"I know you're blind, but you have to see this," said the weakling.

Lena Fly sat on her bed. The annoying weakling remained in the greatest High's bedroom.

Her sunglasses prevented the weakling from seeing her eyes, eyes that were as useless as the blonde was weak.

Lena didn't hold her white cane. She had put it in one of the room's four corners. Striking the weakling with it before the nap had brought pleasure.

The weakling's true name was Hailey Majestic.

She was the younger sister of the more frustrating Reese Low. The weakling knew her place, at least. Reese was as much of a High as Lena, but she had flung spite at the universe's best Soynite.

The blind girl and the weakling spoke Soynite to each other. Like Lena and Betty.

"What do you want me to see, weakling?" Lena said. She scoffed. "I can't see, but you know what I mean."

Lena lacked sight like the weakling lacked courage.

"It's a photograph of you," the weakling said. "It was taken during the invasion. You were so young back then."

"I was five," Lena said. "That was when I still had green eyes. Your sister Reese was with me on that night. She's even worse than you, weakling."

"What is Nova like?" the weakling said.

Reese Low, who had been born as Nova Majestic, knew Lena. The blind High knew her.

Theo Majestic's two daughters failed to grant Lena vision. These girls were disappointments. Like their father. Lena had never met Theo's youngest child.

"I hate her more than I hate you," Lena said. "She was always with Cape. They hated me."

Lena narrowed her pale gray eyes.

"Here," the weakling said.

An object came to Lena's hand. Skin met skin. The weakling's skin touched Lena's and the great High despised the contact.

Gross.

Lena slammed her hand against the weakling's arm.

"Don't touch me!" Lena shouted.

"I'm sorry, Lena!" the weakling said, obvious panic rushing through her voice. "I just wanted to give you the photograph! I'm so sorry!"

With her sightless eyes trained forward, Lena stroked the photograph with her thumb.

The picture showed, according to the weakling, a young Lena Fly. The present-day Lena couldn't view the picture.

She put it next to her.

"What kind of idiot are you?!" Lena said. "I can't see, weakling! I should hurt you for wasting my time."

Lena's Watcher, Betty Fly, had left the space station. The woman wouldn't be able to stop Lena from bringing harm to the weakling. Betty would let her charge make the weakling suffer.

Betty knew Lena was superior to her.

The woman viewed the great Lena Fly as someone who deserved the authority Theo Majestic had granted her. Like too many other Soynites, Theo was useless when it came to trying to bring vision back to Lena's life.

His third child held no authority over Lena.

"Please, don't!" the weakling said. "You already hit me, Lena."

"I can hit you again," Lena said. "I don't want to hit something. I want to hit someone."

"Please," the weakling said. "It was an accident. I didn't try to touch you on purpose. I just wanted to give you the picture, but I accidentally touched you. I'm sorry."

In order to hit the weakling with the cane, Lena would have to get up and retrieve the long object, or she would have to order the girl to grab the cane for her. Either way, Lena viewed striking the weakling with the cane as unnecessary. For now, though.

She had taken a nap, but she lacked the motivation to turn her cane into a weapon.

The girl could hurt the weakling later.

"I'm not going to hurt you," Lena said. She patted the bed with her pale hand. "Sit down. I want to know exactly where you are."

In addition to that, the weakling would be within striking distance if she sat on Lena's bed.

Movement came.

"Lena," the weakling said. "Can you tell me how you became blind? Betty said that it's her fault you're like that. What happened?"

"It is her fault that I'm like this," Lena said. "Water. That's what happened. Water on planet Still, to be specific. Years ago, when I was young, me and Betty went to Still. We wanted to find things of value. Still objects, Soynites, etcetera. We found some water. Whenever you touch an object from Still, you learn its function. This water was no different. Betty touched it, then I couldn't see anymore. I was blinded. You see, weakling, the person who touched the water would be given all the Saves. But the person they loved most would become blind. And if that loved one was a Soynite, they would lose any Saves they had. The power came at a price. The water Betty touched only worked once. That meant Betty was the first person in history to touch that water. Knowledge came to her. It was knowledge informing her about the water and how to cure my blindness and get my powers back. The blinded person has to become worthy. Then their blindness would be cured and their powers would come back. But that's never going to happen. And me and Betty don't know exactly how I can become worthy. Whether someone is worthy or not all depends on perspective."

"From my perspective, I think you have to become a good person," the weakling said. "Or maybe you have to do something heroic and noble. Sacrifice yourself for a loved one, for example."

"Are you telling me I should get myself killed to save someone else?" Lena said.

"I'm just theorizing, Lena," the weakling said. "But you'll be healed, I think. I think if you get yourself hurt for someone else, the wound would heal and your sight would come back. And yours Saves."

"You truly are the dumbest person I've ever met," Lena said.

"Planet Still works in mysterious ways," the weakling said. "It's a spooky place, but it can do good. It wants you to become a better person."

"I'll become a better person by beating you, weakling," Lena said.

Movement. Then footsteps.

They sounded quicker than someone walking or jogging. That dumb weakling. She ran. The blonde fool was on the move, running, running from her High.

"Get back here, weakling!" Lena shouted.

Lena touched the warm spot where the weakling's butt had been.

"Your butt isn't on my bed anymore!" Lena yelled. "I didn't say you could get up!"

She stood.

"I'm never going to sacrifice myself for anyone!" Lena yelled. "Do you hear me?! I'm going to find you and then beat you!"

Betty had bought Lena's prized white cane on the weak humans' horrible planet. The white cane would become the High's prized weapon.

The great Lena Fly, who had been born as Lovely Windsore, would beat the weakling.

With her arms in front of her, Lena took steps closer to the wall. Her hands soon touched the desk. She removed her sunglasses and set them on the wooden surface.

Her white cane should be in the corner, not far from the big bed. After being sure the bed wasn't an obstacle in her path anymore, Lena closed in on the cane. She grabbed it. The High smiled and stroked the hard length.

"Where are you, weakling?!" Lena shouted.

The High swung her cane from side to side as she walked. When Lena stepped into the long hall outside, she stood.

She listened.

Breathing met her ears, rapid.

Lena cocked her head. She said, "I can hear you breathing, weakling! You sound scared! Terrified!"

The weakling viewed Lena as a terror. It was such a great compliment, and striking the blonde weakling with the cane would be great.

"I don't want you to hurt me again!" the weakling said, her voice sounding not far. "Please, Lena! I love you! I do! But you hurt me!"

"I hurt you because you deserve to be hurt!" Lena said. "And I was right. I said that you were going to love me, and now you do."

"I love everyone," the weakling said.

"You shouldn't," the High said. "Come here, weakling."

"No,"

"I'm not going to hurt you," Lena lied.

"You're going to try to!" the weakling said. "You're my High, but I can't deal with the pain you cause! Not anymore, Lena."

Lena scowled.

"I knew you were weak," she said. "Pain doesn't last. You had the audacity to yell at your Watcher, but you can't even kill a member of the race that destroyed your planet. As much of a fool that your older sister is, she probably fights and kills Freemans. Your Watcher, Vera, would've trained you. I know you can fight, weakling."

"My sister isn't a fool," the weakling said. "Her name is Nova Majestic."

"When I saw her on a daily basis, her name was Reese Low," Lena said. "You told me that your mother's brother is Reese's Watcher. They made quite an uncle-niece pair. Those two were fools. If they're still alive, they're still fools. Just like you, weakling. When I was younger, I poured juice on Aris Upside's head. What I'm going to do to you is going to be a lot worse than what I did to him."

"You're almost as bad as Lock Tannis," the weakling said. "He got his own planet destroyed, and you hurt a girl who has been nothing but nice to you."

Lena tapped her white cane against the wall, letting white make contact with blue. The weakling had told her she had blue eyes.

Reese Low had blue eyes.

She was able to keep her eye color, but the incident on Still had changed Lena's eyes from green to gray.

Frustration had slipped into Lena because Theo Majestic had fathered two frustrating daughters.

"Running from your High when she just wants to talk to you isn't nice," Lena said.

"You said you were going to beat me," the weakling said. "I'm not going to let you do that. Slapping my arm wasn't so bad. But your cane hurts!"

"I understand you're upset," Lena said. "Pain is a strong motivator. You want to avoid pain. That's why you ran, but I need you to come to me. I won't hurt you. I'll apologize and we'll hug. I promise."

"You're a liar," the weakling said.

Clever girl.

But being a clever person doesn't mean you deserve to not be harmed.

Lena smiled.

"You're a clever girl," the great High said. "When I get to you, I really am going to hurt you. But you'll forgive me. You believe that all life is precious."

"Because it is," the weakling said.

"You believe all life is precious, but you argued with your Watcher," Lena said. "You yelled at the woman who took care of you."

"Still, I didn't hurt her," the weakling said. "It was a mistake. I shouldn't have yelled at Vera, but I did. I love her."

Lock Tannis, otherwise known as Reed Pisces, had loved his friends. He had loved his people. Yet he was the reason why the Freemans had destroyed Soy and its residents.

"You're just one bad day away from becoming like Lock Tannis," Lena said. She had to make self-hate slither into the weakling. "You yelled at your Watcher, then you abandoned her. Vera Mod is possibly in a puddle of her own blood as I speak. Because you weren't there to protect her. You're here. You're with me."

"Vera can protect herself," the weakling said. "Like me, she's tough."

"You're not tough, weakling," Lena said. "You never hesitate to cry. You're crying right now. I hear it."

The weakling didn't stop sobbing.

"Please, just leave me alone," the weakling said. "I don't want to hurt you, Lena. You're my High. My father made you into what you are."

"Your father made a fool," Lena said. "I don't mean me. I mean you. The fool he made is you. You and your older sister have annoyed me so much. Reese annoyed me far more than you did, but I hate you both. I do."

The nearby bathroom entered Lena's mind. In that room, she could bring the weakling pain.

"You should go to the bathroom," Lena said. "Get toilet paper and wipe away your tears."

"Okay," the weakling said.

Footsteps sounded, the weak girl moving away from her High. The great Lena smiled. Maybe the weakling was a dumber person than her older sister, the foolish Reese.

A minute passed.

Lena advanced toward the bathroom, ready, prepared to unleash pain.

"Dumb girl," she whispered.

The weakling hadn't closed the bathroom door. Lena stepped into the room, armed with beloved cane. The High had met the weakling hours ago. But she had already managed to avoid being hurt too many times. What she needed was a beating. A good beating. Lena could provide that. Give the weakling a good beating, that was something Lena could do.

Cold clashed against Lena's face.

Water's scent moved into the blind High's nose. The weakling had thrown water at her face.

An object slammed onto a hard surface. Lena assumed the weakling had set the cup onto the counter with hard force.

Lena cried out and swung her beloved cane, her prized weapon. With ease, the weakling disarmed the High. Pain radiated through her leg. Lena yelped.

The weakling had struck her with her own cane.

"Don't fight me, Lena," the weakling said. "That's a warning."

She had made a good joke.

Lena, as water dripped off her, laughed.

"You're funny, weakling," Lena said. "You're acting like you can beat me in a fight."

"I can," the weakling said.

"What makes you think that?" Lena said. She winced. "And you hurt my leg, you idiotic Majestic. I'm going to hurt you so badly."

"I had the courage to yell at my Watcher," the weakling said. "I am brave. But all life is precious. I don't want to hurt you, but I will if I have to."

"You already have hurt me," Lena said. She rubbed her leg. "You hit my leg."

"I have your cane," the weakling said. "And you're blind. You don't even have Saves anymore. I have the advantage. You can't beat me, so don't try to."

The weakling did have Lena's cane. She had taken the cane. Planet Still had taken her sight.

"I regret not beating your sister," Lena said. "She never got violent with me, but you have. Right now, I hate Reese less than I hate you. And you do not want to be enemies with me, weakling. You're weak. Your sister is weak. All of your siblings are. Your father is weak. Where is your father, weakling?! He's gone, absent. He abandoned you. He abandoned me. All he does is abandon people. He abandoned his people when he could've gone back to Soy and fought Freemans! Now, while Theo Majestic remains gone, I'm living in a space station with his disappointing daughter!"

"Don't say that!" the weakling said. "And don't talk about my father like that! I love him."

"Where was Theo Majestic, weakling?!" Lena said. "Where was he when his own people needed him? He got his family to safety. Then he made a new generation of Highs. He found that human helper. But he never went back to help his people when they needed him. He let the Freemans destroy Soy and its people. Theo abandoned them all. Your father did that, weakling."

Lena smiled.

Before Lena, the weakling stood.

The greatest High was blind, but her ears worked. She had heard the weakling speak, and that girl stood not far from Lena.

Lena couldn't fly and she couldn't see. The incident on Still had ruined her life. It was the fault of the High's Watcher. Betty Fly. When Betty's name was Marina Tome, Lena had seen red juice clash against Aris Upside's black hair. She had spilled that juice.

Lena.

She saw no red.

She saw no black.

What Lena had seen before her sight vanished was Betty touching Still's water.

Lena Fly, the universe's greatest High, saw nothing.

The weakling had dared to strike her. Theo Majestic's third child had hurt Lena's leg with her cane, and the gray-eyed girl intended on making the weakling suffer.

"I can't see you, but I know you look like a fool," Lena said.

"If I'm a fool, at least I'm a fool who can see," the weakling said.

Lena scoffed.

"How dare you talk to your High like that?!" Lena said. "You put your knees on the floor and bowed your head. You did that for me. And you have my cane, which you struck me with. My greatness is extreme, but you clearly have forgotten that. You're not great. No one will ever kneel for you. You won't even kill. You never killed anyone, not even a Freeman. You won't ever kill Lock Tannis, because you're too much of a fool. The Freemans will never kneel for you. And no Soynite will ever kneel for you."

"You don't know that," the weakling said. "I might become a High. One day."

Lena laughed.

"Might is the keyword," she said.

Theo Majestic might return to the weakling's life. If that happened, maybe he and his weakling daughter would leave Lena's home.

Lena was a wonderful High, the best High, yet the weakling refused to give her back the cane. The weakling, armed with sight, remained as a nuisance, an enemy, a frustrating foe.

The weakling hadn't lost her sight, but it deserved to be snatched.

So much had happened since Soy's invasion.

Lena had lost her sight. She had lost her powers. Betty had stripped Lena of precious values.

That woman submitted to Lena, but it was her terrible fault the girl had become the way she was. Blind and without Saves, that was Lena's reality. Because of Betty.

Now, due to the weakling in the bathroom, Lena lacked her cane.

"You can't see the future," the weakling said. "Your Watcher can. You don't know what will happen. The future isn't certain. You know that."

"I know that you continue to give me a reason to hurt you," Lena said.

Her pale hands curled into fists.

"Give me my cane," Lena said. "I'm not going to say it again."

"No," the weakling said.

Lena aimed her right hand at the wall to her right. Aware the weakling had thrown water, the wonderful High took several steps to the right.

"You really should've just given me the cane," Lena said. "Because you didn't, I'm going to hurt you."

"You can try," the weakling said.

The bathroom was large enough to have enough space for two people to fight. It was shaped like a square and it contained a great girl and a weak one.

Lena charged.

She ran, swinging her fists.

A hand yanked her hair from behind, clinging to orange. The weakling had dodged Lena and went behind her. Lena's foe shoved her head forward. The High stumbled.

Her heart pounded. The girl's fists deserved to pound against the weakling who had yanked her hair.

"Just stop," the weakling said. "You're not going to hurt me."

Lena turned, ran.

Something slammed against her leg. While stopping her run, Lena yelped and pain spread. The weakling struck her other leg. Pain erupted.

An object clashed against the floor.

Something hit her stomach three times, fist-sized and hard.

Then the weakling forced Lena onto the floor. Hands slammed against her arms, pinning them. The blind High assumed the weakling straddled her.

"You can't even fight," the weakling said. "Vera trained me well. Even if you weren't blind, I could beat you."

The weakling moved her hands off Lena.

"You lost," the weakling said, her voice closer to the ceiling. She had stopped straddling Lena.

A hand came to the blind girl's, then the High let the weakling help her stand.

"Did you punch me?" Lena said.

"I did," the weakling replied. Lena's arm moved, the weakling walking, forcing Lena to come along as they held hands. "I had to do it."

The pain in Lena's legs didn't vanish. Regardless, she could walk without dropping onto the floor in agony.

"Be careful, weakling," Lena said. "I'm going to come for you later."

"And I'll deal with you," the weakling said.

The weakling had bested Lena, but the blonde wouldn't win their future rematch.

Yes, Lena would attack. She would attack the weakling in the future, before the day died. If the weakling believed she would be safe for the remainder of the day, then she was wrong.

When Lena was in her bed, she sighed.

"Can I touch you?" the weakling asked.

It would be wise if Lena let the weakling believe she hated her less than before. The bathroom attack made the greatest High's spite for the weakling deepen.

Later, when the weakling didn't expect it, Lena would launch an attack. She would make the weakling hurt.

"Sure," Lena said.

Thin fingers stroked her long hair. Lips met Lena's forehead. Unlike the water the weakling had thrown on her High's face, warmth filled her lips.

"I'm really sorry, Lena," the weakling said. "I'm sorry for taking your cane and hurting you. I had to hurt you. You know I had to, right?"

"I know," Lena said.

She didn't apologize to the weakling.

Even though it would benefit Lena to apologize, intense pride lived in her. It moved in her and it refused to let Lena apologize.

"And I know you're going to be a killer," Lena said. "The potential is in you. I know it. You yelled at your Watcher. You hurt me. You're going to end up killing someone. It's going to happen. You can't prevent it."

Each Soynite who had killed a person hadn't been born as a killer.

Each Freeman who had killed a person hadn't been born as a killer.

The weakling near Lena's bed had never killed. She had never killed a Soynite, a Freeman, or a human. But she would. The greatest High believed the weakling would kill. It would happen.

Despite what the weakling believed, she would kill.

"I'm never going to kill anyone," the weakling said. She stood beside the bed, still a fool, still weak. "All life is precious. I beat you up, but I had to do it. I didn't kill you. I'm never going to kill you."

Maybe the weakling would never kill Lena.

Still, the most annoying person in the space station would kill someone. The weakling would destroy her pacifistic nature.

Yes, she would.

She would destroy it by destroying a life.

"You're going to kill someone," Lena said. "Most of the other Soynites disposed of tradition. They killed. But you still uphold Soynite ideals. The old way doesn't work anymore. Drop your routine. Not all life is precious. But I know you will take a life. You will kill a person, I'm certain. Your need to be extremely compassionate decreases as time goes on."

"No," the weakling said. "I know me. I'm never going to kill anyone."

"You will," Lena said. "And if you think your older sister never killed a person, you're wrong. Reese is a killer. I'm sure of it. If she meets you, your no-killing code will annoy her. It surely annoys me. Your sister won't even like you."

"We're sisters," the weakling said. "She's going to love me. I already love her."

The girl in the bed had no sister. She had no stepsister. What she had were useless eyes and a frustrating weakling in her vicinity.

"And your sister didn't love me," Lena said. "I don't care what happens to her. If deep trouble found me, she wouldn't try to save my life. She would try to make my death more likely to happen."

It would be good if a Freeman murdered Reese.

As for the annoying blond boy who had cared so much about the undeserving Reese, it would be good if a Freeman murdered him.

Reese Low's death would be wonderful.

Cape Majestic's death would be wonderful.

Those two Soynites had despised Lena when the three children resided in that blue spaceship.

"Nova is good," the weakling said. "She has compassion. She only treated you horribly because that's how you treated her."

In exchange for how Lena had treated Reese, the blonde fool hadn't concealed her hatred for the greatest High. Cape had done the same.

Reese and her sixth cousin hated Lena. The feeling was mutual.

"I'm aware," Lena said. "But that doesn't make me wrong. If I were in trouble, Reese Low, Nova, wouldn't try to save me. And she won't be fond of your pacifistic nature. If you meet her, two Soynites wouldn't like you."

"That's not true," the weakling said. "Vera likes me. She loves me. Even though she didn't like my code, she still loved me. She does love me. Vera is still alive."

"Your Watcher is probably dead," Lena said. "Maybe my father, Boone Windsore, is dead. Betty might be dead. The Watcher who cares about you when she shouldn't possibly got murdered by a Freeman."

The greatest High lived and breathed, Lena knew. She knew because she was that High.

"Betty raised you," the weakling said. "She loves you. How can you talk so easily about her possibly being dead?"

"Her death won't bring me mine," Lena said. "If Betty got killed, I'll still live. I'll be here, blind but great."

"Betty is alive," the weakling said. "And your father is alive. You're just like me, Lena. Both of are fathers our missing, but we're going to see them again."

"Stop with the foolish optimism," Lena said. "My father is dead. Your father is dead. He lived at the same space station you lived in with Vera, correct? If he was alive, you would have gone back there. He never did. That only means that he's dead. Gone. Deceased."

"What if you're wrong? What if my father is alive?"

"If Theo Majestic is alive, I think I know what happened to him," Lena said. "It's a theory, but it could be true."

"Tell me," the weakling said. "Please, Lena. Tell me, please. I want to see my father again. I want to see him so badly. I haven't hugged him in so long."

"No," Lena said. "In case you forgot, you stole my cane, hit my legs with it, then punched me in the stomach. Multiple times, to be exact. And you threw water on my face."

"I'm sorry!" the weakling said.

"Even if I didn't hate you as much as I do now, I only have a theory about what happened to your father," Lena said. "Theories aren't guaranteed to be true. You know that."

"But they can give a person more hope," the weakling said.

Lena scoffed.

The weakling did not.

"Your father is dead," Lena said. "Even if he wasn't, I wouldn't want you to find him. Theo Majestic doesn't deserve to be found. If it were me who was missing, okay, find me. Look for me. But it isn't. The missing person in question is a man I don't love. I'm not Reese Low. I'm also not you."

"I think you're a monster," the weakling said. Her voice shook. "All you do is hurt people. All you do is make it seem as if you're better than everyone, but you're not. If you're so great, why couldn't you beat me in that fight? There's nothing great about you. You're blind. You're powerless. The only person who likes you is Betty."

Lena's heart, unlike her eyes, did what was supposed to happen. It worked. And it pounded. It beat hard as Lena took in the urge to slam her cane against the weakling's head.

"If you keep talking to your High that way, I will cut you up, weakling," Lena said.

"You're not great, Lena," the weakling said. "You're pathetic. I proved to you that I'm stronger than you. You're not better than me. After experiencing the way you treat me, I know something. I know that you deserved to be blinded. When I go to sleep and open my eyes, I see. When you go to sleep and open your eyes, you see nothing. But that's what you deserve. Being blinded didn't turn you into a monster. That water on Still blinded one."

Lena moved into a sitting position. Her grip tightened on the soft sheet underneath her.

"I am going to hurt you so badly," Lena said. "So, so badly, weakling. Just wait."

"I feel sorry for your Watcher," the weakling said. "The person she loves the most is an absolute monster."

Lena seethed.

"I'm going to go eat," the weakling said. "I put the picture of you on your desk. I'm going to get your cane out of the bathroom. If you need me, I'll be in the cafeteria."

Footsteps moved away from the bed.

A minute went by.

"Yes, weakling," Lena said, still furious. "Go to the cafeteria. Go there and eat. I'm going to cut you up."