Up upon a hill overlooking Martira, sat in the shade of a tree that had not been there the day before, sat a white wolf, gazing down at the town with hunger in her heart. The beast however, and was, in-fact, in the middle of chomping her way through a small assortment of tubers she’d dug up, ones which had been cut into thin slices.

She, admittedly, did not seem to be enjoying this very much.

Still, given the thinness of her frame, it looked like she very much needed it.

That would have been what a resident of the town would have seen at any rate, had they approached rather than stay well away or made base assumptions about her nature. Had the angel fighting in the timefall soaked land that represented the wolf’s biggest failure laid eyes upon her, he, or more likely his goddess, would have seen that it was not truly a lack of food that left the being looking half starved, but instead a lack of faith. For with their divine vision, they would have seen that the wolf bore holy red markings on her fur, sported winglets and a tail that where all brush-like in appearance, and each one bearing a dreadfully thin coat of divine ink, and upon her back they would have seen a flaming sundisk.

Still, that was only visible to them and their like, and regardless, even if the villagers below had been able to see her true form, they might well have simply been more inclined to drive her out the three times she had tried to enter the town the previous day.

The celestial being Amaterasu had not been dissuaded from lending her aid when faced with such hostility in a past life, and in the same way, this rendition of her’s desire to lend these people her aid regardless of their mistrust of her had not been stopped by such impoliteness on said people’s part.

The problem, however, was that it was rather difficult to work out what the people down there needed help with when you couldn’t talk to them, or hang around listening in on their conversations. As such all she’d been able to do was a bit of light restoration of the surroundings, rejuvenating the odd withered tree, regrowing the odd flower patch, mending the odd pothole, that sort of thing. Helpful little things, for certain, but nothing greatly worthy of praise.

And it was that praise, that faith, for which caused the divine to look upon the town with hunger in her heart. Well. That and a desire for a cooked meal.

She had taken a pause from the meager praise gathering to gather, slice up and then dine on her substandard crunchy lunch, during which she had spotted two newcomers enter the town. She had thought about trying to follow them in, but that would just have soured the townspeople to them rather than gotten her inside, and so she had let them be. Instead she was watching from above to see what fate had in store for them, and if anything she might come of it that would help her help others.

That they had both found their way to the same place was a good sign, that was for certain, even if an inn was a fairly normal place for a traveler to end up after coming to town.

As such, the celestial being could only watch, wait, and see if there would be an opportune time to intervene.

And also take the time needed to finish her lunch, much as it sat heavy and unsatisfying in her stomach.

For the second time the nightmarish pocket dimension of flesh and sacrifice receded from Nadia’s view. The next moment, the Final Hollow faded back in around her and the other Seekers, leaving the team one more ally short. Unfortunately, it wasn’t any easier for the feral to compose herself this time; if anything, she felt number than before. The decision paralysis inflicted on her and the others by A’s meatspace was wearing off, and the cold fear with which her phagophobia gripped her spine had diminished, but the loss of Goldlewis Dickinson was a weight she’d be carrying for a while.

“Damn it, old man,” she muttered bitterly. Sure, at the end of the day she hadn’t know him that well either, but how many more times would she have to console herself in such a way? As someone made mostly immortal by the power of the Life Gem, it would be her lot in life to outlive most everyone she met. That meant losses were inevitable, but while Nadia knew she couldn’t let such things drive her to despondency, she also knew that she couldn’t harden her heart to said losses, either. Having lost so much already, Nadia had taken to heart an important lesson: that the inevitability of loss wasn’t a reason to give up on life, love, or laughter, but instead the reason to live, laugh, and love all the more. In the short time she’d known Goldlewis, he’d proven himself to be one of the strongest, most stout-hearted old warriors she’d ever seen. He had not thrown his life away for nothing, but had nobly faced his own death without fear for the sake of saving everybody. Nadia felt guilty, for lacking that courage herself and forcing the veteran’s hand, but also grateful for the extra chance he’d given her. She would not waste it.

“Badass to the end, huh?” Nadia found herself looking upward, past the twisted, throbbing horrors of the floodfested demon tree and into the clear blue sky. Against such a backdrop, even the Brother Moon looked small, somehow. “Well, you can rest easy. We won’t letcha down.”

The next moment, Nadia’s ears twitched, and on instinct the feral sprang backward. A blazing meteor slammed into the floor where she’d been standing a split second earlier, close enough that she could feel its searing heat on her skin and eyes as her hair fluttered from the displaced air. Blown further back by the shockwave, she used the momentum to twist herself around in a backflip and land in a crouched stance on her feet. Her claws raked across the flattened Qliphoth bark of the floor as she slid to a stop, her lips curled over bare teeth. Above the battlefield hovered Moebius D, a fresh batch of spells already on their way after Pit’s shimmery shield took the brunt of the last one. In the wake of the second Come Unto Your Maker, the vampiric Consul had taken advantage of the emotional fallout to try and rack up a few more kills of his own, but now Nadia’s blood was boiling a lot hotter than his meteors.

Another round of violently purple rays streaked toward the Seekers below. Nadia took off with a dash propelled by jets of high-pressure blood, then sprinted on all fours in a frenetic strafing run. As the magic curved toward her she zig-zagged back and forth, changing her direction at the last second to confound the arcane beams’ homing abilities. “Such wanton D-struction!” By the time the barrage ended, though, whirling sickles of flame were on their way. Only after weaving through the fiery pinwheels did Nadia realize that she’d been corralled against a thick curtain of blood rain as huge fireballs plummeted toward her. Thinking quickly, Nadia used Charge to bolt through the crimson deluge, only a little worse for wear while a cacophonous chain-explosion demolished the area where she’d been. “Hah! Sorry to rain on your parade, but it’ll take something a bit ‘meteor’ than that to get me!”

Despite her jokes, Nadia was definitely annoyed, and not just because she heard Juri gloating about killing Moebius O. There were no gaps in D’s offense in which her team could fight back, and even if there were, none of them had a chance in hell of reaching him. With Junior grounded and no Sectonia or Kamek to safeguard the skies, the Seekers were vulnerable against aerial opponents. She, Roxas, and a few others were agile, but not that agile, and if anyone stopped long enough to fire off a few bullets or spells, D would return fire with ten times the fury. Was there seriously no limit to how much magic that dirtbag could pump out!? There wasn’t anything she could do…from the floor, at least.

Nadia snapped her fingers, then abruptly turned tail and ran. To the others it might look like she was being selfish and cowardly, distancing herself for the sake of her own safety no matter what happened to the others, but as convenient as it was for her, she did have a plan in mind. Hopefully the others could last long enough for her to pull it off. Given how close the Brother Moon’s tentacles were getting, their odds were getting closer by the second, but she had to do something!

Some of her allies, at least, had their fights a little more under control. While A had managed to snuff out one of his strongest attackers, that smidgen of relief came at a great cost, and those who remained were determined to make him pay the price. The Monster surged forward first, little more than a massive heap of raw power, instinct, and emotion. What followed was more of a beatdown than a fight, with A struggling to defend himself as his heavily damaged husk began to fail him. Even hunkering down did not avail him, however, as Primrose’s Makami siphoned from him, and the Monster took advantage of his unanchored state to hurl him into a nearby environmental hazard. It wasn’t the end of him, but it put the villain in a terrible position he was forced to literally claw his way up from. He did manage to strike a solid blow against the Monster while its overextension left it isolated from the other Seekers, but when A crested the edge of the pit he found the children very much alive, and before he could try to finish the Koopas off, Roland arrived.

A handful of abilities hammered the Consul in quick succession, followed by Roland himself in ghoulish attire. His rake scored A’s body, gouging a huge chunk of demonic metal flesh from his torso. Once gutted, he found himself buffeted by a thick cinnamon cloud, as hard and heavy as a fist. Its impact momentarily stunned him, its psychological component affecting his eldritch mind in some inexplicable manner, which paved the way for Primrose to take center stage. As A regained his senses in front of the empowered dancer, now on his last legs, he made the pragmatic choice to try something new: teleporting away. Yet no matter how he tried, his Moebius teleportation ability would not obey him–what had Roland done!?

He lashed out first. How could he not? And for a moment, it looked like he’d seized victory. Primrose doubled over, blood seeping from her mouth as her flesh yielded to his strike. When he attempted to recoil, however, the rose’s thorns pierced through his tentacle, more than living up to their name. A brilliant aura of black and white flared around Primrose, then flooded into the A’s flesh, a lance of pitch-black incineration that turned the Consul’s own limb into a burning fuse. He had only a split second to realize what was happening before the Black Serpent reached him, implanting Primrose’s dark magic into the very core of his being. ”Mortality-!”

Moebius A exploded in a maelstrom of rippling, roaring shadow. His failing body, unable to stitch or hold itself together any longer, was ground away into fitful purple sparks that were swallowed by the dark just as quickly. After a moment the tenebrous singularity subsided, leaving behind only a handful of misshapen hunks, including part of A’s head. The scattered remnants did not regenerate this time, but crumbled into nothingness bit by sickening bit. Even the glow of the red lemniscate in A’s eye had been extinguished, but it stared at the Seekers nonetheless, gleaming like a black pearl.

”Victory…” A’s tone was critical, almost chiding, even as it faded away. ”A hollow…and ridiculous…notion…”

Then the last vestige of the aberrant Moebius A was gone, at last.

Unfortunately, the Qliphoth was not yet free of dead flesh, even if it had gone to pieces. The grotesque separation of the Gravemind into a number of large, extremely aggressive fragments was overwhelming to Grimm for a few moments, but from her bird’s-eye view Blazermate managed to get a bead on the situation that the Troupe Master did not. In a bid to stop the Gravemind’s spore-dropping core from ascending out of reach and into the Brother Moon’s eager embrace, Blazermate applied herself in a uncharacteristically physical sense: she tackled the vile thing out of the sky. Her metallic limbs battered the bomber’s newly-formed body well enough, but it was her Suffering shield that did the trick, its teeth puncturing the core’s gas sacs enough to let out the lighter-than-air fumes lifting it upward. In a matter of moments the core wasn’t gaining altitude, but losing it, and in another few seconds it would be well within Ganon’s reach.

Determined to give his much larger ally the space he needed to bring the Guardian down for good, Grimm and his Grimmchild turned their attention toward the fragments down below. Though not particularly well-built, the horrors formed from the remains of the core’s chrysalis moved powerfully and erratically enough to be dangerous, as Zenkichi and Edelgard found out. Grimm joined in with barrages of firebats from afar, keeping himself out of harm’s way. Though things looked dicey for a moment or two, Edelgard held firm until Zenkichi composed himself, and the pair turned the tide in a storm of spells and steel. These fragments didn’t seem able to regenerate or reform, so the team picked them apart one slice at a time, and the arrival of Captain Falcon plus Roxas sealed the deal. For the finale, Grimm took a bow, his cloak moving on his own to plunge its tips into the ground and spear the last monster from below. With their last course served up on a silver platter, the others could make sure that the Gravemind got its just desserts.

As the gargantuan tentacles of the celestial monstrosity above drew close, Ganon mustered the last of his strength. The next moment, a torrent of purple energy burst forth from his gullet bringing long-overdue annihilation to the execrable Gravemind core. Once back on his human form, Ganondorf found himself caught in a downpour of ashen remains, gentle as snow. Soon after the spirit of the Dead Zone Guardian fell at his feet, the visage of his vanquished foe resplendent in a wreath of sickly green light. The Seekers had won.

The response from the floodfested collective was immediate. A hundred thousand voices wailing, lamenting, singing in an abominable chorus. Untold tons of undead biomass writhed in despair and pain, much of it so interwoven with the demon tree that the Qliphoth itself seemed to shake. Overhead, the Brother Moon was gone–gone, just like that. Far, far above the World of Light hung a dark, scarred moon, innocent but sinister. Yet to hatch. Had it all been a vision conjured by Consul A, a cosmically horrific feint to boggle the heroes’ minds? Nadia didn’t know, but she was indescribably glad that it was gone, and almost as glad when the floodfested finally stopped screaming.

When the noise began, the magical bombardment from Moebius D had ceased. At first he'd been incredulous, but the more he surveyed the situation on high, the less D could deny what had happened. Both O and A were dead, and the Gravemind had been destroyed. For all his power, he'd failed to stop the Seekers. Failed to stop a fourth of them, even. "No," he snarled through gritted teeth, dark magic flaring to life at his fingertips, but after a moment he let it go. D drifted down from the air, returning to his everyday form. "I must admit, I'm rather impressed," he conceded stiffly. "And it would seem that I've failed in my duty. Fighting for another's sake has never been my strong suit. I suppose congratulations are in order." He seized his cape and shrouded himself with it. "But make no mistake. We will meet again, and when that day comes, you will learn the the meaning of fear." Then, in a burst of purple energy, D vanished.

In the moment of silence that followed, though, there came one final surprise. Even as their bodies and collective intelligence disintegrated, however, the multitudes raised their wretched voices as one to make their last words heard.

”RESIGNATION IS MY VIRTUE. LIKE WATER, I EBB AND FLOW. DEFEAT IS SIMPLY THE ADDITION OF TIME TO A SENTENCE I NEVER DESERVED…BUT YOU IMPOSED.”

Nadia couldn’t help but shudder, but after the Gravemind delivered its own eulogy, its consciousness seemed to be gone for good. As the floodfestation died off, the branches and boughs they’d parasitized thrashed, withered, and began to fall apart. Cracks spread, the bark peeled away, and enormous slabs began to plummet toward the wastes below. With all the timefall dramatically hastening the Qliphoth’s degradation, it wasn’t hard to imagine the whole place coming down in half an hour or less. As much as Nadia wanted to slump down and not move for a good few hours, she knew she couldn’t relax just yet. “So…how’re we gettin’ outta here?” She craned her neck in the direction of the hollow’s entrance. “Race against the clock, all the way back to the bottom?”

“Nothing so dramatic.” Sandalphon’s voice reached her allies through their divine communication sigils, but after a pillar of blue light descended from the heavens, the archangel was here in the flesh. She’d arrived with a large, military-style duffle bag slung over her shoulder, just as she did in Mafia Town last night, and it didn’t take Nadia long to connect the dots. “Congratulations, Seekers. The World of Light is fifty-three point four percent saved. We cannot linger here, however. Everybody, please take a Fulton and prepare to ascend.”

The feral breathed a heavy sigh of relief. “Finally, we get to do things the easy way for once.” After the odyssey it had taken the Seekers to reach this damn place, through rain-soaked wastelands infested with nuclear ghosts and a tower stuffed to the brim with monsters, the chance to soar straight out through the hole A opened in the roof was a welcome break. Practically the second she realized that she was in the clear, her adrenaline faded and fatigue came rushing in. Nadia laughed to herself and jogged over, shaking her head. “Jeez. What a day.”

Though eager to leave as the next guy, Grimm did not immediately follow Nadia’s example. After approaching Ganondorf he plucked the spirit of the Gravemind up in his slender black claws, but he did not try to use it. Instead he merely stared into the orb’s loathsome luster, his scarlet gaze almost reverent. Then he presented the spirit to Ganondorf, unaware of what needed to be done with it. ”To the victor go the spoils, hm?”

After that, he turned his attention to something nearby. It had been easy to miss in the heat of battle, but now that the action was over, it was practically impossible to miss. The reinforced coffin wielded by Goldlewis sat, motionless and silent, on the floor not so far from the wreckage of Drop in the Ocean. Though scuffed and scratched by countless battles in which it had served as a blunt force instrument, its heavy metal frame and spikes still shone with a defiant glint. Inside lurked the extraterrestrial entity that Goldlewis insisted on calling a cryptid, bereft of its bearer. Grimm approached it, his eyes unblinking. That man hadn’t been his friend, if such a concept existed in his mind to begin with, but Grimm knew that without Goldlewis, he wouldn’t be here. Now Goldlewis was gone, laid to rest in the Guardian’s grave, and though it wasn’t his coffin, this was all that remained of him.

When Grimm looked to his right, he found Sandalphon standing there. Her pupils resembled the lowercase letter V, and her hands were in her pockets as she bowed her head. “He was a soldier to the end. A man who walked hand in hand with death, bore its weight upon his shoulders his whole life, and who did not flinch from the end. We must take time to remember him.”

Grimm nodded, then bent down to take hold of the chain. He did not lay claim to it, and he could not carry it, but he could pull it back toward the group one tug at a time, in the hopes that someone else could carry its weight henceforth.

With the Qliphoth still falling apart, the team needed to get going. Once the Gravemind spirit, the veteran’s coffin, and any other immediate concerns were addressed, the Seekers could Fulton themselves up and out of the demon tree for aerial pickup by the Avenger. Though Nadia was among the first to extract, Sandalphon could wait to make sure everyone else made it before teleporting back. Over the course of this mission, she’d been tabulating a number of miscellaneous statistics, but four in particular stuck in her mind.

Twenty-four had entered. Twenty-one had returned.

Seven down. Six to go.

---

Yet again, Nadia came to in the bowels of the Avenger, surrounded by heavy-duty machinery in the dimly-lit deployment zone. Unlike last night, though, there were tons of people here waiting for the team, including Lost Numbers, former Alcamoth Mercenaries, reserve Seekers, and the three saved by Ace’s Palicos, not to mention the man himself. After everything that had happened, Nadia was especially relieved to see the Cadet safe and sound. There were no cheers or claps, fireworks, or party poppers, but everyone was ready and willing to do whatever they could to help the weary Seekers out. Bracket Brace was here with sodas, bottled waters, and snacks, while Eleison came prepared with medkits and vials of laudanum that could mitigate the stress they’d suffered. One could be certain that, despite the hour, Cirrus could be found in Stolen Moments, where visitors would find the memorial wall in dire need of an update.

Before everyone could go their separate ways, Sandalphon gave them a quick update. “I’ve conferred with Hope and Vandham. Though we are aggrieved to have sustained losses, the fact remains that you all fought well, and claimed victory. It is currently eleven fifty-one. The day is yours for decompression and recovery. After leaving Dead Zone airspace, the Avenger is bound for Hammerhead, to the south. We will reconvene in the Bridge at eighteen hundred hours to debrief, vote on our next destination, and hold a memorial service for the fallen, before proceeding to the mess hall for dinner. I understand that, for the first time since our arrival, the Commander will be making an appearance.” She paused, her face an unreadable mask. “Dismissed.”

Grimm stalked off without a word, the Grimmchild in tow. Nadia just sighed. Like many of the others, she imagined, she didn’t know what she wanted to do next. Get a drink, maybe? She’d drowned her sorrows after helping defeat the Orphan of Kos, after all. Then again, lunch sounded pretty good right about now, and afterward she could relax until Hammerhead, then maybe find something to do. It had been one hell of a morning.

A single ray of light pierced the darkness of the great auditorium, cast by some nebulous mechanism above the double-door entryway that droned in an incessantly old-fashioned manner. That ghostly luster reflected off the enormous screen that hung above the grand hardwood stage, blank except for momentary smudges or scratches on the empty film reel. Overhead dangled heavy, dark curtains, their gilded tassels agleam in the spectral light that cast long shadows over the curved staircases, elevated gallery boxes, and many rows of empty seats. Classical columns supported a vaulted ceiling, so high that visitors would need to crane their necks to see it, if only the theater had any. Instead this room was still as a grave, and but for the muted rattle of the projector, silent.

The visitor hadn’t entered through those stately double doors, but nevertheless, she was here. She awoke slowly, heavily, and irritably, like someone roused from the very cusp of a deep, peaceful, and velvety-soft sleep into which she’d gently been sinking. Dreadful memories of horror and pain, almost suppressed and forgotten, returned quickly. She knew what had happened, but she did not know where she’d arrived. Was this strange, grim theater part of the vicious cycle to which she’d supposedly been returned? Though she knew she must have died before, she did not remember this place. Something didn’t feel right–maybe it was her. Cracks ran along her body -her original body, before all the changes- that shone with soft, prismatic light, and grains of similarly-colored sand leaked through them, as if through small cracks of an hourglass. Whatever this place was, she wouldn’t be here for long.

After a moment, the empty screen changed. A film began to play–her film. She could see herself in Smash City Alcamoth, the Sandswept Sky, Split Mountain, Midgar, and a number of other places that she had never been. Visions flashed of vast armies clashed in a war-torn battlefield…peaceful respite in places of incredible beauty…her fingers intertwined with another’s. Lives were flashing before her eyes.

The princess was briefly transfixed by the images on the screen, but had enough will to raise up a hand inorder to inspect it, running a finger across a glowing crack on her palm. Then she glanced down and with a sigh said ”Really? Still?” with regards to her still being stuck in her impish form rather than being restored to her true one.

If what was on display in front of her was anything to go by, then it was as if the system considered this cursed body more worthy of scribing over and over than her real one, which was rather insulting, she felt.

Still, her self examination was enough to confirm that she was on some sort of time limit, her body bleeding seconds away like a broken hourglass. What time running out would mean, she didn’t know, but if who or whatever had put her here for a bit expected her to just sit still and watch one of these oversized screen things till that happened it had another thing coming.

She pressed both hands to the armrests, and moved to push herself up into the air inorder to take a drifting explore of her environment.

After a moment, a spotlight snapped on from above. Its light cone shone down on a lone figure seated in the middle of the theater. The fashion of his armor was familiar, but instead of cherry-red, its plates were a dull gold, adorned by a white cape rather than black. A helmet with a tall crest lay in the chair at his opposite side, so while Midna could see nothing but a head of dark brown hair from her current vantage point, circling around would give her a closer look at the man’s face. When he turned to look at her, he appeared to be a normal -fairly unremarkable, in fact- Japanese man with dark eyes and rectangular glasses. The sight of Midna seemed to sadden him somewhat.

“Good morning. Hah, if only it was.” He held out a bowl full of various gummy and hard candies, including chocolate, and put it on the seat between them. “Please, help yourself to some snacks. It might seem like you’re…uh, crumbling away, but that merely reflects that your presence here is transitory. So really, there’s plenty of time to think, talk, and decide…um, about what comes next.” He sighed, shaking his head. “I’m sorry. I know you just made a hard choice. You are brave. Selfless. A heroic warrior. Everything antithetical to Moebius. You don’t deserve this cruel World of Light–nobody does. And yet, this is our lot. That’s why, though it pains me, I have one more choice to offer you. The fact that you’re here means…well, there’s an opening.” His tone lowered. “And a chance, to take back one more inch that Moebius has stolen away.”

”I think that might have been more Urbosa than it was me, in the moment” the princess admitted, pausing for only a moment before deciding ”but I don’t regret it”

She’d approached him with caution, but by this point, this close, it seemed that this man really was the enemy of her enemy, color coded for her convenience and everything. That said, if she was being cynical, that didn’t necessarily make him a friend.

As such, she did not copy him and set down her own helmet on a chair, keeping that artifact of her people donne just in case, regardless of how little it would help if he was as powerful as his opposites, but other than that, she was willing to sit and hear him speak. She did so by picking up the bowl, and then sitting herself on the armrest of the chair it had been sitting on, letting her face him with her feet set where the bowl had been, and said bowl sat in her lap.

Better that than crane her neck the whole time, or risk getting lost in the distracting visions of her past lives.

”So, I-” she began to say, before thinking again and adjusting the assumption she had about what he knew, and saying ”-guess that this not having sound might mean you don’t know my name? Princess Midna, if not.”

The man nodded, smiling. “Midna. It’s nice to meet you.”

”I have a pile of questions that you can probably guess, so let's start by you answering the obvious ones” she, wanting to skip past any back and forth. Plus, it would give her a little time to partake of his hospitality (she naturally knew better than to talk with her mouth full) which she did by picking up and tossing a piece of chocolate into her pointy toothed maw.

She made an appreciative little ”Mmm” as she enjoyed one of the few upsides to this entire nightmare Galeem had made by mixing infinite worlds together: the infinite banquet of different kinds of food that the resulting reality stew had on offer.

Her new acquaintance breathed in deep. “Right. Well, I gave up my name when I took this job. Just part of the ritual. It’s led to some funny stories, but, uh, those are tales for another time. Nowadays they just call me T.” He sank into his seat, staring up at the screen. At the moment it happened to be portraying a part of the Sandswept Sky replaced by the Twilight Realm, in all its dusky glory.

It was a sight that Midna could not help but be drawn to, the facade of confidence she was putting on briefly breaking as homesickness struck her heart. Then she steeled it with iron clad duty, and turned her gaze away once more.

“Before all this, I was a humble guidance counsellor. Doing what little I could to make lives better, one kid at a time. My reality could be, uh, cruel, but it could be wonderful, too. The World of Light is the same, but where I come from, few had the power to change the world, and that’s not the case here. Sadly, those who seized power in this world chose to make it worse. A hellscape where they toy with countless lives on their way to the meat grinder.”

For a moment T paused, his head held in one hand. “This job, it…it simply attracts the worst kinds of people. The sociopaths, the hedonists, the sadists. People full of hate, greed, selfishness, and fear. Capricious gods…and people with god complexes.” He chuckled dryly. “Faced with death, immortality is a tempting prospect. But perpetual life tends to get old, so to ease the tedium of existence, they turn to ever more creative means of entertainment. It has to end.”

He looked at Midna, somewhat sharply. “But destroying the World of Light isn’t the answer. Galeem was wrong to do what it did, but what’s done is done. This world is home to nigh infinite souls, all of whom deserve to live peaceful, happy lives, and snuffing them out would be an evil greater evil than birthing them. It’s not a crime for us all to exist. The true evil is Moebius, or more specifically, the despots who make it up. If that can change, the world can change.” He clasped his hands. “And, believe it or not, we’re making progress. You’ve already heard about P. She accepted this position out of despair, but she’s not a bad person. She’s already trying to make a new kingdom, one without suffering. A handful of bad Consuls have already been dealt with, like F, Y, and M, that last one courtesy of S, another lost soul I plucked from the flow. Depending on your allies, three more spots may be open before noon. It won’t be long before more monsters succeed the fallen. Unless those spots are seized by good people first–people willing to bear this cursed existence for the sake of everyone, and slowly change Moebius from within, so that this broken world might be redeemed.”

”So that’s what this is” she replied, glancing up at the screen briefly as she tried to compose her thoughts. Upon it she saw the world of light from high high above, some past her having traveled to the heavens on some unknown quest. In that moment, something crystalised in her mind, and it was a somewhat simple though: ”It’s so small”

”However many hundreds of worlds, all stolen and used to make just one. Not even a world really, just a continent if everything important being on it is any indication” she observed, before asking what she thought was the key question ”So where’s the rest of it? Where is everyone else? Sure Galeem seems to have put all the ‘important’ people on it given that you can’t go ten paces without running into a legend in their world. But the common people? If they were here the world would overflow with them. So where are they?”

”and when do they get to live?”

“They’re out there,” T told her. “Somewhere. Some time. This world is vast, far more than just this continent. This just happens to be the locus where all the most prominent elements are funneled. But it’s true, it’s impossible for everyone to live at the same time. Instead, the citizens of the world cycle in and out. Sooner or later, everyone gets a turn. Nobody is ever truly gone.” He cleared his throat. “Ahem. I wish I could tell you more, but there isn’t a lot of…um, comprehensive science about the world’s geography or, uh, population dynamics, but if we ever manage to put an end to all the war, it’d make for a fascinating field of study.”

Midna didn’t look convinced by this lack of concrete details, but she set aside that unknown for now to poke at what his victory would look like ”So you replace all the bad consuls with good ones, flip everything from red to gold. What then? How much of this world can you really change? The clocks demanding the churning of lives, the forgotten pasts and endless parade of nightmares Galeem seems to love to spit out? How are you going to hold onto the crown, and stop anyone else from shattering it?”

“The Flame Clocks can and must be destroyed,” T told her. “Interlinks are the key to breaking them. To anything born of the system -of Moebius- they are inviolate, but when two people become one, something new is created, and that is the fatal weakness of Moebius. I believe there is a logic, a sort of director, that governs who appears and where.” He held up his hands. “Think of it like a water valve. Moebius has set it one way, but we can set it another, and stop the flow of nightmares. Once the clocks are gone, and the evils diminish, nobody will have to fight just to survive. People can come together, form communities, and help one another. As for how...” He sighed. “I don’t know for sure. It’s an enormous undertaking, and there’s no one right answer. No such thing as a perfect world–I know that better than most. And human nature, which drives us all to repeat our past mistakes, cannot be changed. But still…” He gritted his teeth, his grip tightened on the arm of his chair. “I have to do something. Anything, and everything, I can. Not just to make amends, but because it’s the right thing to do.”

”Believe, but don't know. Which is the problem with all of this” Midna said, before resting her exposed cheek on the palm of her hand and musing that ”but I guess the only way to find out would be to go through with it, wouldn’t it? Claim all the crowns, and then in victory then try and find out if you can right all these wrongs, or if the system is irreparable, and that being lords of Galeems kingdom is a trap. You’d fight just as hard to preserve it after all. Harder, maybe, even, given you believe in it.”

She sat up then, and brushed her hand towards him in a vague gesture as she asked ”How’d you end up getting one of the crowns anyway? Also does the gold getup mean anything, or are the rest of them really that committed to dressing in bloody red?”

“Uh…” T looked down, somewhat sheepishly. “Heh, well, this one’s…custom. These colors are, um, sentimental? Or maybe just a grim reminder of the weight I’ve chosen to carry.” His smile thinned. “My own position was offered by C. I don’t know what his true goals are, or if he truly has any, and I would not count him an ally, but it seems he’s willing to do whatever it takes to keep things ‘interesting’. No matter what that ends up jeopardizing. If I tried to psycho-analyze him, I feel like my head would explode…” He looked down, his expression dour. “As for the system…if it really is irreparable, maybe nothing is better than an irreparably cruel world. It’s a depressing thought. One I cannot indulge. I have to bear the torch, no matter how long it takes. Even if I bear it alone.” T breathed in through his nose, a determined look on his face. “I believe in people. That there are many more good people than there are bad, and that given a real chance, everyone can live good lives.”

The Consul stood, then turned toward Midna, his hands clasped behind his back. “I know I’m asking too much of you. Changing Moebius and the World of Light will be a long and hard road. But I believe its the only chance we’ve got. If you would rather return to the cycle, and hope to rejoin the campaign…that is your choice to make.” He paused, clearly not happy. “I plan to lend whatever help I can to the Seekers’ efforts to eliminate the other Consuls, but if a day comes when the world is about to end…I will have to stand up for what I believe in.”

He smiled wryly, then looked up at the screen. It displayed a path that led up from the stage toward a hill, at which point it forked toward the left and the right. The only difference between them was that the sunset shone above the right-hand path, itself a celestial, winged shape that Midna knew well.

”The end for us, maybe, but maybe not for the people we are copies of. Organization 13 certainly seems to think they can do something after Galeem is done for, though Roxas says they can’t be trusted one bit.” Midna suggested, before asking ”So is that a metaphor, or am I going to be walking a literal path into darkness or the light at the end of this?”

“There are two roads set before every individual.” From the gravity that T gave those words, it could be surmised that they weren’t his own. “The left. The right. If you’ve thought things through, then…it’s time to go.”

”I guess it is” Midna replied, picking up the bowl and passing it back to T, but not before taking one more treat ”for the road”

Then she hopped out of her seat, and without any sort of transition hovering above the path that had been displayed before her. She paused there, popping the candy into her mouth, chewing it as she indulged in a fantasy about climbing the hill between the paths purely for the sake of spite, before sighing and going through with the choice she’d already made

”Into the jaws of the trap it is then” she said, raising an arm up to shield her eyes, and drifting rightwards into the light.

@Lugubrious

Word Count: 478
Level: Lv: 6 EXP: (3/60)
Location: Dead Zone Hinterlands - Martira, Old Castle Town

“Look, I don’t got time for this; obviously your luck in the shitter, and I wanna solve this murder as soon as possible.” Harry said, shaking his head. He was embarrassed because he had been in a similar situation.

Harry suddenly felt something terrible going on inside of his stomach. He was used to an upset stomach, but this feeling was more intense than the last few times. Harry thought it was the withdrawal kicking in. But he had just drunk some alcohol, so he assumed he would be okay. Placing his hand on a nearby table, getting ready to vomit. A burning sensation started filling his throat. Harry was coughing and hacking loudly.

“I think I’ve been poisoned. That son a bitch bartender is gonna pay.” Harry thought

“Looks like you're gonna puke out whatever you drank. You better hold onto your butt, it’s gonna be a shitshow.” Endurance said while Harry was hacking up some inky fluid onto the table. The hacking and coughing made other patrons stare at Harry.

“So this must be what dying is like.” Harry thought while coughing louder.

“Good job, now everyone is looking at you.” Composure said, sounding disappointed in Harry. Harry meanwhile, was holding onto the table. A mixture of tears, saliva, and snot ran down his chin onto the table. Making quite a gross looking puddle below him. After Harry stopped vomiting, he wiped his mouth before drinking the pain-haired woman’s drink if she had one.

“Don’t cry Harry don’t cry don’t cry…” Harry thought while using his sleeve to wipe away the vomit from his mouth. He could feel tears starting to well up, but he was holding back crying. Most of the vomit had landed on Harry’s jacket and dress shirt, mixing in with the sweat, garbage, and alcohol from earlier. Taking a moment to compose himself.

He turned around to see a vast, hulking person behind him and then at the man named Stein. “No problem at all.” He said cooly, but the vomiting and crying said otherwise. Harry started walking outside of the bar and started waiting for Morris. Thinking to himself that he would need his shirt and jacket cleaned. After a few moments of silence, he turned to the large metallic man.

“Yeah, I’m a detective for the RCM. I’m kinda known for breaking balls and getting shit done. They call me the Icebreaker back in my division.” Harry said, looking over at the tall man.

“No, they don’t. They call you Dick Mullens or Captain Sober. You're not some hero; You are a big piece of shit.” Logic said, correcting Harry’s lie.

“No sire you are top dog. You are the Icebreaker. Everyone should know that you are the best detective in the RCM.” Drama interjected, feeding into Harry’s ego. Wanting him to lie and let everyone know who he is.

Geralt dove to the ground, barely avoiding a hail of fireballs from Consul D, forcing himself to stand and scan the area for the next incoming attack. However, none came. D was merely…floating there, silently. For a moment, he snarled and seemed ready to attack with renewed vigor, but it seems he knew when he was beat. Though the consul could have stayed high above the battlefield and continued fighting, taking Seekers down, with both Consul A nowhere to be found (indicating he’d been slain), and the Gravemind similarly defeated, he would be overwhelmed with sheer numbers soon.

The vampire descended, offering a hollow congratulations and a warning that the next time would go even worse for the Seekers. Geralt scoffed, not necessarily taking the threat of a retreating man at face value, but it was no easy battle that they had one. Two of those who had entered would not be showing their faces again. Looking about the battlefield, specifically where the fight with A had occurred, Geralt noticed something: they had not even left Spirits behind. Sighing, his shoulders slumped a little. “Damn. Midna and Goldlewis.” Shaking his head, he turned to the newly-appeared Sandalphon.

Zenkichi and Edelgard, for their parts, had happily allowed Ganondorf to finish off the Gravemind, letting out the tension in their bodies as D left. The departing speech of the deceased Guardian left Zenkichi with the heebie-jeebies, and Edelgard frustrated. What would happen to the Guardians if they failed? Surely Galeem, or the Consuls (Zenkichi couldn’t quite remember how that worked) would just pick more? Though, that raised the question of why more Guardians didn’t simply spring up to make their work harder now? Did it take an accumulation of energy that took a while to gather?

Pushing away that line of thought, Zenkichi also turned to Sandalphon, though unlike Geralt her appearance brought an ill-timed smile to his face. The revelation that they would be escaping via Fulton made him cheer a little, though Edelgard looked uneasy. ”Oh, how I wish I could merely teleport to the ship…” She grumbled, striding forward and taking a pack for herself. ”Nonetheless, Sandalphon, I thank you for your timely intervention earlier, and for the assistance now. I refuse to stay in this damned place a second longer.” And true to her word, the Flame Emperor found herself a clear space, and activated her Fulton without reservation, the device yoinking her into the air mercilessly.

Geralt was more slow, looking about the battlefield somberly. “Don’t know what would’ve happened if you hadn’t gone and given yourselves up. It’s a damned shame. Don’t think we’ll be forgetting this anytime soon, either.” He saw Grimm carrying Goldlewis’ coffin, and walked up to the Neopteron. “Here. Let me.” Kneeling to take UMA’s coffin, Geralt grunted as he hefted the massive weight, then sighed as he realized it wasn’t as heavy as he expected. It wasn’t something he’d thought on much since coming to the World of Light, as people had taken on an even more varied assortment of forms than the Continent, but it was just another reminder that he wasn’t truly human. No normal man could heft this weight without looking like Goldlewis.

As he reached Sandalphon and the others, Geralt began wrapping the coffin’s chain about and through his armor, securing it to his body and ensuring it was on tight. It jostled much of his equipment and dug into some of the lesser-armored parts of his skin, but it would just be until this was over. Taking a Fulton pack, he nodded to Sandalphon and found an open spot to activate it, and within moments he was off.

Zenkichi was the last to take a Fulton, politely waiting behind the others, ushering them forward to take one if they seemed to be hesitant. When it was only him and Sandalphon left, he let his face fall, and he stepped forward not to take a Fulton, but to hug the archangel closely, his breath hitching for a moment. ”That…that was bad.” He admitted, swallowing a lump in his throat. ”I’m already running on empty like Midgar, but this time we’re coming back without a lot of people. I’m glad those cats managed to save a few of ‘em, but Goldlewis and Midna…shit.” Stepping back while still keeping a soft hold on Sandalphon’s arms, he gave the woman a broken smile. ”If anything happens to me while we’re out there…fighting bad guys and saving people…check on Akane every now and then for me? You don’t have to take her in, but I’d really feel better knowing somebody I can trust is helping out.” Closing his eyes with a sigh, Zenkichi carefully took the last Fulton pack and stepped back. ”See you on the ship.” He softly offered, before activating the pack.

---

As the Seekers awoke on board the Avenger, Geralt unlatched Goldlewis’s coffin from his body and carried it over to one of the walls nearby, setting it down carefully. “We’ll need to figure out what to do with this, now that he’s gone.” He announced dispassionately. It was not out of malice or a lack of care, but a blatant guarding of emotion. Walking over to Bracket Brace, he politely grabbed his fair share of snacks and drinks before addressing the assembled Seekers. “If anybody needs me, I’ll be visiting Tora and Poppi.” And with that, he turned and left to go find his Nopon ally and the restored Blade.

When she came to, Edelgard groaned and pushed herself to her feet, swaying slightly. ”Eugh. That was just as bad as the first time. No matter. Nobody need me.” Mirroring Geralt’s own exit with a dismissive twist, Edelgard quickly made her egress from the bay, but not without grabbing a snack and a bottle of water. Her destination, unsurprisingly, was the mess hall for lunch.

Zenkichi, finally, simply sat up and watched the others with a sigh. Part of him had hoped to see Midna and Goldlewis assembled with the other Seekers, but their absence reminded the detective of what had happened down there. Pain evident on his face, the Phantom Thief collected a shot of laudanum and downed it before grabbing a can of coffee and trudging off without a word in search of his daughter.

A few minutes later, the Witcher found himself inside the Proving Ground, looking at one of the first ‘friends’ he’d made in the Seekers. “Tora.” He greeted simply, approaching the Nopon and pulling out the mine traps he’d gained from the Keeper’s Spirit. “Not sure if there’s anything you can do with these, but I figured they were unique enough you might want to get a look. Not the only reason I came by, though.” He sighed, producing the Hateful Flesh from within himself. “One of those damned Consuls managed to cut the cord on this thing that connected it to me. Made me realize it’s a hell of a weak spot.”

Putting the cleaver down onto a table, he shook his head. “I’m not sure if you heard the news. Goldlewis and Midna…aren’t coming back. The Consuls had something we just…didn’t have an answer for. And they sacrificed themselves for us. We managed to kill two of the Consuls that met us there, as well as the Guardian, but…it cost us two of our own. I thought you ought to hear it from one of us. I know you’ve taken on a roll up here, but you’re still one of the Seekers as far as the rest of us are concerned. Much as that title makes me want to vomit sometimes. Seekers of Light makes me feel like some kind of proper knight.” Letting out a rueful chuckle, he shook his head.

“It’s only going to get worse from here on out. They tried to stop us in Midgar and the Under, and when they realized we were heading for the Dead Zone next, they pulled out all the stops. Get the feeling you’ll be busy going forward.”

---

In Akane and Zenkichi’s bunk room, the tired Phantom Thief sat on the his bed, slowly sipping coffee. Roxas had already come to collect his Pokemon, and the pair sat in silence. While she didn’t know exactly what had happened, Sandalphon and the others got really busy really quickly and started yelling about preparing for casualties. She’d been freaking out until one of the Lost Numbers had told her to get away from the Bridge, that her dad was still okay, and that they’d do everything they could. When Sandalphon herself teleported down to heal everybody, it had been a big load off her mind, but she was still visibly worried.

”So, uh…you remember Mr. Goldlewis and Midna, right? The former Secretary and that weird-looking floaty girl?” Zenkichi asked after a while. Receiving a nod in reply, he continued, head half-hanging. ”They, uh…they didn’t make it.”

“No!” Akane gasped, shooting to her feet and barely keeping a hold of Maru in the process. “What do you mean they didn’t make it!” She yelled, tears starting to form in her eyes. “You were supposed to keep them safe! You were all supposed to keep us safe!” She cried, breathing heavily. Zenkichi stood up, putting the coffee can down on a table, before stepping forward to wrap her in a hug.

”I know, Akane, I know. We…we did our best. If it makes it any better, it was their choice. They stared death in the face, and they made the choice to give themselves over to it instead of making the rest of us do it. I…I’m sorry. I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t do that to you. Or to myself. I was selfish again.” Sniffling, Akane just hugged him tighter.

“NO! Don’t you dare die on me too!” She sobbed, clinging to Zenkichi as if he’d disappear if she let go. “You can’t leave me, too, dad!” It was a far cry from how she’d acted on the anniversary of Aoi’s death when he showed up with the other Phantom Thieves, but truth be told, it warmed Zenkichi’s heart a bit to know he hadn’t lost her after all.

”I’m not going anywhere, kid. Not if I have anything to say about it, and I’ve got plenty to say still.” He joked somewhat lamely, running a hand through her hair gently. They stayed like that for a few minutes, Maru rubbing against Akane’s legs while her and Zenkichi hugged, before the detective gently pulled away. ”We should probably get some lunch soon. I don’t know about you, but I worked up a hell of an appetite, and granola bars and fruit snacks wasn’t gonna cut it.” Earning a nod from his daughter, Zenkichi gave her a quick squeeze on the shoulder before he led the pair down to the Mess Hall, Maru returned to her pal Sphere.

Ganondorf’s breath was ragged and uneven. Even with the full healing he got earlier from Sandalphon’s Angelic Wings and the continued healing he received from Blazermate, Gravemind’s spores and poison attacks had still clearly worn the warlord down. Still, he wasn’t ready to declare victory yet. Not until he confirmed that the Consuls had shared the Guardian’s fate. And from what he could tell, it looked like at least two of them did. D, on the other hand, fled with his tail between his legs.

”Hmph, coward.” Ganondorf muttered to himself. In virtually any other circumstance, he would be advocating for the pursuit of D to finish him before he could recover. But unfortunately the Seekers were in no shape to do such a thing. Not even himself, much to his own chagrin. Moments later, Ganondorf looked down and saw Grimm, the troupe master, offering him the spirit of Gravemind.

”Very well.” Ganondorf agreed. From what he’d learned, Guardian spirits had to be absorbed, otherwise the Guardian itself would simply revive. And there was no way Ganondorf was going to put himself through fighting that monstrosity again. And so he took a breath and pressed the Gravemind into himself to consume it.



The first immediately noticeable change was his size. Ganondorf was bulkier than before. Not necessarily taller, but certainly more muscular. The second most noticeable change was the more sickly green tinge his skin took in color. Well, that and the four tentacles that could now grow out of his back and be used for attacks and possibly as extra limbs in general. That was certainly going to take some getting used to. Ganondorf also felt… eerily calmer than before. But also a whole lot more cold and calculating as well. ”So… this is the power… of a Guardian’s spirit.” He postulated, rolling his shoulders and trying to get himself accustomed with the physical changes.

It came with more powers, too, he knew that. But those would have to be tested later. For now, getting out of this goddesses-forsaken tree was the first priority. To that end, he accepted a Fulton from Sandalphon and prepared to make the ascent back up to the ship.



It was only after he came to, in the Avenger’s hangar, that Ganondorf was able to actually see how much damage that battle had inflicted on the Seekers as a whole. He hadn’t noticed mid-battle how many were gravely injured or outright lost during the engagement. Now he could see it clearly. Unacceptable. Not exactly due to any empathy in the Warlord’s heart, but because he knew that Moebius would only escalate their efforts further. And if this was the result of the current escalation? Then the Seekers - yes, including him - needed to be more prepared than ever.

”Curse you, Moebius.” The Gerudo muttered under his breath, saying nothing more.

And while everyone else filed away to eat or rest, Ganondorf made his way to the Training Center. He wasn’t ready to rest yet until he properly experimented with The Gravemind’s powers. He wasn’t about to be foolish enough to blindly charge into another battle without actually testing them first.

The Training Center was the same as it always was. There was a small ring for sparring, a range for testing shooting weapons, weights for lifting, basically everything. Ganondorf decided to use the target dummies in the firing range to test his newly acquired back-protrusions. After getting a bit closer, he grew them longer and was able to make them lash out at the dummy. It was similar to the scythe attacks that The Gravemind pieces attacked with during the battle against it.

After some more time experimenting, Ganondorf discovered that pieces of him - even when severed - could still move and be controlled independently. In some ways it reminded him of Nadia. But unlike Nadia, Ganondorf’s separated pieces could apparently infect other lifeforms or biomasses and convert them into Infected Forms that he could then command. Well, that was one way to grow an army, albeit not a very pleasant method for whomever was being “recruited”.

And he could sense something else that had been following him ever since he consumed The Gravemind’s spirit - Brother Moon. That ominous moon-like object that hovered over the previous battle and could have threatened to end more lives had the battle not been won sooner. It was… following him now. He wasn’t sure what fully meant, but Ganondorf did know that he now had the power to call on it just as The Gravemind tried to do in the Qliphoth. Certainly a tactic to consider the next time they engaged with Moebius’ forces.

Ganondorf took a breath, fatigue and even hunger were now beginning to catch up to him. He needed a meal, and rest. So he ended his experimenting for the time being and left the Training Center. His next destination would be the mess hall.

Roxas watched for a moment while the Guardian finally fell. But his attention was then shifted to focus on D. His MP was back, so he could maybe try to take the fight back to the vampiric Consul. But then D just… left. He gave a short speech about how they’d meet again before retreating from the Qliphoth. The Seekers won. And yet, it didn’t feel like much of a win. Between those they almost lost, and the ones they actually did lose? The victory was hollow, at best.

”Goldlewis… Midna…” The Nobody whispered to himself. This wasn’t the first time he had to watch friends be taken. But that didn’t make it any less painful by a longshot.

Roxas was quick to offer his Curaga to as many as he could who needed it. And that included himself. Other than that, he didn’t want to stay in this Hollow any longer than he had to. And so when the Fultons were finally offered, Roxas was quick to take one for himself. He - and everyone else he suspected - were going to need time to rest and process all of this.



When he came to, Roxas looked around the hangar briefly. No one was really celebrating. And that was no surprise. Most seemed to be interested in getting some food in their systems. And Roxas could probably stand to do the same. But not yet.

He had his own thing to do first.

After a quick shared glance with Zenkichi and Sandalphon, Roxas walked toward the lift that would take him up to where the personal quarters all were. He looked for the room that Zenkichi told him to find, and once he had found it? Roxas approached the door and gently knocked on it. ”Akane, are you there? It’s Roxas.” Before anyone even answered, The Nobody could already hear Scamp inside giving his usual excited ‘bow-wark’. That finally got Roxas to smile again.

“Oh! Right! It’s open, come on in!” called a girl’s voice from inside - Akane’s.

After the door opened, Roxas couldn’t even walk two steps inside without getting pounced on by Scamp, who was barking and licking his face excitedly. ”Ah, hey! I missed you, too, buddy!” Roxas exclaimed in between laughs and attempts to wrestle the Yamper off of him. But Scamp wasn’t alone. Titan was nearby, though not as energetic - it still looked happy to see its Trainer. ”Hey, Titan!” Roxas greeted, bumping his fist with the Golett’s. Then he looked at Akane. ”I hope these guys behaved themselves and didn’t give you too much trouble?”

Akane laughed with a shrug, “Oh, they were fine. Titan mostly just chilled, and Scamp spent a lot of the time playing with Maru.” She said, “Roxas, you said? You… you’re the one who got Galeem out of my head, aren’t you?”

Roxas blinked, ”I am?” He asked before recalling a second later, ”Oh, that was me, wasn’t it?”

“Duh.” Akane said in a teasing tone, “My dad held onto me while you did that thing with your weapon.”

”Heh, sorry.” Roxas said, rubbing the back of his neck. ”Feels like forever ago, so I must have forgotten temporarily. Hope that process wasn’t too unpleasant for you.”

“Nah, I’m over it.” Akane said, then her eyes sparkled a bit when she spotted the silvery jackal mask hanging off of Roxas’ hip, “Omigosh, that mask! Are you one of the Phantom Thieves? They’re so cool!”

”What?” Roxas asked, surprised. ”N-No, I’m not-”

“Whaddya mean, ‘you’re not’?” Akane demanded, “You’ve got a mask like they do. You’re the same age. You’ve got a cool weapon and abilities. Are you sure you’re not one of them?”

”I’m positive.” Roxas said in an apologetic, ”Sorry to disappoint you.”

Akane puffed her cheeks out in frustration, “Aw, man, and I thought I finally got to meet one of them!” she huffed, but calmed down a bit a moment later. “Still, even if you’re not a Phantom Thief, you’re pretty similar, you know. Hey, maybe they’d let you join them!”

”I kinda doubt that.” Roxas said with a chuckle, ”Say, what happened to Shocker? I don’t see him around.”

“Oh, you mean your ghost pet?” Akane asked, “He should be here somewhere.”

”Come on, Shocker, stop hiding now. I’m back!” Roxas called out. This got the playful ghost Pokemon to come out of hiding. But he didn’t look the same. No longer did Shocker look like a floating desk fan. Now he looked like a floating mini-fridge with a light purple aura. ”Huh? What happened?”

“Oh, right, I forgot to tell you-” Akane said sheepishly, “We were getting a snack earlier when Shocker decided he wanted to play a little hide-and-seek and… he turned into this after he hid inside the refrigerator.”

”In other words, he possessed a different appliance and it changed his form.” Roxas said with a nod of understanding, ”He can change forms and abilities based on what appliance he possesses. So I guess hiding in that refrigerator changed him into this form.”

“You gonna try and get him to change back?” Akane asked curiously.

”Nah.” Roxas said, ”I’m curious to see what this form can do.”

“By the way…” Akane said, “...did… my dad make it back?”

”Yeah, don’t worry about that.” Roxas assured her, ”I think I saw him heading somewhere to get food or a drink. He’ll be back up soon, I bet.” Roxas exhaled and looked away for a moment.

“Did… something happen down there?”

”Well…” Roxas started to explain, but stopped himself. ”It’s probably better to let your dad be the one to tell you.” He said vaguely. ”Um, thanks for looking after my Pokemon for me, Akane. Maybe we could… hang out properly some time?”

“Sure, I don’t see why not.” Akane said, though she noted the dodgy nature of his earlier answer. “Your Pokemon make good company for Maru.”

”Yeah,” Roxas said, ”they do, don’t they? I’ll see you around then.” He offered a short wave before leaving with his Pokemon in tow.

“See you around, Roxas!” He heard Akane call after him as he made way elsewhere on the Avenger.

Edward blinked, and suddenly the pain, head and heart-ache was gone, and he was staring at a wall of alien metal. He blinked again, raised up a hand, clenched it hard, and then determined that things were ”Real. Not the astral sea” before grunting, and admonishing himself ”You don’t have a throne city, you can die” because he had, in the moment, forgotten that the memories from before the world of light were not the state of things now.

No empire, no lifeline to pull his soul back from the astral sea, and thus, only one life to be spent wisely, not recklessly.

Still. The man had spent his life before, be it foolishly or strategically, had left the sting of life's end and so that was all it took to recover from his brush with mortality. He ceased introspection and turned to take in the place he had arrived, which, as it turned out, was the one he had left from, namely the avenger’s hanger, and he was not alone in it.

Already here was Queen Sectonia and, arriving a moment later came the source of their salvation: the Ace Cadet.

It was more than a little strange, the primitive wooden cart pulled and pushed by a squad of three-foot tall cats running on their two back legs. They unceremoniously dumped the monster hunter onto the ground in the hanger and then turned around, hustling out of sight. No one would be able to find them if they went looking, gone as soon as they disappeared around a corner.

Ace sat up quickly, pressing a hand to his forehead. As soon as he saw he was back on the Avenger he hopped to his feet. "Dalamadammit!" he shouted in frustration.

Sectonia herself was awake, but relaxing and staring at the back of her hand. Sure the Gravemind was big, but being taken out by a roller coaster was something she not only didn't expect, nor did she expect it to hit as hard as it did. She was aware of the strange powers of the apparent Star Warrior, but was it as weird as this? At least the tentacles hitting as hard as they did made sense.

Ace sighed, looking between Edward and Sectonia.

"Well I'm glad you're both alright. And that they brought us here and not just outside the tree. Honestly I wasn't sure where the palicos were gonna dump us after the first of us carted," he said.

Considering it was his ability, hearing that wasn’t what Sectonia needed right now. She needed to heal and rest, clean herself, and relax more than anything. ”Now you tell us.” Sectonia laid her head on her pillow, waiting and using her own magic to slowly heal herself. ”I suppose no one has used this thing yet.”

”Depositing us back into the time rain would rather defeat the effort put into saving us” Edward replied as he actively tried and failed to follow their travel before noting ”Palicos where they? What incredibly useful spirts” and then realizing ”which I assume no longer a factor in the battle now that you are here?”

Ace had, at least, the decency to look a little sheepish at Sectonia's comment. Of course there had been times when his Palico Rescue had saved people before, but they always ended up somewhere different depending on where they'd been saved from.

"They're not spirits, just helpful felynes. I don't control them or anything," he said to Edward, rubbing a hand on the back of his head. "And they're purr-ty serious about work-life balance, so even if I hadn't... used our last cart, we still would have only gotten three."

”Yes. Well, if O had used one of his biggest moves to take me out things should be fine. I remember F being not too bad outside of one big thing he did. The question is about the other two.” Sectonia said, still frustrated she got taken out by a carnival ride.

"I dunno - by the time I carted, the Guardian had morphed into a totally new monster," Ace reported. "Maybe we can keep up with the fight from the bridge."

”I see” Edward replied, with a nod of thanks for the information, before suggesting ”shall we?” with a gesture towards the door, with regards to the suggestion they go and keep up with the fight.

”A was.. Deeply unpleasant. Grotesque flesh warping magical abilities, some of which built up a physical and mental strain that did intense physical harm once a sufficient amount has been accrued” Edward said as they got on their way, filling the others in on the fight they had not been a part of.

”Of course they did that. Rulers of such a hideous zone… or caretakers? Whatever the Consuls are, it's not surprising they power themselves up with such grotesque things.” Sectonia said. Although she could admit, that power DID beat her, so she had to strengthen herself. Now how could she do that?

”I suppose observing the others could at least give us some insight into the Consuls if we have to fight others.” Sectonia said, snapping herself out of her own thoughts.

”Agreed” Edward replied, and soon enough they had crossed through the armory and ascended to the bridge, and there found a way to view the battle.

As the three observed the fight with Sandalphon, it was apparent that things were getting even more hectic. D was starting to get serious, A was going through forms, and the Gravemind was still kicking with Sectonia only having done a small bit of damage with her boost from the looks of it.

Edward did his best to take notes, but the flow of combat was far too hectic to really keep track of what was going on, leading the eyes this way and that and occasionally overwhelming them with explosive light shows. Still, lacking the power of an empire to allow for remote casting, all he could do was try and learn from his failures.

Though the other people in the room might not know him well enough to tell yet, the Ace Cadet was being uncharacteristically quiet as he watched the Seekers' battle continue to rage on with the rest of them. Things in the Qliphoth's final hollow seemed to have reached a fever pitch. Ace took in as much information as he could, though he mostly focused his attention on the area around the Gravemind and D. His eyes tracked the Guardian's new form and he considered where its weak points would be if it were a normal monster, privately contrasting his thoughts with what Sandalphon reported down to those still fighting in her role as handler. Periodically he clenched and unclenched his hands when things got really dicey, his rigging twitching as though reacting to his thoughts. There were a handful of times he could tell that he could have really helped out had he still been down there, which made the fact that he'd carted and was back up in the Avenger -safe while the others were in trouble- feel all the more bitter.

Sandalphon then had an idea, requesting Sectonia’s antlers to use an ability of hers to hopefully turn the tide of the fight. Indifferent to her antlers being used as batteries if it meant the destruction of such hideousness, she didn’t object giving Sandalphon some red antlers to leech off of to use her ability.

Edward would have offered the same, but the queen’s summoning was far faster than his own construction, and all he could do was clear some space for them to get to work.

As the fight progressed, and A reached his third and final form with O seemingly encasing himself in a building, D turning into some demon, and the Gravemind shifting to another form itself, Sectonia watched as A turned into a giant and… scooped up Midna into nothing? From what could be gathered from the reaction of those on the ground, this A killed Midna just like that?

When the nightmare petered out and the battle resumed in earnest, Ace leaned further in toward the screens they were watching on as his eyes searched the whole arena. And yet, there really was no Midna to be found.

"Did she just...?"

”What a horrifying ability. I suppose when F said A was the strongest Consul, this is what he meant. Three phases of attacks, and this would apparently mean he couldn’t ever lose a duel.” Considering when he did this a second time and solidified Sectonia’s fear, she also realized that she would need more strength to handle things. Strength that might have to come from sources she didn’t understand.

Speaking of such a source, Sectonia pulled out the vial of glowing yellow liquid she had been holding onto. She couldn’t get anything from it outside of one word, Determination, as this was a product of both magic and science. But considering how easily one Consul took her out, and how another took out others but for good, she’d have to take some risks… Well, this was one of them and she injected herself with the syringe.



Much to her relief, it didn’t change anything about her. But it also didn’t seem to power her up any? Well, she did have a determination to not die, so maybe that was it? Although she had a feeling as time went on that she had a ‘save’ of some sort. Fragile, but it was there. What that meant she didn’t know, but that could be figured out later as the fight was starting to come to its climax.

”The children appear to have become… that” Edward informed her, catching Sectonia up on what she had been injecting herself, namely the appearance of the towering Monster. His tone was still level and practical but the presence of a snapped quill sat on the consul he was leaning indicated that he had not been unaffected by the loss of Midna.

The replacement had been rapidly scribbling about this new development, but he paused to glance at her and raise an enquiring eyebrow, as if to ask “what was that?” regarding her injecting herself.

”Yes, they got some sort of tape player or something that lets them turn into people. Although a bit strange they fused, I don’t think they did that before.” Sectonia said.

Rather than press his subtle query, Edward discarded it and instead declared the children’s fusion ”fascinating” as he jotted down more notes on the subject, before beginning to say that ”perhaps with this they might take A down before-” only to be proven wrong as the Consul stole another life with, as far as they could see, zero effort.

"Aw no, no...!" Ace said, bringing his hands up to rest anxiously on his head when A's ability went off a second time. He'd felt his stomach nearly drop out when D had ripped Nadia in half, and now they'd just seen someone else get taken. Ace had barely known Midna or Goldlewis, but only the heartless wouldn't feel the loss of a comrade. Honestly he didn't know if it would have been easier to handle had they not been watching the battle live, and were just told about casualties afterward. Both the suspense of not knowing whether your allies were alive or dead, and the gut wrenching horror of seeing it happen were awful in their own ways.

”And there's a second one… Imagine if we could use this against the Guardians. Although from what I notice, no spirit remains whenever he does this. Are they fully dead, or just transported to some weird realm? ” Sectonia said, noticing whatever A grabbed as a giant didn’t stay as a spirit. A bit of false hope, or a weakness of this powerful ability? Sectonia didn’t know, but if he did teleport things to some eldritch realm, perhaps that was a way to take out his enemies without their allies having any way of saving them.

The Cadet glanced at Sectonia. Based on what A had said, he got the feeling that the two Seekers that had given themselves up were gone for real; and he seemed to interpret Sectonia's words as want for some comfort for that fact, or at least a silver lining.

"If they did die," Ace started, pausing only briefly to consider how to word his thoughts, "it won't be an actual dead end for them, right? They'll loop back around. Different memories, but... same people. We might be able to run into them again, and jog their old memories."

”Yes…” Edward replied, not entirely sure, before becoming more confident in the idea upon recalling ”Yes, Midna did mention dreams of a past encounter with D, so it might well be possible”

Ace turned back to the conflict at hand. The state of the battlefield had been changing majorly and rapidly, and something was going to have to give soon. Hopefully it wouldn't be anymore of the Seekers. "Come on guys, you must be almost there..."

As the fight continued, A looked a bit rough after his second abduction and the Gravemind had changed forms yet again after taking more catastrophic damage. This time turning into some balloon and propelling itself towards that giant flesh moon that was going to soon crash into the remaining seekers. Though in a bit of good news after Juri had infiltrated and left O’s command tower following the Monster, there hadn’t been any more movement from the Consul. She confirmed as much herself when she called out she’d taken care of O.

”You know, I notice we have quite the lack of flyers.” Sectonia said, pointing out how the only one that could get the Gravemind back to the ground was the medic with her being the only flyer left of the group.

”Somewhat of an issue, yes. That or additional artillery would have been quite valuable in this situation” Edward agreed, as D casually bombarded the seekers from up on high, something the group who had been fighting him had little to no ability to counteract it seemed. Had they switched out with some of the others, the team might have been able to take the fight to him, but he could hardly blame the focus on the largest threat A, and their primary objective, the gravemind.

He left it unsaid that he and the queen, fliers and artillery both, had both failed to be there when they were needed.

Still, the Seekers that remained in the Qliphoth did their utmost. Even as they struggled they were determined to fight to the bitter end. With a bird's eye view those saved by the palicos could see just how close some of the close calls were getting. Things were tense on the bridge as they, and the other people assembled to oversee the fight, continued to watch - there was little else they could do from there, after all.

There was a breath stopping moment when the Guardian's core was almost within reach of the moon, and the Monster fell apart while A still loomed large... until, finally, the next turning point in the Seekers' favor. They saw the eldritch monstrosity that was A engulfed in an anti-light show, billowing shadow taking over his form. When it faded, Moebius A lay in melting pieces, and those that opposed him were still alive.

"He's down!" Ace said, even before they knew for sure. He let out the breath he'd been holding.

Edward meanwhile simply sighed with relief.

”About time. And he was the ‘strongest’ of the consuls, if what F said in his childlike fear was true.” Sectonia said, glad that F had gone down to quite the mix of attacks.

That left D and the Gravemind, the latter of which having already taken a hell of a beating which wasn't about to let up.

The Gravemind itself after having turned into a balloon, didn’t seem to have too much of an attack to speak of, and after Blazermate bit into it with her shield arm and punctured it with her ubersaw arm, the balloon deflated and fell back to the ground where Ganondorf in his enraged state, the only ‘villain’ of the group left in the fight, finished it off with a hard hitting attack.

”tck, I suppose the consuls didn’t have enough attacks to take out all the priority targets did they.” Sectonia said.

With the other Consuls and the guardian defeated, instead of staying to fight D instead decided to retreat, not one to risk himself for nothing. ”Well, if we see him again, next time we know what to hit him with. And I have holy magic as well to really devastate him.” Sectonia commented.

”That he can seamlessly retreat like that is concerning. We’ll need to find a way to lock him down if we are ever to be rid of him” Edward noted, both verbally and in his journal.

”Which comes back to the lack of aerial superiority when I’m not there. You saw how he just kept whoever was fighting him at a standstill once he took to the sky.” Sectonia said, giving a bit of a humble brag.

With that, the battle was over, and Sandalphon departed to get the remaining seekers in the tree out of there, which as it turned out would be a far more straightforward affair compared to getting up there in the first place, to the extent that they could expect them to start arriving any moment now.

”Well then” Edward said, snapping his journal shut, note taking completed, before suggesting ”I suppose we should go meet them?”

"Of course," the Cadet said with a nod.

”Might as well. No real rewards to divide through outside of the Guardian. And I for one feel whoever takes that thing will be adopting quite a curse instead of a boon.” Sectonia said, although her opinion on what she thought of the Gravemind was pretty common knowledge at this point. Although she did know of the power a Guardian spirit gave having adopted one of her own and that you could possibly unlock even more powers.

Her remark came off as callous to the Ace Cadet. He liked being able to take prizes and trophies from hunts as much as anyone else did, maybe even more, but this hadn't been a run of the mill battle.

"You're Kirin me - its reward enough that most of us made it back in one piece," he said to her with a grimace. Then he turned, motioning for Sectonia and Edward to follow as he headed for the hanger they knew the other Seekers would arrive in. "C'mon, let's go see them!"

A faint smile touched Edward’s lips at the man’s enthusiasm, rather easily discerning at least one part of its source, before nodding and striding after the man. He had less reason to be so enthused, one of the few people he knew in any real regard was among the fallen, but it would still be a relief to see the others face to face.

”We’ll also need to get everyone clean. I’m sure being covered in such foul liquids and leaving an area that could be politely summarized as a ‘gore tree’ would be in need of a shower.” Sectonia said as she followed.

The Kids drew back a step as A came towards them, but fortunately that was when the others caught up with them and laid into him, giving the pair the space to back off, the pair running past Juri and taking inside the entrance to O’s moonbase. They tried to use that space to steady their breathing, but all of a sudden, it was over. Primrose ripped A apart from the inside using her magic, and Ganondorf had shredded the gravemind with his own.

Both glanced up at D, but it seemed like he was done, and proceeded to bail on the situation rather than fight to the death.

And, just like that ”It’s over”

Both children sighed with relief and as one slumped to the ground, consideration of what they needed to do next was not really on their minds, though in the backs of their minds Jr’s paint portals were there to facilitate an escape should it be needed. But the sky was empty above them, no moon of doom descending, and so they had time.

Well, they should have. Then Sandalphon popped in to get them to fulton themselves back home to the avenger, forcing them to get up again with a pair of fatigued groans. They where joined a second later by Peeka, who’d been very confused and alarmed by their fusion and only just now found them again, prompting the mon to tackle hug the duo.

”Alright alright, chill out Peeka” Jr told his mon, raising a hand to pet her without a thought, and in the process releasing the grip he’d had on Rika’s gauntlet the whole time since they’d become two people again.

”oh, uh” he said as he realised this consciously, glancing towards his sister, only to find her faintly smiling as she freed a hand from her gauntlet and used it to pet Peeka as well. Then she caught him looking, turned that smile to him, relife visible in her expression about the fact that they had made it through all the nightmares of the deadzone in one piece.

He shared that smile, then both faded at once as they were reminded that not everyone had. It hurt. They might not have known Midna, Goldlewis, or the Witch too well, but still, it hurt, and it hurt no less than the times it had happened before. Plus, unlike with Omari, there wasn’t even anything left of the people they’d lost.

Or at least it seemed, till Grim and Geralt retrieved Goldlewis’ coffin weapon. It was much too large for either to use, however, so they passed up taking on his legacy.

Then it was back up to the avenger whereupon they fell upon the snacks with such reckless abandon that both children were plenty distracted while the adults were offered opioids to dull the horrors they’d witnessed.

After acquiring a small pile of goodies, the question was: now what? They had 18 hours till they were needed, which was plenty of time to kill on the ship. Thing was, last time they had been on here spending down time it had involved a lot of wallowing in their room, and after after they’d escaped from that (or in a way been tricked out of it) neither wanted to go back

Then again, most of their toys and things were in their room, making it a bit of a conundrum until Jr came up with an idea after having glanced at the ship’s map: ”Oh! There’s a common room! We could grab some stuff and go hang out there instead in our room!”

”How’d that be any different?” Rika asked, to which her brother replied that ”It’ll be bigger, and there’ll be other people there we could see who can join in”

”Oh. Neat I guess” Rika replied, though, ultimately, she didn’t really know any of the others well enough to be enthused about this too much. Still, in the spirit of the idea, she turned around and asked the ever reliable Blazermate ”Would you like to play some games with us?”

Blazermate, as one of the few members of the group who couldn’t restore her stress by eating, drinking, or drugs, perked up when the koopa kids came to her asking to play some games. ”Yeah sure, a lot better than just mulling over what happened and uh, yeah. Thanks.” Blazermate said, happy but annoyed that while she did save everyone she could, A had something that just superseded healing. Especially since all the people that ‘died’ before A were saved due to Ace.

Jr had’t exactly expected this from Rika, she wasn’t exactly the most outgoing, but recovered swiftly and enthusiastically saying ”Yeah! Then come on! Let's go grab some stuff!” before leading the way to the kids room.

They had not tidied it before leaving, and between being kids and being in a bit of a bad state mentality before leaving, meant that Blazermate had to wait while the pair picked between wrappers, unwashed plates, assorted tools and random bits of machinery to find the fun stuff.

Soon enough however, they reemerged, with handfuls (and with Rika’s gauntlets that was more than it sounded a lot, despite one of them holding an entire cr-tv) of games and consoles they’d nicked from Consul P.

”There’ll be something in all this you’ll find neat I’m sure” Rika said to Blazermate, the girl finding herself putting more emotional weight on that statement than she’d expected she would. She did not, she found, want to disappoint.

”For sure. P had all sorts of stuff, but he only had a bunch of robots to play it with” Jr added, then realized what he’d said and to whom and added ”Uh, dumb robots not people robots”

”Yeah I get you. The little toy things that just move forward. Granted Medabots are a kind of toy but uh…. I try not to think about that.” Blazermate said, scratching her faceplate.

Soon enough they were heading back up to the common room where they’d had breakfast only a few hours ago. It felt like it had been longer. There, they commandeered a table, and then spread the various games and consoles out across it for perusal. The Consul’s collection had consisted of all sorts of odds and ends, and as a result of the hast and ignorance involved in the splitting of it between the royal kids and the orphans of the home of tears, further filtered through what the kids had thought would be interesting to bring up, made for quite the eclectic selection.

It certainly did not help that a lot of it consisted of what the phantom thieves would have recognised as legally distinct knock offs of games from Earth. From Minecroft to the Legend of Lonk and Pacmon, everything was ever so slightly off. Still, despite this, they were fully formed packages of fun in their own right if the player didn’t know any better, and the koopa kids certainly didn’t.

”So! What you wanna play?”

”Oh, you guys found video games! Uh… well, I don’t know if any are from my world so what you find with a decent name will work. What we’ve got here is like some random grab bag sorta deal; we don’t know what we’re going to get! Although I used to play fighting games a bit. I was pretty ok at them.” Blazermate said, looking over all the weird games. No meda fighter or Medawing or anything like that. But this was like a merging of tons of worlds and with how little medabot stuff there was in general, she really shouldn’t have her hopes up for stuff she sees.

”Fighting game huh? Like, hmm, uhhh” Jr replied as he started to pick through the games, but got a bit blindsided as Rika hopped in with suggestions

”We’ve got smash bronx, path fighter and skullguys” she replied, finding games respectively about bunches of new yorkers, country folk and skeletons duking it out. Upon getting a look of confusion from Jr about how she knew this explained that ”I read all the boxes and manuals while you were working on my gauntlets”

”Well I’m just telling you what I’ve played before. I’m fine trying new stuff. We kinda fight like… every day or thereabouts? I’m pretty sure we’re better fighters than anything we can do in a video game.” Blazermate said, although she had another idea. ”Wait…. Wasn’t one seeker once mumbling about how some of the other seekers were video game characters in their world? Could we like, learn something super cool we could use somewhere in the world from these video games?”

”They did? Who?” Jr asked, while Rika wondered if it was ”like that book that Kamek found that had the Angel in that prison pit place in it, that that angel really didn’t like knowing about?” referring to Robin Goodfellow who they’d met and killed in the Under.

”I dunno, maybe?” Jr said, which worked as an answer to both questions, before thinking about what they could learn ”Like, a secret cheat code? Oh, or how to break those stupid clocks?” and then adding offhandedly that ”Huh Kamek really should looked those up in that other book he got”

”Well, I’m more thinking of cool loot or something. I doubt they’d have anything that specific. Although cheat codes might be a thing too?” Blazermate said, scratching her head. ”Someone smarter like Kamek would probably know yeah. I’m just taking a shot in the dark.”

”ohhhhh like a super fancy magic sword or something? Yeah that’d be cool” Jr agreed, but Rika pointed out that ”Wouldn’t it be kinda hard to find where Galeem put that kind of thigh though?”

”Thats what the video games are for! If something looks similar to the video game, we might find something cool!” Blazermate said, which got a pair of ohhhhh’s from the pair of kids, who both thought this was very smart.

”So where do we start?”

”Uh…. I guess we can just pick something and start from there?” Blazermate said, sorting through the games and picking out Skullguys first. Although this one almost confirmed Blazermate’s theory as it seemed to be a warped version of the story of the Skullgirl that Blazermate had actually met in the Dead Zone. ”Oh huh… We already met this thing. It was called the skullgirl and if I remember right Bowser tried to adopt her, before Linkle absorbed her and went off on her own adventure.” Blazermate said. Continuing with an idle thought. ”Your dad loves to adopt kids Jr. He's a real family man huh?” Blazermate said, more impressed with Bowser giving everyone a chance than making light of the situation. If she didn’t act like this mix of kid and adult, she was sure Bowser would’ve probably adopted her at some point too. Or maybe he did and that's why he let Blazermate ride on his shell without much complaints?

”Hm… Maybe we should stick away from the fighting games then. What about this one?” Blazermate said, grabbing a game named Marsria that everyone could play instead of there being 1 person left out that was about digging through the ground to find treasures and items to make gear that let you beat stronger and stronger things.

Rika, for one, was sold as soon as the prospect of treasure came up, saying it ”seems neat!” with a fair deal of enthusiasm, to which her brother nodded with agreement before he set about plugging and setting up the specific console said game would run on.

Soon enough, the television crackled to life, its screen began to glow, and the gaming session began in earnest.

There was a bit of a floundering start as they tried to get a hang of the game, particularly when they encountered the first night time and got swarmed by zombies in space suits, and flying saucers with big ol eyeballs. They proceed to repeatedly respawn and die again, dropping tombstones on every death that converted their spawn point into a haunted graveyard which made the game basically unplayable.

They promptly restarted said game and, now forewarned of the dangers of night, built a defensible home. From there they made a bunch of progress, exploring around, digging into the ground, recruiting a little colony of NPCs that performed helpful functions.

The entire colony was then wiped out when Jr impulsively used a ‘suspicious looking saucer’ item, which summoned the game's first boss, an even bigger flying eyeball saucer, right into the heart of it.

Rather than lose heart, they now had a clear goal in mind and proceeded to geared up for the challenge. Alongside gold plated space suits for everyone, they also diversified their gear, with JR acquiring a bunch of bird shaped drones as minions, Rika a golden air rifle and Blazermate a magictek staff.

With these, and a prepared arena away from their colony, the trio faced down the eyeball ufo again and this time emerged victorious, and there was much rejoicing. Along with 2 rumbling stomachs from the kids, which demanded actual sustenance instead of the snacks they’d eaten for lunch.

”Do you think they’ll be using all that crab we got with dinner?” Rika asked, wondering what the Bracket Brace would be cooking up in the kitchen

”Dunno, but whatever it is gonna be I really want some now” Jr replied, also feeling the pangs now that the focus invested in beating the first major obstacle in the game had been passed.

”I don’t eat so… I guess I’ll go check on everyone while you two get a snack? Make sure people don’t need heals? Should probably get a tune up as well after such a big fight come to think of it.” Blazermate said, not really into the whole eating thing but knowing people got pleasure out of it.

”Oh... ok” Rika replied, sounding just a bit upset about this

”Sorry, not sure what else to do at the mess hall but chat.” Blazermate said, shrugging.

”I mean everyone’ll be coming here anyway, right?” Jr pointed out

”Good point! Well, assuming they’re still not in the shower. That place was nasty.” Blazermate said, nodding and following the koopa kids.

The pair of kids, who had not had a shower, nor washed their hands before eating their snacks earlier, and who where only not visibly dirty due to spending a lot of time not being themselves, glanced at each other, then themselves, before Jr said ”uhhhh, actually I just remembered we gotta do something else real quick. See you here in like 15!” and then practically dragged Rika out of there.

”Right uh, I guess I should get this stuff off me too. You guys distracted me!” Blazermate said with a bit of sass as she wandered to the workshop to run herself through the pressure sprayer to get clean lickity split.

---

Juri’s gut was right, her help wasn’t needed to secure the rest of the battlefield. The Seekers had this in the bag, despite the cheap shot free kills Consul A managed to secure. Primrose, that wizard chick, landed the final blow and blew him up on the inside. Some giant thing, Ganondorf maybe? Really tore into the Gravemind. After that, Consul D ran away.

”All that power, just to die being someone else’s bitch.” Juri scoffed.

Both of them tried to get some poignant last words in. ”MAN, you two sure are chatty for a couple of dead chumps, huh? Fuck off already, wouldja?!” Juri taunted, her voice echoing last as their enemies faded into nothingness.

”Welp,” Juri sniffed. ”We did win. Those guys sure did talk a lot of shit for three outta four to be dead.” Juri kicked at the ground where Consul A was.

”I’m sick of this cruddy place, let’s ditch it.” Juri said when Sandalphon offered the way out.

Once back on the Avenger, Juri had no interest right now of sticking around to chat with a bunch of gloomy people. She stalked off to the hanger, in search of a new vehicle to pilfer or claim as her own. Instead, much to her delight, she found her old bike!

She definitely remembered Midna having magic’d it up. It looks like she stored it here. Huh. Now Juri actually did feel a bit bummed out that Midna died. Still, she grinned, patting her motorcycle with a usually hidden well of sentimentality. Then she put her Ghoulsaw against it, trying to find the best places to store it. It only then occurred to her that her new weapon should have a Juri themed paint job.

”Oh, baby.” Juri said, running her hand down the side of the chainsaw. ”Imagine how good you’d look in green and purple! Or purple and black.” She mused. If this place had a hanger, it must have a garage. Juri set off in search of a paintjob.

The end of the arduous battle was signaled by pure noise. It was loud and horrible, reverberating up from the floor and around the edges of the hollow, but it only lasted as long as it took for the Floodfested to begin dying off.

The Guardian was destroyed. The last pieces of its body were rapidly disintegrating, shedding ash throughout the hollow. The buildings O had created, at least the ones that hadn't already been reduced to rubble, stood quiet and still to prove Juri's earlier words. And what remained of A soon dissolved, leaving no trace at all of his existence besides the toll he'd taken on the Seekers' minds - as even the number he'd done to their bodies would be swiftly repaired.

After standing in place and watching to ensure that A had really been wiped from the earth, Primrose drew in a deep breath. She was already sore, her adrenaline having seeped out of her once things came to an end. Gingerly she touched a hand to the last wound A had inflicted on her, attempting to spark a small healing flame. She pursed her lips when her pyromancy only sputtered. She was not quite in danger of bleeding out since her Encore had kicked in, but she was still in a bad way. The dancer glanced at Roland too (and found the kids to have wisely vacated the area), and she judged him healthy enough that he wouldn't keel over. In that case, she could conserve her energy and let Sandalphon, Blazermate, or even Junior deal with everyone's injuries if he was in the state to.

One person that didn't wait for medics was Therion. Now that the fight was over, he stood in the open and re-summoned his striker Nayan to spread another shallow pool of healing water for himself and anyone else to use. Since it was already there, Primrose turned to step inside of it and take in the cool relief. The thief looked her over as she did, making sure his friend was really alright. He didn't offer any words of comfort or congratulations, and neither did she - the entire experience from start to finish had been awful. Plainly put, it had sucked; and any positive feelings about succeeding in their mission or the fact it was over were dampened by the two losses the Seekers had taken.

When D fled, Pit had wanted to call after him something like yeah, you better run! but found that when he tried he just puffed out a heavy breath instead. The angel sighed and flopped down onto his back, taking a moment to catch his breath.

We did it...! he thought, though victory didn't feel as good as it usually did.

Good work, Pit. All of you fought hard, and now we're one step closer to Galeem.

Yeah. Thanks Lady Palutena, Pit transmitted back to her. He stared up at the sky, and the regular -if still ominous- moon. His gaze drifted slightly in the direction of the Sandswept Sky and Skyworld, though it was impossible to see from there. Maybe Lady Palutena would be able to see where their friends ended up when they came back, whenever it was they did. Though she heard Pit's wayward thought, the goddess herself didn't confirm or deny. She left Pit to regroup with the others once Sandalphon teleported in to collect them.

He hopped back to his feet and met with everyone else as they converged in the center of the hollow, eager to return to the Avenger. Pit didn't linger, pulling the fulton's cord as soon as it was strapped onto him. Therion followed suit, his normal hesitation soundly beat out by his desire to leave. Primrose was right behind him.

"Thank you," she said to the archangel, accepting both a fulton and the words. They likely wouldn't have made it through without Sandalphon's well timed arrival in the middle of battle, so the congratulations should be extended to her as well, but Primrose didn't say anything else for the time being. She glanced over at where Geralt and Grimm were securing the coffin Goldlewis always carried, then took a fulton and ascended.

---

There wasn't that much time in between fultons, so the victorious Seekers that arrived via that method were all waking up at around the same time. Ace waited until most had come to before he really turned his smile on and offered them all an earnest, "Welcome back."

It had been a rough day for everyone, on top of the casualties. Pit himself had been smashed, kicked around, crashed into things, nearly drowned, and had soaked up enough of the vampiric Consul's final magic barrage that he might be magically-radioactive. He really hoped he wasn't though. Needless to say he was tired and battered; his Orbitars still floated around him, but even they sagged in the air. The angel was in a sorry state even after Roxas' Curaga, and would definitely benefit from a trip to the infirmary and then the cafeteria, but he smiled nonetheless.

"We did it," he said again, this time out loud, a determined edge to his voice. They'd won, and they were gonna keep winning until they'd freed everyone in the world.

Primrose looked at the young angel briefly, seeming to pick up his feelings. Nobody had wanted to lose allies, but the fact was that they had. There wasn't much else they could do but carry on. Though she would remember, the dancer was not one to wallow in such losses. If nothing else they would drive her further forward. Primrose composed herself as much as possible, accepting the food, water, and medicine that was pressed into her hands. She would return to the room she no longer shared with Midna, take a much needed shower, put on a fresh change of clothes and decompress. Then it would be back to the business at hand.

Though in relatively good shape compared to the other Seekers, especially after indulging in his own striker's healing, once he heard what the laudanum did Therion took more than his share of the vials. He wanted them on hand in case something or someone turned up in the future that could do what A had been able to, attack their psyches directly. He stashed them in his bag, stripped off the remnants of the raincoat, and didn't really wait around before he took his leave alongside some of the other Seekers to depart the area early. He didn't have any real want to be alone, but he also didn't have any particular plan for the afternoon besides to eventually find something more substantial to eat. He'd figure it out later, or else nap until the next meeting. As he left, Therion glanced at the newly transformed Ganondorf. He really hoped the man wouldn't smell like the inside of the Qliphoth after the fusion, or else he'd have to go find another room to bunk in.

Pit finally dismissed his divine weapon once the hanger really began to thin out of people. He blinked after Edelgard, one of the few that made it quite clear she wouldn't want company, before glancing back at the remainder of the group. He had perked up slightly at the mention of Hammerhead. He'd been there before, with Nero, Yuri, Banjo, and Kazooie - the same day they'd visited the edge of the Dead Zone on reconnaissance. It was a neat place, with a lot to do, but would the solemn mood prevent everyone from enjoying it when they got there?

The angel fidgeted. Then he pressed his wings in close to his back and, after a quick glance at the map on the wall, declared, "I'm... gonna go get something to eat!" and took his own leave. Now that the fight was over, and the Consul that had taken their friends was defeated, he would be fine; it would probably take him a lot less time to process and work through the Seekers' loss than others. It was the nature of watching over 'mortals' after all.

Which left the Ace Cadet, who was content to make sure everyone else was getting on alright.

He had offered out what remained of his potion stock to help with Eleison's healing supply so that the weary warriors wouldn't have to spend their energy to heal themselves, as he could always make more later. It was more important that the haggard Seekers, hearts still heavy with the fresh loss of their comrades, were recovered as soon as possible even if it was only physically. Ace had almost wanted to apologize to the group at large - he was sorry that they'd lost people, sorry that he couldn't have done more - but he didn't, just swallowing the feeling.

The hunter nodded after Geralt and the others heading out. "Kecha later," he told them.

With everyone returned, Sandalphon's brief news delivered, and plans for the afternoon very slowly taking shape in people's minds as they left the area, there was only one other thing that the Cadet thought to do for the moment. He looked at Nadia and opened his arms, offering the woman a hug for as long as she would indulge him.

If nothing else, Band had to admit that this guy had guts, introducing himself with nothing more than a grandiose title in such a bedraggled state. Then again, ‘Big Band’ wasn’t a real name to begin with, so maybe he thought the two would be going by codenames. Such discretion wasn’t necessarily common among cops, but it was a classic trope for secret agents. Maybe there was more to this Icebreaker than met the eye. Hopefully a lot more, Band thought, though he did not allow himself a smirk. He didn’t mean to look down on the man -as natural as that was for someone over seven feet tall- but he looked -and smelled- like he’d been through hell, and it wasn’t even lunchtime.

“Icebreaker? Not bad. Rolls off the tongue real nice. Guessin’ you ain’t the type to let red tape get in your way, then” Band surmised. “Me, I was always the straight-laced, by-the-books type. Too much for my own good, as a matter of fact. Me an’ the boys down at the NMPD didn’t always see eye to eye, but I bit my tongue and kept quiet, long as I could, ‘til one day, I just couldn’t take it anymore. Set out to blow the whistle on the whole dang unit. Thought I was ready, but things didn’t go quite as planned. Ended up the hospital, stuck inside an iron lung for life.” Band shook his head ruefully, a humorless smile on his face. “These days though, I carry my lungs around with me, and I gotta nice set of pipes, believe you me.” To show what he meant, Band popped open the caps on the side of his body in sequence, a musical note bursting from each.

Just as the detective was wrapping up his own introduction, the door to the Friendly Arm opened, and Morris appeared. Judging by his moody expression, he was in a huff, and eager to be done with his fellow lawmen. Not for the first time, Band wondered if the man’s heart was really in the right place. He’d met his fair share of officers who treated their job like a chore, and he knew that Morris must be off duty right now, but however precious free time was in a place like Martira, something about the man rubbed Band the wrong way.

“Alright, let’s get this over with,” Morris told the two, crossing his arms. “You wanted to know about Heismay, yeah? It’s not like I know the guy or anythin’, but I saw him, aye. Nearly caught him in the act, too. It was my late shift, on a dark, stormy night, and I was out patrollin’ the east wall, same as usual. I’d been out there for hours, not a damn thing in sight, ‘til just for a second, the clouds part and the moon shines through. Just enough for me to see the bastard climbin’ over the damn wall!” He balled his fists, jaw clenched. “So I went after him, shoutin’ up to high heaven the whole time, but he ran like hell. Disappeared into the woods to the east, headed up the mountain to Curien Mansion. En’t seen him since, but for that night at least, all the young’uns could sleep easy.”

Though Band didn’t have a notebook like Harry did, he still kept track of all the new information, filing away each snippet in his mental lockers. He raised an eyebrow at Morris. “What about Curien Mansion? Y’all ever head up there to try huntin’ this Heismay guy down?”

Morris gave a frustrated sigh. “We tried, but there just en’t enough of us, and we don’t have the arms for it. Whole place is crawlin’ with undead.”

“Ooh, my favorite.” Band gave a wry smile. “Well, maybe we oughta pay the place a visit ourselves, eh partner?” He shot a questioning glance at Harry.

For a brief moment, Morris ruminated on the proposal. “If that's the plan, actually, you lot might be in luck. We get these storms ‘round Martira, see. Sandflashes. Monsters can't stand ‘em, they tend to hole up in their dens to wait ‘em out. There happens to be a sandflash today, so if you're lucky you could stroll right into Curien Mansion and scope the place out for yourselves.”

Band narrowed his eyes, thinking, then nodded. “Sounds like a plan then. Thanks for your time, Morris.”

“Dinnae mention it,” the guardsman replied. “Happy huntin’, you two. And…” He wrinkled his nose at Harry. “For God's sake, take a bath or somethin’, would ye?”

He disappeared back into the Friendly Arm in a hurry, leaving Band and Harry to mull over what they'd be told. The big man deployed a spindly mechanical arm to adjust his hat, then scratch his chin. “Hmm…now, I've only been casin’ the joint since last night, but from what I heard, sandflashes don't pacify monsters at all. Word on the street is they actually aggravate ‘em. Sounds like someone doesn’t have his facts straight, hm?”

After another moment, his pensive expression dissolved into a jocular smile. “Still, he ain't wrong about one thing. We oughta get you cleaned up, Icebreaker. Here.” He extended an arm with the neck of a little bag pinched between its three finger-pads. Inside was two thousand zenny. “Seein’ how stormy it's been ‘round here, it shouldn’t be too hard to find someone willin’ to sell a barrel o’ rainwater. Betcha they got some handmade soap at the farmer's market, too.” He waved Harry off. “I'll find ya some new clothes in the meantime. See ya in a few?”

Band turned to stomp off. As he went, though, a green glow in one of the Friendly Arm’s windows caught his sharp eye. When he looked through, he found the big man from earlier, Stein, on the other side. He was sitting at a table with his daughter, a half-eaten hot dog in his hand. With his sunglasses it was impossible to tell if Stein was watching him, but he seemed close enough to have heard the conversation. Band’s gaze lingered on the window for only a moment, and then the detective moved on. The local tailor might not stock anything in Band’s size, but she ought to have something in Harry’s.





Slowly, the survivors of the Qliphoth assault force departed. After climbing the stairs from Deployment, they could disperse to any number of locations throughout the Avenger. Whether their natures and circumstances dictated that they seek celebration or solace, solitude or togetherness, this flying fortress was tailor-made to accommodate the needs of campaigners. Of course, not everyone knew what to do or where to go right now, and for a few moments, that was the position Sandalphon found herself in.

As the others got moving, the listless archangel remained in place long enough to see them off, doing her best to field any questions and provide whatever direction she could. Prior to exfiltration from the dying demon tree, her tendency to stand by had given Zenkichi the chance to catch her an unexpected embrace. Though a little stiff and awkward at first, she’d returned his hug after a moment, her arms gently encircling his back, their cheeks and temples pressed together beneath the soft glow of her halo. He’d been fresh from the fight, his tense body warm to the touch and slick with sweat, but in the wake of the team’s losses they’d found some semblance of comfort in one another’s arms. This was hardly the first time that Sandalphon had lost comrades, but never had such casualties left such a rawness in her heart. No doubt her newfound emotion was to thank, and unfortunately no amount of healing miracles would scrub away that scar, but to her surprise Zenkichi’s affection had soothed the ache somewhat. Maybe she’d hoped that lingering would prompt him to embrace her once more, but the detective -understandably- had other priorities. After all, Akane had probably been worried to death the whole time. Sandalphon watched as Zenkichi hurried off to go see her, trying not to think too much about the request he’d made of her in the hollow. Human emotion really was a two-edged sword.

One of the other Seekers who didn’t get far from Deployment was Grimm, though unlike the others, Sandalphon didn’t get the impression that there was anywhere in the Avenger he’d rather be. So far the Troupe Master seemed like an enigma, unconventional in both mentality and morality. Neither Sandalphon’s scanning abilities nor innate spiritual sense could quite get a bead on him, but something about him nevertheless put her off. Still, inexplicable misgivings were no excuse to be unsociable. If she couldn’t figure Grimm out at a glance, she knew she ought to just talk to him normally. “I imagine that experience will cast a long shadow over our campaign,” she said softly. “Has it taken its toll on you as well, Troupe Master?”

”Why would it?” Though Grimm’s face was too featureless to parse his emotions, there was curiosity in his scarlet gaze. ”Death is merely one turn of the cycle in whose gyrations we all play a part. If anything, today’s spectacular dance with death underscored its importance. All those horrors we encountered, borne of that vile ‘Gravemind’...a twisted and feeble parody of life, sustained in dead flesh, ad nauseam. Better that the dying forest burn to ash, and feed the soil of new beginnings.” He shook his head at Sandalphon. “So, I do not dishonor their ends with mourning. When the curtains fall, all will be ashes, so may we all be so fortunate to go out in a blaze of glory, as they did.”

After a moment, the archangel gave a respectful nod. She hadn’t expected to understand where Grimm was coming from. Still, the thought of leaving the departed Seekers unmourned was untenable, especially now, when the unprecedented hole in her heart demanded some sort of fulfillment. As mission control, who called the shots but seldom took the field, Sandalphon tended to be the one left to write eulogies amidst the aftermath. She couldn’t stop thinking about her conversation with Goldlewis on that snowy mountain crag during the minigame roulette in Carnival Town. Now, his sacrifice had given much of what he’d said a deeper meaning. It would be as good a place as any to start. “I see the wisdom in your words. But as an overseer of humanity, it is my duty to mourn the departed, and I will not dishonor them.”

Grimm tilted his head, then gave a raspy huffing noise that might have been a laugh. He lifted his arm to reveal the Grimmchild hanging beneath his cloak, whose chin he scratched with a pitch-black claw as he turned to walk away.

---

When Geralt found him, Tora was tinkering with something new, as always. Having exchanged his goggles for a custom welding mask designed to shield the upper third of his rotund, ovoid frame, the furry little Nopon seemed to be in the process of assembling a large machine frame with the help of Poppi’s beam saber, which he’d apparently jury-rigged into a soldering iron. It was shaped like a hockey puck, but twice as tall as the engineer himself, and almost as broad as Bowser’s shell. Absorbed in his work, he didn’t notice the new arrival until his artificial assistant tapped him on the shoulder. When he turned and popped up his mask, a wide smile spread across Tora’s face.

“Friend Ger-Ger!” he greeted the Witcher. “Tora glad you make it back, meh!” While the two of them hadn’t always been on the same team, Geralt had known who to come to for weapons since his first job in Lumbridge, and Tora always appreciated a repeat customer. When presented with the Keeper’s wire mines, the Nopon knew to handle the devices with care. “Ooh,” he murmured gently turning the trap over in his hand. “Nasty piece of work, meh. Spring-loaded, stuffed to burst with barbed wire. If catch sight of this on ground, Tora just do three-sixty and walk away! What Ger-Ger want done with it? Tora cannot help having special shield idea in mind, but should probably steer clear of war crimes after last time, meh…”

Poppi clapped her hands together and tilted her head with a disarming smile. “For legal reasons, that is joke.”

Conversely, the Nopon took one look at how Geralt summoned the Hateful Flesh and grimaced. “Blech! Put away! Meat-sword stink of magic, which not at all Tora specialty, meh!” He looked over at Poppi with a shrug, who returned the gesture, then turned back to the Witcher. “Uhhh…could weld new handle on, mayhaps? Not much can do beyond that, though.”

Once Geralt laid the cleaver down, the mood did not improve much. Geralt relayed the bad news about Goldlewis and Midna, both of whom Tora and Poppi had gotten to know during their trek across the Sandswept Sky. Poppi covered her mouth, a shocked and sorrowful look on her face. “Oh, no…”

Tora looked not just miserable, but deflated, like a balloon two days after a birthday party. Even his feather mohawk seemed to droop. “Meh, meh…” he mewled. “That make Tora…very sad. Not want think about right now. So…Tora ignore and think about something else.” He gave a determined nod when Geralt mentioned he’d be busy. “Yes, yes. Tora already had at work on new ideas. For instance, everypon on Avenger always busy doing chores. But if Tora makes machines to do chores, all friends have more time! So right now, am working on all-purpose cleaning robot. Found schematic on inter-knot that Tora get inspiration from…”

“Steal,” Poppi whispered to Geralt.

Her Masterpon continued without missing a beat. “...But Tora see plenty of improvement room, so there lots of work to do, meh. Sadly, though…” The inventor scratched his head, eyes narrowed. “Am short on good materials, and meanypon Shirogane say Tora not allowed to take any more parts from Avenger engine room. So, was hoping that friends like Ger-Ger help with funding for special projects, meh. Would be much much appreciated!” He hopped up and down, flapping his wings pleadingly. Poppi just slapped a palm to her face and shook her head.

---

Before she went anywhere else within the Avenger, Nadia knew one place she wanted to be–and luckily, it wasn’t far away. She made a beeline for Ace and squeezed him tight in a fierce hug, as if strength alone was enough to guarantee he’d never leave her. After a second or two, though, she relaxed a little, and laid her head on his chest, her furry ears tickling his neck. By now she knew about Palico Rescue, but that knowledge hadn’t made his sudden disappearance any easier to stomach, and after the actual loss of several friends Nadia had needed to see her love interest safe and sound. They were both a mess, of course, but they were alive. Held tight in Ace’s strong arms, it was hard to feel bad about not sacrificing herself, or about much of anything, really. For one, golden moment, there was nothing in their world but each other.

Of course, reality caught up with Nadia with a vengeance, and after only a few seconds the tender silence was broken by the almost leonine rumbling of the feral’s stomach. A fit of giggles burst from Nadia as she laughed it off, pulling away from Ace just far enough to pull him after her as she made for the stairs. The pair followed in the footsteps of Head Chef Bracket as she made her way through the Avenger toward the mess hall, where the Mimiga’s fellow cooks had been putting the finishing touches on today’s meal in her absence. After a quick, five-minute detour to the showers to freshen up, they returned on the heels of Edelgard, Ganondorf, Zenkichi, Akane, and a few others. Inside the airship’s cafeteria,Nadia found a pleasant surprise awaiting her: while the giant crab legs fetched by the Koopas were boiling bit by bit for dinner, hemborgers were on the menu.



These patties, festooned with melted cheddar cheese and drenched in rich brown gravy, came surrounded by fresh sliced vegetables and a couple hard-boiled eggs for good measure, promising a flavorful and protein-rich meal. Though dubiously named, one bite was enough to convince anyone that these things were the real deal. There were other miscellaneous foods on offer for lunch, primarily leftovers from previous meals that ought not go to waste, but the minute the sumptuous aroma of the beefy feast hit her nostrils, Nadia could think of nothing else. “Hemborger,” she murmured absently, her mouth ajar in anticipation as she lined up to receive her portion. As it turned out, running and fighting for one’s life for hours at a time really built up one’s appetite.

Once she reached a table with her precious cargo, Nadia wolfed down her hemborger so fast that barely tasted it. After realizing her mistake, the feral could do little but seek to rectify her foolishness with a second portion, slowly and meticulously savored. She washed it down with some freshly-brewed, piping-hot espresso. “It might be after noon, but this is still my ‘mourning’ coffee,” she told the Cadet, a wry smile on her lips. Finishing the hemborgers, of course, left Nadia with a double portion of vegetables to gnaw through. She approached this task with significantly less gusto, which gave plenty of time to chat with Ace -and anyone else who happened to be nearby- between crunches.

The mess hall was pretty lively by now, after all. In addition to the other Seekers, Lakota and Dawn were here, along with their three bunny-eared little girls Aurora, Ciel, and Soleil. As their dad attempted to cajole them into cleaning their plates, their mom went for Lakota’s, making off with his hemborger. When he discovered the theft, Dawn pretended to have no idea what had happened. She managed to keep up the facade until Lakota poked her in the belly, which earned him a giggle and a slapped hand. As she munched her cucumber slices, Nadia couldn’t help but smile at the two any more than she could stop herself glancing at Ace afterward. Dawn, Lakota, and their kids were living proof that an impossible love across worlds could succeed, even in a world as cruel as this one. What would happen to those little girls -to all the Lost Numbers- if the Seekers’ campaign succeeded…?

Nadia let out a heavy sigh, took a swig of her coffee, and smiled. She had enough on her plate today without having to worry about tomorrow.

@Lugubrious

Word Count: 1026
Level: Lv: 6 EXP: (3/60)
Location: Dead Zone Hinterlands - Martira, Old Castle Town

“Nope, I’m kinda of a loose cannon back at my department.” Harry was reminded of Kim while he was speaking to Big Band. Kim was always doing things by the books, and working with Band would probably help balance him out. A sudden feeling of sadness and loss hit him like a train. He wondered again where Kim was and if he would even find Kim.

“You should ask him why he has those metal pipes on his body.” Suggestion said, pushing Harry to ask the hard questions.

“So why do you have those musical pipes on your body?” Harry asked Band while they were still waiting for Morris. He listened intently to the origin of why he had a mechanical body. Harry’s attention turned to Morris as he approached the two. “How do you know it was Heismay? You said it was dark and stormy; you could have seen someone else. But I guess it would be best to check out this Curien Mansion.” He wrote down what Morris said. He used Big Band’s back as something solid to write. The detective smelled his clothes, thinking he would need them washed.

The mention of the undead made him quite uneasy. But perhaps because of his dirty look and smell, he could pretend to be one. His head turned to address Band. “Yeah, let’s go, Kim.” Harry said, starting to walk away from the Friendly Arm. Before he goes to Curien Mansion, he will find a bathhouse and someplace to wash his clothes. Or, at the very least, a river or lake and some soap to clean himself.

The smelly detective took the bag, thanking Band for the nice gesture. “Thanks. I’ll probably go for a wash before we head out to the mansion.” Harry shook the metallic man’s hand before heading off for a wash. First, he started by asking around for anyone who could let him wash himself and his clothes. At first, he didn’t get much luck, which was frustrating. But luck hit him when he went into a clothing shop/tailor. The shopkeeper was a middle-aged woman with bright red hair who was quite skinny. Harry assumed she was quite a babe when she was younger.

“Hello, Miss. Do you also wash clothes, by any chance?” He hoped this place would have something similar to a dry cleaner.

The woman used a handkerchief to cover her nose. However, she felt bad because it might hurt Harry’s feelings. “We don’t wash clothes; you can buy some new clothes if needed. Or you could just wash your clothes in the local river.” She looked at him quite perplexed.

Harry looked disappointed but decided to look around for anything he could wear. He started looking at the clothes the shop offered, trying to figure out what he could wear.

“You should wear something with the best stats.” Inland Empire suggested. This comment confused Harry since he didn’t know what he was talking about.

“You know this isn’t a video game Harry.” Logic chimed in.

“Or is it.” Shiver added, wanting to make Harry rethink whether this reality was real.

Harry looked through the many shelves and drawers of clothes, carefully picking out what he wanted to wear. He looked at the many different styles of clothes but found them not worth buying. However, he did find clothes that he did want to buy. What Harry picked to buy was the following.

-A frog-shaped hat.
-A dark purple bowtie.
-An extremely small mesh t-shirt.
-A bright blue kimono with a large red dragon sprawled on the back and front.
-A pair of black gloves.
-Tight blue pants.
-A pair of brown shoes.

Taking the collection of clothes to the shopkeeper, setting it down on the table.

“Okay, Harry, it's time to use the expression to get yourself a good deal.” Savoir Faire spoke up as Harry leaned on the counter. A big smile filled most of his bloated looking face. The pudge smell of vomit, booze, garbage, and tears filled the shopkeeper’s nose. She had to cover her nose so she wouldn’t vomit fully.

“So, miss, how much for all of this?” Harry winked, which only made the shopkeeper back away from him.

The shopkeeper was looking at the clothes that Harry had picked. She felt he would need to wash them because his hands were dirty. “All together, that will be 110 Zenny.” She smiled, but it was hidden by the handkerchief covering her mouth.

“How about we knock the price down to, say 11.” Harry said, thinking he was being relatively smooth when creeping out the shopkeeper.

“I can bump down the price for 30 Zenny. But I cannot lower it further.” The shopkeeper said while still covering her mouth and nose.

Harry tried to turn on the charm so he could get a discount. “How about 9 instead?” This comment made the shopkeeper think for a moment.

"No I can't, if I did then I would be losing a lot of money." She looked at him sadly making Harry quite uncomfortable. He could hear one of the voices speaking to him.

"TIME FOR A DISTRACTION!!!" The voice was coming from his ugly looking tie. Although in reality he was saying this out loud.

"Use those sticky fingers of yours to get those duds, your not made out of money. Besides she looks rich." Interfacing said to which Harry blurted something out.

"Oh look it's the ghost of your great great grandmother." He pointed behind her. She looked behind her and in a instant he grabbed the clothes and ran out of the shop. The shopkeeper yelling at Harry chasing him with a broom. Luckily for him, the adrenaline kicked in, giving him a good headstart.

He had gotten the clothes, now he would need soap to wash his clothes. Acquiring soap was not an issue; he had stolen bought from the general store. Harry felt good about himself while he was washing his clothes and himself. Not caring that he was getting strange looks from people passing by. They didn’t want to engage with the smelly man in his underwear. After washing himself and his clothes, he put on his new clothes while his old ones were drying. After the clothes had finished drying, he put them back in his plastic bag and went off to find Big Band.

“Hi, are you ready to go, partner?” Harry had found Band wherever he was. “By the way, do you know where Curien Mansion is?” He asked, and Band was sure to have many questions about Harry’s new outfit.

The monster hunter kept all but his helmet, rigging, and the bulkiest pieces of his armor on even after washing the remnants of the morning's battles off of himself and his equipment. The Avenger was a safe haven, but there was still plenty of time in the day... and he felt it would maybe be awkward to completely relax so soon after their mission was completed, especially in the wake of what they'd given up to do it. Being half-armored was about as good a compromise as Ace could come to with himself.

He sat directly across from Nadia rather than beside her this time, with his own two plates in front of him. One had the day's hamburg steak special, the other was piled up with more simple food fare such as sandwiches and wraps. The Cadet could have easily demolished much more, but he remained mindful of everyone else that still had to eat. When they touched down next, he'd probably wipe out the closest food seller of their stock. That was a thought for the future though - at present Ace kept his attention with Nadia, letting out a light chuckle at her joke.

"Fair. I think anyone'd give you a pass-on that one."

Was their making light of the situation a little morbid? Maybe so. But it was the pair's way of coping, and not letting life's various horrors get them down. The Seekers had come out of the Dead Zone victorious, and Sandalphon had mentioned a memorial later tonight. There would be time to properly and appropriately dwell on the team's sacrifices then.

Though meal time made the mess hall lively, when compared to breakfast the tables at lunch were not quite as packed. Ace and Nadia's own table wasn't so small that they had it all to themselves, but neither were they totally surrounded by other Seekers. They ate and talked together, occasionally following each other's gazes as they passed around the room. Such as now, when Ace glanced over at Dawn and her family when Nadia's eyes lingered there.

They were a cute family, especially the young ones with their father's Shepherd Hare-like ears. So why did the feral have a look of apprehension, however brief?

He remembered talking with Nadia about the future back when they were on the boat headed for Twilight Town, well before they knew the full story of how the world worked. If what they knew now even was the full story. He couldn't quite glean the feral's thoughts from her face at the moment, but maybe some of the things Moebius had said had gotten to her a little. He'd be lying if he said he hadn't thought about it too, but... well, for now he tried to steer Nadia's thoughts away from uncertain, possibly depressing topics.

"You know, we didn't get to catch up as much at breakfast as we could have," the hunter said, giving her a slightly sheepish smile. "Guess I was just excited to talk with everyone else again. But hey - I'm all yours now."

Ace’s voice swiftly retrieved Nadia’s train of thought from the nebulous future it had meandered into, and for his gallant rescue the hunter received an appreciative grin. The events of this morning had cast an unavoidable pall over even the sunniest Seekers, and after so much running and fighting Nadia just didn't have the energy to affect her usual unflappable cheer, but the joy she felt when around Ace was very real.

“No worries,” she replied with a wink. “I knew you'd come running back eventually. And, well…” As demonstrated by their earlier puns, neither of these two were above laughing through the pain, but after coming so close to actually losing Ace in the fight against the Gravemind, and getting bone-chillingly close to annihilation herself, Nadia couldn't pretend everything was hunky-dory. She let go of her cheekiness with a sigh. “Gotta hold on to our people while we can. Right?”

Her words came out a little more ominous than she intended, so Nadia gave an apologetic look as she stopped her coffee. She tripped over her words for a moment afterward, brushed her hair back somewhat self-consciously, then tried to verbalize her feelings. “I mean, I really am glad you're here. Honestly… part of me is afraid to grow fond of other people, ‘cause it makes losing ‘em that much harder. But I can't help it.” She chuckled to herself, shaking her head. “You're just too likeable. Besides, what good is keeping my heart safe if I can't ever use it?” The feral smiled at Ace. “Anyway, all this to say… well, let's keep trying our best to stay alive, eh? We might not be as invincible as we think sometimes.”

"Nadia..." Ace breathed. He knew she'd been through a lot, but he could hardly imagine being scared to get close to people for that reason. He was glad that despite her doubts she hadn't closed herself off though, and he was definitely going to show her it was the right choice. After a moment he returned her smile.

"The same goes for you - you're amazing. I'm happy you're here too... it's nice to have someone to fight and come back safe for, makes you want to get back in one piece all the more. So you're not gonna lose me that easily," he said, meaning to sound reassuring. Of course, it had seemed frustratingly quick when he'd been overwhelmed and felt the harsh cut of the scythe before darkness took him. At some point he'd fallen behind the other Seekers; he'd have to get better and stronger if he was going to keep that particular promise to Nadia.

But it could wait at least until lunch was over.

"And... well, not to be a worry-Wulg but like I said, same for you. Even with your gem, when everything's said and done we gotta make sure you're safe in one piece too. No ifs, ands, or Congalala butts."

His tone was lighthearted toward the end, if only to slightly counter the topic.

Nadia grinned at him. “Bein’ in one piece isn’t really my thing, but I getcha. I’ll do the best I can.” Though she’d allowed the darker topic to cloud her horizon, Ace’s attitude and praise were rays of sunlight that cut straight through. “I appreciate the compliment, by the way. Usually, the best I get is ‘a-mew-sing’. But you’re totally right. Gals like me light up the world–that’s why it’s called ‘broad daylight’.” She snickered as she tossed a cucumber slice into her mouth, then started crunching away. Ace could not help the snort of laughter even if he had wanted to.

“So,” she began again after a moment. “I’ve been curious, so help meowt. In my world, everyone who’s anyone’s got some kinda magic, freaky parasite, or livin’ weapon. But you’re all natural, right? How the hell’d you get so crazy strong? You can swing around weapons even bigger than I am without even breakin’ a sweat, runnin’ and jumpin’ around like nobody’s business, all while decked out in heavy armor and carryin’ a boatload of items.” She smiled as she shook her head, incredulous. “The heck are they feedin’ you guys over in your world?”

Before he answered her, he had to point out in slight amusement, "you know this is the second time you brought up parasites while we've been eating."

The first had been way back in Limsa. It hadn't been enough to ruin his appetite then, and it didn't now either though. He took a moment to wash down part of lunch while he thought of what to say, because really... it wasn't all that interesting. The times he'd talked about his home world were few, since learning about everywhere else had been more intriguing.

"All normal stuff, same as you'd find anywhere. Just, y'know, a lot of it." He grinned. "I dunno, I guess the humans from my world are just different from those in other worlds? We monster hunters usually start young and do a ton of training, but otherwise its the gear that does most of the work."

Ace shrugged. A good blacksmith was as important if not more so than a good hunter sometimes. "Not that exciting of an answer, but yeah - all natural. Except the, uh, boon thing."

Maybe humans from Ace’s world really were just built different, but the idea that someone could attain strength and stamina like that just from exercise and diet intrigued Nadia. After a glance at the Cadet’s plate, she raised an eyebrow at him. “Oh! Since you’re a monster hunter…does that mean you guys eat the monsters you hunt? That’d definitely explain it!” She popped off her head into her hands, resting her elbows on the table. Her sea-blue eyes glittered with curiosity. “What’s the weirdest thing you’ve eaten?”

"Yeah, of course we eat them! Never really thought if that would make a difference... Weirdest... Probably a Rathalos tail?" he said, touching a hand to his chin in thought. "Maybe a Basarios tail..."

He was quick to explain a little more, figuring the names alone meant nothing to her. "Basarios are juvenile Gravios, they live in the ground and eat minerals so their hides get really tough. They even grow rocks on their backs as camouflage, so when you eat them you have to crack off all their scales and soak the meat for a while. It's pretty much as tough and chewy as you imagine - and Rathalos are venomous, but only in their claws. Females have poison stingers on their tail though, so some Rathalos, especially young ones, have a vestigial venom gland in their tails you have to watch out for if you're cooking it. Goes really well with Wyvern Amber Ale though."

Once more he thought about being able to show Nadia the Grammeowster's place in the Frozen Highlands. It would be nice, and maybe if the two of them could slip away they could have a date night or something.

"Want me to try and cook one for you sometime? If we find an edible monster," he asked her with a toothy grin. "As long as you like frontier style food."

“That’d be AWESOME!” Nadia chirped, her eyes lighting up as a huge smile spread across her face. “A guy willin’ to cook for me? I knew I’d hit the jackpot, but wow!” She stuck her head back on and leaned back in her chair. “I’m not picky or anything either, not after livin’ on the streets as a kid. Plus, everything tastes better when you make it yourself, right?” Her eyebrows shot up. “But then, we’d have to hunt it ourselves too, right? I’m excited already! I mean, we’ve been takin’ out tons of monsters, but the only thing I’ve actually hunted lately is pigeons.” She glanced around for Ganondorf, wondering if the king of evil remembered that fun little morning in Dirtmouth. “Guess we’ll have to keep an eye out when we touch down again!”

Her enthusiasm melted Ace's heart a bit, and his grin turned a little more dopey.

"It's a plan then! I know you'd make a Gargwawesome huntress."

Of course despite her words, she might change her tune when she actually got a taste of his cooking, but that would be a future problem if it even turned out to be a problem at all.

"Did you have any unique eats in your slice of the world?" he asked. Then he actually thought back to everything Nadia had told him about New Meridan and Little Innsmouth, as well as her apprehension about possibly seeing pieces of her home town cobbled together with something else. Would talking about them keep her mood up or risk pulling it back down? Hopefully the former. "Actually, is there anything back home you haven't been able to find in this world in general? Like something you kind of miss?"

The question wasn't exactly subtle, but the Cadet himself wasn't a very subtle person. And who knew how much longer they'd be here fighting now that their opposition was onto them and getting tougher by the day.

A heavy sigh escaped Nadia as she flopped down on the table. “Ohh, you have no idea. I mean obviously, I Miss Fortune, but for eats? Gotta be Dagonian food. It…well, I guess I mean Dragon Empire food, ‘cause not all Dagonians are from the Empire, but it doesn’t roll off the tongue, you know? Back home, my favorite Dagonian place was my buddy Yu-Wan’s. Dim sum, gong bao, Peking duck, chow mein…the man was a culinary genius. Stick me and the gang ‘round of those rotatin’ tables, with a Dagonian feast and a round of beers, and I could die happy.” Her fond reminiscence quickly gave way to dejection. “Buuut I know the odds of findin’ that stuff is pretty low. If we didn’t find any traces of Little Innsmouth in Limsa, where could it possibly be…?”

Though her silly joke had Ace chortling, as Nadia went on it looked like maybe bringing up her world might have been the wrong move.

"There's a lot more ocean, it might be out there!" the Cadet said. It might even be on some other body of water, of which there were a lot according to the constructed world map... Though whether they'd naturally run into it during their world saving duties, only time would tell. He'd have to remember the names, but at the very least Dagonian and Dragon Empire were sure to stick in his head.

He offered Nadia another light smile, "we'll see if we can find sum of that out there."

“Even if the outlook is dim? Nyeheheh!” Though Nadia put on a dramatic act, she wasn’t too bothered by the lack of Dagonian cuisine, in truth. There were much more important things than finding her favorite food going on, and the mishmash of worlds she’d found herself in meant there were plenty of great things out there to try, like today’s hemborger. And who knew what they might find waiting for them once they disembarked in Hammerhead? As long as it wasn’t more Consuls, Nadia was game for whatever adventure the World of Light might throw at her next, especially with Ace by her side.

Nadia pushed her trey away with the last few vegetable scraps intact, crossed her arms, and leaned down to lay her head down on them. “Okay, next question. And this one’s important, so no fibs.” She narrowed her eyes. “If you were a dessert, what would you be?”

The Cadet made a show of very seriously considering the question, and the two passed the lunch hour with inane, casual chatter to lighten the mood.

Amaterasu's patience paid off, as the pair of newcomers she’d seen enter the inn separately now emerged together, and began to talk to a third figure. Sadly, as good as her eyesight was, she couldn’t read lips at this distance, and so didn’t know what was being said. Whatever it was they were talking about, seemed like it had been a productive conversation however, as the two stuck together after the third man left, and then headed off with a purpose.

Unfortunately, doing so, they moved out of view of her seat upon the hill, and so if she wanted to keep spying on them, she’d need to move herself.

Thus, she wolfed down the last of her root based lunch, and then set out on a trip around the outskirts of town.

Wanting to avoid being harassed by the town guards, she stuck to the woods, which were fortunately rather lush around the town (though they petered out into scrubland further out from it) and thus provided ample cover.

As she made her way through the forest, however, the celestial came across a curious sight: two pairs of colorful monsters facing each other down with determined looks on their faces. Rather than battling as was so often the case with these kinds of creatures, the monsters in question were, of all things, engaged in a spirited game of sport that would have looked an awful lot like volleyball to someone who knew what that game was.

Despite the risk of losing track of the strangers in town, Amatarasu slowed to take in this odd spectacle.

As she watched, a Axolati cheered on as a Kichik bounced a round mushroom off of its head, and then with a hop and a dexterous flip, delivered an overhead kick to it, sending it sailing across a volleyball net and towards a Bildit on the other side of it.

The ball smacked into the Bildit quite hard, but it endured the impact without falling or losing control of the ball, instead batting it of its chest, before using its two digging claws to volley the ball to the final of the four, a lizard like Sprecko. This Sprecko bounced the ball up using a sticky tail covered in berries, and then delivered a calculated headbutt that sent the ball not at one of its opponents like the Kichik had, but instead landing its careful shot down behind its opponents, who were both too close to the net to catch it.

It hit the ground, resulting in a cheer from the Sprecko and Bildit, while the Axolati and Kichik gave goodhearted groans at their misplay, before the Axolati turned to run after and fetch the ball from where it had bounced into the undergrowth so they could start another rally.

This jovial sports-beast-ship came to an abrupt end as all four beheld a wolf looming over the ball, who’s feet it had coincidentally landed, one that had just been presented with an easy meal. The Axolati skidded to a halt and then began to back off, while the Sprecko and Bildit both made noises of alarm from behind the net, all clearly frightened by this predator. The Kichik stepped forwards meanwhile with a look of nervous determination on its face, thinking, hoping, to drive the threat off despite the power difference.

Their alarm, however, was for naught, as the meal Amaterasu had been presented with was not one of meat but of praise. As such, she lowered her snout as if in a bow, before nosing it under the ball, flicking said ball up, and then doing a little about turn hop before finally batting it with her hind paws in order to pass it to the Axolati.

It bounced off the too shocked to react beastie’s round dome, but it then recovered from the surprise and instead vollied the ball to its Kichik partner, who got the game going again. A quick spirited back and forth occurred after that, at the end of which the Bildit was knocked down by a particularly powerful hit, fumbling the ball in the process and evening up the score. It was only then that the beasties looked for the one who’d passed them the ball, finding her now on the other edge of the clearing.

They made inviting sounds for her to join in the fun, specifically to tag in for the Bildit while they took a rest. The celestial however, politely declined, turning away and vanishing into the woods, her hunger for praise sated just a little more from the encounter.

Then a handful of heartbeats later she came back again.

She had time, she felt, for a little diversion.

Thus, the celestial missed the sight of Harry’s crime and public indecency while washing his clothes in public, as she was instead too preoccupied with the important task of learning the rules of beastieball, and having a grand old time playing it.

After a few spirited rounds, the celestial was the only one standing, the little critters all too tuckered out after all the fun to continue. They did, however, have the consolation prize, or maybe just actual prize, of all having scored more points than her, in part due to her unfamiliarity with the game, and in part due to her holding back with her spikes in order to not hurt the little beasties. Still, while she came away from the games as anything but the winner, she did at least get the consolation prize of a little extra praise for her good sports-wolf-ship.

With that in her spiritual pocket, she set off once more through the woods to get back to her people watching. Having expended time on gaining praise, she burned some calories to make up for it, moving at a run through the woods, flowers blooming in her paw prints as she raced through the trees.

Soon enough, she had found another point where she could overlook the town, hopping up and into the branches of a tree to do so. From there, she spotted the bulky stranger and his distinctive brass adornments hanging around town.

Of the other newcomer there was no sight, making her worry she’d been wrong that they’d be collaborating, only for her lower jaw to fall down slack from her upper as she saw the smaller stranger approaching wearing his new attire.

Maybe these two were not her best bet in working out what was going down in the town after all.

Still, they were her only lead, and so she was prepared to burn more energy intercepting them, should they head out of it again. That, and if she needed to buy some extra time, well, she could always draw them a tree or two. That always confused people.