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She'd been watching.

It was how Tanzanite spent a great deal of her time as a General-Queen, simply watching. No longer did she have a patrol or a quota. The short leash upon which she had been kept as both a Captain and a General, the severe restrictions that had helped her to survive that transformation until it found equilibrium, had been cut. Tanzanite had been, at once, both forever chained to the power of Chaos and freed from the bonds that had held her back.

Power for humanity.

The ability to fight in exchange for the ability to feel. It was a self-perpetuating cycle. The less she cared, the easier it became to take the lives needed to keep her own. And the more starseeds, the more energy took, the less it meant. It was like flipping a switch in her brain that turned off the emotions that had plagued her before. The doubts and regrets that came when the surging rage of her youma half had subsided no longer floated to the surface in these quiet moments. There was a balance, at long last.

Faces were finally beginning to blur together, names becoming harder to recall. It became easier to justify taking a civilian life. All for the cause. Everything for the cause. For Earth. It was her mantra and her obsession, and the bluenette woman who prowled the streets below had made sure that there would never be any going back. Her betrayal had been key to the moment, the final straw to break the girl within, so that Metallia might build her anew.

And so she had.

Wings spread, and with a step off of the ledge of a ten-story rooftop, she was gliding gently down. She moved with grace, as though flight was no new ability. Those wings were not novices. They held the muscle memory of centuries before, in a time where the Great Youma had not been bound to a humanoid form. They folded smoothly as her heels touched down with a soft click.

“Don't talk,” she said, striding briskly towards the Knight without so much as a hint of hesitation. Her fingers flexed, and those long claws grew until they dragged the pavement. They left long gashes in the asphalt, gouging out trails of powdered stone and screeching horribly.

“Just start running.”

Once, Tanzanite would have hesitated. She would have given pause at the look on Lina's face, the sadness in those wide brown eyes. Now, there was nothing. No flicker of emotion, to sign of mercy or weakness. There was only narrowed eyes and a grim smile, and the claws that raked the pavement as she walked. She moved with purpose, like a bird of prey falling into a dive, ready to strike.

“So here's what I'm thinking,” she began loudly, watching as Lina turned the corner. Her voice was louder than it should have been, as though her power gave it strength. It echoed off of the walls and chased the Knight down the alley before the General-Queen herself had turned the corner in pursuit.

“First, I'll find your mother,” she spoke casually, as though discussing the economy or the weather, “And I'm just going to snap her ******** neck. Boring, I know,” her human hand raised, held flat in a conversational gesture that was out of place given the current circumstances.“But I like to stick with the classics. Your father, though...” Tanzanite trailed off, and a though carried her suddenly in front of the running woman.

Fingers were around that pale throat before the knight had a chance to react, plucking her body from the ground and holding it there as easily as one might hold a doll. Tanzanite pulled Lina close, her horned head tilting as though curious. She seemed to be inspecting the girl, as though looking for some trace of what had made her so special. What had once allowed Lina to crawl under her skin and corrupt her thoughts? What had made her different? Tanzanite could see nothing now in the bluenette's features, and not even as she looked into those brown eyes could she feel something.

Dead inside.

“I think I'll keep him,” she whispered as a flick of her wrist sent the knight flying away, “And I'm going to make him into something so wonderful that even Castor will awe as dear old Daddy rips him limb from bloody, ruined limb.”

“I'm not going to pretend to care about your mother, or act like I am capable of feeling regret. I expect you to return the favor and stop trying to fish for some response. Do not speak as though you expect me to find significance in anything a traitor has to say to me. Your words, like Linarite's life, are nothing but lies.”

Her voice was a hiss by the time she was through, loathing thick in her tone. They had indeed fought before, but never as they were now. Once, Lina had far outmatched the violet-haired half-youma. Now, everything had changed. Though she had no real magic to wield as a senshi might, Tanzanite had strength and speed in abundance. Linarite's kick would land as her slap had before, like a hard swung attack against a brick wall covered in felt. The fragile little bird, weaponless and weaker than ever, had flown head first into a brick wall.

The clawed hand of one wing wrapped around the attacking foot, and her body moved in a sharp spin that sent the young Knight flying hard into the closest wall.

“You'd better get back to running, senshi whore,” she spat, “You can't fight me.”

“Oh, I feel” she spat through a clenched jaw. What was once cool composure had become a mask of fury. Somehow, Linarite had always had that power. Though Castor was a Prince, it would always be weak little Linarite who came closest to bringing the Youma Queen down once and for all. Her brows drew down over narrowed eyes that seemed to glow, silver rings floating in a sea of inky black. Whatever humanity lived there, whatever spark Lina continued to see, it was not home that night.

There was only that fury, and something else. Something that said that Tanzanite had long since lost control, and the Greater Youma that had decimated a chunk of the outer city now stared balefully through her eyes. Where perhaps Tanzanite had seen some glimmer of her former friend, the Black Phoenix saw something else entirely; a weakness. A c***k in its armor that could be removed. Her lips twisted up in a wicked grin.

“Do you want to know what something inside of me is screaming, Knight” the word was spoken with such derision, such scorn, that the voice could not possibly have ever been human. The claws of her wings raked the buildings to either side of the narrow alley, echoing her voice with a painful shriek. As Linarite turned the corner, one wing grabbed the ledge of the fire escape and hoisted her body up. Claws gouged out rock as she climbed with ease, from one side to the other, like a spider up the spout.

“What I've heard since the day you let them do this to me?” Her voice echoed in the streets, quiet save the occasional buzz of a passing car or cry of the homeless. Her heels clicked along the rooftops, an occasional rush of darkness and rustle of feathers overhead jarring the bluenette as she moved.

“Kill.”

A sharp left turn led only to another alley, as though Lina were being herded like a mouse through a maze. As though there was some prize at the end, some reason she must reach the center.

“Kill, kill, kill.”

Lina would not have the chance to turn another corner before that tall figure suddenly appeared in her way, a fist lashing out to meet the girl in the stomach. Tanzanite sneered. This weak, ragdoll of a girl had once been her closest friend. Her only confidant. And now her body folded like a ragdoll around her fist, until Tanzanite brought the other hand up to grab her by the back of the hair and pull her face close. Her words would burn in Lina's ears, as though the heat of Ares brand had never left her mouth.

“That is what my insides scream every second of every day, starting the day you failed to kill Castor and decided to <******** him.”

At once, her hands came forward, throwing the Knight hard to the pavement.

“Stole from me?” Tanzanite's laughter was harsh and cruel, nothing like the soft chime those in the Negaverse often heard. Her head lolled back, and that high-pitched peal echoed up into the night sky. It was a horrible sound, and resembled far too closely the cries of the Black Phoenix.

“Castor stole nothing, because there was nothing to steal.”

There was no doubt in the General-Queen's voice, no hesitation as she spoke. Whatever lingering affection had kept Lina alive after their first encounter was gone now, replaced only by pure malice. There was a hatred there that had never burned so brightly for anyone save Ares, and now threatened to surpass even that. Ares was a senshi, and as such she could not help her wicked nature. She could not suppress that bloodlust that all senshi surely had at their core.

Hell, Tanzanite could even respect her for at least having the decency to confess it.

But Lina? Linarite?

She had been there to witness their struggle first hand. She had stood at their side and fought for their cause. Surely, in her years as a Lieutenant - a Captain, a General - she had seen it. So there was no excuse to spare her the full measure of Tanzanite's hatred. It burned in those silver irises until they softly glowed. There could be only one reason for what she saw. One reason that this weak little girl cowered before her instead of fighting for her life.

The Linarite she had known had not died. She had simply never lived at all. It had all been a lie. A deception so perfect that Tanzanite had fallen hook, line, and sinker.

I told you all along, Marthozite chuckled softly in her mind, even as her hand reached out and closed thick claws around Lina's slender neck. She picked her up and slammed her body hard against the brick. Tanzanite pinned the Knight there, and brought her face in so closely that those two voices hissed in Lina's ear in perfect unison.

“Kill you?” the words were full of scorn, a wicked hiss that burned with the power to back up her threats, “Oh, I am going to hurt Castor so much more.” Black claws gently brushed blue strands away from one pale cheek, and exposed those sharpened molars in a wide smile.

“I'm going to take everything from you, Lina. I'm going to make you watch as I kill your family. As every senshi you befriend dies at my hand. I'm going to make you suffer, and I am going to make him suffer. And only when you beg me to kill you will I be so kind, so... merciful, as to take your insignificant little life.”

A shudder ran through the General-Queen's wings, as though enraptured by the idea.

“And then She will burn everything you've built to the ground.”

Remember what she did, Marthozite hissed in her mind, as though sensing that Linarite's words could be toxic to the indomitable Tanzanite. It was a useless gesture, for how could she ever forget? How did she even begin to let go of that anger, to release all the grief and suffering attached to that betrayal. It clung to her soul like an anchor, weighing her down into the deepest depths where Chaos had so easily found her.

“On second though, I believe Prince Castor has earned more. His suffering will go on long past your own, dear girl,” she spoke the words all too calmly, as though they were a simple decree and not some heated threat. Linarite would die, in time. When Tanzanite felt she deserved that peaceful release from her treacherous existence. But Castor? Oh, there was nothing he might do to earn that favor. If he didn't die before his capture, then he would come to curse the stars themselves. She would burn his soul alive, and keep the Great Youma he became as trophy. He would remain leashed to her throne like a favored pet; a testament to her power.

Black fingers uncurled from around the Knight's throat, letting her body drop to the ground. For a long moment. Tanzanite simply stared down at her. Those cold grey eyes were filled with disdain, and Tanzanite let out one low, cold snort of derision before she turned from the girl and began to walk slowly away.

“First,” she repeated, her voice echoing through the alleyway, her figure having already vanished into shadows, “I'll find your mother.”