Danica dangled her legs over a balcony while staring out into the gloom. She had returned to the library, and rested for several days. Unable to return to her normal life, she had fallen back into magical research almost without a second glance. She didn’t know where to go from here. She was still pregnant, that much she knew. Should she keep the baby? Would it be as powerful as it’s father? Plus the prophet was still out there, who knew what he really wanted. She stared despondently out into the gloom. She had won hadn’t she? So why did she feel so lost?

The gloom didn’t answer her inner turmoil, so she stood, and returned to the reading room. She had been looking through the books trying to find anything which might be of use to her, and her knowledge continued to grow. She had finally given up on her old life, and called into her job to quit. Luckily Zed had amassed a considerable fortune over the years, and had put it at her disposal. This meant she was still able to maintain the rent on her house. She suspected he wanted something from her, but she couldn’t afford to turn down his help in that moment.

She paged through a book on shadow-crafting. It mostly pertained to creating stable artifacts of power by imbuing them with shadow essence. It was interesting, but somehow it couldn’t hold her attention. She sighed as she set the book down, and shoved herself into the shadow pathways. She peered out at Jon, still locked in his cage. Physically he had recovered from his transition, and was no longer shivering or vomiting. Mentally though he seemed almost catatonic. He stared disconsolately out into the gloom. The only signs of life she could see were the rise and fall of his chest as he breathed, and his eyes as they occasionally blinked.

She sighed as she stared at him. Regardless of how much he had hurt her, she still felt for the man he had been before things had changed between them. If things hadn’t turned out the way they did, she could have imagined a great future for the two of them. Impulsively, she moved through the portal to stand next to his cage, and sat cross-legged opposite him. He blinked in surprise before moving to sit near her.

His voice croaked, seeming unused as he said “um… ahem hello. To what do I owe the pleasure?”

She stared at him for a moment, not sure herself, before responding. “I just wanted to check in on you I guess?”

He laughed bitterly when she said this. “So you’re here to make sure I’m being properly punished for my sins?”

She bristled. “No, I’m here to make sure you’re okay you asshole. I’m not any happier about this than you are, but you were practically going mad. You’d think the man who put on the mask of justice would know the world doesn’t revolve around him. Though I suppose you only ever practiced judgement, not justice.”

She stared him down as she spoke, causing him to look away in shame. He scooted to one side so he could lean against the bars there, and drew his knees up into his body, nestling his head into his legs. He cried then, emitting a soft, bitter keening sound that was muffled by the press of his legs into his mouth. Finally, he looked up and spoke.

“It wasn’t always like this you know. I was a much better person once upon a time. Amanda would have castrated me for the things I’ve been doing lately, but without her here I’m only a shade of my former self.” He laughed bitterly. “I suppose you’ve chosen a suitable prison given that this is a land of shades.”

They were both quiet for what felt like an eternity. Danica didn’t know what to say, and Jon seemed to have spoken his piece so they sat silently together in the gloom. Both were lost in their own thoughts, and minutes passed this way. Finally, Jon spoke.

“So what are you going to do with me now?”

Danica hesitated before speaking. “Honestly we have no idea what to do with you. We can’t let you go because if we do you’ll probably just re-empower yourself. On the other hand keeping you here forever would be inhumane, and that’s not what we want. We’ve got Heff going through your science, and working to make sure you can’t edit your genes again, but we can’t let you go until he figures it out.”

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Jon’s eyes widened in panic. “You can’t let anyone see that. Look I’ll promise to leave you alone, but you have to keep him away from my research. He’s one of the few people with the intelligence and resources to replicate what I’ve done.”

“And what’s to stop you from going insane again?”

“Actually I’ve been thinking about that. None of it happened until the Prophet started dousing me with that gas. I think whatever he did was destabilizing me, and driving me mad. My mind has been so much clearer since you stripped me of my powers.”

She nodded. “That makes more sense than the theory that you were secretly a bastard all along. Still you know things can’t go back to the way they were before right?”

It was his turn to nod. “After what I did I’m surprised you can even look at me. And now you’re pregnant…”

Her heart stung. “I suppose we should talk about that too, now that you’re not crazy and all.”

He shook his head. “It’s your decision. I’ve long since given up any right I had to have any say in the matter.”

Nodding, she lay back on the earth, and remained silent. To be truthful, she wasn’t sure what she was going to do. Her emotions were far too much in flux, and she refused to make a hasty decision about something so important. Staring up into the shadowed sky, she felt at peace for a moment.

“We’ll let you go. I’ll stop the prophet myself. I might need your help though, I… I want to give you the chance to make up for what you’ve done. I know you weren’t yourself.”

Jon nodded silently as he too looked up into the great nothing above.

“I… want to do that. I can’t fix what I did, but I can try to do something good at least.”

She got up, and nodded as she grabbed a pinch of shadow-stuff from the floor. As Jon watched, she willed it into the shape of a key, and unlocked the door to his cell. He strode out, and stood awkwardly, unsure where to go from there. For her part Danica tensed up, not so much expecting an attack, as feeling an instinctive reaction to his presence. She backed up a step instinctively before catching herself, gritting her teeth as she forced her foot back into it’s original position. Somehow when she was in conflict with him, his presence emboldened her; but now that they were here with their uneasy peace, her body wanted to lock up. It occurred to her that her body was in fight or flight mode, and denying fight had forced her into flight. Knowing this, she channeled her energy into the fight end of this spectrum; unlocking her limbs with channeled rage after several seconds of rigid immobility. Jon coughed awkwardly.

“Um… are you ok?”

Her tone came out terse, and clipped. “Yes. Don’t ask.”

“Oh… Ok.”

They fell into an awkward silence. Danica looked away as she pulled Jon into a shadow portal. Touching him only served to inflame her fear, which in turn stoked her rage. It infuriated her that she was so weak; that she was victim to this strange paradox wherein the fury was necessary to keep her limbs moving, but the self-loathing her weakness inspired also multiplied her wrath. She wondered if she would eventually burst when the feedback loop became too much.

“Can you let go of me? You’re hurting me.”

Pulled from her reverie, she looked down, and found that her hand was covered in shadowy flames. They seemed to be burning his skin; albeit not as strongly as a regular fire would have. The moment she noticed them, the flames began fading away. Embarrassed, and blushing, she pulled her hand away quickly. Wait blushing? Really? Surely he had lost the right to make her blush. That thought reignited her anger, and she pulled away from him silently before beginning their march down the shadowy corridors. As she walked, droplets of shadowy flame occasionally fell from her to sizzle on the floors. Wisely, Jon walked behind her in silence. Though he wouldn’t pretend to know what she was going through, he knew enough to see that trying to ingratiate himself to her would only make things worse. They continued like this the entire length of the tunnel, until she stopped at her destination. Wordlessly, she grabbed Jon’s arm. He screamed in shock and pain, as her fire seared his arm. Luckily the pain was brief as she pulled him through the portal, and let go. He collapsed quickly on the other side, and his consciousness faded to black.