It didn’t go unnoticed that Ren was the first to leave the impromptu funeral. No one could really blame her, but it was a little strange how soon after the blast she’d turned to go back inside the Aegis. Furion followed after a few seconds, but the remaining three stayed behind, sensing a strange awkwardness with the way the latter tho had departed.

Corbin crossed his arms, “…Is this what it’s going to be like now that they’re open about their thing?” He asked with annoyance.

“What difference does it make?” Ravan answered in kind, “After today, we’re getting scattered to the four winds, and you won’t have to look at them anyway.”

“Easy… Easy.” Jense got between them, ever the peacemaker, “Everyone’s really tense. Don’t go picking fights with each other right now.”

Ravan took that personally, and put her helmet back on, “Fine, just ignore the point then.” She grumbled, and stepped off the hull. She didn’t care that the bridge had gotten flagged by her departure; she just wanted to get way for a while.

Jense sighed, watching the glow of her wings fade into the background-lights of the Fulcrum, “…There’s only the few of us left… I don’t want it to end like this.”

“There’s probably nothing to do for it…and she has the right idea.” Corbin said, and placed his own helmet back over the thick ponytail binding his dreadlocks together, and took-off in the opposite direction.

Stuck there on his own, Jense just sighed loudly, and sat back down to watch the sad smolder for a little while longer.

Within the hangar, Ren had already put her armor away before Furion caught up with her, and she was pulling the first of her boots back on when he landed nearby. He fussed with the long bangs that had gotten in his face as he braved the whipping winds on the way down, “Ren, wait…”

“I don’t want to linger on this shitty situation.” She complained, “There’s nothing I can do about the fact that everyone down there died. Standing around just for the sake of knowing I’m making myself feel bad seems pointless.”

That caught him by surprise, “…I wasn’t judging you for leaving.”

“Then what do you want? I have to get back to-” She started, only to stop and blink at herself in surprise, “…I’m sorry, I don’t know…what came over me just now.”

Furion was already suspicious though, “Get back to what?” He asked, “…Or, who?”

She gave him a look, “We made a deal a long time ago that I wouldn’t rub it in your face if I had a fling with someone else.”

“Oh…” He said simply, feeling it like a knife going through his chest, “…I see. You’ve…already slept with him.”

“Now you’re just trying to make yourself feel bad.”

“It’s been a long day. I thought we could-”

Ren shook her head, “We could what? Sit in the same general vicinity as one another while I watch you suffer like an osteoporotic old woman who just fell down a flight of stairs? And feel as bad for you as I do for the fact that I’m the one who threw you down them?”

Furion’s brow furrowed, “…You’re being needlessly defensive.”

“I’m just being real.” She argued, and pulled her second boot on roughly. As she stamped the heel down onto the floor, she snapped her fingers to reform her blue jacket, “As soon as you get out of your armor, you’re going to buckle like a rusted hinge. At least if I spend the night with Gabe, I can feel something other than the crippling depression and frustration that I have for losing so many people that I cared about. I can sleep next to a warm body that won’t cringe at the fact that I want the skin-contact, and I don’t have to worry about hurting him for it. Not to mention, I can actually sleep, rather than roll around in torment while my crazy, out-of-control imagination replays for me their gruesome deaths like it was my hands that killed them.”

“…Okay.” Was all he could think of to say.

She returned his same anxious and worried expression, and stepped closer to put a hand against the front of his armor, “…I’m…not trying to put you down. I just…want to feel something else, and I can’t do that with you right now. Let me have what fleeting moments I can find with him before he has to go, then I’m all yours again…”

Furion watched in wretched silence as Ren pulled her hand back again, and she started to head for the doors to the chute. He only got his wits about him again after the door clicked open, “I’m gonna take Seth home tomorrow.” He announced, and those green eyes turned back to him, “You can come, if you want. Unless you have somewhere else you’d rather be for the next two weeks.”

“…No, just message me when you’re about to go.”

“Okay…”

She stepped through the open door and was whisked away with a mechanical hiss, and Furion just stood there in perturbed quiet. He glanced back at the hangar’s exit, thinking maybe any of the other three had been lingering and saw the entire exchange, but when no one came down, he let out a mumbled sigh and started walking towards his docking-pod.

“…I got into this knowing she’s like this…I knew it from the start…” He said to himself, as though it was a mantra he’d recited before. He drew in a long breath and exhaled quickly, “It sucks being the monogamous partner to a polyamour… Maybe I’ve just been spoiled by knowing she only messed around with Ravan until now.”

.

The door to Ren’s room shifted aside, and she stepped through, feeling a whole different kind of bad from how she did on top of the ship. She peeled her boots and gloves off, and dragged her feet across the thinly-carpeted floor until she was back around the side of the couch.

“…That took a lot less time than I thought it would.” Gabriel noted; it had only been an hour, and he was still in the same spot she’d left him in within the blanket-nest.

Ren had little and less to say in response. She just waved-away her uniform-jacket, unhooked the collar of her base-coat, slid the thin zipper all the way down, and shrugged out of it, leaving just the T-shirt she’d worn for most of the day. As she stepped into the footwell between the couch and the table, Gabriel made room for her and opened the blankets, thinking she’d just resume her spot from before, but instead of sitting next to him, she slid a knee over his lap and sat on him. Those evergreen eyes looked into him like she was trying to see straight into his soul, and she slid her hands against his still-bared chest, up to his shoulders, neck, and threaded through that long blonde hair behind his head. Without a word, she just leaned forward and pressed her brow to his, savoring in the small comfort of his arms coming to rest along the side of her legs, fingers curled over the curve of her hips.

“…Do you want me to say anything…?” He asked cautiously, offering a gentle nuzzle back as she held to that spot, “I can stay quiet otherwise.”

“…I don’t…know.” She answered quietly. She pulled back though, and looked into those bicolored eyes again. She pulled her right hand forward and brushed some of those red-tipped bangs from his face, her heart racing all over again, light and airy and completely contrary to the misery she’d just come back from. It felt like a forbidden kind of happiness – a relief from the grief that she thought she was honor-bound to experience – but there was something behind it all. Something she couldn’t put her finger on, and so, she stared, looking for it in her reflection, “…I…feel like there’s something I want from you… Something…different…from what we’ve been doing all day... Like an itch that hasn’t been scratched yet, despite getting everything I could ask for on a first date…”

“…Do you have any guesses…?” He asked nervously; he could feel himself starting to stir again already, and there was the subtle worry he’d lose cognitive function before she answered. The way she sat closer against his hips and stretched her thin frame up to pull her T-shirt off was answer enough, he supposed, and as every inch of that olive skin was revealed to his gaze, the urge to see more grew.

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“…I just want to feel you on every part of me.” She supposed, and quietly hummed into another long kiss. Feeling those hands slide up her bare back and under her hair was a big relief, and he pulled her close, chest to chest. The heat of it was a welcome respite from the cold of the high altitude outside, and she hugged her arms around his shoulders, “…Make me forget…”

Gabriel could feel the words as they were spoken against his lips, and he set one more kiss to them before he moved to twist around in his seat. With arms carefully set around her, he turned her back to the big pillow set into the corner of the couch, and lowered her against it. Hands went to the waistband of her uniform-slacks, and with a few tugs, he was able to get them off of her, and those bare legs came down around his waist, squeezing him lightly between her knees. Though every part of him wanted to instantly feel her inner heat again, he waited, and leaned in over her instead. He savored the sound of her vocal exhale, sighing that surrender to the open air, and he moved to the side of her neck again as before. Hands caressed against her sides, and as he walked his nibbles down from her ear to her chest, he swore to himself that he’d give her anything she wanted.

.

Every slow step Furion took to get back – alone – to his own room was a stark reminder of the point Ren had made about his incapacity. Worse still, he had to decide if his wounded pride was worth more than his younger brother, who’d been stuck all day in his room waiting for him to come back.

If Ren’s been with Lugios all day then Seth’s been on his own… I can’t just avoid him, he thought grimly, and went past the door to his office to the next door down. He let his Captain’s regalia go as he went through, and immediately saw that pale-haired head pop-up from the back of the couch. There were data-panels up instead of a movie though, and Furion looked at it all curiously, “…Honestly, every day, you’re more of a Rydell than the day before. Drowning yourself into your work instead of less-useful distractions.”

Seth still looked like he’d been bit less than distracted, eyes dark and sunken, “…I…had nothing else to do today but marinate on my own fears.” He said, and turned back to the panels, “I thought maybe…I could do something productive instead, and make sure that I learned something from this thing, so those deaths wouldn’t be meaningless.”

“Sensible…”

The teen looked around though, “…You came back by yourself?”

Furion’s first instinct was to throw Gabriel under a bus, but he thought better of it and shook his head, “Ren is…seeking respite in other places right now.”

“…What’s that supposed to mean?”

The Captain’s better nature couldn’t hold-out against the repeated barrage, “She’s spending the night with Lugios instead.”

“…With Mr. Gabriel?” Seth repeated incredulously, “But she’s…with you…? Why are you so okay with that?”

“I’m not.” Furion answered, and made his way past, parting the front of his base-jacket as he went. With a frustrated pull, he lifted one side away, and revealed the swath of dark red, bordered in purple, that wrapped around his body like a saddle-blanket, “But this precludes me from being of any use to her, so…she’s spending her time with someone who wasn’t beat to Hell.”

“That’s not what I asked.”

The elder Rydell let the flap fall forward again, and Furion just bowed his head, “Ren made it pretty clear at the very beginning that she…has room in her heart for more than one person at a time, and that if I wanted to be with her, I’d have to accept that she may occasionally find distractions with others.”

“…Oh…” The teen sank into the cushions again, and pulled a blanket over his head, “…That seems so cruel though…knowing you wouldn’t want her to…”

“It was my choice to accept it.” Furion countered, “We set boundaries that worked till now; that there was a hierarchy to the partnerships she engaged in, and that I’d always be the primary…or, however you want to call it. …And I’ve gotten used to that. She was always upfront about how I was the one she wanted to be with, and the others were just people she had fun with. I guess I never had to think too hard about it because her other fling was – at least until today – not another man. All of a sudden, I’m wondering if I ever really understood what I was agreeing to…”

“…I…don’t think I could do that…”

“I wouldn’t recommend it.” Furion agreed, and moved through to his room so he could change. It took him a while – a shower was in the cards as well – but when he did finally come back, he found a spot next to his brother and carefully sat down, “…Tell me you’re onto something, at least.”

Seth warily looked at the man, “I… Maybe, I mean…potentially…” He said, and seemed to shy away from the panels for a moment, “Before I say anything though, I just want to preface that Lord Rylen didn’t ask me to do any of this. He doesn’t even know I’m looking right now. …Well, maybe he does, but he hasn’t told me so.”

“What are you getting at?”

“He let me have access to all the P.O.V. footage.” He answered quickly, and got that immediate snapping stare that he expected. Hands went up defensively, “the dI can’t be of any use to anyone if I can’t look directly into that abyss, regardless of what it might show me.”

“Seth… You don’t need to put yourself through this…”

“It’s…fine, really.” He answered, “But let me at least tell you about what I noticed.”

“…Alright.”

“Miss Ren had been working with Mr. Gabriel to figure out his affliction. She told me she had a theory that…cutting stuff in half wasn’t really the thing he did. That it was just what he thought he could do. Maybe it was a lack of imagination or creativity, or being stunted in his development with it because Lord Rylen didn’t want him using it…but she was certain he was misunderstanding what he was capable of. The day Lord Xanarken barged in on them working on it in the simulacrum-room – when he told Mr. Gabriel he was getting promoted - she was trying to confirm if he could interact with spaces from a distance. She thinks that his ability to cut stuff is actually a baseline expression of an ability to manipulate the plane between locations. Cutting is just…him disrupting that plane. She said he was starting to confirm her theory by being able to feel things that were across the room from them. At one point, she had him trying to grab her hand instead of an object, and she says she could feel him back faintly. Then, later on…in Trazad, when we all got there ahead of the escort for Prince Iresha…she said he was actively able to push stuff around from a distance.”

“I’m not sure where you’re going with this.”

“Scyrexian referred to Mr. Gabriel as a Prime Mover.” He answered, “And if there’s nothing else about Mr. Gabriel that’s unique, the fact that he was born afflicted is definitely one that makes him stick out. The only other person with that gift was Caeros, back in the day…and he was the single-most powerful afflicted user in known history, wielding a power that could move things.”

“So you’re saying Scyrexian wants Lugios because he might be as powerful as Caeros? And that Caeros was also a Prime Mover?”

Seth nodded, “If he actually learns how to tap into his abilities, I…I think so. The limits of his Limitless might only be what he can imagine himself capable of doing. He went from cutting a teacup in half to being able to move a tree back and forth from 30ft away, and he could feel it as he did it. If time and space were of no consequence to Caeros, maybe…it’s the same for Mr. Gabriel. He might be able to reach out and manipulate objects and places far beyond his immediate surroundings. In fact…”

“…In fact?”

The inquisitive teen let the blanket-hood fall away a little, “If Caeros was able to expand his Warping abilities so far as to move the entire original colony fleet…maybe Mr. Gabriel could extend his range to a similar scope, or even further.”

“What would that look like though?”

“Uh…well…” Seth looked around, trying to find something to grab; lacking an obvious answer, he just pulled his hand out of the blankets and held it forward, “Imagine me holding a wadded-up piece of paper. Now…imagine that paper-ball is a SkyFortress…and my fingers are able to wrap around it just as easily…and I can poke it, throw it, fold it…or even crush it. I think Mr. Gabriel might be able to do something like that…manipulating objects on a grand scale as if they were nothing but toys in the palm of his hand. The binding feature between Mr. Gabriel and Caeros though, is that both of them are able to connect two places in space together. While Caeros never showed any aptitude for – or inclination towards – manipulating things in two places, he could move things between two places, as if he was guiding it through a door. Mr. Gabriel is essentially making two places exist together at the same time…or splitting things that already exist together into distinct spaces, as the case may be.”

Furion put a finger against his chin, “…Terrifying, honestly.”

“I’m afraid I can take it one step further.” Seth warned, getting those familiar teal eyes to look his way again, “With Scyrexian calling him a Mover, I have a hunch that it means Mr. Gabriel can swap things. He could…go anywhere he wanted, just like Caeros.”

“Then why did it want Ren?”

“Scyrexian called her collateral to make him do something. I think it wants his power…or his potential for it.” The teen explained, and sunk back into his blanket-poncho, “Caeros’ Limitless-maximum created a cataclysm that opened dozens of void rifts. Scyrexian came through one of them, after dragging Mr. Ianori into the open gate. …I think it has designs to use Mr. Gabriel’s power to open a void gate, too.”

“Why didn’t it just take him then? It’s swapped bodies before, and Lugios has been right in front of it at least twice.”

“The first time? It probably didn’t even know Mr. Gabriel was there. I watched it pawing around like it was feeling for something to grab onto, and Mr. Ianori was what it found. And…other than Mr. Ianori, Scyrexian has only been seen to swap between corpses; the Magi, and that Myrimdon it found after the Aegis shot it down. My theory is…it can’t just get into a living person. It’s…kind of like those old vampire stories, where no matter how powerful it was, it still had to be invited into someone’s home to get access to it. It probably intended to use Miss Ren as a hostage to force Mr. Gabriel to invite it into himself.”

“And if it succeeded?”

Seth shivered, “…I don’t want to think about how powerful it could be if it got a Prime Mover – a living one – as a host-body. Especially one with Mr. Gabriel’s abilities…there’s no telling what it could do. Crush a star? Drag a moon into the surface of Hadira? Opening a void gate might not even be its goal. That’s what I’ve been wracking my brain about for the last few hours… Why would it even bother taking a host if it just wants to open a gate to go back to where it came from?”

“…And here I was already impressed with its capabilities using the Magi.” Furion leaned his head back, “Good thing Ren killed it, then.”