Priyanka landed the ship back in the hanger, taking the shield with her. Tsuki woke up Xander, who hasn’t said anything since the ordeal back at the castle. The workers back at the ship all looked at them when they walked on, and Xander felt every pair of eyes land on him. Tsuki took his hand without a word, and the three made their way to the top floor through the ladders. Xander managed to get through the ladders without slipping, although the thought of just...falling off entered his mind for the first time since he got here. Falling off and breaking his bones in a way that could kill him. It felt disturbing.

They stood before the door of Chelic, and Xander’s breaths got heavier.

“Hey, maybe we should wait a little bit before reporting? I don’t think Chelic will mind, anyway.” Tsuki asked Priyanka.

Priyanka looked up at Xander.

“I can do the talking, if you need.”

“Yeah.” Xander finally said after a dry heave. “That’d...that’d be good.”

The three entered the door, where Marcus was waiting for them. Chelic, as per usual, had his back turned to them from his chair.

“Greetings!” Marcus said, as affable as ever. “It seems to us made you’ve made quite a stir!”

“That we did.” Priyanka replied calmly, handing Marcus the shield.

“You know, the announcement of Marcel’s death has reached us too. If I can pry just a little, I need to know how you pulled off something of that nature.”

“We simply saw it as the best course of action.” Priyanka said. “Marcel was fighting me and could kill him, but seeing as his powers of giving extra blood to certain parts of his body to move better has the weakness of weaker areas with less blood, Xander struck the back of his neck and allowed me to break it entirely.

“And Tsuki, what were you doing?”

“I was stopping his daughter from intervening.” She said.

“And where is the daughter now?” Chelic asked from behind his chair.

“We didn’t see her death as necessary, so we let her go. Provided we start an attack on the entire Skyspace as soon as possible, attacking Sangaria while it’s still weak would be a good starting point.”

“An interesting idea.” Marcel said while moving to standing in front of Chelic’s chair. “But one that could pay off. And if you don’t have anything else to add, I think a ranking increase is in order. Wouldn’t you agree, Chelic?”

“I believe so.” Chelic replied. “Now, since you did leave a witness that could describe you, I don’t think the ranking increase should be as drastic. Priyanka, you will be increased to one hundred on the dot. Tsuki, one hundred and one. Xander, one hundred and two. Meaning Xander and Priyanka get to move up in the cluster.”

“Is it cool if I don’t?” Xander managed to let out. “All my stuff and experiments are there, so it’d be a hassle to just move all of it.”

“Perfectly allowed, Xander.” Marcus said with a nod.

“What layer would I be moving to?” Priyanka asked.

“The third layer, if I remember correctly.” Marcel said, inspecting the laptop next to him. “I’m not sure how much help you’ll need moving, but I’ll provide some people if you need it.”

“I don’t have much of importance to bring.” Priyanka said calmly. “One person will do, I think.”

“I can do it.” Tsuki added. “I don’t have much going on.”

“For the next few hours.” Chelic added.

“Oh, of course sir.” Tsuki replied with her back turned to him in case the disgust in her mind reached her face.

“So, we can go now?” Xander asked.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

“You should be able to, yes.” Marcus nodded.

The three of them walked out of the room.

“I’m going back to my room.” Xander said. “See you later?”

“Sure.”

“Perhaps.”

Xander lay on his bed, not thinking about anything. Or rather, not trying to think about anything. He hasn’t gotten any emails since he left, so he could presumably just chill for a while, right? He thought that maybe he or someone on the ship could somehow contact Luminita and apologize? No, that’s ridiculous. No email is gonna forgive someone’s murdered dad.

Issue number two. He has powers now. He didn’t know how he did, but he can summon knives now. He looked towards a tube in his room he wasn’t gonna miss, and mimicked throwing a knife at it. Nothing happened. Okay, imagine a knife. The shape of a knife. Or maybe a dagger? He tried throwing it again, still nothing. Is it the kind of thing that only works in danger? He’ll have to ask Tsuki later. But first, time for a nap.

Or it would be, if there wasn’t a knock at the door.

Xander opened the door, and a blonde girl in a white shirt was standing in front of him.

“Are you Xander?” She asked nervously.

“Yeah?” Xander answered.

“Okay, cool.” She said, breathing a sigh of relief. “Look, how do you...survive out there?”

“Out where?”

“The Skyspace?! I just got sent to go out on a scouting mission!”

“Wait, you?” Xander yelled back. This was one of the weakest looking people here.

“They might be looking out for groups, according to Chelic. Look, apparently the Fightston games are advertising, and anyone can enter without any proof of your prior existence.”

“That seems like a trap.”

“I know! But they just want to get someone in to look around and look for weaknesses, send in the big names, and then steal the Fightston gauntlet. So how do I not die?”

“Just lay low, find a secure place nobody will check to call in the big names. And if you can, befriend someone who lives in the castle and steal the gauntlet yourself. Big risk if you do that alone though. When do you go, anyway?”

“Tomorrow.”

“Well, shit. Good luck with that, anyway. Get some sleep and grab as much caffeine as you can.”

“Yeah. Yeah, I will.” The girl sighed, taking a step outside his room. Xander closed the door behind her, leaving her to her fate. She was probably dead. But hey, at least he wouldn’t be there to see it.

“So that’s everything.”

Tsuki sat legs swinging on Priyanka’s empty top bunk, with her small box of things to bring up next to it. It was barely anything, just a poster and a couple books. Thick ones too, but she didn’t check the titles. Priyanka finished stuffing her blanket into her box and looked up at Tsuki.

“You know that your new place will have blankets, right?” Her roommate asked, playing a busted up handheld.

“This is my blanket. I got it when I came here, and I’ll continue to use it.”

“Whatever. See you later, Preeta."

“Priyanka.”

“Close enough.”

Tsuki just left the room, and Priyanka followed.

“Does she not know your name?” Tsuki asked. Priyanka didn’t look upset at her misnaming. Granted, she didn’t look upset at much.

“We barely talked. Don’t know her name, either.”

“Oh...really?”

“You never know when you’ll be called for a raid. Boom, that person you befriended ends up dead or imprisoned.”

“I mean...that makes some sense.” Tsuki replied. A silence crept up on them, and Tsuki felt the need to break it.

“We’re friends, right?”

“After all we’ve been through, I’d guess so.” Priyanka agreed flatly. “Not like you two will be leaving the ship anytime soon.”

“Guess not.” Tsuki nodded slowly. “Just me, the girls, and a whole lot of Chelic.”

The two entered Priyanka’s new room. Two separate beds, which was already an improvement as far as Tsuki was confirmed. The other person wasn’t there, but their stuff was. A couple weights and a food wrapper or two laying on the floor.

“So can I just leave these wherever?” Tsuki asked, lifting the books out of her box. ‘The minds behind minds, an introduction to psychology by Ratan Gupta.’

“What’s this about?”

“Oh that? Found it one day. I think the legion would benefit from having a dedicated psychologist for when the missions are over. Also, the surname clicks to me.”

“What, you think you could be related or something?”

“I suppose it’s a possibility.” Priyanka said calmly. “Actually, do you ever think about your old family?”

“Sometimes. I know I was from Sandala, but I was pretty young, don’t remember much else.”

“Same here, except it’s Gurut. Although I do hope my family are doing okay.”

“Well, Xander and his friend figured out how to get internet on their systems, even if it is terrible. Maybe I could ask if he could track down a missing persons site and find us on it?”

“Wait, you can do that?”

Tsuki looked at Priyanka. Her eyes were widened, and she looked ready to strike at the information.

“Maybe? From what I know people dump old news on the internet in case anyone needs it later, so it’s not impossible.”

Priyanka calmly sat on her new bed, her disposition turning in an instant. “I’ll have to ask him later.”

“Oh, and before I go.”

Tsuki reached into her purse, taking out a bottle of shampoo. Blue bottle. Saintly Shampoo. Looked official by shampoo standards, anyway.

“Your hair felt really dry back in Sangaria, so I thought you could do with that.”

“I see. Thanks.” Priyanka replied, shoving the shampoo in her back pockets.

“You know, keep your hair looking good in case you wanna go dude hunting.”

“I see.” Priyanka repeated.

“Babe hunting?”

“Not invested at all, really. But I do appreciate the effort in getting me this.”

“Okay. Well, guess I’ll go now. We exchanged numbers, so let me know when you wanna hang out again.”

Tsuki left, and Priyanka once again glanced at her book. If there was a way out, Xander would probably have the answer. Then she could find her family, if they still existed.

And at the end of it all, would be a normal life.