The Orphans Iji

A small girl sat outside a warmly lit building. Despite the obvious shelter available to her, she stayed waiting outside as the snow slowly drifted down around her. She reached out her hand and watched as the snowflakes fell, but did not melt in her palm. She moved her fingers slightly and watched as she made the snow dance. She smiled lightly before looking up with a start. Did she miss them? She shouldn't let herself get so distracted. What if they came to pick her up and she missed them?

A part of her longed to go back inside the building. A quick glance up as she stared at its sign. "Mothers Orphanage" Surely they would come to get her today right? Yes, it was an orphanage, but they said they'd be back. Mama and Papa were busy people. They probably just forgot. She didn't make much noise normally. That had to be it. They definitely wouldn't forget for the thirty-second day in a row right?

She sat curled in a ball. Air type or not, she could only stay so long in the cold. She breathed out and watched as her breath crystallized in the air. She was shivering now, how long had she been out here? She buried her head in her knees as she started to cry. They weren't going to come today were they? Maybe the other kids were right. Maybe they didn't want her anymore. But she was a good girl, right? What did she do to upset them?

A set of light footsteps and a few wing beats alerted her to someone approaching. A young girl, no older than sixty approached her. She had light purple hair and a set of matching fae wings on her back. This girl was familiar. She ran the orphanage along with her two siblings. "Abella" was her name, but most of the kids called her "Mama" despite her not being that much older. The young half-frozen girl tried to ignore her, curling into a smaller ball so as to not be seen.

"Fiona." She looks up, to see a pair of eyes looking at her, a light blue of sadness and concern. "How long have you been out here sweetie? You need to come in." The girl, Fiona, shook her head fervently. "They aren't here yet. They'll come for me. They have to." Abella's eyes softened. "But you'll freeze if you stay out here. Why don't you come inside and have some food? You can watch for them by the window if that helps."

Fiona looks at her again, watching her eyes for the shift in colour. "They will come for me, right?" A question this time. A few tears slid down her cheek, freezing by the time they reach her chin into tiny gems. Grey, purple, blue, grey. She watches as Abella's eyes shift between emotions. "Sure they will kid." She finally says, but her eyes give her away, an orange-red, betrayal, lies.

Hey, guys. I know that I don't have many followers but for those who do, or even just for those who read my story, updates might be less frequent for a bit. I've been trying to stick to a one per week schedule, and I wish I had a better excuse, like school or work, but I don't. The best that I can offer is that my mental struggle has kind of left me with little motivation to do anything but eat, sleep, and draw sad vent art. Hopefully, this will pass soon and I can get back into the swing of things, but I felt like I should at least offer some sort of explanation as to why I missed an update, and why I might miss more, or just update less. I don't know when I'll be back at full force but at least now you know why I might just drop off the face of the Earth for a bit. I hope this helps you understand, and I thank you for supporting me.

✦I rush forwards and am caught up in a tight tearful hug. “I missed you so much, My Princess. You’ve never left my thoughts.” I’m crying now. It’s been years since I got to see him, and we finally got to meet back up. It occurs to me that he is the familiar face that Zain had mentioned. “My Knight. My sweet knight how I missed you.” We pull apart for a kiss, only to be interrupted by an unfamiliar voice. “Sir, one of the wounded refuses to be treated by anyone but you. Oh, sorry.” The girl recognizes that she seems to have walked into a more personal moment.

The girl has dark red hair, her bangs fading to pink, while the rest of her hair fades to a deep violet. She has bright orange eyes, fair skin, and wears a red dress with pink sleeves that matches her hair. “Okay, tell him I’ll be there in a moment.” He presses a kiss to my forehead before proceeding to introduce the girl. “This is Sylenna, my apprentice. Sylenna, this is Abella.” I smile and hold out my hand. “Hi, it's nice to meet you.” Her eyes widen as she looks at me. “Y-your the princess. Your Princess Abella. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Your Highness.” She bows slightly.

I laugh as she straightens and I take her hand, shaking lightly. "You can just call me Abella, I've never cared much for formality." She shakes my hand. “O-Oh okay. Sorry, Your Highness, I-I mean Abella.” She smiles before regaining her more serious stature. "He's over here sir. He refuses treatment from anyone else, and his wounds are nearing critical." Rane nods and follows her through the medical camp, leaving Zain and me on our own. Looking around me, I go over to a nearby table and grab a medical kit and go around the camp tending to the injured. Zain does the same and soon a majority of the camp are well on their way to recovery.

We meet back up with Rane and Sylenna towards the end of the afternoon in the middle of the camp. I grab a rag and wipe the remnants of blood, medicine, and other various fluids from my hands, before tossing it to my brother. It hits him in the face and he scowls as he takes it, before slingshotting it back at me with a smirk. I dodge it with a squeal. “Zain! What the heck? You’ll kill someone like that!” He laughs with a smirk and runs away as I start to chase him with the filthy rag.

Rane watches with a smile as we haphazardly chase each other around the camp, shouting rude words and half-hearted insults. "You guys never grow up do you?" He smirks as he catches the rag as it flies towards them. "Eh, sometimes you gotta lighten up a bit. All war and no play makes for some very stressed soldiers. And if you get too tense, you can't be at your peak." Zain grins and links his hands behind his head. I walk over to Rane and press a quick kiss to his cheek. "Sometimes you just need to loosen up babe." I hug him loosely as he nuzzles my neck. "Maybe love, but there has to be a better way than throwing a contaminated rag around near the ill and mending." He remarks with a smile.

I put on a pout before breaking back into a smile. "Fiinnee. But it would do you some good to loosen up a bit love." I smirk at him as he feigns offence. "You dare infer that I can't be fun? Why I've never been so offended!" He smirks as we kiss once more. "Ugh, can you guys like not. Go and get a room or something." Zain whines in disgust. "Well excuse me if I get to actually be romantic with my partner for once. It's not like I never see him or anything, unlike you. Oh, wait." I snark at him with a cruel smirk. "Shut up." Zain pouts and walks off to some other part of the camp.

Sylenna watches the events unfold, somewhat confused by the strange dynamic we have together. "You all have a very interesting relationship. I expected the princess to be much more serious. N-Not that it's a bad thing. It's nice, to see that even the legendary "Fighting Princess" has a soft side." She smiles sweetly.

✦ I'm shaken awake before my mind can delve deeper into my dark memories.  "Come on Flightless. Wake up, little sis." I open my eyes to see my brother trying to wake me. "There we go. You okay?" He asks kindly with a small smile, concern radiating off of him. "Zain? Why are you here?" I groan sleepily and turn over to the other side of the bed.

He crawls over me and under the sheets. "You were having a nightmare again. I knew you would so I thought "Hey, We have a busy day tomorrow. Why not do what we did as kids to keep the baddies away?" And here I am. And just in time too. You seemed to have it pretty rough." I smile at him. "Just the same as usual, though you woke me before it got too bad." He grins widely and pulls me into a hug. "Good. I did my job. And now we sleep."

He collapses against and pillow and starts fake snoring dramatically. He opens one eye as I giggle. "There's the smile I was looking for. Though we really should get some sleep. Tiredness on the battlefield gets you killed." I smile and nod, leaning into him as we both fall asleep.

Morning comes much too quickly as the wake-up alarm blares throughout the room. I groan and roll over, slapping the alarm and pulling myself out of bed. I shake Zain to wake him. "Hey sleeper, we gotta get up idiot. Wake up." He smacks at me before sitting up and stretching. "Fine, fine, I'll get up." He gets out of bed and walks to the door. "See ya at take off" He does a casual salute before walking out the door to his room.

I smile as he leaves, before walking to my wash rack for a quick shower. I dress in my usual clothes and grab Iai's module from the charging dock. I meet Zain in the hall and we walk to the landing docks, where several squadrons are waiting. We walk over to the carrier at dock eight and enter, taking our seats. We chat arbitrarily while we wait for the carrier to take off.

The ship takes off and makes it to the landing point on colony eight without a hitch, and we separate from the other squadrons on our mission. We summon our armour and weapons as we start to move silently in through the hills and clouds of sand that pollute this desert planet, moving towards the mountain in the distance.

The outside of the mine doesn't seem overly suspicious at first until we come across a series of cameras placed around the top perimeter of the mountain. We find the entrance of the mine and enter cautiously. Nothing appears to be out of place. There are various tracks leading up and down the mountain, with some carts hovering above them here and there, some empty, some filled with clumps of orange clay full of bits of a greyish white metallic ore.

We walk deeper into the mine, examining the tools and devices left behind after it was evacuated when the war started. Nothing seems suspicious until we come across a control board that seems to be partially clean. Zain presses a hand against it and several buttons push in sequence, electricity crackling over the surface, emanating from his hand. A chunk of stone pulls in from a nearby wall and moves aside, revealing a hidden room.

I step into the room and see a small, dirty cot off to the side, and homemade desk and chair made from scrap, a small computer on the desk, and various parts scattered around the room. But the room was unoccupied. There were various papers scattered around the room, detailing various designs for armour and weapons.

I picked up one of the papers and showed it to Zain. "Strange huh?" He looked it over thoroughly, flipping it over a few times before commenting. "The only strange thing is this person's lack of understanding of how anything robotic works. For the complexity of the plan, they don't seem to recognize the obvious flaws." I snort and take the piece of paper back, placing it where it was before stepping out of the room carefully.

"It's a good thing whoever is living here seems to be out currently. Though we should probably get out of here before they come back." He nods and we quickly retreat out of the mine and head towards the medical camp a few clicks away.

✦I lay down to sleep, closing my eyes and waiting for slumber to overtake me. Slowly I fall asleep and into the nightmares, I’ve become so accustomed to. My sleep becomes restless as I move further into the dream.

I open my eyes. Where am I? Last I remember was... Fighting. That's right. My squadron and I were in the middle of a battle. And yet, where are we now? I scan the room and see the remaining members of my squadron bound to the walls, many unconscious and beaten half to hell. I try to move to them only to realize that I am restrained as well, though suspended from the ceiling instead, with binds around my wrists and ankles.

My weapons have been taken away, along with my armour, leaving me in the thin bodysuit I wear beneath the reinforced metal and fabric. I call out to the others, hoping to rouse them and come up with some sort of plan. They wake and immediately try to break out of their bonds, to no avail. “Princess, Are you okay?” I’m asked by a young but familiar voice. I try and turn within my restraints. With my restraints digging into my flesh, I finally manage to turn towards the voice. It's Pharen, Theron’s nephew, and my apprentice, who I had told to stay hidden behind cover. “Pharen! What are you doing here? I told you to stay hidden!” I hiss at the young boy, worried he would get caught up in something he wasn’t ready for and didn’t understand.

He straightens as much as he can, given his bonds. “I saw them capture you so I tried to help.” He must have seen the concern and disappointment on my face as he quickly continued. “I know you think that I don’t understand and that I’m not ready yet, but I want to help. This is my home and my family their hurting too. And you’re more important to Mushi then I am. So I will do anything to protect you. No matter what.” He puffs up slightly, with a more serious expression then I had ever seen on him before.

I sigh then smile softly at him. “We might just make a soldier out of you yet kid. We just might.” Any kindness in the room was immediately sucked away as the doors abruptly open, revealing our captor, Soline, the Second in Command of the Dueler's Decree. He walks into the room with a disturbing sly smile. "So, Mushi's greatest warrior, the famed Fighting Princess, is actually a weak little girl. That doesn't say much about your military, does it? And *I* managed to capture you. I must be better than I thought. And now I have Mushi's greatest treasure right here before me, bound and helpless." He walks up to me and cups my head, licking his lips creepily. "You're going to tell me everything I want to know. How long it takes, and how much you hurt, is up to you."

I growl and spit in his face, a hissing noise starts as the venom in my spit slowly starts to eat away at his skin. He wipes it onto his sleeve and grimaces. "You're going to pay for that." He walks over to an empty wall and slides his finger along a groove in the panelling. The panel flips open, revealing a large array of strange and scary devices. He looks at them for a moment, before picking up a large metal wand with two prongs at the end. He flicks it and an electric current starts to run through it. He walks back over to me with a malicious smile. "Don't worry, it'll only hurt a lot." With those words he jabs it into my stomach, making me convulse within my binds as the electric currents surge through my body. I cry out, and he seems to enjoy my screams as I writhe with agony.

He pulls the rod away and I collapse against my binds, breathing heavily, desperately. "You'll come to respect me eventually princess. That or you'll learn your place here. Under my boot." He jabs the rod back into my stomach and holds it there longer, watching as I shake violently. He pulls away and lifts my head. "Anything to say? Or are you weaker then I thought?" I breathe heavily and open my eyes, deep blood red with rage. "Fuck......Off" I say, gasping between breaths. He grimaces before leaving me to hang limp. "I'll leave some time to think. It'd be smart to just tell me what I want to know. Next time I won't be as merciful."

✦Orion walks up to the table, as well as Zain. “We’ve been experiencing great resistance from the Duelers Decree on colony eight. Considering the relative lack of inhabitants, it’s safe to assume that they have something there to hide, possibly even their main base of operations.” Orion points out the various red dots on the map of colony eight. “These are the recent sites of battle. The only things within a thirty click radius of these sites are our medical camp, and this old mining facility, inside of the mountain.” Shiloh walks up to the table as well. “We need to send reinforcements for our troops as well as a stealth unit to investigate the mine.”

“And that’s where we come in sis.” Zain slaps me on the shoulder. “We get to be the sneaky sneakers. Assuming you can avoid blowing anything up this time.” I roll my eyes before going to retort. “That was a completely different mission and you know it. Clear and capture missions are different then stealth ones. A grenade seemed appropriate at the time. Besides, maybe you should avoid setting off the security systems, and then I won’t have to blow our way out.” He scowls sarcastically. I smirk, knowing he can’t fight my words.

Shiloh then turns to Lola. “Since your the new recruit, you’ll have to report to Commander Pitiol for assessment and training. Assuming you can keep up.” He ends sarcastically, clearly doubting her abilities. Lola stands a little straighter, ready to prove herself. “Yes, sir. Where may I find him?” Shiloh looks at her in surprise, not expecting her random burst of confidence. “One of the guards will escort you to the training facilities.” With that, he flicks his head slightly and a guard walks up to Lola, motioning for her to follow. They walk out of the war room. “We’ll see if she manages to be of any use. The shy ones never last long.” Shiloh says, a smug look on his face.

Orion sighs and shakes his head, before continuing the briefing. “Yes, you and your brother are the stealth unit for this mission. You are to log and report. Do not engage unless completely necessary. We can’t afford to lose either of you. You’ll ship out with the reinforcements tomorrow morning. Be careful and may the queens guide you.” He uses the wish of Mushi, knowing of its importance to our people, despite not being Mushi himself. We nod and walk out of the room in sync, the bond between twins open and strong.

We walk down the hall towards the galley, happy to be reunited. We enter the galley, grabbing some rations and sitting at a table. “I went to see the children earlier, they’re doing well.” I start small talk, simply to catch up with my other half. “That’s good to hear. I didn’t get to see them yet, though I saw Cryssi.” He responds with a smile as he tears into his food. I smirk in return. “And how is your lovely lady doing?” I speak with a mocking tone. He snorts. “She’s doing great smart ass. The rehabilitation program you came up with is really a place where she can flourish.” I roll my eyes. “Of course it is. I designed it so that people like her can help out in the war, without having to go out on the front lines.” My answer is full of sass and pride.

He rolls his eyes as he finishes his rations. “By the way, I heard that we might run into a familiar face this round. And I happen to know that you care a lot about this certain face. You going to finish that?” He points to my half-eaten rations. “What do you mean by that? And yeah I’m going to finish it Mr. Bottomless pit.” To make a point I shove half of what remains of my food into my mouth. He laughs before answering. "I'm not going to tell you, not now that you just ate my food. Besides, I want to see the look on your face." I eat the rest of my food. "What do you mean "your food"? That was my ration, to begin with."

✦I lead the children to the main area of the stronghold, where Lola, Theron, and Iai are carrying on a conversation. We walk over to them and sit down, joining in on the conversation. "Lola, this is Dash, Sara, Fiona, and Faizen. They're my kids, kind of. They  lived in the orphanage I ran, and I kind of raised them." Lola stands up and moves to shake the hands of the kids, one by one, starting with Fiona, and moving down the line. "I'm Lola. It's nice to meet you." She says quietly, though more confidently than before, slowly getting used to people. "I found her on colony four, and I'm taking her to the leaders of the Angel's Advocates."

She nods and shows them her pin. "It was my mothers." Fiona looks her over. "You're from colony four? I thought all civilian presence was evacuated a few years ago." I nod. "All civilian presence was. Her parents were part of the Angel's Advocates, so they were most likely stationed there." She nods. "I don't know much of the war, but I know how to survive and which side I fight for." I mess with her hair. "And this is why I'm going to take you to the leaders, we could always use more fighters."

I take a look at the holographic display on my wrist and notice the time. "Speaking of meeting the leaders, we should probably get going if we want to get to the main citadel on time to meet them.  The meeting should be starting soon." She looks at me and nods, following Iai back towards the door as I say goodbye to the kids. "You'll be back soon right mama? You'll come back for us? And you won't die, right? You can't die, your mama, nothing beats you right?" Dash says as he hugs me tightly once more. I smile as I pat his hair. "I'll be fine baby, don't worry." I separate myself from him and press a kiss to his head, proceeding to do so to the other children, before heading to the entrance of the building, where Lola, Iai, and Theron await.

We exit the building before climbing into a taxi-zoomer and heading towards the centre of town, seeing the peak of the main citadel close in. The zoomer comes to a halt and we get out to face the entrance of the large building. The Citadel is in the centre of mother planets largest city outside of Mushi. We walk towards the rather imposing entrance, guarded by two heavily armoured troops. I open the display on my wrist with identification, before pulling Lola along with me. The door compacts away and opens up. I step through into the buildings main foyer. "Welcome Your Highness," is called out by the guards.

I walk through the halls confidently, Iai and Theron keeping pace, knowing exactly where to go. I take Lola's hand and lead her through the building, and up a flight of stairs, to a door at the end of a hall, once again guarded. I show my identification before entering the room, to see the war table and the two leaders of the Angel's Advocates around it, as well as their CMO, stealth, air, navy, bomber leaders, and my own brother, with a few guards.

I walk up to the table, and after a brief hug with my twin, pull Lola up beside me. "Princess, glad to see you decided to join us." Orion, the leader of the Angel's Advocates says politely. "Could you decided to show up any later?" Shiloh, the second in command, says full of bite. "Still not too fond of me are you?" I say, smirking as I watch Orion scold his partner for "disrespecting an important ally". I clear my throat, interrupting their little dispute. "Anyway, you have a new member, Lola come and introduce yourself." They look at me in shock as Lola walk out from behind me. "Uhh, Hi. I'm Lola, and my parents were Angel's Advocates. Yeah. Hi" She ducks back behind me.

Orion holds out his hand as he greets her. "I am Orion, leader of the Angel's Advocates. It's good to have you aboard." He smiles kindly as she shakes his hand. "Really? Are you letting her in just like that? We don't even know her. You're just taking her word that her parents were our allies? She could easily be a spy. Even if she isn't, look at her. She's barely legal. She probably can't even fight." Shiloh snaps at him, glaring at Lola, making her cower behind me slightly. Orion sighs. "I apologize for his behaviour miss. He doesn't seem to know when to *hold his tongue*." He glares at Shiloh who rolls his eyes.

✦I'm caught off guard by the sudden force hitting into me, but I embrace it nonetheless.  "Mama! Your back mama!" The child currently buried in my chest says, crying lightly.  I stroke his hair and murmur soothingly to him, hoping to calm him down. "Yes baby, I'm back." I smile at the surprising welcome as I see the other children crowd around the entrance of the building to try to welcome me home.

"Dash you can let go of me, baby," I say with a smile. "I didn't realize that you were such a crybaby Dash"  A teenage girl with flaming hair and eyes walks up and socks him in the shoulder, a wide smirk on her face. "You don't need to be rude Sara, maybe you should just *chill*." A younger boy with blue hair walks up behind her and places his hand on her shoulder, a small amount of frost appearing where his hand is, slowly spreading down her chest and arm. She spins and places her hand over his heart, a glow emanating from her hand, slowly spreading from the contact. "Why should I Faizen, when things are just starting to *heat up*?"

I roll my eyes and pull them apart, watching as they recover from their dangerous game. Sara places her hand where his was, the glow fighting away the frost that had spread up her neck and across her chest and arm, as Faizen does the same, fighting away the heat and burns along his chest with frost from his touch until both are healed as if it never happened, as if they didn't just attempt to kill each other in a dangerous game.

Dash lets go of me and wipes his tears, smiling happily.  I ruffle his hair and press a kiss to his forehead, before going over to Sara and Faizen.  "I can't believe you guys still play that stupid game. You're going to kill each other one day you know." I scold half-heartedly, knowing that they'll continue regardless.  I look around to see a tall girl with white hair floating towards me without the need for wings. She hovers over to me for a quick hug before going over to Sara and helping her up.

I help Faizen up before turning back to the girl. "You've grown quite a bit haven't you Fiona? Last I remember you were just barely above my shoulder." She smiles and nods. "I'm fully legal now mama. I'm all grown up now." I smile sadly, seeing just how much of their lives I missed fighting a war that isn't mine. I survey the others and notice similar things. Dash's hair is longer and now pulled back into a small ponytail. Faizen's eyes are a more vibrant blue than before. Sara's filled out more and is not nearly as bone-thin as before.

I look around and notice that one face is missing. "Where's Breona?" I ask, only to receive down-trodden glances and shuffled feet. Fiona is the one to speak out. "We. We lost her.  We were out scouting and, well, we didn't notice that there was still a proximity mine that we didn't deactivate, and well. She found it in the worst way." She looks away sadly as Dash burst into tears. He runs back into my embrace blubbering. "It's my fault mama. I was in charge of finding the mines. If I was more careful she would still be here. I could have run to her and saved her. But I didn't. I missed the mine and I didn't go save her. It's my fault she died mama. It, it's all my fault."

✦A burst of static comes over the com-link, followed by a voice. “This is spaceport command. Please state your vehicles type, name and your purpose.” I flick the switch to put the ship in hover mode before responding. “This is the space cruiser Arana, and we’re coming home,” I say with a smile. “Landing port three. Welcome home, Your Highness.” The voice cuts out with more static before going quiet and I pilot the cruiser towards port three.

The cruiser lands and the landing platform lowers. I step out of the ship and shield my eyes from the sun, pausing to adjust to the brighter light. I walk forward towards the check-in gate when I'm stopped by someone tackling me in a hug. I'm picked up and spun as I struggle to break free. I'm put down and I take a step back to brush myself off, before looking up at whoever decided to crush me in a hug.

"AYYY!!! Tiny's back!" I'm caught off guard by the familiar voice and annoying nickname. I look up and give him a cruel smile. "General Theron, good to see you again," I say formally, with a cruel undertone to my voice. "General? Whatever happened to Papa?" He asks with surprise, feigning hurt. I smirk and reply.  "Tiny? Whatever happened to Lieutenant? Or Abi for that matter for that matter?" He chuckles and tousles my hair. "You know damn well that "Tiny" was your original nickname, *Princess*," He says mockingly.

I frown and fix my now messy hair. "And you know damn well I don't appreciate you making fun of my height." I glare at him sarcastically, walking over to him. "As if that even matters. If anything the nickname is funnier now then it was then." He says, pointing up towards me, as I am now a half a foot taller than him.

I smirk at him before moving to the side to introduce Lola. "This is Lola. She's from colony four and her parents were Angel's Advocates. I intend to bring her before their leaders so they may decide her place in this war." He looks her up and down judgmentally, before cracking a wide grin and extending his hand. "I'm General Theron of Her Majesty's Army. Nice to meet you." She eyes his hand wearily before taking it and shaking lightly.

"I'm Lola. Nice to meet you as well." She says shyly. She lets go of his hand and ducks behind Iai slightly, though she was still fully visible behind Iai's holographic body.  Theron chuckles and then clears his throat. " Well since you're here are you going to stop by to see the kids?" He says with a slight glimmer in his eye. I pause to think, then go to say something before he cuts me off.

"Or are you too busy to spend time with your family Your Highness?" He says, emphasizing the word family, knowing how to get in my head. I huff and glare at him, before relenting. "I *do* have work to do you know. If I get in trouble for this I am 100% throwing you under the cruiser." He snorts then pulls me into his chest and tousles my hair once more. "Sure kid, whatever floats your boat." He smirks as we walk towards the streets.

We leave the building and Lola clings to my arm. I forgot that she was from one of the smaller colonies. "You okay kid?" I ask with concern. She nods and whimpers slightly. "It's really big and busy and noisy and loud and scary." She holds onto my arm a little tighter.  I pet her on the head before taking her hand. "This is your first time on one of the bigger planets huh? It's always a bit overwhelming but you'll get used to it in no time. Until then, I'll keep you safe. Okay, Lola?"

Theron chuckles. "Always been good with the young ones haven't you?" I smile as we keep walking, my surrounding slowly becoming more and more familiar.  I turn my head and I see the ruins of the orphanage I lived in and cherished, the memories of children lost stabbing at my mind like knives. My smile falls and my eyes blue at the thought. The flames burning brightly in my mind.

Smoke fills my lungs as I run. It burns but I can't slow down. I need to find them. My children. Where are my children? I hear the sirens as they wail, warning others to get to safety. I run faster, already knowing where the bombs hit. I glance at my arm as I run. Many of the links in my familial rune have gone black. Dead. So many of my children are already dead.  Where? Where are they?

I arrive at the orphanage, my home, and am torn apart by what I see. Flames, destruction, rubble. The home I worked so hard to build and support, crumbling away. I hear a cry and start running through the burning wreckage, all thoughts for my own safety recklessly abandoned. "Stavros! Breona!" I scream desperately hoping the youngest survived. I hear another cry and turn towards it, tearing through the rubble. What I find kills me inside.

Stavros, laying there feebly waving his small arms in an attempt to move, pinned to the ground by a chunk of cement that fell on his legs. I run over to him, desperate to at least comfort the crying infant. I hold his hand and stroked his hair, in a futile attempt to help him. His cries and whimpers die out as mine start. I stand, trying to rub away my tears, and continue my search for the others. As I run, I see a blur run past me, recognizing Dash, most likely doing the same as me, using his speed to his advantage. I go farther into the building before feeling a hand on my shoulder and being shaken.

✦We ascend to my ship and I dematerialize my armour, stepping into the airlock of my ship and helping Lola off of the platform. She dematerializes her armour as well and steps into the ship's airlock. The door pressurizes behind us as we step onto the bridge of the ship.  I walk to the helm of the ship and sit in the pilot seat, offering the co-pilot seat to Lola. I take the ship out of auto-pilot and take us out of the atmosphere of colony four.

Iai walks up behind us and links to the navigation system, startling Lola. “Oh, I didn’t realize we had a guest, Your Highness. I would have properly introduced myself. I didn’t mean to startle you, miss.” She says apologetically. “What … Are you?” Lola askes apprehensively. Iai straightens and clears her throat. “I was a psychological aid program, I.A model I. I was given to Her Majesty when she was a child, to help her cope with the travails of war and the strains of assuming the throne. Through the upgrades I received over the years, I gained sentience and am now called Iai, in homage to my model make. While I am limited to this holographic from, it allows great technological benefits. Though Her Highness said that one day she would try and build me a robotic body, so that I may live as a normal person.” Iai recites her scripted explanation robotically.

Lola gawks at her in shock for a moment, before collecting her thoughts and introducing herself as well. “Uh-h I’m Lo-Lola. It’s nice to meet you.” She says before doing an awkward little bow. Iai and I laugh lightly at her pseudo-formal introduction. “You don’t need to be so formal, Lola. We’re all friends here.” I give her a smile, her sweet, youthful, innocence reminding me of the children I have, waiting back on mother planet. My eyes flicker light blue at the memory, before returning to yellow at the thought that I now have a reason to go see them outside of schedule.

"Hey, Lola, the badge your wearing, where did you get it? You don't seem like your old enough to have joined the Angel's Advocates yourself." She turns to look at me and answer after some deliberation.  "It was my mothers. She gave it to me when she died. Why? Does it mean something?"  She looks at me curiously. I stare at her with surprise, having expected her to have known it's meaning based on the fact that she was obviously somewhat trained in self-defence.

"That's the symbol of the Angel's Advocates, one of the wars three parties. The badges are used as a way of distinguishing enemy from ally, each party has a unique pin. If it was your mothers then she would have been a member. Is she the one who trained you?" I ask pensively.  She shakes her head. "My father was the one who trained me. I don't really know if I actually learned all that much. He had the same kind of pin though." She explains with earnest.

I turn back to the controls of the ship as I speak. "I'm heading back to mother planet. It's probably for the best that you meet up with the leaders of the Angel's Advocates since you appear to be their newest member. It would probably be best if you told them about your parents as well." I tell her as I fly the ship towards mother planet before setting it into auto-pilot once more.

I get out of the pilot's chair and head towards the storage space labelled "Rations". I open the drawer and pull out a packet for myself before turning to Lola. "You hungry? I've don't have much for variety, but it's something." She nods and I pull out a packet for her as well, before grabbing a bottle of water and pouring it into the packets. I close and shake the packets before handing one to her. "Okami wolf and assorted greens a la freeze dried. Enjoy." I say with a sly smirk, eyes light green with mischief.

She opens her packet and starts to eat rather quickly. By the way that she was eating I could only assume it had been a while since she had a proper meal, and with good reason. Since the war started, most production and delivery services stopped functioning, meaning that the colonies that relied on delivered food were quickly running out. I put my packet on my chair as I go to get another bottle of water and hand it to her. I start to eat my food as she downs half the bottle in one go.

✦ I let go of the sheets and run my fingers along the long scar around my neck. My eyes turn a light blue as tears start to drip down my cheeks and I cup my face in my hands. I stop holding back as the tears flow freely down my face and neck, sobbing loudly. The memory vividly replays in my head on a loop. Aria. My sister. The one who took us in after mother died. Why? What drove her to betray us? Where did it all change?

I hear a faint skittering noise and soon the room is dimly lit by the faintly glowing hologram next to me. “Your Highness,... Are you okay? Was it another one of the nightmares?” The holographic girl looks at me with concern in her artificial eyes. “I’m fine Iai. It was just a bad dream” She gives me an unamused look, as we both know those words were a lie. “If it was just a bad dream, then why did my programming boot up? Sentient or not, I’m still linked to *your* psyche remember?” I look at her as the tears continue to flow. I can’t lie to her, but I’m not sure if I even understand it myself.

“What was it about, the nightmare? Was it the usual one?” She asks with concern, knowing very well how fragile the nightmares can make me. “No. This one was different. I saw a different memory. Aria’s betrayal.” A few more tears slip down my cheek, though I quickly wipe them on my arm. “Oh… Well, at least that’s better than the usual right?” She says optimistically. “I guess. Though I’d rather not have any nightmares at all.” I look at the sheets sadly. “ Unfortunately there isn't much we can do about that.” She looks sad for a second before brightening up again. “But that’s why I’m here. To help you through the bad times and guide you through the good. Isn’t that right Your Majesty?” I chuckle and sit up, turning to the side and sliding my legs out of the sheets. “I’m going to get ready. Would you mind taking care of the bridge for me?” I get up and walk towards my washracks as she replies. “Of course My Queen. Today we are searching the production district of colony four. I’ll see you when you finish.”

She walks towards the bridge of the ship as I enter the wash racks. I turn on the shower and brush my teeth and hair as I wait for the wash fluid to heat up. Once it reaches the proper temperature, I undress and sit under the stream, allowing the warm liquid to wash away the remnants of cold memories. As I sit in the comforting flow of water, I look down at all the marks and scars that litter my wrists. I see the thin glowing band on my left ring finger and sigh. I remember his words. “It doesn’t matter what you are, or where you came from. What matters is who you choose to be. And you chose to be the strongest femme I’ve ever seen. Never forget that, my princess.” I smile as a single tear slides down my cheek. I shake it off and finish my morning preparations.

I walk to the bridge of the ship as we land in an empty lot just outside of the production district. I step out off of the platform on to the dusty, muddy ground. I rarely visited the production district of mother planet, let alone on one of the colonies. I take a deep breath before absolutely regretting it. Due to the pollution from factories being all kept within a certain bubbled radius, I ended up inhaling a large number of chemicals that left me bent over coughing. I was starting to remember why I never visited the production districts. I turn to Iai, but before I can say anything a large explosion from a nearby factory catches my attention. I run towards the explosion, summoning the blade of queens and my armour.

I forgo running, choosing instead to open my wings and fly as quickly as possible. As I arrive, I spy a large group of the clone warriors that once obeyed my command, swarming around a small girl, bearing the symbol of an Angel’s Advocate, who was desperately trying to fight them off with her spear. I drop to the ground and sprint forward, swinging my blade with strength, speed, and precision. I spin around and perfectly slice the heads off of two of the clones, before turning to pierce my sword through the chest of another. I continue forward, summoning a shield and pushing three of them together, slicing through them as I run. I dematerialize my sword before jumping and swinging around the neck of one, sinking my teeth into his flesh and releasing my venom into his system. I use my momentum to fly into the chest of another, puncturing his lungs with the sharpened heels of my boots.

I continue to slice my way through their ranks before I reach the girl, throwing myself at her and pushing her into a teleportation field that I summoned just behind her, stopping only to throw one of the grenades attached to my hip. We reemerge back by the ship. I stand up and offer my hand to the small girl, who upon a closer look, appears to be fully mature, though young. She looks at me suspiciously before taking my hand. I pull her up and hand her the spear she dropped. She takes the spear, and dematerialized it, saying a barely audible “Thank you.” I smile at her before introducing myself. “ I am Abella, crown princess of Mushi, Leader of Iji, and ally to the Angel’s Advocates. Who may you be?” I ask formally, hoping to encourage a polite response.

✦I stand at the top altar in the middle point of the back wall. I face the council members as they elaborate on plans to help the civilians recover. I turn to my right to look at the girl next to me. For the first time since we entered the chamber, I notice the small blade she holds in her hand. My eyes change to a light grey with confusion as I realize that she is silently counting backwards. But to what?

As soon as the thought crosses my mind, I hear a large *boom* echo through the halls outside. Commander Hadel charges into the room with a small squadron of the cloned warriors behind him. *As I go to question what’s going on,* he pulls out a small pistol and shoots one of the councilmen in the chest three times. I go to pull out my weapon, only to be stopped by the girl next to me. I turn to her, and before I can question, I feel a sharp sting across my neck, followed by an unpleasant flow of warm liquid down my front. She slit my throat. I trusted her, and she chose to kill me.* I hold my neck tightly, in hopes of restraining the blood flow.

I fall back against the wall, desperately trying to remain standing. I watch as she and Hadel make quick work of the rest of the council. I pull myself to my podium as I hear them speak. “They won’t be an issue any longer. You have done well Hadel.” I hear her voice speak clearly, with a sharp, cold tone so unlike the girl I knew. “Thank you. I exist to serve you, My Queen.” His words echo in my mind as I finally realize what just happened. We were betrayed. She intended to kill me and take my place as ruler.

I shake myself out of my thoughts and lower myself onto the floor. I pull a Medi-pak from my personal sub-pocket, and quickly break it open against the podium, pulling the syringe, prefilled with a dark blue serum, out of its holder. I stab it into my neck and feel the cooling sensation as it quickly goes to work sealing the open veins. I remove the bandages from the Medi-pak and quickly wrap and fasten them around my neck, stitches can wait until I help the others.

I grab my Medi-pak and stand up, wincing at the pain that shoots through my neck. I walk down the steps and head towards the others. The first person I see has been shot through the head, beyond saving. I go to perform the rite of passing, a blessing to guide their senter to the after-world, when I hear a quiet groan from behind me. I leave the rite for later, running to the centre of the room to see who survived. I follow the noises to where I find General Theron, a man who was like a father to me when no one else was. He has been shot through the hand and in the chest. I forgo the serum choosing instead to use a Jel-pak to seal the wound. I reach into the hole in his chest and pull the small destructive bead out. He winces from the pain and opens his eyes.

“Princess... You survived." I answer kindly with a small smile. “Of course I did old man. It takes a lot to kill us Iji”. I place the Jel-pak over his wound and puncture the package, allowing it to release its mixture of fluids, to decontaminate and repair the tissues. I also grab a small syringe of morphine and inject that into his arm, before helping him to his feet. He gains his footing and retrieves his Medi-pak. I don’t bother telling him to rest, as I know he would not listen anyway, and we get to work checking and helping the others. I go to perform the rite of passing on the first person I encountered, before continuing to do the same to the others council members I come across. My eyes turn purple with fear, as I realize that we may be the only ones to have survived the attack. I continue to search the area before I hear him call.

“Princess I found him. I found the Prince!” I turn towards his voice immediately and sprint towards him as fast as my wounds will allow. The General is leaning over my brother, my twin, and is diligently attending to his wounds. I move closer and gasp in shock at what I see. His arm has been brutally ripped off at the shoulder, and he lay in a growing puddle of blood. I run to his side and remove a needle of the blue serum from my Medi-pak. I inject it into his arm and immediately prepare a second syringe, injecting that as well. Theron has already tended to the remainder of my brother's wounds, and together we sit him up and lean him gently against a wall as we go and check the rest of the council members. We break off to perform the rite of passing for each of the dead we suffer upon, and when we sorrowfully regroup, it became numbingly apparent that the three of us were the only survivors of the council.

Rapid footsteps approach from down the hall and draw my gun in panic. I hear repeated banging against the doors coming from the hallway. With a final loud crash, a small group of people run into the room, guns drawn. I immediately fire, a single gunshot.