A Dreadful Dinner

It was amazing how quickly she had fallen back into old habits and mindsets. The last time she had seen Vandrad, Mercury had spoken to him as if it were the end of any other mission where she would see him again the next day, but in reality she had told him goodbye. The reveal of Khelben’s identity had shattered the veil of the fantasy world she had been living in, an end she had always known would come around eventually and yet she had still allowed herself to become enthralled by it, caught up in it… attached to it. To him. She knew she was, and she knew it was wrong, but all she wanted for once in her life was to feel like something in her life had substance and meaning, however fleeting it was, and there wasn’t a single moment of it that she regretted.

Unfortunately, now that she knew what it felt like to have some kind of meaningful relationship, the void that had always been there felt much bigger than before. She felt numb, empty -- like a shell of herself, worse than before the prince had become a part of her life. And it wasn’t just him, but his family as well. While Mercury didn’t talk to most of them every day, she did talk to most of them at least once a week and it was hard to keep up that appearance now that she was trying to keep Khelben as far away from the du Wolffs as possible. Worse yet was Gren, the only other person that she talked to as much as Vandrad, nearly every day. She’d pulled away from him too, albeit more slowly than the prince. She had a job to do, and it was time to get back at it and to let go of the silly notions of freedom that she’d allowed herself to toy with.

And to his credit, Khelben did not chastise her about any of it. At least, not much. It was odd to think, but she was almost certain that he was convinced of how deeply she had formed attachments on this planet, and yet he seemed driven by some kind of… compassion? Understanding..? In simply letting the matter drop, so long as Mercury took steps to move forward. As much as his presence angered and frightened her, there was no mistaking that he felt bad about what he had to do. And why wouldn’t he? He was a slave as much as she was. It wasn’t like he truly wanted her to be miserable. Surely he longed for freedom as much as, if not more than, she did, considering he was old enough to have known a life before tyranny.

So while his position as a Collector was stressful and frustrating to her, he seemed to have softened up a bit over the last month since their last mission with Vandrad. He was still quite focused and relentless in keeping her on task, but he made an effort to be sympathetic as much as he could be. There were days that Mercury wondered if it had something to do with that haunted mansion and his temporary foray into being a true magician. From time to time, when he thought she wasn’t looking, she could see him flexing his hands and staring at them as though he were trying to see if he could summon flames again, or at the least remembering how it felt to do so. He had gotten a taste of power, true power, and while that seemed to have frightened him at the time it had also intrigued him.

Presently, they were out on a scouting mission late at night in the central plaza of Aurelia in Bosco, the heart of technological might on the continent of Ishgar and one of the few places of note that she had yet to visit. Typically a city like this would have her buzzing with excitement and curiosity, but as it was she was barely even paying attention, going through the motions of examining the layout, the people, the wares and all the city had to offer without really putting any thought behind it. Her mind kept drifting back to the prince as she wondered how he was doing, what he must think of her. Surely he was smart enough to have figured out that the distance she was keeping wasn’t really her choice, as he made no effort to contact her, but that didn’t stop her from feeling guilty. And she worried… she did her best to try and keep an ear out for movement from the Dread Masters, anxious about what kind of schemes they were plotting around her once partner that she was no longer privy to. While Mercury knew that he could handle himself just fine without her, that didn’t mean that she didn’t feel some sense of responsibility in helping to protect him from the elusive group’s machinations.

Luckily, the existence of the Dread Masters and the Order of Souls was right in line with the kind of shit she was supposed to be looking into as a spy anyway, so that was an easy topic of conversation to bring up with Khelben. She figured, if she could rope the male Xocili into at least some of the loop on that matter he would have a great interest in helping her try to expand her research on the groups, and thankfully her assumption was correct -- even if his interest in it was for different reasons than her own. It was a lot to go through, and there were parts of the stories that he clearly couldn’t comprehend, a confusion of which she herself was very familiar. She couldn’t help but wonder if this is what Vandrad and Gangting had felt like when trying to explain religion to her.

“Well,” Khelben told her softly as they walked along the boardwalk, “I guess I can’t say you haven’t been doing your research.”

“Yes, it’s almost like this isn’t my first time on the job. Like I’ve been doing it literally my entire life, one might say,” was the dry, disinterested response.

Khelben didn’t say anything right away, letting her have her moment as he often did these days with her bitter commentary. “So, have you reached a conclusion yet on magic? Is it what you think they would consider organic?”

She sighed wearily, shoving her hands in her pockets as her shoulders slouched in defeat. “Honestly, Khelben, I have no idea. It is certainly a natural phenomenon for this world, but… at this point, I’m not sure there really is a way to properly define or categorize it. The possible manifestations of it are seemingly infinite, and it comes in forms that are both organic and not. The only thing that I can say is that it is powerful and dangerous… and at the end of the day, I think that’s really all that will matter to them.” Mercury paused for a moment as a brief silence fell between them, both aliens walking leisurely in plain sight among the natives. Flicking her gaze up to him from the corner of her eyes, and with some slight hesitation, she asked, “So… what was it like? Xocil?”

The man blinked at her, seemingly taken aback by the question. For a moment she thought he wasn’t going to answer, but then he relaxed. “I forget, sometimes, that you were born after it was destroyed. It was… stunning. I’m honestly not sure I could do it justice with words. Massive trees with rich orange leaves, their trunks so thick that you could link a dozen people by the hand and still not reach all the way around. The grass was the color of Earthland’s red roses, slightly more burnt, and felt like satin to the touch. We had deep mountain ranges with the most incredible caverns of crystals and ore. Our oceans were not dissimilar to what they have here on Earthland, actually: Varying shades of blue, teeming with life. Ours was a relatively peaceful society that had, for the most part, long since weeded out desires of corruption and personal gain to focus on fostering and advancing the strength and prosperity of the community as a whole. In fact, we had pretty much done away with all forms of currency, opting to share what was available with one another or, when necessary, bartering with trades.”

There was a soft, sad smile on his face as he reminisced, a sure sign of how much he missed his home. “It sounds… well, too good to be true, if I’m being honest.”

Khelben chuckled. “In many ways it was, I suppose.”

Another lull in the conversation swept on by as they comfortably moved along before Mercury spoke up again. “I know you said already that your parents are gone. Did you have any other family? Siblings, aunts or uncles..?”

With only a moment of unsurety or hesitation that Mercury couldn’t quite read, the man continued to humor her. “I was an only child, so no siblings. My mother had a sister and a brother, and my father also had a sister. I had a couple cousins by them. Only one of my cousins is still alive that I know of. Helix. He was in the army with me, and like me he was assigned a post as a Collector. I haven’t talked to him in over a decade, but as far as I’m aware he is still alive.”

Mercury nodded somberly. “I never even got to meet my parents. Not really, anyway. I have some vague fleeting memories of my mother before she died, but that’s about it. You’re actually the first I’ve ever truly met… you know… of our race.”

He cast a small glance toward her, a gentle pity in his eyes. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. At least I grew up not knowing what I was missing, y’know? Hard to be broken up over things I never had. Made my work that much easier, though I assume that was the point.” And boy didn’t that just make her think of Vandrad again.

Khelben continued to look at her for a long moment. "Are you alright?"

“I'm fine. Honestly I just want to get through all this so we can be done and I can go back to doing my job. The sooner you realize that I'm not going rogue, the sooner you leave and I'll be more than happy if I never see your face again. No offense."

"None taken, I suppose." With a wry smirk,  he turned to face forward again. "You hungry?"

“Sure." she really wasn't but Mercury didn't care enough to press it. They stopped and got in line for a street vendor that was selling food out of a lacrimavehicle, and she ordered the first thing she saw on the menu without really stopping to read it. Shortly after they walked away, food in hand, Mercury's cell phone started ringing. Her breath caught when her internal HUD told her who was calling: Themscycia. “I have to take this." Khelben nodded, knowing he was going to be able to listen to every word of the conversation anyway through their linked systems. Mercury took a breath to steady herself and get in the mind frame, pulling out her phone and putting it to her ear, if only for appearances sake for those around them. “Hey there, mommy! I've been wondering when I'd get my next booty ca-"

"Mercury." There was something in the tone of the woman's voice that stopped Mercury dead in her tracks, a sharp sense of foreboding swirling in her core. "Vandrad has been hurt."

“What?!"

"He was attacked, and is in critical condition. The doctors managed to stabilize him for now, but…"

“But his magic…?"

"Something is wrong with his magic. It's not healing him like it should. He managed to get a call out to Mythal, somehow. He and Serilda got him to the Crocus Medical Center in time, but he…" Her voice cut off as her anxiety overcame her, the Ashen Dread crying softly on the other line, a sound that broke Mercury's heart. The knowledge that Vandrad wasn't healing had all but paralyzed Mercury in place, leaving her completely speechless as Themmy collected herself and continued. "Once they got him to the hospital, Serilda stayed to oversee things with his medical team and Mythal left to get the Rune Knights started on an investigation before he came to collect us. We're all here in a private waiting room. The doctors, they… they don't know if they will be able to help him. Whatever he was stabbed with, it had some kind of… poison or curse on it that's making him like this, but they haven't been able to identify it."

There was a brief pause as the duchess gave room for Mercury to speak or ask questions, only to find the other line silent. The gentle background noise of the people around Mercury would ensure the older woman that the call was still connected, Mercury simply was so overcome by shock that she couldn't even talk, her mind drawing a complete blank for words. The Dread Masters got to him. It had to be them. Who else would be capable of attacking him so precisely, with such intimate knowledge of how to bypass his abilities?

"It was Sabine."

Whatever emotions Mercury was feeling, whatever thoughts were scrambling aimlessly about her mind came to a screeching halt. Themmy's voice was trembling, low and dangerous as she provided more details. "The preliminary reports from the Rune Knights indicate there was a witness that saw Vandrad get taken by surprise by a dark haired woman that stabbed him with a long sword of Midian make. They gave enough of a description for me to know it was her. I don't know how she got her hands on power enough to do something like this… but she will not get another chance to do so again." There was a terrifying calm to the information as Themmy delivered it, almost like there was an unspoken directive being placed before the Xocili… and Mercury understood the assignment.

With a gentle click, the lavender haired mage ended the call. The world around her was quickly being swallowed by tunnel vision, the din of the crowded boardwalk swallowed by the ringing in her ears and the audible throb of her blood pumping in her head. Even as she stood there, silent, her gaze transfixed on a spot ahead of her, she could feel something bubbling to the surface: an unyielding rage the likes of which she had never felt before, the emotion settling on her with such clarity that suddenly the world -- no, the universe -- seemed like such a simple place.

"I'm sorry about Vandrad, Mercury." To his credit, he did sound like he meant it. Unfortunately, she wasn't listening to him. He frowned. "I am sure this isn't easy, but you need to…"

“Shhh…" She raised her hand, shushing him softly with a finger as a single thought finally cemented itself in her mind: It was time for Sabine to die.

Mercury turned on her heel and started walking away. Khelben's hand reached out to snatch her firmly by the wrist to stop her. "Where-"

It was the only word he would get out. Quicker than he could even fathom, Mercury turned to him with wide eyed fury, her body cloaked by an intense aura of prismatic light, not unlike the kind of auras that Vandrad sported while empowered, the magic energy dancing and twinkling with a rainbow of colors that winked in an out of sight. Her arm was already cocked back, and with the added strength from the energy pouring violently out of every pore of her body, Khelben could only watch in blank shock as she punched him so hard into the ground that it formed a crater beneath him. Struggling to get his bearings, somehow miraculously still conscious, Khelben gasped for breath as the people in the square around them turned to watch the spectacular sight of Mercury shrouded in her power where she stood, towering over the fallen form of her companion.

She looked down her nose at him with a determined glare as he finally began to see straight again, staring up at her in horror. “That is the only warning you get. From this moment, consider yourself stripped of your membership with Silver Wolf. I don't recommend returning to the guild for any reason, as we will not stop the wolves from having their way." She released a small spell of light on him, aimed for his guild tattoo, and before their eyes it vanished from his body. At the same time, she severed his connection to her systems so he could no longer monitor her from afar. “We are done. I don't begrudge you or your reasons for being here and doing the things you have done… but if I ever see your face again, I will kill you."

Mercury leveled her gaze at him long enough to let him know just how deadly serious she was. Then, without giving him a chance to say anything, she whipped out her translocation ray, looked up a set of coordinates nearest to the Hotoi estate in Midi, and teleported herself out of sight, Bandit quickly flying through the gateway after her.

A couple hours later, Mercury was lounging in what the Hotoi clan had tried to pass off as a throne room, of sorts. Or at least, as much as one could hold a throne room without actually being the emperor…. Or anywhere near the emperor’s seat. Nearly every surface of the room was covered in blood. The once pristine wooden floor had practically become a shallow pool of crimson ichor, which continued to drop from the ceiling where the recently deceased members of the Hotoi clan hung upside down by large meat hooks that were chained to the roof. She had strung them all up one by one – over two dozen men, women, and children – and slit their throats, hoisting them up to the ceiling as they bled out like stuck pigs, their blood raining down upon her head and coating everything in the room. There were large tears in their flesh near the hooks that indicated how much they had struggled to free themselves, only to cause further injury and agony to their own bodies. Littered along the ground, too, were the bodies of the guards that had tried and failed to get in her way, their corpses riddling the floor and adding to the thick stench of rusted copper and decay. It was a truly horrific sight, one that would draw a visceral response of nausea from even the most staunch and veteran of murderers and police investigators.

She sat sideways in the throne chair, one leg kicked up over the arm rest as she leaned back comfortably. In one hand, she lazily twirled about a bloodied dagger, while her other hand gently went back and forth passing a cigarette to and from her lips. Upon her head sat the small circlet that Sabine’s father wore as a sign of his authority over the house, the thin gold band resting lopsided upon her smaller brow. She was absolutely coated in blood from head to toe, her clothing ruined, her hair matted and sticky, and for once in her life she really didn’t seem to notice or care how filthy she was. Bandit sat atop the high seat back of the throne where he hopped back and forth, fidgeting in his spot and cleaning the blood off his own feathers. He had taken a few pecks at one or two of the Hotois as they died, being the scavenger that many crows were and electing to get a free meal out of the road kill that was being presented to him.

It was here that Mercury waited patiently, her anger tempered for the moment after having gotten a great deal of initial anger and energy out on Sabine’s family. Yet the true source of her ire, the princess herself, was nowhere to be found. Anyone else may have been upset by this but Mercury had a hunch that Sabine would be heading this way. She had learned from the family before they died that the Midian princess had never come home after her trip to Bellum. That was several long months ago, nearly a year at this point. Where had Sabine been all that time? Lost? No, it had to be more than that, especially if the princess had acquired some power that even Vandrad had been at the mercy of. Someone got a hold of her, and Mercury had a very strong theory as to who, but first she would continue to wait patiently for the princess to make her long awaited home coming.

And then, the real fun would begin.

Mercury’s sensors beeped silently when the slow moving figure slinked toward the house, and she knew her patience had paid off. In walked the long lost princess, her shoulders hunched from the heavy droop with which she walked, like the very act of holding her body upright went against the laws of nature.

Without shifting from her spot or even really turning to look at her, Mercury continued to smoke quietly from her cigarette while Sabine paused and surveyed the scene before her crazed eyes lit on the woman in her father’s throne. Her voice was hoarse and cracked as she spoke, the woman clearly having already suffered some kind of traumatic break as she gleefully expressed her surprise in not having to track Mercury down. In fact, it seemed that she had simply planned on making a pit stop to kill her own family first, describing them as weaklings and bullies that had supposedly abused her for her entire life. And maybe that was true – maybe that’s why Sabine had turned into such an awful, self entitled little prat. However, Mercury didn’t really care.

The princess went on about getting her fill of blood lust from Vandrad, raising the weapon to her lips that Mercury could only assume was the one that had mortally wounded the Bellum prince and licking what remained of his ichor from the blade. With a crazed giggle, Sabine voiced her curiosity over what Mercury’s blood might taste like, raising some of the ribbons from her ridiculous magic, the threads crackling with energy that did not belong to her. Leading with the sword, she bolted toward the lavender haired mage in the chair, looking to cast upon Mercury the same judgment she had rendered toward Vandrad. Before she got even halfway through the hall, she would find a thick metal collar materializing around her neck and snapping into place, fixed to a long chain that was bolted to the floor and, much like a dog on a leash, if she didn’t stop her momentum in time she would find herself getting violently yanked back as the slack ran out. The instant the collar was around her neck, she would also feel her access to her magic completely cut off, leaving her totally powerless.

Mercury would continue to sit in silence for a few seconds more, giving Sabine a chance to process how royally she had overestimated her own abilities. Then and only then would she finally turn to look at the woman, her easy, careless smile back in place, exactly as Sabine would remember it from the ball and breakfast the next day. “Consuming my blood would kill you, actually. And while the thought of letting you drink it so I can watch you poison yourself to death is both tempting and entertaining, I’d sort of already settled on the manner of your death and… well, quite frankly, I just don’t have the energy to go through that whole creative process again.” She flapped a dismissive hand toward Sabine, flicking some of the ash from her cigarette in the process.

Swinging herself around in the seat, Mercury brought her legs down to the floor and leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees as she smirked at Sabine. “So tell me: How are the Dread Masters doing these days?” Raising her cigarette up for another puff, she blew the smoke out to the side and gave Sabine a thorough look over, taking in the woman’s physical and mental state. “I suppose the only logical conclusion here is that the elusive Engineer had his way with you. He does like to leave his mark, it seems. I have to say, I do rather enjoy studying his work. It’s quite good, most of the time. Lacks refinement in many places and sometimes his experiments are a little short sighted, but I do find myself excited by the idea of going toe to toe with someone that can almost keep up with me in the science department.”

Mercury could only assume that, like with Patricia, the Engineer had placed some listening devices on the woman. Whether or not the princess had removed them herself at some point was another matter altogether, but better to play it safe than sorry. Plus, the thought that the Engineer might be listening in to Mercury patronizing him behind his back made her giggle. While there certainly had been no reason to suspect that Sabine had been the mysterious subject of the Engineer’s experiments back when Patty was telling them about the Dread Masters, looking at the disheveled princess now there was no doubt in her mind that this was the woman the Engineer had been torturing.

“You know, you’re awfully cocky for a woman that hasn’t actually managed to kill anyone yet today. I admit you pulled a fast one on Vandaddy, and to give you due credit that is no easy feat to boast, but apparently no one taught you to double tap. That’s like… Murder 101: Always confirm your kills. Too bad you’ll never get the chance to try again.” With the flick of a wrist, the chain attached to the back of the collar around Sabine’s neck dragged her backward, pulling her down to the ground with a violent yank off of her feet and onto her back. As she fell, two more chains would snap out and shackle her by the wrists and ankles, binding her to the blood soaked ground in a prone position, unable to more than squirm fruitlessly.

Standing to her feet, Mercury practically sauntered over to the woman. She placed her foot upon the mysterious sword and carelessly kicked it away for the moment, the blade sliding easily across the slickened surface of the ground. Turning to look down at the woman, Mercury stepped one foot over her body before slowly dropping to a squat over her, practically straddling Sabine without actually sitting on her. “You know,” she told the woman, taking another puff from her death stick and blowing it gently in the Midian’s face, “It’s a shame, really. I was looking forward to being the one to break you myself… but honestly, that’s on me. I dawdled and procrastinated instead of following up right away. More important things to do, you know?”

She reached down and took Sabine by the cheeks, turning her face firmly this way and that, studying her body for any scars or signs of the Engineer’s work. “But that’s alright, I guess. The Engineer still left you alive for me to kill. Very thoughtful of him, really. I’ll have to remember to send him a gift basket.” Swapping the settings of her vision to xray mode, she noticed a number of inorganic modifications to the inside of Sabine’s head, spanning between her brain, eyes, and ears. With a pleased smile, she looked Sabine directly in the eyes with a knowing glint that was aimed for someone else entirely. “You hear that, darling? I owe you a gift basket. Don’t let me forget.”

Giving Sabine a rough pat on the cheek, she took her knife and stuck it without hesitation into Sabine’s chest, careful not to hit her heart or any major arteries. After all, she didn’t want the princess to die too quickly. As she continued to talk casually, Mercury carved a shallow trench down Sabine’s torso all the way down to her pelvil and began skinning her like a deer, peeling her flesh back to expose the organs and bones beneath. “Anyway, this reunion has been delightful and all, but I’m afraid I have some other engagements to see to, so I can’t really have as much girl time as I would have liked. So let’s go ahead and get this wrapped up, shall we?”

Putting her cigarette out on Sabine’s spleen, Mercury stood and wandered over to the blade. Playing it smart, she dismissed the knife from her hand and replaced it with a flexible metal glove, using that to pick up the sword by his handle rather than her bare palm. As she studied the weapon carefully, a small commotion was heard in the distance, the sound growing louder as it got closer to the building. The noise was reminiscent of some form of animal, and before long the distinctive oinking noise of pigs became clear even as they were herded inside by a couple of Mercury’s clones. From her prone position, Sabine wouldn’t be able to turn enough to see the pigs or the clones, but she would certainly hear the animals that were part of the many herds of various cattle that her family had owned.

And as they came into the room and started sniffing around, the very scent of blood and carnage inciting them with ravenous hunger, Mercury summoned a small metal fence to trap them in the area around Sabine’s open body. “Farewell, Sabine. It’s been a treat, as always.” It didn’t take long for the pigs to find the woman’s body and, true to their insatiable and indiscriminate appetites, the moment their large snouts found her flesh they began consuming her alive, tearing through her insides without reservation while Mercury watched with a satisfied smirk. She let it carry on for several long minutes until she was satisfied and then, whether or not Sabine was still alive or not, she would reapproach the body and use the sword to cut the Midian’s head clean off her shoulders, securing the woman’s death once and for all. Summoning a large metal box, she placed the decapitated skull within before dismissing it into the ethereal realm where her magic allowed her to store items. Then, she collected the rest of her things, fiddled with the dial on her translocator to open a portal to Crocus, and stepped through.

She emerged just outside the main doors of the hospital. Without second thought to her appearance, she strode inside and approached the desk, practically oblivious to the stares, gasps, and even quiet shrieks that the people inside gave when they saw her, the crowds parting to give her a wide berth. “Vandrad du Wolff,” she told the woman behind the counter, who was gaping at her in horror and reaching for the phone to contact an emergency response crew to see to the Silver Wolf mage.

“I need a medical team, stat! We hav-” The woman was cut off by Mercury reaching over and pressing down on the button, hanging up the call and causing the nurse further distress. “Miss, please! You need to see a doctor! Look at all that blood..”

“Oh, don’t worry about that. It’s not mine. Now are you going to tell me where they are keeping my best friend or do I need to call Marshal Sinclair or Duchess du Wolff to come collect me personally? Because I promise neither of them will thank you for making them leave the waiting room.”

The nurse’s jaw dropped as she opened her mouth several times to speak, only to come up with nothing. Mercury was about to speak up again, until another voice called out to her. “Miss Arseneault!” She turned to see a uniformed Rune Knight walking briskly toward her. While he did seem momentarily distracted and concerned by her bloodied state, he brushed it off with better control and composure than the nurse had. “The marshal told us to keep an eye out for you. Please allow me to escort you to the medical suite.”

“Thanks.” Leaving the flabbergasted nurse behind, Mercury followed the knight into an elevator, where he entered a security code and pressed a button to one of the restricted floors at the top that were reserved for the well off patience that could afford their own private medical and waiting room suites without having to deal with the chaos of the rest of the hospital. The man was thankfully silent for the entire ride, and when the door opened he did not exit with her, instead pointing her in the right direction and giving her the suite number. The Xocili nodded silently, a numbness settling in on her as she walked through the hall, feeling very much divorced from her own body like a spirit watching from the outside.

She paused only briefly outside the door, taking a small gulp. It had been hours since she’d gotten the call from Themmy. For all she knew, Vandrad had died during that time. Mercury shook that thought from her head. If he had, someone would have called her. He had to still be alive and at least nominally stable. He had to be…. Cause she didn’t know what she would do if he wasn’t.

Gently, she pushed the door open and strode almost timidly into the waiting room, stopping just past the open doorway. Her emerald eyes panned over the familiar faces inside the room. Serilda and Mythal were there, the marshal gasping lightly in shock at the Silver Wolf Ace’s appearance. Gren was there, as were every single one of the du Wolff’s. Her eyes rested last on Themmy. Raising her chin with a bit more confidence, she crossed the room to the duchess and offered her the two bloodied crowns in her hand, the circlet that had been worn by Sabine’s father and the smaller, more dainty one that had been worn by the Midian’s mother.

Then she raised the sword to show it to Themesycia, careful not to let the woman touch it – just in case. “This is the weapon she used. I think it’s best that the doctors examine it immediately. It was created by a very intelligent, dangerous scientist whom I have no doubt installed contingencies in case it failed to make its way back to him.”

Themmy took the crown from her wordlessly her eyes narrowing on the weapon even as Mercury explained what little she could about it. Ever stood and joined them at the knowledge that they may not have much time, summoning some of her magic and using it to examine the blade. And just in time, too. No sooner had she taken a full reading of the blade than it melted away in Mercury's grip, the Xocili glaring at the item until it was gone without leaving so much as a pile of ash. Luckily, Ever had managed to make a three dimensional render of the blade with her energy. She and Mercury both studied it together, the two technologically adept women practically burning the item's make and structure into their minds. Unfortunately, Mercury was so exhausted physically and emotionally that she really wasn't much use in that regard for the moment. Ever seemed more than eager to step up to the plate, however, likely itching for something to do amidst all the waiting and brooding that had surely been driving the whole family nuts.

Mercury's mind was practically blank at that point, the surreality of the situation landing hard and causing her to almost be not present as she stared off in a neutral expression toward nothing at all. She was only brought back around by Themmy pulling her into a tight embrace, the Xocili blinking slowly as she stood there, arms loose at her sides like the act of the hug hadn't reached her brain receptors yet. Then, she carefully raised her arms and returned the gesture numbly. From there the Xocili would allow herself to be maneuvered to a seat near the Duchess, who seemed to want to keep her close by. 

Mercury was dead silent the entire hour and a half until the doctor emerged. She said nothing, looked at no one, and sat almost perfectly still as time seemed to crawl by. From time to time her face would twitch with a brief look of frustration or contemplation, the expression often gone before anyone would really get the chance to observe it. A great number of feelings warred within her without any of them really sticking. Though she wasn't consciously aware of the fact, the reality of the situation hadn't really hit yet. Everything around her felt like a dream, like any minute the prince would walk through the door with the doctors chasing after him, begging him to sit his stubborn ass down with him staunchly refusing the entire way, insisting he was fine. Everyone would do their best to encourage him to listen before caving and letting him make his own decisions, knowing that none of them would change his mind anyway. 

The long waiting period gave her plenty of time to think about what had happened with Khelben, too. He knew that she had magic now, knew that he would be under orders to bring her back to the flotilla immediately. He would come looking for her, despite her warning, because he feared what would happen if he did not. Mercury was in very serious trouble, and yet she felt almost no emotion at all as she thought about the consequences of her actions. Why should she care? What could he or the Nazru possibly do that was worse than this moment? Nothing. Maybe tomorrow the fear would set in but for right now she just couldn't be fucked to give a damn about any of it: Khelben, the Nazru, what remained of her oppressed people… it was all meaningless.

Eventually the doctor returned, looking like he had just swam through the river of blood that Mercury had left behind in Midi. Themmy stood, leaving Mercury where she sat to demand the medic tell her that her son was alive. When he confirmed that Vandrad was still stable, a collective sigh of relief was heard through the room from everyone except Mercury, who was still having trouble processing everything and maintaining a present state of awareness. She was, however, listening as the man explained that the injury Vandrad had sustained wasn't like anything he had seen before, and in fact none of them had been able to heal it. Whatever had been on that blade, it had forced necrosis onto not just Vandrad's body but his magical center. The prognosis was that the prince would be struggling for the rest of his life, and would likely need a wheelchair after a couple decades, even with physical therapy. 

And he would never have access to his magic again.

The words had a visceral response all around, with Mercury curling her hands into light fists, her eyes boring into her lap. There was some good news, however: namely that Vandrad was awake. And, to no one's surprise, angry and demanding to be released. There was a short back and forth as the doctor recommended he receive some visitors, particularly given that another doctor was currently giving Vandrad the same set of news. He felt that it would be prudent for the prince to have some company to keep his spirits up. Mercury was only mildly surprised when Themmy turned to her and suggested Mercury go first, alone. She didn't raise her gaze to meet the duchess' or even really react as the woman argued with the doctor about Mercury's visitation rights and physical state. While Mercury felt it was more appropriate for Themmy and Greb to see their son first, she understood why Themmy had made the suggestion. Vandrad needed someone he could open up to, and the only person who fit that bill was Mercury.

If he still trusted her.

In a way, maybe this was better. If the reunion went sour and he demanded her dismissal, well.. at least he would then have his family there for him afterward. With a silent nod of agreement, she stood and walked in the direction the doctor had indicated, stopping only to give Themmy another hug, this one a little more firm than before as though some semblance of feeling had returned to the younger woman, however muted it was. Or maybe Mercury just needed the encouragement. She wasn't sure how much of Vandrad's family was aware that she had disappeared from his life the last month, how many of them knew that she had abandoned him and left him vulnerable to an attack such as this. Would they hate her if they knew? Or had Vandrad voiced any suspicions he might have had to them? She didn't know. A part of her really didn't want to find out.

The walk down the short hallway was the longest of her life, and when she found herself outside the door Mercury paused, her feet suddenly glued to the floor as her body refused to open the door and walk inside. She couldn't sense emotions, so to speak, but she could read his vitals from where she stood, his heartbeat and breathing running at a pace that betrayed his anger and pain. Could he sense her outside the door, she wondered? Or had his magical awareness been erased along with everything else? More than anything, Mercury wanted to go back to Midi and find a way to force Sabine back to life so she could kill her again, this time more slowly. Or maybe she would just save that energy for the Engineer and Hasan, and the rest of the Dread Masters.

Somehow, she managed to find the strength to reach up and knock timidly on the door, waiting a breath or two for a response before she quietly opened the entryway and stepped gently inside. Closing the door behind her, Mercury forced herself to look at him where he laid on the gurney. He was heavily bandaged around his midsection, and he'd lost so much blood that he was ghostly white. He may have been alive but he looked like death was still waiting at his door, and the very sight of it caused her gut to wrench. Before she could even process what was happening, there were tears streaming down her face as she openly cried for the first time in a long, long time. She did her best to keep herself in check, keeping the act to small sniffles and quiet, shaky gasps, but still the moisture poured from her eyes, moved to emotions that she had never felt by the mere sight of him in his current state.

She tried to speak, but the very act caused her voice to catch in her throat and her tears came in more force as she fully broke down in front of him, clutching her arms to herself and sobbing where she stood. “V-Vandrad…"

The prince let out a sigh, his shoulder relaxing with relief at the Silver Wolf mage’s presence, though Mercury could barely take that in. She was too busy trying to process the sight of the prince looking like death incarnate, and finding herself opening up to emotions that she didn’t really understand. Or rather, not being able to fight them. The stress of the last month finally bubbled over and once the water works started there was no stopping them. All she could do was stand there blubbering while he talked to her like this was any other day, assuring her that he had been in worse situations and entreating her to pay no mind to the prognosis.

But it wasn’t like any other day, and they both knew that. The news had to be devastating to him. Infuriating, even. Vandrad was such a prideful man that had worked his ass off for four decades to turn himself into the man he had become, and it had all been washed away in a single blow by a scorned, self entitled little princess that was nowhere near strong enough by her own merits to have earned such a victory. It wasn’t fair.

Vandrad quickly deduced at least part of the story behind why she was covered in so much blood, fishing for details on who else Mercury had killed besides Sabine. And while Mercury wanted to give him the details, she just couldn’t bring her crying under control enough to talk, merely standing there as her tears carved streaks out of the crimson ichor that had dried to her cheeks. Sensing that this was not the time to be brushing the matter aside, the Prince held a hand out toward her and beckoned for her to come over to him, doing his best to assure her that he was okay, all things considered, his biggest concern in just knowing that she was okay. It took another second or two for her to find her momentum, but she did eventually find the strength to put one foot in front of the other and walk slowly over to him, taking his hand in her own trembling one.

Her eyes were drawn to his gut and the thick bandages that were wrapped around him. The top layers of the cloth were already stained crimson from the blood that he had still been losing even after having been brought to the hospital. Gaze almost transfixed to the spot, her chin quivered as she sat gingerly on the very edge of the bed. “They need to change these again,” she mumbled. “You’ll get an infection…”

Raising her free hand to her face, Mercury wiped her tears away, the act only resulting in further smearing the plasma. “I should have been with you. If I hadn’t left… I’m so sorry.” She had failed him as his partner, leaving him behind for weeks without any communication during a time in his life where a dangerous organization had been stalking him for months, potentially years. She left him vulnerable, lacking the backup of someone he could trust, and while Mercury knew that she wasn’t responsible for his current state she couldn’t help but feel like she shared in some of the blame.

“I killed them all,” she told him, gathering her composure enough to get the words out without stuttering over her tears, though she did need to stop from time to time to suck the snot back into her nose so it wouldn’t run down into her mouth. “Her family, the guards… anyone that got in my way. And then when she got there, I cut her open and fed her to their cattle…”

Her anger started to show through the tears, a bitter, deep seeded fury and hatred clawing at her insides like a fever. “But it’s not enough. It was the Dread Masters who really did this. The Engineer put her in that state, forged that cursed blade and put it in her hands. There was hardware in her brain, and I know he was watching and listening to me as I killed her. He did this to you. They did this to you. And I am going to personally tear their organization apart piece by piece, person by person, until even their gods look merciful by comparison. And you are going to be there, too, because if they think that they can kill you or steal your magic or… or leave you crippled for the rest of your life, then they clearly haven’t been watching you hard enough because you are Vandrad du Wolff, and I refuse to believe that anyone this cowardly could ever do anything more than give you a temporary set back.”

He did his best to assure her that he wouldn’t get an infection while in the hospital and that the doctors were using every skill set, both magical and non, to aid him. It was the best anyone could do. While Mercury was first and foremost a scientist, and there were some chemical compounds and other such alchemies she had learned over the years, her primary expertise was engineering. Maybe with time she could sit and pour over the blueprints that Everance had gathered to put together some kind of curative that might restore his magic and body. Surely, between her, Ever, and the rest of Silver Wolf they could come up with something. But right now she didn’t have those answers, and trying to forge them would mean leaving his side again for a time… something she simply wasn’t ready to do.

Mercury made her apologies and expressed her regret at not being there when he needed her most. He assured her that there was no way she could have known what was going to happen, and all things considered it could have been worse. She continued to wipe at her face as the prince reminded her that none of this was her fault, putting the blame on himself for not staying alert and giving Sabine the chance to make her move. Mercury could only imagine how upset he was at himself for letting Sabine, of all people, get the drop on him and she held his hand a little tighter, though whether that was for his sake or her own was anyone’s guess.

Not sure what else to say or really how to break everything to him, Mercury elected to launch right into what had happened, skipping over a lot of the gorey details and giving him the broader story about the fate of the Hotoi clan. She imagined at some point he’d see for himself what had become of the family, either through her own personal recordings or because it was an incident that was surely bound to make the international news in some form. Mercury also informed him of her confirmation that Sabine had been tied to the Dread Masters and experimented on to turn her into what she had become. She didn’t go into detail about how cracked the woman was because she was sure that Vandrad had gotten a glimpse of it himself while being attacked. However, she did make it very clear that she had taken this entire incident as a declaration of war, and the Xocili was ready to throw down without a second thought.

As she worked on collecting herself, her little speech having help her to ease back the crying for the most part, Vandrad opened his mouth to speak. He hesitated for only a moment before asking about Khelben and whether he knew about any of this. Mercury drew in a deep, slow, shaky breath through her nostrils. She had known the subject would come up eventually, not that she could blame him. She’d have had the same question in his shoes, but it was clear that she wasn’t entirely confident on that particular topic. “He, um…” the lavender haired woman started, looking practically everywhere but at Vandrad. “He knows you got attacked. He was listening in when your mother called me to tell me what had happened. And to his credit, he wasn’t… careless about it. He did feel bad, but he… he still expected me to… to, you know… stay focused on the job…”

Boy, this was hard. She was clearly struggling with treading the line of telling him what had happened without revealing too much of the truth, of all the things she’d kept hidden from him all this time. But just as clearly as her struggle was the knowledge that she wanted to tell him more than she should, that she was breaking a lot of training and orders to give him as much of a real answer as she could. “I sort of… snapped, I guess. As soon as your mother told me that there had been a witness that had gotten enough of a description to confirm Sabine had been the one to attack you, I left for Midi almost immediately. Khelben, um… Khelben tried to stop me, and I blindsided him with my magic.”

Mercury lowered her head with a sigh, raising her free hand and wearily rubbing her temple, anxiety written all over her face. “He made me link our system before you met him. That’s why I couldn’t really… give you any warning about him. But I severed that connection and left him in Bosco. I also stripped him of his membership with Silver Wolf. I’m sure I’ll have to face consequences for that eventually, but… I don’t really care about that, right now.”

Taking another small breath to keep herself under control, she finally managed to make eye contact with him with a slight frown. “How did Sabine manage to pull this off? I would have thought that your magic would have alerted you to her presence before she got anywhere near you… what were you doing?”

Mercury asked about how Sabine had managed to get the drop on him, and he coughed a little before explaining that he had been deceived into thinking that he was meeting up with Bartrand. Instead, the person who had met him was Hasan – or rather, Scourge. Despite the seriousness of the situation, she couldn’t help the grimace on her face at the name. “Well, that’s tacky…” she murmured. Supposedly, he had come under the pretense of what Victoria had originally suggested: that they were trying to recruit the prince to join the Dread Masters. According to Vandrad, it seemed that Scourge truly believed in their cause and thought he was doing what was best for humanity. A naive viewpoint, or so the prince believed. He had turned him down and let the man leave without incident, treating the situation as a neutral meeting of enemies outside of battle.

But that was when Sabine had struck, seemingly materializing out of nowhere without any warning and running Vandrad through with the blade. Mercury shook her head. “It must have been whatever the Engineer did to her. He must have grafted magic onto her. She was practically burning up her life energy by the time she made it back home. She tried to stab me with her ridiculous ribbons and they were charged with energy of some kind. I probably should have kept her body intact to study it and do some reverse engineering on whatever had been done to her, but… I wasn’t really thinking straight.”

She scratched the back of her head. “I did keep her head, though. So I’ll definitely be studying that later. I tried to keep the sword for you, but… the Engineer had a failsafe installed. Ever barely managed to make a magical schematic for it before it melted to ash in my hand.”

There was a moment of quiet that one might even call peaceful. Despite everything that had happened to bring them here, Mercury couldn’t deny how relieving it was to be beside him again. She’d spent the last month feeling like she’d been living in a lifeless blur, an endless dream that hadn’t quite managed to manifest into a nightmare, if only because nightmares involved feelings where she’d had none. But being here now, it was like a spark of life had come back to life within her, even if it was being fueled mostly by hatred, rage, and anxiety. As as she was just starting to settle into not being bogged down by repressive depression, that was when he finally spoke up to tell her outright that he loved her.

Mercury blinked slowly, her gaze turning to him with furrowed-brow confusion. “W-what..?” she stammered out quietly, not sure if she had really heard him correctly. She continued to eye him with slack jawed shock as he assured her that the confession was not out of the blue, but rather that he had known for several months and just didn’t know how to express it to her. The only people he’d ever loved before was his family, and he was so used to pushing everyone away that even he wasn’t entirely sure how to accept the realization. She was a dichotomy in his life, infuriatingly so at times, always tearing him down and building him up, making him stronger while being the most royal pain in his ass that he’d never asked for or really even wanted. Yet the last month away from her, without so much as a message from time to time to keep in touch, had been the hardest days he could remember since his childhood, and no matter what else had happened to him that day he was just grateful that he was still alive to have the opportunity to tell her that he loved her.

The further he got into his small speech, the more her body began to tremble. The tightness that she often felt in her chest during those odd moments behind closed doors where he was tender and sweet to her returned, and it had been so long since she’d felt it that she honestly wasn’t sure if it was a heart attack or not. She turned away again, eyes wide as they once more began to fill with tears, her hand clutched to her gut and the deep, intense pain that was rippling in her core. Closing her eyes, Mercury worked up her courage to almost timidly ask, “Is that what this is? Love?”

In that moment it would be painfully clear that no one had ever told her before that they loved her, whether it be romantic, familiar, or even a platonic love between friends. Sure a passing comment here and there mostly in jest, but no one had ever said it to her in such a way that she truly knew they meant it in the kind of deep, passionate way that made her feel like anyone truly cared about her. As she had explained to him once so many months ago, she had been alone her entire life, with no one to rely on but herself, no one to fall back on when she was hurt or scared or in danger. Every relationship Mercury had ever had had been fleeting, the Xocili moving on before anyone could get too close. But Vandrad… he loved her. He loved her in the kind of way that she’d only ever watched others experience from afar, the kind of way that she’d thought she’d never get to live firsthand.

And the words hurt more than she ever thought they could.

“You shouldn’t.” She told him, standing shakily to her feet and pacing back and forth as a very real panic attack threatened to overwhelm her. He didn’t know the truth of who she really was or why she was here. He loved the part of her that he knew, but that would change the moment that he knew the true purpose of her mission on Earthland. “I can’t… We can’t… I’m not.. I’m not what you think I am… It would never be allowed…”

Mercury was having a full mental break down before him. She couldn’t hold still, moving about the room erratically as she was consumed by her dismay, choking tears once again pouring down her cheeks as she came close to hyperventilating. If she told him the truth, she would be putting a great deal of people in danger. The survival of her race depended entirely on her – on all of them – being obedient. If she stepped out of line, if she rebelled, a lot more than just herself would pay the price of it, and she would be responsible for the suffering and death of the rest of the Xocili, of hundreds of people that she…

…well… that she didn’t know. She paused in her fantic pacing, staring with wide emerald eyes at a spot on the floor as her head began to swim and it dawned on her. As horrible as it was to say, she didn’t care about them. About any of them. She did to a point, but she didn’t know any of them. The only other Xocili she had ever met was Khelben, but outside of him she’d never spent time with any of her kin and didn’t know them at all. Outside of sentimentality, they meant nothing to her.

But the people here, on Earthland… they meant everything to her. Vandrad, Themmy, Gren… the entirety of the du Wolff clan… Mythal and Serilda… Tsubasa… Monica, Agatha, Ruzatz… The entirety of the Silver Wolf guild, and even the Fairy Tail guild to a point. Each and every one of those people had taken her in, accepted her despite her secretive and sometimes careless behaviors. They had shed blood with her, encouraged her, trusted her, confided in her even when she was selfish and cruel and distant… they loved her. Maybe not the same way Vandrad did, but even the prince’s one confession, one use of the word, opened up a wellspring of clarity that had been eluding her for far, far too long.

And just like that, everything clicked into place and she was done living the lie. The fear on her face quickly transformed into grim determination, and with the flick of a wrist she conjured a small knife into her hand. Raising the blade up behind her head and using her scanners to ensure the accuracy of her movement, she carefully began to cut the back of her neck along where her scar was. The pain was excruciating and she whimpered through the entire process, gritting her teeth so hard she was sure they would shatter from the pressure as the black oil that served as her blood poured down her shoulders. Once the incision had been made, she swapped the knife for a large pair of tweezers. With a few shallow, pained breaths through her nostrils, she used the tweezer to grab hold of the foreign matter that was buried there, slowly pulling the piece out bit by bit as agony burned her to near blindness. It took everything she had not to scream out in anguish to the point where doctors or family members would come rushing in, and when she was finally done she collapsed to her knees in exhaustion and relief.

In her hand was a fleshy, corrupted looking mass of organic substance that Vandrad would not be able to identify. It would look almost like a lump of scar tissue, and as Mercury stared at it she would once more call a knife to her hand only to stab the thing through the center where it oozed a small trickle of a blue, blood like substance.

“I’m a slave,” she finally told him, her voice strained and broken. “I’m a slave, and I was sent here to spy on this planet and… and send information back so that the monsters that destroyed my home and my people can do the same to yours.” It was unimaginably difficult to finally speak the painful truth, but Mercury knew that if there was any hope of redemption and forgiveness, she needed to tell him everything now. So, she forced herself to continue. “I am exactly the kind of person that the Order of Souls and Dread Masters are trying to protect this world against… and I’ve been feeding back information about Earthland, it’s magic and it’s people for almost two years, now…”

“B-but I don’t… I don’t want to do it anymore. This is the first place I’ve ever felt like… like I have a home, like I belong, and I don’t want to lose it. I don’t want it to suffer the same fate Xocil did.”

Hugging herself tightly where she knelt on the ground, she sobbed heavily, tears dripping down to her knees. “I can’t… I can’t be with you, Vandrad. I allowed myself to live a fantasy, and I deceived you. I know how nobility works, and I’m so… so sorry… but if you let me serve your family, I’ll stop at nothing to make sure this world is protected, even at the cost of my own life. I’ll swear my loyalty and give you any information you need about what’s coming, and… and do anything you ask… just please, please let me serve you, instead..”

Mercury wanted to stop him from getting up off the gurney, not wanting him to further injure himself when he was already a short walk from the grave, but unfortunately once she had started the process of removing the chip she couldn’t stop, not without risking death or paralysis. And once it was finally out and destroyed, she collapsed and finally revealed the horrific truth to him about why she had come to Earthland. She was so scared by the time she got everything out in the open that all she could do was sit there, hoping he didn’t hate her or dismiss her, and for a brief moment it felt like her worst fears were going to come true. She couldn’t sense his anger in any kind of direct sense, but she could read the quickening of his pulse as he struggled with his own emotions. Being panic stricken as she was, her mind jumped to the worst conclusions, especially when his silence and lack of response drew out for quite some time.

When he finally moved and dropped himself onto the ground before her, Mercury flinched slightly away from him. Then, he spoke to her softly, questioning who had the authority to tell either of them that they couldn’t be together. He reiterated his stance on the expectations of nobility and how little he cared about what was considered acceptable among such circles. Perhaps she had been a spy this whole time, but the way he saw it that wasn’t something that she’d had much of a choice in – which was true. Not only that, but he wasn’t going to shrink back at the thought of some extraterrestrial invasion.

He rebuked her own fear of what was coming, affirming for her as much as she had for him that she was not someone to be taken lightly. She had come to Earthland under the guise of a phenomenal threat, but despite everything had fallen in love with the planet and its people so deeply that it had become her home where she’d never truly had one before. Not only that, but she had found Vandrad. The prince took one of her hands and put it on his chest, the act finally drawing the woman’s tear soaked face to turn and look up at him. He told her that he knew who he had fallen in love with, and despite not knowing most of her deepest secrets and sins until that moment he felt he had always known who she was, better even than she knew herself.

And as to the point of her abandoning her mission and running away from her slavers to serve Vandrad and his family instead, the prince informed her that it could not be done. He would not allow her to serve him, not when he viewed her as his equal. That mindset was never going to change, and he would never accept her as a subservient. As far as he was concerned, she was no longer a slave. A wave of relief and emotion swept over her, and after a moment or two to make sure that she wasn’t dreaming, she leaned forward and collapsed against his chest, wrapping her arms around his neck and holding him close.

“I love you,” she told him, her voice hoarse from crying. “I love you so much. I think… I think I’ve known for a while, and I just… didn’t understand it. I never had hope that I would ever experience things like… like falling in love, or having a home or a family. And for a while, I was content with that, but… the more time I spent with you, and the more I got to know your family… you made me start to want those things. And I kept allowing myself to stray because I didn’t want to lose you or… or let go of you and how you made me feel.  And when I realized who Khelben was, I knew I had to push you away because if I didn’t…”

Her voice trailed off briefly as she pressed her face against his chest. “The last thing I wanted was to paint a target on you and your family. I had hoped that I could trick him into thinking I was just playing you, convince him that I wasn’t as close to any of you as I had actually become. I don’t think he bought it, though… He’s a slave just like I am. Like I was,” Mercury gently corrected herself, very much sounding like she was trying to convince herself that the words were true. “But it’s not just my own life I’m risking, or even yours… There are only a few hundred survivors and most of them are being used as… as hostages to ensure that the rest of us out in the field do our jobs…”

She was sure she wouldn’t have to spell that out for him. If she or any others that had been given a long leash elected to test the slack, the fate of the remaining survivors of their race was at stake. “He wasn’t happy about what he had to do. But he’s been alive a lot longer than me, and still has family to protect. I don’t want to hurt him, and I don’t think he wants to hurt me, but… I don’t think he’s going to let this go… and I can’t hold that against him, as much as I want to.” As much as Mercury wanted to accept that she was no longer a slave, as Vandrad claimed, it still remained that this was not over. Khelben would try to find her, despite her warning, because he didn’t have any other choice. And despite how much stress the older Xocili had put on her for the last month, she just couldn’t bring herself to judge him for doing what he felt he had to for the safety of those he had left. She would have done the same.

“But all I want is to be with you… It’s all I’ve wanted for a long time… and I don’t know what will happen after everything that I’ve done, but for once in my life I know what it feels like to have hope that things will get better… and I will fight tooth and nail to stay with you.”

Mercury had told Khelben that she would kill him if she ever saw him again, but the truth was that she really didn’t want to hurt him. She understood where he was coming from, and they were in the exact same position. The only difference was that he had been fighting this war longer than she had and still had more to lose. The last thing Mercury wanted was to take that from him, but that didn’t mean she should be willing to sacrifice her own happiness and her own chance to have the things he did, the things she’d never had, and as harsh as it sounded she was willing to throw everything away to keep what she had found.

To no surprise, Vandrad agreed with her. He assured her that if fighting is what it would take, then that’s what they would do. He even expressed his willingness to try to work with Khelben, to convince him that together they could stand up to the Nazru and be victorious. But, they could not do it by themselves. They would need to tell everyone else, including the rest of the du Wolffs, as well as Serilda and Mythal. He meant to keep his word on her freedom no matter what it took, and not only that but to also free the rest of her people. It was a lot to take in, and while it was encouraging, the thought of having to reveal the truth to the rest of the people gathered out in the waiting room was daunting. Vandrad had chosen to forgive her, but that didn’t mean anyone else would, and it was evident by the way that she stiffened slightly that she was afraid of doing that just as much as she had been afraid of telling him.

“Okay, but… can it wait a little bit? It will take Khelben a while to catch up to me, and the Nazru… that’s what they’re called… they’re not making any plans to mobilize yet. They’re patient, and they have been wanting me to do thorough research on the magic here before they make any plans. We have time… and it’s been a long day and I just… I just don’t want to make things more stressful for everyone than it’s already been. Your family deserves a chance to destress and just be happy that you’re alive.” That was all she asked. A little time to prepare herself to tell her story again, this time from scratch, considering the only other person that knew she wasn’t human was Gren. Or at least, he was the only other one she’d talked to about it. She truly didn’t plan on procrastinating, but right now, after everything that had happened today, it just didn’t seem like the appropriate time to drop that bomb on everyone.

She didn’t fight as he gently slipped his hand toward her face and pulled her back so they could look one another in the eyes. Vandrad told her that he’d never cared for anyone as much as her, and that was her fault for being damn near impossible to get rid of. Her punishment, it seemed, was that she was not allowed to leave. She belonged to him now, and not even time would take that away from them. Despite how disgusting she must have looked with dried, caked blood all over her face, he still leaned forward and kissed her, a sensation that Mercury had sorely missed. Putting her hand on top of his where he cupped her cheek, she returned the gesture with a tender passion, content to let it linger for some time.

But they couldn’t sit on the floor and make out forever. Vandrad was still injured, and it had not been kind on his body for him to get down on the ground with her. When their lips eventually parted, she rested her forehead against his own. “We should get you back in the bed… the doctors are going to kill me for letting you get up…” Pulling back, she looked down at his bandages to make sure the wound hadn’t reopened. It seemed okay for now, though it wasn’t easy to tell since the wrappings had already been stained before. She shifted into a crouch beside him so she could help him get to his feet, easing him back over onto the bed and getting him beneath the blankets again. There was a small table near the bed that had a pitcher and a couple cups, so she took the initiative to pour him some water to make sure he stayed hydrated.

“Are you ready to see your family?” she finally asked him once they were settled again. “Pretty much everyone is outside, including Mythal and Seri. I doubt the doctors will allow the whole crowd in at once, but I could shoot a message to your parents? Your mom sent me in first because she thought you’d need me the most, but… They really need to see you, too.”

Presuming he was ready, she would shoot a message over to Themmy. He’s ready for you and Gren. I’m going to use the bathroom in here to clean up. Would you ask Ever if she’d be kind enough to conjure up a clean set of clothes for me? Just set them in the bathroom. Once that message was sent, she would lean over to kiss Vandrad one more time, running her hands through his hair and nuzzling her face gently against his own. “I love you,” she told him again softly. “They’re on their way. I’m going to go scrub all this evidence off of me.” Shooting him a soft smirk, a small part of her playful self finally confident enough to return, Mercury ducked into the bathroom and hopped into the small shower.

There was so much blood in her hair that she had to wash it four times before the water stopped running crimson. The heat ached on her neck, but thankfully her genetics already had the small wound all but closed up. She had made sure to toss the broken chip in with the hazardous waste bin, certain that would be enough for it to be disposed of without anyone else finding it. Her clothes were utterly ruined, though. No amount of blood or magic would remove the stains, and the garments had become so saturated that when the blood had finally dried it had left the outfit stiff as cardboard. She was probably going to have to burn it, though she knew better than to do that here. Instead, she pulled a trashbag out from under the sink and tossed the items in there for now before she focused on scrubbing herself down like a mad woman.

When she came back out, she found the fresh clothes that Ever had provided: a cream colored tank top with grey striped pants and a pink, collared jacket. There was even a clean pair of boots, which was good because her other shoes were definitely done for. The clothes fit perfectly, though that was no surprise, and soon enough she was stepping back out into the room, finally cleaned up and feeling much more like herself.

Well, he was certainly getting back to form pretty quick, quicker even than her. She snorted and smiled lightly at him as he joked about the wounds and blood and gore really doing a number to amp up his libido. Then, once he was on the bed again and she was making sure he was tucked in and had something to quench his thirst, he teased about being able to get used to her waiting on him and possibly getting a nurse outfit to match. That comment truly brought back her grin as she looked down at him. “Careful what you wish for, killer. You just might get it.” He knew she was more than capable of turning a situation around on a dime and was patient enough to wait until he’d all but forgotten about an off hand comment just to shine a spotlight on it in the most embarrassing ways.

She suggested he start seeing some of his other family members, starting with his parents, and he agreed despite the notion that his mother was going to give him a few thoughts about letting his guard down. “Probably,” she agreed with a small chuckle. The two kissed and exchanged affirmations once more before she popped over into the shower, and a few minutes later she emerged, feeling fresh and clean. The shower water had been loud enough that she’d not heard most of the conversation that was taking place in the other room, and since she didn’t linger to dry her hair like she usually did, there wasn’t much of a verbal exchange to eavesdrop on while she took a minute or two to dry herself off and throw on the clean clothes.

“Well, this room got about a thousand times more sexy while I was gone,” she remarked upon re-entering the space, giving Gren and Themmy a small but genuine smile that they hadn’t seen from her the entire time she’d been there so far. As Mercury made her way over to the bedside, Themmy inquired as to if the Xocili was still wearing the ring Vandrad had given her. She had honestly forgotten that she’d hidden it since Khelben’s arrival. “Of course.” Mildly confused, but willing to go along with the conversation, Mercury tapped into her magic and the ring melded into existence from the flesh around her middle finger. She watched curiously as mother turned to son and asked for clarity on the situation, confirming that Vandrad had given the ring to her and also that the two of them had only moments ago opened up about their feelings for one another.

“Oh okay, we’re leading with that conversation already,” was the amused, if slightly embarrassed, response. The two of them had never really exhibited any public displays of affection toward one another for basically the entire time they’d been partners, always keeping their intimate and tender moments to themselves. She certainly wasn’t upset that the cat was out of the bag, so to speak, it was just something she hadn’t been expecting. The prince confirmed his mother’s summary of events, far more conscientious of where this was leading than Mercury was, even as the duchess turned and inquired the same of her. The Xocili’s face turned a slight shade of pink. “Yeah…”

Apparently, that was all the confirmation Themesycia needed to inform them that they were engaged. Or at least, they were if they wanted to be. Mercury’s brows furrowed, her mouth opening slightly as if to say something and then it shut just as quickly as the weight of the words finally hit her. There was a moment of silence as the newly official couple processed the clarity, with Mercury’s gaze being drawn to Vandrad’s as she noticed him turning to look at her. The prince came right out and told her that an engagement was what he wanted. This wasn’t the most romantic of places for something like an official proposal, but he knew what he wanted, and that was to spend the rest of his life with her as her husband, if that was what she wanted as well.

She didn’t answer right away, but that seemed to be less from hesitance and more from shock from the rather sudden development. Gren and Themmy may not have fully understood it, but Vandrad would know that it was only moments ago that Mercury had come to grips with and opened herself up to the possibility of having the kind of life that might include something like this in her future, and the future had just come swinging a lot quicker than she’d expected. “I…” she started, her brain freezing temporarily in the face of being put on the spot. With a quiet, deep breath inward to steady herself, she told him, “Yes. Yes, I do want that. More than I’ve ever wanted anything before.”

And just like that, they were engaged. There were congratulations to be had as both parents happily celebrated the news. She was smiling as she hugged them both, everything feeling nearly as surreal as it had been before in the waiting room, but this time over a much happier occasion. Weary from the day’s events, she once more maneuvered a spot on the edge of the bed beside Vandrad, this time right next to him rather than at the foot of the gurney, and with a smirk she teased, “You just wanted to throw another engagement party, didn’t you?”

---

It had been three days since Vandrad had been hurt and Mercury had fled, leaving him behind in a personal sized crater in the middle of a major Bosconian town square. The alien had been stunned, frightened even, as the woman displayed control over the magical power that she had apparently been hiding from him all this time. He had known that she used magical objects, of course. That was literally the entire point of what Silver Wolf did, and anyone could use such items whether or not they possessed innate magic themselves. Hell, even Khelben had used more than his fair share of such products, and despite his mission on Earthland he had become rather fascinated by everything. It was easy to see how one could be attracted to the work and actually enjoy immersing themselves in it to the fullest. Truly, Mercury had picked the perfect group to get in good with to get the research they needed, even going above and beyond to become second in command of the place and having access to their entire databases.

But this was entirely different from her use of magically enchanted items. She was actually capable of using her body as a medium to channel power of her own, and by the looks of it she was extremely proficient at it. That was no surprise – everything in her dossier told him that even by Xocili standards she was a fast learner, able to adapt to a situation in the blink of an eye without losing steam or progress. He could only assume that she’d had these abilities for quite some time and just found ways to use it without making it obvious. At least, to him. He assumed Vandrad was aware of her abilities as well. Magic was a common occurrence to the Earthland native, so the prince likely wasn’t too bewildered by the information.

However, Khelben had a hunch that Vandrad knew far more than he had let on during their one mission together. Though Mercury had played her part well (not that she could have tipped her hand on anything while being a chipmunk) and Vandrad hadn’t done or said anything to make Khelben suspicious, the Xocili had a gut feeling that the Prince from Bellum knew that Mercury wasn’t human. It was obvious that he had not liked or trusted Mercury’s “protege” during their little job. Vandrad hid it masterfully behind a grouchy and stern facade, but Khelben had been travelling the universe for almost two centuries at this point and he knew when he was being scrutinized by a keen eye. Even without concrete evidence, he’d have bet money that Vandrad knew exactly what Mercury was – and thus, exactly what Khelben was.

And now, Mercury had flown the coop, dropping all pretenses at the news that her partner had been mortally wounded. That was more than enough evidence to suggest that she had managed to fall in love with the man. Khelben had almost been convinced after the last few weeks that she truly was just playing the man, but now that her true colors were showing he was frankly a bit disappointed in himself for not sticking to his gut feelings on the matter. He had tried to stop her and she immediately reacted to show how much more dangerous and powerful she had become when no one was looking, meriting every single concern they’d had about her irregular reports.

What frightened him most, though, was that if that knowledge got back to the flotilla, if the Nazru found out that their kind could apparently learn to utilize the natural phenomena of this world, there was no telling how they would react. The worst case scenario was always playing at the back of his mind. All it would take was one semi decent reason and he knew that the Nazru would finish the work they had started all those years ago. It was already strange enough that they had enslaved Xocil rather than eradicate it completely. The Nazru weren’t known for taking slaves or prisoners. But even the Nazru had been perplexed by the very existence of the Xocili, who were a living, breathing dichotomy of their extreme organic teachings. He did not wish to risk those that were left, fearing that it would be the true end of their race.

Apparently, Mercury did not feel the same way. She had been crafted as the perfect spy, isolated from everyone and everyone that might have taught her how to live a normal, emotionally stable life, captured along side so many other children at a young, impressionable age that could be perfectly molded to the Nazru’s needs. She wasn’t the only Scout out there with her same story, though she was the only one with a scar – a fact that he was still trying to process. Khelben felt for her, he really did. A part of him was glad that she had found a place and people that she had come to love. She deserved those things; all of them did. And he wanted nothing more than to let her live that life, envious in many ways of what she had found.

But he couldn’t let her do that. There was too many other lives at stake, and as much as he respected her drive and determination to stand up for herself and fight for her freedom, he was driven by just as much drive and determination to protect the lives of those he had left, and he was not willing to let her put what was left of their people in jeopardy just to trounce off with a man that wouldn’t even live for a tenth of her natural lifespan.

Yet that left him with a conundrum. He knew that right now, as things stood, he was no match for her. Sure, Khelben could probably find ways to get his hands on enough magical items to give him an edge against her, but he didn’t know what other tricks she was hiding, which made it impossible to prepare for her. And what’s more, she had done incredibly well at making sure there was next to no digital trail of her on this planet, and even the stuff that existed wasn’t very forthcoming with details he didn’t already know. Additionally, now that he was banned from Silver Wolf, he couldn’t get back there to do any proper digging. The spirit wolves would eat him alive, of that he had no doubt. It was a miracle he had gotten as far as he had. The wolves had always made it clear to him that they didn’t like or trust him, going out of their way to try to scare him in the hallways or standing over him while he slept at night. They’d made it clear they were watching him, but since he’d already been made a member they resisted the urge to do something more direct. Now that he had been stripped of that membership, he had a feeling they would not hesitate to make his life difficult.

Ultimately, he’d had to make the decision to hire someone to handle Mercury for him. Specifically, a mage of some kind that had the power to meet her toe to toe. It was risky, and he didn’t like it, but unfortunately the scout had left him with little choice. He needed to take her back to the flotilla and have her examined before the Nazru found out and started making decisions. So, the last couple days had been spent doing some research and working out how to send feelers out to some of the more criminal elements of the planet without drawing Mercury’s suspicions, as he imagined she would be keeping an eye out for him.

That was how he’d found himself in this dumpy little bar in Desierto, out in the middle of nowhere. This country was one of the more lawless places on the continent, rife with slavery and lowlifes and plenty of other things that disgusted and sickened him. In fact, he was sickened by the very idea of having to work with one of these people at all, but desperate times called for desperate measures, and if he had to swallow his pride to get what he needed then so be it. He had managed to discreetly put out a few feelers around town that an anonymous individual was looking for assistance with a kidnapping, and it had taken a day or two but someone had found a way to get in touch with him.

They agreed upon a place and time, and that was where Khelben waited in a seat with his back to a wall, carefully keeping an eye on everyone present. He had hoped to scope out the place ahead of time and wait for his contact to observe them in advance, but unfortunately nearly everyone here looked like they were involved in some shady shit and he had no idea what his contact looked like. So he was stuck waiting for them to reveal themselves whenever they arrived.

A few minutes past their agreed upon time, the door swung open to reveal an older woman dressed in worn, shabby clothing that looked as though she had been traveling for some time in it, as well as a simple chain necklace with a small purple crystal hanging from it. She had dull red hair that was quickly being overrun by gray with age, and there were a number of wrinkles beginning to form on her weathered skin. She had a somewhat hardened expression as she glanced around the room, her gaze scrutinizing one or two others that were sitting by themselves before it landed on him. After a moment of consideration, she ordered herself a beer at the bar and then approached.

“I hear you’re hiring.”

“I might be.”

It seemed that was enough confirmation for them both. The woman took a seat across from him, adjusting the angle of the chair so that her back wasn’t completely turned to the rest of the room. “Target?”

Khelben withdrew a printed photo from inside his jacket and slid it across the table to her. “She goes by Mercury Arseneault. Twenty-four years old, stands about five foot six, with some tattoos on her neck and shoulder. I’d say about one hundred thirty pounds or so. She’s second in charge of the guild Silver Wolf.”

The woman nodded as she peered at the image. “Magic?”

“She does have magic, yes, but I don’t know what it is. It’s light based, but that’s all I know. That and she is much more powerful than she lets on.”

“An intelligent target, then. What else can you tell me?"

"She spends most of her time either at the Silver Wolf guild in the Phoenix Mountains and at the Fairy Tail guild in Magnolia, Fiore. However, she has a gun shaped device she can use to open gateways that allow her to move instantly from one place to another across any distance. She is partnered with a Fairy Tail mage by the name of Vandrad du Wolff, a prince from Bellum that is also very powerful. He was recently hurt and was admitted to the hospital in Crocus, but at this time I am not aware of the extent of his injuries or if he is still admitted there. I suspect she is the one responsible for the Midian incident that was recently on the news."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "You mean the slaughter of that lower class noble line?"

Khelben nodded. "A Midian princess by the name of Sabine was the one responsible for Vandrad's injury. That location was her family's estate."

The woman raised her brows with interest. "That was an impressive display of carnage. So they're romantic, then?"

"I assume so."

"Conditions?"

"Alive and in one piece. Preferably unharmed, but I doubt she will make it easy for you."

"They never do, but that's half the fun." She gave him a little smirk.

He did not return the look. "What is your asking fee?"

"Five million, with fifty percent in advance."

"Done."

She raised her brow a second time. "That easy?"

"Let's just say that moving numbers is not difficult for me, provided you don't care where it comes from."

"I don't."

They took a moment to settle the matter of funds, with Khelben wiring half the agreed money to her. Once she checked and confirmed she had received the money, he reached into his pocket again and pulled out a burner phone, sliding it to her. "Contact me when you have her."

With a nod, the woman polished off her beer and departed, leaving Khelben alone at the table once more with his melancholy thoughts. He sat there for a long moment before he let out a gentle sigh. "Forgive me, Mercury." Standing to his feet, he exited the bar and with a quick glance around wandered out of town.

Unbeknownst to him, the woman he had hired was watching him from the shadows of a nearby alley. A dark, knowing smirk settled on her face. "She might come to forgive you, Khelben dear…" she said, as her form melted away, revealing a much younger woman with dark hair. Bringing the photograph of Mercury to her face, Thana bit her lip and giggled with anticipation.

“But Vandrad will not.”