I came to my senses and let out a groan. I just knew my wing was broken. Again.
I was used to that kind of pain at this point, so I was able to stand up and look around without too much difficulty. I was lying a fair distance from the actual wreckage itself. I noticed Sunny passed out on a nearby rock, a few scrapes on her but nothing serious. Roxy was already standing up, feeling carefully along the smooth, ancient walls. Daniel was sitting down, looking as if he had been hit by a train.
My stomach sank when I scanned him and found no actual injuries. This was just the way he was now. Even though I had seen many people in states similar to him before, it was still… wrong. It was bad enough that he was wasting away. It was worse that something was prolonging the suffering.
In an attempt to ignore him, I fixed my attention to the structure we found ourselves inside. A large tower-like structure that went up for as far as we could see, no doors or windows on any side. The only sources of light were the walls themselves that pulsed with an occasional blue-green energy passing through the wall’s circuitry. It was enough to see by, but it gave the entire area an eerie vibe.
I felt like I should recognize the design, but the Eye of Rhyme wasn’t giving me any insight, and my memory failed me. All I knew was that the people behind this ancient structure were important. And that we were here for a reason.
“Something in here is very, very important,” I said, furrowing my brow.
“The other ship?” Roxy asked, still trying to find a secret exit to the room or something similar.
“Maybe… I wonder why it isn’t in here,” I pondered. I took a moment to use my magic and mend my wing.
“This isn’t the only room,” Daniel muttered.
“Right…” I blinked. “Roxy, can’t you phase through walls?”
Roxy blinked. “Ah. Right. Whoops!” She snapped her fingers and phased through the wall. She came back. “Yep, Daniel’s right. There’s more. There’s a labyrinth out there.”
“Labyrinth?” Sunny muttered, standing up. “Good thing you have a mapmaker, huh?”
Roxy smirked. “Can you move?”
Sunny stretched her legs. “Yeah. Takes a bit more than that to injure an Evermore. …Though at this point I doubt it’s my Evermore powers saving me.”
“All multiversal explorers accumulate abilities beyond themselves,” I said. “It’s a very useful trait.”
“Assuming you don’t die first,” Sunny pointed out.
“True, true…”
Roxy used her Void to make us intangible and shift through the wall. On the other side was definitely a labyrinth, but not the kind any of us were expecting. There weren’t maze-like walls – instead there were a complex series of moving platforms, swinging traps, and magical wires dancing all around a curved expanse.
“…I’m not jumping through all this,” Roxy said matter-of-factly. “Time to cheat.” She floated into the air and skipped all the complex platform movements.
“I don’t blame you,” I said, putting Daniel on my back and taking off. Sunny levitated herself behind me and we followed her into the air.
Our actions triggered a trap. A floating cube the size of a barn opened up and shot magical saw blades at us. Were we normal people, they would have been deadly. As it was I raised a shield that easily deflected all of them. “Might want to keep us intangible,” I told Roxy.
“Sure thing!” she said, snapping her fingers. “This is kind of cool though, we’re in a video game dungeon or something.”
“Which means there’s treasure somewhere,” Sunny offered. “Probably a ‘key item’ to someone’s adventure. Maybe that’s what we’re here to find?”
I shrugged. “Maybe… We still have to find it though. Keep on the lookout for chests or similar things. And when we open them let’s not get caught by a mimic like everyone else, okay?”
Sunny rolled her eyes. “Oldest trick in the book.”
“Yeah, Twilence, really?” Roxy shook her head. “We’re not noobs.”
I rubbed the back of my head. “Sorry.”
~~~
Starbeat and Gamzee were on one side of the table. On the other, Flutterfree and Eve sat together. Eve, as expected, had a disappointed expression on her face, while the usually calm and serene Flutterfree had a deeply troubled expression that was usually directed at Gamzee. Gamzee, to his credit, seemed completely relaxed and laid back.
Starbeat was the opposite. She was angry, and Eve wasn’t entirely sure why. This wasn’t just a vengeful anger, there was something wrong with it.
Eve wasn’t going to back down though. She opened her mouth.
“You’re going to say ‘we’ve forgiven a lot of people already’, right?” Starbeat interjected. “Because that’s what you usually say. Then you start listing off examples – maybe including yourself, since you are in the list of those forgiven – and say it’s better to let things slide. There’s a big difference between all those times and now. Item one: nobody we’ve ever forgiven has done something this disastrous. Item two: the people we forgive regret their decisions. I can tell you right now Corona doesn’t.”
Eve bristled. “And what makes you the judge of that?”
“Nothing. Except nobody else seems willing to do it.” Starbeat pressed her hooves together. “If I didn’t do anything, they would have gotten off scot-free.”
“Isn’t living with the burden that they killed so many enough?”
“Not even close. Because they’re going to turn the world into what they want. They still want to destroy the Tower.”
“…Is that such a bad thing?” Eve asked. “The price has already been paid. The influence of the Tower is fading. It’s time to let the story end and move on with our lives.”
“Can we really have lives that aren’t of a story?” Starbeat asked.
“I don’t know,” Eve admitted.
“…But we’d like to find out,” Flutterfree added. “I’d… like to see what we are when there’s nothing guiding us. When it’s just us. Are we really as strong as we think we are? Or is that an unrealistic portrayal?”
Starbeat slammed a hoof into the table. “You were with them all along!? You agreed with them!?”
Flutterfree shook her head. “I understood them. Freedom was not worth the price paid. But the price has already been paid. We might as well make the most of what we have, instead of perpetuating this mess just to spite them.”
“So we just let them get what they want!?”
“Why not? It’s not evil.”
“Yes it is!”
“Starbeat, listen to yourself,” Eve said, standing up tall. “You yourself have said the Tower is an evil thing that causes nothing but pain. You have more reason than anyone to hate it and what it has done to you. Why do you continue to defend it?”
“I’m rising above petty anger.”
“Do you hear the contradictions in your voice!?”
Starbeat blinked. “Fine, so I’m not. But what of your contradictions?”
Eve frowned. “Come again?”
“You’ve laid out judgement for so many massacres, killed so many ‘evil kings’ for crimes lesser than Corona’s. But look at you now, defending her.”
“I’ve also saved many who caused genocides,” Eve pointed out. “Merodi Universalis was never a logical, brick-by-brick system. It was case-by-case for a reason. We made on-the-spot judgements about what would and wouldn’t be the best in any given moment. Some of those decisions were wrong. I’ve regretted many of them.” She closed her eyes, remembering. “You were part of the Collection, Starbeat. Lightning and Thanos both were the cause of genocides. Lightning fought for the Collector and believed in his vision, even when he backed away from it. Thanos never apologized for his desire for balance. And yet, you worked with them and became good friends with them.”
“Friendships that were destroyed,” Starbeat hissed.
“Lightning’s still alive, and fought by your side,” Flutterfree pointed out. “You saw her. Should she answer for her crimes too?”
“She’s more than made up for it.”
“And Corona’s more than willing to make up for this,” Eve asserted. “She has the same heroic spirit she has always had. She will devote herself to helping however she thinks she can.”
“She can never repay.”
“She’s immortal. Of course she can. No matter how much evil there was-”
“She’ll never repay it!” Starbeat slammed her hooves on the table. “Just as you’ll never be able to repay what you did to Rainbow Dash.”
Eve let out a wince.
Flutterfree sighed. “And what about you, Starbeat? You were in charge of the Collection, at least in part. What should we charge you with? I’m sure we can find something.” Lolo’s halo became visible around her head for a moment. “We’ve all done things worthy of punishment, if there’s no forgiveness.”
“There has to be a line,” Starbeat breathed.
“Does there?” Eve asked. “Where is it? Where is the point at which someone does something so bad they can’t turn around.”
“She’s not turning around! She hasn’t made an apology, and I know she won’t.”
“You wouldn’t accept it even if she meant it,” Eve muttered.
“She would,” Flutterfree corrected. “If Corona really meant it, she would. I…” she glanced at Gamzee. “I’m pretty sure she would, if…”
“See?” Starbeat asked, sneering. “You can’t just turn around and attack me, Eve. It doesn’t work. The only people who deserve to be forgiven are those who honestly declare their regret. Corona hasn’t, and never will.”
Eve stammered. “I…”
“She’s your friend, I get it. She was my friend too. But there has to be a point where your loyalty to your friends ends. There’s a reason Applejack left.”
Eve looked to the ground, frowning. “You’re right.”
“Thanks y-”
“Not about Corona. About me.” Eve laughed bitterly. “I built an empire on forgiving others, Starbeat. I became the conquerer by friendship. I had always thought the Living Tribunal warned us so we wouldn’t stomp over the rights of others… but maybe he was warning us about getting too much of a good thing.” Sitting back, she found herself looking at the ceiling. “In a world where friendship is held above all else… there are bound to be drawbacks.”
“Finally. Good gravy, I-”
“I’ve still forgiven her,” Eve interrupted. “And so many others have. I’ve seen a few who haven’t, even after feeling her emotions. Jane… Jane still hates her. And so many others. And I understand that. But I can’t hate her. I don’t see her as a danger anymore, and even when we were fighting I still considered her a friend. They were never the enemy, Starbeat, always the other side.”
Starbeat scowled. “You’ve lost sense.”
“So have you.”
“I haven’t. I’m thinking clearer than I ever have in my life!”
“This… this hatred, it’s exactly what causes World War II on Standard Earths! Nobody can let anything go so they fight again and sometimes even again… Wars lead to more wars!”
“Then let the war come, maybe there’s a reason war is so common. It’s because justice is never given.”
“Are you listening to yourself? It’s almost like you’re under some kind of curse!”
Flutterfree tensed, becoming very still all of the sudden.
Starbeat ignored her. “Me? Cursed? You’ve become less of a person and more ‘friendship incarnate!’ If I’m ‘World War II’ then you’re ‘European Imperialism.’ Let’s conquer all the people and make their universes better! Don’t talk to me about ‘curse’.”
“Curse? Curse? How’s this for a curse: Corona wanted everyone to talk it out peacefully. The Tower set up the multiverse in such a way that such a dream was impossible. There was either going to be war, or she would have to do it behind all of our backs. She chose the option that gave her less chance of success.”
“But the Tower is just a machine, everyone else made a choice to do what they did, ka be damned. They deserve my rage.”
“And where does this rage come from? This isn’t you!” Eve wailed – almost pleaded. “You’re not a warmonger, you’re a calculating, cautious, self-conscious pony!”
“It’s Gamzee,” Flutterfree answered for Eve.
“Motherfuckin’ what?” Gamzee chuckled. “Are you callin’ me a bad influence? I mean, yeah, totally, but there ain’t no way I-”
“Cut the act,” Flutterfree said, narrowing her eyes. She spread her wings and summoned Lolo, activating her Rage aura. “I am the Page of Rage. I know exactly what you’re doing.”
Eve saw it in Lolo’s light – the Rage coming off of Gamzee and entering Starbeat’s eyes, coloring them a deep, ominous purple.
Gamzee dropped the laid-back expression and bared his sharp, angular teeth. He slammed his hands so hard on the table it made Eve flinch – but Flutterfree held his gaze. “You, Gamzee Makara, are the Bard of Rage. You cause seemingly random, far-reaching destruction through truth and anger. Your own, that of others; it doesn’t matter. You are a force of destruction and you have corrupted Starbeat.”
“I wouldn’t exactly call it a corruption,” Starbeat commented.
“You know!?” Eve blurted. “He’s in your head, and you’re okay with that?!”
Starbeat smiled warmly at Gamzee. “He gives me the strength to do what needs to be done. Strength I don’t have. What he says is the truth, Flutterfree, and you should know this.”
Flutterfree growled. “He hasn’t lied to you, no. But he has made you angrier.”
“Stronger,” Gamzee said with a gravelly, threatening voice. “I have made her stronger. Wiser. Motherfuckin’ ready to take on the world. HONK.”
“‘Take it on’ seems literal.” Flutterfree narrowed her eyes. “You’ve stirred up the entire Hub using her as a mouthpiece. I want to know why. Is it just because you need destruction? Or do you have some other goal?”
Gamzee smirked. “Because it’s what I motherfuckin’ want to do.”
“Why do you want to do it?”
“Do I need another reason besides my motherfuckin’ feelings?”
“You’re avoiding my questions to keep something from me.”
“Honk. HONK.”
Flutterfree bristled. “...Do you want to see the Hub fall?”
“Why would I want to do that?”
Flutterfree snapped. “STOP ANSWERING MY QUESTIONS WITH QUESTIONS!” She Stared at him.
He yawned. “Was that supposed t’ do somethin’?”
Flutterfree backed off slowly, refusing to take her gaze off the troll. “Eve, there’s nothing we can do here. I can’t force his hand, he knows the way of Rage better than I do. And since I can’t do anything to him, he can play Starbeat like a puppet.”
“I wouldn’t describe our relationship like that…” Starbeat said with a mischievous smirk. “But it works. I get all the stuff done, he provides the power.”
“…I’m going to get you out of here, Starbeat,” Eve said. “I’ll do whatever I can.”
“I don’t need your damn help.”
“You think that. But you’ll thank me later.”
Starbeat huffed. “…Regardless, you haven’t changed my mind. I’m still holding that trial.”
“And we’ll be running defense,” Eve said.
“No you won-”
“The alternative is we fight. I don’t want that. But you should want it even less.”
Starbeat gulped. “…Fair. Pinkie’s Party and Corona will be put on trial.”
“Simultaneously? You’re in a hurry.”
“It has to be done quickly.”
Eve frowned. “...For what it’s worth, I give my word that we will accept the result of a fair trial.”
Starbeat stood up with a curt nod. “You better. Now excuse me, I have to prepare.” She and Gamzee walked out.
Eve shook her head. “Flutterfree… I’ve got everything set up to completely overthrow the government they’ve prepared here. Azula and I have found people whose Rage can be turned against the system. But it won’t be pretty, and I’d rather we didn’t have to do that. So you need to do whatever you can to cancel the Rage in that courtroom, okay?”
Flutterfree nodded. “I’m sure I can do something. ...But what if we still get a guilty verdict?”
“Merodi Universalis death penalty is exceptionaly rare, and… even then, Corona might accept it.” Eve sighed. “I don’t know if I’ll be able to let her make that sacrifice, but that’s just me being selfish.”
Flutterfree put a wing around Eve. “You’ve earned the right to be a little selfish.”
Eve laughed bitterly. “…How can we help Starbeat?”
“Get her away from Gamzee.”
Eve knew what she was implying. “I’d rather not.”
“I’d rather not too. But we might have to. It should be kept as a last resort.”
Eve nodded slowly. Why can’t the fighting just stop with the war?
~~~
Roland of Gilead kicked the door in, revolver ready to plant a bullet into the head of anyone inside.
To his mixed disappointment and relief, there wasn’t a soul inside. However, the lights were on, and a speaker in the ceiling was playing elevator music, so he didn’t let his guard down quite yet. He shuffled in, Aradia and Jenny right behind him.
He briefly wondered why he was the one leading the charge since he had the least abilities at his disposal, but he quickly understood. They looked up with him to respect, not just as a figure of legend, but also as a leader.
They moved past the entry hall into a corridor lined with blank paintings, giving the area a feeling of complex emptiness. He still saw no signs of life, but at this point the elevator music was starting to get to him. Why did they play such repetitive noises in their buildings?
They swept the first floor without incident, finding room after empty room. There was little evidence of anyone having lived in the building, but the music, the lights, and the amount of appliances turned on seemed to contradict this feeling. It was like someone had wanted to confuse whoever entered it.
If that was the case, it was working.
Jenny walked up to a coffee maker. It was warm, but there was no sign of any coffee cups, coffee, or even a filter. She shook her head in disbelief, trying to make sense of it.
They eventually came to the back door and opened it, letting Burgerbelle and Thrackerzod in. “No sign of anyone on the first floor,” Aradia said.
“And it doesn’t make sense,” Jenny added.
“How so?” Thrackerzod asked.
“Just come look for yourself.”
Soon, Thrackerzod was looking at the coffee machine. “…This is decidedly perplexing.”
“No, really?”
“They may have known we were coming. Or perhaps they were trying to burn the place down with a potential fire hazard…”
“Better ways to do that,” Jenny said. “And that doesn’t explain why everything’s so clean.”
“They’re trolling,” Burgerbelle said, twirling her finger. “They knew we’d track them down. I wonder if we’ll even find any copies of the book here.”
Jenny curled her hand into a fist. “This better not have been for nothing…” She marched up the stairs to the second floor and found it much the same as the first. Even the bathroom was unnaturally clean despite the sink’s faucet being on full blast heat. She stuck her finger into the water and found it was warm. “…You know, I don’t even have to look at the plans for this area of the city, but I bet this one has a personal water heater. This water can’t remain warm like this for very long.”
“Trolls…” Aradia said, narrowing her eyes. “They are going through a lot of trouble…”
“Delays,” Roland said, marching up to the third floor. “They’re buying time.”
Jenny clapped her hands together. “Right! Search faster!”
They scrambled up to the third floor, not caring about the heater, the air conditioning, or the TV stuck playing a DVD copy of Star Trek: Wrath of Kahn. Finding nothing, they eventually went to the attic.
The attic was lit by a single bulb. It was almost completely empty, save for a single box filled with booklets. The Emissary and What She Means to You. There was nothing else of interest in the room.
Jenny picked up one of the books and torched it. “Right, that’s not any help. At all. Not even a printing press or anything here.”
Thrackerzod closed her eyes. “I’m not so sure… I’m detecting a magic signature. Faint, but not too faint…”
“Can you follow it?”
“I think the magic was drained from the room so a lot of the details are vague… But I think I recognize the blend. It’s Rev and… someone else. Darker. Significantly darker.”
Jenny pulled out her phone and sent a search query to the City’s computer systems.
|> Last known location of Rev: Icthus Street, three hours ago. Accompanied by Rina. Grid has no further data.
Jenny sent a query to find her.
|> City database requests are limited to maximize available processing.
“Crud, computer can’t find her. Anybody know where Icthus Street is?”
“It’s the street right outside,” Thrackerzod deadpanned.
Roland let out a ‘tch’. “They grabbed her.”
“We should file a report,” Aradia said.
“…But we’re the ones the report would get to eventually,” Jenny pointed out.
“Just file it for the sake of being organized.”
Jenny kicked the box. “Fine. This entire trip has been a waste.”
“We know they have Rev,” Burgerbelle said.
“And we know there are more books,” Roland added, gesturing at the box. “They left one box here. Recently. There are probably more. They have to be somewhere.”
Thrackerzod grinned. “All we have to do is find out where they’re distributing them…”
“But we can’t use the computer to analyze all book sales right now,” Jenny said. “All we’ve got is the record of what’s happened, no extrapolation.”
“They distributed through Dracogen last time,” Aradia said. “We can use your computers to analyze your sales, right?”
Jenny furrowed her brow. “Maybe… Maybe. They might have gotten smart through…”
“I thought you were the only major distributor of anything in the City aside from the government itself?” Burgerbelle asked.
Jenny paused for a moment – then smiled. “You’re right. They’ll have to go through us again. I’ll put everyone on alert. And then we’ll just… wait.” Her smile fell. “…Today is going to be a lot of that, I can tell…”
~~~
Mattie woke up to the sight of the Everykid looking at her with concern.
“Whatever it is, it didn’t kill me, so it’s good,” Mattie said with a chuckle. She glanced to her front left leg and saw it was badly broken. She’d probably landed directly on it and pulverized the bone inside.
Not all that unusual for her, though. She gently pulled her boot off the broken leg and tore it down the middle, converting the sole and the fabric into a makeshift splint. As much as she appreciated the pain she would find it rather annoying if it kept making her fall over.
She naturally held her broken leg to her chest as she stood on her other three. They were heavily bruised, but that was nothing. She looked around, slightly confused to find herself on a moving octagonal platform in the middle of a bunch of other platforms. “…Where’s the ship?”
The Everykid pointed up at a swinging blade. What remained of the Skiff had been skewered and was swinging back and forth with the periodic trap.
“I see… Nettle?” The Everykid didn’t even need to point, Mattie saw Nettle sitting on one of the few unmoving platforms in the area, holding her legs close to her chest. Mattie waved at her. “Nettle! Over here!”
“I. Am not. Moving,” Nettle said.
Mattie sighed. “Right… Gonna have to carry her and jump through all this stuff all with a broken leg. Fun.”
The Everykid nodded.
“…How’d you survive getting ejected out anyway?”
The Everykid double jumped off the platform and fell to a lower one. Just before she landed and crushed both her legs, she opened her Parasol and drifted down gently. She then proceeded to use a complex wall jump maneuver to gain height, latching onto the swinging blade with her grapple shot and swung back to Mattie’s platform.
“Bet this feels like home, huh?”
The Everykid nodded.
“How about you go explore around while I make sure Nettle doesn’t fall off or something?”
The Everykid saluted. She blew a ‘feel better soon’ kiss at Nettle before hooking onto the blade and swinging herself even higher into the platforming labyrinth.
Mattie gracefully hopped across two platforms to get to Nettle. “So… You gonna sit here all day?”
“Yes. Yes I am. And night. I’m not moving.”
“Hope you like starving.”
Nettle responded with a grunt.
“Look, it was just a little ship crash, happens all the time. Nothing to be that worked up over, trust me. You’re completely unharmed.”
“Just let the kid find the way out.”
“Dear, when she finds the way out we still have to get to it.”
Nettle looked away.
“Aw, geez,” Mattie muttered, realizing it fell to her again to try and comfort someone. Sometimes I wish for the good ol’ days where I didn’t give a rat’s arse… “Right, okay, here’s the deal. You, you are great. You are White Nettle, the last Downstreamer. You should be able to do th-”
“Aren’t you psychotic?”
“…I mean, not in a clinical sense but I wouldn’t call that a bad descriptor…”
“Then what are you trying to do? You can’t explain what’s going on! You…”
“I don’t think I was tryin’ to?”
“Just shut up. I don’t want to hear anything right now.”
Mattie blinked. “…Something else is going on here. You’re not just scared for your life. Something’s… going on.”
Nettle made no response.
“Oh come on, this isn’t exactly my strong suit! Give me something to work with here!”
Nettle didn’t give her anything.
“Balls,” Mattie muttered. “I think I need the kid back. HEY! KID! HELP?”
The Everykid was far out of sight, no help there.
Mattie sighed. Then she sat down next to Nettle. “Guess we’ll sit here ‘til we starve then. It’ll make for some good bonding time, don’t’cha think?”
Nettle had apparently decided the silent treatment was the best way to pretend Mattie wasn’t there.
“Y’know, you can’t keep this up forever. I have ways of making people talk.”
Silence.
Mattie smirked. “So, normally, I’d just start describing something particularly ‘squicky’ and erotic in excruciating detail, but that won’t do anything to you so instead, I’m just going to count to ten in time with the sound of my whip.”
Nettle didn’t make eye contact, but Mattie could tell she was confused.
“Starting from negative ten billion.” Mattie let out a crack of the whip. “Negative ten billion…” Crack. “Negative nine billion nine-hundred ninety-nine million, nine-hundred ninety-nine thousand, nine-hundred ninety nine…” Crack. “Negative nine billion nine-hundred ninety-nine million, nine-hundred ninety-nine thousand, nine-hundred ninety eight…”
Nettle showed no signs of giving in. No matter. Mattie could be patient. Very patient.
~~~
Corona released Pinkie from a hug. “Never in my life did I think I would see you, with your eyes back, while both of us were in jail on the Hub.”
“I mean, we could get out at any time,” Pinkie pointed out. She glanced around before whispering into Corona’s ear. “Eve’s got a backup plan too. Coup’s afoot.”
“I really hope it doesn’t come to that,” Corona said, standing up. “...I need to face this, and they need to decide where they stand with me.”
“It’ll come to that no matter what,” Vriska muttered. “Gamzee’s got her in his little trap. He’s gotten really good at the Bardy Shenanigans… We need to keep checking ourselves for Rage influence. Constantly.”
Jotaro furrowed his brow. “Is there a way to remove it?”
“I don’t know. Rage is one of the more directly powerful aspects,” Vriska said, refusing to make eye contact with anyone. “I have little experience with it. I never dealt with a fully-realized Bard of Rage directly, Kurloz is a Prince of Rage and isn’t a good indicator of how Rage works, and Flutterfree used the power in this fashion so rarely we never really needed to remove it.”
“We’ll get her back,” Pidge said, putting a hand on Vriska’s shoulder.
“Yay, and then she’ll fucking hate me for normal reasons,” Vriska muttered.
“She’s coming,” Pinkie said, suddenly. “This conversation didn’t happen. And… let’s let her and Corona have their moment.” Pinkie moved her team to the back of the cell.
Corona stood up and put her hands on the bars. She sighed.
“She’s right. You look sad,” Starbeat said, walking into the room. “Pathetic. Didn’t have the strength after all? I bet you tried to kill yourself to end the pain.”
Corona bit her lip hard, drawing her glowing blood. All to keep from exploding in anger. “He’s really gotten to you.”
“We’re not here to talk about that. You – and that team cowering behind you – are going on trial for your crimes.”
“I know,” Corona said. “I’ll let the trial happen. I do deserve to be judged.”
Starbeat growled. “Clearly an execution won’t suit you. You will have to be tormented.”
Corona smiled sadly. “Your torment wouldn’t compare to what I’ve done to myself.”
“Stop being so prideful.”
Corona sighed. “I should… It is pride, in a way. You’re right.” She looked Starbeat in the eyes. “I’m going to help you.”
“You always think you can help people… But did you ever think that your help might be damaging? Horrible?”
“Yes. Every day of the war.”
Starbeat shook her head. “How?”
Corona shrugged. “I’m… not sure how I managed. Ka, perhaps. All I know is that my motives were pure the entire time.”
“How can you know that!?”
Corona pointed at the Master Sword lying with the rest of her belongings in a pile outside the cell. “…It told me I was worthy. I pulled it out of Toph’s grave.”
“That’s just a stupid artifact!”
“Bound to a woman who, in my last encounter with her, hated my guts.” Corona curled her hands into fists. “I killed her. And the sword still accepted me. That means something.”
“It means nothing! No sword is a judge of justice!”
Jotaro ran to the bars, pushing Corona aside. “Justice!? You talk of Justice!?”
“You think I’m prideful?” Starbeat laughed. “No. I’m only dealing out justice because no one else wants to. Everyone wants to forgive you. All of you. But I’ll show them. You must pay, and you won’t get to make this world your own!”
“You’ve become the antagonist, Starbeat,” Pinkie said from the back of the cell. “You should turn around while you can.”
Starbeat glared at her. “You know I won’t.”
“I know. You’ve been played like a xylophone…” Pinkie shook her head. “I hope you survive this, Starbeat.”
Starbeat blinked. “S-shut up.” She turned and ran out of the jail.
Corona let out a breath. “…She has the legal case, you know. We did things, and we did not receive any punishment for them beyond what we did to ourselves.”
“Merodi Universalis’s legal system has never been about eye-for-an-eye,” Pidge pointed out.
“This isn’t Merodi Universalis’s legal system, anymore. And… in that case, I think that’s a good thing.”
“...Do you want to be punished, or something?” Pidge asked.
No answer was forthcoming.
~~~
“Got something!” Jenny said, looking at her phone. “4219 Red Stree-” Her face fell. “…Headquarters!?”
“You don’t keep a very tight hold on your business, do you?” Thrackerzod asked.
Jenny ignored her. “Th-that’s impossible! Headquarters doesn’t handle any sort of distributing!”
“Sounds like a perfect cover to me.”
“And they’d have to have someone working on the inside! I…” Jenny crushed her phone in her hands. “I’ve got a traitor.”
“Oh, fun!” Aradia said. “So, are we going to go teach them a lesson, follow them, or-”
Jenny snapped her fingers, teleporting them to the front doors of Dracogen Headquarters. The building had been hastily slapped together in the early days of the City, but it still managed to look vaguely like the original at the base of the Ninth World’s Beanstalk. Which was to say, a mish-mash of unusual technology built around a central amber pole.
Jenny stormed in, kicking the revolving doors just so they would let her in faster.
“Looks like she chose ‘teach them a lesson’,” Roland said, adjusting his hat before following her, the others close behind.
There was no receptionist for Headquarters, just a security guard who knew better than to ask Jenny for credentials when she was like this. She marched right through the back wall and came out in an empty conference room. She took a hard left and entered the adjoining break room where a thin purple Gem was making herself some coffee.
“Starshine, my computers tell me there’s some distributing going on here. You wouldn’t happen to know anything about that?” She rammed her face into Starshine’s. “Do you!?”
“Uh… J-Jenny, I don’t know anything about that! We don’t do distributing here!”
“I know that,” Jenny growled. “So how do you explain this!?”
Starshine examined Jenny’s phone. “…You broke your phone?”
Aradia snickered.
“Aradia, I swear…” Jenny shook her head. “Point is, our algorithms detected a particular problematic book of misinformation passing through this building, probably in an attempt to keep it under our radar. As the secretary, you should have seen signs of that.”
“I… I haven’t seen anything like that!”
Her legs lit on fire. “AUGH!”
Jenny blinked. “I… what?”
Burgerbelle shrugged. “Liar liar.” She kicked open a cupboard and revealed stacks of the booklet inside instead of coffee cups. The fire went out a second later, unable to do more than scare a Gem.
“I can explain…”
“Yes you can,” Jenny said, a malicious smile creeping up her face. “But first…” She empowered her fist with vibrating energy and socked Starshine right in the face, stopping just short of poofing the Gem.
Starshine backed herself up against a wall, nervously looking left and right. “Look, it isn’t against company policy to do things off the record for extra cash…”
“Jenny…” Aradia said, raising an eyebrow.
“Shut up, Nanoha needed that loophole for government work,” Jenny defended. “I just kept it around in the interests of being fair.”
“Jenny…”
“Okay, fine, it was probably stupid and I bet the next few hours are going to make me profoundly regret the decision. But let’s deal with the here and now.” She glared at Starshine. “Who gave you the books and where can I find them?”
She gulped. “It was… the Fire Lily. She’s currently in the basement… Probably can hear all of this…”
Thrackerzod blinked. “You have a Flower in the basement!?”
Starshine nodded slowly.
“There aren’t any Flowers in the City!” Jenny shouted. “You should have known that!”
“…She had a lot of money, resources, and technology…”
Jenny twitched. “Why does this all go wrong today? Over a century, everything went smoothly…”
“It’s finally time for you to learn,” Roland said.
“That’s stupid, it’s all stupid.”
Of course it is, to those who do not comprehend the Tower’s will.
Roland drew his gun and aimed it at the hovering orange Flower in the doorway.
There is no need for that, gunslinger. Killing me with a bullet of purpose will do naught. The information you seek will die with me.
Jenny cracked her knuckles. “We’ll torture you until it comes out.”
I have no intention of telling you anything. I am simply here to defuse the situation.
Jenny tapped into her rarely-used psychic powers and tried to raid Fire Lily’s mind. This was a poor and ill-advised move that made Jenny pass out.
The foolish shall shame the wise indeed. Such a childish individual gifted with the opportunity for power. Just the right mixture of scatterbrained and earnest to keep from true evil… but never truly a paragon.
“Thrackerzod, call the fleet,” Aradia said. “I think we’ll need my sisters for this one.”
A waste of time.
“…Like time’s an issue to them,” Thrackerzod muttered, taking out her phone. “Yeah, this is Thrackerzod, tell all the Aradias you can to get to Dracogen Headquarters as soon as possible.”
It took less than a minute for over two hundred Aradias to fill the building.
…I have to admit, I did not foresee you going for such a simple option.
“Has your faith fallen short?” Roland asked.
No. This is no glitch. I am to be given a trial. I shall meet it wi-
“Get her!” the ‘main’ Aradia shouted, tackling the Flower to the ground. They didn’t use any psychic powers at all – they just piled on top of her.
What?
“This’ll be over in no time,” several of them said at once. Fire Lily tried to fight back, but it was already too late – they tore off all her petals and snapped her stem in half before her psychic energies could do much. Then, within extremely slowed time, they forced their mental powers into her startled, broken, nearly dead mind. In such panicked state, her normally impenetrable defenses fell to the power of the Aradias, allowing them to grab what they needed with ease.
They would not have allowed themselves to actually kill the Flower, though, so they physically fused the being’s soul to one of her petals, essentially enchanting the piece of her old body. One of the Aradias took the petal in her hand and vanished. Almost all the others left to return to what they were doing prior.
Only the original Aradia remained. “She wrote the book herself based on information received from one Bonker. A Scout working in Nanoha’s Tower.”
Thrackerzod performed a search. “…He’s a security guard. The exact details are classified, give me a second…” She blinked. “I don’t have clearance.”
Roland swiped her phone. He took a moment to remember his security code and pressed it in. He grimaced when he saw the answer.
“One of Flagg’s guards…”
~~~
I ran my wing across a nearby circular platform, overriding Roxy’s Void powers with my own so I could feel it. “I should know what this is… I’m almost positive it’s being kept from me on purpose.”
“How’s it feel to be normal?” Daniel asked.
I glared up at him. “It’s not normal. …Do you see yourself becoming bitter?”
“I’m alive and I shouldn’t be. Can you really blame me?”
“No, but you’re still you, you haven’t Come Back Wrong or anything. You still have control over yourself even if it hurts.”
Daniel’s steeled exterior fell. “…Do we really have control, Twilence?”
“I think so,” Roxy said from up ahead.
“But the Tower…”
“Is a paradox,” Roxy finished for him, putting her hands on her hips. “It defines us, we define it. We are both what the philosophers would call ‘contingent beings’. We create each other.”
“…I wasn’t aware you knew philosophy,” Sunny commented.
Roxy shrugged. “I’m a hopeless combination of party girl, master rogue, mad scientist, Gem, and book geek.” She shrugged. “I read a lot of stuff.”
Daniel smiled softly. “Following in your mother’s footsteps?”
Roxy pressed her fingers together and chuckled. “I haven’t gotten anything published yet! Got a lot of rejections, and I wasn’t allowed to make a name for myself after I took the Intelligence Division job. But maybe when all this is over…”
“You should definitely follow your dream,” I said. “So many of us get caught up in the antics of existence…” I shook my head.
“What are you going to do when this is over?”
I looked down at the Eye of Rhyme. “When I finally lose this thing… I’d make a good literature professor, scientist, magician, but I think I’m done with all those sorts of things. I think… a counselor. I haven’t been as close to friendship as I would like.”
“I’m going to map this whole universe,” Sunny said, smirking. “Every. Last. Corner.”
“Without FTL that could take centuries or more,” I pointed out.
“So? I can take breaks. We’re immortal, we can take however long we want.”
Roxy smirked. “I’m going to be an inventor-author combo! Yes!”
“Not going to throw in a bit of party girl?”
“The inventions will be party-related. I shall get an army of Pinkies.”
There was a chorus of laughs. But then we realized one person wasn’t laughing – Daniel. He was just sitting there, dejected.
“Hey, hey…” Roxy said, putting a gentle hand on his shoulder.
“You… don’t have to try to comfort me. There’s nothing for me to plan for. I just…” He looked away, afraid to speak.
“Daniel, I…” I didn’t get to finish because the Everykid dropped right in the middle of our little group. She pointed frantically to the left and downward.
“…You crashed into our ship!” Roxy realized.
The Everykid nodded vigorously – then she pointed again.
I spread my wings. “She was probably from the ship. The rest of them must be down there. Prepare for some teleports…”
I got us there in five jumps. I quickly identified Mattie and… White Nettle.
And suddenly I understood. “By the bricks of the Tower, I-”
Mattie stopped herself at a ‘nine’ and shushed me. “Darling, wait a minute before you start spouting that epiphany of yours. I need to have a word with someone. Ahem. Daniel.”
Daniel found it hard to look at her. “…What?”
“Looks like I’m the one who has to tell you this because everyone else is too soft in the head. Sissies, the lot of you. Daniel, it is completely fine to be looking forward to the end. You can admit it. They may not agree with you, but at this point if they don’t understand they deserve a good whipping.”
Roxy turned to Daniel. “…You just want it to be over?”
“It… It can’t be over, not yet,” Daniel said, grimacing. “But… when it is… I won’t fight it. I’m… I’m sorry.” He hung his head, a tear running down his face. “I… I was supposed to be gone. I was ready. When she left, I was supposed to go…” His features turned to rage. “And something’s keeping me here!”
Roxy’s expression softened. “…I understand. As much as you may think I can’t, I… I do understand.” She put a hand on his shoulder. “I… When John…”
Daniel sagged. “…But you aren’t wasting away.”
“…No.”
“Then I am sorry, you don’t understand. There is something… else. I don’t know how to describe it.” He paused. “…Thank you.”
I noticed White Nettle staring at us with a confused expression. She couldn’t understand. She had no idea what was going on.
I smiled softly at her. “It’s okay. …Well, no, it’s not okay, but there’s nothing you need to worry about here.” I landed next to her and folded my wings up neatly. “You know what this place is.”
She twitched. “No, no I don’t, no, get away.”
“This is a Downstreamer creation,” I answered for her. “One of the last they created. Part of their mission to achieve Infinity. A prototype.”
“No… No, I’m not here!”
“Yes, you’re here, Nettle. This place… it’s for you. The rest of us are just here because we needed somewhere to be. But you… you’re here because you have to be. You were sent here, weren’t you?”
“I don’t want it!” Nettle wailed.
“…Why not?” Mattie asked. “It might give you your powers back.”
“…And what else would it do to me?” Nettle asked. “I… I have something now, something I didn’t have before. I don’t know where it’s going and I don’t know what it can give me, but…”
I laid a wing on her. “…I can get you help. If it changes you, there are ways to bring you back if you lose yourself. I promise to do everything in my power to help you if that happens. In fact…” I brought out my notebook and tore out a page. “Let’s cement it in the winds of ka itself. As a Prophet, I can create what is known as a Contract. A deal that cannot be broken. It is an absolute.”
“…There’s… no chance you’ll fail?”
“Not even death can prevent a true Contract from being left unfulfilled. There are… often unintended consequences of a very drastic nature, but I’m willing to risk that for you since you need it.” I signed the paper myself. “Just take this… and open yourself up to the world around you.”
Nettle shakily held the Contract in her hand. Wordlessly, she took a pen from me and scribbled some lines at the bottom. I rolled it up and placed it in one of my pocket dimensions. Already, I felt the familiar sense of a chain around my heart.
…If I was correct, this Contract would stay locked around my soul until the day the Tower fell. Nettle would not be able to feel it, but I would. A constant limitation…
But I knew what Nettle was about to do would be more important than my comfort.
She took a breath – still afraid, but with enough confidence to extend a hand. The moment she opened herself to the Downstreamer technology around her, it affixed itself to her. Every platform in sight began to rotate around her in a complex pattern of circles.
Her arm started burning. She screamed.
~~~
Starbeat organized the trial quickly. It was held in the same hall that had tried the Gem Vein oh so long ago, but this time there was no tribunal in the middle of the stage. There was simply a Prosecution table and a Defense table. There was no judge – instead, there was a computer in the center. This computer had been one of the most interesting and effective additions to the Merodi Legal System. It was able to sense the surface thoughts and emotions of everyone involved in the case, allowing it not only to find a guilty/not guilty verdict, but also determine how guilty or not guilty they were, allowing for proper scaling of punishments according to the overall ‘jury’ of those watching. It removed the need for a judge or tribunal, and the only bias it would have would be that of the people as a whole.
Since it had been running trials almost without a defense at all for the last few weeks, it had never produced a truly not guilty result. It hadn’t demanded many executions though – such a verdict was placed as a truly last resort for the most guilty of the guilty, such as Phage and Rosalina. Most often it just sentenced jail time, animated suspension, removal of any powers, or occasionally something more creative.
All Eve had to do was play against it in the case, and that meant winning over the crowd enough to keep it from declaring an execution. She doubted she could get a ‘not guilty’ for Corona, but for Pinkie’s group… maybe. It depended on how well her plans worked.
She looked to the Prosecution table. Starbeat was there – but Gamzee was missing. If all was going according to plan, Flutterfree would be keeping Gamzee busy, so his Rage powers wouldn’t interfere with the trial.
Starbeat clearly suspected something. But the trial was about to start, and she had no time to question Eve. If she delayed the trial to find Gamzee, Eve would contest and bring his Rage abilities to the light, which would likely destroy the trial’s authority. So she was just going to have to deal.
The computer beeped. “THE TRIAL SHALL BEGIN: THE PEOPLE VERSUS CORONA SHIMMER, PINKIE PIE, JOTARO KUJO, PIDGE HOLT, AND VRISKA SERKET. EACH ARE TO BE JUDGED SEPARATELY BUT FOR ALL THE CRIMES ARE SIMILAR. CRIMES AGAINST THE MULTIVERSE: SPECIFICALLY ORCHESTRATING THE COLLAPSE. PROSECUTION, STATE YOUR CASE.”
Starbeat glanced at the empty seat next to her and bristled. She forced her expression into a flat, reasonable one. “Citizens of the Hub, today we have with us the worst of the worst. Before us today is Corona Shimmer, the person who began the War for Existence with a wish, and then proceeded to become the leader of all efforts to collapse the multiverse. She succeeded, and she survived the Dusting she brought upon all of us. She is, by far the worst person we have ever had stand at this podium. This should be an open and shut case where the worst possible punishment the computer can come up with will be exacted upon her.
“However, for the sake of the system, I will list everything she has done to deserve this. Aside from making the wish that started the war, she betrayed Merodi Universalis to do so, she organized the entire collapse army to kill trillions upon trillions of people, she personally killed one of our own Overheads in cold blood, she destroyed many universes with her personal magic, and has given no indication she regrets any of those choices. She is the reason, the source for all our suffering, and instead of being given what she deserved; she has been shown kindness and forgiveness. This cannot stand.
“As for Pinkie’s team, much of the same could be said of them. They did not cause the War for Existence, and they did not organize the death of so many, but they were still traitors to Merodi Universalis. They moved from being the Primary Exploration Team to the collapse’s Primary Strike Force. They were given great weapons, destroyed many ships, and became names that were feared on the battlefield. Pinkie’s Awareness has been shown time and time again to be a source of violent breakouts. Jotaro has brutally killed many just by waving the hands of his Stand. Pidge programmed weapons of war for the collapse movement, including the infamous Final Dawn. And Vriska… her list of crimes knows no end. Cruelty. Maliciousness. Apathy to genocide. A complete disregard for those around her. Hatred.”
Starbeat had to catch her breath. “I believe there is no need to even think about the defense. There is nothing they can do to make up for the damage they’ve caused. They must pay the price. But Overhead Evening Sparkle thinks otherwise, so out of respect for what she’s done for our cause, I shall let her have her say.”
“Thank you,” Eve said, turning to the computer for confirmation.
“DEFENSE, YOU MAY BEGIN.”
Eve cleared her throat. “First off, I want it known that I am not claiming they didn’t do any of the acts Starbeat described. They did them, and they did them under their own wills for the most part. Pinkie’s team largely went only because of their loyalty to Pinkie, but that does little to excuse what they did. I agree, it was horrible, and the goal they were seeking was not worth the price.
“No, I’m not asking you to forget what they did. I’m not even asking you to forgive them, like I have. What I’m asking you to do is to realize that they’re people just like you and me – and that they don’t deserve to be brutally murdered. They are not evil villains of pure darkness who cannot be reasoned with or understood. They are people of pure heart who fought for what they believed was right, just like we did. Had the war gone differently, no doubt we would be on the stage right now, being judged for our war crimes. Things we did because of pure intentions.
“Every single thing Corona did, I did as well. You claim that I didn’t start the War for Existence – but I did, in a way. I had the opportunity to stop Corona from making that wish. But I let her do it, because I thought she was right at the time. Right that no single person had the right to decide the fate of the multiverse. I now realize that, even together, we did not have the right to decide, but that changes nothing about my decision. Even now… I would rather all of us fought over this than have Corona try to do it in secret. It would have been much worse.
“You also claim I have never betrayed Merodi Universalis.” She looked Starbeat right in the eyes. “This is incorrect. I orchestrated the war against Skarn over a lie.”
Everyone gasped.
“I believed I was doing right, that I was sacrificing people for the greater good of destroying Skarn’s Congeries. And yet, after this betrayal, I was still your leader – and I moved on to lead our Relations through our Class 2 era, and Merodi Universalis is better off because of it. I regret my choice to go to war, because I was not ready to sacrifice my friends. But it seems to have been the right decision. In the same vein, Corona saw what was right – and believed she needed to sacrifice so many to accomplish the goal of ending the Tower’s hold on us. Even if you don’t agree with her, you can see why.
“Pinkie, in many ways, is something none of us can understand fully. She sees what ka and the Tower means, how it works, what it does to us. She has lived her entire life with the knowledge that we are being watched, that we are pixels on a screen, words on a page. When she realized this might not be a fact of life she just had to accept, she decided to fight it. The others, who had served with her for over seventy years, followed their Captain because they trusted her. Flutterfree would have joined them as well had Pinkie not ordered her to stay back.
“Seventy years… Think about that. All the people being put on trial before you have given an entire lifetime to the people around them. Their ‘crimes’ in the War for Existence lasted less than a year. A single percent of their lives dealt with what you are trying them for. Before that, they did so, so many things for us! Corona gave us non-magical dimensional devices! She gave us complex dimensional magic! And, above all, she declared war on death itself and won. The immortality serum has the potential to save more lives than anything that came before it, and you want to kill her and throw it away. Even if she needs to be punished, from a practical standpoint, you should want her around.
“And Pinkie’s team… I’m willing to bet most of you know the story of when the Primary Team first visited your world. There are not many major Merodi Worlds that weren’t touched by these great heroes. Did they seek to conquer you? To force their way of life on you? To kill anyone? No! They always sought the peaceful answer, the heroic way, the peaceful way. They devoted themselves to the people they visited, seeking to understand, to learn, and to make friends. Even in the war, they did this! They worked with the other side when they had to against the Nihilists, they used capture devices whenever possible to minimize pointless death, and they never resorted to brutal gruesome tactics. The rules of war were never broken between the two sides because of people like them.
“These people you are trying are not villains. They are heroes. I have known many of them most of my life, and I can attest that they still have pure hearts within them. Sure, they have flaws – Corona’s obsessively determined, Pinkie’s too excitable, Pidge can get too fixated, Jotaro’s too reserved, and Vriska’s got a huge list of problems. But they’re good people and they never stopped being good people. They stand before you now asking for your mercy. That you remember them for what they used to mean to you: heroes. Heroes who would, and still will, lay down their lives for you. Give you mercy.”
Eve folded up her wings and sat back down, a grin on her face. Something about giving one of those speeches and being able to hear it naturally had given her an emotional high.
“PROSECUTION, ANY RETORTS?”
Starbeat twitched. “A few. Heroes wouldn’t want the destruction of so many lives.”
Eve shook her head. “People can be very, very wrong and still be heroes. Now that the war is over, they can be heroes to this New World. If you kill them… you will be robbing this world of a gift. They will not be able to continue bringing peace.”
“They brought war.”
“A war that wasn’t as bad as it could have been.”
Starbeat sighed. “…We’ll just go back and forth forever like this. Even if they are heroes, they still need to be punished for what they did.”
“Regardless of any past selflessness?”
“What they did undoes all of that.”
“Then perhaps they have already paid their dues? And if not, letting them go free and continue to be heroes could make up the rest?”
Starbeat bristled. “That’s too lenient and you know it.”
“I don’t think so.”
Starbeat paused. “…We’re getting nowhere. I don’t have any evidence besides what everyone already knows. You?”
“I already used it in my opening statements.”
“In that case…”
“HAS THE TRIAL CONCLUDED?” the computer asked.
Eve and Starbeat nodded.
“AVERAGING OUT OPINIONS…” For a few seconds, there was complete silence. “A VERDICT HAS BEEN REACHED.”
“What is it?” Starbeat asked.
“SCALING PUNISHMENTS. CORONA RECEIVES ETERNITY IN PRISON MIXED WITH COMMUNITY SERVICE PRODUCING IMMORTALITY POTIONS AND WHATEVER OTHER TASKS THE GOVERNMENT SEES FIT THROUGH HER SKILLSET. A TRACKER WILL BE ON HER AT ALL TIMES AND SHE WILL BE CAREFULLY MONITORED.”
Starbeat seemed annoyed at first – but then her expression became satisfied, as if she had just realized something. She was the government…
Corona was just surprised she wasn’t being executed.
“PINKIE PIE AND HER TEAM ARE TO PAY THEIR TIME THROUGH HEROIC ACTS IN DANGEROUS SITUATIONS WITHIN THE EXPEDITIONS DIVISION.”
“WHAT!?” Starbeat screeched, her voice carrying through the hall. “THAT’S NOT A PUNISHMENT! YOU’RE JUST GIVING THEM THEIR JOB BACK!”
“IT IS THE WILL OF THE PEOPLE,” the computer said. “IF YOU WISH TO CONTEST THE CHARGE, COURT MAY BE RESCHEDULED AT A LATER DATE.”
“I don’t want to reschedule!” Starbeat shouted. “I w-”
“You’re arguing with a soulless machine,” Eve pointed out. “It completed its verdict. You can have Corona imprisoned for eternity; everyone else is free to go save the world. Which is what they were going to do anyway before you took them.”
“You… bitch! You rigged this!”
Eve shook her head. “I removed the rigging you had in place.”
“I’ll have your head if you did anything to Gamzee!”
“Flutterfree wouldn’t hurt a fly unless she had to,” Eve pointed out. “All the manipulation is gone. All we have to do i-”
The front doors of the auditorium smashed open, revealing Storm leading two dozen angry Hub civilians.
Eve didn’t need to think very hard to know the civilians behind him were full of Rage. So full that they wouldn’t be able to accept this verdict…
Storm pointed at Pinkie. “Kill her.”
Eve raised a forcefield, deflecting the gunfire – but Starbeat rammed into her, dissipating the shield. Pinkie slipped out of her restraints and removed the cuffs on Corona, allowing the Princess of Passion to raise a shield instead. The entire hall erupted into violent chaos. Not only were Corona, Eve, and Pinkie’s Party fighting for their lives – but the people who had been convinced of their heroism and had the rage purged in the trial were fighting their neighbors.
What had once been a united Rage against the collapse had turned into a horrid, internal Rage of division within the Hub.
A Civil War had begun because Eve had taken the person who directed the Rage out of the picture.
All the plans she had for a coup were completely unnecessary in the face of this pure chaos.
~~~
Flagg was held in the most secure area of the entire City. A mile beneath the ground directly under Nanoha’s skyscraper was a room with no physical entrances or exits. The area was completely drained of magic, though the proximity to the Tower ensured this measure was never perfectly reliable. So the walls were made of triple-reinforced metal crafted out of numerous legendary metals, surrounded by several force fields, and always guarded by a hundred unmanned mechs enchanted to swim through earth like water.
Every square inch of his room was lined with microscopic cameras that recorded his every movement. Every single blink was recorded, as well as the patterns of his sweat. Nothing would escape the cameras.
Despite this setup, he received visitors constantly. Never physically in the room, of course, but through a voice-only communication line run through several filters to ensure he could never use his signature voice commands on the other end. Only the highest ranking leaders could talk to him, and while they all hated him, they all agreed that Flagg could be an invaluable source of information. They couldn’t afford not to hear what he had to say.
When he didn’t have a ‘visitor’, he always had three different guards watching him through the cameras. There were only six total guards granted clearance to watch him and report any thoroughly suspicious behavior. One of these guards was Bonker, a scout on loan from Saxton Hale renowned for his loyalty, devotion, and above-average intelligence.
He was taken into custody before Jenny woke up on Thrackerzod’s back. “Wh… what happened?”
“Flagg happened,” Thrackerzod muttered. “One of his guards is responsible for the whole fiasco. We’re going to see the man in black himself to demand some answers right now.”
“…Geez, this escalated even quicker than I thought.” She rubbed her head. “Wonder how many memories were scrambled because of that…?”
“Do you know who I am?” Roland asked.
Jenny stared at him blankly.
He turned away, grunting. “Amusing.”
Jenny broke out into a grin. “I can never pull a fast one on you.” She hopped off Thrackerzod and onto her feet. “So, Flagg. This should be fun.”
They walked into the high-security room covered in screens. There were three chairs all occupied by different guards. None of them looked away from the screens to greet the newcomers.
These guards took their jobs seriously.
“Let him hear us,” Roland ordered.
One of the guards pressed a button.
“Walter,” Roland said.
“Still using that name, Roland?” Flagg asked, chuckling. Since every camera in the room was picking up and transmitting audio, it gave Flagg’s voice a disturbing, layered sound. “I’ve grown so much beyond that now…”
“Clearly. Since you’re able to sow discord even from within a cage.”
“What did I do this time?” Flagg asked with a laugh.
“Spreading lies about the Emissary.”
“Her name’s Renee, you know. She refers to herself as such. You really should be more respectful of people’s choice in names, gunslinger.”
“Stop beating around the bush, we know it was you,” Jenny said, folding her arms. “How’d you convince Bonker to give Tiger Lily that information?”
“Oh, his name is Bonker, is it? Strange, I never knew. They don’t tell you their names in here. Not even if you ask.” He chuckled. “But you know what? I’m feeling generous. I’ll tell you exactly how I did it. It all started with a simple mistake. Nanoha decided to pay me a visit when the guards shifted. I kept that time locked in my mind until I was able to listen to another shift of guards during a ‘visit’. They switch every six hours. The guards can’t review the feed without request, so any guard from the even shift wouldn’t know anything that happened from the odd shift. So I could spout all the lies I wanted during one of the shifts about what happened during the other shift. About my visitors. About Renee.”
“So what, you just kept spouting lies and people believed it?” Aradia asked.
“It’s not quite so simple! I had to make it sound in-character so no one would be suspicious! So I started a trend of talking to myself – or, really, to the guards – specifically complaining about the people who visited me. All the absurd things they said. And I was very truthful in everything I said about every visitor – except Renee. Of course, when she did visit, I complained about her as I did everyone else, but I always added a few things. A little hint of ‘she thinks she’s got it all under control’ here and a sprinkle of ‘she wants to save them all’ there, and I could basically start a religion through a set of ears willing to listen.” He grinned. “I think you’ll find after interrogation that ‘Bonker’ had a history in a Dark Tower cult. My bet would be one that considers the spirograph a sacred symbol.”
“How could you know that?” Thrackerzod demanded.
Flagg chuckled. “Simple, really. I had made it a habit to test the guards while the voice channel was open. Say controversial things. I could hear changes in their breathing patterns. And the one day I brought the spirograph up in relation to the Dark Tower… He reacted. I knew I had my target. I knew he would listen to everything I had to say.” He clapped his hands together. “He would cart it off and want to tell the world. Discreetly, of course, so as to not jeopardize his ‘blessing’ of being oh so close to his beloved ‘Tower will’.”
“Well, the book is out, but we’re confiscating it,” Jenny said, smirking. “Your little plan won’t go anywhere.”
“Aren’t Rev and Rina missing?”
Everyone stopped short.
“It’s amazing what a few name drops in the middle of a sentence can do… Sounds like mad rambling to two guards, but to the third it sounds like divine gospel of their importance, of their use. Just call them ‘tools of the new way’ and he’ll eat it up like a dog.” Flagg leaned back and grinned. “My plan hasn’t completed yet, and since you’re here you’re way too late to stop it. Have a nice day!” He closed his eyes, indicating he was done talking.
The group ran out of the room as fast as they could. Aradia held up her phone, but she had to wait until they were completely off the floor to get any service. “Nanoha? We need to use Nala. Flagg’s got a plan and it involves Rev and Rina – find them.”
A few seconds passed.
“You found them?! That’s impossibly fast! Where? …Town square?”
“Hide in plain sight…” Burgerbelle mused.
“They’re not hiding anymore,” Roland deduced.
~~~
From the outside, the Downstreamer structure looked like an elongated onion that rose high into the sky with a few stray platforms swirling around its exterior.
Somewhere in the middle of the structure there was a great explosion. Half a second later, there was another explosion. A fourth of a second later, there was yet another. Then an eighth, sixteenth, thirty-second…
I was glad I had teleported all of us but Nettle away, because having that many explosions in such a short span of time would have been far too much for any of us to handle. As it was, even with our distance the shockwave was a bit much.
In two seconds, all the explosions anyone could ever want had completed, completely vaporizing the building from existence. All that remained was White Nettle herself, floating in the middle of the air.
“What in…?” Sunny said, trying her best to figure out what had happened.
White Nettle stopped floating, falling to the ground. I teleported us to her and Roxy caught her.
She looked the same as she had a few minutes ago – with the exception of a smooth, metallic gauntlet embedded in the skin of her right arm.
She opened her eyes. “Wh…”
“Do you feel… normal?” I asked.
She closed her eyes tight and grunted. “Brain feels fine. …My arm hurts though.”
“Well yeah, it has something on it,” Mattie said, looking at the arm. “What is it?”
Nettle held her limb up and examined it. Her eyes widened. “This… This is a supertask device.”
“…Explain?” Sunny asked.
“I’d been looking for this when I still had my multiversal body, but I couldn’t find it… It is a machine that tries to complete an infinite amount of tasks in a finite amount of time, layering them over each other through a mathematical pattern, usually by halves. It… it was supposed to be the thing that gave Downstreamers their Infinity, but they discovered that whenever it was used it would hit the maximum resolution of a universe. It would always get as close to Infinity as possible, but then it would either stop or destroy the universe it was in.”
Roxy’s eyes widened. “Twilence… Do you think this could stop Lord English?”
“As close to infinity as possible…” I furrowed my brow. “Unconditional Immortality must have a limit as well, and if this device can always reach the limit of any universe… That… That might be able to do it. If we could program it to kill him…”
“Excuse me, what now? Lord English?” Mattie blinked. “Did we miss something?”
I nodded. “Yes, you did. I’ll explain later, because right now we need to find out where he is a-” A lightbulb went off in my head. “…Of course! how could I be so stupid!”
“What?” Nettle asked.
“The city – the city in 115, the one you are in Nettle! It was around the Dark Tower! It… He should be heading there! Right to the Tower itself! We just have to get there and we’ll find him!”
“Slow down!” Roxy shouted, waving her hands. “You’re talking a mile-a-minute! How about you explain slowly what we’re going to do?”
I looked at the Eye and nodded slowly. “Right. I will. But first, I’m making sure we’re off screen…”
~~~
Gamzee woke up screaming. “HONK! HONK! HONK! HONK!”
Flutterfree tightened the steel wires around his chair just to be sure. They were in the back room of Iroh’s teashop, a soundproofed, secure location provided by Azula. “Calm down. You’ll hurt yourself if you struggle too much.”
“You MOTHERFUCKIN’ bitch think this can HOLD ME!?!?”
“If it can’t, I can,” Flutterfree said, tracing one of her wing-blades along his arm. “I’m not just the Page of Rage. I have more to work with than you do.” She flashed her fangs.
“HONK! Honk. HONK! Honk.”
Flutterfree ignored the honking and fixed her attention on her phone, which was receiving a transmission of the trial. She watched with bated breath – praying intensely that nobody would die.
She was relieved when Corona’s sentence came. It was bad, but at least she got to live. And when Pinkie’s Party was given freedom… She let out a laugh. “Thank you…”
“You’re a MOTHERFUCKIN’ IDIOT!”
Flutterfree looked to him with a sly smirk. “Why? Without you there, she was able to appeal to their inner nature. What they used to be before you came along.”
“The Rage IS STILL MOTHERFUCKIN’ THERE!” he let out a laugh. “It has to go somewhere…”
It was at this point Flutterfree started hearing explosions. She heard Storm yell “kill them!” and the feed went dead.
Azula rushed into the back room. “Fighting has broken out everywhere! I’ve lost contact with Eve!”
“Mobilize our people, get them to quell the fighting,” Flutterfree said. “…I was hoping we wouldn’t have to take over…”
Azula nodded, running out of the room and making some calls.
“You won’t be able to stop it…” Gamzee breathed. “THE RAGE WILL DESTROY THIS ENTIRE MOTHERFUCKIN’ PLACE!”
“Is that what you wanted!?” Flutterfree demanded. “To destroy this place!?”
“I wanted… SOME MOTHERFUCKIN’ RESPECT! But you came along… AND RUINED THAT!” He strained against the steel wires keeping him to the chair. “I was going to be the mirthful messiah to these people… THEIR RAGE WOULD BECOME THEIR MOTHERFUCKIN’ LIFE! We would have been the true fulfillment… BUT PROPHECIES JUST AIN’T WHAT THEY USED TO BE!”
The steel wires snapped from Gamzee’s rage. Flutterfree caught the whipping wires in her blades without flinching. “So it was just a god complex? No master this time?”
“THEY WERE ALWAYS ME AND MOTHERFUCKIN’ ME!” Gamzee shouted, getting out of his chair with so much force he crushed the chair. “Caiborn ain’t English no more… And neither am I…”
“You really do want to make this New World your own.”
“MOTHERFUCKIN’ BRILLIANT.”
Flutterfree spread her wings and summoned Lolo. “I can’t let you.”
“What a motherfuckin’ shame… HONK!” He produced a bow from nowhere and let an arrow fly. Flutterfree fired her bow of light at the same time. The holy arrow easily pierced Gamzee’s simple projectile and hit him in the chest, right where his heart should have been.
That attack should have killed most trolls – and if not that, at least slowed them down. But Gamzee was not most trolls. As purple blood poured out of his wound, he let out an amused psychotic ‘HONK!’ and charged Flutterfree as if nothing had happened.
Flutterfree drove all her wing-blades into Gamzee. He let every last one of them pierce his chest, spurting deep purple liquid over the two of them. He licked it off his face. “Nice hit…” He raised a juggling club and hit her across the face. “BUT I AIN’T MOTHERFUCKIN’ DONE!”
“Didn’t expect you to be,” Flutterfree growled. She flew into the air and infused her hoof with Rage, kicking him through the wall. He grabbed a large piece of rubble and chucked it at her, only for her to fly around it. She let a few more arrows of light fly from her bow, hitting Gamzee in multiple locations. He still did not slow, the Rage within him giving his body more life than it should have had.
Flutterfree activated Lolo – and she saw the truth. He wasn’t unkillable, just heavily resistant to it.
Which meant she could go a little further than she usually did.
She swooped down along the ground, preparing to chop off his foot. Sensing she had decided to be more brutal, Gamzee bothered to dodge the attack, leaping through the streets of the Hub. Behind him, Hub citizens fought each other, nothing more than a background to the battle of Rage.
Flutterfree could have used her abilities as the Page to stop the fighting around them. But that would have taken her focus off Gamzee, and as strong as she was, she couldn’t afford to take a heavy hit from him. The battle may have been balanced, but it was not even.
Flutterfree forced her breathing to level out before swooping for another attack. Gamzee threw some juggling clubs her way, but she maneuvered through them all, getting a few cuts in on his stomach.
“You’re living a lie… FIGHT WITH THE RAGE!” He leaped at her; teeth ready to tear her flesh apart.
Flutterfree looked at him with a calm expression. “I prefer the truth without the pain.” She stuck one of her wing-blades in his mouth and through his throat. She twirled herself around and infused as much Rage as she could muster into him. She threw him to the side like a discus, blasting through several dozen walls. Before he even landed, she had a follow-up planned, firing arrows of light in his direction.
What she failed to account for was where he’d end up.
Right in the middle of the trial auditorium.
“…Sassafras,” she swore, swooping in. “Sorry, I forgot to look where I was throwing him!”
“YOU DUMB MOTHERFUCKIN’ BITCH!” Gamzee shouted. “I’ve got you now… ALL THE RAGE IN THIS ROOM IS MINE!” He spread his arms wide.
“NO IT’S NOT!” Flutterfree shouted, supercharging herself as a beacon of purple light. “None of the people here are yours. They. Are. Their. OWN! PEOPLE!” Her pulse of Rage counteracted Gamzee’s attempts at a control. “Your Rage is nothing but senseless violence leading people to a lie! A contrivance! My Rage… my Rage is more than yours. I lead them to the truth. To resolution.”
“I’m gonna fuck you up…” Gamzee ground his teeth and shoved his hand forward. Tired, Flutterfree could only half-dodge, the attack taking out the left side of her face.
Gamzee thought he had her. No pony would be able to still fight after that.
His Rage told him the truth too late.
Flutterfree twirled around in a graceful arc, all of her knives slicing him directly from the side. He’d put up no defenses against the attack. With a pitiful “honk…” he slid apart into six separate slices, becoming little more than a flood of purple blood.
Flutterfree swallowed. “I’m… sorry…” She fell over, losing consciousness.
“GAMZEE!” Starbeat shouted.
“FLUTTERFREE!” Eve wailed.
The two tried to move – but the fight came to them. Eve found herself fighting a gigantic Gem fusion, the automatic-barrier of Seraphim being the only reason she was alive. She focused on her magic. Seraphim may have lost its ability to tap into absolute zero, but that had just given her an excuse to finally settle on a focused magic discipline: ice. Numerous shards of frozen air shot through the divide between her and her enemy, finding their mark easily.
The fusion Gem didn’t care – it kept attacking.
Elsewhere, Starbeat found herself stopped by Vriska.
“He’s gone. You don’t have t-”
“FUCK YOU!” Starbeat shouted, firing a death spell at Vriska. The troll used her luck to dodge it. Currently, Starbeat definitely believed Vriska deserved to die, and that was probably enough to trigger something Just. She couldn’t chance it – but she still had to stop her.
The troll tackled her ex-moirail to the ground, trying to pin her.
Corona saw her opportunity in the midst of this. She teleported to Flutterfree and started healing her.
A bullet flew from the edge of her peripheral vision. She summoned Bacon Pancakes out of instinct to stop it, turning to her foe – none other than Storm.
“You…” Corona said, narrowing her eyes. “You didn’t have to be part of this.”
Storm pulled out a golden staff artifact bristling with arcane power. “How so?”
“Ever since Ba’al, I know you’ve taken steps to make sure your mind cannot be altered. Gamzee couldn’t have done anything to you. There’s no way. You’ve been going along with this willingly.”
Storm shrugged with a smile. “Does that really surprise you?”
“…No. It disappoints me. I had hoped you would have learned something after all these years.”
“Can’t teach an old dog new tricks.”
Corona dropped her fighting stance. She held out a hand. “Then maybe you can go back to an old one. There’s no point in you fighting for them anymore. The power you claimed here is worthless now. They’re destroying themselves. Lay down your weapon, and you’ll be able to come with us. No strings attached.”
Storm blinked – then chuckled. He dropped his artifact without any hesitation and shrugged. “You really are all about that forgiveness, aren’t you?”
“If I want it…”
“You really don’t deserve it,” Storm said. “Half the people you gave it to don’t deserve it. I don’t deserve it. But I’ll take it anyway.” He sat down in a nearby chair and kicked up his feet as the battle raged around them. “And you say I never learn.”
Corona shook her head before returning to healing Flutterfree.
Elsewhere, Vriska and Starbeat were still at it.
“You take my trust, you take my happiness, you take my people, and you take him!” Starbeat shouted. “WHAT WON’T YOU TAKE!?”
“Your shit,” Vriska spat, kicking Starbeat in the chest. “Gamzee’s gone now, and you’ve got no fuckin’ excuse for all this anger.”
“NO EXCUSE!?” Starbeat laughed. “You… You…” She fired a beam at Vriska that missed, as expected. “You’re a pretty good reason to be livid!”
“I did what I thought was right.”
“YOU. DIDN’T. EVEN. TELL. ME!” Starbeat shouted, unleashing several dozen other magical attacks, all of which missed. “YOU WENT AND JOINED THE ENEMY WITHOUT EVEN TALKING TO ME! ME! I WAS SUPPOSED TO BE THE ONE YOU TALKED TO!”
“We. Didn’t. Have. Time!”
“LIAR! You just knew I’d say no!”
Vriska wiped the tears from her face. “FINE! I ran away! I fled from you because I was afraid of what you’d do to me! What you’d do to them! I chose Pinkie over you, are you happy!?”
Starbeat looked at Vriska with a broken expression. She breathed slowly. She took a step forward, but tripped over her hoof. “…No… I’m… I haven’t been happy since you left…”
Vriska leaned down to her – she didn’t have enough luck left to do anything to Starbeat. “…I can be back, now.”
“No. No…” Starbeat started crying. “That’s too much… You’re too much… Your face makes me sad…” She choked. “The curse was never really gone… I’m still doomed…”
Vriska lifted Starbeat up and pulled her into a hug. Starbeat made a few vain attempts to attack Vriska with her hoof, but all the attacks were too weak. She’d lost the Rage. All that remained was sorrow.
The last enemy standing – the combination Gem – took a team hit from Pinkie, Eve, and Jotaro. It finally poofed.
“Yeah!” Pidge said. “Jojo, we did it!”
Jotaro smirked. “Yare yare daze…”
Eve looked around at the carnage. “We need to get outside… See what we can do to stop the fighting.”
An entire carrier crashed through the leftmost wall of the auditorium. Azula’s voice came from it. “GET IN! NOW! The Hub’s a lost cause! Internal structures are being targeted – and starting to fail!”
Corona pressed her hands together – and teleported everyone who still showed signs of life into the carrier, even those who had been enemies until the moment they stopped being able to fight. “PUNCH IT!” Corona ordered.
Azula flew the carrier straight through the ceiling, taxing the military-grade vessel’s shields. But it was enough – they passed through the top of the Hub and into the open air of the jungle-cave.
Beneath the light of the glowing sun, the Hub began to cave in. Explosions rippled throughout the once powerful home of the Merodi.
A symbol of great peace, friendship, and progress fell. Even as it fell, some still fought – firing everything they could at the fleeing ship they knew contained The Enemy. Rejecting any help they might be able to offer.
And in the very same hall where the Foundation of Merodi Universalis occured, where the Bloodbath that marked its birth marred history forever, a new bloodbath marked its fall. One punctuated by a purple, horrid mess of Rage. Merodi Universalis ended as it began - in death.
Azula took the carrier into the caves, never to return to the Hub.
~~~
Rev was not herself. A Flowery device had been inserted into her brain, twisting her to be something else. At the moment she felt no aversion to this, but earlier she had screamed in agony. She had fought much longer against the Flower than Rina had, all thanks to her deep, unrelenting faith.
But she had fallen eventually. She had no access to miraculous Divine power here, and if her God was as real as she believed, He chose to let her mind fall to the Flowers.
She was a tool.
In her new state, that was all she lived for. More accurately, she lived for this one moment. It was her purpose in the Tower’s will.
She walked onto the impromptu stage set up and levitated over the part of town square closest to the Dark Tower. It became her backdrop. A magical camera was placed in front of her and began transmitting to the entire city.
“Ahem,” she said, clearing her throat. “Many of you know me, but many of you do not. I am Reverend Starlight Glimmer, or simply Rev. My time with you is short, so I will be brief. This city of ours has become the epitome of a crisis of faith, and this needs to be addressed now. We are living in the Shadow of Earth Prime, the world where all this began – where so many prophecies lie unfulfilled. We live with the silhouette of the Dark Tower behind us, a constant reminder of the fate at work in our lives. And the Emissary of Ka itself walks among us as a pony, giving at long last a voice to that which defines all of us. Whether you believe in God, a higher power, morality, or none of the above, this City and what it means applies to you. Every last one of you.”
Rev knew they were trying to cut her transmission now. Already sending people to stop her, surprised to find members of Dark Tower cults stopping them. “The Emissary is a gift to us, a gift so we are allowed to see that the Tower had a will behind it all along. A force, a deity, whatever you want to call it – language simply isn’t enough to describe Her. This will, in Her grace, has set a moment when She will depart from us and leave us free. And what have we done with this gift? We have squandered it, taking to Her sacred field and building our society upon it. What for? For the sake of Her ‘defense!’ The Dark Tower can defend Herself, with or without our help! She will do as She sees fit and we will never have any say in the matter!” She held her head high, looking to the sky. “We need to deserve the gift She gives us. And right now, we do not.”
A Flower appeared behind her – but it was not any ordinary flower. It was a tree, though it looked more like a geometric pattern than an actual living plant, twisting around with right angles and sharp fronds. It was Austras Koks, the very same Flower who had plotted the fall of the Nihilists.
The great Flower didn’t say a word. All that happened was, in the distance, the Dracogen Headquarters exploded.
At this point, the citizens of the City would only panic – which wasn’t enough for the Flower. It needed more.
And this was what Rina was for. She came flying out of the sky without any disguise on, clearly Brutalight to anyone who knew the stories of the Elements of Insanity. “No! The Tower does not deserve our respect! It is the enemy!”
“So this is how it is!?” Rev shouted. “The collapse gets what they want and then proceed to treat the gift like a piece of moldy bread!?”
“YES!”
“Then we cannot back down!” Rev lit her horn and fired at Rina. “Everyone, we must fight for what we believe! Man, woman, child, elder, soldier, civilian, it doesn’t matter! The Crisis depends on you! The field must be pure!”
“THE TOWER CAN GO FUCK ITSELF!”
Then the transmission was finally cut off. But, of course, it was just slightly too late – exactly as Austras Koks had planned. The people who had been indoctrinated with the booklets would act first, prompting retaliation, which would prompt more retaliation, and more…
The heroes arrived, Roland leading the charge to Rev and Rina’s clash.
Austras Koks had little patience for long, belabored action sequences, so it just removed the conditioning from Rev and Rina. I turn myself in.
“No you don’t,” Roland said, firing his revolver.
A weapon of such power and meaning… It is an honor. He didn’t even try to stop the bullet, knowing that it was the way things needed to be. He fell in an instant.
Rina was frozen – unable to process what she had just been a part of.
Rev was different. “Get me back on air now!”
Jenny blinked. “Didn’t you j-”
Roland gave her his phone, complete with full access. “STOP FIGHTING NOW!” Rev shouted into it. “I WAS BEING CONTROLLED BY A FLOWER, EVERYTHING I SAID WAS A LIE! STOP!”
Somewhere, a few people stopped. It wasn’t enough. The mob had already gained full force…
Rev handed the phone back to Roland. “…I’m sorry. I wasn’t strong enough.”
“You did what you could,” Roland said, frown deepening. “And we can no longer do anything.”
“…Nanoha will order the army to stop this,” Thrackerzod said.
“Yeah,” Aradia agreed.
“At all costs.”
“…Yeah.”
~~~
The carrier flew through the skies of Nucleon, heading for the City. It was a long way off. Too far.
The survivors of the fall of the Hub were huddled in the back. Silent, for the most part.
Corona sat in the rear section, staring at nothing.
“...That wasn’t your fault,” Flutterfree said, sitting next to her.
“It was,” Corona said. “Don’t soften it.”
“It wasn’t. That was Gamzee. You had no control over him.”
Corona glanced at the shuddering form of Starbeat on the opposite side of the carrier’s hold. Vriska was tending to her. “Her feelings haven’t changed. She’s just not angry right now.” Corona closed her eyes and put her hands behind her head. “I shouldn’t have gotten out of that.”
“Corona…”
“Just because I believe I was right doesn’t mean I think I should escape the consequences. They were part of the price I was willing to pay.”
Flutterfree frowned. “...Are you sure you’re that strong?”
A tear slid down Corona’s cheek. “No.”
“Then why won’t you just… accept it? That was your trial. You were condemned, and then you were released.”
“Because screw what the Tower wants, I’m not going to let it say I get to run free just because I’m some damn hero,” Corona spat.
Flutterfree frowned.
“...Wherever we end up, I want part of the sentence to carry over.”
Flutterfree opened her mouth to object - but then she chuckled. “All right. I’ll get Eve to work something out. Get you a tracker, keep you from going out. Will that be enough?”
“Not my call.”
“It kind of is.”
Corona shook her head, saying nothing. For a moment, she smiled… and then she frowned, remembering why they were in a ship. She knew they had left behind a burning wreckage.
She didn’t know where they were going, though.
“...Flutterfree, catch me up on what’s been going on. Who’s the bad guy again?”
~~~
Lord English approached the City, its buildings glinting rose-red in the twilight.
Won’t be long now.