Maniac Interlude

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(Kryptos POV)

"Are you sure you want to do this?"

I glanced up from my work, adjusting the beam capacitor on my temporal destabilizer. I spotted Amorphous Shape watching me. I glanced quickly at my door and then back to the segmented shape. "How'd you get in my office?" Getting into my room was one thing, but my office?!

"I'm a ninja." Amorphous Shape responded in his usual even tone. I ran a gloved hand across my plane before ignoring his response. "Well next time, please give me a warning before you're here, so I have time to prepare myself." I knew this might be a wasted effort. Everyone here just barged into each other's rooms whenever they felt like it. There WERE locks, rather there was a way to have the doors simply not open for anyone but the owner, but it didn't really work. I made a note to speak to my boss about that. Having labs where anyone could just come into was dangerous.

Back to the matter at hand...

"If you're asking me to stop my plans to kill Time Baby, I'm afraid the answer will be 'no'."

The segmented shape shuffled about, rearranging his blocks as he floated around my room. "I don't particularly care and everyone else seems on board for this, but I wonder if you all would survive Time Baby's death?"

I paused in the middle of attaching another wire. "...explain."

"The Deal you have with mother isn't only for being Friends." Ammy blinked his many eyes. "You're all living much longer than you would have. Wasn't that also part of the Deal? What happens when it breaks? Would you all decompose?" He seemed quite curious about this. Well, he didn't have to worry about aging to death, the kid didn't age. He wasn't immortal by any sense, but he didn't age through progression of time. I secretly wondered if that was part of him being Bill's kid.

I rolled my eyes. Yeah, that was an issue, except… "Bill enhanced our cells. Even without the Deal we would be fine. For a few decades at least, possibly even a century." I wasn't stupid, I didn't want to die. "And Bill would manually keep us alive beyond that. She wouldn't let us die."

"True." Amorphous Shape 'nodded' before adding, "But what if Mother doesn't come home until after that century?"

That made me pause. "Bill will come back." I stated. She always did. Even if she returned much later than expected, she always made sure to jump through time so it wasn't too long since she'd left.

"Yes. But he's been gone for longer before. He gets distracted. And this 'brother' that Mother spoke about seems like quite the distraction." Ammy narrowed his eyes. Was he… suspicious out that mysterious 'brother' that Bill spoke of?

...he also wasn't wrong. I licked my teeth, "So what are you saying?"

Amorphous Shape shifted his blocks lazily. "Wait for Mother to return before you go through with it. Or, just tell Mother what you and everyone else are planning to do." He almost looked worried. "Doing something like this behind his back might be dangerous. Both for you and Mother." Amorphous Shape told me.

"Look," I groaned. "If I told Bill about wanting to kill Time Baby, she might stop me."

"Yes. That is the point." Amorphous Shape nodded. "Mother should have a choice or opinion in this. Considering it involves him. Besides, as much as I dislike Time Baby, everyone dislikes him too. Including mother. So he should be allowed to be part of this murder plot if we do go through with it."

I stared at Amorphous Shape. "But Bill wouldn't agree to this." I complained. That was the problem! That was why I was going behind Bill's back to do this! I turned away and set about ignoring Amorphous Shape, I had work to do. He didn't say anything else, the silence dragging on between us. I tried to ignore it, reaching to find another screw. The gun should be ready for a test run soon. Not quite sure what to test it on, but if it's a Temporal Destabilizer, shooting anyone who wasn't the literal god of Time itself would probably just have their local time oscillate wildly. In other words, they'd age and deage rapidly back and forth until the effect is turned off.

Which meant I was going to need a test subject.

Preferably a volunteer. Bill's really insistent on that kind of thing. Well, Bill does all sorts of awful things to people, but if it's a Deal, they technically consented when they agreed to shake Bill's hand, and for the other times it's because Bill can't… control her powers all that well.

Which was terrifying.

And how much of a freak does it make me that this fear of Bill's abilities only made me want her more?

So… I turned to my computer and opened a chat with some of my classmates at the university. I've been in school for… a pretty long time now. But they don't care how many degrees I want, as long as I can pay for it. And… I have the credits. I paid for most of it on my own. Bill insisted on helping and, after many years of switching universities and taking on new majors… I finally let her pay for part of it. It made her happy.

But more importantly I knew several classmates who might be willing to be my test subject (in exchange for some favors) and if I could get anyone to get on board with this...

Ammy was being really quiet.

I finally turned around and blinked. He wasn't here. I hadn't heard him leave.

Was this that 'ninja' thing again?

I shook it off, whatever, I had more important things to do. Like send an i-mail to everyone in my temporal studies class.

Of course I was taking a class for that! How else would I have been able to learn how to even build a temporal destabilizer?

....it was incredibly illegal to build something like that. I had to dig pretty deep in order to find anything at all. Apparently anyone who knew anything about how to make a proper one were all killed off by the Federation. Others suffered mysterious 'accidents' and I'm pretty sure those ones were the unfortunate victims of Bill's 'jobs' with Time Baby.

Really. Time Baby stamped down all knowledge he didn't approve of. Especially if it pertained to his destruction. Made sense. I'd probably do that too. But I was still annoyed at that damn god for making my efforts to kill him much more annoying than it should be. I grumbled to myself even as I typed out my proposal in a way that would not indicate my true intentions.

[Kr8tos] Hey guys, wanna help me out with my project?

[grubNugget] Depends… what's it about?

[Arby$] probably something weird or a death canon, like the one he made at one of his last schools!

[Kr8tos] you're all never gonna let me live that sdown are youoo??!

[apocalypseArisen] considering our shared class of unravelling the threads of time and how to go about circumnavigating it im going to say its time related :D

[Kr8tos] Yes. That.

[grubNugget] right yeah. Soooo what's this about? It terms of time thing-- for your project-- and stuf--- since you kinda won't tell anyone about it??

I started typing my response [Well I need to test out my--] when apocalypseArisen sent out [knowing him i bet hes making a weapon to kill time baby :)]

I sputtered. [What?! No! Of cousrse not! What would you think that?] because saying something like that outright was liable to get you killed by the Federation! Then again, she really didn't care about things like that. Weird girl. Never actually met her in person since she was one of those online students.

[apocalypseArisen] personally id love for that to happen that baby is a brat >:(

I paused. Well. At least… someone agreed with me.

[apocalypseArisen] besides i think i mostly want to see what happens when everything breaks apart :D

...then again, she is kind of a psycho...

Still, I played dumb until everyone was sure that AA was just joking like the nutjob she was. It took hours of debate with them before someone agreed. I didn't realize how late it was… or… early? It was the next morning now. I heaved a sigh of relief when Arby$ actually volunteered to be my test dumm-- I mean subject. We made plans to meet up the coming weekend. Success! Now I just needed to cross my fingers and hope that none of us got gunned down by Federation soldiers before then. It shouldn't happen since Hectorgon hacked the systems to hide all of us from Federation wiretapping or whatever the thing was called when they can read anything we text out to anyone else over the net.

"So you're going to test the gun on one of your classmates?"

"FRICKIN VOID!" I gasped and turned to see Ammy peering over my top left edge. "Do you have to keep doing that?!"

"Yes." Amorphous Shape didn't even hesitate. I sighed. Whatever. "Ze agreed to it." I told him.

"Also." Amorphous Shape continued, seeing to ignore my words, "Breakfast is ready." He squinted at me. "Did you even sleep at all?"

"Oh? Who's turn was it to cook today?" I asked, ignoring his other question. Always know that first before going out to eat. I learned that lesson quick. Ugh, I really did stay in my workplace all night. Nice of them to let me, but they shouldn't.

"Technically Teeth." Ammy shrugged. I almost refused to go eat (Teeth always made all sorts of 'healthy' food, which was almost entirely plant based and I wasn't about to go through that right now) but then I blinked. "Technically?"

"He brought his new boyfriend over and Lilie is the one cooking."

I choked. "When did Teeth get a boyfriend?!"

Ammy shrugged. "Last night. Apparently." I felt my mouth drop open even more. "A-and he already brought him HOME?!"

Ammy squinted his eyes in a manner that was… very reminiscent of Bill when she was utterly thrilled by something she found hilarious. Well, he was her son, it figured he would have gotten a lot from her. "Oh, so last night, Teeth and Lilie were at a bar together, and Teeth actually passed out." Ammy's voice almost sounded amused. He was getting much better at inflections and emoting.

I groaned. "Let me guess, Teeth passed out, that new Curse Bill was working on for our protection kicked in, and Teeth got teleported home… and brought Lilie with him?" I will need to tell Bill about this, so she knows to tweak her Curse somewhat to prevent such a thing from happening. Teleporting the person and other people they're touching was going to cause some issues if an enemy managed to get in...

...then again, Bill had that barrier around the Death Star that kept out anyone with malicious intentions. So the fact that Teeth's mysterious (spontaneous) new boyfriend was allowed in and lived meant he was probably not a bad person.

"Yup." Ammy popped his 'p' like Bill did. "So he ended up staying the night. And he is currently making breakfast for everyone." He leaned closer to me, large eye only centimeters from my own. "So are you going to come eat breakfast?"

"...are you…" I leaned back. "...trying to mother me?"

"Well mother isn't here right now. And he would be upset if you didn't get the proper food and rest while he was away." Ammy leaned closer again, not picking up that I wanted some personal space. I sighed and spoke up to let him know, we had to do that often, Ammy didn't pick up on any of this stuff on his own. "Can you back off a little? Like, 2 standard galactic feet?"

Ammy floated back obediently. I nodded. Good. "Well, I am kinda hungry." I admitted. "Is the food any good?"

"I have found no disagreements with it." Ammy told me. Which, for him, meant that the food wasn't up to Bill's level but it wasn't bad. Okay. I guess I could eat that. I looked around my lab and set about fixing things up before I left. Couldn't leave the loose machinery lying around. Too dangerous. I only had to blow up my lab three times before it finally sank in.

"Alright, breakfast!" I cheered. Ammy tilted his 'head' block. "And sleep. You need sleep."

"Uuuuugh~" He was taking this 'mothering me in Bill's absence' thing seriously!

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(Hectorgon POV)

I nursed my drink as I watched the kids putter about the kitchen. While I can't say I thought it was impossible for Teeth to get a boyfriend, I hadn't actually expected such a thing to happen! (No offense to Teeth, he's a great guy, but his humor tends to make everyone except Bill cringe half the time.) And without any warning what-so-ever, Teeth had apparently gotten together with someone and even brought them home (accidentally). The kid, Lilie I believe his name was, was quite adorable even!

I didn't have eyes, but I still glanced over to the side to see Keyhole looking almost… incredulous. "How'd you managed to land yourself such a cute partner?!" Keyhole whined. "You don't even have skin!"

Teeth looked almost smug. "Excuse me?!" He posed dramatically, waggling his large tongue at Keyhole. "I happen to be drop dead GORGEOUS~" He teased. Keyhole groaned and buried his face in his hands. Lilie's ears whipped around as he grew flustered. "I like his smile." The Alpicana told us all, which made Teeth squeak. "Shit, that's so sweet!" Teeth cooed as he leaned against one of Lilie's fluffy legs.

"He's entirely MADE of smile!" Keyhole cried, exasperated with all of this.

Pyronica was losing her shit, laughing hysterically at all this. "Well, I for one, am amazed that out of all of us, Teeth is the first to get an actual partner!" She paused and glanced at me with a guilty look, "Oh right! Sorry." She apologized. I waved her off. It was fine. I didn't really care anymore. It'd been too long. Pyronica nudged Keyhole. "Sooo does that mean you're gonna actually look for a partner and give Bill those grandbabies he wants so much~?"

Keyhole sputtered. "N-no! I--" His teal skin turned brown with the force of his blush. "That's not what I meant at all!" I almost felt bad for the kid, with how embarrassed he looked. I, as one of the few adults in this household, nudged Pyronica. "Leave the kid alone, he's still not ready for starting a family."

Keyhole sent me a grateful look. I simply took another sip of my boiled bean juice. "I'm happy for you." I told Teeth. I wasn't sure how serious he was about this relationship, but this was a sign he was growing up, trying something new. I felt oddly proud of that. Helengon never got the chance to grow up and find a partner. I wonder… have I really taken on this new family as my children? Not in her place, no. But… the fondness in my core when I watched Teeth nuzzle against Lilie as the two worked in the kitchen together to bring the plates of food over to the dining area… I felt so… happy for him. So proud.

I glanced around. Noting that the dining room/kitchen wasn't as loud and rowdy as usual. "Where is everyone?" Pyronica shrugged. "Kryptos never came home last night. I sent Ammy to go get him." She frowned, looking around and groaned. "8-Ball's not here… but I'm sure he left to go home last night…"

"Maybe he's still asleep?" Keyhole got off his stool and pattered off to go get him. I got up as well. "I'm going to go find Paci." Pyronica waved as the two of us left. I could hear Lilie comment, "How large is this household?" before I hopped out of earshot.

---

(8-Ball POV)

Oh no. Ooooh no.

What do I do?

"8-Ball? You awake?" I could hear Keyhole's muffled voice from the other side of the door. He knocked again. "Breakfast is ready."

I looked down at the tubular baby who was sticking to my side, literally. "Uuuh…" What do I do? If the others find out about it, they're gonna make me give him back! But I wanted to keep him! He's so cuuute~

Huh… is this how Bill felt when he adopted all of us?

I shook my head, feeling my eyes roll around. Okay, don't panic. Uhhh maybe… maybe those tubulars I met last night would let me keep him? Wait, more importantly, I have to hide Toobie! If the others saw him they would get so mad at me for accidental kidnapping! I looked around my room for something to hide Toobie in.

I tried to gently pull him off my side and put him on my bed, but he made a sad noise and clung on even tighter. Awww…. I stroked his side with my finger. Okay~ I won't make you leave me. Okay. So… if Toobie won't let go, then I need some other way to hide him.

"8-Ball? Are you there?"

"Y-yeah! I just woke up!" I called out. I hear Keyhole chuckle. "Wow. How late did you stay up last night?" I stumbled around my room, trying to find anything I could use. "I…" quick! Think of an excuse! "I was…" I grabbed one of my bedsheets. "...watching porn…"

"....oh…"

I wrapped the bedsheet around myself. "Y-yeah. It was… really… good?"

"Too much information dude. Well come out when you're… ah… decent? I'm going to eat breakfast." I hear his slapping footsteps as he left. I heaved a sigh of relief and finished adjusting the sheet. I tied the corners together a few times to secure it in place and once I was sure I was covered, I left my room. "Shhh. Stay quiet okay Toobie?" I told him. Toobie nuzzled against my side and stayed quiet.

I made my way down the hall, through a door that only appeared when someone knocked on the wall in a certain way, and took that shortcut to the kitchen through the other door which opened from the wall beside the refrigerator. "Morning!" I greeted everyone. Keyhole was seated and eating. It looked like some sort of mixed nuts and meat dish. There was a side of soup as well. It certainly smelled pretty good. Keyhole looked up from his food to greet me back but paused at the… what did Bill call this type of clothing? A toga?

He opened his mouth to comment, thought better of it, closed his mouth and just gave me a thumb's up. Pyronica had no such qualms. "What the heck are you wearing?" She laughed. I shrugged. "I… wanted to look pretty." I wonder if I should feel embarrassed by this? But Bill wore all sorts of weirder things all the time.

Before Pyronica could respond, we all heard PaciFire's gruff voice grumble, "Wait, you too?"

Teeth looked over and his jaw dropped. "P-Paci?!"

Hectorgon was standing beside PaciFire who was… in a dress. I noted that it actually looked pretty good on him. PaciFire flushed a darker color. "I thought it would be… nice to try something different today." He glanced over at me. "I guess I wasn't the only one." He fidgeted a little, pulling at his skirt. "I… actually feel better knowing I'm not the only one trying it out."

I blinked. Oh. I… hadn't expected this to be the outcome, but if wearing my bedsheet made Paci feel better, then I'm glad I did so. Pyronica gave PaciFire a grin and applauded him. "Well you look amazing~" she told him with a laugh. "Where'd you get that dress? Do they have one in my size?"

It was around then that Ammy and Kryptos came in. Kryptos stopped, stared at the two of us, and then face palmed with a loud slap. "I'm not even gonna ask." He grumbled before walking over to the serving bowls to scoop himself some breakfast. Pyronica lit up. "Oh my flame~ we should ALL dress up todaaaaay!" She turned to give a wide toothy grin at Lilie. "You're invited too!"

Lilie's ear whipped around. "M-me?!" He squeaked. Teeth grinned. "Welcome to my friends. We have fun here."

I wasn't sure what I'd started but… Hectorgon looked smug as he patted PaciFire's leg. And the Demon-Imp looked… more assured and happy. I wonder why? He'd looked almost nervous earlier, but now he had a small smile. It was a nice expression. We all settled in for breakfast, chatting and enjoying each other's company. I nearly forgot about Toobie. I was abruptly made aware of this when he let out a whimper. Probably from being hungry! I hadn't thought to feed him!

I'm a terrible mommy!

But more than that, everyone turned to me.

"Did… your stomach just whimper?" Kryptos asked slowly. Pyronica snorted. "That's the weakest ass stomach growl I've ever heard! That means you're not that hungry, right? Does that mean I get your share?" She was already reaching over for my plate. I pulled it away and cradled it to my chest protectively. "You heard nothing!" I got up from my seat and shuffled backward out of the room, scooping up another ladle of food into my plate as I went. "I'm going to eat in my room."

As I left, I heard PaciFire asking, "Is he okay? 8-Ball's been acting weird today."

I hurried back to my room and unwrapped my bedsheet. Toobie blinked his round eyes at me and whimpered again. "It's okay, I'm sorry. I'll feed you now. Can… you eat this?" I held out my plate and Toobie squealed before stretching his gelatinous body forward and taking a bite of the food. I could see it inside his body. It began to dissolve as his inner slime juice ate away at it. That was pretty cool. I continued feeding him. He must have been hungry, scarfing down the food like this.

And then Toobie bit me during his feeding frenzy.

I lifted up my arm and Toobie hung down from it, gnawing uselessly at the thick skin. "Ah, I'm not food." I told him. He growled playfully. I laugh and hold up my other hand to gently pull him off me. So cute~

I knew I probably couldn't keep Toobie. But… Bill got to keep us. I'm sure… if I asked, and Toobie agreed, I could keep him. I'd take good care of him! I'd be a good mommy for him! Toobie wobbled around and stuck to my side again. He did feel cold. I was warm, he must like that. I wrapped myself in the sheet again and thought about what to do now. I could go about my day as usual.

And that meant going to work. I don't work often but the job wasn't hard. They just need someone strong to carry things. It paid enough for me to have pocket money. I would need that. If I wanted to keep Toobie, I need supplies! And those cost credits. I also need to think about how to convince Toobie's parents(?) that I would be able to take care of him. And that I didn't kidnap surprise adopt him on purpose.

Is this what 'responsibility' was? No wonder Bill always complained about it. Responsibly is hard!

---

(Pyronica POV)

I think I'll spend today visiting the kids. They were full adults now I shouldn't really be calling them kids, but I'm still their mother, even if they look older than me now. (And wasn't that a distressing thought?)

...I knew they were going to die one day. It wasn't a thought I was happy about. But… it was still better than having them be made immortal if they didn't want to be. I gave them the talk about it. Bill gave them the choice. They chose to be mortal, which I was grateful for, but… seeing my darling daughter with wrinkles was… jarring. It was hard to remember sometimes, that the world continues on outside of my own experiences. That even as I stay the same as I was for years and years, other people are growing and changing. I felt tired, suddenly. I didn't like thinking about this. It was… scary.

I had all of time before me. It hadn't seemed so daunting before, up until I realized, really realized that I was going to lose my children. That was a thing that was going to happen.

I'd known it would happen, had made peace with it. But there's an existential horror in seeing the signs of age growing along my son's face, as he plays with his children. My grandchildren. And… knowing that his eldest daughter is nearly of age to mate and form her own family.

Time goes by too soon. Here and gone. And I don't like that I can think about that, understand that, now.

I'm not the smart one. Not like Hec. Not like Kryptos. Not like Bill. I'm not the one for thinking about deep philosophical shit. Not like Ammy. I'm just the party girl. I have fun. I don't think about things. I don't stress and worry. Because I hate that shit. If there's a problem or if I'm unhappy, I just punch it. Punch and burn whatever's bothering me. Indulge in sex and shopping and FUN until it doesnt bother me anymore.

But I guess even someone as simple as I am can start thinking too much. It's been too quiet these past few centuries. We've been on good behavior. No rampaging. No mindless fun. I had to be a mother. I had to be responsible. I had to actually grow up.

And that fucking sucks.

I go out to the dance club and fuck anyone who would catch my eye. But afterwards, when I'm alone with my thoughts, I realize how...

...

...I wish I were stupid.

I wish I were simple and airheaded enough to not have these thoughts. I wish I didn't learn how to be so introspective. I wish I didn't stress about what life would bring, what the future may hold.

...my children are lucky to be mortal.

I don't regret what I did. I don't regret agreeing to be Bill's Friend. As scared as I could sometimes get, in those quiet moments when I'm on my own with nothing to occupy my time, I didn't regret my choice at all. It was my choice. I asked to he his friend. Even if I hadn't known what it would entail, I had still chosen in.

And if I could go back, back to when I was young and meeting Bill for the first time, if I knew then what I did now, I would choose him anyway. Always and forever

Bill is my best friend. And I loved him more than I could ever say. But even if I'm too dumb for words, I can let my actions speak for me. And that is to live. For his sake and my own.

...I'm not stupid. Bill may have forced immortality onto us, but he had the foresight and mercy to give us an 'out'. We could still die. We could still choose to leave him. And that is why I choose to live. Live on as his Friend. Even if it's scary sometimes. Even if it's hard sometimes.

Even if I fear the day my children pass from this world and leave me.

Because the thought of how much it would hurt everyone if I was gone was so much worse.

So I hide my apprehension. We all do. I can see that several of the others had thought about this, even if none of us have ever spoken about it.

...truthfully, I worry about Teeth. He hasn't really thought about mortality. He's pursuing his dream, living on that stage and smiling out at the world. Actually, perhaps he has thought of it. Perhaps he's gotten good enough at acting that I can't tell what he's thinking. If so, then I worry for him. His relationship. Lilie is mortal. I worry.

I didn't have to worry about my partner. He died so that I could have children. That was normal. And I didn't like him as more than just a nice fuck to knock me up. But Teeth is dating this guy. I don't know how serious he is about it. But I worry.

...well, it's none of my business.

I put it out of my mind.

However that relationship ends, we would be here to help him through it. So like all things, deal with it as it came. Don't worry so much. I try my best not to. It's hard sometimes, when everything catches up to me.

...Uuugh I'm bumming myself out! Screw that, I need to do something fun! Hm… well… Bill's not here… I'm sure I could get away with a little misbehaving~

---

(PaciFire POV)

No one… really seemed to mind. I excused myself after breakfast to go back to my room and heaved a sigh. Ok. So… no one made fun of me for being in a dress. That...

...actually, of course they didn't make fun of me for being in a dress. Bill was in a dress half the time.

I shook my head and laughed. Yeah. I had no reason to be afraid of what the others thought. We were friends. Family. It would be stranger to think that they would mock me. Still, knowing something in my head and seeing it in reality was different.

(Then again, Bill often told us that reality is perceived through our minds as an illusion created by our senses, and therefore what we experience in the real world has just as much weight as that which we experience within our own minds.)

But I felt almost giddy. I was so relieved. They didn't mock me. Even if I'm not cute and delicate and don't match this dress at all-- no, I shouldn't think like that. Pyronica told me I looked great. And despite how flippant she could be, I knew her well enough to know she didn't give empty compliments. It did make me feel a little more confidant.

But that didn't mean I was confident enough to wear a dress outside the house. This wasn't something I could do in public. And even around my friends, I don't think I'd be able to do it often. Funny how I was so timid on this matter. Blood and violence didn't phase me. That was just business as usual, but being pretty in front of others...

(It was a thrill. A heart racing apprehension. So many ups and down in my mood all through the process of sitting there during breakfast, feeling uncomfortably warm as the dress seemed much too tight on me.)

...I wasn't sure how to feel.

It took all the courage I had to simply show up for breakfast. Putting on my dress and leaving the safe privacy of my room. It took so much for me to do it. I could go for multiple rounds of combat, wrestle with another demon-imp three times my size for hours-- and that wouldn't even be close to the exhaustion I felt right now.

I was happy, in a vague way, that I did it. But my heart wouldn't calm, I stripped the too-tight dress off, and slumped over on my bed. My hands were shaking. I didn't know how to feel.

I don't think I'd be able to do that again. Not for a while.

But I couldn't keep the smile off my face.

---

(Queen POV)

I haven't heard from Eclipsa in a while.

I cleaned my antenna as I rested from working all day. Rebuilding a kingdom is difficult. The silverfish had elected me as their queen. I can't say it was a surprise, not after all I did to help them regain their sanity over the past couple centuries. I admit I had been quite busy and lost contact with my fellow butterfly queen during that time. Still, she usually called, if only to vent about how awful things were with the arranged husband she didn't love.

The last I heard, she was going to elope with her true love Globgor. I haven't heard from her after that. Part of me worried. Eclipsa was an intelligent young woman but she was still just one person alone against the world during the war ravaging her kingdom. Her dimensional section was run by a different governing body. It made communication difficult enough, but more importantly, it meant that even if I left my own world, I wouldn't be able to get to where she was if she were in trouble. The Federation had restrictions on travel to parts of the multiverse not under their control.

...I would just have to trust her to be okay. I got up and continued my work, carefully lifting and sliding the rocks into place in the broken wall before me.

"Your majesty! What are yo-you doing out here!" A silverfish girl gasped when she saw me. I twitched my wings. "The recent earthquake collapsed the wall. I was fixing it."

"B-but that is our job! You shouldn't have to--"

"It's fine." I waved her off. The downside of being elected queen again was everyone thinking I shouldn't lift a tarsus to do anything. It was something they learned from old records left behind that had survived the fire Bill had blazed through the kingdom. After centuries of independence, it was quite annoying. The silverfish practically worship me, calling me their 'Beautiful, undying queen' (which wasn't incorrect, but it was still--) and trying to dote on me. I used to enjoy it, back when I ruled Iznang. But I had grown used to doing things by myself, for myself and being… treated like a larva was frustrating.

Still, I knew they did not mean to offend me, quite the opposite. So I just continued working. They will learn with time that it is fine to buck tradition, no matter what the history books say. Soon, they might even be ready to reopen communication with the rest of Poelia. That would be wonderful. The kingdom of Hela had been isolated for far too long in their madness.

"But…" the silverfish girl twitched. I shook my abdomen and laughed. "It is fine. But you may help me in rebuilding, if you wish." She seemed delighted to do so. I couldn't help my fondness for her eagerness.

We finished the wall and she followed me as I continued doing my inspections for more places in need of repair. Many of the silverfish were working. I spent years teaching them construction, it was good to see my efforts have borne fruit as they did not need me to talk them through all the steps anymore. I hear a cry of surprise from a group of them as something large made its way toward me. I could hear their distress as they couldn't tell if the lumbering creature was an enemy or not.

I quickly assured them all. "Xanthar! Oh, little one, it has been too long." I flew forward to embrace him. No matter where I went on this planet, he always managed to find me. The softness of his fur was reassuring. How many years had it been? I could feel him relax against me. Gentle as always despite his bulk. "My little one, you grow bigger every time I see you." I laughed.

"Y-your majesty? What is this creature?" One of the larger silverfish asked. "This is Xanthar. My dear friend. Don't be afraid. He is a gentle one." I twitched my antenna. "But be warned, do not ever speak of him with disrespect. For a Curse was placed to protect him from wicked words."

They all gave Xanthar the utmost respect. It was almost funny.

"Is Bill here?" I asked him. Xanthar shook his head. Ah, so the god has gone off on another of his journeys. No doubt the little one was missing him.

"Well you're free to stay for as long as you wish." I told Xanthar, as I've always told him. I knew that he knew this, but saying it aloud for him never failed to make him feel better.

The happy snuffle only proved my point.

I stroked his fur fondly. "Well then, little one, would you like to help me with the repairs for this city?" He nodded, always eager to help.

Although I knew he missed Bill dearly, I was glad to have him with me for a while. I hope that wasn't selfish of me.

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