Aetheral Space

Blackmane strode down the halls of his Thinker's Comet.

His massive heart thudded in his jet-black chest, a symptom of anxiety that was reflected in neither his pace nor his face. He was glad of it, though. It was a welcome reminder of his humanity.

It was only natural to feel trepidation at this point, he supposed. He'd been working towards this end for nearly a decade now, working his way through the hierarchy of the Absurd Weapons Lab to gain access to the resources he needed. Now, everything was ending.

Now, everything was beginning.

The doors to his personal quarters slid open, and he stepped inside. It was a spartan affair -- apart from a console on the wall, voice-operated, the room was bare of furniture. It didn't bother Blackmane any. This body didn't need a bed to sleep in, and a bedroom served no other purpose.

He allowed himself only one indulgence here.

"Computer," he crafted his voice using Speak No Evil, grasping and rearranging the ambient sounds. "Open the promise."

With a whir, the far wall peered open -- revealing the secret beyond.

A metal canister, the height of a man, worn down and battered by time and crisis. This was what had set Blackmane on this path, all those years ago. This 'treasure', snatched from the wreckage of a destroyed pirate fleet and sold to him by that long-armed oaf.

Blackmane reached out with a paw and pressed it against the cool metal, as if he could feel the precious data inside.

The last will and testament of the man called Caput Leon, who had once held the Prince inside his mind.

Harry del Sed frowned. "Okay. No, what? Okay. Tell me again."

Marianne cast him a tired look. "I don't want to be mean, but that's the third time she's explained it."

"LEARN TO LISTEN, SHIT-FOR-BRAINS!" screeched her puppet twin.

Still, Annatrice had no problem explaining herself again. The story she was telling was fairly insane, and she wasn't sure if she fully bought it herself. Huddled in the corner with the others, she went through everything Erica had told her one more time -- the Prince and the Sed's true purpose -- leaving nothing out.

"So that was what the Sed was all about?" Harry mumbled, turning pale. "What, making the perfect person to stuff that… that thing into?"

"That's what Erica said," Annatrice nodded.

"Well, how does Erica know?"

"Well… I… I, uh -- I don't know. But she sounded pretty sure of it. The big lion guy did too. She really didn't tell you guys any of this? She said she did."

"Nope," Harry shook his head. "I got snatched off of Taldan and brought right here. No lecture for me." His eyes flicked over to Marianne. "You?"

"Same for me," she said quietly.

"THAT SHOULD BE FUCKING OBVIOUS FROM THE FUCKING CONTEXT, YOU FUCKING WORM!"

Annatrice put a hand to her chin. So, for some reason, Erica had decided to tell her and her alone all this stuff about the Prince. Even more than that, she'd sent Tybalt down to the planet to snatch her out of the middle of the experiment in the first place. Did that mean she was somehow vital to Erica's plans? And what even were those plans?

"What I don't get…" she muttered. "...is why she'd tell a lie that's so easy to see through."

"Well, that's easy," Harry shrugged. "Her whole thing is self-control, right? I heard that somewhere. She doesn't have any doubt in herself at all. So I bet she doesn't even doubt her stupid decisions. Being 100% confident in everything you do isn't always a good thing."

"Speaking from experience?" Marianne asked.

"SOUNDS LIKE YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT YOURSELF, YOU FUCKING MOLLUSC!"

"Mollusc?" Harry frowned, looking at the puppet on Marianne's shoulder.

She waved a dismissive hand. "Don't even listen to it, it just says stuff."

Annatrice kept staring into space, though, that hand still on her chin. There was a tight feeling in her throat -- the prelude to strangulation. All of this, all of this, all of this… it all still felt wrong to her.

They'd been making something in that pod, making something with Aether, and talking about an Aether program called the Prince. They'd been gathering the children of the Sed, who'd been created to receive the Prince. It didn't take a genius to figure out where this went.

It's happening again, Annatrice thought, a sudden wave of despair washing over her. It's all happening again.

They're starting the Sed up again… and making a new Prince to give us.

Erica del Sed stared off into the darkness of space.

People often said that the stars were beautiful, but they were incorrect. The stars were far too small to be beautiful, their light far too weak to pierce the gloom. To look at the sky was to look at a blanket of black. To look at the sky was to invite a wave of despair that could crush you entirely.

As a child recovering from the knives of surgeons, Erica del Sed had often thought this as she walked under the night sky. She had been correct then, and she was correct now. She had been correct every moment of her life.

"You're crying," Tybalt observed as he put his clothes back on. "Is that okay?"

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Erica put a hand to her eyes and wiped them. Huh, she thought, looking at the moisture on her fingers. I am crying.

She promptly stopped.

"It's a sad day," she said, turning to look at Tybalt. "By the end of it, I won't be around anymore -- at least not in the same way."

"You'd cry for yourself?" Tybalt frowned, his braid swishing through the air behind him as he wriggled into his pants. "That doesn't sound like you at all, Erica."

"What does sound like me? I'm the only one who decides what I sound like, so I suppose I sound like nobody."

"You know I don't get this stuff," Tybalt frowned theatrically.

"It's fine. You're just my sounding board right now. I'm the clean slate with nothing but a temporary 'self'... while that girl is someone who can adopt and inhabit any 'self'. Yes, that makes sense."

"Are you talking about Annatrice?" Tybalt frowned. "Because she's not that great. A few words were able to break through her ability."

"No," Erica corrected him. "A few words were able to break through her confidence… and, as you know, I can make as much confidence as I need."

"Ah," Tybalt nodded sagely. "So that's why you were crying."

Erica nodded. It only made sense. All the other graduates of the Sed were her family. She bore responsibility for them all.

When faced with a situation where she had to sacrifice one, what could the older sister do but weep?

"That thing caught you, then," Bruno grunted, crouching down next to Ruth.

She nodded.

After finally making it back underground, Ruth had made her way into one of the uppermost caverns and finally gotten some much-needed rest. It was funny: after the beating she'd taken, she'd expected to be off her feet for a good while longer… but the body Wu Ming had given her was astounding. Already, she could feel her strength returning.

"How'd you get away?" Serena asked, her brow knitting into a line of worry.

Ruth thumped her chest with a hand. "Figured out she was going after life signs," she said. "Manifested my armour over my heart, muffled my heartbeat."

"Oh, that's smart," Serena said, impressed.

"No," Sam Set said, mortified. "That's awful. You realize the inside of your body isn't just filled with, like, empty space, right? There's stuff in there!"

Ruth shrugged. "It worked."

"Well, it shouldn't have!"

"This LYCHGATE thing," Ruth said, cracking her neck as she straightened up into a sitting position. "It'll definitely take you to the enemy base?"

"It took Erica there," Serena said seriously. "And she even said it was the way to rebel. Erica's full of herself, but I don't remember her being a good liar. She got way too confident with the stupidest lies."

"Alright," Ruth nodded, a fanged smirk tugging at her lips. "If we're going to take these bastards on, then, I'm guessing we need manpower."

"There's five of us," Sam sighed. "And -- no offense -- none of us are in fighting condition right now. I don't think I've ever been in fighting condition. We couldn't even take on just Erica. Who knows what else is waiting on the other side of that gate?"

"So you just need manpower," Ruth noted. "The Widow is waiting outside, right?"

Sam blinked. "Huh?"

"It's easy. I'll keep that thing outside busy, while you guys bust the Widow out of her ice-cube and get through the gate. If you can find Wolfram while I'm fighting her, that's even better."

"But…" Sam spluttered. "Are you crazy?! Look at what that thing did to you -- what it just did to you! You'll get yourself killed!"

"Nah," Ruth said, without a trace of doubt. "This time, I'll win."

Her golden eyes flicked over to Serena -- and for a moment, she truly thought about revealing all. The Weapon is Lily Aubrisher, she almost said. The Weapon is Lily Aubrisher, who we fought with on Hexkay, who we fought with on Elysian Fields. The Weapon is our friend.

But no. There was no need to burden her friends with that as well. So, she gave Serena nothing but her unbreakable gaze.

Serena blinked. "You really think you'll be okay?"

"I do."

Ruth's heart thumped steadily in her chest. It was true. Right now, after crawling through that darkness, she truly felt like she could beat anyone in the world.

"I do," she repeated.

Someone on Serendipity had a sudden thought.

Jaime Pierrot's finger froze over his holographic keyboard, caught between one keystroke and the next. He hadn't heard from Blaine and her people since they'd left for the Sed. He still hadn't heard back from his Vantablack Squad, either… but that hadn't bothered him. He hadn't felt any urgency at all to pursue his missing agents, past or present.

Until now.

Without hesitation, Pierrot reached for his script and put it to his ear, calling his subordinate Ultraviolet.

"Koel," he said calmly. "It's me."

"Oh~?" came the Iminant's playful voice. "And what can I do for you, former Captain?"

The keystrokes resumed, now for a new purpose. "I'm sending you names and numbers. I need you to pull in some favours for me. You'll have the coordinates and specific instructions presently."

"Roger that~. Oh, wow," Koel said, clearly reading through the list of contacts. "Three, Two, and One? You're really pulling out all the stops here, huh?"

"See it done," Pierrot said, hanging up without another word.

He let out a small breath. Indeed… it was rare for something to bring him anxiety these days, but the thought of the Sed always did it. The one time he had failed. The one time he hasn't been able to swallow back his pride.

The one time he had disobeyed the Prince. It had been a juvenile thing.

Succession had always been a concern -- and so, at the Prince's prodding, Pierrot had moved money and people and resources to craft the Sed from a distance. A project to create the perfect inheritor of the Prince. A project to make sure that, when the time came, Pierrot's burden passed into capable hands.

He had believed that course of action was correct… and perhaps he still did. It wasn't logic that had forced him to turn away.

When he'd visited the Sed in person for the first time, to see what his investments had created… and he'd seen that girl, whittled away to nothing… he had been unable to bear it. Knowing something was happening and seeing it happen were two different things. Some long-dormant idealistic nerve had twitched, and so Pierrot had looked away from what had to be done. Without thought to the consequences, he had shut down the Sed that very same day and brought the project to a close.

That was the first and last time he had gone against the Prince.

That was the first and last time he had taken the foolish path.

Indeed… Jaime Pierrot had a sudden thought. But it wasn't his thought. He'd been with the Prince long enough to recognise its fingerprints.

Something was starting.