Heretical Edge

Of course, it was one thing to say we were going to contact the others and meet up with them. It was an entirely different thing to actually decide exactly how to do that, who we were contacting, and where we were going. There were a few options. We could head up to the Fusion School in the star station. I was pretty eager to do that, unsurprisingly. But we could also go find where the Roundabout was right now, and I really needed to see what was going on there, and how much the place had grown while I was gone. Plus, we had Bob here, even if he couldn't manifest yet. I still had some questions on that point, but it wasn't the right time to get into it. The point was, we could go find Grandfather, Bastet, and Sonoma. They'd been waiting a pretty long time to get him away from Crossroads. Not to mention Aylen might be with them, and I needed to find out if she had managed to grab hold of that Ehnergy and send it where it needed to be to help Arthur.

So yeah, we had a lot of options about what to do first. And the fact that we had just pissed off the Crossroads people so much they were probably going to go whatever the next step up from nuclear was didn't help the decision making process. Or, wait, yes it did. We had to warn everyone that things were suddenly about to get very dangerous out there. The loyalists had been pretty mad about the rest of us turning against them as it was, but this? I had just shown up at the very heart of Crossroads, the place they all went to learn and train, and effectively stole the thing they used to make Heretics. Which, to them, was the only way to stop Alters from killing them all.

We had to send the warning out, now. Everything else could wait. Snapping out of my indecision quickly, I looked at Miranda. "You can contact Seller, right? Tell him what's going on, but just the basics right now. Tell him to warn the Garden rebels that the loyalists are gonna come down on everyone hard. They'll be out in force, and they'll do anything they have to do to get the Edge back." I didn't point out that they had gone as far as abducting toddlers, my big brother and sister in fact, to end the war in their favor the first time. I didn't have to. We all knew the stakes.

While Randi moved to work on that, I focused on Percy. "And you can contact Andromeda? Can you get a message to Athena through her and make sure everyone over there knows the war is about to get a hell of a lot hotter than it already was? And let her know we'll try to be--"

I stopped talking then, because I was reeling a little bit. My vision swam as I doubled over and made a slight wheezing noise in the back of my throat. Images and memories flooded into me.

Immediately, Miranda and Percy were there, checking on me. As they held my arms to keep me upright and asked what was wrong, I tried to assure them it was okay. But the words wouldn't come out right. That moment was so overwhelming that I'd briefly forgotten how to form the right sounds. Fortunately, Tabbris was there. She stepped out of me and explained while I recovered.

"Something changed, something in the rifts, something during the rifts, I mean," she hurriedly stammered. "The timeline changed. The rift with, umm, Eiji and Rebecca, Flick remembered it going one way, but then it was different. Sun was there. Uh, Sun Wukong. He wasn't there the first time, and Rebecca… Rebecca got really hurt. But then Wukong was there and he changed it so Rebecca didn't get hurt at all. It was one way and then it was a different way, but Flick--" She looked over at me, and my vision had at least stopped swimming enough by then that I could see her properly. Which only meant I could see her worried expression. "Flick remembers all of that both ways. That's kinda weird, right? I don't think that's really supposed to be a thing."

"Must be the way she's connected to the rifts," Miranda murmured, squeezing my arm a bit. "That big of a change made her remember both ways it went. Looks like that kinda took its toll."

"Tell me about it," I muttered, before belatedly realizing I'd actually made the proper sounds that time. I was getting over it. "Right, okay, that was a lot. But how did Sun-- never mind, it's Sun."

"He does tend to break most established rules," Mekkta agreed with a thin smile. "The man does whatever he wishes, consequences, common sense, and known laws of physics be damned."

"I really don't think any of us have any place throwing stones about someone violating physical laws," I pointed out with a shrug. "Even if he does take it to extremes. And hey, at least he made it so Rebecca didn't get hurt. I'll take that." Straightening up, I tested my balance before giving a nod for them to let me go. I wasn't about to fall on my face now. The dizzy feeling was gone.

Good thing too, Hot Type put in, still sounding a little dazed. We're all feeling kinda timeline drunk in here. If that went on much longer, the others might've embarrassed themselves in front of our guests. They're already pretty confused about what's going on. Belatedly, she added, Don't worry, it's being taken care of. They're getting a crash course in the history of their people. Or, well, the future of them from their point of view. Story's being as gentle with it as she can be.

Eesh, fuck. Yeah, I didn't envy Story having to explain just what their people had become. It sent a sharp pain through my stomach, just thinking about what those Original Fomorians were going through. How would I like finding out that the entire human race had become utterly omnicidal monsters rampaging across the universe killing everything that didn't look exactly like they di-- yeah, that was uncomfortably close to the entire reason this civil war existed in the first place.

Waving Miranda and Percy off to go do their things after thanking them, I shook myself a bit and looked at Tabbris, pulling her into a hug. "There you go, stepping in to cover me again. Thanks."

Visibly blushing, she returned the hug, making a contented noise. "It's what sisters do, right?"

"Damn straight," I agreed. "But hey, since you're out for the moment, think you can contact your mom and--" A brief thought of everything I needed to talk about with Sariel, all the things I really needed to say, ran through me. But all of that would wait. We had to focus on the most important thi-- okay, the most critically pressing things right now. "Tell her what's going on, make sure she knows the Seosten are probably going to be just as freaked out as the Boscher loyalists are."

Her eyes widened with sudden realization about what I was saying, jolting visibly. "Oh, oh! Cuz they use the Edge to make new soldiers for the Fomorian war! And now that Crossroads doesn't have it anymore, they won't be able to just-- oh. Oh, they're gonna be really upset, aren't they?"

"They sure won't be jumping for joy," I agreed. "Which is why we need to get ahead of it and let the right people know what's going on before they get blindsided by the retaliation. If Sariel's not with Athena, she needs to be warned too. They can spread the word and get things moving."

Tabbris immediately went to work on that. With those three busy, I looked over at Mekkta, who was gazing at me with an unreadable expression. "I guess this whole thing really didn't turn out like you expected, huh?" Really, what else was I supposed to say right then? This was a lot.

She, in turn, smirked faintly. "You could say that. This is…" Pausing, the woman glanced around as though taking in the bridge of the ship properly for the first time. She gave a low whistle and shook her head. "Ehn was right about one thing, underestimating you would be a very bad idea."

"Uh, speaking of Ehn," I managed a bit weakly, trying to figure out exactly what to say next.

"Like I said before, I don't believe he's gone for good," she reminded me. "So we don't really need to get into that right now. And even if he was, what he did was his own choice, not yours. You couldn't have changed his mind if you tried. I don't blame you for this situation." There was a momentary pause before her eyes focused on me, seeming to stare right through to my soul. "But I am not the only one he has left behind, and others…" A sigh escaped the woman. "There are those among his followers who will not think the same way I do. Watch yourself out there. They aren't going to be friendly."

"Wait, you're leaving?" Honestly, I had no idea why that surprised me so much, but it did. I kinda expected her to stick around longer, at least until we were done checking and getting everyone on the same page. Actually, I thought she'd refuse to leave my side until we knew for certain that Ehn absolutely wasn't coming back. I sure didn't expect her to say so long and leave right now.

"Oh, don't you worry, we'll see each other again," she informed me with a sly smirk. "You're far too interesting for me to ignore. But yeah, I've got some other people to check in with, things to take care of, and…" She glanced at the screen showing a dense forest below the ship. "I've had to wait a long goddamn time to come back and see my home planet again. I'm gonna take one of those… what do they call 'em? Walkabouts? I'm gonna take a walkabout. I'll check in with the others first, try to make sure they know what happened to Ehn wasn't your fault. Like I said though, I can't promise they'll all accept that. So keep your eyes open and be careful."

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With that, she simply asked Skuttlebutt to open a hatch so she could step out. It did, and she gave the rest of us a quick salute before hopping through. I looked down, watching as she plummeted what had to be at least ten thousand feet. As far as I could tell, she didn't bother to use magic to slow herself or anything, simply plummeting that far, slamming hard enough into the ground to leave a deep hole behind, which she clambered out of and walked away from.

Cerberus and Eurso came close enough to peer through the hatch that way too, both of them whining curiously. I pet them as the hatch closed, assuring the pair that she was fine and they would see her again. Then I focused on the next step. Which was… what? Where were we going to go right now? What was the best thing to do with this ship that happened to be holding the Crossroads Heretical Edge? We could go to the star station, or the Roundabout. Both were probably fairly safe, at least for the time being. But in the end, the star station barely edged out.

Hah, Hot Type put in cheerfully, edged. I see what you did there. And flying up into the sun works for me. I'm never gonna object to going to the hottest place possible. Which I mean in--

Yeah, yeah, you mean that in both ways, I interrupted, mentally rolling my eyes. The others are there, so yeah, we'll head that way and check in with the Roundabout later. Anxious as I was to see what the place looked like now, and how Laein was doing, we had to take this one step at a time. And right now, the best next step we had was to get the Edge up to the Fusion School.

Besides, I might've had the memories of being with everyone at all those different rifts, and the ones from the vacation time, but I still couldn't wait to meet up with them again. The only thing that even made me consider going to the Roundabout first was, well, Laein, and the fact that I really wanted to know how the school was doing these days. Had we actually recruited more students like we'd planned? Had my other self been there with them to help out? What about Marian, was she there? I wanted to know everything, I wanted to catch up with everyone. First, we'd go see everyone at the Fusion School and get on the same page. I'd see my parents, my girls, my friends, all of them. And figure out what to do with this Edge. Then we'd go home to--

Huh. Did I just think of the Roundabout as home, instead of the Fusion School? I… wow. Yeah, that was a thing. Maybe it was just because it was a place I wanted to make into a real thing for so long, and this was coming right after I'd spent literal months there with the others on vacation. Whatever it was, the Roundabout really did sound like home. It would be my next stop after this.

The others were still busy with their own respective communications, so I focused on talking to the ship. "Uh, Skuttles, you said the other version of me helped set this whole thing up and had you pose as the lighthouse for all that time, did she umm, tell you what she wanted to happen now that we escaped? Is she gonna meet us somewhere, is there another step to this plan after we've managed to steal the Edge and thoroughly kick the hornets nest? Cuz they are definitely gonna come after all of us. They'll rip into everything and anything they have to to get it back."

The tall, glowing blue holographic words appeared nearby in response almost immediately.

I DO NOT KNOW

THE PLAN BEYOND

MY SMALL PART IN

FREEING MY PARTNER

AND THERE ARE SECRETS

THAT ARE NOT MINE TO SAY

BUT I AM VERY CERTAIN

YOUR OTHER SELF WILL

SHOW THEMSELF WHEN

THE TIME IS RIGHT.

"You called Bob your partner before, too," I noted after taking that in. "I guess you guys have had a few hundred years to become friends. And you said he can't manifest now because it's too dangerous?" I wasn't sure what that meant, exactly. What was dangerous about him appearing?

WE ARE FRIENDS YES

AND FAR MORE THAN

ONLY THAT. HE IS MY

OTHER HALF. WE ARE

CONNECTED AS YOU ARE

WITH YOUR FAMILY AND

THOSE YOU CALL GIRLFRIENDS.

HE IS MY PARTNER IN ALL THINGS

BUT HE CANNOT MANIFEST NOW

AS IT IS TAKING ALL THAT HE HAS

NOT TO ALLOW THE HANGMAN CURSE

TO OVERWHELM HIM. IF HE SHOWS

HIMSELF HE WILL WEAKEN ENOUGH

FOR IT TO TAKE OVER ENTIRELY.

AND THEN THE CURSE WILL SPREAD

TO ALL THOSE CONNECTED TO HIM.

Well, that was… a lot. But I didn't have time to really process it properly before Miranda turned back to me and called out, "Okay, Seller's getting the Garden people on the same page. Well, the same book, anyway. They'll be ready for things to heat up. He has lots of questions though."

"He's not the only one," I murmured before shaking that off. We just had to hope Bob could keep holding out against this Hangman's Curse. Because yeah, having everyone who was connected to him turn into absolute monsters trying to kill everything around them was probably a bad thing. The loyalists were bad enough as it was. How horrific would the world be if every single Boscher was essentially a Hangman Reaper? That couldn't happen. Civilization would be over.

Instead of focusing on that, since there was really nothing I could do to affect it one way or the other anyway, I met Miranda's gaze and asked, "Do you think they'll really be safe out there? As soon as the Garden Loyalists find out what happened, they'll probably be almost as pissed off as the Crossroads ones. Those guys might not agree on everything, but there's no way they'll be chill about us having the Edge. They're gonna retaliate, hard. I know they're not supposed to know where the Garden rebels are living right now, but out of all the groups we know about…"

"They're the most vulnerable," she finished for me with a short nod. "Trust me, Seller realizes that. He's gonna make sure they're ready. Or as ready as they can be. It's not like they can just leave the area. Not after they just managed to get those vines to take. That place is their home now. If it comes down to it and the loyalists try to attack, they'll defend it. And I'll be there too."

"Yes, I liked them when we met." That was Percy, who had just stepped over to join us. "If they are attacked, I would like to join in punching the things attacking them. And you as well, Flick?"

"Definitely," I confirmed. "Whatever happens, they won't be on their own. But if we're all gonna be ready to jump in and help when things go wrong, we need to actually be organized. Which means getting everyone caught up. So, you finished talking to Athena? What did she say?" I was trying to imagine the look on that woman's face when she got the news. If someone else was there when Percy had contacted her, maybe I could just buy the memory from them.

"Yes," Percy answered, briefly making me think she was responding to the thought about buying the memory before I remembered what I'd just asked her. "She was… surprised. I think she thought I was, ah, I think the phrase is 'crank calling her?' She did not believe I was serious. And then she believed I was mistaken or exaggerating. That was when someone else there spoke to her and confirmed what I was saying. She said that you are… um, many words that mean an absurd person who does very dangerous things. But she is also very proud of you, I think."

"That was Mama!" Tabbris piped up from where she was standing on the other side of Cerberus, petting the robot dog's left-most head. "Err, I mean, the person who went in to talk to Athena while she thought you were exaggerating or something, Percy. Mama went to tell her the same thing. They're gonna send some ships out to watch for any Seosten fleets that might show up."

Oh right, yeah, that was probably a good idea. Sure, we were still technically under the truce, but something told me that if the Seosten leadership could find any way to stretch that to get the Edge back, they'd do it. Hell, they might even be debating breaking it entirely if they could. Given how important having new Boschers was for their war efforts, and the consequences of the Fomorians actually winning that war, I couldn't even blame them that much. Well, aside from the part where if they'd just been honest and worked with us from the start, things would be so much better now. Or the part where their people had helped create the Fomorians in the first place. Yeah, those parts I could give them at least some blame for. But given the situation we were already in, I could absolutely understand why they would be completely losing it right now.

So, maybe I should show them there was an alternative. They didn't have to go ultra nuclear on the planet, they didn't have to violate the truce. We had the Edge now, so maybe we could recruit our own Boschers. People who actually knew what they were getting into, who knew what they were facing and who the real enemies were. And while I was at it, I could tell them my plan to create an army of Necromancers to help actually stop the Fomorians, instead of just playing a delaying game that was doomed to fail eventually. If anything was going to make them stop and listen to me instead of dismissing me outright, maybe having the Edge would do the trick.

"Alright," I announced, "let's head for the Fusion School. I think we need to arrange a few meetings. Starting with our families." Turning slightly, I asked, "You good with heading to the sun, Skuttles?"

I AM GOOD WITH THAT, came the immediate response.

IT WILL BE NICE TO STRETCH

AND FLY AFTER BEING STILL

FOR SO LONG.

"Okay then." With that, I stepped over to the middle of the room, looking at the main screen that showed the area in front of the ship as we simply hovered there. "Let's get up there. But make sure we let them know we're coming.

"It'd be just our luck to get this far and then get shot down by our own people because we didn't call ahead."