Third Person
There were many emotions that filled up Tanith when she heard a familiar voice call her by her real name, but anger was the first one and the most overwhelming too. As they stepped into the light, all of her suspicions were confirmed.
"I have a proposition for you."
Tanith had many things to say, but she settled for one. "Nope, no way." She answered, turning away from them, not even wanting to look at them.
They just sighed. "Way to be open minded."
Tanith's rage only increased, and she whipped back around. "I normally am, but to you? No. You know what you did, I can't trust you, Cece."
Cece only laughed dryly in response. "And yet, you insist on using nicknames. You sure you don't hold onto some sort of fondness for me? Any good memories? We did have successful moments after all."
Tanith's eyes only narrowed further. "Don't flatter yourself, I call you Cece because I'm not calling you "Conscience"."
Cece paused for a moment, her eyebrows knitting together as she thought to herself. "Well why not? That's what I am." She answered, confusion laced her voice.
The hybrid's fist clenched. She finally did something she hadn't done in a long time: Looked Cece in the eyes. "You are not my conscience! You're not me! Plus," She added. "It just sounds ridiculous."
Cece and Tanith looked alike in many ways, having the same skin color, the same body form, and even the hair color and length. However, there were two major differences to their appearances. Cece had no tail, being more human if anything, and her eyes were a bright green instead of blue. Outside of appearance, her voice sounded different. It was slightly lower and always seemed to talk grimly, especially when serious.
Cece groaned again, her shoulders finally slumping from their close to perfect posture she tried to keep up. You didn't even have to look at her to know how exasperated she was. "How many times do I have to explain this to you? I. Am. You."
"No you're not!" Tanith shot back. Her teeth began to grind, trying to hold back. "If you were me, we'd think the same, act the same, feel the same, all of that! But you're different from me. Plus, if we were the same, wouldn't we be saying the same thing at the same time because we think the same?"
"All this time and you still don't get it." Cece crossed her arms, leaning to one side while still standing up. "I said I am you, but we're not the same. I'm your conscience, not your actual being. Your second half? The yin to your yang? We're almost opposites in many ways, but not polar opposites. It has to work like that or it wouldn't be balanced."
Tanith twitched as Cece's borderline condescending tone filled her ears. "I know that. Stop explaining everything to me! Sheesh, not even Bartholomew does that!"
"But you weren't understanding."
"I did understand I just-" She let out a puff of hot air, trying to cool herself down. All the events were starting to get to her. "What do you want? We had a deal, you broke your end. You know what happens when people break deals, we can't trust them. You promised you'd stay away from me."
"I know." Cece replied calmly. "I only broke my part of our deal because I want to make sure you don't break yours."
Tanith soon found herself filling up with confusion. She thought to herself for a while before saying anything. "I left you alone, what are you talking about? I'm still keeping mine!"
But the conscience shook her head slowly. "Not our promise. I'm talking about the one you made to Rasmus."
The hybrid froze. Cece had struck a little too close to home. Tanith had been worrying about keeping her part of the deal for sometime, so of course she'd use it against her now. When she continued to stay silent, Cece continued on. "You're getting dangerously close to breaking it, and you said it yourself: He's not waking up. I'm proposing a deal."
"What kind of deal?" Tanith blurted out.
"Let me in, and I'll wake him up."
Almost immediately, the blue eyes narrowed down on her, glaring. Cece refused to show it, but she was uncomfortable with that gaze on her. "No. Not again. Last time I let out into one of my best friend's head, you failed me, and I suffered for it." Tanith turned away, and started to slither away, going further into the darkness. "We're not doing that again. I can't trust you."
The manifestation of Tanith's conscience sighed. She knew this would be a problem, but she had to find a way to work through it. She called out to her, trying to stop her from leaving and ruining her chance. "I know that Kenji's death hit us hard-"
Little did Cece know, she chose the worst wording possible. Tanith tensed up and screamed at her. "YOU DON'T GET TO SAY HIS NAME!"
Cece's eyes widened and she was left speechless. Not a word would leave her mouth, even if she wanted it too. Fear was pulsing through her veins. She might not have been fully alive like everyone else, but she could still feel fear.
Tanith caught her breath, slowly swallowing feelings that she thought she had buried a long time ago. She let out a long breath before meeting the green eyes, keeping a cold look. Distance yourself from her. She whispered to herself. "You don't get to say his name." She said again, voice lower. "His death was your fault, and you forced my hand. You couldn't save him, and I'm the one who had to kill him." Tanith trailed off for a moment but finally found the right words to tell her off. "You don't understand how devastating it was. I killed him with my own two hands, and I felt him die. We bonded and I had to kill him! You'll never understand!"
Her mouth opened but Tanith cut her off, moving forward. "Don't say it. Don't say how you felt the same because you are me, because you're not the one who had to drive his own katana into his heart so he'd die a merciful death. You got to hide behind my mind, so don't say a word." She warned, doing her best to not let her words turn into a hateful hiss.
Cece didn't say anything for a long time, but eventually she had to. "Tanith Luna Mutationem, like I said before, I have a deal to make with you."
"Two times? You know I hate it when people use my full name."
Cece's mouth twitched. "It was to get your attention, now let's bargain. You put me into Cody's head, I'll wake him up. Sound fair? Admit it, you're desperate for a solution."
Tanith had to admit, she was tempted, but one thing held her back. "What do you want out of it?"
She didn't speak for a long time, but finally, the truth came out. "Forgiveness."
The word struck Tanith like a truck, but it made so much sense at the same time. So many thoughts, feelings and memories buzzed in her head and she couldn't make a choice.
"We'll see."
Tanith's pace was slower on the way to the hospital than normal. Her mind was full, trying to process it all and trying to believe Cece's intentions and that she would succeed.
How can you trust her again? Last time she did this, she failed you. That little voice was the main doubt for her. Risking something like this wasn't something she wanted to do, but unfortunately, she had to. Cece was right, she wanted Cody to wake up as soon as possible, and she was willing to do anything to achieve that.
All the workers of the hospital were either too busy or too tired to notice the hybrid slithering through their halls and making a beeline for the king. Once inside, she quickly got to his side and placed her hands on his chest.
A red glow emitted from her whole body for just a second, before it traveled down to her hands and emitted a spark from them. The penguin's body reacted to the shock like anybody would, but remained asleep.
"I can't believe I'm doing this but... Good luck." She whispered before leaving.
***********************************************
"You gotta be kidding me! HOW?" Cody screamed and clutched his spear further. So badly he wanted to destroy something, but he barely managed to hold himself back from doing so. He started to focus on calming down instead of his failures. A hand gently placed itself on his shoulder, getting him to turn in the direction of it.
"He really is slippery, isn't he? I guess that comes with being an octopus-... Kraken? Whatever he is!" His brother joked, nudging him lightly.
Cody nodded slowly. "Yeah... Next time?"
Joe nodded firmly. "Next time. Let's get home and tell Rasmus the news." Cody quickly agreed and the brothers left together. Cody glanced back one last time, trying to see if he could spot his target but like he suspected, only the natural terrain filled his view.
Entering the palace, the pair of kings passed the Nexus and Cody was about to go downstairs when a feminine form passed by them, bumping Cody's shoulder as he did. "Sorry, I-" He turned to tell them, but then stopped. The lady didn't and started to leave, but Cody couldn't shake the feeling like they were so... Familiar.
"Cody?" He turned back to Joe, now gestured towards the bottom of the stairs. "We gotta go! You know what Rasmus gets like when we're late!"
Cody wanted to go with his brother, he really did, but something in the back of his mind wanted to follow the lady. His eyes drifted to the exit where the lady had left not moments ago, and it felt like the Nexus itself was trying to compel him to follow her. The pull got so strong, that he started moving before he was fully aware.
"You go on ahead." He told Joe. "I need to check something out."
When the penguin left the palace, there was no sign of the lady he had seen earlier but he still had a feeling. He descended down the stairs of the palace and began to walk down the road, almost with purpose. He knew and didn't know where he was going at the same time and it was confusing him profoundly. In fact, he didn't even know where to stop until he saw it.
An Atlantean house the stuck out to him. The color red replacing the color blue.
He approached the house with caution, hesitating at the doorstep before opening it up and pushing it open. The house might have felt familiar, but the inside wasn't what he thought.
He soon found himself in a pure white room. Only two things occupied it: The same lady as before, and a giant shard of ice, which took up most of the room. The lady didn't acknowledge Cody's existence right away, too focused on examining the thick ice with interest.
"Hello Cody." Then, she suddenly turned around and they were face to face.
Cody looked her up and down before tilting his head. He hesitantly asked her a question. "Have we... Met before? You seem kinda familiar. Like someone I know."
They went silent for a while, making Cody wonder if he said something wrong. She just shook her head, a little sigh escaped her. "I... No. I'm not who you're thinking of." She responded. Another moment passed before she held out her hand. "I'm Cece."
Cody took her hand and shook it before she returned to gazing at the ice. "How curious." She smiled softly. "Many different people have different ways of portraying locked memories in their mind. Some imagine cages, others a prison or a tower, but you? You imagined ice, freezing your thoughts. Perhaps this might be easier than I thought."
Cody became even more perplexed. Her words were so cryptic "I don't understand? What are you talking about exactly?"
Cece gestured towards the large block of ice, making Cody look over it once more, and than caught something he didn't notice before. Inside of it were picture frames, but they moved like they were an animated. Gazing at the nearest, he saw through someone else's eyes and watched a black and white hand reach for his spear on a pedestal, and pick it up. The spear sparked in his hand for a moment but went back to being dormant the next.
He was seeing through his own eyes, but a memory in the past.
Memories.
"You've locked away your memories in an ice block, but the fact that you chose something so temporary shows that you still had hope for waking up." She turned back to him, the same smile still on her face. "Ice can break or melt after all."
Cody wasn't sure what to make of her words, so he slowly started from the beginning. "This glacier is here because I've locked away my memories?" She nodded. Cody's eyebrows knitted together. "... What memories? The ones from my childhood?"
Cece hesitated and glanced back before replying. "Those ones are here but they are in the very center. I can't get them out by force, but eventually the ice will melt and you'll get them back in time. You just need something to trigger them back. No, these ones are the ones of your real life. Right now, you're dreaming. You need to wake up, Atlantis needs you."
Cody blinked. "Dream?"
And then memories came pouring down on him. Joe left, he got captured by KrakenKid, he killed KrakenKid, got a new room, befriended a medic, invasion, portal and then... Nothing. It stopped at the thought of Atlantis getting attacked. That's when he fell asleep.
His mind felt like it was breaking in two, causing his whole body to shake. He stumbled back but Cece quickly came to steady him. "Easy there, don't rush yourself." She told him. In front of them, the ice began to crack. "You just need to ease into it and allow yourself to wake up.
Cody nodded, and slowly started to let more things come to him. KrakenKid is really alive, he just barely escaped death. He really is slippery. Professor Pikalus has a pet named Glitch, haven't been able to meet him. Endy, the Sneaky Sister's pet, is almost as big as Selena. Pets? Why am I thinking of pets? DO I HAVE A PET? ... No, never mind. The medics name is Tanith. Joe is dead.
Then Cody stopped.
Joe is dead. That's why he started to dream in the first place.
Cody's heart filled with dread. "No! I can't do it!" The penguin immediately pushed Cece away, which was steadying hikm so he fell to the ground but he didn't care. His vision began to cloud and something fell down his cheek. "I can't wake up! Joe's dead in that world!"
"Cody-"
"HE'S DEAD!"
Cody screamed it so hard that his voice hurt. He paused, swallowing and spoke softer this time. "He's dead...:"
Cece froze for a while before sitting on the floor in front of the king. Though he was staring at the ground before, she had his attention now. "Cody, I know it's very tempting to dwell in the past so you can go over all the good memories and feel good forever- believe me, I know that better than anyone, but it's not going to do anything for you. It'll only make things worse."
Cody didn't say a word.
"I hate to say it, but you have a duty to your city." Cece watched Cody's eyes droop, knowing she was right but something sparked deep inside of her. Maybe a different approach will motivate him. She took in a breath before letting it all out. "I-... They need you, Cody. You're friends, they miss you."
Cody's eyes lifted from the ground, now his friends were embedded in his mind. "You can't focus on the past, or you'll forget about the present. Joe is gone, but your friends aren't."
Cody took in a long breath, then exhaled it deeply. "You're right."
Behind them, the ice shattered.
******************************************************
Cody gasped, his heart spinning out of control as he sat up quickly. A loud beeping filled his ears while the color white sickened him in his eyes. The world spun around him and focusing on anything seemed impossible. People suddenly filled his vision, making him attempt to back up but couldn't. They were saying something he couldn't understand in his state, but finally one came through.
"Sir? We're going to need you to calm down! You're heart monitor is going off the charts!" Cody nodded sloppily and tried to focus on doing as they said. The beeping slowed until it came to a normal pace, reflecting the state of his heart. "Perfect. Now, do you remember who you are?"
Cody blinked. He opened his mouth to speak but a garbled sound came out instead. His throat burned when he tried so Cody quickly stopped. "Oh! Right. Your voice is still weak." The doctor speaking to him retrieved a whiteboard and marker, handing it over. The penguin quickly wrote down "Cody" on the board before showing it off. They let out a relieved breath.
"Thank goodness, memory is at least somewhat intact. Cody, we're going to run a few tests on you, so don't panic. We need to make sure you're in good condition now that you're awake. Ask any questions you need, I'm sure you have many."
Cody blinked before scribbling down "How long was I asleep?" and showing it off.
"Around a week or so." They answered, quickly shining a light in his eyes to test is pupils. "You were in a comatose state for a while, or at least that's the best way to put it. Your brain waves were a little strange."
Cody's eyes widened and his heart monitor quickened a little bit. He started to write more rapidly. "What happened?"
The doctor scratched the back of their head. "That's... Up for debate actually, but we believe that you nearly burned yourself out trying to protect Atlantis. You harnessed more energy from the Nexus than ever before! You even shook the Nexus a little bit by doing it, but it's okay! Everything's fine! The threat is gone, you almost singlehandedly took down a whole army! That's gotta count for something!"
"How is everyone?" Cody didn't hesitate to ask the next question.
The doctor hesitated. "Uh... That's complicated, but they're alive and well, I can assure you that! They've honestly been worried sick about you! I can safely say that they're all being contacted about you right now, though they can't come in yet. We need to make sure you're okay, plus visiting hours are still closed, though we have let a few things slide this week... You need to rest though! It's 4 AM for Pete's sake!"
Cody nodded, then a wave of drowsiness hit him. "We're going to be putting you under so you can get some rest and so we can make sure you're running properly." The doctor explained, placing a hand on his head, and smiling. "Don't worry, my king, you're in safe hands."
Cody's body swayed before his head hit the pillow, and he fell asleep again.
Whispers came to him first as he began to stir.
"He's moving! He's moving! I think the medicine is wearing off!" A soft female voice came to him first.
"Really? Normally that stuff doesn't go away for hours on end." Then came another one, this one being a bit lower than the last, but still female.
"This is Cody we're talking about! He nearly died but managed to shake it off, of course he can handle some of your medicine!" The one following was much deeper, and had an accent.
"Hey! Quiet! He's opening his eyes!" The last one came.
Cody peered open his eyes and was met with four faces, all eagerly awaiting him. "HE'S AWAKE!" Selena cried, hugging him tightly and knocking the air out of him. He choked for air when her sister joined her, then Tanith and Professor.
"WE MISSED YOU SO MUCH!" Professor cried out, voice breaking.
"He cried." Sam joked, nudging Professor's shoulder.
"A lot." Tanith added, showing off the same smile. Professor shot her a look. "No shame in that, but I'm just surprised he cried the most. I thought it would be Selena of all people."
"Yeah, I gotta admit, you really let your guard down." Selena nodded along.
"G-guys?" Cody choked but still managed a smile. "You're kinda... Squishing me." All of them immediately let go and let out a sheepish laugh, muttering apologies.
"Sorry but..." Tanith laughed. "It's just been so long! We were starting to think you'd never wake up! Are you okay? Everything... Fine?" There was something in her voice that held secrets, ones that Cody wasn't sure of. Her blue eyes flickered. Suddenly, he remembered the woman in his dreams. Outside of her eyes and being fully human, they looked almost identical.
"Yeah..." He trailed off, thinking to himself. "Perfectly fine..." Then a thought went off in his head. "What's been going on with all of you guys anyways? Has Rasmus been swamped with work?"
"Actually," Sam grinned. "We've become "Temporary royalty" in your absence."
Cody instantly snickered at the thought of all of them being crowned. "And how did that go?"
"Terrible." They all answered at the same time, then shared a look.
"We clearly weren't meant to be queens, or kings." Selena told him. The king got a good laugh out of that.
They talked for hours until a doctor came in and cleared them out, insisting that Cody needed rest. Cody protested, saying he slept for a whole week and didn't need anymore, but within ten minutes he fell asleep anyways.
He dreamed again, but this time it was different.
His dreams were more surreal, until the one he was having over the week. He dreamed of playing poker with Pikalus and KrakenKid in a basement filled with many doors, and though he was losing terribly, he couldn't stop laughing.
In fact, Cody probably wouldn't have noticed how it was a dream until a familiar form lurked in the darkness. "Cece" as she called herself before, snuck into one of the rooms around him, and slipped in without making a sound. Cody excused himself from the game to follow her.
Like before, he went into the same room as she did, but rather a white room with ice locking memories away, he was met with his own room.
It might have been his room, but it looked a bit different. There were some scattered items about, like the two great Atlantean weapons and his teddy bear. However, his eyes were drawn to the walls, which were covered with moving paintings, each holding a memory that he knew. Further in the back, near the door were early memories, like first coming to Atlantis. The further down he got, the later they were until at the very end, he could see the memories of when he just woke up. That's where he found her.
"Cece" was looking at a giant computer monitor in front of her, a foot or so away from it. She watched the monitor, all sorts of data on it that Cody didn't understand. She swiped her hand in the air, making the data disappear and different things coming up in its place. Slowly, she started to nod. "Hmm. Everything seems to be in order." She muttered to herself before whipping around and freezing in place.
"It's you again." Cody's eyebrow arched and started to ask more questions. He wasn't sure when he was going to see her again. "Why do you look so much like Tanith? Why are you in my dreams? Who even are you?"
Cece paused for a moment but gave in. "Technically I'm her conscience. I look like her because I'm a part of her, though she's the one in control. She sent me here to wake you up."
Cody blinked. "Wait... Conscience's exist? And they live and help people?" He couldn't help but ask in an eager tone, "Do I have one?"
The conscience shook her head carefully. "Yes, they exist but only for empaths. Normal people have their own emotions that they can do as they please, but empaths pick up emotions that aren't theirs, meaning they need a little help dealing with it, so that's where consciences come in. Some are more powerful than others, depending on the skill level and type of empath. Tanith is a selective empath, so I'm not as strong as others. We help manage their emotions so that they don't fall apart, but I've been absent from my job for a while so Tanith has suffered a bit..." Her voice was riddled with regret, but she shook it off. "But I'm back, and hopefully, it won't happen again."
Cody took in the information, but still had one question. "Why were you absent?"
She didn't answer, eyes trailing down, and instead just started to walk past him. Cody would have stopped her or asked something, but suddenly a red portal formed out of nowhere in front of her. She stepped through it and disappeared.
But the portal remained, lingering in Cody's mind.
He couldn't help himself from being curious, and didn't waste time to go inside of it. The world swirled around him before the once bright room turned dark and he was on the other side.
There was nothing around him but two people, who he recognized to be Tanith and Cece. He stood quite a few feet away from the pair. Tanith's back was turned to Cece, and they were a couple feet away from each other as well.
Neither seemed to know he was there, or at least didn't acknowledge him if they did.
"Well?" Tanith asked, glancing back to the conscience. "What's the news?"
"He's fine. I told you I could do it." Cece answered simply, her wrists crossed behind her back like she was an assistant. Tanith nodded, and sighed.
"I guess you could... And I suppose I should hold up my end of the deal, so I-"
"Wait." Tanith paused, surprised by Cece suddenly stopping her. Cece, fidgeted for a moment, and though she cleared her throat, when she spoke again, it still sounded hoarse. "I need to tell you something... Something I failed to mention before we cut each other out." Tanith's blue eyes glinted, unsure but said nothing to stop her.
Cece took a breath like she was about to do the hardest thing she ever thought of. "You're right."
Tanith couldn't move. She couldn't make a sound, or even widen her eyes. She just stood there.
"You're right about Kenji, I doomed him. I never told you what happened, but no time like the present, right?" Cece let out a dry laugh, but still didn't seem any less nervous.
Tanith reacted almost immediately, speaking out. "Don't make forgiving you any hard than it has to be." She warned. It might have sounded like a threat, but Cody saw her pleading eyes. She was asking her to stop while she was ahead, to leave her in the dark.
Cece didn't stop. "You remember the start of it, right? Kenji saved us from a mind control spell with no cure, but took the fall himself. You couldn't save him from the outside, but maybe from the inside, you might be able to. So you sent me in."
"Cece, stop it." Tanith tried again, trying to keep her voice firm but her own feelings betrayed her.
"So I did what I could to repair his mind, but the gap was closing. That spell inside of him was like a virus, destroying every good thing within his mind. It was tearing him apart, and it targeted me. I did manage to repair some of his mind, and I might have had a chance to save him had I stayed to finish the job." Cece went on, stepping forward. She kept her eyes stead and locked on to the blue eyes, who were trying hard not to break.
"Cece-"
Cece cut in before she could say anything. "But then I had a choice: Die but save Kenji, or let him die and save myself. Guess what I chose." Tanith didn't say a word this time. "I was so scared to die, to fade away from existence that I couldn't stay behind. I think that's what separates you and me: I put on my own oxygen mask first. So yes, I'm at fault here. I got him killed."
Cody noticed Tanith start to shake. "... I had to drive a sword through his heart." Her voice was quiet, but still crystal clear. "I had to feel him die... We bonded, so I felt him die."
Cece's eyes softened. "I know you did. I felt like you needed to know the truth before you said anything."
A tear dripped down her face as she faced her. "Why? I moved on! Why would you bring it up again?" She shut her eyes tight and clutched her head. "Do you want me to suffer or something?"
"You didn't move on. Not really." Tanith was taken aback, but Cece beat her to a response. "You thought you moved on, but since you still blamed me, you were still latched onto it. You got to move ahead, but because you blamed me, I couldn't. You didn't allow me to move on." Cece moved closer to Tanith, slowly and softly. "No, it's not like I want you to suffer. I want you to get better, and the only way to do that is to face this right now. Forgiving me, even after I told you everything, is what will make you truly move on. You're all about moving on, aren't you? Since you came to Atlantis, you've insisted on making this you home, so let's move on from the past and make it official."
Cece tried to move forward, but Tanith's fist clenched and her body suddenly stopped, jerking back a little to return to a straight up position. "Why do you have to make this so hard?" She whispered. "I would have said you're forgiven, and we would go back to our previous deal! Now I have this hanging over my head!"
Cece cleared her throat. "I was hoping we could drop the deal. Leaving each other alone isn't a good idea, we need to stick together." Tanith shot her a look, but she retaliated. "Don't think I haven't noticed your emotional stability. You stopped sleeping just so you could stop passing on negative emotions onto your friends, but if I had been there, you wouldn't have had that problem. It's getting bad too. I'm starting to think that if you had another episode, they might too."
If anything else hadn't already struck her, this sure did. Right then, Tanith got a look on her face like she got stabbed right through the heart. A long moment passed before she let out a long sigh. "Cece... What do you want? Really, what do you want from me?"
"I want us to work together again. I'm your conscience, I'm supposed to be helping you. Give me a second chance, please. Treat me like you treat yourself." She kept a cool demeanor, but the desperation in her voice showed off something Cody wasn't seeing.
Tanith's gaze averted from hers. "I can't do that."
"Why not?"
"Because I already try not to do that! If I did... I wouldn't be able to trust you."
Cece fell silent for a long time, but finally got something out. "Tanith, just trust me. Let me help you."
Tanith paused, but said something at last. "Alright... Cece," She moved so quick that neither could have predicted the outcome before it happened but Tanith wrapped her arms around Cece's form and pulled her in for a hug. Cece tensed up.
"I forgive you." Tanith whispered, tears escaping her eyes.
Then, her body filled with light, and she disappeared. She had woken up.
Cece stood there for a long time, before turning in the direction of Cody. She didn't say a word, but she didn't have to. Cody finally understood something.
She wanted him to be there.
"Sometimes," She told him. "To truly move on from something, you need someone's forgiveness. Admit your faults, so they can finally let it go."
As Cody faded, Cody felt that deep down, she was trying to tell him something. Like she was specifically trying to get him to get someone's forgiveness.
Cody had a good idea as to who.
***********************************************
Welp, I really hope I didn't lose anyone in that chapter, because it was a bit confusing. I tried to explain myself as best as possible, but I might have failed?
If you have anything I didn't clear up in a good way, just ask and I'll try to sum it up for ya, because it was kinda confusing but hey! I tried! Looking back, the only thing I purposely didn't explain was Tanith's deal with Rasmus. That'll be explained much later.
That last line totally isn't hinting towards future events, nope, not at all, what are you talking about?
Anyways, CONSCIENCE! That's a thing I did and have been sorta planning for a while. Cece will pop up every here and there, but not too much. I have to ask, thoughts on her? Yay? Nay? I'm just curious, I won't get offended or anything if you don't like her. She was kinda a interesting character to write, a little different than I normally do.
Anyways, I hope you liked this! Be sure to comment what you thought of this little chapter, and I'll see ya later! BYE!
--JustAnAtlantisWriter