“Hey Prince, you soggy bastard,” Marina said with a grin, approaching Prince, who was lying in a hospital bed, looking through his phone. “How are you doing?”

Prince propped himself up into a sitting position and smiled at Marina. “Well, I mean, amazing, as always. I’m always doing good, just by virtue of me being alive.”

“Sure, sure,” Marina said, plopping herself down beside Prince. “If that’s what makes you sleep well at night.”

The wounds she had attained during the fight with the Parasite had been healed. She had changed out of her fighting attire and donned a more standard outfit. A black throw over with flared out sleeves that drooped toward her wrists. She wore nothing but a black bra underneath, revealing her soft, chubby tummy and green gills positioned on either side. A long, black skirt with a slit down the thigh covered her legs.

“I see you already got discharged?” Prince said with a pout. “Why couldn’t I have been released already? Do they not know how important I am? They should have a healer on me by now!”

“If they were treating people based on level of importance, then buddy, you would never get treated,” Marina laughed. “Besides, didn’t your bones get shattered to hell?”

Prince pursed his lips. “Well, perhaps they did. But that is no fault of mine.”

“Of course not,” Marina said with a wink. “Your bones just decided to shatter on their own because they decided you don’t deserve human rights.”

“Shut it,” Prince said, swatting at Marina, though he donned a smile.

“You’re such an annoying toad that not even your bones want to be around you!”

“That’s hilarious, coming from you!”

“In fact, you’re so annoying,” Marina exclaimed, mischief in her eyes, “your bones don’t even want to be in you!”

“You have to know that I’m a class A heartthrob!” Prince exclaimed. “A total heartbreaker! Anyone who crosses my path immediately wants to get down on their knees and pray on the altar of my pleasure!”

Marina snorted and flopped down on the hospital bed, laughing freely. “Oh, man. You really know how to woo a girl. You are the most pretentious man I’ve ever seen. Are you even real? Who talks like that?”

“I do,” Prince said, adjusting his glasses proudly. “I’m unique.”

“Oh, my god. Uniquely stupid!”

“Anyway,” Prince said, flashing white teeth. “Was there something you wanted to talk to me about?”

“Uh, yeah, actually,” Marina said, sitting up. “I’ve wanted to get your mood up before I had to break the bad news.”

Prince’s expression grew icy. “Bad news? What bad news? Is everyone okay?”

Marina curled a finger through her short hair and said, “Well, Seer City has been targeted for Annihilation.”

Prince’s eyes shot open. He flung his blanket off his legs as if he had just discovered that it was made of human skin and tried to hop from the bed. Marina slammed her hand into his chest, sending him slapping back onto the bed.

“I have to go get Victor,” Prince snapped, struggling to rise. “And - and Madeline. We need to save them, Marina. What are you doing? Let me go.”

“Go right ahead. Go save Victor in that sorry state of yours,” Marina said, maintaining her grip on Prince until he gave up, flopping down on the bed like a wet fish. “Marquitta is working on recovering them.”

“Is it my fault that I don’t want to see another person die?” Prince snapped.

Marina grew quiet for a moment. “You know...Ken’s death --”

“Yes, I know, it wasn’t my fault!” Prince snapped. “Why would I even assume that it was? I didn’t cause it. He decided to go on the mission himself and he paid the price.”

Marina stared at him. “That’s right.”

A moment of silence passed between them.

“But,” Prince said, “if I hadn’t gotten myself injured…”

“Then you could’ve heroically pushed him out of the way just enough to catch the path of the blade and then you would die too,” Marina said, smacking Prince on the top of the head. “And that would be the end of that heroic deed!”

“Whatever,” Prince said. “I’m not actually thinking that would have been the better alternative.”

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“Good. Anyway, Victor has already been recovered by Rohan,” Marina said. “Based on what he messaged me saying, anyway.”

“Oh. That’s a relief,” Prince said. “And the girl? Madeline?”

“We’re waiting for updates on her state now,” Marina said. “She was left behind. Victor snuck out of the city right before the attack.”

“I see,” Prince said. “Well, she won’t die that easily. I know that much for certain...Why did he even leave Seer City? I thought that would be a good place for him.”

An accusatory flame sparked in Marina’s eyes. “You want to know why? It’s because of your bright idea to keep the Cessation Sword in your home!”

Prince blinked at her. “Bright idea? My house is impenetrable. I think it is a fantastic place to store something like that.”

“Yeah, let’s just keep it in one area enchanted by a 21-year old dude,” Marina said. “That makes logical sense.”

“Rohan is a skilled Practitioner of the Mind and you know it,” Prince said.

“Rohan isn’t an offensive player,” Marina said. “He is pure defense and the only spells he knows are effective against the mind. You know, hiding something from view, predicting the course of action a mind will take. It relies on being unable to perceive something.”

“If you can’t perceive something, it is usually difficult to find, isn’t it?” Prince growled. “I mean, that’s just logic now, honey.”

“Well, you icey bastard, what if someone finds it by energy signature? That’s the only way we have to finding all the relics you hide.”

“I disguise my relics well,” Prince said, puffing out his chest.

“Yeah, where did you get your rosearics degree from? Oh, right, your ass,” Marina snorted. “Rohan did all the enchantment. You think it's enough for you to sit on your ass and play a leader role.”

“But I play it well, don’t I?” Prince pointed out.

“Anyway, someone broke into your house and blew it up.”

A laugh played about Prince’s lips, but Marina’s stern expression quickly twisted the smile into a look of horror.

“What?” Prince exclaimed. “You can’t be serious.”

“Oh, I definitely am,” Marina said. “How does your idea about keeping the Cessation Sword at your place sound now, hm?”

Prince’s face paled. “Are you telling me that the Cessation Sword is destroyed?”

“Nope,” Marina said, sticking her tongue out at him playfully. “But everything else in that place was!”

“I - How was the Cessation Sword not destroyed?” Prince asked, incredulous. “I’m assuming that’s what was targeted...But how would they have found it…?”

Marina shook her head. “Beats me. But you have Victor to thank for getting it.”

Prince stared at Marina. “Victor isn’t supposed to get involved with Cupcakes Inc. You know that. Who let him do that?”

“Yeah, I personally signed off on that idea,” Marina said, rolling her eyes. “I stomped over to our great leaders, Prince Colton and Clementine Kelly, and personally told them ‘screw all of your brilliant ideas’ and let Victor go on that mission.”

“Come on! Spit it out already.”

“Well,” Marina said. “Again, apparently Victor stumbled into Marquitta while she was on her mission and he told her to help him steal the Cessation Sword in order to cause Rohan some distress.”

Prince crossed his arms and tutted. “Why is he like this? Like, actually. What is Victor’s deal? That’s all I’m asking here.”

“Let me go psychoanalyze him with my psychology degree,” Marina sneered.

“Where’d you study, again?” Prince said, tapping a finger against his chin. “The School of Assholes and Asscheeks Alike?”

“That’s the bitch!” Marina laughed. “Sure did.”

“Right, so...he has the sword now?” Prince said. “That’s a good thing. He can just bring it over to us and we’ll take care of the rest.”

Marina crossed her arms. “We need to get serious. The Parasite is getting desperate. We knew this would happen once we took her sword.”

“Yeah, we did,” Prince said. “But it had to be done.”

“And now a city is the casualty for it,” Marina said. “I hope it was worth it.”

Prince nodded. “I hope it was too. Are Victor and Rohan coming here?”

“Yeah, actually, they are,” Marina said. “You haven’t seen Victor for a while now, haven’t you?”

Prince shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “It’s not like I’ve been avoiding him, exactly.”

“Yes, you have,” Marina said, rolling her eyes. “You’re just can’t stand to see him in that state, can you?”

Prince sighed. “I know what we did to him had to be done…”

“Well, we didn’t do anything to him, really,” Marina said, crossing her arms. “Rohan is the one who fucked him up to hell and back.”

“He really should have asked for my approval before committing such a reckless error,” Prince muttered. “But we have to deal with the consequences now.”

“Was it even an error?” Marina said. “Would you have preferred it if Victor was left the way he was?”

“I guess not,” Prince said. “As least Victor is still...himself.”

Marina nodded. “Yup, yup, yup. I don’t know. Well, we can’t change anything now, can we. Ah, speak of the fucking devil. Looks like they’re here now.”

Rohan pushed open the door to Prince’s room, breathing heavily. Victor stood not far behind him. Or, well, that was Taro, wasn’t it? Not Victor.

“Hey guys,” Marina said, waving at them lazily. “How’s it going?”

Rohan carried a haggarred, deeply pained expression on his face, as if sleep had evaded him for many years and he was only powering through with the sheer power of his will. Which was probably true.

“So, why are you possessing Victor right now, Taro?” Marina said, cocking an eyebrow. “Damn, he really just let you invade him like that? God, I wish someone could invade me.”

“Shut up Marina! You’re so annoying. Can’t you just be serious for one moment?” Rohan snapped, running his hands anxiously through his hair. “The reason Victor is possessed right now is because otherwise he is going to escape back to Seer City and try to be a villainous hero or whatever the hell.”

“I can confirm that that’s the reason why I’m possessing him right now.”

“You can let him go when the Annihilation is over,” Rohan said. “I hope Madeline is okay…”

“I can only imagine how scared she must be,” Marina said. “I bet she’s just quivering in her boots right now. Terrified.”