Cross heaved a sigh and collapsed in her chair, jacket thrown haphazardly on the bed. The poor sunlight was the only illumination in the room, pooling on the desk she was slumped over.

“Christ.” she muttered, a hand on her head. You’d think by now she’d have a handle on the whole end of the world thing, having lived through two such events. But it was hard back then, and this time….this time…

She glanced out the window, watching a fat, bizarre furred, winged thing float across the city. What was she doing here. She was currently hovering above New York in an honest-to-God pirate ship, powered by a necromancer who was half her age, and they had to save the universe from collapsing. She repressed a bark of mad laughter. If she started, she was never gonna stop.

“Mmmph. Damn it.” she grunted, sitting up. Reflection was good, was necessary. But too much led to drowning in dark thoughts, and that led to a pity party, and if there was one thing Cross could never get accustomed to, was doubt. Regret was an old, familiar companion, but hesitation and uncertainty were poison. She cracked her knuckles. No, the decision to follow the kid, she couldn’t fool herself about who was really in charge, was the correct one. She just felt so…listless.

Not useless, not exactly, but close. All this wasn’t in her wheelhouse. Everyone else had magic, or the backing of a god. She had…her own two fists, her wits, her gun, and her wits. She smirked. They’d seen her through before, they’d see her through now. Looking out of the window at the now quiet city, normally so full of life, she had to believe that, no matter what.

But, if things had been different…she wished the kid had never gotten involved in this. Or Amber. Or Leo, or Kevin, or any of the rest of them. Cross was an adult, and though she didn’t like it, she could take the pressure. She was meant to take the pressure. These kids needed to worry about videogames, and cars, and dates and part-time jobs and homework, not whether or not they would all be alive come the end to tomorrow. All that stuff about Yogs and Azathoths and saving the universe, it was too big. She couldn’t wrap her head around literally everything not existing. But she could focus on not dying, and keeping all these kids aliv-well, in decent shape. Dying, she thought dryly, was a condition that could be mitigated.

Still, she scowled as the thought crossed her mind. None of this was right. It wasn’t fair to ask these children to save everything. She’d watched over the kid for the better part of a year now, and though many things about him had changed, his firm belief that no authority could ever be of help to him had not. And she couldn’t blame him. What was it like for him growing up, she wondered. What was it like for the Taboo users, suddenly having power thrust into their hands, with no one to turn to? On reflection, there was ono wonder Delacroix’s cult grew as fast and as large as it did. Any guidance, any direction would be welcome.

While thinking, she absently began cleaning her gun and assessing her ammo. Two full clips, one in the chamber, three loose bullets. She recalled how many it had taken just to stop one of the things Jason had let loose on the city. She shook her head; it wasn’t enough, but what else could she do?

“What else, huh…?” she said softly. That was what had been bugging her throughout this whole ordeal. What else could they, the police, the Agency, the world have done? These kids were growing up fast, and they had powers beyond imagination. If they’d wanted to, a dedicated cabal of Taboo users could have toppled the U.S. government. Hell, a lot of them would want to. She realized that not a day went by where she wasn’t grateful the kid wasn’t like the Taboo users they’d met. Clever as he was, that would be a recipe for disaster, one she didn’t think anyone could stop.

But the question remained, if they got through this, where would they go from here? What would they do with the young people? They had the knowledge for their powers, regardless whether or not they had the drug in their system, the kid had been quite clear on that. So, what could they have done? Where did they go from here?

She pointedly did not wonder what she would have done, had she been offered a Taboo pill when she was their age.

Cross grunted. She supposed such questions would have to wait. Although now that she thought about it, there were a couple answers. Nothing that would help now, but an idea had begun to sprout in her mind.

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Nigel moaned on the bed the undead crewmen had none too gently dumped him on. His condition was getting worse: his belly had swollen up even more, his throat was closing, a thin, milky membrane was forming over his bulging eyes, and his skin was turning blue, probably due to his throat closing. Vanessa fretted by his side.

“Don’t worry, everything will be alright.” she said softly, putting a blanket over his quivering mass.

“Don’t touch me.” he said, rolling over. He tried to snap sharply at her, but he just sounded tired. Vanessa furrowed her brow.

Scott had come in, looked him over, and proudly declared he had no idea what was wrong with him. When she pleaded to do something, anything to help him, he scratched his skull, lost.

“I mean, I’m a necromancer, I don’t know too much about diseases, let alone what’s happening here. If you want me to cure him, let him die and I’ll bring him back from that. I can do that now if you want.” he offered, holding Nigel’s head in his hands to snap his neck. Vanessa quickly stopped him, stammering that wouldn’t be necessary while Nigel stared up at him in horror, freaking out.

“At least we know the worst won’t come to the worst.” she said awkwardly. Nigel huffed. At least before he left Scott cast a spell that allowed them to see spirits. Of course, now Vanessa had undead to freak out about, but she dealt with it by worrying about the cult leader. “Do you need anything? Another pillow, more water?”

“Why?” Nigel asked, voice as clipped as he could make it. “Why are you still here? You betrayed the Third Eye Society, and you got the information you wanted out of me. What more do you want?”

“Nigel…you yourself admitted telling the others about where Delacroix is was the right thing to do.” she said, as delicately as she could manage. Nigel shifted irritably.

“I-I know. But you’ve done your job. Why must you insist on tormenting me?” he croaked. She paused, taken aback.

“Why? But…it’s because I care about you, that’s why-”

“Then why don’t you leave me alone!” he wheezed, turning to face her. “If you really care about me, why did you lead us into an ambush! Why did you pretend to be one of us, why did you have to get so close! You could have gotten all the info you needed from the outer circle, why-” He collapsed into a coughing fit. She handed him a glass of water, and he gulped it down greedily. His throat was so scratchy and parched.

“You have to relax, you’re only gonna make it worse.”

“Don’t tell me what to do, traitor!” he said, pointing an accusing finger at her. “All you’ve done is get close so you could stick a knife in my back!”

Throughout all this, Vanessa had tried to keep an even temper, understanding what he was going through. But now the last straw had landed on the camel’s back.

“Yeah? And what about you! All you’ve done is helped some old rich guy unleash Armageddon!”

“What? But-”

“No, you listen! You keep saying I betrayed you, but you don’t even realize you’ve betrayed humanity! The entire planet and more is in trouble! And it’s a direct result of what you did!” she cried, knocking the words he was going to say back down his throat. He looked down sullenly. There was a long stretch of silence while Vanessa got her breathing under control.

“It’s not like I don’t know that now.” he said quietly. She wasn’t about to let him go.

“Well y’know what? Me too. I bought into the third Eye crap wholesale. I lied, I stole, I bewitched my family, I really hurt my nine-year –old sister. But now I realize where I went wrong. I can see what Delacroix’s doing now. You can’t honestly say I was on the right path, can you?” Her gaze was hard as iron, and fell on him as heavily.

Amidst the turmoil of his body, his mind was equally turbulent. It alternated between too many thoughts at once, roiling in emotion, and utterly blank. How appropriate that he was on a ship. He shook his head, wilting.

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

“It wasn’t supposed to be like this. It was supposed to be good.” he whispered, more to himself than her.

“Well, it’s not.” Tears were coming down her face. He could tell, because they puddled at her feet. “I know you had good intentions. I know you wanted to change the world for the better. But you were lied to, manipulated and turned loose to draw others in. Draw me in.”

“I…I really cared about you. I thought we had something special. But I guess that was just another illusion you gave me.” For a long time, they didn’t move. Only the puddle of tears shifted.

“Vanessa…” Nigel said listlessly. He didn’t even know what he was going to follow it up with.

“No, it’s alright. We just gotta deal with what happened. But I know what I should do. If you ever figure it out yourself, I’ll see you then.” She turned and went to the door, but paused. “And just so you know. After realizing what I was doing. I may have betrayed your cause. But I never betrayed you.” With that she left, slamming the door behind her.

Nigel gaped, watching her leave. He grunted and rolled over, and tried to get to some sleep. He only got a fitful rest after a long while, plagued by dreams of troubled depth and darkness.

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Scott closed the door in the captain’s quarters, threw his coat on the bed, and collapsed into the chair. Amber was at his side in a moment.

“What’s wrong?” she asked, watching him cradle his skull in his phalanges. He turned an eyelight to her.

“Oh, nothing much. Just everything.” he moaned, leaning back and stretching. He grunted and she winced, able to see his spine shifting and clicking back in place. “I’m exhausted. I don’t even get tired anymore, but you’d never know it form how I feel.”

“I’m a little surprised you can feel anything right now. I’d give you a shoulder massage, but…” She shrugged helplessly. He chuckled.

“I know. Still, I’m up and walking around, that’s not bad for a dead guy.” he said.

“Yeah. Um. Speaking of which.” She considered for a moment, concern plain on her face. It was a bit of a difficult subject to bring up, but she could see it in how he moved, how he held himself. “How are you doing?”

“Eh, I’m wormchow, but other than that I can’t complain.” he said flippantly, but Amber put a hand on his shoulder and looked seriously into his eyelights.

“No, Scott. No jokes. Tell me what’s going on. Really.” He stared into her crystal blue eyes, and she could feel him start to shake, his bones rattling.

“I’m-I’m okay. Really, y’know?” he said, wrapping his arms around himself. “Really. I am. N-Nothing that’ll stop me. Everything will be okay, I know it. B-But you’re…you’re kinda right, kinda…”

“It’s okay, it’s okay.” she said soothingly, hugging him.

“It’s, it’s just, this’s it, this’s really it. This isn’t just the end of humanity, it’s the end of everything. We’ve got only one shot to stop this, but I’m, I’m freaking out here. And I’m our best hope. Me. I’m freaking dead, for crying out loud! I got shoved off a roof and had knowledge shoved into my head and got resurrected and now I have to make a plan to stop the Last Alarm and save everyone and everyone’s looking at me and counting on me and-”

“Shhh, it’s okay. It’s okay. Let it out.” Amber whispered, gently rocking him. The words bled out of him like poison, devolving into nonsense and babbling, but he felt better with every syllable out. Eventually, the words dried up and they just sat there, together.

“It’s just, it’s just when this all began. When I went to the graveyard that night, I never thought it would lead to this.” he said at last. “Remember that night?”

“How could I forget. I was so despondent. Then you came and could actually talk to me. I was overjoyed.” Amber said, smiling.

“You jumped me.” Scott said flatly.

“Well yeah, you would too if you had the first person you could actually interact with come up.” she said primly, turning pink. One of Scott’s eyelights winked.

“I knew you couldn’t resist my manly charms.”

“Uh-huh. What gave it away, the total confusion or screaming in terror?” Amber deadpanned. He sighed and hugged her.

“Yeah, yeah. Boy, it’s been crazy. Like, two apocalypses since then. Sheesh.” He turned introspective. “Y’know, the first one was kinda fun, in a way. Desperately making plans, raising zombies, thwarting daemons, it was cool.” He sighed. Then this mess started. The Calamitous Ruination’s nothing like the daemons. They just want into our world to rule it. He wants to destroy everything. It’s nuts.”

“Tell me about it.” she said. He rubbed his face.

“It’s just, everyone’s looking to me to stop him. I know it’s ‘cause I’m smart, and powerful, and tough-”

“And humble.” Amber added, rolling her eyes.

“-but this, this’s crazy. More than usual. I don’t even know how to drive, and everyone expects me to save the universe. I mean, I do my best. I’ve got plans, I’ve got machinations, gears are turning, things are in motion…but what if it’s not enough? There’s no second chance here, and a part of me’s screaming to get this ship in gear and go after him right now. I know we can’t, but I want to. And…and another part just wants to take the ship and fly off somewhere, never come back, just get away from all of this.” he said quietly. She looked worried, but he reassured her with a gentle squeeze. “Don’t worry. I promised. I’m never going to run again. But…” He looked down.

“The best chance we got is a bag of bones who’s died to him before. I’m, I’m just a necromancer. How can I really fight a god?”

There was a long stretch of silence. Then, Amber snorted, bursting into laughter.

“Ha ha ha ha hah! You’re ridiculous sometimes, you know that?” she said, wiping tears away. If he had eyebrows, he would’ve raised one at her.

“Excuse me? I told you, I’m worried. We’re fighting a god here! I’m confiding in you, and you’re laughing at me!?” he said incredulously. She hugged him tighter.

“You dummy. I know you’re worried. I am too. But you’re stronger than you think. I don’t care about what plans you do or don’t have. I don’t care that we only have one shot at this. I don’t care we’re fighting a god. I’ve seen you raise the dead, resurrect people, bust open a drug ring, invent new spells, invent new zombies, kill mutant vampires, smack down other sorcerers, solve my murder, get the better of a deal with a daemon, sail into New York on a ghost pirate ship to kill a giant monster, and prevent two apocalypses, not to mention saving my life how many times now. I know it’s rough to always be counted on, but there’s a reason everyone’s looking to you to save them right now. Even if you can’t see a way around this right now, I have no doubt you will when it counts. I believe in you. You’ll make it work. You may be the villain, the big, bad necromancer, but to me and everyone else, you’re our hero.”

He stared at her. There was silence again, but this time it was a warm, comfortable quiet, nothing more to be said. Scott focused on the girl in his arms, just having that comfortable weight and warmth to her. He was glad he didn’t have tear ducts, otherwise he’d be bawling like a baby right now.

“Yeah. You’re right.” he said gruffly.

“I always am.” she said with a grin. He stood up.

“It doesn’t matter what we have against us, how many or who. Let them plan, let them scheme! My counterplans will always conquer! I’ll do it! I’ll save everyone! Because I am Scott Havenbrook! I am a genius! I am a master necromancer! I have magic! I have a ship! I have an army of the dead! I have defeated countless threats before! Against all odds! Against all odds, I came back from the dead! Against all odds, I have a girlfriend! There’s nothing I cannot do! Mwa ha ha ha! Ah ha ha ha ha ha!” Scott cackled madly, throwing back his head, eyelights blazing bright. Amber sighed and shook her head, smiling.

“Simmer down, boy. Although, I am curious. Your new zombies seem to be more…lively than what I’ve seen you raise before. What’s the deal? A whole crew of zombie seamen and a ground force of…ew.” She realized what she said as Scott snickered, but pressed on. “How’d you get them?”

“Oh, that? That’s easy.” he said, grinning. “My little jaunt into the Necronomicon taught me more than just one spell and the Poisonous’s Thoughts plan. I picked up a couple new tricks. One of them happens to be how to pull souls back from the beyond.” Amber’s eyes widened.

“You mean…” she said breathlessly.

“Yup! As long as the ghost is still around and hasn’t been reincarnated or oblivionated, I can call ‘em up, temporarily at least. No more time limit for summoning ghosts, I can get ‘em from this world or the next. And since I had some mindless zombies handy, no I didn’t call you.” he said to Arnold Palmer, who crawled back into the backpack. “Since I can’t be everywhere at once to give ‘em orders, they needed brains. Err, minds. So, I got a giant magic circle and had all the ghosts who volunteered to help possess all the zombies, so boom! Instant self-directed army, able to think and speak!”

“Wow, very impressive. I’m glad for the help, but aren’t you worried about the ghosts…fading away?” she said nervously, fearfully recalling the fate she had almost fell to. Scott chuckled and waved his hand dismissively.

“Au contraire, dear Amber. See?” He snapped his fingers and was suddenly covered in glowing spectral chains, leading in all directions. Amber started in shock, instantly recognizing the spell and knowing what it meant.

“Scott! Are those the chains that you bound me to, so I wouldn’t disappear!?” she shrieked.

“Yup!” he said proudly.

“You…idiot! The strain of that would be enormous, for that many ghosts!” she said, grabbing him frantically, afraid he might slip away at any moment. Now that she understood how magic worked, she knew what the backlash would be if too large a spell was attempted.

“Oh yeah, I know. The strain for doing this is enough to kill me.” he said lightly, grinning. Amber blinked, then groaned. “Yeah, don’t exactly have to worry about that anymore. I’m an unloving necrotic battery! Ha ha ha!” She smacked his shoulder. “What gives?”

“Don’t make me worry like that, idiot.” she muttered, looking down. He grinned.

“Aw, don’t worry about it. There’s not a lot that can hurt me, now that I’m dead. My soul’s bound to my bones, and my bones can’t be destroyed so long as I can channel necrotic energy, which is simplicity itself even as a ghost. I’m not going anywhere.” he said, taking her hand. She looked up, red as a tomato.

“You…you promise? I-I don’t want to lose you again.” she said quietly.

“It’s a promise. After all, I’m a necromancer. Death is my specialty.” he said, seriously.

“Mmm. I guess.” Amber said, still blushing.

“And death could never keep me from you, my lovely darling, apple of my eye and most precious treasure.” he said as straight-faced as he could, and she burst out laughing.

“You serious? That line was too cheesy, even for your stunted sense of humor.” she chuckled.

“I know, right? But-” He slid his arm around her and tried to waggle his eye sockets at her. At least she thought so. “Did it work?”

“Oh my god.” Amber put a hand on her face. “You’re a dork.”

“That’s not a no.” he snickered. She peeked at him through her fingers, then glanced at the bed in the corner. She sighed.

“We’ve got a big fight ahead of us. It’s gonna be hard, but I’m glad I could spend this time with you.” She sighed again.

“Trust me. We’ll get through this.” He smiled at her, and she smiled back. ‘Somehow.’ he thought. ‘I will never let anything happen.’