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> Be overwhelmed and underwhelmed all at once.

Time seems to slow around you, and for once you're not sure if it's just your perception or if you're truly affecting your environment. Jade Harley lies dead at your feet, looking small and pathetic. This is what we spent months hiding from? This is what we were so afraid of? You hadn't expected her to put up so little fight, hadn't expected to win at all. As you watch, she degrades into dust and blows away, surreal as a scene from a movie. She was much too old to exist without the sustaining time powers. 

You wish her a mental farewell, but even as you do you can feel the change. The one you weren't warned about. You weren't in the foyer meeting. You've never known the handmaid. You weren't expecting this at all. 

You drop to your knees, hands clutching your head as the knowledge of everything that ever was is forced into it, power crackling like electrictity through your veins, eyes flashing whites and yellows and purples. 

And the the voice, his voice in your head, orders to kill and tear apart. 

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A simple recruitment job.

Now it is just between the Handmaid and Aradia Megido.

It is as if all else disappears and falls away, leaving an almost serene atmosphere.  Both of them know, now, the vagaries of time splaying themselves open to be plainly understood, the circumstantial simultaneity of this event playing over and over in their heads like the time loop that it is.

The Handmaid will enlist the Eternal Servant, extending the same bargain once offered to her.  It will be the sort involving neither negotiation nor possibility of refusal, expressed in terms plainly understood by the doomed Maid. The Eternal Servant, as thenceforth shall she be known, will once again manipulate timelines in a way the Witch of Space could not, and she will serve as her new master’s maid, carrying out his work in places he cannot reach.

The two remaining combatants in the fray, surveying both Space and Time, will make each other pay for the crimes against their friends.  Their payment will be mutually dealt in the currency of punishment and reward at once. The Servant will be rewarded with the power and immortality her new service entails, and punished by the grueling slavery for which it is synonymous. And the Handmaid, in turn, is to be punished by death at the hands of her replacement. And so too will this be her reward.

And thus carried out is the tale of the Demoness in human form.

The timepiece and its great pendulum strike their final movement, and the Handmaid falls.

Long live the Handmaid.

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==>

"You're the brave one around here," you reply. "I'm just doing what I have to. I know you'll take care of everyone." You almost kiss Kanaya's cheek, but something about it just doesn't seem right, so you settle for squeezing her hand. 

And then you're zooming out the door, equipping the mascarachete as you go. You can't really tell if you're running or flying or some weird combination of the two, but the point is you're heading straight for Jade, straight for certain death no matter how this turns out, at as high a speed as you can. 

You see no point in drawing this out, and swing the blade at her throat the moment you're close enough.

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And just where have you been all this time young lady? There's no excuse for such inactivity. 

You've been here all this time, keeping a close eye on Equius, Rose, and Terezi, ready to intervene if it became apparent they couldn't handle things. Realistically, you probably could have thrown up some runes and not been noticed amongst the dozen other short haired Aradias, bit underestimating Jade is the last thing you want to do. 

You know you're here to die, that you're the closest thing they have to a secret weapon and you know if you come in too early it could spell everyone's destruction.

Something clicks in your head, some innate sense of timing. Psionics and an old whip won't do for this, you realize. You seek out Kanaya in the foyer (and you force yourself not to dwell on the fate of her alternate, a body lying prone on the floor glanced at from a distance, that's what you're here to prevent) and ask, somewhat urgently, "Kanaya, I need to borrow a weapon."

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FUTURE abandonedAutomaton [FAA] at ??:?? opened memo on board important!!.

FAA: please tell me youre there please someone respond someone

CURRENT abandonedAutomaton [CAA] RIGHT NOW responded to memo.

CAA: woah calm down whats going on 

CAA: is it something about jade

FAA: oh good ive caught you before then i had to have

FAA: she knows and shes coming 

FAA: shell probably be there soon i dont know when you are but she found the location when aradia left the mansion

FAA: i survived because i 

FAA: i dont know maybe i still have some of that luck vriska gave us

FAA: fuck

FAA: i didnt stop to survey the damage but maybe you can save some 

CAA: woah slow down stop and back up a bit

CAA: aradia never left the mansion

CAA: she went for a long walk but she came back perfectly fine

FAA: ... 

FAA: 0h 

FAA: i guess that makes me the d00med 0ne ar0und here

FAA: n0w that i think 0f it 

FAA: things seem rather unstable

FAA: that explains every0ne dying anyway 

CAA: important question

CAA: can she get here from there?

CAA: is it the same handmaid or a doomed offshoot of her

CAA: can she even have doomed offshoots?

FAA: i d0nt kn0w 

FAA: ask r0se 0r s0me0ne 

FAA: id better get back t0 the alpha bef0re everything c0llapses ar0und me 

FAA: d0nt be surprised if im there f0r the final battle

FAA: i think itll pr0bably be appr0ximately parallel t0 when she attacked the mansi0n here s0 ill just g0 directly there

FAA: see y0u

FUTURE abandonedAutomaton [FAA] at ??:?? ceased responding to memo.

CAA: wait! 

CAA: oh

CAA: well i guess thats that

CURRENT abandonedAutomaton [CAA] RIGHT NOW ceased responding to memo.

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Half your precious second is spent taking in what just happened. Rose was just there, you hadn't even realized how much strength you'd drawn from her presence until it is suddenly and violently ripped away. You're three for three on 'friends you've let die right in front of you within the past week while somehow managing to survive.'

You're thinking anymore, you're just acting on adrenaline. Your first thought is of everyone else in the mansion, and your powers go with your thoughts; you find yourself there before you can so much as bat an eye. 

Everyone is dead, and the cause of death is no mystery. She may as well have burnt her name into the side of mansion. 

Your breath catches in your throat. "No," you whisper. You're at considerable distance, but you can't bring yourself to approach. To look over each corpse one by one and reflect on how you personally failed them. 

You warp through time again, your only goal to get "away", and you end up even farther in the future than your alternate had gone in the first place. You don't even take the time to look around, going immediately to your glassestop.

Distraught, and not quite thinking clearly, you open a memo with your past self. Or rather, with the present version of your alpha self.

<

The Demoness sees the spiral of runes curl around the two of them, and if she were someone else, she might have laughed.

But she doesn’t laugh.  Laughing’s not her style, nor, really, is any display of emotion at all.

The temporal distortion on the part of the Maid is almost comically easy to disrupt, but she does nothing of the sort.  Instead, she vanishes from sight, reappearing instantly at the edge of the bubble, and driving through it without heed to the temporal shockwave.  A massive sonic boom accompanies her as she hurtles forward, one hand outstretched with a needle pointed straight for the Witch.

Before Aradia can react, before she can move, before she can think about the presence of the Handmaid within the small attempt at building herself a place to think, even if only for a moment, Rose is speared through the stomach by the needle, the crackle of time sizzling and flaring around her.  Her eyes fluttering briefly, face twisted with shock, she falls backward as the Handmaid continues to drive her downward into the ground, her gut an explosion of viscera and bright-crimson blood, spattering against the brilliant green dress the Handmaid wore.

While her powers are unimaginable, though, her attention is still that of a normal human, and she remains focused on her kill, giving the Maid a split second to make her escape.

Which, for a Hero of Time, is a second too long.

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You're too late. 

Again. 

You've gotten better though, you think bitterly. This go round you're in time to watch the destruction happen in front of you. And you barely even know the perpetrator. This way you won't spend sweeps blaming yourself for this happening in the first place! Actually, that last part is a blatant lie. You will most definitely be spending a large part of the time you spend here blaming yourself for not getting here in time, for not getting a more exact read on where she'd gone.

You just don't know that yet. In fact, you're a little preoccupied with the fact that you're facing certain death and you have no idea what to do about it. She's spotted you alright, and you doubt you have more than a second of reaction time. 

Instinct says, make the most of this second, and red runes flare up around you and Rose both, slowing time down locally for the two of you, giving you four seconds to think compared to her and the rest of the world's one.

This is a wonderful time for your mind to be utterly blank. Any time you go to, she can follow, with hardly any delay. You could try to hinder her with psionics, but you have no offensive powers. You are, in a word, stuck. You can only try to put yourself between her and Rose.

> == =

Aradia is one of few of their little group who has not experienced the fury of the Demoness in person. She knows only of the stories, of what Karkat and Kanaya and Equius have told her. She knows only of the plaguing nightmares Karkat had for a month that he could never remember upon waking.

But when she first experiences the wrath of a girl she once considered a friend, it is an awesome power to behold, and terrifying as well.

The first thing she can think is “oh shit”; the second, that this is not Jade. This will never again be Jade and this has clearly not been Jade for a very, very long time. There is a distinct sense of inhumanity behind her eyes, something Aradia can see even in lieu of the flashing lights signifying to whom she belongs. Her breath catches in her throat and every instinct she has is telling her to pick up her skirt and run like hell but she’s

just

frozen.

Frozen in place, frozen in time by nothing but crippling fear, frozen in shock with every neuron firing and screaming, yelling, pleading with her to move move move move move or she’s going to die.

By the time she recovers the Handmaid is already poised to strike.

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==>

"It's that or wander aimlessly, and that's even less of a lead." 

A quick glance at trollian on your glasses top tells you that she's not online. It couldn't, of course, be so simple as sending her a message. 

Moments later you and Rose arrive at the park. It's disturbingly still and empty, nothing to indicate anyone's been here in the last couple of months, much less the last couple of minutes.

You sigh heavily, and you're about to say something to the tune of "I suppose we'd better start looking through the actual buildings" when a flash of green in the sky draws your eye, and your heart sinks. You're too late, too late, but that doesn't mean you're going to do anything. 

"Shit goddamn it we're out of a job! Come on!"

You grab Rose's arm and soon the two of you are running towards the terrified screams.

= =>=

The Handmaid can feel the distortion of time near here—like ley lines, that ripple of time is palpable, to those with the right power.

Finally, a familiar ripple catches her attention.

The signature is unmistakable, and she knows what she needs to do.

She turns a corner.

She does not appear on the other side.

Instead, a muted flick of green light heralds her departure, and seconds later, she is high in the sky, following that faint trace of Time’s bend.  One last hint comes to her, an aftershock of Aradia’s motion, and that is all she needs.

A brilliant tremor of chartreuse tears the sky for a split second, and then lances like a bolt of lightning to a small inn.  Her arrival creates a shock wave, blowing out the windows.  With a terrible flash, she fires a flailed crackle from one of her needles, drawn in a split second, and kills a swath of people in front of her, leaving an unbroken path between her and Aradia.

“Hello,” she says, and her eyes glow with a practiced malice.

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You, on the other hand, are entirely used to large temporal shifts, and have been for quite a while. It doesn't occur to you that Rose might be made uncomfortable, especially not with the worry of trying to rescue your alternate as quickly as possible pressing on your mind. 

You shake your head. "From this point on she'll have travelled physically, so there's nothing for me to follow. And we're going to have to hurry." You just hope to god you're not too late.

You notice her wardrobe shift and follow suit, shifting the style of your godtier clothes to a plainer t shirt and pants. You can't go wrong with a classic.

But where would she go? Think like your alternate. She was frustrated, wanted some alone time. She'd probably be drawn to a place she associated with peace. "I think she'd have headed for the nearest open space."

You’re jerked forward with Aradia to another time, eyes squeezing shut as you withstand the unpleasant, nauseating pull of the distortion, another large shift like this a profoundly difficult experience to withstand after the degree of void-shifts you had had to make in quick succession quite recently.  Still, you say nothing, and your face quickly returns to one of complete dispassion.

Collecting yourself and giving Aradia a quick glance, as if to ground yourself, you quickly shuffle through your wardrobifier, settling on the 22nd-century clothing Dave had bought for you and a pair of brilliant violet contacts, figuring it should allow you blend in at least marginally better than with the decidedly garish Witch robes.

Looking around, it’s clear that the other Aradia is not within directly visible range. “Do you feel any additional energy that might guide us to where she is?  Or are we going to have to comb through without that benefit now?” you ask, hands at your side and ready to begin to pull you to different locations, should it be necessary.

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You speak quickly, trying to convey facts without focusing on them too much. "We should end up in the physical location. If she hasn't gone far she should be in range." Your voice softens perceptibly. "I don't want to put more stress on you, you've already been on one rescue mission this week. I'd go alone if that'd be of any use."

"I've taken a passenger along before," another Rose, interestingly enough, but under rather different circumstances. "but never tried to trace some one like this. You'll want to hold onto my arm," you add, offering it to her, "it's easier with physical contact."

And without further ado you hurl the two of you forward through spacetime, to what you can only hope is close enough to where Aradia is.

She arrives almost faster than you can imagine, but your mind is not on Aradia’s impressive locomotion skills but the high-stress environment that just ramped itself up to four-alarm fire.

It’s late and you’re not only emotionally drained but physically exhausted from the exertion of all the powers of Void you could muster to protect Terezi from the Handmaid a mere few days prior.  But you know that for the sake of Aradia, and for the sake of everyone in the mansion, you needed to devote the very last scraps of energy you could in order to protect her.  All you can do is pray that the Handmaid won’t catch the two of you in her pursuit of your friend.

“Let me know if there’s anything I can do, Aradia—should there be a need to re-centre our spatial coordinates after you make the jump, I can adjust for that.”

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[02:03] AA: what are we waiting for then

[02:04] TT: Nothing.

[02:04] TT: Let’s go, Aradia.

— tethysTransfigured [TT] ceased pestering abandonedAutomaton [AA] at 02:04 —

Rose must already be in your alternate's room to have found the note, so it's there you head as soon as you recieve her message. While technically you have ages before Aradia actually appears outside the protection of the mansion, every moment you waste before then means she'll be harder to follow. You've never done this before, trying to follow someone through time using only the slight temporal discord they leave. Then again, you haven't known many who share your aspect.

Your greeting to Rose is brisk, and you immediately close your eyes and center yourself, getting a mental grasp on the flow of time itself.

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<==

[01:53] — tethysTransfigured [TT] began pestering abandonedAutomaton [AA] at 01:53 —

[01:53] TT: She left.

[01:53] TT: God damn it, Aradia, she *left*.

[01:54] TT: She left she left she fucking LEFT why did Kanaya have to answer her like that.

[01:54] AA: are you serious

[01:54] AA: after we told her not to

[01:54] TT: I’m serious.

[01:54] TT: She didn’t want to listen.

[01:55] TT: I walked to her room because she said she was leaving for the twenty-eighth century or something like that and when I got to her room I found only a brief note.

[01:56] TT: That she “would be back”.

[01:56] AA: shes not going to be back if the handmaid finds her!

[01:57] TT: I know!

[01:57] TT: I need to find her.

[01:57] TT: If she doesn’t have the cover I can provide she’ll die before I can reach wherever she is, whenever she is.

[01:58] AA: and you need me to get you whenever she is dont you

[01:58] TT: …Well, yes.

[01:59] AA: it just follows logically

[01:59] AA: do you have a more precise time than the 28th century

[02:00] TT: Nothing more than that she intended to bring “a bag and a toothbrush” with her to said century.

[02:00] TT: Fucking hell, Aradia, what was she thinking?

[02:01] TT: Can you go back to the point where she left and trace her, do you think?

[02:01] AA: i think we can safely assume she wasnt

[02:01] AA: i might be able to but i cant be sure itll be exact enough

[02:01] AA: its better than nothing though

[02:01] TT: We don’t have anything better to go on.

[02:02] TT: At the very least, I should be able to keep us cloaked together.

[02:02] TT: But even still, we’ll have to act quickly if we want to find her before the Handmaid does.

[02:03] AA: what are we waiting for then

[02:04] TT: Nothing.

[02:04] TT: Let’s go, Aradia.

[02:04] — tethysTransfigured [TT] ceased pestering abandonedAutomaton [AA] at 02:04 —

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