The Shattered Heavens

The Cradle

Taking advantage of the bodily fatigue, Octavia allowed her eyes to close and leaned her bare head back against the computer as well, taking a moment to breathe the unrestricted air deeply. As she focused on the portable amaranthian network, she allowed her body to fall away from her, the pain and fatigue sinking deep into the abyss as her mind separated away from it all. She felt weightless, powerful and capable as she slipped away from her body and into the digital space.

"Much better," Vita remarked contently with a sigh, stretching her arms above her as she arched her back and twisted from side to side.

"Couldn't agree more," Octavia admitted with a relieved scoff, turning in the air to look back at her body.

Looking at herself from above, Octavia could hardly recognize the grizzled survivor in front of her. Her fur was a sweat-drenched mess of tangles and matted patches, while streams of dried blood trailed from her ears, nostrils and the corners of her eyes. She hadn't even realized the new sources of blood, but she figured they must have been a result of the Seraph's attack on her brain while she convulsed on the ground during the firefight. Her armor was scarred and the polished sheen had worn off, while the nanoweave fabric accents had been burnt and torn from the various battles she had survived.

"We look like shit," Vita commented, bringing her arms down from the stretch to cross them in front of her chest as she peered down at their shared body.

Octavia didn't reply as she gazed at her body with a small frown, eyeing the damage and her general appearance with concern. Gone was the inexperienced girl fresh out of cryostasis - in the course of only a few weeks she had turned into the ruffian before her. She briefly wondered what else she had lost along the way, but forced herself to look away before she got lost in her train of thought.

Turning her attention towards the phantom strings of binary data bouncing back and forth through the Curator complex, Octavia focused on the streams that were leading back into the room where her companions were. It only took her reaching out to grab one before she was suddenly piggybacked at light speeds into the room above her, the sudden change in scenery disorienting to her incorporeal form. She took a quick glance around the room to reorient herself and found that she had gripped onto the stream of data that ran from the computer to the hologram table above, providing a real-time feed of the planet they were on.

She could see that Merith had rejoined the others in the room and was currently sitting on the floor next to Alex with the human's head in her lap, brushing Alex's hair idly as she spoke whatever reassurances the poor human needed to hear in the moment. Cody had shifted to the other side of the room to stand with Remiel as they pondered the door in front of them - she could see that they were both referring to his notebook and speaking quietly but animatedly about the facility and what they had found there. None of it helped her in finding the way forward, but Octavia appreciated knowing that everyone was still present and accounted for.

Floating through the aether, Octavia came to a stop next to Remiel and Cody, crossing her arms as she peered at the woman with a frown. Everything that had happened was because of her choices, and Octavia couldn't even begin to fathom what the human wanted out of it all. What good would Erillium be to her if she couldn't control it? If she really wanted to wipe out the Omni then why did she send them all on a doomed mission? Octavia couldn't even begin to guess.

As Octavia contemplated the possibilities, she noticed Vita's purple form floating into view out of the corner of her digital eyes. She looked over at her companion and offered a small smile, "Think this is going to end with us killing her?"

"Maybe," Vita agreed as she came to a stop and set her hands on her hips, peering over Remiel's shoulder with a curious gaze, "The Omni didn't explicitly tell us to kill her, they just said to figure out what her deal is and stop her if it's something horrendous."