Chapter Text
“Aja! Are you sure about this?!”
Krel yelped when their hoverboard flew uncomfortably close to one of the power lines. Aja shushed him, sneakily positioning themselves between two buildings, and as quiet as she could, stepping off the board.
“I’m just saying…” Krel whispered, serrator in hand as he followed her down, “This place could very well still be used to capture extraterrestrials! Who knows who took Kubritz’s place? They might be less forgiving!”
“You have voiced your concerns many times, little brother.” Aja replied quietly, gesturing to their serrators. “Hence, why we are taking precautions and, oh, I don’t know, being quiet?”
Krel rolled his eyes, but stayed silent for now as he followed his sister.
The two stayed out of sight as they ventured Area 49B once again, peering into buildings and ducking behind corners to avoid orange-suited altercations. For a place they’ve been to so many times before, it sure felt like a maze every single time.
“Krel,” Aja whispered, “I think this is where they were keeping him…”
She remembered this building, seeing the electricity crackle from the windows when they were racking their brains about how to destroy that asteroid all those delsons ago. No electricity flashed from inside today…
“He might be hurt…” Aja concluded, “We must hurry.”
The two took to the doors, Krel keeping watch while Aja worked on forcing her bladed serrator through.
“Or, perhaps he’s already escaped.” Krel offered instead. “I just don’t understand why we must be the ones to-”
“You know exactly why!” Aja snapped, shooting an irritated stare at her brother. “Tronos saved us last time! When could have ran, and left us behind! As Queen of Akaridion-5, I refuse to leave him trapped here!” She returned her attention back to the door. “House Tarron owes him this.”
Krel frowned slightly, but nodded and went back to keeping watch.
“Almost… almost…” Aja grunted, leaning hard on her serrator to complete cutting the hole in.
“Hey, do you find it strange that we haven’t set off any alarms yet?” Krel noted aloud.
“Well, I suppose it is odd…” Aja agreed, “This place does seem easier to sneak into than last ti-”
“Aja? Krel?”
The Akaridion King whirled around the secton that new voice spoke from near his sister, firing a barrage of ionic blasts from his weapon.
The human that startled them gave many high-pitched yelps as he (just barely) avoided getting blasted to smithereens. “Hey hey hey! I’m still on your side, you know!”
“Sergeant Costas?” Krel realized in his shock. “You startled us! I almost turned you into flexel!”
“I noticed…” Costas replied, clearing his throat and adjusting his collar. He frowned at Aja, who gave him an awkward smile and wave in return with her serrator still jammed into their door. “And, uh… why are you trying to break in this time?” He asked. “You know we don’t imprison alie- uh, extraterrestrials here anymore, right?”
“Really?” Krel lowered his weapon and chuckled. “Huh, well, I guess that’s why it was so easy to get in this time…”
“Then… what do you still use this facility for?” Aja questioned, yanking her blade out of the door. “There are still many people…”
“Well, we still study the alien tech we have here, and other foreign substances…” Costas admitted, adjusting his hat, “But with… with Colonel Kubritz gone, and considering what happened with General Morando and your people, it’s been decided that imprisoning extraterrestrials is… not the best way to maintain peace with other planets… We’ve been working hard to implement many changes around here.”
“Finally, some sense in you people!” Krel snickered. A look of relief crossed Aja’s face too.
“Does that mean you’ve released Tronos Madu?” She asked, hope in her eyes. “Do you know where he went? I’d like to speak with him.”
“Uh…” A somber tone overtook the sergeant at her hopeful mention of that name. “You… hadn’t heard?”
Aja’s heart began to drop. “H… Hadn’t heard what…?”
With a sigh, Costas pried open the door Aja had broke, leading them inside. On one of the tables, there still lied the remains of Tronos Madu’s armour.
“No!” Distraught, Aja bolted inside, right up to the table. “No no no…! We were too late…?!”
Krel followed close behind her, his earlier look of amusement quickly being replaced with sadness. He looked to Costas, confused. “How did this happen…?”
“It was shortly after Morando had reached Earth…” The sergeant explained with a sigh. “… He killed Tronos for his failures.”
It… wasn’t surprising. With a deep sigh of his own, Krel slowly walked closer to his sister’s side. “Aja…?”
Tears had already started trickling down her face. She touched the side of the Voltarian’s mask with shaking hands. “I am… so sorry…” Aja whispered. “You didn’t deserve it… I’m so sorry, Tronos, we never should have left you behind-!”
When she felt her brother’s hand on her shoulder, she immediately took him into a tight hug. “W-We couldn’t save Buster, or Mother, o-or Mama and P-Papa–” Her grip got tighter as she sobbed. “I-I thought at least, at the very least, we could have saved him…!”
“I know, Aja…” Krel murmured, returning the hug. He took one look at the scuffed armour, then closed his eyes and sighed again. “I know…”
Costas watched forlornly as the children mourned, unable to shake the lingering feeling of guilt at having a hand in Kubritz’s actions leading up to this… After some time, he cleared his throat to get the pair’s attention. “Would you… like to take the armour, maybe…?” He offered. “It’d be better in your hands, I think…”
Aja, through her distraught state, managed to give the sergeant a grateful nod.
~
“People of Akaridion-5…”
Aja and Krel Tarron looked out upon a neon sea of Akaridion citizens, ones that gathered to hear their royalty speak. For those not present, holograms of the gathering were broadcasting throughout the planet.
“We have called for your attention today to recognize the sacrifices made by Tronos Madu during our time on Earth.” Aja explained from her podium. As she spoke, Krel brought up projections above them of previously lost lives that they had honoured just delsons ago - Buster, the Mothership, their parents, the rebels that lost their lives fighting Morando… and, new to the projections, Krel pulled forward Tronos Madu’s image as his sister spoke.
“I know you may be… confused.” Aja admitted, seeing confused faces and hearing murmurs among the crowd, “He is- … He was a bounty hunter, yes. He even attacked my brother and I.” She closed her eyes, and sighed. “… He was angry. The Tarron family failed to aid his people - his home - in their time of need. We could have prevented Voltar’s destruction. But…” Aja opened her eyes, looking at the projection of her fallen family and allies above her. She took a deep breath, and turned back to the crowd, getting back on topic. “… Despite his anger, his pain… He looked past it, and saved our home, Arcadia… and then, he saved my brother and I from Colonel Kubritz’s cells. Even at the cost of his own freedom, and… his own life.” When her breath hitched, she cleared her throat, doing her best to hold it together, and then she felt one of Krel’s hands on her shoulder.
Her brother smiled, giving her a reassuring nod, then stepped forward himself. Aja was doing a good job, doing far better keeping it together than the sobbing messes both of them were during the speech for their parents and friends… but it still shouldn’t have to be her doing all the talking.
“Without Tronos Madu’s sacrifice, my sister and I wouldn’t be here today. Earth would have been immensely damaged. And Morando very well may have lived on to reign terror throughout the galaxy.” Krel picked up where Aja left off. “He may not be an ally we expected, but he deserves the same respect as the rest of our fallen.” Lowering his head, he closed his eyes and brought a hand to his chest, Aja doing the same. “Seklos and Gaylen, guide him as you have our friends and family.”
Silence fell across Akaridion-5 in that moment. Queen Aja opened her eyes to the sight of the people, her people, following suit in paying their respects, heads bowed for this lost life. If Aja wasn’t tearing up before, she certainly is now.
‘Rest well Tronos,’ she thought to herself, ‘You will not be forgotten.’
It had been many parsons before Aja brought the Voltarian up with Krel again.
“Little brother?”
Krel turned the music that had been blasting through his room down when he (just barely) heard his sister enter, but he didn’t take his eyes off the invention he’d been toying with. Not yet. “Yes, Aja?”
She was quiet, stepping inside without speaking. Eventually, her brother looked her way, and his face went blank when he saw that she was carrying the mask of Tronos Madu with her.
“Do you have a secton…?” She asked hesitatingly.