I had strategically retreated into the hallway and dispatched the skeletons with ease, but the huge fangs of the dragon were snapping at the doorway even now with so much force that it was gouging deep slashes in the wall.

"Jack, do you copy?" I held my finger to my comms, trying to pick anything out of the silence. "Jack?"

"--her--"

"Must be off with someone else," I said to Moon.

"It would seem the reasonable course of action is to lie down together," she said.

I felt my forehead twisting into knots as I stared at her plain, apparently completely unembarrassed face after such a proposal. And of course, she was content to stand there silently despite the obvious question on my face.

"Okay, I'll ask. Why is that the reasonable course of action?"

"Because you instructed us that, in the event we needed to signal Jack and could not, we would retreat to a safe location and lie down." She blinked slowly at me. "Was I mistaken?"

"Did you have to phrase it in such a bizarre way? Talking like that is just asking for a misunderstanding."

"It was a joudan."

"Joudan?"

"It was just a joke."

Maybe it was just the inconsistent green light of the flare, but I could swear the corners of her lips were ever so slightly raised. I wasn't sure my situation with Karu and AEGIS really needed another girl who was willing to make jokes about laying with me, but it was a bit of a relief that this uptight girl could, when she wanted to, and in her own bizarre way, make a joke.

I mean, from her strange demeanor and the whole thing about dolphins, I was beginning to legitimately wonder if she was another fundamentally broken person like Tem. So in a way, being able to joke like that was a much larger relief than it should have been.

"You seem to be lost in thought. Perhaps you did not understand my joke."

"No, I got it," I sighed.

"It is polite to laugh when someone makes a joke, I believe."

"Ha. Now let's lay down and get Jack over here."

We swept aside some bones and rock and made a comfortable spot on the floor and laid on our backs next to each other. The dragon kept snapping away at the mouth of the tunnel, and the ceiling danced eerily in the green light, the small circles from our chest-mounted lights the only islands of consistency.

I was thinking of wording things properly, and after a minute spoke into the air above us. "At the risk of another dolphin discussion, can I ask you what other kinds of conversations you think would be useful to have for two people like us who are beginning a relationship?"

"I think it is important to discuss and set boundaries, establish if and how many children you want, and compare life goals to determine their compatibility."

"What?" I said looking at her. She just kept staring at the ceiling, her hair a black pool under her.

"Joudan. You asked about two people beginning a relationship."

"Has anyone ever told you that you are impossible to talk to?"

"Your statement is paradoxical. If I were impossible to talk to, nobody would be able to tell me that. If someone told me that, I must, by definition, be possible to talk to."

She looked over at me and again, I could almost see a smile on her face. "So no, nobody has ever told me that."

"Well you absolutely are, paradox be damned. Anyway, Miss Joudan, I was being serious in my question."

She didn't answer for a minute. "What is your opinion on being an Exhuman?"

I was kind of floored by how she'd jumped from talking abstractly about animals to one of the most defining aspects of our lives. But it wasn't a bad question.

"I hate it, obviously."

"What do you hate about it?"

"I hate that everyone hates me just for being Exhuman. That sucks, obviously. But more than that, I think I hate that it's so easy to take someone's life." I turned back towards the ceiling. "I killed twenty-one XPCA when they tried to arrest me, and I didn't even fight back. My powers killed them for me. I just sat there on the ground and people died around me without me lifting a finger."

"It gave me this...hope, almost, but backwards," I said, reliving the memory.

It seemed strange that I could sit here in the dark surrounded by bones and skulls and recount the memories so clearly and painlessly. It had been so long since I'd touched these memories and I'd been through a lot since then; I guess there were only so many thoughts I could carry with me which could stab at my heart at a time. Kind of a strange solace, there.

"I felt like, if I wanted to fight, I could have killed them all so easily. I mean, twenty-one, and I did nothing at all. If I'd tried, I could do ten times that, right? A hundred times? How many XPCA could you get through before they gave up and left you alone? But then you have to realize that the more you kill, the more dangerous you are to them, the more they have to stop you, the more they'll throw at you, until they finally beat you down, thousands of bodies later."

I lapsed into silence and let her respond if she wanted. I was still surprised when she did.

"I have had no such experience, though from what I have seen and heard, that seems to be very common. For what little it is worth, I am glad you chose not to succumb to that 'backwards hope'."

"Thanks. Me too. What do you think?"

"I think many things, though most typically about whatever situation is directly in front of me."

Sigh. "What do you think about being an Exhuman?"

"I find it unpleasant. I wish my powers were more like yours or Tower's. It is difficult to protect others with mine being as they are."

I was tempted to ask what they were, but was too tempted by the other bait in the sentence. "Is protecting others something important to you?"

She didn't hesitate. "Protecting others is possibly everything to me."

"Yeah. Me too."

I heard her move and when I looked over she was staring at my face with a little more concentration and emotion than I'd seen on it before, like she was a mass-fab trying to dissimilate me with her mind.

"Are you perhaps making fun of me?" she asked at length.

"No."

"Have you also perhaps lost someone very important to you in your life?"

I looked at her small dark eyes and saw them flickering across my face, more lively and interested in what I was saying now than I'd seen her about anything.

"No, not...in the traditional sense. I lost my family when I became Exhuman, was taken away from them obviously. One of the people on this team died, and that was my fault, but she died because I was trying too hard to protect everyone. I fought until I collapsed, and she died after that. I should have saved my strength more."

She shook her head. "I do not know that I would have done differently, though I doubt that is any consolation."

"Do you mind if...if I ask if you lost someone?"

"I do not mind you asking any question you feel like asking."

"Did you lose someone?"

"I never specified I would answer your question, however."

She turned back to the ceiling, regaining her normal dispassion. Girl was absolutely impossible, but I guess given the sensitive nature of the topic, even I couldn't be annoyed.

My comms crackled painfully. "--ot. Do you ---"

"Jack?" I said and sat up. "Copy one-by-five, Jack. Do you copy?"

"Chariot? Do you copy?"

"Loud and clear now. We have a situation up ahead."

"Is it urgent? There's another situation with AEGIS."

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

"What's wrong?"

"She's having an anxiety attack, it seems. I am trying to console her and get her to the surface, but she is simply demanding I get her a light. I am attempting to coordinate getting Tem to her, as apparently my flashlight is insufficient."

"Okay, go handle that. We'll be fine here. Thanks, Jack."

"Wilco. Over and out."

And the comms went dead again, leaving us with just the groaning of the dragon and the grating of it clawing at the door slowly. I stood up and dusted myself off.

"Well, I'm not a big fan, but this skeleton shouldn't be any harder to dispatch than the others, fundamentally," I said.

"Only if you discount all of its physical attributes such as greater strength, increased speed, longer reach, and improved resilience," Moon offered.

"Well, yeah, obviously you'd discount all of those. What do I look like, an amateur?"

"Then you should have no trouble at all. Return when you are successful."

I took a few steps down the hall away from the uncooperative girl and ran into my first problem. The dragon was right freaking there, sniffing around and chomping at the doorway like a cat trying to get into a mousehole. How was I going to get out?

This was stupid. I was stupid for trying it, I knew. But I felt I had to, because the alternative was lying there and waiting for help while AEGIS had a panic attack. What brought it on, I didn't know. I didn't know she could have panic attacks. I didn't want to know, didn't want to think about it, there was nothing I could do to help except not take up any more of Jack's time.

So hell, let's go kill a dragon. Couldn't be worse than being alone with my thoughts for a few minutes, right?

That was probably a huge red flag I was ignoring. Sure it wouldn't come to bite me in the ass later.

I threw all my swords in the dragon's face, and it reeled backwards, pretty unhappy about blades suddenly appearing inside of its head, which was a lot smarter than the skeletons I'd fought down here.

That was also probably a huge red flag, but I ignored it and took advantage of the dragon's vacancy to waltz into the room. My objective was clear, either lay hands on the thing to pour some volts into its heart, or stay within range long enough to keep my swords on it like I'd done with the skeletons. The rest of my kit, lightning bulbs, magnetism, EMP, all seemed pretty useless right now. Just had to beat a damn rock.

Shoulda brought some paper.

It screeched and jumped, bounding off a wall and flying at me with claws extended. I ran forward and rolled under, grateful I'd gotten a quick dip in the regenerator before Cosette okay'd me for the mission.

Still, the thing landed behind me and I almost lost my footing from the ground shaking as it slammed against the floor. Before it could spring up again, I was already moving, getting between its legs and slashing at the heart above me. I put five, six, seven blades overlapping each other and saw the huge crystal grow red hot.

And then the thing just stood up on its hind legs and pulled itself out of range. It flapped its wings once with a roar, and then slashed at me with its front claws.

I had to move again, and only barely avoided the talons raking through the air. It didn't give me any rest though, and as soon as I wasn't threatening it anymore, it slammed back to the ground and gave chase, its huge strides catching up to me in a moment.

It had a ton of momentum and I didn't though. I slid my feet to a halt and threw my weight backwards, hanging just on the edge of falling over, and then staggered a step backwards. In a moment, I had turned around and was running right towards it. It tried to squish me, but its speed was too great and its strides too long, and its awkward shuffle to engage the right foot on the right step only tangled its legs momentarily.

Long enough for me to jump and grab ahold of a large gap in the pelvic bone. Immediately, I forced as much power through my arms into the rock as possible, forcing it up the spine, towards the heart.

I didn't know if it could feel the current, or just objected to me dangling off its butt in a general sense, but before it even slowed, it spun and crashed ass-first into a wall, slamming me against it with all the force of a draconic backside and I fell to the floor, seeing stars. I was directly under it, so I had a moment before it reacquired me, but rising to my feet was harder than it should have been. I stumbled and leaned on the wall, seeing the claw coming too late.

I flew off my feet and landed painfully on the ground, and the claw raked over me, tearing parallel gouges in the stone wall. In an instant, the thing which crashed into me was up and pulling at my arm, Moon helping me to my feet.

"Are you an idiot?" she said, sounding calm despite being out of breath and the sheer distaste in her voice. "What were you thinking? I thought--" She looked down at our hands, entwined together.

"Oh, damn," she said simply, and then collapsed, her eyes fluttering shut before she even hit the ground.

"Moon? Moon! MOON!" I screamed at her body. No time. The dragon was coming around. I picked her up and was happy to find her surprisingly light, despite the round bottom.

"You are kidding me," I heard my voice say. "My bottom is not that round, and you are a deviant of the finest caliber."

"Moon?" I said, stealing a glance down, even as the monster crashed into the wall where we'd just been.

"Hai. I'm here." She definitely said it, in my voice, but not with her body, it was completely out, and the only flapping of its lips were the result of my inexpert attempts to get both of us towards the exit.

"How are you talking to me?" I shouted. I heard the dragon stomping around but somehow it still hadn't caught up to us, and couldn't chance a look.

"You can chance a look. Look back."

I gave only the most fleeting glance out of the corner of my eye, expecting stone dragon death to be bearing down on us, but instead it was several feet back, approaching cautiously. When I looked back again, I saw why.

I had another torso back there, sprouted from my hips and facing backwards. Also, indistinct, faintly purple, and transparent, but definitely mine. It was wielding a set of lightning blades which were similarly purple and transparent, slashing at the dragon whenever it approached. The swords were cooler than mine. Something simultaneously glowing, transparent, and insubstantial was sort of beautiful.

I understood this was Moon's power. She considered it 'ghosting' another, as in the possession sort. When she touched someone for longer than a few seconds, her consciousness slipped into their body and out of her own. While ghosting, she had access to the physical capabilities of her host and oh God, how did I know all of this suddenly, I realized.

"I didn't do it on purpose," she said flatly, her words in my voice coming out of my shadowy echo's mouth. I knew that too. In fact, going through my memories, it seemed like I suddenly knew a lot about Moon.

"Stay out of my memories," she warned.

"Right, sorry," I said, but the damage was done. I'd peeked and she was pissed, though this hardly manifested on her...her my face in any way I could discern. I turned to face the dragon instead.

"Are you attempting to answer my question?" she asked.

"What question!" I slashed at the beast, adding my light blades to her shadows. It slowly bore down on us, keeping its heart out of range while its talons slashed out menacingly.

"I asked if you were an idiot, and the only reason I could think for why you are turning to fight now is that you were trying to answer yes."

"It would have been--" I grunted as I sidestepped a claw, pulling Moon's body to my chest just in time as the ground acquired a new dragon-foot shaped crater. "--much faster just to tell me to run, if that's what you meant!"

"Then run?"

Despite having physically attached herself to me now, her mannerisms weren't exactly growing on me.

As soon as I saw an opening, I ran again.

"No, not that way," she said. I was running towards the exit.

"What the hell else am I supposed to run for?"

"The chalice. I had assumed you were smart enough to try to kill that instead of an entire dragon. My apologies on overestimating you, I shall refrain from doing so in the future."

"Is it just me, or do you get mouthier when you ghost someone?"

"I borrow my host's physical attributes. Apparently speaking constantly is one of yours. Please blame yourself."

I waited for the next attack and bounded out of its way at a harsh angle, cutting towards the chalice, Moon slashing at the dragon and throwing fistfulls of lightning bulbs with both hands to keep it at bay. It was a good thing she was slowing it down so much, because carrying her body was slowing me down a ton as well.

"I happen to weigh only fifty-four kilograms."

"Wasn't asking!" Lia told me never to ask a girl's weight, and I wasn't going to start now. We neared the chalice, my lungs and legs burning from carrying around the three of us, and I saw a shadowy arm reach out and snatch it up.

Or...try to. It was fused to the altar. I stopped running as both arms and a leg reached out and grabbed at the thing, using the leg for leverage to push off the altar. She looked like she was working really hard at it, but she was attached to me, and I felt none of her force apply to me. Weird.

"Would you consider helping?" she asked, her blades still whirling around us while I stood there uselessly.

"My arms...are full!" I panted.

"Then set me down for a moment. This is not difficult."

The dragon seemed concerned with us touching the chalice and had begun to attack more aggressively. Still, we had twice as many blades now, almost twenty dancing in the air, and though they didn't do much, the dragon still screamed and flinched when they pierced its arms or chest in unison.

Not sure how else to grab it, I put my hands right where my echo's were, passing through them like they didn't exist, and pulled. She pulled. I copied her and put a foot against the altar to push, and then there was a crack, and the stem of the chalice broke, sending us flying backwards.

"And now, the door," she said. "Quickly, if you please."

"Of course," I said, and stooped to pick her up, but when I did, I felt something leave my mind, like I'd just forgotten what I entered a room to do, and her eyelids fluttered open.

The dragon roared and I didn't hesitate to sprint for the door, my legs killing me from all this running and dodging, but the end was in sight. I pushed myself as hard as I could go, pumping my legs under me, feeling the now uninterrupted dragon getting closer with each colossal stomp of its feet.

I threaded the doorway, and felt the jaws snap shut behind me and the walls tremble as the dragon slammed into the door in hot pursuit. My feet carried me another twenty feet before I fell forward, setting Moon down and panting for breath, trying not to drip sweat on her.

She gave me the tiniest of smiles and a nod and stood up, dusting herself off.

"Not going to...tell me...good job or anything?" I panted.

"I was not aware that was the role of a subordinate, but if you insist. I commend your effort in not allowing me to expire."

"Yeah...and thanks for...shoving me...out of the way."

"A fortuitous coincidence and nothing more. I happened to be in the room attempting to destroy a chalice when I realized I did not have the strength on my own, and looking around for any manner of tool I could use, laid eyes on you."

"I think you're the third person to call me a tool."

"If you dislike the term, perhaps you should not be one."

"Whatever. I'm going to lay down for a second."

"To summon Jack?"

"Oh. Yeah, that too."

She sat down next to me, sitting on her heels like she was modelling for a stereotypical Japanese woman, the impassive expression back on her face.

From the brief glimpse I'd had into her mind and the memories of her life I'd retained, I realized it wasn't dispassion which resided on that face, it was disconnection. As Exhumans, it was natural for us to feel removed from the world to a degree. But she'd already mastered that trait before becoming Exhuman.

She caught me looking and I pulled my attention to the ceiling and focused on my breathing.

But in that one glance at me, I saw something other than dispassion and disconnectedness in her eyes, something I would never have been able to see if I weren't looking at her through the vestiges of her own memories.

More than me, more than any Exhuman I'd ever met, more than anyone I'd ever met, Moon was full of hate. Unending, bitter, black hate, kept carefully bottled up and placed on the highest shelf out of reach. But it was there, it was what defined her.

And today, for knowing that I now knew this about her, for prying into her past, in that one glance she added a little drop of hate for me to her bottle and put it back on the shelf.