In the weeks since Never had bonded with their axe, they had been wreaking havoc.
Caspienne banged on the door to their room again. "Never, if you don't come out here and face me like a warrior, I'm going to break the handle off your axe and make you eat it," she yelled.
She felt a cold prickling, the gooseflesh on her hand rose, and her coffee cup was no longer in her hand, but on the floor, in pieces.
She sighed, whipped out a star, and walked into their room. She pondered the rumpled white sheets and the gray knit blanket tossed off the bed with mock thoughtfulness, and then moved over to the neutral painting on the opposite wall. She put her star to it, and started pushing down before she finally felt a icy breeze from behind her.
"Never, I can't see or hear you, remember? Come back to your body and then we'll talk."
She could almost feel the familiar scowl, before she heard a creak from inside the cupboard, and Never walked out. They staggered, and stood still for a moment, moving parts of their body around. They poked their arm slowly.
Caspienne's eyes flickered to the simple bracelet on their wrist, flinching as Never knocked into a wall, banging the garment along with them.
"Never, you really need to be more careful with that. I know you don't particularly care about the rest of
us, but it won't be too great for you either if someone takes your body, or you phase.
That charm is, quite literally, what's going to keep you alive if you ever decide to spirit-walk amongst hostiles."
Never ignored her advice, instead gesturing to her painting with narrowed eyes. "There was no need to threaten my painting," they rolled their eyes.
Caspienne looked at them in annoyance. "Never, I need that staff back, Linh needs to train. This isn't funny."
Never laughed. "Take it, then, if you can find it. I don't particularly care."
They leaned forwards, their breath just tickling Caspienne's ear. "And from where I'm standing, it's pretty funny."
Caspienne gritted her teeth and snatched the staff, turned on her heel and walked out.
➵➵➵➵ ✵☽✵ ➵➵➵➵
"They're insufferable and selfish to the point where I don't know why they were chosen!"
Caspienne's voice rung out in the spacious living room, and Thalia motioned for her to be quiet.
"Cas, I know it's a bit much to accept right now, but we have to-"
"A bit much? A bit much would be the next port being closed so we can't replenish the wine. They think everything's a game, how are they supposed to make the decisions they're going to have to?"
Thalia sighed. "Cas, give them a break, they haven't even started training yet."
She scoffed. "Yes, because that's really going to help. They probably won't even pitch up. Actually, you know what? I don't trust either of those twins. A smile is always worse than anger."
"Caspienne, be quiet."
"Be quiet? I'm a Wielder, Thalia, same as you. What makes you think-"
Thalia cut her off with a meaningful glance over the other woman's shoulder.
Caspienne glanced back, and saw Never crouching in the shadows.
She opened her mouth to say something, but Never had already gone, their eyes flashing with anger.
Thalia kneaded her temples. "Great, just what we need. Thanks, Cas."
She strode off to find Never, leaving Caspienne staring angrily after her.
➵➵➵➵ ✵☽✵ ➵➵➵➵
"Never?" Thalia tried calling through the keyhole of Never's bedroom door, again.
She received no answer, and sighed. "Never, you do usually make everything a joke. I understand if you're angry, but can you please come out and discuss training? Caspienne and you can work out your differences."
The bedroom door swung open, and Never's body tumbled out onto her. She cursed, lowering it to the floor. She had told Never before that when they were spiritwalking, they should never leave their body at a point of weakness. Namely, somewhere their enemy could easily slit their throat, leaving them bodiless, roaming the in-between for all eternity.
But, of course. Why should they listen? It wasn't as if the threat of destruction wasn't imminent. With Maeve unstable, alone, and isolated, it was only a matter of time before she came up with something to destroy the galaxy as they knew it, or at the very least, civilisation.
Gods knew that it had seen enough war, enough destruction for countless lifetimes. She gazed out of the floor-length windows looking out onto open space, stretching out into nothingness, and wrenched her gaze away to go and find Nyx.
➵➵➵➵ ✵☽✵ ➵➵➵➵
"Never?" Nyx walked into the cell. "Are you material yet?"
Never was sitting with their back to Nyx, and they stayed silent. Their back was tensed, and Nyx could tell they were still angry.
"I thought you'd be here," she said gently.
"Well done you. Would you like a medal?" Never said sarcastically.
Nyx put an arm around their shoulders. "We don't have to talk, if you'd like. We could just be."
Never said nothing, but they didn't move.
"I'm not fucking selfish. Why should I even fight a war that I have no stakes in? It's not like I care whether any of you or them live or die."
"Look, I get it, but you'll die too, if she wins."
Never looked at her skeptically. "I'm sure the queen of the Three Empires cares about me."
Nyx nodded. "True, she doesn't. However, she does care about a Wielder. She won't let you live. She'll either take control of you, see to it that you're killed, or she'll kill you herself."
Never's mouth thinned into a line. "I could give up my weapon, then."
Nyx looked at her seriously, raising an eyebrow. "You'd give up your weapon? It's a part of you, now."
They made a sound, a quick rasp deep in their throat. "And who's to say I actually care about staying alive?"
Nyx looked at her skeptically. "You? Letting death get the better of you? As if." She snorted. "Either I'm a horrible judge of character, or you care about us and don't want to admit it."
Never stiffened for a split second before relaxing. "You're a horrible judge of character."
Nyx laid a hand on their arm, but they ripped it away. Her eyes softened. "Why are you so afraid to open up to people?"
Never exhaled through gritted teeth, but said nothing.
Nyx got up. "Okay, if that's how you want to play it." She turned to leave, but a word from Never gave her pause.
"Wait."
Nyx turned, but didn't sit down.
"Look, I'm sorry I'm not this kind, selfless image you have of a Wielder. I'm not going to be someone who you can program to be at your every beck and call. I'm going to help you, but it's going to be on my own terms."
"I understand that you don't want to be a Wielder, but if we can't trust you, how can we depend on your loyalty?" Nyx tried to reason.
"You're just going to have to hope that I hate you less than I hate them."
Never smiled, though there was something cryptic and cunning in that smile, and Nyx watched them leave with a worried look on her face.
➵➵➵➵ ✵☽✵ ➵➵➵➵
"I don't trust them," said Caspienne, unflinchingly.
"And you're right."
All heads turned to Akaeria when she spoke. She rarely spoke up when discussing matters such as these.
"Until you know who they are and that you can trust them to a fault, do not make the mistake of bartering your life with them. They'll let you die." She looked away.
Caspienne and Thalia nodded their agreement, but Nyx and Linh still weren't convinced.
"But what if they actually turn out to be good people?" Linh said softly.
Caspienne's eyes softened. "Then they turn out to be good people. It can't hurt to be cautious in times of conflict. We can't be hasty in trusting."
Nyx bit her lip. "And what if this just pushes them further away?"
Thalia took her hand. "Then we'll fight. Just as we always have. Besides, it wouldn't be the first time a Wielder has turned on the rest- the Gods aren't faultless."
➵➵➵➵ ✵☽✵ ➵➵➵➵
Never lifted their axe, and let it fall without hesitation at the target they had pushed to the ground, but Thalia looked unimpressed as she watched it splinter and cave.
"In battle, do you think your enemy is going to lie down and wait for you to kill them?"
Never shrugged. "I don't know, why don't you tell me, Miss War God?"
"If you'd like. They won't, and you'll die." She said, shortly.
Never grinned. "I'd better learn how to kill them while they're moving, then."
Thalia smiled, despite herself. "Yes, you'd better."
Thalia assessed Never as they built up core strength. Their muscles were lean, probably built on the years of petty theft, and they lacked form.
She was by now familiar with Never's contradictions; their quick wit, cunning, flirtatious nature and spiteful jest. She hoped Never would come around, though she had the feeling that the Gods were laughing, ambrosia spilling from gilded lips.
Never, she knew, could make the Wielders, could be a champion, leading them through through ivory halls and moonlit fountains; but they could just as easily tear them down, rake serrated nails down their honor with cruel laughter.
She smiled grimly. She'd fix their stance, and she'd teach them to fight.
But she could not teach them honour.
➵➵➵➵ ✵☽✵ ➵➵➵➵
Àiran, on the other hand, was a perfect contradiction of his sibling. Kind, and trusting, and quick to jest, he gave off the impression that he had no secrets, nothing untrustworthy to hide.
Thalia trusted him even less than she did Never.
She did not show it, however. She did not know who he was yet, and refused to judge him on what little she had garnered from half-conversations and stolen snippets of information.
She merely kept a watchful eye as he was trained by Akaeria, who was more experienced with tridents.
Observing as a different side of him came out- an unflinching, cruel perversion of his usual character.
He never hesitated in training, and she bit her lip as she realized that he would not on the battlefield, either.
A soldier that showed no mercy was a good one, but what of a common man?
It would be his saviour;
and his downfall.
➵➵➵➵ ✵☽✵ ➵➵➵➵
Àiran bit his lip. "As much as I hate to admit it, they're good people, sibling."
Never gritted their teeth. "I don't hate them, I just... I want them to see me as their equal. For once, I don't really want to trick and lie my way into things. I'd like some actual friends."
"Your equal? What do you mean?" Àiran's eyebrows furrowed.
"I mean, it's as if I'm this dog that could bite them at any minute. They're wary around me."
"Well, we've certainly given them reason to be, haven't we?" He grinned.
Never rolled their eyes, and pushed him off the bed. He landed on the floor with a thump, and dragged a shrieking and giggling Never down with him.
"Your room's a tip, dumbass," Never said with a laugh, looking around them. The blue of Àiran's room was that of the ocean, matching his eyes.
She scoffed at the socks tossed into the corner of the room, and the once crisp, white bedsheets that were hanging off the bed.
"I wish.." They started to say, but they stopped themselves before they continued.
Àiran's eyes softened as he looked at his sibling. "You wish that things were different." He breathed deeply. "I do too."
Never looked at him curiously, but didn't pry. "I don't think they'll ever trust us, Ran."
Àiran sent her a slightly amused look. "Well, dear sibling, we did after all break in with the intent to rob them and slit their throats in their sleep." He chuckled as they rolled their eyes.
"Normal people consider that an offense, and you can hardly blame them for their mistrust."
"They're not exactly the most orthodox group of people, if you haven't noticed," they drawled. "They are quite literally the living equivalents of fallen gods. They aren't entitled to 'normal people standards.'"
"Hey, unless you haven't noticed, we now constitute these 'fallen god' people, dear sibling."
Àiran chuckled, but stilled as he looked behind his sibling, a flash of anger crossing his face quickly. Never's brow furrowed, and he nodded towards a sliver of a shadow falling through the door, cast from the light of the hall.
"Show yourself," he called out, beckoning the person into the room.
"Fine, let me rephrase him," Never said, their voice lazy. "If you don't come out, I'll take your body and make you come out."
There were muffled sounds of crying, and Never and Àiran exchanged a curious look. "Come on," Àiran said, a little softer.
The person stepped into the light, and Never immediately felt terrible. "Faye?"
Faye whimpered, and clutched her dinosaur to her chest.
"We didn't mean to scare you, we just thought that.. you were someone else."
"Why do you not like anyone else?" She said, a solemn look on her face.
Never glanced at Àiran, bemused. "Well, it's not that I don't like anyone else, just that I don't.. I don't really trust anyone."
Faye looked at her seriously. "Well, if you don't trust people then why should they trust you?"
Never was taken aback. They opened their mouth, but could not fathom an answer- the words did not want to leave their lips.
"You don't let people know you because you're afraid they're going to leave," Faye said, looking up at her beneath oddly serious eyelashes. "Don't take the choice away from them."
Never looked at the girl incredulously. "How old are you again?"
Faye crossed her arms. "Seven and a half."
Never nodded slowly. "Okay. Alright. And now I have to deal with the fact that a child has better life skills than I do."
Faye grinned, and hopped up onto their lap. Never balked, but Faye wrapped her arms around their neck and gave them a hug.
"Well, you can't get rid of meee!" She giggled maniacally as Never tried to shake her off, laughing as they did.
Eventually, Never gave up and just wrapped her arms around the odd little child on their lap.
Faye hopped off after a while, patted Àiran, and left, humming as she skipped out.
Never looked after her in confusion. "Who is that kid?"
Àiran just dissolved into laughter. Never looked at him dispassionately. "Really, Ran?"
Àiran just continued to wheeze, and Never pushed him off the bed with a sigh.
He gasped in mock outrage, and reached out to pull his sibling down, but Never was already out of their body, and he pulled their empty vessel down on to him.
He swore at the unresponsive eyes, and pushed it away from him. "Seriously, Never? We've talked about this."
He felt a soft wisp of air near his cheek. "Oh yes, have a laugh. If you try to steal my body, I will absolutely murder you."
He sighed when Never's limp arm flopped onto the ground, and conjured up a huge bubble of water.
He brought it closer to Never's body, and felt a stronger breeze on his arm. He shrugged. "I can't hear you unless you're back in your body, dear sibling."
Never's body sat up with a scowl, rolling their shoulders and massaging their neck.
"What're you doing?"
"Thalia gave me some exercises to do when I get back in my body, because apparently, it's really common to pull a muscle after I spirit walk." Never said with a sigh.
Àiran nodded, mulling it over, and accidentally dropped the water. Never shouted in outrage.
"Oh, bones," said Àiran. Before Never could catch their bearings, he was up and out the door.
Never grinned. Oh, they were going to make him regret that.
-
The Wielders, who were eating lunch, looked on in confusion at the scene in front of them. A soaking wet Àiran was cursing continuously as he was pelted by all manner of household items.
Nyx winced as he was smacked by a fish. "Should we go and help him?"
Thalia snickered. "Yeah, because getting on Never's bad side is definitely something everybody dreams about."
There were various, slightly guilty nods and words of assent from around the table, and they all averted their eyes as Àiran was battered around the kitchen and hallway.
"Traitors!" He called at them, breaking off as the wind was knocked out of him.
"Mate, no offence, but they're much scarier than you," said Akaeria with a shrug.
"Hey, water boy, what did you do anyway?" Called Caspienne.
"I- Just- Accidentally- Dropped- A- Ton- Of- Water- On- Them-" He got out, between being hit by things.
Caspienne snickered under her breath, breaking off as Linh gave her a look.
Nyx stood up. "Hey, Never?"
The room stilled, and Àiran exhaled gratefully.
"Couldn't you maybe come back to your body and we could talk this out? And could you maybe please clean up the mess? I made pasta."
Nyx held her breath as she waited for the whirlwind of household items to recommence- but instead, things were floating back to their places, and she exhaled a sigh of relief.
They went back to eating.
-
Never walked out of their room, wearing a clean white shirt.
Nyx patted the seat next to her, and when Never was seated, she turned to them. "Never, we know Àiran's an idiot-"
"A loveable idiot," interjected Àiran, but recoiled when Never glared at him.
"But these anger fits have to stop. Cas, you used to do the exact same thing, do you have any advice for them?"
Caspienne nodded. "Just imagine doing everything you want to do to them, and it feels almost as good as doing it. Works every time, or Thalia here would be missing an eye."
Thalia's eyes widened, and Nyx coughed out some water. "Okay, well that's decidedly morbid, but do you think it'd work?" She turned to Never.
Never raised an eyebrow, and then closed their eyes. A slow smile spread across their face, the glee putting Àiran at decided unrest.
They opened their eyes. "It's even better! I don't have to conform to what a "socially acceptable" injury to inflict on your sibling is. It's lovely."
Àiran swallowed, and went to take his plate to the sink.
Nyx patted her on the back. "That's great, Never, just please never actually act on that."
Caspienne nodded. "You know what's even better? Writing it down. And then reading it later. Want to read some of mine?"
"Can I see? I keep one too," said Akaeria, taking out a little red notebook.
Never and Caspienne nodded, the actions filled with mirth, and the rest of the Wielders edged away from the table casually as Caspienne whipped out a small, leather-bound notebook, and handed it to Never.
Akaeria craned her head over their shoulder, reading the contents with interest.
-
The Wielders were all in training clothes, in the training room just off the armoury. Some were talking, and some were sizing up the weapons on the walls with interest.
Everyone looked up when Thalia walked into the room. "I bet you're all wondering why I've called you here today," she said, garnering everyone's attention.
"Is it for another drinking contest?" Caspienne asked with a grin. "Because you can try all you want, you're never going to beat me."
"Drinking contest?" Akaeria snorted. "Would you like me to buy you a baby bottle, Cas? Because the way you were drinking, you barely-"
"No! This is not another drinking contest!" Thalia said. "Although, I should have won that," she muttered.
Caspienne raised an eyebrow, (and her fists) and Thalia continued hurriedly. "We need to start to train together. If we want to defeat Maeve, there's no way we're going to be able to do it- if we don't work together."
Caspienne raised an eyebrow. "I'm going to go right out and say that that sounded suspiciously like a line from a holograph I used to watch when I was about three."
Thalia scowled at her, and she raised her hands in mock-surrender. "Hey, I didn't say it wasn't a good line."
Thalia breathed in slowly. "Alright, fine, make your jokes if you want, but nobody's going to be able to laugh when Maeve has us all in the in-between and she's busy wearing our hides like god-powered coats."
There were a few raised eyebrows and chiding looks at the morbidly cynical prediction- but silence maintained, and Thalia crossed her arms in satisfaction.
"What I'm trying to say, is this: we don't really have that much time. Whatever Maeve's planning, it will either completely wreck the universe, or it will permanently cripple the Three Empires.
I personally have no desire to find out what her plan is exactly, so our best bet is stopping her before she has the chance to put it in to action. I think-"
Never's eyes widened, and they held up a hand for Thalia to stop. Thalia faltered to a stop, looking at Never's urgent expression in confusion. Never bit their lip, and resorted to signing.
We. Are. Being. Watched.