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Chapter Text

Marcy woke up due to a sharp pain in her forehead and opened her eyes to find a large vulture-like bird of some kind standing on her chest staring back at her.

"AAAH!!" She jumped up from where she had collapsed and flailed her arms wildly to shoo away the bird. "Go away! I'm not dead ya jerk!"

With a parting squawk it flew away, quickly disappearing into the trees.

Wait.

Trees?

Instead of the urban jungle she expected to wake up too, Marcy found herself in an actual jungle, surrounded by plants of all shapes and sizes and the sounds of birds echoing from the distance. At first she thought she was still in Amphibia but quickly realized that none of the life around her looked familiar, and she made sure to study every plant the Newtopian royal library had recorded. All five thousand, two hundred and sixteen of them.

She was supposed to be back in Los Angeles, she had definitely put the right coordinates into the music box. But the more she looked around her the more she realized that this wasn't anywhere in California, or Earth for that matter.

The thick, humid jungle Marcy had found herself in was majestic, sunlight piercing through the thick leafy canopy of the massive twisting trees that stood miles tall with roots spreading out through the ground in all directions, she had tripped over four of them while exploring this new frontier and sketching everything down in her journal. While several of the small flowers and ferns looked reminiscent of the plants back on Earth, the sheer size of the trees reminded her of the forest around Wartwood at first glance, only with less blood-thirsty creatures trying to eat you.

It was just after she finished writing that thought down that the sound of a twig snapping caught her attention.

A large, black and brown-haired, shaggy, canine like creature was slowly creeping toward the girl from out of the cover of the foliage, a low growling coming from it's throat as drool leaked from it's open jaws, teeth jagged and sharp. It's red eyes seemed to almost be glowing.

Marcy backed away slowly and raised her hands up "W-whoa! Um? N-nice doggy?"

It let out a fierce howl before chasing down Marcy through the forest while viciously snarling and howling at her. She eventually managed to scare it off after lobbing an explosive potion she still had in her cloak at it but the pursuit had left her exhausted, Her time as a Newtopian Ranger had toughened her up but quite frankly she still had, in Sasha's words, "weak nerd legs".

Which was a harsh but accurate observation.

Ironically she had fled one danger only to find another, as while looking around for a rock to sit on and catch her breath she got her foot caught in a rope snare hidden underneath some leaves and suddenly found herself hoisted up in the air upside-down. The sound of ringing drowned out the natural ambience and Marcy quickly found the source of the unnatural noise, whoever or whatever had set the trap had also tied a small bell on the same rope, obviously so that when it catches something the sound will alert the hunter and he can come collect his prize.

She had to get out quick.

Marcy began seriously contemplating her life choices as she pulled at the snare trap tightly wrapped around her ankle that was currently holding her about four feet and 2 and a half inches off the ground. She remembered reading an article once about a man that had gotten into a similar situation while putting up Christmas lights on his roof, he died after five hours from the blood flooding to his head. Needless to say the memory made her more desperate to get down as soon as possible.

Normally she was quite good at knot tying, but trying to untie one while hanging upside-down proved to be rather difficult. She decided just shooting the rope with her wrist mounted crossbow would be easier.

She took a deep breath in and took aim.

Measured the distance

Calculated velocity

Adjusted for parallax error

A loud Snap echoed through the forest, before Marcy could fire an arrow.

The branch holding her snapped.

Gravity took hold of her and before she could process what just happened the back of her head connected with the dirt and she slipped into unconsciousness yet again.

Kerrill rushed to the kuaka trap, zaw in hand, the familiar sound of the bell signifying that tonight would be one of those rare nights where he would sleep with a full stomach. Hopefully it'll be a nice fat one too so there's enough left for breakfast tomorrow.

In a perfect world that's what he would've found, but instead what was waiting for the Ostron was a comatose girl in strange armor, his snare tied around her ankle and a broken tree branch currently pinning her to the forest floor.

Kerril sighed, he had been really looking forward to that kuaka stew...

Chapter Text

"I just need to-"

"Marcy! Behind you!" Anne shouted

She whipped around just in time to see Andrias thrust his giant sword directly at her, out of pure survival instinct she flinched and raised the music box in her hands to protect herself.

The sound of steel slicing steel filled the throne room.

Marcy relaxed slightly as she realized she was uninjured, and slowly gazed down to see the tip of the Newt King's blade embedded in the front of the box. Sizzling could be heard as it melted though the ancient metal.

Her eyes turned above her to Andrias, she had never seen him so scared before, all the color was drained from his face and his expression was a mix of total horror and regretful realization.

A harsh whisper, only audible to Marcy escaped his mouth. "Now look what you've made me do." 

The sizzling noise was replaced with the sound of electrical zapping as blue, green, and red colored sparks fizzled from out of the puncture, before a massive burst of power discharged from the box, strong enough to shake the entire castle. Marcy felt like a firework just detonated in her face the way the shockwave knocked the wind out of her, and launched her straight into the destabilizing portal.

The next thing she knew she was falling...

Marcy jumped as she woke up, lungs hungry for air and heart pounding out of her chest. The trauma of yesterday's events still fresh in her mind, she caught her breath as she wiped the sweat dripping profusely down her brow.

This time she found herself in a primitive looking tent or yurt of some kind, made with leather hides and held up by connected wooden beams. A lantern hanging from the ceiling illuminated the interior with blue light. It reminded her of the buildings in Hachiko village from Vagabondia Chronicles. Well, the HD remaster of Vagabondia Chronicles to be more accurate.

Sunlight flooded both the tent and Marcy's eyes as the leather door was pushed open and a (presumably) human man stepped though, in his hands was a wooden bowl. He was an older man who looked to be in his mid to late thirties, bald, with dark sun-tanned skin and wore what looked like sheets of cloth wrapped around him from neck to toe, brown armor with metallic gold accents adorned his shoulders. He smiled warmly as his eyes turned to her.

He kneeled down and gently placed the bowl beside her, in it was a soup of some kind and a metal spoon. "Hey kid, feeling better? You had quite the bump on your head when Kerril brought you here." 

Marcy reached around and felt the back of her head to find a bruise and minor swelling where she had landed head first yesterday, fortunately she had always been a quick healer. Two more days max then she'll be good as new.

"Y-yeah, I'll be fine." She mentally cursed herself for not being able make eye contact again before taking the bowl, it sorta looked like chicken soup only without any familiar looking vegetables. Also a couple of the meat chunks still had hair on them, although after eating nothing but bugs for five months she didn't mind as much as she probably should have.

"Uhh, Not to be rude but who are you and where am I?" She asked while gently swirling the soup and it's contents in circles with her spoon.

The man placed a hand to his chest. "My name is Haddek, I'm a doctor. You're at our encampment, but we'll only be staying here for a couple more days before we continue on our journey."

Marcy took a sip of the soup, it was surprisingly rather tasty, but before she could get in another sip her ears perked up at the word 'journey'. Were these people nomads? Adventurers maybe? She really hoped it was the second one.

"Journey? Where you headed?"

"We're headed back home to Cetus," Haddek's expression turned somber. "We were forced to flee when Narmer invaded."

"Who's Narmer?" She remembered that name from her history class. An Egyptian pharaoh of the early dynastic period, credited with unifying lower and upper Egypt into one land. Couldn't possible be the same person though right? Probably just a coincidence.

Haddek just stared wide-eyed at Marcy as if she had just grew a third arm right on front of him. "You sure that fall didn't scramble your brains kid? Or have you just been living under a rock this past year?"

Right. Because of course a conqueror would be basic public knowledge, she might as well have asked someone from the year 1810 who Napoleon Bonaparte was. Might as well explain where she's from and hope he doesn't think she's crazy. Worse comes to worse it's back to running again.

Marcy let out a nervous chuckle. "Weeell truth be told, I'm not actually from this world. I came here from a land called 'Amphibia'. I mean I'm from Los Angeles but then went to Amphibia before finally ending up here. It's... kinda complicated."

The Ostron simply scratched his head. "I've never heard of either of these places but if they were spared from Narmer's reach then I envy them." Haddek slowly stood up and turned to leave the tent, it was clear from the way he struggled to rise that he suffered from knee pain, Marcy remembered how her dad used to struggle the same way.

She really missed him, now that she thought about it...

"We'll be packing up and continuing to Cetus day after tomorrow, it's a big place, I'm certain someone there can help you get home kid." He remarked before closing the tent door, warm smile on his face.

Marcy smiled before taking another sip of soup, after everything that happened in Newtopia it was nice to have some room to breath, even if it was only temporary. 

She almost barfed when she noticed an eyeball floating in her soup though. She was an adventurous eater but she still had her limits.

The red glow of the holo-projector devoured the empty darkness of the rusty command room with the fuzzy image of the sacred Ram. Grineer architecture was so archaic, but it must suffice in these arduous times.

"Our sensolysts have detected an anomalous energy surge at these coordinates, the Lords of Tau have decreed that you alone shall investigate"

Several satellite and drone images of the area appeared on the display, showing the western coastline of the American zone. One image in particular caught his interest, in it was an Ostron caravan. The Ram noticed and answered his request before he could even state it.

"If you encounter any impurities in the vicinity, you are to strike them down."

If the Archon could smile, then he would've been grinning.

Chapter Text

"Tuzo! Here boy!"

Damn Kubrow's more trouble then he's worth sometimes.

It was already sunset and he had to get back to the caravan before moonrise, sure they didn't have to worry about the Eidolon's stomping around out here but becoming a bloodbag to a pride of Vasca Kavats was a danger pretty much anywhere on Earth.

A distant yelp of a Kubrow got his attention. He quickly paced towards it, pushing foliage and branches out of his way. 

"Tuzo?"

Two blue glowing eyes pierced though the darkness to meet the Ostron.

It was not Tuzo.

Before he could truly understand what the twisted abomination before him was, three tips of a trident punctured into his chest and didn't stop pushing until they burst out though his back.

With a click on the wall mounted console Gara locked the Dormizone door shut, she wasn't exactly worried about anyone trying to break in though. It was more out of instinct developed from her time here. Trudging though the main room/kitchen into her bedroom she transferred out of her Warframe, letting it fall lifelessly to it's knees before she hopped into her bed. It was somehow still firm after all this time.

Life back on board the Zariman was proving to be difficult, repressed memories from both before and after the void jump incident lurked behind every corner, just waiting for the chance to turn the fearsome Tenno warrior back into the scared and scarred child she was all those centuries ago. It was uncanny how some of the darkened halls looked exactly the same as they were when she and the other kids were 'rescued' by the Orokin.

And yet, when compared to the pain she felt during the events of Narmer's rise to power, she gladly embraced them. Clung to them, even.

With a raspy sigh she flipped her pillow over and grabbed the novel she kept hidden beneath it, deciding the old book would make better company then her own inner thoughts. She flipped though the pages until she found her bookmark. Reading from where her she left off she soon discovered she had forgotten what the story was about, and worse, the characters she was once so invested in were now total strangers to her, speaking in cryptic nonsense and inside jokes.

With a scowl on her face she tossed the bookmark to the floor and flipped back to page one.

However she didn't even get though the first paragraph before she was interrupted by a Nautilus sentinel hovering over her.

The Operator rolled her eyes "What is it now Cy?"

"We have received a distress signal."

"There's always a distress signal, at least half of them are traps."

"This one is from Haddek."

The Tenno's eyes grew wide before she slammed the book shut and transferred back into her Warframe. "Is it the Grineer or Narmer?" 

"Much worse, an Archon."

As much as she wanted to explore or help out, Haddek had stressed to Marcy that no one leaves there tent after nightfall, too many vicious predators lurked around the area. After her encounter yesterday with the dog-thing it was probably a good idea.

Marcy laid flat on her stomach and doodled in her journal, writing down the events of the past two days while also adding colorful illustrations of important moments. 

Like the time when Sasha betrayed her and her friends and tried to conquer Newtopia with an army of Toads.

And when King Andrias revealed he was just using her to recharge the stones and that he plans on conquering Earth.

Or the look of hurt on Anne's face when she discovered she trapped them in Amphibia on purpose.

Marcy stopped drawing Anne halfway when she noticed drops of water had spilled on the page. Where'd they come from?

She soon found the source on her own face.

She was crying and didn't even notice it.

"Huh, when did that start?" She shakily asked herself as she wiped the tears from eyes.

God she's gonna need so much therapy when she get's home.

Her mental breakdown was interrupted by the sound and shaking of a distant explosion outside, quickly followed by people screaming. Wiping the last of her tears she stuffed her journal back into her satchel and loaded a new arrow into her crossbow. She flung the tent door open and jumped out, ready to join the fray and help protect her newfound caretakers from whatever threatened them.

Chapter Text

Anne pressed her palm against the window as she watched the clouds drift in the moonlight, the occasional airplane flying across the hazy night sky of Los Angeles with only it's red and green lights visible though the darkness. Last time she checked her clock it was almost midnight, yet she couldn't seem to get any sleep.

And it wasn't just because Hop Pop snores like a hippopotamus with sleep apnea, although that certainly didn't help.

Try as she might to push it down for another time, Anne couldn't help but think about Marcy and Sasha. Were they captured by the king? Did they escape Amphibia? Were they ok? Were they hurt?

Was either of them even alive?

Anxiety and worry buzzed loudly in her mind no matter how hard she tried to reassure herself that the two girls could handle themselves just fine without her. Sasha is some kinda badass toad warrior queen now and while Marcy's still an adorkable clutz she's also smart as a whip and surprisingly capable in a fight. They could totally survive without her until she finds a way to get back to Amphibia...

Right?

Marcy was sent flying into a tent from an explosion of blue lightening, she quickly picked herself back up despite the pain surging though her shoulder, reloading another arrow into her crossbow. Smoke filled her nose as all around her tents and wagons were engulfed with fire, panicked screams drowning out the roar of the flames as Ostrons attempted to flee into the forest to escape the massacre.

Two blue lights pierced though the gray haze of the smoke, heralding the approach of that thing.

In all of her time in Amphibia she had never seen anything even remotely like it, it's head looked like it was carved into a cruel mockery of an owl, forged in a strange metal that seemed to undulate and pulse as if it was alive. Two metallic wing-like appendages jutted out from the back of it's neck and moved when it moved as if they were keeping the thing afloat, in spite of the lack of an actual wingspan. It's body from the neck down looked totally different both in texture and color, almost as if the ivory white and pearly gold humanoid figure was stitched together to the grotesque owl like some kind of hideous Frankenstein's monster. 

The creature floated unnaturally though the air towards her, a blood soaked trident in it's grasp. It was staring at the teen girl as if it was sizing her up, although it was so alien looking it was hard to tell exactly what it's intentions were.

"Leave these people alone!!" Marcy shouted while firing another arrow at the beast, it didn't even try to deflect or dodge it, it simply hovered there and let the arrow bounce off it's carapace and fall pitifully to the ground. Completely unfazed by the attempted attack.

Her eyes widened with fearful realization of just how unmatched she was against it.

With a deafening screech the owl creature twirled the trident in it's hands, blue glowing energy gathering in it's three points before it raised the weapon above it's head and launched it straight towards Marcy with the velocity of a lightning bolt.

All Marcy could do was raise her hands, close her eyes, and expect the worst.

The sound of steel cutting though flesh and bone rung throughout the forest.

She peeked her eye open and her blood turned cold.

Haddek was on his knees, blood flowing like a river from where the trident impaled though his chest, his staggered breathes were hoarse and wet.

Hands covering her mouth she gasped in horror as tears flooded her vision, she ran towards him and helped keep him from falling. He grabbed her by the arm and looked her dead in the eyes. He shoved a small metallic object in her palm and closed her fingers around it until it was firmly in her grasp.

"Run, Kid... Run..."

The man screamed in pain as the trident was violently pulled from his back, the weapon flew like it was being pulled by a magnet into the waiting hands of the creature. Marcy saw the color fade from Haddek's eyes before he went limp and collapsed lifelessly into the dirt, blood pooling out from beneath him.

He was dead.

She didn't even know him for a whole day and he sacrificed himself for her.

For her.

Marcy wanted to cry, truly cry, break down into tears and sob until she couldn't anymore. But as the monster let out an irritated screech and began charging another attack, she took a sharp breath in and steeled herself.

She can cry when she was safe.

Reaching into her cloak Marcy pulled out a potion flask and slammed it to the ground as hard she could, in seconds she was enveloped in a thick black smokescreen that obscured even the flames glowing brightly behind her. The bird monster gathered energy into his trident again and fired a blue beam of electricity at her, but discovered she was gone as the force of the blast blew away the smokescreen.

As she ran into the cover of the forest, still biting back tears, Marcy heard an ear-splitting shriek in the distance behind her. It sounded furious.

The blue planet came into view as the Railjack translated into Earth space, usually she'd have to worry about the Grineer fleet but they still haven't been able to rebuild the blockade since Narmer's fall. Giving her a golden opportunity to sneak past straight to the surface.

"Cy, can you confirm the energy signature?" 

"Positive ID, confirming Archon in the vicinity."

"And the beacon?" Worry slipped though her into her tone. Try as she might to deny it, this wasn't just another mission, this was saving a friend.

"Distress beacon still active and on the move, however, Archon interference signature is closing in on the beacon's location. Interception in four minutes."

Gara put the Railjack at maximum velocity, the crewship shaking roughly as it entered the atmosphere and burned though the cloud layer.

"Cy, Prepare Archwing for launch and get ready to take the helm! We're gonna have to pull a smash 'n' grab."

"Roger, cycling missiles"

Marcy ducked as another beam of azure blue energy shot past her head and reduced a nearby tree to splinters. She was running as fast as her little nerd legs could carry her but it just wasn't quick enough, the owl monster was catching up to her at an alarming speed, only slowing down slightly whenever he sent another attack her way.

She had used up the last of her potions with that smokescreen and even if her crossbow wasn't useless against it she didn't have anymore arrows either. She was running out of options.

Another energy beam was fired in her direction only this time it was nowhere close to her, Marcy was confused for a split-second until she realized that this shot wasn't intended to kill her by itself...

A tree at least a mile tall collapsed right in front of the teen girl, the shockwave of the impact sending her flying back and knocking her to the ground. The beast was way smarter then she thought it was.

Marcy quickly scrambled back up to her feet but despite her panicked attempts, found that the tree was just way too massive for her to climb over. But if she can get the rope in her bag she might be able to-

Her planning was interrupted by a raucous hiss coming from just a couple feet behind her, a chill going down her spine as she turned to see the hideous creature staring down at her.

Her back pressed against the fallen tree she watched helplessly as the monster raised it's trident and filled it with azure electricity. This was really it...

She was going to die...

"Anne, Sasha, I'm sorry..."

She closed her eyes and prepared to meet her maker.

Disengaging from her Archwing in the air, Gara unsheathed her Volnus Prime from her back and and used the momentum of the fall to bring the hammer down directly on Boreal's face, sending the Archon flying back until he crashed into a tree a short distance away.

The Tenno turned expecting to see her old friend only to instead find a teen girl cowering beneath her, she didn't look Ostron, in fact she didn't look like anything she'd seen before...

Boreal let out a vicious screech as he pulled himself out of the crater. No time to ask questions now.

The Warframe scooped up the terrified girl in her arms bridal style before activating the Railjack's recall. It would take about ten seconds before they'd teleport back to the ship, but it was ten seconds they didn't have as the enraged Archon flew towards them with murderous intent.

"Cy, hit him now!"

"With pleasure."

A barrage of seeker missiles rained down from the heavens, completely engulfing Boreal in a massive torrent of explosions as each one hit their mark. It wouldn't be enough to put him down for good, but it was at least enough to keep him pinned down. The Tenno counted down the seconds in her head as she watched the Owl struggle and writhe in agony.

8

9

10

With a flash of white light the Warframe and girl were transported to inside the Railjack, Cy already turning the ship around back up into space.

Chapter Text

Marcy had to pinch herself to make sure she wasn't dreaming or dead, although that last possibility was still in question given that the last thing she remembered was being enveloped in a white light.

She rubbed her eyes to make sure she was seeing things right, opening them back up she was met with the same sight as before.

Space.

She was in fricking space.

Just a minute ago she was on some jungle world about to be killed by some kinda monster and now she was staring out into the infinite expanse of the cosmos. Her face was pressed against the window, eyes wide as saucers, as she watched the stars glimmer in the black. Her excited breathes fogging up the glass-like material. Aside from riding a dragon, going into space had been her dream since she was five! If only Anne and Sasha were here to see this...

Her heart turned heavy as she remembered just how far away she was from her friends, the inky abyss suddenly seemed much emptier then it did a second ago.

Something's off about this girl.

Granted the Tenno noticed straight away just by looking at her, the girl's outfit was unlike anything she'd ever seen a civilian wear before. Could she be from one of the hidden colonies? It would explain why her first action on board the Railjack was to run over and press her face directly against the reinforced glass of the viewport, she had done the same thing herself ages ago back when she first went into space. Guess it's just something all first-timers do.

As cute as this was she had to cut this moment short, she had questions and this mystery girl has answers. And while there were a lot of questions the Tenno had for the teenager, right now only two were important.

"Where's Haddek, and why do you have his distress beacon?" 

The girl stiffened in posture and she turned pale as she slowly turned to face the Tenno, the question seemed to have shook her to her very core. Eye's that were previously wide with an awestruck giddiness were now wide with a terrible realization.

A hush whisper pushed it's way out. "He..."

The teen forced back the lump in her throat, her eyes started to swell with tears. She reached into her bag and gently pulled out the beacon, cradling it in her hands as if it were something precious and fragile. A blot of crimson blood stained it's white casing.

"T-That's what he gave me?" She barely managed to choke the question out as tears streamed down her cheeks. The girl collapsed to her knees as she sobbed and sniffled mournfully, the full weight of his sacrifice now crushing down on her.

The Tenno didn't need to be a genius to connect the dots, she's been though enough tragedies to figure out what's happened. Her old friend was dead. He gave up his beacon to help spare this mysterious girl from the Archon's wrath. Haddek always did put the needs of others before his own. She always used to joke that it would earn him an early grave one day, didn't think he'd ever actually prove her right...

She got here too late to save him or any of the other Ostrons... 

Just like before.

Though Gara she clenched her fists hard enough to leave indentations on her metallic palms, as much as her broken heart wanted her to scream and start kicking the nearest object out of righteous fury object until it was reduced to shreds, in her head she knew it wouldn't accomplish anything meaningful. Besides, the girl clearly needed comforting right now and an emotional outburst would only make her feel worse.

Deciding to put on a more relatable face the Tenno transferred out of Gara, the now empty Warframe falling over to it's knees. She stepped lightly towards the teen, who by now was curled up into a ball with her face buried against her knees, before squatting down and very gently laying a comforting hand on her shoulder.

Her fault...

It was her fault he was dead...

If she hadn't tried to play hero and just ran away from that monster than he'd still be alive...

Marcy was no stranger to death, heck during her adventures in the Newtopian Night Guard she even took a few lives herself, but this was different. These weren't some fire-breathing termites or a psychopathic bullfrog, she just watched a kind person getting brutally murdered in cold blood...

She felt a hand on her shoulder, snapping her out of her spiraling train of thought and bringing her full attention to the fact that she was having an emotional breakdown in front of a complete stranger, she raised her head up to meet the armored woman only to find it wasn't her.

Here eyes went wide with shock as she found she was instead face to face with a girl who looked about her age, dressed in what looked like a black full-body suit of some kind. Her unblemished skin was tawny beige in color and her eyes shimmered in a vibrant yellow hue. Her silky dark brown hair was done in an undercut, with her left side shaved down to a fade while her right had long flowing locks that draped down to her shoulder.

"Y'know I don't think we've had a proper introduction yet, what's your name?" She asked in a gentle tone, as if she were talking to an old friend.

She strained to respond due to how hoarse her throat had gotten. "Marcy..."

"Hello Marcy, my name is Terolee." She smiled slightly before continuing. "This might sound cliché but, I know what you're going though..." The girl had Marcy's full attention with that statement, the yellow-eyed teen scooted over to sit next to her on the floor.

"His name was Apnar, the crazy goofball served as my ship's Cephalon for as long as I could remember, heck the two of us were pretty much family in all but name..." 

"What happened?" Marcy asked, her own woes moving farther away as she grew more involved in Terolee's remembrance.

"It was during the first day of the Sentient's invasion, I was half a quadrant away when they had begun to march on Cetus, we flew back as quickly as possible only to find that the city I swore to protect with my life..." Tears began to pool in the corners of her eyes. "Was completely conquered by those damn bugs..."

Marcy remembered Haddek talking about Cetus, how it was invaded by someone or something called 'Narmer', her best guess so far was that it was the leader of these Sentients.

"Apnar wanted to flee, but I insisted we go down to try and help any survivors escape." Terolee sucked in a long and shaky breath. "We didn't even make it though the stratosphere before a Murex shot us out of the sky. Apnar's final act was to jettison me out of the ship before a second shot blew it to pieces." Marcy softly gasped and placed a hand over her mouth, the girl really did suffer the same as her...

"If I hadn't tried to play hero then I know he would still be here today..." 

Whatever facade of composure Terolee had was completely broken when Marcy pulled her into a tight hug, the first one she's received in years.

Chapter Text

"My plans are in motion, our forces are growing, and soon we will be ready to invade. The time has come for us to cut lose ends." King Andrias's booming voice echoed throughout the throne room, his eyes never left the music box on the pedestal as he addressed the cloak-bot hanging from the ceiling. With a snap of his large fingers the frobot obediently dropped down and kneeled before him.

"Your objective is the elimination of Anne Boonchuy and to retrieve Marcy Wu and bring her back to me," He shifted his gaze to stare the robot dead in it's optics. "Alive, that girl is invaluable to the Core's grand design."

In truth he resented what that collective had in store for the poor girl, but it's decree's were absolute. It would accept nothing less then the best and the brightest minds, and Miss Wu proved to be both. She was going to join them.

No matter what.

"Energy signature acquired." The cloak-bot's eyes turned blue as it got the scent of it's prey.

"This mission requires the utmost discretion, we cannot allow the other world to know of the coming invasion. Make sure no earthling sees you." 

With a turn of the key the box opened and a portal to Earth sprang forth from it, through it's multicolored gateway a city was visible. This was the first time the music box was used since it was repaired, the modern smoke gray steel stood out from the rustic ancient metal like a scar on skin. An eternal reminder of his failure.

The cloak-bot entered the portal and disappeared through to the other side, the portal vanishing a second later before the lid of the music box automatically closed shut on it's own. However before the king could return to overseeing the progress of the land clearing division, a nervous "Ahem" caught his attention. He looked down to see Lady Olivia bowing before him.

"Oh hey Liv, didn't see you down there!" He got down on one knee to better address her. "What's new?" He asked casually, big smile on his face.

"My liege, despite their best efforts, the royal guards have been unable to remove the thing from the throne room floor." She gestured over to the strange formation that had appeared two days ago after the music box let out a tremendous burst of energy, almost as if it had crawled out of the same portal Marcy and the Plantars escaped though. The thing was a large black metallic mass of spirals bent into a strange, statue-like shape. A bright blue light flooded out from the crevasse that split it open from the 'face' on it's horned head down to the front of it's chest. Two arms ending in huge vaguely claw shaped appendages stretched out forward's from it's torso, frozen in place like it was desperately trying to reach for something.

Most unsettling of all was the mysterious sound emanating out from it. Like a woman singing, but forever trapped to only hold the same note.

Regardless, the Core held great interest in whatever it was and demanded it be taken down to the laboratory's to be studied. However it seems a different approach was needed. "Well if we can't examine it down there we'll just have to examine it up here, have the guards bring the equipment up from the labs.

"At once my liege." Lady Olivia gave a curtsy before speed-walking out of the throne room, almost as if she didn't want to spend anymore time around the king then needed.

Terolee didn't realize just how touch starved she was until Marcy embraced her in a comforting hug, she couldn't even remember the last time someone hugged her, or even just shook her hand for that matter. The few social interactions she has on an average day are either her buying supplies or accepting new missions. The Tenno would never admit it out loud but it felt incredible to be treated like an actual human being for once instead of the void devil she was.

It took a couple minutes for both girls to regain their composure and calm down, the two still sitting next to each other. While Terolee was content to just lean back with her eyes shut in a half-assed attempt at mediation, Marcy was back to looking out the viewport again, her brown eyes sparkled wide with fascination as she stared at the gilded husk of Lua. She reached into her satchel and pulled out a book and pen, the sound of sketching soon filled the Railjack. 

Terolee peaked an eye opened and glanced over at her in curiosity. "What you got there?"

"Oh! This is my journal, I like taking notes on all the new flora, fauna and places I encounter." Marcy flipped it over to show her the page she was working on, she didn't understand her language but she did have a very impressive drawing of Lua done. "Speaking of which, you don't happen to know the name of this moon, do you?"

"That's Lua, Earth's moon."

"Thank yo- WAIT WHAT!?" She abruptly rushed over and grabbed Terolee by her shoulders, the sudden change in the teens demeanor scared the Tenno half to death. "DID YOU SAY 'EARTH'!?" 

"y-yes?" She didn't mean to squeak out her reply but she had no idea just how intense Marcy could get when she really wanted to.

Wordlessly she let go of her and sprinted over to the viewport on the opposite side of the Railjack, hands pressed against the reinforced glass, she looked down on the blue and green planet and let out an astonished gasp. One so long and deep Terolee was worried Marcy might pass out.

No way.

No frogging way.

It really was Earth...

She was hoping the name was a coincidence, that planets being named 'Earth' was as common as people with the last name 'Smith' but the shapes of the continent were undeniably the same. She was looking down on the western hemisphere and it all lined up perfectly with what she remembered from the plastic globe on her desk and the NASA videos she watched on YouToob. The only real difference was the lack of light pollution, It was nothing but green from end to end.

"Um, Marcy?" Terolee inquired with concern as she slowly approached her from behind, each step was taken with caution like she was trying to calm a scared animal. However her words fell on deaf ears as Marcy was too busy trying to make sense of it all. Mentally reconstructing the events of a few days ago in an attempt to figure out how this could possibly be the same world.

She definitely put the right coordinates in the music box.

She made sure Anne and the Plantar family went though the portal ahead of her. 

She was about to go back to get Sasha when King Andrias...

Oh frog.

Andrias stabbed the music box.

Maybe, just maybe, If the box could be used to travel across vast distances of space, then it could also theoretically travel across time as well.

The only logical solution Marcy could think of with the evidence available to her is that she did go back to Los Angeles, but the malfunctioning box sent her far into the future. It seemed impossible at first, but after reminding herself that she just spent the last six months in a magical world full of sapient amphibians, the idea of time travel didn't sound too farfetched. But there was one way to be sure...

Without any warning Marcy flipped around and once again grabbed Terolee by the shoulders, shaking her around as she blurted out "WHAT YEAR IS IT!?" a little louder then she intended. Both confusion and concern was evident on the space teen's face, now even more so then before. 

"Um okay, definitely not the direction I was expecting. The current year is 5370 PE."

"AHA!! I KNE- wait what does 'PE' stand for?"

"Are you serious?" Marcy silently nodded her head, she was serious. "It stands for 'Post Empire' as in it's been five thousand three hundred and seventy years since the Orokin Empire collapsed."

"Oh boy... And how long did this 'Orokin Empire' last?"

"Like a full eon."

"Oh sweet frog have mercy." Her knees felt weak as the full weight of the words started crashing down on Marcy, she wasn't just a few hundred years in the future, she was billions of years in the future. Everything she'd ever know would be dust by now.

Getting home was gonna be difficult, but at least this couldn't get any worse.

Alarms started to blare loudly throughout the ship. "Warning! Narmer Murex has translated into the sector, Sentient fighters closing in on attack vector."

Aaand it just got worse...

Chapter Text

Both girls watched from the viewport as a swarm of Ionyx interceptors poured out from the gaping maw of a distant Murex and began slithering towards them at high speed. Terolee counted at least two dozen in total, normally in situations like this she would've just fired off a volley of seeker missiles but she just used them all on the damn Archon and didn't have the right materials in the cargo bay to forge more. Besides, with a civilian on board her top priority was getting her out of harms way.

"Sooo, that big creepy rib cage thing over there is a Murex, right?" Marcy inquired while simultaneously drawing a sketch of it in her journal, if they weren't all in mortal peril Terolee would've complimented her on her cross hatching. "Is it a ship or is it some kinda spacefaring macro-organism?" Her voice was loaded with both confusion and fear, but with considerable more of the former rather then the latter.

"Save the questions for when our deaths aren't imminent please." Terolee retorted dryly as she turned away from the window and sprinted towards the cockpit, Marcy soon taking her lead and following her. Just as the Tenno girl was about to punch in the coordinates for the Strata relay into the navigation console Cephalon Cy's authoritative voice intervened. 

"Crew, identifying Archon interference signature on board that Murex. Immediate retreat recommended." 

"The owl..." Terolee muttered under her breath, from behind her she heard Marcy gasp from the horrifying realization. "It's following me..." The poor girl spoke in a hushed whisper, almost as if she was afraid if she spoke too loudly then the Archon would somehow hear her.

This changes things, at first Terolee was convinced the attack on the Ostron caravan was just Boreal lashing out again. Another easy target for him to satisfy his vindictive grudge. But if he's hunting down Marcy specifically then he massacred them only because they were in his way, and he'll do the same wherever she brings her. And if Pazuul himself wants her dead then it's only a matter of time before the other two Archons join in the hunt as well. Narmer's reach has dwindled but is still present across all of the system, the ram has eyes everywhere.

Everywhere except...

"Hang on to something!" Terolee shouted as she punched in the new coordinates and locked in an escape corridor. Marcy clung to her shoulder in anticipation as the Reliquary Drive powered up and, just before the first volley of plasma rounds from the Ionyx could make contact, slipped into the void in a flash of blue light. 

Sunlight flooded though the Bolkor as the door slowly opened, Disciple Zek'Rhum and his squad piled out in formation as they began to sweep the perimeter. Orders were to secure the area and clear room for the Grand Overseer's arrival. An easy task given that the Archon had swept through the Ostron camp like a lightning storm, whatever primitive shelter those heretical vagrants had strung up had been reduced to little more than smoldering ashes and cinders. The once green jungle now cremated into a singeing, blackened ruin.

The Grineer found himself disappointed with how calm it was, he was hoping to point his freshly scrubbed Sobek at live dissidents instead of just their mutilated corpses.

Satisfied that the only living things remaining in the area was himself and his squadron Zek'Rhum reached for his komms and narrow-banded his exalted. "Sektor is klear, send signal to Grand Overseer. All as one." 

After almost a minute of static he heard back from the exalted, her tone was cold and absolute. "Acknowledged, The Grand Overseer is already on his way. Prepare for his arrival."

Zek'Rhum looked up to see that, as expected, another Bolkor was descending down to land. This one larger in size and flanked on both sides by an escort of a couple Condor dropships. Soon after the three ships landed two squadrons of Disciples stormed out from the two silver carriers, they gathered in front of the Bolkor's hatch and knelt down in prestigious honor as the Grand Overseer stepped out of his transport and surveyed the charred landscape. Zek'Rhum and his squad quickly kneeled down as well, only the Tau-ascended were allowed to gaze upon the sacred prophet.

The ground shook with each methodical step the Ram took, the rhythmic tremors got more intense as it got closer. Zek'Rhum did not dare to look away from the scorched dirt, for he knew that the Grand Overseer was now standing above him. The Grineer felt as insignificant and as blessed akin to if he were an insect before the light of a god.

"Report."

The sacred Ram had spoken... To him! Oh what an honor this was, to be personally addressed by Narmer's venerated prophet himself! "All dissidents in the zone have been exterminated. No signs of anything that could make that strange energy, your holiness, sir."

"How disappointing."

With nothing more then a wave of his hand, Pazuul detonated Zek'Rhum's Veil. Pieces of metal and bone scattered as the Grineer's head exploded and his body was tossed aside by the blast. The other Disciples flinched slightly but did not move out of place otherwise.

"Rise! And behold me." At his command the assembled servants gathered in congregation, eager to hear the new holy word of Narmer from the mouth of the Grand Overseer himself. From within the cargo hold of his personal Bolkor a Sensolyst drone slowly floated out until it was in front of the crowd, from it's eyes projected a blurred and fuzzy image taken from a Grineer surveillance camera of a young girl falling from a pink, blue and green colored portal hanging in the night sky.

"My faithful followers, the key to our pilgrimage has presented itself before us. This traveler, this girl possesses the means for us to make the journey for the eternal fields of Tau."

Another image flashed, this one of a Tenno Railjack in Earth's orbit.

"The devils have stolen her away from us, but they shall not hide forever. I call upon you to scour this system, to leave no stone unturned, we must bring them into Narmer's sacred light and let it burn away their corruption!!"

Pazuul's sermon earned him a thunderous applause of celebration from his loyal cultists, hands of Corpus, Grineer, Solaris and Ostron origin clapped and cried together in shared unity. "ALL AS ONE! ALL AS ONE! ALL AS ONE! "

Marcy's fear and anxiety melted away and turned into sheer awe as the ship was enveloped in a tunnel of hazy dull-blue light, the sight was magnificent! Her mouth hung agape as she stared out the front window. This looked just like the lightspeed scenes from Anne's favorite movie series; Space Wars! Admittedly she herself had always preferred the high fantasy genre over sci-fi but she could still appreciate it. Except for the prequels, the effects might've been better but the writing was just abysmal. 

"What we're in now is called the Void." Terolee announced while giving a half-hearted sweeping gesture. "Given how new you were to space travel I assume you must have a lot of questions about how all this works?"

Brimming with excitement she turned from the window to the teen girl standing beside her. "Oh! oh! Lemme guess, it cuts into a parallel dimension to travel across lightyears in space in a short amount of time!?" She asked with a bit more enthusiasm then intended.

Terolee's face turned from a unsure smile to dumbfounded confusion. "That's... I mean yeah, basically. H-How'd you know?" 

"This one tabletop game I'm into 'Warslammer 40k' has the same kinda space travel system! Well not exactly the same, but close enough." Marcy shrugged while darting her eyes away, eye contact was still something she had to work on.

"Huh." Was the only response the yellow-eyed teen could muster, it was clear that wasn't the answer she was expecting.

Luckily the journey was over before the silence got too unbearably awkward, as the ship exited out of the void tunnel thingy Marcy looked to see that they were in front of a absolutely massive crescent shaped spaceship. At just a cursory glance she estimated it to be about roughly fifty-thousand feet tall from end to end, but it was hard to tell from this angle. It's front half was in normal space while the back half seemed to be stuck in some kind of tear in reality.

"Ah wow! What is that?" Marcy inquired with a voice full of whimsy while trying to find a blank page in her journal to draw the ship in.

"Home." Terolee replied in a unexpectently somber tone, Marcy was so caught off guard by it she turned to find a look of hurting on the other girls face. "Welcome Marcy, to the Zariman Ten-Zero."

Chapter Text

With a click on the wall mounted console Terolee locked the Dormizone door shut for the second time today, only this time it was very much an intentional action instead of on instinct like usual. Because this time she had a guest, a girl about her age (Or at least her physical age) named Marcy, who is wearing clothes unlike any she's ever seen, has never heard of the Orokin before, and doesn't even know what year it is.

To say that she had questions was something of an understatement. Everything about Marcy was an enigma to the Tenno, no logical answer seemed to fit neatly into place to explain her. But she did have a feeling that this girl was important in some way, although maybe it was just some form of sentimentalism. A nostalgia for when she protected people instead of ghosts.

Admittedly, bringing her to the Zariman may not have been the smartest move, the ship is still being constantly raided by either the Worm Queen's troops or Corpus grave-robbers. Not to mention the occasional incursion from Thrax's toy soldiers. Or the hundreds of Void Angels cocooned along the ships every nook and cranny. 

Now that she actually thought about it, this was place was a death trap. No wonder the Lotus banned anyone that wasn't a Tenno from coming on board. And given that Marcy somehow managed to set her cape on fire when they were in the elevator, Terolee naturally had some doubts about her survival skills.

Speaking of Marcy, Terolee's introspection was interrupted by the teen girl letting out a high-pitched squee in the next room over. Rushing over to her bedroom with her Innodem dagger drawn she expected to see the worst possible outcome, maybe a Grineer Manic snuck inside or some Raknoid Mites crawled in though the ventilation system again.

What Terolee certainly didn't expect was to see Marcy diving headfirst into and burying herself in the large pile of assorted floofs she kept next to her bed.

"Oh my gosh! So many plushies!!" Marcy shouted with unfettered joy as she scooped as many of the stuffed animals as she could fit in her arms and brought them in close for a snuggle, a Doma Thumper floof perched on top of her head. The Tenno couldn't help but smile at the adorable sight, sliding her dagger back into the hidden sheath strapped to her right thigh before sitting down next to the effervescent Marcy.

"Yeah I got a fair amount of Floofs." Terolee rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly, what had originally started a few years ago as an organized collection on the shelves of her Orbiter was now a big heap on the Dormizone floor that only got bigger with every animal she saved. Conservation was as much of a hobby as it was a duty to her. "All of them are based on real animals I helped preserve."

Marcy looked at Terolee with a wide smile and a sparkle in her eyes she wasn't used to, like the Void Devil was an admirable person, a saint, even. "Awww, that's so sweet! Wait, all of them?" She picked up the Thumper floof off her head and held it up before continuing her question. "Even this one?"

"Oh, no, that one's actually based off of a type of Grineer war machine I usually hunt down." Marcy looked even more confused then before. "The cute floofs serve as much as an insult as they do a trophy." At least that was the justification The Business told her when she asked him why he made them.

"Ah, psychological warfare. Makes sense I guess." The young teen said before putting the floof back on her head. "Who're these 'Grineer' though? I think I overheard a couple people mention them back at the caravan." Terolee only frowned in response, Ok, Grineer have been added to the list of basic knowledge Marcy doesn't know about. So she's either from a really isolated colony or has some form of amnesia. Maybe both.

Either way, it's high time for some answers.

"Marcy," Terolee scooted forward a bit and reached to place a hand on her shoulder, only to find it covered by a Condroc floof. She awkwardly reached for the other shoulder only to see that it was already claimed by a Predasite floof. She decided to just give up on the comforting gesture and pull her hand back, clearly she was already as comfortable as she could be right now.

"I'd be happy to answer any question you have. But I'd like you to answer a few of mine first if you don't mind." Terolee handled her request as delicately as she could, picking each word carefully so she'd make it clear that this wasn't an interrogation or anything serious.

Marcy sat up, cross legged with her hands on her knees, thumper floof still balanced on her head. "Oh, right, yeah I guess I should've explained myself after asking what the current year is huh?" She blushed a little in embarrassment, eyes darting nervously to the floor.

"In all fairness, we were rudely interrupted before you had a chance." Terolee retorted with a subtle hint of slyness, earning her an amused snicker from Marcy. 

There was no easy way to say it so Marcy decided to just speak truthfully (for the most part.) and hope for the best, she took a deep breath in before speaking. "Well it might be hard to believe but here it goes, the full story." 

Terolee could feel her headache turning into a full blown migraine as she flipped though the pages of Marcy's journal. "So let me get this straight, you're a girl from Earth before the age of the Orokin. Who got transported with her friends to a magical place called Amphibiland-"

"Amphibia." Marcy corrected.

"Right, Amphibia, which is a planet of sapient frogs and giant monster bugs. And you came here, in my time, because you were trying to get back home but the evil king of this 'Amphibia' stabbed the 'Calamity Box' with a giant flaming sword. Am I correct?" The poor Tenno was tired after listening for hours about what sounded like an asinine fantasy novel aimed at small kids, heck if it wasn't for the photos on Marcy's phone to back her up with undisputable proof she would've dismissed the teen girl as a lunatic.

"Yeah, that's about right." Marcy replied back somehow still as cheerful as when she had started her long story.

Terolee handed the journal back to it's owner, while she couldn't actually read the language she had written it in (Apparently called English) the illustrations were useful. Just as the Tenno was about to ask more questions the mobile radio scanner she kept in her back pocket flared to life with a buzz of static, soon fading away into soothing music as she reached behind her and pulled it out, Marcy's eyes grew wide and shimmered with fascination as she watched the orange ring of energy projected from the spherical device in Terolee's palm dance with the tempo. A few seconds later the smooth voice of the pirate radio DJ, Nora Night, came though the broadcast.

"Dreamers, Drifters, whoever else might be listening now, Have I got news for you. Latest buzz here on the grid is Narmer and it's beasts are getting all riled up and ready to raise some hell all across the solar rails. A holy crusade given to them on the orders of the big bad Pazuul himself. But this ain't just some recruitment drive now Dreamers, nuh uh. This time the veil-heads prophet is claiming to have witnessed a miracle, that a Traveler from beyond time and space is visiting our humble little stretch of the cosmic neighborhood."

"Sounds like a bad pipe-dream now doesn't it? But my perch up here at Nightwave gives me a good view, and I'm here to say that I've seen his little miracle as well. Whoever this 'Traveler' is, got here without any help from the void. And you can bet your bottom credit that the bugs from Tau wanna figure out how to pull off that hat trick too. Keep your face to the wind and your ear to the ground sweet things, cuz we've got dark days ahead."

The transmission faded away in a cloud of rhythmic static. Marcy was starting to feel the weight of the target on her back pressing down on her as she held the stuffed animal in her arms a little tighter against her chest, she hadn't even done anything bad and yet she was now on the most-wanted list of some deranged cult! Oddly enough this wouldn't be the first time a cult targeted her, but this felt much much more serious then her time in Newtopia against The Order of the Olm.

"Is it true?" Terolee implored as she stuffed the device back in her pocket, fear seeping into her serious tone. "Have you been travelling through a different power then the Void?"

Marcy shrugged. "Well yeah, I don't have it with me but the Calamity Box is powered by these three magical gemstones." She flipped open her journal and showed the other girl the drawing she did of the music box and the gems.

Terolee let out a frustrated sigh and rubbed her forehead with two fingers to try to ease her mental anguish. "Right, because of course it is." Try as she might to be understanding this was just a lot to take in at once. She got up from the floor to go sit down on her bed. Her book right where she left it this morning.

"Tell you what, I'm gonna lie down for a bit and try to process all this." The tired Tenno pointed over to a desk mounted terminal. "Why don't you go take a look though my codex, it should have at least the basics to understanding the crazy times we're living in." 

Marcy gasped in enthusiasm before rushing over to the desk and pulling out the chair in front of it. "Worldbuilding and lore? Don't have to ask me twice!"

Chapter Text

~Marcy's Journal~

Entry 85

Heya Jo! Sorry it's been awhile since I last wrote anything proper and I've only been drawing sketches, things just got so crazy so quick since last time! I've been learning a lot from Terolee about this time period these past two days since she rescued me.

The future is actually pretty disappointing tbh, more then a billion years have passed but we still haven't gone beyond our own solar system. I mean it's cool that almost every planet/moon/large enough asteroid has been terraformed to have an atmosphere but I was really hoping to see some aliens tho, at least there's robots. I would've really been disappointed if there weren't any robots.

From what I've learned so far there's five main factions fighting for control of the solar system, all of which are descended in one way or another from the Orokin.

• the Grineer (An empire of xenophobic clones who want to kill everyone)
• the Corpus (A conglomeration of greedy industrialists who value money more the life)
• the Infested (They're basically space zombies more or less)
• Narmer (A brainwashing cult ruled by a biomechanical race called the Sentients)
• and lastly, the Tenno (Terolee's faction, they're goal is to bring peace back to the system)

Oh! I never actually talked about Terolee yet! She's like this super cool BAMF teenage girl who's got like a tragic backstory she's dropped a couple hints about but hasn't actually told yet. Sasha would love her. I've told her how I'm from Earth in the distant past and how I got here from Amphibia, I kinda get the vibe that she's still hesitant to believe me despite the myriad of empirical evidence I've shown her. Apparently time travel doesn't exist in this era, and neither does the Calamity Box or talking frogs.

The giant bugs didn't seem to surprise her that much when I got to that part of her story but I couldn't tell if that was just because giant bugs are normal in this time or whether Terolee was just becoming numb to the admittedly pretty crazy explanation of events. Probably a bit of both.

She and the other Tenno fight using Warframes, bio-metal suits of armor with crazy awesome powers that they control by transferring their conciseness into one. I asked if I could try it out and apparently the only way I or anyone else who isn't a Tenno can use them is if I get an invasive and extremely risky surgery to install a device called a 'Somatic' into my corpus callosum, I said I'd get it anyway but Terolee said there was absolutely no way she'd let me. :(

She's been really so kind, from saving me from certain death to taking me in and teaching me how things are. So today after she get's back from her latest mission I want to repay her kindness by introducing her to one of life's greatest joy's~

"Anime?" Terolee repeated the strange word back to Marcy, one eyebrow hiked higher then the other. "What's that?"

While she was away sabotaging Grineer mining equipment on Saturn's moon Enceladus, Marcy had took it upon herself to rearrange the girls (admittedly very sparse) furniture into a more traditional living room setup for maximum binge-watching comfort. An old school desk served as a coffee table, positioned in front of a makeshift sofa made from a bench pressing a mattress up flat against the wall. She was rather proud of her work.

"It's a term for animated shows made in Japan, I picked one that's great for introducing newcomers, trust me your gonna love it!" Marcy answered the query while simultaneously setting her phone and it's stand up on the desk. In a perfect world she'd be showing this on a full sized flat-screen TV like the one she had back in her room, but unfortunately she left it back in Los Angeles. Now that she thought about it, given how much time has passed since that fateful night it's probably up in Connecticut with her parents by now.

Marcy quickly pushed away the unhappy thoughts.

Terolee inspected the hodgepodge couch thoroughly before giving it a try and sitting down, she didn't want to admit it but it was actually very comfortable. "Well I suppose I can give it a try..." She could take some downtime, the system will still be on fire when she get's back, that she was certain of. Plus something about Marcy's bubbly sweet energy made it really hard to say no to her. Sometimes.

"That's the spirit! Now this one's called 'Assault on Giant' it's about the last remnants of humanity trying to survive against a race of man-eating giants!" The way Marcy gave the rather grim description with uninhibited cheer made the Tenno girl smile. Marcy finished queuing up the show before taking her seat next to Terolee, usually she'd only watch subbed anime rather then dubbed but Terolee's inability to read English (Or Japanese) made that an impossibility. She made a mental note to study the present languages later.

As much as she appreciated Marcy sharing her interests with her, she still had a Sortie to carry out against the Infested today. "Sounds... interesting. I'll watch a couple, but I don't think I'll be able to stay that long" 

Six Hours and Twelve Episodes Later

The Sortie or any other mission Terolee had planned to do today was long since forgotten as she sat there transfixed in front of the tiny screen. Watching in bated breath as Eric Jaeger, in his mysterious new Giant form, carried the massive boulder over his shoulders and lugged it slowly but surely towards the gaping hole in the wall. If he reaches it then he can use the big rock to plug up the breach and prevent any more Giants from entering the city. Soldiers scrambled around to distract, divert or kill any Giant that might try to get in his way, even if it cost them their lives.

Despite already having watched the show twice, Marcy was just as enthralled by the Anime as Terolee was, the duo's bodies pressed close together as they huddled around the smartphone like a couple cave people huddled around a fire for warmth on a cold winter night. This was the first time she'd ever shared one of her hobbies with anyone other than Anne or Sasha, and truth be told it also felt like the first time in a long time that someone actually truly cared. The way Terolee cried a little earlier when Eric watched his mother get eaten or the time later where she literally jumped for joy when Mikaza single-handedly killed five giants on her own were such heart-felt reactions unlike any she'd seen before from her friends. Who usually either fell asleep half way though or spent the whole time playing games on their phones.

Ever since middle school started she seemed more and more like just the third wheel of the group, like Sasha only kept her around so she could copy her homework off of hers. She knew they genuinely did care for her, but the way they acted sometimes just made her feel... invisible.

Sure, things were different now, ever since she reconnected with Anne roughly a month ago at the gates of Newtopia her friend seemed so much more... Attentive? Empathetic? She couldn't quite think of the right word to describe it but she was so much more Anne then she was before. Whether that was due to her time in Wartwood with new adoptive family or just due to being away from Sasha for a few months she couldn't tell.

Not like any of it mattered now, they probably both hated her for what she did. Right?

"YES!!" Terolee shouted victoriously with her fists raised in the air, as on screen, Eric slammed the boulder down and plugged up the hole in Wall Cardinal. Ending the Giant invasion and saving the city. Marcy was shaken from her dark train of thought by the celebration, a smile quickly working it's way back on her face as she saw just how happy the show was making the usually cynical girl. It was nice.

Unfortunately for both of them the moment was abruptly ended by the low battery alert popping up on her phone, the screen switching to a red outline of a battery against a black background. "WHAT!?" Terolee yelled furiously as she was pulled back to reality, Marcy picking up the phone from it's stand as she muttered a series of "Oh no." in rapid succession. Within seconds the battery was completely depleted, screen fading to all black as the phone died in her hands.

"W-what just happened!?" Terolee asked in a shaky, dumbstruck tone as she sat back down and looked over Marcy's shoulder at the now dead device. "M-my phone ran out of charge! The battery is dead!" This couldn't be happening. She finally had someone to binge-watch anime with and it get's ripped away from her already! 

"Well, can't you just recharge it?" The Tenno had an edge of panic in her voice unlike anything Marcy had heard before. She really was invested in this show.

She knew Anne kept her phone charged during her months in Amphibia thanks to a creature called a Zapapede, (Which she read about but had never actually seen) and she honestly wasn't quite sure how Sasha kept hers charged. (She never got around to asking her) As for herself, she managed to rig up a potato battery to keep both her phone and her Bintendo Twitch powered. She didn't expect it to work at first since Earth potato's can't produce much electricity but it turned out that potato's on Amphibia are just built different.

Sadly, it was still back in her room in the king's castle.

Marcy let out a soft sigh before somberly responding. "No, I left my generator back in Amphibia. Without it I can't power it."

"Generator?" The muttered question wasn't directed towards her or anyone else, Terolee's face lit up as an idea formed in her head. "I'll be right back!" She sprinted off towards her closet, where she kept her weapons and frames.

A few seconds later she strode out in a Volt model Warframe, small bolts of electricity arcing down his legs with every step she took. "If that device needs power than this should provide more then plenty." The Tenno remarked cleverly as she reached a metallic hand out, a gesture for Marcy to hand over her phone. She instead did the opposite, lifting it behind her to keep it away from Volt's grasp. "Okay, but 'more then plenty' power might overcharge the phone's battery and cause it to explode." 

"Oh." Was all Terolee uttered before transferring out of her Volt, leaving the Warframe to fall over lifelessly to the floor. "Nevermind."

She might be on to something though, surely something here in the future could charge her phone. "We'll need something that can supply at most five volts of direct current to get it working, know anything that do the trick?"

"Hmm..." The Tenno sat back down on the couch, chin resting on her fist as she tried to think of something that produced that little power. Racking her brain trying to remember all the different type's of batteries available and each one's voltage, Gallos Rods, Orokin Cells, Sentient Cores, Muon Batteries. Terolee smiled and snapped her fingers as another, better, idea entered her head. "Muon Batteries! The Corpus use them to power their Brickie type Servofish, we can use one to charge your device!" 

Marcy pumped her fist in the air and grinned in excitement. "Awesome! Do you have one?" 

Terolee's expression soured as she realized she did not in fact have one, least not anymore. It was her turn to sigh. "No, when I lost my Orbiter I also lost most of my resources with it..." She's been steadily rebuilding her supplies but it's been a long process.

"Can't you just like, y'know, get more?" Marcy asked plainly.

Walking over to her Navigation console, Terolee checked the time on Venus and saw that the Orbital Reflector's warm cycle was due in ten minutes. Brickie's are programmed to only be active once the coolant reaches a high enough temperature, If she hurried over then she could fish a few up without having to wait for the next cycle. "Yeah, I can go get some, but I'll need to head to the Orb Vallis to get them."

Marcy sucked in a elated gasp, she'd seen pictures and artwork of the Vallis in Terolee's codex and the snowy landscape looked magnificent. "Can I come with!? Please?" Her hands were clapped together in a begging gesture as she got on her knees, her eyes as wide as an innocent puppy's.

As much as the Tenno wanted to say no, she knew she couldn't keep her trapped in her room the whole time, and besides it was only a quick fishing run. In and out, five minutes max. How much trouble could they get into?

"Fine." Terolee replied in a stoic voice, trying desperately not to smile as she watched Marcy hop up and down in giddy anticipation. "Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!" She chanted under her breath as she jumped.

"However," She started as she sauntered over to her closet and pulled out an old Zariman crew suit from a large container. "I would suggest wearing something a little bit more, cold resistant." The teen finished as she tossed the suit over to Marcy. She expected her to catch it but instead it hit her square in the face and knocked her over to the floor.

Terolee was already beginning to regret her decision.  

Chapter Text

The Solaris were singing today.

A chorus of voices reverberated up throughout the stone tunnel as the two girls made the slow descent down on the elevator to Fortuna.

Terolee realized that this was the first time she'd ever ridden the service lift, normally she'd just drop down in her Warframe. But this was also the first time she'd come here with Marcy in tow, and although the girl was certainly an expert in falling, the vertical distance between the hanger bay and the underground colony itself would splatter her fragile body across the floor like a rotten maprico if she jumped off from that height.

Marcy herself nearly tested that conclusion when she almost slipped off the lift platform after leaning too close to the edge while writing in her journal, luckily Terolee had been able to catch her and pull her back up before she could fall. She gave a nervous chuckle after thanking the Tenno, who only shot an annoyed glare in response. It's a miracle this girl has survived this long with how clumsy she is.

The two stepped off the metallic elevator once it finally reached the bottom, the tune of 'We All Lift Together' filled their ears while the heavy smell of rust and coolant assaulted both their noses as the teens stepped off and began making their way though the crowded thoroughfares. A few of the Solaris workers stared at them as they walked past, but that was only to be expected. Not often they get unmodified visitors down here that aren't Corpus. Plus the only ones around who were permitted to know the secret truth of the Tenno, of the children of the Zariman, were the inner circle of Vox Solaris. As far as any of the workers knew the duo were just misguided tourists. 

For Marcy the colony looked like a cyberpunk city come to life, full of colorful cyborg characters and bright neon lights flashing on advertisements in an unknown language. And sure, while it wasn't medieval fantasy, the new and exotic location still brought awe and joy to the adventurous teen girl. A beaming smile was stuck to her face as she closely followed her Tenno guide's lead.

For Terolee however, this colony as a whole was a symbol of oppression, of a Corpus boot being pressed down on the necks of the innocent to squeeze out any 'profit' it can out of them. And while it was briefly replaced by a Narmer heel, Nef has returned in full force since Ballas's death, even demanding the Solaris pay interest for the time they spent under the Veil's dream. The thought alone made her furious, her scowl served as a sharp contrast to Marcy's awestruck grin.

"Wait here," Terolee said as the two stopped a few feet in front of what looked like a vendor stall displaying several makeshift contraptions, the exact function of any of them Marcy couldn't even hazard a guess at. "Zuud can be a bit uh..." She turned her head over to look at the Solaris craftswoman, who was currently engaged in a very hostile and very vulgar argument with the voices in her head. "Unwelcoming, to put it lightly."

"Can I go look around the city then!?" Marcy asked with a voice full of hope, brown eyes sparkling with excitement. She really wanted to see all Fortuna had to offer, even if the main attraction (And the reason she agreed to wearing this uncomfortable black suit) was the icy slopes of the Orb Vallis.

"Absolutely not." The Tenno replied, her serious tone making it clear she wasn't going to budge on this. "This may be an allied colony but this still isn't exactly a friendly place, especially to off-worlders like yourself. Just hang tight here and I'll be back in a minute." Truth be told Terolee was worried about leaving her by herself even if she wasn't going very far.

"Alright..." Marcy sighed before she sat down on a nearby crate. Maybe she was right, after all if that lady on the radio a few days ago was right then she was currently on Narmer's most wanted list, and laying low would probably be the smart move to make. She watched from afar as the Tenno interrupted the cyborg woman's squabble with the air, earning herself her own yelling as she tried to diffuse the situation.

As the one minute stop grew to five minutes Marcy decided to pass the time by writing and sketching some more in her journal, making sure to fill out as many details as she knew about the complex parasitical relationship between the Solaris and the Corpus, as well as the plutocratic theocracy both groups adhered to. She also left a reminder to ask who this 'Parvos' figure was she kept overhearing about, he seemed important.

"Lovely artwork~" Remarked a unfamiliar feminine voice directly behind her left ear, causing Marcy to jump up with a frightened scream before tripping over herself and falling to the ground. Her cheeks were flushed red with embarrassment as her face lay pressed against the dirty metal floor.

Picking herself up and dusting herself off she was greeted by the person who had snuck up behind her, a girl with flawless (save for the unnaturally black scar that ran across her right eye) ivory pale skin and silky straight ebony black hair arranged into a bob cut who looked no older than fifteen. Her eyes were vermillion in color. She wore a white with scarlet red highlights bomber jacket, black fingerless gloves and matching black slacks, along with thick white boots that went halfway up to her knees.

The girl covered her mouth with the tips of the fingers on her right hand before let out a sanguine sweet giggle. "Sorry, didn't mean to scare you cutie~" She slyly teased. Marcy's face turned red again, only this time it wasn't from embarrassment. She froze in place as her brain short-circuited trying to process that this random girl just called her 'cutie' to her face. A girl just called her cute.

"Haven't seen you around Fortuna before, you fresh from cryosleep?" She asked while slowly walking a circle around the crimson-faced teenager, getting a good look at her from all angles. Marcy had never felt like this before, like she was a treasure chest being sized up by a greedy dragon. She didn't know how to respond, she just stood there and sweated. Silently praying for an end to this awkwardness.

Her prayer was answered by Terolee's approach. "Keep it in your leggings Alzbeth." She declared as she stood between the two girls, her yellow eyes locked dead-set with Alzbeth's own vermillion tinted orbs.

"Oh calm down Lee, I was just having some fun with the new girl. She with you?" She inquired teasingly as she waved a pointed finger between the two girls. While Marcy blushed at the insinuation, Terolee didn't have the capacity to care about her lil antics . "Yes, we did come here together. And now we'll be leaving together too." She grabbed Marcy's hand and started dragging her away from the pale teen, who only waved goodbye in response as the distance between them grew. 

Once she had finally calmed down the hormones in her brain she asked the Tenno "Who was that?" earning a frustrated sigh from her. "Alzbeth, she's a Tenno too. The original pilot of death's crimson maiden herself, Garuda Prime." Despite the clear disdain she had for her, the way she spoke about her also seemed to suggest she had a deep respect for the other Tenno too. Clearly there was some kinda history between the two, but Marcy didn't want to push the issue.

 After a few minutes of walking they finally reached their destination, the main elevator to the Vallis. "Alright, here we are. You ready?" Terolee asked Marcy while they waited for the lift to return to the bottom, and while the wide grin alone would've been answer enough she replied excitedly "Oh yeah! Orb Vallis here we come!" 

"Well I'm glad your pumped up, but just in case this fishing trip goes south I got you a lil something." Terolee took something out of her pocket and handed it to Marcy, she was excited at first but quickly turned grim as she just what it was she was now holding.

"Is this, a pistol?" She quietly asked in horror.

"A Plinx, I prefer to think of it as a 'point and click murderizer' but whatever works for you." Terolee responded nonchalantly just before the door to the elevator opened up. 

Chapter Text

Alzbeth watched from the second level balcony as Terolee and her new friend stepped into the empty elevator together, vanishing from sight as it's metal doors closed shut. It was a surprise to run into her old flame today but it was certainly a good surprise, if for no other reason then to see that she was in better shape then the last time she saw her.

It was the second day of the New War, the place was the Larunda Relay over Mercury, the Tenno council had convened an emergency meeting with the Corpus and Grineer leadership to try to strategize a plan to halt the Sentients advance. She only saw Terolee for a brief moment in passing, didn't even speak to her, couldn't find the right words to. Not after she saw her face.

The fall of Cetus was a tragedy felt by all, but for Terolee, who had dedicated over half her unlife to the Unum and the Ostrons, who had fought both god and ghoul alike in the past to protect them? Only now for half of them to be dead and the other half singing Ballas's praises under the lull of a veil? It broke her. She looked like she was dead inside, like something had carved out her soul and left behind only an empty husk of a person.

She didn't know what to say to her then, but she does know she still thinks about it even now. Maybe the right words would've stopped her from becoming a recluse on the Zariman.

Probably not, but it was a regret her brain refused to let go of.

The great thing about a busy schedule is that it keeps you from thinking for too long, especially when bad thoughts persist much longer than the good ones. Alzbeth kept a busy schedule like most Tenno, but she has one particular task that most Tenno don't have.

"Alzbeth!!" The Solaris kids all shouted as they ran to the door and swarmed her into a group hug, although they were all so short that the tallest among them only barely went up to her waist. She patted each one on the head affectionately as she tried to keep from falling over. "Aww, I missed you all too!" She spoke in a caring tone.

In the months since Narmer's fall from power and the return of the Corpus, the orphan population had doubled. Many parents had died in the war or worse, were veiled and carted off to Void only knows where too, most of the latter now served as workers for Pazuul's Narmer remnants. In response to the growing crisis Alzbeth and the rest of her clan, the Venusian Vengeful, established several orphanages across Fortuna to house, feed, and potentially raise the kids in while they looked for suitable parents. Sure, they were all basically kids themselves but it was better than nothing.

While her other duties usually kept Alzbeth away for most of the day, she always made time to read stories to the kids before they went to bed, it had become her second favorite activity. Just behind her most favorite activity, slicing taxmen flesh apart with Garuda's talons.

"Alrighty guys, settle down now. It's story time!" That got an immediate reaction from the little tykes, in a hurry they all ran to their respective beds and hopped in, each one tucking themselves in nice and snug into the warm embrace of the wool blankets. Meanwhile Alzbeth stepped over to the cheap metal bookshelf on the wall and looked though the titles it held, before settling on an old classic 'Tales of Duviri'. The same stories her own mother read to her back when she was a little girl. She pulled the book off the shelf and opened it to it's index.

The Tenno turned back to the crowd of young eyes, all watching her in giddy anticipation as she sat down in the same cushioned metal chair she always sat down in when she read stories. "Now, remind me, which story did we read last time?" Alzbeth gently asked as skimmed though the list of stories in the books pages. "The Prince of Fire!" A couple of them yelled joyously in response. "Ah yes, thank you."

Flipping over to the right page she began reading the next story in the series. "Now this one's called 'The Inheritance'." She read out loud in a dramatic tone. "Once upon a time... there was a dying, old man."

Some of the kids shifted uncomfortably in their beds. "This isn't another war story is it?" Kov asked with a look of fear on his tiny face. "No, no it isn't." Alzbeth softly reassured, the last time she told them a story about her own exploits (Garuda vs the Phorid) it gave the kids nightmares. Apparently she went into too much detail with the gore.

"...As he lay on his death bed he called to each of his beloved children. And when each did hear his rasping call, they answered with a hollow longing!"

"So they came to his bedside, one by one, and his firstborn knelt there. A muscular man of the land, callused hand grasped in his fathers hands, his farmwear stained bright pink from his time in the roseberry fields. And the old man said, 'My child… my child… why be your eyes so dry?'"

"And the firstborn said, 'So that I might be strong, in mind as well as body, father.' And so the old man gave to him the deeds for all his lands."

Alzbeth flipped the page over to the next, children waiting in bated breath for the tale to resume.

"To his second born, who held a tender heart but little conviction, he said again, 'My child… my child… why be your eyes so dry?'"

"And his second child said, with a shimmer in his azure blue eyes, 'I shed no tears, father, for I chose now to remember only the joy you made of my life.' And so unto him, the old man gave his family home."

A couple of the kids had fallen asleep already, but some were too enthralled to rest before hearing the end.

"And when his last child had entered, A woman of great wit and intellect, her emerald green archimedean ropes sparkling in the candlelight, he said again, 'My child, my child, you were my favorite of all. Why show you no feelings at all?'"

"And the last child said to him, with a hush voice as soothing as a viper's hiss. 'I feel nothing, for it was I… who has killed you.' And so, from her father's will, she received the family fortune."

Alzbeth closed the book as she finished the story, smiling as she saw that by now all the kids had drifted off to sleep.

"The End."

Chapter Text

The lift creaked and groaned as it was pulled up through the rock tunnel to the surface, from a wall mounted screen above them the orange glow of Narmer's sigil bathed the two girls in it's amber light as it reflected off the the elevator's silver walls. Terolee had her head tilted up, staring at the flickering symbol with pure and utter hatred in her eyes.

Marcy noticed but said nothing, her somber gaze shifting back down to the laser pistol cradled in her hands. A gift from her new friend, who was eager to tell her all about it just a minute ago. It's called a Plinx. Semi-automatic. Battery-powered. Ten round magazine. In short, a perfect tool for it's designed function.

Killing.

It might seem hypocritical to have a moral issue with it, but this was different than Amphibia. There are no horrifying giant cobra's, or creepy newt cultist's this time. This time it'll be people, human people, threatening her. She'd seen from the codex what the Corpus look like underneath their helmets, and aside from the tattoos and larger stature they looked just like modern-day man.

She swallowed the lump in her throat as she mentally grabbled with the question that filled her head like water in a balloon; is she capable of taking another human being's life? Even if it was to protect herself or Terolee?  She was the first friend she's made in years, she couldn't let anything happen to her!

Her train of thought was abruptly ended by Terolee herself when she, without warning, raised her right hand up towards the screen and unleashed a concentrated beam of pure white energy from her palm. It punctured a large hole through the glass and metal, the lift soon engulfed in darkness without the main source of light. As Marcy recoiled and stared at her in shock when she noticed something unsettling.

Her eyes had turned black, and her pupils were now glowing bright white.

It lasted only a couple seconds before they returned to normal but Marcy could almost feel the image being burned into the back of mind.

"Sorry," The Tenno began to apologize, hand rubbing the back of neck sheepishly and her face flush with embarrassment. "I just really hate that symbol."

Marcy realized then and there that Terolee wasn't going to need protecting.

Cold air and sunlight blinded the both of them as they stepped out unto the Vallis, Terolee checking her holo-map while Marcy ran out to take in the view of the wide open Venusian landscape. Her eyes were nearly as big as her smile as she beheld the vast teal blue lake of liquid coolant surrounding the Orokin terraforming tower and the absolutely giant fungal forests that stood tall above the green grass below.

Wait, grass?

"Wait, there's grass? I thought this area was supposed to be all cold tundra?"

Terolee put her holo-map away, now sure which pond would be the safest to take Marcy with her to fish. She turned to face her. "It was, up until a year ago."

Marcy dug her journal and pen out of her bag, she could tell there was lore incoming and she was eager to write it all down.

"When the Solaris repaired the Coolant Towers they apparently had misaligned the thermal oscillators, resulting in the Orb Vallis being about forty degrees colder then it was originally intended to be."

"Celsius, Fahrenheit or Kelvin?"

Terolee's stoic expression instantly snapped to one of pure confusion. "Huh?"

"Well you said it was forty degrees colder, I'm just curious what it was measured in." Marcy still had her face buried in her journal, everything bellow her forehead was obscured by the covers of the book as she continued writing. "Was it in Kelvin, Fahrenheit, or Celsius?"

"Yeah, I don't know what any of those words mean."

Marcy paused and stuck her head up from out of her journal. "Oh." Was all she could muster in response. For a second she forgot she was more than a billion years in the future, of course they would've developed a different way to measure temperature by now.

"Uhh, nevermind. So how did the towers get fixed then?" As curious as she truly was, she mostly wanted to move on from the awkwardness before it grew any worse.

Terolee's face turned wistful. "Narmer happened." She replied sullenly as began walking towards the nearby blinkpad on the ground, Marcy following closely behind her. "Their first leader, before Pazuul, was an Orokin named Ballas. He was able to properly fix the towers as good as new," The Tenno stood on top of the blinkpad and motioned for her accomplice to join her. "probably the nicest thing that egomaniac ever did too. May he rest in piss."

In a flash of light the two girls were instantly transported to a different part of the Orb Vallis. Much more mountainous than before, like they were in some kind of ravine. A steel fence and a sign with the AnyoCorp logo were almost all that indicated a dirt road. With Terolee in lead, both girls continued hiking towards the nearby pond.

Marcy flipped though the pages in her journal to check before she asked. "But I thought all the Orokin died out centuries ago? How did he survive whatever killed them?"

Terolee stopped dead in her tracks, eyes wide with the regretful realization that she never specified the Night of the Naga Drums. The night that her and her kind silenced an empire. Would she understand why they had to do it? Could she understand? Many of the atrocities that they had committed were forgotten solely because of just how unspeakable they were.

Despite everything she had been though up until they met, Marcy was still just a regular teenage girl, complete with the naivety and morality that comes with that age. And despite the friendship that was beginning to blossom between them, she still hasn't seen the wrongs that're necessary for doing the right thing.

Terolee has spent most of her life surrounded by both the Ostron and other Tenno, both of which understood why their mission required a high degree of violence. She had never had to worry about being judged for the ocean of blood on her hands before, at least not by anyone whose opinion mattered.

But would Marcy hate her for it? She was the first real friend she's made in decades, she didn't want to lose that.

"Terolee?" Her downward spiral was stopped short by Marcy herself, she had a hand on her shoulder and concern on her face. "You ok?"

"Y-yeah, yeah I'm fine."

Was she always breathing this fast?

"C'mon, pond's just over this way."

'Praghasa the Devourer' once the flagship of the Sentient fleet, the tip of the scarlet spear, her name alone shook fear into the hearts of even the most hubristic of the golden makers.

And now she was a molten scrapheap, slowly decaying into Mercury's barren surface in a makeshift graveyard alongside the countless burnt-up husks of dead Murex. Half of which were ripped apart by Natah's rampage while the other half were immolated by the suns deadly flares.

Yet still her corpse remains useful to Narmer, from his throne atop the great mother were once the almighty prophet Ballas sat, now sits the grand overseer Pazuul as he watches the view of a thousand eyes. His sensolyst and oculyst drones were spread all over the system, across every planet, every moon, and every asteroid, to fulfil the heavy task of detecting the location of the Traveler and the Devil who stole it away from him.

A task that was now complete.

Feed from Raknoid TR-816 shows that one of the sensolysts on Venus spied the two putrid apes entering the Orb Vallis. Now he has them, they will not escape his grasp this time. They must NOT.

The Ram narrow banded the Owl, Boreal, and sent him a single message.

"Your hunt begins anew, bring the Traveler to me. Kill the Devil."

Chapter Text

Alzbeth leaned back into her chair as she watched the kids as they slept, the way they always stuck together in the face of tragedy reminded her so much of herself and the other Zariman children. She wanted to help them in the same way Margulis had tried to help them so long ago. Granted she preferred to think of herself as a big sister as opposed to a mother, even if in truth she acted more then the latter than the former.

Moments of rest often came sparsely for the Tenno, a solar system at war meant there was never a moment of peace and that innocent people were always suffering in one form or another. From Grineer death squads to Corpus debt collectors, exploitation and death was everywhere across the solar rails. Especially in Fortuna, where the colony was founded and built on these cruel practices. So Alzbeth made sure to soak up as much serenity as she could before she'd inevitably be called back to service, even a sadist like her needed an occasional break from the violence.

"Alzbeth, you copy?"

Void-dammit...

"What is it now Badak?" She whispered sternly into her communicator. Her clanmates always had the worst timing.

"We need you down here in the backroom now, we are at code omega. Confirmed Archon aboard an incoming Murex."

In an instant Alzbeth was out of her seat and transferred back to her Warframe, Garuda Prime. Standing at the exit she turned to give a final look towards the kids, still asleep and blissfully unaware of the danger they were now in. She had promised them long ago that she would keep them safe, and she would sooner die than break that promise.

Jumping off from the balcony she splashed down in the shallow stream of coolant before running as fast she could towards the meeting spot.

"Badak? I'm on my way now, is everyone else already there or are they already topside?"

"You're the last one to join, and there's only two Tenno left on the field."

Alzbeth was afraid to ask but had to be certain. "Who?"

"Terolee, and some new girl."

The Narmer Crewman screamed in agony and clutched at the bloody stump that was formerly his hand, Terolee had disarmed him in the most literal sense. A Dera rifle lay in the snow, fingers still clutched around the trigger. The Tenno brought a swift end to his pain with a Parazon driven though his veil and into the front of his skull, the Crewman's lifeless corpse slumping over to join the rest of his butchered squad on the frozen ground. That was the last of them, but more will surely follow...

This was just supposed to be a stupid little fishing trip, in and out quickly, maybe show her new best friend the sights. A nice afternoon without any murder. But nooo, Terolee isn't allowed to have nice things like friendship. Or family. Or even just a life where she isn't always carrying a target on her back. First the Orokin, then the Grineer, and now Narmer. Why can't she have anyone in her life without someone trying to take them away!?

The Tenno felt a hand weakly grasp around her Warframe's ankle.

She turned her head to find the Lancer she had cut in half was somehow still alive, if only barely. He was nothing if not determined, she had to give him that. If she were in a more generous mood she might've just put a bullet in him in an act of mercy, but unfortunately for him she was not a generous mood.

Pulling her foot out of his hold she slammed it down unto the back of his head, with what little energy he had left he desperately flailed his arms around in a futile attempt to get free. The Grineer struggled and squirmed harder and harder with every increment of pressure she added until finally...

Pop

A feeling of catharsis washed over Terolee, like a heavy weight that had been pressing down on her had finally been lifted.  She relished in it as she watched the sunset, the golden orb disappearing behind the vast mountain ranges of the Orb Vallis. The sight was truly awe-inspiring.

A sadness crept up on her as she realized, she had no one to share this moment with.

All that lay around her was mutilated bodies and shattered glass.

Same as it always goes.

Marcy continued to pace around in circles in front of the elevator door, despite how tired her legs were getting. Terolee said she'd be back in five, it's been ten minutes and she still isn't back yet! What if something happened? What if she's hurt? What if the blink pad got damaged and now she's trapped miles away!? She should've never agreed to go back to Fortuna without her. Even if, realistically, she wouldn't be much use in a fight here. Sure she had some experience back in Amphibia but she's never been in a firefight before. And the weapons here in the future are crazy! People have lasers, phasers, blazers, tasers, and every other kind of -aser possible!

Just as Marcy was about to start chewing on her fingernails her anxiety was alleviated by the return of the Tenno, a Brickie model servofish in her hands. Before Terolee even had a chance to say anything she was pulled into a tight hug by Marcy. She found she lost whatever words she was gonna say, too overwhelmed by the comforting embrace.

Touch.

Affection.

Warmth.

These things were forbidden to Tenno, they were reserved for gods and men, not void-born devils. But then again Marcy was from a different era, she didn't know the history of the Zariman's twisted brood. If she did then she surely would've given her the scorn a monster like herself deserved.

"Ignorance truly is bliss..."  Was all Terolee could think as she returned the hug, awkwardly patting Marcy on the back a couple times. For a brief moment she could pretend she was still human.

"Well c'mon," Terolee started after the moment passed. "Let's get out of here befor-" 

A crash and a flash, like thunder and lightning, interrupted the Tenno midsentence. Both turned their heads in shock to find a familiar shaped figure now floating about ten feet in front of them, Marcy's eyes widened in terror while Terolee's narrowed in fury. Archon Boreal had found them...

"Before he shows up." The Tenno finished her sentence before transferring back into her Warframe. Gara unslung her Astilla from her back and popped out its empty magazine before reloading a fresh one in. She refused to back down, the only way this vile abomination is getting to Marcy is though her cold, dead body.

The Archon responded by raising it's trident high above it's head, where it got charged by a massive bolt of lightning crashing down from the sky. The beast then lowered it's now glowing weapon in an attack posture, a furious hiss emanating from it's malformed beak. Both Terolee and even Marcy could tell that this wasn't just about Pazuul's orders anymore, Boreal's pride was wounded in their last encounter and he intended to make them suffer for it.

The two ancient enemies maintained a fierce glare on each other, both waiting for the other to try to make the first move. The mounting anticipation was growing unbearable for Marcy, who still clung behind Gara. She knew just what the owl was capable of...

The tension was finally cut by a flurry of golden talons zipping past Terolee and Marcy and stabbing into Boreal, knocking the Archon into the coolant lake downhill.

Both girls turned behind them to see a feminine Warframe that was clad in white, adorned with gold and stained with red strut out from the elevator, with three more unique frames following close behind her. Each were armed to the teeth. One was big and muscular, another was frilly and petite, and the last looked almost like some kind of monk maybe? Before Marcy had a chance to form a question, Alzbeth's voice came through from the lead frame. "Sorry gals, but since this is our ballroom that makes this our dance. Get as far away from here as you can while we keep him here."

Terolee only gave a firm nod in acknowledgment before she grabbed Marcy and darted to the elevator, the doors started to close just as the Archon had recovered and burst out from the coolant. The Tenno couldn't resist and gave a sarcastic wave goodbye to him before the doors closed and elevator had began it's decent back to Fortuna.

Boreal unleashed a furious, guttural screech as his prey slipped through his grasp for the second time.

Terolee starred at the Muon Battery in her hand as the lift pulled them up, back to the safety of her dormizone. They were only gone for about thirty minutes total, and yet Narmer managed to track them down and deploy an Archon to their location in about half that time. How could she be so stupid to underestimate them, she nearly got the only friend she has left killed and for what? Just because she needed to watch the rest of that anime?

"Do you think they'll be ok?" Marcy's voice was barely even a whimper, it was the first thing she'd said since they left Venus.

Terolee tried her best to sound comforting, despite how tired she was. "They'll be fine, the Venusian Vengeful are one of the strongest clans in the system. If they can handle the Orb Mothers than they can handle an Archon."

"Okay..."

Marcy really hoped she didn't send another person to their death, it seems like anywhere she goes she only brings misery and death...

First Anne and Sasha, then all of Amphibia, then Haddek and the Ostrons, it's only a matter of time before she ruins Terolee's life too...

When they arrived back at the dormizone, she wordlessly crawled into bed and tried her best to go to sleep. She didn't even bother trying to recharge her phone, she just wanted to hide away from the world and not hurt anyone else.

Chapter Text

"So Boreal didn't give you too much trouble, did he?" Terolee asked tensely while pouring some freshly brewed frostleaf tea from the kettle into the glass in Alzbeth's hand. The pale teen had been the one to introduce her to the drink all those decades ago when they first started dating, so the taste always brought back memories of happier times. As such it was reserved for special occasions. Terolee wasn't sure if this really counted, but it just felt right.

"Nah, nothing we couldn't handle. He fought like hell for a couple minutes but once you two left he took off as well." Alzbeth replied casually before gently blowing the steam away from her piping hot drink.

Terolee breathed a sigh of relief, if there was one thing she hated more than anything it was leaving in the middle of a fight. She preferred seeing things through to the end, for better or for worse. And a pissed off Archon is about as worse as you could get.

A smug grin grew on Alzbeth's face as she watched the tension evaporate from the beige skinned girl sitting across from her. "Aww, were you worried for me Lee?~" She teased before taking a sip of tea. "I'm a big girl you know, I can handle myself just fine." 

"You really think I'm doubting the combat skills of someone who earned the title 'Death's crimson maiden' ?"

"Y'know I always preferred 'Queen of gore' myself, but it never quite stuck." 

"Oh, my apologies then your highness." Terolee did a little curtsy as she spoke, earning an amused laugh from Alzbeth.

"Hey now you're in no position to judge, you got like twenty titles to choose from!" 

Both girls break out into a fit of giggles as they find themselves back in their old rhythm of back and forth, and suddenly it seems like no time has passed at all since they were last together. As if it hasn't been over sixty years since they last spoke like this. Laughing and chatting like normal teenagers were supposed to. Although, granted, for most Tenno time has long since lost all meaning. Terolee and Alzbeth were no exemptions.

Alzbeth's demeanor and tone has shifted, her face darkens. "Soo uh, how's your friend doing? The uh... Traveler, I mean." The playfulness is gone, now replaced instead by an aura of uneasy tension. Terolee at first mistakes this for jealousy but quickly realized what it truly is.

She's afraid.

Terolee frowns sternly, she was honestly surprised Alzbeth of all Tenno would have this kind of reaction. "Her name is Marcy, we've been through this before."

"R-right, no I know. It's just... kinda hard to believe that she's the one Narmer's all hellbent on finding. She's just a kid after all."

She almost chokes on her tea, the irony of the statement forces a laugh up Terolee's throat. "I'm sorry, did you forget that we're kids too?" With a single finger she points back and forth between them for exaggerated emphasis.

Alzbeth is quick to defend her statement but not before she rolls her eyes. "This is different, we are Tenno, she's only human." Her expression briefly morphed into a look of pondering. "She is only human, right?"

"I mean I'm no Lorist, but she seems human enough. More human than us anyway..."

The pale girl's face softened, she reached forward and gently laid her hand on top of Terolee's closed fist. "Don't talk like that Lee, we're not the devils the Orokin thought we were."

"Aren't we? I remember back when the thought of taking someone's life used to make me sick to my stomach, how my nightmares were filled with the screaming faces of every single soul I ended." She pulls her hand away from Alzbeth's. "Now I commit genocide on a daily basis..."

"That's not fair, you know we've never had a choice."

"Fair? If the Origin System was 'fair' then it wouldn't constantly need a bunch of traumatized orphans to save it's ass."

An awkward silence rolled in like a fog and hung in the air as Alzbeth tried and failed at coming up with a valid response, she knew she was right but hated when she got like this. Everyone has always viewed Terolee as a mythological hero, she was the Unum's Champion and the Savior of Cetus, but the truth that very few knew was that she never saw herself as a hero. Quite the opposite really, Alzbeth remembered how she once described herself as a 'Necessary Evil'.

She really wished she could get her to see herself the way everybody else does, the way she always saw her. But that was always an uphill battle...

Their eyes meet, amber reflects crimson, both filled with sadness but for very different reasons.

Maybe another time... 

"Sooo, where is Marcy anyway?" 

Terolee took a long sip of her tea before replying to Alzbeth's question, the awkwardness was still present, unfortunately. "She's at Halako Perimeter, she wanted to browse the Zariman's archive."

"Wait, she's by herself? Why didn't you go with her?"

"Ever since the Orb Vallis visit a couple days ago she's been..." The Tenno sighed sorrowfully. "Distant. Like she's been trying to avoid me."

Alzbeth tilts her head slightly in visible confusion. "I thought you two were getting along?"

"I thought so too, but maybe I did something wrong. Maybe she doesn't want a devil for a friend..." Terolee laments, her head hung down in shame.

"Or, maybe she just misses her old friends? I know if I got zapped forward a million years into the future I'd be pretty sad."

Alzbeth reached out and gently grabs her by the cheek and lifts her head back up, their eyes meet again but this time they're both smiling. It's a fragile kind of smile they share, melancholic in nature.

"Now I admit that you know her better than I do, but what if what she really needs right now isn't space alone but rather, a friend to talk things out with?" She winks smugly and Terolee can only blush and roll her eyes in response to the utter lack of subtlety. 

"Yeah, you're right. When she get's back I'll try to-"

BRRRR, BRRRR, BRRRR

Her words were abruptly cut off by the shrill and rhythmic blaring of an alarm, which was quickly followed by a familiar voice jutting in through the Zariman's rusted old speaker system. "All hands report in to the Chrysalith, Grineer raiders have infiltrated the ship! Deck's fifteen thru twenty-five have been compromised!"

Deck's fifteen thru twenty-five? That's...

"Halako Perimeter..." Alzbeth finished Terolee's thought as she too came to the same realization.

"Marcy..."