Chapter 30 – Too bold for Merrigold

 

Ago

 

 

The wyvern clumsily dodges a massive projectile of Astrid’s before countering with one of their own and the impact throws Goliath around and knocks one of them into a small valley below. The cliffs and deserts of AU had proved treacherous the last several months, nearing almost a full year since the two had arrived.

Sharing a body, Goliath inside Astrid’s flesh, he smoothly gets up after they’re knocked down and observe the monstrous, earth-shattering giant above. It’s long and limber appendages with horn-like claws on its hands slump as its three-jointed hind legs move one lurch at a time, a golden shard in the center of its chest, its head like a skeleton layered with other skeletal plates overtop it and gigantic bony shoulderspikes. “You’ve gotta be kidding me, how are we supposed to kill this thing?” He said. Then, the Wyvern and dives underground and down into the subterranean it enters. “This is our chance! Goliath, it needs those spikes to dig underground. We can crush it with the mines below!” The two run together as one into a nearby shaft and speed down a cart. The AU's interior becomes something redefined with strange flora and mineral formations with the air being almost non-existent making movement incredibly difficult within the subterranean.

They observe the wryvern digging through the ground as they cart through the tracks, its power sucking the lifeforce out of anyone who dares to enter this dark place like a black hole. Astrid raises her staff and fires a beam at numerous well-placed detonator charges. Then, a sudden quake rocks through, loosing dust and other debris causing an avalanche to pour upon the Wyvern which had been pursuing Goliath and Astrid, burying the area for some time until it stopped with another rumbling. They hop across pillars over the abyss and rapidly reach the shining gold jewel along its chest, Astrid already prying it off with her staff. She takes the jewel off finally, then places it on the end of said staff. “Got another one!” She said. At once the wyvern begins to shrink and roar, finding itself still crushed under the debris. Astrid walks out of the shaft, Goliath’s consciousness sharing her body as they approach the sunlight again.

Their back stood hunched looking as dazzled as ever about the shard. The teenager had fought countless battles in many worlds now by now in Astrid’s form and recovered many of these jewels, and his amazement never ceased. Each time they retrieved one, he felt his powers grow.

On the journey back out they are surprised at how little space a shard of this size actually requires. "Goliath, I am sensing something very different coming our way” Astrid says, her face full grimace. “The other god shards we had collected up until now were just shards from this world, but this one..." Her expression harden, as if seeing something very terrifying ahead. Astrid took control back of the body so Goliath could rest for recovery in their quest. Along the sunrise, a silvery figure slowly descended, a series of knights along the ground. The one above them was more ornamented, the air distorting behind them in a spiral.

"And who are you?" Astrid asked.

Paradox didn't respond. A swirl of wind began around Astrid, lifting her off the ground. Paradox floated closer. "What are y-" "Silence." Paradox interrupted, reaching to grab Astrid with her gauntlets. "So you are the one that seeks to usurp the heavens." They said. "Who, me?" Astrid raised her hands up shaking them comically.

"Not talking to you. The boy. The one inside of you." Paradox replied. An aurora formed across the sky, lightning pouring violently but no rain came to wetting Astrid at all and then suddenly as the thunder sounded down in a rumble as Paradox let out a retort. "Your fate is one of ruin. I don't doubt that." Astrid went in and out over the process as they battled and the wind whipped her around as she fell and the body was dragged across the land. She got up from a rock she'd been thrown against and wiped blood from her nose.

"How dare you say such horrible things, as if you can predict a terrible future for the child I gave my body for?!"

She pulled herself up as Goliath reawoke, both regaining control back and staring above. They took on a fighting stance, the godshards in their staff beginning to resonate with power. Paradox waved their hand. A series of tattoos shaped like chains around Goliath's skin spread out from his chest where several godshards were embedded.

"Do you know what these markings mean?" She asked him. But as Astrid tried speaking, Goliath spoke up. "They got larger the more shards I got, so they must mean I'm getting pretty awesome." He smirked.

Before Paradox could respond, a crowd of figures in black suits appeared behind in the desert. A blue haired girl with physical chains around her arms folded her arms and stepped up to Astrid. "Dressed abit out of place aren't you bluey?" Goliath asked.

“We are ALICE, an ancient group dedicated to re-establish God to the world and protect the dreams all of her children.” Astrid looked confused, having no idea who these people were or at this state were here. The blue haired girl with her sneakers and star-print leggings bowed her head. "My name’s Ramona, you're the one going around collecting those glowing golden rocks right? You must join our forces young man, or perhaps..." Her voice started and her mouth. "We should join yours." She elbowed Astrid. The hip girl offered him an ultimatum, one that he couldn't help but admit made complete sense to him.

Astrid’s expression hardened as her teeth clenched while a cold stare was cast towards the girl. Astrid gave a little grumble and Ramona pulled her hair again this time, before Astrid raised an angry fist in her direction and slammed her down, though not hard enough it looked to knock her out for very long, Astrid looking disgusted that this girl hit as hard as she could, but Ramona caught her fist. "Our organization can offer you much. The young girl bowed again as their entire mob pulled away out with many more god shards being found in Ramona backpocket. "We've been collecting these too. So it seems we, from the halls of Bedlam have a common interest." In the distance though with great clarity the boy noticed another giant with a fox head and centipede's body approaching. She squeezed the shards, her own chains beginning to float and glow gold. "Consider my offer. Shall I show you a demonstration of my power?"

 

 

☆ ☆ ☆

Now

 

"WHAT THE HELL, WHO SAID WE'D HAVE TO DEAL WITH SHIT LIKE THIS?!" Becca

 

said, running from a gigantic sandworm on AU, which towered dozens of stories in the wasteland. With her, Petal flew on the back of Diane's wings, Pyra and Maisma on Lake’s and the sky above glared white without an opulent cloud in sight. "This is where the Analemma coordinates said the shard would be!" Petal mentioned, the worm shooting laserbeams from its mouth in refractures angles at them. With a series of leaps and swerves they evaded each attempt and sped ahead. Eventually the group reached a cliffside with nowhere to go, and turned around to face the creature. Lake put down the two gems and flew forward. "Stay behind me, I'll take care of this. Without warning, a powerful cyclone began behind her at her team's back. The beige, earth-buckled ground exploded in great impact behind and a dusty cloud formed into spinning moisture and atmospheric droplets. "The air here is pretty dry, but I've been practicing this." She concentrated and directed the humid cyclone at the worm. At once, it reeled away in discomfort. She shot a spike of ice at it. Once it roared, she slammed the cyclone into its cavity and began to expand it, causing the worm to explode into bits of acid. The Godshard inside it tumbled into the ground, Becca and the other gems speechless.

The worm was now destroyed in pieces, Lake flying down to pick up the shard. She handed it to Becca who observed its illuminated glow and strange markings around the perimeter beneath her finger: A shard of yellow gold was set between intricate, silver swirls in an unconventional hex pattern with the star glinted at a distance around its exterior and its own shimmering

brilliance and warmth. "Are they in the same pattern as other worlds?" She asked.

Becca raised an open palm, the golden shard hovered into her palm as her mind shifted through the new memory it would add to the growing arras of worlds she experienced. This memory, of Thatti arguing with her mother. Nathan playing with Orion in the other room, practicing with fencing swords. The imagery flashed by in her mind and then faded into the back of her consciousness, she sighed. "Let's get back to the ship, and head for the next one."

Petal looked behind her at something moving. "Guys. Get over here, there's something I see coming." They turned in unison.

They were followed. In the center of the desert stood a towering structure, three golden obelisk with metallic hues jutting a few stories each from underneath the desert sand. From the darkness, openings in the obelisk's opened up and black shadows moved with great haste, their forms and silhouettes hard to decipher. Within Goliath and Ramona exited, not having been here for ages. Astrid sped forward with her staff to strike at them, Petal blocking with her own spear. "My Petal, how kind of you to safeguard the little princess, you even collected that shard for us! But now, why don't you be a good gem and hand it over." She smirked.

Petal attempted to push her back, their weapons clashing with powerful sparks. Astrid however blinded Petal with her staff's glow, the beam blasting her back. Pyra grabbed Ramona's shoulders while she'd dared get close too, flanking Lake in from behind with a shooting of her hand's chains. Lake grabbed the two and threw them in opposite directions at the furthest throw she could muster. She waved her hand and the humidity cyclone brushed a wall of sand between them. "LET'S RUN!" She said.

Astrid got up slowly, wiping her brow as the sandwall dissipated and group fled onto their ship. A figure flew out of said ship on a broom.

White Nebula reflected the two women in her eyes, and cracked her knuckles.

☆ ☆ ☆

Ago

 

 

In their cafe in Bedlam, the woman stood in front of Ramona sipping tea. "We are losing." Ramona puffed her cigarette in distress, glowing crystals from her knuckles that she gripped in her hair. "The ravens, the other unregistered Proxies. They're spreading beyond what even our organization can handle.” The female figure didn't respond again, and Ramona took a deep drag at a deep inhale from the fume of nicotine. "So... when are we gonna get some back-up? Because it seems the rest of the planet can use more help that the small teams they are offering with a few hundred humans at your command." Astrid asked, avoiding Ramona's concerns. Ramona scowled. "Are you taking our alliance seriously or not? You two said that with these shards ALICE could gain an advantage." Her expression didn't betray. She wasn't going to believe a liar who she'd spent so much time with. At once there a click at the door behind Ramona and Petal who had followed, opening a small metal clad door and the woman stepped forward through, her helmet absent and silvery hair exposed.

Paradox from Abyss. Ramona from Bedlam. Astrid. And the boy whose spirit was inhabiting one of them. Goliath.

They'd been making more allies lately, but it still wasn't enough. He thought about Jack and the moments he had with the boy. His best friend as a kid, for a time. Then a flashback. Back when Goliath and Lucy were working together with Becca after they'd all been abducted in Xi, a heist gone terribly wrong a year before he met his end. The news he'd learned from Thatti, 'Nathans' sister kept on his mind. Her wand had the same name as her, she couldn't actually be the Becca he knew, could she? Astrid felt these doubts too, their mind a shared bunker of hopes and distress intermixed. A few things flashed before her eyes again. His past, his feelings towards Lucy which made her stomach wrench. He could feel her jealousy in their shared mind, even towards these other woman they'd began partnering with. Her attachment to him, her protectiveness, the admiration she had for the prince's ambitions. In all truthfulness they were more in love with one another in this body than anything before but Astrid never dared admit so, in order to keep it so, so safe

when the boy could go one and destroy himself as he so willed and did again so the boy never learned what these feelings entailed. Yet that didn't matter here. With so much riding on finding more shards and expanding their alliance, she shoved her feelings aside and deeper into repression. "We're working on a plan in Orchid, an operation.

There are a group of rebels against the Domina, they call themselves the Boy’s Liberation Front. They are stooges, a group of despicable men looking to direct their outrage and powerlessness. But these idiots could prove useful. We're going to get Nathan to join them as a cook, and work his way up.."

In the distance a group moved. With the obelisks destroyed, a large ship landed in the desert

from the sky, an emblem across their chest with a purple 'V' in white cursive. Their ship touched the dune and began to rise like some type of manta ray, but as it rose their silvery knights began to jump out. Paradox soon approached the defeated Astrid and Ramona, their Orchid ships leveled and destroyed in the encounter with Nebula earlier. "The Space Witch arrived. You were strictly ordered to retreat if she appeared." She told them.

 

The three ladies stood silent, then as their leader moved closer still they still kept quiet. Goliath turned down at them in disgust, his armor gleaming in the sunlight.

"Astrid, are you alright?" He asked, remembering the days they shared a body when journeying this land.

"Y-yeah, that dumb witch got me good. Can always manage to trick you out if a battle if she puts enough tricks up at the beginning." Astrid responded.

"It's fine. We need not pursue them for abit, there's something else that's come up." He looked at the sky, his Storybook Eyes still drifting text with written clairvoyance in his vision.

"Yeah?" Astrid asked.

 

 

"An opportunity." He smirked. "Xi is about to go under."

☆ ☆ ☆

On a far out world along the outstretches of Xi, Becca and the group traveled along a rather backwater village. Diane passed by a girl who dropped her doll. "O-oops, sorry miss." The little girl said. She looked at the girl with an uneasy smile, picked up her doll and handed it to her, memories of a past long gone flashing in her mind. "T-thanks!" The little girl giggled and ran aside. "This place SUUUUCKS." Becca groaned. "Why does a godshard have to be at a shitty place like this?" She picked up a stone and threw it a market vendor. This was going to be a very bad, very awkward mission she felt. Not only was the planet and its surrounding one primitive and with barely any signals or technologies they'd been used to, the town was still using primitive farming methods and subsisted off simple crops. Behold, the Analemma’s message beckoned as they approached a statue at the center of town, shaped as a woman with a shovel and gem in her forehead. The godshard, gleaming like the proud jewel of the people.

"It's there!" Becca yelled, hopping onto the pedestal of the statue. Diane and Petal walked towards a slab and read the inscription etched within. Petal cleared her throat. "It says 'the god in us lives and we live in Her. Thanks to our beloved Founder, Shivaright Merrigold, our people's great benefactor we have the gift of the heavens. The Harvest Jewel. With its blessed luck, our society thrives. And as to all things come an ending to them in equal ways comes their beginnings, a symbol and cycle, may they never depart from."

"Wait who is this Merrigold person?" Becca pouted.

Lake scratched her head. "I did abit of research, she's the pioneer who helped found the town after these migrants wandered on this planet during the Void Era. The rest of this world is mostly inhabitable and agriculturally, barren. But a population of 14 million are sustained in this country, over 400,000 in this town alone thanks to the extensive farming and crops they harvest. That shouldn't be geographically possible with

the soil and weather here, but.." She started to cough, then looked nervously at the statue. "The shard embedded up there must've been found by Shivaright, and its power used in magnitude to grow this land."

Becca smiled. "So, basically a god power up let them plant abled and overgrown agriculture! A shard for corn and beans. Who’d a- thunk it." She slapped the statue's ass, then put one hand on the shard within the forehead of the statue. "Anyway let's grab it!"

Petal, Diane and Lake looked at each other awkwardly then began running beside Becca once she climbed into the statue and pulling her off.

"What the hell, what's your deal?" She asked.

Lake sighed. "W-we cannot." She said. "We cannot take it."

"Sure we can chooms. Just, break the stupidass statue." Becca shouted. "Turn into one of your scary monster forms and break it."

Diane grabbed Becca's neck before she leapt at it again and yanked her back. "No. We cannot. It's the lifeblood of their entire society. Without it, their land might revert to barrenness,

potentially leading to widespread starvation and destruction of their way of life." She looked at the statue. "They likely think it's a good luck charm or something sacred, but it's literally the only thing powering their way of life. If they lose the shard, famine will spread. It'd wipe out the whole community." She looked at the people with sympathy, an empathetic reflection Becca refused to mimic. The memory of that little girl she'd bumped into came up on Diane's mind. As the people drew nearer, they could sense their fear as insecurity about losing it flooded the collective unconscious.

Becca groaned. "Uggggh, so WHAT? It's just a stupid rock to them, they can go find some other planet and plant their corn!" She yelled, the three silent. "I mean c'mon Deedee and Petalygirl, they can eat like I just found their stupid ass town? The shard doesn't have their ass name on it? We don't have a contract I made saying we shouldn't grab an item?" Becca pointed. "Our mission was to get these stupidass crystals and bring Thatti back. So that's what we're doing. She declared.

Diane summoned a sword. "No. We're NOT." She grit her teeth. "We don't fucking destroy villages just for the sake of a mission. She lowered her sword slowly and growled at Becca, who growled back. "We DO when our own priorities are more IMPORTANT."

The gem looked around at the innocent villagers, then her tattoos began to glow, she created a crimson portal behind her. "You wanna step out and try it?" She pointed her sword at the portal, then at Becca. Becca drew back, but then backed off, the weight of Lois and Dianes words settling in her head like a sackful of lead bricks. She let the shard hover out in front of their gazes.

The minty girl looked irate. "'We don't have to care about whether they get killed, die and suffer. WE don't. He doesn't. I don't. Why must I? WHY? Give me ONE GOOD REASON these people even matter?" She kicked the statue repeatedly.

"Rebeca..." Lake’s voice was deep with hurt "Everyone matters to someone." she whispered.

"Just cause no one knows them in Xi or cares about some people this far out, does not mean that they can die or suffer or be in a terrible condition just for our little selfish, stupid reasons okay?"

Becca shook. Her thoughts shifted towards seeing Thatti blow up before her eyes. Then seeing Nathan in front of her, his declaration of who he was, her fear of the unknown. She couldn't accertain how she'd resolve Goliath as the Domina. Or Orchid being in limbo, her fear of letting go of her friends. It all swirled into agony and frustration. But she couldn't feel it rightly or process it. Just.. blankly stare.

"Well FUCK YOU." Suddenly she charged at the statue and tried to pry off the God Shard by force, making a scene in towns square. "Becca NO!" Petal yelled, the three bouncing towards her to tug her off and yank her away from the statue. Petal and Diane pinned the other girl against the town plague and she glared at them. "JUST BACK OFF!" she yelled. Diane transformed, her Blossoming State growing and shapeshifting her outwards. She watched, as the gem became a giant figure which grew in rage over their disagreement and the threat of it potentially coming to blows amongst the supposed friends she so respected. The gem of

pride dragged Becca off and picked her up, before radioing back to the ship. "Mission abort." She said, Becca swearing loudly the entire time.

"YOU!" A figure stepped forward, pushing through the crowd. Diane and Becca were staring down each other, ready to turn to blows when they threw a rock at the fountain to get their attention. A woman in magus robes, a torn hat, glasses and a manilla scarf around her neck was ready to pull the vivid blue of her hair into the abyss.

Clementine walked up to the two of them. "It's me, again." She said, looking at the two of them. Diane and Becca looked back at each other, both taking a step back to address her.

"Uh.. do I know you?" Becca asked squinting. Diane gave a look of surprise for a moment before rolling her eyes. "You kind of picked a really bad time." She turned to Clem. "Clementine Dove, as I live and breathe, a pleasure meeting you again. Now we must go." Diane attempted to turn around, only cor Ms.

Dove to grab her hand. "You ABDUCTED ME. I DON'T KNOW YOU AND I DON'T KNOW WHY."

Diane stared at her for a long moment, shaking her head. "Look, whatever I had to do, whatever happened is over. Now then, we must-"

Clem's head snapped back, hair floating out and around her with the wind. "Must nothing! Do you know what it's like, to be teaching your class one day, then be kidnapped and locked in a room for months, then to come out and find your school's been dismantled and shut down since."

Diane blinked, stepping back. Becca was staring straight at Diane's body. "Oh no.." She gave the widest smirk. "Bitch you sound like you're not much better than me." The gem of Pride shrugged. "If you want to punch me, gut me, stab me whatever do it. Take your revenge. If not, stop wasting my time."

Clementine turned furious. "I WANT YOU TO EXPLAIN TO ME WHY YOU DID THAT?"

Diane sighed, her hair glowing. "Give me your hand!" She asked, pulling a silver ring out of her pocket and slipping it on. The two held hands, and Diane created a neon portal with a multicolored ring around its rim, out into a field of wheat. "Wait an hour." She told Becca.

The two watched as Clementine and Diane marched into the field and sat down, the portal closing. "What are we waiting for? What if that bitch's lying and-" Becca yelled.

Petal hushed her. "Shhhhh, I don't want to hear that kind of talk. Let's wait."

"Yeah, I'm not a fan of talking about the kind of shit that happened with her either. She has alot of secrets she won't talk about or tell us." Lake said, picking up some water from the fountain and playing with it.

"D-diane's doing her time." She told the two.

Becca made a pff sound. "You were all at my throat a moment ago, calling me a horrible person and having a big whine about my actions. Looks like you're a bunch of hypocritical little bitches to me."

"Yeah." Petal shrugged. "But let's not do that here. We're in public, and with all the stuff that's been going down, I doubt we're exactly the safest place to talk." Towns people came and went, Becca glaring at the statue occasionally. After about fifteen minutes she slammed her fist onto her hand.

"Oh. OHHHHHHH. That was Thatti's teacher?!!" She suddenly recalled. "I didn't remember her at all, Thatti had a bunch of sparkly professors and it kind of slipped my mind. I doubt she remembers me, I was wand then and..." Lake rubbed her arms. "Did Diane really kidnap her?"

"She did." Petal sighed, looking down at her hand. "It was a necessary action, she had her reasons." "What do you mean, when did she do that?" She badgered.

"Look, Lake we've seen you around and you've never caused a single problem. Not even with the stuff we don't know about. As far as we're concerned, it's all in the past. Please try to understand." Petal replied.

Lake looked down at her hands, feeling her ears burn with the shame. "It's not that simple." She said.

"Because I don't understand. Why did she have to do that? Even if it's just one women, she looked like she was from Orchid. You think I'd just be comfortable with you guys kidnapping people from my universe?"

The two walked up to the statue, looking over.

"I'm sorry I was so hard on you a moment ago Becca.”

Becca sighed, giving a look of guilt. "Yeah, I'm sorry. I've been under some serious stress lately." Petal hugged her. "We can understand that."

"But I know we all feel guilty about it. I know we both have things we're hiding from eachother." Lake said.

"Lake, we're not hiding anything from you. Not after all that happened, we're a bit on edge, but we're not hiding anything." Petal insisted.

"You won't explain why Diane kidnapped some lady or give me anything of substance." She launched the fountain's water like a sprinkler at Petal. "You guys won't tell me or overexplain what the shards are either." She fidgeted, a scream rising out her throat like a boiled faucet. "I AM NOT ALLOWED TO KNOW APPARENTLY!" Lake screamed.

Petal scoffed, throwing the water back in her face. "What are you on about, is this about your mother? You wouldn't tell ME anything about her or your family either."

"I told you she went missing." Lake got caught up in a hailstorm of anger, water nearby boiling. "The rest of my family went into hiding, I don't know anything about her situation right now."

"Yeah, I'm sure." Petal said, eyerolling. "Am sure you're not hiding anything."

"Am sure you're retreating me with respect." Lake squeezed her fist. "Hey here's an idea... Maybe she was kidnapped. I'd sure hope whoever did that comes clean."

The two gems stared each other in the eye, discontent and guilt on both sides building into a tension that cut their air like stainless steel.

They pulled back apart, Becca inbetween. An awkward silence formed between the three as they thought about the last few moments. Becca looked at the sky, the reds, oranges and golds that were once so distinct, starting to muddle together into murky hues and patches of grays as the day waned to evening.

A cold wind blew through and it began to drizzle rain. When Becca looked back at the statue of Shivaright, as if incurring her wrath from the storms above. "You did this didn't you." Becca whispered, feeling the blight from the statue like an evil curse around her neck.

"I think I understand now.." She closed her eyes in solitude. "Everyone's fucked up and seems like the good guy from their own story. Maybe we're all just assholes underneath, trying to scratch our taint.."

"Becca.." Lake started, only to be interrupted after over half an hour with the portal opening back up and Diane walking out, reintroducing Clementine through it who had a look of acceptance on her face.

"Let's get out of here." Diane insisted.

"W-wait wait, before we wrap up, you! Teacher lady!" Becca waved her hands wildly. "Do you remember me at all?"

Clementine looked at Dee, then back at Becca. "I'm sorry, I'm afraid not. We've never once met.”

 

 

☆ ☆ ☆

 

They returned into interplanetary travel, back on the ship and Becca found Hyde awaiting them in their chamber. "So that was a little difficult I know, Becca." He told her. "The ethics of the surrounding

situation were complicated, we couldn't take a side, as much good or harm that was done in the act of your mission we simply had no say. Which leads me into to..." He cleared his throat and looked at the girls face on seriously with concern. "The ethics of the situation were cooooomplicated." Becca repeated mocking his lip movements.

Hyde materialized, his usually neutral aura tinged with an unspoken question. "Those villagers, look I know the situation was difficult," he began, his voice measured. "But was it necessary to push things to the brink?" Becca snapped, the simmering anger finally boiling over. "Necessary? I don't have time for niceties. Don't you get it? Every second we waste, Thatti is out there, lost from us. And this may be our only chance to get her back." Her voice cracked, the possibility too painful to voice. "Yet, what happens if your actions endanger countless others just like her?" Hyde pressed, "Is it worth creating a new cycle of loss? Are your actions worth it?"

"Geez you're suck a fucking bore. No wonder she broke up with you." Becca yelled, pushing Hyde and grumbling away. Becca stormed past the others, her face etched with a defiant mix of anger and concealed vulnerability. Entering her quarters, she slammed the door shut, the reverberation echoing the fracture within the group. The weight of Lapis' plea echoed in her mind. "Everyone matters to someone." She laid on the bed, looking her one arm and got abit teary, thinking of Thatti. "But what about the person who matters to me.." She wiped a tear away. "I just want to bring Thatti back." she whispered.

Diane stood stoic, her Blossoming form receded but a lingering determination radiated from her shoulder's gem. "Are you sure this was a good idea bringing her onboard?" Hyde asked. Diane huffed. "Honestly, right now I'm not so sure.."

She followed Becca over to her holding room, the girl laying on the bed. She watched the automated door lift open and stepped in, knocked on her wall and looked at Becca. “Hey.” She said.

“Leave me alone.” Becca said.

“Can I speak? You don’t have to say anything back, I don’t want an argument but it might help to hear my piece.” She asked her, straightening out her skirt.

“What do you want?” Becca replied, glaring. Diane paused, then spoke. “This is not about you or me. And it never has been, the problem is Thatti herself. It’s not that you’re not as important, she’s a special person to all of us. But I am the one you know personally, the one who watched her grow up. I fought with her, she was one of my closest friends.”

Becca turned around confused. “What do you mean?” She watched Diane sit by her bed. “Her closest friend? You hardly knew her.”

“Not quite. You might believe me, but I’d rather keep my secrets.” Diane agreed, Becca feeling like this girl had enough skeletons in her closet to fill out Galactic Showway. “Which is why I’m sorry. I’m not sorry that I’m trying to get Thatti back. I’m not sorry that I don’t want you to be hurt. But I am sorry if you are.” She said, her voice filled with grief. “I’ve been down that path before. It’s no fun. It gets you nowhere, doesn’t make anything better.”

“Path?” Becca leaned in and listened.

“Y-yeah.. I used to be, kind of a horrible person. Well maybe ‘horrible’ is subjective but, I did a lot of shitty things, crimes that I had to do. I hurt people, I killed them, I fought like a soldier. I’ve been through here and recognize when someone else is dealing with trying to be a better person- I’m still struggling with it today.

The fact you’re trying to keep Thatti’s memory alive means the world to me, but I’m sorry you’re hurting yourself to do it.” She told her, Becca suddenly looking ashamed and turning away. “I just don’t want you to be like I was.” Diane looked at her for a moment. She’d been there. She had done horrible things. She’d hurt others and tried to help them, though sometimes she’d hurt them trying to help them. Diane remembered when, she’d been in a fight, beaten and bruised, but was able to hold the enemy at bay long enough for a reinforcement to land. Becca sat up slowly. “I-I just want to do right by her.” She said, looking away. “Then try to. For you, for her, and for the others, and yourself.” Diane said, giving a final hug.

The hug was interrupted loud screaming from back outside. The two peaked out to see Lake brandishing her voice against that of Petal.

"Petal, the reason I'm friends with her isn't just because she's my age or the same gender. I knew she was better than what she was the moment we met. That's not a lie. Just because you have a bunch of reservations about Thatti doesn’t mean you can lecture me.” She shouted.

Petal rubbed her palm and shook her head wildly. “Stop being such a CHILD. You think just because she was from the same place you were, you two are the same? Do you even hear yourself? Do you remember the kind of things Thatti said you?” She walked around back and forth as if to exaggerate and weigh in her point.

Lapis’ heart flustered into a flight of indignity. "I'm DONE with you. You have no respect for my feelings, you're too self-absorbed to care about a friend's conscience or listening to me, you're a lying bitch and Dee kidnap’s women." She slammed her fist into the walls. “STOP trying to control me! I’m not a child, I don’t need your patronization.” She stormed off through the halls.

Becca and Diane looked at each other.

“Well that’s going to go somewhere fun.” Diane told her. Becca blinked, as the shrill voice of the gems was too familiar, like a forgotten, tired dream she once had.

A dream in another lifetime perhaps.