Chapter 74: Ch. 74 – Diyoza’s Decision

Katye and I stepped out of the Shadow Realm in different locations around our home. While she headed inside to check on Raven, Echo, and Madi, I stayed outside of the new wall and made my way over to the prison where Ishu was standing on the top, next to the only opening. Seluna was standing off to the side, watching the forest, but she gave me a nod when I walked by which I returned.

I jumped up onto the roof with ease and walked over to Ishu then looked down. There were eighteen people down in the box, mostly men, but there were also two women inside. It seemed that Ishu and Seluna had made sure to strip them of not only their weapons, but also their body armor and even most of their clothing, leaving them all in their underwear. I could only sigh and shake my head, thankful that he had not stripped them naked.

"Why did you take their clothes?" I asked dryly.

"Clothing can be used as a weapon," he replied.

"Hey! Let us out of here!" someone inside shouted, but I ignored them.

"Of course, it can... Where did you put it?" I sighed.

Ishu pointed behind him, so I walked over to see a large pile of rifles, armor, and clothing. I sighed again and jumped off to look through the pile, but quickly found another problem.

"Did you cut their clothing off of all of them?" I complained loudly.

"You did not specify that their belongings needed to be intact," Ishu replied.

I banged my head on the stone wall of the prison in frustration, but there was nothing that I could say to refute his claim since I had not said anything along those lines. I jumped back up to the roof of the prison and sat down with my feet dangling into the pit.

"You're dismissed, Ishu," I sighed then turned my attention to the people inside the box. "Sorry about your clothing. An undead assassin isn't the brightest of guards, but he is effective even when he isn't allowed to kill. Don't worry, though, Diyoza will most likely come for you in a few hours and then you'll be free to go."

"You control that ghostly freak?" a man asked with a growl.

"Yep, but I sent him away since he annoys the crap out of me," I replied.

"Good," the same voice growled.

From the darkness, one of the men ran up the slide and grabbed my leg, trying to yank me down. Unfortunately for him, I was far stronger than I looked, so I held myself in place, even with him hanging from my ankle.

"That was a mistake," I chuckled right before I swung my leg, and his body, upwards.

The man's body crashed into the ceiling which caused him to let go of me and then fall back into the pit. I could see perfectly well in the darkness with my Dark Vision spell, so I could see that he was still moving after the repeated hits which meant that I did not need to heal him. Spreading out my Earth Domain to cover the prison, I made the slide sink into the ground and reinforce the ground. The Eligius Prisoners all backed away from the slide, but one rushed forward, no doubt looking for a trapdoor of sorts where the slide 'must' be dropping into. Of course, he was confused when all that was left was smooth, unbroken metal, but that just made me chuckle again.

"You that bitch, Katye, who sabotaged my ship?" a familiar face asked with a sneer.

It was none other than Paxton McCreary. He was fairly tall and in decent shape with a pale complexion. His hair was long on the top with the sides buzzed short and he had a full beard. My anger flared at his remark and, before I knew it, I was doing something dumb because I would have to heal whoever tried to get in between us.

"That would be my partner," I growled, jumping straight into the pit, "and I don't take too kindly to pieces of shit like you insulting her."

"Cute, but you're an idiot," he said, pulling back a punch.

I shifted into my Dusa form and blocked his attack with my forearm as I rumbled, "I prefer the term 'Stubborn Fool'."

My sudden transformation made the others back away and press themselves against the walls. There was nowhere for McCreary to run having drawn my ire, but he got lucky. I had only gotten in a couple of punches before Katye arrived, jumping through the Shadow Realm.

"Rebecca! What the hell are you doing?" Katye yelled from the hole in the roof.

I gave a snort of anger and stopped my fist, mid-swing. McCreary was still standing since I had been controlling my strength. There was no fear in his eyes, only simmering anger that was being held back due to the differences in our strength. Part of me wanted to kill him right then and there to be done with it, but I knew that I would get my chance at some point.

I changed back to my normal form then teleported myself out of the prison. I did not wait for Katye since I knew that I had let myself be influenced by whatever was sleeping inside of me. It was not the first time, but it disturbed me more than the others because I had not noticed it until Katye shouted at me and it took some effort to reel it back so that I would not kill McCreary.

"Hey, talk to me!" Katye snapped, reappearing in front of me.

"It was stupid, and I lost control. I'm sorry," I said.

She cupped my cheeks gently, and I practically melted in her hands. All of my anger, worries, and stress disappeared with the simple gesture like some kind of spell. My eyes closed instinctually, and she gave me a soft kiss.

"I'll watch the prisoners. Go and relax with Raven and Echo. There are still a few hours of night left," Katye said.

"But..."

She silenced me by moving her thumb over my lips and chuckled, "From the Shadow Realm, so I'll be perfectly safe."

I moved to nip at her thumb, but she pulled her hands away with a teasing smile. "Thank you."

Katye gave me a short parting kiss then said again, "Go."

I smirked then slipped into the Shadow Realm since it was the best method for traveling quickly versus the mana cost. I raced through the house and down the hidden stairs into the cave which had led to the labyrinth. When the countdown had ended, the labyrinth and the entrance simply vanished along with the energy that kept us from manipulating the ground. The vault remained behind which meant that Katye could still look at the spells on the walls.

Once I could reshape the rock outside of the cavern, I had made a small bunker of our own. Madi had her own room, of course, while the rest of us shared one large room. I stepped out of the Shadow Realm outside our room and knocked on the door gently before I opened it. Echo was laying on her side, reading a book, while Raven had been pacing across the floor, but both stopped and looked at me when I entered.

"Sorry, I lost control of my temper and couldn't help myself," I explained quietly.

Raven and Echo knew about my struggles with controlling the other side of me, so I did not need to explain myself further. Typically, it manifested with my laziness or in the bedroom, but there had been a time when Madi had gone off to play in the woods by herself and she had been chased by a boar. When I heard her screams of fear, I transformed without thinking and raced to her defense then pulverized the boar with a single attack. Of course, that only served to frighten Madi more, but the others were shortly behind me and were able to explain, though it took a while before she got comfortable around me again.

Raven gave me a hug, and I leaned my forehead against hers before I kissed her. She smiled back at me when we broke apart then pulled me over to the bed. Echo set her book aside and scooted over so that I could snuggle in between them. Although I did not need to sleep often, I managed to drift off for the remaining hours of the night with both of them sleeping in my arms, but I still woke up with the sunrise.

After waking up Raven and Echo, I went to wake up Madi. Like any pre-teen, she did not like waking up early in the mornings, but that did not matter to me, and I bugged her until she finally got up. Instead of going up all of the stairs, I opened the stone doorway to the kitchen and closed it behind us. Katye appeared in the kitchen a few moments later with a light smile on her face and started gathering some fruits and simple pastries into a small basket.

"We have a few visitors approaching, so why don't we eat on the patio and wait for them?" Katye suggested.

"Is it Diyoza?" Madi asked with excitement.

"It should be," Katye chuckled, "so, why don't you grab some fresh oranges for the juice?"

"Okay!" she replied, then grabbed me by the hand and dragged me out of the house while the others chuckled.

Since the garden, especially the trees, had become my responsibility over the years, Madi knew better than to just start climbing whatever tree, so I would have to give her a boost. Katye had taken down the wall around our house, but the prison remained which drew Madi's attention. She started walking towards it, but I pulled her towards the orchard.

"Remember, Diyoza's people are not all good. The people in there tried to attack the house while we were talking with her last night, and they would have no problem hurting or killing you. We'll let them go when she comes for them, but you remember what Katye taught you about them?" I reminded.

"Yeah," she sighed.

"Don't worry, kiddo," I said, messing with her hair, "you'll have plenty of friends once the others move into the valley."

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"You always mess up my hair!" she complained.

"If you'd cut it short like mine, it wouldn't matter," I teased.

"I don't wanna look like a boy," she retorted.

I chuckled but did not refute her claims. A couple of years ago, I had cut my hair to the fauxhawk I had in my past life, further separating me from the original character of Octavia since she had kept her long hair throughout the show. Echo had also adopted the short hair that she sported in the seventh season of the show after she joined the Disciples, which Katye and I enjoyed greatly.

We had a small orchard which represented years of work. I would spend every three days meditating in the garden, helping things grow faster with my Plant mana, and even Katye would occasionally when she felt like training the power. Because of all the effort we had put into it, it looked like it was ten to fifteen years old when it was a little under five years, so I always felt a bit of pride when I walked through it.

Madi stopped under one of the orange trees, so I manipulated the ground under her to rise. She plucked the fruits one by one and tossed them to me. After we had about a dozen, the two of us headed back to the house where the others were already waiting, including Diyoza and Shaw. Madi ran ahead with excitement, but I kept my leisurely pace and walked up while Katye introduced Madi.

"Will you be staying for breakfast? I imagine it's been a while since you've had fresh fruit," I asked as I carefully placed the oranges on the table where everyone was gathered.

"It has been, but I should see to my people first," Diyoza replied.

"Always a colonel, huh? Follow me," I chuckled then led her, and Shaw, towards the eyesore building which was the prison. "We'll return the weapons and gear later to your ship, but I'm sure you'll understand why I don't want to rearm people that came to kidnap or kill my loved ones."

"I gave strict orders that anyone found would be captured alive," she said.

"I'm sure you did, but that doesn't mean that 'Graveyard' McCreary would respect them. He isn't the type to listen to anyone but himself," I retorted to which she did not reply, basically agreeing with me. "I should mention that the person we left to guard our house is lacking in the common sense department and decided to cut away their clothes since we told him to remove all weapons, but he was kind enough to leave their underwear. Everything is collected together, but it's little more than rags in its current state."

Shaw chuckled while Diyoza simply sighed. We reached the building and I spread out my Earth Domain then started sinking the stone walls into the ground. The metal walls fell open since I planned on repurposing the metal for one of my projects, or possibly for the Wonkru engineers. The people who had been inside were startled by the sudden change, but they recovered quickly, especially with Diyoza next to me. McCreary had two dark purple bruises that were roughly the size of my fist when I was transformed, one was on the right side of his jaw and the other was on the left side of his ribs. I smirked when his eyes locked on to me and cracked my knuckles, hoping he would be dumb enough to try something.

"What's left of your clothing is in that pile and, again, sorry. I'll be more specific with my orders next time," I said to the group. "Diyoza, Shaw, you're welcome to join us for breakfast, but those who would come after defenseless women and children can go back to your ship and be thankful that Katye is kinder than I am."

I left them behind to talk and headed back up to my little family. Raven had saved my usual seat next to her and even made me a plate of food. I joined them happily and started eating as I blocked the sound of the argument with my Wind Domain. Mealtimes were something that had become sacred to us and, even if they posed some danger to us, I would rather enjoy my time right now and leave the worrying for later. Midway through our meal, Diyoza and Shaw approached with Diyoza giving me a hard look.

Ignoring the suspicious look that she was giving me, Katye gestured towards the empty chairs and said, "Please, join us. We have plenty of food."

They sat down and, unlike last night, they actually took a plate of food.

"Are you really from the Old World? Did you guys fly through space? What's it like to fly a spaceship?" Madi asked rapid fire questions while looking at the newcomers.

Katye chuckled and explained, "Sorry, we've told Madi stories about you and she rarely gets the chance to talk to anyone outside of the four of us."

Diyoza actually gave a light smile and said, "It's fine. Yes, we are from what you call the Old World and travelled through space. I haven't flown the ship, but Shaw, here, is our pilot."

The young man had not been expecting to be put on the spot, but he adjusted quickly and started telling her about the Eligius. Raven was also interested in the conversation about the ship which reminded me that he had been the last person that she had been in a relationship with before he was killed like the others in the show. Hopefully this time, he would be able to avoid the same fate easily as long as things did not get too crazy here.

"Why don't you go upstairs and get started on your lessons for the day? We need to talk with Diyoza about possibly settling her people here," Katye suggested when everyone but me finished eating.

"Alright... I hope you stay," Madi said as she stood up and flashed a smile at Diyoza and Shaw.

"She's cute," Diyoza remarked after Madi went inside.

"She is, and she survived for a month on her own after the Death Wave and before we made it here," I replied.

"Tough kid," Shaw said.

"You learned how to survive or died by her age," Echo commented.

"Don't act like you haven't been surprised by her talent over the years," I chuckled.

"Madi is not the matter at hand, you two," Katye said, giving both of us a look since Echo and I would usually start a playful argument whenever we disagreed.

"Fine, fine, I'll stop," I said.

"So, Diyoza, what do your people think of my offer?" Katye asked.

"There were some who were interested, but once McCreary gets back to the ship, I'm not sure how many will still be," Diyoza replied, looking at me.

Katye sighed, but I just shrugged, not regretting my actions even if I had lost control.

"Since Rebecca did cross a line, how about she heals the members of your crew that are here on the surface? It can be a show of good will and we don't need anything in return," Katye offered.

"I'm not sure how many people will trust her after McCreary gives his tale, though it will be hard to believe."

"What? People don't turn into ten-foot tall dragon-kins where you guys are from?" I chuckled.

"You mean he was telling the truth?" Shaw asked with shock.

"I don't know what all he told you, but I can change my form to appear as a dragon-human hybrid with horns, wings, and a tail," I replied with a shrug.

"Are you even human?" Diyoza asked.

"Honestly, I don't know anymore… Katye and I received our powers seven years ago and things haven't been the same since. My brother has never shown any signs of developing his own. We only met one person with similar energy to us, but his abilities manifested in a very different way than either of ours. We were forced to kill him when he tried to take over the Coalition."

"Why aren't you using your powers to rule over everyone? They seem to make you pretty untouchable."

"How many people have you killed throughout your life? In the military, as a terrorist, and then the leader of a prison revolt, put all together? A few hundred, maybe even a thousand… I've killed over two thousand, up close and personal. Even if I have made my peace with it, saying it was for the greater good and that it was in battle, I still remember the faces of all of them. I've had a lover die in my arms because he followed me on a dangerous mission, and I've had to choose between saving my brother's life or one of my closest friends then watched his lover cry over his body when I picked my brother… The only thing that I want is to enjoy the time that I have left with the people I love and help humanity get back on its feet," I answered with a heavy sigh.

Diyoza looked me straight in the eyes and I stared back, unblinking. In the show, Diyoza was someone who could, and would, make the hard decisions without questioning whether or not it was right, but she also did want peace for herself... and her unborn daughter. She was the one who had helped Octavia move past her time as Blodreina when they had been trapped on Sky Ring. Then, when her daughter tried to take the dark road similar to the one that she had walked, Diyoza sacrificed herself to save not only the people that her daughter had wanted to kill, but her daughter's soul since it forced her to realize the errors of her ways.

"I believe you... and I'll help you as much as I can," Diyoza said after a few moments.

 

 

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