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Nastya was used to dying. It was never a pleasant experience but she had adapted to it but now. It was what it was and she simply had to deal with it. No matter how much she would rather do literally anything else. That was the downside of having your family consist almost exclusively of immortal space pirates; murder was their chosen form of affection. It was their convoluted way of declaring that they cared. Even if Nastya herself was more in favour of words and physical affection. That wasn’t to say she was entirely adverse to violence. Not at all. She was just as deadly as the rest. Nastya just happened to be the only one of them with any degree of common sense most of the time (depending on whether or not Brian’s switch was flicked).
She chose to stand back most of the time when it came to fights; let everyone else shoot out all their problems before making her way through the aftermath. In its own way it was nice to watch. After all, Nastya rarely got the opportunity to see everyone getting along as well as they did in the midst of battle. Nothing brings a family together with as much ease as brutal, bloody, and senseless violence. Tonight was no different. The planet was no way particularly interesting. She hadn’t even bothered to ask Ivy for its name. Their main reason for stopping there was for supplies and so everyone could keep their distance during one of Nastya and Aurora’s date nights. It had gone extremely well. However, before they left the planet behind, Jonny had insisted that it was of vital importance that everyone get rip-roaring drunk. So Nastya found herself dragged along to the ‘nicest’ pub they could find.
It had been nice. At first. Jonny, Ashes, Tim, and Brian were all engaged in a heated game of Blackjack - even if it was obvious Ashes was cheating the entire time. Marius, Ivy, and Raphaella were chatting about the adventures they were planning once the Aurora reached the Yggdrasil system. The Toy Soldier...Well, as always, the Toy Soldier was just happy to be there. Nastya kept to herself a little but she didn’t mind. It was nice to have a moment of peace; to watch her family in a rare moment of almost-domesticity. Jonny had ‘coincidentally’ taken them all to a pub that also happened to serve mulled wine. Absolutely accidentally and not at all because he had any concern about how warm she was. Though, Nastya wasn’t complaining. The heat from the wine was...nice. It was soothing. It made the situation just that little bit better.
That was until things fell apart.
She had known things were going to fall apart when strangers were invited to play Blackjack. Things always went badly when their card games came with an open invitation. One of the upsides of being immortal is that you had all the time in the world to learn things - such as every cheat, trick, and skill regarding card games. The others were never as good as Ashes but they all had their own ‘gifts’. Needless to say, an eternity’s worth of knowledge tended to piss off the average player. It was approximately twenty minutes into the new game when the arguing started. Jonny was being accused of cheating and she already knew he really wouldn’t like that. Sure enough, he responded by shooting the man point blank. Things descended into pure violence after that.
As they would all quickly find out, the inhabitants of the planet lusted after guns so much that they put even Tim to shame. The ensuing barfight was one of the messiest Nastya had ever written. No punches were pulled or rather; no triggers were stayed. Shot after shot was fired. As always, she watched the others stand and fall again and again. The assholes were laughing and joking the entire time. Even the Toy Soldier seemed like it was having fun! Nastya couldn’t stop herself from smiling as she remained seated, finishing her wine. After all, there hadn’t been any reason for her to get involved. Not to mention that she had left her gun behind on the Aurora. She had never been one for whipping out her weapons at every given opportunity. She very much wished she had it as the first bullet lodged itself in her shoulder.
Being shot was always a strange notion. She never really ‘adjusted’ to it in the same way the others did. Most of the others could easily brush off being shot but Nastya...She was different. In part, she blamed her haemophilia. It had plagued her for her entire (exceedingly long) life. Even the smallest of cuts would bleed and bleed and bleed. Gunshots never healed as quickly for her as the others - mostly because it took far too long for them to stop bleeding long enough to heal. It was partially why the others always showed that little bit more hesitance when stabbing or shooting her. Nastya’s Mechanism was her blood . It was the very thing keeping her immortal. It was an unspoken rule that they did their best to leave each other’s mechanisms alone. After all, it was all well and fun shooting each other but they never risked anything permanent. They never risked anything one of them might not come back from.
Nastya had barely registered the first shot that hit her before it was accompanied by a second and third. She needed to move and she needed to move quickly. Leaving a trail of mercury behind her, she tried to make her way towards the others. There was safety in numbers. Too many thoughts were rushing through her mind for her to even consider speaking. Then came the fourth and fifth shots. The sound that tore itself from her throat before the sixth bullet pierced it was enough to garner attention.
“Nastya!” She was barely able to look up as someone moved to kneel besides her. Was she on the ground? She didn’t remember sitting down. One glance at her legs proved she hadn’t. Shots seven and eight had forced her to her knees. Her coat and the ground around her was smothered in a growing pool of quicksilver blood. Her blood . Oh. She was bleeding out. Finally, Nastya managed to register who exactly the figure in front of her was. Marius. SHip’s doctor. Or at least, the closest thing to a doctor they had. “Nastya, keep looking at me. You’re going to be fine. You’re...Shit. Jonny!” His voice grew dire as her vision began to swim. “Stay awake! Just st-” Nastya never heard the end of his sentence as the ninth bullet tore its way through her head.
The darkness that consumed Nastya was as peaceful as it was disruptive. It was calm and quiet, but something about it didn’t feel right. She couldn’t quite put her finger on it. Everything felt fuzzy and just...not quite right. Voices occasionally pierced the silence. They were ones she recognised but she couldn’t put a name to them. She couldn’t put a name to them. She couldn’t even really think of her own name, actually. So Nastya drifted for a while, floating in this not-quite-right nothingness.
Then she woke up. It wasn’t slow or gentle. Like most things concerning the Mechanisms, it was fast and violent. Gasping like a fish out of water, Nastya bolted upright. She took a few deep breaths as she became aware of everything around her. It was too bright. Her eyes squeezed shut for a few moments as she adjusted to her newfound light. It was only then that she realised she was laying across one of the examination tables in Raphaella’s lab, and that she most definitely wasn’t alone.
It appeared she had interrupted a rather heated debate between Raphaella and Jonny. Well, one that was bordering on heated if the way Jonny was reaching for his gun was anything to go by. “Nastya.” In any other circumstances, having them both speak in unison would be creepy. But this...this was different.
Raphaella’s first thought was (unsurprisingly) research related. “How do you feel? Any nausea? Colder than usual? Confusion? Anything feel out of place? Oh! How about vision? Does everything look right or hear right or-” A single gunshot rang out and the scientist dropped dead before any more questions could leave her lips.
“Jonny!”
“What?!” He snorted, smirking as he moved to sit next to her. “Raph will get over it. She always does.” Nastya couldn;t stop herself from laughing at that. She didn’t protest as he pulled her into a one armed hug, resting her head against his shoulder. “But...How are you? You...You scared the shit out of us, Nas.”
Nastya did her best to try and offer a reassuring smile. “In my defence, it wasn’t entirely my fault?” The way his hug tightened was proof enough that had definitely not been the right thing to say. “But I’m here, Jonny. I’m not going anywhere. The only lasting damage is that I’m cold but... I’m always cold .” She let out a soft laugh, hearing the sound of the Aurora whirring with concern throughout the walls. Nastya didn’t doubt the heating systems within the lab were about to become extremely active.
The two were silent for a while, taking comfort in each other as Raphaella’s corpse slowly began to heal. “...We killed every fucker in that pub. Not a single one left alive to tell the tale.” Jonny murmured, glancing at her. “We were so fucking...angry. Even TS seemed pissed. It drew fucking angry eyebrows on itself using blood. In any other circumstances it would have been funny but…” He took a deep breath. “Nothing is funny when it comes to losing you.” Jonny paused for a few moments. “...Tell anyone I said that and I’ll kill you in your sleep.”
She couldn’t stop herself from laughing. “Consider my lips sealed.”