The Ashlanders - Chapter 6: The Blind Man's Last Gambit (Closed, Started)

[Daystar Clarion]

"Hey, Lily. Is she gonna be okay?"

Lilith clenched her jaw, furrowing her brow as she pulled the headband from her hair, tussling her fringe out of her eyes, she smiled weakly.

"Takes more than a good beating to put Merry down."

You know what I meant.

?Damn straight,? Bennie grinned. ?It?s been far too long, Lily. Me an? Sprout were just catching up.?

"A lot to catch up on." Lilith crossed her arms over her chest, leaning against the wall as she looked at Sprout. "Think you're gonna need to find a place to sit."

If it weren't for Meredith, she'd have been heading to her room by now, the last thing she wanted was small talk with someone who might as well be a stranger at this stage.

?So I've heard,? Bennie shrugged. ?If you want, we can move this conversation elsewhere.?

?How?s my room?? Sprout asked.

?No blood, if that?s what you?re asking. Come on, let?s check it out.?

Stifling a sigh, Lilith stuffed her hands in her jacket pockets as she followed the pair.

'Half my friends are dead, and I'm going to a tea party.'

It was a short trip to Sprout?s room. Though some of his stuff was noticeably absent (including his porn), the room was more or less untouched. Sprout couldn't be more grateful. He got off easy. Sprout plopped down on the bed while Bennie took a seat in a nearby chair, ?So this is where the magic happens?? Bennie joked.

Sprout laughed, ?Damn straight!?

Lilith propped herself against the edge of the boy's desk, her arms across her chest. "It's magic in that it makes all the pussy disappear." She winked at Sprout.

Sprout frowned, ?Yer in here, aren't ya???

?How about you, Lilith?? Bennie chuckled. ?Any lucky guys in your life right now??

Forcing a smile, Lilith shrugged her shoulders. "Too busy for boys." She crossed one leg over the other as she hopped to sit on the desk. "Gotta keep an eye on Casanova over there, make sure he don't get himself shot." She smirked as she glanced at Axel.

"Not doing so well on that front."

?It?s tough out there. You both know that now, I'm sure,? He looked between Sprout and Lilith and nodded. ?You have eachother though, right? You survived out there because you relied on one another. Came through for one another. Hold on to that... for as long as you can.?

Sprout stared at Bennie in silence.

"Well..." Lilith averted her eyes, looking down at the ground. "We've only had eachother, everyone else either left or died." She clenched her jaw.

'This isn't fair.'

Bennie frowned, ?We've lost too many people... I won?t argue with that. But hey, we?ll pick ourselves back up. We always do.?

?Maybe,? Sprout shrugged. ?But I don? think we've ever lost this many. There ar?... so few of us left.?

?The Maiden was founded with fewer.? Bennie countered.

"'We?'" Lilith scoffed. "Oh, so you're back now? How long for this time?"

Sprout furrowed his brow, ?Lilith, wh---?

?No, it?s okay,? Bennie interrupted. He met her gaze. ?As long as I am permitted to stay. And yes, Lilith, I knew some of those men before you were even recruited.?

"Like that even matters now." Lilith muttered to herself. So he knew some of the guys longer, so fucking what? He still left them all. Left her.

"So, what? You and Merry back together now? Is that it?"

Sprout shifted uncomfortably as Lilith sunk her metaphorical fangs into Bennie. This was... not the reunion he?d hoped for.

?No,? Bennie replied, solemnly. ?There?s someone else in her life right now.?

"Eh?" Lilith raised an eyebrow, tilting her head "What? Who? Is he one of the crew?"

?She, and yeah, she?s a recent addition.? Bennie didn?t seemed pleased, but he did his best to cover it up. ?Her name?s ?Amy?. I?m sure you?ll be introduced soon. Anyway,? He sighed. ?Look, Lilith... I won?t blame you for resenting me, but trust me when I say that I am here to stay. I want to help the Iron Maiden pick itself back up and make things right.?

?Bennie...? Sprout muttered.

?It may be hard to believe, but... not a single day has gone by that I haven?t thought about you two.? Bennie clenched his jaw as his gaze dropped to the floor. ?I didn?t just come back for Pixie.?

A woman?! Pixie had always been adventerous in the bedroom, or so she was told, much to her distaste, but Lilith didn't think she was that way inclined.

"Figures." Lilith muttered. "The fucking new blood lives."

As Bennie continued, Lilith reluctantly listened, her eyes off to the side. As he finished, the girl looked at the man from the corner of her eye. "You thought about us everyday, but didn't think to visit?" She sneered slightly. "Not even a bloody radio call?"

?You don?t know how much I wanted to, Lily,? Bennie?s voice was low and wary. ?I was pissed. So fuckin? angry. At Pixie. At myself. At everything. I just... at the time, I figured it would just be best if I severed all communication. I was ashamed, Lily. I had failed... miserably. I had gotten so many of my friends killed. I... I thought it would be better for you two if I just disappeared.? He chuckled, sadly. ?Or, at least, that?s what I told myself. Truth is, I?m not that strong. I?m not that selfless. In reality... I was just afraid. I was afraid to return to the Maidens. Afriad to face what I had done. In a way, I still am.?

"You still could have called." Lilith muttered as she looked up at the man. "Pixie didn't need to know, we wouldn't have told her." She glanced over at Sprout. "Ain't that right kid?"

Sprout nodded, ?Yeah.?

Bennie looked between the two of them, ?There?s no excuse. I?m a coward, but I?ll try my best to make it up to you two. I?ll never leave either of you ever again. I promise.?

Lilith's eyes softened as a small smirk curled the corner of her mouth. "Don't make promises you can't keep." Shrugging her shoulders nonchalantly, she sighed. "As for how you can make it up to us?" Lilith pushed herself away from the desk. "I'm sure Sprout has a few things in mind."

Bennie grinned, ?I think Pixie?d be pissed with me if I got him a prostitute.?

Even though she has her own.

Sprout sighed, ?Aw, man. I?m out of ideas!?

Lilith sat on the bed behind Sprout, tussling his hair as she draped her arms over his shoulders. "Oh no, Sprout, no whores? Looks like you and the showerhead are back on!"

Sprout cocked an eyebrow, ?Why would I need a shower head when I have you!?? Suddenly, Sprout threw one hand around Lilith?s side and grabbed her butt. When she jumped in surprise, he used the opportunity to turn around and lunge at her. ?MY SWEET LILY! I---?

With a firm slap to the back of the head, Sprout found himself kissing the cold, steel floor of the Maiden. Bennie was standing over the boy, cracking his knuckles. Light glared off of his sunglasses as he spoke, ?What have I always told you about treating the ladies with respect?!?

"Yeah, suck it kid." Lilith stuck out her tongue at the boy as she got to her feet, gently placing her food on the back of the boy's head. Looking up at Bennie, her eyes locked to his. He didn't look any different. Not in four years.

She narrowed her eyes as she took her boot off the back of the boy's head, standing in front of Bennie, she searched his face. He really was sorry wasn't he?

Lilith's expression softened as she took a step forward, gently resting the side of her head against Bennie's chest. "I missed you." She whispered quietly.

Bennie reached his massive arms around her shoulders and hugged her, ?I missed you too, sweetheart.?

Sprout rolled over onto his back and scoffed, ?Y?all ar? gay.?

"Fine then." Lilith pouted as she wrapped her arms around the man's huge waist. "I'll have this hug, alllllll to myself, since you obviously don't want one."

?Fuck that!? Sprout announced as he hopped to his feet and squeezed himself inside of the hug.

Bennie laughed. This was good. After everything that had happened today...

This would be a good memory.

?I love you, you dorks.?

"Love?" Lilith scoffed. "Steady on now, you haven't even taken us out to dinner."

?Let?s skip dinner and get straight to the cuddlin?!? Sprout giggled. ?I call middle spoon!?

Bennie shook his head, ?Still as painfully unfunny as always.?

"Oh you have no idea." Lilith chuckled as she nudge the boy with her hip. "I mean, you'd think he'd get less shit as he got older, right?" She shook her head. "I wish he was ten again, those were the good old days."

?You jus? miss my old lanky little boy body. Fuckin? pedo.?

Bennie released them from the hug and sighed, ?Y?all keep this up and I am gonna need to start drinking early.?

"Drinking sounds good to me!" Lilith chirped as placed her hands behind her head. "After dinner maybe?" She tilted her head. "I still need to go check in on Ruffles, although I'm guessing seeing the ship in this state killed him?"

?I can only imagine,? The big man winced. ?It?s probably like coming home to find your dog?s been hit by a crawler.?

"Poor guy." The girl chuckled. "You wanna come with, Sprout?" She glanced at the boy.

?Nah,? Sprout shook his head. ?I?m fuckin? bushed. Think I?ll chill out here fer a bit. Maybe take a nap.?

Lilith scoffed. "Wuss." She casually forgot she had spent the best part of half the day sleeping in the crawler on the way to Yuteni.

Waving a hand dismissively, the girl headed for the door. "I'll see you guys at dinner." Pausing as she opened the door half way, she turned her head to face Bennie. "It's good to have you back, big guy." Lilith smiled, exiting the room before the man could respond.

 

[NinjaDeathSlap]

"I get this is heated, but don't go slinging threats ya can't take back."

'I don't make threats. I make promises.' Amy thought, but she did not reply out loud. She'd been given what she wanted already, to press the issue would be irrelevant. All that mattered now was that the one who had killed Georgia, if he had lasted this long already, would die screaming by her hand. The others were just noise to her now.

Sandra was beginning to regain some measure of control over herself, as Amy's new companions began helping her up and into the crawler. The pain in her shoulder was throbbing and persistent, but besides being aware of it, it didn't really bother her. That pain was dwarfed by everything else. As they all got seated, she stole a sideways, puffy-eyed glance at Amy, who stared straight ahead at the headrest in front of her, seeing nothing. Sandra had never seen her first sister like this before, but some of the others, Georgia included, had told stories, sometimes first hand. It was only now that the contradiction was at it's strongest, that it occurred to Sandra just how strange it was that Amy was two years her junior. Was the person with cold-blooded murder behind her eyes that she saw now the real Amy, or was this just another part that she played, that she felt she had to play, to keep people from hurting her? If there was something else there, still concealed, how long had it been since it had truly shown itself, from behind all the different, reactionary facets that the world had moulded into her? What has to be done to a person, or rather, what do they have to do to themselves, before they can slip on outfits of cruelty or compassion as easily as they try on clothes?

Before Sandra could dwell on it any longer, she was, thankfully, pulled back to the present by Whiskey prodding at her injured arm.

"I want ya to put this between your teeth. There's just gonna be one moment of pain and you'll wanna bite down."

Sandra nodded blankly, barely registering what was being said in truth. So much of her was still in shock. Nevertheless, she did as she was told.

"On the count of three."

Amy didn't look at her, or say a word, but rather silently moved her arm over, and held onto Sandra's good hand.

"One."

Sandra screamed through gritted teeth, almost cracking enamel against the cold metal of the cartridge.

========================================================================

Sandra's arm was in a crude sling, and Amy's leg wound cleaned and dressed, by the time they reached the encampment, set up in the shadow of the now parked Iron Maiden. It had only been her home for a short couple of days, but the sight of it almost made Amy stagger from the wave of conflicting emotion that hit her. It was harder, in that moment than any previously, for her not to cry. Still she could not show her grief now, not yet.

"You know what to do." she said to Sandra, who nodded and left in the direction of the rows and rows of temporary holding pens, where the survivors of Austin's family were being held until somebody decided what was to be done with them. Once Sandra was off in the distance. Amy limped over to one of the Wilkes Vine's officers, who had the courtesy to do little more than wrinkle his nose at the sight of her in her current state.

"The bodies of Austin's soldiers," she started by way of greeting. "What is being done with them?"

"They're being stored in the tents over to the East." he said, looking a little puzzled but gesturing the way with his rifle nonetheless. "We'll probably end up burning most of them. Why do you ask?"

"Your soldiers probably will have recovered a young woman from somewhere, likely thinking that she was killed in the battle. She's one of mine, and I need to see her."

"Oh..." The officer replied, awkwardly. "In that case, I'm sorry f-"

"Just show me the way." Amy cut him off, working very hard to keep her voice from cracking.

"Uh, of course. Right this way, Miss Turner."

========================================================================

Oliver sat slumped against a pole as a boot repeatedly came down upon his head. His captors laughed at him while they beat him to a pulp. They didn't say anything, they weren't asking any questions, they were just hurting him. Hurting him and laughing.

"That's enough!"

Sandra did her best to sound assertive, despite being outnumbered by these men, and being in no state to assert anything over anyone physically. Under the circumstances, she thought it sounded okay.

It had taken some minutes, but she'd finally found him. If she was honest with herself, a part of her had been hoping that she'd have to return to Amy with bad news, that he was already dead, just like Heath and Austin, and that there was nothing to be done. This wasn't going to be pleasant for anyone concerned.

"You need to release this one." she continued, lying through her teeth. "He was one of Austin's men, but he risked his life to save me when I was in captivity. Miss Turner wants to thank him personally, and sent me to make sure that he was still alive and that no harm came to him."

She looked at Oliver as she said this, wearing that same, sweet smile that he'd fallen for all to easily. Inside, she was trying hard not to vomit at the site of him. Pathetic, snivelling, covered in blood and dirt. It almost made her wish that he had been more of a fanatic, and that he would scream and spit at her, calling her a traitor, a *****, or whatever else sprung to mind. People like Austin and Heath may have been vile, but there was still something awe-inspiring about a monster in need of slaying. Oliver, on the other hand, was a parasite without a host, just waiting for somebody to come and step on him.

Amy would oblige, though Sandra doubted he would thank her for it.

========================================================================

"Yes." Amy said, her face and voice both devoid of expression. "This is her."

The officer who had escorted her looked as if he was expecting her to break down at any moment. He would get no such display. Amy was outside her rage and her pain for now. There would be time to feel them, later, but justice, even harsh justice, should be emotionless, and so that was what she must be, until she had done right by Georgia, until she had kept her promise. Anything less would be an insult of self-indulgence.

"What do you want to do with her?" The soldier asked after a while's silence, as tactfully as such a question could be asked.

"I will make all of the necessary arrangements. For now, just make sure she is moved away from all the others. I don't want anyone throwing her corpse in a mass grave along with her killers. I'm sure you understand."

"I understand."

"Good. Thank you."

Amy zipped up the body bag herself, and stared at the black plastic Shroud for a few more seconds, before wordlessly exiting the tent.

========================================================================

Oliver looked up Sandra, he couldn't believe his eyes. Why was she lying for him? Why was she... of course. Someone else wanted the pleasure to do to him what these men had been doing for the last couple hours. He prayed it wouldn't be as bad, that they wouldn't be as cathartic. Would it be the Pixie? Or one of the others? Perhaps Sandra herself wanted to do this. As long as he was dead by the end of it, he didn't care, he was lonely without his daddy.

"Gee I wonder how she's gonna thank him?" One of the goons snorted and laughed.

"Well it'd be kinda hard consideri-"

"Ap ap ap don't spoil the surprise." The men chuckled. "Should'a come here sooner luv. Weeee may have taken it a bit too far."

Sandra glowered at them.

"Well then, I don't know why you're all looking so pleased with yourselves." she told them. Whatever you think Miss Turner has in mind for Oliver, rest assured that it is her business, and I trust, if you know her work, you know exactly who she does business for..."

She let that hang in the air for a while.

"I think you guys should go and crawl somewhere dark and act like nobody saw you here."

The men shot glances at each other for a moment before leaving. Oliver simply looked up at Sandra, frozen in place. "What..."

"Come on. Let's get you up." Sandra cut him off, speaking as if to a child who had fallen over and grazed their knees, while she did her best to help him to his feet with her one good arm. She felt like she was holding a lamb, calming it down as the knife sharpened out of its vision, ready to be drawn across its throat. She didn't feel good about what she was doing, not remotely, but every time it occurred to her to stop, the memory of Georgia's face filled her mind, all the anguish and resignation written on it as Sandra flew away without her, and she persisted.

Oliver wanted to speak as she helped him limp away, but no words would ever come to mind. He would often begin a sentence. "Why?" or "How?" but no more words would follow. His mind was buzzing yet empty, and despite being so confused and wanting to ask so many questions, his every word failed him; but he did manage to say one thing eventually.

"How much will it hurt?" He tried not to cry as he spoke.

Sandra held back bitter laughter. She couldn't not pity him, the state he was in, even when touching him was making her skin crawl.

"You know," she answered, all her girlish sweetness gone. "I wish I could say you'll only feel the same pain that she did, that it'll be a step down from what you've been through already... but it won't. Don't look forward to what's about to happen. This isn't about you, it's not about taking an eye for an eye. It's about sending a message. Girls like us, we're always vulnerable, and there's very little we can do to change that. Any day, a punter could pull a knife on us while we're naked or on our backs, or maybe a pimp will drag us into an alley and kick us to death. People will have a thousand excuses, but in the end, the only reason anyone will hurt us, is because they think that they can get away with it, that we don't matter enough for anyone to come after them. She shows them different, one example at a time. No one gets away with it, ever, and before it's over she'll show everyone just how weak you really are, how quickly you'll turn around a beg for mercy when it turns out there's no weaselling you way out of this one, and how little that matters to her. You're not being taught a lesson, they are. All the people who haven't done anything yet, but one day might wonder if there's anyone out there who'll care about one less whore in the world."

Perhaps it was a good thing that she wasn't enjoying this? Perhaps that was the point?

"Thanks... for not shooting me." She forced herself to say. "It's not going to make any difference now, and it doesn't mean I don't think you're still getting what you deserve, but... I just don't think it would be right to send you to her, without knowing you did one good thing."

Oliver cringed as he listened to her. Her, this her she meant, he knew. He hadn't heard any tales of her cruelty, but he had to take Sandra's word at face value-something Oliver excelled at. He didn't know whether to thank Sandra for those last few words or not. He had saved her yes, but she was a pretender. A liar and father needed her to die. Even if Father was dead his words couldn't die. They couldn't die. He couldn't die.

But he did.

"I don't know why you got under my skin, but you did. I don't know what that means, I don't know what anything means anymore. But... she will kill me at the end? Right? I won't be alive anymore?" he was pleading with her.

"Yes... in the end." Sandra replied. "Like I said, don't look forward to it. She isn't interested in mercy."

========================================================================

Spoiler

Amy had been very busy in the time that Sandra had been collecting their quarry. With the promise of a large bonus in carbon, she'd enlisted the help of a squadron of Wilkes Vine's troop to help her erect the structure in the centre of the encampment. Naturally, their activities were drawing attention. More troops, and refugees from Yuteni alike were all curious about why somebody was erecting a high, narrow scaffold of scrap metal, and why tables, chairs, cabinets, and anything else made of wood scrounged from the deserted houses was being piled beneath it, and why that pile was being soaked in gasoline. None of Austin's troops were there for obvious reasons. However, they would here the tale from the guards who would attend them next time they were on duty. That would have to be enough.

Finally, he was brought to her, stumbling, weak, unable to look her or anyone else in the eye. Amy studied him, drinking in every little detail of his condition. Her face was almost corpse-like in how blank of expression it was.

"Georgia's injuries..." she said eventually, standing over him. She didn't need to raise her voice, everyone had gone quiet. "How much were you responsible for?"

Oliver kept his eyes to the ground as the woman spoke to him. "None." he answered plainly, yet his voice was still weak.

Amy slapped him. It was a blow meant more to chastise and humiliate him, than to actually hurt. That would come later.

"You're lying." she said, still sounding calm. Austin would have wanted you to repay your failure. You shot her through the head, didn't you?"

Still looking away, Oliver finally answered her. "Y-yes, BUT HEATH WAS THE ONE WHO... yes..." He halted his attempts at excuses, knowing it would only anger her more.

"So," she replied, hating him. "you had the chance to end it more quickly, but you stood and watched while they made her suffer? Is that how it was? Is that supposed to buy you a reprieve?"

"NO! NO! I DIDN'T MEAN-I didn't want, I wasn't trying... you don't understand." he snivveled.

"No. It's you who doesn't understand." Amy was relentless. "You think you know what helplessness is, what humiliation is, what pain is. You have no idea, nobody ever does. I'm going to show them though, and you are going to assist me."

She gave a small nod to the soldiers she had paid,. who had been waiting in the wings. any resistance Oliver may had offered was futile as they closed in on him. First, he was stripped naked, and Amy saw for herself the extent of the damage that had already been done. He should have been left whole for her, but she supposed that she would have to make do. Next, they hoisted him up, and lashed him to the scaffold like a crucifix, binding his hands and feet to the structure with metal chains. Under his feet, a large sheet of metal, once belonging to an armoured Crawler, separated him from the pile below.

"Many of you might be wondering what this boy's crime is..." Amy announced to the crowd as all this was going on. "I will tell you. He murdered a whore. I'm sure, in the face of all the destruction and death that surrounds us today, that seems like a small thing, not worth putting on a show for. If that is what you believe, I won't argue with you, but I will tell you what I believe. I believe that in a world that has forgotten justice, we have to take responsibility for looking after our own. In a world that has forgotten kindness, brutality must be our messenger. Never forget what you are about to see, because rest assured, if you are ever judged to be guilty of such a small crime, I will not forget you."

The faces in the crowd looked shocked, some revolted, as Amy was handed the torch, and ignited the bonfire beneath Oliver. None, however, said a word or stepped forward in his defence. If they had, she would have gunned them down without hesitation. Oliver did not burn. The flames blazed beneath him, but none could lick at him through the metal plate that shielded him. His suffering last much longer. It took well over half an hour of screams and frantic pleading, as the metal that held him heated up until it glowed red hot. Oliver's skin blistered, his flesh sizzled, but he remained alive, the fire prevented from consuming him, until his body began peeling away from his bones.

Sandra watched, trying hard not to be sick. Amy watched, as if she had forgotten anybody else was there.

"What's going to happen to me now?" Sandra asked when it was over.

"For the mean-time, I want to keep you close." Amy replied, still staring dreamily at Oliver's remains. "I need to think about what to do from here. It was a failure on my part that any of this happened, and I need to figure out how to make sure it never happens again. Until I do, I wouldn't feel comfortable sending you anywhere else."

"Thank you, sister."

Sandra left Amy alone, and the crowd had dispersed as well. Exactly when they had, Amy was not sure. She left the scene, and walked, not much caring in what direction she was going, until eventually she found the ruins of what had once been somebody's house. If Amy had ever been here before, it was no longer a place she recognised. Going inside the looted and burned out shell, she sank down in the corner of the darkest room.

'Now.' she thought. 'Now you can cry.'

And she did. The monster who had just tortured a boy to death, curled up in the corner and wept like a child.

 

[ProtoChimp]

Vidal limped up the driveway, blood dripping from the side of his head as he knocked on Alex's door. His body was battered but he was lucky to have avoided a bullet, at the very least.

Alex grabbed her gun and opened the door. Her enemies may have been dead but she was still paranoid, she swung the door open ready to shoot before instantly dropping her arm. "Vidal? Oh my god!"

"Can I borrow some sugar?" He leant against the doorframe and laughed at his own bad joke. Alex grabbed his shoulders but he shrugged her away. "I'm fine I'm fine, I'm just being a tad overdramatic."

"C'mon come in, sit down." Despite his protests she helped him inside and removed his breathing mask, she sat him on a chair in her living room. "This is Isabel, she... we fought to escape Aus-Peter!" She cut herself off, thinking of her son's now tainted name. "Isabel this is my deputy, Vidal." They didn't shake hands but nodded at each other, Vidal's palms were bleeding as well. As Alex set him down on the chair, he place his hands on his knees to not get blood on the chair. "Don't be silly Vidal." She forced his arms up on the arm rests, he resisted a little but relented.

"Just trying to be polite is all." He gave a little laugh.

"What happened down there? I missed most of the battle." She asked, sitting on the couch next to her son again, who hadn't moved at all.

"Well," he shifted uncomfortably, "after you got taken we got overwhelmed. Me and a few other cops bailed into the sewers, they hunted us down but they gave up after a while. They thought they got us all, hell they nearly did."

"How many officers are left?" she hesitated to ask.

Vidal was silent for an incredible amount of time. "I haven't seen any since the maidens showed up. I was hiding out with civvies and bandits, some of them were even Wilkes Vines. I ran up to help fight while the civvies hid."

Alex slumped in her seat. "There's got to be more. They can't kill an entire city's police force in five fucking days... s-sorry baby." She wrapped her arm around her son's shoulder. "We mustn't have seen them yet, it doesn't make sense to be just us."

"Aye, I don't like seeing WV everywhere I go. I've seen what they get up to." he replied.

"Tell me about it." Chimed in Isabel.

"Not sure you'd want me to." He said with a mile long stare.

"What are you talking about?" Alex asked concerned.

Vidal looked to Alex, then back to Isabel, then back to Austin. "Might wanna cover his ears."

"It can't be worse than what they did on the ship." Said the little boy.

Alex sighed and hugged Austin close to her. She had strived to shelter him from these exact kind of tragedies. She hid the world from him, but the world had to snuff out even the most innocent of children. Vidal was once again silent for a while before speaking up.

"They... just put one of those cultists on a pyre. They burnt him like a witch."

"What!" Alex shouted out in shock. "Jesus Christ... that't... that's," she bore deep into herself, wondering if even she believed what she was about to say. But she had to believe it, she was an officer of the law and that was fucking barbaric. "That's too far, even for them that's too far."

"Alex you saw what they did!" Isabel said angrily, an understatement. "To our children you saw! You were there!"

"But in my town I'm not gonna let that fly."

"You never saw Alex!" Isabel screeched at her. "I was with them for a year, hell I joined in before I was too far along in the pregnancy. Whatever gets done to them they deserve!"

"But not in my city." She spoke with the same calm conviction she had kept up for years, Vidal had always heard her talk like this, but it had left her the past few days. Whether it was back in full force or if she was putting up a façade to trick herself into being the Sheriff the city needed, she didn't know. Her mind set didn't matter however, her actions would. Alex knelt down next to her son and spoke softly. "Mommy needs to go out for a little while baby, but I'll be back, I promise. And I'll get us food and water, and baby food for Franklin." Austin didn't reply. "Baby?"

He wasn't answering her at all. "I... I won't be long baby." She kissed him on the forehead before stepping towards the door, keeping her eye on him until she left. "Keep an eye on him Vidal"

He lifted his hand to lazily wave to her. He was fucked up sure, but he and Isabel could still fight. Alex hated herself for leaving Austin's side, especially in the condition he was in, but she couldn't stand for barbarism such as this in her city.

 

[Fappy]

Bennie spent a bit more time with Sprout before leaving his room. The boy was exhausted. He needed the rest.

Stepping outside once more, he was greeted by the murmurs of a large crowd gathered around a makeshift pyre. A man had apparently been burned at the stake from the looks of it, "What the fuck?" Bennie muttered as he walked down the boarding ramp. Then he spotted her... Amy. She did this.

God dammit.

"BENNIE!" A familiar voice shouted. As he looked in the direction of the voice he saw Cameron and Carlos running to him. "We were tending to the wounded... w-w-we only figured out something was going on outside when we heard the screams." Cameron explained through ragged breaths.

Cameron wore a bandage around her head as well as a few more on her arms, hands and face. Most of hers and Carlos' injuries were superficial. Tallahassee, on the other hand had suffered a broken jaw and a few broken ribs. Carlos had fixed him up rather well and left him to recover in one of the triage tents.

"I don't hear anymore screaming." Bennie stated, plainly.

Carlos furrowed his brow and looked in the direction of the pyre, "I spoke to one of the mercs. He said she was going on about, 'sending a message'."

Bennie crossed his arms over his chest, "And who's message is that? Last time I checked Amy was a Maiden. I don't recall the Captain ordering something so... ostentatious."

"That's one way of putting it." Cameron sighed.

Carlos looked to the two troubled Maidens, "Somehow I don't think Pixie would be too disappointed."

"That's where you're wrong," The big man glared at Carlos, "She's not like she was back then."

"Oh, really? What makes you say that?" Carlos' tone was far more venomous than usual. Bennie had struck a nerve.

"She told me herself," Bennie's eyes found there way back towards the pyre. Amy was gone. "She regrets it, you know? She's never stopped regretting what she did."

Carlos glared at Bennie for a long while. Eventually, Cameron took notice, "Uh, did I miss something?"

"Nothing," Carlos muttered, "I'm going back to triage." And with that, the thief was gone.

After watching him leave, Cameron stepped closer to Bennie and watched the flames of the pyre die down, "This isn't the kind of message we want to be sending after all this, is it?"

"No," Bennie sighed. "It certainly isn't."

*********************************************************************************************************************************************************

Sprout couldn't sleep. Too much had happened today. Too many questions had been left unanswered.

Too many wounds were still fresh.

Frustrated, Sprout rolled out of bed and started for the door. He'd only been lying there for fifteen minutes or so, but he was particularly impatient. He was also worrying about her. Maybe he'd be able to get some shut eye if it was by her side.

Sneaking out of his room, Sprout made his way towards the medbay. All of the bodies had been cleared out of the halls on the main deck now, thankfully. He'd be content not to see another dead kid as long as he lived.

How the fuck did you do it, Ma'?

Eventually, he arrived at his destination. Slipping into the medbay, Sprout spotted his mother laid out on the bed where he'd left her earlier. She was sound asleep now. Sliding a stool to her bedside, he took a seat.

She looked so peaceful when she was asleep. She always did. It was weird... someone having so many different sides to them. Being her son, Sprout had intimate experience dealing with them all. Hours earlier she had been a heartless killing machine, mowing down anything and anyone that got between her and Austin. After that, she'd been a loving mother that missed her beloved children. Now? Now she was vulnerable, wounded woman, lost in some pleasant dream... or nightmare.

Sprout had small scars on his arms from when she'd dig her nails into him in the middle of the night. Involuntarily, of course. Sometimes after a mission she'd ask him to spend the night with her. Having him nearby comforted her and he loved her, so of course he'd comply. But every so often she'd have a nightmare. A really bad one. She never spoke to him about them, but if the way she dug into his skin was anything to go off of, they were bad.

Now, however... now she didn't look like she was having a nightmare. In fact, he could swear she was smiling.

"Sprout..."

The boy had been drifting off when he suddenly heard his name. Straightening himself up, he smiled and took his mother's hand in his, "Hey Ma'."

She smiled weakly and turned her head too look at him, "You should get some rest, Sprout."

"I know," He admitted, "But, I dunno... I can't sleep. There's jus' too much goin' on, ya' know?" Pixie gave an understanding nod. The two of them searched the other's eyes and shared a long silence. Eventually, Sprout looked down at his knees. "There are... a lot of thin's I wanna talk to you about. I 'ave a lot of questions."

Pixie pursed her lips, "I reckon you do."

Her boy shrugged, "Th-they can wait though. I don' wanna stress you out right now, ya' know?"

"Yeah," Pixie frowned. "I'm sorry, Sprout... I wish I could be stronger."

"It's okay, Ma'," He met her gaze and grinned. "I can be strong fer both of us."

Pixie smiled sadly, "Yer too good fer this world, kid," Reaching out, she rest her hand on his cheek. "I'm glad ta' see Feroxi didn' change you."

A chill ran down Sprout's spine as his mother touched his face. How was it that she could be so gentle? So loving?

It was the same hand she'd used to hurt him so many times as a child.

Sprout laid his hand on hers and returned the smiled, "It's 'cause I have the best Ma' in the world."

Pixie mock-slapped his cheek and giggled, "Oh shove it! You'll make yer mama blush!"

"That ain't hard!" He chuckled. "I love you Ma'. No matter what kinda shit that happens, I'll always love you."

"That goes double fer me!" She squeezed his hand. She looked him over and nodded. "You've grown into quite the man, ya' know."

Sprout blushed, "Whatever."

"You'll take good care of 'er, I know you will."

"Lily?"

Pixie cocked an eyebrow, "Yeah, who the fuck'd you think I was talkin' about?" She chuckled.

"We'll take care of each other." Sprout corrected.

"Sure," She grinned. "Never let 'er go, you understand me? You two stick together. Always."

"Always." Sprout agreed.

The two spoke for awhile longer, until Pixie eventually fell back asleep. Sprout remained by her side, his hand in hers.

He wouldn't sleep for awhile still.

There was just too much on his mind.

Where are you Liz?

**********************************************************************************************************************************************************

Elizabeth woke early the next morning to a numb sensation in her fingers and toes. She'd been utterly drowned in pain killers and could hardly even register her extremities. Getting up and stretching wasn't going to be on the menu for at least a few more days. Being thrown from a crawler wasn't the most enjoyable experience, that was for sure. Now she understood how Florian must have felt.

And did that ***** really punch her in the face? She'd never been hit like that before. Focusing her eyes on the small nose between them proved to be much easier now that she had a massive splint on it. She'd be sure to stay away from a mirror for as long as possible. She couldn't even fathom how grotesque she looked right now.

She didn't know for how long, but she spent the better part of the morning letting her mind wander, unable to fall back asleep. Sprout, Lilith, Maria and Cranston... she didn't have much hope for the old man, but the other three? She hoped they made it home. She thought of little else, really.

Eventually a nurse came to check up on her and was delighted to see she had woken up, "Oh, good morning M'lady. Is there anything I can get you? We'll have breakfast prepared, posthaste."

Elizabeth struggled to shake her head, "No, that won't be necessary. I don't have much of an appetite."

"I'm sorry M'lady, but you have to eat. You're our patient and we have a respon---"

"I get it," Elizabeth interrupted. "Fine."

"Your personal guard will be called in as well." The nurse mentioned as she turned to leave.

"Personal guard?"

"Yes," The nurse turned to look at the girl. "One of Lord Basilio's best men will look after you up until the wedding."

I almost forgot about the wedding...

"What's the soldier's name?" Elizabeth asked.

"Asad. Major Asad Harel," A voice called out from the hall just as the nurse was opening the door. Looking past the nurse, Elizabeth spotted a black woman with several bandages on her face. It was one of the soldiers that had captured her. "The guy that you shot at."

"You..." Elizabeth muttered.

Mila stepped inside the room, pushing the nurse out of the way, "Hey, you can't---"

"Shut up and go get that breakfast already!" Mila spat as she pushed the nurse towards the door. The nurse did as she was told and quickly scurried out of the room.

"What do you want?" Elizabeth's eyes bore into Mila's.

"How's the nose?" She asked with a grin.

"How's the neck?" Elizabeth countered.

Mila stood at the foot of Elizabeth bed and crossed her arms across her chest, "You better watch yourself around here, M'lady. You may be able to sweet talk everyone else, but I know a feint when I see one. This story doesn't end with you cutting my lord's throat in his sleep."

Elizabeth's eyes narrowed, "Spare me," Mila cocked an eyebrow. "Your inflated sense of self importance disgusts me. Whether I chose to embrace Lord Basilio or stab him in the back is none of your concern. In the end, you'll still get a paycheck. You'll still just be a gun for hire. A dog of death. A warm body people like me expend to get what we want. You're nothing."

Taken aback for a moment, Mila sneered, "Fuck you!"

Elizabeth wore a cruel smile, "Mind who you are speaking to."

Mila's eye twitched in anger. She wanted to hit her a few more times in the face. Ad a few more bruises to that pretty, pale face. In the end, she gritted her teeth and turned to leave.

She stopped in the doorway when Elizabeth suddenly called out to her, "My condolences about your squad, by the way. I heard most of them died rather horribly."

Mila bowed her head as her fingers dug into the door frame. Without bothering to turn her head and look at the noble, she replied, "And I heard Lord Basilio likes fucking his bitches in the ass. Good day, M'lady."

Mila slammed the door shut as she left.

*******************************************************************************************************************************************************

Tsubaki woke from her nap when she heard something vibrating on the nightstand nearby, "I think someone's paging you." She muttered as she rolled away from Asad. And started falling asleep again.

*******************************************************************************************************************************************************

Bennie wasn't going to both dealing with Amy now. He wasn't even sure where she'd gone to. It was probably better if she talked to Pixie about it first, anyway.

Cameron had gone inside the ship to get something to eat, leaving Bennie by himself again. Making his way through the rows of environmental tents, he figured he'd check in on some of the prisoners he had freed. Stepping into the tent, he noticed one lone physician tending to the wounded. It was a young latina woman from the looks of it, "How are they doing, Doc?"

 

[Daystar Clarion]

Turning the corner just out of the engine room, Ruffles soon found himself walking into a very familiar smoke cloud. Feigning a coughing fit, he grinned. "Hey Lil. How've ya been?"

"S'up wanker?" Lilith grinned as she held the cigarette between her lips. Holding her arms apart, she gestured for a hug.

"Ah, the usual," said Ruffles, throwing his arms around Lilith and lifting her off her feet in a way sure to annoy her. "Bitches wrecking my ship, being fucking casuals. Y'know."

"Load of cunts." Lilith chuckled as she lazily kicked her feet in mock struggle. "I'm glad you're okay." She strained as the man squeezed the air from her lungs.

"Yeah," said Ruffles, setting Lilith back down. He opened his mouth to speak, and then closed it, hesitating.

The girl's eyes softened sadly as she pursed her lips. "Merry told me." She crossed her arms over her chest, averting her eyes. "Poor Warren." She muttered.

It was great being back on the Maiden, but she couldn't help feel that the cost was too high. Far too high.

Ruffles' eyes widened, the bombshell he had been working up the courage to drop forgotten. "Warren's dead?!"

"Oh shit..." Lilith whispered as she clasped a hand over her mouth. "I'm sorry Jake. I didn't..." She cursed herself for her big mouth.

Ruffles leaned against the wall and slid down it into a sitting position. "Fuck, I didn't... I just went straight to the engine room... what happened?"

"I... " Lilith squatted next to Ruffles, sitting next to him. Resting the back of her against the wall, she tilted it to the side to face her friend. "I... don't know the full story." She thought it best that Pixie divulged all the gory details. "I just know who we lost." Her voice cracked slightly as she leaned against Ruffles' shoulder.

"Jesus..." Ruffles muttered, running a hand down his face. Forcing a smile, he said, "man, this crew is gonna be getting whiter by the day." He had to start somewhere.

Smiling sadly, Lilith brushed the hair from her eyes. "I don't ever remember there being so few of us..." She turned her face skyward and she blew smoke from her mouth. "I heard about the new girl." She closed her eyes as she scoffed. "The fuck is up with Merry?"

Wish I knew," he said. "Amy's uh... I don't know. She's very 'her against the world'. It's intense."

"Great." Lilith muttered sarcastically. "Can't wait to meet her!" She squeaked as she held her finger to her temple, jerking her hand upwards. She exhaled smoke through clenched teeth. "Miss anything else? Apart from everyone dying, I mean?"

"Well we've got someone else along too," Ruffles said. "Not sure how permanent it is, though. Remember Whiskey Fifer?"

"Fifer?!" Lilith choked as she looked at Ruffles with a gobsmacked expression. "How the shit did we end up with her?"

"Well when we got that backup off Payton, he sent her with us as a kinda liaison. That said, she looked like she was choking down a mouth fulla shit everytime she looked at him," said Ruffles. "The suits are all gone, but I don't think she's cleared out yet." He grinned. "I heard you made a new friend through the classic method of stealing their shit. She lame like you? Last thing we need is more fuckin' white chicks on this boat, Lil."

Lilith grinned. "S'okay!" Lilith winked. "Her name's Maria. Maria Machado."

"Well that's still kinda white," said Ruffles. "Unless you're weirdly racist like that." He poked her in the gut. "Are you, Lilith? Are you racist against the Latin population?"

"Some kind of Spanish." Lilith nudged Ruffles with her shoulder. "Also." She bit her bottom lip as she looked at the man suggestively. "I think we might have a new genius onboard. She's a doctor."

Ruffles rolled his eyes at the implication. "Aw, fuck off. But I guess that's a relief. I'm tired of being the only sciencey person onboard. I mean seriously, I'm not a doctor, but you guys don't listen! Then you get mad when I give Cameron an oil change! It's all I know how to do!"

"To be fair." Lilith smiled. "Cam could do with an oil change from time to time." She winced at the implication, shivering slightly. "I bet she feels... sticky."

"Oh, dude!" Ruffles exclaimed, shaking Lilith to get the attention he already had. "Dude, she totally fucked Bennie!"

"WHAT?!" Lilith cried, removing the cigarette from her mouth. "Are you fucking kidding me?!" This had to be a joke. First this 'Amy' and now Cam? "Are Pixie and Bennie fucking competing or some shit?"

"Maybe," Ruffles said. "Whiskey was looking for Bennie earlier. Weird..."

Putting his hands on his knees, Ruffles got up and then helped Lilith to her feet. "So be honest: Was Sprout being cringey as fuck over the new Mexican doctor?"

"Well, let's see." Lilith grunted as she was pulled to her feet. Holding out her hand, she grabbed the tip of her index finger. "Maria is around the same age as Pixie." She counted off her finger. "She's sassy." Counting off another finger, Lilith smirked, "Oh, and she has tits, so yeah, he totally tried to hit that."

"Man, I feel bad for his left sock," said Ruffles. "Come on then. I wanna meet this sassy ***** if she's as awesome as you say."

 

[NinjaDeathSlap]

She couldn't stay down forever. Once Amy was able to regain a certain degree of control over herself, she got to her feet and set off back towards the Maiden, persisting despite every step feeling more leaded than the last. Her leg wound was aching badly, and she knew that she's probably have to get it looked at more closely soon, but that would have to wait. First, she suspected, she would have to face the music for what she had just done.

She didn't regret it, no more than she promoted it at least. The only thing that she could say with certainty, is that she would do it again. As far as the rest of the Maiden's were concerned, she hadn't asked any of them for help, so it was none of their business. They weren't complicit. She wasn't so naive, however, to think that they would see it that way. Nevertheless, it had been her sister, her promise, her responsibility. In this matter, their condemnation would be as irrelevant as their permission, had they given it. She would go and see Pixie directly. If she had to be chewed out by somebody, it was better her than anyone else. Pixie would understand. She may not agree, in fact her understanding may even make her doubly furious, but it would mean more coming from her.

First though, she needed to get cleaned up. She needed to feel like a person again.

On board the Maiden, Amy headed straight for the room she had occupied before Austin had taken over. She undressed, and disposed of her spoiled clothes in the trash before they stank out the whole ship, before getting in the shower. Mercifully, the hot water still worked, and Amy turned it up to full, staying in there for what felt like a long time, until no trace of the sewers remained on her. Some of the clothes that she had unpacked still remained in the room, so she wasn't forced to steal from anyone. She put on clean underwear and chose a simple, lilac dress. The neck may have been cut lower than most might deem appropriate, but Amy had always been lacking in clothes that other people would describe as 'casual'. Once she was dry and dressed, she headed in the direction of the med-bay.

It wasn't just her most recent actions that filled Amy with a heavy sense of dread at the prospect of seeing her lover again. As much as she wanted to deny it, she knew things weren't going to be the same now. The only question was, how much was going to change, and in what manner. So much had happened over the last few weeks, it made the time they had spent together seem a lot longer than it actually had been. They'd all been through so much, and lost a lot of good people along the way. In such times, it was all to easy to get ahead of yourself. Amy's feelings for Pixie were just as strong as they had been before, but Pixie herself... now that she had her ship back, her family back, would it be as if her time with Amy had been some sort of fever dream, that she could now wake from? Where was Amy going to fit now. She'd been promised that she would be a Maiden, had her doubts rebutted time and time again, but deep down, Amy knew that it was all too easy to promise the world, when it seemed as if the world was ending. Recent events only compounded that. There was no covering it up now. Amy was destructive. Would a group that now needed to focus so hard on rebuilding be able to reconcile that?

Amy wasn't going to get the answers that she sought straight away, as Pixie was asleep when Amy entered. She felt a pang at seeing how beaten up she was, but she knew that, physically, Pixie could endure just about anything. Aesop was another story... Amy found it hard to look at him.

'You didn't deserve any of this. At least this will be the last time he ever gets to hurt you.'

Sitting at Pixie's bedside, was a boy who looked to be roughly the same age as Amy, she didn't recognise him, and for a panicked moment she thought he was one of Austin's followers. The way he looked at her though, it didn't take Amy long to figure out who he was, even if they bore no physical resemblance.

"Um... hello." she announced, rather awkwardly. before approaching the other side of Pixie's bed. "Do you mind if I join you?"

 

[Terratina.]

"How are they doing, Doc?"

Maria finished up a bit of snitching and looked up at the big black man, who must have been at least a foot and a bit taller than the doctor as she had to lift her head up quite a bit. She waved her arm around, "Take an educated guess."

The whole tent looked like some modern-day Pharaoh had died and his servants were being mummified en masse.

Thankfully, the injured themselves were doing a little bit better than that. Maria sighed, today was full of new faces - some patients, others like the big black gentlemen over there. Saw it was as expected, but her expectations were being met with a vengeance.

'Mustn't grumble.' Maria thought as her arm dropped to her side.

And what sort of answer had she given the man?! She sank her hands into the pockets of her coat and gave the... more correct answer, "Fine, for war survivors. Just some rest and refreshments and they'll recover."

She then gave him a quizzical look and added, "I'm Maria, and you are...?"

 

[Fappy]

"I'm Maria, and you are...?"

?Bennie,? He grinned, hoping his smile would cheer her up a bit. ?Bennie Carmine. You wouldn?t happen to be the same Maria that saved my boy, Sprout, would you??

There was a laugh, though there was an edge of exhaustion to it, "Si, si. That's me."

He put his hands on his hips and cocked his eyebrow, ?Well, I reckon you?ve already heard enough ?thank yous? by now. The Captain?s liable to kiss your feet.? He chuckled.

"Geez, I rescue one kid from the brink of death and now this..." Maria replied, "Maybe being a doctor isn't so bad, after all."

?It?s certainly more noble than gunning down kids,? Bennie sighed. ?Sorry, it?s been a long day. Anything I can do to help out? Kind of... aimless right now.?

Her face settled into a tired, but sad smile and shrugged, "Um... You could show me around the Maiden, I guess. I've finished up here, more or less."

?Now?s not the best time for a tour, sorry. They?re uh... they?re still cleaning up the blood. First impressions and everything...? He sighed.

"Ah right." Maria said. Suddenly it began to feel quite awkward...

Taking note of Maria?s discomfort, Bennie patted her on the shoulder, ?You want a beer??

After a bit of a stretch, Maria responded with a, "Yeah... I think we all need a drink 'round here."

?Lil and Sprout sure know how to pick ?em.? He winked at her as he guided her through the enviromental threshold. Once outside, they secured their breathing masks and headed to a tent right under the bow of the ship. A few Wilkes-Vines soldiers were taking a break inside, as well as Brock. ?Hey man, you doin? any better?? Bennie asked his friend as they removed their masks again.

?Yeah,? He chirped. ?Just a twisted ankle and some bruises. You wanna beer??

?You read me like a book, man.? Bennie laughed as he caught the can Brock tossed him. ?This is Maria. She?s the new recruit they picked up in Feroxi.?

?Ma?am,? Brock doffed an invisible hat. ?Nice glutes.?

?Brock?s like that.? Bennie said as he handed Maria a beer from the cooler nearby.

With men like that, it was certainly obvious where Sprout got his in-your-face lewdness from. What a place to raise a child. After opening the bottle and taking a well deserved sip, she turned to Brock, "You do realise with remarks like that, I'll forever remember you as Mr. Ass Man?"

Brock laughed, ?I think I can live with that!?

?It?ll be nice having more women around,? Bennie shrugged. ?The Maiden?s been a sausage-fest for as long as I can remember. Back in the old days, Pixie was like a kid in a candy store.?

Brock wiped a tear from his eye, ?God damn, she used to be such a slut.?

Bennie glared at him. Brock returned the look. The atmosphere became heavy... oppressive, even. At any moment it was as if the balloon would burst. And then, all of a sudden, Bennie started cracking up followed closely by Brock, ?Did you see the look on her face!?? Brock snorted, pointing to Maria.

"My, my." Maria began, recovering the little antic in an instant, "Toying with the new blood are we?"

?It wouldn?t be much fun if we didn?t, am I right?? He said before taking a liberal swig of his beer.

Maria mock-pouted, "What's next? Do I have to steal Pixie's favorite knickers or chug three gallons of beer or something?"

Relaxation was so far away...

?You?ll be chugging beer before too long, anyway.? Bennie chuckled. ?We?re heavy drinkers around here.?

Brock nodded, ?Yeah, not much else to do aboard the Maiden but drink, fight and fuck!? He winked at Maria.

She took another snip of the beer and chuckled, "In what order?"

?I like her!?

Bennie rolled his eyes, ?Ignore him. He?s almost as horny as the kid.?

With Bennie's advice noted, she decided to turn the whole thing down a little.

"Fuck is all the waaaay down the list, then." She muttered.

Regardless of the current situation, the image of a horny fifteen year-old boy was off-putting enough.

?Smart girl.?

Brock sighed, ?You and Pixie, man. Ultimate cock-blockers.?

The three of them hung out a little longer before Bennie stood up and looked towards the exit. He and Maria had both just finished their beers, ?We probably shouldn?t poke around the ship right now, but would you at least want to get a closer look??

"Sure." Maria answered, "'Least it'll get us away from those horndogs."

Brock stuck his tongue out as the two left him to his precious beer. Once outside again, the two started for the ship. Just then, Bennie spotted two familar faces headed their way, ?Hey guys.?

It was Ruffles and Lilith.

 

[Dogmatic99]

You would think they'd get tired of it. The fighting that is. Everyone had gorged themselves on it in the first few days, fighting and stealing and using every ounce of chaos just so they could get their hands on any piece of material wealth they could. How many factory workers were living like beggar kings now? There couldn't be much left to take now, Frostfall was a fresh carcass now and the rot was setting in. This was a time for those who could guard their horde more jealously. While all the while more of them clawed for red scarves as if they could stop a bullet or a blade.

Maybe it was time to start sending more of them out. So many angry young men all cooped up together it was bound to start sending sparks flying. And the WV people had been so slow about responding, they and some of the smaller families may need some more prodding.

That could be a nice idea, letting them spread out from the dome like a red virus on the face of the rock. And why not? People had grown so weak and complacent these days. And Vasa himself had sat on his laurels for long enough, there was no victory left to be had here. If only the others could see that.

Erik still hadn't stopped complaining and Irena had been running herself ragged trying to claim whatever she could in that roundabout way of hers. Only Sergei seemed to understand, he had reveled and thrived in the chaos. Vasa couldn't help but wonder what had kept him from raising the man up for so long. No matter, he was the only one with any more. Yes, some new blood was needed now.

He'd called his gnerals for a fresh meeting anyway, this could be a good time to bring it up.

'Or fuck it, whenever the hell I want!' Vasa lit himself a cigarette while he waited, reclining in his favourite of Boykov's chairs. One that had less blood on it than the others. They really needed to hire a cleaner.

'Just the one.' Vasa afforded himself a tiny laugh at that mental image.
===============================================================================

["So what do you think he wants?"]

["I don't know, Sergei."] Erik grumbled as the two generals trapped their way though the halls of the tattered spire. Most of the lifts were still blatant death traps and Vasa had found all he needed to live like a fucking recluse up on the upper levels, forcing anyone who wanted him to climb like a peasant.

["Whatever."] Sergei yawned, stretching his arms over his head. A tense pause passed between the two before Sergei decided to put his foot in it again. ["Hey where the fuck you been anyway? Haven't seen you around these days, the hell do you do on a weekend, Erik."]

["I do stuff."]

["So teenage boys?"] Sergei smirked. ["Bet you got your pick of the litter now, right? My guess is there are tons of lads needing to get the family some carbon and are better at handling another man's gun than their own-"]

["Shut up."] Erik cut him off, making sure to keep a neutral tone in his voice.

Truth be told Erik had been hanging out with younger men more than usual, though he wasn't getting nearly as much fun out of it as he'd have liked. His crews were wounded and tired but he'd kept them standing guard and keeping the peace in their local neighborhoods. Erik himself had become a makeshift sheriff around his usual haunts. The few places he could call his own were vulnerable at the best of times, in all the chaos of the fall he'd been stretched to his limit. Half his men were wounded while others had forsaken his preferred guarding grounds to watch over their own homes. Erik couldn't begrudge them that.

["Christ, Erik, do you ever lighten up? Here you are with the whole dome at your feet and what do you do? Brood. Y'know the grunts aren't here, you can drop the act for a second."]

["I'll drop mine if you drop yours."] He said as the two of them picked their way around some strewn rubble.

["Now kneel!"] Sergei rumbled doing a crappy impression of Erik's voice. Erik didn't join him in laughing.

The two of them eventually found which room Vasa was haunting. Sergei hadn't given up on his side of the one man conversation. ["Old man's been acting pretty crazy these days, maybe you wanna put this away."] Sergei moved to tap the short sawed off at Erik's side only to find his wrist caught in a vice like grip by Erik's ham sized hand.

The two stared each other down like street dogs, Sergei grunting and giving weak efforts to free himself all the while.

["You need to get out of my personal space. Right. The fuck. Now."] Erik said in hushed tones. After giving themselves a quick pat down the two joined their disheveled leader and began the meeting he'd called.

["Where is Irena?"] Vasa asked. ["It isn't like her to be late."]

["I've tried paging and calling her."] Erik shrugged. ["Odds are she's just been held up by some whelps with ideas above their station. Or shit traffic."] If only their everyday problems were so simple these days.
===============================================================================

Earlier at Irena's place.

Irena slammed the door shut with a swing of her hips and set her shopping down hard on the nearest table. Grocery shopping was turning into a real ordeal. She half considered hiring a kid for it but they'd never be able to find the teas she liked and little pleasures were a rare commodity now. She'd have to start rationing now, hello caffeine headaches.

With a sigh and a groan she shrugged off her jacket and unbuckled her holster. Turning up the heating and helping herself to one cup wouldn't be so bad would it?

"Hi Irena." Came a course voice behind her. Every minor thought in her head went blank as her training kicked in. Fast as she could Irena went for her gun and turned on her intruder. Only to be met by an oncoming force and a tight grip twisting the weapon out of her hand.

"Son of a-" The insult died in her throat as she laid eyes on her attacker... then she screamed.
===============================================================================

"Irena. I-I- Irena, stay calm, Irena." Florian grimaced as he clamped his hand over her mouth, muffling her screams and fighting to keep her struggling in line. "I'm not gunna hurt you. I'm not gunna hurt you." He kept repeating in the closest thing he could muster to a calming voice.

Ten minutes later.

"You okay?" Florian panted.

Irena nodded, her wide, watery eyes saying that was a total lie.

"If I let go now do you promise not to scream?"

Irena gave a mousy squeak.

"Okay... let's try it." Florian moved his hand away at a snails pace, ready to slam it back in place at a moment's notice if need be. "Do you want to sit down, get a glass of water?"

"You're supposed to be dead." Irena squeaked, her voice sounding pathetically small.

"I know... I know." Florian sighed. "I promise I'll explain everything. We're going to talk. About everything."

 

[NinjaDeathSlap]

"Do you mind if I join you?"

Sprout blinked stupidly as he took in the girl?s appearance. Who was she? She was... beautiful.

Don? get a boner while yer holdin? yer Ma?s hand now, Axel.

He leered at her awhile longer before he realized that she had spoken to him, ?Oh! Um... y-yeah, sure. I-I don? mind.?

What the hell was that!?

Sprout blushed and averted his gaze, ?I, uh, the name?s Sprout.?

"I know who you are." Amy replied, smiling at him. She wasn't embarrassed by the boy gawking at her. It wasn't like he was the first, after all, and there was even something about the comic blatancy of it that she found weirdly endearing.

"She talks about you a lot." she told him, as she took Pixie's other hand, a lot of different emotions passing over her face in rapid succession. "Multiple times a day in fact." She looked up. "I'm Amy, by the way."

The look that passed over the boy's face upon hearing her name was surprisingly brief, but Amy just wouldn't be Amy if she didn't catch it.

'Oh dear. My reputation precedes me.'

After taking a moment to connect the dots, Sprout blurted out, ?Yer datin? Ma?!? His sense of tact was as flimsy as ever. ?Uh, sorry... I um, well... nice to meet you, Amy.? He chuckled nervously.

"I take it I'm not what you expected." Amy said, a little sheepishly. "It's okay, I get that all this is so many levels of strange. You think you know someone, then you leave them alone for five minutes and they're with someone old enough to be, well... you."

Perhaps attempting humour was not the best approach.

"I'm not going to pretend it's not complicated, or that it's been easy for some people to reconcile, but it just sort of, happened, and I hope it keeps happening, that's all I can really say."

Sprout shrugged, ?Well if I?m gonna be blunt an?, well, I always am...? He met her gaze. ?Yer... bein? so young... it is kinda weird. An?, you know... I?m sure you know about Bennie.? He shifted uncomfortably in his stool and scratched his arm with his freehand. ?But if Ma?s happy then I don? really see a problem.? He looked down at his mother and smiled.

?I don? reckon she?s a hard woman to fall for,? He blushed. ?But, you know, she?s a hard woman ta? love, Amy. She?s a complicated person an? she... she will hurt you. I... shit...? He shook his head in order to collect himself. ?I?m sorry. We jus? met an? this is totally not appropriate fer first impressions. Can we start over?? He laughed.

"I don't mind, really." Amy said. "You're not saying anything I haven't heard before. Seems like everywhere I turn, people have been holding up warning signs about your mother. Maybe after today, it will be the other way around..."

There was no point in hiding it. Sprout was going to find out what she'd just done sooner or later.

"But yes, let's start over. Whatever happens next, I know they'll be a lot of people a lot happier for having you back Axel."

Sprout nodded in agreement as his eyes wandered.

?... a lot of people...?

The boy frowned, ?I reckon a lot of those people are dead now. Though, Ma? will be happy to hear yer alright if she hasn?t already.?

Amy's face fell. The Maiden's hadn't had many people left to lose anyway. How much had this last push cost them?

"I haven't been told about casualties yet. I guess a part of me really doesn't want to know. I... I did have someone in Yuteni. Not another Maiden, but, someone very close to me, who did something very brave because I asked them to, and they paid the price."

Amy had to stop for a second, to swallow the lump in her throat.

"As for myself, my leg's a little messed up, but I got off lightly, considering..." She looked over at Aesop and grimaced.

The look on Amy?s face was telling, despite how much she tried to hide her despair. Sprout frowned, ?We all lost people today.? He looked to his mother once more. ?We failed her. We lost Cranston an? Elizabeth. Chromy... he?s probably dead. Liz? I don? even have a clue.? He sighed. ?I know how it feels to be... helpless... I guess that?s a good word for it.? He squeezed his mother?s hand and looked the Amy. ?As much pain as she?s in, I?m sure she?ll find room ta? comfort you too, Amy. You don? have ta? carry that burden alone. She taught me a long time ago that... that you should never bury yer feelings.?

It took a few seconds for Amy to reply.

"I'm always alone." she said, quietly. "Everyone is. Sorry, I know that's not the kind of glass-half-full attitude that somebody's going to need to have to get us through all this, but... Stuff happens, and it makes you who you are, the bad stuff along with the good. You have no choice but to carry it, and nobody can do that for you. People can sympathise, they can give advice with the best of intentions, but they can never truly understand what it's like to be you, and they can't step into your shoes to look at every decision you've made, and say with any certainty that they would have done the other thing. When all is said and done, if you can't square the way things are with yourself, nobody's approval or support is going to make it better."

A few months ago, these were feelings that she never would have let anyone see. It had even taken Pixie days to wheedle this much out of her. Was it just their current situation that left Amy feeling particularly open, or was their something about this boy?

?...what it?s like to be you...?

That one phrase in particular stuck out in Sprout?s mind for a long time.

Who am I?

His troubled thoughts found their way back to the imagery from his recent nightmares. The woman with the blurred face. The warm woman who held him tight.

What are they keepin? from me?

After a few moments Sprout realized that he had completely spaced out. He must have been coming off as incredibly rude, or at least, painfully aloof, ?Ya-yeah, I reckon ya? gotta accept yerself before others accept you, otherwise it don? mean nothin?.?

Sprout wondered... did his mother accept herself? Did she love herself?

Finding himself lost in the beautiful girl?s eyes, Sprout nearly jumped out of his stool when his mother sturred, ?Oh, shit... were we too loud??

Pixie slowly opened her eye and looked to Amy. She smiled, ?Hey, sweetheart.? Her voice was weak.

"Hey you." Amy replied, her face lighting up the moment Pixie stirred, her eyes misting up.

"I thought I'd find you here." she joked. "You just have to throw yourself in front of every punch, don't you? Let me guess, I should see the other guy?"

A cough caught Pixie?s throat when she tried to laugh, ?I got that fucker good.? She said, eventually. Looking to Sprout, she squeezed his hand. ?I?m sorry I was asleep fer this. I wanted ta? be able ta? introduce you two.?

Sprout grinned, ?Don? worry, we made due without you. We can take this outside if you wanna sleep.?

?Nah,? Pixie shook her head. ?I don? wanna miss this.?

"I like him." Amy responded cheerfully. "All in all, I'd say you did a pretty good job."

She sighed and hung her head. There was no putting it off any longer. Bennie or somebody else was liable to burst into the room at any moment, if they knew she'd come back here.

"Axel..." She started, tentatively. "I know you must have been dying to see your mother for a long time, but, would you mind giving us a minute alone?"

Pixie?s expression hardened as her eye found Amy.

?Oh, yeah, sure.? Sprout said as he got to his feet. He looked to his mother, recognizing her expression immediately. ?I?ll be right outside.?

Once he was gone, Pixie reached out and took Amy?s hand, ?Speak.?

It was as if she already knew, though there was no chance anybody could have told her already. Now she was in a position where there was no going back, Amy wanted to tell her even less.

"I did something horrible today." she opened, quietly. "Georgia, one of my sisters who was on the Maiden... she didn't make it. They tried to escape when everything started going down, but, she was caught and..."

That part of the story was proving too difficult to tell, so Amy moved on.

"Sandra made it out, and she told me how it happened. I found him, Pixie, the one who killed her, the last one left, and I made him suffer for it. You're probably going to get told all the details soon. I just wanted you to know that I acted alone. Nobody helped me apart from a few Wilkes Vine's thugs who I'm paying out of my own pocket. Nobody even knows me as a Maiden yet, so... you're not culpable in any way for what I did. It was my business. It was my choice." Her voice and expression grew stronger "And I'm not apologising for it."

Now Amy just had to wait, for what kind of reaction she was going to receive.

Pixie closed her eyes and sighed silently. She sat there for a long time, seemingly considering her response. In truth, Pixie knew exactly what she would say from the start. After a short silence, Pixie opened her eye. It pierced right through Amy?s, ?Killing this person. How did it make you feel??

"I didn't enjoy it, if that's what you mean." Amy replied, a little defensively. "It didn't make me feel good. It didn't make me feel better, but..." she sighed. "You have to understand. I was all that Georgia had, all any of them have, to stand between them and what other people sometimes like to do to girls like us, and a lot of the time, I'm not enough. It was in this city that I first started taking care of my own, because nobody else would. Even before Austin came out of this place, none of us were safe. Every day, another whore would get shot, stabbed, beaten to death, drowned, or whatever else, and nobody was standing up to fight back for us. To the nobles, we were toys. To the police, we were like litter on the streets. I got sick of nobody being in our corner, so I took matters into my own hands, and after a while it started working.

Like I said, it's just me Pixie. I have to be our advocate, our judge and our jury, and yes, even our executioner when it comes to it, and because it's all on me, I have to be as scary to all the scum who want to hurt us than the whole fucking establishment that everyone else gets. If I don't go to extremes to teach people what happens when you screw with us, then how many more Georgia's will there be? So yeah, I feel pretty fucking sick with myself right now, but I'd do it again a thousand times over if I had to, and I don't give a damn what anyone else thinks about that!"

Realising she was nearly shouting, Amy forced herself to stop, breathing heavily.

?Don? be such an idiot,? Pixie muttered as she closed her eye once more. Her tone was heavy with disappointment. ?You didn? do this ta? protect yer sisters, Amy. You did this fer you. Austin?s crusade? Georgia?s death? That had nothin? to do with whores. Nothin? ta? do with yer sisters. Georgia was merely collateral damage. She could ?ave been anyone. The fact that she pleasured pigs fer a livin? was irrelevant. There were many more victims today, Amy. People who have nothin? ta? do with you.?

She sighed, ?The only message you sent is that ?you don? fuck with Amy?, which is commendable in its own right I suppose. But don? you fer a second try to tell me this was for them. I?ve been walkin? that road fer twelve years, darlin?. I know it intimately. I know a fake justice when I see it. Mock selflessness. No,? She frowned. ?Despite what you tell yerself... despite what little catharsis you felt upon his death... you did this for no one else but yerself.?

Finally, Pixie opened her eye, ?An? I can? say I blame you.?

"You're wrong." Amy spat, her fists balled and tears leaking out of the corners of her eyes. "If 'don't fuck with Amy' extends to not fucking with the people I name for family, then that's all I care about. I'll let other people decide what that makes me, so long as they leave us alone. Yeah, Austin's madness was indiscriminate. Yeah, there was a hell of a lot more going on here than just my concerns, but that doesn't mean my concerns have to change. In fact, it makes it even more important that I speak up. Were what was left of the police, or the nobility, going to speak for Georgia? Were Wilkes Vine's, were you?! Who, in the middle of the rest of this death, was going to even notice one more dead whore unless I refused to let it go unanswered, unless I made them care? I didn't come here asking to be told that what I did was right, but don't go second guessing my intentions either. For God's sake, stop acting like you know me! You can't stand in my shoes, not ever!"

Amy stood up, not able to look at Pixie any more.

"I'll let you rest. Tell Aesop I said hi." she said, coldly, before she left. Axel was standing just outside the door.

"She's all yours." Amy said, with as much dignity as she could muster, before leaving and going back to the room she'd used earlier. As she neared the door, Amy saw that all her clothes now lay in a crumpled heap outside, some even having been torn in their haste to be rejected as quickly and violently as possible. A sound escaped her lips that was half a sob and half a bitter laugh.

'Well, just what the hell were you expecting?'

At a loss for anything else to do, she sat on the bed, in silence, as the tears came again. Things had changed. That was confirmed now, and for Amy it was all going wrong.

Pixie?s fingers twitched when they registered the sudden absence of Amy?s hand.

She said nothing as Amy stormed out. Maybe she was right. Maybe Pixie didn?t know her at all. Maybe she was just seeing what wasn?t there.

Maybe Amy wasn?t the mirror she had believe her to be.

She sighed once more and bowed her head. She no longer had the energy to cry or shout. Instead, she simply stared off into nothingness. The silence was deafening.

Sprout had to stop himself from entering the room when the shouting started. Just what the hell was going on in there? He couldn?t make out most of what was being said, but apparently Pixie had done something to really piss Amy off. And then, suddenly, she came marching out of the room, giving him some parting words before disappearing down the hall.

?Okay....? He muttered to himself.

After a brief moment of hesitation, Sprout?s hand found the door handle. Peering into the room, he saw his mother looking rather... passive. It was as if she didn?t even notice his entrance. Without a word, Sprout made his way over to her, took her hand in his and sat back down beside her. This seemed to shake her from her trance as her good eye settled on his. They didn?t share any words. He simply squeezed her hand, offered a smile and watched her fall asleep once more.

Eventually, he did the same.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

"I think someone's paging you."

"Of course they are." Asad grunted he sat up. Leaning forward, he rummaged through his pants pockets until he found his pager. "Shit." The man sighed as he slowly got to his feet.

"They need me with the Maribel girl." Quickly getting dressed, looked down at Tsubaki, his eyes softening as he drank in her delicate features. Of course they needed him, he was having fun, can't have too much of that now, could we?

Leaning over the bed, he silently brushed his lips on the sleeping woman's head before quietly leaving the apartment, taking a second to stroke Jun Junior behind the ear. "Catch you later Juncat." He muttered as he left.

After a quick visit to the barracks for a shower and change of clothes, he headed towards the medical ward where the girl was being kept. This would be interesting to say the least, and he'd have an excuse not to visit Bryan and Jun in the mean time.

Was he feeling guilty? Ashamed? He didn't really know yet, but he knew he wasn't in the mood to see them.

As he flashed his ID to the guards, they let him into the high security, VIP section of the ward. Quickly adjusting his uniform, he clasped his hands behind his back as he entered the young girl's room. Walking to the foot of the bed, he simply stood over her, a neutral expression on his face.

"My Lady." He bowed his head. "I'm Major Asad Harel, I believe we're about to see a lot more of each other."


===========================================================
"Hey guys."

Lilith waved a hand lazily as her and Ruffles stopped in front of the other pair. Gesturing towards Maria, Lilith smiled. "Ruffles, this sexy vixen is Maria." Lilith then nodded at Jake as she faced the woman. "Maria, this Jake, but everyone calls him Ruffles." She shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly. "He's a'reet."

Spoiler: FEELS TRAIN

Stretching her arms out behind her, Lilith groaned slightly. "Anyway, I'll leave you to it, I need to take a shower before my stink finishes off the rest of the crew. Catch you twats later." Waving at the three as she sauntered away, her breathing began to quicken as she hurried back into the Maiden. Rushing through the airlock, Lilith peeled off her mask, her pace quickening. As she made her way to her room, she held her breath, clenching her jaw as she kept her eyes low as she walked past a couple of the crew.

As the door to her room came into sight, Lilith broke into a jog, squeaking slightly as a whimper escaped her throat, she burst into her bedroom, slamming the door behind her.

"Oh Jesus." The girl whispered as her voice cracked, "Jesus fucking Christ." Gripping at her scalp as she ran her hands through her hair, her breath became ragged. "No no no no no no!" Slamming her back against the door, she slid to the floor.

This wasn't supposed to to happen, it wasn't supposed to be like this. They came back because things were supposed to be better! Leaning forward, Lilith pulled her knees to her forehead, her hands on the underside of her thighs as she rocked back and forth gently. "This wasn't worth it!" She sobbed as tears began fall down her cheeks. As the gravity of the situation began to sink in, Lilith felt like she was being smothered, her attempts at stifling her sobbing failing miserably.

Warren, Parker, Silo, she didn't even known the entire list of the dead, but it was a lot. Some of them newer than the others, but friends all the same. "Cranston." She squeezed her eyes shut as she continued to weep. How many? How many more people was she going to leave behind? How many times was she going to leave, only to return to more dead? How many times would she have to say goodbye, not knowing it'd be the last time she would see someone. "I can't do this any more!" She cried out, burying her face in her arms. Run away, she just wanted to run away, leave it all behind, leave everyone behind, find a bar and just get drunk and stay that way until she died.

"You son of a *****!" She muttered as she dug her nails into her jeans. She never wanted to make that call, a part of her wished Maria or Sprout had pushed her aside and made the decision for her, leaving her to stare at the pair as they drove away.

'I said I would protect her, I promised!'

The poor girl, she couldn't even begin to fathom was Elizabeth must be going through right now. Scared and alone.

'And betrayed.'

They were there, they were right there, two minutes from freedom. Right fucking there! They couldn't just let them go though, oh no, they just had to shoot at them, they had to make Lilith swerve the crawler, had to shoot out the wheel. "I should have gripped the wheel tighter, I shouldn't have leaned into the swerve so much, I should slowed down, I should have DONE SOMETHING!"

Quickly pushing herself to her feet she looked around her room. Clawed at her jacket as she tore it from her shoulders, tossing it against the wall. "FUCKING ****!" Turning to face the rest of her room, Lilith's eye immediately picked out the changes to her abode, her despair quickly turning to anger as she stomped over to her bed. Clothes of a dead girl, some stupid snot nosed **** who got brainwashed and shot up her home. Stayed in her room before killing her friends. She wished she were there, there when they retook the Maiden, there when her friends needed her, instead of gallivanting off somewhere else with some noble ***** who couldn't even stay in a fucking crawler, because Meredith Cunting Monroe felt guilty for keeping them around, only to bring them the fuck back again anyway!

Storming across her room, she swung open her door, making a loud crack as it smashed against the hull. Grabbing several items of unfamiliar clothing dotted around her room, tossing them out into hall. Frantically searching the room, she threw open her drawers, pulling out more stranger's clothes and throwing them with the others. "Stupid *****!" Lilith muttered through clenched teeth as she continued to search her room. All her liquor was gone, she moved over to her record player, noticing the addition of some new vinyls. Any other time and she would have kept them, any other day.

Unlike her records, these still had labels. "Who the fucking fuck is Frank Sinatra? I bet he's a fucking ****!" Turning, she tossed the record out her door, smashing it to pieces against the corridor. "Rat Pack?! FUCKING CUNTS!" That record followed the first.

As she culled her room of all foreign objects, Lilith continued to rave, swearing at herself, swearing at Cranston, cursing Elizabeth, cursing Pixie, Warren, Parker, Austin, everyone. They were all to blame, she was to blame. Sprout and Maria, they made her keep driving, they made her leave them behind, they didn't even try, they could have tried!

"YOU'RE CUNTS TOO!" She roared as she buried her fist in the wall, a stabbing pain shooting through her hand as the cut in her palm reopened. Crying out, Lilith swore angrily as she stormed into her bathroom. The place was still wet! Who the fuck had been using her shower? Brushing that aside for the moment, Lilith leaned over the sink as she peeled the bandage off her hand, wincing as it pulled away from her wounded palm. She looked up at the mirror, at the scar on her cheek. Constant remainder. Furrowing her brow, Lilith took a long ragged breath as she dropped the bloody bandage in the basin, her eyes unmoving from her reflection. "You're a ****, Valentine." Lilith sneered at herself. "You think because you felt regret for killing a murderous thug, that you have the world figured out?" She continued to stare at her reflection, he hand dripping blood into the basin. "You didn't protect anyone, you didn't save anyone. What good are you?" Turning from the mirror in disgust, she moved into the bedroom, slamming the door shut as she stripped off her clothes, briefly opening the door to throw them out with the rest of the trash.

As the hot water showered over her face, the grime peeled from her hair and skin. Taking another deep breath, the anger receded, only to be left with a feeling of emptiness. "I can't protect anything, not even myself."

Looking down at the drain, Lilith held out her wounded the hand, the water tinting red as it washed away the blood. Blue eyes unwavering, she clenched her hand, digging her nails into her palm as fresh blood rushed into the stream of water flowing from her hand, painting the swirls around the drain.

"I'm not trying hard enough." The woman clenched her jaw. Pixie had sent her away, her friends died. Cranston had sent her away, he died, and so did any hope of saving Elizabeth. Every time she abandoned someone, they suffered, every time she let herself be sent away, someone suffered.

Slowly uncurling her fingers, water pooled in her palm.

Be water.

Turning her hand to the side, she let the stream of water wash the blood from her fingers. It was nobody's fault but her's, just submitting to everyone else's will, she didn't need protecting, she was the last person who needed protecting. Everything bad in her life happened to other people. She didn't need help, they did.

As the red tinted water continued to trickle from her fingers, the girl smiled sadly.


"Blood runs thicker than water." She closed her eyes, "I have plenty to spare."

 

[Terratina.]

Tsubaki stirred when she heard her door close shut. Peeking over the mound of dirty sheets at the foot of the bed, the girl sighed. She was all alone again. Asad was gone.

Dragging herself out of bed, she took a quick, hot shower and got changed into her officer's uniform. Though her duties were rather... non-existent today, so long as she was a soldier she'd play the part. After kissing her cat on the top of the head, she made a quick exit out the door.

Thankfully the medical ward wasn?t all that far from the tower?s apartments. Tsubaki felt somewhat guilty that she hadn?t tried to visit either of her men last night, even if she knew she wouldn?t have been permitted. It was still early though. For all she knew neither of them had even woken up yet.

Don?t kid yourself, Tsu... Jun?s never been much of a sleeper.

After a short walk, Tsubaki had arrived at her destination. With a light knock she called out, ?It?s Commander Saburo. Can I come in??

"Yes, Commander." Jun answered. A faint feeling of shame crept up on him and sentences were already being formed in his head about the... incident. It was a small blessing that Bryan hadn't come to yet as quiet mornings being somewhat calming to Jun. Of course, there was the ever-present sterile atmosphere of the infirmary, and now the presence of Tsubaki, which negated that. His state could be summed up as one of sour ennui.

After opening the door, Tsubaki stood in the threshold for a short time. She didn?t really know what to expect. If Jun looked like this roughed up, she could only imagine how Bryan was fairing. She frowned as she approached his bedside. ?How are you doing Jun?? She asked with a sombre tone. It wasn?t often that she used his first name.

"Fine, Saburo." He answered automatically. If it was strange for the Commander to use his first name, it was even stranger to for him to call her any of her names. Regardless, he just waited for the woman to get to the point - if there was any point to this.

Tsubaki pursed her lips and furrowed her brow. Jun was the only subordinate she ever had that could make her feel uncomfortable in a professional sense. There was always something biting under the surface of every response he gave. He was a faker. A liar.

And she despised him for it.

?I just wanted to confirm your well being. How long did the doctors say you would need to recover??

"Around three months." He stated as he glared back. It hadn't really sunk in yet, three months of having to be doted on like a child... Well, whatever the length of time it would certainly feel like eternity.

Tsubaki nodded in silent acceptance, "I'm sorry to hear that. Listen," Her eyes found his. "Our squad is temporarily disbanded while you and O'Lafferty recover. It goes without saying, but until then you are on medical leave. If there's anything you need from me, please, don't hesitate to ask. For the time being, I am not your commanding officer."

The woman broke eye contact. It was simply impossible to look at him while forcing such unnatural sympathy, "For now, I'm just a friend."

There was an empty stare to match her empty words and from the sound of it, there were plenty of empty days ahead.

Jun didn't know who he should be more outraged at out of himself and her.

However, he simply turned away and said, "I see."

Hopefully, the woman would leave now...

Fuck you, too

Tsubaki balled her hands into fists and grit her teeth. Who the hell did he think he was? She was trying so god damn hard to help and he couldn't give a shit at all. Tsubaki glared at him, "Look, Jun... it doesn't have to be this way. This isn't Mugunghwa-i."

That almost got a reaction out of him. If only she would got the point already - how many times had Jun given her and the rest of Samsara squad the cold shoulder? He didn't need or want any help, he was fine on his own. Jun fought the urge to lash out, it helped that Tsubaki's opinion hardly mattered.

Hell, he would love to see how much she knew. Maybe one little fact among the hundreds in his history would show her what sort of person he was and would drive her to stay the fuck away. How expected of a manipulative *****.

"How cliché." Jun replied flatly.

Not the best retort, but that was all he could come up with.

Tsubaki bowed her head and her expression softened. There was no point in fretting over him. He wasn't worth it.



"No one can survive alone forever, Jun." With that said, she turned on her heel and started for the door. Before she left the room, she added. "Get better soon."

Jun simply watched her leave, he had nothing to say to her.

 

[Evrant-Knight]

Viola woke up in the middle of the morning, hoping to see Hannibal back safe and sound, or whatever registered as safe with him. But instead, she found herself alone in the battered hotel room; which resulted in a heavy sigh. Even though it had only been a few hours, no, a day even, she was genuinely missing him. Finally gathering the strength to get out of bed, Viola wondered towards the bathroom, stripped off and had a shower, lucky for her, it had escaped with only minor damage.

When she had finished, Viola got dressed headed downstairs for some breakfast, and perhaps she would think of something to do. The thought had occurred to her to seek assistance from Dante, as he had contacts and resources in many parts of Feroxi, accept of course within the likes of Lord Basilio. However, she didn't have time to arrange for a meeting outside, which meant she'd have to go to his office.

It had been a few years since Viola ever actually went there in person, as they conducted most of their business in the open air. An hour or so later, she'd arrived at his office, which overlooked one of the numerous marketplaces dotted throughout Feroxi. From what Viola could tell, Dante was having a very angry sounding conversation with someone.

"Hey, Dante, you in there? It's me Viola. I need some urgent help with a problem." Shouted Viola as she hammered on the door.

 

[Fappy]

Spoiler: Tension

"I'm Major Asad Harel, I believe we're about to see a lot more of each other."

Elizabeth looked him over and offered an unimpressed, almost mocking smile, "Sorry I missed."

She'd only just now finished breakfast and another soldier had come to bother her? Would he be shadowing her at all times?

At least he isn't that... *****...

A wry smile curled the Major's mouth. "And a very good shot it would have been too, my Lady, if only everyone possessed your skill at firing at unarmed combatants." He motioned to the chair next to the bed. "May I sit?"

The girl was in a bad mood, and rightfully so, but she still did try and shoot him.

"You may," Elizabeth nodded to the chair. Once he'd taken his seat, she looked at him in the corner of her eye and frowned. "What are your orders... specifically?"

Asad sat formerly, brushing a wrinkle out if his pants leg. "Well, my Lady, it appears my efforts in your... rescue, have been rewarded with the order to be your personal bodyguard." The man crossed his legs.

"Speak plainly, Major," Elizabeth shifted on her rear so that she was looking at him dead-on, now. She had never really addressed soldiers in such a formal way before now, but she had seen her family do it plenty of times. She was always pretty good at learning by example. "Are you content with these orders? It should be a rather boring assignment, I imagine."

Asad's expression remained unchanged as he sat back in his chair. This wasn't the delicate flower he had read about, her actions yesterday only reinforced that inconsistency.

A glint his eye, Asad titled his head slightly. "Better me than anyone else, I can assure you, my Lady."

She cocked an eyebrow, "And... why is that?"

Asad narrowed his eyes. "It has come to Lord Basilio's attention, that his betrothed may have been exposed to enemy propaganda, although, he has been advised that any change in my Lady's loyalties are only temporary as a a result of being in such a frightening and stressful situation." Asad's gaze did not shift from the girl's.

"If it were ascertain that my Lady had indeed been corrupted beyond recovery by such an incident, it would not do for Lord Basilio to acquaint with you."

"So," Elizabeth relaxed her posture, sinking deeper into the pillows that were supporting her back, "If I were 'corrupted' and Lord Basilio did not see any way for me to be... salvaged... what then? Would he just throw me out like my sister? Leave me bleeding out in a gutter somewhere?"

"I wouldn't know anything about that, my Lady, I'm just relaying what information I have been privy to." He nodded at the water jar on the table next to Elizabeth's bed. "Would my Lady like some water?"

Closing her eyes, she waved her hand dismissively, "Please, don't mock me. I know I am basically a prisoner here, but is every dog on Dio's payroll so comically malicious? I can put up a strong front as long as I have to, but if we're going to be spending everyday together it will grow tiresome. Please, treat me with some common decency... or is that too much to ask?" She turned her head and looked out the window. "This isn't a joke for me, Major. This is my life."

Asad furrowed his brow as the girl made her feelings known. What was she expecting him to do exactly? Tell her how he felt about the whole situation? In a room that may very well be bugged? No, the time for such things may come later.

Coughing slightly, Asad adjusted his seating position. "My apologies Lady Maribel, it was not my intent to cause you any distress. Were there any other questions?"

The young woman continued to stare out the window. It was a depressing view. Just a concrete wall about twenty yards from the window. Occasionally a soldier would walk by. Perhaps it was a training ground of some sort.

"How much experience do you have with the nobility?"

Asad crossed his arms over his chest. "Well, Lady Maribel." He smiled slightly. "I must know something, why else would I be here?" He shrugged his shoulders as he followed the woman's gaze outside. "Don't worry, you're not a prisoner, you will be allowed to leave the grounds, under strict supervision of course, to avoid anymore... incidents."

As if completeling ignoring his response, she moved on to another topic, "Is he still alive? What happened to Cranston?"

Asad's expression hardened as he reached over to the table to pour himself a glass of water. "As far as I know, he's alive, although for how long that will be the case, I couldn't tell." It was a shame, he would have liked to converse with the man under less violent circumstances

Elizabeth clenched her jaw. She suspected such an answer, "And the others? I trust they escaped... I don't see what use your Lord would have of them, anyway."

Asad smirk slightly as the girl's failure to hide her concern for the Maidens. "They managed to escape, they were not pursued, what would be the point in risking more men when the task of recovering you was already completed?"

"Good, I'm glad," Finally, she turned to face Asad. She smiled. "Where do you think my allegiance lies?"

Asad chuckled. "That's pretty much what Lord Basilio asked me yesterday." He took a small sip of water. "What do you think?"

"That's a stupid question," Elizabeth's smile was all but absent now. "I'd see your Lord writhing in a pool of his own blood if I could. Even if it is with my own hands, I won't die until he does."

Asad's expression remained unchanged. "Yes, well, as colourful as that opinion is, I would advise against airing it in public." The man took another sip of water before placing his glass back on the table. "Whether you want to or not, you're in a situation that demands... tact."

Elizabeth bowed her head and grinned, "Is it not tactful to state my intentions clearly... or rather, is it not prudent of me to show just how supposedly 'corrupted' I am? Had I not stood my ground and fired at his soldiers, I am sure Lord Basilio would be far more inclined to trust me. Now that I have taken such divisive actions against him, would it not raise suspicion to suddenly act so cooperative?" Their eyes found each other again. "I may be naive, Major, but I am not stupid. I won't spit in his face out of spite nor will I simply heed his every demand out of fear. He needs to know that if he wants my cooperation he is going to have to earn it."

'Well aren't you a fire brand.'

An amused glint in his eye, Asad crossed his arms over his chest. "I'm just a solider ma'am, I don't care to familiarise myself with the games the nobility like to play, it all seems so very tiring."

"I assure you, Major, this is no game," There was a fire growing behind her eyes. Asad could almost taste the invisible ash on the tip of his tongue. "I do not yet know what I will do. If I am to be honest, I have very little going for me, but I will promise you this: I am done playing the victim. When I set my sights on my goal, whatever it may be, I will not hesitate to cut down any who stand in my way. So please, humor me all you want, but do not belittle my struggle." She chuckled in amusement. "It may very well cost you your life."

Asad coughed as he stifled a chuckle. "Well, there is one thing I learned about being in the company of nobility." He tilted his head curiously. "All grand speeches, flowery prose. Even with a gun to your head." He leaned forward resting his elbows on his thighs. he cradled his chin on top of his laced fingers.

"I learned that you say one thing, and do another, Miss 'I promise not to harm you.'" His mouth slightly ajar, he touched the back of his teeth with his tongue. "So really, how can I believe anything you say. Oh sure, you're all fire and brimstone now, when you don't have to prove your conviction." He smiled as he narrowed his eyes. "I wonder..."

"Only a fool forgoes an advantage in favor of honor. Even so, I can't argue against your logic. Despite the circumstances, I did deceive you. But tell me, Major," She frowned. "Do you have anyone close to you? Anyone you would sacrifice your honor for? Anyone you would die for?"

"Of course there is, but I don't get into a habit of having to make that kind of decision." He pursed is lip. "I keep loved ones and bullets separate, you see. Works better that way."

"That's one luxury that has been denied me for quite some time. I don't blame you if you resent me for what I did the other day, but understand I had very good reason to do it... and I'd do it again."

"Like I said ma'am, I'm a soldier, if I held a grudge against everyone who aimed a gun at me, well..." He raised his eyebrows. "Your reasons are irrelevant, you're here now, what you decide to do is up to you." Asad sat back in his chair, crossing his arms over his chest. "Just keep in mind that you don't have any Iron Maidens to help you this time."

"No, you're right," The way she looked at him suddenly became far more... deliberate. "I suppose I will just have to find new allies then."

Asad narrowed his eyes slightly. "I'd be very careful how you play that game." He chuckled. "Not everyone is as honest as you are." He commented sarcastically.

Elizabeth shared in the laugh, "I could take that comment so many different ways, Major."

"Please, do."

Elizabeth allowed herself a soft, almost sincere smile as she studied the man before her.

Perhaps she still had a chance, after all.

 

[NinjaDeathSlap]

Lilith stood in the shower awhile, her head tilted back as she drip dried. At least she was clean now, that was one consolation. Stepping out of the cubicle, Lilith grabbed a towel from the railing, wrapping it loosely around her torso as she stepped out of the bathroom. Closing the door behind her, a yawn caught in her throat as she noticed the stranger sitting on her bed.

Her immediate reaction was to question who the girl was, but really, she already knew that, not unless there were still some of Austin's brats running around.

Quickly regaining her composure, Lilith crossed her arms over her chest. "Thanks for knocking."

"Oh." Amy said blandly, looking up at this new figure. She found that she neither had the energy to be apologetic about her intrusion, nor to be defensive at the other girl's manner, or that she was likely the one who had ruined half of what was left of her wardrobe. If she could manage to coast to the end of the day without making anyone else think she was crazy or stupid, that would be an achievement at this point.

"This is your room, I take it." She continued, going back to staring at her knees with red eyes. I guess I should probably go and see if I even have one any more. Either way, I'll be out of your hair."

How old was this girl? She couldn't have been any older than Lilith, and she was Meredith's new lover?

'Jesus Christ, Merry, were you drunk?'

Then it clicked in her head. "Oh shit, is that your stuff outside?" Lilith bit her bottom lip as her eyes widened.

"Yeah." Amy replied, something that was almost a laugh escaping her. "S'okay. It's not like I paid for any of it, and I was starting to wonder if they even fit me anymore..."

"You're Lilith, right?" She said after a pause, looking to the other girl again, "She talks about you a lot too. I met Axel already. He's nice."

Amy trailed off for a second.

"You know, if you're not done taking stuff out on my clothes, you can go right ahead. No really, I think I might join you. Seems like it's been a bad day all over."

Lilith's internal cringe intensified as her fears were confirmed. Raising a hand, she grasped her forehead. "I'm sorry, I thought they were left over from that Austin bloke's kids." Closing her eyes she chuckled nervously. "I should have figure that out just by looking at them, they were far too nice for some snot nosed little cult member." Furrowing her brow, she ran her hand through her hair. "Erm, Bennie and Jake told me about you and... Merry." She lingered on that sentence longer than she would have liked.

"Amy right?" She was very pretty. To the point of sticking out like a sore thumb, at least for a bandit. "It was just the clothes right? I didn't trash anything more important did I?"

"The records weren't mine." Amy told her. "I don't know who's they were. I do like Sinatra though."

She smiled.

"Look, there's really no need to apologise. You're alright, I can tell, and I'd probably be well served having you as a friend, but chances are you're probably not going to like me very much by the end of today, and I'm not even certain I'll be allowed to stick around a whole lot longer than that anyway, so the last thing you need to worry about is treading on my toes."

Lilith shrugged her shoulders. "Eh, you'd be surprised who I do and don't like." She smiled sadly as she thought of Warren. "Ain't none of my business what people get up to in private, what makes you think ya ain't stickin' around?" She smirked as she put her hands on her hips. "Sprout didn't try and feel you up did he? He does that, he didn't mean nothin' by it, it's no reason to leave."

That raised a genuine laugh out of Amy.

"No, no. Axel might have stared a bit, but it's not like staring bothers me that much. No, I..." her voice grew grave again. "I lost a sister today. Not a blood-well-it's difficult to explain. I hope you understand. Anyway, I... 'attended' to that, and I think a lot of people are going to think I crossed a line." She shrugged. "Maybe I did, maybe I didn't. I guess I can't be the one to judge. It's just the most extreme example of how I can't seem to do anything right lately; and sitting here, contemplating that and the possibility of imminent rejection is just about the only thing I have to distract me from all the dead people." She snorted, bitterly, before wiping her eyes with her sleeve. "It's something, I guess."

There was silence for a while, before Amy kept talking, despite herself.

"I've been such an idiot. I convinced myself that I was going to belong here, when we demonstrably weren't, well, here. Everything was a mess, and then I drop in just expecting that I'll fit into the formula somehow. I guess that's the thing about liars. We're just as good at lying to ourselves, when we want to believe things are different than they really are. Things were so much easier before, it seems like so long ago. Sure, I wasn't happy, but I was objective, I was in control, and I didn't have to account for anybody but myself. Loneliness seemed like a small price to pay to keep things secure, to not... to not be anybody's fool, and now I'm wondering if maybe I gave all that up just to be somebody else's distraction."

"I'm being a sap." she said suddenly, as if shaking herself out of a trance. "I'm sorry. I'll understand if you don't want to say, but I haven't asked yet... who did we-I mean, who did you lose?"

Lilith averted her eyes as her face softened sadly."I err..." She coughed. "A lot of cool people died today." Lilith clenched her jaw as she quickly walked over to the chaise longue, taking a seat on the edge. "I left some people behind in Feroxi too." She laughed nervously. "A pretty shitty day, all things considered."

She gripped the edge of her seat. "I'm going to take a wild stab in the dark and say everyone else had a pretty shitty day too." The girl shrugged her shoulders. "Whatever you did couldn't have been that bad, or you wouldn't still be here, right? Merry obviously likes you enough to keep you around, even if she's not as interested in you anymore as you seem to believe, you're still a Maiden." Lillith tilted her head, smiling. "And that's more important, now more than ever." She chuckled. "And there's always Cam, I mean, that slag will fuck anything."

Lilith swore internally. 'You're so classy, Lil!'

"Really?" Amy said, doubtfully. "Because I wouldn't be surprised is Bennie's getting ready to pack my things for me right about now, or hell, if he's out trying to get me arrested. I guess I can't complain. I make it so easy for him."

Amy took a deep breath, and let the anger go out of her voice.

"I'm sorry, by the way. You sound like you've had it rough, even relatively speaking... Is it bad that complaining about personal bullshit seems like a really convenient distraction right now from... everything else?"

She laughed again, albeit half-heartedly.

"You don't think Austin got rid of all the liquor, do you?"

"Bennie talks a lot of talk, but he's a puppy." Lilith got to her feet, tapping her finger against her chin, she tried to recall something. "Like I said, if you had done someting really fucked, you'd be gone by now." She bit her bottom lips, tracing a line through the air with her finger as her eyes panned across the room.

"Everyone has their own shit to deal with, have you met Aesop?" She chuckled. "Fuck man, I love the guy to bits, but if Pixie lets someone like him stay onboard, I reckon you've got nothin' to worry about."

A small smile curled her lips as she walked across the room. Placing her palm on a section of the hull, she glanced back at Amy. "As for the booze issue?" She clenched her hand and gave the wall a firm thud, a hull panel three squares down slid open, revealing a little hidey hole. Walking over to the missing open panel, a mock sinister laugh escaped her lips. "It'll be a cold day in hell before I'm caught without anything to drink." She grinned as she pulled out a bottle of whiskey.

Amy raised one eyebrow, then another, and then a broad, genuine smile spread across her face.

"I've changed my mind." she said, getting off the bed. "You're more than alright. Should I get glasses, or has this been a 'straight from the bottle' kind of day?"

"Every day is a 'straight from the bottle' kind of day." Lilith stated heroically as she broke the seal on the bottle and unscrewed the top. Leaning her head back, she took a large swig from the bottle before passing it to Amy. "It might have gone off." Lilith grimaced as the liquor burned her throat nicely. "I don't rightly know, and I don't rightly care."

"Let it be a toast then!" Amy declared, taking a hearty swig and pulling a face of her own. "To all the rotten things in this world. May we endure them all, and survive the hangover... hopefully."

Whatever was going to happen now, Amy had come to far to turn back. If she couldn't face down the aftermath with any pride, them she supposed the absence of her dignity wouldn't mean much either.

 

[ProtoChimp]

Alex drove Vidal's busted up crawler to the site of the bonfire, cursing under her breathing mask. She was beyond worried about Austin, and being away from him for even a second felt wrong, worse than wrong, a thousand times worse than wrong. Yet, she still had a city to run. With the nobles dead, the soldiers obliterated and God knows how many officers in the ground, she was the commanding voice in Yuteni and she would be damned if she let Barbarians run wild like this.

Alex pushed out of the crawler upon arrival. She could see it, what the fuck was this! She stormed off towards the fire with a grip on her gun. "God damn fucking god damn fucking barbarians!" She cursed under her hat before firing her weapon into the air. "Anyone wanna tell me what the FUCK THIS IS?!"

Lilith had just returned to the Maiden by the time the shots rang out. Bennie turned around, his fingers around the grip of his holstered revolver, "The fuck!?" It didn't take long for him to spot her.

Shit...

Looking to Maria and Ruffles, he nodded towards the ship, "You two take this inside... I'll handle the cop." Without waiting for a reply, Bennie took off in Alex's direction.

He had to act fast. The mercs didn't like her attitude one bit. The last thing he wanted was another bloodbath, "HEY!" He called out. "YOU!" He still had his hand on his hip as he pointed to Alex. The Wilkes-Vines enforcers who had begun to take up positions around her backed off.

Alex held her weapon in the air as she stared at Bennie, before holstering her pistol, glaring at the goons one last time. "Maybe you can tell me what the fuck this is?" She was angry sure, spite dripped from her lips, but none of it was directed at Bennie, merely the general area of people.

Bennie sighed through his nose and looked past Alex, "Come on," He walked up to her and, as gently as possible, grabbed her arm and started pulling her away from the crowd. "Not here."

Alex snatched her arm away from the man. "Don't speak to me like a god damn child. I won't have this barbarism in my city."

"Listen to me!" Bennie snapped, his eyes searching the crowd behind them. Most of them were bandits. All of their eyes were on the woman beside him. "This isn't your city anymore..." Brushing past her, he continued making his way out of the parameter of the camp. "You want to talk, let's talk."

Alex's eyes flared up as she was forced to follow Bennie. 'Disrespectful son of a *****.'

"How dare you say this isn't my city anymore? Who the hell are you anyway?"

Satisfied with the distance they'd put between themselves and the camp, Bennie turned on his heel and put a finger in Alex's face, "Would you just shut up and listen for one second!? Look at those men back there! You see how many of them there are?! Do you realize who they are!?"

Alex smacked Bennie's hand away from her face. "I do as a matter of fact, Wilkes Vines have been trying to take my city for decades, and I'll be damned if they just swoop in and take it now. I'm not gonna lie down and let them think they own this city, and I'm damn sure I won't lie down and let them think they own me. Look at that!" She pointed at the pyre. "You think I can let that slide?!"

"No," Bennie admitted. "Absolutely not. They're sick fucks, I won't argue with that..."

Goddammit Amy...

"But listen," His tone was softer now, "Look at the shape your dome is in. You're in no position to fight a war right now and, as... disturbing as it is, many of your citizens will welcome them in open arms. Treat them as liberators." Bennie looked up at the gaping whole in on the surface of the dome. "The way I see it is you have two options: pack up and leave. Move these people somewhere else... somewhere safe. Or..." He clenched his jaw. "You wait. Gather your resources. Bide your time. Strike when they let their guard down."

Alex was silent a while after he finished. "You don't sound like you like these guys."

Bennie's eyes became unfocused as if he were looking right through Alex. As if he was looking at something that wasn't there, "If I could, I'd kill every single man under Payton's command with my bare hands."

"I see." Alex answered, nodding slightly. She stared at the pyre and stood next to Bennie. "What if by then its too late? What if too many people think of them as the law? My family has fought too hard for this city to end up like New Haven and Boomhower."

Bennie shrugged, "I can't say. If I had to guess... most of the survivors aren't going to stick around, anyway. It will be months before this place has breathable air again. Maybe even longer. I doubt many people are going to want to wait it out."

He looked down at his feet and frowned under his mask, "This place is more like a tomb than a home right now."

Alex gritted her teeth. "It will not stay that way for long." She breathed heavily as she stared at the flames flickering into the air. "Thanks, I'm not used to needing advice from bandits." There was a hint of judgement in her voice. "No offence, sorry. I don't know where me and my son would be if someone else opened that door."

"None taken," Their eyes met. "I understand where you're coming from, trust me. It's like, well fuck, there ain't no better way to phrase it... you traded one evil for another. It's not an ideal situation, obviously, but it's not a total bust. We managed to save a lot of people. If you can keep them safe, then this will have been worth it."

"Yeah, yeah." She looked up at the massive man. "He stole my son's name. I've tried to keep him sheltered since he was born, maybe if I toughened him up... fuck even then he wouldn't have been ready for this." Suddenly the past eight years felt like she had wasted her time keeping him so safe, so naive from the world beyond their few safe streets around her home.

"Hey, how long have you been part of the Iron Maiden?" she asked, the bile completely gone from her tone.

"I---" Bennie bit his tongue. There was no point saying anything dramatic. "A long time."

"Right, I wanted to ask you something. About a year ago I got word an old fr-a former colleague had joined your crew."

"Oh?" Bennie cocked an eyebrow. "I was unaware. I'm not all that familiar with some of the newer crew members."

We have a cop?

"I don't know if he's even still alive, but I wanted to know if he was still alive. His name is Sillah Ruben, he... left, Yuteni a long time ago." She kicked at the dirt beneath her and looked down for a moment, remembering how self destructive his exit was. "He kept trying to make us call him Aesop, do you know anyone by either of those names?"

Aesop?! A cop!?

"Aesop, yeah," He did his best to cover up his surprise. "He's alive. Got roughed up pretty good by Austin, though."

"Oh," Alex hid her worry, despite him leaving them in their time of need, she still cared about her friend, "is he alright? Have you seen him?"

'He was on the ship, I could have ran right past him. Jesus Sillah.'

"What did that bastard do to him?" the edge in her voice had returned.

"He's a bit uglier now, but he's only missing a few teeth. He'll be fine," Bennie chuckled. "Aesop's come back from worse, trust me. He's a tough mother fucker."

That's right, just keep lying to the poor girl. It IS better than making her worry, I guess.

"Worse?" She didn't know whether to delve deeper or not. "How... what's he like now? He was... troubled last time I saw him.

"A bit high strung and he's too hard on himself, but he's sober." Bennie assured her. "Pixie's taking care of him."

Alex smiled for the first time since she took Austin from his tiny prison. "Thank God." She laughed a little. "Thank her for me will you?"

Bennie nodded, "Consider it done." The two shared an awkward silence before Bennie suddenly patted her on the shoulder. "Listen, I'm sorry all this happened. I know it might be hard to believe it, but we didn't go through all this trouble for one ship. We did it to put a stop to that madman. I wish we could have acted sooner, but this was the best we could do."

Of course, Bennie would never admit how much he disagreed with this operation. If it had been up to him they would have cut their losses and licked their wounds elsewhere. They would have left Yuteni to its fate.

Alex didn't need to know that, however.

In some ways you really are a better person than me, Pixie...

"Thanks." She nodded solemnly. "I'd have probably been his prisoner forever if it weren't for everyone here." She snarled once more as she looked at the corpse strung up on the pyre. "Even them."

The awkward silence continued for a while before she spoke once more. "Do me a favour. If Sillah comes looking for me or anyone else, if he tries to leave that ship. Don't let him. Even he resents you don't let him. We left on bad terms, and I'm not sure I can control myself if I see him again." She was getting more emotional than she wanted to now.

"This is too much information and way too personal to tell you this but... Sillah left us when we needed him. I hope he's different, but I figured I should warn you if he does the same to you and yours."

Bennie nodded, "Thanks, I'll keep that in mind and I'll make sure he stays put. Shouldn't be too hard though." The big man grinned under his breathing mask. "He's a diehard Maiden if I've ever seen one." As Bennie started for the camp once more he looked over his shoulder and waved. "Good luck with whatever you decide to do, you hear me? Keep your kid safe."

"You don't need to tell me twice." She smiled. "Is it rare to find a bandit with an actual moral compass?" She chuckled.

Bennine laughed, "Depends on where you look! Take it easy!"

"You too." Alex replied as the maiden walked off. She wondered if she looked hard enough she would fine Wilkes Vines men like him among those who had fought for Yuteni, maybe she could make the best of this travesty. Alex made her way towards the pyre and the mercs she had so offended earlier, taking on a different approach.

"I don't care why and I'm not gonna fight about it, but I want this thing down, whoever wanted to make their point has made their point. Its done now." Alex set off to find a fire extinguisher.

 

[Fappy]

Sprout was gone, and the med bay dark when Amy stumbled back in, empty bottle of whiskey drooping out of one hand. Her face was wet and blotchy, and her eyes were having trouble focusing on the bed upon which Pixie lay. Nevertheless, she was shaking with anger and grief.

"She was more than collateral to me!" Amy spat, acidly, not even checking to see if the object of her ire was even awake. "She was a person. She was twenty-two years old. She was intelligent, and brave, and she got caught in a fucked up situation that nobody asked for, but didn't stop doing the right thing by us. And for that, the son's of bitches kneecapped her, before they BLEW HER BRAINS OUT OVER THE GOD DAMN FLOOR! And now, I'm walking around this place, wondering if there's even so much as a red stain left of what she did for us here, or if they cleaned her up already. You... you sit there with your war wounds, every bit the brave survivor, and talk about her like she was NOTHING! How dare you! How fucking dare you Pixie!"

Despite the slurring of her works, Amy's rage cut through like a razor. All the doubt, all the insecurity that she was feeling thanks to this woman, was being poured out of this one outlet.

"If you can show that much fucking distain towards the people I care about, people who had enough faith in me to lay down there lives for you when they'd never even met you, then just what the fuck am I to you, by extension? Huh? If it had been me that Austin had smeered all over your precious Maiden, would you be so quick to mop me up, and move on like none of it meant a damn thing?! Yeah, I get it. A lot of people died today. I went and looked at the bodies, I've seen them. This was bigger than Georgia, bigger than me, but so many of those bodies are leaving behind friends and family who are gonna mourn them. Georgia was MINE; and I-I thought I was yours. But I guess what I feel never mattered. I guess a little empathy is too much to fucking ask from you, even when you know EXACTLY how I feel. I know about Warren Pixie, an about Cranston and Elizabeth too, and I'm SORRY, I really am. I didn't know them, and I can never care about them like you did, but I'm still sorry. There, IS THAT SO FUCKING HARD!"

Amy's screams were likely to wake the whole Maiden if she didn't relent soon.

"So yeah, maybe you're right? Maybe I try too hard to justify just being really fucking angry that somebody murdered my sister in cold blood. Congratu-fucking-lations on another successful diagnosis! Well done, and fuck you! Because whatever happens now, whatever you want to do with me now, you don't get to fucking talk down to me like that anymore, Pixie. You don't get to insult me, or to spit on the name of my friends, EVER! I'm not your experiment that you can never get just how you want. I'm not your pet dog that won't stop crapping on the floor. YOU DON'T GET TO KEEP LOOKING AT ME LIKE I'M A MASSIVE DISAPPOINTMENT TO YOU! YOU-YOU..."

Her fury had gone beyond words now, allowing Pixie the opportunity to get a word in edgeways.

Sprout's timing could have been more perfect as he had been using the little boy's room for the majority of Amy's tirade, and only caught the last half on his way back. Stopping outside the door, he pressed his back against the wall. He wasn't sure exactly what had happened, but if his mother needed him to intervene, he would.

What the fuck did you do to this girl?

Pixie sat there in silence as Amy spilled her guts out all over the floor. She gave no clear visible reaction. Her expression wasn't altogether apathetic, but rather... tired. As much as she wanted to cradle her in her arms and take all of her pain onto herself, she simply couldn't. Her heart was heavy enough as it was.

Even so, she'd gotten some rest at least. She'd do her best to offer what little sympathy was left in her. After all, Pixie knew exactly where this girl was coming from.

Spoiler: Here, have a sad

"Amy," Pixie's voice was as tender as she could make it. "I'm sorry." Though it was sincere, it was said with some reservation. It was hard to just brush off her verbal assault, but she did her best.

Amy just stood there, in semi-stunned silence, for a few seconds, before she threw back her head and laughed. A ragged, half-manic laugh that dripped venom.

"Well... fuck!" She managed to say through her tide of bitter mirth. "After all of this, after everything, that's all I get from you? Well, just... fine. Fucking fine!"

She was about to leave, her hand drunkenly reaching for the door handle, before she stopped and turning back around.

"Don't think I don't know exactly what you're thinking about doing, by the way; and before you go ahead and do it anyway, because fuck me if I'm ever able to dissuade you, I just thought you should know that your heads up your arse, and that you're a coward! Let those be our parting words, because I know you'll come back. You'll be too terrified that people might learn to get by without you if you don't. I mean, however will you keep on playing the martyr if you, y'know, actually became one? So go ahead. Leave, go off on your stupid little crusade' and maybe, just maybe, I'll also be stupid enough to still be waiting for you here when you get back!"

Amy almost bowled over Sprout as she stormed out of the ward. One look at his expression, and Amy's rage started to melt, rapidly, into guilt.

"I...I-I'm..." She stammered at him. She wanted to say she was sorry, but she couldn't. She just couldn't. Any further attempts at speaking just came out as stifled sobs, before she fled back down the hall, leaving a hollow thud behind her as the empty bottle fell to the floor.

Sprout watched her leave, utterly helpless to do anything for the manic girl, "Amy..." He muttered before stepping into the room. He didn't say anything to his mother at first. She was hunched over, gripping the folds of her bed sheets in her fists with her head hung low. Slowly, Sprout approached her bedside.

After a moment's hesitation, he spoke, "What was she on about, Ma'? What 'crusade'?"

"I don' know," Her head remained bowed. "She's drunk. I don' reckon she knows what she's sayin'."

Sprout furrowed his brow and pointed his thumb in the direction of the door, "Should I lock it 'er---"

"Don' bother, I don' intend ta' stick 'round much longer anyhow." Finally, she looked at her son. The concerned look he gave her was... it made her sick. "Go on'n tell Lily I'll be ready fer bed in an hour. I gotta take care'a somethin' first."

"Whoa, what? No, Ma'... you gotta get yer rest---"

"Fuck that," Pixie sneered as she struggled to get herself out of bed. "Ain't nobody gonna keep me locked in here." Though his first instinct was to force her back in bed, he knew that would only upset her more. Instead, he helped her to her feet. She groaned as her bruised ribs flared up and would have fallen to her knees if Sprout hadn't been there to catch her.

"Hey, you alright?" Sprout's voice trembled as he put a hand to her chest in order to get more leverage.

"Yeah, it's okay, I got it," She tried her best to be plain. She didn't want to take any of her grief out on her son. Still, Sprout was a bit hurt when she brushed off his support and pried herself out of his reach. "Thanks, but really, I got it."

The boy reached out and grasped thin air as his mother shuffled away, "Ma'..."

"Please," Pixie coughed while starting for the exit. "Do as I say, Sprout."

"Okay." He followed her out the door. "I'll come lookin' fer you if you take too long, alright?" Pixie simply nodded in response before reaching out to the nearby bulkhead to support herself. Her legs were weak. Sprout gave her one more concerned look before heading down the hall in the same direction Amy had gone.

"I love you." Pixie whispered as she listened to Sprout's departing footsteps. Turning to face the opposite direction, the wary bandit set out.

It was quite the trek to make in her battered condition, but eventually she made it to the hangar. After struggling to get her breathing mask on, she stepped out into the bitter cold. Considering the non-functioning state of the dome, the air was raw. It had a bite to it, "Hey, you!" Pixie called out to the nearest Wilkes-Vines merc. "You ain't moved any of the bodies yet, eh?" She asked as she gestured towards the collection of bodies spread out across the emptied hangar.

Immediately recognizing who was calling out to him, the merc quickly jogged over to her, "Uh, yeah. These are all of the bodies we found on the ship... save for our own, of course. We were going to lay them outside in the morning so their kin could identify them, though I reckon most of the dead weren't native to Yuteni."

"Gonna burn the rest, I take it?"

"That'd be right."

"You supervisin' this clean up?"

"Right again, ma'am."

Pixie peered past him and focused on the bodies once more, "You, uh, see a young woman come through here? Purdy lil' thin' with her knee caps shot out an' a hole between 'er eyes?"

The man shook his head, "Sorry, ma'am... I've seen a lot of bodies today. I can' say it rings a bell."

She continued to stare at the bodies for awhile longer before meeting the man's gaze, "You don' mind if I go pokin' 'round, do ya'?"

"You're the boss." He said as he handed her his flashlight. Most of the lighting in the hangar had been blown out during the initial raid. Those working after sunset were relying on portable lighting at this point. Two floodlights had been set up nearby to illuminate the mass grave, but it could only do so much.

"Thanks." Pixie grunted as he took the flashlight and hobbled over to the bodies.

Taking note of her physical struggle, the man called out to her, "You, uh... need any help?"

"Jus' keep yer men off me." Pixie groaned, clearly annoyed by his concern.

"Of course."

Though many the corpses had been laid out evenly, most were still in small piles. They had estimated over one hundred dead aboard the ship. For such a small clean-up crew, it was no surprise that there was still plenty of work to be done. Naturally, she started with those that had already been sorted out.

So many young faces. So many small bodies. Pixie wondered how many of them she'd killed herself.

Don' do this to yerself, girl.

She was feeling more and more ill every second she remained surveying the bodies. This had been a mistake, but she'd already come this far. She had to keep going.

Thankfully, the bodies appeared to be sorted by apparent age and it didn't take long for Pixie to find the appropriate age range. Unfortunately, none of the young woman had the wounds Amy had described, "Fuck me..." She sighed as she glanced over at one of the nearby piles.

She was going to have to get her hands dirty.

After forty-five minutes of searching, Pixie had vomited twice: the first time had been the single energy bar the doctor forced on her and the second time was pure bile. She wasn't sure if she was feeling sick because of her injuries, the emotional torment or the putrid smell. She was beyond exhausted, both physically and mentally, by the time she'd finally struck gold.

While stumbling over to her next mound of pre-pubescent bodies, Pixie spotted a long, slender leg sticking out, third from the bottom. There was a bullet hole in the knee. Falling to her knees, her ribs screaming at her in the process, Pixie held the flashlight between her jaw and shoulder and began digging through the pile. After tossing aside an entire kindergarten class, Pixie found the girl... except it wasn't Georgia.

"FUCK!" Pixie spat as she punched the steel bulkhead with all of her might. "GOD FUCKING DAMMIT!" She punched it a second time.

She was so tired. So completely worn out. But she had to keep going. She just had to find this girl. She spent another half-hour searching until she had eventually gone through them all. Every body. Every single one.

"It's gotta be fuckin' here..." She sat on her knees with her head bowed and her arms trembling in their feeble attempts to support her. "She's... she's not here..."

Having grown increasingly concerned, the man from earlier approached her from behind, "Uh, ma'am, is everything okay? Can I---"

"Where the fuck'd y'all put the girl!?" She spat. "I looked at all of them! ALL OF THEM! She ain't here!" Pixie squeaked in pain as she pushed herself to her feet. "Where is she!?"

"S-sorry, ma'am, I don't know. Look, your in rough shape right now. You need to---"

Despite her crippled condition, Pixie crossed the gap between them in a flash, "You do NOT tell me what I 'need' to do!" Her words were dripping with venom.

The man took a step back, "Right, well, look... we'll check them over ourselves once we have them all laid out. I swear to you, we won't start burning bodies until we find the girl's."

Pixie was visibly shaking, "Good. Great." She looked back at the mounds of bodies around her before starting for the exit. She didn't give the man so much as a passing glance when she left. She couldn't look him in the eye. She couldn't look anyone in the eye. She'd failed her... failed everyone, in so many ways.

She couldn't even find her friend's body. Not even that.

Pixie had nearly coughed out a lung by the time she made her way back inside. Planting a hand against the wall, she struggled to stay on her feet as she pried her breathing mask off with her freehand.

Resting her forehead against the wall, Pixie closed her eye and whimpered.

I'm so sorry, Amy...

 

[Daystar Clarion]

Spoiler: Smoooth

A few minutes has passed since Amy had left Lilith's room, taking the last of the whiskey with her. Poor girl, she couldn't hold her liquor very well, and she just talked. Not that Lilith minded, it served to distract her from her own thoughts.

Wearing a loose vest and shorts, Lilith slowly blew smoke from her pursed lips as she lay on the chaise longue, on her side with an arm draped over the back rest as she propped her head up with her palm. Closing her eyes, she slowly tapped her foot to the music crawling from her record player. She should really find out who the singer was.

Amy seemed like a nice girl, a bit high strung maybe, but she could see why Merry would like her. The girl seemed more intent on drinking the whiskey than Lilith, her heart just wasn't in it, there were certain feeling that no amount of booze could numb, Lilith knew that all too well and wasn't even going to try. Pleasantly tipsy, that's what she needed to be, and that's what she was.

Smiling sadly, Lilith ran her free hand through her hair. Amy seemed distracted when she left Lilith's room, like she had a thought and needed to tell someone. Lilith wasn't sure what exactly the girl could bring to the Maidens, she came across more like a noble than a bandit, she sure spoke like one. Lilith would have to ask around, find out exactly what it was she did exactly.

Taking a deep drag, Lilith's face softened wistfully as she remembered the last night she had spent with Warren. The man had slowly found a place in Lilith's life, the blossoming of what could have been a great friendship, and now she would never see that sarcastic smile of his ever again. Parker taking over her watch so she could get some rest. Silo calling someone a ***** for no reason. Just memories now, and it hurt just to think about them. Hopefully that would fade over time, become nothing more than pleasant recollections, she hoped so, she couldn't think of a better way to celebrate their lives.


For now, she had her smokes, the warm fuzziness behind her eyes, and the mystery man singing to her.

That would be enough for now.

 

[ProtoChimp]

Spoiler: Dreamy times.

Spoiler: With dreamy tunes

"What's Boomhower like Dad?" A young Sillah asked as he lay in his bed, a time before he had unkempt facial hair, his hair wasn't very long, he hadn't thought about girls yet nor had his first taste of alcohol.

His father sat by his bedside as he tucked him in. "You don't wanna hear about Boomhower son." The face was blurry, but he was certainly his father. The voice was vague, but he could tell it was him, he just had that feeling. He knew.

"Yeah I do. I've never left the dome, c'mon dad." The little boy pleaded.

His father sighed. "Its," he bit his lip, "messy. More, colourful than Yuteni, but nowhere near as classy."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Oh nothing I'm just badmouthing Boomhower again." He chuckled.

"Dad? Why do you always sound so mad when you talk about that place?" he inquired innocently.

"Maybe its because I just prefer Yuteni. Maybe its because Yuteni's where I met your mother. Maybe its because its the place I had to fight tooth and nail to get out of, or because my son became a monster and carved out the chest of his grandfather's employer."

"What?...D-dad?"

Suddenly Aesop's father became much, much larger. He no longer had the shape of a human man, but was extending and enlarging in grotesque, disgusting ways. He was filling the room, and Aesop was feeling overwhelmed by a sick, unknown, terrifying presence. He looked down at his own body, now his current age, he was covered in blood, he could see his own ribcage, his heart, his lungs, his soul. His head snapped up and he saw himself, leering over him, a bloody knife in his hand and a gleeful smile painting his face. He plunged his knife deep into the chest again and again and again. Aesop tried to fight this clone of himself, but he couldn't lift his arms, he couldn't scream, he couldn't do anything but sit there, as a vicious right hook buried itself into his eyes.

And the vision was changed once more. Peter was now who mounted him. No knife in his hands, just Aesop's shattered teeth. He continued his assault, crushing his knee against Aesop's groin and punching his face into the dirt. Aesop couldn't resist and eventually Austin punched him through the floor. Aesop cascaded down, the entire city of Yuteni beneath him, falling apart, exploding, burning down, dying.

He hit the ground, yet he wasn't hurt, in fact he landed on his knees. He glanced up hoping to find someone who could help him, instead he found someone who would damn him.

"30 seconds."

"Silo?" Aesop squeaked whatever words he could form.

"THIRTY SECONDS!" The tone was demonic, and Silo bled from his eyes, his mouth, his nose, cuts all over his body bled, but most of all, the hole in his head. "If you had stalled for time, for LESS THAN A MINUTE, I'D STILL BE AROUND! THEY WOULD HAVE SAVED ME!" Silo dug his index finger into his own head wound. Aesop wanted to turn away, he didn't want to see anymore, but he couldn't move. He was frozen stiff.

The city around him was no longer Yuteni, it was Boomhower, but it was still burning, still on fire, people were tearing each other to pieces around him. Guns, knives, even with their teeth if they could. "This is your fault."

"I just-"

"This is your fault."

"He was gonna kill m-"

"YOU KILLED ME THEN YOU KILLED A CITY! Then Austin killed you how fitting."

"I'm...sorry."

Silence.

He was gone. Not just Silo, but everyone around him, even the city. He was kneeling on empty ash, and soon even that melted away and he was kneeling in a grey, washed out landscape. He could move again, and he started running. No idea where but he needed to escape, or maybe find his way somewhere.

"Pixie!"

Of course, he'd find Pixie. She could save him from this, she could help him like she had before, help him and get him out of this hell hole, if anyone cared about him it was her.

"TOO FUCKN' BAD, AESOP! There are thin's about my past I'd rather ferget, but I trust Lilith enough... no, I LOVE Lilith enough to share 'em! You? YOU, ON THE OTHER HAND DON' MEAN SHIT TO ME!"

He stopped in his tracks as her voice echoed throughout the wasteland. Ruffles, what about Ruffles, he cared right? He did he did he knew he did, even if he annoyed Jake all the time, he cared about Aesop. Or Warren, that fucking psychopath Warren, Aesop was becoming like him, he was enjoying the kill, loving the kill, he could turn to him maybe, talk to him and ask just why the hell murder was suddenly making him feel so good.

"There's nothing wrong with that Aesop, hell I don't care when I kill a crook, sometimes I think Alex enjoys it."

"Nononononononononono not again not again not again."

Austin's voice had returned, louder than ever before. No matter where he turned it just kept getting louder until it was a deafening pitch. He couldn't do this anymore, couldn't live like this anymore.

Slowly, Aesop's eyes flickered open. He felt as though he were still asleep, his brain not registering he was awake, not considering the consequences of the battle yet as he fell in and out of sleep for God knows how long.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

Amy's discarded bottle in his hands, Sprout stepped into Lilith's room. She was just lounging around listening to music. Forcing a grin, he placed the bottle on the nightstand and plopped down on the edge of the bed, "Hey."

"Hellouuu" Lilith cooed at the boy, smiling as her eyes followed him to her bed. "Have a nice nap?"

"My neck's a lil' stiff, but I reckon it'll be okay," He offered her a smile before looking out into the hall. "Ma' wants us ta' join 'er in 'er room in about an' hour."

"I know." Lilith chuckled as she lit up another cigarette with a spare lighter she had. "She was being all lame about it earlier." Blowing out smoke, removed the cigarette from her mouth and offered it out to Sprout. "Want one?"

Sprout didn't even have to think about it. Of course he wanted one. After what he just heard? After one long drag, Sprout rubbed his eyelids with the palm of his hand, "She's in rough shape, Lil... an' I don' jus' mean she's gotta a dozen broken bones." He looked at her in the corner of his eye. "Amy came by an' screamed at 'er... a lot. Ma', she... fuck." He sighed and took another drag.

Lilith frowned as she lit up another cigarette for herself. "So that's where she went." Lilith nodded at the bottle of whiskey on the nightstand. "That's mine, had a drink with her, seems like a nice girl." Lilith shook her head a smile curled her lips. "Never shuts the fuck up though. What's she mad at Merry for?"

"Fuck if I know," Sprout chuckled, sadly. "It was heated though. Somethin' about Pixie goin' off in abandonin' her or somethin'. Not really sure. It got to Ma' though... I don' think Amy saw it, but it did somethin' to 'er. Usually she's not moved by screamin' an' shoutin', but this Amy girl..." Sprout looked at Lilith. "Ma' was hurt. Badly."

"Hmmm." Lilith mumbled as she took a drag. "Something was bothering her, I could tell that much. With the way she was talking, she felt like she was gonna get kicked off the ship or somethin', I dunno, hard day for everyone, emotions running wild."

'Even my own for a minute there.'

"What about you, how are you holding up, kid?" She swivelled on her seat, crossing her legs beneath her as she tapped the now empty space beside her.

"Fine," Sprout whispered. "It's jus' hard to see her like that. Reminds me of... those days..." Hopping off the edge of the bed, he walked over to Lilith and sat beside her.

Smiling sadly, Lilith searched the boy's eyes as she wrapped an arm around his shoulder. "We'll talk to her about it, okay?" She tussled his hair. "Together." Lilith grimaced as she wiped her hand on her shorts. "Why the fuck have you not showered yet?" She chuckled.

"Reckon I should get on that," He laughed before taking another drag.

"Lily," He looked down at his feet, "I... I'm not gonna ask Ma' about the... you know... not now anyway. Not for awhile. She's got so much on her plate as it is. I don' wanna add to the stress, ya' know? I can feel it Lil'... she's close to the edge. I don' wan' her ta' snap."

Lilith nodded her head gently as she gripped her cigarette between her teeth. "Whenever you think it's the right time." Axel was right in that regard at least, last things Pixie needed was more shit on her plate to deal with. "You can use my shower, I have an extra towel, and you can borrow a shirt and some shorts." She rolled her eyes as the boy gave her a look. "They're boy clothes, dumbass." She took a deep drag. "I need to clear all that shit from out the corridor anyway." She winced as an embarassed smile parted her lips. "Some of that is Amy's."

Sprout cocked an eyebrow, "Mind slippin' me a pair'a her undies? Preferably somthin' frilly." He laughed.

Lilith raised an eyebrow as she looked at the boy incredulously. "Dude." Lilith shook her head. "You mum is totally fucking that chick."

Sprout waved his hand dismissively, "Semantics!" On his feet once more, the boy stepped into the bathroom. After closing the door behind him, he laughed. "Mmmmm, yummy, smells like yer **** in here!"

Lilith shook her head in disgust. "Jesus Christ kid." He muttered to herself as she got to her feet. Finishing off her cigarette, she stubbed it out before she sauntered over to her door.

Picking over the mess, Lilith winced painfully as she grabbed a shard of vinyl. "Ugh, such a waste, I'm a fucking moron. Sorry Mr Sinatra, I'm sure you're a great singer." Salvaging as much of Amy's undamaged clothes as she could, she folded them neatly and placed them in a drawer for later, while throwing what remained down the trash chute with the broken records.

Grabbing the clean clothes for Sprout, she placed them in a neat pile at the foot of the bathroom door before returning to her seat. Lighting up a cigarette, Lilith sighed tiredly. "Too much drama for me."