gasps, tears escaping her eyes once more, “That’s just awful. All of these people, Wraith. They don’t deserve this.”

“Hey…” Wraith stops walking and wipes away her tears, “She’s okay. And I heard that you used your electricity to try and stabilize her until the nurses arrived. That was really brave of you. You kept her alive long enough for them to take over.” She speaks softly, caressing her cheek as a way to comfort her and wiping away the tears that continue to fall.

“Crypto and the others will come back with the spiders, and everyone will be okay.” She smiles and then winces, exhaling in pain as that ache in her chest comes back.

“Are you okay?” Natalie grabs her upper arms as she stumbles.

“I- No!” Wraith cries out, doubling over and falling to her knees as she grabs at her shirt. A sob tears its way through her lips, tears blurring her vision as she feels Natalie wrap her arms around her.

“I’m here, Wraith. I’m here!” She reassures her, “Please tell me what’s hurting?”

“Kairi…” Wraith breathes out, struggling to keep herself collected.

“Kairi?” Natalie parrots, confusion lacing her words, “What does she have to do with how you’re feeling right now?”

It’s because her heart yearns for her. She yearns for her to the point that it’s causing her physical pain. It’s funny how emotions work. They can tear you up inside in a way nothing else can. She’s only just remembering that they had something past friendship, but the way she’s feeling is strong enough to bring her to her knees. All she wants to do is pull her phone out and call her. To hear her voice and make sure she’s okay and let her know that she remembers. It’s so strong that it’s choking her. That it’s all she can think about—this longing.

It’s here on the floor of the hospital that she realizes that she can’t keep this in. She can’t keep this to herself. She can’t keep Kairi to herself. She needs to share how she’s feeling or she might explode.

“You can’t tell anyone, Nat. Please.” She whispers, making eye contact with Natalie, “This needs to stay between us.”

“Of course! Anything for you.” Natalie nods, scooting closer.

“I started getting my memories back when I woke up, but Kairi was in them. All of them involve Kairi in some way.” Wraith confesses, playing with her sleeves, “I was confused because she didn’t mention knowing me, so I didn’t say anything. I thought I might’ve been hallucinating at first since that can happen with concussions. But, the emotions started to return and so did my… knowledge.”

“That’s how you performed that surgery on Ms.Ticacek.” She comments, her expression brightening up at the realization.

“Yes. I remember being a scientist.” Wraith looks at her hands, “Apparently, I know how to do a lot of things. All of it has been coming back… including the memory that she was my girlfriend.”

“Girlfriend?” Natalie gasps, her eyes widening, “Truly?”

Wraith nods, the admission making a wave of longing wash over her.

“I miss her.” She whispers, “I miss her, Nat. I don’t have all of my memories but these feelings. I feel like… something’s missing. Something big. A-and I don’t know what it is but I just need her to come b- ack!” Her voice cracks and she’s sobbing again.

“They’ll be back soon.” Natalie rubs her back, “Until she’s back, I’m here for you. We can sit here as long as you need.” She gives Wraith a bright smile, hugging her tightly, and Wraith sniffles, cuddling closer to her friend. She appreciates that she can just sit here and cry. And that’s what she does. The two of them sit there as Wraith cries, mumbling to Natalie about her memories of Kairi until she feels better.

Natalie tells her to wait there and gets up to get them some coffee. Her phone buzzes and she realizes she hasn’t checked it in a while. The last time she looked at it was before she sat down to eat. Dr.Somers could have said something to her or asked her for more information. Maybe Ajay texted and asked for something new? She turns the screen on and freezes when she sees Kairi’s contact as her most recent text message. ‘That’s what the buzz was.’ She presses it and unlocks her phone, nervously tapping the side as it opens up the chat.

Valkyrie: Newsflash, you can’t go bungee jumping with spider silk! It sticks everywhere!

An incredulous laugh leaves her. Of all the things she could have said to her… Kairi says that? ‘That’s one way to let me know you’re alive.’ She chuckles, her fingers flying over the keyboard.

Wraith: Don’t tell me you actually tried to? [Message did not send. Try again?]

The growl of frustration that leaves her lips is one to rival Revenant’s. She taps try again a few more times, but the message refuses to be sent and she lets out a shout of anger. Wraith shuts her screen off a little more aggressively than she needs to and shoves it back into her pocket with a huff.

“What’s the point of a phone if the messages aren’t going to go through?!” She snaps into the empty hall, glaring at the wall in front of her, and then lets out a sigh. She rakes her fingers through her hair, releasing her hair from its bun with a little wince as some strands get caught on the hair tie and let it fall down her shoulders. ‘It's been so long since I asked her out to when I woke up in the facility. What has happened since then? I can’t shake the feeling that I’m missing something important.’ She taps her fingers against her knee. There’s still so much left to find out.

Her phone buzzes and she pulls it out with a groan, not really in the mood to respond to anyone. She opens it without paying much attention, her eyes flicking up as she hears Natalie’s footsteps echoing in the hallway. When she turns her attention back to the screen, she stops breathing.

Valkyrie: I’m thinking about you right now. Are you thinking of me?

“Here’s your coffee! Milk and as much sugar as it can handle!” Natalie chirps, leaning down to hand Wraith the cup.

“Are you sure that’s not your coffee?” She laughs softly, placing her phone on her thigh to flip the top open, “I don’t mind drinking it sweet, but that sounds like a lot.”

“Trust me, you want that much sugar. Blah!” She wrinkles her nose, sticking out her tongue before bursting out laughing, “Aha! I make myself laugh. It’s mixed with hot chocolate. I thought you could use an extra pick-me-up.”

“You’re the best. You know that?” Wraith mutters, blowing on the steaming liquid.

“Better than Mirage?” She bats her eyes, making her chuckle.

“If I agree, you can’t tell him.” She points accusingly, taking a sip, “I don’t want to be caught in the middle of this.”

“Deal!” Natalie grins happily, making Wraith shake her head with an amused smile.

“Now, what were you looking at, hmmm? You had an interesting look on your face.”

“A text message…”

“Froooom?”

“Kairi.” Wraith takes a long drink from her cup. Natalie squeals and Wraith knows that she’d clap her hands if she didn’t have a cup in them.

“What did it say?”

“I’m not answering that question.”

“Fine. Fine.” She waves her hand, but the grin on her face hasn’t left, “Ah, I bet she can’t wait to see you! Maybe that’s why she didn’t say anything? Maybe she was hiding her feelings because she knows you don’t remember? You can surprise her! Oh, I’m so excited for you, Wraith!”

“Let’s not get too excited.” Wraith puts a hand on her shoulder, feeling a little flustered, “I have to talk to her first. We can be excited after that.”

“Right. Right!” Natalie nods and then sighs, “I’m just… excited for you. Isn’t this what you’ve been looking for this whole time?”

“It is.” Wraith nods, swallowing as her stomach twists, “I just- I- I’m scared. What if it’s not what I think it is?”

“It doesn’t seem that way to me. Not from what I’ve seen.” She shrugs, “I wouldn’t worry about it.”

Wraith’s phone starts vibrating as Natalie’s ringtone fills the air and she looks down at it. Fuse’s ridiculous contact photo lights up the screen and they look at each other. She snatches up her phone and answers it, nearly dropping her phone in her haste to hit the speaker button.

“WE’RE COMING IN FOR A LANDING, MATES! GONNA NEED ALL HANDS ON DECK CAUSE I’M MISSING ONE!” Fuse’s voice blares through the speaker and she snorts as Natalie giggles beside her.

“Oh, that’s amazing news! We’ll meet you at the dock!” Dr.Somers chimes in and the call is over as soon as it starts.

“Well…” Wraith exhales and makes eye contact with Natalie, “They’re here.”

“Let’s go.” She holds out her hand and Wraith takes it. They get up together, throwing away their empty cups, and make their way out of the Legend’s section of the hospital. It goes from the eerie quiet to the chaotic mess that Wraith has been a part of these past couple of days after a few hallways. She guides Natalie through it, needing to stop at the changing room so she can keep her little time as a Doctor in the hospital a secret. It also won’t help having to sneak in and out if she’s still dressed as one. So she ducks inside and is surprised to find a note sitting on top of her clothes from Nurse Kathleen letting her know that she can keep everything. A drawstring bag has been left with her clothes that she puts everything into. It doesn’t take her long to get suited up, and she feels a sense of relief as she laces up her boots. Being back in her uniform is comfortable. Familiar. It makes her feel more confident. ‘I can do this. I can tell Kairi.’ She encourages herself, pulling on the bag and tucking her phone into her pocket. With a deep breath, she leaves the changing room, taking Natalie’s hand once more, and makes her way out of the hospital.

They get there in time to watch the ship dock. Natalie squeezes her hand and Wraith returns the gesture, the knot in her stomach feeling much tighter as she stares at the ship. The woman that she hasn’t been able to get out of her mind is in there. She’s minutes away from seeing her and it makes her feel restless. She shifts from one foot to the other, tapping her fingers against her thigh as she waits for the doors to open. A soft giggle from her left has her turning her head curiously.

“What?” She furrows her brow.

“Oh, nothing.” Natalie giggles, trying to cover her mouth, “You just remind me of Nikola when he sees a butterfly through the window.”

“Did you just call me a cat?” Wraith’s jaw drops and she blushes.

“No, no, no! I said you remind me of a cat!” She clarifies, “Not that you are one.”

“That’s the same thing!”

“The door’s opening!” Natalie shouts, pointing in front of them and effectively distracting Wraith from the cat banter, “Come on!”

“Nat, wait!” Wraith gasps, but she’s being pulled down the dock and towards the disembarking group before she can stop her.

“Hello, everyone!” Natalie shouts, laughing happily as she waves her free hand in the air, “You made it!” She gives Wraith a little shock in her side, making her jolt.

“Hey, Valkyrie! G-Guys! I’m glad you’re back in one piece!” Wraith blurts out, not wanting to get shocked again.

They look their way and give mixed reactions—happy ones from Fuse, Crypto, and Kairi, neutral one from Bloodhound, impatient from Loba, and displeased one from Caustic. Honestly, those reactions are normal for the group but it didn’t mean Wraith didn’t want to punch Loba or Caustic for it at times. She doesn’t have the energy for it right now though, because her attention is drawn by Kairi. Her heart races in her chest as they make eye contact and Wraith’s stomach twists so violently she thinks she might throw up.

“It was a breeze with Bloodhound here!” Fuse motions to the tracker.

“Says you!” Loba scoffs, “You weren’t the one almost eaten!”

“What?!” Natalie gasps and snaps her head in Crypto’s direction.

“I thought we agreed not to say anything!” Crypto shouts at Loba.

“I didn’t agree to anything.” She crosses her arms, “Now where are we bringing these? We don’t have a lot of time left to dawdle around.”

“I’ll take them!” Dr.Somers walks up with a cart, “I’ll get started right away. Thank you for pulling through, everyone.”

“Just get that cure done and we’re even.” Loba huffs and starts walking away.

“Where are you going?!” Fuse calls after her.

“Shopping! I need to relieve some stress after nearly dying!”

“Unbelievable.” Caustic mutters.

“You all should rest. Get something to eat. Your part in this is over now. I’ll see you later!” Dr.Somers says and hurries away, leaving the rest of them behind. Wraith feels something hit her side and she jolts, looking at Natalie in confusion. Natalie tilts her head toward Kairi who’s fiddling with something by the doors of her ship. She nods and walks over to her, taking deep breaths to settle her nerves as she approaches. Kairi mumbles to herself about something, securing the panel back on when Wraith is close enough to be noticed. She takes a breath, preparing herself to say something when Kairi turns and locks eyes with her. All thoughts leave her and she closes her mouth, nervously messing with her fingertips.

“Hey.” Kairi smiles, leaning against her ship, “I didn’t expect to be greeted so enthusiastically by you.”

“Ah, y-you know I was…trying something new. It was Natalie’s plan. She figured a warm welcome might cheer you guys up.” She rubs her left wrist, a soft blush on her cheeks, “Did you like it?”

“Yeah, I did. I thought it was cute that you tried to sound excited with how tired you are.” Her smile gets wider as she observes her, “And hey, I made it back for that dinner you promised me! Although, some spiders nearly made me theirs.” She laughs.

Wraith breathes out a laugh, “I’m glad they didn’t. I would have ended up eating curry by myself, and that would have been lonely.”

“I definitely wouldn’t have wanted the pretty lady to be lonely…” She responds and the conversation trails off as they stare into each other’s eyes. ‘She has such beautiful eyes.’ Wraith bites her lip. Kairi’s eyes flick down and then back up.

“So, we are still on for dinner once this is all over?” Wraith pushes a strand of hair behind her ear, “I just want to make sure. I know you must be exhausted after almost getting eaten alive.”

“I’m not missing out on dinner.” Kairi winks, “Wear something nice.”

“I told you. You’re asking a lot of me.” She chuckles, “I don’t know if I have the energy for that.”

“It’s worth a shot.” She shrugs.

“Wraith! Someone from the hospital is looking for you!” Natalie calls out to her, “Check your phone!”

Wraith reaches into her pocket and sees that she has a text message from one of the Nurses. They had exchanged numbers to keep in contact outside of the hospital.

“I’ve got to go, but I’ll see you… when I see you?” Wraith gives her a hopeful look.

“Absolutely.” Kairi grins, “Let me know when and where. I’ll be waiting.”

Wraith stares at herself on her phone screen as she taps her fingers against her thigh. The cure had been distributed before the sun had set, and everyone was free to relax. The nurses and doctors in the hospital refused to let her leave until they could all thank her properly. That included making sure whoever knew she had been assisting in the hospital signed Non-Disclosure Agreements about it. Wraith had been shocked at the lengths they went to keep her secret, but she appreciated it.

Now, she’s trying to keep herself calm as she waits for Kairi to show up. By the time she got back to her hotel, she had enough time to shower and mess around with what she was wearing. She settled on a black jacket, a simple black tee shirt, and some loose pants. She didn’t want anything too constricting after how long she’s been on her feet. The thought of ordering to go and asking Kairi back to her hotel had been too tempting. Then, she thought about it more and realized she’d give her the wrong idea. A very very wrong idea.

So, here she is… waiting.

“I’ve never seen you this anxious, dear.” Rana comes over with a teasing smile, “Your date still hasn’t shown up?” She refills the juice Wraith had been sipping to keep herself occupied.

“Again, it’s not a date.” Wraith sighs, reaching for the filled glass, “Valkyrie and I are coworkers. I promised to take her out to eat.”

“Aha! So you brought her here?! Wraith, you know what happened when Ramya brought your group here?” She laughs heartily, “Oh, I still get a good laugh over it. I hope she likes my food, hm?”

“I-” Wraith’s eyes get pulled over to the door as the bell rings and in walks Kairi in her signature red jacket and a pair of comfortable-looking pants. Her words get caught in her throat as they make eye contact and Kairi smiles at her.

“Wow, she’s gorgeous.” Rana comments, “I’ll come back when you’re ready to order.”

“Yeah…” Wraith breathes out as Kairi approaches the table. As she gets closer, she notices that she has something in her hands. ‘Flowers.’ Her eyes widen and she feels her heart skip a beat. ‘She got me flowers?’

‘Not just any flower. Look closer.’ Another her murmurs in her ear.

“Hey, you did decide to look nice.” Kairi grins, coming over to her instead of sitting down.

“You asked me so kindly. How could I say no?” Wraith teases her, getting a laugh, “Honestly, if I stayed a minute longer in my uniform, I think I was going to burn it.”

“Me too. I don’t want to see my flight suit until it’s time for the Games.” She groans, and then lifts up the bouquet in her hand so Wraith can see it properly, “These are for you as a I’m-happy-you’re-okay gift. I got them while we were in Gaea. Spider lilies are your favorite, right?” Her lips curve into a sweet smile and Wraith has to remind herself to breathe.

“They’re supposed to be rare.” Wraith takes the bouquet from her, carefully inhaling the soft scent, “You went through the trouble of finding them as a gift for me?” If her heart beats any faster, she’d have to admit herself for a heart attack. Does this mean they didn’t end on bad terms? You don’t get someone their favorite flowers if you did. Especially not when said flowers are toxic. The amount of care she’d have to go through just to pick them speaks volumes.

“You’re worth it.” She says softly. So softly that Wraith is not sure she’s supposed to hear it.

“Thank you.” She smiles at her, and then motions to the menus, “Why don’t we figure out what we want to order?”

Kairi nods and sits down across from her, picking up her menu. It’s silent as Wraith places her flowers on her lap and picks up her menu. She already has an idea of what she’s going to order, but she uses looking over the menu as an excuse to delay speaking. The flowers only answer her suspicions. No one knows her favorite flowers. Not even Elliot.

“Rana!” Wraith calls out, waving her hand in the air, “We’re ready to order!”

“Finally!” The older woman comes out the kitchen door, a grin on her face, “I was getting older, you know!”

“Don’t be so dramatic.” She rolls her eyes, “You’re only fifty-two. You’ve got at least five more years. Ow!” She yelps, rubbing the back of her head. Rana playfully scowls at her, waving her pen in her direction.

“Don’t make me charge you full price.” Rana huffs, “Now, what would you like to order?”

“I’ve got this.” Kairi grins and Wraith raises an eyebrow, “We’ll both have the prowler curry, a side of rice and we’ll share a basket of roti. Did I get that right?”

Wraith blinks, shares an impressed glance with Rana and grins at Kairi, “Yeah, you did. Are you sure you can handle the extra spice?”

“I’ll be fine.” Kairi waves her hand, “Can I get the pineapple-ginger juice?”

“Of course! I’ll make it fresh, so give me a couple of minutes.” Rana smiles, writing something down, “I’ll go give this to the chef. It’ll be out in 20 minutes. Don’t get too hungry until then.” She winks before walking off to another table who waves her down. Wraith bites her lip and turns to Kairi, unable to keep her questions to herself.

“Kairi.”

“Wraith.”

“Sorry!”

“Go ahead and say what you were going to say.” Wraith motions to her.

“No, no.” Kairi shakes her head, “You go first. What I was going to say isn’t important.”

“I was going to ask how you knew I liked spider lilies?” She decides to poke at her, to see what her response will be.

“Oh, well…” Kairi rubs the back of her neck, “I thought about how to say this the whole way back. I knew there’d be no hiding it when I got them. But uh, you told me, Renee. You told me you like them.”

Wraith’s eyes widen as Kairi meets hers.

“Did you just call me Renee?” She asks, a hopeful tone to her voice, “You know my name?” Kairi nods. That’s solid proof. That’s proof that they do have a past together.

“Hi, Renee.” Wraith can see her take a deep breath, “I know you don’t remember me, but we have a history together. I was- I am- We’re-”

“Girlfriends?” She asks softly, making Kairi jolt in her chair. It’s her turn now, to let her know that she remembers.

“Girlfriends?” Kairi laughs in disbelief, leaning forward as she shakes her head, “No, no we’re not girlfriends.”

“Oh.” Wraith’s face falls and she feels crushed.

“Renee. Baby. No, it’s not like that.” Kairi reaches across the table and grabs Wraith’s hand, making her look down at their intertwined fingers, “We’re more than girlfriends. We’re married.” She places a picture on the table and Wraith’s whole body freezes at the sight.

The picture is clearly an old one. Slightly worn and a little creased from being folded every so often, but it’s been taken good care of. Passionately kissing underneath a floral archway are her and Kairi in beautiful dresses. Wraith’s hair is long and flowing free and she absentmindedly runs her hand over her ponytail as she looks at it. ‘I look beautiful. More than that… I look happy.’ She smiles. 

“You’re my wife, Wraith.” Kairi continues as her hand once again places something on the table next to the picture.

“Wife.” She whispers, the word feeling right as warmth fills her chest.

“Technically your full name is Renee Rei Hope Blasey Imahara. You have two first names and two last names. I tried to talk you out of it, but you nearly took my head off.” Kairi opens the box and sitting in a bed of black silk is a gorgeous ring, “My full name is Kairi Blasey Imahara. I took your last name as my middle name. I didn’t mention it when I introduced myself because I didn’t want to freak you out.”

“I appreciate that.” Wraith chuckles, “I definitely wasn’t in the right headspace to hear that.”

“This is your wedding ring. You had me hold onto it when you started your project. It matches mine.” She holds her hand out, and a beautiful ring glitters on her ring finger. Wraith reaches out and takes her hand, gently running her thumb over it as an overwhelming wave of nostalgia and love rises through her.

“Kairi. I do remember you. Us.” She admits, “I remember everything from meeting you until I asked you to be my girlfriend. From the moment I woke up in the hospital, I’ve been seeing memories of you and me. I didn’t realize that’s what they were until I started to feel more like myself.”

“You… remember me?” Kairi exhales shakily, tightening her grip on her hand, “You remember us?”

“I’m still missing so much. I need to know if something happened between us. Did we break up? I mean as far as I’m aware you never came looking for me while I was in the facility. No one did.” She furrows her brow.

“That’s not true. I never stopped looking for you, Renee. Never.” Kairi says passionately, as she looks Wraith in the eyes, “I used to call you after every experiment, and one day, you didn’t respond. I gave you some time but it turned into days so I contacted the main line. They told me you never worked there, which was complete bullshit. It’s not like I wasn’t the one who flew you there or I hadn’t been inside with you!” Her voice raised in volume and her body tensed. Thankfully Wraith’s regular spot in the restaurant was in the back corner. No one pays them any attention over here.

“Hey… Breathe.” Wraith squeezes her hand in an effort to comfort her. She watches as Kairi closes her eyes and takes a deep breath.

“I knew they were lying. I’ve spent years searching for any sign of you… I even managed to get ahold of General Williams for a favor. Just to confirm that you were alive. And I didn’t stop looking for you. So imagine my complete disbelief when my wife shows up on my tablet as one of the first Legends in the Apex Games.”

“I can’t imagine how that must have felt.”

“Hm.” Kairi’s lips twitch, a little chuckle leaving her, “No, I’m sure you can’t. It must’ve been torture not being able to remember who you are.”

Wraith looks down at the picture and then over to the ring shining in the box. She exhales and zones out, listening to the cadence of Kairi’s voice as a memory pushes its way forward.

“I can’t believe my Kairi is getting married! And to such a gorgeous and smart woman, hm?” Aunt Himiko proclaims loudly as she comes into the room, grinning as she and Renee lock eyes in the mirror.

“Good morning, Auntie.” Renee bows her head in a quick greeting, “I’m just as surprised as you are, and I’m the one marrying her.” She teases back, getting a joyful laugh from the older woman. Kairi’s aunt is a spirited woman - always wearing bright colors and the first to be heard in a room while her mother is the opposite. The first time she met her, Miyuki warned her that she’d need a cup of tea and a good book after speaking with her. Renee took her up on the offer at the end of the night. Kairi was more than excited to read to her while they all sat in the living room and drank tea.

“Oh, Renee. You look like a swan bride out of Kairi’s storybooks.” She coos, running her hand down the back of her hair, “She’s going to fall over and die.”

“I’m trying to have a wedding, not a funeral.”

“Himiko!” Analese shouts, throwing a makeup brush from across the room at her, “Hands off! You’re going to mess up Renee’s hair with your hands!” An undignified yelp comes from Aunt Himiko as she gets whacked in the face. Renee stifles a laugh at the indignant expression on her face.

“You did not just hit me with a makeup brush!”

“And so what if I did! She does not need you to ruin her image on such an important day!”

“The Gods have blessed your Union, my sweet daughter. There’s no need to fret over your appearance.” Miyuki’s soft cadence interrupts their bickering, as she walks over in a beautiful pink kimono, “The sun shines brightly and there’s not a cloud in the sky. Today is a day of joy. With this ceremony, you’ll officially join the family the new daughter I’ve been blessed with.” She holds her hands out to her.

“I’ll accept this blessing with the utmost gratitude.” Renee smiles, reaching out and holding her hands, “To be welcomed into your family is more than I could ask for.”

“I wanted to see you before we go out there. Kairi is surrounded by her family and friends, but it’s just you here. I hope you know your family is with you in spirit. They wouldn’t miss this for the world, darling.” She reaches up and brushes a strand of Renee’s hair behind her ear, “Your mother is proud of you.”

“I know.” Renee squeezes her hands, “All she ever wanted was for me to be happy, and this is the happiest I’ve been in years.”

“Good. That touches my heart.” She taps her chest with her hand, “Now, I have a gift for you. I’d like to gift you with a Japanese name. A sign that you’re part of our family. If you’ll accept one from me?”

“Of course…” Renee breathes out, shocked that her mother-in-law is offering her one. Kairi had mentioned to her it was a tradition created sometime after people began settling out here. When you married into the family, if the Head-of-House loved you enough, you could be gifted with a Japanese name. Those in the family would refer to you with it as a sign of acceptance. Kairi isn’t a fan of tradition, but it was the one tradition she made sure to mention to her fiancée because she knew her mother might bring it up. Renee had been skeptical, but here she is being proven wrong. ‘Kairi is going to laugh at me.’

“Today, not only do I gift you my family name, but I gift you the name, Rei.” Miyuki takes a sheer, lavender scarf and drapes it over Renee’s shoulders, “When you step into the garden, your name shall be Renee Rei Hope Blasey Imahara. My daughter.”

“Renee? Baby?” Kairi’s concerned voice and the feel of her hand against her face are a welcome return to the present.

“I’m here.” She whispers, blinking as she reorients herself. She notes that she’s still holding one of Kairi’s hands but the other is cupping her cheek. Concerned brown irises meet her turquoise ones and make her heart flutter.

“Was that a memory?” She tilts her head.

“Yeah. I was remembering the time before the wedding when Miyuki gifted me with my name.” Wraith smiles happily, a warm feeling in her chest, “Your mother is wonderful.”

“She misses you, you know.” Kairi caresses her cheek, “She’s been nothing but supportive in trying to find you.”

“I’m sorry for everything I put you through.” Wraith looks down, feeling tears sting her eyes, “I can’t imagine how much pain you felt when I disappeared.”

“I grieved you.” She says honestly, “But, I can’t imagine how you must have felt… not even knowing I was out there looking for you. I at least had things to remind me of you. Like your ring and our wedding pictures.” She motions to the items on the table.

“Will you… will you put it on me?” Wraith picks up the ring box.

“It’d be my honor.” Kairi smiles, taking the ring out and holding out her hand. Wraith gives her hand over and watches with bated breath as Kairi slips the ring onto her finger. It fits perfectly, sparkling in the light as if it was always there. Her wife leans down and presses her lips to the ring, making her giggle. Kairi looks up at her and she finds herself getting lost in her eyes. Too lost.

The sunlight makes Kairi’s eyes turn a beautiful amber gold. It’s a shade that always reminds Renee of the sun, and at this moment, it couldn’t be more fitting. Kairi is the light of her life. The person who brought her happiness when her world was dark. 

“Underneath the shining rays of the sun, witnessed by those who have nothing but love for you in their hearts, we declare these two young women as wives!” The priest calls out, grinning wildly, “You may seal your declaration with a kiss.” He says to them.

“Finally.” Renee mutters under her breath. They had been warned it would take a while, especially since Kairi caved on doing it the traditional way. 

“And I’m the impatient one.” Kairi says with a teasing smile on her face.

“So I shouldn’t kiss you?” She raises an eyebrow, returning the smile as she moves closer.

“Let’s not be so rash now…” Kairi laughs nervously, a soft blush on her cheeks.

“Come here!” She laughs, throwing herself into Kairi’s arms as she grabs her face. Renee leans in and kisses her, the crowd cheering as a strong wind kicks in and she can feel it whipping her hair and dress around. But, her focus is on her wife.

Her wife. She can say that now. 

This is their first kiss as wives, and it’s complete bliss. She’s not one to be overly emotional, but this feels similar to the first time they kissed. It’s a sweet moment, filled with nothing but the love and care they have for each other. And as they pull away, Renee can see that there is no regret in Kairi's eyes. Nothing but love and affection.

All for her.

“Mrs and Mrs.Imahara. I can get used to that.” Kairi grins at her, a sparkle in her eyes as the wind rustles her hair.

“It’s Blasey Imahara. And nothing will change professionally, so everyone will continue to know me as Blasey.” Renee reminds her, a slight smirk on her face.

“Baby, let me imagine for two seconds!” She whines, burying her face in her neck, “We just got married!”

Renee laughs, running her fingers through her wife’s hair, “You can imagine all you want tonight, Mrs.Imahara.” She whispers seductively, feeling her wife’s body tense against hers. 

“I won’t need to imagine.” Kairi whispers back, “You’re mine now, even in death.”

“I thought I was the possessive one?”

“Ha, ha, funny.”

Wraith smiles as Kairi lovingly gazes into her eyes, matching the look from her memories. She strokes the ring on her finger, lifting her lover's hand up to her mouth and placing a kiss on her knuckles. To think that after all this time she spent searching for answers, she really was married and to someone so loyal to her.

She doesn’t want to leave Kairi after remembering this. How can she go back to her hotel room and sleep in her bed alone? How can she let her wife go back to hers? She wants to feel her body against hers. To kiss her. To taste her. They’ve been apart for years and she wants nothing more than to sink her teeth into her. To make love to her. 

“So, Mrs.Imahara… you’ll be coming back to my hotel room after this?” Wraith rests her chin on her hand, a smirk on her lips as she caresses the inside of Kairi’s wrist. Kairi’s eyes dart to her hand and back to her face, a grin appearing on her lips. She can, without a doubt, tell what her wife is thinking.

Kairi leans in close, “I’m not strapped up for nothing, baby.”

“Things have changed while I’ve been gone?” Wraith’s eyebrows go up, interest simmering in her chest.

“It’s my turn to take you for a ride.” Kairi purrs.

“I’d like to see you try, brat.” Wraith smirks.

[choccy-milky]

herbology class 🌹🌿 (from chap 2 of my fic!)

[sisterdivinium]

Now is the time to place your bets on whether or not this hyper self-indulgent doctor superion Vampire the Masquerade AU fic will or won't get to 100 handwritten pages...

[runabout-river]

Two Fire Force characters who can get through Inifinity

Shinra and Sho Kusakabe

Just a quick write up about these two getting through the ultimate defence of this menace 👇 something that's been on my mind for more than a year because that's how long I've been writing my JJK/Fire Force crossover that will finish Part 1 in the next 2 weeks with 220k words and 60 chapters.

Under normal circumstances, Shinra can't penetrate Infinity at all except when he uses his Adola link. With the power granted through Adola, Shinra can surpass the speed of light after which his body disintegrates, he travels back in time and then rematerializes at the place of impact he was aiming for.

This means, that Infinity doesn't exist for him as a barrier in that state. He can circumvent it to hit Gojo in the face. One could argue though that Infinity might still trap him; that the moment he re-materializes he gets stuck in the air but I'd say that he would still make an impact on Gojo before his body regains its mass that can be trapped in Infinity.

Sho's fourth generation ability with the help of his Adola link, let's him stop time for a short while. We have 2 explanations for how Infinity works; one is the neutral application of Blue that makes everything stop and the other is the mathematical explanation where the distance an adversary has to take to hit Gojo becomes infinit which slows the movement speed of any attack down to near zero.

Without time, Infinity stops existing in both cases. Blue's pull ability wouldn't work and with it the neutral application of it and for any mathematical formular that's about distance and speed you need time in the equation as well, if that's not there than you don't have any speed or distance either.

So, yes. Shinra and Sho, with their fourth generation abilities, can kick some ass when it comes to Gojo. Not too much, but at least some. And they wouldn't need Makora to teach them either.

[ask-the-crimson-king]

The Emperor's Installation on the Throne

Spoilers for The End and the Death Vol III, all being put under a cut.

So long, Malcador.

[pyrosomatic-metamorphosis]

[flowercrowngods]

now that ao3 is back, feel free to send me your favourite fics of your own. be loud, be proud, brag a little, tell me what you love about it, what you’re most proud of if you want.

[vhstown]

i can't be sick... i need to write an epilogue...

[thetomorrowshow]

hubris killed the god - ch 4

First Part

cw: body horror, discussion of death, violence, general apocalypse setting

~

Scott doesn’t get the full story until two days later, sitting around the campfire outpost as the sun sets. fWhip and Shelby are there with him—Jimmy’s on dinner duty, and Gem’s helping Katherine get settled in (though Scott’s fairly sure they’re actually just catching up and gossiping, having been invited to one or two of their late-night gossip sessions in days past).

“It was . . .  one of their fights,” fWhip says carefully. He shrugs, glancing around as if Jimmy’s going to appear behind him and dispute his words. “You know how they were. Volatile. And—well, it escalated. And Jimmy . . .  Joel ended up dead.”

“He won’t tell us how,” Shelby puts in. “But he killed Joel, and whatever curse Joel left behind turned his body into those . . . things.”

“Gem said that Jimmy came to her, a mess over it,” fWhip says. “He just let his anger get out of hand. He didn’t mean to.”

“If he didn’t mean to, he wouldn’t have killed him,” Shelby says, sing-song.

fWhip grimaces. “Well, we can disagree on that. The point is, Joel is dead, and his, uh, remains turned into the apocalypse. They multiply somehow, they feed on death, and . . . that’s about it. I do know that Jimmy’s still beating himself up over the whole thing, so don’t . . . don’t be too harsh.”

“Because if you are, he’ll kick you out.”

“For the last time, Jimmy didn’t kick Lizzie out!” fWhip says, turning to Shelby. “He didn’t—look, Scott,” he says, turning back. “Lizzie . . . she was close with Joel, you know, in some weird way, and she was really upset with Jimmy over it and the way he’s trying to move on. She decided she’d rather leave than stay here with him in charge.”

Scott pokes a stick at the small fire. “Did Lizzie have my room at the inn?” he asks, thinking of the note and the mouse toy that he placed on his bedside table.

“Yeah,” fWhip says. “She packed up and left about a week before we got you. Shelby went out on foot to check on Katherine the very next day.”

“I never made it,” Shelby says offhandedly. “By the time I reached the bridge, there were just . . . so many. I lost my voice, and I was so tired. . . .”

fWhip rubs her arm, and she leans into the touch, eyes far away. It’s a stark contrast to their arguing of moments ago, and while Scott can’t understand finding comfort in someone you’re at odds with, he at least agrees with fWhip’s instinctive touch-turned-hug. He would’ve done the same, his comfort-friend instinct going haywire.

“So . . . what’s next?” Scott asks after a moment. “We can’t just . . . Sanctuary’s getting smaller every day. We can’t just sit here.”

“I guess we ask Jimmy,” fWhip shrugs. Shelby rolls her eyes.

Jimmy? But—they all know what Jimmy’s done, now, they all know this is his fault. Why on earth have they been letting him lead this whole time?

“Wait, we’re still trusting him to be in charge?” says Scott, glancing between them. “He—he killed someone. He started this!”

fWhip sighs. Shelby looks away, her foot tapping against the dirt.

“Jimmy’s a good leader,” fWhip says. “Leaders sometimes make poor choices. And—and I know, killing someone is a very poor choice,” fWhip adds before Scott can speak, “but he has our best interests at heart. I promise that he won’t hurt any of us. But he’s the only one who stepped up to be leader, and he’s the best one we could ask for.”

Shelby shrugs. “I don’t like him, but he is good at what he does.”

fWhip leans his head on Shelby's shoulder, and, surprisingly, she leans back.

And then it clicks for Scott.

He’s been compartmentalizing since day one—packing away his grief and separating it from his everyday functions and feelings. He doesn’t have time to wallow. If they end up in a place where it’s safe, where he can finally rest and process everything, then he will. But he doesn’t have time to consider all the terrible things that happened. He has to survive.

That’s the attitude everyone is taking, apparently. They can deal with the horrible actions Jimmy has taken after they’re in the clear. They can fight amongst themselves, split off into friendships again, when everything is safe.

Shelby and fWhip may be at odds, but they find comfort in each other because there is no one else. Jimmy may have caused the apocalypse, but he’s also the only one who can lead.

Scott can even see why one might consider Lizzie’s decision to leave as weakness. She had allowed her emotions to blend with her logical thinking, instead of separating the two functions like everyone else has attempted.

Scott can’t blame Lizzie for her choices, of course, and he doesn’t think anyone can—if she truly felt like she couldn’t accept Jimmy as a leader, it may have been better for her to go out alone rather than push back against everyone else.

And this brand of compartmentalizing is messy. fWhip spends half his time looking so nervous Scott’s afraid he might bite through his lip, and Gem had stared blankly at a cut the day before for a good thirty seconds before Scott reminded her to get a bandage. Jimmy embarks on possible suicide missions to rescue every person possible with almost zero regards for his own safety.

While Jimmy’s choices in that regard may not be so sound, they do keep up morale. Scott can imagine that tomorrow, Jimmy will begin plans to look for Pix. Jimmy’s so determined to save everyone, even if they’re beyond help, and it’s reckless but it’s worth it to see the relief on everyone’s faces when yet another person is home safe.

And Jimmy knows that. He is a good leader, after all.

“So, Pix,” Scott says aloud. “Are we going for him next?”

fWhip bites his lip. “Well, we haven’t seen anything of that guy—but his catacombs are sealed. Gem has this theory that he shut himself in, and the crawlies can’t get in. The problem is us getting in. Jimmy didn’t like our chances.”

“I bet there’s coal,” Shelby says suddenly, straightening. “Pix has tons of stuff, right? And lots of supplies down in the catacombs.”

“False said she’s got enough fuel for maybe five more trips,” Scott recalls. “We definitely need more.”

And perhaps, most importantly, Scott doesn’t know what to do next.

Once everyone is rescued, what is there to do? What happens when there’s no one else to save?

Rescuing Pix gives them a purpose, a goal. Something to put off the questions of continuing a bit later.

Jimmy probably realizes that, as good a leader as he is. He’s probably already started formulating a plan.

-

“No,” Jimmy tells them the next morning, when they gather in the chapel as usual. Before anyone can protest, he continues.

“We haven’t seen anything of Pix since this all started. There’s been no signs of life in the observations and fly-overs we’ve done. Those catacombs are just too much of a risk.”

“That’s a stupid excuse,” Shelby says bluntly, and judging by the expressions of everyone around the table, Scott thinks that they all mostly agree with her.

Jimmy sighs, rubs his eyes. He looks exhausted—Scott had woken him for second watch the night before, and he’s not sure that Jimmy’s slept since.

“Look, I know it’s not ideal,” he says, and there’s something in Jimmy’s voice that’s almost begging for them to understand his reasoning. Which would serve to endear Scott to him, except his reasons suck. “We’ve barely got enough fuel for it as it is. Every day, there’s more of those varmints around—and I’m sure they multiplied like rabbits up in Stratos—and if we get stuck in those catacombs, there’s no getting out. We—we’d die in there, just like Pix probably has. I’m sorry, but we can’t.”

Silence. Scott glances around—fWhip and Gem are sharing a Look, False is brooding over a cup of coffee, Sausage isn’t here, Katherine’s glaring at the floor, and Shelby’s just leaning back in her chair, arms crossed. She huffs.

“First of all, Pix probably stockpiled a bunch of coal—” she starts, but Jimmy cuts her off with a raise of his hand.

“Shelby, no,” he says firmly. “I don’t do this often, but I’m in charge, and I’m making an executive decision right now. The Sheriff says no, all right?”

And with those words, Jimmy stands up, shoves his hat onto his head, and leaves.

The rest of them finish breakfast silently, avoiding eye contact with one another.

Scott doesn’t quite know how to feel about it. Well, other than he thinks that Jimmy’s wrong. That’s pretty much a given, but he just isn’t confrontational enough to know whether this is enough of an injustice to fight about it.

The others seem to think there’s a genuine chance that Pix might be all right, but if he’s locked himself in his catacombs, he probably doesn’t have much in the way of supplies. There’s no guarantee that he hasn’t already starved to death, and no guarantee that he’ll have coal.

If it’s just rescuing Pix and gaining no other benefits, is it worth the risk?

Yes, Scott decides immediately. It is worth the risk, because Pix is another human being stuck in this horrible ending, and they ought to be doing everything they can to rescue everyone possible.

Scott can’t stop thinking about that as he heads back to his room and tidies it up. He’d never been a hero—he can remember abandoning tour guides in ancient temples once or twice—but Pix is his friend. Pix is a person, out there, on his own. They have the ability to help, and are choosing not to.

So when he’s done making his bed, the first thing he does is track down fWhip.

-

“I mean . . . if Jimmy thinks it’s too much of a risk, I’m with him,” fWhip says awkwardly when Scott asks him what he thinks. “He’s not usually wrong about how to handle this kind of thing.”

“He was wrong about how to handle Joel,” Scott points out. fWhip grimaces.

“Well, yeah. But since then, he’s had a pretty good track record. Pix is a great guy, and we need all the help we can get . . . but if Jimmy says no, I say no.”

-

“Of course I think we should go for Pix,” says Shelby, as Scott trails along beside her on a perimeter sweep. He tugs her away by her sleeve when she almost passes through the border, then marks the new line (because of course it’s changed, by about five inches here) with a little stack of rocks. “I know what it’s like to be out there alone, sure that no one will ever find you. It’s��it’s scary, Scott. We should go for him.”

“You don’t think it’s too dangerous?”

“We all have to make sacrifices,” Shelby says gravely. “I don’t want to trade lives or anything, but we need Pix’s smarts. If anyone can figure out a way to get out of here, he can.”

-

“Who’s to say he hasn’t already made it out?” False inquires, kicking back in her chair. “If anyone could, it’d be me or Pix. Maybe he has some secret portal tucked away in there.”

“So . . . you think we shouldn’t look for him?”

False shrugs. “I don’t know, Scott. I mean, what’s one person at the end of the world?”

And that’s exactly the question, isn’t it?

-

“Scott, I’m kind of in the middle of something—”

“I just want to know what you think,” Scott says. Gem sighs, backing away from the beehive before removing her gloves.

“I think the Sheriff’s right,” she says simply. “I don’t like it, but I understand. I’ve thought about it for a while, and it’s the choice I would make. We don’t have the fuel to spare—what if we need to relocate before we can sail out to Joey? We have to conserve what we can.”

-

“I don’t know,” says Katherine. She runs her whetstone along the blade of her axe a couple more times before continuing. “There’s a lot of risk there for what could possibly be no reward.”

“If we knew for sure that Pix was alive, would that change your answer?”

“Honestly . . . if there’s any chance he’s alive, I’d say go for him, of course.” Katherine sets down the whetstone. “There’s a lot of unknowns, but even if it’s just—recovering his body, it’s worth it. If Jimmy changes his mind, I’m down to go. I hate just sitting around.”

-

“Why wouldn’t we go rescue Pix?” Sausage asks, eyes wide, and that’s all the answer Scott needs.

-

Most of them end up around the campfire that night, for some reason. Katherine’s out patrolling in the night—Scott can occasionally catch a glimpse of her lantern bobbing up and down far away—and the rest of them (bar Sausage, of course) are sitting out, deliberately not meeting each others’ eyes.

Maybe they’re all here because they know something’s got to give. The tension has been building all day, and someone must’ve let Jimmy know that Scott had been going around to everyone and asking their thoughts, because Jimmy hasn’t so much as looked at Scott in hours.

Was it wrong of Scott to go behind Jimmy’s back and gather support against him? It’s not mutiny, probably—he’s not trying to shake Jimmy from his position as leader, as ill-gotten as it may be. He’s just trying to change his mind, sway him into something more reasonable.

Maybe it is time for another leader, though. He still hasn’t had the time to confront Jimmy’s deeds, to process any of it. He may never have that time. But just because he’s good at it doesn’t necessarily mean he should lead.

Not that Scott wants the position. Not that he can think of anyone more suitable.

Right, as long as Jimmy makes reasonable decisions, he’s a fine leader. Everyone else is here to keep him accountable, not blindly obey. There doesn’t need to be any mutiny.

Jimmy sighs, breaking the silence and interrupting Scott’s rambling thoughts.

“Right. You’re all here about the whole Pix thing, aren’t you?”

Gem looks away. fWhip worries his lip between his sharp teeth. Shelby taps her fingers against her arm.

None of them are going to speak. Of course they aren’t. They’re not cowards, but Scott sort of started this, didn’t he? He’s the one who went around and asked everyone’s thoughts. It’s time to put his money where his mouth is.

“Some of us think we should . . . reopen the discussion,” Scott says carefully. Jimmy finally looks at him. He looks even more tired than he did this morning—the shadows under his eyes are clear even against the dark night, the firelight throwing the lines on his face into stark, haggard relief.

“I know,” Jimmy says. “I know. But I really don’t appreciate y’all talking about this behind my back. Scott, fWhip told me you’ve been going around to everyone all day, asking if they think I’m wrong.”

He shouldn’t have gone to fWhip. Not that—not that this is something that he meant to keep a secret, but Jimmy clearly isn’t happy about it. And fWhip is a snitch.

Scott holds strong. “Yeah, well, the majority of us think that it’s worth the risk. If Pix is alive, he deserves just as much of a chance at help as I did.”

“I know you think you’re being all noble,” Jimmy says acerbically, “but really, Scott. You’re smarter than this. Pix’s tombs have only got the one way in. If we go in, and there’s nothing and no one, those critters will close off our escape. You saw the way they swarmed up Stratos—it’ll be that but times ten. And Pix hasn’t even shown any sign of life!” Jimmy shakes his head doggedly. “No. I’ve tried explaining my decision to you. I wouldn’t choose wrong on something like this. Trust me.”

And really, Scott should’ve dropped it then. He should’ve walked away, understood that he was poking the bear here, that Jimmy was sleep-deprived and annoyed and fed-up with his authority being questioned.

But the absolute indignation he feels at Jimmy telling him he wouldn’t ‘choose wrong’ when it came to someone’s life cannot be ignored.

Scott laughs. “Trust you?” he says, incredulous. “I—Jimmy, excuse me for not trusting you, especially after you lied to me for days!”

“I—I didn’t lie!” Jimmy sputters. “I—I just didn’t tell the full truth, there’s a difference! And you never asked, so I figured—”

“I didn’t know there was anything to ask about! I didn’t find out until two days ago what those things even are, let alone why they’re here! You’d think that if you killed someone and it caused—”

Jimmy stands up, his holster belt sliding off his knee and onto the log he’d been sitting on. Gem gasps a little bit; fWhip buries his face in his hands, ears flapping down.

“Scott,” Jimmy says, his voice low and hands clenched into fists at his sides, “I need you to leave right now.”

Scott stands as well, tossing his coat to the side. “Right,” he laughs derisively. “As soon as you get a little criticism, you blow up over it.”

“How about we all just calm down, maybe go to bed,” fWhip suggests, dropping his hands.

“How am I supposed to sleep knowing that we’re being led by an idiot?” Scott says snidely.

“Guys—”

“I’m not the bad guy, Scott!” Jimmy says. “I’m trying to lead this group, I’m trying to keep us alive!”

“Keep us alive? Jimmy—”

“I’m in charge because I’m the only one willing to make these choices,” Jimmy says, words echoing angrily in the night. “You want to try it? You want everyone’s lives in your hands? I’m doing my best! I’m not the bad guy!”

Scott scoffs, flexing his fingers. He’s ready. Come at me. “You can’t say you’re not the bad guy when you’re the one who killed Joel, you started this—”

Jimmy tackles Scott, his hat flying off, sending them both to the ground with a thud. Scott gasps—all the air in his chest is just gone and Jimmy’s weight is crushing him—he shoves hard, rolls to be on top of Jimmy, hands scrabbling to pull and scratch at any part of him.

Jimmy rolls then as well, and Scott’s suddenly very aware of the burning heat beside him and shoves until they roll the other direction, away from the fire.

“Get him, Scott!” Shelby cheers, while fWhip wails and yells for them to stop, but all Scott can hear is the blood pounding in his ears and all he can feel is—Jimmy doesn’t have the right, he doesn’t have the right to declare who lives and who dies and Scott’s going to defend his friends even if that means hurting one of them—

Scott hits him hard in the mouth, anger boiling over, and Jimmy actually yells in frustration or pain (Scott can’t tell which one) before pounding the heels of his fists against Scott’s head, which throws him off-balance and hurts—

“Stop—I said, stop!”

Scott freezes at Sausage’s voice (as does Jimmy under him), scrambles up off of Jimmy and scoots back to look at him. Jimmy groans, pulls himself to his feet.

Sausage is there, illuminated by the fire, arms crossed as he looms over them. He isn’t wearing shoes, his hair is still sleep-mussed, and one of his sleeves is half-rolled up and fraying at the end.

He’s the most intimidating figure Scott’s ever seen, and he manages to feel a sudden burst of shame. What was he thinking, wrestling with Jimmy like that? They’re supposed to be adults.

“I can’t believe this!” Sausage declares, glaring at the both of them. “You guys are being too disruptive, I’m trying to pray!”

Jimmy spits angrily on the ground, and Scott’s shame fades for a moment of vicious pleasure as he sees that Jimmy’s lip is sluggishly bleeding.

“She’s dead, Sausage!” Jimmy snarls. 

The air goes cold in the late summer night. Everything seems to freeze. Jimmy doesn’t stop.

“Your god is dead! They’re all dead—every single one of ‘em, dead as Pix is. We’re alone here in this damned world, and I know it for a fact—because when I killed the last god, I begged for forgiveness and there was no one to hear my prayers. They’re all dead! Your Pearl is dead, all right?”

Silence. Scott doesn’t move. Nobody moves.

Jimmy laughs bitterly, looking around at each of their shadowed faces.

“And you know what? If Pix were here, he’d agree with me. So you can go back to praying to your dead god, Sausage, in there day-in and day-out blabbering uselessly to thin air and dust. I’m gonna try and do something worthwhile! I’m gonna try and save us! Hate me all you want—you know I’m right.”

And with that, Jimmy swings his holster belt over his shoulder and storms off into the night, the fire flickering behind him.

-

The next day passes uneasily. Scott avoids Jimmy, embarrassed by his outburst last night (and maybe, just a little bit, still fiercely righteously angry). fWhip avoids Scott. And Jimmy avoids absolutely everybody.

That is, until midafternoon, when a scream comes from the border.

Scott hears it from his place in the inn kitchen, rummaging around looking for something to prepare for dinner. He drops the loaf of bread he’d pulled from the shelf and runs—it has to be an infection, there’s only been two since he got here but both times they’d been an emergency and traumatizing and that scream had sounded awfully like Shelby—

Sure enough, Shelby’s standing at the border, but the reason for her distress is made immediately clear.

Scott stops in his tracks, almost frozen in shock. Gem and fWhip, exiting the church not far away, halt before they get more than a step out the door, fWhip’s hands over his mouth. Katherine, running in, stops so suddenly she nearly falls over.

“Hi, guys!” Oli says brightly. His smile is a little bit too wide. A black, fuzzy thing crawls over his lips.

Scott swallows back the shriek that tries to issue from his own lips.

Oli is. . . .

He should definitely be dead.

Should being the keyword.

There’s—Scott can count at least six mites attached to him. There’s one on his shoulder—his shoulder is bare, his puffy shirt torn, and the skin is blackened and almost gooey where the mite is stuck like a leech. One or two circle his dirty stockings, there’s definitely one in his hair, and as Scott watches, unable to tear his eyes away, a particularly tiny one squeezes its way out of his nostril.

He’s going to be sick. Scott’s going to be sick. He’s going to throw up right here and right now, because Oli shouldn’t be here, skin oozing and covered in those things. He should be dead.

The not-dead (or, not-yet-dead) Oli, who is very much here when he oughtn’t be, sighs and sets his hands on his hips. “Well, isn’t anyone going to let a poor boy in? Where’s Sausage? Where’s my Sausage?”

“He’s not here,” Scott forces himself to say when nobody speaks. His voice cracks on the first word; no one calls him out on it. Shelby looks like she’s in shock, still barely a meter from Oli. Gem’s muttering something under her breath that Scott can’t quite hear but sounds like either a prayer or a curse. They’re quite similar, after all.

There’s a crowd gathering. Townsfolk coming to see what’s wrong, gasping and whispering and making horrified sounds.

“You need to go away,” fWhip finally says, bounding forward a couple of steps and making a shooing motion with his hands before bouncing back. “Get out.”

Oli sticks out his bottom lip. “Now is that any way to treat a guest? I’ll just—”

They all make movements forward as Oli sets a foot beyond the border. Scott can’t let him in, he can’t let him bring death here so soon—

Oli pauses, though, makes a face that seems to imply the air is a bit awkward for what he’s going to say. “Erm, can you take down this fancy forcefield . . . thing?” he asks. “My little friends can’t get through, see.”

Nobody says a word. Scott barely dares to breathe. They can’t just—can they just leave him here? They can’t, right?

But they can’t let him in.

And then, with the familiar sound of boots pounding into dirt, Jimmy appears.

To his credit, Jimmy takes in the scene with nothing more than mild horror, before his face softens into something kind and he slowly approaches the border, and by association Oli. Shelby takes a few shaky steps back, but Scott steps forward. Whatever Jimmy tells Oli, he wants to hear it. Even as . . . unpleasant as being up close is, Scott notes, eyes catching on the mite on Oli’s shoulder as it literally burrows further into his flesh.

“Jimmy! What’s going on here, king?”

“Nothing much,” Jimmy says easily, posture relaxed and a bit of a smile on his face. Scott can’t help it, he’s impressed. For all he’s said and done, Jimmy is very good at being a leader—and by extent, keeping the peace.

“Well, why—why—why won’t you all let me in, huh?”

“Oli, we can’t let you in.”

Oli’s face falls. “Why not?”

Up close, Scott can see moist blackness under Oli’s chin, the frame of his jaw appearing to have a spongy texture. He wonders, morbidly, if he pressed it would it sink in?

“Oli, there’s a bit of a bad thing going on right now,” Jimmy says, his voice still soothing and calm. “There’s an evil in this world.”

“Well, well, that’s not good!” Oli says. “Have you seen this evil?”

Jimmy’s eyes linger on the mite burrowed in Oli’s hair. “Yes,” he says. “But—we need eyes on the ground, yeah?”

Oli’s mouth goes wide like an ‘O’, and Scott actually has to press his hand to his mouth to hold back the bile that rises. His tongue is black and slimy and decaying, and he thinks there might be a mite in his mouth—which would explain the swollen cheek.

“You want me to be like a spy!” Oli says excitedly. “Why of course, king! I’ll report back next week, yeah?”

“Yeah,” says Jimmy. “Next week. See you then.”

Somehow, it works. Oli waves cheerily at them all (nobody so much as moves), then hops off in the opposite direction, singing something loudly as he leaves.

Jimmy turns back to the crowd, face ashen. His voice trembles just slightly when he speaks. “Do you still want to go after Pix?”

A moment’s hesitation. fWhip’s actually crying, Scott realizes, a couple of fat tears rolling down his green cheeks. Gem looks like she’ll never forget the image of Oli as long as she lives.

Scott won’t, either. He still feels like he’s one wrong move from vomiting. And now, after seeing exactly what the mites do to someone, he doesn’t know how he can even justify looking for Pix. If Pix is like that, he’s not sure he’d be able to bear it.

His llamas had been ill, and in so much pain when the darkness took them. He doesn’t want to see any more of his friends like that.

But can he really leave Pix to that fate?

“Yes. We want to go for him,” Katherine says firmly, as even Shelby looks doubtful. She meets Jimmy’s gaze with hard determination in her eyes. “Everyone deserves help. Everyone deserves a chance. We can’t just choose to sacrifice someone else to keep ourselves safe.”

Shelby looks away.

“What about Oli?” asks Jimmy, gesturing behind him.

“Oli’s already gone,” Katherine says. She shakes her head. “That wasn’t Oli. That was . . . whatever shadow is left of him. We don’t know if Pix is gone yet.” Then, something almost pleading in her voice, she says, “We can’t let that happen to him.”

Scott sees the precise moment Jimmy relents. He holds her gaze for a moment, heavy and determined and still a little angry, before his shoulders slump.

“Fine,” says Jimmy. He waves a hand wearily. “We set out for Pix in two days. Start preparing.”

[thebirdandhersong]

at this rate, the first long-form work of fiction I'll have finished since 2018 will be a Lockwood and Co fanfic. I'm actually quite tempted to print myself a copy to celebrate this feat after I'm done writing this fic (and done editing, and all that).......

[tsubasaclones]

no actually i love setting up so much shit in the first chapter because its just like

[brookbee]

yknow i had another spirk fic i had gotten like 75% completed for a fic event before stopping bc time constraints and stress but now I wonder if I should just go back and finish it

[rinnysega]

@acewithapaintbrush

Yes! In my opinion, the enemy of every writer is editing too soon. It’s a process, and everyone has their personal process, but I’ve found for me it helps to just write and not stop and then let it incubate. Incubating your work is to let it sit overnight or for a day or two then look at it with fresh eyes to tweak and expand with edits. It’s so much more productive than struggling on one word for half an hour in the first paragraph then calling it quits for the day lol

I’m also a huge fan of the Get There method. If you run into a block just write (GET THERE) and hop to the next scene and fill in the gaps after the fact. This is really useful too if you want to keep up a flow of a certain mood if there’s a break in between.

This is a WIP from the novel I’m working on to show you what I mean:

Later on when I edit and expand, when the mood is different, I’ll go into that (GET THERE) and fill in the gap of how they get from the store to the car. This way helps me keep a dialogue flow and in edits I can sew them together to create one completed chapter 🥰

[loverboyromanroy]

the most irritating part of coming up with a fic idea that you know is going to end up being 30k+ is writing 30k+ words......

[scarwasright]

Just took a nap n had a dream chapter 16 came out .. for some reason my partner was there and also they were Greed who was alive for some reason. And literally all it consisted of was Lust n them getting food at a restaurant and at some point Envy showed up so they had to make an exit like in Emperor’s New Groove. Also for some reason Ao3 was a visual novel website and all of this took place in that sort of format yet simultaneously I was experiencing it through Lust’s eyes. Most normal dream I’ve ever had, honestly

Sorry if this was weird I just thought it was a lil funny that out of all dreams my brain decided to remember, it was this one 👍

a hOMUNCULUS?????

SHE'S SUPPOSED TO BE

DEAD.

[ask-the-crimson-king]

Fantasy's Wings

Dusk descended gracefully upon the beautiful glittering spires of Tizca. Small lanterns, crafted by the younger children in anticipation for the celebration, hung all around the city. It was the beginning of the celebrations to ring in the new year, and tonight was the Night of Wishes, a time where children would make lanterns, make a wish, and let them fly off into the night. Some had already been lit, flying into the pale orange sky as it faded to a deeper blue, while others waited until the first stars appeared. They were all colorful, adorned with all manner of decorations from abstract patterns of colors to depictions of mythical beasts and animals.

Zikar-Sin strode around the city without much care or purpose. His day's work had been completed, and he had wanted to see the bounds of his home again. The quiet hum of everyday life around him was a breath of fresh air compared to the constant drum of war. He had only been away for approximately a decade, but he was more than happy to return. He was awaiting his placement to one of his cousin Legions for his secondment.

He had selected three of them, based on a few of the interactions he had with their warriors; the White Scars, the Iron Warriors, and the Word Bearers. He almost selected the Blood Angels, but one of his close friends -- an initiate into the Order of Ruin named Imentet -- was already selected to join them. So he chose the Word Bearers, in part because he wanted to meet the newly recovered primarch. Lorgar had been discovered and given reign over his Legion only about five years prior, and Zikar-Sin found the change from Iconoclasts to the Bearers of the Word... interesting. Not that he knew the Legion much before the coming of their primarch, just that they seemed to transform themselves into something... different. New to the Legions.

New wasn't always bad. So he wanted to learn more about it.

As the Astartes walked, he let his mind unwind a little. He rose into the lower Ennumerations with some concentration, allowing him to see the City of Light in all its splendor. Presently he stood on the edge of central Tizca, the mountains flanking him as he watched the waning dusk. Stars began to peek out of the dimming sky, which meant that it was almost time for the other lanterns to be lit and released. Zikar-Sin remembered when he first took part in the tradition; he had just been selected as an initiate into the Legion itself, and he had created one infused with his hopes to be the greatest warrior the galaxy had ever seen.

How naive he once was, he thought to himself.

You're still naive, he knew his brothers would tell him. Just a different kind of it.

He shrugged off the assumed words of his close kindred and started his walk back into the city proper. Families were gathering with their little ones, carefully taking the lanterns and preparing to send them off on their final flights.

As he walked, he kept his mind open, sensing the temperaments of those he strolled past. One child was wishing for another cat in addition to the five they already had, much to the chagrin of their older sibling who happened to be allergic. Could that be altered by the Pavoni? Zikar-Sin would have to ask later. As the child lit the lantern with the help of their sibling and parents, Zikar-Sin felt the dulled mind and presence of a stray a few streets over. With some gentle aetheric nudging, he led the animal back to the child, much to their immense delight. The Astartes was already long gone by the time the cat had made it over, and the bright light of happiness outshone their own lantern in Zikar-Sin's aethersight.

He continued onward, his mind still abroad and wandering. Another child was hoping that they could use their pyromantic abilities to turn into a dragon, or a lion with the mane of a sun. Their parents were not as enthused by this aspiration, and Zikar-Sin noticed they had already more than fireproofed their home. The parents did not have a similar lean -- one was an auramancer while the other some variation of geokineticist -- so the gentle tiredness and exasperation at their child's wish and aspirations for the coming year was nothing new for them. He allowed himself a smile.

But then something interesting snagged at his other senses. It wasn't a happy emotion, rather one of fear and sadness. Zikar-Sin's brow furrowed, and he went and followed the thread. It led him back towards the Silver District, to a side street that didn't have any lanterns hung.

Well. Save for one, being closely held by a small child.

They must've been no older than eight or nine Terran years, by Zikar-Sin's rough estimate. Midnight blues and uncertain yellows clung to them closely. They were crying. Zikar-Sin approached slowly, gently brushing his mind against theirs. He found a longing there, but before he could discern more, the child jumped and whipped their head around, looking for the source of the disturbance. They spotted Zikar-Sin and jumped backwards, trying to hide their lantern and aggressively wiping at their face to hide their tears.

"I did not mean to disturb you," Zikar-Sin said slowly.

"Am I in trouble?" the child asked. Zikar-Sin shook his head.

"Of course not. Why would you be?"

"Because you're not supposed to be sad when people are celebrating," the child answered.

"And who told you that?"

"My friends." The child wiped at their face again.

"Not all celebrations will bring feelings of happiness," Zikar-Sin said. He stepped closer and crouched down so he was more on the child's level. "I am Zikar-Sin, of the Thousand Sons. May I have your name?"

"Huitzilin," the child answered.

"It is very nice to meet you, Huitzilin," Zikar-Sin said with a smile. "Would you mind if I asked why you were feeling sad?" He sensed Huitzilin mentally brace, as though they were facing reprimand or ridicule.

"I..." they hesitated, fiddling with the tassels of the lantern still behind their back. "I just miss my dad..." Tears came to their eyes, though they did their best not to cry in front of an Astartes. Zikar-Sin feared this meant the child was an orphan of war, realizing their father was garrisoned with the 28th Expedition Fleet. But he then saw what made up part of the child's lantern, though Huitzilin wanted to hide it. Unfortunately, the child's aura betrayed their emotions. It was a letter, promising he would be home soon, and to keep watch over their cat and bird while he was away.

"You miss him dearly, don't you?" Zikar-Sin asked. "I'm sure he misses you just as much." Huitzilin nodded and sobbed, covering their eyes with a hand.

"I'm sorry..."

"No, no, don't apologize. Here." The Astartes took out a small rag from the belt that helped secure his tunic in place. The child took it and wiped at their eyes and nose. "Would you like a hug?" Huitzilin took a moment to consider, before nodding wordlessly and allowing themself to be brought into a warm hug by the Astartes.

"I'm sorry," Huitzilin mumbled.

"Hush. None of that now," Zikar-Sin said softly. "Don't let anyone tell you that you aren't allowed to be upset about missing your parents. No matter the occasion. Okay?"

"Okay." The child pulled back, still hiccuping a little. They brought the lantern to their chest, sniffling and rubbing their eyes.

"Would you like my help releasing your lantern?" the Astartes asked. Huitzilin hesitated for a few moments. They hugged the lantern a bit tighter, almost defensive over it. Zikar-Sin felt the child's worry. They worried that if they let it go, they'd be letting go of their father's promise. Their wish was obvious.

"It is okay to say no," Zikar-Sin said. "Scary thought, to let go of a wish, isn't it?" Huitzilin nodded. "You know, I bet your father made a lantern for you tonight. And he has the same wish as you." The child's eyes widened.

"They make lanterns out there?" they asked. Zikar-Sin nodded.

"Of course. And, just like the ones here, they get released into the tides of the Great Ocean itself, and through the power of great will... they may just come true," the Astartes answered. "The more people wish for something, the more likely it is to come true."

Huitzilin looked back at the lantern. It was decorated like a brightly colored bird, the note from their father inside.

"Again, it is okay to say no. You do not have to let go of it if you do not want to," Zikar-Sin said.

"I think I want to," Huitzilin said, holding out the lantern to Zikar-Sin. "That way, my lantern can find his, and our wishes can both come true." Zikar-Sin nodded, beginning to conjure a small current of wind around him.

"Are you ready?" he asked. Huitzilin nodded, closing his eyes and silently mouthing his wish. When he opened his eyes again, Zikar-Sin lit the lantern, sending it into the skies above to join the thousands of other artificial stars, buoyed by the hopes and dreams of the children of Prospero.

"I hope it works," Huitzilin said quietly.

"It will. I know it will." The Astartes slowly stood to his full height, nearly doubling that of the child's. "Would you like to join me for the festivities happening in Occulum Square? A few of my brothers have planned out quite the spectacle. I think you'd enjoy it."

"That's a far walk..." Huitzilin mumbled. Zikar-Sin laughed.

"And who said you would be the one walking? I can carry you on my back, if you'd like."

That seemed to excite the child. They nodded, and Zikar-Sin crouched down again, letting Huitzilin hop on.

"Hold on tight, we'll be there before the sun fades!" the Astartes said. He gave the child a few seconds to clasp their hands around his neck, and he supported their legs before he stood and ran off through the streets of Tizca. His sandals slapped against the paved walkways as he raced for the heart of the city, making sure to take the streets that were less occupied so that he didn't accidentally trample over anyone. Huitzilin laughed and whooped in his ear, urging him to run faster, almost as though Zikar-Sin were their noble steed. The Astartes grinned himself and did his best to comply, taking a detour before getting to the heart of the festivities. He let the child down as the opening remarks began, earning some strange looks from the other gathered Thousand Sons present.

Zikar-Sin spent the next hour accompanying Huitzilin around the festival, until they ran into their friends and said. The children were in awe at the fact that Huitzilin had befriended one of the Legion. A couple of them seemed jealous, much to Zikar-Sin's delight. They invited Huitzilin to come play some games with them, and the child hesitated, looking up at Zikar-Sin.

"You don't need my permission," he said. "If you want to play with them, you are free to do so."

"I don't want to leave you alone," Huitzilin said, wringing his hands nervously. Zikar-Sin laughed.

"Oh, don't worry. My brothers are nearby. I'll need to check in with them anyway," he said. He looked over to where three of them had gathered, talking among themselves about some higher concepts. One of them noticed Zikar-Sin looking in their direction and furrowed his brow. Zikar-Sin grinned mischievously. "Maybe once you are done playing, you all can come meet them. I'm sure they would love to say hello."

+Zikar, what in the Emperor's name are you dragging us into?+ came a psychic voice.

+You can handle being around some small children for a few short minutes,+ Zikar-Sin sent back. +Some socialization would do you good.+

+Like you have any leg to stand on.+

+I have two, actually.+ Zikar-Sin then pushed away his brother's connection, focusing back on the children who were excitedly talking amongst themselves.

"That'd be awesome!" said one of them.

"Can we meet them now?" asked another.

"Later," Zikar-Sin said, "first I need to speak with them. Go play your games and have fun, and I'll call you all over when they're ready."

There was a small chorus of 'awww's that followed his words, but the kids seemed to accept it.

"C'mon, Huitzi," one of the kids said, gently grabbing Huitzilin by the shoulder. "You've got to see this cool lizard thing! It's from one of the worlds my mom went to!"

"No way, they've got to see my new cat first!"

"I want to show them the dragon!"

"Peace, children, peace," Zikar-Sin said with a dry expression. "Huitzilin, what would you like to see first?"

"Well..." Huitzilin said, frowning in thought. "The lizard does sound cool..."

"Then let's go! Bye, Sir Astartes!" said one of the kids, grabbing Huitzilin's hand and pulling them away. Zikar-Sin waved goodbye, watching them run off. He then turned to go join his brothers, a soft smile on his face.

"Scouting for new initiates?" asked the same who had intruded on his thoughts earlier.

"Not really," Zikar-Sin answered. "Though isn't that your job, Nekhbet?"

"Sometimes, when I'm not tending to the one's we're already testing," Nekhbet answered. "You seem to like the child well enough. They could be Astartes material. They seem to be of age."

"Hmm..." Zikar-Sin frowned.

"We could at the very least test for viability," said the soft-spoken voice of Asim, hardly more than an aspirant himself. Zikar-Sin turned back to where Huitzilin had ran off, thinking of the child's wish.

"I think they may like that idea," Zikar-Sin said.

---

The sky churned with the might of an endless storm above him. Starlight was obscured and refracted in strange ways, making the already peculiar light cast over the landscape even stranger. The ground beneath his armored boots was shards of shattered glass, each reflecting facets of both past and future to be and never to be again.

In his hands was a lantern, light and decorated in the aspect of a colorful bird. With a breath, Zikar-Sin conjured a current of wind, lit the lantern, and let it fly off into the sky. Inside of it was a note, never to be read.

It was but one artificial star, flying alone into the uncaring heavens above. It carried a wish that was never to be granted.

A wish for his little brother to find peace and safety in whatever realm he now walked within.

A silent tear rolled down his cheek, falling and splashing onto one of the shards below. As the sorcerer turned, he conjured his tower, walking inside without another glance at the tortured sky.

He did not see that, for the barest and briefest of moments, there was a second lantern. It winked in and out of existence in the span of a heartbeat, but it was there.

And that was all that mattered.