by L. C. Mawson
“We have to go,” Hate said, her voice soft and understanding.
“Thank you, Ori,” Claire said before accompanying Hate through to the Control Room, following the bars of blue light Ori had put up to guide them.
“About time you got here,” Vengeance said as they arrived at the Control Room doors, where the others were already waiting.
“Ori wasn’t too happy to see me,” Claire explained quickly, before indicating to the door. “Ori, can you open this?”
Flickering lights were all that responded, the distant hum of the ship’s systems winding down.
Everything went dark. Claire heard a door open, but it wasn’t the one in front of them.
“This way,” Justice called, grabbing her torch from her belt and using it to illuminate the way as she ran down towards the sound of the opening door.
THEY FOLLOWED THE ECHOING footsteps far along the interior of the ship, until it gave way to the open forest. Claire could feel shooting pains starting up the front of her lower legs and she cursed her inability to run more than a few metres.
She didn’t have long to think about it, however, as they were greeted with multiple battle screeches from monsters once the fresh air hit them.
They stalked forward, ready to pounce without hesitation.
“We don’t have time for this!” Claire yelled, halting them in their tracks, though not as thoroughly as she had before.
After a moment, the Dragon directly in front of them began to move towards them once more.
“Okay, that usually works better,” Claire muttered.
“He was sending them after us before,” Em said. “He might still be controlling them now.”
Claire nodded, focusing on Em and Hate, and all of the Aspects around her, as she stood her ground. She thought of all of the Half-Bloods like her that the Dishar would kill if he got away.
“You need not obey him!”
The monsters hesitated a little, but continued to press forward.
“Please. He doesn’t control you. You don’t have to obey.”
The monsters slowed further, almost to a halt, but not quite.
“Please. We don’t want to fight you.”
That made them stop properly, bending down in that strange bow they did for Claire.
“Thank you,” she said as she let out the breath she'd been holding.
The creatures loped off back into the woods, leaving the Aspects alone once more.
“Did anyone happen to see where he went?” Justice asked.
Claire groaned. “I don’t believe we lost him. We can’t have.”
She spun around at the soft growl of a monster, revealing Sleepy as they moved towards them.
“Sleepy, what are you doing here?” Claire asked.
Sleepy pressed their nose against Claire’s side, pushing her in the direction they had previously been running.
“I think they want you to follow,” Empathy said.
Claire nodded, hurrying beside Sleepy as they led the Aspects through the forest.
It didn’t take long before they reached a large hole in the ground, leading down to a labyrinth of tunnels.
Claire groaned. “Another nest?”
“How are we going to find him in there?” Em asked.
“We’re going to have to split up,” Justice reasoned.
Hate raised an eyebrow. “That’s never a good plan.”
“It’s either that or risk not finding him.”
“She’s right,” Claire chipped in as Vengeance gave a reluctant grunt of approval.
“I stand by this not being a good idea,” Hate said, folding her arms.
“I have to agree with Hate,” Serenity said. “How will the rest of us keep the monsters off our back without Love?”
“She has a point,” Hate agreed.
Justice frowned for a moment. “He has to have an escape. Another exit from the nest.”
“If Sleepy found this one, they can lead the rest of you to them,” Claire said.
“Can we trust it?” Serenity asked. “Without you here, I mean.”
“Yes,” Claire said, her tone sure. “As long as I’m alive, Sleepy is harmless, and they’ll help the Aspects.”
“Then we split,” Justice said.
“Hate and I will chase him through the nest. I don’t know that I can protect more than the two of us from so many of them at once.”
Hate mumbled something inaudible, though her disagreement was clear.
“You’re outvoted,” Claire reasoned.
“Doesn’t mean I have to like it, Love.”
Claire tried not to smile at Hate calling her Love now that she knew what it meant. “You don’t have to come with me. You can go with the others.”
Hate rolled her eyes. “As if I would let you go alone.”
“Then it’s settled.”
“Be careful,” Em told them.
“You too,” Claire replied, reassuringly applying a little pressure to Em’s shoulder with her hand before moving back towards the nest as the others left.
“You ready?” Hate asked her.
“Yeah,” Claire replied. “I honestly am.”
Claire slid down into the nest, taking her own torch from her belt to illuminate the way.
Hate followed swiftly behind, adding the light from her own torch to Claire’s. They heard scurrying from somewhere close-by, and a small amount of dirt crumbled away from the wall next to them, but no monsters approached.
“Keep an eye out,” Hate warned.
Claire nodded. “If you see anything, warn me. Don’t attack. If we attack first, I don’t know that I can calm them all.”
“I’ll try.”
“Try?”
“It’s going to be pretty hard to bypass my trained response.”
Claire nodded, returning her attention to the labyrinth in front of her.
After a few more feet, she heard a screech above her, though it was more high-pitched than the ones she was used to.
She looked up to see a baby Icer crawling along the ceiling.
“Aw, hey there, little one,” Claire said to it as it let out a frosty puff.
“Are you going to be like that with all of them?”
Claire smiled at the amusement in Hate’s voice. “Probably,” she replied before turning back to the baby Icer. “Did you see a Rena come through here? A Dishar?”
“You think it’ll know what a Dishar is?”
As if in response to Hate’s question, the Icer chirped before running off.
“Come on,” Claire said, hurrying after it.
Hate ran alongside her where she could, but the narrow walls of the cave meant that she was trailing behind for the most part.
It wasn’t long before they reached a larger opening, the corridor blossoming out into a huge cavern, filled with creature eggs.
“Think this is the centre of the nest?” Hate asked.
Claire frowned. “I think we’ve found our guy,” she said, drawing attention to the figure at the other end of the cavern, leaning against the wall. He seemed out of breath.
Hate reached past her and shot a bolt of lightning at him, however, he threw himself out of the way just in time.
“The Aspects of Hate and Love,” he said as he picked himself up, drawing his weapon. “I should have anticipated you following me.”
Now that Claire got a better look at him, she saw that he had the same white hair as Justice and Vengeance, almost sickly white skin, and lilac-silver eyes just like hers. His outfit was ostentatious to say the least, a white tunic with gold embroidery and a collection of white and light blue jewels encrusting it. It did, however, seem to be padded in the right places to suggest practical armour underneath.
“Who are you?” Claire asked.
“Geral of the Dishar, tenth in line to the Rena throne.” He trained his weapon on Claire. “Soon to be ninth.”
“What are you talking about?” Hate asked him.
“I wouldn’t
expect you Half-Bloods to understand. You’re more Human than Rena. A side-effect of a poor lapse in judgement.”
Claire ignored the insult. “What is it about us? Why are you so determined to wipe out Jia’s bloodline?”
“Because you are in my way,” he spat. “Jia was the last of King Fenhal’s direct bloodline. The others died in the war, which she conveniently ran to this little backwater to avoid. The throne should be passed to the descendants of Fenhal’s brother-”
“But Jia has descendants,” Claire finished for him. “Why not just go back and pretend we’re dead? We don’t have FTL technology. There’s no way we can be a threat to you.”
He scoffed. “You think I’m the only one who considered that Jia might have had children while she was here? I’ll admit, I had assumed it would have been with the other Rena, but this just makes killing you easier.”
“No,” Hate growled, throwing another lightning bolt at him, though he deflected it by producing a light-blue energy shield around his right arm. “I won’t let you kill her!”
He shot at Hate and Claire pushed her out of the way, taking the hit to her shoulder. It stung with pain and she found herself rocking as she tried to stand, all words lost in her throat.
“Doesn’t her being a Half-Blood make her not a threat?” Hate yelled as she threw more and more lightning at him. More than Claire had ever seen her produce in one go before.
“She took the power of an Aspect!” he spat back along with a barrage of fire. “Nothing is held more sacred!”
“I’m guessing that means that being an Aspect makes up for your Human blood,” Hate muttered to her.
Claire nodded before frowning in thought. If only he didn’t have a gun, she would be able to fight him instead of sitting, feeling helpless.
Claire moved up to give Hate a quick kiss on the cheek before getting to her feet.
“Hey, where are you going?” Hate asked.
Claire just took a hold of her arm and repositioned it at the Dishar, clearly indicating that she should continue firing.
“You’d better have a plan,” Hate muttered as Claire headed off, sneaking behind the rocks as she made her way around to behind the Dishar while Hate kept him distracted.
She managed to climb up a rock quite close behind him without him noticing, and she gave thanks for how easily distracted he was. After timing her jump carefully, she leapt down, onto his back.
He managed to push her away, but his gun was lost in the struggle.
Claire jumped back to her feet, her staff out and ready. She moved towards him and started striking. He deployed his shield to block her strikes, though, after a few moments, Hate was firing lightning bolts at him once more, and his attention was divided between the two of them.
Claire grit her teeth, annoyed at how proficient he seemed. She was hoping that he would be useless once they got his gun away from him. Though it was only a matter of time, she knew. He was good, but they were better.
“Enough of this foolishness,” he spat at them, ducking away from their strikes. The move bought him enough time to hit a button on the device on his wrist, a slightly bigger version of their Aspect Bands. A light on it turned red.
“Red lights are never good,” Hate said, clearly attempting to keep her tone light.
Claire simply gave a hum of agreement as they heard the echo of a thousand battle screeches around them.
“Oh, for the love of...” Hate muttered while the colour drained from her face.
Claire wanted to reassure her but she had no words and her grip had tightened around her staff, refusing to drop it. Not when she needed it most.
No, she thought to herself as a million glowing eyes appeared in the caves around them.
She let the staff clatter to the ground.
“Love.” Hate’s terrified tone only steeled her resolve.
They couldn’t fight them all.
“I had hoped to kill you myself,” Geral said, his voice slimy with satisfaction. “But I suppose letting these beasts tear you apart will have to be satisfactory enough.”
The creatures loped forward, their teeth more than visible. They weren’t going to attack with their abilities, as they usually did. The creatures rarely used their teeth to kill. Humans weren’t food.
But they would today.
No, Claire thought, standing her ground.
She glared at them. All of them, in turn.
How dare you, her glower said. You will not harm us. He has no right to hurt us.
Hate will not die for my ancestor’s mistakes.
The monsters all stopped in their tracks, shaking their heads a little, as if to shake off the control Geral had of them. Once they were done clearing their heads they blinked at her, before bowing their heads, as if in thanks.
“Wha- How? You shouldn’t be able-” Geral spluttered, diving down to where his gun had fallen previously, scrambling in search of it.
“Oh no you don’t,” Hate snarled before unleashing a bolt of lightning at him.
It was so powerful that it blinded Claire for a few moments. When her sight returned, all she could see left of Geral was a particularly crispy looking skeleton.
“I might have overdone it...” Hate said quietly, her eyes glued to the skeleton in some kind of shock.
Claire couldn’t help but laugh at that. The sound was bigger than usual, and felt obtrusive, but Hate didn’t seem to mind, returning a weak smile.
“We did it,” Hate said, her smile widening.
Claire responded by wrapping her arms around Hate’s middle and crushing her close.
They had done it.
Claire pulled away just enough to look at the way Hate’s hair was clinging to her face, stuck down with sweat thanks to the exertion of using her powers so intensely.
She was the most beautiful thing Claire had ever seen.
Claire kissed her. She was gentle, making sure that Hate could pull away if she wanted.
And she did.
“Love, we can’t...” she started, though she cut herself off with a shake of her head and a laugh. “Oh, screw it. We did it!”
She pulled Claire closer, resuming the kiss.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
“They’re... bigger than Biter,” Justice said and Love recognised her diplomatic tone immediately.
“Sleepy was instrumental to helping against Geral,” Love countered.
“She has a point,” Hate agreed.
“You would side with her,” Vengeance jabbed.
“And you would side with your sister!”
Justice let out an annoyed sigh, shutting them up. “Okay, what do the others think?”
“Does anyone else notice how Love is less tense with Sleepy around?” Serenity asked.
“Exactly!” Love chipped in. “I have a much easier time finding words and I’m less likely to melt down. Sleepy is practically a service animal.”
“It’s a giant monster!” Vengeance exclaimed.
“So?”
“So, giant monsters can’t be service animals!”
“Says who?”
“Well, I say we let her keep it,” Serenity said, jumping in before Vengeance could say another word.
“Em likes them too,” Pain contributed for Love’s absent sister. “And so do I.”
“What about you, Jel?” Justice asked.
Jealousy lifted their head from where they were examining Sleepy with uninhibited curiosity. “Huh? Oh, do I get a vote?”
“Well, you are one of us now,” Serenity reasoned.
“Oh,” Jealousy said with a slight blush. “Well, I like Sleepy. And they haven’t done anything to hurt any of us.”
“Yet,” Vengeance muttered under his breath and it suddenly occurred to Love why they would be so afraid.
“Look, I’m going to be taking Sleepy on missions with me whenever I leave. There’s no chance of them being left here if I don’t come back one day.” She was surprised how easily those words came to her now.
But maybe it was that she no longer accepted her death as inevitable. She was damn good at her job. There was every chance she could live just as long as she would have otherwise.
Probably longer, given that Geral would most likely have killed her if she'd stayed at St Cecilia’s.
The others visibly relaxed at her words, all nodding.
“Okay, then you can keep the giant monster,” Justice agreed. “Just make sure it’s house trained.”
Love frowned a little at that. She wasn’t sure where Sleepy went to do their business, but the fact that they hadn’t found any giant turds lying around was either good, or very, very bad...
“Hey, Pain,” she said as the others disbanded to engage in whatever they had been doing before Love had approached Justice about giving Sleepy a part of the Tower to build a nest in. “Where’s Em?”
He shrugged. “Holed up in the Control Room.”
Love frowned. She'd been suspiciously absent from any post-mission celebrations, or any activities designed to make Jel feel at home with the rest of them.
“Thanks,” Love said before heading up there herself.
AS USUAL, EM WAS SITTING at the terminal in the centre of the Control Room when Love entered.
“Hey,” she said. “The others agreed to let me keep Sleepy.”
“That’s good,” Em answered, though not turning around.
“What’s got you so preoccupied? We got Geral,” Love figured, looking over Em’s shoulder to see her and Hate’s mission reports.
“I’ve been going over how Geral managed to control the monsters. It was different from how you do it.”
“And?”
“From what I can tell from Jia’s logs, the monsters were designed specifically for use by the Dishar against the rest of the Rena in the event of a rebellion. Jia’s father had a way to control them, but she didn’t know what it was. It looks as if Geral found it, though I can’t figure out what it is.”
“You don’t have to stress yourself over it,” Love told her. “You’ll get it eventually. Now that Geral is dead, no one’s making them go over the walls. They should just go back to avoiding Humans for the most part. There’s no rush.”