designation-ward - Tumblr blog

designation-ward · 8 days ago

Text

To Bear Teeth Against Chaos…

OoC: This is a bit of a short story like "To Suffer Without Dying" was, but it's a little different. Because this is largely happening in Sally's head, it's not actually visible to people on the Omninet. Thus, I will not be using my normal "every pov is through a camera somewhere" format, and it will be in past instead of present tense.

Also, disclaimer, this is not meant to be a perfectly accurate representation of Egyptian Mythology, rather it is framed by Sally's understanding of it and her current experiences. Many motifs and ideas are directly derived from the Mythology, but don't take it as scholarly, basically. Lol.

Same goes for the couple appearances of others' characters. They're based on Sally's perceptions.

Oh also it's really fucking long, like the last one ddfgfgh

Anyways, I deeply hope everyone reading this enjoys!!!

“[PILOT, NO. WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?]”

“WHAT I KNEW ID HAV 2!!!! RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGHGH!!!!!”

Sally wanted to keep screaming, keep roaring after this. It wanted to release its rage and pain in one of the best ways it knew how. But it couldn’t. As the hiss of a Serpent injected its wretched venom into it, as fire and death invaded its veins from the BLENDERR stimpump, there was a moment where it could make no sound, no movement. For a moment the Lion-thing couldn’t even feel.

She remembered her first partial test of her neural link. She remembered being a little girl, not yet a monster, taking the fury of the sun directly into her tiny, still developing brainstem. Was this worse? She wasn’t sure.

When it managed the monumental task of opening its poor, bloodshot eyes again, it didn’t see Agoge. It wasn’t in SLAG KITTY, it wasn’t in Achaea, and it didn’t hear its medics’ voices. It saw the desert sky, charred at the horizon by burning sands. And it was falling, falling, falling. The surface of the water broke below it, and soon it was drowning, drowning, drowning.

Drowning in fear and hate and confusion spurred by fire inside it. Drowning in a river which carried it tumbling, tumbling onward. Where was it? Who was it? Gods, it was so hard to remember. And as that memory slipped through its fingers in the water, it grew even angrier. So, so much angrier.

Something else in the water. Something moved. What was it? Had the Lioness seen it before? Did it mean it harm? To its right the something wriggled, slipping past it, just out of the corner of its saltwater-soaked eyes, something scaled and dark. The mystery-thing held itself strong against the current, and the Lioness watched its tail disappear into the murky depths.

But what was that? Ahead of it? Struggling just the same as the Lion-thing? A red bundle, writhing and struggling beneath the river’s surface. Prey? Enemy? Food? It was so hungry, so ANGRY, so READY to kill. Its claws were sharp, its teeth were beared. RIP. TEAR. KILL.

But what did it hear? Muffled by the water? Dampened to a distant memory? Voices? Familiar voices? They sounded… Scared. It didn’t remember why, but it didn’t like that. It didn’t want those two voices scared of what it would do. So it held back its hate. Its pain. There had to be a reason. Why was it so important not to maul this little red thing?

It dragged its drowning self towards the bundle. Closer… Closer…

What? Its thoughts raced as the tumbling bundle turned for it to see more clearly. A drowning Cub. A smaller Lion, wrapped, trapped in red linen, helpless. Its four little paws struggled against the entombing cloth, but all its tiny might availed it nothing. Upside down, the current dragged it towards… NO!!!

She felt her back nearly break against the rock as she caught the Cub, cradling the mewling thing tightly with all four limbs as she dove between it and the deadly destination of the current. She spun out of control, tears and blood mixing with the water as she crashed bodily into rock after jagged rock. It was agonizing. Nearly as agonizing as holding back her fury. But she had to. Why? She didn’t know. But every time she was broken against these hateful stones was another time the cub was spared them.

When the onslaught was over, when the river calmed enough, she began to unwrap the linens to release her ward. But she would not have victory so easily. The dark-scaled thing was near again, and a gnashing maw filled with naught but Chaos was soon upon her. The serpent’s fangs dug into her arm and its long body carried her away from the babe. With its tiny lungs the Cub cried out for her, releasing only bubbles from its tiny snout.

The Lioness tried to scream in turn. Scream as she felt the flesh of her upper arm sliced and torn in a greater beast’s mouth. But all she got for her scream was more salty, burning, stinging water in her lungs. It dug its claws into the side of the creature’s face, tearing through scales and redding the water in retaliation. The serpent bit down harder. A hateful growl ripped through the Lion-thing as its paw made a terrible crunching sound. Red clouds rolled through the water from between the serpent's fangs, the arm rent between them. Sliced and torn, tendons loosened. Muscle ripped, and agony followed. Even bone couldn't stand against the violence of the creature’s fangs, and soon there was little left to keep the limb attached.

The wailing little bundle of linens floated past her, and yet more treacherous rocks awaited its arrival. The Serpent waited there, letting the Cub drift further and further. It was content with watching it die from a distance. Not so for the Lioness. She didn’t know why it was so important. This instinct. But saving that child was all the world to her. If the serpent would not free her, she would free herself. She planted her feet on its face and pushed with all her might. She pushed through her body screaming to stop with hot needles in her nerves. She pushed through as the rest of what held her arm attached was ripped and sundered. It was useless now, anyway. Chewed and sliced beyond repair. What was the cost? Suffering? Pain? She knew those things so, so intimately already. What was something so trivial when compared to a life?

The Lioness ripped free from the useless tether and kicked off of the scaly hide of the great Serpent. She caught the bundle in her remaining arm, held the linens in her mouth, and tore. Cloth was destroyed like wet paper in her mighty jaws, and the Cub’s oversized paws were freed from their prison. In much the same manner as she against the serpent, her ward kicked off from her, this time toward the surface. It was high above her, almost free from the depths when she impacted against the rock that would have stood to crush it. Good, she thought, breaking once again against the stone. Good. She watched the Cub reach the surface. The serpent watched her quizzically. Its slitted eye was the last thing she saw as all went dark.

The Lion-thing awoke to warm, dry air thirstily lapping the moisture from its face. It had drifted to the surface in its haze, and now its lungs could again taste what they were made for, floating now among calmer waters. Its head, its veins, its very being: a different story. The will, the care was pulled from it in its slumber. The venom remained. The venom left it with hate. Hate. Hate. Hate. Hate. HATE. HATE. HATE. HATE.

It burned. Ra, it burned. It hated this river in which it meandered, It hated the agony in the stump protruding from its shoulder. It hated its fucking body for aching and burning and hating so much.

Down river it saw something. A golden Barge. A vessel perfect in its majesty. That Barge could save it, perhaps. It could stop the drowning. Perhaps stop the burning. If it could only catch it.

It tangled as it swam to the Barge. Tangled in not weeds, not reeds, not kelp or river plants. Arms and legs and blood and entrails. It recognized them. Some of them. Rebels and legions and mercenaries. Victims. Allies. Enemies. It ignored them all, tearing forward, single arm lashing at the water for momentum. They clawed and tore at it, their half-rotten bodies desperate to claim something living. To claim a hold on this thing still able to fight.

It freed itself from one grasp after another. Forward, forward, forward. It had to stop the drowning the burning it HAD to it HAD to. A pleading grasp from an old adversary, long since rent apart by burning claws. The Lioness tore itself away. It had no grace for old, dead prey. It clawed through the water for hours before it finally reached the barge. Finally, grace. Finally, relief. Refuge. A cure to the BURNING.

Buzzing. A buzzing so familiar. Scarabs swarmed the side of the golden, gleaming Barge. They drew not close enough to touch, but they watched, and she remembered. She remembered the buzzing. The humming. Not language in the way most understood it. But familiar, important, all the same. Concern managed to slip through the rage once more. J-Joro?

The Nightjaw hummed to the Lioness. Not a welcoming tune, but a dirge. It knew the swarm’s humming well. She had loved that humming as the voice of a sibling dear. Why then, was it so fearful now?

As it clawed apart the side of the ship for a handhold, for a grip, for anything, it noticed, too, a rope of ivory. A braid, hanging over the side. No. No. No. NO NO NO NO NO NO NO. The two couldn’t be in the same place. Not together. They couldn’t. Because the beloved swarm was gone. Burned to nothing. And that would mean…

Pain worse than the sundered arm seared through the Lion-thing’s everything. Because as it writhed against the barge’s railing, as it climbed and clawed and dragged its battered form atop it, it saw the face of the Khopesh. Scarabs buzzing around and around it. Why would Z-341-A be here? With Jorogumo? It didn’t make sense. Another friend couldn’t be dead. The Lioness could scream now. It could roar and wail. And it did as it squirmed onto the deck.

Screams and cries and buzzing and panicked footsteps formed a chorus with her wailing as the vocal lead. So many pairs of feet ran across the deck away from her. Jorogumo’s swarm body was a mist across the barge, scarabs panicked and flew in all directions. The clone, the weapon, the Khopesh, its ivory blade revealed itself as it moved away from the Lioness and into a defensive stance.

Why? Why? What were they so afraid of? Crimson eyes scanned the deck for answers, and as it did the many corpses quivered in fear. So many… So many familiar faces…

Six children of varying ages, all violet of hair, eyes matching the Lion-thing’s scarlet: they were tucked into a corner, cowering and trembling, guarded by Hyenas: a squad of legionnaires… yes, the ones who’d been kind to her… The ones she’d…

Desperately, she cried, “wuts wrong?? cmon i can protect you!! wut r u scared of??”

The Scarabs gave her a wide berth, buzzing as an angry, thin veil all around her. A Spider with only two eyes answered her, albeit indirectly. “We need to get it off the ship. Can you keep it from getting any closer, Joro, dear?” Weaver’s sultry voice was unmistakable. But why… Why would they say that? About her?

“We will reach the horizon soon. This is suboptimal. We must remove it quickly,” claimed the Khopesh. What? What did that mean?

A Jackal scrambled away in a panic as the Lioness climbed aboard. He scooted across the ground, hysterics too strong to let him right himself on his prosthetics. “Shtib fuvckv dontb let it egt near ME!!”

“M-Myles? Sharko its ME!! its SALLY!!”

“Is it?” Another familiar voice. This one… No. Nonono. This one couldn’t be scared of her too. He… He couldn’t… He COULDN’T. She turned around to search for her best friend. The quiet to her loud. Her very shadow for her first year of real freedom. He wore the shadows drifting along the surface of the barge like robes. Twisted between them. Was them. All of them. She felt a cane or a scepter of some kind poke her in the back. “I don’t think that’s true…”

The Lion-thing whipped around, but one cannot catch shadows so easily. “NICKY!!!” she sobbed, “Nickel i missed u… i thought ud be happy 2 see me… wut is this? wuts going on..?” She was in such pain, she was so ANGRY and HURT and seeing him there felt like a kick to the stomach. She wanted to hug him, to cry into his shoulder. Why was he, everyone, acting like this?

“I could ask the same of you,” he answered. “It’s not her time yet. She isn’t meant to be here. Who are you to wear my friend’s face?”

“huh..? wut..? i-” She’d never heard him so angry. Not at her… His voice wasn’t raised. It never was. But she recognized the tone. It was a spiteful, bitter accusation. The kind he would shrink away from after spitting out at anyone short of an Armory officer. But he did not shrink away. The Shadow strafed her, fluttering at the edges of her vision and hissing out more and more spite.

“I can see it in your eyes. We all can. Chaos, and nothing else behind it. Nothing.”

“Nicky wut the FUCK r u talkin about?? im lost i need ur help!! wear am-”

“youwere scary befofore already!” the Jackal cried from the ground. He flinched as the Lion turned to him, its crimson gaze locking on and dragging her forward. Nonetheless, he was at least brave enough to speak his mind: “but evne i didnt take blendrr!”

The Lion-thing’s heart sank, then caught fire. “THATS wut this is about? THAT!?” It took a stomping step forward, and the Jackal whimpered. “I HAD TO!!! She was gonna KILL me!!! KILL EVRYBODY!!!” Another step, and its fury loomed over Myles. “I HAD to!!!”

“stay bacck!!!” It hadn’t realized he was crying until the wall of Scarabs had weaved between the two. She… She didn’t mean to scare him… But she was so ANGRY. So much more than usual. They were all treating her like a threat, an enemy, for surviving?

It could keep itself from leaping through Joro to scratch him. She could manage that much. But not much else. She couldn’t muster the strength to bite back her roar. The most recent corpse-friend’s shaking and sniveling only worsened with the tremors, even with her screeching laced with her own tears. “IF U TOOK IT MAY B U WOULDNT B HERE!!!” Its lungs ached as it threw back its own accusations, its blood boiled at her friends’ fear, at the pain of the reunion, the aching feelings of loss that had barely begun to settle before this. It didn’t notice the tears and the snot dripping down its face. “U WERE SPOSED 2 COME BACK! SPOSED TO GET PIZZA WITH ME!! TEACH ME 2 SKATE!!! U DIDNT!!! AND UR GONNA BRAG ABOUT WUT U DIDNT DO 2 STAY ALIVE!? FUCK YOU!!!”

“There it is,” the Shadow proclaimed. “There’s the venom. Whatever it is that’s replaced her.”

The Lioness spun around to search for Nickel, but they remained flickering at the edges of its vision.

“You really have become wicked, haven’t you?” The Spider was easier to keep track of than the Shadow, crossing their arms in disappointment. “It wasn’t the poor boy’s fault. You know that.”

“HE LEFT ME!!!” Spittle flew from its mouth. Its eyes were wet and hot. It felt like it was burning, boiling in its own skin. It pointed a claw at the Sun Barge’s passengers, all, waving it between the purple haired Cubs, the Jackal, the Spider, Scarabs, everyone. “U ALL LEFT ME!!” ALL OF U!!! SUNNY'S THE ONLY 1 WHO DOESNT LEAVE ME AN NOW U ALL WANNA YELL AT ME AND BE SCARED???” It snarled and stomped; nearly everyone aboard flinched and shook. “IM SCARED!! U KEEP LEAVIN ME ALONE!!! WUT DO U HAV TO BE SCARED OF?? UR ALL DEAD!!!”

“Left you?” the Shadow spat, “How do you know I left? How do you know I wasn’t begging for your help? Could your rage-drunk brain even comprehend what I was screaming in my last moments? While you were running ahead to tear open that Barbarossa? How long do you think I was dead before you even noticed?”

Part of the Lioness wanted to lash out and claw at anyone nearby. She raked and tore her remaining paw across the deck instead, gilded wood splintering and crunching between her fingers. “thats not FAIR Nicky its NOT!!” Her voice was an agonized squeal.

“Not fair? You know what isn’t fair?” It could feel the Shadow looming behind it. With each spin to try to catch him, it stumbled a little. He began a flickering dance which tested its grace and, in this moment, found it lacking. “Using us… Us and the living both as an excuse.” It scrambled to catch a dark linen in its claw, only to nearly fall on its face. The cane poked it from behind again, and it lost its balance, tripping over its own feet to swing itself around in pursuit. “Your fear put that venom in you. You didn’t take BLENDERR to protect people. You took it because you weren’t brave enough to face her without it. Or them for that matter.”

“IM THE BRAVEST THIGN EVER!!” It snarled.

“No. The girl I knew was. But that’s no longer you.” Another jab in the back, another little tumble. “You put all those people in danger. You put them at risk because you were too terrified to face your mother without a cheap trick to gain more strength.”

The Lioness felt its feet find the edge of the barge, nearly losing its balance to the rocking of the boat. “U NEVER FACED HER AT ALL!!! U DONT KNOW!!! IT WAS WORTH THE RISK!!! I WAS STRONG ENOUGH!!!”

“Worth it? Would this be worth it?” Finally, Nickel stepped into full view, slamming the butt of a wooden crook cane onto the deck. As they did, the shadows that swaddled them jumped to their command, taking the shapes of people: one woman sporting a lion’s head as her own. She began tearing the other shadows apart. Even as they ran and hid and crawled she tore and bit and mauled. The buzzing of the Scarabs accompanied the slaughter, blending eventually into the sound of a thousand damned screams. The shadows formed the walls of a great city, splendorous, only to be battered through and crumbled before the lion-headed goddess. The Scarabs screamed and screamed and screamed until the Lioness’ ears ached. Ra, were they bleeding?

“THAT WONT- I-” Her heart pounded in her chest. She couldn’t… she WOULDN’T… Would she? She’d… lost control before… when she wasn’t so strong… when Maverick had… that’s why the legionnaires were… She sniffled. He HAD to be wrong. It HAD to take BLENDERR, it HAD TO. She gurgled and sobbed, but the ghosts didn’t wait for an answer.

The Scarabs closed in, shrinking her space even more, and the Shadow pointed the end of his cane at her chest. When he spoke again, more than that bitness, his voice was smothered with a desperate sadness. She saw his face for the first time. How long had he, too, been crying? “You put the people up there at risk, you put the people on this barge at risk, and-” he choked up, “and you come here wearing my friend’s face? No. Begone.”

The Lioness didn’t fight it. Her arm was limp. Too heavy with despair to resist as the cane’s crook gently pressed into her chest, forcing her backwards from the deck of the ship. The water was cold. Only now, looking up, did she realize that the river had long since stretched underground. Whatever manner of cave ceiling was above her was swallowed by the vision of murky, flowing water as the Barge began to slowly drift away, carrying away with it the light of day. They left her there in the damp dark, bubbles of air escaping her and rising to the surface.

That’s when the other corpses came for her again. She didn’t have time to chew on her misery and her betrayal and regret, all the human pieces of the hurt she felt. They began to grab and pull and tear at her: the many corpses she never learned the names of. They weren’t fully real like the ones on the boat. They were the people you’d catch a glimpse of in a crowd, only recalling the color of their hair or perhaps a shirt: muddled, faceless, detailess. Rebels. Legions. Mercenaries. Like before. Any other details, she couldn’t make out through the murky darkness, if they were there to begin with. But even so they grasped so desperately at the Lion-thing. Pulling, dragging her further down among them, deeper into the river.

Screaming and crying. That was what she really wanted to do. But things were attacking it. And there was one thing its brain was compelled to do with feelings like that when adrenaline slipped its poisonous grasp inside it.

As its claw stripped flesh from faces, as its jaws crunched through bone, a part of her wondered; did they see it the same way? From their perspective, was the monster ripping into them faceless, too? Set against them by circumstance, it tore limb from limb only because they dragged it under. Only because of the hurt that drove it from the boat. The river ran red as it struggled and writhed, as it maimed and maimed again. It mauled mindlessly and lamented. It hurt and it lashed out.

The water shifted. Not due to her own thrashing alone, nor that of the corpses. Even as the Lioness dyed the water with others' blood and its own tears, the thing moved and the water shifted. The many corpses began to retreat. Wretched fingers and hands and teeth scattered from its skin and into the current. As quickly as it had been grabbed, it was left to whatever stalked it in the water.

Two eyes. They were much like the Lion’s own: a deep crimson, redder than blood, but with pupils slitted, not round. A gray face. Its own face, chubby at the cheeks and full of sharp teeth. Thinner teeth than hers, though. It smiled. A smile that showed off those thin-sharp teeth.

“hello little beastie~” It spoke with her voice, but not. High and raspy as her own was, but more a hiss than a squeal or a scream. “sad lil’ thingy arentcha? a cub thrown overbored, all ur little friends r so so mad at u~ hehHEHE~”

The Lioness swung at its doppelganger. Its claw caught only water as the other-thing slinked backward and just out of reach, giggling again at the half-hearted attempt on its life. “ooh OOH hehe… feisty, kitty kitty~”

“it isnt FUNNY!!!” she screeched.

“oh but isnt it?” The smile faded from the creature’s lips. Its tone lost its playful edge. “isnt it so so funny? or at least a bit? after all, arent they sposed 2 be ur friends? ur family? arent they sposed ta love u? liek u do them?” It slid through the water around her with more grace than she could readily follow, never even letting her glimpse its lower half. Though, it was clear that this creature was not missing an arm as she was.

“wuts it 2 u?” She spat.

The creature ignored her question. “how could they? dont they know how hard uve had it? dont they know how many peopl owe their lives to u? how hard u always fite to stay alive.. to keep their memory safe?” It stared her in the eyes, letting out an outraged hiss, “they should b GRATEFUL. doesnt that… make u angry..?”

“of COURSE it makes me angry. id do anything. ANYTHING 4 them… and they…” The Lioness felt its jaw clench and its claws dig burning and SHARP into its palm. “an they threw me off their FUCKIGN BOAT!!” She wanted to cry again as much as she wanted to lash out. But the former wasn’t what was pulled from her. Not in this instance. Not with these words.

“Yes, yes they did, didn’t they? So nasty of them, wasn’t that? So mean, so wicked… You didn’t deserve that, did you? That betrayal. That cruelty.”

“I DIDNT!!!” It agreed, snarling and sniffling all the while, “i needed their HELP!!”

“Exactly! You needed their help, and they shunned you! Turned their backs on you!”

“YEAH!!!” It was right, and it made the Lioness hurt so bad. In its face, in its head, in its eyes, in its tummy… They left it, EVERYONE left it because of what it HAD to do… It was BULLSHIT it was so… MEAN of them!! She was hurting so bad and they didn’t even CARE!! She wanted to cry even MORE now. Instead, it growled.

“Well, there’s only one thing to do then, isn’t there?” The other-thing’s smile widened.

It didn’t trust that smile, but it was already listening. “wuts that?”

“Show them,” it said. “Show them how angry you are.”

Suddenly she was aware of the pain in her hand from the claws dragging across it. “wait… wait, thats… thats not rite…”

A cruel, awful laugh. The Lion didn’t even notice the other-thing’s voice slipping, changing, into… something more. Something worse. A loathsome hiss in the darkest part of everything. When had it stopped using her voice? Now its laugh echoed through the water, through the cavern like cracking, splintering ice. “Why not? It’s what you do with your fury, isn’t it? It’d be so easy wouldn’t it? One little shnick of those claws, one little crunch in your jaws, and your problems get erased, just like that. The things that made you so angry so hurt are gone, isn’t that what you want?”

“N-NO!” Oh RA, what had she been thinking? Even if it’d just been a second. “NO! Itd be easy but itd be BAD!!! the easy is part of the problem!”

“Little girl, do you even hear yourself? You deny your very nature! You spit in my face!” The creature hissed again. She could hear it inside her own head, hateful and loud. And as it did, it stretched and closed around her. Coils and coils of the creature tightened around her in an instant. What had been hidden beyond the waist that looked like hers was miles of monstrous scales. The serpent lifted her out of the water and into the air, still looming over her with her own features, distorted among the darkness and the empty.

“HE WAS RITE!!” She screamed from the bottom of lungs that even then were being crushed and squeezed among the twisted knot of scales. “U-” she coughed as it crushed her, but she forced the words out all the same. “u sound just like mama… Nicky… he was rite…” She struggled and writhed but the serpentine muscles only grew tighter around her. The stump of her arm was on fire. She could feel her bones creaking and bending inward under the pressure. “u… im sposed to b stronger than u… he was ri…”

She struggled to keep her eyes open. But she couldn’t breathe and that was making her so so sleepy. Too sleepy to claw and to bite. She could feel her eyelids falling. This would be it. The Chaos couldn’t convince her to let it in so it would crush her. It would crush her and crush her until there was no more of it left and who knows what it would do then and it was HER FAULT for taking the stupid stims.

She had fought this battle before. She had fought to keep herself her for so so long and she was so so good at it now. She was holding back all the time ALL THE TIME and she could do it so so well. But it was so SO strong now because of the BLENDERR. It was HER fault and she HATED tha-

There was a flash. Orange and red and gold flooded the air and the Chaos Serpent hissed a terrible, screaming hiss. It was like the flash slammed her eyes back open again. They weren’t too heavy all of a sudden, and the serpent screeched and wavered.

The Lioness dragged its claw along the muscles holding her as they loosened. She felt slick, dark red coating her arm as the Serpent’s coils recoiled. She slipped through, and splashed into the water once more. Away. Away. AWAY. She swam as hard as she could towards the riverbank.

“YOU CAN’T RUN FROM WHAT YOU ARE!!!” The Serpent bellowed, “I’LL ALWAYS BE BEHIND YOU!!! ALWAYS!!!”

She crawled onto the bank. Slick with mud and silt, she crawled and writhed and dragged herself away from the darkness. Away from Chaos. She coughed up water and blood and sand and kept crawling still. She almost felt herself slipping backward when a pair of small hands clasped around her remaining one.

She felt the hands drag her further ashore, allowing her tired, crushed muscles some respite. But push on, she continued. She only let the new figure drag her on its own for a few seconds. Long enough to catch her breath. Then they worked together to free her from the river and the muck of the bank.

She sat among the reeds for a while, staring back at where she’d been. It was further, so much further from the river than it had felt. The water was far below, now, and she was far enough ashore to have a wide view of the river's path. Far, far ahead she could see where the Barge had gone. Though the infinite cavern was dark, the Barge was bright, so bright. Its gleam was far but never gone. Though the Serpent, too, she could see as it slipped further into the river, because the Serpent was darker than dark could ever be.

She watched and watched until she felt a hand on her shoulder: small, very small. Oh right, someone had helped her. She turned around and found only a silhouette. It truly was dark this far from the Barge…

The Lioness stared at the figure, smaller than her own stunted form, as it lifted its shadowed arms above its head. A Light flared to life above its head: the same Light which had assaulted the Serpent. Fear gripped the Lioness for a moment, but it faded quickly. It was like her Sun Disk, but it wasn’t. Thank Ra. No, this was… Another. The Light that was like Sunny was also a disk, and as it illuminated the area, the head it rested above, the paws that held it, were revealed.

A Cub. Not even yet seven years, a Cub’s violet hair was the resting place for this Sun Disk. The Cub was never made monstrous like her, despite the mark of their masters in the color of their curls. Their skin was full of color and life, not gray and sickly. They stared down at her with big, brown eyes. She recognised the features of the child’s face. So long ago, but that face was burned into her mind…

It was only now that she registered that a sibling had been missing from the Barge. Her moments aboard had been too brief and intense. “Six..?” She whimpered the… Well, ‘name’ gave the moniker too much credit. But even so, it’d been… so very long since she’d last uttered it.

“Hi… Sekhmet.” They looked a little sad, but they smiled all the same. It was a warm smile.

She remembered laughing along with that smile in the times between all the bad. She remembered trying to coax it out even during the bad. She remembered failing, usually. But she remembered feeling so so good when she succeeded. “Six…” She whimpered again. “How… you weren’t on the Barge…” Was it a question or a statement? Why… Why was Six here? “they wouldnt hav thrown u off the Barge… ur too sweet. so… y?”

The Cub cocked their head to the side, still smiling, sadly and warmly. “i gott here a long time ago… so did some of the other kids but i was liek reely early… and time is weird here.”

The Lioness stared at the Cub. There wasn’t much she could do to keep the tears from flowing. She was seeing them again after so long. She missed them. Even after, what, seventeen years, now? But… It was also her fault. Would it be selfish for her to- Damn it all, she didn’t care. She rose to her knees and wrapped her arm around her corpse sibling’s tiny frame. The Cub didn’t flinch, didn’t run, didn’t hide. They embraced her, and she sobbed loudly once into their tiny shoulder as if they were a plushie.

“I missed you too,” They said.

“im sorry… im sorry imsorryimsorry im SORRY…” She whimpered.

The child sighed, but they only let their smile waver for a moment. “r u ok to walk?”

They waded through reeds, OMA-6 lighting the way from atop the Cub’s head. The Lioness was glad, at least, that they had managed to stay together after all this time. She thought about how dark and scary this place was now, and how much worse it would’ve been as a Cub. If she’d had to go through that without Sunny…

“ive been waiting, ya now. a long long tiem,” Six said, stepping over a palm log. Did… plants go here when they died too? The Lioness shook her head. Not important right now.

“waiting 4 wut?”

“u,” they said, casually. “and them.” They pointed at the Barge in the distance. “the snake is reel reel scary. i didnt want the next peopl 2 hav 2 face it alone. so i havent moved to the next place yet… i wanna go to the Field reel bad, but… i can wait a little longer.”

The Lioness’ jaw dropped. This Cub was so so little, but they… “thats brave. thats reel brave, Six.”

“i learned that from u.” They looked over their shoulder and smiled at the Lioness again.

Sekhmet stopped in her tracks. “no…”

Six stopped too, and frowned. “no?”

“no!” She repeated. “u… died because of me… i let u die… i keep letting peopl die, Six, over and over and over.” She knelt down again as she sniffled. She must’ve looked pathetic, but she didn’t care. “peopl keep dying and DYING and i keep FUCKING UP and i… i do stupid stuff and i hurt people and… and…” She couldn’t stop it. The walls really broke this time, and she did what she’d wanted to do in the river. She cried. She let the tears explode out instead of just leaking. “I just want evry1 to be safe and im never strong enough and im SCARY and-”

“thats just not true.” The Cub stepped closer to their adoptive sister, eyes wet, full of concern and love. “Eight… Sally… do u wanna tell me how u remember me… goin away?”

“it was the 1st linking test day.” She could barely sniffle and sob the words out, but somehow the smaller Lion seemed to follow. “told u itd b ok and it wasnt… i went in the neural link 1st and it hurt lots and lots. i screamed and laughed until my throat wouldnt let me anymor and i passed out. wen i woke up i… found out u didnt.” She tried to wipe snot from her face, and only succeeded in painting mud under her nose.

“wanna now how i remember it?” The Cub swiveled back and forth, clasping and unclasping their hands. They didn’t wait for an answer. “i was the scaredest id ever been. even scareder then i was of Mama. we were all scared… except for one.” Six took another step forward, smiled, and poked the Lioness on the tip of her nose. “they were gonna take One 1st but he was too scared. the only reason he didnt start cryin was he was 2 scared of Mama. but then… ‘ill go 1st! its not even a big deel! its not even scary ull c!!’” Her impression of a young Sally was not too different from her resting voice. Just with a little more confidence.

“i was lying…” She admitted.

“well DUH.” The Cub blew a raspberry. “but none of us could tell. suddenly i wasnt so scared anymor. my heart beet a lil mor slow. i didnt wanna cry so bad. ‘I wanna be as cool an brave as Eight.’ thats wut i thought.”

“and then u DIED,” The Lioness reminded.

“i now i died i was there,” they sassed. “but i was gonna die either way. i wasnt strong enough and there was nothing u coulda done.” Despite the grim nature of what they said, they stared into her crimson eyes with all the love and admiration of a little sibling that hadn’t met such an end. “i was brave Eight. i didnt die so scared. u saved me from a scary, scary death.”

That wrenched another sob from deep within her. Then another. Another. A dozen more. She… She’d helped? She’d saved them in some small way? But… was that enough?

A tiny hand brushed her cheek. Her sibling wiped her tears away, and pulled her face forward a little closer. “i now ur sad. ur sad 4 peopl u cant save. especially wen u love them so so much… ur so full of love Sally… but there r still peopl u can save. ur tears would be a lot better 4 them. Papa. u gotta sav Papa, remember?”

She choked up. They were right. So many people needed help. Achaea. Attica. Xie. Styxie. Papa… She did her best to stand, and Six helped.

“we wanna watch u win.” They said, “We don’t wanna make u sad all the tiem, we want u to be happy when u think of us. we want to be another reason u can be strong.”

That on its own was almost enough to make her cry again. But she held it back. “Ok… sniff ok so how can i get back? and… can i help sumhow? b4 i leave?”

Six motioned for her to follow, and she did. The place to which they’d been leading her was a small cliff overlooking the river after a long bend: long enough to have cut far ahead of the Barge. She could see it now, from the vantage point. It was as brilliant as ever as it slowly approached, but… wait. No, it wasn’t. Darker than dark followed close behind. The Serpent tore at its bow and dragged bodies under. The warriors aboard fought and fought but the Chaos was winning.

“NO!!!”

“Save them, Sekhmet.” There it was again. Sekhmet. To hear her sibling acknowledge it… That made her feel more brave. “drag them to shore. keep the Chaos away. i can lead them to the Field of Reeds. i now the way. we can all go there together and u can take the Barge to dawn and get home. then u can remember our names and we can live forever!”

That all sounded perfect. She could help! The people she’d let down, the people she never got to give proper goodbyes, she could help them one last time, then she could go back and- wait. There was one problem. “Six… i dunno ur name. i just know a number… how can-”

“Papa nows,” they said. “Papa gave us all names. just couldnt tell us each others. cause if we used them on each other and Mama heard wed all hav gotten in trouble.” They turned to her and gave her one last bug hug. “find Papa. ask him r names ok? u gotta!”

She felt her claws dig into her palm again, but not for the same reasons, now. She squeezed her sibling tight before she let them go. “of course i gotta. Gotta… ok… im ready.”

“im rite behind u. i luv u sissy.”

The tears that slipped out from that flew from her face as Sekhmet leapt for the water. i luv u too… They knew. Somewhere, somehow, she knew they knew.

The faceless corpses greeted her nearly as quickly as the water, but she didn't return the pleasantry. She tore forward as quickly as she could. She snarled and growled as their fingers clawed at her, but they could do nothing and less as she swam faster, faster, faster. She spotted a Cub first… Four! It was Four! The faceless ones were dragging them down, down: Join us! Join us in Chaos! They seemed to scream without mouths. The water around Four dyed murky red as the Lioness bit through the arm of the corpse holding their leg. The child made a desperate break for the surface.

She couldn’t stop. Another sibling, before she even made it to the Barge. She slashed through hands and necks with her claws. SPS-1 clung to her for safety and she moved forward all the same.

She could see the blazing gold of the Barge now, even through the water. But there was a streak of silver set against it… 341… The Khopesh was fighting off so many at once. It fought and fought but it did so alone, and the rival corpses were many. Sekhmet lunged at one, tearing its throat out before it could land a blow from behind the Khopesh. She took the silver rope of a braid in her mouth and yanked 341 out of the crowd. It was all she could do. She needed her arm to paddle. It kicked and struck through the water at the corpses that pursued. Between the Lion’s movement and its offense, they made it to the surface and away from the grasping arms.

She shoved One, still clinging to her, into the Khopesh’s arms. “take him to shore and come back 2 help!”

341 looked shocked at the circumstances, but there was little time for questions. “Understood.”

She dove further, alongside the Barge. She picked up Cubs, red eyes full of panic. She picked up Scarabs, which clung to her half drowned, digging deep into her skin. She didn’t care. The Scarabs managed to fly off and rejoin the swarm any time she brought them to surface, and the Cubs were a mixed bag. One would be torn free of the forest of limbs at the bottom of the river and practically fly to shore themselves. Another would take the hand of Six, who would lead them to shore. Another still would be left in the care of a Legionnaire from Sekhmet’s first squad. The kind ones. She didn’t stop to talk to the Hyenas. She barely stopped to breathe. And it hurt. But she had to save them all. She HAD TO. Because she couldn’t before. And she knew Six had told her it wasn’t her fault, but it didn’t have to be. Because she could save them this time and she would.

Sekhmet finally spotted them. The Jackal and the Spider. But she also spotted the Serpent. It had the two of them coiled and coiled. They struggled and tore at the beast but the muscles only squeezed them tighter. She carved a red streak along the belly of the Serpent and heard a hissing screech that made the water vibrate. Another wound appeared beside the one she made. Shadows tore at the Chaos. She glanced at Nickel, and he gave her a nod.

The Serpent’s maw rocketed towards them, but the boot of the returning Khopesh cracked rib and scale beneath it. The creature stuttered in pain. The Shadow booted off of its side to face towards its neck, motioning for her to face it head on. She followed their lead as the Khopesh tore the Spider and Jackal free.

She couldn’t see much of their battle, closer to the tail of the Serpent, as she rocketed towards the head. Its jaws were still full of so many sharp teeth and so much endless nothing. But it wasn’t the only one with dangerous teeth. She showed it that. Sekhmet roared to match Apep’s hiss, and the two went to battle. Her claws battered at its teeth to block its bite. She bit down into the scales and tasted the blood of pure malevolence, savoring the delicious hate. It wouldn’t take her mind. It wouldn’t take the ghosts she loved, not a single fucking one.

Shadows ripped at the underside of the Serpent just below its head, and it screeched once more. Nickel was bashed aside by the creature’s scaled side and into its view. He tumbled through the water, his back to the beast. Its head turned from her to-

“RAAAAAAGH!!!” She slammed into him, knocking him from the snake’s path. His eyes went wide as the jaws descended on her.

There was a brief moment where the pain blinded her. Or maybe that was because the maw was so dark. Either way, she certainly felt the fang rip through the shoulder that once sprouted into her right arm. She also felt air instead of water as the Serpent lifted her above the Barge. She felt the Serpent try to crunch down. Try to send the tooth all the way through and end her. But it couldn’t. As hard as it tried it just couldn’t close its maw.

Sekhmet looked around. She saw the Jackal, far from her, tearing into the scales itself. The Spider too. The Khopesh… But what… The Shadow. They clung to the side of the beast’s face with her. Their eyes met hers with fear for her life, and their scepter stood stuck in Apep’s mouth, bending and beginning to snap under its strength even now. Sekhmet reached from the maw and tore at the side of the Serpent’s face. It wasn’t enough. Crack crack crack. The scepter was sure to break soon.

The Lioness let loose another roar. Perhaps the fiercest roar. A roar that would scare hyenas - not her Hyenas - away from the den. A roar that would make lesser predators run in terror. A roar that meant she refused to let anything hurt her cubs, and that anything that tried would know agony. She reached out just far enough with her arm. The Serpent hissed and wailed as the claw entered its eye. Sekhmet snarled as she wrenched into it, ripping it and sundering it. Sending hot needles into its nerves. Its whole body began to writhe and seize. The Lioness was thrown against the deck of the Barge with a thunk. The Shadow slammed into the side. She heard a splash.

“NICKY!!!” She rasped.

The whole of the river seemed like it was red now. Apep, still seizing and shaking in pain, began to retreat. Away from the Barge. Away from her. Away from her beloved ghosts. She crawled. She crawled and dragged her way to the side of the Barge. Was he alright? WAS HE ALRIGHT???

“SINGED…” His voice rang from below. Tired, but just barely still there. Six waded beside him, supporting him as best they could. “SINGED… It…” His eyes… He held a love and a care in them not unlike what Six had shown her. “I’m so glad I could see you again.” This time… it really was her he was seeing.

She watched them retreat to shore from the side of the Barge. She watched them watch her as she drifted further downstream. She watched them retreat inland and counted. The Lioness gave a weak smile. She’d gotten them all. Everyone was safe. She even saw the cub from before she even found the Barge the first time. That was enough. The Barge was warm and comforting, like being held by purest Sunlight. She thought… She thought it would be nice to rest a while. She was really really tired.

#lancer rp #oc rp #ABSOLUTELY PEAK FICTION

14 notes · View notes