Reunion
"Remember, miss invincible." Serafina sang. "Play nice, or we mess you up."
The hallways were cleared as the six walked past, climbing the ladders up to the top level.
"So, what's the instruction?" Daciana asked.
"On it." Cheng asked. He began texting Chelic, who quickly responded.
"Ah, a prison ship on level three. Sound good, Cassandra?"
Cassandra spat in his intact eye the second he turned around. Adya knocked her to the ground, and Cassandra started screaming a tirade of incoherent swears at them. Ziwadi stepped back in a distressed manner, causing Serafina to kick her in the head.
"What part of play nice did you not get?" She asked, helping her on her feet and making a new clone a few feet away to avoid the headbutt.
"Your scrambling was funny a few hours ago, now you're just boring." Daciana sighed. Cassandra glared, there wasn't much else she could do. They continued up seemingly endless randomly placed ladders, getting Ziwadi to swap Cassandra's place so they wouldn't have to undo the restraints. Once they finally reached their destination, Cassandra was shoved inside an airship, hollowed out of anything that made it one. It was painted black, with the only light source being the scorching sun. Less than half a minute, and she already felt like she was being cooked alive. Ziwadi picked her up and held her against the wall while Cheng removed her cuffs, replacing them with chains attached to the walls across from the window. The sun was beaming directly into her eyes.
"Now then, Chelic is a little busy, but he'll be with you at his earliest convenience. Until then, get used to your room." Cheng said as the others all left her alone.
The window was the closest thing to company Cassandra had. The sun eventually got brighter until she couldn't see anything. She tried freeing herself while she still had the energy, but the ship was slowly shaking more and more with each pull to free herself. She eventually stopped, concluding staying put was slightly better than falling to the surface. At least she knew for certain that staying here wouldn't instantly kill her.
She thought she saw another dragon peer it's head above the clouds, but she wasn't sure if that was real or some kind of hallucination. She tried closing her eyes, but the heat and light were still piercing. After what felt like forever, the sun shifted to let the evening in. As she bathed in the orange and purple skies, the door opened. It wasn't Chelic, but the same guy from Saoloro.
"What are you doing here?" She screamed. The man gave a panicked hush as he closed the door, and she promptly shut up, eyeing him the whole time.
"Hey, how are you doing? I know we've met before, but this is the first time we're exchanging names. So my name's Xander, and you're Cassandra."
Cassandra stared at him as he offered a fork and a cup of instant noodles.
"You know, I'm surprised they did both arms. Didn't think they'd have the metal for it."
He dug into his back pockets, producing a half eaten chocolate bar.
"It's all I got, sorry."
He fed Cassandra the bar. He looked away as she choked it down.
"So what do you mean, surprised about the metal?"
"Well, I'm just kinda shocked they'd bother giving you two shackles. And right across from the window, too. They must have gotten you the advanced torture chamber. Didn't know they had the resources."
"For what, two metal shackles?"
"Hey lady, you can't use more than you have to. Metal's been kinda scarce lately, even if that's my fault."
"Your fault?"
"The robot dragon? Security dragon? That was me."
"I didn't see it."
"Well then it was probably circling the other end and…okay, there were flaws in the design, clearly. But anyway, I want to ask you some questions."
"Like what?"
Xander glanced at the door again.
"Is anyone trying to break you out?"
"Excuse me?" Cassandra asked.
"Look, I'm not some pre-interrogation guy, okay? Chelic thinks I'm enjoying my time off in my room. And there's nobody coming, I can break you out."
"Why would you do that?" Cassandra asked.
"Look, I'll be honest with you. I haven't checked the news lately so I'm not sure if you know, but I killed Marcel."
Cassandra's eyes widened at the confession. He wasn't lying. She could just tell he wasn't lying.
"You did what?"
"Look, I know. It was wrong. And it's been eating me away since I got back here! So if you get the rescue squad, tell me. And if you do, I can get us an escape route."
Cassandra looked at him. This was her chance to put her ideas to work. A guy who killed a Grand king, possibly the highest offense you could do, all for the Legion. And if he got redeemed, all her actions could be justified.
"Why didn't you leave when you got the chance?"
"Lady, I was the scout team. I was supposed to make a route to the weapons and secure a route, to which some bigger guy would come in and take them. But that would lead to dozens of people dying, so I tried doing that myself. And if I ditched them, I'd be eventually found and killed to set an example for defectors."
"And you didn't work with the Grands out of fear of consequences?"
"Obviously. But saving you clears my name, right? Look, Chelic considers you important on some level, so he's not gonna kill you. Just try to bullshit him while my girlfriend tries to get ready, okay?"
Xander got a message on his phone. It was from Manuel.
'Chelic's On His Way. Get Out And Go Left. Probs Got Two Minutes.'
Xander turned to the door.
"Wait!" Cassandra whispered. Xander snapped back around.
"The weapons are alive. If you manage to break them, they'll probably help you."
Xander nodded as he opened the door slightly, fully when the coast was clear. He snuck back to his room, trying his best to not let anyone see him. Once he got back to his room, he began texting Tsuki. If he got the times right, she'd be in his private chambers with the other girls.
'Yo Tsuki you still in Chelics room?'
'yeh'
'Okay cool. See if you can find the relic weapons and get back to me. Gonna try breaking out.'
'????? u insane'
'Staying here is insanity. When people come for the girl we escape with them. try breaking the weapons, there are people inside them. Just let me know when you find them'
Tsuki put her phone away, looking around the room for any signs of the weapons. And there were people inside them? This would be a lot to process.
Chelic's room was a pretty clean place. She was surprised that he never noticed the place got dirtier after the apparent debauchery went down. All the other girls had already left, and she would have too if not for how good it felt to nap in his bed. But on the move, she checked the bedroom, under the bed. Nothing there. The obvious place would be by his desk, but was it too obvious? The more obvious thing would be how convenient it would be to keep the weapons close to hand. So she looked over her shoulder, checked beneath, and they were both there. The bow and the shield, just as she remembered them! She tried to pick them up, only to hear the sound of an erupting flame from above.
"Who's there?" Marcus asked calmly.
With nothing else to do, Tsuki raised her head, her empty hands following soon after.
Marcus shook his hand until the flame within was extinguished, with a look of pity across his face.
"Tsuki. Please tell me you were admiring the craftmanship of those old weapons."
"That was it." Tsuki nodded quickly.
"As terrible a liar as ever." Marcus lamented with a solemn head shake. "What's the actual purpose?"
Tsuki didn't answer. Her only option was to get out, tell Xander what she knows, and hope to the gods that his plans could work. She began running, and Marcus didn't even try to stop her.
"Tsuki, give up whatever you're planning. Whatever it is, I assure you it won't work. Now stay put, enjoy your easy life, and when Chelic dies, see how you can make things better afterwards. I know you're a good person, so I'm not going to report this. But this is a kindness I can only afford to extend once."
Tsuki ran. She wasn't waiting for anything. She knew the taste of the outside, and as much as she denied it to herself, it was all she wanted. And once she got to Xander, she was ready to enact the plan. This was the end of Chelic.
Cassandra waited for the man to approach her. The door opened, and a tall man approached her. Besides his slicked backed hair and crooked smile that made him resemble a shifty salesman of damaged goods, he was just wearing a purple hoodie and jeans. His face was sharp, practically bursting internally to give some kind of perverted information.
"So, you're the man who runs this place?" Cassandra muttered.
"Oh, what's with the hostility?" Chelic asked. "Should a relationship between uncle and niece not start off better?"