Chapter Summary: When ragebaiting, you should be careful not to be ragebaited in turn.
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Protests in Falcon Scott end peacefully after clarifying statements — The New Government's News
Traitor clan Aegis Rose refuses to yield back their Citadel. Have they no honor? — The Herald of Steel
Lady Nephis is driven out of the public eye as a vicious campaign of lies and slander is unleashed against her. — The Raven's Feather
Tensions keep piling high in Antarctica as its citizens demand explanations. — The Unfiltered Quill
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"...honor, duty. Protecting huma..."
Jet found the stain on the roof quite intriguing.
"...this may be the toughest challenge we have faced yet. But..."
There was something about the black spot that called to her. Some sort of deeper mystery that told her it held terrible truths and even more terrible power. All free for the taking if she dared to.
"...and of course, all of this wouldn't have been possible without..."
Maybe if she focused on it hard enough, it would start speaking to her?
After all, what was the worst that could happen?
It went to show just how bored she was that she dared to think that.
"...and with this, we conclude this meeting. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for the sacrifices you will all make for humanity's sake."
Jet clapped politely along with the others.
Saint Thane's speech was far too long, wordy, and so flowery that she was surprised the extravagant man didn't sweat perfume. However, and much to her surprise, he had meant every word, so the least she could do was clap.
They started filing out of the room soon after that, as all of them had other places to be and things to do in mind.
Some were going to visit their friends or family one last time before leaving. A group of others had decided to go to a high-end restaurant, wishing to treat themselves one final time before they would be forced to subsist on military rations and Nightmare Creatures. Some just wanted to drink themselves into a stupor. And finally, there were those who just wished for time alone before departing into what was likely to be the most dangerous ordeal of their lives.
Jet stood up last, frowning thoughtfully as she realized that she had no idea what to do with the time she had left.
Work had been her whole life for so long that she wasn't sure what to do with herself when she had free time.
All of her family was dead, and none of those she could consider her friends were available, either. She wasn't in the mood to get scammed in one of those fancy restaurants, and drinking had lost much of its charm since becoming a Saint had all but made it impossible for her to get drunk.
"Alone time, it is," she muttered to herself.
Maybe she should go visit that park? Say goodbye to the markings she had made for her parents?
It didn't sound like such a bad idea now that she thought of it.
"Saint Jet, can I please have a moment of your time?"
Curious, she turned toward the new speaker and found President Angela looking at her with an amused glint in her eyes.
"Sure, what can I do for you?"
"Walk with me, will you?" The woman requested.
Shrugging, Jet did just that.
With the older woman leading the way, she quickly went through hall after hall, each one seeming more extravagant than the last. Marble floors, expensive paintings. There were even some tapestries, like those that showed up in shows about the Middle Ages. Whoever had decided on the decoration for the Government building clearly thought that restraint wasn't in vogue.
They passed many people on the way. Some looked at them with respect, others with fear, and a good chunk of them with uncertainty. Given what had happened two days prior, she couldn't fault them.
She was quite eager herself to get some answers.
Eventually, Angela pushed open a set of doors and led her onto the rooftop.
The place was absurdly lavish. Real flowers and plants filled carefully arranged gardens, while expensive-looking statues stood between them. There was even a small fountain.
The president didn't spare any of it a glance as she simply walked toward one of the railings overlooking the city. She leaned on it with one arm, while the other fumbled inside the breast pocket of her jacket. A moment later, she retrieved a cigarette and a lighter.
"A smoke, Saint Jet?" Angela asked.
"I don't smoke."
"Wise," she said before lighting it up.
A brief moment of silence passed between them as the older woman enjoyed the first drag while looking at the city beyond them.
Jet decided to copy her and lean on the railing. She enjoyed the soft breeze; the air was cleaner here, thanks to all the purifiers. It was almost refreshing in comparison to the pure poison that the air in the Outskirts felt like.
She watched the traffic below absent-mindedly, a morbid part of her wondering how many of those people, driving somewhere, presumably without a care in the world, would be alive by the end of the year.
"You don't like these kinds of things, do you? All the pomp and ceremony, I mean," the President asked idly.
"Not really," Jet confessed sincerely, not even bothering to look away.
Angela took a long drag from her cigarette before speaking again.
"Neither do I," she confessed, shrugging lightly. "Sadly, it cannot be avoided in my line of work. Just this morning, I had to shake the Dream Spawn's hand in a public interview and thank him for his incoming service in Antarctica. Thank him. The bastard who almost turned an already terrible situation into an almost catastrophic one. Him." Angela took another long drag. "I would have beaten the bastard to death with my bare hands if I could."
A snort escaped her. "Can the president speak like that so freely?"
"She shouldn't, but she can and she will." The other woman sighed. "I will retire after the Antarctica campaign, anyway."
Jet quirked an eyebrow, genuinely surprised.
The formidable woman before her had spent decades at the heart of government, taking on one role after another and leaving her mark on each before finally being elected president. By then, she had been a law-maker, minister, a negotiator, and whatever else was needed the most at the moment. The idea of her stepping away after all those years was almost absurd, let alone that she might do so willingly. Spell Cor had been recruited by her personally.
For the first time in a long while, Jet took a good look at her.
Angela stood nearly a head taller than she was, dressed in a dark, well-tailored suit that remained understated despite her authority. Her age showed in the silver threaded through her short hair and the deep lines etched across her weathered face. But while she was certainly old, there was nothing frail about her, as her shoulders remained broad and sturdy despite the years, and her pale green eyes remained sharp and vigilant, as though nothing could get past her.
"Why?" she asked.
Angela smiled while taking another drag from her cigarette. "Why else? I'm done."
Jet tilted her head in confusion. "What do you mean?"
She waved toward a skyscraper's billboard, where the event she had mentioned before was playing. On the screen, Angela could be seen amiably talking with the three Supremes of humanity.
"Because of them. Because of the Spell. Because of the world itself." She let out a tired sigh. "I am old, Jet. I remember being a frightened little girl during the Great War. The tragedies caused by the descent of the Spell. All the other disasters that followed it. And now there is another one incoming, worse than all of them combined."
"Isn't that more reason for you to stay?" Jet asked. "We will need a good leader to get us through this."
"That we do, but it won't be me. I'm too old, Jet. Too weak. Too mundane." She spat the last word like it personally offended her. "I was against that name, you know? It felt insulting, being called that. Like we are lesser than the Awakened. Like we do not matter."
She shook her head immediately. "But you do. Anyone who thinks the contrary is an idiot."
"Thank you, dear," the woman said warmly, but her expression told her she didn't believe it. "With each passing day, I cannot avoid agreeing with the idea more and more. Just look at them." She waved at the Sovereigns again. "They alone talked and decided how everything would unfold. A third of humanity will be ceded to the Dream Spawn. Just like that. Like we are a damn loaf of bread they can just cut into pieces and give out. Do you think they asked for anyone else's opinion? That they cared even for a moment about the untold damage they have caused over the years? The number of lives their petty rivalries will ruin? No, they haven't. Why would they? Each of them alone could end the world all on their own without effort. They just decided, and we were left with no other option but to lower our heads and accept it."
Angela went to take another drag from her cigarette, only to notice that nothing but the butt remained. She stared at it for a long time, almost as if the small stick was to blame for all of her problems, before picking another from her pocket.
"What can I do about that, Jet? What can the Government do when three individuals hold all of the power?"
Jet looked around to confirm no one was eavesdropping, then summoned a silencing Memory.
"Isn't that why Cor and Dale are challenging the Fourth Nightmare? So that they won't be able to keep dictating terms to us?"
Angela was silent for a long moment, looking into the city skyline contemplatively. Then she sighed and took a drag.
"It is, but what does that change? I trust that wily old man with my life. Just like I trust Dale to do what he considers best. I can understand them, reach an agreement with them. But what of the president after me? Or the one after that? What can we do if another tyrant becomes Supreme?" She smiled sadly. "I'm done, Jet. The age of mundanes is done. It has been done for a long time. The Awakened were just too polite to say it to our faces."
Jet hesitated for a moment before putting a hand over her shoulder and squeezing comfortingly.
Angela smiled at her, but neither the exhaustion nor the sadness clouding her eyes went away.
"Why are you telling me this? I'm an Awakened myself."
She had her suspicions, but she could scarcely believe it.
Her? Of all people, her? The Outskirts rat? Scary, psycho, Soul Reaper? The one that people hurriedly got out of the way of in the halls?
It was downright absurd.
"Don't play coy with me, young lady. You know very well what I'm getting at," the old woman scolded.
"I'm not made for that," she rejected immediately.
She wasn't even lying.
Jet could hardly get through a meeting without almost falling asleep. How was she supposed to be the one talking? Making the laws she barely paid attention to? Speaking sweetly to people she hated? The thousand other things she hated about being an official?
She already dreaded the idea of leading the military in Antarctica despite having done so for years already. How was she supposed to lead the Government itself?
Angela snorted. "You think I was? You will learn. Gain experience. Do good. Do bad. Commit embarrassing mistakes your friends will tease you about until the day of your death. That is life."
"I don't want it," Jet repeated firmly.
The president wasn't dissuaded so easily. "Cor insisted that it had to be you before he left, and I agree." She patted her back encouragingly. "You have the power, wits, and shamelessness to do good. So how do you feel about taking on a job with terrible hours, insufficient pay, and more stress than you'll ever know how to deal with?"
Jet stared flatly at her. "That's the worst job offer I have ever heard."
Angela shrugged. "I just cannot be bothered to sugarcoat it anymore. Think about it, will you?"
She didn't bother arguing anymore, wishing to get this conversation over with as soon as possible.
The older woman offered her a half-encouraging, half-pitying smile, finished her cigarette, and left silently.
And Jet... Jet was going to test just how resistant she was to being drunk.
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It was a cold morning in the Jade Palace.
They always were, but this time, the cold seemed to reach deeper.
Outside, a faint mist slowly gathered upon the great bridge, curling around its edges before rising higher and higher. Soon, the ground disappeared beneath it, leaving the bridge to seem as though it stretched through a sea of clouds. Then the mist climbed higher still, and soon enough the stone started vanishing. The railings followed. And finally, the bridge itself was swallowed until nothing remained of it.
For a moment, it felt as though the world had quietly withdrawn, leaving the Jade Palace all alone on one end of the world and everything else on the other.
"It has been quite the eventful couple of days, hasn't it?"
Nephis slowly tore her gaze away from the window and turned toward the Ghoul.
She was staring fixedly at her now, the way she had been ever since she entered the office. Studying her with the wariness expected of someone standing before a Nightmare Creature prepared to pounce.
Looking at them now, one could hardly believe they were technically mother and daughter.
Nephis had never entertained the charade even for a second, but she found it even more laughable now.
"Is that the best you could come up with?" She replied coldly.
"It made you say something, didn't it?" Ki Song asked lightly, acting like they were having a leisurely talk.
That was the way she usually spoke. A relaxed, easy-going tone meant to soothe and paint herself as a reliable, motherly figure. At that moment, Nephis couldn't find it in herself to tolerate it. Neither did she have the patience for her petty need to assert dominance.
Not when she felt so damn cold.
"I'm not in the mood for your power plays. Say what you want already or let me go."
Ki Song tapped on the desk with her fingers in a slow, rhythmic tune, a thoughtful frown painted on the corpse she wore. All the while, her eyes kept studying Nephis with that fixed attention that made her feel like she expected her to snap at any moment.
She just might if she kept looking at her like that.
"I'll skip the pleasantries since you insist," she murmured, disappointed.
"Do so."
Something changed in Ki Song's gaze, turning almost pitying for a moment before vanishing like morning mist.
"You want to kill me," the woman stated without preamble, no trace of uncertainty to be found in her voice.
"I do," Nephis admitted immediately.
What was the point of lying? The Ghoul wouldn't have said such a thing aloud without being sure.
Ki Song's lips curved upward slightly. "Shouldn't you try and deny it? Maybe make an attempt to convince me of just how loyal you are? Or proclaim I have become the mother you never had?"
"If I had to pick between a Nightmare Creature and you for a mother. I would pick the Nightmare Creature."
"Such a cold-hearted daughter I have," she lamented.
Nephis' chair started blackening under the intense heat of her flames as they slowly emerged from beneath her skin. The dimly-lit room came alight, casting eerie shadows on the walls.
Even then, surrounded by a fire like few could compare to, she still felt cold.
She leaned forward on her chair, her burning eyes staring straight into Ki Song's with such focused intent that even the Supreme woman flinched, taken aback by what she must have seen.
"If you intend to kill me, spare me the drivel and let's get it over with already."
Ki Song sighed, deflating on her chair like a disappointed parent that had failed to elicit the desired reaction from their child.
"I might regret it in the future, but no. That's not what we are here for." She said calmly. "On the contrary, in fact."
A snort escaped Nephis' throat before she could stamp it down. Then another, more derisive this time. It was almost enough to make her laugh.
It was just too funny, the way the Ghoul acted like she was doing her a favor.
Nephis leaned back on her chair, flames already dismissed.
"For a moment, I almost thought this was a dream," she said matter-of-factly, mimicking the light tone that the Ghoul liked to put on. "But it couldn't be. I have better things to dream about than this."
Ki Song did not twitch, and yet she was certain that she had just annoyed her.
"You seem rather blase about this."
"Did you expect me to beg?" Nephis asked in the same light tone. "Ask for mercy? Talk about how having the chance to know you better made me change my mind? Promise that I found a place to belong here? Call you mother, perhaps? You are more delusional than I thought if you thought it could happen."
This time, the ghoul did twitch.
For a long minute they stared at each other, waiting, almost expecting the other to make a move.
The first thing she noticed was the smell of freshly spilled blood, more prominent by the second as it emanated straight from the corpse. Weight followed, settling quietly atop her shoulders in an attempt to pin her into place. Finally, she noticed her posture, drawn tight like a spring about to uncoil explosively.
Nephis was awaiting the first blow, a Name already on her lips and her Will almost begging to be unleashed upon the woman she hated most in the world.
And yet, no blow came.
The minute passed, and Ki Song sighed exhaustedly, all hostility bleeding out from her.
"Of all times to start your rebellious phase," she muttered under her breath.
Nephis snorted coldly, not even bothering to acknowledge those words.
"Very well, then." Ki Song hesitated briefly before continuing. "Let's make it quick, shall we? You want to kill me, and I consider you a threat that would be better eliminated before it's too late."
"Correct."
"The little game of 'I know that you know that I know' we have been engaging in has been amusing, but we cannot keep playing it now that the Dream Spawn is back." Her tone grew dead serious. "So I will say it directly. Stop at this very moment, put all your plans to kill me aside until this crisis is settled, and work with me fully."
"Or else?" She inquired, full of scorn.
"Or else I will kill you here and now. Every single one of your followers right after, just to be safe." Ki Song answered calmly.
Nephis chuckled coldly. "So you reveal your true colors at last. I almost started thinking that you managed to fool yourself."
"I saw little point in continuing the charade." Ki Song said evenly. "Your answer. Now."
"I can agree to those terms." She fixed her with a deadly glare. "However, the very instant he stops breathing, you are next."
Ki Song let out a small, dark laugh. "I expected no less. Just like how you shouldn't expect anything less."
A brief moment of silence passed between them as the new reality dawned on them. After months of dancing around the truth, it had finally come out in an undeniable manner, and without blood being spilled. She scarcely believed it.
Just like how Nephis didn't fool herself into believing that it was anything but a temporary truce. A flimsy one at that. The kind which she knew very well wasn't meant to last.
She saw the same thought running through the Ghoul's eyes: her death and the benefits she would get out of it, likely already plotted to the smallest detail.
"What's next, then?" She asked calmly.
Ki Song waved a hand elegantly. "The original plan still stands. You are going to Antarctica, leading my contingent, where I expect you to redeem yourself in the public eye."
"You are still sending me there?" Nephis quirked an eyebrow. "I thought you would rather keep me here. Away from any more attention."
"Why would I? Public opinion has always been fickle." She said dismissively. "Close a Gate or two and everything will be forgiven. Besides, I have a very important task for you there."
Nephis decided to not pursue the topic despite how unconvincing her argument sounded.
"Which is?"
"As you are aware, I have made a no-aggression pact that forbids me from personally attacking the other Sovereign's forces. Neither can I order anyone to." She stared at her very intently. "Which is why I want you to lead the campaign and make sure that nobody from our side targets the other Supremes' troops. You least of all. In fact, I would be very displeased if you did. Am I understood?"
"You are." She snorted.
If this was how long Ki Song's truces lasted, then she'd better watch her back already.
Not that she didn't already intend to.
Before she could start considering taking her leave, she noticed that the Ghoul was still staring at her.
There was something different passing through her eyes now. Something that made her feel deeply uncomfortable.
"You know, little Nephie..." Ki Song paused, a small, proud smile drawing itself across her face. "I prefer this more honest version of you. It's quite refreshing. When I first heard about your exploits, I could scarcely believe it. Oh, I suspected that something was wrong, but I could never have guessed just what it was. Looking at you now, though? Without that self-righteous persona you enjoy so much to put on? Oh, I can believe it. I can believe it very well."
Something ugly reared its head within her at those words.
"I couldn't have done better myself. Well done, Nephis. Very well done."
Crack
She ignored the sound of her armrest snapping. Her attention was dedicated solely to the Ghoul staring at her, something that could pass for motherly pride, fully visible in her expression.
"Do share, what more did you order Sunless to do?" Ki Song asked lightly, eyes alight with curiosity. "Fighting alongside you? Teaching you how to become a Saint? Loving you? Something more intimate, perhaps?"
Normally, words so carelessly and nonchalantly uttered would have been enough to make her see red. So many sleepless nights, dreading the thought of waking up one morning only to find his runes missing. So many nights spent staring wide-eyed at the ceiling, guilt weighing too heavily on her to let her sleep. So many arguments. Life and death battles. Constant uphill struggles. So much sweat, blood, and tears reduced to just that.
And then there were the accusations. The mere suggestion that she could have used the bond for something like that...
In any other situation, those words alone would have been enough to make her see red. To stir the beast within her into a frenzy, roaring for revenge.
But now? It only made her feel colder.
So instead of giving Ki Song the pleasure of reacting violently, she merely remained seated on her chair, back resting comfortably against it while she considered her next words.
"Have you grown so pathetic you cannot imagine any other kind of relation?" She asked quietly, then continued when the Ghoul flinched. "Are you so obsessed with being in control that the only way you can picture yourself in a relationship is one in which you hold absolute power over the other?"
Nephis felt pain coursing through her body as her skin started rotting off under the influence of Ki Song's aspect. She continued speaking without a care, her flames already hard at work to restore the damage.
"What were your intentions? Shaming me? Say that we are not so different after all? Claim I'm a hypocrite for hating you when I went and betrayed Sunny in a worse way? Maybe try and use it to talk me out of taking revenge against you?"
She snorted coldly and stood up.
Nephis gazed down upon Ki Song's seated form, and suddenly realized just how... small she was. All of that strength, all of that influence, and she had squandered it. Wasted away like the corpse she was instead of growing stronger. Stopped others from climbing higher just so she could cling to her authority like the parasite she was.
Ever since she was young, she had imagined the ghouls as titanic figures. Beings that were as mighty as they were evil. But now, looking at her like this... the only thing she could feel was contempt.
The only thing she was seeing was a more powerful Gunlaug.
"I am all of those things." She admitted freely. "Call me worse, if that makes you feel better about your choices. But you know what? It changes nothing. When the Dream Spawn dies, you will go next."
Nephis left the room without looking back once.