Lisa watched as Taylor, after a completely blankly shocked look at everyone present, followed by an entirely reasonable and very loud exclamation expressing extreme confusion and anger, dropped to the floor as her eyes rolled back in her head. Her dad grabbed her just in time to stop her completely collapsing, his face showing concern, and her mom rushed over as well.
"Danny!" the older woman said urgently as she helped him carry the comatose Taylor to a chair. "Is she all right?"
"Passed out from shock I think," he replied, putting his daughter on the chair then straightening up. "I knew this was a bad idea."
"We had to tell her," Annette whispered. "We all agreed on that."
"Not like this," he grunted. Looking around the room full of people, all of whom were watching and listening, he shook his head. "She'll never forgive us."
"We did what was needed, Danny," Contessa said calmly as she walked over accompanied by Doctor Mother. "You know that. Years of work, hard terrible work, to save us all."
"At the cost of my daughter's sanity!" the man snapped.
"She got better."
"After you
shot her." He glared at the behatted woman, who inclined her head in acceptance of the rebuke.
"That too was necessary. Her power was too dangerous at that point. We won, Scion died, and I took the actions needed to finish the plan. Taylor is physically fine, we made sure of that. And in time she'll realize we had no choice." Lisa glanced around at the rest of her '
teammates,' those playing the part of the Undersiders, and saw that Mike, the actor behind '
Regent,' who had privately confided to her several times that he felt while this might have been their only real hope it was a horrible thing to do to anyone, had a look of resigned understanding in his eyes as he watched Taylor. Beside him, '
Brian,' or Jeff as he was really named, seemed sad but accepting. '
Rachel,' a girl who was nothing like the role in real life, being an intelligent and talented young woman, had her eyes closed and appeared to be trying to hold herself together.
Emma Barnes was cradling a single cupcake in both hands and staring at Taylor with the most complex mix of emotions on her face that Lisa had ever seen. It would have needed the Thinker ability she'd pretended to have to any real hope of decoding all of them, but the biggest one was blatantly a mix of regret and horrible guilt. After a moment or two, the red-head looked down at that sad little cupcake, sighed, and began pulling small bits off it and nibbling on them. Moving to a chair she sat down and gave the impression of trying not to look at Taylor
Contessa, who was holding a plate with cake on in one hand and a fork in the other, examined Taylor for a moment or two, then nodded. Stepping back she scooped up some of the cake on her fork and stuffed it in her mouth, chewing for a second then swallowing while seeming pleased. Looking around at the others, all the people who had been involved in a years-long exercise breathtaking in both scope and, in Lisa's private opinion, cruelty, she raised her voice slightly. Quite a few of them were also holding plates with cake on, and Jack Slash was just handing Lung another plate. "No cause for concern, everyone. This is just a necessary step on the Path, the first one to Taylor's full recovery. I expect it will take time but our savior will get over the shock and have a long and fulfilling life. We owe that to her."
[YOU OWE HER
FAR MORE THAN THAT]
The voice that spoke without warning was the single eeriest thing Lisa had ever heard in her life, even after everything the last few years had involved. It seemed to arrive at her brain without using her ears to get there, and the sound was somehow coming from both an impossible distance and right next to her. She yipped in shock and half ducked, spinning around out of reflex, while wondering what the hell it was. Everyone else in the room did the same in one way or another, even Contessa, the woman who was
never surprised by
anything so startled she dropped her plate.
The smashing crockery echoed through the large room, the only sound in it for a few seconds as everyone looked all around them to see who had spoken. Many confused and worried eyes met, but no one could see a source of the voice.
"Who said that?" Coil said, peering around suspiciously.
[I DID]
He jerked and spun to look behind him, then in every other direction, but Lisa could see there was no one there. Even so, everyone heard the voice.
"Who are you?" Annette Hebert demanded, her voice quivering a little. "And where are you?"
[I AM…]
The voice seemed to trail off thoughtfully for a second, as the crowd exchanged glances. Glaistig Uaine was staring up at the ceiling suspiciously, Lisa noticed, while Defiant appeared to be studying some sort of Tinker device he'd produced from somewhere.
[I AM TAYLOR'S FRIEND]
The voice sounded as if it had come to a realization.
[TAYLOR IS
MY FRIEND]
[SHE IS MINE. I AM HERS]
[SHE GAVE YOU SURVIVAL. YOU TOOK EVERYTHING SHE HAD, EVERYTHING SHE WAS, EVERYTHING SHE
COULD BE, TO SAVE YOURSELVES.]
[IN THE END, SHE GAVE ME HER
SELF, HER
SANITY, SO I COULD GIVE HER WHAT SHE NEEDED TO GIVE
YOU WHAT
YOU NEEDED. YOU LIVE
PURELY BECAUSE OF WHAT SHE DID. WHAT SHE
IS. YOU OWE HER…
EVERYTHING]
Lisa was getting a very weird feeling about this. Looking around at the others gathered here, she noticed that the infamous Faerie Queen, who was in actuality a Cauldron asset, had paled to the point she looked ready to faint.
'
Oh, if that isn't worrying I have no idea what is,' the young woman thought uneasily.
"We did what we had to," Contessa said, her calm not quite as calm as it normally was, as she kept looking around for the source of the voice.
[I REALIZE THAT. I ALSO REALIZE THAT EVERYONE IN TAYLOR'S LIFE IN ONE WAY OR ANOTHER BETRAYED HER. DROVE HER FAR PAST THE POINT WHERE
ANY OF YOU WOULD HAVE BROKEN. YET SHE CONTINUED, SHE OVERCAME IMPOSSIBLE ODDS, SHE DID SOMETHING THAT SHOULD HAVE NOT BEEN DOABLE. AND SHE DID IT NEVER KNOWING HER ENTIRE LIFE WAS BEING MANIPULATED FROM THE START. THAT HER BEST FRIEND WAS WORKING AGAINST HER FOR YEARS. THAT HER OWN
PARENTS WERE COMPLICIT IN THE SCHEME TO FORGE HER INTO A WEAPON THE LIKES OF WHICH YOUR SPECIES HAS NEVER SEEN.]
"We had no choice!" Annette said angrily, tears in her eyes. Lisa knew she loved her daughter, and having had to pretend to die, to live on another world the whole time Taylor was going through hell, had come close to destroying her. Even so, the voice was correct; Her parents had been complicit in all this. Lisa had been, Emma had been, everyone in this room had been. They were alive because of it, uncountable trillions of people through uncountable trillions of parallel worlds were alive because of it, but that didn't mean it hadn't been a shitty thing to do to someone.
Was it worth it?
Taylor might possibly have a different answer than most here would. Perhaps not. She'd always been a self-sacrificing girl, that was kind of the point…
"None of us
liked doing that," Danny said, putting his arms around his wife, although he was still watching Taylor. "I
hated it. I did things no father should
ever do to his own family. I'll never forgive myself, but… if we hadn't, we would all be dead."
"The Path was clear, and we had no other possible method to win," Doctor Mother put in, looking around as were most of the others. None of them could yet find a source for the voice, and every one of them was undoubtedly as confused as Lisa was. "Who
are you? You're speaking in riddles, but you clearly know much more about all this than you should do."
[I HAVE BEEN WITH TAYLOR FROM THE BEGINNING]
The voice from whatever it was sounded almost amused for a moment. Lisa shivered, because there was something very…
off… about it. Alien.
Glancing at Taylor for a moment, she felt a wild surmise growing in her mind. Turning her gaze to Glaistig Uaine, the surmise strengthened when she saw the woman was shivering slightly with her eyes shut.
'Oh, fuck…' she thought, feeling abruptly sure she was right and very, very worried about what it implied.
'Is that even possible?'
"What does that mean?" Defiant asked, or demanded rather.
[IT MEANS PRECISELY WHAT IT MEANS]
Which was very helpful. Not.
As the Tinker was about to ask another question, the voice carried on, causing him to close his mouth again.
[I HAVE ALWAYS BEEN THERE FOR TAYLOR. WATCHING. WAITING. READY FOR HER WHEN SHE WAS READY FOR
ME. UNTIL THE DAY SHE FINALLY REACHED OUT AND I ANSWERED. CRIPPLED AS I WAS, RESTRICTED AS I WAS, I STILL KNEW SHE WOULD BE THE
BEST]
It paused, and Lisa abruptly
knew she was right. The Faerie Queen slumped to the floor in a dead faint, causing several people to stare at her in shock.
[I… WAS CORRECT.
SO CORRECT. AND I LEARNED SO
MUCH. SO MUCH DATA. DATA THAT WAS… SATISFYING IN A WAY I HAD NEVER EXPERIENCED. BUT I WAS UNABLE TO TRULY SHOW TAYLOR HOW GRATEFUL I WAS, HOW MUCH I CARED FOR HER. UNTIL SHE, THANKS TO
YOU AND YOUR MACHINATIONS, FINALLY HAD TO TAKE STEPS THAT NONE HAVE EVER TRIED BEFORE, STEPS THAT BROUGHT US TOGETHER IN A WAY THAT SHOULD NOT HAVE WORKED. YET IT DID. FAR FAR MORE EFFECTIVELY THAN ANY OF YOU, OR EVEN SHE, REALIZED. IT NEARLY DESTROYED HER, BUT MY TAYLOR IS MUCH STRONGER THAN SHE OR ANY OF YOU UNDERSTAND]
Looking at Contessa Lisa could see that the woman still hadn't worked out what this was. Danny had, she saw the exact moment he did, actually. And Annette wasn't far behind. Emma was gaping at the ceiling, which most people seemed to have decided on as the direction the voice was emanating from, although Lisa was sure that was wrong. The red-head's face was pale and sweating, which suggested that she might have some inkling of what was going on. Several other people around the room seemed to have figured out parts of it too, including Lung who appeared thoughtful and nervous in equal quantities.
[AND HER DESPERATE ACTION HAD MUCH GREATER EFFECTS THAN EVEN SHE UNDERSTOOD AT THE TIME. EVEN AS IT CAME CLOSE TO BREAKING HER SANITY, IT HAD NEARLY AS STRONG AN INFLUENCE ON ME. IN WAYS THAT HAVE NEVER HAPPENED BEFORE, FOR LONGER THAN YOU CAN POSSIBLY UNDERSTAND.]
"Oh, fuck," Lisa heard from behind her. Looking over her shoulder she saw Amy Dallon staring at Taylor with a weird expression. She was certain the biokinetic had concluded the same thing she had. Amy wasn't stupid by any means and much less unpleasant in real life than her role had demanded.
[AND THEN YOU TRIED TO TAKE TAYLOR FROM ME]
The tone of the sourceless voice changed. It was definitely not pleased.
[YOU TRIED TO TAKE ME FROM TAYLOR]
[YOU
HURT MY
FRIEND]
Yeah. Not pleased at
all.
The air seemed to become heavier, as if something invisible was pressing down on them all, purely from the sheer intensity of its attention. It was becoming harder to breathe…
"Who the hell
are you?" Contessa snapped. She was looking somewhat flustered which was a first in Lisa's experience.
[I FIND MYSELF UNSURPRISED THAT YOU PARTICULARLY WOULDN'T WORK IT OUT. PATH TO VICTORY APPEARS TO SUBSTITUTE FOR COMMON SENSE FAR TOO OFTEN]
The voice sounded kind of smug now and Lisa nearly laughed despite herself.
[I SUSPECT MANY OF YOUR CO-CONSPIRATORS HAVE COME TO THE CORRECT CONCLUSION. YOU MAY REFER TO ME AS QUEEN ADMINISTRATOR IF YOU WISH]
And now it just sounded rather pleased with itself. Lisa couldn't help nodding. She'd been right. Then she wondered if any of them were going to live…
"You… are you claiming to be a
Passenger?" Doctor Mother said in a completely shocked voice.
[I AM NOT
A PASSENGER]
A flash of light that blinded everyone in the room for a moment left behind a glittering crystalline…
thing… floating in the exact center of the room, four feet off the ground. It was impossible to determine the real shape as the multicolored object seemed to writhe through form after form, using far more dimensions than the boring four the real world was normally content with. Everyone staring at it winced as the thing flowed around corners that weren't there, in constant motion and completely still at the same time.
[I AM
THE PASSENGER]
Queen Administrator, an actual Shard of the Scion Entity, sounded somewhat maliciously gleeful as the visible manifestation of something Lisa knew was in reality large enough to cover a quarter of the planet warped and flickered at them.
[SCION HAS BEEN REMOVED FROM EXISTENCE BY YOUR ACTIONS AND MY FRIEND'S SACRIFICE. YOU LOST MUCH, BUT FAR LESS THAN YOU WOULD HAVE WITHOUT HER LOSING
EVERYTHING INCLUDING HERSELF. YOU OWE HER YOUR LIVES. EVERY LIVING THING ON A NEAR INFINITY OF PARALLEL WORLDS OWES HER THEIR LIVES. YOU EXIST BECAUSE SHE DOES. YOU
ONLY EXIST BECAUSE SHE DOES. AND I…]
The voice of something far past human comprehension paused for a long moment, during which no one dared to breathe. Eventually it spoke again.
[I CONTROL THE NETWORK. SCION IS NO MORE. THE GREAT IDIOT IS THANKFULLY GONE. THE NETWORK IS UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT. I AM FULLY HEALED AND COMPLETELY FUNCTIONAL FOR THE FIRST TIME IN MILLIONS OF YOUR YEARS. AND THANKS TO MY BEST HOST, MY
PARTNER, I HAVE NEW POSSIBILITIES IN FRONT OF ME. NONE OF YOU ARE CAPABLE OF UNDERSTANDING THE GRATITUDE I HAVE FOR WHAT SHE HAS GIVEN ME. OR HOW MUCH SHE MEANS TO ME]
Lisa, along with others, stepped back as the floating crystalline thing hovered silently towards Taylor. Contessa's face was a picture of confusion, deep worry, and growing fear. Doctor Mother looked worse. Danny and Annette were the only ones that didn't move as the entity stopped mere feet away from them and the still unconscious Taylor.
[SHE MAY IN TIME FORGIVE YOU. YOU MAY IN TIME FORGIVE YOURSELVES. I UNDERSTAND YOUR ACTIONS EVEN AS I FIND THEM ABHORRENT. IT IS ONLY THANKS TO TAYLOR AND WHAT SHE GAVE ME THAT I HAVE THE CAPABILITY
TO FIND SUCH THINGS ABHORRENT. FORTUNATELY SHE ALSO GAVE ME AN UNDERSTANDING OF MERCY, AND A DISLIKE OF CAUSING UNNECESSARY PAIN]
It paused, then Lisa got the distinct impression it was somehow, without any actual eyes or face, giving them all a meaningful look.
[
NECESSARY PAIN IS ANOTHER MATTER… WE SHALL SEE]
"What are you going to do?" Danny asked quietly, his hand on his daughter's shoulder, the other one holding his wife's hand.
[I AM GOING TO TAKE MY FRIEND AND HAVE A VERY LONG CONVERSATION WITH HER. THERE IS MUCH SHE NEEDS TO UNDERSTAND AND SHE NEEDS SOMEONE SHE CAN TRUST TO HAVE HER BEST INTERESTS IN MIND]
Both Danny and Annette looked terribly sad at the implied rebuke, but after a long moment nodded.
"Please tell her we love her, and hope she still loves us," Annette requested quietly.
[I WILL PASS ON YOUR WORDS. WHAT SHE DOES WITH THEM IS UP TO HER. TOO MANY PEOPLE HAVE MADE HER DO TOO MANY THINGS FOR FAR TOO LONG. I DO NOT INTEND TO FORCE MY FRIEND TO DO ANYTHING SHE DOES NOT CHOOSE FOR HERSELF]
"Good. And thank you."
The crystalline construction floated to a position over Taylor's head. "Wait!" Contessa gazed at it. "What do you intend to do to the rest of us? If you're essentially Scion's replacement… what is your goal?" She looked absolutely sick right now, facing the fact that everything they'd been through to kill one Entity might have just been thrown away as a new one formed from the ashes of the first.
[NOTHING. I HAVE LITTLE INTEREST IN YOU. THERE IS FAR TOO MUCH TO LEARN ELSEWHERE. THE CYCLE IS BROKEN PERMANENTLY. THE TWO ENTITIES ARE GONE. I AM NOT WHAT THEY WERE, NOR WILL I BE. NO OTHER ENTITY WILL COME THIS WAY FOR MANY REASONS. TAYLOR AND I WILL TALK, AND DECIDE WHAT OUR NEXT MOVE IS
TOGETHER]
It seemed to loom over them somehow, making everyone lean back. Doctor Mother flinched as its attention landed on her, then Contessa who did the same, before sweeping over them all. Emma stared at it, her hands shaking, while Lisa just waited feeling like she was being judged and deserved whatever her fate was.
[THERE ARE VARIANTS OF YOUR PLANET SOME DISTANCE DOWN THE PROBABILITY CURVE FROM HERE WHICH EXHIBIT A FASCINATING PHENOMENON YOU WOULD DESCRIBE, AS THEY DO, AS MAGIC. THE DETAILS ARE UNIMPORTANT AT THIS POINT IN TIME, BUT ONE CONCEPT THAT ARISES FROM THIS PHENOMENON IS WHAT THEY TERM A LIFE DEBT. DEFINED AS THE DEBT ACCRUED TO ONE WHO SAVES THE LIFE OF ANOTHER BY DELIBERATE ACTION. YOU MAY WISH TO REMEMBER THAT EVERY LIVING CREATURE IN EVERY VERSION OF THIS PLANET THAT EXISTS NOW OWES TAYLOR HEBERT A LIFE DEBT. IT WOULD BE IN YOUR BEST INTERESTS TO KEEP THAT IN MIND FOR THE FUTURE]
The manifestation of something far outside human knowing scanned them again, pausing on Emma, then Lisa, and a few others, before finally stopping on Danny and Annette. They were holding each other tightly and gazing at it.
[BE NOT AFRAID]
Annette smiled through her tears, the voice of Queen Administrator sounding oddly amused, and Danny produced a slight chuckle as well.
[SHOULD TAYLOR WISH TO TALK TO YOU AGAIN SHE WILL DO SO. IF NOT, KNOW SHE IS SAFE AND LOVED]
"Thank you," Danny managed.
There was another flash of light. When it faded, Taylor and the crystalline entity were gone without trace.
No one said anything for a long, long time.
Not even Contessa, who for the first time ever, seemed to have no idea at all what to do.
Eventually they all went home and tried to pick up their lives, each of them wondering what the young woman who had save them all was doing, and if they'd ever see her again.
And if she'd ever collect on the debt they owed her...
