13: Conversations in Battle

"Y'all should tell Sabine soon though. I don't like keeping secrets from her," Octus said.

After Violet woke, Diana spent a good couple of minutes babying and worrying over her. Octus had transferred her to Diana's arms and the much taller woman was still holding Violet to her chest. Octus had let Diana get it out of her system — especially because Violet seemed to enjoy the attention from her mistress. He only spoke up now that it seemed Diana had calmed down.

Diana exchanged an anxious glance with Violet, who nodded in agreement with Octus. The noblewoman sighed, "B-But what if she reacts badly? I-I can't have you taken away from me, Violet-dear."

"I'll help vouch for her," Octus offered. "I'm the only witness to her sanctifi-mi-cation anyway. So it's kind of my duty to make sure the Emperor's latest magic woman isn't burned at the stake."

"Yes… Yes, she'll listen if the news comes from you, Octus," Diana said, visibly relaxing.

"Everything will be okay, Di," Violet reassured her mistress. "Octus and Sabine are good people. And as He wills, your plan will succeed."

Diana's eyes darted to Octus at the mention of her plan but he was naturally clueless. She still looked a bit shaken but in much better shape now that she knew her closest friend was fine. Violet was better than fine actually. She was sanctified and had never felt so calm and in control. His light shined down on her and her soul rejoiced.

"O-Okay…" Diana stuttered, struggling to get her trademark composure back. "We'll tell her."

The smile Octus sent her made a strange warmth rise in Diana's chest and she knew she made the right decision. For the first time in her life, Lady Diana Winters blushed. Her blush didn't have long to linger though…

Violet's head snapped up and her eyes glowed, looking out into something more, "It seems the reveal will have to wait… The servants of the Great Enemy approach."

A moment of icy chill went through Octus and Diana at the tone of Violet's voice. When she said 'the Great Enemy', her voice filled with fury and righteous conviction. As if she was channeling the Emperor Himself. Then the chill passed and warmth filled their souls.

"Right, we should find Sabine," Octus said with steel hardening in his voice.

He didn't wait for a response. He was already moving, collecting his bolter from where he left it when Violet fainted. Violet and Diana followed him dutifully. Violet's eyes slowly dimmed as she took a couple of deep breaths so her secret wouldn't be revealed at an inopportune time.

"Sabine, do you trust me?" Octus called as they found the Sister of Battle.

"With my very soul," Sabine replied instantly and surely.

Octus was momentarily taken aback by the absolute trust he heard in her voice but he shook it off for now, "Then get the boys ready. We're about to have company."

"I trust you," Sabine said again with utter certainty in her voice.

As if on cue, a veritable tidal wave of stomping feet echoed down the wide tunnel leading to the heatsink's antechamber. It was joined by the hooting and heretical hollering of thousands of degenerate hooligans. The heatsink's defenders were already scrambling as Sabine called out, "Battle positions! For the Emperor!"

The fortifications were hastily manned. Gangers of all creeds and colors lined up at makeshift walls. They peeked over the edge into the darkness of the tunnel. The gangers who weren't equipped for ranged combat either gathered up rubble to use as throwing ammunition or prepared to support their fellows by running ammo and equipment.

All along the short walls and barricades, tense fingers gripped autoguns and stubbers and shoddy lasrifles. The racket from the tunnel grew louder and louder. The promise of violence grew closer and closer and the defenders' nerves began to show. While these were all gangers hardened by a harsh life in the Underhive, the conflicts they were used to were typically on a much smaller scale.

Now they found themselves facing down what sounded like thousands of fanatical cultists. Sure, they were fighting for a good cause now, not just their survival but the survival of the Imperium across their whole planet… But they were still just a few hundred Humans holding out against potentially thousands of cultists who had sold their souls to powers beyond comprehension.

The defenders were nervous and scared and the cracks were beginning to show. Then Sabine stepped up onto the wall facing the center of the dark tunnel and Octus stepped up beside her. Not an ounce of fear showed on either of their faces as they stared down the darkness and dared it to try its best. They were like two beacons, lighthouses against the night, and the defenders rallied under them like moths to a flame.

A wave of determination flowed over the crowd of defenders. While still present, the sense of anxiety amongst the defenders faded into the background. Second thoughts were smothered in the proverbial crib. Fear died a coward's death. Pride and conviction rose in the hearts of every defender there. And if no one noticed the subtle mental encouragement from a certain shortstack Psyker, that was fine too…

Octus grabbed Sabine's hand and gave it a slight reassuring squeeze. She smiled at him. Then they raised their joined hands above their heads together. Just as the first cultists came into view, cheers and battle cries from the defenders roared up to meet and match the cultists' jeering hollers.

All hell broke loose. More cultists followed after the first. They were cut down by a hail of lead as quickly as they appeared but the fanatics' charge never faltered. Heretics just kept pouring and pouring out of the darkness, only to meet gunfire and las. The bodies piled up until the heretics were climbing over their own dead and dying to continue their mindless charge.

The cultists' strategy — if it could be called that — became apparent when the wave of bodies slowed to a trickle. The newest revealed cultists didn't charge mindlessly. They stopped and used the numerous dead bodies from the first charge as cover. For the first time in the assault, the defenders' constant stream of fire was answered with a volley of return fire.

But even under the hail of heretical bullets, Sabine and Octus didn't leave their post. They aimed into the darkness and let loose, standing tall all the while like figureheads on the bow of a ship. They did not flinch as bullets and las bolts whizzed past them for their faith would protect them.

They played a valuable part in keeping the defending gangers from faltering. The sight of their forms, determined and visibly unbothered despite standing with nothing to cover them, was just as important as the walls and barricades that the gangers hid behind. Their defense renewed in intensity and the firefight devolved into a sort of stalemate.

Cultists hid behind bodies and fired from the darkness. Gangers hid behind makeshift fortifications and fired into the darkness. The area between the two factions quickly became a No Man's Land. The action slowed to a slog.

Bullets still flew but not enough cultists died for the people on both sides' liking. Not enough cultists died to appease the whims of their dark gods. Not enough cultists died for the loyalists who were greatly outnumbered and fighting for their lives and homes. And through it all, there was a wire's edge sense of tension that just wouldn't go away.

Then a sickly sweet, put-on voice came from the darkness, "Sister, Sister~ come out and play~"

"Maestro," Sabine growled, recognizing the woman by sound alone.

"Oh, Sister~ You remember me~" Sona's disembodied voice laughed, seeming to come from everywhere at once. "How could I ever repay this honor?~"

"With your death!" Sabine shouted, brandishing her bolt pistol and spraying wildly into the dark.

"Ah, ah, ah~" Sona tutted. "Missed me~"

Sabine readied her pistol to unleash another salvo but Octus stopped her with a hand and spoke instead, "Why are ya doing this, Sona? Ya seemed so nice when we met…"

Sabine closed her eyes and counted to three, taking deep breaths the entire time. One part of her couldn't believe that Octus was engaging who they assumed was the leader of a heretical cult. On the other hand, it wasn't even the weirdest thing he'd done since she'd met him…

"Aw, Papi~ you're gonna make me blush~" Sona crooned. "Unfortunately, this has to happen. Heroes need villains and I've decided you two are my heroes~"

That statement brought Sabine and Octus up short. They turned to each other and blinked, unable to comprehend Sona's thought process. Around them, the action never ceased. Bullets and las bolts seemed to avoid them, giving them all the time in the world to banter with Sona.

Octus tried to appeal to Sona's sense of Humanity, "And ya don't care how many people die for this grand play of yer masters?"

Sona's scoff echoed out of the darkness, "These mooks? Fuck no, Papi, they're boring~ I'd jump ship right now if I could… Sadly, it's not the right time for that yet~"

The fact that Sona's loyalty wasn't secure or permanent was tucked away in a corner of Sabine and Octus' minds. That could be useful to know. They might be able to convince her to surrender without any more bloodshed. Then Sona spoke again and that thought was dashed from Sabine's mind (though not Octus').

Sona giggled, "Besides, I'm having… fun~ This is the most interesting thing to happen in my life! I can't wait to get my turn alone with you, Papi~"

"I would sooner kill you myself than leave you alone with him, whore!" Sabine snapped at the 'heretic' bitch. "How dare you think you could ever deserve my Octus!"

Octus was startled at Sabine's protectiveness. Though, he would be lying if he said he wasn't at half-mast because of it. She sounded vicious and almost feral at the idea of him being near Sona. And while Octus was inclined to agree with that feeling at the moment, he also had a hunch that there was more to Sona's situation than either of them knew.

"You'd have to catch me first, Sister-chica~" Sona taunted Sabine. "And I take offense to 'whore'. I'll have you know I'm still a virgin. I've been saving myself for a special Papi~"

"That's it, bitch!!" Sabine roared. "Where are you?! Let's settle this like real women!"

Sona giggled, enraging Sabine further, but stepped from the darkness. Sabine saw her stupidly sexy, dusky-skinned form and her vision turned red. She let out another jealous Yandere roar and leaped from the makeshift barricade she was standing on.

The world seemed to freeze at that moment. The sounds of gunfire and battle cries died down. Octus watched with dumbfounded awe on his face. The gangers and cultists stopped to do the same. Everyone watched as a Sister of Battle, one of the Emperor's Angels, got into a catfight with a heretic cult leader.

For some reason, privy only to the Emperor, Sabine had dropped her chainsword next to Octus when she leaped at Sona. This left her only course of offensive action to open-palmed slaps and grabbing at Sona's hair… logically… It didn't make much sense to anyone else either. But if one listened closely, they could just barely make out glorious, uproarious, ghostly laughter and unnatural, jeering cheers that seemed to come from two-… no, five… invisible and intangible sources.

Sona slipped out of Sabine's reach with manic laughter, "So much fun!~"

Unnoticed by everyone — even Violet — Sona's form flickered. Her true body slipped away, leaving a doppelganger in her place to enjoy the fight with Sabine. She continued giggling maniacally as she ghosted away under a cloak of nothing-to-see-here power.

Sona's doppelganger was indistinguishable from the real thing. Sabine kept going after it, slapping and grabbing like a woman scorned. The doppelganger kept slipping and dipping, constantly just out of Sabine's reach. All while the real Sona crept closer and closer to her real prize.

Octus' mind refused to process what he was seeing as he watched Sabine and Sona's catfight. It was just such a change of character to see the usually serious and severe Sabine let out her uglier emotions like this. Sure, she could be surprisingly adorable at times and he'd seen that she wasn't always what he would expect from a Sororitas but still…

He was at a loss. He didn't even know why Sabine had jumped into the fray to engage Sona in physical combat. It was obvious the two didn't get along (to put it lightly) but surely it would be better to just shoot Sona in the head, right? The gears in Octus' head were still struggling to turn when someone appeared next to him as if materializing out of thin air.

"Well, this is truly an odd situation," the Witness mused, merely an observer of events as he always was…

"Heya, old man. Ya got that right," Octus said absently, still too distracted by the scene between Sabine and Sona to realize who had suddenly spoken to him.

They lapsed into silence before Octus looked back at the Witness in a doubletake, "You! What? How'd ya even get here?"

The Witness smiled beneath his gas mask, "I'm not really here, young one. I'm not really anywhere anymore… I'm just an observer…"

Octus watched as the Witness sunk into the barricade below them and rose back up, "Huh… weird… I was pretty sure ya were more… solid when we met."

The Witness sighed, "Yes… Well, now that my duty has truly begun, I have been relegated to this form."

"That must suck," Octus said rather bluntly.

"Quite a bit," the Witness chuckled.

With the ridiculousness of the catfight between Sabine and Sona's doppelganger, a surreal sense of calm had fallen over everyone watching. Their brains couldn't process what they were seeing and it had made both cultists and gangers alike pause their fighting. Octus and the Witness were no exception. It was how they could have a relatively normal conversation despite their opposing loyalties.

"So, like, how does that work?" Octus asked, trying to distract himself from thinking about the scene in front of him too much.

"Lots of complicated, magic mumbo-jumbo," the Witness said. "Essentially, I can only be somewhere if something is interesting to observe. I think this qualifies…"

Octus snorted, "That's a bit of an understatement. I've never seen Sabine like this. And I don't really get how what Sona said caused this. Like, I get that they don't like each other but is that enough to make Sabine completely forget herself?"

The Witness looked at him queerly, raising a disbelieving eyebrow, "Surely even you are not that dense, young one?"

Octus cocked his head to the side, "Huh? What do ya mean?"

"Oh my…" the Witness sighed, shaking his head. "It's not my place to say. I'm sure you'll figure it out eventually."

"Will I though?" Octus laughed self-deprecatingly.

"Maybe… maybe not…" the Witness hedged. "If you are worried about being left in the dark, I suggest you get the Sister to tell you herself."

"I'll… I'll think about it," Octus said thoughtfully.

The Witness nodded, "That would be your best course of action. Hopefully, you will figure it out before either of you get hurt."

That made Octus look at him out of the side of his eye, "Why are ya even giving me advice?"

The Witness let out a defeated-sounding breath, "I must be impartial. It is quite literally part of my condition now, young one. And considering I have advised the Maestro, I need to extend the same hand to you as well…"

Octus paused for a moment to consider that before he asked something that had been on his mind, "Alright… What's the deal with yer title things? I ain't ever heard about anything like 'em. And, like, ya must have an actual name, right?"

The Witness blinked in surprise, "You know? You are the first one to ask me that… How sad… But, yes, I did have a name. It is rather unimportant now… It was Eli…"

"Good name," Octus nodded. "Now, ya've been nothing but kind and considerate to me. And I ain't some pansy worshipper of those dark gods of yours. So I figure I'll call ya by yer real, Emperor-given name from now on, Eli."

Unseen by Octus, a small smile warmed the Witness' face, "… Thank you, young one."

"Don't mention it," Octus waved him off. "Like… literally don't. Pretty sure Sabine'll have my ass if she found out."

"Pretty sure she'll have your ass either way," the Witness chuckled to himself.

"What was that?"

"Nothing important," the Witness deflected, turning his head back to the catfight and noticing the doppelganger for the first time. "Ah… Now that is interesting…"

"What?"

A ghostly giggle infused with madness and obsession drifted into Octus' ears from behind him. A warm body pressed itself against his back, arms going around the front of his neck almost playfully. Even though he was wearing Flak Armor, it felt like the person behind was pressed directly against his skin.

"That," the Witness deadpanned.

"Guardsman~ Oh, my Guardsman~" Sona singsonged theatrically. "Are you happy to see me?~"

"Uh… I don't know about happy, but I am seeing two of ya…" Octus mumbled, willing his body to not react to the warmth and softness on his back.

"You should be happy to see me," Sona pouted before instantly bouncing back with a smile. "Oh well, this just makes things more… interesting~"

"Eli?… Little help here?" Octus half-asked, half-pleaded.

Sona giggled, "Don't be silly, Papi~ That old stick-in-the-mud can't help you~ He can't interfere, remember? You're completely at my mercy~ Isn't that exciting?!"

"It's certainly… something. Any chance ya'll let me go?"

Sona was pouting again, "Where's the fun in that? That isn't interesting. I had this whole plan and everything. Trust me, you'll have so much fun~"

"I don't think I wanna do anything ya consider fun," Octus snarked. "How has no one else noticed ya yet?"

"Just something I can do," Sona said dismissively. "Nothing interesting. That's how I do it actually. I seem to be able to make things seem normal and people just don't take notice of them."

Octus noticed the way she spat the word 'normal' like it was a curse, "Careful there, Sona. Yer crazy is showin'."

The seething frustration Octus could feel coming from Sona disappeared in an instant and she giggled, "Oh, Papi, you're so good to me!~ I can't wait until you and the chica can keep me in line like that full time~"

Octus scoffed, "In yer dreams. Sabine don't even like me like that but I know she'd still kill me for comport-… consortating-… whatever the word… Ah! Consorting! Consorting with the enemy."

The Witness and Sona both stopped to stare at Octus like he was an idiot. The Witness just shook his head and allowed himself to dissipate into the ether.

"What? What'd I say?" Octus asked, dense as ever.

"… Anyways, I should probably get this show on the road," Sona changed the subject instead of trying to explain the Sister's obvious feelings toward him.

She did something and the copy of herself that was fighting Sabine rippled and disappeared. Sabine looked around frantically. Her gaze eventually landed on Sona and Octus. Sabine's eyes widened in panic and shock and she started to dart toward her Guardsman.

"Ah, ah, ah~" Sona tutted, stopping Sabine in her tracks. "I wouldn't do that if I were you. We wouldn't want Papi here getting hurt in the crossfire, would we?"

Sabine glared at Sona and the whole world seemed to freeze. Sona acted like she wasn't bothered but a shiver of delight ran down her spine. That rage! That jealousy! It was all almost too much and Sona wanted to switch sides right then and there. But she didn't… She knew the time wasn't right just yet.

Too many things had to happen before that. And Sona knew she wouldn't be accepted right away. She'd probably be punished in some way and she was sure she'd end up at the absolute bottom of the relationship totem pole. She didn't care. That would only serve to make things even more interesting!

For now, though, she had events to set in motion…

"You know… As fun as this has been, I think it's about time I make my exit," Sona monologued. "And I think I deserve something for my generosity~ I am leaving your precious heatsink alone after all~ Hmm, what to take?~ How about you, Papi?~ You wanna come with me as my… treat?~"

"I don't think there's a right answer here," Octus said in a rare moment of genuine intelligence. "I say yes, I'm lying and Sabine'll think I'ma traitor. I say no, ya just gonna take me anyway."

"Oh, Papi~" Sona giggled. "I guess I'll just make the decision for you so the big bad Sister won't be mad at you~"

She was already pressing a fluid-soaked rag to Octus' face before she finished talking. Octus managed to get off a snarky roll of his eyes before they started to drift closed. Sabine let out an unintelligible shout of panic and desperation but Sona had already disappeared under her cloak of power with Octus' unconscious body.

"Don't worry, Sister~" Sona's disembodied voice bounced off every wall. "I won't hurt him. I won't even use him for the ritual. He'll be safe and sound until you come and get him. I promise~ Though, you better hurry if you want him back~ I might just decide to keep him~"

Sona's manic laughter disappeared as if blown away by a gust of wind. Sabine all but collapsed like a puppet with cut strings. He… He was gone. Everyone there watched the Sister with bated breath.

Eventually, she began to stand up straight again. A brand new fire burned in her eyes, fiercer than anything that had come before it. With the target of her anger gone, Sabine's rage turned to the only other acceptable targets in the area. Multiple nervous gulps were heard as even the mindless fanatics realized how much danger they were in.

An eager smile settled over Sabine's face. This wouldn't get her Octus back but it was a start. And it would help her vent some of the utter fury she was currently feeling. She slowly walked over to where she dropped her chainsword earlier and then turned to the horde of cultists. Her bloodthirsty grin and the carnage that followed would be imprinted on the Warp as a cultural memory for heretics everywhere…