The whole way back, Slava thought about the seeds. How did they work? What would they show him? And his sister… He couldn't understand, why him? Why now? He kept looking at the interface where the seeds were displayed. He felt like an addict, it felt disgusting. He had to wait, to focus on the here and now.

  Sasha didn't help. She kept asking him what they'd talked about, and he kept brushing it off. He didn't want to tell her yet, her mood had been unpredictable lately. There was no way to predict how she would react. Even worse, she might start asking questions. If this was in any way linked with his sister… He didn't want to think about it. He wasn't lying, he would stay with her till the end, when this whole mess was over, when she settled down, he would leave. But for now, he would have to change the subject.

  "Never mind that, what was your friend's outburst earlier about?" After a moment of silence, he finally heard a reply, but not the one he was expecting. "You're unbelievable." Hearing the voice, he chuckled. "How convenient." She could do that? Hearing his reaction, Arissa sighed. "The pods had our…" she paused, "Arissa's signature..."

  Well, that was unexpected. He was shocked, to say the least. "What?" Sasha tried to come out. "Let me finish," he heard her grunt. "Arissa was hard-headed, stubborn, and sometimes indifferent,” how strange, to hear someone talk about themselves in the third person, was she finally dissociating from who she was? “But beyond all, she was kind, she would never let something like this happen." It reminded him of someone he knew for some reason. "How can you be sure?" He asked. "Sla…" Sasha began. "I can't," Arissa interrupted, "I simply know, but from what we've experienced so far, I've never been wrong." Had she? He couldn't remember. He'd forgotten that she was like this. No memories, only intuition.

  He squinted his eyes, letting his vision zoom in. Something looked out of place. "Prepare for battle. We'll talk about this later." There was a large cloud of smoke rising in the distance amongst the peaks. "Shit!" Sasha said, "are we too late?" He released his chains while Sasha took out her scythe. As they got closer, he started to see an army of flying ships and soldiers extending past the horizon. "What the fuck!" He heard Sasha say.

  He didn't get the chance to reply when his vision flashed red. Shit! What? A series of weapons were honing in on him. Shit, shit! A flurry of lights spiked up in front of him and in the next moment, he dove into the valley. He had to get closer to the ground. They were digging through the mountain. Did they not find the entrance? No, they were probably trying to circumvent the choke point. He didn't get to think any further than this as projectiles reached his peripheral vision. His eyes glowed, and his expression grew serious.

  The first came from behind him, and when he dodged it, it split apart, surrounding him from all sides. Seeing this, he smirked. Were they probing him? He closed his eyes, letting his domain spread through his chains, creating a shockwave that knocked the projectiles out of the air.

  "Two minutes," he heard Sasha's voice ring in his ear. He should be able to distract them for two minutes. He continued deflecting the projectiles one after another in an intricate dance. One minute, the time went by in a flash. He was in full focus, his eyes closed, reading their movement as they flew by.

  "Vich!" He turned his head towards the source of the cry. A bright figure was rushing towards him. Lightbringer? No, he saw him die, then… that voice. "I'll make you pay for the lives you've taken!" At that moment, a familiar figure overlapped with the man in front of him. A young, brash, naive kid brainwashed into a false sense of justice. Was this also that man's doing? He sighed.

  "Before saying such words, you should have the strength to back them up." He looked to the corner of his vision, before looking back up at his target. Seeing his drones closing in, he crouched slightly. He couldn't understand if the man before him was naive or pretentious. Did he think the world revolved around him? Taking his arm wasn't enough, he would have to do what Sasha couldn't. Before he could properly prepare, he heard a familiar voice.

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  "I'm ready," she said, breaking his focus. Damn, he ran out of time. He moved swiftly, grabbing a missile out of the air, slightly denting its chassis. He spun his body around, changing its trajectory. His chains followed his movements, and before he knew it, his assailant was assaulted by a barrage of explosions.

  "Now!" He shouted, his eyes piercing through the barrage of flames. He saw a figure dashing through them like a fierce beast. Well, it wasn't a beast, more like a cornered pup. He could feel his intense glare through his suit. "Far too weak." His chains reached out, grabbing onto his glowing fist and smashing him into the cold, hard ground.

  At the same time, Sasha appeared behind him. As she grabbed onto him, Arthur looked up and his body began to shake. "No…" he whispered, "not again!" He cried out. With the world shifting around them, the last thing he heard was his distant desperation. "Alexandra!"

  When he reopened his eyes, the world had changed to a familiar scene. "It took me some time to lose their trail, but I ended up making it in time." She made the motion of wiping the sweat off of her forehead, even though she had the suit. He chuckled, he didn't know why, but her joyful attitude made him smile. "By the way, who was that guy you were fighting?" Hearing her words, he frowned. "No one important." He looked away, moving past her.

  Unexpectedly, as he walked, he felt a chill run down his spine. Before he could react, he was pinned to the cave-like wall. At the same time, their suits revealed the upper part of their face. That's when he met her chilling glare.

  "Slava, we need to talk." What was she talking about? They needed to go to the city. If that guy was left outside, the others were probably already there. How many Gamma suits did they bring this time? "We don't have time, let's do this later." He tried pushing her hand away, but it was stiff as a board. Letting go, he looked back into her eyes. "No, you don't understand, I said we need to talk." She was serious. Seeing that, his expression grew grave. "What?" She moved her hand slowly backing off.

  "Listen, I might be a little carefree sometimes, but I'm no idiot. I can see you're trying to hide something from me." He froze, he didn't expect her to be so forward. "I can't do this," she sighed, "you know me, I know when something's wrong… I can't leave this alone, we're about to face death." He felt naked like her gaze was peeking through to his soul. She slowly closed her eyes, turning her head.

  "Never mind, this was a mistake, let's go." She looked disappointed. "I just needed to clear my head. I can't allow useless thoughts to distract me in battle. It's not like you'll say anything…" he cut her off, crossing his arms. "No, you're right." Abruptly, turning back around, she looked at him. It was her turn to be speechless. "I haven't been fully honest with you…" he looked up at the dark, cold ceiling. Had he been unconsciously pushing her away? All because he was too focussed on his sister. He had nothing to lose, it was now or never. If she hated him for it, well, at least he could leave without any grievances.

  "I'm still planning to go back. To fix my mistakes, to save my sister, to save Kolya…" he choked on his words before gritting his teeth. He hated having this lump in his throat. This feeling of never-ending guilt gnawed at him, for not being able to protect those he cared for.

  "I already told you, but none of those were your fault," if only he hadn't been there when Akasha was fighting, what if he'd been at least a fraction of what she'd been, maybe, just maybe… "And your mistakes are part of you, you can't just fix or erase them, they…" And Kolya… if he'd been stronger if he hadn't fooled around if he could've dealt with Aria…

  "Who am I kidding, just looking at your face, I know you're not listening, you're just digging yourself deeper like you always do." Wait, she wasn't furious or mad, his expression turned to shock as he lowered his eyes. "Hey, don't look at me like that. You're my closest friend, you're family, I know you more than you know yourself," she said, pushing his thorax with her finger.

  "I know you won't change your mind no matter what I say," their noses were inches from each other, "but just promise me one thing, will you?" He nodded, a serious look on his face. She turned around, taking a few steps toward the darkness. "Promise me you won't give up till the end." She looked back at him, her eyes glistening in the darkness.

  "I'll stay with you till the end," There was no way he would give up on her, he would always stay by her side. He wouldn't let her die, she would have her happy ending, and he would make sure no one took it away from her. "Till death do us part."

  Hearing his words, Sasha averted her gaze and started walking into the darkness, letting out a barely audible sigh. "Yeah, until the end." It clearly wasn’t what she meant, but either Slava didn’t care or he was too focused to care.