I open heavy eyelids to the sound of fighting and roaring around me. They open to the world that I was in before. The hard cold concrete against my cheek attested to that. I could feel something in my hand. Looking in front of me, I see I was holding a hand that wasn’t much smaller than mine. The only thing that remained remotely human of the Keystone. A kid who couldn’t even remember his own name. The rest of his body was nothing more than a split open rag of skin. Black veins, now shriveled up poured out of the skin rag, crossing the ground and the walls like dying vines.

I hold back everything. I remember it all. He was trapped in his own world because someone turned his body into something that he couldn’t call his own anymore. Mutilated. They destroyed it. I’ve really had enough.

Mr Tiger’s roar drew my attention as I realise that there was a full on Hexer army surrounding him. Apparently taking a holiday is out of the question. I struggle to my feet, seeing that the tiger was struggling to protect me. I don’t know how long I’ve left him all on his own. But he looks exhausted, battered and ready to fall over in a heap any second. I manage to just raise myself. Why? Why can’t they just leave us alone already?

Emotion bubbled in my chest, rising but caught in my throat, making my eyes and nose feel congested. It hurts.

Can’t I be left alone for five fucking minutes? Fuck!

A sudden impact rocked the world as dust and debris flung out around us, allowing the pale morning light to filter through the dust and snow slowing falling around us. Everything stopped as we all look at the centre of this…what? Meteorite that managed to land in front of me and the tiger, taking out a good number of Hexers.

In the middle of all this was a slumped over carcass of a small Wyrm, leaning in from the hole, the rest of the body still arching in from outside. Well when I say ‘small’, I mean it was the size of a semi –trailer. Where the fuck did it come from? Black blood poured from the mouth cavity and the deep cuts that wracked most of its body. Something beside it moved, I caught a glimpse of white gold that moved like lightning, disappearing like a figment of my imagination.

I mentally groan. What now?

That was when I realise that the Hexers suddenly go in a panic as white gold flash through them, taking them all out, cracking through their crystal encased bodies like brittle glass until none were left. I look up to feel my jaw drop as the white gold lightning came to a sudden stop in front of me. Mismatch quicksilver and burning gold eyes stare back at me. X.

I feebly reach for the blade that was (still fucking) beside me, raising it at him, even though I knew it was pointless.

A small grin and an amused grunt escapes his lips before he crashes to his knees, blood spurting from his mouth as he coughs and chokes, falling to his side in a crumpled heap.

I sat there, too shocked to move. I notice that he was fully covered in wounds, all deep gashes and his breathing was slowing down.

Is he dead?

Fading.

Ah and here I was missing Mr. Tiger in my head. I scramble my way towards him and place a hand to his wrist, then his neck. My eyes widen in shock as his pulse was getting so weak that his heart was going to stop any second.

“No…” I breathe as I press an ear to his chest. It stopped.

“No. No. No.” I quickly move to place my hands on his sternum to do CPR. “Can’t die,” I feel I was going to lose it if he dies as well. I can’t…I can’t take it anymore. It’ll destroy me if he’s gone as well. No more. No more. I’ve had it. I’m tired of sitting on my ass and watching everyone else fight and protect me because I’m so fucking useless.

A wet drop falls onto X’s coat and I realise I was crying and panicking. In this state I wouldn’t be able to save him. I press my ear to his chest. Nothing. My hands move to cup his face.

Please.

Anything.

Anything at all.

I’ll do anything.

Just-

A burning sensation crosses my cheek and all over my body. My bones feel like they’re snapping as I hold tightly to his face as the world stops spinning. Red drops mix in with my tears. The scratch across X’s cheek…its closing up like it never happened. Perfectly clean, unblemished skin, there wasn’t even a scar.

My eyes widen in shock. I…if I’m doing that…please. Just please…even if I die. Save him.

My body jolts as a sting pricks at my gut. Looking down, I see X had punched something into me. His hand moves, letting me see the glass dart-flask that had gotten Cody protruding from my stomach. I look back at his face in shock. His eyes were wide open and intensely staring at me.

He’s awake…Then, he’s ok. That’s good.

The world fades, becoming fuzzy as my focus no longer holds and neither does my body. I feel myself fall but never feel the impact as I fall into a deep sleep that I half hope I never wake from.

<<<<<<>>>>>>><<>><<>>><<<<<<>>>>>>>

The sound of a van is the only thing ringing out in the still midday sun of a long dead city. Coming up to the entrance of a car parking lot, the team moved in with as much haste as possible. He disappeared during the middle of the storm, only to wind up in Section 1.4.2 of the second district. Fenir looks at the tracker system one more time to check. How he ended up in the path of a Keystone, anyone could guess. But they needed to pull him out before the saturation becomes toxic.

They pull up just outside the second level, ready for the worst. With gas masks on, Fenir moves the team out with hand signals. They needed to be careful in this type of area. A nest is never a good place to land.

And that idiot had to land smack bang in the middle of it all.

He glances over his shoulder, motioning for Hanna to move in first. She was the only one who could help him if he needs a ‘kickstart’.

Hanna moves forward, taking the lead. She checks the monitors and blinks in surprise, saturation was lower than 15%. This has never happened before. She taps the small device, just to make sure but nothing changes. That’s impossible. Alphas have been sighted here before. Perfect scions can only form from a Queen body.

Fenir notices Hanna’s confusion, tapping her on the shoulder. She needs to refocus. They weren’t here for her little science exploitations. They needed to recover the Monster before he goes berserk. She nods to him, showing she understood and stepped forward, eyes still on the monitor. The saturation radiation didn’t climb as she got closer to the Nest.

And she was itching to know why.

Fenir rolled his eyes as she steps forward. Shaking his head, he looked back at Rain and Mist. Both were wait in position with black bullets in case a freaking army of Black Beasts decide to greet them. If the Monster forgot some. He normally didn’t, he was very thorough when it concerns his own kind.

<><<>><>

Hanna makes her way up a ramp, noticing the clear signs of a Keystone taking root long enough to become a Queen. The veins covering the floor and ceiling and any walls within reach. Climbing like vines, thick enough that they were climbing on top of each other, leaving not spaces, feeling like she was entering some weird organic chamber. But the veins were dead. The crystal clustering has even become brittle. This…was impossible. Ever for X, he has never been able to get close to a Queen, let alone touch one to destroy it.

Is…is it possible for a Keystone to implement an ordered death? No. She understood the programming enough to know that a Queen cannot terminate its own role. Then an Alpha? It’s true Alphas carry the capacity to become a Queen but it would need time to take root and establish the Nest. But that’s inconclusive. Alphas and their scions aren’t pure copies and take longer to fully transmute. Some of the Lesser stop formation altogether. Besides, she has never heard of a Nest killing its own Queen. She felt a small thrill in her stomach. She was about to see something interesting. Oh and of course X. He probably needs some medical attention.

Bracing herself, she was ready to see a destroyed Keystone for the first time.

The shattered remains of the Keystone scion were scattered about like discarded sand. X’s doing no doubt. She was a little annoyed that maybe just once he could leave a complete carcass for her to examine. Next, there was a body of a juvenile Wyrm taking up a giant hole in the middle of the ceiling. Both probably X again.

“Hanna,” a weak voice calls her attention down to the front.

She blinks, realising that it was X. But he was holding onto someone. Frowning, she steps closer and realises that it was an unconscious boy who could have only been about sixteen.

She knees down to take his pulse. They said that this city was abandoned. No human could be here. …Unless, this was an Outsider who was too curious for his own good.

“Can I call the radio silence off?” Hanna looks back at X. He was fine. This was the most stable she has seen him post-‘killing everything in sight’.

He nods, staring back down at the boy who he seems quite interested in. Which is unusual in and of itself.

Tapping the ear piece, she opens the radio-way, “Fenir, it’s safe. The levels of saturation are still low and stable. The Nest has been destroyed.”

“Roger. Stay there, we’ll bring up the van. Is Monster ok?”

“He’s stable but there is someone with him and he’s not going to last much longer if we don’t get him to a Station in the next twenty minutes.”

X stands, pulling the boy up in his arms easily enough like he was cradling a toddler.

She glowered at his in-human strength.

“We don’t have that sort of luxury,” Fenir grumbles over the radio.

She rolls her eyes, “Then it’s lucky that the Tower’s still functioning, isn’t it?”

“You will need to bring another,” X, who rarely opens his mouth, spoke. His voice was something alluring in and of itself.

“Huh?” Hanna took a moment to register what he just said.

He motions towards a giant black tiger with glowing blue stripes.

“Is…is that what I think it is?” Hanna could feel herself tremble. If that’s what she thinks it is, she will forgive X for all the misgivings he’s ever given her. She could kiss him. If she could dissect the Lunar-

“Do not kill it,” X warns. If it were anyone else, it would sound like a plea but this was X. It was a demand. And when he demands, it becomes an order.

She pouts, “Why!? Here I was going to love you forever and now you’re telling me not to touch it?”

His mismatch eyes harden. His face showed no emotion.

She sighs, “Alright. Fine. But let me at least examine it.”

He made no motion or comment that he heard or cared for what she said. Which meant she had better do as she was told.