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

[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."

 

[Fappy]

The heat from the shower had done him in good. After getting dressed, Sprout had stumbled over to Lilith's side on her bed and frowned, "I wanna lie down... but we gotta walk all the way to Ma's room. I don' reckon I can make it, Lily."

His mother's room was right down the hall.

"Shame." Lilith hummed as she got to her feet. "I reckon Merry will probably give us a night cap before we go to sleep, but if you don't want it..." Meredith's room was probably cleared of booze like the rest of the ship, but it didn't hurt to hope that she had some stashed away somewhere as well.

"Well, I---" Sprout suddenly cut himself off when he saw his mother shuffling past Lilith's door. "Ma'?" Running over to the threshold, Sprout peered around the corner. Supporting herself against the wall, Pixie was slowly dragging herself towards her room. "Ma'!" He repeated as he came to her side, resting his hands on her shoulders.

Pixie shrugged them off and continued down the hall, "Don' touch me, I'm fuckin' filthy."

A concerned look creased Lilith's face as she rushed to the woman's side. "Jesus Christ, Merry, what the fuck have you been doing?" She was a mess!

"Wastin' my mother fuckin' time, apparently," She sighed. "I---" Her words were muffled by a sudden coughing fit. Doubled over, Pixie held an arm out to keep them from touching her. "Jus' get the damn shower ready, would ya'?" Sprout looked to Lilith and nodded.

Lilith nodded as she rushed ahead of the pair. Entering Pixie's room, she darted between the furniture as she got to the bathroom.

Switching on the shower, she swore under her breath as she failed to withdraw her hand quickly enough to avoid getting wet. Drying her hand and arm on the bottom of her shirt, she went back into the main living area as Sprout and Pixie entered. "Give it a sec to warm up."

"Nah, it's fine." Pixie groaned as she brushed past Lilith and stumbled into the bathroom.

Sprout frowned as he watched her go and sat down on her bed, "She... smelled like blood and vomit." Sprout muttered to Lilith.

Meanwhile, in the bathroom, Pixie had slammed the door shut and struggled to undress. She ended up not getting her underwear completely off until she was already in the shower. Lilith was right, it was cold, but she didn't give a shit. She was covered in blood, bile and all manner of grime. It would take nothing short of a miracle to get it all off. Leaning against the railing inside the shower, she stood there and let herself soak for awhile.

Lilith furrowed her brow, crossing her arms over her chest as she stared at the bathroom door. Glancing back at Sprout, Lilith bit her lip, shrugging her shoulders.

Standing outside the bathroom, Lilith tapped on the door. "Merry?" She called out. "Merry, are you okay? You're not drunk are you?" She chuckled as she tried to lighten the tone.

A bit annoyed, Pixie shouted through the door, "I'm fuckin' fine!"

It's not their fault...

Pixie cursed herself under her breath before looking up at the shower head, allowing the now hot water to run down her face. It was a tad too hot, but she wouldn't bother changing the temperature. After letting herself soak a bit more, she bent over to retrieve the bar of soap only to lose her footing and stumble backwards onto her ass. She hit the floor hard, crying out in pain.

Sprout jumped to his feet, "MA'!?"

Lilith quickly raised her palm to Sprout, shaking her head slowly. "Give her a minute." She muttered.

Turning back to face the door, Lilith crossed her arms over her chest. "Merry, do you need any help?"

Pixie sat in a heap on the floor of the shower, writhing in pain. Her knees were bent inward and her back rested against the wall at an awkward angle. She ignored Lilith and reached out to grab hold of the railing. After managing to pull herself onto her knees, she slipped once more but caught herself this time by planting her free hand on the floor between her legs.

She wouldn't ask for Lilith's help. She couldn't. She didn't want Lilith to see her like this.

To see her so small. So pathetic.

After remaining like that for a moment, Pixie gave up and released the railing. She remained sitting on the floor, her knees on the floor, out to her sides as the hot water beat down on her. She couldn't contain it anymore.

She began audibly sobbing.

'Ah shit.'

Lilith sighed through her nose as she looked back at the boy. "This is why you don't wan a girlfriend, kid." The woman smiled sadly. "I'mma check on her, you stay here okay?"

Sprout nodded. He looked worried, "Take care of her."

Nodding at the boy, Lilith sighed again as she began to crack open the bathroom door. "Merry?" She cooed through the gap. "Merry, I'm coming in okay?"

Pixie's head shot up as she looked in the direction of the door. Though there was a curtain in the way, she could tell the door was open. Shaking her head frantically, she shouted, "N-no, s-stay out!" She whimpered. "I-I... I don' wan' you ta' see me like this!"

Lilith chuckled as she slid into the bathroom, winking reassuringly at Sprout as she closed the door gently behind her. "Merry, I've seen you wasted with your knickers on your head, I'm think I'm gonna be fine." Leaning against the door, she brushed a strand of her hair from her eyes. "I met Amy." She inhaled sharply through clenched teeth. "Bit young for you isn't she?"

Rolling backwards onto her rear, Pixie pulled her legs to her chest and rested her jaw on her knees. She offered Lilith little more than muffled sobs before finally answering, "Yeah, she is."

Holding her hands behind her back, Lilith walked slowly to the cubicle, standing in front of the shower curtain, she leaned against the wall. "Conveniently forgot to mention her. Were you embarrassed or something?"

"Maybe," Pixie muttered. "I... I don' know anymore..." She looked up at the girl's silhouette in the corner of her good eye.

"I'd be more embarrassed about falling on your arse in the shower if I were you." Lilith smirked as she stretched her arms out in front of her.

Pixie didn't reply. Though the sobbing had subsided, she still had a nasty knot in her throat. She simply sat in silence as the shower water continued to rain down on her.

It felt like her heart was trying to dig its way out of her chest.

"I ain't gonna pry, but I don't remember you cryin' in the shower since Bennie left." Lilith smiled sadly at the memory. "Fell on your arse then as well, and you weren't even half as battered as you are now." Pulling away from the wall, Lilith peeked around the shower curtain, a warm smile curled her lips as she looked down at the curled up Pixie.

"Need me to help like last time?" She cooed.

Pixie looked up at her with a helpless look on her face. There was no use acting tough any longer. No point in trying to hide. Her lips wouldn't stop quivering and her throat felt like it was filled with cement. She did the only thing she could do.

She nodded.

"Righto." Lilith coughed as she pulled away from the shower curtain. Looking back at the door, she furrowed her brow as she pulled her vest over her head, hoping the boy would do as he was told.

Lilith pulled down her shorts, kicking them aside as she slid by the curtain and into the cubicle. Silently she stood behind Pixie, inhaling sharply as hot water touched her skin. "Tell me about her." Lilith cooed as she started to wash Meredith's hair.

Pixie curled up tighter, burying her nose between her knees. She closed her eye as Lilith's fingers began massaging her scalp. It felt nice, "She's... clever. Smart. Pretty." Pixie clenched her jaw. "Caring." She opened her eye once more. There was a long pause before she finally added, "And immature."

"D'awww!" Lilith squeeked as she applied shampoo to Meredith's hair. "You're totally smitten aren't you?" She squatted behind the woman, wrapping her arms loosely around Pixie's neck. "You can tell me." She whispered in hushed tones. "Nobody else has gots to knows!"

"No," Pixie whispered in as guilty a tone as Lilith had heard from her. Resting the back of her head on Lilith's shoulder, Pixie bit her lip. "I thought I loved 'er. But I don'. I... I used her, Lily. Jus' like everyone else before me. I used 'er so I could ease the pain an', you know, I think she knew that at first. She was okay with that. An' then..." She chuckled. "It was actually in the shower... kind of like this..." Then she blushed. "She told me she loved me. She told me she'd die fer me. An'... an'... I just ate it up. I didn' question it."

She sighed, "I'm such an idiot."

Lilith pursed her lips. "Well that's not the answer I wanted." She said sulkily as she got on her knees. "I think she knows, Merry." She coughed. "I err, I'm the one who kinda gave her the whiskey." She massaged the shampoo into Pixie's hair. "Got the impression that she's gonna get kicked off the ship."

"She's jus' paranoid," Pixie's disappointed tone lightened up as Lilith worked the shampoo into her hair. It was always so much better when someone else did it for you. "She's a Maiden now. She's got a family now. If she leaves it'll be on 'er own accord. Despite everythin' I jus' said... I do care about 'er. I want 'er to be happy." She furrowed her brow. "I jus' don' know what she needs."

"This is why men are better." Lilith chuckled as she rinsed the suds from Meredith's hair, taking the muck and grime with it. "None of that 'feelings' shite." She tutted as she applied another blob of shampoo to the woman's hair. "Rinse and repeat."

Pixie shrugged, a faint smile on her face, "I dunno, Bennie can be pretty emotional too." Before Lilith could respond to that, Pixie suddenly turned her head to look at her. A small glob of shampoo dripped down the side of her head. "Lily..." Pixie started, her eye desperately searching Lilith's. It was clear she was about to change the subject. "I'm sorry fer all the pain I've caused you an'... no... no, I should be more specific. Before you left fer Feroxi. When I... hurt you. I'm sorry I was such a coward."

"Oh shush." Lilith smiled shyly, averting her eyes. "I'm fine." She rested her hands on her lap. "You already apologised, forget about it."

"No, I copped out. I-I-I fuckin' let you down," She broke eye contact. She was too ashamed to look Lilith in the eye. "Listen, Lily... you give me far too much credit. Please, don' be so blind. Can' you see how toxic I am?"

So many have already paid the price for their loyalty.

"You had every right to hate me fer what I did to you. You did... an' what did I do? How did I 'atone'? I told you a god damn sob story about myself. I distracted you. I ignored the real issue, my sin, an' I took advantage of yer loyalty. I made yer pain about me. ME! I'm jus' a crazy, selfish *****, Lily! If I wasn' so weak... if I wasn' such a coward I would never 'ave done that. I'd have let you yell at me. Let you hate me. An' then... only after I'd been given what I deserve, I would apologize an' I would work until the day I died to make it up to you."

Finally, she summoned the courage to meet Lilith's gaze once more, "What I did was inexcusable. My past means nothin'. Please, Lily... please don' accept such a pathetic excuse for an apology. Yer better than that."

"Well I already knew you were crazy." Lilith smiled softly as she brushed her wet hair from her face. Lilith didn't say anything for a few moments, she merely focused on rubbing the shampoo into Meredith's hair. "You know all about me, about where I grew up." The girl shrugged her shoulders. "That's my past, Merry, as boring as all that. I didn't pine for affection like the other kids, I didn't play a victim and lash out at a society that had abandoned me." She pursed her lips. "I was just a kid, trying to figure out where I fit in the world. That's it. The way I see it, our past shapes who we are." She rested her chin on Meredith's head, her arms draped over the woman's shoulders. "Your past, the tale of Meredith Monroe, that's a story worth telling, a story worth hearing, people like Margaret, people need to know there's people like that who exist, she shaped who you are, she gave you the courage to think more of yourself, to believe you could achieve more than the shitty deal life gave you." Lilith sighed. "Yeah, you got fucked up, yeah you had a really rough fucking start, but you took on more of it than you needed to."

Lilith grunted as she sat down, crossing her legs as she rubbed soap on Meredith's back. "It was always about you, Merry, it's the reason I do anything. When you sent me away, that worse than any punch you could thrown at me." Lilith smiled warmly. "From the day I stepped on the Maiden, all I've ever wanted was to be a part of your life, nobody is going to remember me, but you Merry? The Bandit Queen?" Lilith chuckled. "There's gonna be books about you, I'm just glad I could be a footnote in that story."

As heart warming as it was to hear, Pixie felt a bit sick. She didn't deserve Lilith's loyalty. She didn't deserve her love.

She couldn't shake the feeling that it would only bring her more pain as time went on. Or worse... death.

Just like the others...

She wouldn't let her fear get the better of her, however. She couldn't just reject Lilith's love. No matter how much as she wanted to. No matter how much she felt she had to.

Pixie blushed and turned her head back around, "What would I do without you, Lily?" She couldn't help but smile.

Lilith chuckled. "On your arse in the shower feeling sorry for yourself." Lilith smirked. "Kinda like you are now! Only you'd be less clean, and more pathetic."

Pixie laughed and leaned her back against Lilith's chest, "I love you, Lily."

"I should hope so." Lilith mumbled as she wrapped her arms around Meredith's chest, resting her chin on the woman's shoulder. "Did you hear that speech? That shit was amazing, you should write it down or something."

Lilith felt content for the first time that day, she was home again, and that's all she ever wanted.

Meanwhile, Sprout was still sitting outside the door wondering what was going on in there. When the laughter started he let out a long sigh, "I swear, if my Ma' weren't one of the women in there I'd fuckin' kick this door down right now."

Fuck my life.

 

[The Funslinger]

As per Bennie's orders, the two were walking back into the Maiden. Rudimentary greetings had been exchanged but any conversation had been drowned by the calm quiet that had taken over the once-chatty ambiance. Maria couldn't help but look around with a slight frown of concern, even with repeated viewings it was hard to take in the scale of destruction that had been unleashed. Everyone was putting on such brave faces. The doctor couldn't afford to let hers slip anytime soon.

The grim scene they were passing through made it hard to say much, but Ruffles still sifted through his mind for conversation to make.

Eventually, he asked, "so how'd ya meet Sprout and Lilith?"

"Well... We bumped into each other, literally." Maria answered, "They took my moped from me. While I was on it."

It really was a shame that it had been left in Feroxi.

In spite of their surroundings, Ruffles couldn't help but laugh. "Wait, what? So you were all 'hey, you took my bike. Let's be friends!' How's that work?"

Maria gave a slight chuckle, "That came a bit afterwards, dumbass."

"Fair enough," replied Ruffles without missing a beat. "Anyway, on behalf of the whole crew, I apologise for Sprout. We trained him wrong on purpose, as a joke."

"Just to see what trouble he'll get into?" Maria responded, "Geez, you Maidens like making trouble for yourselves, don't ya?"

"Pretty much," said Ruffles. "I'm kinda surprised we didn't have a doctor until now. Up until now it's just been me stitching wounds and Florian praying to God." He glanced at Maria as he said this. Considering the last Hispanic people he'd had the pleasure of meeting had been banditos hell bent on killing him, one that actually patched people up was a welcome change.

Maria shook her head disapprovingly, "Dios mio, how the hell have you survived this long? Don't tell me, the Iron Maidens are made of iron."

"Well I don't know about the others, but my baby looks after me," said Ruffles, patting the wall as they walked. With a sad shake of his head, he sighed. "It's gonna take forever to get her back the way she was."

"She's pretty beat up, huh?" Maria commented. She really didn't know anything about that of thing, too oily. However, it was pretty obvious that the Iron Maiden had taken a beating and then some. Didn't make talking about it any easier, though.

Ruffles nodded. "Yeah. I'm gonna be pulling a lot of all nighters. If I drop dead, just roll me outta the airlock."

"Nah, you'll be fine." Maria laughed, " You do have a doctor on-board now after all."

"Yeah, that's true," he said, grinning. "You can prescribe me like... pure caffiene and inject it into my neck or some shit."

"Exhaustion or heart attacks? Choose your poison." Maria remarked, hands on hips.

Ruffles waved off the idea. "Ahhhh, I'm sure I'll be fine. God, you'd think you were a doctor or something."

They chatted a few more minutes until the conversation began to lull. He could have left it there comfortably enough, but there was something Ruffles still needed to know, and Maria was probably the best person to fill the gaps in his knowledge.

"So, uh... I've kinda been locked away working since I got back. Haven't had much of a chance to see how everyone else is. I didn't even know Warren had... had died until Lilith told me. So who else got hurt?"

"A lot of people." Maria muttered, "Sorry, but I've been cooped up in the tents outside for while. I'm completely drained."

"Yeah, fair enough," said Ruffles. "Sorry."

"Well, from what I heard, it's gonna be hard for me to offer you a beer right now, but I do remember seeing a certain cooler in my workshop," he continued. "So if you wanna take it easy for a while, I reckon I can give ya a cold drink."

Maria mulled it over, "I've been taking it easy for about the past half hour but, I guess another drink couldn't hurt."

"Alrighty then," said Ruffles. "There's no way those god damn psychopaths were smart enough to get my soda." Turning on the spot, he headed off in the direction of his workshop.

Maria followed, hopefully with no Brock, there wouldn't be any more lewdness.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

Pixie was wearing a lot more clothing to bed than she was accustomed to. Sure, Sprout had seen his mother naked more times than any son should ever have to, but she was usually drunk in those instances. No, she'd have some decency for once in her debaucherous life. Not bothering with a bra, Pixie threw on an over-sized t-shirt and wore the only pair of pyjama pants she owned.

Sprout had already been lying on his side, facing the door, so Pixie managed to quickly sneak in and secure the best seat in the house while Lilith was still getting dressed in the bathroom. Crawling into bed, she snuggled up behind Sprout and crossed her left arm over his chest. Sprout was thankfully spared a worryingly confused boner as she pressed her bosom up against his back. He did squirm a bit though. Pixie tightened her grip and grinned.

He wasn't going anywhere.

Lilith walked into the bedroom, a towel wrapped around her head as she stretched her arms behind her back. "Oh I see what's going on here." Lilith pouted as she placed her hands on her hips. "Fuck you guys, taking up all the best bed."

Pixie turned her head enough for Lilith to see her good eye and winked, "There's still room in the back, sweetheart." She promptly spanked herself.

Sprout groaned.

"Your arse can take more pounding can it?" Lilith chuckled as she sat at Pixie's vanity mirror. Looking at the pair in the reflection she smiled warmly.

The bandit queen laughed, "You don' wan' me gettin' in the dirty details with the kid in the room, but I reckon it can take a lot more than you realize."

"Oh my God shuuuuut uuuup." Sprout bellowed.

Ignoring the boy, Lilith smirked as she pulled the towel from her hair. "Yeah? That's a lot of pounding." The girl picked up a brush from the vanity and began running it through her hair. "I mean, Bennie must have just destroyed you with how much pounding you guys were doing."

"Yeah well---" Pixie's words fell victim to an involuntary squeak when Sprout forced his pillow over his ears next to her. "Aw, poor kid." She squeezed him tight and nuzzled the back of his head. "I'm sorry, sweetie. We'll stop talkin' 'bout cocks now."

"Gee thanks..." Sprout rolled his eyes.

Humming contently, Lilith finished brushing her hair and got up from the vanity. Standing at the foot of the bed, Lilith placed her hands on her hips. "Sooo, how we doing this?"

Pixie flopped her arm around on the space behind her, "Come 'ere, girl."

Hopping on the bed, Lilith clumsily crawled across the mattress, plopping herself behind Meredith. Sliding her arm under the woman's neck, she draped her other arms over Pixie's hip. "Three way spooning." Lilith shook her head incredulously. "We're like, the most hardened criminals in the ashlands."

"Don' let the bandit council hear about this, they'll revoke our membership," She laughed. "Ugh... this is so painfully gay. But I'm happy."

His eyes closed, Sprout simply smiled.

"The bandit council can suck my dick." Lilith chuckled as she nuzzled the back of Pixie's neck. "I bought a pretty summer dress and I'mma wear it, damn it!"

Home. She was home.

"Summer dress!?!" Pixie wiggled between the two of them as if to express her... rage? "No surrogate daughter'a mine wears such thin's! What are you, a lady!?"

Sprout chuckled, "She looks good in it."

"She does?!" Pixie sounded genuinely surprised. "I don' see it."

"I look pretty" Lilith grinned as she squeezed her eyes shut. "You'll see." The girl blew the back of Pixie's head.

"We'll see," Pixie chuckled. Pixie squeezed Sprout. "Hey."

Sprout grunted in response.

"I'm sorry I wasn' there fer... you know...," Pixie rested her forehead against the back of his neck. "I wish I could'a been there for you. I can' only imagine how afraid you were."

"You talkin' 'bout the guys I shot or the when I got shot?"

"Both?" Pixie sighed. "You two went through so much."

"Yeah, well," Sprout grinned. "At least Lily got a badass scar outta all of it."

"Yeah..." Lilith muttered as she looked to the side. It hadn't completely healed yet, and still ached from time to time. "At least I can join the club now." She chuckled half-heartedly.

Pixie scoffed, "I reckon you 'ave ta' be shot a dozen more times to reach platinum status like me. I'm surprised I still have any pain receptors left."

"Gettin' shot once is enough fer me." Sprout joked.

"Yeah, well I reckon you should wear yer god damn kevlar next time!"

"But... it's so itchy..."

"Made me ruin my favourite scarf." Lilith pouted as she reached over to flick the boy's ear. "Selfish prick."

"You loved that scarf," Pixie frowned. "Wan' me ta' make you another one? I reckon I'll be done with Amy's soon. Hers is a bit... more elaborate than most."

"You mean snobby." Lilith stuck out her tongue. "Hehe, I would like that." She nuzzled the woman's shoulder. "What did you have in mind?"

Pixie butted her forehead against Sprout's back a few times in thought, "Hmmmmm, I dunno. A big black dick?" She chuckled.

"Do it." Sprout cooed.

"Don't think my neck could take that kind of pounding." Lilith smirked as she banged her hips again't Pixie's rear.

"Watch out, Sprout, Lily's gettin' frisky back there. You wanna switch places?"

"She's nothin' butt a cocktease," Sprout scoffed. "Bet she 'asn't even been laid in like a year."

Pixie howled, "Shots fired!"

"He's right." She cried. "Spending too much time with the boy, I think I've turned into a virgin again, it's been so long!"

Sprout laughed, "Don' give me that shit! Next time you see Florian yer gonna jump his boner so hard!"

"Shit," Pixie interjected. "That's right... do y'all know what's goin' on in Frostfall right now?"

Lilith shook her head. "All I know is that he and Gents the 3rd Esquire are up there doin' some work."

Pixie ignored the pain of rolling over onto her back. Propping herself up on her elbows, she looked to Lilith, "Shit got real in Frostfall. The nobility's been overthrown an' Vasa's in control of the city. Apparently, Gents an' Florian got separated at some point." She frowned. "Gents wasn' clear on who it was, but someone captured Florian. Th-they... they tortured him fer days, b-b-b-but it's okay now. Gents saved him." She sighed. "I'm werkin' with second-hand information here as it came in on the wire while I was knocked out, but he's alive an' safe, but... Gents gave the impression that he ain't returnin' to us. He's stayin' in Frostfall. For what purpose, I 'aven't a clue."

Pixie grabbed Lilith's hand and squeezed, "I'm sorry..."

"What?" Lilith's eyes wavered looked at Meredith. Tortured?! What the hell were they doing in Frostfall?

'Oh Florian!'

"He's coming back though, right? I mean, he's probably dealing with stuff first, you know what Gents is like, probably exaggerating or some shit."

'When have you ever know that man to exaggerate?'

"What if he's in trouble, what if he's waiting for us to go pick him up?" There was a tinge of desperation to her voice.

"Hey, hey, hey, it's okay, Lily. Gents says his captors are taken care of an' that he's safe. I'm usin' some of Wilkes-Vines' contacts in Frostfall to get a bead on 'im, but so far they ain't found anythin' yet." Pixie squeezed her hand tighter. "As soon as we make contact with 'im we'll send someone ta' pick 'im up. I promise."

"We can't leave him behind, Merry." She mumbled as she averted her eyes.

'Not another one.'

Lilith pushed herself into Meredith, resting her head against her chest. "I hope he's okay."

Pixie's heart skipped a beat as she took in Lilith's fear. Wrapping her arms around the girl, she closed her eye, "Lily," She whispered. "He'll be okay. You 'ave ta' trust that he'll make it back to us."

Sprout rolled over and watched the two women comfort each other, "He's tougher than he looks." Sprout chuckled.

"I know he is, believe me." Lilith furrowed her brow. "He's one of us, you know? He should be here, not in the frozen arse end of nowhere." She looked up at Meredith. "We'll try harder to get in touch, okay?"

Pixie nodded, "Of course." She kissed the girl on the top of the head.

"We can't lose anymore." Lilith muttered into Meredith's shirt. "Too many already." The girl closed her eyes. "Too many"

"I know, Lily," Her voice trembled. "I know."

An' it's all on me...

Sprout reached out and rubbed Lilith's shoulder, "Hey, come on. Yer hoggin' the Captain." He offered Lilith a stupid grin.

"No." Lilith pouted as she reached around Meredith, pushin Sprout back. "She's mine now." Lilith rolled on top of Meredith, wrapping her legs around the woman's thighs and her arms around her waist. "Get your own."

Pixie winced. Though she appreciated the gesture, clearly Lilith had forgotten about her injuries, "Not gonna lie, Lily... this is painful."

"Oh shit!" Lilith quickly hopped off of Meredith, Kneeling on the mattress. "I'm sorry!" Lilith bit her bottom lip. Pixie had took a real beating. "Now look what you made me do!" Lilith gestured wildly at Sprout.

"Eat a dick, *****!" Sprout stuck his tongue out and flopped back over onto his side.

Relieved that Lilith had rolled off her, Pixie smiled at her tenderly before turning over and grabbing her little spoon once more, "Get back in position, soldier!" She stuck her foot out and patted the space on the bed behind her once more.

Saluting, Lilith grinned. "Aye aye, captain." Lilith resumed her role as the biggest spoon. "Fucking big spoon, what the fuck?" She muttered as she rested her head against the back of Meredith's shoulder.

"You'll always be my big spoon," Pixie swooned, half in jest and half sincere.

"What about me?" Sprout snorted.

"Do I 'ave ta' spell it out fer you, Little Spoon? Tat's yer new name, by the way."

Lilith shook her head incredulously. "This is the gayest fucking thing ever." She chuckled. "Can you imagine what would happen if this got out? The crew wouldn't shut up for years."

"Girl, people 'ave been talkin' about me like that all my life," She scoffed. "If I ain't never gave a shit 'bout it before, what makes ya' think I'm gonna start now?"

"Cradle robber." The boy snickered.

"What'd you say, *****!?" Pixie squealed as she shook her son, violently.

Lilith chuckled. "Yeah Merry, Jesus, how old is Amy? She's not older than me, surely?"

Pixie hesitated for longer than she wanted to before finally answering, "S-seventeen..."

"I did not need to know that." Sprout mumbled.

"What?!" Lilith laughed incredulously. "Seventeen? Are you fucking shitting me?"

"Look, she's very... mature for her... age..." Pixie sighed.

"Really had a hard time finishing that statement, Ma'."

"Quiet you."

"Does Florian know about this? I get the feeling he should know about this. Like, I could feel the disapproval." She mock shivered.

"He does, yeah." Pixie admitted. "Can we talk about somethin' else or, you know, sleep?"

"Smooooth attempt at changing the subject." Lilith muttered as she nuzzled the back of Pixie's neck. "We're only teasin'."

"Yeah, yeah, snuggle up close now so I don' feel lonely, okay? All this teasin's made me weak in the knees."

"Pussy."

"That's enough out of you, ya' lil' punk!" She commanded as she pinched him. She grinned in satisfaction after he finished writhing in pain.

"We aren't goin' anywhere soon." Lilith hummed, closing her eyes as she sighed.

"Good." Pixie said simply as she closed her eye and relaxed. Ironically, Pixie was the last to fall asleep, despite her mental and physical exhaustion. She simply had too much on her mind.

It also didn't help that every time she closed her eye she saw their faces. All of them.

They had vacant stares and they were all looking at her.

Had she been alone she would have surely cried herself to sleep, but the warmth and comfort her children offered seemed to be enough to ease her suffering. Despite the sins she was guilty of, at the end of the day she still had one pure thing going for her. One thing that reminded her she wasn't completely lost. That she wasn't just a monster.

At least she would always have her love for her children.