Something gently crossed her forehead, which prompted Morrigan to open her eyes. The light certainly didn't hurt as much, so she had no trouble identifying Lilith sitting cross-legged next to her on the bed.

"Are you feeling better, Morri?"

"Aye, a bit," groaned the succubus, pushing the covers off and massaging her temples.

"She says she's doing better," whispered Lilith across the bed. Morrigan followed her words until they reached Poppy, who was standing in the corner sternly.

"Gah! Ye'd think tae knock first!"

"It was unlikely that you would have woken up, even if I had knocked on the door. Since I was bringing you some more water-" she held up the glass- "I deemed your recovery more important than your privacy."

Lilith hopped off the bed and took the glass of water to Morrigan's side, where the older succubus accepted it readily.

"So you're playin' mum, then?"

"There is some similarity in the roles I am currently filling in your recovery and the roles of a mother, yes."

Morrigan frowned. "Ah, me old mum. What was her name, Nancy, maybe? Aw, I cannae remember. 'S been a ways. She wasn't half the mum you've been, too busy, I suppose."

"I am sorry to hear that," said Poppy evasively, hoping to make an exit before the conversation would pick up any momentum. Unfortunately for her, Morrigan had more to say.

"She'd be gone oll the time, outwith the castle. Always left on an auld war movie 'fore she went. Ey'd ask fer somethin' diff'rent, but every time- 'It's so ye know why we're better than the humans, 'coz oll they ever think about is war, an' we're in the business of love."

Poppy nodded slowly. "What an interesting worldview. And not entirely incorrect."

"That's the thing, though," continued Morrigan. "I'm jest not sure if she was right. Humans can cook a fair bit better than we used to, an' I know there's a lot with their minds on things o'er than war."

"Oh, really?"

"Well, Ey've spent a lot of time buildin' intimate relations with 'em, ye know. I think I'm an expert."

Lilith giggled. "On intimate relations, amirite?"

Morrigan joined her laughter, but both were cut short by Cloud bursting through the door.

"Bayonetta's back," he gasped.

"…is fantastic, I know," interjected Morrigan.

"No, I mean, she's here."

"Oh," whispered the Succubus.

"Stay here," instructed Poppy. "I do not want to deal with what happened last time you two were in close proximity again."

Lilith wrapped an arm around Morrigan, beaming. "Don't worry, Morri! I'll keep you company until you're better!"

Poppy followed Cloud out the door, down the hallway, through the foyer, and onto the porch where the witch stood.

"So you're still around?" growled Poppy.

"I was making myself a bit scarce, wasn't I?" Bayonetta cooed. "I assure you it was for a good reason." She ran a hand over her suit, and a green lollipop worked its way into her hand. Poppy knew exactly what it was.

"So, do you believe you are adequately prepared?"

"As much as I'll ever be," the witch smirked. "Although there is one thing."

"And what would that one thing be?"

Bayonetta threw a thumb over her shoulder, towards the tallest building in town.

"I'm going to need that church."

***

Admittedly, the donuts were probably the best thing Katniss had woken up to in a long time.

"Doing better today?" asked the man, dunking his own pastry into a mug of coffee.

"I feel okay," the girl replied, breaking off a bit of the donut and leaving it on her plate.

"That's good enouff fer a couple daysh being knocked out."

Katniss ate the piece of donut, and made sure her mouth was empty before speaking. "Are you some kind of doctor or something?"

"Naw, but I spend a lot of time patching people up. I was going to fix your friend up, too, but-"

"She was not my friend," hissed Katniss. "She was a psychopath that was out to kill everybody. I have no idea how you can't see that."

The man's smile quickly disappeared. "The life of a psychopath doesn't hold any more or less weight than ours. Everyone deserves a second chance."

She tore off another chunk of her donut. They were in a restaurant of some sort, in a booth next to a window. The man was so tall he was half-hunched over, his knees almost peeping over the edge of the table. Outside, the horizon stood as a massive wall of brown meeting a dark-blue sky- early morning, she guessed.

"I'm getting really tired of those lines. What gives you the right to let people like that take the lives of others, when you can stop them?"

"Because if we tried to exact justice for every sin, we'd damn everyone."

"I'm not saying that, I'm saying, people like that don't have a right to live!"

Katniss heard the clicking of a hammer being drawn back beneath the table.

"If that's the case," the man said sternly, "do you have any last words?"

Katniss cleared her mind to try and find the weight of her bow on her shoulder, but it was absent. She also failed to find her backpack and quiver. She had no options to resist.

"Why?" she asked, hoping that this insane character would at least say something that made some sort of sense.

"She did something that you didn't like, so you killed her. According to that logic, you did something I didn't like, so I can kill you, right?"

"N-no, I-"

"Listen, kid. I know you're not a bad person. And I know that she was crazy. But if everybody lived by an-eye-for-an-eye, nobody would see anything. Somebody's got to be the one to give second chances, right?"

"I… I guess…"

He stood up from his side of the booth, spun his weapon around his finger, and slipped it down into his holster.

"I know it doesn't make sense, but that's the code I have to live by."

Katniss was partially frustrated, partially astounded. Could he really live the way he said? All evidence pointed toward that being so. How? Surely a dangerous man like that must have seen first-hand the damage that people like Tally could do. So why would he try so hard to keep them alive? She let her head sink to the table, folding her arms under it.

"Just who do you think you are?" she groaned.

He looked up and down the diner's narrow aisle. There were no patrons other than themselves, and but one employee, who was falling asleep at a griddle.

"My name is Vash," he whispered. "Vash the Stampede."

"Oh, wow. Nice nickname, Vash," she sighed, unimpressed.

"I didn't tell you before because there's a huge bounty on my head. I know, I checked. So I was trying to keep moving around, so I could avoid anybody trying to collect, ya know?"

Katniss kept her head on her arms.

"Yeah, gotcha," she yawned. "So where are we?"

"Easton. Your talking truck is parked outside, if you want to get out of here."

Katniss considered it, but she was tired, and the donut was not that bad.

"No, I think we can stay here for a while."

Vash smiled. "Great. I'll go get another round of donuts."

***

"Day three," she whispered, dragging the rock across the wall to tally off another day. "Supplies dwindling. No chance of escape."

The man in the white suit who stood guard looked back over his shoulder at her briefly.

"Hermione, you can stop saying that now. Artemis is figuring a way out, I'm certain."

"Do you really think so?"

"Hermione dear, that's what I'm certain means. Don't worry."

The little fire they had been keeping was beginning to wear down, open flames did not like to last very long in the planet's atmosphere. Hermione broke off another portion of the portable firestarter and tossed it into the center, causing the fire to grow back to its normal size. She had one piece left, a bundle of wax and wood and accelerant. There were two energy bars now, a single flare, a half-charged flashlight, and a single fragmentation grenade. Their 'camp' in the colony's cargo bay had remained fairly secure, though by their current standards, that meant they were in danger about every three hours. The fire helped immensely- though they had lights above them in the loading dock, they tended to lose power. When they did, the fire provided some light. It was also warm, and it seemed to Hermione as if they didn't like it. She wasn't certain yet, but she had a hypothesis. Every time the fire died down, they would show up.

"Eliza sure has been gone for a while," Hermione whispered.

"She'll be back," repeated the man.

It was at that moment that the wind picked up, shimmying the loading dock doors and invading the cargo bay. Hermione dashed to block the fire, but it the wind extinguished it with instant cruelty. The old, rusting dock doors eased back under the wind's attack, and scraped through the lights, destroying them.

"A-Atticus," whimpered Hermione. "We just lost both-"

"I know," replied the man softly. "Get your wand ready. Stay close. Everything will be fine."

The ceiling above them gave off a clatter, followed by a rumble, and a set of sharp clicks.

"They're here," gasped Hermione.

"Hey, Curly? We're here."

Hermione inhaled sharply, and snapped her head to the source of the noise. It was Jakuzure, waiting impatiently at the heavy set of doors in front of her.

"I'm sorry," she mumbled. "I… zoned out there, for a bit."

"We know," said Sanageyama. "Is this going to keep happening?"

Hermione did not answer his question, and instead held her AEGIS up to the door's scanner. The system beeped, and the locks within the door began to noisily disengage. It was clear that the Menagerie was sealed off with the same level of security as Research and Development, which did make a creature escaping seem quite suspicious.

"Nonon, move away from the door." Hermione waved her hand to indicate where the girl should go, but Jakuzure simply pouted.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

"Why?"

"Because, what if there's something on the other side?"

The doors began to slide apart with a grinding howl.

"There's not anything on the other side," snapped Jakuzure.

"Oh, um, hello there, Nonon, and, uh, Mrs. Granger," whispered Fluttershy, who was on the other side. Hermione twitched in place a little, took a deep breath, and stepped forward.

"I don't know if you're aware, Fluttershy, but there's been an accident."

"An accident? No, I don't think I've heard-"

"Forty-Seven is dead, and one of your creatures is responsible."

Fluttershy slumped to the floor of the entranceway, her eyes welling with tears.

"R-r-really? R-really dead?"

"Yes."

The Pegasus transformed into a sobbing mess on the floor, wailing incoherently. Jakuzure looked back up at Hermione.

"Guilty?" she mouthed.

Hermione shook her head, reached down, and tossed Fluttershy over her shoulder as the group moved down the entranceway. As soon as they passed, the heavy doors sealed behind them, to prevent anything from escaping. The Menagerie was another sort of sterile place, with white walls and grated floors, all sparkling clean. And despite its cleanliness, there was a definite funk in the air that indicated that, at some point, an animal had defecated there. Every few feet there were crooks and prods mounted on the walls, clearly more than enough to wrangle any number of creatures. It was clearly well-equipped, but one thing seemed to be missing.

"Where are all of your animals?" asked Hermione.

"Oh- let me get that," sniffled Fluttershy. She floated off of Hermione's shoulder and pressed in a panel on the wall. The clean, white surfaces split open, pulling away to reveal hundreds of enclosures behind heavy glass. The range of creatures represented was truly immense- there were benign-looking Pokémon, deceptively innocent Tribbles, and a hulking Ravenous Bugblatter Beast. All of them were settled into a rough facsimile of their natural environments, complete with nutrient dispensers. It was about as nice of a setup as one could ask for, especially since most of the animals were there for study and experimentation.

"Now, I-I haven't had any breaches of containment," whimpered the Pegasus. "So I don't know how something could have gotten out. Do you know what it was? We can check and see if anything is missing from its enclosure."

"Double X One-twenty-one," said Hermione grimly.

Fluttershy's eyes widened. "Oh, dear. This way, please."

She led them down a few more corridors, passing by every sort of creature imaginable, from various Earths and otherwise. Hermione looked back over her shoulder at her colleagues, who (excepting Jakuzure) were amazed by the sights.

Typical.

Hermione stopped violently, searching for the source of the voice.

"What are you doing, Curly?" groaned Jakuzure.

The witch could not seem to find anyone else nearby. "Did you- did you hear that? Was that… Pinkie Pie?"

"I DID NOT HEAR ANYTHING," shouted Gamagori.

"Yeah, are you sure you're doing all right?" asked Sanageyama. "You're spacing out, and hearing things- maybe we shouldn't be doing this. You need to chill out."

"No, no," Hermione insisted. "We're going to make up for our earlier mistakes. I have to figure this out."

"Well, um, Mrs. Granger, we're here." Fluttershy pointed a hoof towards a large, grey cylinder that rose from the floor. It was covered in locking mechanisms and pipes, which coiled around it like vines. "We only have one, but we have to be careful with it… all it takes is one to-"

"I know," grunted Hermione, stepping closer to the chamber. "Let's have a look inside."

The Pegasus floated towards a panel on the cylinder's right and began to adjust a few dials. "All right, I'll have to make sure it's sedated, first." The cell vented steam and began to make heavy unlocking noises, not unlike the door to the Menagerie itself. Individual panels began to retract out of the way at a painfully slow rate.

"How long is this gonna take, exactly?" asked Jakuzure.

"Oh, it'll be a while. It's very important that this one stays secure," Fluttershy gushed. "So we've got a lot of layers between us and it. Why, just earlier we had a mechanic come in to work on the system and make sure it was working properly."

As the cylinder slowly opened, Hermione sunk deeper into her anxiety. If they were mistaken, and the creature had not escaped, it would still be there, in its enclosure, waiting for them. Sedation meant very little- they were very resourceful. And if it was not there, where it should be, that meant it was roaming the ship as she feared. Hermione did not want to face either outcome; she did not want to face anything anymore. She could still feel herself suffocating in the darkness, desperately holding her breath to avoid being detected by her invisible, insatiable foe…

Jakuzure poked Hermione's shoulder. "That's it? That's what you're afraid of?"

Hermione looked up into the freshly-revealed enclosure. There were no simulated rocks, no vines, and no branches to crawl across. There was no nutrient dispenser, or pool of water. There was a flat white floor, the glass surrounding the chamber, and an infernal visitor from her past.

"Yes," she gasped. "That's it."

It was sitting on the far side of its circular room, as far from them as possible. It did appear to be sedated, as it was curled up into an egg-shaped ball, its head and tail between its legs.

"It's a drone-type," explained Fluttershy. "And an unusually large specimen. It was single-handedly responsible for something called the Sevastopol Incident, but I'm not sure what that is. All I know is that it's bigger than it's supposed to be, and that's why Artemis wanted to study it."

"Of course he did," Hermione whispered, taking cautious steps towards the glass. There was some sort of morbid fascination drawing her eyes back to the very thing she did not want to look at, but she managed to overcome it for long enough to notice something else in the enclosure.

"Did your mechanic… get inside the tank?" she asked, slowly and deliberately.

"I don't know," said Fluttershy. "I can't remember."

Hermione extended a finger and carefully pressed it against the glass. Fluttershy and the Elite Four gathered around, and saw exactly what she was pointing to.

"So… whose blood is that?"

Not far from the opposite edge of the tank, away from the creature, was a very small puddle of human blood. There were a few drops along the puddle's edges, but for the most part, it was contained in a single pool.

"I just really don't know," whispered Fluttershy. "Who would it be?"

"What about what Mrs. Granger said- about it being the mechanic?" offered Inumuta.

"Well, um… I saw on my schedule this morning that someone was coming by to look at a few of our containment systems. So it was about an hour later that they paged me- they didn't have the clearance to open the door. So I went and opened the door and…" Fluttershy looked up, puzzled, then pawed at the ground. "I… opened the door, and then they- argh!" she threw her head towards the floor in pain, but Hermione caught her just in time. "Why?! Why can't I remember?"

"Okay, okay, ssh," said Hermione softly, lifting the pony back to her shoulder. "We'll figure this out."

"It is certainly suspicious that you just can't remember what happened after that point," noted Inumuta.

"Oh, I know it looks bad," whinnied the Pegasus. "But I really want to help you! I'm no good at lying, honest! It's just when I try to think about it, my head starts hurting!"

Hermione set Fluttershy back down.

"That's all right. We've seen what we need to here. Fluttershy, I want you to lock that thing back up again, and then I want you to visit Medical."

"Okay. I'm really sorry," she whimpered.

"Don't apologize to us. I have a feeling this whole thing isn't your fault. Uzu, Ira, Nonon, Hoka, let's go. We need to visit Personnel to find out who they have signed up as mechanics."

The group began to depart with the sound of the sealing chamber behind them. Jakuzure sprinted out in front of them, and turned to face their leader.

"Are you serious?" she snapped. "She just tells you that she can't remember and suddenly she's innocent? That's the biggest red flag I've seen today!"

Hermione frowned. "I know Fluttershy, just as much as you do. We know she has a tightly-knit group of well-balanced friends whom she consults about nearly anything. She's far from running with the wrong crowd. Furthermore, she wouldn't hurt a fly, let alone a human being. So I doubt that she could have orchestrated the murder whether by her own accord, or on someone else's orders."

They passed back through the entranceway, just as a team from Medical began to arrive. Hermione shot a triumphant glare back at Jakuzure.

"And look- she's really going to medical. She clearly wants to figure out why she can't remember."

"OR THIS COULD ALL BE AN ELABORATE RUSE," suggested Gamagori.

"You see, that's what I'm thinking," Jakuzure agreed.

"Or someone forcibly altered Fluttershy's memory. Then they opened the tank to release it, but it got them on the way out."

"So who would put it back into its enclosure?" asked Inumuta.

"Oh. I didn't think of that," admitted Hermione.

Hermione let a hand fly to her head. "There it is again! Didn't you hear it?"

"No," said all four of her colleagues simultaneously.

"Bloody hell, maybe I am going crazy," sighed the witch.

At that moment, alarms began to blare from above them. Hermione was nearly convinced that she had preferred being in the line of fire as a Trans-Dimensional Analyst.

"Definitely crazy," she hissed.