Raynauld held onto Felicia as she slumped to the floor, her head resting on his shoulder as she let out a small groan. “Felicia, stay with me, come on, wake up.” He grabbed on, keeping her close as she leaned into him, completely limp. Quickly moving a hand to support her weight, he let out a sigh of relief as she took a deep inhale and then let out a long exhale; she was just asleep, probably from exerting herself so much while being drained. A normal person would barely be able to move during that, much less use their ether, so it would make sense she would be exhausted. Even so, he was still panicking. He had no idea how her body worked now, and he assumed that she didn’t either. Just based on the things she had just done, her powers had exponentially grown alongside her dexterity. The control she had when blasting Tylocke’s head apart was amazing, and the amount of force she emitted would have left her reeling if she had the same amount of power as normal.

However, the abbadon wings were concerning, especially with the crystal manipulation. No human should’ve been able to do that, at least that he knew of. As he held onto Felicia’s curled up body, he brushed the hair from her face. She looked just as she did before, quietly sleeping with a slight hint of worry on her face. While her eyes were closed at the moment, he knew that they were a shade lighter than before, at least when they weren’t red. None of that mattered though, she was alive, that was enough. Although, he was still unsettled, not by her appearance, but by her reactions. She killed Tylocke in an instant and without hesitation, without remorse. Everything about her emotionally seemed similar to varying degrees, but that was an outlier. Felicia used to not even be able to bear the sight of blood, much less an exploded skull. Even if it was against absolute scum, the gruesomeness would’ve had an effect.

Letting out a long sigh, he shook his head. She had lost her memories and was fighting for her life, there was no way to tell what she was thinking. He wasn’t blaming her for anything, he could never in the situation she was in, but a part of him was still lost and confused. Everything about her was so familiar yet foreign, from her mannerisms to her speech. Her voice sounded the same but felt more gentle yet assertive, the things she said were understandable but had a different type of hesitancy behind them, and the way she walked still had an air of caution around it, but she moved with a sense of assurance. Yet, the way she was sleeping on him was the exact same as before, like that one time on a bench during the festival, like the late night up on one of the islands, like the morning after the all-nighter she pulled after sneaking out from her room. But she wouldn’t remember any of that.

Raynauld slumped back on the wall, wrapping his hand around Felicia’s armless shoulder. What was he supposed to do? He didn’t even know what she wanted before she had lost her memories, and it took her dying to tell him. What was the right way to protect her if she didn’t remember anything? How was he supposed to protect her if everybody back at the city would be terrified of her? How was he supposed to explain that she was just a girl who got put somewhere she never should’ve been? How was he supposed to explain how much he cared for her? Closing his eyes, he leaned his head back and took a shaking inhale. It all was too much, it all was so overwhelming. But she was alive. She was right there, in his arms, and she deserved a second chance.

Felicia groaned and stirred in her sleep, her eyes still closed and her body still limp. As her fingers started to grasp onto his clothing, he gently put his hand in hers which she held onto. She felt so fragile, so small.

The ether was transferred?

Raynauld snapped his gaze upwards, quickly scanning around but finding nothing.

She’s powerful, extremely so. You have a lot on your hands.

“What do you want?”

Can I not check in on one of my kind? I merely want to see how she’s doing.

“... If you’re like her, why can’t she speak in my head?”

I’ve been alive for much longer than she has, I’ve picked up a few things.

“But why are you speaking with me?”

I wanted to give you some advice.

Raynauld remained silent and let the voice continue.

You don’t understand what she is or what she can do, so you best be wary. All of us lose something, our memory being the main one, but most of us lose our minds as well.

“But she-”

Is fine, at the moment at least. She will lose more, what it’ll be I don’t know. I lost my body, but she could lose something else.

“But what though?”

I told you I don’t know. You’re committed to staying with her, correct?

“Yes. I am.”

Good. She’ll have an anchor at least. Be careful with how you treat her.

“Why are you telling me all of this?”

Because I would rather she didn’t go insane, it would be disappointing. Once she wakes up I’ll work with her to get you back to your world.

“Wait, what?”

You want to go back, don’t you?

“You can do that?”

Of course.

“But how? What do we need to do?” He called out but received no response to his question.

You need some rest as well, I’ll be seeing you.

He stuttered as the voice disappeared, leaving him in silence. A wave of nausea came over him as his muscles relaxed and he let his body fall into the wall. Felicia’s head still rested on his shoulder as he slowly groaned, staring blankly into the distance. If the still ominously terrifying voice was telling the truth, they might be out of wherever they were soon.

~

Sirius let out a heavy exhale as he slowed his pace, looking at his surroundings. Noise to his left caught his ear and he turned to see a familiar figure walk forward, her feet dragging on the ground. Lianne stopped in place and looked up to him, her eyes tired and breaths ragged. He approached her and she stepped back, her hands reaching for her sword. Stopping in place, he hesitantly spoke. “Are you hurt?”

She looked at him and then dropped her hands, grumbling a sigh. “No.”

“... Lianne, I just want to help you.”

“I never asked you to.”

“I know, but…” He turned away and nodded. “I can’t just sit back and watch.”

Lianne shook her head, looking down to the ground. “They’re not dead yet.”

“Lianne-”

“She’s unconscious. I left her.”

He stopped speaking, scanning her up and down again. She stood in place, her arms limp by her side and her head turned away. “... I had my chance and wasted it. You win. Congratulations.”

“The point wasn’t to win.”

“Well I lost, so where does that leave you?”

“I… I don’t know.”

She looked up to him, shaking her head. “You threw away so much to take this from me, are you happy?”

“I…” He lowered his head and gripped his hand into a fist, taken aback. Lianne grimaced and turned around. “... Sorry.”

He didn’t reply as they both stood still, letting the wind blow through the streets. The leaves on the almost dead plants rustled softly as Lianne sighed. “... The girl is alive.”

“... What?”

“She’s named Felicia, right? Apparently she was the daughter of… you get it.”

“N-no, I don’t, I saw her body, she was dead, what happened to her? What about Raynauld?”

“Who?”

“The- nevermind, how did it happen?”

“I don’t fucking know, but she’s now connected to me and can shrug off slit throats and stabs to the chest. Also has some abomination of an arm.”

Sirius started to move, shaking his head. “We need to find her.”

“I don’t think I do.”

“I do.”

“I don’t think you understand, any help you could give wouldn’t matter.”

“I still need to go.”

Lianne shook her head, pointing to the side of her skull. “If I get near her I’m going to want to kill myself again, so you can have fun. I’m staying as far from her as possible, I’ve had enough of that family.”

Sirius stopped and turned back to her. “... What is she to you?”

“... I have no idea. Another monster?”

“You’ve already tried to kill her?”

“... Yeah.”

Sirius stepped towards her with clenched fists. “How could you try to hurt somebody like that?”

“She got in my way-”

“Because you tried to kill her mother! What else…” He sighed and shook his head. “Nevermind, I get it.”

“... She’s going to either hurt people or get hurt by them.”

“I know, but she’s not stupid enough to not realize that.”

Lianne shook her head. “She has so much power, if she really wanted to fight, nobody would stand a chance.”

“And yet you attacked her.”

Lianne snapped her gaze up to him and stared for a moment before chuckling. “Yeah, I did.”

“... You really do have a death wish.”

“Took you long enough, was it not obvious from the start?”

“Lianne-”

She turned around with a grumbling sigh. “I don’t want to hear it.”

Sirius followed her, hesitant. “Is this really what you want?”

“Excuse me?”

“All of this, is this what you want?”

She glared at him, meeting his eyes. “What do you think?”

Staying silent he maintained her gaze. A brief silence followed and she broke away, growling. “If I had it my way, I never would’ve met any of you.”

“This doesn’t have to be how it ends.”

She grumbled and quickly whipped back around, briskly walking away from him once again.

“Lianne, listen-”

“I’ve sat here and listened to your naive bullshit for long enough.”

He jogged after her, but was interrupted by her quickly spinning around and pointing a finger into his chest. “Whatever you have to say, I’ve heard you say it before.”

“You don’t have to do this alone.”

She stared at him and then chuckled. “You really are just stupid, huh?”

“I’m serious.”

“And I’m Lianne.”

He let out a long sigh and followed as she started to walk away. “Look, just hear me out, we need to get out of this world anyways, and we’ll probably be going out alongside one another. So why don’t we stick together?”

“Yeah, and let you keep on nagging me? No thanks.”

“It still looks like you need it-”

“Oh, and there you go again, see what I mean? The thing that irritates me about you is how fucking rightous you think you are-”

“And what annoys me is that you won’t stop and think for one moment.”

She rolled her eyes and walked away. “You’re insufferable.”

“And so are you, but I still want you to give this a shot.”

“Are you a masochist?”

“Maybe, who knows.” He let out another long sigh and moved in front of her. “Look, I’m not doing this because I want to control you, I just want us to work together.”

She raised an eyebrow, crossing her arms. “What, you’re lonely?”

“You certainly are.”

“And I have been for years now, your point?”

“Why don’t you just give it a try?”

She tilted her head down and placed a hand on her forehead. “... You’re an idiot.” Looking back up, she threw her arms up in resignation. “Fine. Fine, I’ll let you tag along like a lost puppy, but I’m kicking you out as soon as I get tired of you talking.”

“Fine by me.”

She scanned around them and then looked back at Sirius. “So what’s the plan? Unless you’ve been hiding some secret way to go back.”

He paused for a moment before looking around and scratching his head. “Well… I don’t have a plan yet.”

“Great, you’re helping a bunch.”

“Hey, do you have any better ideas?”

Lianne frowned and let out a long sigh. “... I do, yeah.”

“Really?”

“You remember how we got here?”

“... Through Avaria?”

Grimacing, she nodded and turned back around. “And now somebody has even more power than her.”

“But that was through some ritual, we don’t even know how it was accomplished.”

“Better than nothing.”

Lianne started to walk away as Sirius sighed, knowing she was right. He just hoped that Felicia was okay.

~

Raynauld’s eyes opened to the sound of heavy breathing. He cursed himself for falling asleep and quickly looked down to Felicia who clutched onto his hand tightly. She had her neck craned back, and was sweating as she squirmed in place, her body still leaning on Raynauld’s. He quickly held her close, trying to keep her still. “Felicia, hey, Felicia, wake up.”

Her eyes snapped open as she took a choking inhale, still shivering. Raynauld held onto her hand and looked down to her body. “What’s wrong?”

“M-my arm, it…” She winced in pain and tried to calm her breaths. Raynauld examined her arm, trying to figure out what was wrong.

“No, t-the other one.”

He stared at her right shoulder, realizing what she meant. He had heard of soldiers feeling intense lingering pain in their lost limbs, but he had no idea how to help. She held onto his hand and looked down to her shoulder, taking in exasperated deep breaths. A purple mist swirled as the crystals started to crackle and fade into existence. Looking down to her arm, Felicia’s breathing started to calm as Raynauld watched her flex her crystal hand. He kept supporting her and silently calmed himself as she started to relax her body. “... Is it alright?”

“Better than before. Thank you.” She gave him a smile and paused for a second before hesitantly moving her weight off him. “... Sorry.”

“It’s okay.”

She looked back up to him and then slowly leaned her head back onto his shoulder, quietly exhaling. “... I’ll be alright, just give me a little bit.”

Raynauld stiffened as she put her weight onto him, unsure of what to do. Carefully shifting himself, he moved so she could lean on him more comfortably. A short moment followed before Felicia broke the silence with a quiet voice. “Raynauld?”

“Yes?”

“Am I still the same?”

He looked down to her and sat uncomfortably in silence. Felicia lowered her head and slowly nodded. “... How different is it?”

Raynauld stuttered and quickly shook his head and gripped onto her hand. “You’re still the same person as before, and… I just wasn’t prepared for any of this.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t apologize, you haven’t done anything wrong. You’re alive and that’s what matters.”

“But… but what if I never get better?”

“Then I’ll stay with you.”

“What about the city? And all the other things we used to do?”

“That… you don’t need to worry about that.”

“Why not?” She shifted her gaze up to him, her voice still timid.

“The city is… I don’t know how understanding of the situation they would be.”

“.... You mean me?”

“Well… yes.”

“But why?”

Raynauld struggled to find his words as he gripped tighter onto Felicia’s hand. “In the city, we- well, not just the city- or I mean…” He took a deep breath and met Felicia’s gaze. “People associate the crystals with monsters, and… they’re scared of them. The wings especially. I’m sorry, y-you’re not anything like what people are scared of, but….”

She slowly nodded in recognition, her eyes saddening. “... But they’ll be fine with you?”

“... Felicia-”

She shook her head and slowly shuffled herself away. “I can’t ruin that for you.” Her voice got quieter, turning into a whisper. “I can’t drag you down with me if the rest of the world will hate me.”

“I won’t lose you again.”

“You don’t have to, it’s just…” She quickly looked up to him and then down to the floor as she pulled her knees towards her chest. “If you bring me there and I follow what they say, you’ll be fine, right?”

“... But- I- Felicia, I have no idea what would happen to you, I don’t think-”

“You’d be fine, right?”

“I… think so.”

“Then why don’t we do that? You can go back home safely.”

“They might try to experiment with you, or even outright kill you. It’s not safe.”

“I don’t think it would matter what they would do. I came back to life once already.”

Raynauld shook his head and reached his arms out, embracing her. “I can’t let you get hurt.”

“But you won’t be able to go back then.”

“I know, and I’m okay with that.”

“... Raynauld, why do all of this for me?”

He paused, taking a moment to compose himself before speaking.“Because I’ve failed you once already, I won’t do it again.”

She remained silent and hugged Raynauld back, her crystal hand gently clutching his shoulder. “I’ll be okay, it’s alright.” Taking a deep breath in, she exhaled a whisper. “I just don’t want to take things from you that I can’t remember the importance of.”

He nodded and leaned his head onto her shoulder, knowing that he was making a commitment that he couldn’t reverse. But he was fine with it. She slowly separated from him and looked up to his face, her crystal hand still on his arm. “Are you sure of this? You’ll still have time to decide otherwise.”

“I’m sure.”

She nodded and released her hand, giving him a small smile. “I’ll try not to be a hassle.” She opened her mouth to speak, but quickly closed it and hastily looked around them. Getting to her feet, she stood firm, calling out. “Who was that?” Her eyes flicked down to Raynauld and she took a breath in realization. “... You don’t hear them?”

“No, but I know who you’re talking to.”

Felicia nodded and looked to the ground listening. “... What do you want?”

Raynauld stood up and crossed his arms, awkwardly standing still in the silence. Felicia suddenly moved her hand, pointing beside her. “I know where you are. I can sense you.” She listened for a second and then let out a small laugh. “Is it really that surprising? Sorry.” With a tiny frown, she pondered for a moment, putting her right hand onto her cheek. The crystal fingers held her chin as she nodded. “Through me? I don’t know how to do that.” With a long sigh, she crossed her normal arm across her stomach. “... Alright, I’ll try. But what do you get from this?”

Raynauld watched her take a deep breath and then sigh, clutching her hand into a fist. She then turned around, addressing him. “Apparently I can get us out of here, but you might want to stand back.”

He stepped away, giving her a nod. She concentrated and raised her arms outward and took a deep breath. Suddenly, dark crystals started to come from her shoulder blades, forming her wings which flared out. A burst of energy emanated from her, strong enough for Raynauld to feel. Her feet left the ground as the wings pulled up, lifting her from the ground. A spike came from one of her wings as she kept concentrating, levitating the crystal to her chest. Shaking her head, she breathed a sigh. “I hope you know what you’re talking about.” The spike then quickly shot down into her body and protruded out of her back.

Raynauld started to run forward but was stopped by a light push of energy, keeping him back. Felicia looked over and gave a strained smile. “I-I’m okay, please, trust me.” She kept concentrating,clutching her hands into fists as a dark black liquid sprouted from her chest and spilled to the floor which she was levitating over. Light poured from her eyes and her body convulsed. The light started to fade as the reds of her irises blazed with crimson fire. She reached her right hand out, beckoning him to grab on. “Raynauld.”

He reached towards her and held on tightly as she whispered. “Hold on.”

The black liquid surged up and around them, pulling them into darkness.

~

Sirius looked over to Lianne as she started to stumble, falling to her knees with a gasp. He quickly supported her, feeling her body shiver. “Lianne, what’s wrong?”

She didn’t respond and grabbed onto her head, struggling out a cry of pain. Sirius looked to her now orange and red eye as the scar on the side of her head pulsed with black and purple. She crawled to her feet and started to stumble forward as Sirius tried to keep her upright. She choked on her breaths and collapsed once again as a flash of light came from her right eye, lasting for a few seconds before disappearing again. She fell to her side, writhing on the floor. “Fucking hell.”

Pushing herself back up, she grimaced as Sirius helped her to her feet and kept walking alongside her. She growled under her breath and kept trying to move forward. “She did it.” Lianne chuckled to herself and muttered. “God, I still hate her.”

They kept moving as Lianne tried her best to lead the way. Her breaths started to stabilize as she started to put less of her weight onto Sirius. Quickly looking around, she pushed him away and moved on her own, making her way into a small clearing. In front of them was a dark black pool of liquid, swirling and steaming with purple mist. Lianne grimaced as she looked at it and then turned back to Sirius. “You coming or not?”

“What else would I do?”

She shrugged and stepped into it as tendrils started to envelop her whole body, dragging her into the dark abyss. As Sirius stepped forward, the voice spoke in his head.

Do you remember what we agreed upon?

“Huh?”

When I brought you here instead of leaving you in the void.

He frowned and nodded. “What do you want?”

Oh, not much, I just want to tag along.

Sirius turned around as a whistling went by his ear. A cloud of dark energy started to form, slowly becoming solid. His eyes widened as dark crystals reached out to him in the shape of a man. It waved it’s hand out, greeting him like an old friend.

Now, if you would just stay still for a moment, this will be over soon.

“Wait, what-” Before he could say anything more, the crystals started to dematerialize, shooting forward and into him. The mist forced itself down his throat and through his eyes, forcing him to his knees as he tried to scream out in pain. He felt his organs shudder and his heart skip its beats, almost shutting down entirely.

You won’t die, I’ll make sure of that.

He gasped and collapsed to the ground as the voice continued.

I’ll just be sitting here for the time being, don’t mind me.

“What- how?- what did you do to me?”

Not much, I’m just going to stay here for a while.

“What?”

I’m very interested in what your world is like, and I’ve been very bored for the past few decades.

“What are you going to do?”

Nothing as of yet, just watching.

Sirius shook his head. “Get out of my head.”

We had a deal.

“I didn’t agree to this-” He felt himself stumble forward against his will.

Don’t be like that, I won’t interfere. Now just walk forward.

Sirius tried to resist but kept moving into the dark puddle, the tendrils wrapping around him and pulling him down. The darkness consumed him and he opened his eyes to see a dark void.

I’ll make things easier for you, how about you forget that I’m here?

“What?”

Well, you would be happier if you didn’t know I was in your head, right?

“You can’t-”

I can. Again, I merely want to observe for the time being. Now, go find Lianne and worry over her instead.

Before he responded, he felt his head grow lighter and his body go numb. A light pierced his eyes as he felt the ground meet his feet, welcoming him back.