Moonbyul didn’t pause as they flew over Jidoor. Solji didn’t speak up as they zipped above the storm clouds of Zozo. Queen Sooyoung, the Joy of Figaro, merely watched over the railing as they sailed above the featureless sands of the Southern Desert, trusting the fate of her castle to her team of royal engineers. All were in agreement to chase after the Court Wizard without delay.

It had been days since they had left Vector, and all aboard the Blackjack, things were silent. Captain Moonbyul felt a small compulsion to try to lift the spirits of her crew after the loss of Somi, but she herself didn’t quite have the heart to do more than console her crewmates one-on-one. First Sujeong with her best attempts to keep up with her duties at the helm, then Eunae who always made herself wait until she was belowdeck to cry, and finally Sohee who could barely look at a mop without bursting into tears. Moonbyul took each one of them into her cabin to let them say whatever they needed to say.

Except for Yooa.

“No!” she shouted, flinging Moonbyul’s hand off her arm. “You all may have given up - you may have just left her for dead, but not me.”

“She’s gone, Yooa,” Moonbyul insisted in a low voice, her frustration building. “No one could have survived a fall like that!”

“She did,” Yooa retorted, jabbing a finger in Joy’s direction.

Yeri took a heated step forward but Joy simply held out her hand.

“We should have looked for her,” Yooa continued, her voice rising. “We just left her there, in the middle of that city- I should have taken that Sky Armor myself and-,” she choked past a rising lump in , gesturing at the machine Irene had managed to land near the bow. “-and… I should have… I…”

Moonbyul carefully approached again, taking Yooa into her arms.

“She’s not dead,” Yooa sobbed against her shoulder. “She’s not dead…”

+++

It was late into a cold fall evening as the Blackjack wound its way through the peaks of narrow mountain pass when Seulgi found Irene up on the deck.

As soon as the the crew of the Blackjack had agreed to take the Returners to Narshe, Irene had all but locked herself belowdeck and hadn’t come up voluntarily in days, so it was quite a surprise for Seulgi to see Irene leaning up against a roosting Boko, watching the dark landscape move against a blanket of stars.

It was a familiar scene - the reverse of the night they spoke before they reached Vector, or perhaps similar to the night that Irene had asked her about the swordsman in the stars - and Seulgi realized with a dizzying rush of nerves that she hoped there could come a day when she would be able to spend time with Irene without the threat of a battle looming on the horizon.

Oh, she liked the image of Irene comfortably reclined against Boko on a quiet evening very much indeed.

“Stop standing there in the dark staring at me,” Irene muttered quietly. “It’s creepy.”

Seulgi grinned widely and approached, though as she neared, she could see the glassy surface of Shiva’s magicite peeking out between Irene’s crossed arms.

In Vector, Irene had ditched Moonbyul’s embroidered longcoat in favor of her lighter, better-fitting sleeveless top, but she was now back in the black, oversized garment she had won from the luckless captain. Warm and comfortable, deep in the folds of the thick coat, Irene eyed Seulgi’s dark figure with a light frown - an expression of annoyance more at herself than at poor chocobo rancher. She liked the fact that Seulgi sought her out over the company of the other girls a little too much. She wanted to feel Seulgi’s reliable presence after their failure at Vector a little too much.

“Is this seat taken?” Seulgi asked quietly.

Irene rolled her eyes and reluctantly scooted over, but not very much.

Seulgi didn’t seem to mind as she settled down right next to Irene against Boko’s side. “It’s getting cold lately,” she commented offhandedly.

Irene glanced down at the magicite she had cradled in her sleeves, but decided not to draw attention to the fact that she was literally holding the essence of an ice esper in her arms. “We’re close to Narshe now,” she settled on instead.

Seulgi nodded in the dark, the feather in her hat bobbing with the motion. “And it’s nearly winter.”

Irene remembered a time when winter meant a halt to the Empire’s foreign activities - an unofficial truce that was called every year in order to avoid inclement weather. Once the Court Wizard had mastered the use of the Slave Crown, however, Wendy’s abilities had removed most major obstacles that inhibited the continuance of the Empire’s campaign in the north. As long as she wasn’t being used to kill directly, Irene had authorized Leeteuk to give her those assignments - a small concession that would give her leverage over the Court Wizard later.

She glanced up at Seulgi’s dark profile and exhaled through her nose. Maybe the rancher was right. Maybe fighting really was all she thought about.

“Now who’s staring?” Seulgi muttered shyly, tipping her hat back a bit.

“What are you thinking about?” Irene asked, wanting a break from her own thoughts.

Seulgi pointed to herself in surprise. “Me?” She was too embarrassed to admit the truth, so she skimmed over some of the particulars. “I guess I was thinking about my parents’ ranch… like what they need to do to prepare for the winter.”

Irene listened attentively. Chocobos had quickly fallen out of favor in the army once Heechul had ramped up Magitek Armor production- “No,” Irene grumbled, startling Seulgi.

“N-no…?”

Irene shook her head and took Seulgi’s arm, hooking it around her shoulders. Seulgi stayed perfectly still in shock as Irene settled against her side. “Forget it. What do your parents do to prepare? How bad is the winter in Mobliz?”

It took a moment before Seulgi’s mind caught up with the conversation, especially with the way Irene laid her head against her shoulder after prompting her to continue. “Uh, w-well we have to herd all the chocobos into the lower pasture, and clear out the stables…”

“Mmhmm.”

“-and I usually try to sell any extra gysahl greens from the harvest to the neighbors for their birds…” she continued, timidly letting her cheek rest against the top of Irene’s head. “There isn’t as much to do during the winter so I go into town a lot.”

“Town?” Irene softly asked.

Seulgi thought for a moment about the new saloon, the general store, the small library, the cliffs that lined the coast, the long horizon of stormy sea that stretched all the way to the northernmost reaches of the map that hung on the wall of the schoolhouse she had once attended.

She shrugged against Irene, using that as an excuse to pull her a little closer. “It’s a small town. There’s not really much there; I’d just go down to the store and talk with people.” Year after year after year. “Oh! And the new saloon! Well, I guess it’s not ‘new’ anymore… but sometimes dancers and troupes come by to perform.”

The way Seulgi’s voice brightened at the mention of the performers pulled a smile from Irene’s lips. She lightly snorted at the thought of Seulgi ogling some girls twirling around in their skirts to the melody of an old upright piano. And sure enough, Seulgi began humming some honky tonk tune under her breath, and Irene rolled her eyes as her smile widened.

“Are you going to dance, too?” she jested.

Seulgi paused. “That would mean getting up.”

“... Please don’t.”

“Okay.”

“I never did get to see you in the opera,” Irene murmured.

“Y-you didn’t?” Seulgi let out a shy, quiet laugh, a little relieved. “It wasn’t anything special… and Moonbyul kind of stole the show.”

Irene made a small derisive noise at the mention of the grandiloquent captain. “Were you scared?”

“Scared?” Seulgi contemplated for a moment. “No, Moonbyul didn’t have a weapon or anything - I knew it was part of the plan.” Or at least, she had hoped it had all been part of the plan.

“I meant singing in front of all those people,” Irene corrected. To have to pretend to be a star, a veteran performer, in front of such a high-brow crowd - Irene’s throat went dry at the mere thought. Even having to give rousing speeches to her own troops had proven to be quite a challenge on more than one occasion.

Seulgi nodded, her cheek lightly rubbing against the top of Irene’s head. “Yeah, that part was pretty scary. What if my voice cracked? Or what if I tripped? Or you know, what if I forgot my lines?” Irene could feel Seulgi tensing up at the memory. “I mean it was all part of the plan, but… I don’t know, I still wanted to do my best.”

“Do you remember them?”

Seulgi was silently confused for a few beats before Irene tried again.

“Your lines?”

“Oh, yeah,” Seulgi laughed quietly. “Yeri thought they were cheesy.”

“Let me be the judge of that.”

A feeling of dread overtook Seulgi. “What?”

“Would you sing it for me?” Irene asked, confirming Seulgi’s fears.

“N-now?” Seulgi asked in a tiny voice.

Irene lightly elbowed Seulgi in the side. “Yes, now,” she commanded as she hugged her shard of magicite closer to herself and let her eyes close. “Please?”

Seulgi had only had a single evening to prepare the solo, and hadn’t even been able to finish performing it on the stage before being interrupted by the lascivious Moonbyul, but with only the rhythmic thumping of the propellers overhead and Irene’s curiously warm figure resting against hers to judge, she only hesitated long enough to hum the first line to herself before launching right into verse.

Oh, my hero,

My beloved,

Shall we still be begged to part?

The promises of

Perennial love

Yet sing, here in my heart.

I’m the darkness,

You’re the starlight,

Shining brightly from afar.

Through hours of despair,

I offer this prayer,

To you, my evening star.

When Seulgi paused in embarrassment, Irene couldn’t help smirking. While it was true that Seulgi was no primadonna, her voice was surprisingly clear and beautiful. But instead of saying so, Irene lightly bumped the top of her head against Seulgi’s cheek.

“Yeri’s right. That was a little cheesy.”

Seulgi shyly fussed until Boko pushed her with his wing. “You’re the one who asked me to sing!” she grumbled.

Irene pulled away to face her and raised an eyebrow. “Have you considered singing? Like…” she paused, trying to consider a realistic option for the country girl, “maybe joining a troupe?”

Seulgi smiled at her. “Not really. I’ve been kind of busy lately,” she answered, glancing around the dark deck of the Blackjack.

Irene frowned. “How about after?”

“After?” Seulgi iterated, her smile fading a bit.

Irene watched her for a moment, regretting her question in light of the way Seulgi was looking at her. Seulgi wasn’t supposed to be here, traveling from battle to battle, trying to overthrow an empire. She wasn’t made for this life. Seulgi wasn’t made for her life.

“... I guess I have kind of thought about… after,” Seulgi admitted with a sheepishness that caught Irene off guard. “But what about you?” she continued quickly. “You’re not a general anymore, so you can do whatever you want after this, right? Go… wherever you want?”

Irene didn’t like getting the question turned back on her. She had barely given a thought past chasing after the Court Wizard and cutting him down before he could set one foot in Narshe. She couldn’t even say any certainty if her goal was to stop the Empire so much as making sure Leeteuk paid for everything he’d ever done to Wendy.

But after that?

Do you always think about fighting?

“I haven’t thought about it,” she confessed.

“Oh…” Seulgi wondered if she was prying too much, unable to read Irene’s expression well in the gloom. “Well maybe… you could try thinking about it?” she asked, tugging at the torn cuff of her tuxedo jacket.

“What’s out there for a former Imperial General to do?” Irene mused.

“Have you considered raising chocobos?” Seulgi asked, holding her breath.

“Seulgi.”

Boko chirped in a pleased manner, and Irene grinned. “Are they all like Boko?”

Strangely relieved, Seulgi smiled proudly and reached out to pat Boko’s beak. “No, Boko’s special.”

“So you’ve said,” Irene said, mildly amused. What had Seulgi’s biggest fears been in her pastoral life? A sick chocobo? A crop blight? Irene had never been terribly comfortable around animals, and she had certainly never lived on a farm before, but somehow with Seulgi in the picture, Irene suddenly found herself daydreaming about it.

Ridiculous.

She didn’t know the first thing about raising animals. How was she supposed to be trusted to tend acres of crops that the farm would depend on come winter? She had been raised for a single purpose: conquest. Victory. War. Nurturing and taking care of things wasn’t exactly in her training, however naturally her thoughts were gravitating towards it as she searched Seulgi’s expression.

Seulgi felt her heart sink as Irene’s smile faded. Was she getting too carried away? What made her think someone as important as Irene would want to throw her future away and live in such a small, remote place like Mobliz? She’d be better suited to joining Joy’s Royal Guard, or maybe even going back to Gestahl to help her people rebuild after the war ends.

But most importantly, what made Seulgi think Irene would want to be hers?

Irene reached out and touched Seulgi’s lapel, stilling her thoughts. She let the tips of her fingers follow the seam up worn jacket until her hand rested on Seulgi’s shoulder and leaned in to softly place a kiss against her lips. There was a gentleness to it that didn’t come with the burden of apology and guilt like their first kiss. It was just Irene, and it was just Seulgi.

It was just a quiet moment, on a quiet night, in the middle of a world-consuming war.

Until Irene’s hand shifted to the back of Seulgi’s neck, pulling her closer, and Seulgi’s own hands came up to cup the sides of Irene’s face. That small movement, that acknowledgement of mutual desire lent an intensity to the kiss that she didn’t want to end, she didn’t want to be interrupted again and lose this moment with Irene. She wanted more.

Seulgi’s fingers tangled themselves in Irene’s long hair, all her unspoken concerns and doubts dissipating in the heady feeling of Irene’s lips against hers, evaporating in a heat that Seulgi was quickly succumbing to.

“Kweh.”

Irene laughed against Seulgi’s mouth while the rancher reached back and smacked at Boko blindly. This was exactly the kind of interruption she wanted to avoid, and she was disappointed it had come so quickly. Seulgi kept Irene close, her cheek with a thumb as she leaned in once again.

“Kweh!!!” Boko complained once again, shoving Seulgi away with one of his wings.

Irene caught Seulgi as she was suddenly forward. “I don’t think Boko appreciates this very much,” she said with a wry smile up at the bird.

“I’m sorry,” Seulgi apologized, hiding her face with one hand in embarrassment as she sat and smacked at Boko again. “What’s your problem? I thought we were friends?” she grumbled.

Irene quirked an eyebrow in amusement. “Maybe he’s jealous.”

“Jealous?!” Seulgi squawked along with a noise of protestation from Boko.

Much to Seulgi’s dismay, Irene stood up and walked over to smooth the feathers on Boko’s great head. “I would be, too, if I was just minding my own business and some girl just starts kissing you.”

Seulgi was a little tongue-tied at Irene’s admission, recalling how the ex-general had nearly beheaded Moonbyul after the captain had assaulted her.

Oh.

“Irene,” Seulgi began, struggling to stand after that knee-weakening kiss. She took Irene’s hand in her own, ignoring the way Boko lightly snapped at her shoulder for taking away Irene’s attention. “I-”

“I’d really rather not be interrupted again,” Irene said, raising her eyes from their clasped hands to Seulgi’s alarmed expression.

“Y-yeah?”

“Yeah.” She backed away, pulling Seulgi towards the trapdoor.

“B-but what about Boko…?” Seulgi stuttered helplessly.

“He’s already made it pretty clear he isn’t interested,” Irene answered with a coy smile.

Seulgi turned back to the giant chocobo and shrugged with a lopsided grin as she was lead away, and Boko simply shook out his feathers, happy to finally have some peace.

+++

“I’ll have to land the Blackjack out here, I think,” Moonbyul said as she leaned out over the bow and surveyed the snowy cliffs below. The valley they had been flying through had narrowed and plunged into a ravine, a jagged crack in the earth that looked like the remnants of some primordial seismic event. It was here, nestled into the cliff face itself that the mining town of Narshe had been settled. Joy and Moonbyul watched as Sujeong let the Blackjack drift past the lights peeking through the snow flurries, offering brief glimpses of the ramshackle homes and workshops jutting out of the rock, propped up on old, heavy scaffolding, and criss-crossed with wooden staircases and rickety ladders.

Another pair of eyes farther down the deck were also carefully scanning the cliff face. Yeri and Irene were both silent as they looked for any sign of a pair of Sky Armors - or of a fight. They were so focused, both girls jumped when Yooa came up behind them.

“You’re going to kill him, right? You’ll finish it this time?” she asked, and Yeri glanced at Irene, waiting for her answer.

“If they’re even here,” Irene replied. She was reminded of the way Yeri had yelled at her in Heechul’s lab for letting the Chief Engineer live. Was she still under suspicion? What a joke. No one had better get in her way when they finally confronted Leeteuk, or she just might cut them down, too. But Wendy? Out of the question. She’d rather fall on her sword than hurt her. And Eunji… Eunji had so much potential, it’d be such a shame to kill her if they could convince her to defect instead.

“They’re not getting the Phoenix,” Yeri growled, cutting through Irene’s thoughts.

“We’ll stop them,” Irene assured her.

“We owe it to Somi,” Yooa added.

Somi, and everyone else who had fallen before her. Irene knew the number of casualties better than most.

“Bring her around, Sujeong,” Moonbyul called from the bow, prompting the Blackjack to bank around and make another pass at the small, vertically designed town. “I think I saw a building you could drop us off at with the rope ladder.”

“You’re coming, too?” Joy asked.

Moonbyul shrugged and flexed her arm. “Why not? I’m all healed up thanks to that potion Yeri gave me.”

Joy hesitated. She knew Moonbyul’s previous injury wasn’t enough to keep her from a fight but… not once since they had boarded the Blackjack had Joy seen her with a weapon.

Moonbyul smirked as the queen’s eyes roamed over her person. “Don’t you worry, I’m not completely defenseless,” she said with a wink. “I have a good feeling about this; I’m feeling lucky.”

+++

“Relax,” Joy muttered to Irene, who had a hand fixed on her hilt as soon as she alighted from the rope ladder. “This town is even more neutral than Jidoor - they can’t be bought.”

“I know that,” Irene whispered back harshly as she scanned the snow-covered terrace they had been dropped off on. A sign on the entrance to the lone shack jutting out of the rock face read 'Narshe Tunnel R' in simple black paint. “They export minerals to everyone, and return our threats with embargos. They’ve always been easier to strike deals with than invade.”

“Sounds about right,” Solji agreed as she walked between the two girls, heading straight towards the door.

Seulgi rubbed her arms as she eagerly followed after the don, hopping from foot to foot in her torn up tuxedo and tractionless dress shoes. She waited a little impatiently for Solji to open the door before scooting inside, though she halted a little ways in in surprise at the sight she beheld.

The drafty wooden interior of the shack transitioned into a long, roughly hewn stone hallway. Lanterns hung at intervals from support beams overhead, and shallow ruts cut a path down the earthen floor where railing once lay. This wasn’t someone’s house, this was a repurposed mineshaft.

“Seulgi, move! It’s cold as Shiva’s -” Moonbyul started before Joy elbowed her in the ribs with a nod at Irene.

The Returners, with the addition of Solji and Moonbyul, followed the trail of lanterns until they came to an intersection of multiple tunnels, each new path labeled with another painted wooden sign.

“Inn?”

“This one just says ‘shop’...”

“Tavern. Of course.”

The girls stared, silently trying to decide their next step, when they heard the sound of running echoing down one of the passages. “-blow the whole thing if we can’t hold him off…!”

“That’s going to be a lot of dynamite…”

Joy immediately tore after the voices, down the passage simply listed as “shop”. The other girls followed close behind, drawing their weapons.

“I heard 'dynamite' and ‘blow up’,” Yeri called up to Joy as she followed a step behind. “Are they going to collapse the tunnels?”

“I doubt it,” Joy answered, “half the town is built into the cliff - they’d kill everyone.”

“It might be worth it to keep Leeteuk’s hands off Phoenix,” Irene muttered, barely loud enough for Seulgi, who was trotting apace with her, to hear.

Up ahead Joy could see the tunnel open up into a small cavern that was packed with open stalls - Narshe’s subterranean market. As she slowed, she could see a group of men - presumably Narshe’s militia based on their somewhat uniformed dress and weaponry - angrily gesticulating to one of the shopkeeps down the row. That was probably her best bet for finding out more information, so she quickly approached.

“At least five charges,” one man barked, pointing at a chest behind the counter with his old rifle.

The shopkeep however seemed to share Joy’s misgivings about resorting to explosives as he stepped in between the man and the chest. “Five? You’ll bring the whole fissure down on us!”

“This isn’t just a platoon of soldiers, it’s the Court Wizard,” another man emphasized.

“And that Bahamut-be-damned Witch of his,” the first added.

“I don’t care who is in that cave, my kids are up in the schoolhouse and I’m not about to let you go closing tunnels willy nilly!”

“Don’t make me do this,” the first man spoke in a low voice, slinging his rifle over his shoulder and rolling up his sleeves. “We need those charges. Everyone’s waiting for us.”

“Wait!” Joy cried out, running up to the group. “Where are they?”

The men paused to look at her, then past her to the rest of the Returners, and Seulgi didn’t like the way their expressions morphed from annoyance, to displeasure, to violence.

“If I didn’t know any better I’d say you were Figaro’s queen-”

“ing Imperial es! That’s General Bae!” a man shouted, tugging at the strap to his rifle.

“Who’s neutral now?” Solji muttered, cracking her knuckles.

Irene sighed quietly, her breath a white cloud as the temperature in the cavern suddenly plummeted.

“Irene wait-” Seulgi begged, but it was too late, as the ex-general grabbed the barrel of one of the rifles leveled at them.

The man let go of the weapon with a cry as it froze in Irene’s grip, and she slammed it against the cave floor, shattering it into pieces.

Solji pushed past her to deflect the rifle of another one of the militia, holding out a hand to Irene. “Cool it, Ice Princess,” she chided. “We’re here to help, right?”

“We’re here to stop Leeteuk,” Irene corrected, but even so, she straightened up out of her fighting stance and crossed her arms. She watched as the rest of the Returners disarmed the militia, keeping injuries to a minimum, until the scuffling was finished. Of course the men, mostly lying on the ground contorted in pain, weren’t pleased at being so easily dispatched, but the women didn’t have time for their bruised egos or broken limbs.

“Where is he?” Joy asked, putting her boot on the hip of one of the men who was starting to get up. He cried out in pain and tried to squirm out from under her heel. “I said, ‘where is he?’”

“You think I’m going to tell you?!” he hissed between labored breaths. “Right, lead you straight to him. Do you want a ing map, too?”

“Either you tell us so we can kill him ourselves, or we go with your first plan and blow this entire rats' nest of a town sky high,” Yeri threatened, fondling one of her daggers as she eyed the chest of explosives.

The shopkeeper practically fell backwards over the top of the chest at Yeri’s glare. “Please… please! They’re down the new shaft,” he sputtered in desperation. “Back the way they came! It’s labeled Tunnel D! F-follow it all the way to the end! All the way to the end.”

After he finished, Yeri flashed him a bright smile and winked. “Cheer up,” she said as the rest of the girls took off back down the tunnel. “We’re the good guys~”

The shopkeeper sat down heavily on the chest and wiped the sweat from his brow in bewilderment.

+++

They made their way back out of the now-empty market and into the tunnels, Joy and Solji at the head, trying to retrace their steps and follow the presumed path that the militia had taken.

“So you kind of know where you’re going?” Seulgi asked Solji hopefully.

Solji held out a thumbs up as she ran along the twisting, turning passageways. “I’ve been here a few times for business, but sometimes I can get turned around…” she admitted as she slowed. They were coming to another intersection of tunnels, all with multiple rail lines running in and out of them, and switches and empty carts at their entrances. But as the girls all came to a stop, the could feel a few flakes of snow falling from up above.

Irene craned her neck up and could see that the 'ceiling' itself was a tunnel to the surface, dug hundreds of yards straight up, edged with walkways and cranes for transporting cargo. She dropped her gaze after a moment, realizing they still weren’t moving. “Where next? We can’t let them get away this time.”

“The sign says ‘Tunnel D’,” Seulgi read hollowly, reading from a wooden sign with an arrow pointing straight up the shaft.

“You’re kidding,” Yeri whined.

“Let’s move it,” Joy said as she mounted the rickety stairs.

It was a long ascent to the surface, especially with Moonbyul grumbling at the rear, “Why didn’t I just have the ship land up here?” But when they finally stepped out onto the icy terrace and faced the howling wind, they saw that there wouldn’t have been any room for them to land the Blackjack up here. Not only was the cliff too narrow, but it was also already occupied by two Sky Armors.

“At least we know we’re on the right track,” Solji muttered, shifting her feet to get better traction in the snow.

“There’s another tunnel this way,” Yeri announced, already heading towards another opening in the cliff face. As they followed along, Seulgi nearly lost her footing on a rail tie buried in the snow, and noticed that there was a set of tracks that lead right up until the new opening in the rock, like production had been halted right at the entrance.

“Is this an actual tunnel though?” Seulgi asked curiously, falling behind as everyone else ran inside.

This caused the other girls to slow and eventually pause as well, looking around suspiciously. There were no support beams and the ground was uneven, interrupted periodically by large boulders and protrusions from the walls. A string of lanterns ceased a few hundred feet from where they had stopped, with only the yawning darkness stretching beyond.

“I think… this is just a natural cave,” Joy said, walking all the way to the end of the lanterns. “Yeri do you have something for a light?”

Yeri was already perched up on a boulder reaching up to one of the lanterns nailed into the wall. “Uh, this will work, right? Why use our own supplies when we can just-”

“-steal?” Joy supplied wryly.

“I was going to say borrow before I was rudely interrupted,” Yeri countered as she strained to reach the handle to unhook the light. Just as she was finally able to get enough leverage to get the lantern down from where it was hanging, the Returners heard and felt an explosion, followed by a long, dull, rumbling noise.

Fearfully, Joy pushed past everyone to get back to the entrance of the cave. “Those cowards!” she yelled into the bitter wind. Moonbyul and Irene came up behind her to see for themselves: the hole they had emerged from, so named ‘Tunnel D’, had been collapsed. Nothing but a pit of in-fallen rock remained where the entrance had once been.

“We can worry about how to get back once we find Leeteuk,” Irene said, pulling Moonbyul and Joy back into the cave. “We don’t have time for this. Blowing the tunnel just means we’re on the right track and they want to trap us all together.”

“They’re probably hoping we kill each other,” Yeri muttered as she hopped off the boulder to lead the others, lantern held high.

“Joke’s on them,” Moonbyul smirked as she was pulled along. “I don’t think Miss Bae here will let herself be killed by some jester and his sidekicks.”

Irene released the pilot so she could unsheath her sabre, anticipating a confrontation around every corner. She knew Leeteuk was probably using the Slave Crown with Wendy, and would be all too delighted to use her against them. The trick would be getting the Returners to not kill Wendy in the fight, but how could she even begin to explain that to them? Especially after the suspicions Yeri expressed back in Heechul’s lab. Yeah, somehow Irene doubted ‘Don’t kill Wendy’ would go over well while trying not to get caught in the inferno.

She would just have to end the fight as quickly as possible, or handle Wendy herself.

“Leave We- … leave the Witch to me,” Irene shouted back at them. “You handle the others. We need to take out Leeteuk quickly; he’s the one controlling her.” She glanced back to catch an obedient nod from Seulgi, but the others were mute with their thoughts as they followed along the passage.

“What exactly can he do?” Moonbyul asked.

“Everything,” Irene responded, too deep in her own thoughts to spare anymore explanation.

Moonbyul rolled her eyes at that unhelpful answer. She picked up her pace to grab Irene by the shoulder and hold her back a bit. “Irene, wait a sec.”

Irene slowed to match the captain and was surprised when Moonbyul reached over into the pocket of what was now Irene’s embroidered coat to pull out a pair of dice. “I suppose we’re just going to have to take our chances, then, hmm?” the ace airship pilot asked with an eyebrow waggle.

“Dice?” Irene asked, momentarily distracted from the coming battle. The whole group slowed as the cave narrowed to the point where they had to carefully pick their way through the dark in single file.

Moonbyul let herself drop back a step and leaned up close behind Irene, drawing a disgusted scowl from the later. “The Court Wizard isn’t the only unpredictable character in this story.”

That didn’t make much sense to Irene, so she chose to ignore it and squirm ahead, past Solji and Joy. She needed to be near the front of the line, both to protect the Returners from Leeteuk, and to protect Wendy from them.

And that’s when they heard it echoing down the passage, more chilling than any wind leaking into the cave from the outside:

Uwee hee hee!!!

The maniacal laughter of Gestahl’s most depraved advisor.

“Showtime!” Yeri harshly whispered back to the group as Irene pushed to the front.

“Remember, leave the Witch to me! She’s far too powerful for you guys,” Irene iterated with a pointed look at Yeri. “Trust me.”

The cave ahead widened considerably and dipped into a slight depression from where their passage ended. Yeri slowly lowered her lantern as the large cavern was aglow in an unnerving, rich blue hue. It was the eerie, translucent refraction of light from a solid block of ice that made up the entire back wall of the cave.

At the center of the glass-like wall of ice was a massive, rainbow-colored bird. Its brilliantly-colored plumage was spread in a wingspan that stretched nearly the length of the cave, end to end, and its talons were extended in a threatening display, as if the creature had been caught in mid-descent, attacking some long-escaped opponent. What else could this magnificent being be but the fabled Phoenix?

And approaching it were three figures: the Court Wizard, the Witch, and the Imperial General.

Joy brought her crossbow up to her eye. “Ready?” was all the pretense the queen made as she took aim and released, and Irene prayed to Seraph that the bolt was speeding towards Leeteuk.

Unfortunately, the snap of her crossbow sent the three Imperials scrambling for cover and Joy’s shot sailed harmlessly across the cave before ricocheting off the ice wall.

“Oh ho!” Leeteuk’s loud voice called from behind a rock. “So you somehow made it out of Vector? Well, I can’t say I’m all that surprised. Even cockroaches can survive the end of the world.”

The Returners wasted no time scaling into the depression and spreading out, ready for a fight.

“Come on out, you clown! Let’s get this over with!” Yeri challenged, daggers raised as she eyed the escarpment she had seen Leeteuk duck behind.

“Original!” Leeteuk chuckled. “But you forget, I’m not alone!”

Seulgi saw a small girl, the one she had first seen up on the walkway inside the Magitek Research Lab, step out from behind a boulder, a blank expression on her face as she calmly regarded the Returners. Seulgi knew it was the Witch. She had heard the rumors even back in Mobliz about what she was capable of.

A whole platoon, melted in minutes!

I heard she wiped out hundreds of her own soldiers in a single attack!

The Empire’s Ace in the Hole… if she shows up, you just run.

But even as Seulgi was suddenly pushed out of the way by Irene, falling roughly against a stalagmite, she couldn’t help noticing that the little Witch didn’t even remotely fit the description of the monstrous murderer she had formed in her mind based on those stories.

The fear didn’t start to build until Seulgi saw the girl raise her hands in front of herself, and swirls of flames down her arms until they reached her palms. It was like Irene’s ice magic, but something about it seemed delicate and almost… beautiful, in a deadly way. Seulgi tried to find her footing to scramble out of the way as the Witch let the captured flames escape her hands and fire straight at them, but instead of feeling the expected singe from the attack, Seulgi watched in amazement as Irene held her sabre straight up in the air. The flames followed the sword up all the way up to its tip and were absorbed, leaving nothing but a trail of smoke hanging in the air between them.

The anticlimactic turn of events brought them all to a halt, and Leeteuk peeked his head out from behind the cover of the low escarpment in confusion. “Well? What are you waiting for? Attack! ATTACK!!!”

And the Witch raised her hands again, throwing more force behind her attack as she hurled another tendril of flames at Irene and Seulgi. And again, Irene raised her sabre high overhead, a sharp upstroke that drew the fire to her blade in a rush. “Focus on the Court Wizard,” Irene commanded through grit teeth, sweat trickling down from her temples. “He’s controlling her!”

Seulgi was transfixed by Irene’s heated blade, wondering how on earth she was absorbing such a devastating blast of the Witch’s magic. She had assumed Irene would have tried countering the Witch with her ice - Seulgi wasn’t quite sure how magic worked but that seemed logical to her - but this was a technique she had never seen Irene use before. No, wait… Seulgi suddenly seemed to recall back on the Veldt, so long ago… Irene had protected them from the Magitek Armor cannons. Had she absorbed those blasts like this?

“Go!!!” Irene shouted again, and Seulgi snapped out of her daze to run towards the small wall of rock the Court Wizard was cowering behind. She scrambled to a stop, however, when a shot rang out, kicking up a cloud of dust at her feet.

It was the one Irene had called Eunji. In between flares that illuminated the entire cavern before being snuffed out, Seulgi carefully regarded the new General, her blade held low in a stance that Irene had taught her.

Eunji had fought her fair share of desperate civilians, ragtag rebels, and classically trained nobility, but Seulgi was the first person she had faced who didn’t duck for cover when she pulled out her pistols. That either made her incredibly stupid, or…

Seulgi ran straight at her, her blade raised at eye level, a charge attack that would end in a lunge, Eunji knew. Better to gun her down and get it over with before this girl could close the distance.

Another echoing report, and Seulgi went down grasping her thigh.

“Seulgi!” Irene cried out in a panting breath. “You’d better not be dying over there. Eunji, I swear to Odin…!”

“She’s not going to die from a leg wound,” Eunji commented calmly.

“Quit messing around and kill them!” Leeteuk shouted at her. “Don’t think you’re above a treason charge, General…!”

“We’re here for the Phoenix,” Eunji replied. “Nothing in the mission strictly requires the killing of civilians.”

“And what does it say about monarchs?” Joy asked as she stepped over Seulgi’s bleeding form, crossbow raised.

“Your Highness,” Eunji greeted, saluting with one pistol while she aimed the other back at the queen.

“I guess I have to do everything myself around here,” Leeteuk grumbled, drawing his own ornate falchion just in time to deflect Yeri’s sneak attack.

The sheer force of his counter strike sent Yeri sliding back on her heels against the stone floor. They were caught in a bind, Yeri’s two blades holding back the edge of Leeteuk’s sword as he used the advantage of his larger frame against her. She hadn’t been expecting him to turn on her, and this situation was disadvantageous - she was built for speed and stealth, not a fair fight like this. She needed to retreat and try again, or double up with someone else.

Luckily that someone else presented themself in the form of Solji vaulting over escarpment to flank the Court Wizard.

Perfect.

“Like old times?” Yeri asked.

“Like old times,” Solji responded, and they closed in on Leeteuk.

But despite their years of practice together mugging poor souls and helping get each other out of scrapes, Leeteuk was proving to be a formidable foe. For one, Solji quickly realized he was far stronger than his peevish, colorful outfit implied. Beneath the flowing silk and lace ruffles was pure muscle. And Yeri wasn’t fairing much better, spending more time on the defense against his large sword than looking for an opening.

“Hey, queenie can you pin this clown down?” Yeri grated as she felt the cold press of steel against her cheek as she barely blocked another blow.

“A little busy,” Joy called from her stand-off. She and Eunji regarded each other levelly between the bright flashes of fire coiling through the cave. “Congratulations on your promotion, General.”

“Thanks. Please give my regards to the Governor of South Figaro. He’s really making things difficult for us.”

Joy smirked. “Of course. He’s following my orders after all.”

“Aren’t we all just following orders?” Eunji asked quietly.

Joy’s expression darkened. “I think your predecessor has some thoughts about that.”

Eunji knew it was a mistake as soon as she shifted her gaze to the sweat-drenched ex-general. That split second loss of focus was all Joy needed.

Thunk thunk.

Eunji instinctively dropped to the ground as soon as she heard the telltale sound of bolts whistling through the air, but not before two shafts lodged themselves in her shoulder.

“Still busy…?” Yeri asked impatiently, seeing Eunji fall in her peripheral vision.

“Is this who you replaced your Royal Guard with?” Leeteuk crowed with laughter. “Because they’re even more. Pathetic. Than. The last ones!” he howled, punctuating his sentence with sword strikes against Yeri’s twin daggers.

Solji executed a quick combination of blows, a blitz that demanded his attention to defend against. With another wicked he sent Yeri sprawling from the force of his blade as he brought a hand up to Solji.

“And you're way out of your league, young lady,” he growled. “I don’t think you quite understand the gravity of the situation!” And Solji’s movements slowed as she felt an immense pressure wrap itself around her, draining her strength until she fell to her knees.

“What did you do to me?” she asked. Even breathing was proving to be an insurmountable challenge as the sheer weight of the air around her threatened to crush her where she crouched. It was taking every ounce of her training not to panic under the immensity of the pressure.

“That’s what you get for bringing your fists to a fire fight~” he lilted. But his gloating was cut short as he felt Yeri’s blades tear through his silk shirt. “And you!” he roared, just barely contorting his body enough to dodge her attack. “Another insect come to spoil my fun!” Like a whirling dervish, Leeteuk’s falchion flashed through the air as he spun and only Yeri’s short stature saved her from losing her scalp as she ducked.

Yeri felt her purple bandana come loose in a shower of blonde hair and fabric that rained down on her. She tried to quickly discard the bandanna as it fell in front of her face, but Leeteuk kicked out at her where she crouched, sending her smacking against a boulder where she lay temporarily dazed.

“Oh, General~” he called out, finally free to turn his attention to the rest of the scuffle. When he noticed Eunji propped up on one elbow, holding her bleeding shoulder, he tsked. “Bested by an aristocrat? Where is your honor?” At the sudden burst of conversation, Joy turned her attention to the Court Wizard and switched out her crossbow for her chainsaw.

Brr BRR!!! BRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!

Moonbyul peeked out from behind the boulder she had been hiding behind, still trying to get a feel for the situation. Solji and Yeri were busy engaging the Court Wizard, though he seemed to still have the edge even as they double-teamed him. Joy appeared to have successfully taken the Imperial General out of the fight, and was now advancing on the Court Wizard ominously, but Irene… Irene seemed to be in a stalemate with the Witch. It seemed like she hadn’t even tried counterattacking yet.

“What’s the hold up, Irene?” she called out as Irene laboriously raised her sabre once again to absorb the Witch’s fiery attack.

Irene didn’t answer. She herself wasn’t sure what to do. To have Wendy right there in front of her, vacantly staring right back at her, not a hint of recognition or awareness, was worse than if she simply took the force of Wendy’s spells.

Moonbyul took Irene’s lack of acknowledgement and waning defenses as a sign that she needed help… but how? To be honest, Moonbyul was terrified of the Witch - a literal weapon the Empire wielded to cow entire kingdoms. But as she watched the fight continue, it somehow seemed like neither girls’ hearts were in it. While the flames the Witch shot at Irene were hot enough that Moonbyul could feel her cheeks burning even from this distance, she saw nothing of the rumored devastating potential in her assault. Maybe she was… drained? Tired? Moonbyul didn’t pretend to understand how magic worked. All she knew was that it seemed the fight would continue until one of them collapsed in exhaustion.

Moonbyul rolled her pair of dice in her gloved hands. She had a few options… “Do I, or don’t I?” She crouched down behind the rocks and let the dice roll between her boots. “Snake eyes... Well… alright, I guess.” She scooped up her dice and adjusted her silk shirt. “Here goes nothing.”

The heat alone, oppressive and constant, was sapping her strength while she buckled under each new attack. The force of Wendy’s spells hit her blade in wave after wave until her arms were numb. She wasn’t going to last like this, but she didn’t want the others to interfere. She could barely think as streams of sweat blurred her vision. She couldn’t let herself fail like this. She had to figure out a way to remove Wendy from the picture before she got hurt-

-and that’s when Irene saw it, causing her to pause for just a moment to wipe her brow and get a better look.

It was Moonbyul, ace idiot of the skies, sneaking up on Wendy from behind.

“What are you- WAIT!!!” Irene shouted, reaching out futilely as Moonbyul bodily slammed into Wendy, sending them both rolling across the cavern floor until they slammed roughly up against the ice wall, just below the monstrous visage of the Phoenix.

THUMP.

The cave shivered with a concussive force, and a rain of dirt and rock fell from the ceiling.

THUMP THUMP.

It was like beating of a heart, old and ominous, a sound so deep Irene felt the reverberations in her chest more than she actually heard it.

“Uwee hee hee, now you’ve done it, you imbeciles!” Leeteuk chortled, grabbing Yeri by the collar and showing her the source of the noise. “You’ve awakened it,” he whispered lowly.

Moonbyul slowly shook herself out of the daze from the impact of smacking her head so hard against the ice. Either her eyes were still readjusting to the faint light of the cave, or the Witch was glowing where she lay crumbled beside her.

“Uh… Irene?” she asked worriedly as the glowing began to pulse in time with the low thumping rhythm rumbling throughout the cavern. “I think it’s… reacting to her?” Was it because she could use magic?

But Irene was transfixed, watching the Phoenix as it too began to glow, causing a brilliant yellow-orange light to fill the entire cave. “Moonbyul, you need to... get out of there…” she said faintly, her voice losing its strength as the Phoenix suddenly opened one large, hawk-like eye.

There was a massive CRACK as a long, jagged splinter raced across the surface of the ice.

“Moonbyul!” Irene shouted as she raced forward.

“Back up, Irene,” Eunji warned, wincing as another large crack split the ice. She painfully raised her gun against her ex-comrade. “I’ll handle Wendy, you get your friends out of here.”

“I’m sorry, who gave you the authority to call a retreat?” Leeteuk began before a piercing flash of light blinded them all.

As her vision recovered, Irene felt ahead of herself until she had a grip on Moonbyul’s silk shirt, and she tugged the pilot back with her. The rumbling from the Phoenix was constant now, and huge shards of ice were breaking off of the wall and shattering around them.

“She’s right,” Joy shouted, putting Seulgi’s arm around her shoulders and forcing her to stand. “If that thing breaks free, we’re going to have several problems on our hands.”

“Come now, children!” the Court Wizard cooed. “We were having so much fun-”

An explosion of ice revealed that the Phoenix had managed to free one of its talons, and it slowly curled and uncurled the claws, larger than a Magitek Armor.

“On second thought, maybe I’ll just let him finish what I started, hmm?” Leeteuk said hurriedly. And much to Yeri’s surprise, he leaped into the air with a twist…

… and was gone.

“Of course,” Eunji grumbled, watching the Court Wizard use yet another one of his tricks. She didn’t like doing this, but she had little choice of she was going to save Wendy from the cave as it destabilized - or worse, an angry esper that had been frozen for centuries. “Wendy!” she shouted. “RUN!”

Expressionlessly, Wendy pushed herself up and as soon as her feet were beneath her, she took off towards the tunnel that had led them into this cavern, Eunji right behind her.

And Yeri was right behind her.

“Yeri, stop!” Joy called after her, and at first, the blonde ignored her. “Yeri! Seulgi needs help!” There was no way they were going to escape with Seulgi limping the way she was from her injury.

Yeri skidded to a stop right at the entrance to the tunnel, watching the Witch and the General disappear into the gloom, her knuckles white as she tightened her grip on her daggers in frustration. She quickly lept back down into the depression and ran up to Joy and Seulgi, swinging her pack in front of herself. She rooted through it quickly, pulling out the first potion she could find. She uncorked it with her teeth and cupped a hand just below the hole in Seulgi’s thigh before emptying the contents on the wound.

Joy wordlessly watched Yeri dump an entire potion on Seulgi’s leg, hoping Yeri knew what she was doing, but to her relief, Seulgi was already beginning to stand up straighter as the liquid did its job.

Behind them, Irene had an arm around Moonbyul’s middle as they slipped and tripped over the large sections of ice scattered about the ground. Solji, finally free from the pressure of Leeteuk’s gravity spell trotted up to the group and went to loop Seulgi’s other arm around her own shoulders, but Seulgi waved her off.

“No, I think I got it… we should go after them,” she insisted, pushing away from Joy as well. “Come on, we have to catch them before they take off!”

As they raced back down the tunnel after the three Imperials, they heard the bone-chilling, ear-splitting cry of the Phoenix.

+++

The sound of Leeteuk’s Sky Armor speeding away was already being swallowed up by the wind blasting the icy cliffs as the Returners emerged from the tunnel.

Eunji herself with Wendy was sprinting towards the other remaining Sky Armor and halted only when a certain ex-general screamed her name.

“EUNJI!!!”

She paused, her hand gently grabbing Wendy’s elbow as she backed towards the waiting copter.

Joy hesitatingly raised her crossbow, glancing at Irene to see what their plan was, but the ex-general seemed as frozen as the esper behind them had been. Were they really just going to let them go? They had the Witch right there. Hope for peace could be doubled with two well-aimed bolts from her crossbow.

But the fearful, almost pleading look on Irene’s face gave Joy another idea. “General Jung-!”

“Eunji!” Irene yelled again through the howling wind, taking a step towards the pair.

Eunji frowned, hearing her name cried out in such a strained, desperate voice.

“Eunji, don’t go!” Irene shouted. “Don’t take her back there!” Joy was surprised to hear her own thoughts spoken allowed by the ex-general, but she felt herself gripped with the raw emotion in Irene’s voice. “You can come with us!”

And oh, how tempting the thought was, to not only be free of the burden of being in charge of the lives of thousands of misguided young soldiers, but to see Wendy no longer being used as a weapon. But Eunji knew better. Eunji knew Irene should know better.

Even if Eunji deserted the army, the war would not stop.

“Things are changing, Irene,” Eunji shouted back across the snow. “I’m the only sane person left in the army. If I were to abandon the men to that clown… I can’t, Irene.” She turned to look at Wendy, feeling how warm she was even through her thick gloves, and as she once again tried to leave, she heard the unsheathing of steel.

“Eunji…!” Irene cried threateningly. She wasn’t going to let her walk away. She knew Eunji had a point. She knew she had put Eunji in this kind of position by abandoning them both, but she was going to make them stay, even if it had to be by force.

Despite Irene’s warning, Eunji’s gaze lingered on Wendy’s mute form for another long moment before she sidestepped behind the shorter girl and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. With her free hand, she raised a gun to Wendy’s temple. “Let us go, Irene,” Eunji called over, even as she saw the other Returners immediately raise their weapons again. “Don’t make me do this.”

Irene was stunned. Had Eunji been corrupted by Leeteuk as well? But her strategic mind shut down at the sight of Eunji’s pistol against Wendy’s head. She held her sabre out to the side, ordering the others to hold their fire.

“Irene,” Joy protested. “We can’t let the Empire have the Witch.”

“Wendy,” Irene replied quietly, as she dropped her sabre into the snow.

“What?” Joy asked, shocked.

“Her name is Wendy.”

At Irene’s surrender, the others solemnly straightened out of their fighting stances. All of them except for Eunji. She carefully walked backwards towards her copter, with her pistol still lightly pressed to Wendy’s head. When she felt the heel of her boot connect with the step at the base of her Sky Armor, she halted.

Irene’s eyes never left the pair as she watched Eunji take Wendy away. She saw them pause as they finally reached their vehicle. She saw Eunji murmur something to Wendy, her words deafened by the bitter wind.

She heard the cracking report of Eunji’s pistol as she fired, and watched Wendy’s form crumple into the snow.

She watched Eunji swiftly climb into the cockpit of the Sky Armor and take off.

She saw the others rush forward towards the body, while she herself fell to her knees in exhaustion.

So that was it.

It was over.

The warm light from the depths of Irene’s painful past had been extinguished.