The Age of the Orokin Must End

Tye’s first indication that something was amiss came in the form of a long arm wrapped around her torso. Her second clue was the equally warm body pressed up against her back in a way that made her never want to leave her bed. The third indicator was the gentle breathing from the owner of said arm and body.

The Lotus’s exhalations tickled her ear and made her squirm. With unpracticed hands, she peeled herself out of the woman’s surprisingly strong grip and did her best to tuck her pillow beneath her arm. The Lotus seemed to be pleased with this replacement in her sleep and squeezed the pillow to her. Tye sighed in relief.

She turned her gaze toward where she thought she’d left her clothes, but they were nowhere to be found. Figuring this was her own damn house, she simply shrugged and moved to leave the room, but her eyes caught themselves on the Lotus’s sleeping form again. She was beautiful like that, Tye decided, able to sleep on blissfully without having to deal with the outside world. She wondered if her core consciousness was still doling out missions to other Tenno or if the Lotus was taking a much-needed break for a few hours.

Tye spent a few long moments gazing at her- what, lover? Confidant? Boss? She wasn’t really sure anymore. She found it very odd that the woman had stayed the night this time. It was unlike her, Tye thought, to waste any more time than she had to doing something as inefficient as sleeping. She decided that her main body had to be working while the fragment was here, there was no way she’d waste at least 8 hours. It was sweet of her to leave the fragment, at least.

She made her way to the kitchen, thankful that there was no Cephalon chirping in her ear about her current state of dress, or lack thereof. The Orbiter was never meant to properly house a Tenno, Tye thought. There was very little room to the station, hardly enough to live comfortably on. It was for that reason that she decided to invest in a small bit of property on Europa. It was certainly affordable- few people wanted to live on a planet made almost entirely of ice- and she was able to erect a home with little trouble from the Corpus. If there was one thing she could count on them respecting, it was money; a few thousand credits here, a few more thousand there, and she had obtained a treaty with the ground troops in exchange for staying away from missions on the planet. She found that Europan sunsets were much more beautiful when not clouded with smoke and debris.

This home was also the place she had stayed after her long exodus away from the Tenno. It was here where Atau had first found her after being rescued over two years ago, and it was here that Tye had eventually given the warframe her freedom back. It had become something of a safe house for her closest friends in recent times, but she didn’t mind the company for the most part. Maroo had barged in once, claiming to need somewhere to hide from the Corpus after she might have stolen a very important, very expensive high tech shield generator. From that incident, Tye had procured quite possibly the only reason her home sat at a comfortable 73 degrees while the bitter cold outside went far below zero.

Tye flicked on the holoscreen and heated up the stove. She could’ve easily invested in technology that cooked her food for her, she had that on her Orbiter for touch-and-go type missions, but there was something to be said for being able to do it the old fashioned way. Stars knew it was better than the time Dahrius had convinced her to try one of Ordis’s precooked, “nutritionally optimized for the Tenno in need,” meals. She was still getting the taste of sawdust and molasses out of her mouth.

The stove that sat snugly in her kitchen was something she’d found on Earth several months prior. During her time away from the Tenno forces, she’d undergone many excavation missions on the planet to become more familiar with older technology and had stumbled upon the simple device. It was easy to craft, but rather difficult to get off of her ship and into a door only ¾ as wide as the appliance. After that, she’d also looked into a refrigerator and other cooking instruments. She appreciated the simplicity and lack of resource drain.

Tye rummaged through her fridge dejectedly. She’d forgotten to get groceries...again. All that stared back at her was a kubrow egg and various cuts of meat. She was starting to get tired of omelettes despite how good they were. Deciding it was that or nothing, she pulled out the egg and the container of skate fillets. Idly she wondered if the Lotus would approve of her eating kubrow eggs- for that matter, did the woman even eat? Should she even make her breakfast?

Tye stared at the ingredients until her holoscreen beeped at her to signal that the stove had reached the correct temperature. She shrugged and cracked open the egg. Better to make more than she wanted and have leftovers, she surmised. One egg could feed a single person for several days, so she could just make that excuse if she didn’t want it.

She poured the contents into a bowl and whisked the yolk in until it was one solid shade and dumped it into a pan she’d had made specifically for that purpose. Maybe it was pretentious, maybe it was the fact that kubrow eggs were a good foot long, but that pan had saved her a lot of strife after making about 10 regular sized omelets her first time working with the food. The sizzling sound was always the most satisfying part about cooking, she thought as she began chopping up the skate meat.

Skate was chewy if undercooked and moreso if overdone, but if it was at just the right point...well, Tye would decide what it was like if she ever got it to that point. It was cheap and it tasted good despite feeling like it took a year to chew one bite. Maybe she should’ve gone with Dahr’s suggestion about getting Lanx meat instead. She turned back toward the food and dumped the meat in across the center of it, quickly sidestepping back to the fridge for any cheese she could find.

It was at this point, with Tye completely naked and rummaging through her fridge, that the Lotus stepped into the room. Draped in a sheet, she stifled a laugh at the sight and leaned against the doorframe. She watched as Tye triumphantly held a block of cheese above her head and cut off parts of it to add into...was that a kubrow egg? She ignored the shell in favor of the scent; whatever it was that Tye had devised smelled heavenly. The Lotus smiled to herself as she saw Tye’s tongue stick out when she carefully pushed in cheese blocks to the concoction.

If she was honest with herself, she hadn’t meant to fall asleep, nor to stay the night, but she had woken up with a pillow held against her as if life depended on it. One sniff of the fabric had reminded her of what happened the night before and how she got to be naked in Tysephone’s bed. She wondered if this life is what she could have had if she’d been born human rather than assuming the face of one. Her heart ached at the possibility of such domesticity.

She knew that wouldn’t be the case. She would have to slip out or make an excuse as to why she had stayed and return to her base. Sure she was able to keep up with the Tenno via her main body, but being away from her base was a liability, especially for more than a few hours at a time. She coughed to garner Tye’s attention. Her Tenno looked up at her in surprise and- oh no, not those eyes.

Tye let out a small yelp of surprise as the Lotus coughed behind her. She was thankful her hands were empty because if she’d been holding anything, it would be broken on the floor. The Lotus stood there leaning against her doorframe, the picture of elegance. Her dark hair was draped along her shoulders like silk and her piercing blue eyes were warm but held some hidden emotion behind them.

“Tysephone.” She said. Tye smiled at her and trotted over, nakedness temporarily forgotten, to kiss her. The Lotus seemed hesitant and Tye pulled away quickly.

“Is there something wrong?” She asked, “If it’s the food, I- uh. I didn’t know if you...eat?” The Lotus gave her a sad smile and she felt her heart plummet.

“It’s not that. I...I need to go, Tye. I shouldn’t have stayed.” If she thought her heart ached before, it was in proper pain as she saw Tye’s expression go from awkwardly excited to crestfallen in a matter of seconds.

Tye swallowed and nodded but refused to meet her gaze, “R-right. I get it. I’ll uh...see you for my mission report later, then.” That was worse, the Lotus thought. No protest, no shouting, just melancholy acceptance. The guilt hit her like a truck. When had she gotten so attached? Silently she watched as Tye returned to the stove- an odd choice to have such outdated technology- and flipped over whatever she had been cooking. Gone was the pep and excitement in her actions and it made the Lotus wonder if she’d really been that excited over her staying.

Despite her want to leave, the Lotus found she was rooted to her spot. She watched, almost mystified, at how natural Tye’s movements were even when she was sad. The Tenno had a flourish in her actions as she gripped the pan with both hands and quite literally dumped an omelet several times the size of a plate onto a tray. For a moment, the Lotus entertained a fantasy.

She could see Tye doing exactly that when the small pitter-patter of footsteps heralded the arrival of a child- their daughter, she decided. The child would run in and jump onto one of the stools, nearly losing falling over, but she would be close behind to make sure their daughter wouldn’t fall. She would spin her around and shower her face in kisses while the child giggled incessantly, and Tye would turn around with a grin.

‘My two favorite ladies!’ she would say, ‘Can I interest you in a Tysephone Original?’

‘What’s it today, Mommy?’ Their daughter would excitedly squeal back after being freed from the Lotus’s barrage of affection.

‘Yes, what is on the menu this morning?’ She would add. Tye would grin even wider and grip the pan, already having sliced the dish, and toss pieces onto three plates.

‘Why, an omelet made from the egg of a ferocious kubrow!’ She would snarl and crudely mime the actions of a swiping animal and make their daughter laugh, ‘With meat harvested from Phobos’s deadliest skates!’ She would grab their daughter by the sides and lift her up, making whooshing sounds and pretending to be the sands of Phobos while the child would make a terrible impression of a skate. It would warm her heart and she would feel her eyes mist at the sight.

‘You should consider investing in another plate,’ She would say with a small smile. She would pointedly spin her own with a finger along the gold design. Tye would look at her quizzically.

‘I have a whole set of ‘em? What do you mean, love?’ She would ask. The Lotus would lean over the counter and give her a knowing look until Tye’s eyes would widen, ‘You’re- for real?’ She would all but shout. The Lotus would nod with a large smile and their daughter would ask, ‘Mommy, what does Momma mean?’ Tye would look back to her and shrug, she was never one to lie,

‘In a few months, you’re going to have a baby brother or sister.’ She would say.

‘My love…’ She would continue, ‘Lotus…’ Wait, that isn’t-

“Lotus?” The Lotus came out of her reverie with a start and found Tye’s hands on either side of her head. She was looking up at her with worry painted all over her face.

“What?” She replied.

“You’re crying. Is something wrong?” She reached up to her own face and swiped her hand along her cheek. There was moisture there and she could suddenly feel the tracks that the tears were leaving.

“I...no, nothing’s wrong, Tye. I think…” She hesitated, “I think I might join you for breakfast today after all. I don’t quite feel like going back just yet.”

Tye’s concern quickly morphed into a grin and she trotted back over to her cabinet to pull down two plates. The Lotus observed as Tye cut up their breakfast and found that the plates had an Orokin-style gold inlay embedded into the white.

“Tell me something,” I say. The Lotus shifts in our bed to face me with a quizzical gaze. It’s not unusual for us to have pillow talk, but I think she can tell that there’s something specific I want to know. Maybe there’s an edge in my voice that I can’t detect when I continue, “why do you look like her?” There’s a flicker of surprise in those beautiful blue eyes before she schools her expression. I know she’s putting on that mask, the same one she always does when I ask about things like this.

“You’re asking why I look like Margulis,” she says. It’s not a question and I nod. The small sigh she gives has me hoping that perhaps she’ll finally give me an answer. It’s not as though I don’t care for her. I love her beyond words. Not that she should ever know that; it’s better that we stay this way. Dalliances in Europa’s cold moonlight with no mention of it the next day. Dahrius is beginning to suspect, I think, but I’m not surprised. Always too smart, that one; twenty steps ahead of everyone else.

I can see that the Lotus has curled up slightly, as if trying to protect herself from my query. I feel bad asking about this, but it’s something she knows I need answered. My history with Margulis has been called complicated at best. For her to take the woman’s appearance and voice is something I’ve always felt unsure of. In a way it makes me feel soiled, like I’ve desecrated the memory of the person I looked up to most. It’s hard to differentiate the Lotus from Margulis at times, especially in the heat of the moment. I’ve had to stop myself from whispering the wrong name time and time again. That hurts the most, I think.

“Lotus...please,” I speak lowly. It’s not a comforting tone, “I have to-”

“I know.” She cuts me off with a decisive statement. Her eyes are distant and unfocused like she’s remembering something. I worry at my bottom lip as time stretches on without her saying a word. I feel like I should just drop the subject and call this attempt at pillow talk a failure, but when I open my mouth to do so, she grabs at my hand and holds it tightly with both of hers.

“Listen to me,” she says, “I did this because of what it meant at the time. I never expected us to...for this to…” There’s a beat as she struggles to find the right word. “Develop.” She’s silent again, but I wait this time. I realize that she’s gathering the resolve to continue and I slide my other hand on top of hers and give them a gentle squeeze.

“I came into the war late. Margulis was already working with the Tenno. I was infiltrating when she was executed...And I suppose I realized at that time how much she meant to you- all of you. When I was given command over the Tenno- when we rebelled against the Orokin, it was obvious. So when the Tenno were put into the Reservoir and the Warframes into cryopods...I did research on her. I realized that you would need someone to wake up to- a familiar face, a comforting voice. I wanted to be what Margulis was to you.”

She looks at me and for a minute I wonder if she thinks I’m going to yell at her. Am I angry? No shit. But I’m waiting, because there’s more- there’s always more with her. I try to keep my face neutral. Sure enough, she swallows nervously and resumes talking.

“When it caused you to seek me out- for all of this,” she tilts her head toward the bed, “to happen...I didn’t know what to feel. I hadn’t accounted for personal relationships then or now. I often wonder if you’re thinking of her when we do this.” She withdraws her hands from mine but doesn’t leave. She isn’t looking at me anymore, but more like past me or through me. I hope to myself that maybe she’s invested too much into this relationship too.

“I won’t lie, Lotus. Sometimes she does come to mind,” I say. Too often, I think. As I look her in the eye, even though by all rights my eyes shouldn’t be seeing anything, I think I see a glimmer of fear there. She’s completely focused on me now and I realize I’m at a crossroads. What I say will have an impact, one way or another. I hate the responsibility, but I’ve worked my way into this mess.

“But you aren’t her. I hate how it took me as long as it did to realize that. You’re you, even if you look like her. And if you’re comfortable in that body, who am I to stop you?” I feel like it’s not enough, and I think she feels that way too. She smiles but it doesn’t reach her eyes. I don’t know what else to say to her, so I snuggle up to the pillow I’ve been using as an armrest. Her smile wanes as she realizes I have nothing more to say. She sighs, a small puff of breath, and slides out of the bed.

“I should go. There’s a raid on Vay Hek’s base tomorrow. At 0800-” I cut her off before she can give me the full briefing. I won’t be brought back into this.

“You know I’m not going, Lotus.” She pauses as she’s slipping on her suit. Her lips are a thin line but she nods.

“I’ll call you next time.” Well, I guess there’s that at least. A next time of this is better than nothing at all. She pulls on the rest of her suit and presses the vacuum mechanism in its neck. The suit lets out a whoosh of air as it conforms to her body and I’m sad to see the nakedness go. There’s something vulnerable when she takes off the purple in favor of flesh. She slides her headpiece on with a clack and I can hear the subtle machinery whirring back to life as her suit activates its HUD and internal computer.

I don’t say anything as she walks out the door. Maybe it’s best it stay this way.

"Take it off." The Lotus nearly choked on the sip of tea she'd just taken. She coughed and spluttered for a good half a minute before setting down the cup and saucer with shaking hands.

"I beg your pardon?!" Tysephone lazily smirked over her own cup. She sipped on it before replying.

"Your helmet. Take it off.” Her lips turned downward, the rest of her frown obscured by the mask. It was doing a good job of hiding her blush and she had the distinct feeling that the Tenno across from her knew it. Her hands fidgeted together.

"C'mon, do I have to call in that favor you owe me just to see your face?" Tye set down her tea with a slight clink, her expression sober.

The Lotus's hands stilled. She took a deep breath and raised her right hand to the back of her head, sliding a small release hidden beneath the cords. As it clicked into the open position, several subsequent releases hissed and opened. The helmet detached into two sections, one on the front and one on the back. She removed the backplate first.

Tye was surprised to see long, dark hair spill from behind the tri-pronged headdress. The Lotus set down the piece on the table before them. She reached for the front of her mask and hesitated. Tye made a motion with her hand and Ordis receded the table as she stood. She walked over to her and kneeled down in front.

"It's okay." She slid her hands on top of the Lotus's, gently helping her take off the last thing obscuring her face from view.

Bright blue eyes met her own. She nearly got lost in them.

“Is this what you wanted?” Her voice was crisp and finally unmodulated. Dark eyebrows nearly pressed together as she broke eye contact, “Did you expect something else? Robotic?” Tye let go of the Lotus’s hands, instead electing to cup her cheeks. The Lotus’s frown grew deeper,

“Why are you looking at me like that?” Tysephone didn’t answer. She pulled herself closer, “Tysephone?”

Tye gripped the Lotus’s shoulders and kissed her.

“So this is it, then?” Clasz’s heels echoed down the chamber, the sound bouncing off the walls and multiplying. It did nothing to settle Tye’s nerves. The ship creaked and groaned as it floated adrift. Though the air was technically breathable, she sent Clasz in her stead. Becoming Infested was something she didn’t feel like doing with her Tuesday night.

“According to my readings, it should be just ahead. Through those doors.” Lotus replied, “I feel the need to warn you again, Tye-”

She cut her off with a digitized sigh, “I know, Lotus. Sentient activity is up. But this is important.”

“I fail to see how procuring the last sculpture for your collection qualifies as more important than your safety.” Lotus countered. The concern was evident in her tone, if nothing else. Tye did her best to ignore the pursed lips and crossed arms, but she could not miss the waver in her voice.

“You’re just biased because you care about me.” Tye shot back with a well practiced sneer. Clasz placed her hands upon the golden doors. She hesitated.

“I care about all Tenno.” Lotus said with a deadpan that could rival Dahr’s. Beneath that, the tenno knew she was just as nervous, if not moreso. Sentient activity had indeed been increasing in this sector. If she were to be discovered…

“That’s not what I heard last night-”

“Tye.”

She pushed the door open, “Relax, Lotus. I’m teasing. You know I’ll be fine, I always am.” Clasz looked around, the visual feed filling Tye’s transference chamber. Tye frowned as her eyes scanned the room. Something wasn’t right; this place seemed too dark, too deserted, too…

Too familiar.

Clasz, move forward. Tye silently whispered into the warframe’s mind. Clasz hesitated again, but pushed forward after one final check. It was obvious the warframe was uncomfortable, but neither she nor Tye could place why. As the Saryn stepped into the dusty room, lights flickered to life. Screens long since deactivated began running their basic startup procedures. An ambient hum came from the computers as they too reactivated after countless years.

Tye gently took control of Clasz after the room hummed back to life. The warframe relinquished, content to be out of the way in such an odd place. She ran her fingers over the nearest wall. A thin film of dust came off as she dragged them across the smooth surface. Undisturbed for hundreds of years, and somehow yet still functioning. The engineering of the Orokin still never ceased to amaze her.

The Lotus stayed conspicuously silent, as if holding her breath as the tenno explored the room. Tye approached a large computer setup at the end of the room and sat in the simple chair there. How odd, she thought, that this chair wouldn’t be as ornate as the rest of the room. It’s too...plain.

Too familiar.

Tye used Clasz’s hands to activate the keyboard, pressing gently on the hard light buttons. She was greeted with a screen that prompted her to log in. She thought long and hard of what her old passcode used to be on the Zariman and entered it upon recall. The system hummed louder for a few moments before letting her inside. Orokin script flashed upon the monitor, warning her that this computer’s memory cores had been partially damaged. That was just her luck, but she created an uplink via Clasz anyway. She figured she may as well see what treasures, or lack thereof, could be contained within this old machine.

An encrypted file caught her eye. Heavily encrypted if she remembered Orokin ciphers correctly. Slowly, she busied herself with searching through several layers of encryptions before landing any relevant data.

As the letters spelled themselves out on the screen before her, Tye’s eyes grew wide. It couldn’t be- this place was.

Too familiar.

Clasz’s fingers stilled above the keyboard. The Saryn knew what her operator was feeling.

“Margulis…” She croaked.

Tye sat there dumbfounded. She had discovered Margulis’s old lab? How? She watched as it had been cleaned out after her death- her death at the hands of B-.

She couldn’t think of his name right now. Not in this place. Not somewhere like this.

The Lotus continued her silence, watching as Tye stroked the console through Clasz’s own touch. She knew better than to interrupt this moment. Her chest grew tight as she saw tears well up in Tysephone’s eyes. After all this time, only to find the last place she had ever seen the one called Margulis…

Thankfully, the transmission window cut off at her upper arms. She didn’t have to see her grip the rail beneath her palms and crunch it between her fingers.

“Margulis!” Tye called out with a laugh, “You won’t believe it!”

She peered up from the specimens at her table, removing her glasses with a wide smile, “Oh? What won’t I believe, Tysephone?” “I got the job!” She rushed in, barely managing to stop herself from colliding with the scientist. Normally Tye would approach with some put-on decorum before the doors behind her closed and she could be free to act as she always did. But not today.

“The one aboard the Zariman? How wonderful!” She put down her glasses entirely, scooping Tye into a hug. The teenager’s laugh rang throughout her lab. Margulis looked down at her, pride shimmering in her eyes.

“Tell me exactly what happened, I want to know everything.”

She would recount to Ballas later that Tye’s grin rivaled the stars themselves.

Shakily, Tye began downloading what she could from the computer. In a way, it felt wrong to take what was once her best friend’s precious research. At least, that’s what she assumed was on here. She could decrypt the rest at her leisure.

“Lotus?” Tye spoke softly, nearly a whisper, “Where is the signal from that Ayatan relic originating from?”

Admittedly, Lotus did not expect to hear that from her tenno after her discovery. Still, she removed her hands from the guide rail and returned to analyzing the room with Clasz as point of reference. She frowned underneath her helmet.

“I don’t understand...my readings indicate that there are several Ayatan relics in your immediate vicinity. They should be everywhere around you, but…”

“That’s impossible. I spent weeks tracking down this one, and I know there’s only the one.” Tye crossed her arms inside her transference chamber, looking down in thought.

“Wait- oh no.”

Tye didn’t get to ask what was wrong. From all around her warframe burst forth conculysts and battalysts. Breaking through the precious consoles, the still-remaining samples, the laboratory itself. In that moment, Tye realized just why Sentient activity had skyrocketed in that sector.

“They were tracking me. Mimicking the signal.” She muttered in shock.

Her comms surged with a new and terribly familiar voice, “Natah. Precious daughter. Has this lamb led you so far from the pack? Why do you stray from my side? Why do you persist in a cycle that will lead you to your own destruction?”

The voice seemed to be coming from all around her. The walls, the floors, the air itself. Infecting this beautiful and wondrous space with its vile words. She knew that voice. She would always know that voice. It would haunt her nightmares until the day she would be lain to rest. Tysephone’s blood ran cold as his words slithered underneath her skin. They would infect her, too. But she would be damned before he ever laid a hand on the Lotus.

“Hunhow.” She poured all of her hate and vitriol into that single word.

“Lamb. You have seduced my daughter away from the path that she is meant to follow. You are a liability that I have left unchecked for far too long. But I am not without mercy, for you have brought my Natah to me. I shall grant you a swift death, devoid of suffering.”

“Like hell you will! I will fight you again and again if it means protecting her from you!” She screamed back, her own sound reverberating through Clasz’s communicators, through the walls and the floors; the air itself. A sound of defiance, of resilience that refused to be pushed away.

“So be it, lamb. I did not want her to see you suffer, but perhaps it is for the best. You both will learn what it means to disobey my demands.” His croaking voice slithered across the room and from all sides. Tye felt his implications seep into her bones, boring through her heart like a worm.

The fragments around her took on an organized formation. A large circle. And another. And another. Rows upon rows of fragments, closing in upon Clasz. The warframe stood ready, watching and waiting. Tye exhaled slowly.

They began to spin.

Slowly at first, in opposite circles. To the left, to the right, faster and faster, closing in with every second. The fragments shifted forms, still continuing to circle the pair at an ever increasing rate. Clasz realized what was about to happen, but could do nothing to sever the link between her and Tysephone. The warframe is the hand, and the operator is the will. Clasz began to centralize her power, gathering energy as the sentients created a maelstrom around them. For the first time in her existence, Clasz wished she could speak.

All at once, the world turned to white.

And then to red.

And then to black.

Tysephone screamed.

Clasz released the buildup of energy.

“Margulis!” Tye ran into the lab, the pads of the transference suit belaying her erratic sprint. It couldn’t have been real, she needed to be told she was dreaming. It had to be a dream, a nightmare.

“Margulis please!” She rushed to the archimedean’s desk. She was in the chair, as Tye had seen her countless times before, working herself to the bone. In that moment, Tye believed in the possibility that she could have been dreaming.

“Tysephone.” She said. Her tone was calm and inviting, as it always was. Her smile, warm. Her eyes..

She grabbed the woman by her shoulders, “Margulis, tell me that there was some kind of mistake. Tell me- please, just tell me.” Once, twice, sobs wracked her form, jutting through her ribcage and spine. “Tell me…” She whimpered.

Margulis pulled her close, combing her fingers through her dark hair, “I wish I could, but you know what you saw was true. I cannot change that for you or for me.”

“There’s got to be some way.” Tye insisted.

“You know there isn’t. If there was, it would have been done.” Margulis replied as if nothing was wrong. Perhaps to her, there wasn’t.

To Tye, everything was. She pressed her face into the crook of Margulis’s neck, her tears staining the scientist’s robe, “There has to be…”

Margulis’s hand stilled, then slid to her back, “I wish I could alleviate your pain, Tysephone. But you and I both know it was always bound to end like this. From the moment you stepped off the Zariman, scared and confused, with a myriad of powers at your disposal. We knew they wouldn’t accept you, or me for what I hoped to accomplish for you and the others. We did our best to prove them wrong.”

Tye sniffled, gripping Margulis’s robe for support, “So what happens...after you’re…”

Margulis lifted her head and looked at Tysephone. Her pale eyes unseeing but intense, “You will be as you were, my friend. You will continue to grow stronger and wiser. And someday, long after I’m but a distant memory to you, you will understand why I accept this fate.”

She pressed a gentle kiss to Tye’s forehead.

“I have faith in you, always.”

Clasz had never experienced dying quite like this. Missions in the past had caused her to be broken in places, injured in others, but she had always returned to the Scimitar and been repaired within a day or so, even from her most grievous injuries. It had never been…

Final.

She watched as one of her legs split apart at the knee. It was melting into the ground. Her arms were well on their way to reaching that point. The sentient fragments were strewn about the ground around her, some melting into the floor, others simply dissolving into the air. She regretted not having acted faster. She could feel her operator’s pain.

The transference made it hurt.

Using what little leverage she had left, she pulled the remainder of her upper body into the chair. Her fingers sped across the hard light, and she ignored the drips that started out slow and increased in frequency the more she typed. Her metallic coating peeled away from her right arm, leaving pulsating infested flesh that began to dissolve the moment it hit the air. She needed to work faster.

Her neural feed began to blur and fray around the edges. Faster, she forced herself. Faster. One of her shoulders cracked and split, rotting from the inside out and falling to the floor.

Faster.

The screen read in Orokin text: Data transfer in progress.

She fell back onto the chair with a wet thud. Her spine had begun to hiss and splutter. Her other arm still attached, but beginning to melt like the rest of her. She tilted her head back and watched as her optic feed grew hazy and dark.

She did what she needed to do and that was enough.

“Ballas.” Tysephone entered the executor’s office unchallenged. The guards looked at each other and back at her with fear very clearly evident in their eyes. Whether it was her status as tenno or her warpath, neither were sure.

“Tysephone. How...lovely to see you.” His golden irises glinted with ire but his smile was wide. A typical politician, Tye thought. If only he were typical.

It was his fault.

It had always been his fault. Right down to the Zariman itself.

“You and I are going to have a little chat, Ballas.” She growled lowly, placing her hands on either side of his desk. He looked up at her with what seemed to be amusement. He considered her trivial. His mistake.

“Are we now? Here I thought you came in for a cup of tea.”

He was playing her. There was something wrong. She ignored it.

Tye grabbed his collar and thrust him forward, meeting his golden eyes with her own black, “I know it was you.”

He laughed at her, right in her face, and made no move to escape her clutches.

“What? You think that I killed her? The woman I loved with all of my-” “You never loved her!” His gaze remained unchanged.

“Of course I did, whelp. It was because I loved her that I even allowed her to continue with the transference program. That I let her take upon herself wretches like you, who can’t even be considered human anymore. Just look at you.” He gestured with his hand at her form. Her eyes were giving off wisps of sickly green and her hands glowed with energy. She shoved him back into his chair.

“You killed her. You engineered everything.” She accused.

“So what if I did? I am an executor. Nothing you can say or do will ever convince anyone that it was my doing in the first place.”

He stood, towering over her small frame. Ballas leaned in, boring his golden eyes into Tye’s, “You will be the only one to ever have that knowledge.” He whispered, “You will live with it, fester in it, and it will destroy you. And I will have one less tenno to worry about.”

She blasted through his door with her energy and left through the hole, not caring that the burnt edges seemed to eat away at everything they touched.

Muffled voices alerted Tye that she was, in fact, still within the land of the living. A lazy smirk crept its way onto her face.

Take that, Hunhow. You can’t kill me no matter how hard you try. And when Clasz gets back…

Her thought was interrupted by someone rather violently shaking her by the shoulders. The voices were louder this time, and ever so slightly clearer. She could tell that they were familiar. One higher pitched and the other lower, occasionally supplemented by an even lower one. She could only guess that the Lotus and Ordis were yelling at her for something. Probably for how stupid she’d been to go into the Orokin tower in the first place.

She bapped the hands away, showing that she was awake. Immediately the touch moved to her cheeks, cupping them gently. She didn’t really mind this sort of attention, and she’d recognize those hands anywhere.

“Lotus, gimmie a second. I think the transference chamber’s still shut, its monitor must be fried.” She slurred out. After shaking her head a few times, she sat up and reached for where the chamber release normally was.

She was met with what felt distinctly like the Lotus’s thigh.

“Tysephone…” her voice was clearer now, “I opened your transference chamber the moment I got here.”

Tye squinted in her general direction. If the chamber was open, why was everything still pitch black? Maybe she forgot to open her eyes…? Must’ve been one hell of a concussion.

She felt herself blink. Once. Twice. And the pain came surging forward.

Her breathing quickly became light and erratic. Frantic. She reached out to find purchase against the Lotus as memories of what happened rushed back with the pain. The Lotus quickly pulled her into her arms. Tye began to thrash in a way the Lotus was all too familiar with. She held her tightly, enduring the kicks and punches that came with these attacks.

After an hour, Tye’s movements began to slow. Her breathing morphed into hiccups and sobs.

“I- I saw. I saw her l-lab. And- I saw Hunhow- and.”

“I know.” She scratched Tye’s scalp gently in the way she knew would help calm her down. Her other hand rubbed gentle circles along her back.

“T-tell me. Please. Tell me-”

“I’m here, Tye. I’m real. Nothing’s going to happen to you now. I’m here.”

Tye wished she could see her face.

Somewhere, in the back of Tye’s mind, a small thought took root.