Mina is not OK. After she attacked me with the dagger things, I knew that something was wrong.

I regretted treating her the way I did, but I knew that I had to. I knew that if I caught her off guard something would show, and it did. Something had happened involving the Crown, and I needed to find out what before something happened.

I walk down the hallways quickly, trying to find shadow. I hadn't yet memorized where everyone's rooms were, so it took me a while to find where shadow was.

Finally I see her room and knock.

"Come in."

I push  open the door and walk in, not hesistatiing. shadow was sitting at a desk writing something, but she looks up when I enter.

"Oh, it's you Sprocket," she says, "putting down what she's writing. "How did the meeting go?"

"Fine," I say quickly, brushing off the question. The meeting wasn't what mattered.

shadow's face darkened. "Is something wrong."

"Yes," I say, crossing the room and sitting down on the bed. "It's Mina. Something's wrong and she won't tell me. When we were in the meeting I brushed her thoughts and they seemed weird. She also looked like she was glowing, and was kind of distracted. Then, I asked her about it and she got defensive, but I knew something was up. I tried to read her thoughts but she pushed me out somehow. She got kind of angry and these dagger things shot towards me."

I mimed the projectiles coming at me, not looking at shadow.

"She told them to stop and they did, and then acted like everything was normal and fine. I didn't want to pry, but honestly I'm concerned for her and everyone else's safety. I saw what happened when things get into your brain with Elliot and it is not good. I think something like that might be happening."

I finish, meeting shadow's eyes and waiting for her response. She looks concerned, but fearful at the same time.

"And you want me to talk to her?" she says doubtfully.

I nod. "She obviously doesn't want to talk about it with me, and we've never really gotten along so great in the past. I think she will tell you what's going on."

shadow nods and sighs.

"I'll talk to her."

I try to smile and get up. 

"Thanks," I say as I walk out of the room. 

I hear a quiet knock on my door. 

“Come in,” I say, from where I’m on my bed, playing with the pendulum decoration on the desk. When Shadow enters, I immediately relax. “Hey Shadow. What’s up?”

But she’s nervous about something. Shadow doesn’t do nervous. 

“What?” I ask, motioning her to come sit beside me. Instead, she sits on the chair next to the bedside desk. “What?” I repeat, but more slowly with more confusion and caution in my voice this time. 

“Sprocket sent me-“ she begins. I interrupt her by groaning. 

“Sprocket sent me,” she begins again. “To ask you what is going on.”

I ignore her and go right back to the pendulum. 

“Mina, please-“

“So this is for Sprocket’s curiosity now, huh? Now she’s using you to get to me? Seriously, Shadow? You’re falling for the old pressure point trick now?”

I realise that as I talk, the pendulum is swinging faster and faster, but not by anyone’s force. 

“Mina,” Shadow says more sternly. “I’m concerned about you too. She told me everything, and I’m afraid something is going to happen to you, bad! Whatever is happening to you might kill you. You might end up like...like...well, like Elliot!” 

At the mention of Elliot, the pendulum implodes, leaving dust on the desk. But I don’t care. 

“You tell Sprocket, then,” I growl. “That she can keep her nose out of my friends and out of my life. And you can stop TRYING to GET TO ME!”

Something explodes in the back of the room. 

“Mina,” Shadow says, with a lot more caution. “This isn’t like you at all. Calm dow-“

“Calm down?” I laugh. “Get out.”

“Mina-“

“GET...out.”

Shadow gives me one last desperate look before leaving my room. I watch her close the door behind her before hearing her scampered steps in a hurry, probably to tell Sprocket. Well let her. It’s not like I care. 

At that last thought, I immediately regret it. Of course I care. I care about both of them. But they need to stay safe. They need to stay away. 

I care about them, sure. But they need to stop caring about me. 

Connie groaned, dropping her head in her hands. Everything was wrong. They were draining the artifacts of their power, which was good, but in order to do that, they had to have all the artifacts. Catastrophe didn't know where the Shield was, sure, but neither did the Resistance. Mina was acting weird, Sprocket seemed endlessly worried and constantly exhausted, Shadow was somehow back, there was a new girl named Etoilé who looked too much like Alexandria for close comfort, as well as Sprocket's old... friend, Kristjan, and to top it all off, Vol and AViance had been fighting like crazy which shouldn't hgave mattered in the long run of things but was increasingly stressful. All she really knew was that she would search as hard as she could to find the Sheild and drain it of it's power even if it cost her her life, because at this point, Connie didn't even care anymore.

----

Um. Now would be a good time for Trixie to somehow give Connie some clues about where the Sheild is? Also, who was the other Home avian who wanted to come with to search? Sorry, I forget names sometimes. XD 

Assuming he's here, and that this meeting is in mid-southern Kyngdom:

Nygrune~

Having little else to do, I had stepped outside to check for messenger birds, and sure enough, one came flapping to meet me. I hold out a hand, and it takes the perch. Its scroll is tiny, the message coded in Lycaella's handwriting. 

Found a spelled house. Empty. Possible new storage space? -L, GF

An enchanted house in Great Forest, ready for the Resistance. I thank the bird with a few sunflower seeds and send it off, then head back inside to tell an officer.

Almost as soon as I step through the door, an explosion sounds from the Resistance generals' quarters. I break into a run, mutter a quickening charm and arrive to see General* shadow exiting General Mina's chambers.

"General! I heard an explosion, is everything all right?"

~*shadow is a general, right? Is she going by Maria now? I don't know where to look for that. 

I carefully walk down a secluded aisle. I heard an explosion a few minutes ago somewhere here. Suddenly, a woman steps out from a corridor branching off. "Who are you?" she demands.

"I'm Secret?" I reply.

"Well, for your information, this place is strictly off limits for soldiers," she says.

"Well, uh, I'm a mapmaker, does that count? Also, I heard an explosion, and it's not really wise to set off dynamit in Mer since-"

The woman silences me. "Mapmakers count as soldiers. Go to your quarters," she commands.

"Uh, I just joined a few minutes ago and I don't have quarters."

The woman rolls her eyes. "Someone take this mapper to her quarter!" she yells.

A girl comes out. "I'm Sprocket. Follow me!" she says.

Sprocket leads me past the room I heard the explosion in. I stop. "C'mon, it's just a little further!" she says.

"Wait. I want to see what made the explosion," I hiss.

"Uh, I don't think you should be doing this," she mutters nervously.

I pay no attention to her, and walk straight into the room. It's completely dark, except for a person. The woman in the center of the room is on. She glows. "Who are you?" she asks.

"Secret. Why are you glowing?"

"Well, Secret, get out!"

"Uh, not to be rude, but you still haven't answered my question. Why are you glowing?"

The woman I met early burst into the room. "What are you doing mapper? I told you to go to your room!" she fumes.

"I'm sorry, but she insisted!"

Sprocket appears behind the woman. "Mapper, go to your room now!" she says icily.

"No. As I'm new, it won't make much of a difference if I get thrown out early," I say stubbornly. Honestly, I'm pretty scared about being thrown out. The woman glares at me, and finally says, "Stay at your own risk. I'm not cleaning up the mess you make when she explodes you. Either way, you're going out. We can't have disobedient soldiers." She turns, and stalks out the door.

Sprocket shuffles her feet, and hangs around nervously. My hands are shaking. I can feel persperation forming on my forehead. I'm scared. Really scared. Do it. She won't explode you. I steel myself. 

I turn back to the glowing commander. "So, why are you glowing?" I ask. 

Marie~

I knock on the doors to the Resistance base in Mer.

Apparently my patience is running thin, because it hasn’t been five seconds before I shove the doors open myself. 

Guards stream towards me, and I either shove them away or show them my dirty badge. 

I pass a new recruit who claims to be a mapmaker, but I pay no attention. Instead, I head straight to the brunette walking away from the main area. 

“Sprocket,” I say. 

Her eyebrow raises as she turns to face me. “Well, well, look who decided to show up.”

“No time,” I reply curtly. “Shadow. Location. Now.”

“Okay, okay. Down the hall, to your left, down that hall, first door on the right.”

“Thanks,” I reply shortly again. Fearing I’m being rude, I give her a gracious smile before walking by her directions. 

The only noise in the halls is the sound of my boots against the floor. When I finally reach Shadow’s room, I give a quick knock and hear a latch click on the door. 

She opens it, and her face looks mildly surprised for a quick second before it is masked by indifference. 

“Alexan-Er, Marie.”

“Call me whatever, I don’t care.”

I invite myself into her room and collapse on the chair next to her bedside, rubbing the sides of my temple. 

There’s a small period of silence before Shadow clears her throat. 

“So what’s up with you?”

“Tired,” I reply without looking up. “Frustrated. Trigger happy. You?”

“Confused,” she starts slowly. “Sad. Thinking.”

This time, I look up from my thoughts and go to sit beside her on her bed. I can sense something deeply disturbing her. 

“What happened?” I ask, leaning and putting my head on her shoulder. 

She puts her head on mine. “Mina. Something is really upsetting her and I don’t know what.”

We sit like that for a few moments before I stand up and walk around the room, pacing a bit. “I assume you’ve talked to her?”

Shadow nods tiredly. “She has these new powers. I assumed it was after draining the Crown went wrong, but I can’t be su-“

“She drained the Crown?” I interrupt. 

Shadow nods. 

I let out a groan of frustration. “Where’s her room?”

“Couple down from mine,” Shadow says. “Why?”

“We need to have a chat,” I reply, heading out of Shadow’s room and to Mina’s. 

~~~~

Mina~

I hear a brisk tap on my door and stand up, walking carefully before opening it slightly. 

I recognise Alexandria’s face and feel the weight in my lungs lighten. 

“Hey,” I say quietly, and although it seems she’s having an adrenaline rush, her eyes smile. 

I let her in and carefully close the door behind us as I go to sit near her. 

“So a little bird-well, a human slash bird-told me that you drained the Crown’s power and you have it now?”

I groan. “Shadow seriously-“

“Yes,” Alexandria interrupts, a bit more sternly this time. “Give the power to me. I know where to put it. I promise.”

I glance at her, intrigued. “Continue.”

She lets out a huff of breath before continuing. “This entire time I’ve been away, that’s been my sole study. The Crown, the Shield, and the Sword, which is obviously in Catastrophe’s possession. I’m not sure about the Shield, but you have the Crown’s power. I read in ancient texts that in order to return the powers to their rightful and non-useful places (in order to make them inactive, of course) you have to drain the power from each artefact and place it in something. There’s a riddle that basically says it won’t work unless the Sword’s power is placed in the Bark of the Unknown, the Shield is placed in the Wolf of the Wise, and the Crown is placed in the Human’s Trust. You’ve done so but placed it in yourself. You’re not human. I know how to take it out, but it will in turn brew in me. However, I’ve trained myself and read everything on it, so I’ll be able control it. What do you say? Are you up for it?”

I hesitate but nod. This is what’s best for everyone, even if I don’t know if the procedure is exactly safe.

Alexandria sighs in relief. “Okay. Cool. I guess we can get started.”

She focuses intently on me, and for a couple of seconds, nothing happens. Suddenly, in a rather abrupt manner, something drains forcefully from me, and I gasp in pain. I can’t see anything going on from the white sheet that seems to be over my eyes, but I can also hear Alexandria yelp slightly. However, as soon as it happened, it’s over. 

I suddenly feel light and happy again. Unfortunately, I notice that the light in Alexandria’s eyes have grown dark. But somehow, she pushes past it. 

“Good. Now we wait for every other thing of power to be put in its rightful place, then we can fix things.”

I nod and head out to make apologies to everyone. 

Marie~

Within an hour, the assistants at the base have already directed me to my room, which is near Shadow and Sprocket’s. After I finish unpacking everything, as I am hear to stay, I try to ignore the fact that I have the Crown’s power in me and go to sitting on my bed and looking through a photo album. 

Shadow’s craft and art skills have rubbed off on me. I mean, I don’t think I have skills in this, but somehow she convinced me to start a photo album. I regretfully agreed but have actually found myself enjoying looking back on the memories. 

I start looking through the pages, the first one being a photo that Shadow somehow (I have NO idea how) managed to salvage of our real family. I’m being held by Shadow, and I realise how tiny of a baby I was. Shadow always told me it was genetics after showing her baby picture that she, again, somehow salvaged. 

David’s standing next to Shadow, with our parents standing behind us. We all look happy, and I can see the house in the background, along with the horses grazing. I smile and look to the next page. 

It’s Shadow and I, meeting for the first time. I was still an agent for Catastrophe then, but I still laugh at the shock on my face and wonder who even took the photo. 

I skip through a few pages before I land on one that makes my heart stop. 

It’s me at Catastrophe’s base, and it’s all the generals of high rank sitting together. All of our faces are extremely serious, and I laugh at that. The picture below it though, is the opposite. Again I wonder who took the picture. Maybe it was an accident, but I found it one day in my pocket anyway. 

It’s a picture of Poe Allen and myself. I never thought I could laugh, but here he is, sharing some of his sardonic humour with me, and we both find it funny. I’ve never seen him so happy before. He always showed no emotion, as he thought of it as a weakness. I thought the same, but also thought it was annoying. Alas, here we are, both of us laughing. My hair was blonde and in the strict French braid then. He probably wouldn’t recognise me now. Our military uniforms and badges don’t stand out much. Poe Allen never stood out much. Well, for a little while he did. That time was short lived though. So yes, Poe Allen never stood out that much to others. 

But he did to me. 

I feel myself experiencing an uncomfortable emotion. Sadness. Of course. 

He was taken from me. Besides Rose Allen, who else cared about him? He was a prodigy, but in the sense of fighting and manipulating and lying. In the sense of killing. And once everyone got over him, he was just a soldier everyone wanted to kill. Everyone in the Resistance anyway, even the more merciful ones. Why did I feel what I felt? I dreaded and planned on never feeling sentiment. It never happened. But then Poe Allen came along. And before I could even know him truly, he was gone. 

Poe Allen is gone. 

And he’s not coming back.