A/N: Hey everyone! Chapter time. Apologies for the delay. I think I am getting sick. I hope not, though. Whatever my partner caught is real nasty and if I also have it I might be out of commission for a while... but hopefully not! I will eat well and do my best to fight it off. Wish me luck!

"So… that's it, then," I say. "That's everything that happened. And… everything I feel about Thea."

Bean and Castalia stare at me in silence, both of them clearly needing a moment to gather their thoughts. Jim stays quiet in his armchair, sipping his tea. Out in the backyard, I know Chloe and Thea are talking about me. Over and over, I need to re-convince myself that it's for the best that I don't eavesdrop on my master's private conversations. No matter how much it might help me serve her, she wouldn't like it.

"You love her," Bean says, breaking the silence. "And you've loved her since before she became your master, which is why you don't think it's the Cage controlling you."

"That's right," I confirm.

"Is it possible that it's the Cage making you think you loved her before?" Bean asks, and I can't help but be briefly terrified while I consider that.

"…I think it's exceedingly unlikely," I hedge. "I'm capable of deleting my own memories, and I could hypothetically be ordered to delete my own memories, but I don't think I can fabricate memories. At least, not very well."

"But it's possible," Bean presses. "You could have messed with your own memories and removed your knowledge of how to do so at all."

"I… maybe," I admit. "But the Cage didn't force me to fall in love with Melpomene! I don't think it cares how much I like my master. If anything, I suspect it's explicitly designed under the assumption that the master of the Cage will be hated. It's an Antipathy artifact created to capture Preserver souls and force them to fight against their own kind, after all."

"Hmm… yeah," they concede. "You can confirm Luna hated Melpomene before all this, right Castalia?"

"The emotional reaction when I said her name was quite clear," Castalia confirms.

"I guess that checks out, then," Bean hums, clearly still suspicious. "Unless Melpomene was never your master from the start, and it's always been Thea."

"Considering the state she was in, I think it's fair to give her the benefit of the doubt," Jim says quietly. 

I give him a thankful smile, every false muscle in my face perfectly optimized for reassurance. He gives me a small smile back.

"…Alright, let's say we do that," Bean says. "This is still a wildly unhealthy relationship. It is absolutely terrifying how much power that girl has over you."

"You think I don't know that!?" I snap. "After everything Melpomene did to me!? But Thea's not like her. She doesn't want to hurt me or anyone else!"

"Luna, if everything you're saying is true, then sure! Thea isn't the problem at all!" Bean agrees. "But you certainly are! The two of you were putting each other in a horrible feedback loop there. Like, codependency to the power of eleven!"

"I know!" I insist. "I know. Okay? I hurt her. I am hurting her. But what other alternative do we have? Thea might be able to change my master to someone else, but she can't remove it yet. I don't want anyone else to be my master, it would be weird. I don't know. Thea is everything good that happened to me when I was with the Dark Rebellion."

"Okay, but is that actually the best idea, or is it the Cage talking?" Bean asks. "I'll give you two guesses."

"I know, okay!? God, I get it! My thinking is compromised. I know that I can't be trusted to be objective when it comes to her, but I can't just stop, okay? I can't not be the Cage of Returning Pain. If I have to be enslaved to someone, is it really the worst pick to have it be someone I love? Someone who cares about me? I mean, what's your alternative, Bean?"

"Why can't we just make you human again?" Bean asks. "I mean, souls are real, and they took it out of you to put you in this. Can't we put you back?"

"No," I hiss. "Absolutely not. Out of the question. Even if it is possible, I'll never let it happen."

"Would you seriously rather be enslaved than dysphoric?" Bean groans.

"You don't understand," I press. "I met with my body. I spoke to it. It's just… it's no one right now, just some horrible emotionless thing, but it's growing a soul of its own."

"Wait, there's a second you?"

"It's not me!" I snap. "If it was me, it wouldn't have ghosted you for a whole year! But it is alive, and it's separate from me, and neither of us want anything to do with each other, okay?"

"O-okay, back up, I don't think you explained this part enough," Bean says.

"Two Lunas…" Castalia murmurs softly.

"No. Not two Lunas. It doesn't even use that name, it just lets my mom call it whatever she wants," I say. "Basically, when my soul was removed from my body, my body didn't die, it just became incapable of feeling anything."

"Oh, god," Bean grimaces. "So like, infinity ultra-depression. 'So empty you don't even have the energy to kill yourself' type of situation."

"Exactly," I confirm. "It wasn't even taking my meds."

"But you said it was getting a soul of its own, right?"

"Uma'tama seemed to think so, and they probably know what they're talking about," I answer. "Look, can we just stop talking about it? I really cannot overstate how much I hate even remembering that thing exists. Besides, it basically just told me to fuck off and leave it alone, so I think the feeling is mutual."

"It just seems like a big thing to ignore, Luna."

"Well, I've been ignoring it for a year, and I bet I can keep ignoring it for several more!" I respond petulantly. 

Because I know I'm being petulant at this point. I'm being childish. I'm just too worked up to know what else to say, what else to do. There's no point to all of this. There's no master I could have that would be better than Thea, and even if there was, I'd have to fight to prevent my master from being changed. There's nothing that fails my master more than ceasing to be her servant.

…Wait. Oh. Oh no. That's actually an important point I didn't realize until now. Should I keep it to myself…? They'll be able to plan around not telling me if they know that… that I…

"God, you're so right," I groan. "This shit is insidious. I swear it wasn't messing with my head this much when Melpomene was in charge!"

"Perhaps you were right," Castalia says. "It may not be designed for a master you like. The methods it normally uses to force your cooperation are now far stronger than they need to be, given that you're already willing."

"Maybe," I admit. "That's not a terrible theory. But what do we do about it? Make Thea give me orders I'll hate?"

"No, that does not seem like it would work well for anyone," Castalia disagrees.

"Exactly," I confirm. "We're doing the best we can. Unless Thea figures out a way to break my restrictions entirely, I genuinely don't think there's anything you can do to help."

"Not directly, maybe," Jim speaks up again. "But your friends can be there for you. They can watch you. They can provide an outside perspective. They can lend a hand when they think you need it. Even if that's all they can do, I believe that counts for something."

I look his way. He's… saying that from experience, isn't he?

"What was it like?" I ask. "Raising Eliza."

He's a bit caught off-guard by the question, which… I suppose it's fair, it's a little out of nowhere. And, perhaps, not the most tactful conversation transition, either. But a sad smile passes over his face, and he thinks about it for a moment.

"…Terrifying," he summarizes. "I don't regret a second of it, of course, but… every moment was terrifying. I always knew she just wouldn't come back one day. The only thing I could do was make sure it wasn't going to be because I failed her."

"I'm sorry," Castalia says.

"It's not your fault, Castalia," Jim tells her.

"No," Castalia agrees, "but it was my responsibility. I should have stopped her."

"I was making that a little difficult," I sigh. "Let's… not play the blame game, okay? Or if we do, let's just put it all at Melpomene's feet and call it good. If she's dead, it's because Melpomene killed her."

"I like that idea, let's do that," Bean says.

Castalia shifts in the air a bit, rubbing her ankles together nervously.

"Okay," she concedes reluctantly. 

"…I was also looking for more practical advice," I admit, glancing back over to Jim. "One way or another, I am going to have to take care of Thea. If I can do that better, then we should have fewer problems, right?"

"Codependancy to the power of twelve," Bean mutters. I ignore them.

"Well… I'm not sure how much I can help you, there," Jim admits. "I don't know if I was ever good at raising Eliza. I think I failed her in a lot of ways, I just… it was better than the alternative. Our parents are… it just wasn't a safe environment for her. And if she wasn't going to be safe out there, she should at least be safe at home, right?"

"What did your parents do, exactly?" I ask. "If… that's alright to talk about."

Jim is quiet, taking another sip of tea.

"Our mother, she… she never liked Eliza," he admits. "I don't even know why. A case of postpartum psychosis that she never got over, maybe. If she's ever been diagnosed with anything, they never told me about it. Dad was hardly ever home, and just… never believed me, or assumed everything she did to us was for good reason. As if there could even be a good reason for it. Some days it was fine, but sometimes she'd just go completely ballistic at Eliza for even the smallest things. When Eliza became an Earth Guardian, it only got worse. I'm only about eight and a half years older than her, so I sought custody as soon as I could, but… Mom acted like magic justified everything she thought was evil about Eliza. We… stopped having good days. It… hah. It was easy to get a doctor to provide evidence for the courts, at least."

"God," I swear. "I'm so sorry."

"No," Jim says. "Don't be. It's… I'm so proud of her. I'm so proud of Eliza. She was the strongest person in the entire world. No offense, Castalia."

"No," Castalia says. "You're right."

Jim smiles, a few tears in the corners of his eyes, but he ignores them and returns to nursing his drink. The moment of quiet that follows is interrupted by the back door sliding open, Chloe and Thea reentering the house. 

"Hey guys," Chloe says carefully. "How's it going here?"

My eyes, of course, are entirely on Thea. She looks… subdued, certainly, but better than when she left. Bean was right. Chloe was good for her. Thank goodness. 

"Oh, you know," Bean says. "Spilling our hearts out in the saddest possible ways. How'd it go with you two?"

"I… I'm sorry, everyone!" Thea blurts. "I'm sorry. I couldn't fix Luna right. I'm sorry I lied. I didn't know any other way to keep you safe and I don't know any of you and I was scared but it was… stupid of me. I can't do this alone. I p-promise I'm going to keep trying to help her."

She's fidgeting with her hands again, pulling and flicking at the webbing between her fingers. Nervous. Distracted. Of course she'd be. I screwed up.

"Bad," Castalia says, lightly shoving my cheek with her stump.

"Is she…? Come on, Luna," Bean presses. "You know better than this. It is not a bad thing for someone to be upset at something that is upsetting. It would be worse for Thea if she wasn't a little overwhelmed by all of this. Right?"

"Right," I say. "Right. Sorry. That makes sense."

"I'm so sorry, Luna," Thea whines painfully.

"It's really, genuinely, entirely not your fault," I insist. 

"…Chloe said so too," Thea sighs. "I'm still pretty sure the lying was my fault, but… yeah. I'm sorry for freaking out."

"It's okay," I say.

"…It hurt Luna a lot," Castalia says for me. Hey! "You have placed a very large responsibility on yourself."

"I didn't know who else to trust," Thea says, squirming even more under Castalia's gaze. "Should I change her master to you?"

Castalia actually shifts back a little.

"…Please don't," she says.

"Then I don't know what else to do," Thea says helplessly.

"Let's not overcomplicate this," I suggest. "You want to fix my body so that I'm not under your control. Everybody else also wants you to fix my body so I'm not under your control. So… let's work on that together, and in the meantime we have everybody here as a support network. I could get us an apartment so we can keep all your stuff there, and the Preservers won't be spying on us while you work, and—"

"We should tell Uma'tama," Castalia says.

"Uhhhh no? We shouldn't?" I argue.

"We should," Castalia insists. "I know you are suspicious of them, Luna, but as intelligent as Thea is, and as experienced as she is working with your body, the Preservers are still vastly more knowledgeable than us about technology and magic. They will be the most effective source of help for you."

"But that's only if they help, and I'm not confident they're going to," I argue. "Maybe, maybe I believe that Uma'tama is a good person and will have our back, but that doesn't necessarily extend to the rest of Preserver society. Uma'tama might not be able to protect us if things go badly enough."

"No, but I can," Castalia says.

"Castalia, I don't think—"

"I can," she insists. "I will. Let's tell them, and get their help."

Uugh, she's not going to budge on this. No matter how incredible she is, she's still been indoctrinated by the cats since she was a little kid. How do I…

"I agree with Castalia," Thea says.

"What?" I blurt. "Thea!"

"Lying was stupid. Let's not make the same mistake twice," she insists.

"This is a very different situation!" 

"No, listen," Thea orders, so I shut up and listen. "If we tell Uma'tama in private, they'll know what to do. They'll keep the secret if it's a bad idea to tell the other Preservers."

Castalia nods in agreement. I dunno, this still seems really risky! I turn to Bean for help.

"Don't look at me," they say. "I don't know anything about the cat aliens; you and yours are the only ones they ever talk to. It's a she-said-she-said between the indoctrinated child soldiers the Preservers basically own and the literal war machine designed to torture Preservers with built-in mental manipulation programmed by the We Hate The Preservers Gang. I have nothing to go off of here."

"I am inclined to trust Thea," Chloe says. "She's been on both sides of this, right? If she and Castalia both have faith in Uma'tama as an individual, then I don't see why we wouldn't trust that."

"Because we don't even know if Uma'tama is an individual!" I groan. "They use we/us pronouns, for fuck's sake! But like, only some of the time. The point is, we know nothing about the Preservers."

"Luna," Bean says. "I want you to take a moment to think extra hard on why you don't want to involve the Preservers, and whether or not you're being influenced by the Cage."

I huff. 

"…Fine," I agree.

I could do all that thinking super fast, but I bet the humans would just assume I didn't think about it if I did that, so I may as well save power and keep my clock speed low. Am I being mentally influenced here? …No, let's be real. How much am I being mentally influenced here?

First and most immediately obvious vote in the no column: I'm disagreeing with my master. First and most immediately obvious vote in the yes column: I am voting anti-Preserver. Emotionally… I don't know. I think I have good reason to be suspicious about the Preservers in general. But do I have good reason to suspect Uma'tama will toss me into a trash compactor if they find out I'm controlled by Thea? No, not really. 

"…Alright, fine," I sigh. "But let's not let any of the other Earth Guardians know, okay? They don't trust Thea in the slightest, and they trust me less, so I can easily see them turning on us if they found out."

"That is fair," Castalia concedes.

"Yeah, absolutely, let's not tell them," Thea nods. 

"Then… fine, we'll tell Uma'tama," I sigh. "Let's go do that, then. Otherwise I might try to put it off."

"Very well," Castalia says, picking me up with her telekinesis. 

It startles me a little every time, but… I kind of like it. The pressure is equal across my entire body, like I'm being held in a bathtub of warm water. I can't really experience that directly anymore, but this might be even better. I mean, I'm literally being held in the air by the love of my biggest crush. I'd be uncontrollably wiggling in delight if I was still flesh. 

"Wait, one more thing first," Bean says. "I think something that's going to be really important going forward is actively encouraging Luna to assert herself. I know that's normally not something she struggles with, but if her body is going to be constantly trying to trick her into doing what Thea wants, regular sanity check-ins are a must."

"Okay, point of order? I don't need to be 'tricked' into doing what Thea wants, I like doing what Thea wants, and that is definitely not a necessary element of Cage enslavement. I don't want everyone to think that any time I do something nice for someone I deeply care about, it's just me being forced to by my slavebot subroutines. Acts of service are just one of my love languages." 

"Duly noted. That's exactly what I'm talking about," Bean nods. "Though obviously we're still going to need to keep a close eye on you to make sure you're being safe and healthy. Just like old times, really, except now instead of being suicidal you're a slave robot."

"A surprisingly comparable situation, if I'm being real," I say.

"No doubt. So, anything else you want to get off your chest before we part ways?" 

Hmm… aw, fuck it. Why not?

"[Sᴋᴇᴛɪsᴏʜ]" I cast, removing my skinsuit all at once and sealing my plating back up.

"I don't wanna wear the skinsuit if I don't have to," I say. "There's definitely times it could be useful, but it's not casual wear, and I don't wanna treat it like it is. It's a disguise. It's for hiding. I don't really want to hide that I'm a robot. I'm awesome."

"I will never quite get over how much you seem to like being a horrible slave robot," Bean sighs.

"I've said it before, and I'll say it again: the slave bits? Not so good. The robot bits? Absolutely peak. Ideal form of existence. I'm powerful, I think super fast, I'm probably immortal if given proper maintenance, and if anyone is being too boring in my general vicinity I can watch YouTube videos inside my own head. I can do all kinds of stuff now! It's awesome!"

"Okay, okay, understood," Bean says placatingly. "I'm just worried about you, is all. You've also described your body as a 'torment nexus' before, so like… forgive me for being wary."

"Technically it was more that my body temporarily activated emergency torment nexus protocols, but… okay, fair," I allow.

"May I request a small compromise?" Castalia asks.

"Oh, of course," I nod.

"Do not keep your plating sealed outside of combat," she says. "It will not only assist us in monitoring you for dangerous influence, but it will also help the other Earth Guardians acclimate to your presence. You care about other people. If they can feel that, they will learn to trust you to the degree you deserve."

Hrm… I can't say I love having my plating unsealed, but… I guess I can justify it by keeping my thrusters deployed for emergency situations. I unfold some of my back to deploy my primary forward-acceleration thrusters, locking them into a combat-appropriate configuration. 

"How's that?" I ask.

"Good," Castalia nods.

"Just try not to bump my thrusters much. They're delicate! Relatively speaking."

"Okay," Castalia agrees, and the pressure around that area of my body lightens a bit. Ahhh, she's just so sweet! "Goodbye, then."

Thea squeaks as Castalia picks her up, too, and the three of us float out the back door and up into the sky. From there, it's only a short, barely-subsonic flight back to the secret underground Earth Guardian base. Once inside, Castalia pulls out her phone and calls Uma'tama on speaker. Uma'tama picks up on the first ring.

"Castalia, hi! Is this an emergency?" Uma'tama asks brightly.

"No," Castalia answers.

"Great! We'll talk to you tomorrow."

…And then the damn cat hangs up on us. Well! Procrastinating is fine by me, honestly. 

"Who wants dinner?" I ask.

"Sure," Castalia agrees.

"…I could eat," Thea nods quietly.

"Great!"

We wander over to the kitchen, and I start cooking something up, taking the time to make something a bit more complex than usual since we have the spare ingredients from Costco and it doesn't look like Thea is super hungry. Time passes as I cook away, and as things near completion the smell seems to attract an extra gaggle of exhausted-looking Earth Guardians. Veritas, Aurora, and Amaterasu all wander into the kitchen/dining room area, at once.

"Yes, I have made enough for everyone," I confirm as they approach. "Though I was expecting most of it to be leftovers. There aren't any convergences today, right? What are all three of you doing here?"

"No convergence means it is a good day for training," Amaterasu grunts. "We've been sparring for several hours."

"My soul hurts," Veritas groans.

Castalia suddenly stands up from where she had been waiting.

"That's bad," she says.

"I-I was just complaining, it doesn't actually hurt," Veritas insists, startled.

"Oh," Castalia says, and then she sits back down.

"Exertion is important for growth," Amaterasu insists. "I simply worked them hard."

"Well, hard workers deserve good meals," I say. "It should be ready in about ten minutes."

While I work, though, I keep a careful optical sensor on Veritas, alongside several other sensors. No way am I going to just ignore a comment like 'my soul hurts,' especially given the girl's self-destructive tendencies. A very, very careful check of the magical flows around her body indicate the presence of something I had suspected she'd have started growing by now. I'll ask her about it later to make sure she's okay.

"And heeeeere we are, everyone!" I announce. "Lomo saltado! It's a Peruvian dish. With french fries, so the kiddos know it's edible. Uhhh, no one's a vegetarian, right? I totally forgot to ask."

I get five full nos (even though I obviously already know Thea and Castalia's food preferences), and plate the dishes, carrying them all at the same time over to the table. I place each one down in sequence in front of a hungry Earth Guardian.

"…Don't call me a kiddo," Veritas grumbles as I give her the food.

"Sure, sure!" I agree. "For the more aerodynamic variant of the Earth Guardians, then."

"Huh?" Veritas squints at me, and I manage to spot Aurora choke down a laugh out of the corner of my eye. 

"It means you're efficient!" I assure her. "Now eat up! It's just beef and veggies, mostly, but the rice is nice, too. Let me know if you want any condiments. Ketchup, soy sauce, we got it all, now. I will be keeping this kitchen fully stocked, so let me know if you ever want me to make you something."

"…Soy sauce, please," Su-san requests reluctantly, taking a tentative bite of the meat before brightening up a bit and chomping down with significantly more gusto. Yeah, it's already marinated in soy sauce. I took a wild stab. Who'da thunk it.

"Here you go!" I say, handing over the bottle anyway. 

I splurged on the good stuff, too. Or at least, I hope it's the good stuff. It's expensive stuff anyway, or at least as expensive as anything gets at the bulk store I got it from. I have no earthly idea if it's good or not because I can't taste shit. The girls all seem happy, though, so I'm guessing it's good enough!

"How do you cook without a mouth?" Aurora asks, looking up at me after swallowing her last bite. Good table manners, unlike her feral teammates.

"Well, cooking and eating are two different things, it turns out," I answer.

"Nuh-uh," Aurora says. "You gotta taste test! It's the most important step!"

"…Well, I make do, despite my crippling disability," I sigh dramatically. "I have very powerful sensors and can make very precise measurements. When I'm caramelizing onions, for example, I can more or less feel the chemical reactions happening. It helps me time things very precisely. The rest is just trusting the measurements given to me by people who can taste stuff. I don't make my own recipes, I just use other people's."

"Aww," Aurora says. "That's a little sad. Trying out new spices and stuff is fun."

"Do you cook, Aurora?" I ask.

"Yeah, I help my mom!"

"Well, if you want to be my taste tester next time, you're more than welcome," I offer. "Maybe we can come up with some better recipes together."

"Sure!" she says brightly, like the ray of sunshine she is. It's remarkable how well-adjusted this girl is. There wasn't a single depressing thing in that whole entire conversation! New Earth Guardian world record!

"What do you think, Veritas?" I prod.

"…I don't like vegetables," she complains.

"Then eat around 'em," I offer. I'm not gonna badger this kid about nutrition; that'll just make it harder for her to relax around me. "Pick the beef out and just eat it with rice and fries. I'm not gonna complain."

"Hmm," Veritas grumbles, but she takes my advice and starts chowing down a bit more confidently. 

Yeahhh, she clearly has other people getting on her case about nutrition instead. I'll be the cool auntie robot in this situation. Gotta pick my battles. After all, plenty of people can bug her about nutrition, but I might be the only one both willing and able to save her from the crystals growing inside her body.

Things wind down quickly once people are done eating. Castalia departs to sleep, and everyone just breaks up to go their separate ways from there. I manage to earn a gruff 'thank you' from Amaterasu and a bright smile of appreciation from Aurora. I wonder if I should loop the kid in… she'd probably have a lot of good advice on how to help guide Veritas through it. On the other hand, this is basically medical information, and telling anyone about it without Veritas' permission would leave such a bad taste that my lack of mouth wouldn't be an issue for once.

"Well, it's just you and me, then," I say once everyone other than Thea has cleared out.

"Yeah," Thea agrees.

"Did you enjoy dinner?" I ask.

"It was good, yeah," Thea confirms. "Sorry, I'm just… tired. It has been a very big day."

"That might be understating it, yes," I agree. "Have you fought a kaiju before today?"

"Once," Thea confirms. "Well, I didn't fight it directly. My team and I handled the smaller monsters while Melpomene's… I mean, Castalia's team took it down."

"Well, you were definitely a big help this time," I say. "I still have pretty serious power issues, so all the temporary reserves you gifted me were very important."

"That's good," Thea says softly.

Yeah. Yeah, alright.

"You wanna head to your room?" I ask.

"…Sure," Thea agrees miserably.

I nod, collect the dishes to wash later, and then we head to her room. As soon as the door is closed, I make sure the privacy ward is up.

"How did it go with Chloe?" I ask.

Thea takes a deep breath, closing her eyes for a moment. As she does, her emotions seem to even out, becoming… lesser. It's harder to read what she's feeling.

"…She had some interesting ideas," Thea says flatly.

"I didn't know you could do that," I admit.

"I'm not good at it," Thea says, "but it's similar to the sort of training I did with Melpomene and Nanaya. Emotional control. It's something you should work on, too. Will you be considering that an order?"

"I… do you want me to?" I ask.

"That depends," Thea says. "When I told Chloe that you couldn't stop interpreting things I say as orders, she suggested that I give you a few orders on purpose. Something actionable to focus on, so you can reassure yourself you're obeying me properly. I told her I wasn't sure if that would work. Do you think it would be helpful?"

Oh. Wow. I've never really seen this side of Thea before. It's a little spooky… but then again, she probably doesn't like doing this. I'm the one making her do it. That's… wrong.

"I'm not sure if I'll ever be good at emotional control," I admit. "But it would probably help me focus on it if you ordered me to get better. It's worth doing, I guess."

"Okay," Thea says. "Then for at least an hour every night, practice emotional control. As a second order… I want you to spend whatever time you aren't practicing emotional control tonight doing something fun that you enjoy. It will make me happy if you're happy."

"Right," I say. "I'm sorry, Thea. I've been forgetting how important that is, I think. It… can get a little confusing, sometimes."

"That's okay," she says, and then she sags, her emotions all flowing back to normal at once. "That's okay, Luna."

She all but collapses into me, wrapping her arms around me. I carefully start to hug her back, and she breaks out into quiet sobs, her tears running down my chestplate. I stay silent, holding her as she shakes and whimpers. Seven minutes and fifty-four seconds pass before the tears stop, and she pulls out of the embrace. A quick vibration through my frame dries me right off.

"I love you," she says quietly, barely a whisper. The words shock me. They're exactly the sort of thing I've wanted to hear for a long time, but I'm a bit too surprised to be happy. Still, there's only one response.

"I love you, too," I tell her.

"I believe you," she says firmly. "I believe you. I'm going to head to bed too, okay?"

"Sure," I say. "Can I use your room while you do? I'll be quiet, I just… don't have a room here yet."

"Sure," she agrees.

I nod, sitting down and crossing my legs to indicate that I'm planning to start with emotional control. Nothing like the lotus position to signal that you're about to get 'way in touch with your inner self, dude.' I… have never been the best at doing that, honestly. In fact, I'd argue that I'm one of the best at not doing that. To me, emotional control has always meant emotional suppression. My feelings, traditionally, have been caused primarily by things that I had low or limited outlets to actually do anything about. It was easier to feel nothing than try to control my feelings… and hey, look at where that got flesh Luna. I feel an instinct to shudder at the thought of the creepy homunculus wearing my old body.

It's especially bad because I know exactly where they're coming from. I remember a time in my life when that would have been the best future I could have thought of. And damn it, I want to be better than that now. I can be better than that. And my master has ordered me to be better at that. So… that's what I'm going to do.

By the time my requisite hour is up, I'm extremely bored but, admittedly, still above-expectation in terms of power generation. Meditation is going to be in short supply when I'm actually in the middle of a fight, but it's a good start. We'll see how things go. For now, though, I have been ordered to 'do something fun that I enjoy.' Hmm… 

High-effort silly jokes it is.

By the time morning rolls around, I'm already halfway done with a batch of homemade strawberry pancakes. Getting the whisk right is important, I think. Pancakes only do a little bit of rising on their own—flatness is sort of their whole thing—and either too much or too little mixing can ruin their fluff. It's important to let it sit for a bit after mixing, too, to let the bubbles in the batter stabilize a bit. Of course, once I finally do have the first batch on the pan, it doesn't take long at all before we have hungry Earth Guardians crawling into the room. 

"Goooood morning, you two!" I greet them.

It's just Amaterasu and Veritas to start with. Aurora almost certainly went home to her family and slept at home, but I guess Veritas didn't head back to Mrs. Mckay's place…? I wonder what the deal is with that.

"More food…?" Amaterasu mumbles, caught somewhere in the middle between suspicious, hungry, and just plain sleepy.

"Of course more food!" I say. "It's honestly ridiculous that you guys don't get more good meals. Eliza would hardly eat anything if Chloe and I didn't make her, and even Castalia lived off of hot pockets and ramen before I stepped in!"

"Are you… wearing an apron…?" Amaterasu asks incredulously.

"And nothing but!" I confirm, slapping the back of my thigh with a clank. "Hot, aren't I?" 

Amaterasu snorts derisively, squinting at the words on my apron.

"'Kaiju ass isn't the only thing I serve,'" Amaterasu reads. "Where did you get that?"

"I made it myself overnight!" I answer. "Since, y'know, I killed a kaiju yesterday?"

"Wh… what?" Amaterasu asks, already much more awake. "You did?"

"Well, I mean, Castalia helped," I hedge, waving my spatula around vaguely. "And Thea. And everybody else. But I got the final blow! Cleaved that sucker more or less in half."

"I… was not aware you had participated," Amaterasu admits.

"Well, I'm on Castalia's team now, so whatever butts she needs to kick, she has my full support!" 

"I see…" she hums. "Perhaps you should help us when next we spar."

"What!? Su-san!" Veritas protests.

"I would love to!" I agree immediately. "Here's your pancakes by the way, hot off the stove."

I hand them their flapjack flapstacks and place some butter and syrup on the table. Veritas hesitates, glancing to the syrup with a bit of concern on her face. I motion at it with a like 'yeah, it is free, you can have it' sort of gesture, and she snatches it up, quickly drowning her plate in the stuff before glancing back at me.

"We have an extra bottle, so use all you like," I assure her. "But do be careful, it's never fun finding out what too much syrup tastes like the hard way. Everything gets soggy. Gotta find your preferred balance, you know?"

"…Yeah," Veritas says suspiciously, and I get back to making breakfast. 

Neither Thea nor Castalia are awake by the time I finish up, which is a bit of an unfortunate miscalculation, but I send a quick message to both of their phones on where the extra pancakes are and the best ways to heat them up as the others depart.

"Would you like to train now, Vertias?" Amaterasu asks.

"I… should check in with Mrs. Mckay first," Veritas says. "She'll get upset if I don't go see her."

"Hrm. Very well," Amaterasu nods. "I will be here when you are done."

"Okay," Veritas agrees and starts heading for the teleporter room.

Perfect. I follow behind just out of sight, rushing over to a teleporter as soon as she's gone. She yelps in surprise as I suddenly appear next to her, nearly dropping her phone… which she had open to the convergence tracker app. Bingo!

"Wh-what are you doing here!?' Veritas blurts.

"Well, I'll tell you what I'm not doing," I say. "Going to see Mrs. Mckay. Same as you, right?"

"No! Shut up!" Veritas snaps, wrapping one hand around her transformation stone.

"Calm down, I'm not going to tell anyone," I say, holding up my hands placatingly. "You're looking for Fulgora, right? I promised I'd help you with that, remember?"

Veritas stares at me, frozen with indecision. Her hand never moves from her stone.

"…I'm not allowed to look for Fulgora anymore," she says.

"Yeah, according to the Preservers," I agree, leaning back against the alley wall. "But like… come on. I don't care about that. I'm just in this to save people from monsters. And to not get scrapped by spooky aliens, but y'know."

"You'll… you'll help me?" Veritas asks.

"I will," I nod, holding up a finger. "But I have one condition."

She scowls.

"What?" she asks.

"Let me take a look at your crystals," I say.

"What?" she hisses. "I don't… no!"

"Veritas, it's fine. I get it. But those things are dangerous, and I just want to make sure they're not going to hurt you."

"Don't take them!" Veritas snaps. "They're making me stronger!"

"I know," I say. "I'm not taking them. But they don't just grow on the outside of your body, they grow on the inside, too. I need to make sure they aren't going to burrow a hole into your stomach and let all the acid in there splash out onto your organs or something."

She blanches, a burst of fear filling her, which is good. It means I'm getting my point across.

"We should… find a bathroom, or…" she mumbles to herself.

I snap my fingers for style points and my human disguise appears around my body.

"Let's head to the park, little sis," I grin at her. "There's a public potty there."

"Okay…"

Is doing potentially life-saving medical treatment in a public bathroom wise? No. Absolutely not. Are we doing it anyway? Apparently, yes. It's not a long walk to where we need to go, and the two of us soon slip inside. I've… certainly seen dirtier bathrooms, at least.

"Uh, by the way, if anyone else tries to like, get you alone in a bathroom? And you don't know them? Leave or beat them up," I say. Gotta make sure I'm not a bad influence on the kid.

"I'm still considering both of those options for you," Veritas admits.

"Take it out on me in the spar later," I say. "In the meanwhile—and this is like extra 'beat them up' material, to be clear—could you lift your shirt for me?"

I kneel down as Veritas complies, and sure enough I spot a spattering of little red crystals across her torso. Nothing that looks too dangerous on the surface, but the surface isn't the issue.

"I'm gonna poke at these, okay? Tell me if any of them hurt."

Of course, I don't really need her to tell me that. As soon as I tap on a crystal I get a way clearer picture of the inside of her body, my haptic sensors picking up on the vibrations to get at least a decent map of the crystals inside. Most of them, thankfully, aren't endangering anything at all. There's just one major exception.

"Okay, I'm gonna have to remove parts of this one," I say, tapping on a large crystal that is growing way too close to the girl's heart and lungs. "The rest should be fine. This might hurt a little, and it'll bruise, but the crystal hasn't pierced anything major yet and you should heal up without an issue."

"…Did you learn to do this with the Dark Rebellion?" Veritas asks.

"Yep," I confirm. "I've watched Melpomene do it several times. She usually manages her crystals a little before bed. I copied the spells I'll be using from her."

Or I guess, by Castalia's definition, I've converted the magic Melpomene uses into a spell that I can use. 

"[L ᴏ ᴏ ᴋ ɪ ɴ ɢ F ᴀ ʙ ᴜ ʟ ᴏ ᴜ s]"

Veritas growls slightly as I disintegrate the back end of the crystal in her body back into pure red magic, wincing as the crystal's partial disappearance leaves nothing in its place, causing a small bruise to form as damaged capillaries suddenly find themselves a little too open. 

"Ow," Veritas growls.

"Told you," I say. "Anyway, you should be safe now. Well, as safe as someone who keeps going to the Dark World alone can be, anyway. Are you gonna be okay with all those monsters?"

"…They don't really attack me unless I'm in the liminal zone," Veritas admits. "Not anymore."

Oh. Uh. Not entirely sure what that means, but I can take a guess.

"…You know you're probably going to end up like Thea, right?" I ask.

"I don't care!" Veritas snaps. "It doesn't matter! All that matters is finding Minerva! Or Fulgora, or both, or whatever! She's not dead! I don't care what anyone says, she's too strong for that! She's saved us over and over and now I'm going to save her! She's my team leader, she's… I mean I don't…"

Her lip quivers, and she quickly sucks in some snot before it can drip out of her nose.

"Her and Aurora are all I have," she says, her voice cracking a little.

There's… a lot of heavy implications behind that. Veritas doesn't consider Amaterasu to be part of her team for one, even after all this time. But more importantly, Veritas has already lost her family. And losing another… would probably break her.

"I'm leaving," Veritas says. "Don't stop me."

"Wait," I try, but she just sprints out of the bathroom at full speed, and I doubt trying to chase her would go over well. Damn. Should I sneak after her, or… no. No, if monsters aren't trying to attack her then she'll be safe. I'll just check up on all my online accounts while I'm out here and then head back to… woah. What the hell?

My net-scrub immediately picks up on some major Earth-Guardian-based news. I've made a habit of keeping an eye out for stuff like that since back in the Dark Rebellion days, but most of the news was usually pretty boring or directly related to my job as the sole sane source of PR for those crazy bitches. This, though? This is new.

There's a video, taken from a car on a road I very much recognize. It's the highway southbound out of town. The audio is mostly just the person filming it whispering 'oh my god' to themselves over and over again, but the video itself? Well. I mean. Oh my god.

It's a girl riding one of those big mantis monsters. And not just any girl, oh no. It's some new fish monster girl that I've never seen before. I can't make out her face from the video at all, and she's way too mutated for me to get an accurate read on her body profile, but… I mean… if it's possible that Eliza lived, then she'd have to be…

Oh my god. Oh my god oh my god oh my god.

It's… it's not necessarily her. It could just as easily be some other new recruit to the Rebellion, or a totally unrelated Earth Guardian who got stuck for totally unrelated reasons. But the timestamp on this video, it… I need to go. I need to go right now.

I cast the spell to remove my disguise and rush out of the bathroom as well, my deployed thrusters kicking online as I head for the road and start ripping down the street. When the light turns red in front of me I just jump, leaping over the intersection and the cars beneath me before landing on the opposite side and speeding up further. I don't even have to feel bad about it. This is absolutely official Earth Guardian business.

And frankly, I don't trust any of these other traumatized bozos to try and help this poor girl first.