She saved my friend’s lives. And she would
die for anyone in this room.
If you ever insult her again, I will kick your fucking ass.
—Kiera Mulberry
They had to face what was in front of them, even if they couldn’t. Even if it was genuinely beyond their capability to do so. Strictly speaking, they could have tried walking to the next station on their own. But there was a reason they’d chosen Violet’s plan. Without a lancer, that was just another option beyond their capability. Another option they would face anyway, but a slower and less certain one. At least if they faced the train in the yellow crystal, they might find the friends they'd left behind.
Violet, at least, was used to it. Her entire life had been facing a world she lacked the ability to participate in. According to conventional wisdom, anyway. It was Violet’s opinion that no such threat truly existed. Whatever she faced, she would end up in control. And for some reason, she had a good feeling about this one. So she pushed herself forward before the other two. And she carried with her a momentum the women behind her couldn’t deny. She pulled them behind her by taking each step with a confidence they could only envy.
This was tested exactly twice. Violet had told them what she’d seen, but she’d seen it well before they had. Her confidence had been easier to follow into flashing mist than toward a danger they could perceive. The unknown would only be more terrifying when they were alone, after all. When they had someone to follow, someone they trusted, then it wasn’t truly unknown. It was a danger they knew through their connection to the woman leading them. But eventually, they saw it, and they faltered. One at a time. The train entered their perception little by little. First with the heat and the light, then with the unrelenting color.
The train had become a feature of the landscape. Crystal connected it to the earth and the tracks like tree roots. And it spread through the dirt like a virus. It looked like an infection in the land, and it was spreading further. The lightning was coming from the car in the back, the epicenter of the change. It was hard to make out, at first, with each bolt burning through the air in a fraction of a second. But with each strike, it became clearer.
The dirt around the tracks was littered with fulgurite, and every passing moment created more. The smell burned in their nostrils, and the fear was almost as paralyzing as the electricity would be.
“What do we do?” Aubrey asked.
“Other than get absolutely fucked trying to go back?” Kiera asked. Violet shook her head.
“I think we can stop it,” she countered in a calm, measured voice.
“Yeah, but you’re kind of batshit,” Kiera quipped. Violet didn’t even look at her. She just pointed at the crystal around the train.
“Rude! I am perfectly healthy and well-adjusted. Pretty, too! I’m serious, look closer. Can you see that? The yellow at the base, and the change as it gets further away from the car?” Violet asked. Kiera squinted, and Aubrey put one hand over her eyes to shield them from the light of storming magic in front of them.
“Can I be totally honest with you?” Kiera asked. Violet nodded, and Kiera continued. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. Exactly how high is your perception?”
Violet shrugged. “It’s not low. Well, the color isn’t consistent. The further it gets from the train, the paler it gets, as well. And at the very ends… I can’t tell for sure, but I think it’s turning red,” Violet explained. Aubrey and Kiera stared at her.
“I second the question, what precisely is your perception at?” Aubrey asked. Violet scowled internally. Life would be easier without empathy rings. That pesky number was going to get her caught, if she wasn’t careful. She could show a false number all she wanted, but selling the reality of that number was much harder. She hadn’t been a degree six for long enough to remember how far she could see through the mist. She’d have to be careful, in the future. Having a number assigned to her abilities meant that, around the more experienced lancers, exceeding that number in ability would give away the game.
Violet just waved the question off as she scanned the area further. The tracks had a buffer of empty dirt and grass between them and any buildings. But not so much that the others couldn’t have reached one of them, if they’d noticed the crystallization fast enough. The question was, which would they have gone to? “Hey, Aubrey, exactly how much control do you have over your scream?” Violet asked. Aubrey blinked, a little surprised by the change in subject.
“Uh, decent, I guess. It… it could definitely be better,” she answered. There was a hint of shame in her voice, and Violet rolled her eyes internally. Putting the blame on Aubrey had been convenient—and surprisingly satisfying. But the lack of confidence it had inspired in the banshee could certainly be annoying at times. Could she not get over it at least while they had something more serious to deal with?
“I’m thinking the others probably escaped the train. This crystallization was faster than usual, for some reason, but I doubt it was instant. The others have to be around here somewhere, right? I figure they probably would have come this way; it's closer to safe cover than anything behind the train, since the station is too close. And they’d want a chance to meet up with us on our way out. I just don’t know where, exactly,” Violet explained.
“Oh, you want me to use it as a signal?” Aubrey asked.
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“Without drawing… the yellow hedron’s attention, if possible,” Violet confirmed.
“Do you really think that’s what this is?” Kiera asked. “Lancer Stephanie as some kind of monster?” Violet let out a breath.
“It’s coming from the train car we left her in. And she was the only thing even approaching category yellow in the area. It has to be,” Violet answered.
“So this is because I…” Aubrey started, holding a hand over her mouth as the realization dawned on her.
“No, this is because of the conductors,” Violet insisted, gripping Aubrey’s shoulder with one hand. “Mr. Lineman said it would be safe. He said we wouldn’t need to burn her body. Remember. That shouldn’t have been—and ultimately wasn’t—our call to make. And it’s not your fault our conductor made the wrong one.” Violet did, in fact, remember that Aubrey had voted against disposing of Stephanie's remains. But for all the sugar in her words, Aubrey assumed the silent accusation was unintentional, and nodded.
“That aside, signaling everyone isn’t a bad idea. I might be able to swing my fire talent now. I have my ears back. Ish," Kiera interrupted before Aubrey could spiral any more.
“I’m not sure. That might work, but… it can be hard to see through the mist. And easier for… the hedron to see, with its higher perception. Sound might have that second problem, as well, if Aubrey doesn’t have precise control of it. But…” Violet trailed, narrowing her eyes at the yellow crystal again. Thunder punctuated her thoughts as she used the lightning to catch glimpses of the shifting colors.
Aubrey still hadn’t spoken. She wanted to act as if she’d been shaken from her guilt by Violet’s words, but under the surface, it had only grown into an ever-deeper well. Violet ignored the banshee’s screaming silence and focused on the crystal. “I was right. It is slowly changing, the further out it goes. The color. I don't know how hedron work, exactly, but I bet that’s a good sign,” Violet finally added.
“That usually means a popsicle is going to taste good, not that the dead and likely-reanimated body of a lancer might be safer than it looks,” Kiera helpfully pointed out.
“First of all, it might mean the crystal is delicious, too; you should try it and report back,” Violet responded. “Second. Shhh. Third, we are in this, uh, situation, because the area lacks clarity. Yellow hedron aren’t supposed to be created if there isn’t enough clarity to support them, right? I figure this must be using what Stephanie already had. But it’s not enough, so the more it extends itself… it starts to turn red.”
“So, you think it’s not a real yellow hedron?” Kiera asked.
“But wasn’t there a green nest back near Roseville?” Aubrey finally asked. Violet didn’t know if the girl was still having some kind of breakdown over her unearned guilt, but she was powering through either way. Violet nodded.
“There was, and that was strange. But that just means the clarity there is growing more dense. And we know that’s not the case here. And look,” Violet said, several more aimless cracks of lightning punctuating her point. “Its attacks are mindless. I don’t know if it’s an incomplete hedron, or if something is wrong with the body. But I don’t think it’s as dangerous as it should be, at least for a standard yellow hedron. I wonder if it won’t notice us at all, or if it won’t register any signal as a threat.”
Aubrey looked worried about the idea, but Kiera seemed willing to risk it. “I can try to create an illusion and a flare at the same time, but that might be pushing it right now,” Kiera offered. Violet thought.
“Aubrey, can you make sound in short bursts? Instead of a long attack?” Violet asked.
“Um, yeah, I suppose I can,” Aubrey answered. Violet nodded.
“Alright. I’m thinking you, Kiera, try to use an illusion to hide on one side. If its perception is low enough, it might fail to notice what you are doing, even if it hears anything. Then you, Aubrey, try ‘SOS’ in Morse. Pretty much everyone knows that one, right? The others will probably recognize it if they hear it. If I’m right, and the hedron isn’t entirely, well, aware of what it’s doing, it may not consider it something to respond to,” Violet suggested.
Kiera held up her fingers and counted as Violet spoke. “Try, if, might, try, pretty much, probably, if, if, may not,” she mused, holding up nine fingers. She closed her eyes and nodded with approval and appreciation. “Well, sounds like a solid plan to me. Let’s do this shit.”
“Wait, what if it does respond? Isn’t this a bit rash? We can just search the buildings until we find them, right?” Aubrey complained. Violet shook her head.
“I wish. That might be tedious, but it would be a lot safer, for sure. But there could be other hedron hiding inside, and a fight will draw attention anyway. Besides, the longer we give the hedron to fully crystallize, the more dangerous it will be. We need to regroup and stop it as soon as possible,” Violet answered.
“There is acting quickly, and there is being reckless,” Aubrey challenged. There was a ring of truth to her words that Violet didn’t care for. The more Violet accepted herself, the more her choices so far bothered her. She’d been… quick to act. Every life she had taken had been a crime of opportunity. Even the one she’d planned ahead of time. She wasn’t the type to allow opportunity to pass, but she also knew it had been messy and high-risk every time. That wasn’t what Aubrey meant, exactly. But it was what Violet heard. The unintentionally-good point irritated the reaper to no end.
“I agree, of course. But sometimes, it’s jump from the cliff or be caught by the wolves. We’re stranded in the middle of the mist here, Aubrey. People don’t survive that without a train. Not in category red. We have to do something dangerous. There is no safe option,” Violet insisted. Aubrey’s hands were shaking, but Violet’s confidence bled into her, little by little.
“Can we use an illusion in front of every window for the nearby buildings? That’d be faster and safer than searching them, right?” Aubrey tried.
Kiera’s barely-formed fox ears flattened against her head. Her hips even twitched slightly, reflecting the tail she was used to flicking as she spoke. “I don’t have that shit in me. Not right now. I can do one illusion, for just a little while, but I’m spent after that,” she said.
“There has to be a better plan than this,” Aubrey replied.
“Oh, there definitely is,” Violet answered. “But I can’t think of it, and we don’t have a lot of time to come up with it. For all we know, the others have come to the same conclusion, and are already over there. Or, maybe they were injured, and never ran. Maybe they are holed up in the engine together. We can’t know. So, whatever we do, we need to do it now. We just need to at least try to join the others first, to improve our chances.”
“I know. I just… I don’t want to get everyone killed with my talent. And this just feels like…” Aubrey trailed off.
“Well, that’s where my role comes in,” Violet said. “I’m going to distract the hedron while you two send the signal.”
Here are the current goals and rewards, as well as how close we were to each at 10:45 AM CST on the day this chapter was published.
Click Description to learn more about each! Note that I've decided to offer a bonus chapter at: 2k, 3k, 4k, and 5k. The 2k chapter has been reached.
SECOND 6k - 15k Bonus Chapter – 3,000 Followers
2,184 / 3,000
Description
Starting at 2,000 followers, I will write a bonus chapter between 6k - 15k in length every 1k followers up to 5k. This may be a side character, this may be an AU, or anything else. Who decides? You do! When a milestone is reached, I will ask for suggestions and put up a poll of the most popular ones!
Webtoon Chapter – 6,000 Followers
2,184 / 6,000
Description
This is also a bonus chapter, but I will have it commissioned as a fully illustrated webtoon!
Spin-Off Novel – 15,000 Followers
2,184 / 15,000
Description
I will write a novel of at least 120k words focusing on Kiera, our resident fox girl!
Visual Novel – 20,000 Followers
2,184 / 20,000
Description
I will commission art for and develop a full length (and free to play) Cruel Violet visual novel.