A Timely Knight

A Shade of Indigo

That night in the Queen's parlour, Arabella had been presented with a choice: Either tell the absolute truth about Indigo and the true danger it represented or say just what they needed to hear to get rid of the definitive host once and for all.

As always, she chose a combination of both. Telling them the entire truth meant she would have to explain the fact she was a child born fifteen hundred gears ago, who travelled through time and space to bring a cure against this parasite, a cure that was somehow lost in her travels.

She remembered how she had received the news when Master Nilla had first told her. On the day of her seventeenth name day, she had sat down and her Master had presented her with a metallic box unlike any other she had ever seen. Inside, carefully folded, a baby one-piece and a white bracelet had changed her life forever.

It had taken her some time to fully process what that meant. It took her even longer to understand that her dreams were much more than that. Today and tomorrow became hard to distinguish. And every new day, the future became more of a dread, sad and uncertain, while the past remained absolute, clear and bright.

But such a bleak thought was not one people wanted to hear. No one liked the idea of a doomed tomorrow. So she avoided the matter when she spoke to the group. Instead, she only told them what they needed, and wanted, to hear. Enough to convince them that actions needed to be taken if they were to survive.

"So this parasite," the Captain had said as his nervous pace around the room became more of a strut, "it has infected the Princes?"

"Indeed it has," she responded.

The Queen asked, uncertainty plaguing her voice. "And there's no cure?"

"Not that we know of."

"Then we shall create one." The Withered Flower stood up, as if she wanted to go and search for one. "We'll bring every Physician, every Alienist, any and every person that can help. I don't care what it takes. I'll find one."

"Could we do that?" Shooter Viola asked, her eyes still fixed on the burn in her arm.

Arabella shrugged. "No one has ever acknowledged Indigo's existence before, so no one has ever tried. Perhaps it can be done. As of now, our main interest is to keep the parasite from further spreading. The definitive host controls all the others, so we need to neutralize him. But that does not mean we have to kill him."

"We would have to imprison every other infected person too, if we indeed want to keep this thing from growing stronger," the Viscount spoke, still clenching his future bride.

The Queen shook her head vigorously. "Do what you want with the others. Kill them for all I care. But no one touches my sons. That's an order."

Arabella, of course, intended to ignore the Withered Flower's wishes. She knew that a cure would be impossible to find. If the people that came before them had failed to find one, even with all their science and technology, what chance did they have? They, who were in diapers compared to Gunners. No, Arabella knew that was a losing fight.

All Royders needed to go. If Indigo was left unchecked, it would keep growing until all of Makina was infected. She would take no such chances. Each and every host would have to die, including both Princes. She did not care if that meant securing the Queen's hatred. She would kill them all with her bare hands if she had to.

And she probably would.

********

With the Queen's permission, Captain Batchelor moved against the Princes. Accusing them of treason, both Raynard and Hugo were summoned to the throne room to answer for their crimes.