Earn Your Wings, Chapter 1: Fallen Angels
Fandom: Stellar Blade Characters: Eve, Lily, Raven, Tachy, D1G-g2r, Kaya, Roxanne, Mann Ship(s): Eve/Raven, Eve/Tachy, Raven/Tachy, Eve/Raven/Tachy, Eve & Lily AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/74307466/chapters/193945006
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The first steps towards realizing Adam’s dream of uniting Andro-Eidos and mankind have been taken; that doesn’t mean he didn't have regrets he left behind, and Eve has taken it upon herself to mend those in his place before the grander plans come into play.
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Reclining her back against the countertop of the workshop by the tetrapod, Lily hummed thoughtfully. Her thumbs hooked under the straps that looped over her pant legs. “But Eve, after all she's done to you and to Xion,” she wondered, “you still want to give her another chance?” The engineer shifted uncomfortably, as though it didn't feel right to question Eve in the matter; after all, Eve had suffered the most of Raven's victims, or at least those who were still alive, and yet Eve was still the one who expressed a desire to help. If the one who had more right than anyone to kill Raven wanted to save her, who was Lily to argue?
But then again, it was still Raven they were talking about. Had Eve not so thoroughly crippled her, she would be one of the most dangerous entities on the planet. Not to mention, Lily herself held no sympathy for her, not after she saw what had been done to Tachy. She simply couldn't believe that Eve, of all people, would be willing to show forgiveness.
“Yes,” Eve answered with a nod. “She was just as much a victim of Mother Sphere as the rest of us, as Tachy and I. And then she undoubtedly felt betrayed by Adam, him abandoning her after he saw me and found me more suitable for his plans. She was already broken, and he hurt her even more.”
Eve put a hand over her chest. “Adam's ultimate goal had always been to fix his mistakes, and… I think I can feel him. He sees the pain he caused Raven as one of those mistakes, and he wants to fix that too.”
Lily looked hard at the underside of the little canopy over the workshop. “Well,” she conceded, “if you're dead set on helping her, I think we should get to it. Airborne Squad members are trained to be extremely durable, but it's still been three days since you took her arms and severed her exospine. She's still helpless, and she's not a Naytiba anymore. If she's been found by any of them, even if she's managed to get back on her feet, she's doomed.” She hopped off the chair and put her hands on her hips. “If Raven's even still alive, she's on borrowed time. Let's go,” she finished, a confident smile appearing on her face, and Eve matched it with a thankful smile of her own.
~\\ᴼ//~
Landing the tetrapod at the entrance to the canyon that led to the Nest, Eve stepped out, wearing her original 7th Squadron uniform, and steeling herself with a deep breath. Staying inside, Lily instead deployed the drone to follow her, and directed it to float around and get a quick scan of the area. [Still the same as last time,] Lily’s voice echoed from the drone. [Quiet, eerie, unsettling.]
“Is there any sign you can find that Raven is still alive? Some kind of signal?” asked Eve as she started jogging into the valley.
[Nothing, at least not yet,] Lily explained. [Although, even if it wasn’t permanent, Raven still was an Alpha Naytiba for a long time. Maybe she’ll have some residual emanations from the Alpha Core that I can track? We’ll have to get a lot closer to lock in on it, though.]
“Alright then. Let's keep moving.”
Making their way through the canyon, Eve felt somewhat relieved that no Naytibas had moved in during her absence; she couldn't bear to think of what she would do if Raven was in any worse trouble than Eve had figured she already was.
When they drew near the open area that served as Eve and Raven's arena, the drone started making noises that signified it had found something. [I'm picking up the Alpha Core waves!] Lily said excitedly through the drone. [Just like we guessed, it's there, but it's very faint. Let's hope that its faintness is just that the Alpha Core is wearing off, and not that Raven… well, you know.]
It only bothered Eve a little that she would probably be the only one to mourn Raven's death in earnest; Lily would probably be sad, perhaps the others in Xion, but that's only because Eve would be sad, not because of Raven's passing itself.
As the pair arrived at the clearing, they saw nobody else there. Stepping into the area, they could see that the door to the Nest had remained open, and the drone quickly scanned the area. [The signal's getting a little stronger, coming from within the Nest,] Lily informed, [and there are footprints leading inside. Judging by how irregular they are, I'd bet they're from Raven. If she's still alive, she's got to be in a lot of pain.]
Eve felt her WB pump shudder in sympathy at that. Between having already gotten her revenge, and how much bigger the picture became after fusing with Adam, Eve couldn't see the point of holding a grudge against Raven any longer. At this point, Raven was just another product of the damage Mother Sphere had caused, not an enemy. “She should be just inside,” Eve said. “I can sense her from here as well.”
Inside the Nest, Eve could see the same strange, giant jellyfish creatures flying through the air that had amazed her before, though now they held her interest far less than last time. Still it was interesting to see them carrying menagerie things, such as Naytiba eggs, rocks, and strange materials about the place. She supposed that she would have to draw from Adam’s memories to truly understand what their purpose was, but that would have to wait; she had a life to save now, no time to ponder on less time-sensitive matters.
Taking care to examine her surroundings for any hints of Raven’s presence besides her own sort of sixth sense for the Alpha Naytiba aura, Eve found herself pondering on what exactly she was supposed to do if it turned out that Raven was alive. Berate her? Welcome her with open arms? Cry about the unfairness of it all? Eve had no real experience with anything like this, dealing with a mind so shattered.
She was given little time to think on it anyway; turning one corner, she saw the supply camp from when she had been there last, and slouched in the chair was Raven, heaving slowly with weak, ragged breaths. Though she no longer bled, the older former Airborne Squad member was still covered in bloodstains down her sides, the stumps of her severed limbs having scabbed over most of the way. “…Raven?” Eve asked tentatively, and Raven drunkenly raised her head, squinting confoundedly at Eve.
“You… you can’t be real,” Raven growled, shaking her head in disbelief. “You hate me, you didn’t even have the mercy to kill me after we fought. Typical Eve, so righteous and self-important, you would never be so decent as to come back and finish the job, would you?” She groaned as she stood, her legs shaking. Eve couldn’t find the words to respond to something so pitiful.
“Then again,” Raven continued, rambling on, “I can’t imagine you not still h-hating me, not… not after Tachy, after Xion, after everything. If you’re real, the only reason you would return would be to torment me more, right? That’s why you’re here?”
“Raven, I’m so sorry,” Eve started, but Raven roared angrily to interrupt. “Sorry! Sorry, she says! And to think I believed Mother Sphere was the biggest liar of us all!” She lurched towards Eve. “I stole and corrupted your beloved commander, slaughtered so much of Xion, and tried to kill you personally three times. You crippled me, made me watch as everything fell apart, and killed Adam in return. For all you care, I haven’t been hurt enough to satisfy you yet! For all you care, I deserve to hurt even more–”
“Adam didn’t die,” Eve interjected, drawing more confusion from Raven. “I found out he was the Elder Naytiba, and that he was once known as Raphael Marks. He wanted to fix things, to undo the damage that he could, and find a way for both humans and Andro-Eidos to not just coexist, but to unite. He… I absorbed him. Adam and I are one and the same, now.”
Raven’s face twisted in fury. “Lies… lies! This has to all be lies!” she screamed as she ran towards Eve. In a flash, Eve’s form grew the hard, bony natural armor she acquired after assimilating and becoming the Elder Naytiba, sprouting that signature white and gold wing out of her left shoulder, and Raven froze, tripping over herself and skidding onto her knees. Her eyes wide and mouth hanging open, Raven could only stare in awe.
“He’s sorry, Raven,” Eve told her softly. “He blames himself for everything, including how much he hurt you. He knows there’s no changing the past, but he wants you to have a future.” She knelt down, putting one hand on Raven’s shoulder and the other on her cheek, running a thumb under one of Raven’s tear-swollen eyes. “It’s unfair to ask even more of you, but will you live? For me, for Adam, and for your future?”
Raven closed her eyes just as more tears began to fall, and nuzzled her cheek into Eve’s palm. “…I hate you so much, Eve,” she mumbled, and Eve sighed. “You can hate me all you want, Raven. You have every right to. But this is something bigger than any single one of us, and I would like to have you by my side when the time comes. We have the power to change the world together, and we can change the world for the better.”
Moving her arms again, Eve put one behind Raven’s shoulders and the other under Raven’s knees, holding her in a bridal carry. Eve kissed Raven on the forehead, and in response, Raven cried into Eve’s shoulder as they left. Lily was silent the entire time; Eve figured she simply had very little to say about it.
~\\ᴼ//~
Once they were all back on the tetrapod, Eve took to piloting while Lily had Raven secured on a long, reclining chair, not unlike the kind someone would lay on to have their teeth examined. After takeoff, the ride was smooth enough for Lily to give Raven a proper examination. “You’ve healed remarkably well for such a short time,” she stated, her thumb and forefinger on her chin. “I think I can make you fully functional cybernetic arms with the right parts just fine, but the damage to your exospine is…well, to call it extensive would be an understatement.”
“Unsurprising,” Raven huffed. “Eve would be the sort to be so thorough, wouldn't she?”
Eve, feeling guilty, said over her shoulder, “I'm sorry about that,” but Raven shook her head. “Don’t apologize for perfection, Eve,” she sighed. “You've nothing to be sorry for, not with a performance of that caliber. It's genuinely amazing how good you are at fighting.”
“And,” Lily added, “given the time and the supplies, we can even give your replacement arms improved strength and agility! Silver linings, eh?”
“Yes, just go through decades of suffering, including two humiliating defeats in the span of a day, and spend three days bleeding out after having your first arms lopped off, and you too can enjoy moderate improvements to your physical prowess,” drawled Raven, her voice dripping with miserable sardonism, and Lily’s face fell.
“Actually, Raven,” Eve said from the cockpit, “I have something I want to try when we're back at Xion, if that's alright with you?”
Raven scoffed. “Short of taking my legs or killing me outright, I doubt that you could make things worse. Do what you will with me.”
A part of Eve's core started feeling a little too warm for her to be comfortable with it at the thought of Raven, still so beautiful despite her disfigurement, submitting to her so absolutely.
~\\ᴼ//~
Once the tetrapod landed at the launchpad just outside of Xion, Eve walked up to Raven, who was still in the chair, standing over her. “It's just a little difficult to make out entirely, but I've gone through Adam's memories, and this was what they said to do,” she explained, and put her empty hands together like she had two fistfuls of clay. A small, but bright white light formed between her palms, and as Eve slowly drew her hands away, the light began to rapidly oscillate and spin. It was soon noticeable that it was following a path like a pattern being etched over a sphere. After a few more seconds, a hollow red orb fell into Eve’s waiting hands, the outside looking like a mess of thick veins.
Lily, who had been watching the entire time, stared in wonder, with a decent helping of fear mixed in. “...Eve,” she said, her voice shaking just the tiniest bit, “you just made… an Alpha Core.”
Looking back and forth at the Alpha Core and Eve a couple of times, Raven then gave a sneer. “I thought you would be more creative and come up with something other than turning me into a monster all over again,” she balked, “but it seems that would be too much to ask for.”
“Hush, you,” Eve gently scolded, and then she crushed the Alpha Core in her hands. The ball of energy was revealed again, but this time the glow was a soft throb, and the orb stayed in place. Lily and Raven both stared in curiosity, but when Eve pressed the orb into Raven’s chest, Raven began to writhe and moan in agony, clenching her teeth in an attempt to not scream.
Lily, panicking, shook Eve. “What are you doing to her!?” she shouted, but Eve shouldered Lily off of her. “Just watch,” she ordered, and Lily obeyed, watching nervously.
Lily’s nervousness soon turned into horror as she saw fibers of what was far too white to be normal bone tissue begin to jut from Raven's stumps, knitting and weaving together into solid, platinum white matter in the perfectly mimicked shape of human bones. Activating her alternate vision modes, Lily got analytics on what the skeletal growths were made of: an organic material that was light as bone, but the strength and structure made it harder than titanium and more shock absorbent than tungsten; top-notch 7th Airborne Squad skeletal reinforcements could only wish for that kind of durability, and here Raven was, getting entire bones made of the stuff. As soon as the bones had grown out, Raven looked down at her limbs, still immobile, though the pain was already fading. She still was gasping for air like religion, despite the Andro-Eidos having no need to breathe, but suddenly was arching her back and squirming in reaction to a sensation that was impossible to distinguish from either pain or pleasure. The loud, wet squelch of regenerating flesh growing over its frame filled the air inside the tetrapod, and Lily’s analytics noted that the strength behind them surpassed Eve’s own—before having merged with the Elder Naytiba—by multitudes. The ichor of it, dribbling from between the muscle fibers, was such a dark red that it was almost black, a far richer hue than the blood that Mother Sphere's “children” were crafted with. Raven flopped onto her back, whimpering as she was finally able to move her arms and hands, albeit in sharp twitching motions as opposed to anything resembling controlled movements. Starting from where her new flesh met old, Raven quickly grew chalk white skin over her exposed muscle, still pliable where it needed to be, but tough and ridged where it could afford to be.
Examining her new hands, looking over her knuckles, palms, and fingers, Raven could only quietly stare at them. She wiped away a few drops of her blood from the chair, looking at it closely before licking it from her fingertip, and making a face. “Foul,” she grunted, though she didn’t spit it out. “At least I know it’s all the real thing.”
Raven quirked a brow at Eve. “How did you do it?”
“The power used to make Alpha Cores would have brought back your limbs,” Eve said, “but even with the stabilization of an Alpha Core, it would have turned you into an Alpha Naytiba again, and just forcing you to absorb the raw energy would have likely done worse. Putting it through the process of forming an Alpha Core and then destroying the vessel left a much more refined form of the energy, one that I could calculate. That’s partly why Adam needed me; his mind was human, and was unable to consciously make the kind of computations needed in the short window of time to apply it. The Alpha Cores came close, but aren’t the same.” Eve clenched and unclenched her hands, wondering if she would perhaps see sparks of electricity flashing from them. Satisfied with the lack of a light show, she let her hands fall to her sides. “Your new arms aren’t the same flesh as humans had back when Adam was still Raphael, but it is still human, at least more so than the mystery meat that we were made with back in the Colony.”
“I see,” Raven said, briefly pausing before jumping from her seat and lunging at Eve, her hands reaching for Eve’s neck. Eve caught Raven by the wrists, shoved her to the ground, and had her foot on Raven’s chest in a flash. Raven tried to push herself up, but Eve just leaned harder, keeping Raven pinned to the ground.
“Your exospine has yet to be repaired, Raven,” Eve admonished. “You’re in no shape to fight me at all.”
“I’m going to kill you as soon as it is,” Raven hissed and Eve shook her head. “I’d like to see you try,” she said, not in a way to present a challenge, but to shoot down any confidence Raven may have had that she could do such a thing. “Besides, would you really undo all of Adam’s work to fix things, including stopping Mother Sphere, because you hate me that much?”
Eve stepped off of Raven, and took a step back. “Hate me if you must, but do it sensibly. Even if you could kill me, you would be rendering everything you have existed for into meaninglessness. All your pain, all your wrath, all your own blood that has spilt onto this dry earth, all of it would have been pointless if you took my life. If and when I die, it won’t be by your hand.”
Slamming one of her new hands onto the floor, Raven blinked at the dent left in the hardened steel, though her anger hadn't faded, not really. “So you think I should be thankful for you extending my torture?” she grumbled.
Eve shrugged. “If you like.”
~\\ᴼ//~
Walking up the path from the landing pad to Xion, Lily trailing behind by piloting the drone, Raven was visibly nervous and irritated. “Eve,” she muttered, “you’re sure that the city isn’t going to try and tear me apart the moment they lay eyes on the one responsible for slaughtering all those people and burning so much of their home to the ground?”
“Not to sound like I have too much faith in the people of Xion,” Eve responded, “but after everything that's been revealed to them over the past few days, they're bound to trust my judgment.”
Eve nudged Raven with her shoulder. “Nearly everyone who knows that you were the Naytiba that attacked Xion is dead anyway.”
Raven shot a worried glare at Eve. “What do you mean, ‘nearly everyone’?”
“You'll see.”
As the two of them walked across the bridge to the city, they saw the Sentinels snap to attention at Eve’s approach, though the two soldiers also whispered to each other, mumbling something about not having expected another Angel. “Don’t worry, she's with me,” Eve reassured them, earning a nod from the guards. Raven still bristled as she walked past, only relaxing slightly when it seemed she would not have to spring to violent measures so soon.
“Why are we even here in the first place?” Raven complained, clearly uncomfortable with walking amongst the wreckage that had been left in the wake of her rampage, seeing everyone working hard to repair it. Those that acknowledged Raven seemed to do so with a mix of caution and wonder; had they found another savior like Eve, or another agent of the neglectful and traitorous Mother Sphere?
“There are a few people here you will need to get acquainted with,” informed Eve, “not the least of which are merchants for getting supplies. The first one will be especially important for repairing your exospine.”
Raven found her attention grabbed. “Oh?”
~\\ᴼ//~
Raven stared down at the dark green supply drone with its curious facial screen. “Oh.”
“Raven, this is D1G-g2r,” Eve said with a gesture to introduce them. “They’re a service drone who collects valuable salvage, and is willing to trade for components from other machines if we find some first. I’ve gotten quite a lot of enhancements from his collection, including the nano elements we need for your repairs.”
Beep-beep. “Greetings, Raven. I see you are an Angel; are you another survivor of Eve’s former squadron?” D1G-g2r asked, the screen depicting a simple, messily drawn smile.
Raven shook her head. “No, I was from the 2nd Airborne Squadron,” she explained. “I predate Eve by many years.”
“Interesting.” Beep. Beep-beep. “How did you and Eve meet? Have you known each other for long?”
Raven glanced over at Eve, getting a silent, noncommittal look in return, telling Raven that how she answered was up to her. Looking back down at D1G-g2r, she answered, “Eve and I actually fought, multiple times. I was… confused. It took time, and a harsh lesson or three, but we realized that there are many things, things that matter far more than our petty feud. Our fighting is unimportant, comparatively speaking, next to what we realize is our duty.”
D1G-g2r bounced and made a warm chirp. “It pleases me to know that you have found a purpose in life,” the drone congratulated. “I feel some small measure of envy for you and Eve, for you to know the reason you exist.”
“Nothing has purpose,” Raven shot back with a frown, “or at least, not a purpose they’re born with. The world is too big for us to have some sort of grand destiny by virtue of existing.”
Placing a hand on Raven’s shoulder, Eve added, “But that doesn’t mean we don’t have the power to make our own reason for living, does it?”
Sighing deeply, Raven scowled at Eve, but gave a soft nod. D1G-g2r looked between the two Angels, going back and forth. Beep-beep. “You have given me something to ponder on, Raven. Please, accept this as thanks.”
The other drone that D1G-g2r kept in that nook in the alley where it worked opened a hatch, revealing three omnibolts. [Ooh, we can get your gear sockets in working order with these,] Lily cooed over the drone’s speaker. [Just need to get the nano elements to fix your exospine so everything else can work properly.]
“Which,” D1G-g2r threw in, “I have for you right here. Consider these ones a gift of appreciation for you as well, Eve. Besides, you having an ally who can help is more important than any sort of profit I might have made.”
“That's very kind of you, D1G-g2r,” Eve thanked. Taking the proffered nano elements, she nodded at them smilingly. “Shall we go?” she said to Raven. “We have a few more visits to make.”
~\\ᴼ//~
“Woooow,” Kaya announced with wonder at the sight of Eve and Raven walking towards her. “Another Angel! Who would have thought we would have two of them here in Xion!”
“Kaya,” Eve said, introducing Raven with a gesture, “this is Raven, the sole survivor of the 2nd Airborne Squadron. She's been through… a lot, and this is her first time in Xion.”
“Oh,” Kaya gasped, “I'm so sorry that you were alone for so long! Is there any way I can help?”
“You can stop with the hero worship that rolls off of you, for one,” Raven grouched, and Kaya looked away in shame. “S-sorry…” she mumbled, but Eve put a comforting hand on Kaya's shoulder. “No need to feel bad,” she reassured Kaya, “Raven is just a bit jaded from all that she's suffered. She should warm up eventually.”
Eve looked over her shoulder at Raven. “Isn't that right?”
Raven scoffed, crossing her arms. “Whatever.”
“Ah, okay,” Kaya said, fidgeting nervously with her lavender hair. “I hope you get to heal, Raven.”
Though Raven did her best to keep her aloof demeanor intact, Kaya could see through Raven’s veil, and knew that those words struck the Angel far deeper than either of them would admit. Turning towards Eve, Kaya asked, “Is there anything I can interest you in?”
“Yes, actually,” Eve replied, pulling out several large knobs of pure gold, the kind of currency that got used for creating and repairing circuitry in projects that weren’t able to rely on nanites. “I’m going to need a variety of polymers for a nanosuit. Forty-five standard polymer samples, thirty advanced polymers, and fifteen extreme polymers. Do you have that much available?”
“Of course! More than enough!” Kaya answered cheerfully, digging through her wares and putting Eve’s request into a box. After trading the box for Eve’s gold, Kaya gave a bow. “I hope you stop by again, Angel!”
~\\ᴼ//~
Once they were finished with Sister’s Junk, Eve took Raven down a few out-of-the-way alleys, leading her into a somewhat seedier part of Xion. “The next person you’ll have to get used to,” Eve said tiredly, “is Roxanne. She’s an info broker, and has been vital in me completing several tasks. She also has quite a lot of other useful and interesting things besides information for sale.”
“You sound as though there’s more to her that you don’t like,” Raven observed, and Eve nodded. “You’ll see soon enough.”
Finally making the last corner beyond the bulletin board, Raven saw the source of Eve’s annoyance, and could feel it in the air why Eve was not so fond. Roxanne was gangly, standing taller than either Eve or Raven, and her half-lidded eyes immediately moved up and down Eve, then she cocked her head a little to the side to meet Raven’s gaze. Roxanne’s interest was immediate and visible, and Raven felt her insides lurch slightly at the hum Roxanne gave, only somewhat muffled by the gas mask-looking apparatus on the lower half of her face. Even during their moments of intimacy, however brief, Adam’s aura was never even a quarter as salacious, so full of desire.
The whole thing left Raven a bit uncomfortable. She wasn’t used to being so openly lusted after at all.
“Eve, you shouldn’t have,” Roxanne drawled flirtatiously. “Another Angel, just for me?” Her gaze scanned Raven’s body, drinking in every last detail. Raven felt like Roxanne was doing far more than just undressing the elder Angel with her eyes.
Raven loured in return, snapping at Roxanne, “Not on your life.”
Roxanne waved a hand dismissively at Raven. “That’s what they always say,” she said amusedly, “before they have a change of heart. Come by anytime if you change your mind, I can dole out joy even brighter than this alley is dark.” She fluttered her eyelids at Raven, who blushed angrily. “Don’t keep me waiting too long, hmm?”
“Well,” Raven said after a pause, “I have some news for you.”
Roxanne's eyes betrayed her smiling beneath her mask. “Is that so?” she prodded.
Raven quickly stepped over and slung one arm around Eve’s waist, and curled the other around Eve’s shoulders. “I'm taken.”
A short, barking laugh escaped Roxanne’s throat. “Ha! If only you could see your face,” she taunted. “That pout of yours is simply adorable.”
Hearing Roxanne tease her like that had Raven’s cheeks getting hotter, and her attempt at intimidating the info broker failing so hard made it fall apart. “But,” Roxanne continued, “who am I to stand between love like that? Who could have imagined, two Angels, their hearts beating as one? All you need is wings, and I could even call you a pair of lovebirds!”
Raven had simply run out of things to say, and Eve put her own arms over Raven’s to try and keep the other Angel from lashing out with violence. Unable to meet Roxanne’s silver eyes, Eve looked to the ground embarrassedly as she said, “Enough with the flirting, Roxanne, we’re here on business.”
“Yes, yes,” Roxanne replied, her voice having lost its seductive tone, though there was still a lilt to how she spoke that made it clear she had no intention of going a single visit without hitting on one of them, especially with her new, dangerous target found in Raven. “What are you here for, besides some praise?”
“Raven’s nanosuit was heavily damaged,” Eve explained, having gotten over enough of the awkwardness she felt to make eye contact again, “and we’d like to see if you have the schematics for a similar one. It’s from the 2nd Airborne Squadron, and so it’s a bit obscure, thus our visit to you instead of another shop.”
Roxanne pulled out a device that she held towards Raven, and it scanned over Raven’s body. “Hmm,” she hummed thoughtfully, “I do have something that’s very close to that particular nanosuit’s serial number. It’s just a different color, if that would be alright?”
“Can I see it?” Raven asked, her face still angry, but less intense. Roxanne turned the device around to show a screen, upon which was a model of Raven; the suit had the same patterns and everything, but all the white of her original suit was replaced with charcoal black, the black parts of her current suit were candy apple red, and the blue lights were replaced with lavender ones.
To Raven, there was something about it that felt right.
“…Yes, that will do nicely,” Raven admitted, looking away.
“And, as a bit of recompense for giving two cute ladies such a hard time,” Roxanne added, “I’ll let you buy it at half price. Do we have a deal, Angels?”
Eve nodded. “We do,” she answered, handing over the gold and taking the schematic. “Now, Raven, if you would be so kind as to let go of me…?”
Raven coughed, but did indeed let go. “Alright. Let’s get back to Lily so we can put this together,” she muttered curtly, turning around on a dime and stomping away, but unfortunately not before Roxanne blew her a kiss. Eve frowned disapprovingly at Roxanne, but quickly ran to Raven’s side to keep up.
~\\ᴼ//~
“Why are we headed deeper into Xion, Eve?” Raven asked, noting that they were still moving north. “I thought we were going to meet a few merchants and be done with it?”
“There's one more person I need you to meet,” Eve explained, “and he's the only inhabitant of Xion who knows your true identity. I made him swear an oath to not divulge that information.”
Raven started to feel a bit sick, knowing there weren't many people who would have that knowledge. She wondered aloud if he would kill her on sight. Eve gave no answer.
As they went closer and closer to Orcal's chamber, Raven took notice of the Sentinels and their whispering; it was all them muttering about the mystery of another Angel making an appearance, not if she was back to kill them. That thought helped less than she cared to admit.
When the two of them and Lily’s drone passed through the final set of doors, Raven visibly bristled at who stood beyond them. “You–!”
Mann acknowledged Raven with a nod. “Me,” he rumbled. “Bold of you to show your face again, especially here, of all places.”
“A stubborn bastard, aren't you?” Raven hissed. “Almost as tenacious in the face of death as I am.”
“But, unlike you, I'm back in fighting shape,” Mann retorted, a deep anger echoing in his chest. “The only reason I haven't already killed you where you stand is because she asked.” He jerked his head at Eve. “Be thankful.”
“As much as he agrees that hating you for killing Orcal is too petty in the grand scheme of things, seeing as Orcal's death still let him fulfill his purpose,” Eve said, “Mann can't forgive you for the number of citizen deaths and the damage you did to Xion. So, you're welcome, Raven.”
Raven glared at Eve, and spat, “You should have let me die back at the Nest, Eve. At least I wouldn't have to deal with this ungracious jackass.”
Mann huffed wordlessly. There was a brief silence, which Raven broke. “Well? What was the point of bringing me here?”
“To confirm that you, me, Eve, and Lily are the only living people who know you were the Alpha Naytiba that attacked Xion,” Mann answered. “Not even my most top-ranking Sentinels know, I've made sure of that. I'll take this secret to my grave, unless Eve says otherwise. I make promises, not threats, and intend to keep my reputation for that intact.”
“Don’t think that your promises make us allies, dog,” Raven warned, and Mann nodded. “I don't,” he agreed, “but Eve wants us to work together. I respect her enough to give her that much.”
Raven relaxed her stance slightly, but still never took her eyes off of Mann. “Eve, I'm leaving now,” she declared. “Never let him near me if it isn't absolutely necessary.”
“Likewise,” Mann returned. “Feel free to get the hell out.”
Raven did just that, stepping backwards until she heard the door open behind her, after which she whipped around and did as she said she would, Eve right behind her.
~\\ᴼ//~
Once the light of the sun was cast over their faces again, Eve slowed her walking pace, and Raven slowed as well to match. “Raven, what you said when we were bargaining with Roxanne,” Eve asked, “was that… real?”
“What do you mean?” Raven snapped; it was obvious that she knew perfectly well what Eve was talking about, but would never admit to it on her own, even if she had the drone’s railgun pressed to her forehead.
Eve put a hand on her hip. “Saying you're my lover, of course, “ she sighed, and Raven turned away to hide that her cheeks had quickly gained a ruddy complexion. “…It was a gambit. Something to keep that lecher's comments in check,” she explained.
Offering a smile, Eve said, “It may not have been as effective as you hoped, but… thank you. Just know that you don't have to pretend for my sake, if you don't want to.”
Lacing her fingers with Raven’s, Eve’s smile grew as she saw Raven’s blush intensify to the point of glowing red. “But I won't say no.”
The best Raven could muster in return was an attempt at something between a smirk and a sneer, though all it ended up looking like was an awkward grimace.
She gripped Eve’s hand just a little tighter as they made their way back to the safehouse.
