"This is really bad." Lila gasped, staring down at the display of carnage left in Sonera's wake. "Like...really bad."
Lunae and Lila managed to find their way into the Lenora's VIP section, bearing witness to the aftermath of Sonera's rampage. They knew they were on the right trail, but were held up by the chaos around them. The entire ship, despite existing as a fragmented dream, was on high alert for a murderous creature.
"Lila..." Lunae did her best to calm the Earthling down, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder.
"Did she like...rewrite the timeline?" Lila trembled. "This couldn't have been Sonera, right?"
Lunae looked down in shame. "I...won't lie to you and say it wasn't."
"But how? We were supposed to fix things."
Lunae didn't know what to say. She, of all people, felt it would be careless to try to argue it was all a dream. Carnage was not a foreign concept to her.
Yet her feelings on Sonera hadn't changed. Not even a smidge. She knew exactly what she had signed up for when she began to enchant that girl.
"Whatever." Lila shook her head. "We gotta find her. Stop this. Focus on the real enemy."
"These people Lunae..." Lunae sighed.
"Yeah, I know. Rena probably went through hell here. Doesn't mean we have to end up like Yrix."
"Lila, that thing is here for a reason."
"I know!" The Earthling threw her arms up.
She shriveled up a second later, feeling sick at the idea of raising her voice at Lunae. But the girl understood her passion and simply nodded in response. Lunae looked to the horizon, finding the resolve to push forward.
"Let's go." She smiled.
Lila grabbed her hand and disappeared in a flash. It was quite exhausting for her to keep such a pace, but the pale, lifeless faces of those Sonera left behind kept her moving. She couldn't bear to look at them and be haunted.
There were even children.
- - - - - - - - -
"What I...what I did." Sonera stammered as she cradled Ivy. "I'm-."
She wanted to sob. But that would have been fake. Truly, Sonera felt perturbed.
"Don't." Ivy squinted. "You lost control. It happens."
"It's not just a dream, Ivy," Sonera argued, trying to find a way to condemn herself.
"And?" The heiress shrugged. "Their lives mean nothing. Insignificant doesn't even put a pin in it. This whole place is a rotten memory. Who cares if you clean it out?"
Sonera was not expecting that answer. But she could feel Ivy's desire to move on, and began to walk away with the heiress in tow. Her mind didn't convey much, but Sonera could tell the Harrow had just recently been encountered in close proximity to the lower levels.
They weren't ready.
"But-." Sonera hesitated.
"What I'm really worried about is you." Ivy huffed. "Are you alright?"
The heiress told no lie. Her eyes were as genuine as the stars. She did not care whatsoever about the so-called morality of Sonera's outburst.
"No." The assassin answered plainly.
"Well, then let's find you Lunae." The heiress huffed, crossing her arms.
"You surprise me, Ivy."
"Why? Because I'm the only one making any sense around here? Who cares about how good we are? Yrix put us here. That creature conjured those people. They were in your way. Be done with it."
"I didn't have to kill them, Ivy."
"So sad, too bad." The heiress yawned. "What we need is Lila and Lunae. They matter. Not some random visage of a shoddy civilization."
"I don't think you understand-." Sonera grimaced.
She was worried about her friend, showing no anger or argumentative desire in her voice. Ivy was alarmingly callous about the whole situation. But then again, Sonera had no right to judge in that regard.
"No, I DO." Ivy blurted out her words. "My family did this to them. Rena's home was taken. Her people are just a rotting carcass. You didn't do to them what hadn't already been done. But now their lives are even more pointless than before. We need to focus on fixing what we can, starting with finding our companions and getting Rena out of this dream."
"Ivy..." Sonera looked at the heiress longingly.
She wanted to say thank you.
"I faced that thing." Ivy glared. "What it means...what it represents...it makes your little rampage here at worst a big waste of time."
"I understand." Sonera nodded.
The assassin didn't quite expect a pep talk to come from Ivy of all people, no less in her wounded state. But she did appreciate the gesture. Friends like Ivy made the voice within go silent.
"That bitch Yrix." The heiress growled. "I sound like Rena using that word so often. But it fits. That stupid bitch knows what it is. She wants us to fight it."
"That means we can fight it." Sonera panted as she hurried along with Ivy's legs dangling from her forearms.
The pair was headed straight down a rusted corridor, with alarms still blaring overhead as the ship scrambled to respond to the commotion. A pair of guards attempted to intercept Sonera, only to be knocked over the head by Ivy's baton the moment they rounded the corner. It was fortunate for Sonera, considering how little she wanted to fight at that time.
"My thoughts exactly." Ivy nodded casually. "Oh, and in the future, just knock people out."
"I see." Sonera frowned.
She felt ashamed for having barely considered that possibility. It made her feel like Yrix. The Arch-Flayer could have simply eliminated the Martian Bratva with a few non-lethal blows back when they first met. But instead, she made things as grueling and as vile as possible.
"Don't worry about it." Ivy shrugged. "I'll just tell the others nothing happened."
"I'm not sure you can keep that secret."
"Well, we have to try. As Lila would say, we have bigger fish to fry."
Sonera almost laughed. "She would. She really would. I miss her already."
"Me too, girl. Me too."