Stupid Sexy Cryptids [75-78]

75: Vampire Laundering

I pointed a finger gun at Sillicia in the back of my mind, visualizing the targeting reticle appearing right at the end of it. I mimed a mental recoil. Bang.

Hook, line, and sinker.

My front mind maintained the Emperor's stoic mask, watching the Wendigo Commander practically vibrate with post-scary-movie endorphins. Or whatever the Wendigo Omnids had instead of dopamine.

My back mind was doing victory laps around itself.

The movie theater gambit worked way better than expected. Who knew that combining crowd-sourced fear with romantic tension and pizza would be more effective than any military strategy?

"What kind of price?" Sillicia let out, sounding slightly breathless.

"The fun kind! Not the boring fleet kind with paperwork and O-bux transfers." Shady laughed, tail swishing. "More like... mutual cooperation. Reciprocal appreciation. Symbiotic arrangement!"

"She means," I added, "that if you want to continue experiencing Earth's delights with us, there needs to be an understanding. A... full partnership."

Sillicia shuddered visibly, opened her mouth and closed it.

Shady leaned towards the other Wendigo. "Come on, what do you want? Like, actually want. Not what High Command expects. Not what your ranking requires. What makes your fractal engine heart sing?"

"I..." Sillicia faltered. "That's not a fair question."

"Why?" I asked.

"Because I've spent my entire life not asking it!" Her voice cracked slightly. "You don't get to be successful Commander of a Division by wondering what you want. You get there by wanting what you're supposed to want. Rank. Status. Resources. Power."

"And how's that working out for you?" Nexxali asked, with the blunt honesty only a cat could deliver.

Sillicia glared at her former Marshal. Traitor. Her expression implied.

Nexxali stretched languidly. "You know what I realized? That having a fancy title made up for having no home, no family, no one who actually gave a shit if I lived or died… Sux big-time."

"So you just... abandoned your duty?" The Wendigo asked.

"Nu! I upgraded," Nexxali corrected with a claw out. "To a job that comes with pasta, horror movies, and people who pet me without expecting endless servitude in return. Highly recommend."

"Go on, Sillicia…” Shady encouraged. “Say it. My hooks have been in your head all night. I know what you want."

“...”

The Wendigo Commander swallowed. “Hearth Keeper.” She whispered quietly.

“Louderrr,” Shady purred. 

"I..." she mewled then stated with greater conviction, "I want to be your Hearth Keeper!”

Shady nodded sagely.

“I want to come home to people who are glad to see me. I want to watch horror movies with humans and eat weird Earth food and feel what I felt tonight every night forever. I want to be part of your Omnid Clan, Princess. I want—" She choked. "I want to matter to someone! To not feel being constantly despised by my kobolds! I want to help run this strange, wonderful Earth full of humans!”

The silence that followed was the kind of awkward that made you want to check if reality had buffered. Sillicia stood there, breathing hard, looking like she'd just confessed to a murder instead of basic emotional needs.

Just one problem there. We already had a Hearth Keeper. The back of my mind noted. Galateya. Who was currently back at my house probably reorganizing my spice rack by atomic weight or something equally dragon-like.

I glanced at Shady.

Shady's skull-face was the picture of serene contemplation, completely ignoring my pointed stare. Her tail swished in that particular way that meant she knew exactly what I was thinking and had chosen violence—or in this case, strategic avoidance.

"Such is… possible," Shady announced.

"Really?" The Commander's voice cracked with hope that was honestly painful to witness. Like watching a rescue dog realize it's not going back to the pound.

"Of course!" Shady beamed. "But..."

Sillicia's ears drooped at the cruelty of the metaphorical ‘but’ knife pressed against her neck. "But?"

"Such things will take... time," Shady explained, sounding official and Princess-like. "Auntie Evely needs to piss off with her Earth-grabbing paws first. Can't exactly have a nice cozy household situation while she's threatening to carve up continents for decorative purposes."

I nodded sagely, like I had definitely been part of this plan all along and wasn't just learning about it in real-time.

"Additionally," Shady continued, "you're still Commander of Division 881. That's kind of important? The whole 'maintaining your cover' thing? Can't have you suddenly abandoning your post to become my full-time household member. People would ask questions. Questions like 'why is our Commander suddenly obsessed with Earth pizza' and 'should we be concerned that she's hanging out with the Emperor of Mankind.'"

Sillicia deflated slightly, but nodded. "I understand. Operational security."

"But," Shady said, and this time it was the good kind of but, "you could help us. Be our inside woman. Keep pretending you're super loyal to the Admiral's plan while secretly... not doing that?"

"That's a dangerous game to play with Elders who can read minds," Sillicia said.

“You’re a top tier Commander,” Shady said. “Surely you can manage to hide the truth behind a mental layer of 'business-as-usual'.”

Sillicia exhaled deeply. "Fine. Yes. I can do that. I've been hiding my… thoughts from the Elders anyway."

"What kind of thoughts?" Nexxali asked.

"The kind where I imagine throwing them all face-first into a black hole," she said flatly.

There was a beat of silence.

"You don't survive in fleet command without developing elaborate revenge fantasies," Sillicia explained. "It's basically a requirement."

“Ah!” Nexxali nodded sagely. “Yes. I approve. She's perfect for our dysfunctional circle already."

"Speaking of which," I said, smoothly transitioning into the actual trap we'd been setting all evening, "there's something else we need to discuss. Something that could really help cement your position with us."

Sillicia's ears perked up. Literally. Like a dog hearing the word 'walk.'

I felt like a manipulative bastard. But also, you know, trying to save humanity from eternal enslavement, so... moral gray area, yay.

"The vampire compound you destroyed," I continued. "You’ve collected plentiful crystalloid materia from there, yes?”

"Yes,” Sillicia said, “Seeker Alpha has approximately forty-seven tons of processed crystalloid biomass currently in storage."

Forty-seven tons. Jesus. I guess that's what a century of human harvesting is worth.

"And what exactly are you planning to do with it?" Shady asked innocently.

Too innocently.

Sillicia should have noticed. Anyone with functioning paranoia sensors should have noticed. But she was still riding the high of potential Hearth-Keeper acceptance of the promise of more horror movies.

“To invest it all in improving my division,” Sillicia said. "Get more seekers, more guns, improve my warship. The usual."

"Hmm." Shady tapped her claws against her chin in an exaggerated thinking pose. "You know what would really show us you're serious about joining our circle? That you're committed to being my Keeper?"

"What?" Sillicia asked.

"Give it to us," Shady said simply.

Sillicia blinked. "The... all of it?"

"Yep! All forty-seven tons. Consider it a... gesture of good faith. A tithe to your future Prima!" Shady's smile was radiant. 

“But…” Sillicia clearly didn’t want to give up valuable materials.

“No buts,” Shady said, glancing at me encouragingly.

“I made sure that stuff ends up in your storage and now we want it back,” I added.

"You... the vampire compound..." She looked between us. "You wanted me to destroy it?"

"Let's say my people... strategically positioned information in a way that made certain outcomes more likely.” I stated.

The Commander stared at me for a long moment. Then at Shady. Then back at me.

"You… played me." Sillicia let out. "The whole thing? Stormy-o-Lyx meeting Alpha Linari at that pub. The 'intelligence' about vampires. The convenient location data. You... you orchestrated my entire operation?"

I spread my hands in a 'guilty as charged' gesture. "I prefer to think of it as collaborative problem-solving where one party didn't know they were collaborating."

“Don’t I have the cutest and cleverest little kobold Administrator?” Shady smooshed my face from behind.

Sillicia pursed her lips.

Shady giggled. "No frownage, Sil! You got a spectacular orbital strike out of it. Very cathartic, I bet. Plus you impressed Auntie Evely and got top ranking. Win-win!"

"Except now I'm supposed to just... hand over forty-seven tons of military-grade crystalloid biomass to you?" Sillicia crossed her arms. "What if I wasn't interested in you? What if I decided your pizza and horror movies weren't worth becoming a traitor to the fleet?"

Shady's smile didn't falter. "Then we'd have had to use Plan B."

"Which was?"

"Theft," I said matter-of-factly. 

Sillicia stared at me. "You were going to steal forty-seven tons of secured military materials from a Frontenachii Alpha-tank? How?"

“Nexxali obeys Shady as our Knight,” I pointed out. “She can make anything disappear with the power of her voice. If you didn’t work out as a collaborator, we’d tank 881’s ratings. This is my planet. I can make you the luckiest Commander on the fleet or the most cursed one, Sillicia.”

"So," she let out, "the entire time I thought I was executing a brilliant tactical operation..."

"You were executing our brilliant tactical operation," I corrected. "With your name on it! Very generous of us, really."

“Slayer damn it,” Sillicia covered her face with her dark hands sliding onto the crystalline couch.

“Don’t fret, Sil,” Shady slid over to Sillicia. “You already made your choice. Right?"

Sillicia's claws flexed. Her ears flattened. For a moment, I genuinely wondered if I'd miscalculated and was about to become a cautionary tale about overestimating one's manipulation skills.

Then she laughed.

It wasn't a nice laugh. It was the kind of laugh that comes out when you realize you've been checkmate'd three moves ago and the only option left is to appreciate the audacity of it.

"Forty-seven tons," she muttered, leaning into Shady’s embrace. "Do you even know what you're going to do with that much crystalloid mass?"

“Nice things,” I said. “Things that’ll propel your Division even higher in rank and make it stay there. I obviously have more vampires working for me. We’ll make various new thralls and artifacts out of it and give them to you.”

"You will have fun destroying many sudden armies of thralls!" Nexxali nodded.

Sillicia blinked.

“Then you’ll give it back to us and then 881 will find more magical stuff!” Nexxali laughed. “A loop!”

“What?” Sillicia’s mouth fell open wide. “What the fuck?!”

“Kawathra will make sure nobody notices anything,” I said. “But yes, essentially, it's an endless ranking hack using the same 47 tons of crystalloid materia moving between you and us.”

"This is the stupidest plan I've ever heard,” Sillicia let out.

"Will it work?" I asked.

"...Yes. Probably,” she said. “As long as completely new artifacts and thralls are made each time, it’ll work. The only problem is that I need to pay ten percent to the fleet from each harvest in O-bux or crystalloid strata.”

“That’s fine,” I said. “We’ve got vamps that’ll slowly make the needed ten percent difference.”

“Okay, but what if a pesky Datamancer eventually checks that the physical params don’t match the Division’s weapon growth?” Sillicia asked.

“I'll organize vamp attacks on Division 881,” I said. “Which you’ll valiantly repel. Attacks that will perma-kill symbiote guns which you’ll need to replace.”

"With Kawathra makin' new guns that consume crystalloid biomass," Nexxali nodded. "The accounting will show steady material expenditure matching operational tempo."

"You basically want to launder the same vampire corpses through my division," Sillicia said flatly.

"Establishing a circular economy!" Shady giggled. "Like paying a credit card with a credit card to get bonus points of ranking!"

"Still laundering." Sillicia huffed.

“Aliens have laundry?” I interjected. “And money laundering?”

"We invaded a… Laundry-themed dungeon-consumed Earth a few years ago," Nexxali revealed, fur puffing out. “Learned way too many awful laundry metaphors from the washing-machine Sentinels. Also, I got washed far too many times for reasonability. Bleh.”

Sillicia shuddered visibly at the mention of the Laundry dungeon then relaxed as Shady offered her more pets.

“That’s a yes on vamp laundering then?” Shady licked Sillicia’s cheek.

“Yes,” Sillicia sighed. 

“Yass,” Shady smiled, squeezing the other Wendigo.

“Just one potential problem,” Sillicia said. “Legate Ixthia assigned an annoying, suspicious, extra-honest dragon to my division. I suspect she’ll be a thorn in my side.”

“Not a problem,” I said. “Galateya works for me.”

“What?” Sillicia blinked at me.

“Galateya works for me,” I repeated. “She’s my pawn.”

“Seriously?” Sillicia asked. 

Shaddy nodded.

“When did you even… okay fine. Do you have a plan for meeting your Aunt tomorrow, Princess?” She asked after a deep, pregnant pause turning to Shady. 

“Why?” Shady asked.

“Tomorrow, the Admiral is going to kill you,” Sillicia revealed. 

76 Understanding Incarnation

"What, like for realsies?" Shady asked. "Straight up kill me? Not even a hug?"

"Yes," Sillicia said. "She was radiating this pretty clearly when she thought about you near me. Execution, then reincarnation, then psychic interrogation while you're still disoriented from the revival process. Death resets mental defenses, makes you vulnerable. Evalithria wants to know where you stowed the Citadel keys, Shady.”

Shady's tail stopped swishing, ears drooping. “I didn’t stow any keys anywhere,” she let out.

"She won’t believe you. The plan," Sillicia continued, "is to have you walk into what you think is a nice diplomatic meeting. Evelithria will be cordial, maybe ask some preliminary questions, then—" She made a quick slashing gesture across her throat. "Straight into the Incarnator for round two."

"Just when I think that Frontenachii can’t get any worse, they manage to sink deeper," I said.

"Just my family things," Shady lamented. 

"Frontenachii family dynamics are basically elaborate murder-trust exercises," Nexxali commented with a big feline yawn. “Sounds like you should tell her to fuck off and not show up.”

"She'll take that as confirmation of guilt," Sillicia warned. “And take it out on the locals. Accelerate the server megastructure building plans, order warships and Corpse Seekers to wipe some cities off the map as punishment for your insubordination.”

“Ughhh,” Shady lamented. “Damned if I do, damned if I don’t.”

I frowned, mentally tabulating options.

“Mrrrr. Meet her, but don't get within stabbing distance,” Nexxali threw in a second suggestion. “Wear extra barrier shields! Make plans for backstabbery n’ various treachery.”

"I like where your head's at, Nexy," Shady said, "but Auntie Evely's probably already planned extra backstabbery. She's got, like, a PhD in backstabbery. Multiple PhDs. From Backstab University."

"Is that an actual institution in Omnithornia?" I chortled.

"No, but it should be," Shady mused. "They could have a mascot. The Betrayal Seagull."

“Why a seagull?” I asked.

“Have you seen those fuckers?” Shady asked. “They’re like the worst kind of Earth bird. I saw a video of one stealing a sandwich from a baby.”

"A sandwich from a baby," I repeated. "That's your metric for treachery?"

"The poor smol human was crying! The seagull didn't even eat the whole thing. Just took a bite and dropped it in the ocean. Such spite! That's Frontenachii energy right there."

"Can we circle back to the part where your aunt is planning to murder you?" I suggested. "Preferably with actionable intelligence? Like… How does the incarnation process work?" I asked, realizing this was a critical gap in my understanding of Omnid resurrection technology. "Mechanically. What's the procedure?"

Nexxali stretched, claws extending. "So first, a Seeker vaporizes the corpse. Complete molecular disintegration. Nothing left but ashes and the bracelet which is immune to fire."

"Cheerful start," I muttered.

"Then," she continued, "they take your Lazarus bracelet, which contains your soul's imprint. And chuck it into the Incarnation Well."

"Chuck it? That's the technical term?"

"The official term is 'ritual submersion,' but yeah, they basically throw it in," Nexxali confirmed. "The Well is filled with the Leviathan’s blood. Genuine shit, sourced from Wormwood Star impact sites in Omnithornia. Costs a fortune. Each Well is formed from Leviathan bone and requires about fifty gallons of the stuff, and it degrades over time, so they have to refresh it fairly constantly. That’s the reason why it doesn't work that well on Prads. We’re more affected by the blood decay, magically less Syntropic than Omnids.”

“So in Omnithornia…”

“The wells are purer,” Nexxali nodded. “In Omnithornia the reincarnation has no bad side effects for prads, I hear. Anyways, the bracelet sinks into the blood, the blood activates it and the bracelet sorta 3D prints a new body from the soul template. Takes a few minutes for a full resurrection. Blood is spent to create a body. Then an Omnid in attendance or a trusted friend pulls you out. ‘Das about it.”

"And the person being resurrected?" I asked. "What's that experience like?"

Shady grimaced. “You see the Wheel of Death for what feels like an infinite time trying to pull your soul to Arx. I really wouldn’t recommend it for a human. It’s incredibly stressful stuff. Races… with low magical resistance can permanently snap mentally from it.”

“Arx?”

“It's like a huge-ass megastructure that sucks souls from across everywhere and… re-creates people inside it,” Shady said. “I've been there on a field trip a bunch of times as delver. Is an extra fucked place, full of dungeons, giant monsters and insane Emperors.”

“I see. Like an infinite isekai… vacuum?” I guessed.

“Yep,” Shady said. "Most of it it pure hell on earth as the reincarnated are pulled into slave labor and die by the uncountable trillions in each nation that summons them."

“Uh-huh. Aight. Can a vampire get reincarnated by the Incarnator well?” I asked.

“What?” Everyone in the Corpse Seeker stared at me.

"Why would you want to resurrect a vampire?" Sillicia wondered.

"Academic curiosity," I said, which was only partly a lie.

“I think that we'll need Kawathra to answer a technical question of this level of absurdity,” Nexxali said, “because I've never considered reincarnating vamps. Their souls aren’t exactly whole, I think? More like a network of nodes.”

Sillicia and Shady nodded.

"Right then," Sillicia said, straightening up and adopting a more professional demeanor. "I should probably get back to Alpha before anyone notices I've been gone so long and starts asking questions.”

She tapped her V-ring.

A hologram flickered to life. A head appeared in the air, moth-like, featuring enormous fuzzy antennae, curly gray-white hair and gray compound eyes.

"Commander Sillicia," the moth girl yawned. "How may this gate-keeper serve?"

"Hey, Vixxy," Sillicia said. "I need a transit gate opened between Seeker 881-Alpha and..." She glanced at us questioningly.

"881-Kappa," Nexxali supplied helpfully.

"Seeker 881-Kappa," Sillicia finished. 

"M'kay… Opening gate now!" The moth said. "Anchoring dimensional coordinates… forming gateway links… and... there!"

A bunch of runes ignited across the walls of the seeker, then a liquid gate emerged from the floor and solidified. A vertical slash of pure darkness appeared inside the ring-gate, its edges crackling with purple lightning. It slowly filled the gate and then the black, wobbling curtain popped. Through it, I could see the red interior of another Corpse Seeker.

"Gate stable! Duration approximately seven minutes before I'll need to recalibrate and add more power to it. Will that be sufficient, Commander?" The moth asked.

"More than sufficient," Sillicia said. She tapped the ring, hanging up on the moth. "I guess this is where I commit full-on treason and hand over military assets to a runaway Princess."

"Strategic reallocation!” Shady bobbed.

"You're… such a cute dork, you know," Sillicia smiled slightly. "Princess Aquillianne, I hereby transfer forty-seven tons of processed crystalloid biomass to your custody. May it serve your dark purposes."

"So formal!" Shady giggled, then suddenly grabbed Sillicia by the shoulders and pulled her into a kiss.

It wasn't a brief peck. It was a full-on skull to skull, open mouth kiss that made Nexxali whistle appreciatively. Extra long tongues entwined.

When they finally separated, Sillicia looked dazed, glowing, silver eyes slightly unfocused.

"That's a down payment," Shady said, grinning wickedly. "On future Hearth Keeper benefits."

"I... yes. Right. Ah. Cargo. Transferring cargo now." Sillicia practically stumbled toward the gate.

She stepped through the dimensional portal, and moments later, we heard her barking orders on the other side. "Alpha, begin cargo transfer to Seeker Kappa of all crystalloid cubes!"

Crystalline organic arms emerged from Alpha's walls, each lifting and moving compressed cubes of processed vampire remains.

Cube after cube after cube rapidly went through the gate. We watched in silence as the cubes continued to pile up.

Finally, the transfer completed. Sillicia looked at us through the shrinking gate, looking significantly more composed than six minutes ago.

"There," she said. "All of them, as promised."

"You're great at this whole treachery thing," Shady observed.

"Years of practice lying to myself about fleet command being worth it," Sillicia replied dryly. 

"Thank you, Sil. For… trusting us." Shady smiled, definitely on a mission to shorten the Wendigo Commander's name as much as possible.

"Thanks for giving me something to trust in," Sillicia replied. "Princess? Your meeting with the Admiral... please don't die. Or at least, don't die permanently. I just found something worth betraying everything for. I'd rather not lose it."

"I'll try my best not to permanently die," Shady promised. "No guarantees on temporarily dying though. Auntie's a real overachiever when it comes to murder."

"Just... be careful." Sillicia nodded with a half-smile. "And if you need anything—backup, extraction, a convenient orbital strike—ping me."

"Will do, Sil," Shady said softly.

A moment later, the dimensional hole folded into itself with a sound like reality sighing in relief and the crystal gate melted back into the floor.

"Mmmmrrr. That's a lot of yummy magical potential just sitting in our cargo bay." Nexxali eyed our vamp cube pile hungrily. “Are we printing a gun army to protect Shades or something?”

“Or something,” I agreed.

“You don’t know, do you?” Nexy jabbed me.

“I have a vague plan,” I said. “I need to know more before I make it happen.”

I tapped my V-ring. "Kawathra, you can come out now."

"Yay!" Her voice crackled through immediately.

Moments later, a crystalline wall parted and the magpie Datamancer appeared. Her eyes widened comically at the small mountain of crystalloid cubes filling the cargo bay.

"Sweet Slayer's left testicle," she breathed. "Is that... is that forty-seven tons of processed crystalloids from Seeker Alpha?"

"Yep," I confirmed. "Courtesy of Commander Sillicia's extra-generous... strategic resource reallocation."

Kawathra's pupils dilated to pinpricks, her analytical mind running a thousand probability matrices, charts rapidly blooming around her. "This is... this is enough raw material to fabricate approximately—"

"Contemplate the potential later," I interrupted. "Can you pilot us home? It’s kinda getting late."

"Of course!" She practically vibrated with cheeky excitement as she scurried toward the pilot's position. "Ohhh, we're going to do such wonderful things with this! I'm already calculating optimal fabrication schedules and—"

"Kawathra."

"Yes?"

"Drive first. Scheme later."

"Right! Yes! Driving!"

As we sped back home, I hugged Shady and Nexy and idly chatted with Kawathra about the function of the Incarnator, receiving many curious answers. The bird confirmed that it was indeed theoretically possible to reincarnate vampires, or anything really, using the incarnator. That even the Omnids in the Lazarus temple had no idea how the bracelet and the blood worked. That the Incarnator Temple Arch-Keeper had an artifact that printed more incarnator bracelets.

. . .

We stopped behind the mansion sometime around 1 AM. The house was dark except for a few lights left on in the living room. Kawathra created a stairway and door and all of us went into the starry night.

"I'm going to bed," Kawathra announced with a beak-yawn. "Need to... maintain the sharing schedule." 

"Have fun with that," Nexxali said dryly.

"Oh, I will!" The magpie bounded toward the house.

The rest of the house was quiet as we entered. Someone, probably Galateya, made sure that the living room and kitchen were spotless. A note on the kitchen counter in neat handwriting read: "Did much reno. Water heater is now fully operational. Went to bed. Please don't blow anything up. ~Galya"

"Awww. So responsible," Nexxali observed sarcastically. "It's annoying."

"A goodly Hearth Keeper," Shady chortled. "Even if she is a shifty dragon."

“Are we allowed to get two Hearth Keepers?” I asked.

“Not really,” Shady shrugged. 

“Soooo then…” I began. "Are we betraying Sillicia or something?"

“‘Dis my planet now, I make the rules,” Shady intoned. "No betrayal. She's a good addition to the circle."

“Aight,” I shrugged.

We made our way upstairs, footsteps muffled by the old carpet runner. 

Our bedroom, our bedroom, yes I had to get used to that, was at the end of the hall. Shady opened the door, and we filed inside.

The room felt more lived-in now. My old guitar, which now assuredly belonged to Nexxali, leaned against one wall. The bed was a nest of random pillows and blankets harvested from across the house and put together by Shady. My laptop sat on the desk. 

Shady flopped onto the bed with a grunt, making the headboard and gothic roof creak. Nexxali climbed up more gracefully, curling into a ball at the foot of the bed like an oversized housecat.

I sat on the edge, feeling the weight of the day.

"So," I said, looking at Shady. "Your aunt wants to kill you tomorrow to interrogate you about some magic keys."

"Yep," Shady confirmed. “Presumably... the master control keys to my family's fortress.”

“Are they... physical keys?”

“Ye. Physical artifact keys that control access to different dimensional bubbles. Armory. Treasuries. Prison levels. The deep archives. Fleet construction. The Incarnation chambers. Whoever has them can open gates directly into the Citadel's core systems, bypassing all security. It's basically the admin password to the entire infrastructure."

"Soooo... You stole the keys to your family's entire fortress?"

"I dunno. Maybe? I mean, I had access to some of them as a Princess."

"Where are the keys now?" Nexxali asked.

"That's the problem," Shady said. "I don't freaking remember."

"You don't remember where you put possibly the most important artifacts in Frontenachii possession," I stated.

"Yep!"

"Shady."

"I know! I know it's bad! But I literally can't remember! It's just... blank. Like someone took an eraser to that specific part of my memory."

“Do you remember eating the brain spiders at all?" I asked.

Shady's face scrunched up in concentration. "No. Everything between me killing my aunt and staring at her hoard and then waking up in this bed with you a few days later… It's like trying to remember an old dream. Nothing concrete."

"You ate brain spiders?" Nexxali sat up abruptly. "Why the fuck would you eat brain spiders?!"

77 Memory Lane

"Presumably to forget what I did! Also, I don't remember eating brain spiders!" Shady protested. "I literally don't remember making that decision!"

“Ashy?” The serval looked at me. “Any bright ideas?”

I frowned, thinking back to the day Shady invaded my house. "Nope. Shady was incredibly vague about everything. Kept giving me non-answers about what she was. Basically, being cryptic and annoying."

"I'm often cryptic and annoying," Shady pointed out.

"True, but this was extra cryptic and annoying. You kept saying things like 'I'm whatever you want me to be' and 'chairs are real but if I close my eyes, no chairs.' 

“‘Das funny,” Nexxali chortled. “But also very annoying.”

Shady shrugged.

"Right. So we have no idea where these incredibly important magical keys are, you're meeting your murderous aunt tomorrow, and our best plan is 'try not to die.'" Nexxali poked Shady.

"Hey, it's worked so far," Shady pointed out.

"It does seem like a clever move to sabotage the Citadel," Nexxali added. "But also incredibly stupid and self-destructive."

Shady made a mildly distressed noise. "Past me thought that was a good idea, I guess.”

"Maybe..." I hesitated, "Maybe we could try to reconstruct what happened? Like, I remember our first day together pretty clearly. What if I let you look at my memories? See if anything triggers a connection? See if there’s a clue there or something?"

Shady's ears perked up. "You'd let me into your head? Like, full memory access?"

"Will it hurt?" I asked cautiously.

"Only if I root around too aggressively," Shady said. “I’ll be nice, promise! Want to try?"

I looked at Nexxali, who shrugged. “She's already in my head all the time with those brain hooks of hers. Now she'll be in yours too!"

"That's... not as reassuring as you think it is."

"Come on, Ashy," Shady wheedled, moving closer. "Pretty please? I promise I'll be gentle! I want to remember what I did with you before my mind got reset. No aggressive rooting! Only purposeful rooting. Very consensual memory invasion. Just a nice, soft memory browse!"

"You make it sound like shopping."

"Memory shopping! I like that! Can I buy some memories? Do you accept O-bux?"

"You're deflecting again. You don't have any O-bux on you."

"I'm always deflecting! It's my natural state of being!" She joked.

I sighed. "Fine. Yes. Let's do the creepy memory-sharing thing. But if you damage anything in there, I'm charging you rent for all the space you're taking up in my brain."

"Deal!" Shady bobbed. 

I sighed. "Also, if you find any embarrassing memories in there, we don't talk about them."

"Define embarrassing," Nexxali said with a grin.

"Literally anything from my teenage years."

"Oh, this is going to be good," the serval purred.

“Nexy, pipe down. Ashy, relax and come lie down on the bed,” Shady voiced, “I'm not digging that deep. We'll do it in a dream-state connection.”

I sighed and went into the bathroom and emerged a few minutes later in a clean t-shirt and boxers. Nexxali's and Shady’s hexasuits were already off, the living material compressed into storage mode hexagons.

We arranged ourselves in the nest-bed. Me in the middle, Shady pressed against my left side, Nexxali curled against my right. Shady's tail wrapped around both of us.

"How does this work?" I asked.

"Just relax and remember," Shady said, pressing her forehead against mine. "Think about the first moment you saw me this week. I'll follow the thread from there, link our minds."

I closed my eyes and let my mind drift back to that night. The scratching sound.

Witching hour.

“Intimate brain invasion time!" Shady whispered conspiratorially, large, silver eyes igniting from within. My mind lurched sideways, drowning in their light.

. . .

Suddenly, I wasn't in my bed anymore.

I was standing in my bedroom, but from a different angle. Third-person perspective, like watching a movie of my own life. There was past-me, lying on the bed with my laptop, looking sleep-deprived and vaguely hopeless, staring at job application vibe-code.

The grandfather clock ticked ominously in the hall.

“Neat-o," Dream-Shady said, appearing beside me, making me twitch. "I'm watching myself watch you."

Past-me looked completely unaware that my entire life was about to become infinitely more complicated. Poor bastard.

"Oh my god, look at you," Nexxali giggled, suddenly manifesting beside me and Shady. "You look so tired and grumpy!" She smooshed me from behind. "Yay, mutual memory experience movie-dream!"

"I was trying to find a job," I sighed. "And living in a creepy mansion alone. Cut me some slack."

"No slack! This mansion's not creepy," Shady observed, watching her past self scratching under the bed. "I thought it was cozy."

"You weren’t helping make it cozy," I pointed out. “Look at you wiggling under there like a creepy critter.”

"Strategic frightery!"

“That joke is getting old.”

“Nu-huh!”

We watched as past-me aimed the tablet's flashlight under the bed.

"FUCK, what the fuck that's so bright!" Memory-Shady yelped.

Nexxali burst out laughing beside me, elbowing Shady. "Slayer Ashy, you just tactical-nuked her retinas!”

Past-me yelped and dropped the tablet on past-Shady’s head.

"ACKK!" Memory-Shady cried out.

Nexxali howled with laughter. "You—you dropped—oh my god, you just BONKED her!"

"It was an accident!" I said. “She spooked me.”

Past-me picked up the tablet and started taking photos. The flash went off repeatedly, blinding past-Shady all over again, making her cry out.

"You're really committing to the retina damage strategy," Nexxali wheezed.

Past-Shady swatted at the phone—

THWACK.

The tablet landed on her face again.

"Again?!" Nexxali was dying from laughter at past-Shady's flailing. "Twice! Same spot! Slayer!"

"In my defense," I said. "I was sleep deprived as fuck and really, REALLY didn’t expect to find a giant cryptid invader under my bed."

"Nuu. We are besties forever,” Shady commented. “I had lifetime pass of under-bed access privileges! One should always expect the spooki Shady inquisition!”

"I'm pretty sure a thirteen-year gap in contact voids those privileges and inquisition expectations," I huffed.

Memory-Shady emerged from the bed, cursing and hopping around, rubbing her face.

Nexxali was laughing so hard she broke into tears. “Poor Wendigo-bae.”

Shady crossed her arms. "That damn thing weighs like three pounds and has sharp corners."

"You're an apex divine-tier predator," Nexxali pointed out, wiping tears from her eyes. 

"It was a very thick tablet, okay? Yes, ha ha, very funny," Shady grumbled. "Can we move past the Shady-face-bonking part?"

"Never," Nexxali declared. "This is going in the permanent memory bank. I'm going to bring this up at every family gathering forever."

Shady rolled her eyes as we continued watching the memory unfold. Past-me taking photos that showed a Black Shuck instead of Shady. 

“You’re part Shuck?” Nexxali asked.

“Mhmmm,” Shady nodded.

The memory inevitably marched onward.

Past-Shady explained she'd been waiting for past-me to return. The social media stalking confession. Dax's text messages confirming that yes, he only saw a dog in the photos.

"You know," Nexxali said, "’Dis is like serious full-on stalking."

"Not stalking!" Shady protested. "Strategic friendship maintenance!"

"You broke into a library at midnight to lurk on his Instagram," Nexxali said.

"Again, strategic!"

"That's literally the definition of stalking, dawg," Nexxali said flatly. "Couldn't you have texted or something?"

"Uhhh... I was feeling shy," Shady let out. "And his profile had pms disabled from non-friends."

The memory went on.

"Abyss. So much deflecting," Nexxali observed. "You're like deflection-central station."

"I was being mysterious!" Shady protested. "Enigmatic! It's romantic!"

"It's evasive," Nexxali corrected. "And frustrating. Look at his face. He's trying so hard to understand what's happening and you're just... playing dumb mind games."

We watched Past-Ash struggle with the existential crisis of whether Shady was real, running through hypotheses: psychotic break, carbon monoxide poisoning, stress dream, supernatural entity.

"Poor Ashy's literally having a mental breakdown trying to rationalize your existence," Nexxali said, sensing all of my thoughts through Shady’s brain-hookery. "And you're just... making jokes about his brain being too loud?"

“I was exhausted and wanted to sleep,” Shady protested. “Besides, it helped him remember how to split his mind. See? I’m a helpful critter!”

"Uh-huh. Helpful. After you refused to answer any of his questions and made everything infinitely more confusing," Nexxali pointed out critically.

Shady frowned.

The memory shifted to the next day. Past-me getting awakened by an unnervingly deep Wendigo stare, the 'eating me' joke, me making coffee.

"Make me breakfast before I decide to eat you," Past-Shady said, aggressively chewing on the unicorn mug.

"Eating threat number two," Nexxali observed. "You were really committed to the 'aggressive house guest' energy, huh?”

"It's friendly banter!" Shady protested. "I was excited to see him!"

"You told him you were trying to figure out where to bite first!"

“Playful teasing!" The Wendigo let out.

“Sure, but as we can sense, he didn’t take it one hundred percent as such,” the serval pointed out. “You are funny, yes, but also… I kinda feel bad for Ash here.”

“Why?” Shady blinked.

“Are you serious right now?” The cat went on the offensive, waving a clawed hand at the kitchen. “This is the definition of 'mooching' right here!”

“He’s my kobold Administrator and I didn’t have Earth money,” Shady let out. "I'm allowed to mooch off my bestie."

“He forgot that you were his bestie and administrator,” Nexxali pointed out. “What did you bring to the table?"

"My lovely company." Shady said.

"Uh-huh. That's not enough. What you brought was trouble. Escalating avalanche of trouble. You also didn't ask if you could stay. You just... moved in. Claimed his bed. Made him cook for you." Nexxali's ears flattened slightly. "Shady, you basically invaded his house."

"I was invited!"

"Nah," I said, watching the memory. "You invited yourself. I was too shocked and sleep-deprived to argue."

“No… I…” Shady backpedaled. “I mean... this is my house too! It’s part of my hoard! I claimed it when I was seven!”

“My Scrut didn’t notice such a claim when we got inside this mansion,” Nexxali pointed out. “Nor are there ward artifacts here.”

“This Earth’s Aether ground the magic away!” Shady insisted. “Me and Ashy had a blood pact.”

“Which he clearly didn’t remember.” Nexali repeated bluntly.

The memory fast-forwarded through the day. Shady following past-me around the house.

The shower invasion scene.

"OH NO," Nexxali said. "Oh no no no. Shady. SHADY, what the fuck?!"

"What?" Shady blinked.

"You invaded his SHOWER?!"

"I needed to be washed! Look at all those cobwebs!”

"THERE ARE LIKE SEVEN BATHROOMS IN THIS HOUSE!" Nexxali's voice cracked with incredulity. "You specifically chose to invade the one he was actively using!"

"Lifetime attendant duties were clearly stipulated in subsection C," past-Shady declared. 

"Shady! That's not how consent works!” Nexxali growled. “That's not how ANY of this works!"

"I was being playful!" Shady whined.

"You were being a boundary-violating menace," Nexxali corrected. "Ash, how did you not kick her out right there?"

Past-me in the memory just looked exhausted and defeated, accepting the shower invasion with the energy of someone whose grip on reality was already tenuous.

"I thought I was hallucinating," I said. "I figured if I was having a psychotic break, might as well lean into it."

"That's so… sad," Nexxali said, her voice softening as she hugged me. "Shady, do you understand what you did? He thought he was going insane. And instead of helping him process that, you just... kept pushing."

"I didn't mean—" Shady started.

"Intent doesn't matter when the impact is harmful," Nexxali interrupted. “Slayer, dude, you can't just…”

“I was... trying to seduce him, okay?!” Shady growled.

"That wasn’t very seductive, dawg. You were imposing,” Nexxali pointed out. "He explicitly expressed discomfort and you just... ignored it."

"I thought he was being shy!" Shady protested.

"Nope. He was being 'I don't want to shower with a cryptid I met yesterday,'" Nexxali said. "Did you consider that?"

“But—”

“Damn it, look at his face, Shady. Taste his thoughts of that moment. Does he look happy? Comfortable? Like he's enjoying this?"

Present-Shady looked hard at Past-Ash's expression. The rigid posture. The forced smile. The way he was trying to make himself smaller.

"He looks..." she started, then stopped. "He looks like he wants to disappear."

"Yes," Nexxali said. "He does. And you didn't notice or care."

"I cared!" Shady protested weakly. "I just thought... I thought he was being nerdy and awkward because we hadn't seen each other in so long. I thought if I acted normal, joked some more… he'd eventually relax and we'd... have a nice relationship... Look I'm really bad at this stuff, stop judging me, damn it!"

The memory moved onto Shady menacing me and holding me by my wrists because I recorded her.

“This just keeps getting worse,” Nexxali commented, eyeing the wrist bruises created on the memory-Ash. “You hurt him.”

“I didn’t mean to—I just snapped a little and—”

“He’s a little, harmless, human male,” Nexxali growled, claws out. “What the shit, Shades?”

Shady buried her face in her large hands, looking thoroughly embarrassed. None of us spoke, the memory moving around us like a river, accelerating at times and slowing down in others, likely controlled by Nexxali through Shady’s hooks.

"Nexxxyyy," Shady's voice cracked slightly, "I was trying to be fun, I swear. I thought—"

"You thought wrong." Nexxali’s tail lashed. "Shady, I love you, but watching this? Watching you push and push and push past every boundary he tried to set?" She gestured at Past-Ash's defeated expression. "This isn't playful. This is… bullying!"

78 Shaming Shady

"Bullying?" Shady recoiled like she'd been slapped. "What?! I would never bully my Ashy—"

"You literally held him against a wall by his wrists hard enough to bruise him," Nexxali stated flatly. "After he tried to document evidence of your existence for the sake of his sanity. Then you deleted everything and threatened him with being chopped into cubes."

"I was protecting us both!" Shady protested. “From my family! It wasn't a threat!”

"By terrifying him?" Nexxali's ears flattened, tail lashing. "Shady, he thought he was going insane. He thought you were a hallucination. And instead of helping him process that, you did the opposite! You know what I see when I watch this? I see someone using their power to get what they want without caring about consent. Without caring about how the other person feels."

"But I did care!" Shady's voice rose desperately. "I cared so much! That's why I came back! That's why I—"

"Then why didn't you show it?" Nexxali demanded. "Why didn't you give him space? Why didn't you respect his boundaries? Why didn't you explain things BETTER?"

"Wait," I interjected. "Nexy, I get what you're saying, but—"

"No buts, Ashy," Nexxali cut me off gently. "You need to hear this too. You need to understand that what happened wasn't okay, even if you've made peace with it."

The memory shifted to the grocery store scene. Past-Shady running out of "juice," running off and leaving Past-Ash alone and confused.

"You just left him there," Nexxali observed. "Didn't explain. Just 'gotta go' and vanished. Left him to deal with more possible manager drama, the checkout, everything."

"I was running out of mana—"

"So tell him that beforehand! Warn him! Don't just freaking run off!" Nexxali's voice carried the sharp edge of a prosecutor making her final argument.

"Yeah," I said. "For a bit I didn't know if you'd just ditched me or what."

Shady looked at me, eyes wide with guilt.

The memory moved to North at the checkout counter.

Then to the car, Past-Ash making the vampire joke, trying to deflect his unease with humor.

"And then," Nexxali continued relentlessly, "when he connects with another person—just getting a freaking phone number—you get possessive. Jealous. Start making threats about poking out his eyes."

"I was joking about the eye poking!" Shady protested weakly. “Also, North turned out to be a real vampire! I was… being protective! Vamps are bad!”

"Were you?" Nexxali's eyes bored into the Wendigo. "Because from where I'm standing, you were already thinking of him as your property. 'You're already mine. Permanently. Fo-re-vah.' Your words, Shady. Not his."

"The blood pact—"

"Was made by two seven-year-olds!" Nexxali's voice cracked like a whip. "You can't possibly think that's a valid basis for claiming ownership over another person if you… genuinely care for them!"

"She has a point," I admitted. "I mean, I barely remembered you existed until you crawled out from under my bed. And the whole “I own you now” was kinda super unexpected."

Shady opened her mouth, then closed it, looking between me and Nexxali.

"Let me ask you something," Nexxali said. "If I had done any of this to you—invaded your bath, deleted your attempts at gathering evidence, left bruises on your wrists, claimed you as my property without your informed consent—what would you call it?"

"That's... that's different—"

"How?" Nexxali demanded. "How is it different? Because you're bigger? Stronger? Because you convinced yourself it was romantic?"

The memory shifted again. The couch scene. Past-Shady taking up the entire space, making Past-Ash sit on her, wrapping her tail around him like a restraint, keeping his tablet hostage under her butt.

"This," Nexxali gestured at the scene. "This is what predators do, Shady. They invade space. They don't accept 'no.' They use physical intimidation. They isolate their victims from other relationships. They claim ownership."

"Stop," Shady whispered, trembling. "Please stop. We were supposed to look for clues about keys… not… shame me over my… over this… dumb stuff I did.”

"Why?" Nexxali asked. "Because it hurts to hear? Imagine how it felt to live through it. To be him, confused and scared, thinking he was going insane, and having his only 'friend' treat him like a toy!"

I swallowed hard, the memories washing over me.

Yeah. That had been rough.

"I wasn't—I didn't—" Shady's voice broke completely.

"You did," Nexxali said firmly. "You absolutely did. And the worst part? You did it all while calling it friendship. While calling it a blood pact. While making him feel like he owed you something."

The memory played on. Past-Shady keeping my tablet hostage.

I watched myself trying to be accommodating while also setting boundaries that immediately got steamrolled.

"Nexy," Shady tried going on the offensive. "You… you know... You... almost killed Ash! You tried to execute him as a witness when you first met! How is that any better?"

Nexxali's ears flattened, and for a second, genuine pain crossed her features. "You're right. I did. And that was wrong. Completely, utterly wrong."

"Then why are you shaming me so hard over this—"

"Because there's a difference, Shady," Nexxali stated. "I didn't know Ash. I was following blood-bound orders from High Command. I was literally compelled to protect Frontenachii interests and remove witnesses of any of their planetfall murder and sex crimes. I had no choice—my contract forced me to be a cleaner, a weapon that eliminates problems!"

I nodded. 

The serval stepped closer to Shady, gold eyes blazing. "But you? You had every choice. You knew Ash. You obviously loved him. You came here specifically for him. And you still chose to hurt him. Not because you were magically compelled. Not because you didn't know better. But because you wanted what you wanted, and his comfort didn't matter as much as your needs!"

Shady flinched like she'd been struck.

"I was a tool being wielded by others," Nexxali added. "You were a free person making choices. Bad choices. Selfish choices. Choices that hurt someone you claimed to care about."

"I..." Shady seemed very small, eyes sparkling with tears. "I didn't think about it like that."

"Exactly," Nexxali said. "You didn't think. You just acted. Took what you wanted. Pushed until you got your way."

The memory shifted to the brain spiders conversation. 

"This," Nexxali pointed at the garden scene. "This is good. The first time you actually opened up to him. Actually treated him like a person whose feelings mattered. Alas, you also dumped a mountain of trauma on him—the harvesting, the torture, the running away—without giving him much choice about whether he wanted to be involved."

"He said yes," Shady whispered, sliding to her knees.

"After you'd already spent a whole day breaking down his ability to say no," Nexxali countered. "After you'd isolated him, confused him, made him doubt his own sanity. After you'd claimed him as property and made him feel responsible for your wellbeing. That's not informed consent, Shady. That's manipulation!"

"I didn't... I wasn't trying to..." Shady's shoulders shook.

"I know," Nexxali said more gently. "I don't think you woke up and thought 'today I'm going to emotionally manipulate my childhood friend.'"

"I was confused and scared, but I still chose to help her,” I rubbed the back of my head, feeling bad for Shady who was sniffing and clinging to my side now. “I could have called the cops, or my therapist, or—"

"Could you though?" Nexxali raised an eyebrow. "She took your tablet. She'd made you doubt your own reality. She'd claimed you as property and told you that terrible things would happen if anyone found out about her. What real choice did you have?"

I paused.

Put like that...

The memory reached the moment where Past-Shady explained the imprinting, asking Past-Ash to be the first thing she saw when she woke up.

"Even this," Nexxali gestured at the scene. "Even this final moment. You're asking him to let you imprint on him like he's your parent. To take responsibility for you while you're vulnerable. But you never asked if he wanted that responsibility. You just... assumed. Because you needed it, because you’ve boxed yourself and him into a corner."

Shady blinked, silver tears streaming down her dark cheeks. "What else was I supposed to do? I had nowhere else to go! I was scared!"

"You could have been honest from the start," Nexxali said. "You could have respected his boundaries. You could have treated him like a genuine partner instead of property!"

"But I didn't know how!" Shady sobbed. "Everyone I knew treated their kobolds like property in Omnithornia! That's how it bloody works in my family! I thought I was being nice by not compelling him directly!"

"And that's exactly the problem," Nexxali said softly. "You thought 'not magically mind-controlling him' was the bar for good behavior. But Shady, that's not the bar. That's below the ocean floor. And even then, you still found ways to control him—through physical intimidation, isolation, etcetera."

Shady slid even closer to me, her whole body shaking with sobs. "I just wanted my friend back. I just wanted someone who looked at me like I mattered. Like I was more than just a harvester."

I felt my heart clench. I reached out to pet her.

"I know," Nexxali said, sitting down beside the crying Wendigo and wrapping her tail around Shady's shaking form. "I know you were hurting. I know you were running. I know you were scared. But Shady... hurt people hurt people. And you hurt Ashy."

"I love him," Shady whispered brokenly.

"I know you do," Nexxali said. "But love without respect is just possession. And possession isn't love—it's ownership. You treated him like he was yours to claim from the start, not someone to build a nice relationship with."

The past-Ash and past-Shady went to bed in the memory-river.

"You know... If I had been in Ash's position," Nexxali said, "I would have kicked you out." 

“When?” Shady asked.

The memory flashed back to past-me sitting atop of Shady.

"The moment you said 'most people would consider this behavior toxic' and then dismissed it because you're 'not people.' That's when I would have said 'get the fuck out of my house and don't come back.'" Nexxali stated.

Shady looked up at us, wet eyes wide. "Really?"

"Yes, really," Nexxali confirmed. "Because that moment? That was you acknowledging that your behavior was wrong and then dismissing it because you didn't think normal rules applied to you. That's... that's abuser logic, Shady. 'I know this is bad, but I'm special, so it doesn't count.'"

I'd been silent, watching Nexxali systematically dismantle Shady's self-justifications. Part of me wanted to defend Shady, but...

Nexxali was right.

About all of it.

I'd been so caught up in the crisis of preventing Earth's destruction, that I hadn't really processed how thoroughly Shady had bulldozed through my boundaries.

"Shady," I said.

She looked up at me, face streaked with tears, looking more vulnerable than I'd ever seen her.

"Nexxali's right," I said. "About everything."

She flinched like I'd struck her.

"You hurt me," I continued. "Not physically, but... you invaded my space. My privacy. You made assumptions about what I wanted without asking. You acted like I owed you something because of our childhood, when I didn't even remember you properly for most of my life."

"Ash, I—"

"Shush. I'm not done," I said gently. "You also saved Earth. You killed your aunt to protect me and this planet. You gave up everything—your family, your position, your entire life—to keep me safe. You risked death and worse to stay here."

"That doesn't excuse the bullying." Nexxali started.

"Slayer," Shady whispered, more fresh tears spilling over. "Damn it all… I'm exactly what I was running from. I'm an effin’ monster."

"No," I said firmly, leaning down and pulling Shady into a tight embrace. "No, you're not. You know how I know?"

"How?" Shady's voice was muffled against my shoulder.

"Because you're crying right now. Because you care that you hurt me. Because you're capable of seeing what you did wrong and are feeling remorse." I said.

“Mmhmm.” Nexxali stroked Shady's feathery mane from the other side. "Your family? They don't cry about hurting people. They don't question their actions. They don't see their victims as people."

"But I still did it," Shady sobbed. "I still hurt Ashy. I feel sooo bad…"

"Yes," Nexxali agreed. "You did. And that's something you're going to have to live with. But Shady? He's still here. He's still with us. He chose to stay. Chose to help you. Chose to love you despite those first rough days."

"Why?" Shady looked at me now. "Why would you do that, Ash? After everything bad I did to you?"

I took a deep breath, trying to find the right words. "Because... because underneath all the bullshit, underneath the bossy boundary violations, I saw someone who was genuinely scared and alone. Someone who made terrible choices out of desperation, not malice… And it gives me hope that you want to change. Hell, that you are already changing. You did ask for my permission to review the memories of that day.”

"Yes," Shady whispered. "I want to be better. For you. For us… Nexy? What should I have done differently?

"Asked," Nexxali said simply. "That first night under the bed? You should have crawled out, revealed yourself, and ASKED. 'Ash, I'm in terrible danger. My family does horrible things. I need help. I understand this is a huge ask, but will you help me?' Give him agency. Give him choice. Give him the truth upfront so he could make an informed decision."

"He would have said yes," Shady said, glancing at me. “Right?”

I nodded.

"Yes," Nexxali agreed. "Ashy is sweet and kind. But it should have been HIS choice. Not something you guilt-tripped him into. A real choice, made with full knowledge of the stakes. Do you understand?”

Shady nodded.

“Good Wendigo,” Nexxali started to purr.

We sat together in the dreamscape space for a long while, Nexxali holding Shady while the Wendigo sniffed out her guilt and shame.

"Nexy?" Shady mewled.

"Yeah?"

"Thanks. For... for not letting me pretend this was okay. For making me see it. For explaining."

"That's what partners do," Nexxali said softly. "We call each other on our bullshit. Even when it hurts. Especially when it hurts."

"I'm sorry, Ashy," Shady said, hugging me tight. "I'm so sorry. For the shower. For the bruises. For taking your phone hostage. For making you doubt your sanity. For treating you like property. For all of it. I wish that I could go back in time and change it all. I was just so happy to see you again. I missed you so much and fumbled things so freaking bad."

I looked at her tear-stained face, at the genuine remorse there, at the desperate need for forgiveness.

"I forgive you," I said. "Just try to be better than this, yeah?”

"Yes!" she promised. "I swear. I'll ask. I'll listen. I'll respect your boundaries even when I don't like them. I'll—"

"Relax, Princess,” Nexxali purred harder, petting Shady. “The reason I'm being so harsh about this? It's because I see myself in your mistakes."

Shady looked at the serval.

"I've spent decades using my voice to manipulate and control," Nexxali stated. "Taking away people's choices. Because I told myself I knew what was best, because I believed the Frontenachii propaganda about helping doomed worlds, about freeing other prads from the ever-blooming dungeons. It took meeting Ash, the catnip and your circle bond to finally free me... It allowed me to see myself from the side, to finally have agency. So yeah, I'm harsh on you about this because I know how easy it is to rationalize bullying others when you're desperate. And I know how much damage it causes."

"I don't want to be that person," Shady said.

"Then don't be," Nexxali nodded. "Acknowledge what you did. Take responsibility. And do better going forward! Right? Right! Anyways, we’re done with the dream-review. No clues about any keys there. So let’s wake up… and proceed to the consequences.”

"What kind of consequences?" Shady swallowed nervously.

Nexxali's grin resembled Emperor Palpatine’s. "The… educational fun kind. Mrrr. For being a bossy butt to Ashy and for throwing me into a lake.”

"What?" Shady blinked, wiping her tears.

"You've clearly been a bad girl," Nexxali purred. "A very bad girl. And bad girls need to be taught a lesson."