Chapter Text
Arette stopped her descent. She had just had a horrible feeling in her gut. Like something was very wrong. She eyed the area, but saw nothing. No… it wasn’t like she was being watched.
More like something was telling her to go faster. Her motherly instincts maybe?
She had no luck finding anything in the area she had chosen to survey. Wakuna had not descended there. There were few more places that he could have broken through, but they were few, and not as likely as this one.
She slid down the icy slope instead of the slower more safe way. Her stomach churned, and she covered her mouth, closing her eyes and taking a few deep breaths, her stomach calming eventually.
Arette began running, noticing smoke in the distance. Off slightly to the side of her path was a thick cloud of smoke, and on the wind the smell of burning flesh and sulfur.
The stingerhead nest.
She pulled out her whip and went closer, ready for one to charge at her. What she instead found was one cut into pieces outside of the nest. She recognized the marks clear as day. Perfectly clean and sauderized.
Sporagemos. She didn't know if she should go into the nest or run back to Ido Front, but her feet decided for her, running inside the nest. Every single one of those beasts in the nest seemed to be dead, all focused at the center.
And in the center-
“Gueira?!” She paid no mind to the pile of melted guts and torn cloth, falling to her knees before the man’s remains, shaking her head. None of the other masks were known to her. Not like how she knew Gueira.
“No… You were supposed to watch Prushka. Why are you here?!”
She grabbed his blood stained collar, lifting his torso up out of the pool of gore, his head fell back. The venom of the stingerheads was instantaneous. She knew that he was long dead. She had seen what it did first hand back on that delve years back.
Why were they here? There was no reason for them to be there. Something was wrong. Very wrong. Her hands wrapped around his whistle, and she pulled it off his neck with a yank. She was too shocked to even cry at the moment, too worried to register the loss. She got back on her feet, running again.
There was another body crushed below a rock, but she didn't take the time to stop and look at it, running over the hill, and to the shore.
Ido Front spun across the water. She took a few deep breaths, and watched as a light erased a large portion of the ancient ruins before her eyes.
She took one of the boats that were left on the shore as it was faster than running. Inside the Umbra Hands were in panic, not knowing what was happening, the halls dark as they fumbled. Arette turned on the light of her helmet, grabbed one by the coat, shaking him.
“Snap out of it! What is happening?!”
“Where… Where?”
She pulled his helmet off his head and promptly slapped the man in the face.
He seemed to jolt, his dazed green eyes focusing and zeroing in on her face. “My lady-”
“What is going on?! Where is my husband? Where is my daughter?!”
“She is with him. Prushka is with the Sovereign.” He said as he took his helmet back, putting it on. “Come… Come you must see… The Blessing.”
He went back into his daze, but this time he seemed to know where he was going. She clutched her chest as she followed him, sweat pooling on her forehead as they ascended. Her exposure to the fifth layer seemed to stave the worst of the curse, and soon, she saw light.
She ran for it, leaving the man behind. She came out onto what remained of one of the floors, kneeling on the stone looking into the chasm was-
“Nanachi!?”
Nanachi looked up from the pit, and Arette was running up to them. “It's you-”
Nanachi stiffened as Arette hugged them. “Naaaaah! H-hey!”
“I had this awful feeling something was going wrong and I came back as soon as I could.” She pulled away, petting Nanachi’s cheek. “I see I was right. Is Prushka alright? Riko? My husband? What about Reg?”
Nanachi looked at her. She really didn’t know anything? They looked at the pit, eyes narrowing “Reg is down there.”
Nanachi lifted their finger, speaking into the com. “Reg, Bondrewd’s wife is back.”
“What? Nanachi-”
“She’s not one to worry about. Just keep going with the plan. Get that bastard up here, make him use every last one of those cartridges!”
“Cartridges?” Arette looked at Nanachi, “Is… Is Bondrewd down there too?”
Nanachi looked up at her. “You really don’t know anything about that man do you?”
She looked at them, and Nanachi saw the expression on her face change. Her pupils contract, and eyes widen. Her shoulders stiffened and rose.
It was with that, that Nanachi realized that she knew. Maybe not everything. But she knew enough.
Arette got back on her feet, moving to go to the crater, but above them the frost pillar began to collapse. Before Nanachi could even think about moving away, Arette scooped them up and ran away from the pit herself.
From the frosty mist, Reg appeared, tumbling on his feet. “Nanachi!” he got back up and ran to them, breathing hard.
“Good work. He probably used them all.” Nanachi looked back toward the pit, eyes widening. “Oh no…”
A form was in the mist, and as it cleared, Bondrewd was visible. His hands were long claws, his clothes ripped from the sheer mass of the fur that he had grown. The mad man did it. He got his blessing.
“Arette, you are back. Wonderful.” Bondrewd held his arms out, his claws shining like they were made of metal, “You made it just in time. What do you think of it? My new form?” he lifted his hand in the air, examining it.
Arette’s hand rested over her chest, eyes narrowed suspiciously at him. “What happened to you?”
“The Blessing.” Bondrewd explained, stepping forward, “It is the same thing that Nanachi has.”
Arette moved in front of Reg and Nanachi, ushering them behind her. “Why were you fighting Reg?”
“Reg went into an uncontrollable state and was causing a lot of damage. I had to put a stop to that. But we don’t need to fight more. It's completed. My plan worked flawlessly. Perhaps a few setbacks but-”
Arette cut him off. “Where is Prushka?”
“Ah well she’s right here with us, Arette.”
The backpack hissed open, and spat out four cartridges. He looked at them, sighing sadly. “The poor dears are spent already. How sad. But, I am sure you enjoyed our adventure, didn't you, Prushka? And now, all three of us, and your friends get to see the dawn I have envisioned for so very long.”
It was then Meinya ran from the rubble, flopping before the final cartridge and crying as it nuzzled the plastic.
Reg’s eyes started watering. “What is… You don't mean that… is that Prushka?”
“Reg-” Nanachi started.
Reg stepped past Arette, grabbing his cape in his hand. “How could you do it?! She cried for you! Your precious daughter cried for you because she loved you!”
“What a strange thing to say, considering your desire to kill me.” Bondrewd mused.
“You didn’t…” Arette choked, “You couldn’t possibly have.... Bondrewd where is she?” She covered her mouth and gagged, that sickness she had coming back.
And Nanachi finally realized what it was.
“There is nothing to worry about, Arette. Everything is as it should be and Prushka was happy to help me.”
Nanachi’s ears lowered, clenching their hands into fists. He would keep lying. Try to manipulate her to stay.
That wasn’t going to happen.
“You are a coward!” They yelled, pointing at Bondrewd and glaring, “For all your sick aspirations, you couldn’t even stomach letting your wife see what you did. What you were going to do. What you were always going to do!”
“Now Nanachi there is no need-”
“Shut up! I’m not keeping quiet any more! Your husband is a monster! He puts children in them! Those are children he cut apart, and he did it to your daughter so he could get the Blessing!”
Arette uncovered her mouth, and she looked at Bondrewd, horrified. “Is this… Is this true?”
Bondrewd sighed. “Yes it is true. You are such a gentle soul, Arette. I knew that day I asked you to help me entertain those children you could not do what I needed done. But it had to be done to prepare for the next two thousand years.” he held his arms out to her, his claws motioning her to come closer. “Come, we needn't continue this.”
Arette coughed a few more times, wiping her mouth. Her tears stopped flowing, and her face was void of expression. “I told you. I told you that if you ever hurt Prushka I would kill you.”
Bondrewd’s arms lowered slightly. “I see… She will be disappointed.”
“Let's finish this Reg.” Nanachi said, determined to finally put an end to this lunatic.
“Right.” He turned, and Arette was already attacking, cold fury on her face as she moved to lash Bondrewd across the chest with her whip.
His tail deflected it. “Arette, please. Prushka doesn't want this. She doesn't want you to hate me.”
“Don’t even talk about her!” Arette screamed, “You lost all right to even think of her!”
Reg’s arm shot out, and Bondrewd knocked it aside as well. “Please, this is-”
He was promptly punched in the face, his already battered helmet cracking more from the force of Arette’s punch.
“Arette, Prushka wants us to go on an adventure, all together. So please-”
She punched him again, making him stagger. He ducked as Reg zoomed over his head, intending to ram him with his helmet.
“Very well, if you won’t listen to reason.” he swung his hand, claws raking the ground and tossing rocks into Arette’s face. She flinched, covering her eyes with her arm as she blindly swung her whip in his direction.
“He doesn't want to fight her. Reg use that to your advantage, Keep her in front of you at all times.” Nanachi said into Reg’s earpiece.
Reg clenched his jaw. “Irredeemable.” he hissed, knowing that Nanachi’s plan was sound.
It still felt wrong.
He refrained from firing any more blasts. He could not hurt Arette. She was not like Bondrewd. She was a good woman. Flawed maybe, but Nanachi was flawed too weren’t they? But soon he would fall unconscious, and trying to stay behind Arette for the fight was slowing things down.
Bondrewd took notice.
He grabbed her arm in his long claws, his multi pupiled eye staring into her. “You are in the way, my dear.” Bondrewd said calmly. Leaning in closer to Arette’s face. “Step aside so I may fight the aubade properly in this form.”
Arette yanked on her arm. Those eyes. She knew them. Bido had those eyes. She yelped as Bondrewd turned, using the momentum to toss her aside
Right over the edge of the crater.
Bondrewd had lost himself fully in the fight. There was only the thrill of fighting Reg with all he had. He took no notice of how far or hard he threw her, eyes on the boy before him.
It seemed to happen in slow motion, Reg watching with wide eyes as Arette fell. He gritted his teeth and swung his hand around, the metal striking Bondrewd in the side of the head and knocking him off balance.
No! No one else was going to die!
“Where are you going, aubade?” Bondrewd was already pouncing on him. Reg yanked his arm, making his metal cable rotate around him to deflect his claws.
“Reg what are you doing!” Nanachi’s voice yelled in his ear.
“I gotta save her! I don't want anyone else-” He skidded to the edge, and retracted his arm, shooting it back down at her, “-to die!”
He grabbed her arm, digging in his heels, He kept his grip tightly, jumping backwards as Bondrewd crashed into the stone where he was once standing. This wasn’t going to be pretty.
He retracted his arm as fast as he could,, still jumping backwards to make it happen faster and still dodge Bondrewd’s attacks. He still had her. He still had her arm. “Stop it! I’m trying to save her! Don’t you care at all?!”
Bondrewd did not even hesitate, jumping on him and slamming his claws into his stomach, ripping through where his artificial skin was thinnest.
“Astonishing that you were created with all the weak points of a human body.” Bondrewd said in gleeful awe.
Reg kept his grip, kept retracting his arm. He still had her, he could feel her hands gripping his arm. “You said-you said even my pain was an imitation.”
Bondrewd dug his claws even deeper, and Reg grit his teeth as his eyes watered. “Indeed you are well made. Even your insides hold the warmth of humanity.”
“So then if this pain is an imitation, then I can still move!” Reg lifted his leg, and charged another blast. He didn't even know he could shoot one from there. ”And I'll show you that this will of mine... is as real as it gets!”
Bondrewd jumped back and avoided it, but then Reg felt his other hand. Felt it heat up. Fire. and another attack came and hit Bondrewd, disintegrating his lower body.
It was only then that Reg managed to pull Arette back up with them, to safety.
He was going to faint… But he did it. Bondrewd… Was gone. And he managed to make sure… No one else died.
He woke up with a start, wincing as he sat up. “Ah… Nanachi.”
“I took a look inside. Everything seems to be okay.” They said, “And judging by how you're acting, you will be fine.”
“Did we-” Reg turned and looked around, his eyes falling on Bondrewd’s body. But his thoughts went right to Arette, and he looked around. She was kneeling, hunched over and gripping her head tightly, and tugging on her long hair so hard she was ripping out strands of it.
“She got hit with the fifth layer curse pretty bad with how fast you pulled her up.” Nanachi said quietly, “But she is alive. She probably will come out of it soon.”
It was then Riko wailed loudly. “I don’t want this! It's not fair!” she sobbed, clutching the cartridge tightly, “Prushka! Prushka!”
“Riko.” Reg got up on shaky legs, going up to her and kneeling by her, pulling her closer.
“R-reg, your tummy is hurt.” Riko sobbed, looking at him. Her glasses were all fogged up and were wet with tears.
“I will be okay Riko.” He assured, and Riko hugged the cartridge closer.
“She has a pulse. I feel it. I-I don't know… Are you hurting? Does this hurt?” She desperately was trying to save what was left of Prushka, but what was there left to save? Blood and chunks of flesh sloughed out of the cartridge when she tried to lay her down, and Riko screamed more in despair.
“No please! Prushka! You wanted to go on an adventure with me, please-”
With another flow of blood, an object clanked out of the case, giving Riko pause as it fell into the pool of blood.
It was white, and shaped like a human heart. Riko wiped her eyes, and picked it up and looked at it. Her despair became confusion, and she looked at it, tears flowing to a trickle. “Is that you, Prushka?”
It had to be. Riko could feel it. Feel her. Despite it all, despite the agony Prushka had gone through, she had become a life reverberating stone, and in turn, Riko had become a white whistle.
“Prushka....”
The three of them looked up. Arette was standing before them, a true mess, scratches clawed down her face and her hair tousled. Reg noted it looked like he had possibly broken her arm in his desperate attempt to keep a hold of her as he pulled her up, but at the moment she didn’t seem to notice. She fell to her knees before Riko. “Prushka….”
Riko’s libs wobbled again, and she held it out to her. “Here.”
Reg had never heard a sound so filled with despair. Riko’s sobs were devastating, but Arette’s scream was the most haunting thing he had ever heard. The woman took the stone into her hands, and screamed in agony.
“I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” Arette cradled the stone like it was a baby, “I failed you. I’m sorry!”
Nanachi had a lot to say. To scold her. She knew enough. Nanachi could tell by how she sounded. That was not just the pain of loss, but guilt too.
But should ofs and could ofs were not needed right now. This woman lost everything. She lost her husband, as Bondrewd had most surely destroyed any love the woman had for him. And she had lost her daughter.
Her treasure.
Nanachi lifted their arms, hesitating only a moment, before they wrapped their arms around Arette. Reg joined them, and Riko soon did too. And Nanachi could not help but cry.
“She doesn't blame you for anything.” Riko sobbed, “She loves you.”
“I love her too. More than anything.” Arette sobbed, kissing the stone gently.
Nanachi pulled away when Arette calmed a little, enough that she flinched finally and grabbed her arm in pain. “I’m going to look at your arm, okay?”
Arette nodded mutely, and Nanachi took it. “Naaaa. Reg you dummy. You broke her arm… Here open your mouth. Let me see your teeth.”
Arette did as they asked.
“These seem to be okay. You're lucky nothing cracked or chipped.” They lowered their hands, and they looked at her. She had scratched deep gouges down her cheeks. Those would probably scar. “I know you are hurting a lot. But… You gotta keep going like I did. Cause you got something you need to keep living for. Trust me.”
Reg looked at them confused. “Nanachi?”
“I noticed it. Ever since I first saw you. The flow around you. I didn't get it at first. But I know now.” They made a face. The very idea that he actually had-
Reg seemed to get what she was implying as he made a face too. “Irredeemable...” he mumbled.
Arette closed her eyes, nodding quietly, she took in a shaky breath, grabbing her stomach and holding it.
Riko looked confused, sniffling. “What are you guys talking about?”
“We have more important things to deal with.” Nanachi said, taking a few things and putting together a little sling for Riko’s whistle. “Here… I am sorry but she needs this.”
Arette clutched the stone closer to herself for a moment, but she handed it to Nanachi, who set it inside the little sling, and then put it around Riko’s neck. “This was Prushka’s will. She’s your white whistle now, Riko.”
Nanachi stood up. “Come on, we have to destroy that machine. Finally put and end to-”
They froze and turned sharply. A lone Umbra Hand was walking out to Bondrewd’s body. He had a shawl on his shoulders that flittered behind him. As he walked, he tossed off his helmet, and Nanachi already knew it was him. “Bastard…”
He tossed off his black whistle next, and when he reached the body, he bent down and replaced both with Bondrewds.
Arette spoke, voice wavering and hoarse. “What is he-?”
“They were all Bondrewd.” Nanachi said, “Every one of the Umbra Hands are him. The man that is your husband is just… a thing. A sick twisted mind that moves between bodies as he sees fit.”
Bondrewd turned to them. Holding out his hands to the group, a single green eye visible through where Reg had bitten off the metal. He appeared to be smiling. “Come in. We have things to talk about!”
Riko clutched her whistle. Just able to feel Prushka. Muddled, but there. “I think… We should talk with him.”
Nanachi grimaced, then sighed. “If that's what you think.”
Reg helped Arette stand up, letting her rest her hand on his head and use him like a crutch as they walked. Bondrewd waited for them in a hallway, motioning them to go down it, he stepped up to Reg and Arette. “Here, let me take her.”
“Don't even touch her.” Reg said firmly.
“Arette, please I need to-” he trailed off and watched as Arette kept walking without Reg’s help. She didn't even look at him, like he was not even there. His arm lowered, and Reg cast him a glare before he sped up to catch up and help her.
“Naaaa. You actually thought you could go back to how it was?” Nanachi asked, looking up at him with a grimace. “You really are pathetic.”
“As you said…” Bondrewd said, his rather pleasant tone now utterly flat.
“I can set her arm. Don’t worry your empty little head.” Nanachi resumed walking, and Bondrewd and Riko brought up the rear.
Riko set her hand over Prushka's stone. Prushka was happy to be near Bondrewd again. She wanted to be held by him too. She took her off from around her neck after a moment of hesitation, and held the stone up to Bondrewd. “Here…” she sniffed, wiping her nose, “She wants you to hold her.”
Bondrewd held out his hand as they walked, and she placed it in his gloved palm. The rest of the way, he clutched the whistle in his hands, holding it close to his own.
It was a slow painful talk. But ultimately an understanding was reached. Bondrewd gave them everything they needed to continue. And they let him continue as he was in the fifth layer. Riko just couldn’t do it. They didn't need to fight any more. It would have made Prushka even more upset.
In Prushka’s desire to help her father, she had not thought of what it would do to her mother. And so now the consequences reared their ugly head.
Riko watched, peaking into the room. Bondrewd had told his wife everything. Every action, every horrible thing he had ever done to get him here. Arette’s arm was in a splint and her eyes once so bright were now dull and staring listlessly at the wall.
“What happened to Gueira?” Arette asked quietly.
“I am afraid he died.”
“I know he died, I saw him, What happened to him?”
“Ah. Well. I used him to… Help further Prushka along. He felt nothing. I promise. I was in control of him the entire time.”
Her head tilted. “He was the one you used, a month ago.”
“Yes. he was.”
“Should've known… You were so… he was so tall. No way it was… whatever.” She finally looked at him for the first time since it all had come to an end. “I am pregnant.”
Bondrewd sounded hopeful, excited and pleased. “Oh. That's… That is wonderful, Arette. Even though many of the facilities are destroyed I can-”
“I’m not staying here.”
Riko’s eyes watered, Prushka was very upset, and it was upsetting her in turn. She clutched the stone tightly in her hands, lips wobbling.
“I am not letting another child of mine near you. You killed my daughter-”
“She is our daughter, and she is not-”
“You killed my daughter and you tried to kill me.”
“Forgive me, Arette. I was not in my right mind.”
“You never were. I ignored it for too long. Thinking I was safe, that Prushka was safe. But no one is safe from you. Once my arm is better, I am going up. I’m going home.”
“But it's my child, Arette. It needs a father and no amount of preparation can allow you to ascend. It's certain death for a fetus. The girl Riko-”
“Shut up. Your voice disgusts me.”
Bondrewd was silent, standing up. He opened the door, looking at Riko as she sat on the floor, sobbing. “Ah, you were eavesdropping I see.”
Riko sniffed, whimpering. “She’s really sorry.”
“What?”
“Prushka, she's sorry. She didn't think-”
“These are my own sins.” Bondrewd said gently, setting a hand on Riko’s head, “Prushka has nothing to be sorry for. This is all my own doing. My own actions led me here.”
“She doesn't hate you…” Riko whimpered.
“I know. And her mother does not hate her, if she is worried about that.”
Prushka was. Riko sniffled, pressing the stone to her cheek and nuzzling it. “I will take good care of her… I promise.”
“I should be assuring you of Prushka’s care.” Bondrewd’s voice was light, but his visible eye held an empty sort of tiredness, “She will help you, all the way to the deepest pits of the Abyss. With her, you and Reg will be a force to be reckoned with. Now come… It is time.”
He sank to his knees and he held his whistle in his hands.
Riko knew what to do, and she clasped hers tight, both of them rubbed, and both whistles rang with a hollow sound.
Riko and her party departed. Bondrewd watched them go, arms spread as he said his prayers. A prayer for their safe journey. Curses and blessings and all things in between. And one so that one day his soul, his worth, would rest besides the worth of Riko.
So he may be with his daughter again.
He turned, and on the floors above, Arette watched too, hand over her mouth as she no doubt sobbed.
’Naaaa. You actually thought you could go back to how it was?’
He looked down back into the halls of Ido Front. He had made her love him once. Surely he could make her love him again.
In the coming months he realized how much of a fool he was.
Gyarike returned shortly after Riko and her friends left. He stood lamely in the opening hall, Bondrewd and only a handful of other men there to greet him. No Prushka. No Arette.
“So you did it.” the man said calmly, he looked around, “Where is the missus? Did she die trying to stop you?”
“No. She is still here.”
“She has not left yet?”
“She can not leave. She is pregnant you see.”
Gyarike tilted his head forwards. “I see. How unfortunate for her.”
By the time she was four months along, Arette’s quiet grief turned into a fury that burned hotter and cut deeper than even his own Sparagmos. She would not look at him, and when she did all there was was contempt. Every word she said was like poison, burning him and harming him.
“Her ears, with the notch. Her hair, her eyes! You threw them away like trash!” Arette screamed.
It had been a sudden explosion. She had forced her way into his study, irate and screaming. It was commonplace now. Once she was done screaming she would cry, and there would be nothing he could do to comfort her.
Bondrewd held a hand out to her, pleading. “Arette, please-”
Arette slapped it away from her, fury on her face as she glared at him. “Why destroy everything that made her ‘her’?! Did none of it matter to you?”
“Prushka meant everything to me. She is not trash.”
“Then where is the rest of her? What did you do with it?!”
“I… I…” He had ground it up. Tossed away everything he had not needed into the grinder like he had with every other child. He would have burned it all, and sprinkled them into the Sea of Corpses. But what had remained was lost to Reg’s incinerator when he activated it. All he had were the scraps left behind in the cartridge, and even those were not her. She lived still. In another form.
Arette could not understand that.
He avoided the question knowing all too well it would make it worse. “The Abyss demands sacrifice. Everything is about-”
“You know that's hogwash. You were waxing poetic about those children. How they defied everything you knew!”
“The Blessing cannot be done without sacrifice. I needed it. I needed it to-” he stepped back as Arette threw a punch, grabbing her wrist. “Easy now. The baby-”
“Shut up about the baby!” Arette screamed harder, trying to wrench her wrist out of his grasp, “Let go of me!”
“You are being far too irrational. You could hurt them with this kind of outburst. Please Arette. They are all that is left. Please...”
He grabbed her other wrist, and sank to his knees, tugging her closer to him. She leaned away, looking like she was both disgusted and frightened by his begging. “If you leave they will die. This is all we have now.”
His voice was pleading. Pained. Desperate. Fresh tears flowed down her face, and Arette yanked her wrists free, sinking to the floor and sobbing. “I can’t be here. I need to leave. I can’t stay here and look at you a moment longer.”
She buried her face in her hands, shoulders heaving as she sobbed. He moved closer, his hand moving to rest on her shoulder, but the moment he touched her skin, she screamed, jerking away and curling into a ball.
As every day drew on, Arette’s words dug deeper and deeper. Her pain was bleeding into his. The realization, the burden of his actions grew heavier and heavier.
He had never once felt guilt such as this. Not guilt this heavy, this lasting. But to not have Prushka smile at him, run to him and hug him, to hear her call for him with adoration…
It was becoming too much to bear.
And now Arette was determined to take away the only thing that could give him anything like that again.
He moved closer to her, hands again outstretched in a pleading manner. “I cannot let you leave Arette. It would kill them. Do not be selfish.”
Arette lashed out suddenly, smacking his helmet as hard as she could. Her palm caught on the torn metal and began to bleed, and she hissed in pain.
“That is enough, sir.”
Bondrewd turned to Gyarike, standing up. “I am busy, Gyarike. Please let us-”
“I am sorry. But I can’t. It's enough.” Gyarike stepped past him, gently wrapping his arm around Arette’s shoulders and helping her stand, “Let me take you to your room, Ma’am. I think I can patch that up.”
“Arette, please understand. They only way you could get up safely past the fourth layer is if you-”
Arette looked at him. Pure hatred on every feature of her face. “You already made me use them before. I will do it again If I have to. Anything to get away from this place.”
Bondrewd’s hands fell to his side and he looked down. She hated him so much, she would let him make a cartridge for her? Let him kill another child? Then there was no way. No hope. No words that would make it better.
“There are two more children left. If you wish it… I will make them into cartridges, and you and Gyarike can return to the surface.”
“I want to be gone by the end of the week.”
He had truly lost everything then. He was doomed to be alone. In empty halls with only a few loyal men. “...As you wish.”
It was a struggle to remake everything. But he did. He would do it for her, because it was what she wanted. He reused two of the cartridges, used relics in his collection to scrap together a horrible monstrosity compared to his efficient and long lost equipment. It would do its job at least.
It took longer than she wanted. Two weeks.
She was all geared up, Gyarike prepared to ascend with her, and Bondrewd wished he could touch her, her stomach, and listen for a little heart. But he stayed away. He held open his arms, his visible eye narrowing in a smile. “May your life be full of curses and blessings, Arette.”
“And may your life be nothing but a curse.” Arette spat back.
His smile fell. “Many would consider it one.”
Arette left that place. Not looking back. Willing herself not to look. She for the time steeled herself because she knew at her back was a life she was going to kill.
No. She had killed them two weeks ago when she demanded to leave.
“We must ascend quickly.” Gyarike said, “We will try to ascend the fourth layer in as short a time as possible. If the cartridge fails while we are there, I will return you to Ido Front, even if I have to drag you.”
Arette nodded mutely.
When they arrived at the first place they could rapidly ascend, He wrapped his arm around her, hooking her harness to his until she was snug against him, and he extended his arm. Black goop shot out, and he began the climb rapidly. She could feel his muscles working, hear his breath remain deep and even.
This man was as skilled as her husband.
She found she didn’t know much about Gyarike. “Were you an assassin or a delver before?”
“Delver and killer both.”
He continued as they climbed, “I was a part of a party who was sent to receive the Unheard Bell. I was the most skilled of my party.”
He made it to a ridge, and rested only a moment before he started up again. “Bondrewd has had his men for a very long time. He already had the Zoaholic when the unheard bell was found. However, that is not what makes people join him. It is charisma. It makes it very easy to make anyone join him. People sent to kill him, people with no whistles at all.”
Arette did not doubt it. She had fallen for it too.
“It was war. I had fought Lyza, Ozen, I had killed men from Orth, and I had killed men from far away. But that man only said a few words to me, and I was already turning against my own comrades. He was on the side of no nation, only his own.”
He paused for a time, focussing on climbing a particularly treacherous bit of ice. “We ultimately got our hands on the bell, but Lyza came and gave Bondrewd a proper trouncing, and took it back, all on her own.”
It was nice to just have someone tell her the truth. “How did Bondrewd operate without anyone stepping in? He lived in Orth, didn’t he?” Arette asked, “He was taking things for himself illegally.”
“He was already wearing masks. Hiding his face. Not that it mattered. Most already knew it was him. But its hard to enforce laws when the criminal lives so deep in the Abyss and hardly ever surfaces.” they were making extraordinary progress, she could not believe how fast this man could move. "Still it was not enough. If he wanted to have the relics, power, and money to do as he wanted, he needed a white whistle.”
“Does the Guild know he has the Zoaholic?”
“I suspect they suspect it. When he stole it, he had already settled in the fifth layer, trying to make his worth. He was already doing things no one before him had. If they knew, they did nothing because his work was more valuable than morals or laws.”
She could already see the mist of the fourth layer overhead.
“Everything your husband did was for humanity, Ma’am. He destroyed himself so he could find ways we could conquer the Abyss. He lost his humanity for the sake of it. He is something to be pitied.”
“Don’t talk anymore.” Arette whispered, and Gyarike obeyed.
They did not speak again. Gyarike overlooked her body from time to time, checking her vitals and that of the baby. But it was done in silence. They came out of the fifth layer, came out of the fourth, and moved to the third.
Finally, she heard the backpack clunk, and with a spurt of blood and gore, the cartridge ejected from her back. She looked at it, and she felt sick to her stomach.
She was a horrible woman.
Arette started sobbing when Gyarike’s ejected shortly after. Gagging and choking until she vomited onto the rocky floor. On her hands and knees she wailed. She had used them before. But she did not know what they were. Now she did, and she used them. “I am just as bad as he is.” she coughed.
Gyarike kneeled by her side. “No you are not.” he said quietly.
“I used them… I used them willingly and selfishly. It's not like when I didn’t know.” she sobbed into her gloves, the cartridges burbling a few final times before they finally died.
“Their names were Ivi and Cena.” Gyarike said, “We can cremate them. Leave a marker where they fell. So anyone who sees them will know they were here. Would you like that?”
She nodded, and so Gyarike took his and hers both and used his relic to burn them to cinders. The ashes he swept into a small hole he had dug at the base of the cave wall, and using a rock climbing pick to carve their names.
He paused, hands in his lap for a long moment, facing the wall. “The Sovereign does the same thing we have just done on every delve he uses the cartridges. You know that, yes?”
Arette did not respond.
“I know you do not understand. You could never understand. You do not share the bond that we share with him. But, if it is of any consolation, any at all. The Sovereign has loved every child that was unfortunate enough to cross his path. He gave them hope, something they never had in their lives.”
He could hear her moving behind him, sniffling and coughing again.
“And I can assure you, that he loved her more than any of them. I know this because for the first time, he feels the loss. Loneliness. He misses her. And he will miss you.” he stood back up, putting his things back in place, “But I also understand that you can never forgive him.”
He approached her, holding out his hand to her. “Come. We must continue.”
She looked at his hand. “Did he love me?”
He doubted his words were of true comfort. But he had to say them. “He loves you, yes. We felt it every day. Every moment and second. He loved you so much that it bled into some of us.”
She looked at him, clearly confused. She had no idea how some had fallen for her by simply feeling what he felt. It was those few men Bondrewd used to be close to her. To love and touch her. He asked them for permission to use their bodies to do so, and they consented.
Gyarike was not one of those men.
Arette finally took his hand, and they continued the slow trek up, higher into the third layer. They paused after many long hours, and Gyarike examined her.
“Your child’s heart is still beating.” he said, putting the relic he used to detect it away, “Do you feel any dampness down there that is out of place?”
“No.” Arette said flatly, but holding the swell protectively in her hands.
“When you next stop to pee. Check to see if there is spotting.”
“Yes.” was her short reply.
She never started spotting, thankfully. They kept a steady but easy pace. Gyarike kept close watch over her, making sure the baby was healthy. Safe.
They arrived at the seeker camp. Ozen was there. She was always there it seemed. Wonderful. Just what Arette needed.
“You look like you have seen the edge of sanity, and that reckless fool isn't with you. How unusual.” Ozen said with a hint of mirth, and Arette just looked up at her tiredly. She had no time for Ozen’s malicious teasing.
Ozen looked down at her, eyeing her stomach, which was noticeable under her gear. “Oh so it does work.” she said, and Arette did not react.
“Huh. Usually I can make you flustered.” Ozen said, “So that must mean this hollow woman before me has lost something. Tell me, did he do it? Did he get that foolish blessing? Did he use that child you adopted? ”
“You knew.” Arette accused quietly.
“Of course I knew.” Ozen scoffed, “All of us knew. Why do you think we disliked him? The man was a reckless and selfish fool who always acted without considering anyone else.”
“Why… Why didn’t you warn me?” Arette started crying, her hands on her chest, “I was here twice! You could have told me!”
Gyarike set his hand on her shoulder. “Ma’am-”
“Because I wanted to see the bastard’s life fall apart for what he did to Lyza twelve years ago.” Ozen’s sick smile came back, hunching over and leaning in close to Arette’s face. “Oh I wish I could of been there to see it-”
Arette promptly slapped Ozen across the face, the boy Marulk gasping and stepping away. Ozen did not move or even flinch. It had been like slapping a rock. She truly was immovable.
“How dare you!” Arette shrieked.
Ozen’s face was lax now. “I suppose I deserve that.” she said, “I would slap you back. But that would kill you, and if not you, that little pest inside you. It may be his, but I am not that cruel.”
She eyed Gyarike, who was now poised to take out his flame thrower. “Plus that one is here.” Ozen straightened, “How did the task requested of you go?”
“I had to burn the entire field.” Gyarike said.
“Ah. Well. That is a shame. Lyza liked that place.” Ozen looked to the boy, “Marulk, prepare the woman a bath, and as she soaks, make a hearty meal. She will need it to keep that fool’s baby alive.”
Ozen grinned at her again. “It will be a constant reminder of how fools love fools.”
Ozen was right. She was a fool. A horrible woman who ignored every sign. She was so sure that he loved them enough to never hurt them. It was her fault. All of it. She wept in the water, which was cold.
Gyarike entered once she was dressed, and he used the relic he had to check her again. “Your baby is still very strong.” he said.
He looked up at her. “You are not a fool, Arette. The Sovereign is compelling and charismatic.”
“I knew what he did.”
“I suppose you did.” Gyarike turned to the table, the hot food sitting on it. All for her. “Come, eat.”
Arette didn’t move, she just looked at him. “You knew what he was going to do too.”
It was the first time she had realized it. He had known. Bido had known. Even Gueira, who had helped raise Prushka, had known. They all knew. And they let him plot it out.
“Yes.” Gyarike confirmed her fears, “I knew. All of us knew. We went willingly into his fold, and watched idly as he destroyed countless lives. Some of us even helped him with the process. We are as guilty as he. And as you, if you insist on blaming yourself.”
He pulled her to her feet, almost dragging her to the table and making her sit. “Eat. I do not care how bad you feel. Eat for your child.”
He was far too blunt for her liking at the moment. But honesty was something she had not had for many years. Nothing but lies and secrets and only half truths. She did not hate him as much as she hated Bondrewd, because at least he was honest with her.
The food was delicious, she ate it greedily, sobbing into it as she did so. When she finished she slept deeply.
And she dreamed a horrible dream.
She sat in a field of eternal fortunes, cradling an oozing cartridge as it cried like a newborn, Prushka and Riko by her side, cooing at it.
When she looked up, Bondrewd was before her, his arms spread open. He took it from her arms, cradling it in his hands. She blinked, and he was that horrible monster. With the long claws, the fur that was so fluffy it had torn his clothes, and that wide inhuman eye boring into her through the hole Reg had bitten into his helmet.
“This child is a blessing.” Bondrewd said.
Riko was now covered in blood, and Prushka was gone.
Arette woke up sick, but she kept everything down. Not this one. This one would be safe from him.
Gyarike examined her again. No spotting, a strong heartbeat, and plenty of movement, which she felt. It was like butterflies in her belly.
They ate another good meal, and then they resumed their ascent. She wanted to be gone from this cursed pit. She would never set foot inside it again.
It took a week, but soon her wish came true. She returned to Orth, and Gyarike took her to the Guild.
The heads of the guild met with them readily. “How did your work in the fourth layer go, Gyarike?”
“All parasites were destroyed. I can only hope that in time the flowers will bloom again.” he said calmly.
They all looked at Arette. “What brings the Lady of Dawn to us?”
Arette did not answer, all she could think about was that they probably knew too. And they let him get away with it.
Gyarike spoke for her. “She has returned to the surface to birth a child. She is almost five months along. She felt it was safer here than below. Especially considering the circumstances.”
Gyarike pulled out a thick envelope. “I will require these supplies, and a batch of black whistles to descend to Ido Front. The base was damaged and many of the Sovereign's men were killed. It is no longer self sufficient. The facilities for breeding livestock have been destroyed and medical facilities too.”
The guild heads all murmured. “And the Sovereign?”
“He lives.”
“What caused it?”
“A relic. A powerful relic. It is no longer a concern however.”
“Do you know what it was?”
Gyarike spoke his first lie Arette had heard him say since they began the journey. “No. I was not present for the event. I have no idea what caused it.”
“Very well. We will do all we can and more to bring Ido Front back to full operation. It is invaluable to the Delvers of the Abyss. As is the Sovereign himself.”
They all looked at her again. “We will provide you with room and board and a monthly payment from your husband’s coffer, as he would want for his wife and child. We eagerly await their birth.”
“Thank you.” Arette said quietly.
The home given to her to live in was well maintained outside, but inside it smelled musty, though it seemed it was cleaned periodically. Gyarike stood with her as she looked at the covered furniture.
“This was his home, before he became what he is now.” he told her, “I hope you do not mind living here.”
“I want to be alone.” Arette said, “So it suits me.”
She aired the house out, removed the sheets. The furniture was in good condition, despite the smell. But that was a job for another time, maybe for someone else.
She would need to buy new clothes. New things. She left everything behind in the Abyss. The only thing she had brought was the old Atlas. She could never leave that behind.
But she missed her grandmother’s quilts. The paintings by her father.
Maybe one day she would send for them to fill the place with her own things, and not lingering remnants of a man who might as well have been dead, seeing how much he destroyed of himself.
Old notes on praying skeletons and of attempts to dismantle relics to see how they worked. His bell, red, blue, and moon whistles. Maps of the Abyss’s upper layers, and several empty photo frames.
Whatever had been inside of them was gone. Maybe he took them with him, and they were locked away in Ido Front.
Or maybe he destroyed them.
She shoved everything into an old smelly trunk and then hid that inside of a closet.
Gyarike was still there, airing out the sheets for the small bed. He looked at her for a moment, the lenses of his helmet catching the light.
Her gut burned. Suddenly all the hate she had was back. He had him inside him. A part of him… Was he watching her?
“Is he here?” She asked.
“Stradling layers is difficult. Especially so many. No. he is not here.”
“I want you out of my house. I don't want to see you again.” She took a shaky breath.
“Yes, Ma’am. I will however be staying in Orth until the baby is born.”
“And you will go back after that?”
“Yes. I am the only one left with any combat prowess… Bido has regrettably died.”
Arette didn’t remember seeing him among the dead. “Which body was Bido?”
“The one with the tail, ma’am.” Gyarike explained, putting the pillow cases back over the old lumpy pillows, “He was the one who took on the Blessing, and as such was killed by the children.”
She had liked that ‘body’. The way the tail wagged when Bondrewd saw her and Prushka… She covered her mouth. “Shut up and just leave, I want to sleep.”
“Food will be delivered, and if you wish, I will inform your brother of your return.”
“Fine. Do that. Now get out. I never want to see an Umbra Hand ever again. And do not tell my brother what happened.”
He clasped his hands the way they all did and bowed, and with that he left her. The hatred did not falter, and so she cried angry tears until she fell asleep.
Collis was in her room when she woke up. Sleeping in a chair he had dragged closer. Arette sat up. She still had him. His family. She wasn’t alone yet. She grabbed a pillow, and with the most good humor she had managed to muster in months, she tossed it at him.
He jolted awake, looking at her for a long moment. “You look like shit.” he said bluntly.
Arette touched her cheeks out of habit, the scars there easily felt under her fingers. “Yeah.”
He looked down at his hands. “That man, he said you were… Suffering. He would not say why. Will you tell me?”
Arette lied. She was truly a horrible woman. A hypocrite. She had been whining about how she had been lied to so many times, and now she was lying. But she just didn’t want to tell the truth.
“Something happened at Ido Front… It was damaged.”
“That's not enough to make you hurt as bad as you clearly are hurting, Arette. I am your brother. I know you.”
“Prushka… She-”
She thankfully didn't have to say the word she dreaded, as Collis got on the bed and hugged her.
“I can not imagine the agony. Arette I am sorry. Your husband must be devastated.”
She leaned on her brother, her hands on his back. As much as she hated to admit it, she knew Bondrewd was. “He is.”
Her brother got her water and gave her porridge for breakfast. She looked out the window, and the streets were covered in the petals of eternal fortunes. “It's like there is snow.”
Collis followed her eye. “Yeah… There have been a lot of funerals. People keep dying. You remember those tales about the birthday death disease? Well… I think they were not tales, Every one of them died on their birthday.”
Arette kept looking, internally begging him to stop talking.
“Thankfully, my family’s birthdays passed by with nothing going wrong.”
There was a knock, and Arette was relieved. “Maybe it’s Eura.” she said, managing a smile.
“Yeah, I will go check.”
He got up and left. For a while all was quiet, but then there was a struggle.
“I said you can’t come in!”
“I will see her!”
Arette sat up, the door opened with a slam. Jirou was at the door, looking at her intensely. She could remember teaching a few children with him, back when she was still a moon whistle. “Jiruo, why are you-”
“Did a little girl come to Ido Front?” Jiruo asked, cutting her off, “With a boy. The boy had metal hands.”
Arette dug her nails into her arm, eyes wide. Despite the reaction, she made no reply, which seemed to frustrate him.
“Did they make it to the fifth layer? Her name is Riko. And the boy was-”
“Reg.” Arette said, her eyes now looking past him.
“So you know them. Then they made it down? Both of them? Are they still there?”
“You need to leave. My sister isn’t taking guests, especially ones who insist on harassing her while she’s pregnant.”
“They went down.” Arette said quietly, blood pooling at where her nails dug into her arm. He was making her remember. Making her think about it. No… Please he had to stop.
“How did she get down? She can’t use her mother’s whistle. Did Bondrewd-”
“Don't say his name.” Arette hissed angrily, “Get out of my house.”
“The only way down is with a white whistle, so did he use his, or did she get one of her own?!”
Arette snapped. She could remember holding that stone in her hand. How Riko kept telling her Prushka was sorry and that she loved her. Why didn’t Arette feel that? Why did that girl get to feel and hear what Prushka’s life reverberating stone felt and said? Why could Bondrewd speak to her through his own whistle? Why not her? It was just a rock to her. It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t fair.
“Stop asking me questions!” Arette screamed, grabbing the glass of water and throwing it at him.
Jiruo ducked out of the way. “That girl is my responsibility! How did she get her worth? Who died to-”
Arette covered her ears and kept screaming. “Don't say that word! Shut up! Shut up!”
Collis wrestled Jiruo out of the room. “Get out of here! My sister is grieving and doesn’t need some idiot to come around and make it worse.”
Arette kept screaming until her voice broke, and then the grief started all over again. She knew it would never go away. Not fully. It would be with her forever, but she just wanted to be left in peace, so she could be a horrible woman and act like nothing had ever happened.
She could not do that with people constantly reminding her.
She wanted to stop thinking about the what ifs. What if she had this baby sooner, when they had planned? Would Bondrewd have been changed? Would Gueira say something to defend Prushka once he knew the feeling of fatherhood?
It was her fault. All of it her fault. She wished she had listened to that man all those years ago that warned her that Bondrewd was in the fourth layer.
But if she had listened, she never would've known the joy Bondrewd had given her. No Prushka. Even if it was doomed to be ripped away from her, she knew she didn’t want to think of an existence where she had never known that sweet girl.
Her precious daughter. Her treasure.
She opened the drawer of the bed side table, and pulled out the whistle her daughter had made for her. She held it close. It was all she had, aside from the photo at her brother’s home.
Arette looked at Collis, who had sat himself on the bed, waiting for her to calm so he could do something for her, whatever it might be. “Can I have that photo I gave to you?” she croaked.
He smiled sadly at her. “Of course.”
Gyarike all the while did as he said he would. He lingered, and made sure to stay out of Arette’s sight. It was easy enough. All he had to do was take off his gear. He watched the house for weeks, watched as she finally came outside to spend time with her family.
Watched as her stomach got bigger and bigger. He watched her come out one day with her long red hair cut short to her shoulders. They said cutting hair signified trying to move on.
She was trying.
Supplies were steadily being sent down with the carriage, every load taking a few black whistles with it.
By now all of Orth knew something had happened to Ido Front. The Guild publicly announced the damage, but assured them all that the Sovereign of Dawn was still among them.
And of course, no matter how much Arette wanted to be left alone, she was not. Congratulations on the baby. Oh the father must be so proud and yet so worried to be away from his wife.
She gave them all glassy eyed smiles.
She would never escape Bondrewd. There would not be a moment his name would not be spoken to her. And he knew for certain the child would know who their father was.
He felt great pity for the woman.
Gyarike found himself next to her one day in the market. Her stomach had gotten quite large. It wouldn’t be long.
She was smiling to herself as she examined some fruit to buy. He decided to make ‘small talk’.
“You are the spitting image of a happy mother to be.”
She looked at him. “Ah. Thank you. I feel like one.”
“Have you picked a name? Do you know what it will be?”
Arette got a little melancholy. “Ah, it's a girl. I am still thinking of a name. I keep going to Nasya but-”
“Miracle of the Abyss.” Gyarike said, “I think that is a fitting name for a child of the Sovereign of Dawn.”
She gave him that glassy eyed smile like she gave everyone else. “Yeah. It is.”
Gyarike did not miss the coincidence of it all. A little girl, just like the child they had lost. He wondered if she would be like Prushka. If she would come to think of Bondrewd as ‘Papa’, or perhaps she would say ‘Daddy’ when talking about him.
It was something to think about.
Collis came to where he was staying a few days later. It was early morning. Collis blinked at him, looking around behind him. “Is… Is the Umbra Hand here?”
Gyarike blinked tiredly. “I am he.”
“Oh… I am sorry. My sister, she had the baby a few nights ago.” he paused awkwardly long, before Collis held out an envelope to him. “Here. This is for the Sovereign of Dawn.”
Gyarike took the envelope, looking at it.
“Do not open it. It is a gift for him, from Arette. Only he may see it.”
“It will be delivered.” Gyarike assured. “What name did she pick?”
“Nasya.”
Gyarike was surprised she had gone with that name still. Maybe the months had softened her just a little to understand that Bondrewd was hurting too. Not enough to love him again, but understanding was better than hating.
Collis looked down for a moment. “I don't know what happened down there… But I think it is far worse than what my sister says it is. What did he do?”
Gyarike did not reply.
He left that very day. He took the carriage down with another load of supplies for making cement. As he lowered deeper and deeper, the bond slowly grew strong again. A smothering melancholy filled him.
This had been the longest Bondrewd had ever felt sorrow.
Bondrewd was waiting in the docking bay. His helmet in the time gone had been repaired, though the body had not been switched. “Gyarike. Welcome back. I did not think you were returning.”
“I could not leave you down here with no way out.” Gyarike said, and Bondrewd set his hand on his chest. A simple gesture, but meaningful.
“I lingered, long enough to make sure. For you, sir.” he lowered his head, reaching into his coat.
“How is she? Is the baby-”
“You have had a baby girl, sir.” Gyarike said, “She is healthy. Arette is as well.”
Bondrewd seemed to lose his strength in his knees, sinking to them and clasping his hands tightly before him. Gyarike could feel every emotion in him. Relief, joy, sorrow, loneliness.
“She has been named Nasya.’Miracle of the Abyss’.” Gyarike continued, presenting the envelope that Colis had given to him, “Arette has requested this be given to you.”
Bondrewd took it, hesitating for a moment before he opened it, pulling out what was inside. He made a sound, his fingers touching the photo paper
Bondrewd looked upon his wife’s form. Cradled in her arms, displayed for the camera was their child. Fat cheeked and pouty like so many newborns were. Hair black and skin naturally tanned like how Gueira’s was. Oh how he wished to touch her cheeks and smell her hair. Hold her and look at her tiny hands.
Arette’s smile was happy. She looked… Happy. He was glad she found that again.
“Beautiful.” he said, pressing his helmet to the photo, throat tight, eyes burning. “Beautiful.”
He rose to his feet. “I know just where to put this. Thank you.”
“Yes, sir.” Gyarike set his own hand on Bondrewd’s chest, before continuing inside.
Bondrewd retired to his room. Still filled with Arette’s things. She had never asked for them, and he could not throw them away. Quietly he took the photo frame on the bedside table in hand, opening it.
He slipped the photo of Nasya and Arette inside, alongside the one of her, Prushka, and himself.
He touched the glass softly.
One day he hoped to hold that child in his arms.