Okay. ...okay. This was terrible, terrible timing, but you'd have to deal with it. Somehow. You had to...

You stopped that thought in its tracks. You had to talk your sister out of keeping you safe? Were you actually thinking that way, Seele? There might be a time for that, but this wasn't it. You were battered, tired, confused, and not in a position to reject her help. Even if you wanted to, which you did not

Looking up at her, you found her gazing at you with an expression that mixed exasperation with a touch of affectionate concern. She looked much like she had in your dream—the ill-fitting memory her 'dragon' had shown her—when she'd been just a regular girl. Same clothes, same face... same behaviour... even though she thought she didn't remember. Episodic memories weren't the same as semantic, were they? Einstein had mentioned that one evening, while you were watching a movie.

"Seele," she said, "are you okay? You look..."

You shook your head, wiping away a little wetness. "I'm fine." You swallowed hard. You weren't going to cry, but there was a lump in your throat that wouldn't go down. Vel was upset, worried on your behalf, and she had every right to be worried.

"It's not what you think," you managed. "I'm just happy. And it's okay. I'm not going anywhere."

Vel looked at you for a long moment. Then she sighed and nodded. "All right, then. Good. I'm glad you're alright." She smiled a bit awkwardly. "So. Incoming stampede."

"Yeah..."

Get a grip, Seele. Stop smiling like an idiot, Seele. But you couldn't help it.

Vel wasn't simply following a program. She'd been recovering for years, returning to a normal neither of you had known existed. She was a person, not an AI, and she always had been. Your sister. It made you want to trap her in a bear hug, or hold her until she squeaked, or... but she wasn't that easy to grab hold of... except when she was asleep.

That was a plan. Next evening, do the bear hug. That'd work.

But, more seriously, Seele...

"You don't want me to get hurt?" you asked, still grinning.

"I'm pretty sure that's exactly what I said," Vel said, smiling back, and then paused. She looked at the twins, and her smile faltered. "Any of you. Seele's been through a lot lately, but Roza, Lili-"

"We're fine," Roza said, her voice a little high. She was looking at Vel, her eyes wide.

Vel nodded. "All the same, I want you two to be careful. Seele's important, but you're still my- And- and if you need anything, anything at all... call us, okay?"

"Okay!" Roza said brightly.

Lili nodded. "Of course."

Vel reached out, hugging them both. "I'll see you soon," she said softly.

Her voice shook a bit. Liliya squeezed her hand, which made her start briefly, and—yes, this was happening. She'd never acted this way. She couldn't possibly know how to deal with it.

You were not going to cry, Seele. Just keep it together.

"They know what they're doing," you said, forcing the words out of your mouth. "They've done this before."

"I'm not saying they haven't," Vel said. She squeezed them once more, then let go. "And I'm sure they'll be okay. It's just that... I don't know."

You nodded. You did your best to look confident, too.

"I'm sure they will be."

"I'm sure we will be," Roza said, looking up at Vel.

"Vodka means never giving up," Lili questionably offered, patting Vel's arm. You were... fairly sure that wasn't... entirely…

What, exactly, were you looking at?

She glanced your way, then blushed, letting go as though she'd been burned. You gave her a mental nudge, to which she responded by looking away. Still herself, clearly.

"Seriously," you told them. "Be careful. You'll be out there on your own. There'll be no-one to cover you. I'm going to try, but-" You patted the antimatter rifle at your side. "I can't fire this at anything close to you, and there's not much I can do if you get in trouble. So I need you to keep yourself safe."

Roza shrugged. "We can manage. As long as you're careful, I don't mind."

"Thank you," you said, smiling at her. "Lili?"

"It's okay," she said. "I'd be a real hypocrite if I complained about you taking care of yourself. Besides, we'll be back soon enough."

"That's true," you said, nodding. "But, um, I'd rather you were safe. So don't do anything too crazy. If you see something dangerous, just get out of there. Any big groups, I'll take care of it, if you let me."

"We'll be careful," Lili said, smiling.

Vel didn't seem to know what to do about this. You'd capitulated so quickly and completely, now she seemed unsure as to what she was doing. Normally—as in, a week ago—you doubted she'd have done something as simple as to just- ask you, putting her feelings on display. She looked almost poleaxed.

Speaking of which.

You cleared your throat.

"I keep calling you 'Vel'," you said, letting your voice rise to the childish tone you sometimes used with her. It felt comfortable. "But that's not fair. It isn't your name. And I wanted to talk about it, but there's never been time. What I mean is… I don't think you should go anywhere either, Seele. I don't think either of us should," you said, looking your sister in the eyes.

In terms of ways to break the news, it left a lot to be desired. The timing was awful, you'd left your reasoning implied, and you hadn't even asked if she wanted you to tell them. It was awkward as hell, and Vel froze up as soon as she heard you say it. But she didn't look upset. More confused.

Seele blinked, then looked down for a long moment.

Then she smiled.

"'Seele'?" Roza asked.

"Yeah," you said, trying to ignore the way her and Lili were staring at you. You wanted to nod back at them, but you were... caught. Seele's eyes were sparkling. She looked, all of a sudden, like Bronya in one of her most adorable moods. "I just..."

You tore yourself loose. It wasn't fair, looking like that. "I was going to tell you. That's her name. Veliona's name. She's me. From a different timeline. Or somewhere in the past. Right?"

"Wait, what?" Roza asked.

You begged Seele with your eyes. She gave you a shy grin, and then looked away. You saw her count off one, two, three on her fingers, and finally nod.

"What does that even-" Roza began, but stopped mid-sentence as Seele cut her off.

"Precisely what she said," she said. She smiled again, and met your eyes directly. "I'm Seele. She's Seele, too. We're the same person, just fifty thousand years apart. It's not that complicated, really." She gave a short laugh. "I was twelve years old the first time I heard of Fire Moth, and fourteen when I, well, I guess I died. It didn't take. Can't say that I have any notion why."

"We're just stubborn that way," you offered.

"Got that right."

You enjoyed Roza's flabbergasted look, and then turned back to your temporally dislocated twin. "Okay. So we've got that settled. Now, we need to figure out-"

It wasn't a surprise when Roza bowled you over. You moved together, arms wrapping around her waist, and laughed as you picked her up off the ground. Strong she might be, but she was still your little sister.

"...what to do about this horde of honkai monsters that's still on the way," you said, setting her down on a rock, where she sat. She still looked stunned.

"Roza-idiotka," Lili said. Then, "...what."

It wasn't often you managed to stun both your little sisters at once.

"Explains why we look alike, don't you think?" Vel offered.

Roza nodded slowly. She looked from Vel to you. Her jaw opened, closed, opened once more.

"This is too much..." she muttered. She looked up, and for a long moment, stared straight into the forest. "But we really don't have time for this right now, do we? There's a horde coming."

"Yup."

"And both of you are having too much fun messing with our heads!"

You giggled. You couldn't help it. You felt a bubbly sense of joy, just being with these wonderful girls. "...maybe?"

Lili appeared less than amused.

"We'll be expecting a full report later," she said, poking Vel in the ribs.

Vel rolled her eyes. "Sure thing, short-stop. I'll even include one or two pictures."

"Noted."

The two sisters turned their attention back to you. Their expressions softened, and Roza reached out a hand to rub your shoulder. She leaned in close, and whispered in your ear.

"Is this okay? She's not-"

"More okay than we've ever been, I think." Vel leaned against a tree, smiling as she watched your interactions. You couldn't help but smile back. After a moment, she started poking at the holes in her clothing, pulling them shut using material from the stigmata. Your hologram emitter was still inactive—you checked—so she was doing something else, somehow.

She seemed happy.

You gave your little sisters a quick glance before continuing, then decided to check on Ruby. She had to be getting a little impatient.

"No, I think we're good. Nothing's wrong, at... all," you began. Rubia was staring at Vel with eyes that had gone wide. And not the 'surprised' kind of wide. The terrified kind, even if she was trying her hardest to hide it. Roza and Lili couldn't see, but Rubia looked like someone had just stabbed her in the chest. Or maybe just ripped off one of her arms.

"From somewhere in the past," she said, voice carrying to where you stood.

She swallowed.

This wasn't happening. Everything was supposed to be fine.

Vel noticed that something was wrong. She frowned, looking up at Rubia, and then her eyes drifted to yours. You shook your head, indicating you had no idea.

"Yeah," you told her. "Probably. And no, we don't know how it happened. But she's recovering her memory, so right *now*, let's deal with the mess that's in front of us. Please?"

That pronouncement made Ruby's eyes go even wider, but she nodded. When she spoke, there was an undertone of dread in her voice. "Yes. Yes, I see."

"So, we'll talk about it, after," you said, willing yourself not to grit your teeth. "Right?" Or at least once Roza and Liliya weren't about. Not even those two could keep missing Rubia's tone for much longer. Or at all. They were frowning at her. "So. This horde. That's actually in front of us."

Lili and Roza exchanged glances before turning their attention back to you.

"Right," Rubia said.

"Let's," Roza said.

"Good. So." You shook your head again, trying to force everything else out of your head. "We've got a bunch of ruination beasts coming our way. We need to lead them away from the village. I'm kaput; there's no way I can handle close combat. I'll snipe. Seele, do you think you can–"

You drew a deep breath.

"Vel," you said. Seele had stood straighter at her name. She seemed a little disappointed now. "For at least a little longer. We'll figure it out, but it'd be too confusing in battle. I said you should do what you want, but do you think you can stop anything from coming close to us? I don't think these guns are any good at close range."

"They'd work better if you wore the rest of your suit," she said, then eyed your mulish expression. "Okay, fine. I'll try. No promises if the twins get in trouble."

"I know you will," you said, "And I'd expect nothing else." You turned to face Rubia. She was looking oddly at you. You drew a deep breath. "What?"

She shook her head. "Nothing. It's nothing. I'm just-" She let out a breath. "Comparing you to my memory. All four of you. You've grown a lot, Seele."

"Uh huh," you said sceptically. "It's only been a few days."

"And your sister has, too," she continued. "She's... she's come a long way."

"It's been a long few days," you said, crossing your arms. "She really has, hasn't she?" You couldn't help but put a touch of pride in your voice.

Rubia looked between the two of you. It was hard not to notice her gaze linger on Vel. She sighed, looking downcast. "...yes. She has. The two of you look very alike."

"So?" you asked. "Why is that a problem?"

You didn't like the way she was looking at you. Either of you.

"It's not..." Rubia began, then shook her head. "No. It's just... hard to explain, and we don't have much time. I'll tell you later. Just trust me, okay?"

You stared at her. She looked uncomfortable, but she met your eyes.

"Fine," you said. "There's an Eruption."

"Yeah," Rubia said, rubbing her head. "Seems like. So... we're getting short on time. I suppose you've got ideas for what I should do? What I can do? I'm not familiar with your fighting style."

She addressed the latter mostly to the twins.

"Um," Lili said. "Well. I thought-"

Roza nudged her.

"-you can make an illusion of anything, right? A mountain, for example. Or a whole army. A bottomless hole. Anything."

"Yes," Rubia replied.

"Um," Lili said, glancing at the two of you. "Well, I thought-"

'Cecily,' Vel said, in your head. You blinked.

You missed whatever Liliya said next, because Veliona continued, sounding gleeful. 'If Seele's a collective noun, then it can't be your name. Cecily. That one's good.'

'...what?'

''Darling little lostling'. That's what it means in my language, or if I wanted to get poetic, 'The little butterfly that flutters between hurricanes'.' Smug. She sounded smug. "'Butterfly taken by the storm', maybe. Your personality is going off the rails.'

'I think it's your naming sense that's going off the rails,' you complained. 'There's no way you can pack that much into three syllables.'

'Not with that attitude!'

'Let's listen to the battle plan, okay?'

***

"I thought-" Lili drew a breath. "I thought maybe, if you put something in the way of the beasts, they might go around. Like a bottomless hole. Or a mountain, maybe. Something big, which they couldn't just fly over. Would that work?"

"It might." Rubia nodded. "I don't know for sure. Anything big enough to affect all of them, lots of them will stumble through on accident. They don't communicate as such, but they'll see it if one of them falls through a rock. They're not dumb."

"So I'll kill any that get close?" you suggested. "Most of them won't try, and the ones that do, we'll get rid of before they can test the illusion. Roza and Liliya can lure most of them away, fighting as little as possible. I'll keep the stragglers to a low number."

"...it's a powerful gun?" Lili said.

You nodded. Enough that you didn't really want them near. Well-

"Antimatter pellets, so I'd say yes. I'd be worried about fallout, but we're not going to stick around, right?" You looked to Rubia. "I mean, with honkai already poisoning the village..."

"I'll think of something." Rubia sighed. "It sounds like a plan. I think it might work, with a few improvements. But, Seele... everything has risks attached. Even killing monsters." She paused. "At least everyone's on the same side this time. I asked Carole to organise the villagers. She wouldn't have listened if I told her to run, so if things go badly, she'll help them retreat as best they can; you should be used to that sort of thing. If we start losing control-"

She drummed her fingers.

"They may all die." She paused for a moment, rubbing her temples with her fingers. "But I can't think of a better one, so don't take this as some sort of criticism. If it ever comes down to it, I hope you won't let it stop you from retreating. Understood?"

"Understood, Ma'am."

"Just remember, Seele. Everything has costs. You can keep your siblings perfectly safe by keeping them imprisoned. Or let them risk their lives to save perfect strangers. It's up to you to decide, and I'm not saying it's fair, but you have to be prepared for what might happen. And, of course, to live with whatever choice you make." She smiled sadly. "Just don't ever let anyone tell you you're a coward. That's not their decision; it's yours. I know, for a fact, that you're not."

It felt like she was telling you something quite independent from the battle you were facing, but…

"Right," you said, swallowing. "I'll be careful."

It looked like a weight had lifted off her shoulders when she stopped. You glanced over to Vel; her gaze had shifted slightly as well. It wasn't quite confusion; more a form of apprehension.

Rubia coughed lightly and cleared her throat.

"You didn't say, but you were thinking of Mount Taixuan, right?"

Lili quickly looked away and nodded. "Yeah."

"Do you know why I don't talk about that?"

"...Yes."

"Are you sure?" Rubia laughed softly. "Because I spent that whole week screaming at the world to make some sense. Asking questions when I didn't want the answers. Getting angry because it wasn't giving me the right ones." Her eyes went distant. "Nothing worked the way my memories said it should have. Because they weren't my memories. They belonged to someone who was, mostly, dead at the time. And yes, the people I wanted to save paid the price. The Honkai has a way of twisting your best intentions."

You blinked, and tried to look at Vel without moving your head too much. "Wh... what are you saying?"

Ruby shook her head again, and her hair fluttered in the breeze. "I don't blame myself, because I didn't know. It wasn't my choice, but it's still something I can learn from. That's all. Remember that, you lot. So... Mount Taixuan, right."

She was making less sense by the moment.

"Mount Taixuan, huh." She shook her head. "I guess it's time I get to act like an adult."

She left without another word, going to do whatever Herrschers did to prepare for action. There was a lot you wanted to ask. This really wasn't the right time, though.

"You have any idea what she was on about?" Vel asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

You shook your head. So did Roza, and after a moment's hesitation, Liliya.

Vel shrugged, and you could feel her smile behind your back.

"Oh, well," she said, and took a deep breath. "It can wait. You know, I feel a little useless in this fight. So- Roza, Lili. Let me show you something. This bubble universe is porous, so if the fog goes away, I should be able to get you a map of the battlefield."

She stepped over to the twins, and picked up their phones. You left her to it. You had to do some thinking. Although-

No. You had no idea whatsoever what Rubia was on about, but truthfully it didn't matter here and now.

You did have to wonder.

***

It was time.

Rubia floated above you, and a mass of glowing fog rose from the ground like a misty genie summoned by a sleeping giant. She was starting to glow. Not in the visual spectrum, but you felt a rush of honkai energy that made your hair stand on end.

Rubia's eyes flashed, and suddenly her form wavered like a mirage in the heat. "Mount Tai!" she shouted, and the ground rumbled beneath you. You didn't need to be a Herrscher to hear the cracks and groans of stone and earth as the mountain rose out of the ground. The fog condensed into a rocky shape, which solidified almost instantly.

The great peak of Tai Mountain rose in the sky above the village like some living thing, and at its top was a woman of pure white marble holding an enormous sword of light and shadow, her hair swirling like flames as her lips formed words that echoed across the land. She looked like Rubia, if Rubia were made of mountains and ice. The sight was unnerving to behold.

"Come to me," she called, her voice resounding with power that shook the very ground you stood upon. "You who have lost your home, seek refuge with me."

'Was she always this melodramatic?' Vel wondered.

You decided not to answer that.

The mountain rose above the village. Literally above, putting the village inside the illusionary mountain. Rubia had put you on its foothills, between the village and the horde, but for a single wild moment you wondered how she could possibly need your assistance. Then, you remembered this was an illusion. It was easy to forget.

You grinned. "Right," you muttered under your breath. Rubia hadn't changed. That was reassuring.

A dozen hill-sized swords rose up from the mist, joining a formation in the sky around her. The blades floated in midair, glowing faintly in the sunlight. Unlike the mountain, the swords were anything but illusionary. She'd packed so much honkai energy in them, it visibly thinned the fog surrounding you. Enough that Vel started, then grinned. You felt a trickle of electricity flow to the stigmata's sensor arrays, turning on the suddenly much less opaque bubble universe.

It was just the start.

The landscape rippled. As though Rubia had dropped a rock into a pond, it rose and sank in great undulating waves, creating valleys, hills, and a great lake between you and the horde. It looked like a mirage. It was a mirage, but that didn't stop the sense of awe from growing as you stared up at her.

Rubia's exuberant consumption of Honkai energy had washed away the fog, but you saw no sign of the horde. Yet. ...visible sign. She'd smoothed the boundaries of the quantum sea as well, soothing an itch that had been bothering you since you got here, and now your sensors faced no trouble at all picking up on the incoming horde. Knots of honkai energy came into view, one after the other. Hundreds, thousands...

They were coming. They would cover the entirety of the plains if left alone. You couldn't help but think about all the power Rubia had stored in those swords, and a sudden chill ran down your spine. It'd be just a tiny fraction of what had condensed into the approaching horde.

Vel's hand gripped yours tightly; she squeezed so hard you could feel your knuckles creaking.

One might think it a trick of the eye at first. A white line on the horizon, slowly undulating, but… It grew and grew and grew. Dozens of ruination beasts galloped towards the mountain; thousands more flowed behind them; tens of thousands more kept coming.

You saw the beasts' bodies writhing; each one seemed to be a different type of creature entirely, lacking the unity and consistent appearance you'd gotten used to seeing. There were riders, true, and jellyfish, but the majority of the creatures were simply monstrous. Some had tentacles, others had wings or legs, but all were twisted, tortured-looking things.

Hundreds of thousands more swarmed out of the horizon, on a course to miss the village utterly. Your guess had been right; these creatures had no interest whatsoever in human life.

Time to go.

Roza stood on the spot, staring up at the horde in silence, her expression blank.

"Roza?" You asked.

Her mouth moved, but nothing came out. Then, finally, it did: "We'll be okay," she whispered. "They're just Honkai beasts."

You looked at her, then over at Lili. The bluette didn't say anything, just stood with her head tilted back, looking at the horde.

You swallowed something bitter.

"-be careful," you told the twins.

You saw Roza pause, but she only hesitated for a moment. Then she was off, the pair of them running northwards, heading for the edge of the stampede furthest from the village. They used every limb to run, hands and tails getting as much use in the dense forest as their legs. They cut through trees easily, leaping over obstacles as if they didn't exist and leaving a trail of broken branches as they ran.

Liliya paused for a bare second at the treeline, smiling at you before disappearing deeper into the jungle. With your senses now unblocked, you watched as they landed in a crouch near a tree, disappearing into it like two shadows. Knowing them as you did, you knew that was literally accurate.

And as for Rubia–

The massive, floating swords surrounding her mountain had vanished like they'd never existed, but where you knew they'd been there was a sense of constant pressure in the air. Condensed honkai energy, subtler but far more dangerous than the soap-bubble illusion that made up the rest of her mountain. She knew better than to make the village itself an obvious target, but if anything did get through, it would find out why that had been a bad idea. Rubia was a lot tougher than any of the monsters in that sea of death.

Which left only yourself.

Gingerly, you detached the antimatter rifle from its mount on your suit. You spent the next two minutes making very, very sure it hadn't been damaged. Vel would tell you when the situation started escalating.

ooOOoo

The jungle's undergrowth was rough, but not so rough that Roza and Lili had any trouble cutting through. They moved swiftly through the shadows, silent and purposeful. More than once, they stopped to look around, but then picked up speed again without really getting a chance to pause.

To say they 'moved through shadows' would be accurate, but misleading. Teleported between them, maybe? Or just jumped into the background, and returned? They'd never made a study of this stuff. Honestly, they'd only learned how best to use it, not how the hell it worked, precisely. It was useful; good enough.

Seele was better at teleporting anyway.

Didn't stop the occasional, desperately fleeing troll, from crashing into them and getting shredded.

"I feel sick."

Rozaliya, who'd just shredded one such troll, glanced sideways at her sister. "Lili?"

Thankfully for her state of mind, Lili didn't look ill. Unfortunately for Liliya's, she had her tail halfway through the innards of a dying monster. Roza, who'd done that only once before deciding that she shouldn't, gave the beast a quick karate chop to the head to silence it. She spared a glance at Lili, then looked away, lips pursing. "Not a fan."

"I'm going to be sick," Lili moaned, tearing her tail through the monster and out its side. "I can feel their guts. How do you stand it?"

Wasn't the first time Lili did that sort of thing. Was the first time she complained about it.

They were surrounded by broken trees and the remnants of a group of trolls, one of several they'd seen escaping from the incoming tide. These ones had been just panicked enough to attack them while they were moving into position, but not strong or coordinated enough to do anything but die.

"Ah... I don't," Roza said with a wince. "It's icky."

Lili cleaned her tail off on her skirt, then wiped the blood off her hands as well. Roza could feel her disgust like a burr in the back of her mind. "I'll say. I'm not used to feeling stuff through it."

She paused, but not because of worry. By the scale of Liliya things, this was nothing worth worrying about. No, the sudden abundance of red dots on the map she was looking at was a great deal more interesting.

"Never mind, Lils. Come look at this."

Liliya took one last swipe through a troll's rib cage, this time with her sword, and trotted over to look at the screen. "What is it? More ruination beasties?"

Roza nodded at the display.

"Fifty thousand or so? Four hundred or so groupings. Most of them're circling around the mountain."

"This one looks like it's headed for the village, though," Lili said, frowning at the dot on the map that represented them. "It'll pass right past us. But that's got to be two hundred of the things."

"Yeah. And it's got a whole bunch of other things following it. Look at this one..." Roza tapped a finger against the corner of the screen. A cluster of dots representing other nearby groups expanded, showing that two of those other groups were also converging on Tai Mountain. "That's what we're up against. A thousand or so."

'No way we can fight that many at once,' Roza thought in the back of her head. 'We should split them up.'

"So we'll split them up?" Lili said. She turned to face her twin sister. "How do we do that?"

"Hmm..."

Roza cupped her chin. She was thinking too hard to answer immediately. After all, one of those other groups was just passing Tai Mountain now, or would soon be if they weren't stopped. Which was fine on its own, but meant...

She looked down at the map again, then glanced up at a mushroom cloud, noting that Seele had apparently just dropped a nuke on that second group. A-hah. Okay. Sadly, only the man-portable nature of that gun was new. And the Seele. Usually this would be Bronya.

The boom, low and rumbling, came a few seconds later.

Roza tried tapping a few points, expanding various clusters until she found what she wanted.

"Alright, Lili," she said. "We don't really need to kill 'em, do we? We just need to lure them away from the village. Right?"

"Well, yeah, obviously. Why else are we here?" Liliya replied, still staring at the map. "But how exactly do we do that?"

"Simple!" Roza grinned. "We make them chase us. We'll attack them, then have Seele shoot them, and then they'll think we were the ones who killed them! Seele always shoots people. She doesn't care if they're good people or evil people or whatever—if they're in the way she just blows them apart!" She nodded to the mushroom cloud. "Like that."

"...That's in computer games," Liliya protested. "She should've used her power to take over the world. Like me."

"You were supposed to be trapped by an alien god!"

"You were the one being led around by the nose by said god," Liliya said accusingly. She poked her sister in the forehead. "...'emergency food', was it? Rescuing me, was it? I was right there all along."

"...watching me from the shadows," Roza added helpfully.

"If you were a proper twin, you'd feel me there. Roza-idiotka. You took two hours to load up the game!"

For some reason the inane insult made Roza giggle, and she couldn't quite figure out why. She put her hand over her mouth and giggled harder.

She finally managed to compose herself and pointed her sister towards another section of the map. Another group of honkai beasts was passing by, this one much larger than the first one. It wasn't headed for the mountain, but–

"Still too large for us to fight," Liliya noted, glancing at the map. "Too much risk if it gets through and finds the village. Which it might. You sure Seele knows what she's doing with that gun?"

"Of course she does! She's Seele! She's just never used it before." Roza grimaced. "Okay, back to reality. Ruby's busy, and those two are... I dunno. We've got a minute, but let's get ahead of 'em. Maybe if we lead the smaller group into the larger, we'll get all of them chasing us. Better than having them catch on."

'She's trying really hard to do as we promised.'

Roza jerked at the voice in her head, turning to face a glowing pair of blue eyes. Lili's gaze flicked down at the map, then back to Roza's. She bit her lip, smiling glumly. "...you caught that, huh."

'Yeah. They really are. 's not their fault it's all messed up.'

It was Lili's time to flinch. Roza nodded, smiling weakly. It didn't matter, anyway; they'd always been slightly psychic. It might just mean she'd gotten better at it. Mom had always wanted her to practice. Yeah yeah. Wishes, horses, beggars, selling horse meat to become billionaires.

She reached out and patted Lili's shoulder gently, feeling a little guilty since they both knew they weren't following Seele's example. Maybe she shouldn't have rejected Rubia's help after all. She just didn't know what to do. Fighting was an easy fix. While she was fighting, she didn't have to think about it.

"Right now?" Lili said. "Let's trust our big sisters." She smiled. "Seele won't be alone, you know. No matter what happens with us."

Roza nodded. She grabbed her sister's hand, leaving the bodies behind and heading into the jungle. The other groups they'd spotted were variously dead, circling the mountain, or nuked and dead, but this single group was coming just a little too close.

'This is pretty neat,' she thought at Lili. Her sister stumbled again.

'Telepathy?' Lili asked. 'I... yeah. I guess.'

Roza could feel her hesitancy, but also curiosity.

Funny, Roza thought. It wasn't actually scaring her. She'd have been able to feel it if Lili were scared. She'd have managed that even without a telepathic link, truth be told; it felt, in honesty, staggeringly redundant—especially if they had to touch. The connection got stronger when she took her hand. She could practically feel Lili's body as though it were her own. She felt good. Energetic. And apart from reassuring her, it didn't matter.

They'd walked perhaps twenty metres when Roza felt something tug at her mind. She hesitated, but only for a moment.

'So why are you nervous about this?' Roza wondered as they walked. It was nothing like what Seele had described, but really she hadn't expected it to be. 'Talking like this? It might save our lives.'

'Because it's weird! And because you're scared, sis. It's too much. This is far too many Honkai beasts for us to fight. Why on earth are you still smiling?'

Roza shrugged slightly.

'Habit, I guess.'

ooOOoo

There was more to the illusion than simply a mountain. Even honkai beasts would become suspicious on seeing a single, humongous mountain in the middle of nowhere, and while she rather thought Ruby had been having fun, the teenager was also a lot more mature than she'd been the last time Seele had seen her.

She'd paid attention to the needs of the battle as well. The village's valley was hidden deep inside Mt. Tai, but like rings from a raindrop in a pool of water, the illusion had carved smaller valleys and hills into the landscape surrounding it.

Take the Honkai Beasts' perspective. From what they could see, they had two choices. They could either go around—take a slight detour to reach their goal—or they could let themselves be funnelled through a series of valleys, none big enough for the entire horde. Get through one valley, and they'd be faced with the exact same choice again, and again, until they either gave up or noticed the illusion. It wouldn't look like a deliberate defence, which their usual cunning would have seen right through.

Or they could go straight, which would take them through the village, if any of them wanted to dig through kilometres of rock. At least until they tried it. The illusion wouldn't survive a test like that, but there would be no point for them in trying. Hopefully. That had been the idea.

"So.. do we..." You glanced at Rubia.

The twins were busy fighting trolls which didn't seem particularly dangerous by themselves. Lili and Roza seemed to be holding their own just fine. It was a little hard keeping an eye on both them, and everything around, but they stuck out...

A little too much. Normal humans didn't; they could easily fit in the regular three dimensions of space. Honkai beasts didn't, and Roza and Lili didn't either.

"Don't fire," Rubia said. "Not yet. You'll attract more than you kill."

"...I figured."

"But we've got a plan. Seele, are you okay? I know I came off as harsh earlier, but you're doing fine, okay?"

"Yeah." You shrugged. "It's all good, though I'd rather not have any more people get hurt."

"Good," Rubia smiled. "You're doing good. You can see through this, right?"

She was referring to the blanket of honkai energy Rubia had wrapped herself in. If she wasn't careful, she'd attract attention from every beast on the planet. Fortunately, that wouldn't happen. Ruby's illusions were the best in the world.

"Yep," you said, nodding firmly. The world had a weird sort of shimmer to it now, from the outside, but it was much easier than the fog the Honkai beasts had created. If that had been them.

Reality shivered slightly, creaking just a little under your regard, and Vel cursed. It quickly faded back to normal, and you frowned at that. There was something...

Vel's hand twitched, as though she wanted to reach out to the same thing. Neither of you were sure what.

"...mostly," you amended.

The twins were doing fine. You could see them. If you hadn't been able to see them, then you weren't sure you'd have been able to concentrate. You were already fretting like crazy. They looked like they were in good spirits, which was reassuring. Lili seemed to be having fun. Maybe too much fun. She had a grin on her face.

Maybe that was a bit too close, and you were losing touch with your avatar. You drew back, letting Vel get a proper look at the region as a whole instead.

"How about you, Ruby?" She was using a lot of energy.

The older girl smiled, flashing teeth, and nodded. "Just fine, I think. I won't get tired any time soon, even if we stay out here until the sun goes down. That group in the northwest is confused and going to wander into the mountain. There's a bunch more going to follow their trail. Shoot them."

She pointed towards the northernmost valley. You squinted, spotting a dozen or so honkai beasts wandering towards the mountainside.

'It's four kilometres away from the twins,' Vel told you. 'Nuke 'em.'

You proceeded to do so, and then you were left idle, again, fidgeting nervously as the twins cut closer and closer to a group of honkai beasts you knew, for an absolute fact, that they couldn't defeat. Defeating it wasn't the plan.

Still!

***

Rozaliya leapt into the air with a smile on her face, sword hooking to the side and lashing out—catching a pair of Honkai beasts across the midst. The garish, white-and-pink ruin monsters screamed and danced madly as she struck them both, twisting in the air with a spin before landing on her feet, back pressed against Lili.

The beasts died of course, their bodies falling to the ground in two pieces.

Rozaliya drew in a breath, tensing. Lili's own sword clashed against a Cavalier's bone-like lance, pushing her against her sister, but Roza had already dug her feet into the earth. Lili twisted, muscles flexing and baring teeth — spinning around, throwing Roza above the monster on an arcing leap.

Roza slammed into it, slicing at its neck, and then kicked its face in. She used the excess momentum to get back to Liliya.

Liliya's next blow broke the back of the Honkai beast, and she thrust into its throat. She jerked the blade out, wrenching the head clean off the body while Roza landed. For a second their surroundings were free of monsters, the beasts reeling back in pain.

They'd been at this for a while, and she was starting to get tired. Occasional booms punctuated the battle; Seele firing on groups that were too large for them to handle, or which were simply getting too close. They couldn't be everywhere, after all, no matter how hard they might try. Sometimes Ruby took a hand as well, but only rarely; the ripples of Honkai energy were obvious enough that Roza thought it might be counterproductive.

She took advantage of the lull to lean against Lili. She was feeling a bit sore; her regen not quite keeping up. One of her fingers had been broken during the battle, and hadn't set just yet. And Lili's hair was matted, bloody from an earlier hit. But still, they were doing okay. It wasn't the best situation to be in, but... they'd fought worse, and they would again, too. She just had to keep breathing.

Leaving her sister on overwatch, Roza checked the map again. Beasties were streaming past the 'mountain' on both sides now, still angling for the 'radio tree' in the distance. She wondered, idly, what would happen when they got there. Someone else's problem, hopefully?

It'd be just their luck if it turned out to be the lynchpin on which this entire bubble universe turned. That'd be the cherry on top. They'd find out right after the battle was over.

Quite a large group was headed right for their big sis, however. Much too large for the two of them to handle.

"Seele," Roza murmured. "Fire."

She knew, of course, that worrying wouldn't do anything except stress her, but it was still important to stay aware. They were fighting a mobile battle. If she blundered into a second group while they were leading another one away, it wouldn't matter how good the two of them were. They'd go down. And her and Lili might get away, but if she took any serious injuries she wouldn't be able to give chase.

So, focus. Focus.

A beam of fire snapped past her head, vaporising a strand of her hair as she tilted it out of the way, and that marked the end of their rest period. Her and Lili threw each other a glance—not exactly communicating, but neither needed to. Once more into the fray. A series of loud, earth-shaking booms punctuated the thought.

She cast a final glance at her map, hoping the end of the swarm might be in sight, but alas... nope. Was it a little thinner than before? Hard to tell.

As if on cue, a cluster of jellyfish appeared from the treeline and threw themselves against them. The twins rolled, swords flicking, blocking off attacks, and Roza just prayed they'd die. How many times now? Eight? Ten? They'd tried to keep away from any too dense groupings, but fighting a war while literally surrounded had to rank among the least clever things she'd ever done. The number of no-go zones from Seele's antimatter gun was growing, though that was more a plus than a minus.

They'd deal with this group. Get them angry. Get them chasing them, away from Seele and Vel and Carole and Ruby, and then...

She sprang forwards, striking at something that looked like a Cavalier, crossed with a large man-shaped spider, crossed with a scorpion. A moment later she was against it, her sword slamming against the beast's throat. This one wasn't weak enough to be simply torn in half, and Sleeper's Dream groaned in metallic pain as she hacked at it again and again, Lili doing her absolute best to keep the others off her. It was like hitting a rock.

Like hell she would let these things beat her!

She kicked its tail away, as hard as she could, and for Roza that was quite hard indeed—its bones snapped and it fell back, but only briefly, because Lili was there to take advantage. She swung down at the beast, smashing Odette into an eye socket. It crashed ungracefully to the ground. The battlefield was, again, momentarily quiet.

And then she'd get some answers. Roza closed her eyes, just for a second, blinking away tears. Vel was... Seele? It didn't make sense, but she obviously cared. She was family, and she acted a little like Zofia, and...

There was a terribly sore place, inside her, where their real older sisters had been. Not Bronya and Seele, who were supposed to be the younger siblings too, but Zofia and Isabella and Nina, all of whom were dead. They'd worried, not in the desperate way that Seele clung to them—and they clung to her, she wasn't too proud to admit they were all equally messed up—but like older siblings were supposed to. Even if the three of them were the ones who defined that, for her.

Those memories. Those dreams. When she shut them out, sometimes they faded. That happened more often than not, lately.

But if they did return... how would she handle them? Would she feel the guilt, and the terror, and the desperation? She'd never had a chance to apologise. There was no way to fix it.

"-move!"

Roza flinched, dropping down and swinging, and a crab... troll... thing that had been squirming towards her abruptly stopped as her sword smashed through it. It exploded into black gore.

She turned, following a panicked, staticky thought, and caught sight of a full-up pair of Flame Emperors while they were launching their lances in her direction.

Lili caught two of them on her blade, and Roza slapped a third aside with her hastily interposed greatsword, twisting like a snake to avoid the fourth and-

It burned through her clothes, and through her side, leaving a smouldering hole in her abdomen.

Her cybernetics kicked in, then didn't, failing to stop the sudden agony as it forced her to go limp, and... and Lili, just a foot away, threw herself at the monsters even as Roza cried out in pain. She watched, through a haze of adrenaline-fueled nausea and pain, as her sister blocked a blow that would have taken her head off.

She couldn't-

Lili shoved her blade up, unbalancing the Emperor. She shouldn't have been able to do that, Roza thought, but no, it was just the Emperor's misfortune to be there, not that they were ever alone, an Emperor was... huh?

Roza realised she'd dropped her sword.

As though responding to this broken line of thought, one of the remaining squid arched up, lashing down towards Lili. Roza struggled to move, to stop it with her bare hands if she had to, but she couldn't. It sliced into Lili's shoulder. Not very bad, but still a cut. A second squid tried to strike her from the side, and for its trouble, got its eyes punctured by Lili's tail before it could even get close.

The second emperor moved into an attack, aiming towards Roza, which Lili parried with a burst of Honkai energy that froze the grass she was standing on. For a single instant, she eclipsed its output by enough that Roza thought she was looking at an Assaka.

The flame emperor didn't just die. It exploded. A great cloud of heat, ash and grit filled the air.

And then Liliya grabbed her.

The second they came into contact, she slipped out of reality and down through the shadows, bouncing from place to place without leaving her much more than time to breathe. Roza slumped—letting Liliya carry her—until they were far away from the monsters, out of eyesight. Down into a craggy cave, where cool air washed over them.

She sagged in Lili's arms.

"A... nngh..." she hissed, barely able to speak. "Knew 't was..."

She bit her lip, gritting her teeth against the pain, and then Lili helped her down, gently. Trembling. Roza's hand grabbed her sister's wrist, squeezing tight. First aid. Lili had the-

She tried to tell her telepathically, but if Lili could hear, she wasn't saying. It hardly mattered; she knew what she was doing. Twenty seconds later, she had an antiseptic ointment and was cleaning Roza's wound.

Roza looked down at her side. Blood. Lots of blood.

"... hold still," Lili hissed, grabbing the fabric around it. Roza nearly screamed, but was held in place by Lili's grip on her. She breathed deep, forcing herself to calm down.

This had happened to her before, on Earth, and every single time, Lili was right there, helping her. Not letting her panic, keeping her steady so she didn't pass out and make things worse, being the strong one.

When she got to see her side—there was a big chunk missing. If Roza had been anyone else, it would've been fatal. It'd take days to heal. Weeks, maybe. Too- Far too-

Her flesh was bubbling.

The skin was already closing up where the creature had torched her, but it didn't look right. Bone white, even more so than her usual complexion. Almost... like a honkai beast. Her breath hitched, her mind reeling as the regeneration kicked into overdrive.

No, she told herself. That's...

She gasped. It's not...

She gritted her teeth, and held onto her consciousness, drawing a ragged breath. It hurt. As far as they knew, honkai beasts didn't feel true pain. With the exception of rarities, such as dragons or- Not the point, Roza. But she was starting to feel almost coherent, even if the feeling was in pain-and-half-dead territory. It was all she could do to keep breathing, but-

'Hey,' she thought at Lili, grasping her sister's hand. 'Get my phone.'

Lili looked up at her.

"...What?"

'Phone,' Roza repeated. 'Need... to tell Seele-please-'

The wound on Lili's shoulder, she noted, was already gone.

Lili looked at her. Then she shook her head, a bit hesitantly.

"... No," she replied, after a moment. "I'll call her."

Ah. Yeah. That made sense. She couldn't even talk.

They'd said they wouldn't get hurt. She'd promised Seele they wouldn't get hurt. They'd be so grounded, and now she'd let her down, and-

"Roza?"

Her head was swimming.

'Don't feel so good,' she thought.

...she fell over.

Liliya caught her, again.

ooOOoo

You were...

'Fretting' was no longer the right word. 'Scared out of your mind and frozen with indecision' was perhaps more accurate, though it lacked a certain specificity.

You'd watched, from a distance, as Liliya flared enough Honkai energy that you might have thought she was a Herrscher. You'd missed the part just before, where Roza nearly died, and you'd seen everything while Liliya bandaged her wounds. If Lili hadn't instantly called you, you were sure you'd have abandoned your post.

"She's okay?" you'd asked, your voice a strangled whisper.

"Yeah," Lili had breathed. "It's only been a minute and a half. Her wounds are closed already; she's healing fast. We can probably-"

"You're staying right there!" you'd snapped, cutting off the conversation. You'd scanned the terrain for some, any path the two little utter disasters might take to get back to you, and found none. Everything and everywhere was covered in monsters, and yet-

"Please," you'd said, half crying. "Don't get h-hurt any more. Don't... do anything stupid, either. Stay safe. Just don't do anything."

"Okay," Lili had whispered, looking at her sister. She'd reached out and grasped Roza's hand. Roza was still unconscious, though stirring. You could sense Honkai energy flowing between them, in larger quantities than it ever had before. It was all you could do not to crash into the bubble universe and accidentally break it.

"We'll come get you when we can," you said. It was as much of a promise as you could make. You resolved to keep an eye on them. 'When we can' could mean in the middle of the battle, if any of the monsters found your sisters. If you had to. If you had to, you'd let this whole world burn. You had a few ideas you hadn't worked on. You could… well, Roza and Liliya were more important.

"Sure," Lili had said.

You'd hung up.

Rubia's face, when you'd looked up at her, was set in stone, as though her personality and feelings had been turned into an impenetrable wall. You didn't understand that. Didn't know why she was acting this way today, though it didn't matter. The battle? Maybe. It didn't matter.

"They'll be okay," you'd called up to her. "We'll have to make do without them, though."

She'd simply nodded.

***

You hadn't noticed when the flood started abating.

Fifty minutes in, your world was reduced to- shoot. Reload. Check the map for the next large group of monsters. Shoot again.

Rubia took care of the stragglers that got close, but with so many targets it wasn't long before she got tired, well helped by her incredibly physical style of fighting. She could have passed down judgement from high, but Ruby liked to get personal. Vel helped; at some stage she'd jerry-rigged a blunt force projection off the still functioning 'hologram' systems, and while it wasn't as good as her tentacles, it was better than nothing. You held the line. You'd been fighting for an hour, and though you couldn't get physically tired, you'd run out of adrenaline, and then fatigue started to sink in.

So when you were left without any targets to shoot at, you didn't immediately realise. It was only when Vel shook you that you caught it: The flood had passed. The army of Honkai beasts that had been threatening you was no longer advancing towards you. In fact, they were leaving. Moving past the village, going to do whatever it was they'd been planning on doing.

"It's over?" you said.

Vel nodded.

The jungle had turned into a radioactive nightmare. You'd fired your rifle at least a few hundred times, each detonation a few kilotons' worth of antimatter, and every one of them ground bursts. It must have looked like a meteor storm. There'd be a fair bit of fallout raining on the village, and anyone who didn't get medical aid would die of cancer within a few months, but it wasn't, technically, a problem.

It didn't make a difference. It didn't add anything to the list of reasons they had to evacuate. You just...

"Roza!" you gasped out, as soon as your thoughts cleared.

"We'll go get them," Veliona said, glancing at Rubia. "Come on. I want to see them. I assume that's fine?"

Rubia looked grim, though not because of Roza. The village had been her home for a couple years. She must have known this would happen.

It really didn't matter.

"...Of course," Rubia replied.

You left her to handle the remaining Honkai beasts, a small task now that there were so few, and made your way to the cave the twins had holed up in with, it had to be said, entirely unseemly haste. Vel, once she was out of easy sight from Rubia, ran ahead and left you in the dust.

You followed her, much faster than you thought you could go in the armour. It took you twenty minutes to reach the cave. A quick peek through the entrance revealed a dark interior, empty of any threats, but-

Well.

Roza started babbling excuses as soon as you found her. Vel was already kneeling next to her, examining her side, and held her back when she tried to scramble to her feet. You didn't care. Not about what she was saying, and not about the worried look on Veliona's face. You just swept her up into your arms, and-

***

It took quite a bit longer before the four of you got back.

ooOOoo


A/N: It's done. For many values of 'it'.

There are no more pressing issues. Pick as many as you want of the below; the N top choices will be in the next update. Remaining items may show in future updates. Feel free to add your own, or add subvotes, though I may veto them if they're inappropriate.

[ ] Recover Roza's sword
- Sleeper's Dream is an important partner, and will probably need maintenance. But it isn't as important as any of the other points.

[ ] Relax. Go back to the village. Collapse in a heap
- Realistically, this is not optional. All you're choosing is how high of a priority it is.

[ ] Talk to each other. Reassure yourself it's done, you're safe, they're all still here
- Any specific, unimportant topics that you'd like to cover? Seele explicitly does not want to discuss anything important. Not in this context.

[ ] Talk to Carole. Have a meal. Fall asleep in the soup
- It's safe to say you'll be bringing your own food. Some of the trees in this jungle seem to have fruit, come to think of it?
- [ ] What do you find?

[ ] Talk to Rubia
- You're still not sure what about. Or maybe you're simply in denial?

[ ] Talk to Rubia, but about something safe
- What was she doing for the last few years?
- [ ] What about?

[ ] Talk to your sisters
- [ ] About Seele and Seele, and.. not even Vel can claim that won't be confusing. Please offer suggestions.
- [ ] About Veliona's past. What there is of it.
- [ ] About what's happening to Roza. And Lili.
- [ ] About the Dragon.
- [ ] Or any of the other topics they keep not having time for.

[ ] Get to know a random villager
- [ ] The blacksmith
- [ ] One of the farmers
- [ ] Carole's not-a-boyfriend

[ ] Write-in