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"Ah, it's about time you stopped hiding," Seraphiel stated with a smile. She was currently in her mental landscape, trying to form a better connection with her Zanpakutō spirit. She’d only just begun meditating, meaning the spirit had shown up almost right away. She’d only stepped through a single doorway in the long hallway of doors inside her mind.

The spirit that stepped forward was a tall, slim, and well-endowed woman who looked a whole lot like Seraphiel, except with red hair covered by a large headdress and dressed in all black. Although covered by her hat, she knew the spirit had her hair tied up in a spiral snail-shell fashion at the back of her head, held together by an ornate gold clip. She also had a round, golden medallion on her forehead and a pair of crescent earrings. "It's been a while, Master." The spirit stated with an almost emotionless voice.

“And yet, you haven’t changed a bit.” Seraphiel countered.

“Oh, I’ve changed plenty, Master. But then, you already knew that. I may look the same, and act the same, but we both know we are both fundamentally different.” The spirit argued back. Shadows seemed to wrap around her as if caressing her.

“Yes, I suppose it would not make sense if we had not.” She conceded. “And yet, some things don’t change.”

“Say it.” The spirit stated firmly, both of them knowing what she meant.

“Even if you know, I know it?” Seraphiel asked playfully.

“That’s not how it works, Master. I need to hear you say it. Say my name.” The spirit insisted.

"Varete," Seraphiel said softly before a glow of shifting colors surrounded the spirit. "Varete." She repeated, for effect.

The Zanpakutō spirits generally represented a trait of a Shinigami’s personality. Usually, a vice or flaw they had. Rangiku tended to be lazy, so her spirit was even more so. Yoruichi was playful, so her rarely used Zanpakutō’s spirit took that to the extreme. This wasn’t always the case, but it held true most of the time. Some people simply weren’t so easily reduced to a single flaw, or their flaw was more complex.

Seraphiel had not been your typical Shinigami, even when she’d been brought into their world. She had vices, but she’d also lived longer than the Soul King, and seen more than almost any other being. She had vices, certainly, but handling said vices even when taken to the extreme wasn’t the same kind of mental challenge as it would’ve been to others, as she’d come to terms with them long ago. Part of overcoming the vice was part of unlocking the Shinigami’s power. In her case, her spirit had posed her an entirely different challenge. And apparently that had not changed. The Spirit and the challenge were the same, even if there had been changes.

“So, are we really going to do the guessing game where I have to slowly try to figure out our powers to unlock them?” Seraphiel asked. “Not that I mind spending time with you.”

“No, Master. You don’t. You didn’t the first time we went through this, so there is little point in demanding for it now. I am your Zanpakutō, and it is my duty to help you.” The spirit claimed. “I will reveal what you gain from me, as it becomes available. That means no Bankai yet.”

“Why the hide-and-seek then?” Seraphiel questioned.

“Because, before now, you weren't ready. You were not in the correct place mentally. You still aren't there completely, but you're close enough. You didn't understand what you needed. Now you do, at least a little. Your return to the source of your strength underlines that." The spirit explained.

“And what is it that I need?” Seraphiel asked, interested in the answer.

“Mana.” The spirit said simply. “It always comes down to that, doesn’t it?” The spirit adjusted her hat. The original person, on whom the spirit was based on, had used that hat as a font of mana, as did others of her kind. It was the source of their power after all. Or at least where that source was hidden. "You don't need fancy tricks or new abilities. You just need better access to what you already know, and the ability to not hold back."

“I’ll grant you that it would’ve made the Grail War easier.” She admitted.

“It is also obvious in your Skill choices. You’ve tried to replicate your magical abilities through other sources without taking a magical Class, but I will solve that problem for you once and for all. The last shackle holding you back is broken. You no longer need to hold back. Go forth and be what you need to be.” Her spirit declared, still with an emotionless voice.

“What kind of Mana are we talking about here?” Seraphiel asked carefully. "A bit of extra or a whole lot?"

The spirit frowned a bit. “You already know what kind of spirit I am. Why even ask? Think of it as having a personal Well of Eternity in your pocket if you must.”

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

Varete had been a very simple Zanpakutō spirit in function before, and it seemed that hadn't changed. Sometimes simple was the best, especially when it came to someone like Seraphiel, who already had access to all sorts of abilities. Why grant something new that might not be any better than what she could already do when Varete could just make her better instead?

“I have high hopes for the Bankai.” She added with a small smile.

"As you should," Varete stated before simply vanishing, and Seraphiel found herself back at the ship, kicked out of her own mental world.

Only a second later the ship jerked a bit. “I regret to inform everyone, but we are under attack.” Chachamaru’s voice came over the comms. “I don’t think it’s too serious, but it would seem we are being targeted.”

Seraphiel quickly made her way to the bridge. There she already found Shepard present. “What’s the situation?” Shepard asked with a commanding voice.

"We were joining the queue for the gateway when a vessel started firing at us. I'm currently engaging in evasive maneuvers, using the other ships as a distraction, and it seems the attacking ship is trying to avoid firing on the other vessels, making this tactic highly effective." Chachamaru reported, while still engaged with flying the ship.

"Show us the enemy ship," Shepard ordered.

A singular dark wedge-shaped ship of about Corvette size was flying after them, firing weapons that seemed mostly plasma-based. "I don't recognize the ship," Shepard said after observing it for a moment. "You?" She turned toward Seraphiel.

"I think it's a deliberate mix of technologies to obscure its original source. The hull is reminiscent of the ones used by Sith, but using different materials, and the weapons are definitely not from that universe.” Seraphiel recognized elements of the ship.

“So, we should probably assume that the ship doesn’t actually belong to any of the obvious sources used in the construction. If they want to obscure their origin, they wouldn’t use anything recognizable as theirs.” Shepard speculated as the ship swerved around another civilian ship.

There were dozens of ships lining up, preparing to use the gateway, which had to be tuned to each destination as it was one of those that could be used to travel to multiple locations. The process took a few minutes every time. Not long enough to really be a bother, but long enough to build a bit of a bottleneck. A good place for an ambush.

“Unless that’s what they want us to think.” Seraphiel pointed out.

“Bah! Just shoot them down and shift through the wreckage!” Wrex scoffed as he came on the bridge.

"Unfortunately, as our ship was designed to be a stealth attack ship, most of our weaponry is pointed forwards," Chachamaru stated, deftly dodging another series of attacks.

“Nice flying.” Shepard complimented.

"Thank you, though mostly I'm managing because the enemy really is avoiding shooting at others," Chachamaru replied modestly.

“Why do they keep making ships that can’t shoot backwards?” Seraphiel grumbled. “Every bloody universe makes the same mistake.”

"Engines," Wrex grunted.

“Indeed.” Shepard nodded. “The engines are usually quite large, blocking arcs of fire, and they also produce either heat or other effects that will throw off the aim of any weapons, or can even cause your ammunition to explode. And even if shooting backwards during a chase would be nice, working engines are better.”

“Well, remind me to fix that problem when I have time. That problem has been solved a hundred times before. Good thing I don’t have the same issue as our weapons.” Seraphiel stated and reached back towards the offending ship with her telekinesis. Her power and reach had improved a lot over the years, and now even distances between spaceships weren’t an issue. She concentrated for a moment after grabbing hold, and the offending ship started suddenly jerking around as parts of it almost collapsed, before it suddenly righted itself and resumed pursuit.

“Was that supposed to do something?” Wrex asked.

“Yes. Yes, it was. There’s someone on board with psionic powers of their own, considering they managed to counter mine. Granted, the distance makes that easier, but still.” Seraphiel grumbled. At this distance, the enemy didn't need to be as strong as her to stop her.

“Together?” Shepard asked, and Seraphiel nodded.

Together, they reached towards the enemy vessel, Shepard using her biotics, and Seraphiel could feel the psion in the enemy vessel trying to counter both of them. As was so often the case, when you chase two hares, you end up catching neither, and the enemy ship was practically torn in half between the two powerful Champions.

“Good. Take us around and engage.” Shapard commanded.

“No! Don’t!” Seraphiel countermanded that order, though it was somewhat unnecessary as the vessel exploded before they had a chance to change course.

"Huh. You should've hit it slightly less hard," Wrex stated. "I know that sounds wrong coming from me, but we just lost all our leads."

“That wasn’t us. They self-destructed. And here’s the fun part. I didn’t sense anyone dying in the explosion. They somehow got out, if they were present in the first place.” Seraphiel explained. There were ways of projecting psionic powers across distances via supporting systems.

“Okay. That’s a little disconcerting.” Shepard admitted. “We need to be more careful going forward. Engage stealth systems as often as possible.”

"I already am, but we need to come out of stealth if we need to line up for gateways, like here," Chachamaru explained. "And we need to discharge heat at some points as well."

"Huh, I forgot this technology had that problem," Seraphiel said mostly to herself. "I'll have to fix that too when I have the opportunity. I’ve clearly spent too little time working on the ship itself.”

“I’m not gonna say no to some bigger guns and better engines." Wrex grinned. "We might be able to turn this thing into a proper warship with a bit of time."

"I think Tatsumiya would like something to shoot with as well," Chachamaru added, knowing the former teacher was quite fond of weapons.

"Yeah, that one's a real second Garrus when it comes to guns alright," Wrex commented with a chuckle.

“Where is he by the way?” Seraphiel asked.

“Working as a Spectre. There’s actually talk about making him the next Hierarch in light of all he did during the Reaper debacle.” Shepard replied idly.

"The scans are coming in," Chachamaru interjected. "There's not enough left of the ship to analyze. Nothing that we didn't already know at least. No sign of bodies either, so Seraphiel was correct there."

“We weren’t in a rush, right? Can we take an alternative route?” Seraphiel asked. Navigation was something she could do but hadn’t bothered to learn in this universe. She could always pick it up if and when necessary.

Shepard frowned. “We do have some extra time, but not the three weeks the alternative route would take. The connections between my home and the destination are not exactly ideal. That’s why I wanted to hire your group.”

“Let’s proceed as is.” Seraphiel declared. “This attack was…odd. They went out of their way to avoid collateral damage and sent only one ship that wasn’t really equipped to deal with us. This seemed more like a warning shot, and maybe a deterrent, not a real assassination attempt. If we run into something similar, I have ways of dealing with the situation.”

“Oh? Do elaborate.” Shepard looked at her with interest.

"You remember how we traveled a few times during the Reaper War to escape from some of their forces?" Seraphiel asked.

“You can do that again?” Shepard lifted an eyebrow in question.

"Now that I'm back to my old body, yes. After all, [Reality Manipulation] is my original, Goddess-given power." Seraphiel assured the other woman. In fact, her original power was now stronger than in Shepard's universe because she'd gone back to her original state.

“I did notice you’d grown a bit.” Shepard nodded approvingly. “Can you not take us to our destination directly?”

“I theoretically could, but it would take quite a bit out of me, so I’d rather avoid it unless necessary. As mentioned, we do still have time.” She demurred for now.

“What’s this new-old power I hear about?” Wrex asked. “I don’t remember anything like that.”

“That’s because you always hung out in the cargo bay.” Shepard laughed.