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Trigger Warning: Contains PG-13, off-screen reference to imminent torture.

Aegir had lobbied that this one be left untied. Entreaty after entreaty, followed by levies towards assurances that of every Negaverse agent ever, anywhere, this one captain wasn’t going to take every opportunity to starseed any poor senshi or knight that chose to walk into the cell while he was unbound. Or that he wouldn’t crumple their bones at a blow like thin tin.
I think his biceps are the size of my waist.

The captain had lowered the old grate of the bed platform from the wall to serve as something of a bench. Like all cells in prisons built in the modern era, everything was visible from the door. The strange captain took up the lion’s share of that visible space, even seated and staring at the wall opposite himself. The captain even turned slowly, deliberate in his movement when the door opened to give no cause for alarm.

“Hallo?”

“I am told you can be trusted to cooperate. At least not to kill anyone.
Why? “

The eternal that entered got right to the point. The man was tall, pretty faced and decked in flowers and flowing fabric that didn’t seem to fit in on any battlefield. At least it wasn’t a mini skirt? He wasn’t immediately recognizable, but familiarity dogged at the edges of Titan’s headache. The senshi’s tone was even and clinical. It was a voice firm, decisive, but as rasping in sound as Titan’s own throat felt on the short commons of captivity, even with Aegir’s generous gift of a gallon of water. “I am a prisoner. It does more harm to resist very strongly when commands are simple reasonable to that. Lots of prisons let inmates be unbound in their rooms or in the halls. “


“An actual prison of the government, yes. But there are other safeguards and barriers. And war prisons can have different circumstances. Why not kill the next one who comes, eat their starseed for energy and make a run for it? Break others out?“

“There are more of you than I could defeat in the halls. I cannot hit eternal senshi easily. I would be overwhelmed, even with a starseed. I do not like to eat them. It is poor odds to break others free, too. We are days with no food and no water. It makes us slower, weaker, harder to think. We would be overwhelmed, and then we would be punished. I want as many people to come out of this alive as can. “

“You aren’t worried about charges of treason? You will look better off than the others. Will you make deals on their behalf? Can you?” He didn’t expect anything of the sort out of a captain. The authority of the second rank, as Bischofite had reported, was minimal at best. What structure the Negaverse had was loose, having no direct responsibility system in the form of a chain of command. Still, it was an interesting talking point. What even could the man offer if he wanted to earn amenities or leniency for himself or others? And he knows there are others. From screams? Assumption? Aegir?

“I don’t think I have that authority. I know Aegir would be true to his word if something was agreed- bought with questions and answers. He has proven that. I don’t know about you. Or what influence you have with the others here. What questions should I answer? There are Knights who were agents once. There are senshi who leave to the White Moon. They remember. They could tell you what I can. There are not so many secrets left. ”

“Not great ones. But important ones- reasons for things, specifics instead of generalizations. Recent Intel. What one agent may have learned they may not share with others, or only with select few. “ Thraen came forward, though he stayed between the Captain and the door. It was all of two steps more in on his long shanks. “ Let’s start with something only you know, then, that is worth to hear. Why do you serve the Negaverse?”

“Howlite corrupted all of us- the people with me. There was no choice given. But I know General Obsidian. He said that they protected the Earth and it’s true sovereign. And it is true. We hold the Throne of Earth. So I oathed myself to my Lord, Obsidian, and to the Throne of Earth. That is why I serve. “

“Oath…? Lord? The Negaverse has no ‘Lords’ or ‘Ladies.’ It is a military. “ It was the sort of noble title that ought to mean about as much as ‘Prince’ or ‘Princess’- they described an old caste and a level of power at the command of the titleholder, but ultimately, no authority or agency over others came attached to it. Monarchy, aristocracy, and the trappings of courtly powerplay were all shadows of a fictionalized, idealized renaissance construction. “What do you mean?”

“The Negaverse may not, but I do. Did. My Lord freed me of my honor-binding to him and went away. “

“But...not the Throne…? Have you taken to following a different….Lord or Lady?”

“No. I have not. I serve the Throne of Earth only, now. As near as I could understand it. Metallia sits the throne, so I serve her commands. “

“Does she give direct commands? Do you believe you are really serving the Earth with everything the Negaverse does? You serve their authority over even the City’s ? The State? The Country? There’s no government out there that even recognizes this ‘throne’ you serve. No more than that there is any real Camelot.”

“Not very often at all to all of us. The General Sovereigns may hear more from her. They do not say. But they command all of us. Sometimes. It is Princes and Queens who make Laws. Their will is authority. If they are a tyrant, it is bad. If they are wise, generous, and strong, then it is good. “

“Law is not so simply human will. It is not so limited. It is the ordinance of reason for best survival and the common good. It is enacted, implemented and enforced by any group or species living in community- it is the codex that can consistently navigate truth and consequences between individual wills. It must be consistent, or it is not respected. It must be reasonable, logical, and transparent, or it is a tool of Oppression, systematic Thievery, Murder, Corruption and ceases to be Law. One person’s will, if it is community minded, can be the catalyst, can be a strong supporter, of Law, but it does not end with them. Might is not right. Caste is not rights. The will of the community is authority, and their greatest chances for survival and enrichment are what govern Law. Law can evolve and change, as the needs and situations do, but there are wrongs that do not change- the right to life, liberty and security of person, not to be held in slavery or servitude; freedom of thought, conscience and religion; freedom of opinion and expression. “

“Resistance to the Negaverse, who violates all these under the umbrella of Metallia, is inevitable. Even Obligation. There is no good consequence to come of dealings with It, as with any devil or demon left to religion. Even it’s blessings given are curses.”


“How can you believe that when you have magic and other people do not?”

“Magic doesn’t make one person more important or better than another person. It is an attribute they have, a strength, like being smart, or beautiful, but it doesn’t make someone inherently worth more than anyone else.”

“That doesn’t work. It works for ideals, but not for living. A senshi’s soul is the soul of a world. If they die, the world dies, ja? All the lives of all the plants, animals, bugs, and if there were any, people, would die. If I die here, nothing else dies to lose me. A senshi’s life is more valuable, as true Jarl’s seed to their land. As they prosper, so their land. “

“There’s no proof of connection that the loss of the senshi is what killed the worlds of the stars. There could have as easily been whole generations on some worlds where there was no senshi alive, and they continued. Some worlds may not even have had any senshi. “

“There’s no proof it is not so, either. “

“The worth of one life does not ratchet above others based on others depending on it. The life of a baby is worth the same as that of a mother, though it cannot provide for itself. All have worth and contribute more to each other.”

“It is still not practical- you are talking ideals. You say the survival is the important thing- the choice is still made. If the mother can bear other children? She can have two or three or five later in a summer of plenty. She can gather and hunt and help the family. Or if she cannot, then the child is more important. To most people. “

“Ideals are goals, values that are different in order and importance to individuals and societies, but that doesn’t make them meaningless to pursue or measure by. They challenge our assumptions of what can and cannot be, of our reality, for good and bad. “

“You don’t have much room for practicality in you.”

“Practicality without morality devalues everything to meaningless numbers. Much of what I do requires practicality- execution rather than months of attempting rehabilitation. Why do you find the Negaverse ‘practical’, by your own definitions, in serving the Earth? When have you done anything under their banner that you saw benefited this world?”

“I haven’t.”

Thraen didn’t answer immediately, pausing to consider the simple, immediate answer. “You haven’t found the Negaverse practical, or that you haven’t done anything beneficial to the Earth with them?”

“Yes. Both.” Admitting it baldly to any enemy was strange, but there was no point to denying it either. They were matters of truth. Hvergelmir and Kairatos knew as much about him, and knew his plans. This senshi did not, and it was a potential danger to say anything in the vein of his plans. They could tell the rest of the Negaverse, or other even other senshi. It would be known and everything ended. Unless it is already known. Unless it is impossible. I have not seen Kairatos in a long time.

“Then why are you still serving them?” Do not let it be something as fool-brained as given word. Do not do evil just because you made an oath. Or are ‘blackmailed’ by your family and are paying with the lives of others.

Seconds drew into minutes. The captain’s expression was hard, eyes fixed firmly on the cement. “Even after these days. Why not leave them, if you do not believe in them? There are Earth Knights. They do not follow Metallia. They draw their power from the Earth itself. The Negaverse claiming to serve the Earth is a lie, even as the Knights of Earth breath and stride the stars and streets at eve. “

There was a sense, vague but present, that the only answer the eternal would accept was that he’d drop everything and purify right away, that very minute if the path could be found to it. Perhaps the set or the bare shoulders, or jaw, the tone of voice, or the cold blaze of fire eyes still bright in the gloom of an abandoned jail decades painted with despair. I wonder if any of this place touches such a person. It doesn’t feel as simple as that. Maybe I am the one feeling wrong, though? Anna is months safe. It has been long enough that the rest of the family will have joined her, somewhere secret and taken steps. Colin has safely moved on for anyone to see.
So much depends on the dreams.
I may not remember things that I would want to, not Colin, Hvergelmir or Kairatos. Or Babylon. They wouldn’t know what happened, unless this one was willing to find them and tell them.

Something else roiled, ranked, ate holes immediately in the considerations of the possibility as soon as the buds of them bloomed. ‘None of it is wrong by the oldest government, the Throne. The ‘knights’ of earth were pretenders, renegades, traitors, ‘ it seemed to say, if it was given it’s own voice. But it was Titan’s own, and not apart in his thoughts. ‘It is not the sword that chooses how it is wielded. Or the hammer.’

‘Why rush to leave the rightful queen, and her service, when you have not asked her own justifications? If you are so proud to assume you deserve them. Could understand them?’

“It is not a decision I would rush.”

“Victims weekly to the depredations of your kind, but you would not rush it.” Each word had the quality of daggers. “There is practicality of numbers for you. While you wait to be convinced and comfortable your superiors will order you to protect others who are, or to harvest starseeds, energy, make youma of men, women and children, and bleed the last living planet dry of all it is for the slavery to your Throne. Tell me of numbers, then, Captain. How practical is it that we let you live, or let you leave here in one piece enough to enact their will.”

“I accept what comes. “

How can someone, faced with doing so much wrong, just be fine with continuing to commit it, given the chance, simultaneous to accepting that it is wrong and that they are going to be punished for it. Utter madness. “ Thraen Annual Planting-”

The color that invaded the space, flowers and heady perfume many times over the surface of the floor, was alien as the sun in the void. The Captain slumped, showing no warning knowledge of how the magic worked. Exhausted, it wasn’t likely that the officer would wake up immediately as the magic war off. Thraen exited, gathering tools, and returned to the silent, dark space in time. Cast again for surety. He rolled the captain face down, tied with six loops and slack for the surgeon’s knot and lead which could secure arms out at extension around the plumbing pipes, and legs each to the barred door in a completed wrap-and-cinch double column back facing spread-Y. It took the third cast as well to ensure no troubles during the proceedings of roping limbs, and he secured the lead lines to the metal points after the assurance of magic was gone. Then Thraen approached again without concern if the captain woke or struggled. The Outdoor Edge SwingBlaze he had from picking up into Alois’ taxidermy hobby on the Project they’d completed together made short work of removing the captain’s shirt and turning pants into Tom of Finland style shorts.

The rise and fall of the great span of ribs changed in the process. He was awake, but kept still and considering of what was happening. Thraen obliged the unspoken question in the silence between them, “You say you do not like to eat starseeds. It is easy to relieve you, then, of a large span of service doing ill. If you speak the truth. “

“What are you going to do?”

“It is called ‘flaying’ when applied to people, skinning to animals. Typical causes of death due to flaying are shock, critical loss of blood or other body fluids, hypothermia, and infections. You’ll be powered as it happens, and I don’t doubt your compatriots aren’t far off from finding this place. You’ll receive care. You won’t die in hours, and will last some days. It will take months to fully heal- wearing uniform or otherwise will be excruciating and you aren’t likely to agree to do so. “

Titan gaped, looking out the corner of his eye and over shoulder at a small halo of bone-blonde hair and flowers that was as much as he could see of the senshi. The explanation was so clinical. The man delivered it like he was reading off a grocery list, or the directions of how to set up a stereo. Flaying was a kind of torture, wasn’t it? Torture and to kill. It isn’t usual to think of….doing it. To someone. He seems very sure. Killing someone is very hard. Skinning them….is…

“You have a steady hand?”

Thraen came more into view, knee-walking the two steps to be at the turned face on the floor. He offered down a wooden rod that smelled like pine. His face was impassive and tranquil, unexpressive as statues in the museums.

“You’ll want to bite this, unless you want to shatter your teeth. “

Grey eyes widened to saucers, but Titan nodded as much as he was able, accepted the rod between his teeth. I am afraid. “Hou mutsch?”

‘How much’
“Your back, the back of your arms and the backs of your legs. The bottoms of your feet. It will be fast at first, but will take some time after- you’ll be sweating and shivering, which interferes with precision. “