[Wh40k x Starcraft] A Sarah Kerrigan knock off MC sleeps her way through the imperium of man with increasing amounts of kink - We're off hiatus!

[Princess Scribe]

"Lilith!" The cry of an excited Ana brings the aforementioned woman out of the daze of rest, stolen bed, now very much theirs presenting too comfortable an embrace to easily draw out of. Sheets shift as Anastasia climbs atop it, "I c-can tell them what to do!" Her face is above Lilith's own, hanging over her.

"Hnnnngh…" Lilith replies blearily, and her eyes blink almost unevenly as the hangover from last night still fights with the sudden rush of adrenaline. Instinct takes over as she notices a shape over her. She reaches out and grabs Ana by the back of the neck, and kisses her deeply. Then lets her go before saying, "That's nice dear." Her head falling to the pillow, her eye-lids heavy, "Tell… meeee." she lets out a big yawn stretching, "About it."

"The…Swarm!" She laughs, "Z-zhakarov and the rest a-argued to b-bring me on. I can hear all of it." Her voice is ecstatically high despite her attempts to bring her voice down to assuage Lilith's sleepy state. "I d-don't know for h-how long b-b-b-but it's so much."

That got through, Lilith took in the entirety of Ana in that moment as her eyes shot open. She quickly backed up to look into her face, "Holy shit! That's awesome! See!? I told you, just go out and weave clothes with the Queens." As she looked over to the pile of clothing that the swarm had been making to seem more… Terran on their trips. "And you talked shop to the Overlords! Everyone here just wants people who care! You fucking rock." She leans in to give her another kiss. "We need to celebrate," and she reaches into the gun crate next to the bed, pulling out two bottles of hard liquor, "Here!"

Ana takes the one offered to her with a gusto, popping the cap and drinking two large gulps, revealing much about her previous pastimes in that moment. As she pulls away from the bottle, she's grinning, "It's so much, and all of it is… mine."

"Huh, well unless you lose the confidence of the swarm." Lilith says, "Though Kerrigan kills Zerg constantly and still has a strong power base with the Queens, so who knows what they actually give a fuck about." Her smile reaches from ear to ear though, "I'm proud of you, that's awesome. Everyone sees you, we know you're useful, you're capable. This time you were chosen because of who you are, not in spite of it."

She jumps on Lilith, holding her tightly, "I-I love you!" Anastasia nearly shouts, "T-this is amazing, e-everything since I-I've met you has b-been amazing."

"Of course it has!" Ana's confidence brings so much joy to her, she had wo rked so hard to build her up, and now Lilith was overbrimming with pride, "I only choose the best people, that's why I picked you. I've known since the moment we met that you'd do great things. You just needed a little confidence."

"I-want to stay h-here." Ana mumbles, "B-but Zhakarov n-needs my input."

Lilith raises an eyebrow, "When Zhakarov needed me, he waited or came to me. Tell him to fuck-off you're both in Unity, you're equals. He can sense the entire Swarm like you, it's power-play bullshit."

"O-oh, uhm, okay." She closes her eyes, focusing on the Swarm for a moment, "H-he says he was ch-checking if you w-were next to me." Ana's got a confused look on her face, "Oh! H-he can't see you!"

Lilith nods, finally starting to get it, "It's the whole reason we're up here. We're out of range of the Swarm's vision." Then Lilith waited, "Except you're in Unity now. So now…" Her throat gets a little dry, and choked, "Oh. Oh. The entire swarm can see through you Ana, the entire swarm."

Anastasia's eyes snap wide, something that could eventually evolve into words escaping her.

"Unity must have a stronger connection with each other to coordinate, but uh…" Her lip twitched into an uneasy smile, "That means you and them have full access to each other, Kerrigan as well."

The Behemoth shudders, micro adjustments shifting its internal gravity as it adjusts for a new weight. The entry orifice making a suckling noise as someone steps into the main entryway. Her steps are light, but each one carries so much weight. Psychic energy, angry and oppressive started to weight down on Lilith, what's worse, she couldn't tell who, between Ana and the other, was more angry. For a split second, the cold fury, the same that Lilith would feel, was leaking out of Ana, like a broken gas line firing a pressurised jet of flame.

With a weak laugh Lilith says, "Well, we know she cares at least, let's go say hi."

"No need." The voice slams through the halls, lit with a psychic fuze of frenzy. "I'll come to you." Ana's fury is shot through with a burst of fear, the oppressive presence of the Queen settling far worse on her sensitive mind than Lilith's inured one.

With a groan, Lilith rolls out of bed, "Are you seriously going to walk into my bedroom? Boundaries!" She gives Ana a wink, and picks up a liquor bottle. "I don't burst into your bedroom every five minutes."

A doorway flexes open, revealing the tall Queen glaring through at the two women. "So, it is a power grab." She growls, interior lights of the Behemoth flickering, pulsing sacs being forced to roil by her passive psychic fury.

"Have you considered not everyone is obsessed with power?" Lilith groans, "No-one is stronger than you Ke-Queen." At the near mistake, a flicker of force pushes Ana off Lilith and to the right side of the bed.

"Careful." Kerrigan warns, striding in. "I don't know, she seemed very happy to have the power, didn't you." It's not a question, more a piercing declaration of something she assumes to be true.

Unaware that the statement wasn't quite pointed at her, Lilith bemoaned, "I was happy to be part of a hive mind, which you'd know if you read my mind, which I repeatedly and explicitly give you both permission to do." She was exhausted with Kerrigan's behaviours, and the constant temper tantrums, "You keep thinking you know people's motivations, but you don't actually seem to be very good at it."

"I'd say you have a deathwish." The Queen threatens, arriving at the beds edge.

"Fourth time's the charge I guess, I think the reason I'm alive; Correct me if I'm wrong, is because you know you need at least one person to give you an honest opinion. Even if you fucking hate it." Then she picks up a bottle of liquor, giving it a slow underhand lob, "Grab a drink, and chill." Lilith had escaped death, and wished for death so many times at this point, either out-come would be better than spending any more time living in fear. She had been desensitised, and Kerrigan was going to have to find a new trick.

The Queen of Blades stares at the woman who just denied her with a look that sits perfectly on the border between solar rage and complete confusion. As if she can't wrap her head around what she's looking at, or doesn't want too.

"How did you even make it past infestation?" She questions, "Someone like you should have come undone."

Lilith raises an eyebrow at Kerrigan, "I don't know? I just… Walked in? I stole a Coupe from the city, splattered a couple of Marines and one of the sunken colonies got me. Before I even realised what happened I was in Hive space. Zero resistance, it's why everyone I infest, comes out somewhat fucking… Normal." She gestures at Ana.

"Bullshit." Kerrigan drags the sheets off the bed in a spiteful rage,making both women nearly follow along with them. "No one chooses this. You just can't remember what happened."

She stands up, with a wince, refusing to engage, "What's the latest memory I have of my Terran life. It should be in the swarm like everything else. What was I drawing." There's a slight up-tick to Lilith's mouth, she tried to stow away the fact that Kerrigan didn't seem to know something for once.

Kerrigan's face turns to a frown as she looked at the memory, watching Lilith spending hours a day drawing… Stylized imaginations of the infestation process. Pictures of herself with the Terran's imagination of her. Thoughts, thousands of lonely thoughts, one night stands, desperate attempts to get someone, anyone to stay longer than a week. As the infestation hit Tarsonis, she watched Lilith's face turn into glee, as she ran outside. Felt the giddy mania as the rehabilitation failed and her mind once again started to unravel.

Taking a step back, the Queen hisses something barely audible, a flood of her own memories clearly overwhelming her, Essence glowing in her eyes with internal psychic effort.

"Literally, the idea of being in a hive mind? Connected with millions of… Things? Unity and all that?" Lilith says walking up to her, "That's… What I wanted. I don't… Terrans fucking sucked. The society sucked. The people sucked." She put a hand out on the Queen's shoulder. "We have something better now."

"Shut up!" Kerrigan smacks Lilith's hand away, numbing the fingertips with how forceful she is, "You don-No one gets-Graah!" Words boil down to a primal noise as flickering bolts of lightning begin to spread across her skin, sizzling at the Behemoth and burning holes in the bundled sheets on the ground.

"Shut-up, stop talking, don't do that, get out," Lilith says backing away, "You don't need anyone My Queen, but maybe it'd be nice to be able to do something besides sitting in a throne room all day?" She gestures to the planet, "Have you talked with the Overlords? Or the Queens? They have names, they're nice. The Zerglings and Hydralisks I've learned like to be pet. Hell, through sequencing, I learned that they have favourite colours even."

"Names?!" The Queen barks, "You're all tools, nothing else. Extensions of me!"

"Is thinking that making you happy?" Lilith asks, and when the words come out, she's not even entirely sure the answer was, "Like… You could just be… Out and about. Talking. Reclaiming parts of the city to make cool spaces. Weaving, painting, tailoring, whatever." The queen seemed to be trying to say something, but Ana just continued to talk over her, "You could be doing shit, instead of spending almost a decade sitting in a fucking throne room feeling sorry for yourself. Neither Zhakarov or I before you had to sit and stare at a wall all day to control the swarm. Neither it seems does Ana, that's a choice you're making."

"Don't think to know why I do anything, you don't know a damned thing about me!" She shoves Lilith back onto the bed.

Lilith falls backwards, landing on the bed, trying to keep her temper, "Does that look like it comes from a lack of effort? What do you think would have happened, if two or three years ago, instead of screaming 'Back-off' we went on a walk."

Something snaps in the Queen of Blades, a dam cracks, a string breaks, "You don't get to be him!" She roars, pouncing on Lilith, about to really, truly, with every ounce of her might strike the other woman. A cry of effort sees the limb get caught in a light flash of telekinetic force, Ana groaning with the strain of stopping even that.

"Get to be who?" She doesn't move, staring directly into Kerrigan's eye., "Get to be WHO? I don't want to be anyone but me. I'm not replacing anyone. You can mourn something and have a relationship. You can pine and have a relationship. I don't even know who you're talking about, no-one does, because you don't use your words." Lilith was trying to keep it together, "I can only think of one thing it could possibly be, and even that seems spurious. You're so closed off no-one can even tell why you're upset half the time."

Kerrigan strains against the force with her might, forcing against it until Ana's will breaks and the hand can punch through the bed to Lilith's right, a flicker of pink gently altering its course. "You're just some Tarsonis IDIOT who-who-!" Another primal noise escapes her, a scream that shakes the Behemoth as she misses by bare inches, "Who I should have KILLED years ago!"

"Well, either you tried three times and failed, or you don't want to do that. I know it's the second, you're the Queen of Blades, you can do anything no-one can stop you." Lilith knew she needed to keep her temper, but she was scared, and angry, "I'm not telling you what to do, I want to help you, but for some reason you think it's impossible you could be helped, or even worse, not worth it. I'm not asking or telling you what to do, just behave like yourself and not a fucking super villain. I want to see the person, not the persona, especially if I'm going to die soon."

"Person?" Kerrigan tilts her head in a maddened look, "Ask Abathur how much of that is left." She grits her teeth, growling each word out, step by step, syllable by syllable.

Then, Lilith relaxes, trying to be unassuming, unthreatening, and smaller, "I do… I ask about you a lot, to everyone." She says quietly, "I spend all my free time sequencing. Under Abathur's knife, under my own knife, looking at strains. You can't take the person out of Terran essence. Ruins, the only good reasons to make a Terran infected. Just their parts." Then even quieter, "I know there's something bad that happened to you, but I didn't want to pry and I won't rip your memories out somewhere else, I want you to just share them with me when you trust me."

"You're a manipulator." The Queen growls, "I've been in your head, I know you."

"It's all a mask." Kerrigan's talon reaches for Lilith's face, cutting a miniscule line at the edge of it.

Lilith's lip curls in a snarl, before she puts it back, "It's… Not. People just get… Weird around… I like helping people." Not a lie, not the truth either. "I enjoy making people happy." She likes fixing people, making them little idols, and putting them in her shrine. Worshipping them, letting them be their best self. Hers. Hers because she knows they're better because of her. That she can pick and choose who gets to be perfect. Perfect like herself. "I'm good at it."

Finding a point, a weakness, the Queen goes for it, "Are you? Look at what you've managed. A psychic that can barely keep talking."

Cold fury, icey fire, a small chip, "I have made everyone who gave me a chance better. Everyone. I am per-Good at it." Fuck. She thinks, angrily. "I'm good at it."

"Bullshit." Kerrigan roars back at Lilith, "You're just another leech, trying to justify being a hanger on." Her tact switches.

The words are being drawn out of her, despite herself, she tries to hold them back, "I am a caretaker." She says angrily, "I am the best. At what I do. I help. I fix. I mend. Every person that I choose to help is better, because I saw them as worth helping."

"Stop lying to yourself." There's a cruel and vicious smile on Kerrigan's face, "All you are, is a failure with a pretty face."

Lilith is now matching the energy, not realising that the bottom of her ribcage and back were unfurling, "I knew you thought I was pretty." There wasn't any mirth, no flirting, "You will NOT break me." The tools, the appendages she had given herself with Abathur to improve infesting, and sequencing now matching the Queen of Blades spines, but unequally, far less.

Every inch of free space inside of Lilith's body was filled with complex limbs overlapping to perfectly mimic the Terran form. When fully unfurled, only a small strip of spine was left, from which dozens of articulated appendages descended from. She looked, perfect, serene, and beautiful just above the shaped ribs. Below, the rest was spiny and sharp. The lower part is the body of a sequencer, one who breaks down and builds up the Zerg to make them the best.

"You want a fight, Lilith?" Kerrigan asks, an excited, vicious aspect to her at the idea of ripping the other woman to pieces again.

Then Lilith smirked, "Oh you can't wait to get your hands all over me. Is that what this is? You just looove hurting me." The spines puncture around herself, "I can't win a fight, but I could break you given the chance. Easy."

"Shut UP." Kerrigan's focus breaks, a fist moving for the space where Lilith was.

Her limbs fire her to the side, latching onto the ceiling of the Behemoth. "You wanted me mask off? Fine. Mask off. I still care about you." She says, leaping behind her, before she can react giving her a kiss on the cheek, then bouncing away. "You're perfect. I want to be with you. I just… Show it poorly."

"Stop talking!" Kerrigan growls, sending waves of shock and light after Lilith, burning holes in the Behemoth's flesh and making it grumble in pain.

Lilith skitters across the ceiling into the living room, dancing towards a small hatchery and evolution pit had been placed. "Absolutely not. Talking is how I win." She yells. "You can't handle someone being nice to you. I can't stop being nice! Because I'm" And then she snarls, from another place in the ship, "Perfect. I am EVERYTHING. People are LUCKY to win my affection. They have been CHOSEN to be special. You LOVE me the same reason I LOVE YOU. Because we both know how GREAT we are."

"YOU AREN'T HIM!" Kerrigan cries out as an omnidirectional wave of crackling force throws Ana off the bed and rams Lilith against a wall, hard enough to crack its flesh and bone backing. "You'll never be him."

"Why do I have to be?" She mutters, "Why?! Why can't I be me? Why can't it just be ME? What is so special that means I won't fit. What is so broken that nothing new can be built on or around it?!" Still the ship can't be broken or they all will actually die. "You don't have to forget, or replace whoever this person is. New relationships are built around or on-top of the old ones, they'll never be able to replace them." She returns to where Kerrigan is, trying to push all the parts back inside unevenly, "You're a different person then you were, relationships change you."

"YOU DON'T GET TO CHANGE ME!" The Queen is insensate, enraged and precisely the wrong words were just said to her. Crackling power builds in her hands, glowing into an orb, dangerously bright, making even the Behemoths internals prickle with fear. Ana recovers, trying to speak, "D-don't, w-w-were t-too far a-a-way!" But can barely be heard above the energy-roil.

Instinctively, without proper thought, Lilith reaches in, trying to snatch at Kerrigan's essence, tug at it and break her concentration on whatever this is. It's the only tool she knows, it's what Abathur has been teaching her, it's all she's been doing since she got here. She was going to slice at Kerrigan past the shell.

The stab of Essence weaving drags Kerrigan out of any sort of focus. Her carapace rises in bumps as fear passes through her at the almost-familiar stab. Through the touch, memories of a choking, tight sac, of a billion eyes on her, of the attentions of Abathur bringing utmost, absolute agony as it rewove her from the ground up for months. Of being infested in a desert, of loving a man that seemed to always chase, no matter what… Of never knowing if anyone would love her like that again. Of someone who left her when she asked, and what came because of it.

Shit… Bad move. Lilith lets go immediately.

The Queen falls to the ground, pulling into a shaky ball, crackling with excess power."g-go a-away." Words burn into her skin all over her skin is littered with "Lilith loves Kerrigan and Kerrigan loves Lilith" overlapping in psychic waves, carved like ragged scratches from a knife.

She looks at Kerrigan and hisses, seeing small cuts on her from the hymn. Written everywhere Had I done more damage than I thought? Fuck. "I can't do that hon," She says quietly, "I just can't, you… Bleed your feelings into me. I can't imagine abandoning you right now."

She shivers at hon, a pulse of feeling that she can't hide in her state, words failing, not able to get anything out.

Manth, tell me the feeling, Please. There's more here. Lilith pleaded, I can't get a read, I need your help.

Touch her. Manth advises, preferring action to description.

Then, kneeling next to Kerrigan, she places her arm around her, "I didn't know, I'm sorry. You matter to me."

Kerrigan flinches, from the touch, but doesn't pull away, "I give up." She says quietly, "I yield. This has to end." Her lip quivers and she pulls in far closer to herself, resembling the Lilith when she had broken into the hatchery. Her head falls, and she doesn't say anything, but an inch of give is shown in her trembling lean into Lilith's touch.

"Kerrigan… This… There's nothing to end." Lilith says, confused, trying to hug her, "There is no yielding. Are you ok? Where do you think you are right now?" She puts a gentle hand on top of Kerrigan's head trying to pull her closer into a hug.

"J-just stop this." She begs, shaking with the effort of getting words out.

Then looking around herself, at the Behemoth, the odd bedroom, the weird mixes of zerg and terran culture. The lack of people, the isolation. The constant time on a planet alone. The overwhelming rage. The aggression, the constant fighting. Never agreeing, always ordering, never acquiescing. Needing total submission and control. "Kerrigan, do you think… You're being infested by another Swarm? Is that what you're scared of?"

"J-just stop it." Kerrigan begs again.

The words make it clear, the bleed through of feelings. It must have taken years even decades to break her in swarm-space the first time she was infested. An extremely powerful psychic, being re-made for almost an eternity. Until she finally acquiesced into a role that she Never wanted, but gave her the power to never be controlled again. A man, her only link to her humanity left, giving up on him, meaning giving up on life. Possibly, even being infested entirely. Never quite sure of reality. She wasn't just competing with Jim Raynor's memory the entire time. She was competing with Kerrigan's sense of reality. Her sense of humanity. None of this seemed real anymore.

Lilith holds her tight into a hug, finally able to catch onto the warmth and empathy she was trying to create. Getting a grasp on it and pushing it outwards. "Sarah…" The word burned into her mind now, she can't unthink it, "You're not being infested. You're not being subsumed. You are still Queen. You're still my Queen." She says quietly, "You're ok, let's just sit quietly for a bit, in each other's company." And she hums, quietly, rocking Kerrigan a bit holding the large woman with all the comfort she could provide. One of her many limbs grabbing the burned, scorched, and tattered blanket, throwing it over them.

There's a few more seconds, then minutes, then an hour, and the trembling starts to stop. The breathing becomes more rhythmic and smooth. It… goes neutral.

The injuries across Sarah's body heal, most of them vanishing into carapace over the hour, slowly healing for one reason or another. All except a carving, one notable for being at least hideable, right on the inside of her left wrist.

Lilith loves Sarah.

 

[Princess Scribe]

As a Behemoth has a small war take place aboard it, the galaxy continues spinning. At systems edge, blooming tears rip open, spilling purple fog and crackling energies across the hulls of a dozen ships, colossal twelve kilometre behemoths with storage blocks larger than asteroids forming the core of the fleet as they translate to reality, whilst smaller, more audacious vessels in gleaming white and gold, studded with gems rumble free of the Warp, guns proudly displayed on its sides, vast laser-lances dorsally mounted, thrumming with casual energy.

Each vessel emits enough heat that Corruptors confuse them for stars as they adapt to their presence. A transmission passes through, rippling into Zerg space and activating their own Vox array. "The Tithe Fleet has arrived, prepare to host Lord Admiral Varynna."

Already prepared containers of the special dye that this world produced tumble in space around the distant gas giant, guiding the titanic Mass Conveyors to them and beginning to be loaded. Zhakarov's preparation off near-silent conversations with the Magos.

Lilith still sits with the Queen, feeling the stiff, unyielding pain in her by touch, by soul. Ana sits nearby on the floor, not knowing where to put herself as a trickle of black-red blood has finally stopped flowing from her right eye.

"Ana, you're a part of this too, come sit on the other side of me, please." Lilith says, looking at her, "I didn't realize I had to tell you still that you're with me too."

"O-I-oh" She tries to answer, but can't find words, preferring to obey. Sitting on the other side of Lilith, she gently places herself warmly against the other woman, "A-are you hurt?" She asks, looking at the blood from Kerrigan over her front and lap.

"No, of course not," Lilith says with a smile, crying, "I'm just so happy that my family is happy." Then she looks at Kerrigan, "Ok… Healing. Happy is… Maybe a bit generous right now." Then looking to Anastasia, "When our Queen," Putting emphasis on the word, to make sure that Ana felt the importance of respecting that boundary, "Is feeling up to it, the three of us will discuss… What happens next. Right now, I'm just enjoying that everyone is safe." She squeezes Kerrigan just a bit to let her know she's still thinking about her.

The Behemoth rumbles, making Ana's head snap up and even Kerrigan stiffen, eyes slipping into something more focused.
"Oh COME ON!" Lilith moans growling. "What is it now?!"

"S-ships, t-twelve, a fleet." Ana says, her eyes flooding with orange Essence.

Gently petting one of the tendrils on her own head, which she had learned were psi focii, she muttered, "Weren't we expecting a fleet? The tithing right?"

"Ye-Yes," Ana admitted, "Bu-but," She takes a deep breath, calming and pulling herself together when Lilith touches her shoulder, "But well, there's more ships than there should be, and the Lord Admiral wishes to speak to us." The words flowing with more confidence. Starting to find it easy to talk as the topic turns to familiar politics.

"And we're in the Behemoth." Lilith face falls, "Which means we won't be there for the shuttle or prepared. How much time do we have."

Kerrigan growled, "She summons us?!" Speaking to, most likely, Zhakarov. "I am not a servant."

"Ana, can you let them know now's not a great time. Imply that we're… Otherwise… Indisposed?" She makes a head jerk towards the bed.

"T-the Lord Admiral… is not asking, L-lilith." Anastasia regretfully answers.

Lilith winces, "Can we ask? Just for like, an hour to pull ourselves together?!"

"W-we have fourty minutes u-until their shuttle arrives i-in orbit."

"Tell them to come to the Behemoth, we've got some clothes here, we can't make it planetside in time." Lilith winces, knowing that she's not allowed to give orders, "I'm not in Unity or the swarm, but I can't think of any other option. Maybe the Lord Admiral won't think too much about all three of us leaving the same abode."

Ana winces at the hope, "M-maybe." Minutes pass quickly, the anxious energy of the situation developing this way making them tick by. A rumble of fusion jets can be heard vibrating through the Behemoth as something nears. "T-they're here." Anastasia says, communing with the Behemoth. "J-just outside."

Kerrigan finally snarls, shooting to her feet, angry.

Lilith leaps after her, touching her wrist gently, "My Queen, don't we aren't strong enough. We're not I can't lose everything right now. If you can't just let me and Ana go alone, but don't get us all killed." She puts Kerrigan's hand in her own, "Please. Please. I'm so happy please."

"I'll just talk." She, bitingly, assures Lilith.

Lilith rests her head against Kerrigan's arm, "Thank you. Thank you. I appreciate it." Then looking at the pile of clothes, "What do you want to wear? We're not going to look very human if we show up in just our carapace."

The clothing selection was highly tailored to Lilith's personal tastes, few of the clothes actually being acceptable in any sort of formal gathering. Anastasia, who had found, cleaned, and re-furbished old Astropath uniforms looked like a prim, and proper imperial. While Lilith and Kerrigan were having far bigger worries. Most of the clothing planet side wasn't tailored for them, or so soiled, or rotten to be unusable. Kerrigan being far larger than Lilith was being forced into tight, revealing clothing. Much of which seemed to be more revealing than wearing nothing at all.

Kerrigan found herself in a slinky side slit dress that was held together by a ribbon just above the hip, that crossed over itself as a helix, just up the side to lash it together, while a single sleeve and strap adorned the opposite, the sleeve running down to her thumb, covering half of her, but so tightly that it seemed to be near the verge of ripping. Though Zerg physiology made this seem more like a purposeful choice of power fashion, rather than a hasty forced mistake.

Lilith, struck with indecision, decided to match the energy, and threw on a crop jacket that revealed her midriff, and a pair of long slacks. Then looking around the room for something, anything to show a defined sense of unity she scooped up a random yellow blouse, and used her weaving appendages to quickly make three ribbon chokers, "It's the best I could think of, shut-up. It's the Zerglings favorite color." She said, before anyone could complain, placing the necklaces around the three of their necks matching. "We look fucking stupid, but humans look stupid so it should work."

They walked over to the center of the Behemoth with the hatchery and evolution pool, watching the "Docking bay" door slip open, a brief vacuum pull as the shuttle fearlessly enters the Behemoth. A black helmeted pilot gestures to an opened doorway, revealing a fur lined interior, ringed with gold and wealth.

Under her breath Lilith whispers at Ana, "Let Kerrigan get in first, then me." She quickly fell in place behind Kerrigan. "Keeping you two separated for now."

Kerrigan snarled as she climbed in, but maintained her composure. She found it hard to manoeuvre in the stiff clothing. Meanwhile, Lilith tried to figure out the persona that she would need. She had been perfect for the Zerg, and for Ana, but the Imperium seemed… She quickly took a bit of essence from the bottom of the behemoth and made a bit of "chewing gum."

Chewing it loudly Lilith yelped, "OH HI!" To the pilot, "I'm Lilith, nice to meet you, this is My Queen, isn't she Darling, and this is Ana." Then she plopped into her seat, "You doing alright today?" She says to the pilot, quickly trying to piece together an identity, and their social status.

The vox on the Pilot's helmet cuts on with a crackle, "A pleasure Ma'am, doing fine." Smooth, despite the static, words and a slick delivery is accompanied by the tapping of buttons and switches, the shuttle rumbling to life as its thrusters burn lightly to escape the maw of the Behemoth.

Okay, he's talking to us like we're not worthless. "That's amazing to hear, amazing." She smiles. She stares out the window as well, "You got a name, I'm sure. Gosh space is just lovely, I never get tired of it."

"Zares." The pilot answers, flicking to full thrust with a light pressure on the passengers, "The void's always a treat, unless it's being unfriendly." Black space interposed with stars fills the transparent aluminium windows, whilst ahead, through the pilot's cockpit glass, the astronomic size of the gas giant seems to swallow the horizon, rings circling it whilst even the titanic vessels are less than dots.

"If you learn anything about us Zares, it's that we're great at making friends." She watches the planet with glee and wonder, she didn't get to travel much. Though she tried not to mention it, seeing space was one of her favourite parts about being a zerg. "So you enjoying your time on the uhhmmm…" She points at the fleet, "The whatevers? Oof, listen to me, such a bumpkin."

"I'm not a part of the Tithe Fleet, no." The pilot chuckles through the crackle, "I'm the Lord Admiral's personal pilot, whenever she needs something moved, I move it."

She nods, "Oh we're getting a personal lift look at that," Lilith considers for a second of going further and poking Kerrigan, but the death glare she received immediately disabused her of that notion. "Right, sorry my queen."

Finally, a light pull no one quite noticed vanishes as truly interplanetary space is reached, no tug but what the gravity of the shuttle can provide. "You're world's a little distant, ladies." Zares admits, still indistinct on what exactly lies behind the helmet. "So we'll be floating here for the next twenty-odd minutes."

With a wink Lilith said, "What your Lord Admiral scared of getting closer?"

"The opposite, I think." Another crackled chuckle, "Most planets don't appreciate a plasma carronade hanging above them."

With a smile, "I'll make sure to let him know he can get in as snug as he likes."

"Her." Zares corrects.

"Does that make her a Lady Admiral then?" Lilith asks quickly. collating facts, plasma carronade sounds bad. Though lady admiral sounds like there will at least be someone coolheaded in charge.

"The title doesn't change, no." The pilot chuckles as they slightly course-correct for the autopilot, seeing a more efficient burn route.

Ok, don't call her Lady Admiral, got it. She gave Kerrigan a look but her gaze was disregarded. Please don't piss this lady off Lilith thought to herself. "Well, then I'll make sure she gets in even closer."

The shuttle nears, finally seeing the vast ship with the naked eye. A bone-white, flecked with gold statues reaching up what must be hundreds of metres, proudly portraying images of a woman in uniform, sword extended forwards to the prow of the cruiser. On its side, stamped in peerless metal is "Rage of Mercury", just below its cannon line. Capacitors hum alongside the barrel sides, electric charge buzzing on the hull of the shuttle even at this distance whilst dorsal lances threaten with burning red heat and a prow mounted cannon is very carefully actively corrected to avoid anything being in front of it

Docking bays groan open, letting the tiny shuttle fall into it and be grabbed by the impelling gravity of the warship. Landing on metal tiling, outside the windows can be seen a military parade, marching soldiers in lockstep alongside strange, mechanical walkers, rumbling tanks and everything in between, filling the massive docking bay from edge to edge with thousands in a royal welcome.

The door swings open, landing and serving as a stairway for anyone exiting into the austere-yet-ostentatious space.

Anastasia climbs out first, then when Lilith pokes her head, she quickly turns back to Kerrigan and whispers, "It's a royal welcome, you're being treated like a Queen, respected like a monarch. It's not a threat" Then winks at Zares and climbs out at the side waiting for her to step in front of both of them. The Queen walks forward, and then stops when a diminutive woman stands in front of a hulking army. Lilith looks to Ana, Do we announce ourselves first or does she?

She begins, not us. Anastasia projects, focusing on politics and intrigue, a honed home of hers as it turns out.

Lilith nods, and waits. Then gently touches Kerrigan's finger with hers to pass on she should do the same. This doesn't have the intended effect, as Kerrigan seems to shirk away almost immediately from Lilith, as if burned by the touch. Shit.

"Governess! Attendants!" The loud voice of the diminutive woman carries far and wide. Her uniform flexing and shifting with the medals galore on her chest. Light-blue and cinched at the waist to show both wealth and figure. "I am delighted to make your acquaintance! Please, follow my armsmen, they'll take you right over to where I am!"

The perfect holographic display of a woman flickers to nothing, leaving just the army and a hiss from Kerrigan, nearly breaking her focus.

In her mind Ana remind her that we don't know what respect looks like here. That could have been a respectful greeting, and if it wasn't don't mention that. Lilith was panicking, she wasn't expecting to get hungover, drunk, horny, beaten to shit, cry for an hour, and then perform in front of an admiral. She knew Kerrigan was fragile right now, and they just needed to say hello, not blow up, and leave.

Ana can't find the time to respond to Lilith as Kerrigan begins stomping her way along the pathway between formations, leading to the location of this woman. A grand door, carved with mythologic images of great and terrible battle, of ships splitting and worlds crumbling, pulls open with mechanical actuation. Moving inside without anyone else, all three women are left in the edifice.

More statues of the woman, these in far more lurid detail and states of dress and undress, personal pieces still twenty feet tall and brightly golden, silvered at the detail-points. Cold metal floor sits at odd with old-world opulence, a throne at the far end of the chamber.

Without proper thought, Lilith looks at the statues, and whispers to Kerrigan, "You think she's compensating for something?" Continuing to chew her "gum" wad of meat.

Kerrigan smirked, just a little, enough to break the tension. Which made Lilith breathe a sigh of relief. As they walked further, a shifting pool just to the side of the throne started to swarm and swirl. The inky black undulating with an unhealthy rhythm. The entire pool seeming to be the single membrane of a creature as it rises, no, something from inside of it rises out. A nude woman, five foot two, steps out of the pool, and every drop of it starts to be drunk in by her pores. Each drop disappears, revealing her naked form fully.

Dozens of floating skulls tend to her needs, flying in from the sides and top of the room. Descending like a swarm of Zergling on a bunker. In moments she's covered in a beautiful white dress, and steps into matching pumps. Small servitors apply make-up in layers, as if perfectly printing a more beautiful her on top. Piercings and jewellery are planted upon her neck, ears, and wrists, gems that seem to sparkle brighter than any diamond, greener than any emerald. Finally as she steps up to the throne, a glass is placed into her hand, and wine is poured in.

She looks amused as she walks forward, "I've no need to excuse the delay, Rejuvenant isn't optional for my stunning looks." A refined and exquisite voice, practically sculpted into shape.

"I'm not complaining," Lilith says with her hands up, trying to lay into her excited rural ruse, "Not something I get to see very often. Oh, my apologies," Leaning on the last syllable just a bit, "This is The Queen of Blades, our darling governess. I'm Lilith, and that's our uh…" Lilith tries to stretch the syllable out, "You know the uh Astro-whosie-whatsit." Then gives a large smile.

"Astropath, yes." The Lord Admiral answers with a chuckling grin, settling on her throne with a practised comfort, eyes locking onto Kerrigan. One gleams in the light oddly, the other seems to be more natural in its reaction to everything. "Greetings, queen, and welcome to my vessel. I trust you've been treated well so far?" She seems to know exactly when to modulate her voice to make Kerrigan narrow her eyes.

"Fine, so far." The Queen's reply is short and curt, trying to avoid long, rage inducing sentences. This only excites the Lord Admiral, starting to tap her foot with a grin, preparing another innocuous sentence.

"We've been having just a hoot planetside, you should come visit! You might like it, noticed you parked so far away, made it seem like you were scared! We're nice. I don't bite." Lilith had a dozen images of her biting people flit through her mind, that she tried to push down, "Ok, well I bite but only when people ask." Then she snorts for good measure.

Her gaze shifts off Kerrigan and focuses on Lilith, much to Ana's massive relaxation. "Typically, I'm the one biting." She grins, showing pearly teeth, perfectly complimenting her porcelain skin, another sign of almost-intelligent design.

"I guess we'll wrestle for it later then." She says, showing a larger set of… Unnaturally sharp teeth, each pointed like an obligate carnivore's would be.

Kerrigan hisses out, "Is there any business you wanted attended too." Trying to kill the budding conversation with an angry tone.

Poor word choice. "This is business I think, we're all seeing how we get along," She smiles, "I love tests."

Ignoring Lilith's explanation, the Admiral leans forwards on her throne, a social predator finding a bared neck, "Ooh, is she off-limits?" The words make the Queen growl loudly, a scent of ozone filling the air rapidly.

Lilith's face fell, and with it the accent, "Wait.. Am… I? That's… Awesome!" She's completely forgotten where she is, until the smell of ozone hits, and then deep breaths. "Oh my god that's so great. That means we should be very careful what we do right now. Please."

Then Lilith's accent comes back, nasally and high, "You're such a tease Lord Admiral, but we don't wanna waste your time with games!" Then she realizes, "I lost the accent a minute ago. I got… If you could have given us just an hour. We were begging for it! You even needed it for your… Bath?" Social defaults of blathering for disarmament kicks in as she tries to regain the control of the situation by throwing out too much bait to latch onto.

The Admiral smiles, rising off her throne and taking short, delicate steps down the stairs, swarms of servitor skulls moving tables through the air.

She stops a good distance from the trio, settling on a chair just put into place by three of the floating servants. The table set with lemons and meats galore. "Please, join me in this feast. It is, after all, a gift from your world!" Purple flesh shifts, sizzling under exposure to the citrus solution obviously used all over it.

Ana frowns and then widens her eyes, a desperate mental message striking Lilith, THAT IS ZERG ME-

Crackle, energy builds, a glow invades the room from Kerrigan's hands.

Manth? Good idea to stop her? She asks in her head.

T-this i-isn't m-my e-element, lovely. Manth seems strained, as if something pressing down on him

There are a few constants of Lilith's life, anger at being jilted, a destructive temper with a short-fuse, and poor decision making skills, only Ana truly understood what Lilith was doing, when she picked up a chair and threw it at the Admiral. Lilith definitely at that moment, was finished with the game. "There, one of us made an ass out of ourselves. Are you happy? Listen five foot nothing, you got a reason for being a dick?"

The short woman smiles warmly, and then chairs impact shoves her five feet back, zerg muscle giving it much more force than normally expected of such a thing. Skin rips, revealing clicking, whirring metal beneath it, the wood cracks over her frame.

"Oh shit, I thought you were way stronger than that, I am so sorry. I am so sorry." Lilith bites her fingernails in fear.

Pulling herself up from the pile of broken wood and nails, she laughs, servitor skulls jabbing her with chemicals, suturing flesh in seconds as they pump. "I expect to get even for that." The way the Admiral says it makes it confusing whether or not she means the chair or the interruption. Kerrigan snarls, once again being aggravated.

"They are not yours to play games with, Admiral. What was the meaning of this summons." She demands, ozone crackle still in the air, though the light has faded. As her facial cuts seal, perfect porcelain left behind, the shortest woman in the room answers with confidence. "Of course, of course, after all, my game is with you."

Lighting arcs, once again the Admiral is sent tumbling, this time across the breadth of the room in a spray of mechanical oil and burnt blood. Split open chest revealing the almost chronometric ticking of her internals, a delirious grin rips across the woman's face as she dents in the far wall, stopping harshly with a repetitive series of crunches.

"FUCK!" Lilith yells, "Fuck! FUCK! Oh Kerrigan, why. Would you DO that?! The fucking ship is accompanied with a planet cracking Armada! I can lose my cool, because I'm not the Queen." She sits down angrily, "If I had at least done it, they could have just taken me and not the Planet. There is no higher authority than you to demand recompense from."

"E-x-a-c-t-l-y." A revenant groan comes from the briefly dead woman as a buzz of defibrillation sounds out. Chemical-hauling servo-skulls jabbing her again, forces even the burnt, twisted and ruined chest wound to slowly close with internal medichines forcing the brute fleshy changes required to seal the injury.

"A-a-and now, I do nothing about it." The Admirals voice settles into something more sane and human as internal repairs catch up with external, the front of her white dress blasted and melted to her skin by the impact.

Lilith looks at her, "Oh well if she's immortal do it again." Throwing her hands up in the air.

"D-do that again and I'll have the room flooded with plasma." She chuckles, "Regenerator chemicals are expensive, darlings." Clothes being returned to her by skulls.

"Well, it sounds like there's a limit then." Her eyes were brimming, pissed off that her special achievement was so throughly fucking ruined. "I was having a moment when you arrived." Her hands flexing in and out, with rage.

One eye overrun with the red of recently burst capillaries, another with the case of synthetic that prevents it from being seen as purely mechanical lock onto Lilith, piercing her with almost psionic intensity. "Adorable." There's no feeling to the compliment, like a walking corpse giving it, "I could just rip you to pieces." There's far more emotion to the second statement, a gleeful happiness to it.

"It was Adorable. It was perfect." Gritting her teeth, "It can't happen again. I'm pissed. I don't want to be dressed like a fucking night-clubber being talked down to by a… Fucking kid!"

That insult does seem to strike home, getting the Lord Admiral to frown, lips curling, "I will have you know I'm of average height from my home." The statement is repeated, as if often said.

Lilith catches on, and walks around it with feigned ignorance. "Yeah but that doesn't make you older then what? Twenty three? You learn these mind games get old." Lilith says, "I don't know what the average height from any world is. I'm from this one."

"First, Lilith, they never get old." The Admiral is smiling broadly through the point by point explanation, "Secondly, I can't help your lack of education." Her finger points to Lilith, "And thirdly, Add another five-hundred and ninety." A smugness enters her at the last phrase, as if very proud of the age.

"Oh! Well, you look great for it, do you start big then work your way downwards as you age?" Lilith bouncing between getting angry, and just loving the game even though she knows she shouldn't. Engaging, wanting to see how far the little psychopath will go. Stuck between rage at being robbed, and glee at something that will engage on her level.

"Of course you came up with that, Lilith. What can I expect from a needy limpet." She grins, stepping off from the wall to get infront of Lilith, though can't quite manage in her face.

The word hits her, and she's confused, so Lilith looks to Anastasia, "The fuck is a limpet?"

"L-like a leech." Anastasia answers, nervously giving the truth despite knowing its a terrible idea.

Fury almost instantly, trying to calm down, "You can't get to me, I'm not like them. I'm perfect. So…" She tried to think of something, "Nyeh."

"Perfect?" The Admiral coyly asks, "Is that what you want to be called?" She presses a metal nail into Lilith's chest, slicing a small hole in the top she's wearing by doing so. "A perfect woman, hmm? I can do that."

"Well, you can do it in part, most of you looks like it's made of steel isn't it?" Lilith snaps back, leaning into the metal nail, letting it sink into her chest. "When's the last time you felt every nerve ending tingle Admiral?"

"When's the last time you felt wanted, Lilith." The Admiral chuckles, dragging her nail down and out of the other woman, scraping.

"Five minutes ago, thanks to you." Lilith smiles, then looks at the scrape, "Oh look, no mark. Guess you're getting weak in your old age."

Like a flipped switch, the Admiral asks in an entirely different tone of voice, "Just to clarify, are we fighting or fucking? I can't tell, and it's never good to be confused." Throwing the entire conversation off balance.

"I don't know anymore." Lilith admitted, "I just really like back and forth wordplay, so I felt like either you killed us, or I seemed really cool and strong. It was a game of chicken, mostly. I think I won?" She flumps, down on a chair.

"I think you did, yes, very good!" She gently pats Lilith's cheek, cold metal draining some heat even through synthetic skin. "We will do this again, alright?" It's phrased like a question and command alike, leaving room to consider whether it was meant to be one or the other.

"Can I steal your liquor?" She asks as the Admiral walks off to her throne, "I get really thirsty when I'm scared."

"I don't know." The Admiral answers smiling, "Can I steal you?"

"I need to have a conversation way before that ever happens, probably multiple." Lilith replies finally feeling like she regained some balance of control of the situation. "So, you've been eating Zerg, or… What's up with that?"

The Lord Admiral waves her hand, "Go home, little citizens. I'll call on you when i've the time to play more games." The words make Kerrigan grit her teeth again, but otherwise begin to storm off. "I'll be in touch."

The word gives Lilith shivers, and she doesn't quite know if she hates it, "You're a lot… Anyone tell you that," And she snatches multiple decanters off of the table before she leaves, lingering to make it clear she was leaving when she was ready. "Anyways, call me when you don't want to feel metal anymore." Then she sprints out to Kerrigan's side.

 

[Princess Scribe]

After landing, Kerrigan storms out of the shuttle, growling and cursing, electric bolts ripping boulders free once she finally has enough. The trail of destruction ends in a half-circle crater of annihilation with a Queen of Blades at the centre, sitting atop rocks as Creep slowly moves back in. Lilith nods in appreciation.

"I'm going to start with how…" Lilith bits her tongue, then decides to push forward, "It's not patronizing, for people to be proud of other people. You have done so much better than I thought possible. You might hate that I'm saying that, and praise probably feels like venom, but you need to be told when you're doing well, so you can know you're on the right path. You did great. It's not perfect, but it's great."

"You're treating me like a toddler." Sarah growls, turning her head to face Lilith, a look of deep-seated turmoil in her.

Unflinching, Lilith walked forward. "No, I'm treating you like someone who has felt unloved for thirty years. If I wanted to make you feel like a toddler, I would do that. I want to make you stronger, stronger in a way that everyone else has used against you." She had brought Broken Horn with her, once again healed by the knowledge Abathur had given her. "He was worried about you."

"He's a zergling, they're all worried about things." She deflects, looking back down at the floor. "Damnit." Kerrigan breathes out, shaky, "She knew how to say it, every part. All I could see was red." A crackle of lightning passes between her and the ground, ranting, "I want her dead, I tried, I hate this place."

There was a silent sadness, that Lilith tried not to fill with words. The planet they landed on honestly had few moments of real beauty, in fact the creep which they had made some fun colors, seemed to be the only real decoration. The dust from the city had largely settled, so the sunsets were the same boring colors. The waters dull, and dreary luster stolen by the new sea-bed creep. Kerrigan wasn't wrong.

"Yeah, me too, for different reasons of course. Everyone here hurts. Sometimes I feel like we could snuff this entire galaxy out and be doing half of them a favor by just ending it." Lilith said. "She's just been doing this a lot longer, the problem is, you haven't gotten the experience yet. Everything has been the maximum difficulty. Learning by failing can work sometimes, but it's hard and it sucks." There's another pause, "First, you just have to learn to focus, that's the first step."

"Focus." She spits, "It's always about focus." Sarah's voice is acidic. "When I became zerg, I could finally stop focusing. Stop needing to think so much about everything." But it softens into almost whispers, "It was so simple."

There's a nod, just a slow soft rocking of Lilith's head, as she listened. "Yeah." She says quietly, "When you're the strongest thing in the galaxy, you don't have to navigate. I think people have… Told you focus is something different then what it is. You don't need discipline, you are quite disciplined, and willful! You just need a goal. Is there something you care about? Not abstract, like the swarm, but—" She stops, shakes her head, "Something you can imagine, that's here." She says, putting a bit of emphasis on the final word.

"I don't know." Sarah answers in an eerie facsimile of another event, somehow just as vulnerable. "I-" She looks up at Lilith, "I'm trying?" Its a question, directed to who, Lilith can't tell.

The other nods, "You are. You're doing great. You're amazing. I'm not just saying that because I'm a creep." Lilith says, "I mean it helps, but I'm saying it because you have gone through hell and you're still strong. In a very real way." Then a shuddering breath, "It doesn't have to be me, by the way. It can be Broken Horn, it can be your throne, just something you can encompass and think about when someone's needling you."

"A center?" She asks, trying to synthesize everything being said, "I used to have one." Sarah whispers, "It's gone, dead or too far away for me to touch." A crackle of lightning splits a rock in an idle violence

Kerrigan turns to the other woman, trying to give herself a break, "Tell me, how much did it irk to say it doesn't have to be you?"

"It didn't. It hurt, desperately, but in the same way that Ana would care and watch me be happy, I care." There's a quiet bereft scar, from a conversation that Kerrigan probably didn't even remember: "If… Any person… Were here, and you told me, I'd watch from the sidelines, dying the entire time. I'd savor every scrap of attention. It kills me. Like my soul is being torn out in front of me." She dips her finger in the crumbled ash from the lightning struck rock, writing out the wrong words that seem emblazoned inside of her. "She probably hears the stupid hymn constantly." Lilith loves Sarah, and Sarah loves Lilith and "Everyone does… Who knows me."

The Queen is quiet, not using her words. An idle scratching on her wrist stops as she acts. The carapace heals and she grabs Lilith by her chin, facing her towards it. Lilith loves Sarah. There's a shaky energy to her, as if she's never done this before.

She wants to break, to melt in her arms, "I know," even quieter, "You don't have to say it, I know. I love you too." There's a harder wheeze as tears flood her. "That can be a focus, a center, it's physical, you can… Feel the bumps, know it's real."

"Okay." Sarah says to herself. "I." She stops, breathing again, "How do you just talk about this?" Finally, something escapes her, a question, desperate. "Its-Ugh!" The words turns to a scream.

There's a quick shake of her head, "Honestly?" There's a deep indecision, mental calculations as she tries to imagine different ways the conversation could go. She doesn't stop writing, "I'm a manipulative sado-masochist who worships people. The pain means nothing to the reward of lifting up my special chosen. I studied relationships constantly, tried to have as many as possible. My entire life was studying, psycho-analyzing, and of course, obsessing." Another pause for breath, trying to rush through it,

"You still talk too much." Sarah smiles through the words.

"I read books, and books, and books on what the language is, how to navigate, what to do. Then what I feel gets in the way. Just not the way it does with you." Lilith can't stop, she's speaking over Kerrigan. "It makes me jump into a spawning pool and try to steal tendrils when you're not looking, while my brain screams to stop."

"I, damnit." The smile turns to a frown, breath escaping her in a hiss, "I'm dancing to everyone else's tune, just another puppet."

"You're not." Lilith wants to cry, "You're not." She has to push forward, This is of course, never what she should have said, but she needed someone to be honest around. She said the hardest part, why couldn't she say this? She crumples, pulling her legs to her chest, depressive compaction causing her to internally structurally fail as she falls deep into herself. "Never. I just know what I need to say. I know what I need to feel." Even quieter, "I don't know how I know. I just do, and it scares everyone."

"I'm not scared of you." Sarah growls, "I-."

The words won't come out. "I—"

She breathes out a curse, closing her eyes and then responding, "I like you."

If she wanted people to be strong she'd have to say it, "I need someone I can be myself around. I need you to know who and what I am. I know, if it comes out later, it'll be so much worse. I'm never using you."

Another minor violence sees a rock shatter in the crater, "I like listening to your twenty minute rants on the stupidest things."

The lightning almost strikes Lilith, making the violence thunder in her ears. "I… love how scary you can be. I love your capacity to care."

Crackling electric arcs burn thin lines into the ground, she's silent, face turned into a harsh frown despite her words, "I like when you think you know what to say. Its… you don't act like you know me, every part of me. I'm not…a file."

She doesn't flinch from the lightning, "I love your sarcastic comments, and your mean jokes, and I love how funny, and smart, and brave you are." Then she just hugs her, hard, tries to crush Kerrigan with her love.

Trying her best to break the tension, Kerrigan says, "It's why I put up with you."

Another, quieter nod, "If you can't say it, but you want too… Touch your wrist, and I'll know." Then a smile blossoms, raising towards Kerrigans face reaching like a rose for the sun. "You should know though, you can't ever stop me saying it back. I love you."

She rolls her eyes, a smirk on her face, "The inside of your head is still filthy." Kerrigan deflects from the words with venom, but, after a second, she puts a hand on her wrist, moving her fingers overtop the scar.

Her eyes glow bright, not from magic or essence, but from pure radiated joy, "You could help me get the thoughts out, if you want."

"No." The Queen answers, "I need you to get mine out first." Imperiously commanding Lilith with a sharp, yet, for once, not hostile look. She tries to quickly think of what to do, but settles on grabbing Lilith and pulling her up to kiss.

 

[Princess Scribe]

Lilith, Kerrigan, and Anastasia were sitting around a circular table in the Behemoth. There were sheets of paper, drinks, and a tense awkwardness. The three of them, in the incredibly awkward love triangle they were, instead of having a vigorous, and horrific battle to the death, were going to talk it out. Mostly, because Lilith threatened to berate them both until they talked about their feelings. The logic that the feelings were intertwined with all three of them. Soon became self evident, Mostly, by Lilith repeatedly screaming about it that is.

"Ok." Lilith says, tapping her fingers on the table, "We're… This is a thing. We need to talk about it. I'll… Start." She takes a deep breath, "Some ground rules, we don't interrupt." Lilith is staring directly at Kerrigan when she says this. "We don't hide our feelings." She says turning to Anastasia. "And we make an honest effort to figure out what anyone here actually wants." She starts to sketch out as she talks, mostly to keep her hands busy.

"I love Kerrigan. Who rejected me repeatedly, through the psychic connection I felt there was something else at play. So I was hurt." Lilith nods, "I told you Anastasia, all of this, and you were willing to say you'd make it work. I love you as well. We've spent time together constantly. We've talked, we've singed, we've grown a lot of amazing memories together." Then to collect her thoughts, she pours a glass of water and drinks it slowly, "Anastasia, you said that the Imperium is familiar with this concept, but I'm assuming it's fucked up and horrifically exploitative, because it's the imperium, and this universe sucks." Then she followed up with, "No offense." Then after a moment, "By that I mean I don't blame you. The imperium is fucking awful."

She watches to make sure that everyone's listening, even getting them to the table seemed almost impossible, "I, personally and this is just my belief. There is not a… special person. There are people you make special. That is, your feelings and relationship is what makes it special, it's that you have experiences with them, not that the universe created an exact person for you, you have to find." She doesn't quite catch eyes with Kerrigan for this. "So, I've always… Floated, a bit, but I learned that in life, boundaries and rules are important."

Then another breath, "Is there anyone here, who believes, that the only way forward is that they get to be the only one who has another person's undivided time and attention at this table. That only, one hundred percent devotion is an acceptable, romantic relationship. I'll call on you both." She turns to Ana.

"Anastasia?" Lilith asks.

Anastasia shakes her head, "N-No. O-one p-person can't always h-hold your undivided..a-attention, n-not forever. It's… Normal?"

Lilith nods, "And what makes a relationship, a romantic relationship, special to you?"

She freezes, trying to figure out how to put it to words, "I-it's, uhm, t-talking and k-knowing som-someone who l-loves you for, uhm, whom you are, n-not w-what you can d-do." A seemingly classic response have a much weightier tone here, as she looks at where the very last edges of a tattoo can be seen, "W-who look past what you do, to s-see who you are."

God that was so good, that was great, Lilith smiles, "Kerrigan, you're next by the way. Anastasia, that's awesome, for me, it's… Teasing, but also just… Improving. My relationships are special to me, because normally people grow through them. It's a bit objectifying," she takes a deep breath, "When I obsess about someone I make them a little… Idol, or a Goddess, or…" She makes eye contact with Kerigan, "A Queen, I try to make them as clean and as shiny as I can, and then let them be, as they are to… To worship them. I need people who want my help, and that want to be… Treated important. Ana, you and I work, because I think that dynamic happens a lot with us."

Deep breaths, calm, "I… Don't… Have control in my life." This part sucked, it fucking sucks baring your soul, knowing that it could be ripped out in front of you. "Not ever! Making people feel appreciated, gives me… Self-worth. I say it when I'm losing my shit, but if I help someone… Perfect, then I'm perfect. I was a part of the perfect thing. Perfect is… A big word… For me. I see myself in the people I pick, and I see what those qualities in me can do in someone… Better. So in a way, all of their achievements, are a part of me, because I was on their team. I supported them." There's… God, maybe. Have faith, Kerrigan can do this. She can start at least. Staring at Kerrigan, "You don't have to have a speech, like… I did. What… Makes a relationship…Good to you, special even."

Manth, if you can do anything, please help smooth this out. She thinks, hoping the Daemon can somehow keep things better than the liquor might.

I'll… experiment. The warm tones are distant, as if already putting in the effort requested.

"This is stupid." The Queen states, staring at the other two women. "You're just gushing at each other and expecting someone else to join." A hint of acid invades her voice at the bared spirit of both women.

"We're being.. Vulnerable. Yes, but that's not it at all. This isn't… It's not just 'Oh all three of us go get a milkshake with three straws,' or 'We all take turns riding my face.'" When the Queen growls she quickly moves on, "What I mean is. Ana, needs to feel special, so in order for us to not violate that, she has to feel special or at least… Not worthless. I have to feel like I'm with people who are either special, or will be special already."

She bites her lip, trying to figure out how to navigate this, she'd been planning for weeks and weeks, but it needed to be said. "Knowing what you like, means knowing what will be hurtful." There's a slight rub of her eyes, "Like for example. I'm… Basically, going to be writing a step-by-step guide tonight… On how to hurt me. I won't expect you guys too, but I will. So that, hopefully, you see those things and choose not to do them. The first thing, that's a big one, for me, and it's pretty small. It would kill me if someone here called someone else they were romantically interested in 'Perfect.' It's super small, but it guts me."

Then Lilith turns to Anastasia, "And Kerrigan has a huge point as well, if she… Wants to be a part of this, with you and I, then the constant praise and attention for each other needs to be toned down for a while, because it cuts someone out. The focus needs to switch to the new person. She made it very clear, without saying as much, that she's going to feel left out. Unless I misunderstood." She turns to Kerrigan, giving her a chance to speak.

The assumption as to her motives makes Kerrigan's lip curl with distaste, a frown falling on her features. An internal struggle takes place, visible as a slight twitching, tapping her talon against the side of her left wrist. "I-" She stops, thinking better of what was about to be said.

"I'll play the stupid game." The Queen finally finds a context in which she is comfortable taking part with a hiss, "In a relationship," She carefully avoids linking this to her, "There shouldn't be limits like that. You either are ride or die, or it's a farce."

Lilith nods, taking a huge breath of relief, "You're right, and awesome. Thank you. It's not 'Do this or I leave,' it's 'this hurts me, I'd like it if you didn't' You know?" She starts sketching again, "You killed me three times, and I still came back. When you showed up here, I never asked you to leave. I am ride or die. I've proven that." Then another breath, "But you're not invincible, you're immortal but you're not invincible. If it were all three of us, I would want to know the things I should avoid, to avoid hurting you. Loyalty is very important to you, above all else. So we— I'll try to defer to you if there's a disagreement. I think control, is also important, which means things happen on your schedule." She looks at Anastasia to make sure she's listening.

"Took you long enough to realise that." Kerrigan grumbles, talon catching in her wrist and getting a wince out of her.

"I… Yeah, that's… Not great on my part, I'm not perfect. I like to rush things, and I like to… Try to help. To a fault." She breathes again. "Loyalty, to you does that mean nothing that would hurt you? Does that mean listening to everything you say? What does Loyalty look like?" Lilith is shocked at how well this going, feeling amazing and on-top of the world. This was the hard one, a lot of times people didn't even know.

The scratching restarts, hitting a volume that even Anastasia's staring, Lilith reaches out, and tries to put a gentle hand on her, "Hey, you got this."

An instant of relaxation, before she shoves Lilith off her, "I know." The Queen growls at her, "Loyalty is obeying me. It's…" She trails, trying to find the words for a concept she so truly believes in as to leave it unformulated, "Never going against me."

Lilith nods, "True, and a lot of times, there seems to be contradictions in what our heart wants. Ride or die, no limits. and Never go against me. Seem like two conflicting things, but is just that you have an unequal expectation. These unequal expectations, are kind of what these… kind of relationships are for. So am I right, in the following statements? You don't want to be tested. You want your orders followed. You want things to move on your terms."

After a long, annoyed hiss Kerrigan replies, "Yes."

"I can do that. Ana can do that. So in almost every case we won't test you, we'll listen when you say things, and we won't move things forward until you say." Lilith nods, "Ana, your stuff is also how you want to be treated, like you're not worthless, like you are an equal, like you're only important because you can do… Brain magic."

Anastasia stutters, "Ye-ye-yes?"

"Cool! Cool. It kills me to not know what my partners are doing, not like tracking them, but if a new relationship just shows up. That's really rough for me. So if something seems to be transitioning to long term, or if feelings start getting involved, I'd want to know." Lilith says quietly as she sits back down. Scratching the back of her neck, "I want to see people be happy, no matter what, I just want to be warned ahead of time." She looks at either side, "Do either of you feel that way?"

Anastasia nods, "I'd l-like to be warned t-too, p-please."

The Queen, on the other hand, scoffs, "Like I care who you're fucking. Do what you want."

"There you go, so moving forward, we know that Anastasia and I would be really hurt if someone did that without warning, and we know The Queen doesn't care, and might not think about it. It's that easy. We care about each other's feelings, so we are making ourselves aware of the hurdles, because there will be hurdles, and try not to trip up too much over them." Lilith nods, stroking her chin, "I want Kerrigan to move in with us, for me to move out with her, or to my own space, until Kerrigan's ready to proceed since she needs control. We need time to get to know each other better, and it's going to be hard if you and I — Talking to you Ana— have a ton of shared experiences that Kerrigan's not a part of."

The psyker's tensing up at the idea, but nods with a shaky breath to calm. "I u-understand, uhm-okay."

Lilith listens intently, and takes another sip of water, breathing, before saying "Is it actually? Because I'm a little worried that Kerrigan is saying do what you want, and she doesn't mean it, and you're saying it's ok, but this whole thing is tearing you up."

"I l-love you Lilith." Anastasia gets out, "I-I d-don't want to leave your s-side. B-but I know t-that it-it's necessary." There's a finality to that last statement, bringing to mind a conversation had weeks ago now. Duty is a virtue.

Lilith flinches a bit, at the words, "That's… Ok, so that clearly bothers you. Kerrigan, you said you don't care but also you feel left out. You want control, so what do you want to do."

"I am control." The Queen growls, "But I don't control what you do with your parts. Handle it however you want."

Manth is she bullshitting you think? Lilith wonders, as she realised now that she rushed this way too fast.

Maybe, its… complicated Lilith. She's… hmm. The voice considers, twisting to her left and then right ear, as if walking around the room. Ana isn't competition, that's it, she doesn't see her as competitive.

Lilith takes a deep breath, "Cool, then I'll stay. That's all out of the way for now, to recap, no-one cares who bangs who, in or out of the relationship. We never betray Kerrigan, follow her orders, and stay with her until the end. We never treat Ana like she's worthless, lesser, or cursed. I want neither of you to call anyone else out of the three of us perfect, while Ana and I want a quick warning if you bump into something that has feelings or is transitioning to something long term."

"That all sounds fine, everyone fine with that, or is there anything they want to change their mind or clarify." Lilith says out loud.

Kerrigan pushes off the table, "This was a waste of time." Rolling her eyes and finding a corner of the Behemoth to lean against.

"Why? This is perfect, we know what everyone wants, we said it. It didn't have to be gleaned, or interpreted. Or…" Lilith puts her head on the table for a second. "Or I am an idiot. All I really wanted to do was see if it was cool to go on dates, the big talk is for…"

Kerrigan chuckles at the self-deprecation, "You don't want my answer." A dark look in her eyes, shot through with mirth.

"I know you need submission so bad, but you have to understand how fun it is to tease when you get like this." Sarah merely glaring shows how far they've both come, "It's… Very fun. Yes, the danger makes it more fun." She pinches her eyes thinking. "Rolling it back, because I… Massively rushed things, and respect both of your patience. We learned a lot, we can come back to this.

"Y-yes, it-it's a c-conversation, r-right?" Anastasia responds, curious if she's on the right track.

Lilith nods, "Yeah, the.. Formality is because I…" She stops, "Huh, I guess I needed control of the entire situation. That's… News to me. I'm starting to think I might be mentally unwell."

"Starting." The Queen comments with mild disbelief to herself.

"Yeah," Lilith said, "But they said rehabilitation fixes all that so it should have been fine." She says it almost absent mindedly then looks to Ana, "Oh, when you go to prison in our other galaxy they do a brain thing that changes how you think to fit in society better. OR they lock you in a space marine suit to fight um… Us, Zerg, or sometimes political dissidents.

"The Confederacy didn't resoc women into the Marines." Kerrigan grumbles, "You'd have been a medic, or pilot. Maybe a Ghost."

"I could have been a pilot!?" Lilith was shocked, again, then turning to Anastasia, "I think Kerrigan knows this, but I kidnapped a woman. She cheated on me after we had a talk like this, so I was going to carve her up. The rehabilitation fixed most of that though I think."

"Resoc wears off, fast." There's personal experience there, "Sometimes in weeks." Kerrigan explains.

Lilith stares at the floor, "Ooooh…." She doesn't look up, continuing to stare at the floor as if they were a particularly interesting spot. "I see. It's been twenty or so years now so…" A deep intake of breath, "Huh. Ok." Then a little quieter, "Do either of you have… A little hymn… burned in your head over and over?"

Kerrigan growls, stomping out of the room.

"O-oh." Ana says, watching her leave, drenched in fury as the Queen suddenly became.

Then watching her leave, "Ana, I… if whatever is in my head… I gotta go check on her, probably alone." Lilith leaves following Kerrigan. She catches up with her before she leaves the Behemoth, in the main area with the Hatchery, the shuttle bay, and the Evolution pit.

"Hey, thank you, and…" She says quietly, "I'm sorry, this is… I don't know what I'm doing." Another shuddering breath, "I really want you to take charge, I can't figure it out. I was hoping you knew. Honestly. I'm lost, I can't hurt anyone I don't want to."

"Take charge?" The Queen snaps at Lilith. "You seemed to be doing that fine yourself." Venom returns to her, a vicious aspect to her voice.

"Do you really think so? I feel like I fucked everything up massively, for like, No reason." Lilith says with a sigh of relief, "I thought that by trying to avoi—"

"That was sarcasm you-" Kerrigan cuts herself off, talons digging into a wall in a desperate stress release.

Lilith nods again, moving to the wall. "Being stupid can be very disarming, but I think it either has become a reflex or I've actively just not used those muscles enough that it's atrophied." Then a bit quieter, "You know we can just… If… I don't… If you wanna…" She stops. "Kerrigan there is something that I can literally not say because it's too hard. Please look into my brain so I don't have too." Then before Kerrigan even answers, "That's not fair to you sorry, Uh…"

Somewhere in the morass of words, the Queen finds herself putting a hand on the nearby wall, the same one Lilith is leaning on, and then moving said hand to catch Lilith by the jaw suddenly. "If you want me to care. Don't hide things."

The decision is made, almost immediately as her mind starts to shut-off. "... I really like teasing and violence, but it has to be from like…" Oh my god you bootlicker, she realises, "You're the strongest thing in the universe. If you lose control you could actually kill me or worse. It's… Gotta" The words are so hard to get out, "It has to be you. At least sometimes we can switch?"

Kerrigan has the rage pulled out of her by the baffling words spoken to her. Staring at the other woman.

"You said don't hide things, that's not my fault." She starts sputtering, "You… Hey! I'm not weird."

The Queen breathes out, "At least you're following instruction." Letting go off her jaw after the words escape. "I'm not going to even begin to consider any of what you just said. Just…not even begin." She's evidently tired.

"I mean, you could… Yeah." Lilith said… "...Yeah…" Big breath think hard, what the FUCK are you doing Lilith, "Can I make a request, please?"

"What." Kerrigan flatly states.

"Never, order me to leave please… Or… I think that might be the order I can't follow. Not in like a fun way, but in a like… I can't. I just can't. I literally do not think I am capable. I may be a little broken, I'm realising." Lilith says in an equally monotonous voice, "I think I should maybe stop sequencing myself so much."

Kerrigan's eyes close, relaxing her face, "I…won't." Its close to a promise, maybe better. The Queen doesn't break her word.

"I promise, I will also ask before trying to like… Sit with you for hours or pull your tendrils in a pool of essence while you heal." Lilith says quietly, "Would you like company tonight?"

"If you try anything, I'm taking your head off." Kerrigan threatens, before continuing her stride to the docking section, preparing to load into an Overlord and make her way down to the planet below.

"Behemoth, tell Ana I'm leaving." She says to the Behemoth while running into the Overlord with Kerrigan.

The Overlord is a tight fit, Kerrigan standing on one side of it as the internal structure of the creature shifts with the travails of vacuum, its senses turning outwards and beginning to lower towards the world. She's silent, guiding it at speed with her own psychic force, making the journey in minutes where otherwise it would be half an hour.

Throughout the entire flight, Lilith is vibrating trying not to squeak in excitement, trying not to make a sound, as if Kerrigan didn't know she was there. A learned behaviour she's starting to realise. Noting that many of her "daydreams" that she kept hidden may have actually been memories.

The Overlord releases both women just above the hatchery containing the Queen's throne, roof opening with Queens will to let both of them land inside. A very practised move, as far as Lilith can tell.

"So cool." Lilith says watching the thing drop in. "Did you do that or did you teach it that?" As she climbs out.

"I've done it a thousand times." She confidently boasts.

She nods, taking in the throne room, "I've never actually, looked at this place, the only times I've been inside was you know. Distractingly violent. How do you fix the door?" Lilith looks at the repeatedly blown out orifice.

"I force it closed." Kerrigan's will forces its way out, re-tightening flesh, healing injury and returning the Hatchery to its previous state in seconds.

"Oh, good so… No harm done then." She mentions, "What do you… Do all day? I don't see any books, or picto-reels… Or anything. Just a throne. Do you normally talk to the Zerglings."

"Normally, I sit in silence." She clambers up to her throne, leaning into it and closing her eyes. "I don't feel the need to always talk." Her posture is loose and broad, unguarded.

Lilith smiles, "Ok, that's actually great, because I have so many things to show you when you're less tired." Pointing out the window even though Kerrigan's eyes were closed she begins just an absolute barrage of speech, "I've been sequencing a ton lately and Zerg's favourite colour most of them anyways, is yellow. So I made Yellow creep, because I found out they fight better when they're happy. Also, Hydralisk like to be scratched where their blades can't reach. Also! Also! There are books, everywhere and we can read them. I've read, so many stories, and honestly, even though a lot of it is just proper nouns I don't know, they still have very similar themes."

The tide of conversation washes over Kerrigan, slowly, inchingly digging at her current calm restfulness. At the end, she seems to make a decision, leaving the deep thought that was confused for exhaustion. "Lilith, shut up. Listen." She commands sharply, staring at the other woman.

Lilith nods, "Yeah?" She's staring with rapt adoration and attention.

"Come here." She taps the side of her throne. Pointing at the ground next to it.

Almost at a racing pace, she runs over, and sits with her legs folded under her, and to the side.

"I've put some-" The Queen reconsiders. "I've figured out how to…make this-" With a low growl, she again rephrases in her mind, trying to get the right words strung together. "You piss me off Lilith." She eventually settles on that, satisfied enough to let it into the world.

Thinking in the empty throne room, her mind reels, Ok, she's put some thought into this, she's figured out how to make this work, I piss her off. She thinks in her head, That… Means something.

"You really," She interrupts the other woman, "Get under my skin. Often." The last word is followed by a glare that quickly loses its heat.

Lilith scratches her head, "Are… You saying that… I'm testing you patience? Also-that-you-love-me-and-can't-say-it?" The last one blurts out before she gets a chance to stop thinking. "I... Nodding is fine, or not answering."

A sharp, though not overly painful impact hits the back of Lilith's head, "This is why I moved you here." The Queen states, very self-satisfied. "Despite getting under my skin." Her train of thought continues as if Lilith had said nothing.

"You hear it too? After I touched your essence you heard it too, and I've done something terrible?" Lilith says.

Another smack, "I find myself unwilling to reach out, rip you apart and keep the short watch to make sure you can't be recovered." The Queen confidently runs through what she's been thinking for a long time now. "And because of this, I've arrived at two conclusions."

"If you keep pausing, I'm going to keep talking, it's a very unfortunate talent of mine." Lilith said, this time ducking.

The whistle of Kerrigan's hand promises that this smack would have been painful indeed. "One, I…care." She leaves that one at that. Taking whole seconds to reorder her mind for the next point.

"Two, I." The words die as she goes back to thinking on what was going to leave her mouth, an annoyed look, like they just slipped free of her mind. "Two, I…need to get over certain…things."

This locks Lilith on point, knowing that there's no longer a game happening, the play and teasing leaving her immediately, to be calm, and comforting, "That's… Huge. I'll stop fucking around then, at least a little bit. I… I love you so much for even… Thinking of saying that. You're… Amazing."

"I'm just going to keep hitting you when you interrupt." Sarah seems to joke, before a slap hits the back of Lilith's head again.

Lilith rubs the back of her head with a smile and is quiet again, scratching it.

"I.. have experience with m-." This part is evidently hard for her. "My behaviour making…it hard for me to…" The trailed off words turn to a growl, she sinks into rage, trying to draw strength from the familiar emotion, using it as a furious charge.

"It makes it hard for me to not push away the one I care about." The words tear out huskily, from somewhere deep in her chest, "So I'm going to calm them down." Finally, she can glare properly at Lilith for daring to make her feel this way.

There's a moment where recognition passes over her face, maybe one that was too knowing, then she realises she's not talking about Abathur removing memories. Kerrigan wants to do it the real way. So Lilith tries not to say anything, but it hits harder. "Oh… Um… Oh." She's smiling, but says, "Don't hit me for this one… Would… You… Like me… To…" She's trying not to say it, then she whispers to herself, "Would you like me to… Put my Queen. Above anyone else, sole focus, twenty-four seven."

"I think I'd actually kill you." She jokes, closing her eyes and breathing out a sigh nevertheless. "I'm going to lead every single touch we have, understand?" The Queen commands, "You do nothing I don't tell you too. Directly."

Lilith nods, "I don't… Think I have? Oh… The… Right, I legitimately thought they… Nevermind. I'm new to this, I thought it was like hair? I used to steal a hairbrush for spells normally, I used to be a wiccan so we'd do this thing where you take three hairs, and you'd twis—"

"Shut up.." Sarah tugs Lilith up to her feet by the aforementioned hair, not overly painful, but shocking. "Now." With a look of focus, she trails a talon down the side of Lilith's face, scraping just barely. "We are going to go slow." Thinking on what that means, she clarifies, "You're back to first base."

"That's way better than getting blown up and squished constantly, I'll take it." Lilith nods, then she thinks, "You lead every single touch. I do nothing you don't tell me directly. We are going to slow. And we're back to first base." She's mostly speaking out loud, trying to remember, "It's been thirty years and most girls didn't have a throne room, does first base include sitting next to the throne twenty four seven?"

"You better not." Sarah growls, before gently cupping Lilith's face, "You can kiss me now." It's most definitely not a request.

With a small bratty smile, Lilith says, "At your lead my Queen."

Kerrigan narrows her eyes, but then drags the other woman in, pressing her lips into Lilith's, keeping the other woman's hands firmly above her hips with a tight grip on both of them. Though she notices there's no resistance. The kiss isn't… Aggressive, or overly rough. There's a tenderness to it, two people in love, accepting it with grace. When they finally part, Lilith is crying a bit, and she tries to wipe her eyes. "This hasn't been easy for me, can I have a hug?" The words kind of spill out, bumbling.

With a sigh, Kerrigan answers, "Yes."

The word punches into Lilith's head, and she hugs her, starting to break down just a little at the stress. The years and years of fighting, trying to… Save and help, and fix, and finally reaching her goal. It pours out, "I— I— Kn— Know this is so unattractive." She whispers in shuddering breaths, "Don't look at me, this is ugly crying." And she just keeps going for a couple of minutes. "No-one has ever wanted to… Date, It's always been... No-one."

"Yeah." Sarah mutters, holding the other woman softly, "I know." Her own voice thick with emotion, though the iron facade of Queen prevents any tears slipping through. Thumbs rub circles into the smaller woman's back whilst she cries.

They just sit there, for a few moments, maybe longer. When they pull apart she says, "I… Still want to show you books and things. Gifts are fine right?" God she felt like such a kid, she's fifty fucking… Something. "Sorry. I'm… I'm actually terrible at this. So fucking… I think I come on a bit too strong."

"You can get… gifts." Sarah answers, "It'll keep you out of here for part of the day, at least."

Lilith nods, and tries not to say anything, but she can't help it, "I've actually been collecting them for— shut up Lilith its wa— I have a cave."

"Listen to my heartbeat." Kerrigan commands, pulling the other woman tighter to her, "Focus on it." A dominant tone to her voice. The pulse is strong, steady, like a beating drum, rhythmically vibrating both of them now that they've focused on it. It's quick, like a rabbits but with the power of something much slower.

"What do you hear?" The Queen whispers into her lover's ear, almost cradling the other woman against her chest.

"Perfection, perfect love," She said quietly, putting her head against the chest and thinking. She opens her mouth, but Manth silences the words, Please forget about what I said about kidnapping people.

"Lilith you do not say that. I am telling you. Directly. Do not make any comments!" The voice was stern, loving and demanding, like the light slap of a paddle against supple flesh.

For once, Lilith listened, and just kept quiet. And with that silence, she can enjoy the steady drum, the drifting hands and soft, luxurious love, something she never thought she'd have.

 

[Princess Scribe]

It's in the drifting fog of dreams that the pink haze begins to beckon Lilith from her slumber to somewhere both more real and less, a twilight of reality where they could roam, and speak. Exhausted and elated, Lilith beckoned the siren's heed, in the dream world she stepped off a cliff, and felt like she was falling, before she found herself up-right again in front of a cloud.

The shape morphs, a musical drone, almost like white noise but with a definite style slipping into existence as the pink forms into something recognizable. A college dormitory packed with posters, backed with a bookshelf of paperback novels featuring suggestive titles and covered in scented candles. There's no one else in the space for now, just a familiar scent of paper and incense.

That alone is interrupted quickly by the door opening, the pink haze past it rapidly coming to be one. A shape forms, curving at the waist and swelling at the chest, taking on a feminine form in instants. With sun-darkened skin, sharp ears, razor teeth, pink-purple eyes and barely concealing outfit that reminisces of something ancient and silken, splitting to cover her chest yet leave her stomach bare.

The bottom half is two long strips of cloth that sink down to her ankles over her front and rear. She invades the room and settles at the feet of Lilith atop the bed, a deranged and dangerous look on her face-it's face, as Manth's presence is recognized.

"Look, Lilith." She rubs her side with a hand, muscled yet trim, a visage of perfection in someone's eyes, long hair sinking in curls to coat the bed, the first strands of hair Lilith's seen in years, an exotic sight at this point. "You finally gave me enough to form something." She awaits a response, luxuriating in the achievement.

"My god." Lilith's jaw just drops, "You have curly hair! I love curly hair," She whispers. "Zerg can't have curly hair. I—" She stops, "You're being very distracting good lord, look at you." She grimaces again. "I am trying to focus." It's not going to happen.

"And I'm breaking that focus!" The woman laughs loudly, deeply, something of pure joy. Her hand sinks into her own hair, leaning back to let it hand. "Say I'm amazing, I'll call it a favour."

"I thought I did! You're ravenous." Lilith said, crawling forward, before stopping just infront of the daemon. "Ok, no I have questions. I'm not an enemy, you don't have to use me. You are giving me everything I want, I legitimately just want to help. Cooperate."

"Well, can we keep the word use involved? It's fun!" Manth leans forwards, putting one arm between Liilith's legs in an extremely direct suggestion, "But questions are crucial to any relationship, especially ours. Ask me anything." Curls fall past her and onto Lilith's legs and abdomen, resting.

Lilith takes a deep breath, Alright, brave face, "I want to… Save everyone." She stated. "I think, they might be better off infested, or at least cooperative. In order to do that, I need to learn how to… Navigate this entire system. I keep getting blindsided by things I didn't even comprehend were possible. I need you, your input on things I should know. You're not a fighter, but neither am I. We're people's people."

"Save them?" Manth flattens out like a cat, arching her back as her front presses into Lilith's waist, "But you never wanted goals that were easy." Her voice is like a hunting tiger, having descended to those levels.

"Is it easy?" She says, quietly, "I don't think so. I want Kerrigan unblemished on The Golden Throne, and I want to sit next to her." With a deep breath, "I want there to be an Imperium of Zerg."

"And I'll be there, just behind you. Your voice of knowledge." She hisses out the words, like a tempting serpent. A forked tongue exits her mouth in response to the words, "But there's so many steps before then. Ask me about the Warp. It's the right place to start. Your blindest spot."

She nods, "There's daemons coming, I need to know about those. There's a big beam of light that burns our overlord's eyes. There's got to be more than just daemons as well. You talk about places, and things. There's things there that can help, any Zerg can get possessed, but the Swarm keeps them out. Is Kerrigan wanting to expand the Swarm to protect herself from possession? Is there a way to lure Daemon's to a specific place, can we use them somehow? You're hiding from Basilica, how do I keep you safe? How do I get you so strong that I can be a tool for you and Kerrigan. I think… I think Kerrigan needs an avatar. I'll give up anything to do that for her, as long as it doesn't hurt her."

"Lets start slowly, and work up to completion lovely Lilith." She taps Lilith's sternum with a pointed, purple painted nail. "Daemons are of the Warp. Of the Empyrean, of the Aethyr. Whatever you want to call it. We come in four varieties, of… Change, Desire, Rage and… Happiness." Manth chuckles through the entire last sentence.

"I think you can guess what I am. I am not like you, not really." Another tap on the sternum, "If I die, I fade into it, return to my God, Goddess. And am reborn. Much like you."

"I was kind of hoping there were more than daemons that you could be." She said softly, "I don't think I make it to the end of this." There's another nod, "So if they find you, can they just… Make you do what they want? Call you back? Is that why you're hiding?" With an even quieter almost plea, "Am I going to stop caring? I don't want to stop caring about people."

"There were, once, but no longer." Just as softly, the creature of dream answers, "If they find me, they'll take me back to the Basilica…a place of… utter torment. You roam, unfeeling, blind deaf and dumb wi-wit-" Her breaths catches with a gulp, either a fantastic show or a real reaction, "-o-Oh, I've n-never had that happen." Manth's eyes unnarrow, coming back to normal.

"You won't, I promise that. I did not make you, I found you." She settles herself and settles Lilith all the same."And I won't let them just take me, it'll be a fight."

There's a weakness, but also pride, at being chosen, because she's perfect. She knew she was perfect, "You'll need a champion then." She melts, "Love before duty, but if I keep you, and Kerrigan, and Ana all next to me, then I can protect everyone!"

"Love before duty." Manth repeats, "I adore that phrase, its mine now." She taps Lilith's sternum again. "Do you want to learn.. Sorcery, Lilith?" Manth asks, "Without natural power, it is a path to power, a path of rigid constants and obsessive memorization."

There's another nod, "Yes. Please." She begs, "Teach me to be better. To protect." There's sparks of pink around her.

Crawling up, she lurks above Lilith, teasing for a kiss with a smile before a forked tongue slips out and tastes the air. "Then learn." The tongue presses against Lilith's forehead with a lightning-crack of information. A dozen-hundred-thousand-billion unconnected facts landing in her mind and slipping out.

Lilith awakens in a chamber, still with that odd dreamlike state. Manth is before her, dressed in that same silk, but with burning runes on her skin, and a twisting kriss held in one hand by the blade. "A simple lesson, to start." The runes coil and settle in a pattern as she offers Lilith the blade.

"The power of blood."

Lilith nods, in rapt attention. "The power of blood." Without thinking she moves it towards her wrist, "Mine or?"

"For now, mine." Manth luxuriantly moves through the words, "We need you… aware. You can't kill me, so don't be shy." She grabs Lilith's wrist, directing it towards the runes, "In real life, you don't have helpful guidelines, so memorize everything you do here." Letting the tip of the blade hover just on her skin.

"Cut deep." Manth commands.

There's no hesitation, she knows how to study, studying may be the only skill she believes she possesses. She is not overly cruel, but she slices deep. Not rushing it, examining the wound, studying the tear of flesh, committing every single slice to memory.

Manth is a perfect canvas, accepting every incision with barely a whisper and no movement. Nothing except soft and encouraging affirmations, "Just like that Lilith." Falls over the other woman as Manth turns to a patchwork of swirling runes. Blood drips in long rivulets down her legs, pooling at her feet.

When its all said and done, every marking cut into her, sure to scar into the Daemon, she lifts a carved and bleeding hand to Lilith's cheek. "With blood, comes life. With life, sacrificed." The pool at both women's feet ripples.

"Power." Manth descends into that register beyond human, shocking to hear from such a human shape. Curls matted to her with thick, drying blood.

"With blood, comes life. With life, sacrificed. Power." She keeps repeating it, committing it to memory, "With blood, comes life. With life, sacrificed. Power." Over and over like a mantra, committing each part to memory, she mentally associates the patch works of runes, each line of symbols to a letter. Knowing it, savoring it, absorbing it.

The blood flares, rippling and moving to Lilith's hands, pulling into orbs that float just above her palms. Energy flickers, "Lovely." Manth snaps her out of the fascination, "Can I have that back?" Her hand hovers just at the edge of the orb. Not able to touch it despite a desire, eyes fully flooded with pink energy.

There's a flicker, an entire all encompassing moment when she was going to shout no That she was going to try and keep it. Something in her head forced her. She forced herself. This wasn't what was going to get her what she wanted. She needed to finally listen, but it was so hard to give up. There was a deep salivation at just the sight of it. Finally. She relented. "Sorry, sorry."

"For a second there." Manth purrs, grabbing at the blood as it seals back into her, "I was very worried." Then a grin, "And a little excited."

"I don't think we should do that again. Sorry." Lilith said, "Sorry." She didn't like knowing how bad that could have been. There had been this deep urge, but it didn't feel real. The fake obsession felt wrong. "Sorry. I didn't like that as much."

The daemon smiles, "Be careful in the real, then. There, the cuts are very real. As is the power." Her slashes sealing up into a mass of scar tissue that begins to recede into itself.

With a big smile she looks up at Manth, "It's… Tempting… With it I felt like I could do anything, be anything." She's whispering, for some reason. "Should I be concerned?"
"Maybe?" The curly haired Daemon answers, smiling broadly, soaked in cuts as she is, "But it's like any other addiction, it can serve a purpose." The miniscule winces whenever she moves are like movement to a hunting cat's eye.

With concern, Lilith moves closer, "Can I give you some of my blood? Would that help? I'm sorry. I just wanted to focus because you… You were sacr—"

She raises her hands to the sides of Lilith's face, a heart-shaped touch, leaving bloody streaks on the other woman as Manth smiles broadly, "Lilith, my love." The breathy way that comes out is hair raising, "I like the pain."

Everywhere around her, looked intoxicating to Lilith. It was… A place of power, but more so, it was a place that birthed her greatest achievement. Manth, birthed her greatest achievement. She did… Everything. "I can't believe we did it, even when I couldn't listen. You were amazing. You saved me so many times."

With adoring orbs of pink, the Daemon answers, "You saved me. From that…horrible, aching, gnawing alone I was trapped in." She's worshipful and doting alike, looking from below and above at the same time, "When we are together, I am complete."

"Is there a way to hide you? From the others? The place you came from? The ship that wants to hunt you?" Lilith whispers, scared, and concerned. Her hands reach out to grasp Manth's in the dream Manth looks so… Beautiful, resplendent, trustworthy. "I'll do anything."

"Eventually, perhaps, they will find us, find me." She admits, casting a glance down, "But not soon, not now. I am…lessened, and by lessening, I am beneath notice." Her body tenses and relaxes in a repetitive motion as Lilith's fingers pass over cuts, giving jolts of living feeling through her dream-body.

God, "How are you… So pretty… So… Perfect…" She resists the urge to… Lick the wounds. "You… You're…" The breath catches in her throat. "You've given me everything I've ever wanted. Does the cutting help you keep hidden?" There's rapt worry and concern across her face as she speaks, "I can come back… I can…"

"You can indulge." Manth finishes the sentence, "Bleed me, let me remain so quiet." There's a dark, seductive yet terrifying tone to the woman across from Lilith. "It'll be… often, lovely."

The blood, the wounds even they look beautiful, they look… Amazing… "I'm going to get help studying from Abathur. He knows the importance of research. He's a sequencer, the Ur-Sequencer. He'll understand. Like I do."

Manth leans forwards, putting her bloody forehead to Lilith, a still-bleeding symbol crowning the centre of it. "I trust you."

Without thinking, she reaches up and kisses the bloody daemon, indulging in the taste of copper, iron and her as asked, "Thank you." She's breathless, the kiss is like lightning, and fire, the blood mingles on their tongues, and burns her out so completely, so overwhelmingly that she feels like nothing will remain, and yet it's so perfect. "I'm your champion. Always, but love, then duty." She says thinking of Kerrigan.

"Always." The Daemon smiles broadly, bloodsoaked lips nearly showing the teeth behind them.

---

When Lilith woke up, it was in a pleasant haze of memory and hope. Though the memory was fresh in her mind. Taking a sketch book that she had started to draw in constantly, she started to fill pages with runes, trying to perfectly memorise them the same way she did Sequencing. Copying them down on silhouettes of bodies, both on, and around. Quietly, she slipped out of her bed, which she close but not inside of Kerrigan's hatchery, though she swore she would stay with Ana, most nights she would stay with Kerrigan, unless Ana asked. Kerrigan was reading one of the books Lilith had gotten for her, while Broken Horn sat at the base of the throne. The throne room had been filled with mountains of small gifts.

In one corner there were multiple serving carts filled with liquor, cigars, beers, and other non-perishable goods from the cities. More still coming in from where the final survivors in their last holdouts were found. There were stacks, and stacks, of books, a local library raided and moved in over the course of a month. Picto-reels and the same power plug sequencing that Lilith had made allowed them to power a number of electronics that while not necessary for survival, made it a little bit easier.

"Sarah," Lilith said to the woman lounging on the Throne, "I need to do more sequencing work with Abathur. There's something I need to work on. I know you can't sense me really anymore, so I thought I'd let you know since I won't be with Ana." She hoped the Queen wouldn't pick up o—

The Queen closed her book, immediately, "Not with Ana? You're going to Abathur alone?" Then her eyes narrowed, she inspected Lilith with an appraising eye. Trying to discern something, before finally deciding, "Tell me what you're hiding." Her legs kick over the side as she stands up, storming over with small clouds following. The room darkens a bit, as she approached

"Do you know what Abathur and I are working on? Have we talked about it at all?" Lilith almost reached for Kerrigan's hand but didn't. Stop, she initiates contact. It'll seem manipulative. Instead she finds her coin again, trying to focus on keeping her hands busy with dextrous tricks. Then trying to find the words, struggling for the first time in a long time, "We're working on… Merging essence with Zerg. Again, but we're constantly tweaking, and I've been working on it a lot."

She isn't looking at Sarah instead of focusing on the coin, "The essence here is living. It has emotions, it can be negotiated with it. It's also sensitive work, and delicate." With a deep breath she says, "It's something I need to do, and Abathur needs to observe. It's essence work, so I might have to drop off the grid. I… Ana's great but she's not… Neither of you are going to do great with a being of pure emotion. Is that awful? I'm sorry."

Kerrigan's lip curls at the idea, but she drives it down. "I want to tell you no." She finally gets out, hissing the words, "I want to control every single thing you do."

"But I said I'd be…different." Having to follow her word in this instance is intensely aggravating to her, as seen by the ozone that quickly fills the air. "So, go. You will come back." There's no room for doubt in the command.

"It's not dangerous, it's…" Lilith thinks of the word, "It's gruesome. It involves butchering… Heavily." Then, realising that it might be lying if she hid the specifics, "We're… Going to try and sequence Terran analogues, and use these… Runes? To try and channel the essence. The runes are going to be shaped with sequencing, but it means putting them down, accurately, in something."

The Queen tilts her head, "Are you trying to cast spells?" There's a mirth to her voice, supplanting previous annoyance, "Like…in the picts?" The word pict having supplanted holo long ago at this point for referring to visual media.

Lilith nodded slowly, "It's real, I think. Do you remember when we were fighting? In here a few years ago, and you suddenly got dazed and I tackled you? I don't know how you get dazed, but I know that was me. In a few of the fights, I used it to just barely dodge out of the way, or to make a punch a bit harder."

"What?" The Queen seemed amusedly confused, "Explain."

There's a moment where Lilith realised they never talked about it before, "When um, I have a voice I talk too, and I ask it for help sometimes, and it'll tell me how people are feeling, or it'll tell daze people, move punches. It protects me in the warp. Hmmm… It gives me advice?"

"...You should go to Abathur." Kerrigan slowly says, as if realizing something, "Have him look at your… neural integrity." Like speaking to someone who may have something very wrong with them, her voice is careful.

"Oh god, you think I'm going nuts!" Lilith said, "You think I've lost it. I lost it way before this, I never had it to be honest.."

Sarah nods, "Exactly, and I hit you in the head a lot." Agreeing with the other woman, "So, go get checked."

"It's something that could be fixed then?" Lilith asks a bit scared

"If you're schizophrenic, Abathur can fix it." The Queen assures Lilith.

Then with a big breath, trying so desperately not to lie, "Y— Alright. I'll get checked." She said, just happy that Kerrigan cares. "I love you," then she walks to the Evolution pits.

Sarah touches her wrist in turn.

---

"Ur-Sequencer Abathur, Development, New mastery." Lilith says, "Need Terran Analogue, Observation, Memorization. Addendum, Queen of Blades…" Then dropping the voice, "I told her about the Neverborn and she thinks I'm schizophrenic."

"Accurate explanation of symptomology." Abathur admits, shifting out of a tunnel to look at Lilith, "Without knowledge, would assume same. Terran subjects?"

"Blood Ritual, carve runes, empowerment. Observation for memorization, and possible Sequenced analogue." She says, "Seems useful to research. Neverborn communicate through Liminal space." Then with a deep breath, "Yeah, it sounds bad."

"Terran subjects available. Short time, infestation in progress." The Sequencer admits, pulling free multiple individuals from sacs.

With a rub of her chin, she wonders, she hadn't asked, but she wondered if Manth knew, Manth, does Infestation change anything about that?

Maybe? I've never seen it done on one before. The voice admits, chuckling at the idea of a new discovery

With that, she shrugs nodding, "Seems fine? Zerg Physiology, untested."

Abathur places the Terran on the ground, and Lilith walks over to the first one. The work of a sequencer is gruesome, and efficiency is best, both to make the pain only as long as necessary, and to make the sacrifice worthwhile.

Her sequencers, the parts of her body that are long and spindly, the things that make up everything inside of her, unfurl until she is nothing but a chest, head, a spinal column, and spider legs. She doesn't think about the infested at all, instead getting the runes down as quickly as possible from her memory, trying to pull out as much blood as possible without killing the Human. The orb of power is satisfying, in the way of the obsession that is not obsession and she looks at it, then Abathur, then back with rapt attention. "This time, I think I eat it?" She says quietly.

Please do~ Manth's voice is encouraging. Enticing.

Without a second thought, she pushes her lips to it, and as if a babe suckling at the teat, drinks the blood. A feeling like utter joy blooms in her stomach, spreading like fungal vines through the rest of her as the power, the Essence settles in, wrapping around each cell with its strange, new, wholly arcane power. Even this tiny slip of strength nearly overwhelms the woman for the split second it absorbs.

It's been so long! Manth whisper-moans, audibly shivering within Lilith.

"Observations?" She asks Abathur.

"Essence, gone. Absorbed fully, no trace." Abathur nears the infested Terran corpse, prodding dead, unmoving Zerg cells with no clear reason as to their death.

Then she scratched her chin, "Zerg, True death?" She says looking at it, "Caution needed. Organism Lilith, Observations."

"Satisfaction, slated." Then she stops, "It needs Terran speak, it's like… Imagine every part of you feels like it's falling apart. That you're weak, dizzy, anxious, even a little scared. Then suddenly, there's something in front of you, something so Overwhelmingly Good and Pure and Satisfying that it makes every sensor in your body feel full or complete. Then, minutes later, all of the other feelings slowly ebb away."

"Risk of addiction. Severe." The Ur-Sequencer questions.

"Risk of avoiding addiction. Impossible." She said immediately with full honesty, "Immediate Regret, powerful, emergency only." Then calmer, "Must test with Queen of Blades, see effect in Combat Training." As she turns to walk away she says, "Must prove not Schizophrenic."

Abathur gives a rumble as retort, returning to his work.

"Will return to see if Addiction is possible to resequence to lesser pathway." Then she runs out of the pit, sprinting back towards Kerrigan. There's moments where she loses grip of her abilities, going too far in a leaping sprint and nearly stumbling, not feeling the touch of exhaustion near-as keenly even despite the pace.

This part, it will fade. It's temporary, the spirit, however, that's ours. Manth whispers at the edge of hearing, Stronger spirits, greater… Essence is needed. A human is nothing. Flickers or things so incandescent as to eclipse the stars themselves pass through their shared mind, a hunger to Manth's thoughts.

In seconds, she covered what would take nearly minutes, and she slid to a stop in front of the Hatchery, "My Queen, A.) it worked, B.) I'm not schizophrenic, C.) The thing in my head ate a soul." Then quickly, "We should do combat training to see if it was worth… Feeding a soul to the voice in my head."

Kerrigan narrows her eyes, "You did not feed a soul to the voice in your head. I will speak to Abathur later." Then as Lilith rushes her she growls, "Stop!"

With the command, Lilith slid to a stop, just barely inches from her, "It's temporary, so we should see if it's worth it." Lilith said pointedly, "We don't know how long it should last."

There's another growl, but she raises her hand after letting the growl hang for nearly a minute. "Alright," she says, then with a smirk, "Fine!" She tries to sucker-punch Lilith who dodges just out of the way in a flickering afterimage of herself.

The fight begins in earnest, as the Queen of blades tries to get a hold of Lilith who seems slinkier, and more attuned in her own body. Slipping under a blow, then past a second, then splitting into two who attack Kerrigan from both sides, she chooses one to block, but it's the wrong one, and the other's impact stings. Kerrigan whirls around with a back hand, but once again, Lilith is sliding underneath with fluid movements that seem impossibly quick. The queen lands a blow, finally as Lilith tries the same one again, just catching the flicker at the last second, but she doesn't expect Lilith to roll with the punch, making it almost a caress as she moves. One of the scythes, the non-sequencing talons, lashes out from her mid torso, managing to cut the Queen of Blades, who Roars, with Psychic rage.

A blast of lightning from somewhere downs Lilith, and the Queen feels something foreign, panic, pulsing through her until the smoke clears, and Lilith is smoking, with charred scars like lightning on the parts of her that weren't carapace. "I feel…" She coughs, the lightning making everything taste like burnt flesh and Ozone. "I don't think I was that strong, but a good test." She's choking on smoke from her own burnt skin, as she warily tries to stand.

Every heavy foot step is a thud, as The Queen feels the side of her start to stitch-up, "How dare you almost make me KILL you!" She picked Lilith up by the tendrils, staring her deep into her eyes. Which glowed with a pink essence. Kerrigan's face shifts from anger to something more worried.

"What the hell?" She quietly whispers, staring into the near-wholly-pink orbs.

With a calm breath, "I told you, and you called me schizophrenic. I carved up a Terran in front of Abathur, and ate a blood orb. The voice in my head said it was the creature's soul or essence. It made me strong temporarily." Lilith smiled, "It also feels great, but I have a feeling the come-down is going to be awful."

Kerrigan looks relieved, "Christ, I thought you were being possessed-The voice in your head is real!?" The worry turns to a barked demanding question.

"All of them are real!" Lilith yelped, starting to panic as she puts her hands on Kerrigan's. "Well, there's only three, my voice, the hymn, and Manth." Then even quieter, "How did you not know? Anastasia knows, Abathur knows, Anastasia and Abathur saw it." Then with a deep sadness, "Did Abathur really disconnect me because of the demon, or was it because you kicked me out." Even quieter.

"He-what-That worm hid this from me!?" She drops Lilith, lightning arcs passing between her hands, as furious rage builds.

Lilith ran forward, "I didn't know he was hiding, I would have told you. I'm so sorry. He never told me not to tell you, probably because I would have immediately told you. I thought you knew. Don't hurt him, please. When no-one else was around, he talked to me. He taught me things. I know you hate him, and you have every right too." She wants to grab the hand but she knows it's so… Hot with psionic energy, that she'd be fried immediately.

"I'm not going to hurt him, I'm going to MAIM him!" She shouts, starting to stomp towards the lair of the Evolution Master.

Then Lilith races off, "Not if I beat you to it to tell him to run!" Sprinting with all her might forward, as fast as she could. Still, in a psychic ripple, Kerrigan is far ahead before she's managed four steps. The Evolution Chamber's wall opens and lets her in as Lilith has to find a door.

As she does, rushing in, breathing hard, she finds it. The Sequencer is pinned to the wall like a show insect, limbs trying to fight the telekinetic pull of Kerrigan. The Queen stands before Abathur, eyes ablaze with power as a continuous, pained rumbling escaped the victim of her torture. Limbs snap, pop and rip off one by one.

"Kerrigan, stop." Lilith is exasperated, "He didn't tell anyone he was hiding it, but he's not doing it to piss you off." She rushes forward, not touching Kerrigan, wanting to respect her rules, but… "This isn't… It doesn't do anything. It doesn't fix anything, it doesn't change him, it's just pointlessly cruel for cruelties sake."

At that, another limb pops off, a shuddering rumble passing through Abathur, oddly quiet for the pain he must be in. "I don't care. He suffers." The force intensifies with the Queen's declaration, bright green blood and fluid spilling from where the Sequencers thin carapace splits.

Lilith sighs, "Does it actually make you feel better? Because there's things here that feed off that feeling, that those feelings attract and empower. By doing this, you're making our enemies stronger." Trying to get through to her, "There's four kinds, We come in four varieties, of… Change, Desire, Rage and… Happiness."

"O-Organism L-Lilith. Q-q-Queen o-of B-blades, U-unresponsive." The pained words are rough to listen to, like crumbling stones, like a shattering edifice to Zerg.

"Eye color," The panic is palpable, as Lilith rushes forward and asks at the same time, "Quick!" She says not putting her hand on Kerrigan yet.

Warp Madness. Manth states as Abathur once again cannot speak, She's drunk too deep of the Warp, used too much power.

With this, Lilith decides to finally act, "HOW!?" She screams, ripping at Kerrigan's arm, trying to get her attention. She rips her attention off Abathur and grabs Lilith, forcing her to the ground as she looms above, a half-mad look on her face.

Kerrigan's eyes rake across Lilith, looking for something, or maybe everything, "You." She hisses, a boiling cauldron-mix of emotions on her face and in her voice.

Tears come to her eyes, "Why… We were finally happy, why did you… What did you do?!"

The words are a shattering hammerblow to the influence over her, madness turns to confusion, a hand goes to Lilith's face, gently brushing tears out of the way robotically, not quite knowing how she got here. "Lilith." She asks, "Why am I here?"

The touch brings a wave of feelings, each crushing her, as her soul feels like it's rent. There can't be more problems, they were finally happy. They finally had something., "You… You've… Got something new. Not a Daemon this time. You've been using… Warp. Apparently, You've got warp madness..." Is there a cure? She asks Manth.

Stop her from using her psychic power constantly. Be more like Ana! Manth laughs, but still provides solid advice. Prevention, not a cure. It comes and goes otherwise.

This can't be happening, Kerrigan will never agree to it, she can't they need her, and everything had finally gotten just right. She's… Not… There has to be another way, her thoughts are mixing into a swirl, and she can't stop feeling awful. She had done so much work already.

Or. Manth's words, coyly, provide a spike of hope to Lilith. We could see about protecting her.

"It has to be her choice," The words feel like a lump in her throat, as she fights her instincts, she wants to lie, make these decisions for her, but she can't. Instead she says out loud. "Sarah… You're… You're sick. Your psychic powers, here they… They make you erratic. They are causing you to go into fugue states. You just blacked out and attacked Abathur. There's no demon this time, as far as I can tell. It's just that… All powers make us sick here.." There's a dawning realisation, and she closes her eyes, "And… Mine… I have to stop using these abilities, and I think you do too."

"What do you mean stop." Kerrigan growls, "I'm using my power every moment to keep the Swarm together."

Lilith stops and touches her eyes as she realizes that Kerrigan, hadn't been letting anyone take control, "That doesn't make sense, Unity did it without you. Before sure it grew, but I'm pretty sure you can let go."

"And what, place my faith in a selection cycle every blink?" Kerrigan pushes off her.

"They already do that." She rolls up quick, chasing after her, scared, "You're going to lose them either way. Your mind goes, and you can't control them, or… Manth says there's another way, but I don't know what it is. I haven't asked yet." She hands her head as she says it, scratching her neck, trying not to yell, not to piss Sarah off so maybe she'll listen for once. What's the Plan?

Calming down from the prior, almost chemical bemusement, Manth answers, Sorcery, of course, tremendously complex and detailed sorcery. On you.

"Apparently, Manth says I can protect you, with some sort of spell." Then Lilith walks over to the infested Terran, "I can do something like what I did to this guy, to myself. Or… Probably not as much knife play." She tries not to overthink everything that was happening as she pulled the infested terran from the evolution pit, revealing the dozens of runes that were cut into it's skin, all bleeding, and weeping. Each one looking terrible, ragged, and leaking with something foul and chaotic.

Abathur slinks into a tunnel, leaking life fluids as he escapes the situation, moving to recover far away from the Queen of Blades. "You are not doing that to yourself."

Manth, is the sorcery cutting myself up or, I don't need a lot of details, just who gets hurt, and how bad.

Well, I can cut you up if that helps. You heal, however, so it won't stick. Manth states, Blood is power, valuable blood is true power. I'm formulating the rite now.

Lilith slips closer to Kerrigan, but not trying to invade her space, "Sarah, I don't do it to myself, I do it… To a bunch of shit we were going to kill or infest anyways, and then… Drink it. Or that's how the last spell worked." Her mind reels as she tries to figure out if Manth is being cagey, if she's falling for a trick, or if for once, everything will turn out alright.

I've got it. Finally, Manth comes up with an idea. The cuttings not optional…on either side. We need to bind her to something that can take it, use it as a channel, a filter. A calculating tone slips into the normal warmth as Manth's mind becomes a finely honed ritualistic machine, We can use any Daemon, but I happen to be right here.

"Yeah, no I'm not even going to entertain that thought," Lilith said immediately with an eye roll. As she walked forward angrily.

"What thought." Kerrigan is getting sick of being only on one half of this conversation.

Manth, can you like, actually come out here and talk? Or is that impossible? Lilith growled at her own head, but realized how that would look, and sighed, "Sorry, I'm growling at my head, Manth says that… He suggested 'Binding' you two together, that's not happening. I like the daemon, but there's no way in hell. He eats the warp, you get to channel your powers." There's a quiet anger as she steps forward, "Who is even the unity right now?"

"Five different minds." Kerrigan growls, aggravated, "It's stupid."

"Can we start over? You said you could rip them out, I'm disconn—" She stopped, "Right, the problem is that— Your powers are being used at all, one sec."

Well, maybe? The barrier's weak, I could try. Manth admits, considering a new angle as Lilith's words strike home.

Lilith touches her temple, What's up?

The Queen's moment of fugue released a sum of energy, the barrier between flesh and soul is strained, I could slip through. Manth whispers, I could certainly calm her, even help, but manifested like that? I'd need… sustenance.

"If we feed the Daemon, they can manifest and says they can also help. I don't like that plan either, because of the giant fucking ships that blows up worlds. Which I guess as Xenos is our fate anyways." She doesn't know what to do, and Kerrigan's behaviors are starting to rub off on her as she starts to angrily curb stomp the body against the Evolution vat, repeatedly smashing her foot into it. Over and over, until stops being a body, and starts to become ground meat and broken bone–

Kerrigan grabs Lilith, "I need you to be the calm one." She hisses.

There's a deep shuddering breath as she wants to scream. "Ok, well… I'm starting to get the tant—" She looks at Kerrigan with sudden concern "The… I get it now, you do feel a little better." She just clenches her fist. "If you don't trust Unity, we will lose you, but we can just… Kill any member of Unity that doesn't listen. Eventually they'll get the point." There's another deep shuddering breath, as she tries to clear her thoughts. "We let Unity take over, but if they do anything, we just run over and kill them. It's your choice though, I don't know what to do. I'm scared."

"Just-" Kerrigan searches for words, realising she has to lead again, "Calm down, look at me." She forces Lilith's face to look at her. "Lets go back to my throne, we can talk there, away from here." Her eyes rove across the Evolution Chamber. She take's Lilith's hand, who has gone limp, and almost drags her, but not quite.

Kerrigan leads the both of them out, holding onto Lilith as both a guidance and stabilising influence. They arrive at the Throne, pushing through doors and finally getting a moment's privacy. Kerrigan collapses onto the throne, taking a breath.

"Sarah, what's wrong?" Lilith says kneeling next to her, "Are you Okay?" Her knees hurt from kneeling and her mind seems to be short circuiting as she, Sarah is in pain.

"I've-" She breathes out, trying to formulate thoughts, "Been getting, tired. I can't…find anything wrong with me."

"I'm… I'm going to go to the Vox '' Lilith stands to her feet, emotionally spent at the sudden fatigue. As she stands, a bit of panic comes to her mind, and she tries to ignore the fact that Sarah was hiding something from her. Something that she knew Lilith wouldn't like "I… I'll ask Varynna, maybe she knows something. Maybe we can make a deal, they have an entire fucking empire, and it seems like everyone here is willing to deal. Give the order, please. I think it's holding the swarm together, I think that's why Unity needs to exist. We aren't meant to be here. The adaptation? It was constantly shifting the load." All of the thoughts spill out, almost one ontop of the other, none of them connected, a million plans and feelings as she struggles to figure out what she should do.

"I-fine." Kerrigan gives in. "D-do something-whatever." She leans into the throne, closing her eyes to rest.

Lilith sprints out of the Throne room, leaping over the ramp and sliding to the vox, remembering how Ana used it, she started fiddling with the knobs and dials speaking into it "Hello? Hello! Varynna? Man, how do you use this thing?"

"You've figured it out, Lilith, what can I help you with." The voice of Varynna escapes the Vox as a flickering image forms.

Standing where she had marked with a little acidic slash in the creep, Lilith stood. Her body was wracked with worry, but she tried to seem calm, cool, and collected. It wasn't working. "You met our Queen. She's going into Fugue states, she's getting really tired, and she's sick. I can't find anything wrong with her. I will give you anything at all if you fix this. I need her." Though Lilith had done her best to seem palatable, to seem like someone who has their shit firmly together. Though she could see over the Admiral's face, that her worry and despair were leaking.

"Anything?" She asks, lurking in the words, looking for weakness, for vulnerability.

"I need her. I need her, I need us together." Her throat was bared, and she felt Varynna latch on with predatory hunger. It vexed her that she'd have to degrade herself somehow, but no-one here knew anything. It was either the Imperium, or the Daemon, and the Daemon had no good options. She started to understand what Ana was saying about the Universe being dark. "There are some things she won't allow for us to stay together, but I will do anything else."

"Perfection, I'm coming darling, prepare your throne room." She chuckles, flicking the vox offline.

 

[Princess Scribe]

Its not just a single shuttle that fills the skies, Spore Colonies watch the flare of a hundred engines, landing in barges the size of buildings that burn creep away with the fury of their blue-hot thrusters. They disgorge hundreds, thousands of men in utterly sealed armour, flexible joints and hissing internal air supplies protecting them from the spore-haze of active Creep.

From a central, white-gold craft, the Lord Admiral strides forth, backed by an honour guard of the post-humans that, so far, any member of the Swarm has only seen in pict-reels and propaganda posters. Their blue and brass armour hissing and clanking with every titanic motion, a living wall of steel before the small woman.

Lilith, has rushed forth, shooing the way the amassing Zerg forces, able to control the ones in a short range around her, though using her words to hide any assumptions about Psykers, "Hey back away, shoo, I said SHOO," She waves her hands at the Zerglings and Hydralisks causing them to back up. As a Mutalisk draws near she gives it a Death Glare and Point, the contingent turning away, almost sheepishly. "Sorry, So sorry Lord Admiral, when you said you were on your way, I didn't think you'd make me look like a huge fucking moron." Lilith is gritting her teeth, and her ability to maintain politeness is waning, "I guess you're more scared coming here, then we were going up there."

Through the near-transparent helmet, the lightly mechanical voice of Varynna escapes, grin clearly visible, "You do have to admit, the air isn't normally poison on my ships."

"I meant the thousands of people, actually." Lilith said with rolled eyes, "We could have made a huge display as well, but flexing seems so… Unnecessary when you're actually—" She stops her shoulders slumping, "I can't… I need help." There's just an internal structural failure, the entirety of herself deflating dramatically.

Pushing past her guards, barely nudging the titans aside to slip between them, the Admiral strides forth and hooks her arm underneath Lilith's, almost like a friend giving an anchor. Without a conscious thought Lilith leans into the Lord Admiral, not realising how few people there are in the Zerg, the touch felt like it wasn't just touching her skin, but through the carapace and talons lightly embracing her essence. There's almost a wince. "I know you're fucking with me, but I don't care at this point. I don't know anything about any of this shit."

Walking towards where Lilith ran from, hoping it's the same direction as the throne room, Varynna speaks, "There's time for both, but now?" She can't pull the mirth from her voice, still enjoying the situation past the hiss of internal air oxygenating her suit, "I'm taking care of my own." A finality to her tone, a peerless steel that finally shows what sort of woman leads these men, those ships into war.

Her voice gives a comfort to Lilith, more than the embrace even. The commanding tones of someone who knows what they're doing, knows what to do next. It's one she so rarely is able to grasp properly, and makes her want to melt. When they get close, she lets go of Varynna, and takes a deep breath trying to stand strong. "Please… Uh… Wait a minute? I don't think I told her… Anything. If thirty armed guards sho—" Then she thought about it, "Actually she should definitely know and be storming around pissed already, hold up. Something might be wrong."

Lilith sprinted inside of the Hatchery, "Sarah? My Queen?" She yells, looking around. Then her eyes went wide with fear and shock, Kerrigan was unconscious on the throne. Breathing ragged and heavy, with uneven gasps. Her skin looked almost translucent, and there was no lightning, just a calm… almost serene peace. A look Lilith had never seen of relaxation, a look that reminded her of death. "No." She sprints outside yelling to Varynna, "She's already gotten worse, please, come quick."

Catching Lilith as she sprints to steady her, Varynna continues the march to the front, ten-man line of Astartes in blue behind her, taking positions of guard as the fleshy doors of the hatchery shift and retract, revealing the unconscious Queen to the Admiral. "Oh dear." Varynna mumbles muffled by the helmet. "What a shame, a woman of power shouldn't be reduced to that."

The voice grates on Lilith's nerves, and she tries not to say anything, letting it wash over her, if she can put up with four years of Kerrigan's haughty violent mess, she can put up with this.

Varynna walks up to just in front of the Queen, clinking armour and barely audible servos giving her the strength to pick up and move her like a child, but when she reaches, there's an almost inhuman hiss as Lilith rushes between them. Forcing down her instincts, she tries to keep her carapace inside but parts of her stomach ripple, "Tell me what you're going to do. I know you can blow up this world, but I'd rather die here with her than let you take her." Lilith's voice has no affectation now, the real voice, her voice. "I'm trusting you even though it's clear you don't trust us." The threat lingers, as even the hatchery quivers from Lilith's energy.

"Careful Lilith." An equally snake-line tone escapes her. "You asked me to help."

With a growl, Lilith steps aside, and looks at the walls of the Hatchery, "That's…" Kerrigan's attitude was clearly rubbing off on her. As the Anger swelled, knowing there was nothing she could do. "Sorry. I'm… Scared. Emotional." She looks at the hatchery and wills it to shut up. "This… Is a normal thing for abhumans?" She asks, hopefully.

"Darling, you've done everything right. You came to me after all." Varynna reaches back to Kerrigan, picking her up. "Trust your instincts. They've not led you wrong so far, have they?" A smirk's on her face as she walks back out, not to her ships, but under a clear sky with the sun spilling bright rays over the Creep below.

There's a moment where Lilith can't help herself when she sees Kerrigan in the sun, "God… She's beautiful." She sniffles, as she follows, "Um… Please… Warn your men that if she wakes up and is startled that things get… Erm…" Lilith is biting her tongue, "There's six other people, they should all know at this point, but she's… We…" Another deep breath, "Imagine you had a gun, at everyone's head, all the time," Gesturing to the Hydralisks, Mutalisks, and Zerglings, "And then you were startled."

Varynna looks at the sky with a smile, "Oh, I'm familiar." Before returning her attentions to the injured Kerrigan. A crackle in her ear is the only sign of communication as, from the ship, a trio of red-robed priests, mechanically whirring and hissing, march out. Chained between them is a box that radiates with a oily incense, killing creep spores where they touch it.

"Are you… You're not making her…" There's a gasp, "She'll kill me. She'll actually kill me." Lilith feels her gut squirm again, her legs willingly want to split apart to grasp Kerrigan and re-work everything around her, to be torn apart in bolter fire over her Queen. The nervous energy making her rub her hands over each other.

"Trust me." Varynna turns to Lilith, "I'll never lead you astray." Her words are promising, utterly confident. Whether its the armour or the woman herself, being surrounded by the might of the Swarm, its queen ready to wake up any moment, seems to not even make her tremble minutely. An absolute apex of courage, or perhaps merely the lack of fear.

"Fuck." Lilith doesn't say it loudly but with a vehemence that pushes a small bit of the swarm back. Almost flinching from the Queen's… Pet. "If she goes in the Box I go with her. Anywhere. Even if it's a betrayal."

The Tech Priests arrive, leaning down to place the box, carved with a million binaric chants all across it, holy numerology of one and zero repetitively, silently incanted on its surface, pulsing with a fervent energy that defies logic. Complex machine locks deactivate, parts of the box revealed as screens amidst the dull sheen of worked metal.

Incense flow ceases as it opens. A final blast of smoke leaving it before, with the careful reverence of the faithful touching pure divinity. The Priests lift out a dull, short and blunt injector, looking like a tube with a hole moreso than a syringe. Varynna does not dare handle it, leaving it to the metal hands of the Mechanicum.

They form a triangle around Kerrigan, a carefully organized, geometrically perfected shape, before falling to kneel as one. Prayer to quick, too mechanical for any biological ear to catch rattles between them, psalms in seconds, books in a minute. All three grasp the injector between them in the sunlight, everything acquiring the taste of oil as they raise the artefact like a plunging blade.

Again, Lilith has to resist the urge to attack them, to tear them all to pieces, instead she focus on the swarm. They're feeding off her anxiety and fear once again approaching and chittering with malice at her focus. The ones around her giving the glares she knows she should not. Still she bites her tongue.

It impacts, Kerrigan shivers as its peerless diamantine tip punches through her carapace to the flesh beneath, pumping whatever chemical sorcery will solve this into her. A shiver passes through her, her skin pales, and then she relaxes, like an opiate applied during sleep, every tense inch gives way to a relaxation.

The priests stand, breaking their hexagrammic unity to settle the injector and close the box, constant flow of incense returning, beginning to spill from the edges of the container as they rechain and move slowly to the shuttle that brought them.

"That's it…?" She says, "I was… There was a lot of build up for that."

"And that, my dear Lilith." Varynna chuckles as she stands up before the alien queen, "Is the game I was playing." Her eyes, mechanical and living alike, lock onto Lilith with bemusement.

"We have hypo-sti—" She takes a deep breath, she sprints to the Queen, ignoring the ten bolters points at her as she runs towards their Admiral, her speed is inhuman, and parts of her disconnect as she runs to help with traction and force, she slides on small carapaced sleds that immediately retract as she cradles Sarah's head. "Ok. What did you do? How do I help her?"

"From what they told me?" Varynna admits, "It's… a sedative for Psykers. It keeps them asleep and… cut off for a time. Let's them rest even when they cannot."

Her eyes go wide, and she bites her tongue staring at the swarm, there's pure panic and fear that is palpable, "You're absolutely insane. Do you know that? Are you aware even remotely of how dangerous that is?" Then she demands with all of her force to the surrounding Zerg, still remembering to speak to make it seem like it wasn't psychic, "All of you fuck OFF." She reaches deep using Abathur's deep, rumbling, resonance. The Zerg immediately shirk away to the very edges of her control. "You're so nuts Varynna, and scary."

Putting a hand on her hip, Varynna laughs loudly, sounding like crystal-static through the helmet vox. "Thank you, you're a doll with compliments." Her hand makes a gesture, and all the weapons pointed at Lilith snap back to readied arms, unmoving, more like machine-operated turrets than weapons wielded by men.

"Now, for my payment?" She sings to herself at the last part, considering for a period of time.

Before she answers, "There's something I'd like to offer in addendum to your request, but um… In private, not here." She just squeezes Kerrigan's body, "Thank you, thank you." Shaking back and forth as she rocks her. The woman, the Queen. Her Queen. "Thank you."

With a mad look in her eye, Varynna walks forwards to Lilith, pressing the face shield to her own forehead, before the energetic field that forms it morphs, reaching out to ensconce both of them. A light warning noise fills Lilith's ears, "-xenos spore breaching containment, warning-"

"Oh, fuck. That's BAD." Lilith's eyes go wide, considering dropping Kerrigan, she looks around at the guns, pure panic in her voice. "I can't… That's."

"Like I said, trust me." Her voice is clear, the static of a vox inaudible. "Speak. They will not hear."

She gulps, "You're… Metal. I'm not, I can." She puts her finger in her mouth and bites it off, instantly. Then shows it to Varynna, Lilith has never seen, the imperium, no-one has told her what being a Xeno means. What any of this means, and it could be so bad, everything here is so terrible, but in seconds the finger re-grows. "We… Might even be able to… I don't know, there's a unity. There's politics and leadership, it's not all…" She can't speak as she continues to hug Kerrigan, "It's a gift. Its not a curse." Then she gives Sarah a small kiss on the head. "Thank you." She whispers quietly, touching her face.

"I was thinking much smaller." Varynna says with amusement.

Then, with a bit more conviction, "You're also standing on creep, breathing spores, so… Like… You might be dying… Soon. Like really soon."

"Nineteen minutes, yes. Its no bother, really. Everything it targets is replaceable. Onto my offer?" A rattling of her internals is audible at that, steel rejecting zerg.

She nods, smiling, "That's good. I'm glad, that… You… I'd hate to have… Oh sorry, yes. What can I do?" She's no longer looking at Varynna at all, and notices small tears hitting Kerrigan's face.

"You stay with me, until she awakens." It's a cruel ask, and Varynna knows it, the look on her face unreadable but searching.

Lilith flinches, her legs curl up, and she cradles Kerrigan, "I…" She grits her teeth, "What the fuuuuck." She moans, thinking, trying to let her emotions subside."You could have killed her, you didn't." She whispers, mostly reasoning to herself, "She hasn't ordered me to stay, technically." More deep breaths trying to reason, figure out her own moral code. "I don't break promises. I guess I'm figuring my own shit out today. I hate you so much though. Honour, Love, Duty I guess. Fuck you." Then she stands, crying.

Varynna reaches out, offering a hand for Lilith, after the other woman takes it, she slowly walks her to the opulent, but militaristic shuttle, settling into a seat whilst clamps push down and set the Astartes, all ten of them. "It won't be terrible, I promise." The Lord Admiral tries to be assuring.

"She's not here, so it's going to be unbearable." Lilith admits, then she reveals something, something she hadn't even shown Kerrigan yet. On her wrist, she had written into her own essence, Kerrigan loves Lilith. "You're lucky she doesn't care who I fuck, because I'm going to ruin you."

The palpable waves of amused joy from Varynna are all she answers that with, powerful engines rumbling the shuttle into space before Tech Priests pry her chest plate apart and perform active, in the moment cleansing of the slight internal growths from creep infestation. Humming radiation and buzzing saws alike destroying it with machine precision.

The docking bay arrives fast, this craft apparently able to move fast. And with the landing, Varynna jokes, "Who said anything about fucking?" Before striding down the docking ramp.

She can't help but get goaded, trying her best not to, but she smiles, "I mean look at me, look at you, how many chances like this would you even get?" Lilith snickers again.

Even without seeing her face, Varynna's twitch is notable, "Ah, I'll have to clean that mouth of yours out." The threat comes as she continues to walk to her doors, Lilith following.

The words are drawn out of Lilith, having someone to banter with, "I told you before, we'll wrestle for it."

Bulkhead doors shift open, revealing the entryway to her chambers. "But I so want to deny you." It's an admittance that Lilith's rarely ever heard that comes from Varynna.

Before she even realised what she was saying, the fun of the game made her light headed and giddy, "Kerrigan killed me two or three times and still loves me now. I don't actually think it's possible, I'm too much fun." Then her whole body freezes, and she gulps loudly. "Fuck."

The doors closing audibly provide the smallest bit of relief as Varynna's armour is pulled off by servo-skulls. "I adore your mouth, it keeps going, doesn't it?" Without the vox, her voice returns to a lilting, crystal hymn in every word.

"There's a natural rhythm to it, but if you're good I'll sho—" She bites her tongue, "You HAVE to sto—" Then she sighs again, another deep breath. "You gotta stop using my loneliness against me. I'm vulnerable to it, you wouldn't take advantage right?"

Sitting at her table to start eating what looks like a decadent cake, piled on two layers of frosting and sweet confectionary alike, "There's a fine line, Lilith, between taking advantage of your loneliness-" She takes a big bite, swallowing it quickly, "-and assuaging it, where do you think I am on that line?"

Without asking for permission, mostly trying to get some power back, Lilith also takes a piece of cake, putting it on a plate, and using a fork. "I think… I think you like to play with lines. I think that's precisely where you are. Straddling it, going just barely far enough to get a reaction then pulling back." Then she looks at the cake, "Holy shit this is great."

"Mhmm, my cooks never miss their mark." Varynna admits, a second slice already on a plate for her, "I feel very exposed, you did read deeply into me." Another chuckle leads into another bite, before the smile rests on Varynna's face.

She can't stop herself from falling into these games as she takes another slice as well, trying to match her speed, but falling behind a little. The woman was insatiable. "Alright, my… Offer is on the table. That's fine either way, I don't push because it makes everything fucking terrible. You do not want to spend eternity with someone who actively hates you for betraying them." Then with a sigh she said, "God I hope Kerrigan is ok."

"How long has it been since you've been cared for?" Varynna asks, her top being pulled off by a servo skull, to be replaced with another, more comfortable one.

Her eyes narrow, scanning Varynna, carefully. Trying to see the trick, looking at layers beyond layers of a woman she's known for… maybe a total of two hours. Maybe. "I got… A hug. three weeks ago." She said quietly. "That's not their fault, I don't… Ask, and they're both... One's fragile, the other is tough. It's fine."

The short woman nods, "With that in mind, do you mind if I do? At your pace." She slices another chunk of cake, plating and placing it before Lilith for her.

"I might shatter into a million pieces actually," Lilith laughed, then she realised, "Not in an alien way, in the people way. You saw… Everything, the abhuman thing probably isn't going to fly anymore."

"I was very certain you were as abhuman as Spidera IV's locals, yes." The Admiral laughs loudly, beginning to move on to more savoury dishes.

As the meal continued, she took in the room around her, the iconic imagery. Lilith scratched her head, trying to think too hard on it, "I've been trying to learn the religion and stuff, if we ever are allowed off planet? It's all… Seems like I can say whatever except for a few things and just call it the cult of… Here?" She's asking, looking at Varynna, for guidance.

"You can't do that," Varynna laughs, "You're revealing the deepest secrets of the missionary orders! They don't care so long as you call it the Emperor." There's a sarcastic enjoyment to her words, a hypocrisy she extracts mirth from.

That hits home, "It's… Pretty different, I've pretty much floated by raw, filtered, honesty this entire time." Lilith said, putting inflection on the second the word filtered. She takes in the giant statues of Varynna, the huge murals, and wonders, "How do you make such great things, but…" She looks back to Varynna, "Ana's an Astropath," She says plainly, "We're getting a small glimpse into the outer galaxy and… God… It's…" There's so many negative adjectives she could use, but none of them seem to truly encapsulate what she feels when looks at the imperium. "People hurt. Most people when they meet an intelligent species or hive mind don't immediately go for a flamethrower based genocide." Then she thinks about it, "No… Nevermind, that's only us really."

"I do have to admit. The other hive ho-mind." She corrects herself, "Apologies, still shifting my language-The other hive mind in these parts is… rather less communicative, or pleasant." Her tone is affable, but there's a small shiver in her remaining biological eye, as if adrenaline just shot through it.

Lilith snaps her eyes to look at Varynna, "Another of us, or just another one? We're not all allied is the thing, we're like… Ant colonies, or bee hives."

"No relation to you, their… design principles? Is different." Varynna admits, "And besides, you're much smaller." Her joke is dry, "Less… blotting out the stars when you arrive in system." She eventually stops talking for a second, "I feel this topic of conversation was ill considered on my part. Lest you want one of our first to be me… breaking my current charming veneer, we should change to another."

"Where do you see this going," Lilith asks, quietly, "I assume you know everything the Magos knows, I don't know what's unique or special about us. I don't know what else is in your galaxy even." Thhen she poured herself some wine, "Information is power, and I have none of it. Some of the stuff out there is… Scary. Like when you're five and there's something terrible watching you from the dark. You're hiding under the blanket, and you're watching the corner of room, but nothing is there. You just know you're scared."

"You? Us? The Imperium?" Varynna asks, mostly to herself, "Truthfully? To hell, all of us will will go directly to hell, eventually. But does that really matter?" This question has more weight to it, "Does it matter if, before then, we lived a life we enjoyed? Fully extracted every single thing we wanted from it?" Her gaze keeps itself on Lilith, looking for any reaction.

She laughs, "No, not really. Nothing matters, which I guess means that you get to do what you want? But… If you're satisfied, that seems like it's enough. I'm probably going to die very unsatisfied, but very happy."

Shaking her head, "Not if I have anything to say about it." Varynna jokes, "But… you are not wrong. We live in what some maddened flagellants call the "End Times". This is likely our final, finest years. Whatever survives won't be…" The Admiral pauses, silent thoughts finally given voice discomforting her, "Cadia burns, its… an important world, its purpose to… hold back monsters. Hope is dim now, even amongst my fleet, I no longer fed them thoughts of victory, I fed them vengeance, hatred, rage."

"Do you mean those things we pop?" Lilith turning her head, "The… The little guys" That's not the right word. "There's like, there's things, between us, and our link. We just kind of focus on them."

"I mean their larger, much more brutal, fully manifested siblings." Varynna smiles to herself, a stress response just as it is a joy response, "They make the universe break when they arrive. Worlds drown in blood, ships turn to hedonistic self-annihilation, diseases break regiments, doubt cracks your mind."

There's a moment of reflection, and then a bit of nervous energy, "Can you tell me more about the second one?" She's playing with her tendril now twirling it. "That sounds… Bad."

"My eldest enemy." She nods, "The Prince of Pleasure, or whatever other title that worshipper in particular cares to use. They are… terrifyingly enticing. They give you anything you wish for, hoping, merely, that you ask for more."

There's a moment of biting her tongue, thinking, "We've… Encountered bigger things, but the Magos told us even talking about them would mean our world was cleansed. Now, I see that… That's not entirely true."

"If you'd spoken to my crew, I'd have assumed you were cultists." Varynna chuckles, smiling still, "And yes, likely would have taken…steps."

"I thought... I was told there were cults, then sects. I was also told that… These things you talk about, represented something different. Change, Desire, Rage and… Happiness. I had to rip one of those things away and kill it myself with our swarm before it got close. It was… Larger, with puppet strings." Then angrily, "I have been lied to. It seems."

Shaking her head, Varynna states darkly, "I doubt it died. They… don't, not even under city shattering fire. They… disperse, break apart, lose all semblance of themselves. Then, days, years, centuries later, they return."

"We… Don't attack them on that level, we tear apart their essence." She says, "It's not their physical part we attack, we tear apart the um…"

"The soul." Varynna finishes for Lilith.

With a shrug, Lilith says, "I think so? Maybe I'm wrong, I don't know what we're doing. I'm very upset that I've been lied to though."

On a whim, the Admiral moves around the table, sitting next to Lilith, much closer to continue this conversation, "Can I help, hmm?" A soft and unthreatening ask, at least from anyone else. From her its another step into the tight grip she is building.

"It's something only the swarm can handle at this point, there will be a discussion. That you don't have the ability to be privvy too." Her jaw sets angrily, her fingers tapping on her shoulder. "I… May need to have my… Essence destroyed. If they… Don't die. If they're that dangerous, then I'll need my essence destroyed." She's crying, "I was finally happy."

Varynna drags the other woman into a hug, tightly holding Lilith, not a moment's hesitation in the act, nor the continued contact, "No, you won't." The whispered command is steely, "Not when I've started to like you." The compliment immediately after is soft, encouraging.

"I think… It might be too late… I ca-" She grits her teeth, trying not too cry, trying not to fall for this trick even though she was so desperately lonely. With a woman who pined for another man, another woman who wouldn't just love her but worshipped her, never building her up as well. Now someone caretaking was killing her, she wanted it to believe it was genuine, but she also just wanted to cease. "I…Carved up a body, and drank blood. To make myself stronger."

The hug gets tighter, briefly scaring Lilith that it may turn to something else, before Varynna comfortingly whispers, "You poor girl. I'm so-" She's cut off by Lilith.

"No-one told us anything." She cries, "Now Kerrigan is sick, we're about to be destroyed by a fleet, our planet is barely off the ground, we can only build two or three hundred ships in a year. I don't know what we're going to do." The heart feels torn in two, ripped out, stabbed and pinned to a wall between two panes of glass like a pressed flower. Delicate, desicated, and exposed. "I won't be there to protect her."

"You are glorious." The simple statement from the Admiral is full of feeling. "But, Lilith, the world is not simply others. The dread for others is blinding you." She separates from the hug to look at the other woman's face, trailing her fingers to brush away tears. "Let me help you calm, so you can focus."

When the contact breaks, the touch, the comfort. There's a snap inside her, the loss sending clarity through a clouded mind, a broken one. The tears stop, and she snaps straight, the composure returns, and the weakness is stuffed away. "Fuck."

Varynna grins, not finding the shift at all disturbing, "Steel." She whispers, "There's steel in you, it's already made the decision. You just need to make your peace with it." A familiar tone is in her, like she knows pain just like this. "For what it matters, my dear Lilith, I support whatever you do." A hint of an edge shows there, like her world, for right now, is just the woman across from her. As if she's blotted everything else out.

Without realising it, she's glaring a hole in the table as she thinks. Her carapace splits around her arm, one of the spider-like sequencing limbs depositing a coin that rolls down her arm. It slides up to the tip of her finger balanced, and she starts to manoeuvre it deftly. It tumbles down her fingers, then with minute movements seems to climb the other side, making circles, as if the coin is still in space and her hand moves around it. It continues to spin, continuing, faster and faster. She's not looking at it, still staring at the table. When suddenly, she drops the throne accidentally banging her knuckles on the table, and it clatters against the floor.

"Are they useful?" She asks, plainly, "Or will it never be worth it?"

"These words never leave this room, Love." Varynna asks very calmly.

She nods, "I don't break promises, the things I spoke on, of the swarm, are my secrets to give as Unity. I swear it."

"I have…heard." Each word is carefully selected, "Of radicals whom use their ilk, bind them" At those words, Lilith's eyes snap to her with a cold fury, but also understanding, and Varynna continues " like fuel, force them to heel in their plans." Varynna describes, "And I have also heard of such bindings failing, of the beast allowed to run free."

"It is playing with the Arch-Enemy's tools. One must not have doubts." The Lord Admiral states firmly.

She raises an eyebrow, "Doubts of wha— Wait don't tell," She realised the silliness of the request. "At least now we know what to do in case such a thing were to happen." There's a deeper sigh, "I'm suddenly extremely grateful that we can all focus on one as a swarm and eliminate them." She picks up the coin off the ground, twirling it again, far slower.

Then with a small growl, one reminiscent of Sarah's, "My family will not be harmed. I will not allow it." Then looking at the Admiral, after flipping the coin and catching it before depositing it back between her carapace, "Careful Lord Admiral, I may end up trying to join the Navy."

"Careful Lilith, I don't know what I'd do with an Ensign like you." Her grin is broad, finally disconnecting from the very serious topic to something more fun.

The tension snapping is fresh air to the lungs, and the room feels cooler, and more crisp. "Don't worry, I'm good at taking orders, and the lead, when necessary." Then even quieter, "I miss Sarah." She balls up again a bit. "There's no way you're joining the Swarm now I suppose."

"I don't think I've seriously considered it yet. I don't take orders, of any kind, well." Varynna admits, "Unless I can't find a single flaw in the giver." Her finger raises as if to make a point. "For example. The man whom sent me here to do battle."

She hears the word, processing them, trying to consume them as if they were steak, "We're next on the chopping block after Cadia then?" Though, her smile is big almost feral, "That's good, we'll show you why we don't ever lose wars."

Varynna drums her nails on Lilith's arm, before leaving the hand there. "I'm going to get used to you, I hope you realise." It's coy, almost worded like a threat.

"That's normally when people fall in love unfortunately, or I switch it up." Though it's stated more as a dance step, trying to see if the limits are being brushed against.

"It's a race then?" The Admiral questions, "Who falls for who?"

"Races imply competition, Lord Admiral," Lilith's eyes gleam with mischievous glee.

"My mistake." She smiles, "I shouldn't have put the strain upon you." Varynna comfortingly squeezes Lilith's arm, which sends little tingles up it and causing Lilith to gulp.

Lilith was suddenly very parched. "Oh… No." She says quietly. "You're hot. That's not good."

"Why not?" She asks, jewels gleaming on her clothes, earrings practically making her out as an ancient warrior queen. Porcelain skin, short, thick hair that barely reaches her jaw. "Do I make you…bothered?" The words are accompanied by a slow, torturous drag of her fingernails, just light enough to be felt, on Lilith's arm.

With a shake of her head, Lilith replies, "I have an unfortunate propensity to collect pretty things." Though the goosebumps are hard to hide, as she shivers her tendrils bristling just a tad.

"So do I!" Varynna excitedly states, gently climbing her hand back up Lilith's arm, still leaving all of this to that one point of contact. "It's a problem sometimes." Her admittance has not one ounce of shame or guilt in it, almost gleeful, actually.

Lilith shook her head, "You misunderstood why it's not good, Lord Admiral. Its not hard you're just going to drive Kerrigan nuts." Then almost on instinct, she cups the Lord Admiral's face. Her lean into the touch is almost as electric as the contact itself, "Oh, but just imagine." Varynna tempts.

"Your Queen, pining for your attentions." The temptation is a spear, striking towards Lilith unerringly, backed by the wry smirk of a woman getting what she wants.

"I can imagine something better," Lilith says, kissing Varynna on the forehead, "Varynna the human, pining for me."

An opportunity widens Varynna's eyes, "Oh," She whispers, "So I am more enticing?" The grin that spreads across her face is victorious, followed by her free hand settling on Lilith's hip.

"If I wind you up, and leave." Lilith responds eyes twinkling, "It'll be even better for you next time. I wouldn't rob you of that. I like to play with lines too."

Rather than using words immediately, Varynna moves forwards, practically sitting on the taller woman's lap. "But Lilith." She whispers, face on the side of Lilith's neck, lips brushing against it with every word, "I'll wind you up first."

"Survive the next battle, and I'll consider it." Lilith said, not pushing the woman off, in fact pulling her closer, hugging her. So that her head is past Lilith's neck.

"Consider?" Varynna asks, "I've never seen the nerve." Her words are undercut by the evident amusement in her voice. "Just remember, Lilith. I have you here until your Queen awakens." She gently brushes her fingers against the other woman's waist.

Loving the game so much, again, playing with the line, seeing how close they can get, is driving Lilith insane, her mind is becoming blank and her throat is catching. "To think, all this time to drive you mad."

Varynna's response is cool, calm and ever so collected. "Lilith, darling."

"I'm already mad." The retort is accompanied by a shift of her hips to place her face against Lilith's shoulder, followed by a bite that shocks the taller woman with its force.

As the Zerg nerve endings dull the pain, but not the sensation of force. Lilith forces herself not to make a noise. Almost as if she hadn't noticed at all. Even quieter, Lilith whispers into Varynna's ear, "Look's like it's two-one. You moved first," before gently nibbling on her earlobe, "You're going to be so disappointed when I stop." The words tickling the inside of Varynna's ear, the whisper breathy as just brushes against her senses. What the fuck does any of that mean, Lilith's mind races, How am I running out of words.

Whispers and words keep a smile on Varynna's face, "It's not about winning every battle." She shifts, further pressing her chest into the other woman, "It's about the war, Lilith." Her metallic nails scratch at the other woman's back, committing to a sensory overload of everything all at once.

Lilith lets out the tiniest squeak, but it was a squeak nonetheless. With no more words left in her mind, she just sat there. Watching Varynna, deciding to win this test of wills another way. So desperately in the game now so lost in it, that she refused to lose. Then she realised that Varynna wouldn't either. Her mind reeled as she tried to figure out a draw. Some way to force this into a scenario where neither loses. Then she said, "Uh, I'm like ninety percent tentacle and spears by volume." She'd have to take the L, for Kerrigan. Again.

"Come on Lilith." Varynna quietly prods, "You were so close."

"I'm not on my A game, I can't stop thinking about how hurt she'd be." Lilith says, relying on her honesty, "She believes in Ride or Die, but she also doesn't always say what she wants. She's so vulnerable right now. I'm also not joking, we can pretty much change our DNA however we like." Very quickly trying to change the subject, instead now a much different game being played. "Do you want to see?"

"I like you." The Admiral chuckles, leaning up, as if for a kiss before pulling away at the last second, unfolding from Lilith's lap and standing on her own feet. "But that victory was cheap, I'll get another some other time." She sits back onto the nearby seat, flushed and obviously entertained.

"On the other topic, always feel free to put on a show for me, Lilith." The joking statement is heavily pointed at how she'd made the taller woman dance to her tune for just a few seconds.

Misunderstanding entirely, Lilith stands up, and finally unfurls into a ribcage, spinal column, dozens of sequencers and articulated spider limbs, and an upper half. "Isn't great, I don't have to look like this, but it's so useful. I was mostly worried about biting you, because I don't know how much you regenerate."

The Admiral intakes the sudden shift without a moment's surprise. "Oh that's enticing." Her eyes look directly into the horrific display, inspecting every milimetre of it. "And you taking a permanent, unyielding piece of me is…well.' Varynna's gaze turns back to Lilith's. "Rather the point of a bite, no?"

She looks at the admiral with narrowed eyes, "Did you take a piece of me?!" With a small yelp, knowing it would have been healed already,

Varynna's tongue sticks out of her mouth, a purple-hued strip atop it, sticking out and staying there with a very proud look in her eyes.

Lilith fires her tongue out and grabs it, something seen ascending into the rib cage as she snaps it off Varynna's tongue with her own, but as she tries, Varynna clamps down biting it.They sit there, looking at each other. Lilith now just a bit panicked that there was someone that could actually match her energy.

Varynna's look turns victorious, a realisation hitting her, making her want to let go to say it, but enjoying the prolonged contact too much to do it.

Now, truly at a loss for what to do, Lilith turned the tip of her tongue trying to gently tickle the roof of Varynna's mouth to get her to let go, mentally, she was going to have to explain this, and she didn't think her memories would do her much favours.

Tainting the memory further, Varynna releases her, and with a smug glee, says, "And I win." The palpable waves of fulfilment emanate from her, pulsing like a star.

"Shit." Lilith admits, falling to her back as a humanoid again, her head crashing against the floor with a painful crash, and a a smack that seemed to reverberate through the giant room. "How the actual fuck… You're terrifying. There's no way The Queen blames me for that." Then with dawning realisation she said, "We were never walking out of there without going off, were we?"

Varynna is still so infuriatingly smug. With a smile that made Lilith want to attack her, she said, "No, most likely not."

With that, Lilith moved over back to the table and poured herself a glass of wine, then chugged it. Then a second, then started drinking from the decanter directly. Trying to do something to clear the momentary panic, and the sting of someone beating her. Though she couldn't help but be excited to play again. A feeling she'd have to tamp down, fast. "How long is she going to be out for? I didn't ask."

"At least three days." Varynna croons, sensing and delighting in the panic of Lilith, as if she can feed off it. "We will get.. Familiar, I think." She finishes by taking a bite of a pastry of some stripe, enjoying it to an excessive extent, almost moaning, "Even food tastes better with you flustered."

With a tiny tantrum, Lilith kicked her legs and pumped her feet as she laid backwards on the floor, "Please tell me it was at least charming that I have a sense of honour. I can't be without her for three days. You're allowed to accompany me, so can't we just, together, go down there so I can hold her?" She couldn't stand being this far away from Kerrigan, or Ana. "Or bring Ana? No, wait that's a terrible idea, plus it'll make the rebo—"

"You can come and go." Varynna clarifies, "I'm not holding you prisoner, I'm enjoying your company."

THere's a small whimper, "Yeah but I promised, and I like your company a lot, so I feel like I'm going back on my word if I take off, but I feel like I'm betraying The Queen if I can leave, but choose not too." Lilith rubs her temples trying to figure out what's the right move.

"Do you want me to keep you up here?" The Admiral questions, curiously. "I can make it not… optional."

"No, Kerrigan already knows that trick, I pulled it to get away from A—" She bites her tongue again. "How close to the behemoth we were picked up in are we?"

"An interplanetary space away. Maybe an hour in a shuttle?" She explains, "You'll have to figure out how to divide your time Lilith, otherwise someone will get insatiable." Varynna's smile is entertained and broad, finding joy in the panic once again.

There's a moan that was supposed to be a grunt of displeasure, but the noise didn't leave her throat quite the right way, making Varynna's eyes snap wide-open. "So I'm learning the multi-person relationship only works with certain types of people. That I'm also bad at figuring out those types of people. Everyone's working with me, but also seems miserable. You're broken like me, what would you do?" Lilith said with her beautifully unique blend of incisive blunt kindness. "Er… You are right? Either that or you actually cared that much, and the idea is literally unfathomable to me. I'm the only one I know who cares that much." The blather, the default because she knows she'll be here three days, starts up.

"I prefer to keep my inner thoughts a mystery." Varynna answers Lilith, "It makes you want to dig." The Admiral leans back into her seat.

"You should try throwing out a million thoughts, then building around whatever they latch onto." Lilith said with a smile. Then she leaned on her back arms and launched herself up on her feet, "How long does the bath take?" She asks, "Maybe I can slip in and out while you're in your goop."

"Three hours, thrice a day." She answers, "It's a bother, but a necessary one." Varynna admits with a sigh, "Don't get old Lilith, it's bothersome."

Lilith shrugs, "I can't, so no worries there." Then walks around the large room, "What do you do all day? Ana and I would watch picts and read books, Kerrigan just sat and stared out the window brooding, until I also brought her picts, books, and a dog. What about you?"

"I've a theatre, a cathedral, plenty of picts, music, hedonism-Really anything I want!" She rattles off, "Ultimately, I am Lord Admiral, and whilst the sickening masculinity of the title annoys me, the power, resources and influence it affords does not."

With a big smile Lilith keeps looking around the room, "That's… You get it, which scares me. Makes me feel less human, but! You get it. Because I can't get Kerrigan or Ana really to see that we can do anything we want with our free time. I've taken up drawing, I've started tailoring, I learned how to weave sequences of DNA, and it's all been super fun. It's like no-one wants to be happy anymore." Then she walks over and picks up more food, munching.

"I'm a sculptor mostly, of myself." Varynna points at one of the statues of her, "That's my best work, too me thrice as long as the expert for barely close enough to be displayable results. But it is my work."

The sculpture itself is larger then Varynna, and must have taken a great deal of time to negotiate around with a step ladder. While on close inspection, there were small chips, and divots, it produced an excellent facsimile to the real woman though slightly exaggerated, and grander. Lilith stared into the eyes, knowing in a sense she was seeing Varynna as she viewed herself. Something intimate carved and crafted over three days. It was not only power and control, but risk-taking. Leaving it out, worse than the others, it was vulnerability as a weapon, a deliberate laid trap that could risk injury. Even having it out meant the art work could be broken.

As she studied it, almost dissecting it in a way she couldn't the real woman, she turned back to Varynna and said, "Honestly it's great. I love it."

"It's my work, of course you do!" Varynna has, somehow, made it from her seat to just behind Lilith noiselessly, hugging her from the front as she turns. "Apologies for being… clingy. I just get antsy before large battles." The Admiral admits, looking just overtop Lilith's shoulder at the sculpted image, her expression hidden from the other woman.

"You are adorable," She whispers, "Sorry, I just… I'm lonely, you know the hugs work, I like the lie for as long as it's going to last." So she stands there, with the admiral.

Then she melts in the woman's arms, she hugs Varynna back, Lilith can't help it when someone seems like they need someone. "Oh, sorry, come here." She says, hugging Varynna with a warmth rubbing her back with talons, not romantically but softly. There's desire, of course, it seems to almost drip out of Lilith, but even more so there's loss. A kind of grief, Kerrigan was hurt, Ana was hurt in a much worse way, though Lilith tried to ignore, and now there's a third person, who also seems scary and dangerous, but powerful. She kept leaping into these situations, knowing the consequences fully but failing to resist them in their entirety.

"A lie, repeated long enough." Varynna mumbles into Lilith, "Can become truth, can't it?" It's a fragile question, either truthful or so perfectly constructed as to be identical to the real deal.

"I really, really, hope so." Lilith responds, not caring about the game anymore, it starting to hurt or feel to real for her to be comfortable, "I really do." The vulnerability seems real, and she needs it, why she craves these vulnerable moments is so unclear to Lilith, but she needs them. They make her better… Somehow. Feel better? Be better?

"Would you like to stay with me? For a while longer, before you return to your Queen?" The woman asks, gently tugging Lilith towards a couch placed directly in front of a broad pict-player that consumes a whole wall of this chamber.

Suddenly it felt like a test, a test of what she didn't know, but she felt like she had to stay longer, like… She wanted to prove she could resist whatever compulsions she faced while toeing the line. Then she gives Varynna a single kiss, gentle, and sweet on the forehead again. "I'm sorry, but I told you you'd be disappointed. I have to check on her. I'll be back, I promised."

"I'll be waiting~." She laughs lightly, disconnecting from the other woman, moving to lounge at the offered seat.

Before Lilith left, she had to ask, "I do hope you survive, by the way. Do you know when it's going to get here, the fight?"

She shrugs, "When it comes. Before the years end assuredly." An uncertain answer, but in truth all she can give.

Lilith did feel a little angry at that, "So not in the next three days then, most likely." She groaned, "I like you but you're mean."

As Lilith leaves, she hears the quiet chuckle of Varynna, "Would you like me if I wasn't?"

"This isn't over," Lilith yells over her shoulder in anger.

 

[Princess Scribe]

Lightning and ozone crackled around the throne room striking an inch from Lilith's face, exploding the floor of the hatchery, "You stuck your tongue in her mouth?!"

Preparing for the conversation with blood sorcery, Lilith had just managed to avoid the lightning strike, but only just barely, "I— she bit me I was just try—" Her sequencer limbs fired out in front of her launching her back, "Kerrigan, we don't know if I can survive a full lightning bolt. Using your powers was ho—" Another, this time a palm strike she ducked.

"We can find out." The Queen is angry, throwing a mix of lighting, sweeping blade-wings and more traditional strikes for a few seconds. "Her!?" The exclamation is violent, surprised, maybe even…hurt.

More dodging, "I WAS SCARED. IT'S my response to being SCARED she didn't tell me I could leave until AFTER. Then I left!" This time towards Kerrigan, trying to get behind her, so she couldn't see where she was trying to hit. "You told me you didn't care! The last we talked about it." She was running towards the hatchery walls.

"I DIDN'T THINK YOU WOULD KISS THE TERRAN ADMIRAL." Kerrigan growls.

"I'm A DIPLOMAT," She said, as giant holes were blasted through with lightning, "I— That's what— I DIDN'T KISS HER! It was a peck on the forehead. That's not the same thing," This time she had to drop as three converged on a single spot. "The tongue was to get a piece of my skin back which has been heavily sequenced, and I didn't know what they'd learn from it. I didn't know she was going to BITE it."

The logic starts to make headway against Kerrigan, as she growls, throwing a lazy claw overtop Lilith's head, "Stop talking, you're making too much sense."

Then Lilith slowed down, "I'd rather stop dodging, I feel like shit. She asked me when I last had a hug or someone took care of me, and then made me feel like shit. I really don't… She fucked with my head. She made me think she was scared about some upcoming fight. That I would be… Betraying her for her help in helping you. I keep my promises, and all of them fucking suck." There were slight twists, maybe painting herself in a slightly better light, but everything happened that she said.

"Uh-huh. So that twenty minutes of grinding and biting was just her fucking with your head?" Kerrigan asks, evidently having looked deeply into the memory.

"A.) There was no way it was twenty minutes. B.) Are we going to ignore the fact that my walls came tumbling down when she said 'When was the last time someone took care of you?' Or is that just going to continue to be a 'me' problem?" Lilith growled before realising what she was saying. "Fuck. fuck."

Sarah freezes, all the fight ripped out of her at that, it takes nearly a minute for her to talk again, "Oh." And with that minute, not much is managed. She's shocked and tumbling without a clear idea of what to do, a situation wholly outside her wheelhouse placed in front of her.

There was a moment as she realised how hurtful that must have been, how guilty Sarah must feel. "That's what I'm saying when I say she 'fucked with my head,' she figured out somewhere I didn't even know I needed to be guarded against, and got into a stupid fucking power game, that wasn't even about me." There was nothing she could do, "I can't initiate touch, but that doesn't mean I don't want a hug , I just… Don't want to push, and I'm scared, and I'm sad, and… I thought I had too. It wasn't until after I was pushed to my limit did she even say I couldn't. She used the implication of me needing to be there to trap me, using my own sense of… honour, against me. The fact that we need to not piss her off to keep this planet standing, and the fact that if you get sick again I need a way to help you." Lilith had done a lot to get stronger, and she took a deep breath, "I'm sorry, I fucked up big time."

Finally, a decision sparks in the Queens eyes, "I'm gonna kill her." She growls loudly.

"Sarah, I need a hug more than I need you to be angry. Take that energy and put it into taking… A little time for affection, please." Lilith asked, well begged, as she grabbed her hand.

Sarah looks at Lilith, rage pulled out of her again, before closing her eyes, breathing out and then catching Lilith in a hug. Its not the warm, utterly relaxed touch of Varynna, its stiff and unused to it, but it's the uncomfortableness of it that makes it so much more reassuring. Knowing that her Queen is doing this for her because her Queen recognizes that she's more important than something else. Uplifting her to where she stands.

"I'm sorry, I know better now, I won't fall for it again. It's all head games, now I know." Lilith whispers, "I'll be smarter."

"I-..." Sarah tries to be better, get words out, "I shouldn't have been angry. I-" She takes a breath, "I said I didn't care, and I meant it. It wasn't the kiss, it was it being someone who angered me." The explanation i slow, stiff, like rock being crushed in its unceasingly steady tread. "But that's-ugh." A crackle of lightning forces ozone into the air.

She hugs Kerrigan harder, squeezing her, "No, that's fine. It doesn't have to make sense, feelings don't make sense, and we don't always understand them to know where our lines are." She places her head against Sarah's chest, hearing her heartbeat, and feeling comfort. "That's fine, it's all fine. I'm honestly just happy sitting with you, and rules can change. Boundaries shift and evolve. Let's just bring it back a bit."

"Alright." Kerrigan agrees to something, not quite understanding what it is, from the tone of her voice, "We're bringing it back to…?"

"I meant everything, we're just bringing it back to neutral, to calm. There's a fight by the end of the year. It's going to be us holding this planet against these demon things that have been trying to infest us, the infest terrans I mean. We pull it off, and everyone is out of our hair."

Paradoxically, Sarah breathes out calm, "Finally, something I'm good at." An excitement building in her at the idea.

"Exactly, killing is like, our wheel house. I mean me it's more kidnapping but I can kill too." Lilith gives her a wink, and goes for a small peck before stopping, and pulling back. "Sorry." Then she leads her by the hand, "I'm going to ask Abathur to put me back into the Swarm. If you can have a demon in your head for a while like you did, then I don't think it's a problem for me either."

Sarah nods, "Good, I don't have to try to get in your head anymore." A smirk spreading across her face at the phrase.

"I'm going to warn you, with unlimited access to your time and knowing that the thoughts were unseen." Lilith said with a faux morose nod, "It's gotten so much worse in there."

The Queen rolls her eyes, "It can't be that bad."

"Don't… Say anything or attack Abathur, but I'm being… A tiny bit manipulative, ok?" Lilith said to the Queen, "I'm a bit worried what he— You know what that's not right, sorry. I'm going to ask him on my own, and if he says no, then can I come get you?"

"Fine." She says after a moment of wrestling with herself. "If he says no, I'm going to rip another pair of limbs off."

"Even though he reattaches them, that actually just makes everything slower for all of us while he does it." Lilith says, trying for not the first, fiftieth, or hundredth time to try and get Kerrigan to be just a bit nicer to Abathur. Even a small bit. "Can I divulge something?"

"What?" Kerrigan looks curiously at Lilith.

She takes a deep breath and looks at Sarah, "He, loves the things he makes. Loves. Truly. The Overmind, was like a brother, and he truly believes that everything he plans will work out. He believes in you, and the fucked up things he offers and does, are him trying to help. He calls you his greatest achievement, which probably sounds awful to you, but he can't be anyone else."

She points at the hatchery, "When we sit in the throne room? That's a thing he made to house us." Then she points at the spawning pools, "When we heal in those pools? That's a thing he made to heal us." Then she points at herself, "When he removed me from the Swarm, he made me a brood of one, just like him. It's lonely, not being a part of the swarm. I can't imagine how lonely it is when everything you've made hates you."

"I've sifted through his twisted head Lilith." Kerrigan hisses, "He deserves anything that happens to him, you don't know what he's done." There's a revulsion in the Queen, having evidently seen a truly terrible sight in some recess of Abathur's mind.

"Yeah, that makes sense," Lilith said calmly before running off, "Him and Ana were my anchors, and are my anchors, you too now. I can't force you to be friends, and I appreciate you not screaming at him around me. Not to be patronising, but you are truly amazing."

"Yeah, yeah." She waves the compliments off, "Go to the worm. I'll be here."

Then she sprints off to go to the evolution pits, sliding down the ramp. "Ur-Sequencer. Experiment Lilith, Results conclusive?"

The worm shifts, limbs over its body still growing into shape, "Results, mixed. Promising. Reason for query?" Simple, sharp questions are rumbled out as he turns away from his work.

"Reintegration." She responds, trying not to interrupt, keeping it short, simple, and sweet. He doesn't respond immediately, continuing, so she adds more. "Reintegration to Swarm."

"Still, dangerous." Abathur considers more than states, mind operating at a million times the speed of anyone around him, "However, reintegration test must be… completed." His train of logic is thorough, finding every angle, every perspective.

There's a delighted squeak from Lilith as she leaps and jumps. Trying not to climb the Worm again, "Observation, Entire swarm focus on Neverborn. Neverborn expelled. Query. Memory removal Necessary? Organism Abathur, shares Project Lilith, Protects."

"Unknown result, Neverborn removal, complications likely." He answers truthfully, "Memory removal unnecessary. Nothing damaging learnt." The rumble is, though shot through with that odd treble of pain, satisfied, as if having constructed something good.

D-do you want me gone? A fragile voice asks in Lilith's head, shaking at the idea.

No, not really, I don't think so. I just want to be sure that if there's something you and I can't handle later we have help. I couldn't help but think if all of us had used the swarm link to focus on Kerrigan, she probably would have expelled her Daemon. Luckily, I still found you. Lilith said kindly, then to Abathur, using her normal voice, "You're a good friend, I hope how you treated me spreads through the Swarm, so other people think of you better."

She says with a smile, "I'm also still going to be coming by and sequencing because like, I look fucking sick." She says as she expands, showing off the number of intricate limbs and upgrades she made to herself, packing it as densely as possible into her tiny frame.

"Visual intimidation factor, high." Abathur compliments as he returns to slow work on a sac with a larva in it, trying to prod a massive change from how much Essence is in the membranous container.

And so, Lilith waited. She knew that Abthur's projects were many times time sensitive, required delicate work, and sometimes could not be stopped once started. It was easy, as it had always been, to give him the time and space he needed to work on his work. There were moments, where she wondered if her thoughts would come spilling out once again, or if her body would need to be remade, but none of that would compare to once again hearing the joyful brimming, overwhelming psychic static of the swarm.

Then she realized, after about an hour, "Ur-Sequencer, Project Lilith was requesting reintegration… At next possible chance. Possibility Now?"

"Self-integration possible. Attempt. Will observe for failure." Abathur reveals, moving to another pool, an empty one, and waiting there for Lilith.

Lilith moves to the pool, and skewers her essence with one of her appendages, now very familiar with the feeling, though it never being comfortable or pleasant. The pain though, had it's own delight that had always made Lilith giddy, and as Abathur put it "Malleable." As she examined her soul, looking through out it she tried to figure out where Abathur could have removed it. She knew in the strands that there would be something specific, like a string of knots, or a specific color that'd denote the Swarm Link. Then she saw it, Abathur had simply knotted off a few strands of the vast loom of essence to create a cut off. When she snapped it, and then re-wove it correctly, she heard something. Something… Quiet.

Then it got loud.

Then it got louder. Then realised that she was hearing everything. The swarm was now huge. There wasn't just Kerrigan, Lilith, and Ana, there were dozens of individual hive "members" people individually observing, from everywhere. The pink of her essence became overjoyed as the multitudes of voices washed over her, and then suddenly she heard her Kerrigan, Sarah, and her essence Flitted to wrap her in a hug . "SARAH SARAH I'm BACK! ANA I'M BACK!"

The morass of voices that answer Lilith is near-indistinguishable, Kerrigan and Ana locked behind the rest of the swarm's noise. It takes nearly a minute before Sarah can be heard, "What did you call me?"

"I SAID HURRAH HURRAH I'm BACK ANA ANA I'M BACK, Why what did you hear?" The embarrassed mirth though, was palpable.

"Tsk." The Queen's annoyance is palpable, but just underneath it can be heard, "I-i've missed you." Anastasia's soft voice can be heard, wrapping around Lilith like a cotton sheet.

"I've missed you too," Lilith is starting to realise that everyone else now has figured out how to modulate their voices very well, though she makes no attempt to hide any of it. You we should all hang out maybe? That's a terrible idea, no it's a great idea. Actually it's an amazing idea, but maybe first Ana and I should hang out so we can catch up, since I'm assuming she's been watching but not saying anything. Then all three of us hang out, and just catch up. I'm a little lonely, not as lonely but not as much lonely as I was and. We can eat cake. Isn't that amazing I actually loved the cake on the ship, but god the Admiral was so manipulative and awful, also attractive, but not like really attractive in a hot way, just in a wow I love it when someone just hugs me for me way. Also I think we should kill her at some point, or infest her, but honestly all I can think of is Sarah, but also Ana's always there because Ana's always there. I love them Both I'm so stuck. I don't know what to do I'm going to die alone actually, which makes sense because I'm Kind of a monster, I wonder if I can fuse all of our essence together in some way so that we're all the same person, that'd never work and or be horrifying. Maybe I can split myself in half? No, that'd work but there'd be two halves of me that aren't me. I wonder if I should keep carving people up for blood stuff, which is fun if addicting is Manth here I wonder. Anyways, can't wait to fight the demons, that's going to be awesome

"LILITH." Kerrigan's bark can clearly be heard, "GOD, JUST, SLOW DOWN." A massive aggravation from the seemingly infinite wall of thoughts Lilith was dumping into the conscious mind. Zhakarov can be heard at the edges of understanding, "It was so quiet seconds ago."

Ok quiet down the thoughts a bit, I think they can hear you, you've not been in the swarm a while, so just try to whisper— Do not think of that Lilith down, down back in the Deck

Ok, but she is hot when she yells and—

BACK IN THE DECK

Deep breaths. Deep breaths. Deep breaths.

I want her to choke me. Both of them.

Shut the FUCK up.

Then Lilith manages to find her calm, trying to remember how she kept the thoughts in her essence, inside. Deep inside.

"Zhakarov, I missed you too, but not like enough to go see what you were doing. Like a cousin you see on family reunions" She states into the essence, trying to figure out how to regulate her voice. No, actually I missed you a lot but it's hard because you're like, old looking, not hot. BUT I think that's a choice, and I respect it. You allow me to run rampant, I appreciate that.

"Hey Abathur, I forgot that I blast all my thoughts at full blast in the Swarm." She says outloud, "That was maybe something I should've worked on."

Abathur shivers, "Yes, practice needed." Before he continues his work, thinking about something, he adds, "Sequencing work, acceptable quality."

Acceptable, to Abathur, meant perfect, or at least, without complaint. Something that made Lilith, on all channels, squeal. EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE. Sending out a blasting whistle of joy that reverberated over the swarm, before realizing that once again, inside thoughts were becoming outside thoughts. Eeeeeeeeeeeeee… She slowly was able to make them peter out, then said, "Excellent, thank you." Nodding.

"Acknowledged, never repeat." The Sequencers frozen frame suggests the wild outcry was… particularly debilitating to one of his perceptions. He once again, slowly returns to work.

"I love you by the way," She whispers, and sprints out of the workshop, "I know you love me too!" And then, in a full sprinting joy guides herself to Kerrigan knowing that for once, they were back together, in body and mind. Though forgetting, that Sarah did not have to touch her to see into her mind. Uncapped, repressed, hidden feelings of pining and sorrow hit Kerrigan like a freight train as the smiling woman runs to her. Wounds, across Lilith's psyche now on full display without her own knowledge. A longing for touch and affection, for moments of kindness now a blistering heat that she's unaware that she's broadcasting to anyone within twenty feet. The smiling face running up to her.

The Queen is awaiting her in the same place she always does, sitting atop a throne. And Lilith slides to it to kneel at her feet, looking up at Kerrigan's face, now, mixed with all of those feelings a burning, overwhelming obsession. A fire that's very much like love but hotter, more dangerous. Hundreds of fantasies of long walks on the beach, tender kisses, intimate moments, whips, chains, flowers, roses, photographs, of conquering galaxies and taking world, of Kerrigan who looks brighter and more beautiful then Kerrigan ever imagine herself as Queen above all else, and Lilith at her side burning with love.

Kerrigan is buffeted by the feelings, trying to make sense of the wall. "You…" She's entertaining thoughts, Lilith can feel them slip past and into her minds, "Chains?" A whispered question, mostly to herself. "Lilith, come up here." She taps her leg, finally deciding on something.

Knowing that their minds are interlocked, that she can be felt, and understood, she straddles Sarah's lap. Looking deep into her eyes, the pink flames receding to pinpricks of noise among burning orange of Zerg. YEYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYES "Yes, my Queen?" She asks calmly.

"I… realized I need to apologize." She spits the word out like venom, hating the way it feels in her mouth.

No she never has to say sorry, she's good what did I do wrong? I should have "For what my Queen? You'r—" Lilith gasps. Her mind going blank.

A hand resting on Lilith's waist pulls her out of the morass of thought, "I was angry at you for following my commands." The talons gently inch their way into her carapace, settling firmly on the other woman. "That's a…" Sarah prepares to say something that aggravates her, "That's not what a Queen does."

Reaching out with her other hand, she gently wraps a light grip around Lilith's wrist, raising the hand and seeing a new wound, something sequenced their that wasn't before Kerrigan loves Lilith, a surprise, and then places it on her shoulder, "So," A small, dark smile spreads across Kerrigan's face, "I think you've earned second base, no?" She waits for the other woman's reaction, luxuriating in the tense contact.

Girl, calm down, CALM, CALM, DOWN DOWN No, I can't WAIT Nonono FIVE SECONDS FOR "Yes my Queen," She says, still entirely unaware of her full thought processes on display. Then she stops, looking at her. God… Her eyes are so pretty, and she's holding me. I could sit like this for an eternity.

"If you sit there forever when I said that, I'm going to take it personally." The wry acid of Sarah pulls her out of the musing.

Oh NO! "Oh… No…" She stops quietly, "OH nonono…" Then slowly, with her mind on full display, leans in for a kiss.

Sarah cups her hands under Lilith's face, pressing them against her neck and pulling them in. While the other quickly runs her hands from up her waist to just under her breasts, they connect, slowly at first, letting their lips touch with sensuous closeness. Mouths open and overlap as tongues intermingle, delicately raking at each other as Lilith moves in closer, writhing, grinding in the intimacy. The back of the Throne threatens to topple over, and Lilith pulls back to run her hand over the back of Kerrigan's tendrils, not pulling, but gently stringing it through. Kerrigan places her hands on Lilith's breasts, as Lilith moves hers to Kerrigan's shoulders. The gentle play, back and forth and stroking makes Lilith give a gasp, and she very gently nibbles on Kerrigan's ear lobe.

Not realizing, entirely, that second base went both ways, she yelped when teeth found their way through carapace to Lilith's nipple. Lilith slid backwards, off the chair, to kneel at her Queen's feet. She gently kissed her chest, a slow gentle peck. Waited, staring at her Queen, letting the moment drag, then her abdomen, again moving downwards, happy to worship, and happy for permission, centimetres away from Kerrigan's waist she stopped. Suddenly, and without warning. To sit next to the Queen pleased, her thoughts a bombardment of could-have-beens from the illicit to the obscene.

She cleared her throat, "So yeah, that's. That's nice, thank you." She's using the moment to push everything else back, just enjoying the feelings running through her in the now.

"I hope this didn't teach you the wrong lessons." Sarah slowly speaks, measuring her breath after all that, "Normally, you work up to that by flirting, not me…getting angry."

There's a small spiral of confusion, "Wait is none of the anger flirting? That's why I tease you so often." Then with a wide smile, "I guess I should find a better way to be teasing…" Leaving an implied almost… Threat? Fly away in the wind.

"Are you threatening me, Lilith?" Sarah asks sharply, a dark smile appearing on her face at the very idea. One clawed hand moves to rest on her neck, just sitting there.

"Only with a good time." Lilith whispers back.

"Mhmm, I'll be the judge of that." She chuckles warmly, seemingly, finally, for once, relaxed. "Get back up here, I want to sit for…a minute." Sarah taps her leg.

Slowly, painfully slow, torturously, anxiety producing, mind frayingly slow, Lilith lowered herself onto Kerrigan. Placing both arms interlocked behind her head, and stared deep into her eyes.

"You are not getting to third base." Kerrigan shakily whispers, more to steel herself than anything else, looking at Lilith moving with an obsessive, unyielding focus.

Leaning in closely, she whispers, "Why of course my Queen, I would never presume," Lilith doesn't roam Kerrigan this time, doesn't move, just sits and watches her neck. Delighting that even Zerg get goosebumps.

The Queen puts one hand on Lilith's waist, holding it to her and finally breathes out the anxious energy that was invading her. It turns out to be all she wanted, as she doesn't move, just luxuriating in her position, her company, her world. "Why did it take you so long?" Sarah asks.

"What?" Lilith asks, suddenly confused. "Which part took too long?

"You convincing me." Kerrigan answers with a wry smirk, "Convincing me to…" Her left hand tightens, but she stops the motion, forcing something through, refusing her own limits. "Love, you." The last words are torn out of her by will alone.

"Oooh," She says quietly, "The best things take time to do them right," Even quiet she said, "Because I love you too, and want it to be forever."

Then pulling apart, "But if you want, I can show you the other way with Hemp rope and blind folds."

"What?" Sarah asks, "What-what were chains about anyways?" She circles back to a previous topic, confused, "How do those and… me relate?"

Lilith looks to see if Sarah is joking, but then realises, "Oh um… One… You… Basically I'd… One of us would be chained to the floor, so they can't move, and the other one would do everything in their power to make them move. Normally in a fun way." She gulps, quietly. "That's why I put so many of uh… That's why I'm like ninety-percent… Infest tendril by volume." Chewing her tongue a bit, "You remember th—"

"Huh, good idea." Kerrigan comments, "I'll… see what I can do." Another dark smirk ends up on her face as she looks at Lilith, beginning to imagine.

There's a fire in Lilith's eyes at the words, "You'll figure something out," Lilith responds with a wink.

 

[Princess Scribe]

Hey if you're reading this at work listen up!

The entire thread is NSFW by default, but maybe your work is more progressive!
The following content may be more explicit than your average update!

The next slide has trigger warnings for those who need them.

Extremely Violent Bloody Sex
Discussions of Suicide

​

Do you hate me? A shaky voice asks after a long silence.

Lilith flinches, No absolutely not, but the empire will blow up our world if we're seen cavorting with Daemons. I didn't know that, I didn't know you fell under that necessarily, I didn't know what level she was working at. I had to put up a good front or we'd all die! If I die, who'd protect you Lilith was sure it was true, pretty sure it was true. By keeping up the Facade, I got permission to keep doing what we're doing. Now we know we can go very far.

I s-still feel like I h-hurt you, I c-can't h-hurt you, I c-can't, n-never.

You… Scared me, that's not the same thing. Lilith thought rubbing her eyes looking around the throne room, watching Kerrigan sleep. Some of the things you suggested, I don't know anything about, and while I know you'll never hurt me, I'm not always sure we're on the same page. She focuses on Kerrigan's arm, which has fallen off the bed that Lilith has moved into a part of the throne. Looking at the words on her wrist. Like, when you suggest binding Sarah to you. She hates being controlled, the very word would have set her off. It freaks me out when we start talking about controlling people. It's a hard boundary I have, I'll cut, and slice, and maim, and consume, and smoke, or whatever. I won't bind people or enslave or any of that.

I-I c-can't help it The voice is shaking, tears evident even with a purely audio link, I just want to help so much, I can't th-think past it. Manth's voice ripples up and down a spectrum of humanity, from deep to light, beginning to lose cohesion audibly.

I want to hug you, is there a way to like… Get me in the dream thing again? I feel like we should talk face to face. I feel bad for hurting you.

There's a silence, stretching on, You c-can close your eyes, I-I can n-nudge you to sleep. She quietly answers.

Alright, noted. Alright, noted, and perfect. I'll close my eyes, and we can talk together. Lilith thinks, closing her eyes, You know, it's very hard to do any intrigue, when everyone can read your mind.

S-sorry Manth apologizes, a drifting sleep coming over Lilith before a blink has her awaken in that replica of a dorm room. Manth is in the opposite bed, mascara running down her tanned face, tears still flowing as nails dig into the bed below.

"God I'm a monster, I'm sorry." Lilith says, rushing the bed, remembering Manth's highest moment. Trying to focus on what made her feel resplendent and alive. "You've been so good to me. You didn't do anything wrong Manth! You're perfect. You're perfect in every way. You have to know you've made my dream come true. You know that right? I'm… I'm in heaven. Do you not see what I feel with Kerrigan? That's because of you!"


"I-I know, b-but that do-doesn't matter to me. I-I just n-never want you to…hate me!" Manth's voice is broken and choked up, trying to get words out, "E-even the memory, it-it's like ac-acid. I-I couldn't talk o-on the s-ship." Tears flow freely, staining the bed with black mascara.

"Where, is that coming from. I never said that I hated you, I said I was angry that I had been lied too, and that we would need to have a discussion." Lilith said sadly, "None of it was real, I got caught up in a mind game, and I have to believe what I'm saying or it won't sound true."

Manth looks through a curtain of curls and tears at Lilith, hope blooming in their ephemeral heart. "R-really?" They ask, almost childlike, aftershocks of sobbing still wracking them.

"I mean, were you being completely honest when you said the four that the Admiral said, or were you putting a positive spin on it?" Lilith asks, hugging Manth, "Because if I'm asking about potential dangers, I don't want to think that one of the four dangers is being happy, when it's hedonism."

Melting into Lilith, warm and soft and full of need, Manth answers through the slowly stopping wracks, "I-I s-should h-have said m-more. I-I just c-can't g-go back." She begs.

"I think you're scared I'm going to turn on you, but you haven't done anything that would make me do that. You've had ideas that I didn't really like, but that's not the same as throwing you in…" Lilith gestures vaguely in the distance, "Some horrific sex-torture-misery-abyss pit. There are things I wouldn't wish on my enemies."

"I…I trust you." Manth gives in, pushing through molten waves of fear, of the flickering memories of nothing that torment them. They sink into Lilith's touch, "Please, d-don't hate me."

"I promise you, what I said before is still true." Lilith whispers, putting Manth's head in her lap, to gently pet the hair, "You'll be fine. I'll protect you for as long as I can. The first thing the Empire said when it saw me, was 'I'm a horrific Xeno that must be exterminated.' Whatever it's idea of dangerous, doesn't really seem compatible with my own. What you do is going to be decided on in a vaccuum. You're not going to be blamed for your kin, that's fucked up. Also, the Sorcery works, It's good, It's easy." As Lilith speaks, she's stroking Mant's hair thoroughly, petting it over and over and over again. "And even this is a sensation even if it's not the best one right? I'm sorry I hurt you in a real way."

Manth's voice is less trembling as the touch of Lilith winds her down, "I-I'm nothing but feelings, Lilith. Your's, now." There's an admission of weakness there.

"You have to know then, that I do not hate you. I don't." Lilith says quietly. "When I look at Sarah, you are inseparable from my feelings for her. Every time I think about how we met, how I saved her, I'm also thinking of you!"

"C-can you-" Manth stops, looking away with a strange, nervous feeling to her, eyes dark behind lashes, hair silky underneath Lilith's hand and clothes barely covering her at this angle.

"Can I what? Probably though, I'm not really… There's not a lot of moral compunction here. Do you need me to gobble up more people?" Lilith asks, putting her hand on Manth's thighs.

"Can you cut me again?" The woman asks, finally turning to face Lilith with lightly glowing orbs of pink, "J-just…for yourself… no ritual." Its almost a pleading, soft and dark begging for something forbidden.

"Oh! Yeah sure! Do you want to um… Do… We had like little vibra—" She shakes her head, "I'll cut you, no ritual, and you can… Do whatever you want to do during that, no problem. Slicing people up is something I was into way before I met you." She says with a smile. "So, no specific pattern, just go for it?"

Manth nods, rising with a hopeful smile, face lighting up at the acceptance. "Whatever you want me to have, lovely."

"Knife, or sequencer blades?" Lilith asks with a smile, as she stands up, a deep dark fire in her eyes. Something unlocked, something she wants to do but can never be allowed. Something only in the dreams that is possible.

The dark-skinned woman smiles back, turning her neck in a submissive gesture. "I want you." A husky plea, coming from within, deep within. She finds her hand grabbed by Lilith and she's yanked in with a sudden aggression. With full permission to unleash Lilith places Manth's hand between her legs to find purchase with a soft moan, and presses the daemons face against her chest. A blade from inside the carapace finds its way to Lilith's hand. Without waiting for Manth's reaction, she begins.

The first strike is slow, dragging the blade up along the side of the ribs. The Zerg steel-like bone slicing easily into flesh, a thick line slick with blood that drips from her, much like the pained moan that follows every second of cutting. Then another, this time instead of a slice, a shave, flaying a piece of flesh. Then another slice, again, and again, Lilith being to make inhuman noise as Manth returns every minute of pain with pleasure. Then, a fire in her eyes, she goes from Zerg steel to her real tools, a tendril with a sharp dextrous tip, and begin to test razor thin scrawls of cutting on the back of Manth. Happy with the results, she starts to carve, new heights of agonised moaning and trembling pulling free from the Daemon.

Lilith loves Manth and Manth Loves Lilith and Lilith Loves Kerrigan and Kerrigan loves Lilith and Lilith loves Ana and Ana loves Lilith but Lilith loves Lilith and Lilith loves no-one and Litlith loves Manth and Manth love—

Over and over and over, in small lettering, continuing until everything is slick with blood. Then unthinking she presses her hand atop Manth's head pushing her downward, and moan as the beautiful daemon begins to gently suckle at the mouth of her arousal. Gently licking around the the lips, licking her own blood as Lilith drips it down towards her pelvis. More beautiful sickeningly sweet noises comes out of Lilith as she is treated like she's perfect like she's a goddess, like she's above goddesses and queens, instead something that makes them what they are.

As bliss builds and churns, her breathing becomes more rapid and feverish and before long, she's no longer using blades, but talons to tear into Manth's back as Lilith is moved to the bed, not sure how and screams, her back arching her body writhing as everything starts to go white. She tastes Metal and Ozone, and Amersac. She can smell Creep, and the Inside of a Behemoth, and an Astropath's perfume. She feels like she's covered in bony Carapace and rough talons, and crude inexpert hands, and she screams in agonizing joy.

Still, the dream continues. White fading to the dimly lit dorm room, a shrine, as Lilith's eyes take it in, to her. Ancient memories rendered in photographs on the walls, her name scrawled on every inch of the room, even her side of the room left untouched, not even fixing the bed's slightly cocked pillows, as she rushed out of her dorm on that last day.

Atop Lilith is Manth, in bloody repose, a curvaceous goddess in her own right, brimming with a divinity far more real than anything mere metaphor could describe. Blood dripping into the sheets and over her own worshipped Deity. Pink orbs look into Lilith's own with blind, unthinking adoration. They'd do anything for her, no limits, no questions, nothing but obedience.

"Manth, I love you, you're in my shrine too." She whispers, "I can't do any of these without you. Never feel hated, and never worry about asking for this. I'll do this whenever I can." She says the dream making her far more eloquent than reality.

"My dream, lovely." She smiles, "Is one day, this isn't just a beautiful dream." The pink orbs look across the room, intaking it. "It's… real. The both us, real." A giddy feeling passes through her, overwhelming the pain as she nestles further into her object of worship. "And I can be there, forever."

---

In the evolution pits, Lilith snuck in for a brief second, and stepped into the evolution pool. Not looking at Abathur, before examining her own essence for the spot she was shown, and briefly knots it. In swarm space, for a split second she disappears. "Ur-Sequencer," She rumbles quietly, "Query, New Infested Sequence, Thanatomanic drive, activate on command?" Letting the question hang in the air.

The question rattles Abathur, as his many eyes snapped to her, as it did only once before. His hands wheeling over themselves, so vigorously that they seem to almost chafe. "Possible."

"Instant?" She asks, more pointedly. "Aggressive. Spontaneous."

Abathur started to pace, his mind almost buzzing with thought looking back to Lilith then touching an evolution pool with a Zergling in it, some unknown project. "Project Lilith, emotional state?"

"Not project Lilith, Others." She says more pointedly, "Others while essence. Others during infestation."

"Possible…" He looks at her appraising her skills, her progress. "Possible…"

 

[Princess Scribe]

In the aftermath of everything, a lone woman sits on a homely Behemoth. She taps away at a remote to reverse a tape, watching the pict from the start again. She dusts corners, re-arranges books on shelves, stares at tapestries to figure out where to put them, smiles at dressers full of clothes and lives in the memory of life, a recent past rather than the present.

Day by day, week by week, waiting. Patient. Loyal. Dutiful. She watches her love, in her mental eye. Watches her live life, smile, cry, laugh and scream, comfortable as a passenger. Still, when the times slow, and there's a free moment, she reaches out.

"Lilith, can you hear me?" A soft voice calls out, bouncing through swarm channels to land in the ears of its recently reunited member.

Ana, I'm on my way, Her lover responds, and Anastasia watches her through the connection. Watches Lilith quickly say something to… The other one. Race down the platform once again in control of the swarm, radiating feelings of joy. Joy that she wasn't allowed to be a part of, hop on an Overlord, and do the… Overlord's equivalent of racing to the Behemoth, which was a slow float.

The Speck in the swarm, Lilith, had finally remembered her, or maybe had her fill of… The Other Woman. "Ana, I've been… I missed you. Can you contact me, the way Astropath's can?"

So Anastasia, Dutifully, does, "Ive… Missed you too." A private line, just between Anastasia and Lilith. A way to hear sweet balming lies, that will make her happy. The lies are perfect, the imperium is built on them, Honesty, is not one of the core tenants. Loyal, Duty, Honor. Lilith's lies were… sweet. Stupid, incredibly stupid, but she knew some of the right things, and most importantly she always had a version of the truth. The lies let you know exactly what the truth was, and she gave you the choice to believe it. That was sweet, in it's own way.

As she observed Lilith, she heard her, "I've been working with Kerrigan, I think, it's on her time of course, but I'm going to ask if maybe… We all move in together?"

Of course she was going to ask that. Too stupid to realise what she has, too stupid to realise what she can't. "That sounds nice, I-I hope she's Okay with it." Ana, of course, knew that she wouldn't. She didn't have to peer into her mind to know what she wanted, the cow.

"Yeah, if she doesn't, I think I'm going to stay with you for a few weeks, is that alright?" Wait, she what? It's… Always little gestures like this, that should be bigger, but are always just enough that keeps her hooked. Not that there's any other options anyways.

"O-Oh! I can't wa-wait. Do you ha-have any plans?" The stutter, always the stutter, why couldn't she just speak normally.

"Well, if you want, we can just hang out up there, or now that I've got the horde back, we can return to reclaiming the city." Was… Was… There was nothing else to do, so of course. There were always new books, or picts, or things to scrum up. Not only that, the Zerg had started working on crops, oddly enough. A lot of work is being put into making life more comfortable for Terrans.

No. Not Terrans, Us.

No. Not Us. Them.

"That sounds lovely!" Anastasia said, over the psychic connection. Briefly, there's disorder in Unity, and Ana flicks her attention to an argument between two Queens on dye extraction. One wants more crops, the other wants more Queens, but they are beginning to reach the maximum population the planet could sustain. Normally Zhakarov handled these things, but the rest of Unity were playing with some space-ship. It was the Queens, who elected Ana, of course, so she stepped in. "We'll cut some of the Zergling population, to make room for more Queens and Dyes, but you're going to hit the tithing mark for next year in three, so unless we get trade routes going we're going to need to figure out something else to do."

Then she thought a bit more, "We could plant more dye crops for the Queens, then once we hit the tithe number, everyone can go back to tailoring or more creative works." She understood why they wanted more Queens, to lessen the load for something more fun. The Queens quickly thanked Ana for her advice, then she realized Lilith was blathering, but about something nice.

"Yeah , so then these huge knives come out and I just really get in there, slicing. I think we're good now though. Honestly, they seem nice." Oh good, more knife stories. How… Pleasant.

"They seem sweet, yes." Anastasia says with a smile, letting the warmth of her words carry over. The next Unity selection was soon, which weighed heavily on Ana's mind. Unity directly tied to how many Zerg they could maintain, but the more members, the more often they'd have to select, and between Her, Zhakarov, The Queen…, A recently found essence of a Queen named Zagara, and an Ultralisk named Zrug, they had five, which meant it should break at least every one or two years. Though The Queen… had held it together, apparently to the detriment of her own health, a dark spike of enjoyment at the thought is crushed quickly. At least she was good for something.

"Anyways, so when I told the counsellor the joke, they got pissed. But it wasn't that bad really. What can you say about snacks that you can't about bullets?"

"I don't know what?" Ana gives a smile as she asks, something real enough.

"You should bring enough for the whole class. Anyways, so then I got thrown out."

"I th-think" Stuttering mess, "they overreacted." Her voice always uplifts Lilith whilst Ana's mind splits into more more aspects, trying to reach for more to do, more to…distract. Zhakarov, Zrug, Zagara, any of their tasks would do as an odd taste started up in her mouth.

"Maybe, There were already three shootings that month, so they were a bit on edge anyways. OH FUCK, What have you been up too."

"J-just helping the o-others with the S-swarm. There's a-always work." Not for me. Another thought needing crushing by the Astropaths's will, giving Lilith her best smile again, feeling brittleness start to creep into it.

"Oh wow, you must be doing great! Then never let me, or any of the infested besides Zhakarov touch anything. I'm so proud of you!" How does she know how to say the worst thing, constantly. It's… Amazing. You would think it was on purpose if she were capable of— Then that too, was put away.

"I try my best," She said, trying to keep the smile up, but it's already starting to fail. Falling with the crumbling mask, the pretty face Lilith, love, fell for.

"I think I found out I'm a sociopath, actually. My rehabilitation stuff I'm starting to realise my daydreams were all real things that happened. Which is awful."

"Oh?" A moment's faux interest is all it usually takes, keeps her off anything important, just keeps talking. Giving Ana a warmth despite the separation.

"Yeah, which means I probably don't think about other people enough as like people? I read up on this a lot, so I'm like…"

"Really?" Anastasia says, "I couldn't tell." She thinks, loudly. Focusing on something a half million miles away, barely cognizant Lilith is still talking whilst helping Zhakarov with a particularly difficult organelle of a Leviathan.

"You're handling this surprisingly well."

"Why wouldn't I?" The psyker answers, finally cracking the secret to the problem, "It's just what you are, it doesn't change what I feel." That last thought seemed stranger, a little too exterior.

"That doesn't mean I can't try to be better, it just means I have to re-think how I attack problems. Even if it doesn't change what you feel, if I want to actually keep people around I care about I should like… Not make them feel like shit."

There's something attention grabbing, "Do you?" Anastasia asks, the Unity providing confidence, and a sort of separation from the world that can't be matched, a complete lack of fear. "Hurt them?" Not the words Lilith used, maybe a synonym.

"I think I hurt you to be honest. you never say it, and expect me to pick up on it. The thing is that if I'm not uncomfortable, I'm completely unaware of my surroundings. I actually care about you, at least in the way I can care."

Good excuses, amazing excuses. "Oh o-of course n-not!" She stutters, shaking her head, "Y-you had to h-handle something v-vital."

"Do you really think that at the beginning of this you had just said outright that you were uncomfortable I would have left?!"

Ana stares at Lilith, a useless sort of out forming in her stomach. "I, don't know." The answer is cold and clammy and uncomfortable. "Y-you s-seem happier w-with every-everyone else." An observation, nothing more, as far as Ana thinks.

"Ana, she threatened to tear your arms off and torture you to death in front of me at one point, at that point we couldn't even be affectionate in the swarm. I had to either keep chasing, or we'd have to hide on the behemoth. Regardless of my feelings. Yes I love Sarah, but that doesn't affect the reality of the situation either."

"Y-you use truth l-like a w-weapon, you k-know?" Anastasia, at some point, had a tear leak down her face, "It's b-beautiful, l-like ev-everything about you." She's staring at Lilith, something like despair in her pit of a stomach.

"Honestly, if you… Think that of me, or see through me, or however you want to call it. I still love you, the way I know how. I wouldn't keep trying if you weren't important to me."

"I l-love you too." Her voice is a flicker, "It's w-why I s-still w-want you h-here." Why am I still speaking, "I j-just under-understand if—"

"I'm a monster, I know you're not going to believe this, but I… I honestly just thought everyone was just… Ok with me being selfish, in a way that wasn't painless, I just assumed because I'm perfect. I'll… Thank you for telling me the truth. I'll figure it out."

Duty, "T-truth I-is my c-charge." Ana smiles though another tear streaks down her face.

"Do you want me there, or is it that I'm literally one of the last two women on this planet?"

"I l-love you. B-but I w-want you h-happy, I c-can b-bear with w-whatever y-you need to d-do."

"Ana, the overlord is getting close, and… I'm in the swarm now, I can… Have you been feeling like this the whole time?!"

She shakes her head, "N-no, it t-took two w-weeks w-without s-seeing you." Another burst of honesty.

"Did I ignore you? Did you say something? I'm so sorry… I need to be in the swarm to feel through other people. I'm dead without it."

"D-do I have to say s-something?" Ana wonders, mostly to herself, "I d-don't k-know love, m-maybe it I-is my f-fault."

"That's not what I'm saying, I'm trying to figure out a gameplan for myself to avoid this again. I don't… I can't… When I'm in the swarm, when we were in the swarm it was easy. I could just stand next to people and know what they feel. The minute I was out of that, it all went to shit, because I realised I… Don't have those. I just feed off the people around me."

"Y-you prefer the Q-Queen, or the L-lord Admiral. T-they excite y-you. Y-your first l-love, and s-someone who und-understands you. I-I'm just…myself." She muses, a tiny mirth between the stutters.

There's cold, white hot rage across the line for the first time, something belligerent, and dead, "I am not a fan of the Lord Admiral. They used me as a toy, as a game. They jeopardised everything I believed in as a joke." There's a deep sigh, "Ana I think you're the only person I could actually go full mask off around, but I also worry it'd break you."

Because it's too much like me. A thought finally slips past Anastasia's hold, iron grip failing, letting it fly across the bond, with it, come a flood. She loves the face, keep it keep it keep it keep it, she doesn't want the Witch, hide it hide it hide it hide it, she loves the face, keep it keep it keep it.

Ana looks up at the dam breaking. Not saying a word.

"Oh. Oh thank god. I want to meet… I want to meet you. I think I misunderstood your society a lot. I want to meet you. Not… The face."

"N-no one wants t-to—"

"I want to. What Admiral Varynna, and Kerrigan had in common was that they could kill me. Let me see it, I'm not going to judge. When I say you're perfect. I'm not talking about the fucking face."

She deflates, falling under Lilith's spell again. A glimmer enters her eyes that's never there normally, her posture breaks, proper, lady-like sitting giving way to a forward lean. Face slackens slightly, less care put into keeping it shapely, letting it almost glare forwards. "No one wants the Witch." Her stutter is gone, pushed away in the cold confidence of something that knows it's wrong.

---

Lilith steps into the Behemoth, and looks around, trying to sense Ana, but… Can't. She's invisible to her suddenly, "Ana, are you here? I can't sense you and—" Then walking into the make-shift kitchen she stops. "Holy shit you're hot."

Ana looks murderous, the smile is now almost mischievous, but also grim. The Zerg glare is dull, almost like smoke. The confidence, exhudes in the room, and the aura around her is pitch cold, like ice. There's a smile, but the eyes say death.

"Hmm?" A familiar voice rises, but with an almost smoker's grain to it. The Iho stick in her right hand, trailing smoke explains that, a scent of burning paper finally filling the room. She's wearing the robes of an Astropath, but they're left untied, hanging on her like a coat moreso than concealing her.

"... Am I crazy or when I tried to smoke in here you told me to do it outside, give me one of those." Lilith says reaching, letting the blathering voice fall away for something a bit less bubbly and exuberant. "Christ." She walks forward and reaches across the table with a beckoning hand.

Ana hands her lho over, still lit and fresh from her lips. Breathing a cloud of smoke out after. "It's poison. Even to Zerg." She warns, the chemical scent somewhat stinging, not tobacco.

"Permanent or impermanent, because I can always just resequence us," Lilith said taking a puff, letting the liquid fire-smoke rush into her lungs, an immediate sense of nerves fading assault her, like her first cigarette, but lasting, pulling into Lilith's bones. "Ooooh." Lilith says holding her breath for a second, then exhaling, "We have something similar. Did you really think that I, a woman who infests people for our hive, would not have been ok with this."

"The face isn't." Ana answers, treating that other side of her like someone else. "This is my vice, my sin. She can't sin, that would break her." She almost growls the words, voice rumbling yet still, somehow, poised. "Like you did." Another lho is extracted, lit and placed between her lips, a quarter of its white paper cylinder vanishing in a deep, long drag.

"I did right now, or I did day one? Because if you were like this on day one I would have acted completely differently." Lilith said finally sitting down and feeling comfortable for once. "I would have just told you that being a Zerg feels like… This, all the time."

She breathes the cloud of smoke out, spilling it across her nearby area, "I'd have said no just to spite you. Can't help it, you didn't have my trust, only hers." Ana speaks in past tense, "Now, you have mine, but hers is falling to pieces."

"Different masks, different situations. Is she just constantly dissociating when you're out here, or just kind of in the background." Another puff, oh thank god this is something I actually understand for once.

"They taught us to do this. Keep something that can accept the world." Ana reminisces, leaning against a kitchen counter, a dry, dark smirk on her face, "They said that our role is to link mankind, and we will do so no matter what." Those piercing geodes that she calls eyes look back to Lilith, "For our faith, our duty, our honour demanded it."

"A radio doesn't talk back." The smirk grows.

"So I can finally say fuck that right? Like actively and with my full chest." Lilith rolls her eyes, "Not that it helps anything. I assume you both have at least similar wants and needs. What's up? I can't leave you guys locked in a fucking ship all day."

"I want to throw you into the sun for ignoring me for three weeks." She shrugs, "Preferably listen to you scream at the upper photosphere." It's a chilling admission, there's no heat to it, just fact.

Its finally making sense at least, "That's valid," She pokes a finger between her tendrils to scrape at her scalps, "I'm going to veto that one if I get a vote."

"Shame." She smiles behind her cigarette. "I could not count yours if that helps." A joke, hopefully.

"I so desperately want to know who would win a fight between us, but I just fucking know we'd both kill each other I think." Lilith stands up, not overly fast just adjusting grabbing a beer. "We've got to get you the fuck out of here. I can sequence this thing to land I think."

"It's my home. Yours too." Ana jabs, "Why would I leave home if I don't have too?" It's a venomous question.

"I mean orbit dipshit." Lilith says, popping a beer open with her teeth, "So you're not sitting in a place with less than two thousand square feet."

"Sure would be nice if I wasn't here alone for three weeks." Anastasia starts to focus near exclusively on Lilith, a deathly cold look, the smile beneath it the only sign of joy in her. "I love you, you know that. So why can't you just think on your own? 'Oh, the girl I manipulated into joining the Swarm hasn't spoken to a soul that wasn't fucking Zhakarov in two weeks.' Hmm?" Her impression of Lilith leaves much to be desired, but gets the point across with a fair jolt of her energy. She finishes the tirade with another drag of the lho.

Lilith takes a deep breath, and her essence dies in swarm space, being faint, almost dead. "I thought this place was fucked up that it was normal, or at least not feel the same. You look human, but so do I. We're not."

"I'm a Witch, you're insane. Same difference." She chuckles, hopping up on the counter, sitting on the edge of it.

"Right thing to do is get this place out of orbit. The only reason it's in orbit is to hide the beacon of emotion from two people faking it. It's in a behemoth instead of a structure I could have just made or asked Abathur to make, was so it could land without disrupting everything." She groans.

"I'm sick of doing the right thing. I'm going to be stubborn." Ana admits, shrugging as the last of her lho vanishes, ashing the butt in a corner of the kitchen counter. "I hope you mind." The look on her face isn't coy or playful, it's intentionally tormentful, she wants to aggravate Lilith.

"I mean, if it's you choosing it then it's not really my problem at that point is it? You'll either acquiesce when you switch, or if, or you'll stay up here bored by choice." There's no use rising to the bait, there's no-one to mirror or who she's supposed to be, so why not play stupid mind games. Maybe she'll even win one.

A delicate eyebrow curved as Ana sees the game and decides, in a stark, aggravated instant, to flip the board. "Maybe I should fly over to the Lord Admirals fleet, let her take a ride." She chuckles, "Call her my perfect girl."

"Also… Solves my problem? You violate the relationship and I know you're just being spiteful. I mourn for a month, and then you're even unhappier than when you started." Lilith takes another swig.

"True, it's useless." She admits, "if I want to hurt you, I should just piss the Queen off enough that she burns my soul out."

"Literally the same as the admiral thing."

"I might just be in a suicidal mood love." Ana chuckles under her breath. "And an angry one."

Lilith rubs her lips… thinking, "You gotta know how frustrating it is that I could have felt normal with you this entire time." Mostly making the noise for space. "You're in Unity right, you know that there's going to be a ton of enemy ships around this thing by the end of the year. Right?"

"No, I've successfully ignored every time that's been mentioned, all six hundred of them." She stares at Lilith, waiting for a point.

"I wait for a year, you're going to have to land anyway, or let the whole place get spaced." Then rubbing her temples, "But you come down and get yourself killed. I'm assuming you're not just wanting visits," Lilith says, "So I could set up visitation or something. Kerrigan won't move up here. I have to choose, but if I choo—"

"I'm not living with Queen bitch. I'd kill her or she'd kill me. Ask Face to do that." Ana shrugs.

"I dunno, she'd get you I think. No fuck you don't take orders probably. I'd say, fight for it, but you have psyker powers strong enough to hold the Queen in place for a minute, so you'll pop me like a fucking grape. No thanks on that front." Lilith's still thinking.

"Now there's an idea." Ana whispers.

"We're both in the swarm, I'd just end up back at the hatchery and we'd be in the same issue." Lilith said dismissing the idea entirely. Then raised an eyebrow thinking, "Except I'd have social control if I screamed for help beforehand." Tapping her cheek. "Plus Kerrigan can look in my memories. I think I actually have all the cards here. So yeah, you're moving the Behemoth. Eventually."

Ana doesn't respond.

So Lilith falls silent, the two stare at each other.

More moments pass, more staring.

There's no words in the face off.

"I don't think I could do it to you," Lilith admits. "Tell me what you want, I've never really asked."

"What I want?" Ana's voice returns, another lho lit and put to her mouth, "I've always just wanted you, idiot." Smoke comes out of her nose as she doesn't bother to pull the cigarette out of her mouth. The chamber's beginning to haze up, stolen kitchenware and fleshy ridging alike covered in the thin plumes of building smoke, a chemical scent infesting the place. "Just your attention, another pretty lie to keep me sated." Her voice is venomous, but she means every word.

"Even just a touch, here or there." Her long, delicate fingers pick the lho out of her mouth, holding it between her index and middle finger, letting the wisps rise up past it while the glimmering orange of Essence bloomed eyes drills into Lilith, equal parts disdain and love in them.

That… Doesn't sound right somehow to her somehow. Everyone keeps telling her that they care about her, but she tells everyone she cares about them and… It doesn't… Her eyes are locked on. The admiral had massively fucked with her ability to process these things anymore. She can't stop thinking how she was used. Was she using other people that same way? Was Ana?

It didn't sit right, "Bullshit," Lilith says, "No-one wants me, that's why I have to act like this, and do these things. If people actually wanted me then all of this hustling wouldn't be necessary. I knew" She said walking forward, trying to get her thoughts together, "The Face or whatever had something else going on. I knew she wouldn't talk about it, the entirety of what we did together was based on a lie I was waiting to fall apart. So now I'm supposed to trust this time you want the same thing as always?"

"Of course not."Anastasia ashes the rest of the lho, standing up and looking almost down at Lilith, "You shouldn't have to trust what I say. You should just believe it." The venom's back, forceful and rough, "I love you, remember? You aren't the first person I've said that too, but you want to know what you are?" She's angry now, but not at Lilith, turning away from the smaller woman, whose eyes are blazing with cold fire, same as her.

Lilith rolls her eyes and gestures for Anastasia to continue. Then realises her back is turned, "I'm gesturing to continue, it's a bit dismissive. What am I?"

With a snort, "The first person to say it back." Its still a light tone, but Lilith is realizing that tone is her serious, her stiff and proper nervous.

"If that's a lie, and I find out, I will unmake you." Lilith says marching forward grabbing her hand, "People keep using my affections to fuck with me. Look at me." She says trying to force the surprisingly strong woman around, "I'm not actually strong enough to… Will you fucking look at me."

Giving in to the touch after seconds of resistance, Ana's head slowly turns, something dark and hot and ablaze in her. Rage, desire, white hot fury, it's all boiling over, every emotion she can feel now on display within interplays of Essence and expression.

"I Do Love you." Lilith demands, as she leans in, "The Face, whatever you were doing, whatever she was doing, it didn't feel real. It made me feel guilty for existing. Like I couldn't ask for anything. I am not as strong, or as smart, or as cunning as I think I am. My only skill seems to be surrounding myself with far more capable people." There's now tears in her face, "I needed someone I could feel like I could lean on, and you did nothing to make me think you were capable of that." She's angry, and her body is flexing in weird angles as the dozens of created limbs twitch in anger and anticipation of violence. Scared that she'll be beaten to a pulp, terrified even, that this vulnerability will be used against her. "The minute someone identified that I fell apart."

Anastasia's eyes narrow. She pushes Lilith's hand off her face and for a long, terrified moment lets the silence hang. "You're a wreck." The Witch comments, almost entertained, reaching out with a delicate hand to cup Lilith's cheek, "And this is what I needed." The touch is fire, not electricity. It spreads heat wherever it lays as she tugs Lilith towards her, hugging the shorter woman to her chest. "I'm still angry, you'll be fixing that, slowly." Ana mumbles into the top of Lilith's head, "But, I can be your rock. I will be."

"I keep saying I fix people, but I think I just make everyone worse." Lilith whispers, scared as she hugs her, "I… I don't want to ask for hugs, I want people to actually want to…" She slams a fist into the Witch, with more rage, but not nearly enough to hurt anything. "I'm making everything worse, the next time I see the Lord Admiral she's going to fuck with me, and I know I can't do anything to stop it. I'm already second guessing people in the swarm, it's wormed into my head. I had absolute faith with everyone and twenty minutes in I got flayed alive." She squeezes Ana harder afterwards, bawling, "I don't know what I'm doing, and I know you're so mad."

"They're not human." Anastasia softly says, "Less human than us, even. They live so long, see so much, do so much. All grasp of real vanishes, it's all a game they've played a million times before." There's personal thoughts slipping out, "I searched her mind, and it's… cavernous, so much there, like a grand library. But its… empty, its all accessible knowledge with no feeling." She's describing it with a stiffer voice than normal, "Less than a Priest of the Machine God, even."

In Ana's embrace she feels cradled, and safe. Protected, not even Kerrigan truly made her feel protected, not really. Instead of hugging stiff glass shards, it was like hugging a sword and shield. Something that could be donned and surround her for battle. The warmth that burned away her insecurities and doubts, also brought in more guilt, guilt at ignoring this, guilt at chasing Kerrigan who was perfectly happy being miserable. Knowing that she had now intertwined herself with two incredibly powerful people that could destroy her at any minute, Ana with her emotions, Kerrigan with her blades. "She's going to find a way to trick me into letting her in the swarm, and she's going to try and steal it. I said too much to her, she knows too much now."

"The future isn't here yet." The Witch comforts, "It has not come to pass, and even if it does. We will have each other to confront it." Confidence doesn't describe her properly, it's not a self-assuredness, it's a grim and chilly acceptance of what she is, what the world is. She's unafraid because it can't scare her anymore.

The hug, at least from Lilith becomes so tight that a normal Terran would risk being split in two. She can't help it, she's so lonely, she's always been so lonely, and no-one feels l ike they fit, now, finally someone does. "I… Did this… feeling to you. Before. I'm sorry. This is terrible." She squeezes her harder, "To wonder what's real or not, to just want to believe it's real because it feels great. This is awful to do to someone. I can't do this to people, I can't do this to anyone ever again."

Ana sees no point in giving words to that, pulling Lilith and herself down to lay against the cabinet doors of the kitchen. Keeping the smaller woman to her, staring out at the world with dark and cold eyes, hateful at so much, but, for once in the last hour, not Lilith.

"I need to prove it… That I'm real, I'm being real. I'm going to tell you something that you could use to break… Me… Break the entire swarm." She whispers, quieter, "I don't think even Kerrigan really understands how bad what she's letting me do is…" She leans into Anastasia's ear, whispering, so that hopefully, no-one can hear. "Abathur and the Daemon in my head are teaching me sorcery… I've been… Cutting up bodies… Eating their… Souls."

Sighing, the Witch mumbles, "I'm not the one that cares about that." It's a cold admittance, "You're cutting up meat. Eating their filthy spirits." She spitefully speaks on the sacrificial victims.

"But you know, it's not about caring, it's about you having something, so you know. So you can trust this is real, I realised I made it so no-one can trust what is real anymore." Leaking tears onto the Astropath's coat, "I don't know how to prove what's real anymore."

"Nothing's real anymore. We live in…" She smiles coldly, another grim gesture, "A waking nightmare. All I care is if it feels right." She wraps Lilith in her arms a little tighter, "If you feel right." A mournful exclamation, quiet, yet loud. "Everything else? It can do what it wants."

Lilith's jaw sets with a bitter resistance to the idea, but still melts in the hug. Needing it more than she realised; having someone, anyone who understands. In the tiniest voice, with the most compunction she could ever muster, a deep need, a fire that makes even Manth tingle with excitement. "I will create something real in this nightmare. Something Good. I will do ANYTHING to make sure we live happily ever after. I don't care what it takes."

"You are too convincing, Lilith." Ana chuckles with the words, the laugh coming from a deep and heavy place in her heart, "I think I'd do anything to make you achieve that." The second sentence is much quieter, utterly sure.

"US. Dipshit, to make both of US achieve that." She says again, with more conviction. "US."

Ana sighs, mournful of something, "I don't think I make it to the end of this story, Lilith." Its a muted acceptance of an ephemeral fate. "I've never been that lucky. I've never been that…fortunate." A tear, just one, strikes Lilith's back, rolling down it. "I'll be your stepstone, love."

Even angrier, angrier at this fucked up hellscape, at these fucked up monsters, creating more monsters, creating more monsters, angry at herself for making it all worse. "If you're mine, I will TELL you what you will be." The words are not just spoken, but with the swarm connection a deep rumbling. The speech that she uses with people she loves… The speech she uses with Family. The speech she learned from Abathur. "You do not GET to be a step stone. You LIVE with this and you LIVE with me." Then quieter, "Not domicile wise, I live with you, err… Together. But…"

The Witch smiles, "You're too convincing, Lilith." Going quiet and letting the incidental smoke wash over the two of them. Finally, the smile lasts, staying on her face throughout the hug, the time spent together.

"No-one offers, but my legs are weak. Can you carry me to bed?" She says quietly, "And teach me how to handle… This place."

She stands up, lifting Lilith easily, smiling the whole way to the bed as she carries her. "I'll tell you when I figure it out." Dry sarcasm is what she puts her love to bed with, moving to slip in alongside her, underneath stolen satin sheets and velvet blankets.

 

[Princess Scribe]

Warp-rifts open in the system's edge, blue-purple foam vomiting from the edges of open tears in reality, dozens of vessels jumping into the system, an armada of steel and fury of a dozen different colours. Bright-blue Strike Cruisers and Battle Barges fly deftly on pulsing fusion thrust whilst colossal Battleships, blaring glorious warhorns that slice through void despite the impossibility, push into the system on steady burns, slow as Leviathans.

A shuttle transports the Lord Admiral to one Battleship, the largest of any of them coated in white and gems, guns that could swallow city blocks ringing its sides and hangar bays larger than cities opening their maws. On its side reads a grand title, printed on thickened blocks of adamantine and gold, "Herald of Doom."

Carriers disgorge hundreds of massive, twenty metre fighter craft each, preparing for the projected arrival of the opponent. Frigates lurk in the shadows of their titanic kin, a half-dozen varieties of a half-dozen origins preparing for war as their shields raise.

"Battlefleet Ultima! Heed me!" The voice of Lord Admiral Varynna shocks through every vox in the fleet and sector, steel in its very core as her uniformed frame can be seen with absolutely no fear in any part of her. "I will not speak for glory, for we are glorious! I will not speak for honour, for ours is beyond reproach! I do not call for faith, for ours is unbreakable!" She's rabid, kicking into a higher gear of volume.

"The enemy comes, the Arch-Enemy! The forces that broke Cadia! That swallowed trillions of souls in roiling hell." Varynna roars into the network, eyes widening as her pupils fall to pinpricks, "With hellforged ships they will bring us war! And we will not flinch!"

"War is our trade! Battle, our purpose!" A cry rises through the decks of every vessel, a dirge to war, "They come with their Gods, believing that will give them victory! I say look at us! Look at the heroes to your left! To your right! Those Gods are outmatched!" The cry turns to a roar of support, sparking the god-machines of the fleet to answer those roars with their own horns, ripping through the void for their Admiral.

"Have them bring their sorcery! Bring their magic and their horror! We will meet it head on with shell, lance and fury! Bring their veterans! We will crush the traitors under our boots! Bring their heretics! We will cleanse them of their sin!" The woman is screaming to be heard over the battlecries of men and ships.

"For today, we are not merely children of the Imperium! We are not merely voidsmen!" The cries can be heard even through her link, "We are Godslayers!" Even the Battle Barges join in this blare of fury, Astartes prodded into fury.

"All hands! Battlestations! Bring my guns online! Charge my lances! Flare my shields!" She commands as the pict-feed dies, the Lord Admiral settling into her command throne, gritting her teeth as neural spikes jack in and the enormity of the "Herald of Doom". The Machine Spirit of millennia rams into her mind, rumbling of blood and death as she wrestles with it.

"For the Emperor!" Her voice merges with the ship, endless electric rage burning into her spirit. Engines roar, the enemy arrives.

---

Jagged, torn portals split the horizon at the systems edge. Hunting ships slip free, spiked and ribbed like living things rather than titanic warmachines, glinting red and black and green and blue in the starlight, distant as it is. Vast cruisers and colossal battleships boil with images of thirsting daemonic mouths and glaring infernal eyes as the laughter of God's echoes, met and pushed back by animalistic warhorn cries from the Imperial fleet.

As nigh-on twice the Imperial Fleet in traitor vessels burns, a vox-lane splits open, coming from a central craft bristling with guns and iconography. A face appears on screen before Lord Admiral Varynna, bound to her Command Throne, the glorious golden shrine to her far too massive for any human, yet still holding her proudly.

Its twisted, scarred and studded with service bolts above its brow, six in total. "Captain Varynna, we meet again." His voice is full of power, originating from deep within an inhumanly large barrel-chest. Yet its sweet, it settles in to anyone who hears it, makes them want to listen.

With a venomous, electronically augmented shout, Varynna spits back, "I don't remember you Traitor." Fury splits the Admiral's mind, mostly her own buoyed by the infinite rage of the God-Machine under her heel. "You must have been a disappointment."

"I offer you a chance to surrender yourself to me, give in, bow before the God's and let their infinite majesty wash over you." The offer sounds so tempting from him, like sweets after a good meal. Varynna growls, battle-lust and deathly fury demanding she rip the enemy to pieces. "When your fleet lies in screaming scrap, heretic, I'll make you beg the Emperor for mercy." A reply tinged with so much hate that even the Astartes giant on the screen tilts its head.

"I will ask again, Admiral, when you are not in such a mood." A flicker of static consumes the screen as the link is broken.

The fleets move to meet one another, arriving within light-minutes before, with blasts of force, shells are fired from prow-mounted cannons that scream across space at the speed of light, landing and detonating into ten thousand kilometre fireball amongst the Chaos fleet, shrapnel going thrice that distance. Larger ships flare their shields as the void falls into light, escorts consumed in the initial barrage whilst Nova Cannon's begin their lengthy, careful loading process.

Lances ripple in a barrage from the enemy as distances close, rays of red flaring Imperial shields, slagging escorts in their screens as the frigates serve their honourable purpose. Engines burn bright as they close and close and close, bloodthirsty on both sides for the exchange of shells. Torpedos are disgorged in a hundreds-strong barrage from each fleet, hundred-metre missiles seeking towards the capitals of both sides

Battle Barges circle wide, using their mobility to attempt a flank, guns rippling with scattered volleys of macro-shells, detonating across shields and space alike. Point defence fills space in a torrent of munitions, so many rounds fired that it looks like glittering brass has replaced stars. Torpedoes slip through shields and impact hulls on both sides. Bulkheads split, the crew is vented in the thousands, tumbling into the void with no hope of rescue.

Then the guns fire, shells exchanging between cruisers, frigates and battleships alike. In the Herald of Doom, Lord Admiral Varynna is shouting commands, "Wolfpack Kingdom to Cignum-7! "Vengeance for Agrippa", retreat to the battle line! Astartes! Complete your manoeuvre." Herbloodshot eyes reflect the million details of a battle of this scale. Filled with trajectories and angles and manoeuvres in three dimensions

""Malevolent King, fire torpedoes, brace for ram!" A colossal impact follows her orders as a cruiser vomits an octet of torpedoes forwards, catching and ripping off an engine in the briefly birthed star. "Battlefleet, we must-!" The impact of dozens of lances brings down even Battleship shields, forcing the hull to withstand the incoming barrage of shells in rippling detonations as every Chaos ship that can fires on the most glorious target.

Still, the truth of the attack is revealed after the fact. A trail of warp-lightning streaks from the central warship of the traitors and lands, ozone filling the air as the teleportation strike reveals five Astartes in burnished daemon-steel powered armour. Immediately, Varynna throws herself off the command throne, a torn out neural-spike a small pain compared to the near-instant death of a burst of bolt-shells.

"Admiral, we meet-." He is interrupted by the burst of rounds from a loyalist in blue, pinging off his armour in a ricochet as his own burning purple-pink plasma pistol fires a glob of the stuff straight through the head of the Marine. "Meet again." His veterans engage the honour guard in a vicious, blurry melee, easily overpowering the superior numbers of the loyalists with their experience and daemon-honed talent at killing.

"Too soon, I think." Varynna spits spitefully, shutting the door she had reached. Thick adamantine closing as she starts to speak on her personal vox, "Armsmen, traitor Astartes have boarded the primary bridge, moving to seco-" The bulkhead shatters at the shoulder of the Chaos Lord, ignoring the material for his quarry. "You will not escape me, Varynna."

She runs, a pulsating terror in her as the Astartes plays its games, letting her stay two arm's lengths ahead, jeering just behind, "Give up." An offer that should not tempt a soul forces her mind to consider it, until she can muster the will past pounding legs to force it away.

"I will reward you for your submission." A million insinuations as Varynna manages to get a bulkhead closed behind her, lined up armsmen preparing to fire at whatever comes through, protecting the Admiral that rushes past them. Heavy bolter fire is silenced by a hissing bloom of plasma, the rest slaughtered by the burning blade, screams of steel and souls alike on its edge.

"You cannot run, I can taste your fear, hear your heart. I know your corruption." The Chaos Lord insults as Varynna slips past a doorway into an armoury, reinforced ceramite locking behind her. The brief second of peace is interrupted by the groan of ceramite and steel giving way to a burning daemonic blade. The door lasting seconds as she goes for a bolt gun, "D-damnit." Escaping dry, parched lips.

A boot cracks four ribs and sends her arcing across the room, bouncing off the wall with a gasp. "And I can catch you whenever I please." The dulcet voice nears as she coughs a thick treacle of blood and oil onto the groud, interrupted by an adamant grip on her throat that sees the Admiral lifted, kicking against a torso-plate uselessly as she's handled by the titanic warrior.

"This is your last chance, give in to me." The Lord demands as she gasps through the grip, hand reaching out. He pulls her closer, curious as to the plan. A metallic nail touches his face and a blast of plasma ripples off a shield that covers his exposed skull, roasting Varynna's hand but forcing the Astarte to let her go, hitting the ground with a pained stumble and gasp of oxygen that creaks broken ribs against organs.

"I don't mind it when they fight. You'll succumb." Varynna scrambles to her feet, drawing her blade and flickering the power field on it alive just as the Astarte gives her a lazy blow, barely parried. The shock of his power makes both arms go numb, sword stuck to her hand by the rigor mortis of incoming death alone. Another impact sends her stumbling as she barely gets her blade in the way, fractures spreading down its shaft as they split up her forearms.

"Do you crave death? Is your heart so heavy, Admiral?" The Lord is conversational as Varynna struggles to even live, arms feeling like leaden bats. "Surrender, I can give you reasons to live." Another swing, she gets her blade in the way by bleeding instinct, the battery for the field heating in her burnt hand, sizzling more flesh.

Her blade is prepared as the Astarte raises it above in a lightning fast preparation before giving her a real blow, snapping through the sabre and tumbling her to the floor in a heap of exhausted, sweating and aching meat. Feeling death near with a shaky terror.

Stomping boots in the distance near at a rapid pace, drawing a second of attention from the Lord as his head turns just as two surviving loyalist Astartes impact him, pushing the demigod against a wall as their combat knives, sized more like short swords, jam into any available corner joint.

The Admiral rushes to her feet despite the flickering sparks of furious agony, limping, walking and then running to the secondary command deck. Climbing atop the throne with a constant trickle of bubbled blood from her mouth, she leans back and lets the Machine Spirit enter her.

A scream echoes forth from a throat Varynna only barely recognizes as her own.

---

As battle comes Lilith leads a group of prisoners, freshly deposited a gift from Lord Admiral Varynna, deep into the Evolution Pits, "Right this way gentlemen, right this way." She says kindly, Zergling and Hydralisks loom behind with threatening auras and the threat of violence. She bathes in their fear, biting her lip as she very quickly knots her essence, disconnecting her momentarily from the swarm. Though none notice, and those who do, already know. It's over in seconds. The cuts have been studied and recreated so perfectly by Abathur, and so studied by Lilith that she knows them like the back of her hand.

The cuts happen so fast, their screams weren't heard, and Lilith found herself surrounded by orbs of bloody essence. She sups on them, each one brought to her lips, their smooth taste, the overwhelming slake of her thirst satisfied, has caused her overwhelming glee. Their power suffuses her, when in the back of her mind, a smooth tingling climbs from her ankles to her ear. The path it takes is so inviting, and a whisper in her ear from a lover, a goddess.

Lovey~ I can hear their voices now, they can't hear mine Manths voice is delicate, so… Gentle, and inviting, but ginger from so many nights of slicing. Some even to learn, instead of for fun. There's a light chuckle at the ruse, I will soon know their plans.

In her mind Lilith whispers, Thank you, my love, and she speeds off her legs kicking for the front lines. She tugs at the swarm link, unknotting it. Kerrigan where are yo— You BITCH! Is sent on an open line, as the Swarm ripples with rage. Lilith sees her, she had snuck off to the front lines while she was disconnected. A Nydus worm opens in front of Liliths and slams herself inside. She couldn't fucking believe it. The nerve, she told her she wanted to be by her side the entire time. Her teeth flared in a snarl, waiting to be moved.

Ana, How's the Admiral doing? She asks the Astropath, now safely tucked in next to Zhakarov, and the rest of unity. The cool grit of a warrior, of a woman who protects and can stand against the tides responds in her ear. She's not doing great.

Millions of zerg break from their creep hibernations, rushing across continents to marshall for this attack, surrounding the Chaotic landing zone, a vast area held, the size of a nation-state of old. With a psychic call, they begin their assault. Lasguns start their rattle, bolters barking horrific retorts, sparking into pink flame as the shells land with peculiar lethality despite the wild and uncontrolled fire of their users. Zerglings die in their millions to make it past the initial pickets of defence, shell-fire, burning promethium and concentrated gunfire making it a massacre. Just behind them, now that the battle is truly joined move, roaches and hydralisks smash into their lines of defense, meeting with warmachines and being ripped limb from limb by the warp-infused mechanisms, shot by cannons that detonate into blood that boils internal fluids or even odder weapons, nanomolecular whips that kill our creatures by overstimulating their nerves.

They push through another line, but then are slaughtered as the transhumans seem to be everywhere at once, firing at unthinkable ranges and seemingly without rest, operating for days consistently. Mutalisks take to the skies, fighting with their super-heavy aircraft in clouds of biomass, being cleared by missiles that detonate into horizon-flashing plasma, trading ten thousand to one with their flying machines, favorable until flying monsters join the fray, almost draconic in shape. Breathing horrific flame into the swarms and matching claw with claw.

Leviathans arrive, jumping into the atmosphere in a risky, but doable maneuver. They hover, colossal, above the enemy positions, reaching mountain-scarring tendrils down to take lives. A multi-toned song then starts playing through them, slithering into their billion vibratory sensors and settling into their neurologies. Repetitive, horrific, unthinkable and shaking the Swarm as a whole. They tear great chunks free of the enemy, but vibrate all throughout as mutations grow rampant before, finally, their bodies fail all at once, twenty Leviathan's making landfall across the held area, forming new terrain for both sides and crushing tens of thousands in their whalefall.

When Lilith arrives at Kerrigan's side, at Sarah's side she looks at her with anger but doesn't say anything.

"I can't believe you left me at base. The fuck's wrong with you." Lilith yelled as they rushed into battle. Lilith's blades were spinning with cuts and slices as she tore through chaos. Her eyes glowing pink, and her mouth almost frothing with glee, "Hahaha, oh my god, fighting is so much fun." The fear mixing with the rush of conquer, the domination of destruction. Her sequencers lashing out in directions she wasn't even aware of as she turned battle into an artform. Into a dance of pain, a game, a beautiful game.

As she started to become covered in blood and Kerrigan tore through forces on her own. Something in them connected, something that could only be forged in moments like this. Chaos rush at Kerrigan's back only to be covered by blades and spines grafted to Lilith who now resembled more a fleshwarp than anything confusable for human. The blood, the essence, seemed to soak into her skin, into something deeper inside.

Oh lovey darling~ They're going to use your Zerg to open their gate. These odesome pests are going to use your death to split apart our union!~ Lilith's eyes almost rolled back in her head as the exhultation of Manth's voice started making her to become flush and whoozy. An even bigger smile comes to her face. The Zerg would win, and thanks to Manth, SHE would look like the hero. She would be perfect. Everyone will love her.

Powerfully, with a deep psychic rumble that echoes across swarm space, she cries out.

"They're going to use all the Death to Open a Warp Gate. Which is Bad, apparently."

It drowns out all psychic noise, even the Zerglings and other infested prisoners and soldiers around her are pushed away. Then she looks to Kerrigan, still speaking in Swarm Space, "We have to go back."

---

As his essence watches the battlefield and counts numbers, he and the rest of Unity discuss. A fierce Ultralisk Zrug looks chafing at battle happening without him there to win, "I will take our Brood and send them into hold. A new strategy for Zerg perhaps, but one that is tried and true. We will… Dig-in." It and hordes of Brutalisk move to the Nydus worms pulling forward. Trying to get the lines before anymore Zerg can fall, an odd sensation in his chest. One from the Unity adaptation perhaps?

We may be down one commander Zhak, Anastasia says with a sadistic glee, We might win the land war, but lose our paperwork. At least she'll be dead. The last part sounded far less amused. Zhakarov and Anastasia were both packed into Anastasia's home, the Behemoth, circling, staying away from the fighting. She let Zhakarov think as she watched the Admiral's fleet above, her eyes squinting at something she could not see in real space. A smirk on her face. Then a frown.

"Someone get to the Vox, let them know they need to bomb the Demons, fire on our position," Lilith said, "I can't see the fleet battle, someone talk to an astropath or a vox."

"Sorry, there's no Astropaths left on Varynna's ship." Ana's cold malicious smile was palpable across the faint glow she exudes in the swarm hive's connection. She inspected her fingernails, "And Zagara can't exactly hop on the phone, can she?"

---

"I don't move fast enough Queen, and we need to fall back. I want to ask the admiral to fire just ahead of us. Her talk about orbital bombardment being 'inaccurate,' it's a threat, probably bullshit. We need to convince her, and I can't make decisions for the Swarm." Lilith is as loud as she can. "You know I'm right." She slices through more Chaos already trying to fall back.

"No." The Queen wasn't going to mince words as more psychic storms rained down across fields of creatures. "You can handle it yourself Lilith."

Why couldn't she see? There was more here than just the fight! Lilith pushed harder, "This is chaff, there's going to be greater demons coming. Like the ones that were in your head, and mine. We need to save our strength until they take the field."

Kerrigan turns to snarl at Lilith, but, in the midst of the creep covered fields, a voice invades the swarm. "Come now, cowards. Does fear rule this queen?" The deep bass shakes through the linkage to transmit, jeering and pushing Kerrigan into a white hot rage at the insult.

"Touch your wrist. Find your center, he's doing this on purpose." Lilith grabs her hand, she's gentle on the talons that grip her with rage and emotions. "Come on. It's some stupid fuck who can't even enter our world. All he can do is talk, he's worthless." She pushes the fingers over, holding it up. "We'll come right back."

Nydus worms with Ultralisks tunnel under-foot, the ground tremors with earth now well tunneled and compacted from the back anf forth. Until Kerrigan, having made a decision points at the ground, "You, Stop." She demands, A nydus worm breaches immediately, letting out hundreds of Ultralisk before her Queen. Lilith and Kerrigan slip inside as the creature returns from whence it came.

"Is that feeling I sense? How...human." The jeering voice continues, trying to burrow into Kerrigan's mind.

"See? He doesn't even know that we love." Lilith smiles, touching Kerrigan's hand, pulling her close, "He's a moron, he's guessing at our nature. What we care about. Chaos doesn't know us yet." There's a slight chuckle from Manth in the back of her mind that she tries to force down and ignore.

As the worm breaches, Lilith runs to the vox then turns to Kerrigan, and in swarm space loud enough for both of her loves to here, she says, "I am so sorry, but this is how it's gotta be done."

"This is Lilith, diplomat of the Zerg, come on honey, I know you're on that big ass ship, answer me." Lilith cries, loudly into the microphone, twiddling the vox to the right channel, "It's important!"

Connecting, Lilith hears, "Battlegroup Imperium, shift fire to the frigates, clear their screens. Battlebarge "Guardian Shield", bring me the heads of their Astropaths! Seal off the port gun decks, let them die!" Varynna is shouting, voice backed by the raw power of the god-machine she is linked to.

"Speak! Now!." The Lord Admiral demands, before breaking back into commands, "Bombers, rip into their engines-Engines All Ahead Full! Brace for ram!"

"Daemons want to sacrifice the Zerg for a portal, because we're immune to everything else. When available fire on our position, and try not to hit the building sized ones."

The sound of groaning metal and an electronic scream-roar fill the vox before the commands start back up, "Battle Barge "Guardian Shield" retreat, I cannot spare a ship for hours yet! Hold! "Vengeance for Agrellan", engines ahead full, RAM THEM!"

"Roger, we're going to send help if we can spare, over and out." Lilith says, before saying to Kerrigan, "We need to help win the air battle with the Leviathans, they are going to kill enough Zerg to open that portal in hours."

"If we can get our own orbit, the Leviathan's can drop spore our forces in." She growls, "Zhakarov, commit to orbit, take it back."

"My Queen, if we spend our fo—" Zhakarov is cut off by Lilith.

Though she has no voice in Unity, she did still have the ability to be annoying, "We need Varynna alive, we need to win this planet, so we can be the new Cadia. The FRONT of the line, to both spread from and be invaluable to the empire. We can't do that if the person to talk about how great we are is dead."

The wisdom is sound, though he hated to admit it, especially from the… Nuisance, turning back to the Swarm he willed Leviathans away to take the skies.

---

Ana watches as Chaos ships react with honed tactical reflexes. They turn, broadsides tearing into Leviathans, spilling organs into the void as their regeneration and durability desperately tries to keep them alive. They close as dorsal lances core them. Of the fourty Leviathan's that warped in, ten manage to gather their psychic force to vomit acid onto the hulls. The colossal globs of acid splash onto the hulls, slipping past the void shields in an unexpected reaction.

Armour sizzles as the rest of the Leviathan's close, tendrils shoving into them whilst Mutalisks and Corruptors close, more point-blank fire claiming another ten as they clash. The shields are somehow still unable to stop the tendrils, slipping through and ramming into hardened bulkheads, brutally hurting themselves in the process. Tendrils cracking along their breadths, but still pumping bioforms freshly produced into the bowels of the vessels. More and more swarm the ships until with their combined strength, they can rend the cruisers apart.

When the fighting ceases, only half of the Leviathan's are destroyed.

---

"Orbit cleared my Queen." Zhakarov says, "Sending them to the Lord Admiral fleets."

Back on the Vox, Lilith screamed into it, "Hey we saw you needed our help, so we're sending hundreds of our bioservitors to assist, since we already cleared our orbit. Repeating, We're sending hundreds of Leviathan class bioservitors. The look like giant squid ticks. Gonna look freaky like all of us do, but they're going to engage your enemies. Don't fire on them when they show up"

"HERALD, MARK THE XENOS AS SLAVES" Varynna screams, the Leviathan's spotting another cruiser ramming into the side of her hull, gouging a line into the left gun-batteries before detonating into a plasma pulse, reactor overloading. A crackling scream of pain goes through the vox, before Varynna and the Machines voice respond in unity, deathly calm, the Battleship moving of its own volition, "0111011101100001011100100111011" A slow number-chant with a scratching background of true binaric echoes.

The Chaos fleet is disorganised, brutal close range fighting turning their fragile ancient hulls against them, their lack of coordination used against them as the honed and trained Imperial crews deftly manoeuvre around as best they can, scraping and impacting chaos hulls where they must.

Ana smirked, Hey, I can guide these to warp in and out from here. I'm taking the lead here. It wasn't a question, and the way she glared at Zhakarov dared him to argue.

With a mote of annoyance, Zharkov said, "I do not like this chaos. Leviathans under Anastasia's command. Overlords record the results."

The binaric continues to spew over the vox, causing Lilith to panic, as she heard the noise she realized that it was Varynna's voice. They needed her.

Thinking hard, searching for some way to stop… Whatever this is, she yells, "Hey Lady Admiral can you not keep up with me? I didn't think youd be one to leave a girl hanging. "

Her words, miles away worm into Varynna's mind, tunneling into her. Something about challenging her, engaging her will, telling her she was going to lose a game. Caused a blast of willpower that let her regain composure. She Forced back the ship, demanded it's acquiescence.

"YOU'D-ARGH-BE WRONG, LILITH!" Varynna screams, recouping herself instantly with a single hand of help "THAT'S EXACTLY WHERE I WANT YOU!" Her voice is shrill yet mechanical. "BATTLEFLEET ULTIMA, FOCUS FIRE, DRIVE THEM AGAINST THE BIOSHIPS." Ragged hulls barely held together by faith and hasty repairs fight hard at their leaders orders, beating the Chaos against the Leviathan line, forcing them into the melee as they fire in all directions, taking two hundred Leviathans out of the fight before tendrils ram into them, disgorging bioforms into the screaming incoherent spaces, bent into horrid impossibilities, of the Chaos vessels at the heart of the fleet, distracting them long enough for shellfire to open them to vacuum or for them to be torn apart.

The Zerg overwhelm Chaos ships, proving their weapons useful against them in a way the imperium's wasn't. These ravenous bioforms flooded without empathy or mercy, and Chaos, against an enemy they had never seen before fell like chaff before a scythe. Blood and viscera filled the Chaos ships, as their lord ordered the retreat, and screamed, "This is a momentary setback, Varynna—"

"DON'T YOU DARE, YOU FILTH, STAND AND LET ME WATCH YOU DIE!" The woman in question screams over the linkage, "STAND, STAND AND FIGHT!" Frantic, enraged and furious, she hatefully spews shells towards the Chaos Fleet as it retreats.

As she hears the calls for retreat over the Vox, Lilith cheers, then says, "Now can you give us a pounding, I need your guns." She stops looking at Kerrigan with a sour look, and there's a sharp smack as she hits Lilith aside the head.

---

The Leviathans charge their acid, preparing to vomit down onto the world below, bile building until it rockets in a ball that spreads to coat whole kilometres, over and over and over again until they exhaust themselves, having turned the area enemies have fortified into a hissing acid-marsh, claiming lives by the millions. As they do, the portal flickers before detonating into multichrome light.

The light clears, and a presence can be felt. A deep, chilling sense of foreboding as raptor-talons press into the ground, a beaked head rises up, a staff with a trillion gnarls curves time and space around it. Priest-like robes hang off its thin, yet massive body, larger than an Ultralisk. "I come before you, Swarm." Its voice is near-silent, a croak, yet carries into space and every other corner of the world all the same as the sky shifts its shade, the planets spin shifting, time rolling backwards in a terrifying paradox despite memory remaining.

The guns of Chaos open fire once again, damage reversed by the impossible power of the Greater Daemon, by its godlike influence. "I come as Lord of your hopes, your dreams, your future." And with that, war returns to the planet.

Over swarm-space Ana calls out, There's a Malleus Extremis, tell the commander, NOW Lilith. Though the Commander had already seen it in her fury.

"GET BACK HERE-AUGH-BATTLEBARGES, TARGET GUNS AT MALLEUS EXTREMIS." Varynna commands, barely sane. Voice fully mixed with the God-Machine behind her. Furious, that her prey got away.

There's hesitation in Kerrigan, but she crushes it under her will, "I am going." The Queen brusquely pushes past, "You are staying here, safe."

"Absolutely not, you swore to me you'd never order me away, so I'm staying by your side. We fight this together, you don't want me in the battle? Stay here." Lilith sprinted as Kerrigan tried to rush away, using will and her blood magic to force herself to keep up, barely managing.

With a growl The Queen glares at being caught in her own words, "If you die, I'll destroy you." She flexes her wings as a threat letting them get dangerously close to Lilith's face before diving into the maw of a Nydus Worm, Lilith close behind.

"Love you too!" Lilith says as she smiles, then she gives her a peck on the cheek and when the worm opens leaps into battle.

The Nydus rips through earth, carving trenches and furrows underneath Creep as it finds the enemy isolated, alone in a mountain valley, It rams through the layers of creep sending rubble and shrapnel of dirt, creep, and stone everywhere. Both the Queen and Lilith are disgorged, landing with a roll atop the soft-zerg stuff. The creature stands colossal, idly inspecting a barely visible church bell of a swallowed chapel from above its roof. Kerrigan begins to ripple with power whilst the monster turns, head far above the earth, a height of at least twenty feet.

A Beast from the pits of hell stands before them, large feathered wings with disgusting hooks at the tips flare out the wingspan longer than an Ultralisk. Its razor sharp teeth glisten with saliva, each point gleaming in the light that seems to accompany its staff. The eyes, bright from the raw power of the Warp, turn, searching, searching for something. Each step of its taloned feet on crooked digitigrade sends small puffs of air, and shakes the ground with an oppressive weight. The robes and jewellery that hang from it are glorious, striking greed and envy into those who look at it.

In its hand is a trident, or possibly a staff. It has a singular eye-like gem, and three curved twisted golden tines.

As the creature rumbles and moves, Lilith unfurls once again, her body skittering on sharp bladed tips. Hydralisk spines emerge from her shoulders, and fire an open volley, as she maintains her position behind her Queen. She's ready to charge in behind her, in battle she would follow her anywhere. Kerrigan's psychic blast alights the valley, a bolt of lightning ramming into the creature, only to wrap round its staff and settle there.

Spines impact its skin, penetrating past the feathers and sinking their venom in to hopefully good effect. "Fight." It speaks, the tip of its staff igniting into a furious ultra-chromatic aberration. The world changes subtly, everything acquiring a tilt as Kerrigan stumbles, eyes wide. Lilith jolts forwards and catches her, snapping the Queen out of the blue haze that was infesting her eyes.

"It's the same one." Kerrigan breathes out, little spikes of fear as what once was a purely mental threat has form, shape and power.

"And we beat it together last time too. Without training and years of time together now. You have help. Find something that matters more." Lilith holds her queen, wishing that Lilith was maybe, just a tad taller. "You've got this."

The Queen of blade pulls to her feet and begins to ripple with strength, a storm forming atop the creature, reality breaking down as even atoms are shredded in the ceaseless infinite destruction of a Psionic Storm. Woven by her with scream and flare of force.

Almost with a scoff, the twenty foot tall creature accepts the damage, flickering in and out of existence before speaking a word, "Truth." Forcing a wave of change across the world. Nothing happens to Lilith, but Kerrigan is impacted with the wave, thrown far and clear, vanishing through a wall into rubble. The storm consumes the creature, forcing it to vanish into nothing, but with a feeling like its purpose was done.

She couldn't sense Kerrigan, Lilith realized. Not her essence, not her mind, not her body. Somewhere far away she felt a smug sense of superiority emanate from somewhere far away, but that wasn't her. She sprinted into the rubble, to the church, dim sunsetting light peering through clouds of dust, creating god rays that fell on a prone form. "No…" Lilith whispered, "No. No no no no."

That quieted whatever the far away emotion was. It quieted everything. "Sarah… Sarah please, no."

Kerrigan was crumbling in her hands as she picked up her limp form, she watch her tendrils start to chip and crack, her carapace burn away, showing something else, beneath. Something blue and white. More cracking, Carapace, green skin, long psychic foci, revealing another thing. Another person, hidden underneath.

In her hands, was a woman, a human woman. One with bright red hair, and a flight suit, white and cerulean pristine as if purchased only seconds ago. She starts coughing, "What…" Then a gasp, as the spores clog her throat.

"Do... Do you... Kerrigan you're hair." Lilith whispers. "Oh, no. I got only a few moments with you, it's too soon. No no."

This was it, the creep would kill her in twenty minutes, she could infest her, but… She couldn't do that to her, not again. What could she do, what would she do. The moment tears through her, slicing her core.

"Kerrigan, you're human again." She cries, "What do we do?"


The look on Sarah's face is fearful, unblemished skin shifting and frowning, bright blue eyes reflective in the daylight of a distant star. "I-I can't be on creep!" She shouts, suddenly standing before losing her legs again, falling to knee.

"Tell me if you remember, I can take you to Abathur if you do, but if you don't I'm so lost I won't know what to do. I'll race you there as fast as possible. I'll do anything." There's pain, fear, indecision, and desperation all flooding Lilith at once. If she remembers they can plan, if they don't she'll have to infest her, but she may get infested anyways. And there's no-one around to help.

"Calm down, I r-remember." She breathes out, shaking in metabolic strain, "It's all, g-getting hazy."

"Ok, I'll carry you," She picks her up off the creep, cradling her easy, but still wishing she was taller. She leaps with inhuman speed. "I'm going to try and get you to Abathur, but… If you fall asleep. I can't, I'll have to help now. You'll hate me. You might hate me anyways." She's sprinting, sprinting as fast as possible trying to force every kick as powerful as before. "If you want though… I don't know if you liked being the way you were."

Sarah blinks and tries to intake all of this, moving through the air with nearly a whistle of momentum, "I-I, Abathur!" She freezes, fear shooting through her, latching onto Lilith like a lifeline, heart beating like a drum against the other woman.

"Ok, no Abathur?" Lilith freezes, skidding to a halt, "No Abathur?! Sarah, speak your thoughts so I know what's happening. I can't read minds like you can. Words. Use your words, please."

Rather than using words, Kerrigan presses her hand to Liliths face, a blue glow emanating and forcing memory into her. Pain/Bones/Flesh/Noise, so much noise/Pain/Bones/Flesh- The terror passes for Lilith, but Kerrigan is still in the midst of remembering the Sequencer's first work, his long and terrible ascension of the Queen of Blades.

She stood there. "Do you want to be Sarah Kerrigan Human, Sarah Kerrigan I remember, Abathur's creation, or… Or…" It caught in her throat, "Did this… Is… Are you d_—." The last one didn't sound like a question, the tone was melancholy. She can't finish it. "The creep is getting through fast I'm sorry. There isn't time. Make a choice."

"D-don't make me." She begs, insensate, "I-I-Let me c-choose." The begging isn't truly towards Lilith, instead, someone else overlaid, just behind her. But nothing is there.

Lilith looks at Kerrigan's wrist, and sees a faded, much less prominent scar, familiar still even on pale skin instead of tough carapace.

She's quiet, she takes Kerrigan's hand and puts it on her head again. At the touch, she glows again, and Lilith can feel it, just over her shoulder. Lilith doesn't… Need to look, she doesn't need to talk, she knows and she knows that Sarah knows. Any choice she was making, she didn't need to know. She just held her tight. Keeping her mouth shut.
The war with the presence is audible, its presence like a disapproving father, chiding her by existing. Sarah is shaken by it, unable to collect herself, being slowly, so slowly forced into a decision.

"I-I," She stutters, "I have to be Queen?" Sarah asks, not to any one thing in particular.

"You don't have to be anything." Lilith says, "You can be Sarah the Human, you can be Sarah my Obsession, you can be the Queen of Blades, or you can be nothing. No-one can tell you what you must be." She's whispering and now rocking her with her head low, she's wrapped the hand around her neck, and just focuses on Sarah's wrist. "You have the control now." She said even quieter, "No-one can make you do anything ever again."

Truth, the word beckons. Its meaning simple. Sarah looks up, eyes fully opening. "Did I make a mistake?" She asks, a tone to her question, either playful or aggravated.

"I don't think so," She says quietly, "Not for choosing me at least."

"Then why are you crying." Kerrigan makes a decision, settling it in her heart with a smile.

"I'm so scared." She whispers. "I can't lose you."

"You'll stay with me?" Kerrigan glimmers, a force spreading past her skin and out, to reach for something distant.

"Until the end of everything, and I'll try to figure out how to go beyond that." Lilith whispered even lower.

"Then I can take it." The ground rumbles, something fast rattling underneath it, creep shivering before a tunnel entrance smashes open, just sized for a wyrm. "I can be Queen…with you." The voice is ditzy, almost confused at the idea.

"You don't have to, but if you want too, yes. This time, I'll try to be there with you, you won't have to go through this alone if I have a choice." Lilith whispered so quiet, "But if you don't want it, I guess we'll find out if I can bully Abathur like you could."

Limbs shoot out of the the tunnel, followed by the wyrm as both women are dragged beneath. Even human as she is, Sarah holds some measure of authority over the Swarm. Slick tunnels pass by at speeds better suited for the highway than an enclosed space before both are released. One onto fleshy floor, and the other into a pool of Essence, eyes wide with surprised pain.

Sarah stares, hair floating in the pool through the film at Lilith, a presence behind her in the water, a colossal worm, Abathur, reaching out with dozens, no, hundreds of limbs.

"Ur-Sequencer Abathur, can you fix this?" Then before Abathur could even answer. "MUST be removed from pain. Mandatory. If necessary, keep together in… Swarm-space."

"Pain, irre—." He attempts to answer.

"Pain WILL be removed. Not. Optional. Please. Project Lilith, Does not ask for things often… Please. Failed to protect."

The wyrm snaps into motion, aggravated by the words, "Not failed. Succeeded." He moves in the essence like it is at home, an aquatic creature in truth, "Will slow work. Extend process."

"Can transfer pain? Through essence? Nerves?" There's a gentle quiet, "Physical pain is easy. Worthwhile." She says leaning over the edge, "Best combination of options."

"Not easy." The Sequencer states, taking matters into his many hands as Lilith is pulled into the Essence, "Know decision. Will proceed." Limbs descend all around the both of them, hypodermic fingers punching through skin and muscle to search and tear and reforge. Kerrigan's hand seeks through the fluid blindly, desperately.

And Lilith catches it. As the pain ravages her body, she can't help but giggle, no-one could do this for her. Lilith had finally become perfect. Had found a way to lock her in, something that was impossible, a saving that couldn't be ripped away. She had done it, she had finally fucking done it. The cheer and giddiness couldn't be stopped, even as every inch of her was melted, even when the pain stopped being bearable and humorous. She relished in her victory, FINALLY. Her mind seemed unable to contain as she and Kerrigan were momentarily disconnected from the swarm. FINALLY, I WON!

The days, weeks, minutes or years pass by in that haze, in that grip as coiling whips of utter agony strike Lilith every second, ceaseless in their advance. Abathur is unrelenting, not a moment he isn't working, not a moment he isn't biting, cutting, swallowing and remaking. It all fades into a haze of bones, flesh, pain and repetition.

Eternity fades into the two women, all that exists beyond the dark is a single hand, unseen, but touched and felt. The film splits, essence flows, the cocoon shatters. Power flows. Lilith finally relaxes. Pain falsely still firing in overused nerves.

A carapace-coated hand gently moves her, prompting a spark of consciousness.

She rolls over and looks into Kerrigan's face, "I… Hope this makes up… For the knife…" Trying to manage a weak chuckle. "Because it was terrible."

She's on one knee, hand on Lilith's nearest shoulder. Smirking at the joke, Kerrigan bites back, "You need to get over the knife." She tabs her talons on the other woman's carapace. "Are you…alive?" Sarah tries to ask something, but can't find the kind words, settling for the next best thing.

"Yeah…" Lilith smiled, "You're here. Need to tell Abathur, thank you. So he knows I'm not… Upset." Her eyes starting to get hazy and unfocused as her head shakes, and she starts to shiver uncontrollably. "Probably… Left because he's… Scared of being hurt… Need to tell him." She gets incredibly drowsy. Dizzy.

"Rest." Kerrigan tries to get Lilith to calm, to still and to let herself heal.

Lilith started to cry, "He chose what I wanted, he chose what I wanted over efficiency. I knew he cared, I've always known." Then even quieter, the tears leaking, "You chose to be Queen. Anastasia chose to stay. Everyone… Everyone picked me. I have a family."

Sarah listens, giving someone in her presence space for once. "Yes." She whispers, "We do."

For once, Lilith didn't feel broken, she feel uplifted, rebuilt. She snatched at Kerrigan as she laid low, pulling her to be the small spoon in a cuddle as she latched on. For once words didn't come out, as she finally drifted to sleep.