Sunny stood still for a moment shock rooting her to the spot as if she was standing in dried cement, and then with a cry of joy or, something along those lines, she raced across the room and threw herself into her father's arms.
The embrace that closed around her was warm and familiar, hard and soft in all the right places. He hugged her tight to his chest rocking from one foot to the other as he held he, "I m-missed you." She said softly, unwilling to look up into his eyes for fear that this was all a dream.
But that option wasn't in the cards, and he reached his hands out to cup the sides of her face turning her to look at him. She gripped his hand trying not to cry, but feeling the welling in her throat and chest despite all of her attempts.
It was to her surprise that she realized that he wasn't completely the same.
The Lanus she had known had been far older reaching the late stages of his middling years. The lanus that stood before her must have been no older than she was, and in the prime of his life. Carapace that had gone dull overtime now shone as bright as it ever had. Connective tissue that had grown hard and ridged with age had softened, and the color vibrancy of the UV light surrounding him was, unusually bright.
When he spoke, his voice was unmistakable, but also much younger than she remembered of her father.
It was a strange thing.
He held her at arms length to get a good look at her, "I swear you've gotten taller."
The comment made her laugh and choke at the same time.
"Very funny dad."
"No I'm being serious>" as if on that note being suddenly reminded of what was going on he turned to loo kat the reset of the room, "And these are your friends."
At the back of the room other members of her small band were switching between slack jawed awe, and mild shuffling awkwardness as they tried not to pry on a moment that was not theirs. Sunny was suddenly embarrassed taking her father's arm and dragging him forward.
"yeah these are, my friends. Maverick, Ramirez, Krill."
It was then that she remembered, "ADAM!"
She ran to the opening in the floor kneeling at it's edge and staring down into the abyss into which her battle partner had fallen. There was no sign of him, just endless rolling sky.
Lanus came up behind her, resting a gentle hand on her back, "it's alright, it's a pocket dimension, nothing in there can hurt him, not even hitting the ground,"
She turned to look at her father eyes still wide with concern, "Can we get him out."
Lanus shifted slightly, "I, well yes, but not without alerting the others."
Ramirez rubbed the back of his head, "No offence..... Mr uh Sunny's dad, but we sort of already assumed that you had."
Krill and Maverick nodded along.
"No.... no I well I had a hunch, and I wanted to see you. Technically this meeting should not be happening. When they find out I am here I will be severely reprimanded."
That made Sunny look nervous for her father, but he held up a hand, "Even with the makers there are rules, and I am ready to accept responsibility for that. They are good people, but there are certain things that generally have to be upheld. It isn't personal."
Sunny wasn't so sure but let her father continue, "I'm too young for them to take me seriously, or even notice me missing, so I held back to try and find the group of you."
"Too young?" Sunny wondered In confusion.
"Yes, Sunny, some of these beings are millions of years old, our lifetimes are like a drop in a vast ocean compared to what they have known and experienced. Talking with them, even speaking with them is difficult on occasion. The group of you running off is only a problem to them because they essentially haven't babyproofed the facility." He pointed to the floor, "Your boyfriend falling into the pit is exactly what they wanted to avoid."
If sunny could have blushed she would have, "You startled him."
Lanus gave her the Drev equivalent of a raised eyebrow, "Adam has been the center of talk for the Makers for some time, and in all the history of creation, no human has ever caused them so many problems."
"That sounds like my Adam." She said sheepishly
"Befriending the Leviathan, getting his ass sent to other construct sights, exploring infected specimen planets, almost waking up the Behemoth, not to mention al the times he has managed to separate his anima from his body, which could potentially result in a catastrophic explosion equal in power to that of a supermassive supernova, but I digress."
Sunny shuffled her feet, "he is... difficult to handle."
Lanus sighed, "Either way we should get him out." He gave her a look, "You do understand this means the Makers will come, I'm not allowed to use any of the equipment, and as soon as I do they will know."
Sunny nodded her head.
The others gathered around.
Lanus turned his head towards the cube above them, and with his hands raised, he closed his eyes, the cube began to spin and rotate, and the blue sky before them started to subtly shift towards nightfall
"What is even the point of having this pocket dimension." Krill asked, "Without warnings or safety measures it seems like soemthing relatively dangerous to have just sitting here for anyone to prod at."
He had both pair of arms crossed, and was looking at Lanus with a rather scolding expression.
Lanus just smiled, "Well, we don't have to keep an eye on Adam for one thing." He frowned, "Though I am beginning to wonder if naming your child Adam dooms them to a life of being a bit of a pain in the ass."
"Are you talking about Adham.... The first man?"
Lanus nodded, "He has.... A very dramatic streak. Your Adam is a lot like him, and since all humans descended from Adham, I would say I know which side of the family he gets it from."
The cube stopped rotating, and as it did their conversation stopped in it's tracks as the room was suddenly filled with glowing red light. Looking through the veil the cube cast to the floor, Sunny was having difficulty seeing what lay inside. Squinting her eyes she could make out a sky darkening towards nightfall, blue over a line of trees but black further out.
Drev eyes adjusted as best they could against the light and the source of the soft red light became clear.
Bodies.
Hundreds of them backed together to forma chokingly tight circle, their eyes and mouths choked with sprouting bone.
Sunny grabbed for her spear, and Both Maverick and Ramirez drew their weapons. Conn's ribbons were pale and ghostly I the red light, billowing around his head like a halo of fog. Lying on the ground at his feet was Adam, grasping his neck with one hand.
And just behind him, was a tall and imposing shape with four arms and a helmet of dark metal.
Lanus was the first to react grabbing his spear and stepping into the portal his feet soft over grass.
Conn turned eyes wide with fear, his usual sarcastic wit choked somewhere behind the seriousness of the situation In which he found himself .
Adam looked up from the ground his mechanical eye shedding green light over the ground.
"Get inside both of you." Lanus demanded pushing con back towards the hole, stepping bodily between the two entities as the black figure rose higher and higher in the darkness, able to look Lanus in the eye. The infected humans drew back a pace or two.
Lanus began to glow subtly his carapace sparkling a thousand times more than the golden metal it emulated.
Sunny raced in and grabbed Adam by the arm, hauling him back through and onto the dark marble.
At the sound of Lanus's voice , the dark figure paused and tilted its head.
"Lanus?"
The voice sent a shock of Cold through Sunny's body and she gripped onto Adam with all four of her hands fearing the thing that stood against her father.
Distantly, she thought she could hear shouting.
"Kazna." When Lanus spoke his voice choked with emotion. The light in his carapace flared brightly illuminating the circle, and the figure that stood on the other side.
Kazna stood at her towering ten feet tall shrouded in armor so black it was more than shadow. Golden light rolled over her cosmic carapace and then dripped off like oil rejects water. Her golden eyes glowed brightly.
Just like Lanus she was beautiful, age diminished, battle scars gone, injuries removed, but her transformation was a mockery of his, a shadow of his burning glory.
Darkness swirled around her feet as the two stared at each other.
"Lanus." She held out a hand and her voice was soft, almost hopeful. Sunny had never heard a word spoken with such reverence, or with such longing. It made her sick to hear and her arms turned to jelly, unable to lift her spear at all.
She held onto Adam instead, as he lay on the ground hand wrapped around his throat.
"What are you doing here?" Lanus said breath coming in sharp gasps. Despite his attempt at keeping calm, Sunny could sense both excitement, fear and even anguish in his voice as he spoke. It had never occurred to her, as it did now that the two of them still loved each other.
Sunny's birth and the numerous failed attempts between her and Kanan had driven them apart, but the memories of what they once were still lingered on.
"I am here to mend what was broken Lanus."
He held up his spear warily, "I don't understand." He looked around them at the infected images, and with a wave of her hand Kazna dismissed them,
"Just a little demonstration." She stepped forward offering an open palm to Lanus as the shadows whirled at her back." Behind her the world collapsed in on itself leaving the two of them standing in a vast well of blackness, the only light seeming to emanate from Lanus himself.
"Come with me." She pleaded, "Come with me Lanus, together we can have what we lost."
Sunny watched her father, watched his body tremble slightly and lean forward as if a part of him wanted to take her offer. If only she could have guessed the intensity of the fight inside him at that moment, so instead of answering he deflected the question, "What are you doing, Kazna." He motioned around them
"What is all this?'
"It's my salvation Lanus, its what I must do so they return you to me."
Lanus shook his head, "Kazna, you don't need to do all this. A few more years, and we would have been together anyway. It wouldn't have mattered."
Kazna made a face, and Sunny was forced to look away, "IS that what lies the Makers have told you."
"They aren't lies Kazna."
"They have offered me a deal I would have been stupid to refuse, power, a place in the new world when they reign, and you. Together we can start over, have the life that we deserved." Her voice grew ill with bitterness, and she watched as her father's body leaned back straightening slightly.
His head bowed.
"We HAD a good life Kazna, you were just to blind to see it."
She hissed.
"The fact that you cannot see that is testament that you are not the Drev that I fought with. The Drev that I knew would have been proud of her sainted daughter and warrior son, she would have fought for the daughter that I..... that I never got to meet...." His voice was quiet, "Do you remember her Kazna? Do you remember the kit that you left stranded I the valley to die? Well she live..... and I never got to meet her."
Kazna raised her spear, "Nothing! Worthless! We should have had soemthing better! We deserved better!"
"Life doesn't owe you anything Kazna!" He shouted, "You are not entitled to perfection. Life is hard and it is cruel, and the only way to change that is to change it yourself. Our daughter rose to sainthood despite the way she was treated, Dzara became the leader of hundreds, and Kanan learned to live again after Nehchal, but you..... something happened to you . one day my Kazna was there and the next..... "She could sense the distain in his voice, they all could, "And the next I lay next to YOU."
Kazna bristled.
"You aren't the Drev I love, I don't know where she is but she isn't here."
Kaxna lunged forward, and at that moment the door behind them burst open.
Makers flooded into the room grabbing the group of them in strong arms. Sunny was pinned to the floor as someone threw their body over her in her defense. She felt helpless, to her side Adam was screened behind the body of an unknown woman as Adham charged into the room puling Lanus out of the way and raising his spear.
She didn't see what happened after that only heard the sound of yelling and then cursing. The group of them were dragged from the room and down the hall to a safe distance where they were al sat down and surrounded by a contingent of at least eight maker guards.
Sunny looked around for her father, but couldn't find him, eyes turning to rest on Adam who sat on the floor his head down.
She crawled over to him as the Makers looked down.
"Adam, Adam are ou-"
Before she could make it to him, he held up a hand, "Stop-"
She did eyes wide with confusion.
"Adam?"
"Don't.... Don't get any closer." He said.
She watched his hand tremble lightly.
"Adam what is going on."
He looked up at her and his eyes were hard and tormented. His hand continued to tremble ever so slightly, "Please don't get any closer."
"Adam I don't understand."
"It might already be too late but I have to protect you. I have to protect everyone."
IN frustration Sunny leaned forward, "Adam what are you talking about."
Behind them Sunny heard a commotion and turned to see Lanus being escorted from the room. The guards did not behave as if they expected to fight him, but it was clear he was in some sort of trouble. He turned his head to look at her, and the two made eye contact. He gave her an encouraging nod and shouted over the crowd, "I love you sunny, I am proud of you and I always will be."
And then he was gone, pulled around the next corner and out of sight.
She was hauled to her feet as were the others, and they were marched down the hallway.
Adam protested, "Don't.... don't touch me! It will infect you.... All of you."
He shouted like this for a while, but no one listened to him.
Adham was nowhere to be found as the group of them were bundled into something that resembled a docking bay. Looking down the interior of the room Sunny couldn't fathom its length as it seemed to go on for infinity. Ships took off and landed from the inside of the hanger pearl white with sleek curving wings. The technology was far beyond what Sunny could understand, and even if she had been able to describe it, she wouldn't have been able to explain it.
They were tossed I the back of one of these shuttles, and the rest was a blur.
Alien technology so advanced it might as well have been magic, roared around them, and all that time Adam wouldn't look at her much less touch her. No one could get near him, and his protests only grew louder as they closed in on the omen.
Still the makers didn't listen.
The crew of the omen watched in silence from the docking bay as the strange ship landed and the group of them were escorted out.
As soon as his feet hit the deck, Adam was running. Sunny followed after him but made it only as the door to his rooms were shutting and locking before her.
Outside Waffles and Jeffery stood looking confused and frightened as Sunny ran up to the door.
Adam! Adam!
***
On the other side Adam rested his back against the door and slid slowly downward listening to sonny's protests rom the other side.
His hands trembled in his lap.
IN the near darkness he looked down at his hands, and where blue veins might have been visible through his skin on a normal day, at his wrists and forearms, he thought he could see a subtle red glow beginning to spider through his body, following the line of his veins and tracking.....
Directly towards his heart.