Her mind was drifting. It was like being surrounded in a mist, she didn't really feel her body, yet she felt like she was approaching something. How long had it been since was even vaguely aware of a dream? She had been trained from a young age to, when she went to sleep, breathe in such a way that most of her sleep was very shallow. Chelsea wasn't sure if she had ever dreamed, but then, people usually didn't remember or were even vaguely aware of most of their dreams, or so she heard. She tried to say something, but her mouth didn't even open. Did she even have one?

She reached it. Whatever it was that she was approaching, it was right next to her. No, that's wrong. It had always been next to her. No, that's wrong. She was inside it the whole time, swallowed. It wasn't a mist. They were shadows. One huge shadow. No, hundreds of shadows. Not quite right, it was thousands upon thousands of shadows. That wasn't right either. Millions of shadows surrounded her, from all sides. No, even that was optimistic. A billions shadows peered into her, full of malice. She tried turning away, so afraid, but they were everywhere, here and there, wherever she turned. She closed her eyes but could still see them, or did she even have eyelids? One in particular was always there, everywhere. A woman, a beautiful and terrifying woman. So angry, so sad, so hurt, so dangerous. The shadows screamed in a cacophony, showing their displeasure, but it ended soon as it began. The woman had stopped it. She screamed, and the shadows screamed in unison: They were one and the same. Chelsea tried covering her ears, but nothing stopped the scream of a billion souls. The woman was right next to Chelsea now. She grabbed Chelsea's arm, looking at her with the hatred of a billion souls and pulled her arm with the strength of a billion souls. Did she even feel pain? It didn't mater. She was so scared, she wanted to run, she tried to run, but she had no legs. The woman grabbed her by the throat. She was going to die, she could feel it. How could she resist? Such a wave, such a power. But she didn't want to die, or be swallowed. She had to... The dream ended.

“Chelsea! Chelsea!” She still wasn't quite awake, but through her half opened eyes, she could recognize a room in the Unbreakable. Was it an ICU? She couldn't really see all that well. “You're awake! Praise the Flame!” She couldn't more very well either, and it wasn't that she had sleep paralysis, she was bound. “Call the nurses! She can be unbound now!”

It still took some time for her to completely wake up, but eventually, Chelsea was sitting on her bed, talking with Franz.

“So... Would you care to explain?”

She was quite irritated at having woken up bound in steel cables.

“What? You're talking about us getting our asses kicked.” She shook her head. “Uhm, you talking about the fact that I'm already up and about while you're still in bed?” How dare he! Was that a brag? She must have looked quite frightening, because he quickly apologized. “Uh, sorry, sorry, that wasn't my intention.” He slightly turned his head and looked at the steel cables, now on the ground. “Oh! You mean these!”

“Of course I am! What could I be so irritated about?”

“You were having a lot of spasms, you know cables like these are the only thing that can hold people augmented like us. And I thought you would be more frustrated about how we almost defeated her, but couldn't close the deal.”

Almost defeated her? How could it be right? She was sure that they were completely destroyed... Or was it a dream? Now she couldn't really tell her memories from her dream. Was she crushed then dreamed of a close fight? Or did she almost kill the Matriarch then dreamed of a badly lost fight? Franz was talking about a close call, so she decided to go with that. It was weird. She remembered losing an arm, but it was already back, the augment engineers aboard the Unbreakable were really quite good. Although, she didn't quite know for how long she had slept. She tried to show a reassuring smile.

“Well, considering all the ludicrous things we heard about her and saw she doing. I think a close fight like that was way beyond the level of acceptable, you know?”

“Yeah, you're right.”

They sat still, happily relaxing from each others presence. It was soothing to know that, at least for a few moments, a few hours, they were now safe. She still didn't know how she had been rescued from that crumbling city, had no idea of the details surrounding their flight from Trestia or even if Lia was still even alive. But for now, for those very few moments, she could just calmly breathe and live. She was alive, he was alive, they were alive together, at least for now.

The moment was interrupted the opening of a door, letting in Jonah, who had the face of a very tired and stressed man.

“Oh, it is true, you are awake, Lady Shadow. If you would let me ask a few questions...”

He tried approaching Chelsea, but was blocked by Franz, who didn't look very pleased.

“What do you need from her? I already told you all that I know about our fight with the Matriarch. She was knocked unconscious before me, there isn't really anything new she can tell you. Please, go somewhere else.”

Jonah didn't move, and he didn't seem in the mood to change his mind.

“You don't get it, I need to check for any inconsistencies... Can... Can I just be able to ask some fucking questions? Is that really so unreasonable?”

Franz wasn't moving either.

“She needs to rest and relax, not get pestered about that life or death situation. Give up on any questions for now.”

Usually, Chelsea would feel annoyed about having someone stand up for her like that, as if she couldn't defend herself with words, but in the vulnerable state that she was, she could appreciate the help. It reminded her of why she loved that man beyond a physical manner.

“Egregius, I understand that you might be nervous about something, considering you know so much more about the Matriarch than us, while not telling us much.” She got a small jab in. “But to give you a very rough overview. Me and Franz, along with Alexander's Shadow and Sword, Frederick and Thomas, fought a relatively balanced duel with the Matriarch, it cost the lives of Frederick and Thomas, as well as me losing consciousness and an arm, but we did wound her enough that something weird happened with the Infected, almost like her power over them waned for a few moments. I can't remember much else. I trust that's close enough to Franz''s account?”

She wasn't about to talk how uncertain she actually felt about the veracity of these memories. Jonah raised his eyebrows, looking very displeased.

“Fuck. You talked to each other about what happened before I got here, didn't you? Damn it, he polluted you memories. You're all too naive.”

Before she or Franz could retort, the old man had left the room. What was that all about? Did he think there was something wrong with her and Franz's memories of the fight? If she was being honest, it did feel very strange and surreal. She wasn't quite sure herself what had been dream and what had been reality. She then realized that she didn't want to. They were alive, that was all that mattered.

Everything was good now, or so they thought. Before she fully recovered, there was one last visitor.

“Chelsea Williams, Franz Mann!”

It was a voice which they had never heard so angry before.

“Matarazzo, what's wrong?”

He looked at them, wavering between angry and dumbfounded, seemingly confused at how Chelsea could ask such a question. To him, there was only one obvious reason for his anger.

“Are you serious? What's wrong? What's wrong? Have you talked to Princess Lia? Have you looked at her recently? You are supposed to be her guardians, destroyers of everything that stands in her way! How dare either of you live after failing in such a disgraceful way!”

Those were some heavy words, which completely shocked Chelsea. Did she fail? In fact, ever since she woke up, did she think of Lia at all? For the first time in her life, she wasn't sure if she was suited to be Lia's Shadow. Franz seemed to have a different idea, he was outraged.

“How dare you! Fail? Look at how much we were wounded! Do you doubt our loyalty or something? Are you sure you want to go down that road?”

Slightly intimidated by Franz, Matarazzo backed down some, but his voice still had some bite.

“Not your loyalty, just your competence. Prince Alexander's Shadow and Sword died, so did the prince. Do you think their deaths voids their failure?”

They did die, didn't they? Now that Chelsea thought about it, how did it end up that Alexander died and Lia lived? Weren't they running away together, when the fight with the Matriarch started? Perhaps he protected her at the cost of his life?

“Just our competence, is it? We fought and seriously wounded a Matriarch, something that can get flung from a speeding train into a collapsing building and suffer no injuries whatsoever. Do you dare to disrespect that?”

Also, it was weird, since when was Franz so assertive? She wasn't sure if that was a positive thing. At least for that moment it was, she still hadn't recovered enough to Matarazzo's barrage of verbal attacks, which kept going, even if he looked slightly hesitant to say it to Franz's face.

“Your function, your duty, is to protect the princess. Can you truly say you have done that?”

“Is she not alive? We have protected her from the Matriarch, the greatest danger we have ever faced. How have we failed?”

Matarazzo sighed. He gave up on direct attacks.

“Fine, if you think so. Go talk to her. Then you tell me if she acts like someone who was protected.”