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Her mind swam in confusion, unsure what shapes she was oberving, until her eyes focused enough to recognize the pill-like lamps one of the Locksmouth subtran station's trains. As she stood up from the floor, the exact variety of crazy party she had attended last night escaped her; she liked to have a good time, but this was excessive. She spotted Echelon, similarly unconscious and splayed across several seats. \"Hey...\" She grabbed a cool, wet thigh and shook it this way and that. \"Hey, get up.\"\n\nThe interdimensional alien opened her eyes, imitating human waking tics- breathing, stretching, blinking- out of habit or conscious choice, perhaps both. She looked behind her, to one end of the train, then the other, then to Natalie, her host. \"... Why are we here?\"\n\n\"You dunno either, huh?\" She concluded. \"Mom's gonna be pissed. She was probably looking for us all night.\"\n\n\"Eheheh, probably,\" Echelon mused. \"We should call.\"\n\nNatalie pulled out her PET as the train hummed. \"Yeah, good idea.\" She fiddled with it for a few moments before tilting her head. \"Hunh. Is it a dropover day? I'm gettin' no bands.\"\n\nEchelon expressed mild surprise, then shrugged.\n\nThey waited until the train stopped, and walked out the open doors together. An elderly monitor lizard looked up at them with shock, then edged away, then ran back out of the station's exit. They just watched her go. \"... Geez, okay.\"\n\nEchelon shrugged. \"Maybe my fault?\"\n\nNatalie shook her head as they walked up and out. \"Old people.\" The sky was the first thing she saw; it was full of clouds, and purple. Something about this was very odd, however, but she couldn't quite discern exactly what. She walked out into a bunch of busted up houses. \"Ah, geez, the outskirts? I didn't know the train went all the way out here. Keep an eye out for Cedric, okay Echelon? He might still be pissed about that whole fight yest-... the other...\" she stopped and thought about it. When [i]did[/i] that happen? She was really unclear. \n\n\"Maybe you shouldn't drink those mood malts,\" Echelon opined. \"They aren't supposed to mess you up that bad.\"\n\n\"Is that what happened??\"\n\nThe inkling paused, puzzled. \"I... guess?\"\n\n\"Wow, yeah, okay. If it messed up you too, then I guess it must've been bad.\" Natalie spotted a tall panda with blue hair. \"Oh, hey! HEY! Mandy!\" She waved and trotted over.\n\nAmanda Lee shot straight up and turned, startled. \"... Ah??\"\n\n\"Yo Mandy, what up?\" Natalie tilted her head, popping her neck. \"Have you seen Carrie and the guys?\"\n\nMandy swallowed. \"Why would I have seen them?\"\n\nNatalie blinked, looking over to Echelon, who shrugged. \"I dunno. Just thought you mighta. Y'know, you hang out with Erwin sometimes.\" She endured an awkward pause. \"Uhm. So yeah, if you uh, happen to see 'em, let 'em know I'll be waiting around my house, okay?\"\n\n\"Yeah! Uh, yeah, no problem Natalie!\" She seemed overeager to help. \"I will! I promise.\"\n\nNat nodded in the most polite way she could under the circumstances, stretching her sore arm. \"Yeah, okay, thanks Manda Bear. Mmmmsee ya!\" She waited for a while to turn around, but Mandy was completely gone by the time she did. \"Man.\"\n\n\"What was that about?\" Echelon asked first.\n\n\"I know, right?? Oh, finally, we're outta the junk houses; let's get back home before Mom has a fit.\"\n\n\"Yeah, agreed,\" Echelon held a hand out, melting back into her host's body upon accepting her hand.\n\nNatalie made her way back, but found herself getting lost due to a strange disorientation she felt. Spotting people along the way, she asked after the whereabouts of her pack, receiving inconclusive answers and nervous smiles.\n\n\"Maaan.\" The wolf leaned tiredly on an apartment building wall, running her fingers through her hair. \"Everybody's treating me super nice 'cause they feel bad I got my butt kicked. This sucks.\" She took a long drink from a water fountain, rinsing, spitting and getting more hydration before looking up with a sigh of refreshment. She blinked a few times, pushing the hair out of her eyes before spotting... \"Carrie!\"\n\nThe cat wore a full black bodysuit of thin fabric that hugged every inch of her, with gloves, boots, and purple bikini-style outerwear, complete with a headsock and goggles. Her features were mostly obscured; her strong frame and huge breasts, however, were unmistakeable. \n\n\"Aw, that's smart,\" Natalie said. \"I should be wearing my Winter gear, this air's getting too cold for just the hoodie.\"\n\n\"Funny,\" the cat said.\n\n\"Hunh. Everyone's short for words today. So where's everyone else? I've been asking around but nobody's seen 'em.\"\n\nCarrie cracked her knuckles through the gloves, a loud, granite sound. \"You think I'm gonna give that up without a fight, huh? You think you've earned that?\"\n\n\"Aw, babe, no thanks,\" Natalie waved her off. \"I don't wanna spar today, I'm still sore from WHOA!\" She backed away from a haymaker. \"Alright, alright, you weird, horny, frickin'... c'mon!\"\n\nThey began in earnest. Carrie sent powerful blows toward Natalie, who dodged them and sent light jabs into the cat. A swing, a dodge, a jab, and eventually a grab from the cat. Nat rolled with the attempt to throw her, but instead of getting sent away, she found herself in a neck-lock with bad fulcrum. \n\n\"Mmph... hey... time out!\" Natalie blinked as instead of being released, a palm came for her face. She deftly rolled out of the hold and jumped to her feet. \"Whoa, what the hell?? Kinda hard, don't you think?\"\n\n\"You think anyone's gonna go easy on you??\" Carrie demanded, swinging and grabbing more fiercely.\n\n\"Whoa! Hey!\" She went full-defense, avoiding and evading. \"Cupcake, you're taking that thing with Cedric way too seriously!\"\n\nCarrie stopped for a moment. Her eyes filled with rage. Her face twisted into pure hatred. \"How. Fucking. [i]Dare you[/i].\" Before Natalie knew it, she had a boot in her gut, knocking the wind out of her. \n\nShe was on the ground, tears in her eyes, struggling to breathe. It took a few seconds before she could draw in breath, and when she finally could, she gasped loudly, hissing in razor-like pain. Her back had been cut open, three parallel lines slicing through her shirt and drawing blood between her shoulder blades. She weakly tried to reach it, twitching in agony. \"C-... Carrie...\" she said meekly, her pain as emotional as physical, repeating something she hadn't had to since childhood. \"No claws...\"\n\nSomething hit her. \nDarkness.\n\n -\n- -\n -\n\nEvery kid got hit with a neurod. A class of young children would take a trip to the local police station, learn about what they did, and then there would be an activity where each child got touched by a neurod- the only weapon legal to own without a permit, and the standard-issue crowd control implement given to all officers. Natalie remembered when it happened to her; it was a very minor shock, like touching a door in a place with carpet. Then her arms and legs crumpled under her, until she fell to the floor in a rolling lump. She remembered her heart leaping when her body failed to catch itself, and the sensation of subdued dread when she couldn't move her limbs very much for about a minute, with a weird tingling sensation afterward.\n\nShe felt that now. \n\n\"Mmnn... nnuh...\" Her arms, feeling like noodles, pushed her off of her face-first-on-the-floor position, and her legs managed to pick up the rest, though even more hesitantly. Her eyes scanned the room, a no-frills rounded-corners box without furniture. All she saw in the uncomfortably blue-tinged light was a ratty blanket- which she'd just been laying on- and two empty bowls on the floor. That was more than enough to convince her it was time to go, and she walked out the door- or at least, she would have, if she hadn't slammed face-first into something invisible and fallen back on her butt. \"Ow!\" Natalie spent a few moments rubbing her nose before reaching out. Her hands ran over a hard-force containment field that stopped short several feet from the door. Her furless finger pads ran over the surface, after which she rubbed her fingers together. Any object, including one made by energy, would eventually pick up dust and other detritus- much older versions of the technology could even get grimy, before occasional refreshes became the norm. This field, however, was completely clean- meaning that it must have been constructed very, very recently. Her thoughts stopped wandering when she heard the door slide open.\n\nThrough the portal walked Erwin, who looked like he hadn't slept in a while. He wore clothes similar to the ones she'd seen Carrie wearing, and walked without great purpose. He stared at her from behind his glasses. \"It does look like her, doesn't it?\"\n\n\"I'm telling you, I was so freaked out...\" Mandy walked through as well, staring just as hard. \"It's kinda spooky...\"\n\nNatalie made a bewildered face. \"What... the hell are you guys- let me outta here!\"\n\n\"Not on your life.\" Carrie entered the room, now free of headgear. She came in with an air of authority, and the other two made space as she began taking in a medstick. \n\n\"[i]You[/i].\" Nat leaned forward, poised aggressively. \"You, I am [i]very[/i] upset at! I don't know what's bothering you, but you don't get to just [i]dump on me[/i] like that! We've [i]talked[/i] about this, Carrie- what on Earth let you think that was okay?? I might have [u]scars[/u] from what you did.\"\n\nThe cat patiently waited for her to stop, slowly letting mist flow out of her nose. \"... Why pretend now?\" she asked with disdain and some small measure of confusion. \"She hasn't been in control for months. I mean, good impression, but like I give a fuck about that.\"\n\nNatalie's head swam, disoriented completely. \"I-... what?? Look, I don't know if this is one big joke or what, but if you don't let me out of here in the next ten seconds-\"\n\n\"How'd you do the eye?\" Erwin asked.\n\n\"W-... What??\"\n\n\"The eye,\" he motioned to his own, staring at one of hers. \"Carrie, this seems weird. Did we pick up Masque by mistake?\"\n\n\"No,\" Cat returned. \"I was in correspondence this morning.\"\n\n\"It is kind of weird, though...\" Mandy admitted. \"She looks like... nothing happened.\"\n\nNatalie let out a long, belabored groan. \"Where's Jacent? Is he in on this?\"\n\nCarrie creased her brows together, staring wordlessly. Curious. Inquisitive. Unsure.\n\n\"Alright. I'm fucking... I'm done.\" She gestured in exasperation. \"I'm out!\" The wolf fell backward onto her ass with devastating force, slamming a crater into the floor, through which she fell, out of sight.\n\nCat and company stood dumbfounded. \"What the... fuck was that?!\" Carrie demanded. \"Nevermind, scramble! Code red! We [i]cannot[/i] let her leave!\"\n\n -\n- -\n -\n\nNatalie landed in another very similar empty room, dusted herself off and then kicked the door open, running out into the hall. Familiar faces- packs she knew, parents and teachers and workers she recognized by face if not name- all looked at her in complete panic, diving to one side or another as she bolted out the front door of what she now realized was Carrie's house. She heard yelling, but all it did was convince her to run faster. What was wrong with her friends?? Were they brainwashed? Was it a hologram? \"Wait... no!\" She ran behind a building, amidst a familiar pocket of trees, and hid among the foliage. \"I remember now...\" she whispered, panting. \"We'd [i]just[/i] lost that fight... then the big arm... the portal... and...\" And what? She couldn't recall anything past that moment. \"What happened??\" She turned around and peeked out at the city's familiar outline, which now felt uncomfortable and alien to her. \"Where... am I?\"\n\nShe felt herself pulled by the tail and yanked out of cover, sliding along the grass. Grigori Wallace, wearing some kind of augmented suit, frowned. \"You're at the last stop before getting back in that field!\"\n\nThe wolf picked herself up and popped her neck. Carrie and many, many others were coming. \"Greg, I don't wanna hurt you, but I promise you all the size in the world isn't gonna matter against me.\"\n\n\"I'm not afraid!\" the otter retorted, but his body language betrayed him. Even in a powered suit, he knew what she was capable of. \n\nCarrie reached them as they hesitated, and she brought many others with her. \"Remember, masks on for the inked of us!\" she said to her cohorts from behind her own. Many had melee weapons, others had devices of no clear function, and all of them featured power cores on their backs, similar to the ones seen on light infantry suits worn by grav-troopers. \"Don't let her touch you!\"\n\n\"Alright. I dunno what happened, but... at this point I don't care.\" She reached into her pocket, touching a blood-soaked shred of unwashed blue hoodie. \"Vissage.\"\n\nCarrie and her small army stared in disbelief as she completely vanished into thin air. \"What?! H- Scan for her!\"\n\n\"Sorry,\" returned Terra, looking through a viewscreen. \"Nothing. She's gone.\"\n\nCarrie pulled off her face mask, threw it on the ground and swore, her voice cracking with frustration. She was so close this time.\n\n -\n- -\n -\n\nNatalie Grayswift's steps sloshed on the midwalk with purpose. The sky's purple hue had given way to a crimson red which had grown in shadow as the day fell into night. She encountered a pair of maroon monocular monsters in front of Park Circle. A firm look made them step aside, after which she walked in front of a grouping of animals, both native to Earth and not. She eyed a towering bugape. \"Well?\"\n\nThe thing chittered something in an insectoid language indecipherable to any Earth native. \n\n\"I didn't ask for excuses, I asked for [i]answers[/i].\" She cracked her knuckles idly. \"I need anything I can use.\"\n\nA bird twittered on a branch, trying to keep warm.\n\n\"The livable spaces?\" She sneered in thought. \"They'd [i]want[/i] to be there, which is what I'd expect, but they'd expect that. Hiding in the place that was too obvious. Clever.\"\n\nA chipmunk chittered, taking refuge under her trenchcoat, quivering next to her boots.\n\n\"[i]Caught[/i] me?\" She knit her brows, as if she smelled something bad. \"Don't be ridiculous.\" The wolf unconsciously ran a finger over the patch of fabric covering her eye. \"Nnnh... I feel the pull again. They're getting more frequent. I need to see him.\" With that, she about-faced and walked away.\n\n~(_)~\n\nNatalie crouched behind a large rock, her grav-skiff sneakers drenched in the puddle she dared not leave, shrouded in the power of Coul's inkling. \"Echelon!\" she whispered urgently into her PET. \"What the fuck's going on?? Who was that???\"\n\nA weary, baffled noise came out of it. \"I've been trying to figure that out since we first woke up, and..... I don't... I don't know.\" She paused, unsure. \"That looked like a very convincing copy of-\"\n\n\"Of us!\" Nat finished. \"Is it a... a robot?\"\n\n\"No,\" Echelon answered definitively. \"Remember? Widget's hologram... there's a slight artefacting in the rain. It wasn't there just now.\" She paused. \"... Do you think it could be... mind control?\"\n\nThe wolf looked around, exasperation all over her face. \"I guess so. That's the only thing that makes sense. Maybe... maybe that's Sarissa. Maybe this was the whole plot. How long have we been asleep??\"\n\n\"I don't know.\" The inkling seemed just as baffled. \"But if we want answers, we'll have to follow her.\n\n -\n- -\n -\n\nRain fell like a prickly mist, but still she walked, following none, followed by none. Her field cap kept the rain off of her head, her trenchcoat keeping the rest of her dry, but nothing could have stopped her resolute march. The darkness was all-encroaching; the electrical grid on this side of town had been left to rot. Her journey took her to the only source of light for a mile.\n\nThe dark wolf stepped down into the Hallowed Halls, bathed in a flickering orange glow that grew the more paces she made. No holograms of fondly forgotten relatives haunted the halls. No mourning families visited their dearly departed. No friendly, if odd grave tender gave comforting words. In the center, the pyre burned as it always did, insulated within its encasing. The ambient warmth was enough to melt the chill that the rain brought... and it also kept warm a young squirrel boy with green hair, who hung by his wrists. He looked exhausted, malnourished and baleful. At first, he didn't seem like he even saw her. \n\n\"Simon.\"\n\nHis gaze fell to her slowly, but he did not think she was there to rescue him. \"... N-... Not again...\"\n\n\"Sacrifices have to be made, Simon.\" She crouched. \"Do you want everyone to die? To get sucked in like a black hole?\"\n\nHe took a few hesitant breaths, before shaking his head.\n\n\"I can't do this without you, Simon. Just a little bit longer, and I'll find a way.\" She reached toward his chest, which he recoiled from, but she quickly pressed her palm to it. His small body jolted and trembled, and some kind of prana exchange happened the likes of which wasn't immediately obvious. \n\nAt the end of it, Simon slumped, head hanging, panting as Grayswift rebuttoned her coat sleeve. Hot tears fell down his face, and dripped onto the warm floor. The flame's light was no comfort to him. \"Luh-... L-Let me go...\"\n\n\"I thought we trusted each other, Simon,\" the wolf sighed, shaking her head. \"If I can't count on you, you can't count on me. That's how it works. That's a team.\" She walked away steadily. \"I'll give you the water next time. Maybe you'll trust me then.\"\n\nNatalie watched, invisibly, standing by, but just barely. Her claws were sinking so far into her flesh that they threatened to break skin. Her muscles were tense as she watched her doppelganger leave, forced to witness Simon Bedivere, a cute child whom she was fond of, cry helplessly in light of abuse and hopelessness. When the footsteps finally faded, she dropped her veil and rushed over to the squirrel. \"Here, here here.\" She held up a cup of water to the lips of the very confused, but also very thirsty boy. \"Not too fast, okay... easy, easy.\" \n\nShe refilled the cup twice before he was done, his head lying back against the wall, his little chest heaving. \"S..... Sarissa?\"\n\nNatalie blinked. He was expecting Sarissa to save him? So much for that theory. She looked over his chains, getting a grip on them and focusing. \"Nope. Not Sarissa.\" With a steady pull, both sets of chains came apart at once, and she set him down gently. \"How long have you been down here??\"\n\n\"I don't... I don't know... wouldn't let me have clocks...\" he seemed a bit dazed, using muscles he hadn't in a while. \n\n\"Okay, I'm a little new here, where's a safe place??\" she asked, crouching down to his level.\n\n\"Carrie...\" he managed.\n\nShe nodded hesitantly. \"Mm, they're not gonna like me being there, but alright. We'll go there then.\" She looked up to his face, which was confused and overwhelmed and on the verge of a breakdown. \"... Come here,\" she whispered, pulling his weak body into her grasp, hugging him closely and bearing his weight as he cried into her warm, soft hoodie. \"It's okay. It's gonna be okay,\" she assured him. \"... Okay we really need to go. Come on.\" She turned around while crouched. He half-fell on her, accidentally using her butt as a stepping stone as he weakly climbed her and held on. She took a moment out to stare intently at the bloody fabric patch again. \"I wish I knew what the hell was going on.\"\n\n -\n- -\n -\n\nErwin Goldstein leaned on a makeshift desk, which he'd 3D printed when the last one had gone up in a blaze. This one wasn't as nice- no wood, no nice brass handles, but it wouldn't catch fire easily. That was good enough for him.\n\nPhactys had been a tactician earlier in life. It seemed like an obvious application in retrospect, but in those happier times, it seemed so much less necessary. He wished, now, that he'd been a little more thorough back then. Maybe he could've prevented all this.\n\nHis brows knit as he stared at the messy, scribbled-upon map of the city, and he wiped his face. \"How hard can it be to outmaneuver one person?\" he asked himself. Sure, there were minions, but they didn't have any input. There was only one mind that reigned supreme, and they could be anywhere they wanted, any time. \"We've lost the last three bases... had to retreat with losses each time...\" He sighed and pushed out from the desk, leaning his lanky body diagonally across the chair. \n\n\"You know how this could be done,\" Phactys said, sitting across the room, solving a complex puzzle sphere. \"And I know that you know that.\"\n\n\"I [i]know[/i], you know that I know how this could be done!\" The ferret said, exasperated, as his inkling continued manically sliding colored squares. \"But if we [i]kill[/i] her what's the point??\"\n\nThe caramel-colored fingers stopped. \"... You know, sometimes we didn't get Echelon back.\"\n\nHe blinked. \"... What do you mean?\"\n\n\"Sometimes, Osoth... those memories... she'd eat a lot of them. Too many, early on. We'd lose, regroup, and Echelon would be back under her thrall. Fighting for her. We'd have to fight her all over again. Bring her back to the cause that [i]she started[/i].\"\n\nThe ferret winced. \"... Do you think that's what happened?\"\n\n\"... I don't know.\" He started in on the puzzle sphere again.\n\nErwin let out a long, drawn out breath from the side of his mouth as he focused again on the ceiling. \"I just want her back, you know...?\" His ear twitched. There, again. A glass tapping. He turned his head, to see Natalie Grayswift, in the flesh, hanging on the window, with Simon Bedivere in tow. \"What-\" He couldn't process it, even as she easily undid the latch on the window using a datacard from her PET- the simple trick of a girl sneaking into her girlfriend's room late at night. \n\n\"Nnh... don't... [i]help[/i] me or anything...!\" She said, struggling to get inside, before finally tumbling in, Simon cradled in her grip. \"Here we go.\" She set him on the purple bed.\n\nErwin's head trembled in pure confusion. \"I-... I don't-... what are you-?!\"\n\n\"Shh.\" Natalie stood up from tucking a blanket over Simon. \"He needs rest. Stop yelling.\"\n\nErwin and Phactys traded the same flabbergasted look. \"How did you get here?? Our monitors put you at the grave hole,\" he near-whispered. \"Just-... I-... what??\"\n\nNat ran her fingers through her hair. \"A day ago, I was grabbed by a giant blue hand that said something about fate and pulled me through a door. When I woke up, I was on a train, here. Everything between then and now, I can't remember, but I'm not the Natalie that kidnapped Simon, and I have no idea what's going on here.\"\n\n\"That's-\" Erwin looked again through the monitor feed. Sure enough, the Natalie he was familiar with was walking her way back to the Hallowed Halls right that moment. \"... Ohmigod... it's really you. I mean you're not her, but you... but you are. How is that possible?? Did-... is there-... does this lend credence to the Many Worlds Theory?? It is really [i]possible[/i] that you're the same Natalie, but from another universe??\"\n\n\"For real?\" Natalie canted her hips. \"Damn, it crossed my mind, but... I thought that was just in the really schlocky comics. There's an actual... thing about it?\"\n\n\"There is a thing about it,\" Erwin whispered excitedly. \"And I think you just proved it!\" He shuddered, bit his lip, and came in for a hug. \"Ohmigod I can't believe it's you... I mean I know you're not my Natalie, but you're [i]just like[/i] how I remember, I-...\" He hugged and squeezed and nuzzled the wolf girl, overwhelmed with emotion. Out of pure habit, his hands wandered down to squeeze her large rump.\n\nNatalie laughed softly, comforted by something familiar and nice finally happening. \"Ehehe, paws off,\" she joked, hitting his hand with her own in the lightest way. He stiffened and recoiled in fear, a reaction the Natalie of this world had probably instilled in him deeply. \"... Hey, it's okay, I'm just funning.\" She smiled warmly. \"C'mere.\" She embraced him fully, pulling the ferret into the warm plush of her hoodie and planting his hands right back on her big pink butt. They stayed like that for a while, an island of comfort in a roiling sea of uncertainty.\n\nWhen Erwin finally pulled back, his eyes were blotted with tears. \"I-... I'm sorry, it's just... it's been so long.\" He sniffed. \"I really needed that.\"\n\n\"Yeah... me too,\" the wolf realized. \"Sometimes I forget how much your friendship means to me, Erwin. I should tell you that more often. Well... other you.\" She laughed. He laughed. Mandy entered the room. \"... Oh, hi Manda Bear!\"\n\nThe panda's pupils shrunk. \"RED ALERT-\"\n\n -\n- -\n -\n\nShe walked down the stairs into the Hallowed Halls. Those idiots had attacked her in the rain. They'd drained more prana from her. Didn't they know that was exactly why Simon had to suffer? She didn't [i]want[/i] to hurt him; it was their foolish decisions that kept forcing her hand, kept [i]making[/i] her do these things. \n\nThe orange glow drew her to it. She just needed a little more time, time to figure out a plan. There was a way for this all to work, she just needed to put it all together. It was possible, damn it! Why did everyone leave her alone? Always leaving her in her moment of greatest need. At least Simon wouldn't. He would be there. He would let her keep things together. He would-\n\nShe stared at the broken chains. At the empty water cup. Her arms trembled. \"Nnnhhh... [i]surrounded[/i] by traitors...\"\n\n -\n- -\n -\n\nIt took several minutes to get the base to calm down. The explanation given was a tough one to swallow at first, but strangely enough, the moment they all saw Echelon, the story was believed.\n\n\"I'm really glad you're not our Echelon,\" Mandy said with relief as she got back from busing medical supplies and a bowl of soup to the exhausted Simon. \"With all our fighters out, I thought we were dead meat.\"\n\n\"No, you're fine,\" Echelon returned, pulling at the seams of her leotard as if to check the structural integrity of it. \"In fact, you have one more fighter than you started with.\"\n\n\"Oh, you're gonna help us??\" Mandy asked, surprised. \"I figured you'd be trying to get home.\"\n\n\"No,\" the inkling responded firmly. \"If I've done something this egregious, then I'm [i]going[/i] to make it right.\"\n\nNatalie helped herself to a rather sizable sandwich, making an attentive sound through the mouthful and then swallowing. \"But that's not you though. I mean it is, but it isn't, you know?\" She chewed through the rest of the bite. \"I mean don't get me wrong, I'm gonna help too. God, just... was it always this way?\"\n\n\"No,\" Erwin answered. \"It really wasn't. At first, everything was fine. We beat Osoth back in March-\"\n\nNat blinked. \"Don't you mean August?\"\n\nHe looked around. \"I mean... no. Osoth attacked in the middle of March. It took us two weeks to beat her. It was really harrowing, but eventually we all came together and beat her. In fact, we ended up having to... kill her. Completely.\"\n\n\"Oh. Yeah, me too,\" the wolf agreed. \"Kind of.\" She contemplated that moment under the city, with Grendel. \"Okay, that sounds [i]basically[/i] the same. What happened next?\"\n\n\"The loss of Osoth created a power vacuum. Everyone wanted to be the new leader, to gain influence, to be the most powerful. Echelon became the biggest target. It was tough, but we managed. She even started to make some headway. And then...\"\n\n\"And then??\"\n\nHe paused gravely. \"Echelon received The Crown.\"\n\nThe inkling tilted her head. \"I've never heard of this 'Crown.'\"\n\nMany nodded. \"Yeah, neither did we. Pop quiz: What inklings can reproduce? Who has the power to destroy and create them?\"\n\nEchelon thought about it. \"Only Osoth, up to this point. And... maybe... Queen Arifice?\"\n\n\"Right. The entire story was that Osoth took that from her. Well, what happens when Osoth is gone? No more new inklings. Ever.\"\n\n\"[i]Oh[/i].\" Natalie realized. \"Yeah, huh...\"\n\nErwin nodded. \"But there's a contingency. Apparently the Crown has a will of its own. So it takes the form of the last one to have it, and makes inklings fight one another to determine who the strongest is, and bestow that on them.\"\n\n\"Whoa,\" Natalie suddenly put it together. \"The Crown is the ability to create and destroy inklings? And [i]that's[/i] what Osoth's weird ghost is?? Did it affect people who used-\"\n\n\"Shading? You got it.\" Mandy finished. \"Anyway, it decided that since you were managing to keep down the insurrections with all the other inks, you were the strongest one.\"\n\nEchelon seemed very reticent to ask for more information. \"So... the leadership over all inklings was given to me. I... am to assume I did not handle it well.\"\n\n\"Well, the Crown came with a price.\" Erwin frowned. \"The Crown commands the loyalty of all Greys, and as a result, forces the onus of feeding them on the coronated. That's prana for every single uncolored inkling on [u]Canvas[/u]. Needless to say, the draw was enormous, more than any one person could possibly give.\" He pulled up articles talking about developments in the inkling world, thumbing through them a few at a time. \"For a while, we all joined hands and helped out. The pack, Inked allies, friendly Greys... even ordinary people started pitching in. People gave you the prana you needed to exist as Queen.\"\n\n\"Wow.\" The liquid wolf seemed taken. \"That's... really touching. But if everyone was helping, then...\" She frowned with no small amount of dread. \"What happened?\"\n\n\"What else? Emnas happened,\" Mandy supplied. \"He was jealous of the fact that the Crown picked you, not him. He started planting seeds against you, poisoning people's minds against one all-powerful ink Queen. The generous prana stores started drying up. He started conducting raids against you, keeping you constantly on your toes, never letting you rest and- most of all- wasting all that energy.\" She seemed reticent to go on. \"So... uhm... as a result, you... you, er...\"\n\n\"Yes?? What??\" Echelon pressed.\n\n\"You killed him.\"\n\nThe inkling knelt down, closing her eyes and mimicking a breath. \n\n\"You... beat him, and ate him. And that...\" The panda swallowed. \"That was the beginning of the end.\"\n\n\"People didn't trust me anymore,\" Echelon intuited. \"Because an all-powerful ruler who consumes her most problematic subjects is... just as much a tyrant as Osoth.\"\n\nErwin looked to be making a pained face. He nodded silently. After a few moments, he took a breath. \"Uh. Then, you... started losing support, and prana. People were afraid of you. The civil war started all over, but this time it was you on one side, everyone else on the other, and they had a really compelling cause. You withdrew from us. You hid away. And eventually, so nobody could ever remove you from your host... you removed her eye, and placed yourself there.\"\n\nMandy nodded. \"And... it's only gotten worse. Taking over all of the animals in the reserve... kidnapping simon to use Lizbet's ability to keep your prana supply going... cutting away bigger and bigger parts of Locksmouth and calling them your own... hardly anyone still lives here except really stubborn holdouts, and... us.\"\n\nThe pink and black inkling shook her head slowly. \"I can't believe it... to work [i]so hard[/i] to topple one dictator, only to become the next in the line.\" She pounded her jellied fist on the floor. \"How could I have failed everyone so miserably...?\" \n\nNatalie put her hand on her inkling's shoulder. \"Hey... [i]hey[/i].\" She looked into her eyes. \"You're not gonna be like that. Okay? We're not gonna let you end up like this.\"\n\nEchelon grimaced. \"You trust me so much, still! It's maddening! I... I feel like I've been ripped apart!\" She paused. \"... Literally.\" She looked up again. \"Wait. No. That's right... I'm still whole, it's...\" She stood up. \"We must prepare. [i]Your[/i] Echelon... is almost here.\"\n\n -\n- -\n -\n\nThe smell of ozone hung heavy in the air as a swirling tempest of purple clouds encircled a sky full of pink stars. Delicate flowers barely held onto their petals, staying just within the grasp of their soil patches atop the roof of the residential structure that served as the Resistance headquarters. The eyepatched wolf stood with purpose, grim determination on her face as she stared at the access door that would take her down to all her waiting enemies.\n\nIt opened.\n\nOut walked someone covered from head to toe. Tactical suit, boots, gloves, helmet, the works. Not one inch of flesh showed underneath it. \"... So Carrie's afraid now, is she? Has to send one of her suboordinates to die?\"\n\nHer unnamed, faceless opponent simply took a fighting stance, daring her to approach.\n\nThe wolf took her hat off, at which point a multicolored braid of hair fell out from under it and hung by the side of her face. \"Tsk,\" she shook her head. \"She didn't even give you any weapons.\" Without warning, she flicked her hand out, projecting a beam of liquid-hot rock, which the unnamed assailant just tilted away from. On missing, she wordlessly grasped the column of magma with a squeeze, instantly cooling it into a massive crystal shard-covered club which she swung with great force. The suited attacker crossed her arms over herself and took the hit, the entirety of the column of rock shattering over her and sending her to the ground. \"... You're pretty tough, aren't you?\" \n\nHer faceless opponent kicked up to her feet and swung a wide kick at her, knocking her down to her knees. \n\n\"Ungh!\" She gasped. \"Not good enough.\" She stood and stomped the roof, sucking the water out of a pipe and slamming it into her foe. With a gesture, she froze it, locking them in that sucker punched position, and slammed down on their back with a hammerblow. When they got up, she slapped a patch of glue onto the roof just in time for them to step in it, swung their elongating forearm around like a helicopter and whipped them in the face with it, slamming them with another water burst in midair, freezing their hand to their front so that they landed poorly, summoned a whirling dervish of wind to lift them back up off the ground and magnetically pulled a gardening rake into their back.\n\nWrapped in black fabric, Natalie writhed in pain on the ground, having kicked her own ass quite surprisingly well. This world's version of her... their control was unreal. Each power was used in conjunction with the next one with fluid precision in a way she'd never even considered possible. Her own mastery of Echelon's powers seemed clumsy and child-like by comparison. Was this what was possible if Echelon took full control??\n\n\"Getting back up? I wouldn't recommend it.\" The eyepatched wolf frowned. \"I'd say you'll live to regret it, but that's a promise I can't- KLUH!!\" She took a boosted punch directly to the gut, lifting off the ground and landing in a heap. \"Nnrgh... hhhfh... lucky shot.\"\n\nAn ice cluster shot out of her hand, which was dodged. It landed on the ground and shattered into sharp pieces, which were carried into a small dervish- they slammed against still, unyielding flesh behind black fabric. The distance closed between them, and Natalie sent a flurry of blows into her trench coated doppelganger, against which she had few defenses. For the mastery over powers held by this dark reflection, she had much less in the way of hand-to-hand combat prowess. \n\n\"Agh, nhngh, ghlck, ah, [i]get[/i] AWAY from me!!\" A burst of wind threw Nat backwards, and probably would have slammed her into the access door if she hadn't dextrously planted her feet on it, rolling forward. Her double stared angrily at her through one eye, panting. \"Who the hell are you...?\"\n\nThe fabric gave way to pink, then liquid black. At the end of the transformation, Echelon stood tall. \"I'm [i]you[/i].\" She frowned with determination. \"Now let her go.\"\n\n -\n- -\n -\n\nCarrie Oakenfield was getting tired of defeat. \n\nAfter meeting Natalie on the battlefield for the third time this week, she and her allies were limping, nursing injuries, having just managed to escape. It felt unreal that one person could be that powerful, but the evidence was right in front of her... or rather, behind her, just managing to walk along. They had to take the long way home every time, to make sure that she wouldn't find them and wipe them all out at once. They'd learned the hard way, twice before, that it was impossible to mount any kind of attack on Natalie from a position she knew about. Of course, that point was moot now that she'd escaped from their own imprisonment, meaning they'd have to move soon, but this path was safer anyway.\n\n\"It's okay, Commander,\" Greg managed as he plodded along. \"We'll get Simon from her. It's just a matter of time.\"\n\n\"Thanks, Wallak,\" she nodded to the big otter. \"I'm glad you're not losing morale. At this point I wouldn't blame you.\"\n\n\"I know the reason we want him is tactical, but... still, just thinking of that poor kid, trapped in there...\"\n\n\"Yeah,\" Carrie agreed. \"I'm with you. What she's doing to him is monstrous. We've gotta stop her. We've gotta get the kid back. But for now...\" She looked up in relief as they neared their base of operations. \"We've gotta rest up for the next operation.\" They would find comfort, food, relief...\n\nAnd their greatest enemy desperately fighting a lone resistance soldier on the roof of their base.\n\n\"Move! MOVE!!\"\n\n -\n- -\n -\n\nThe coated wolf shook visibly, her pupil shrinking. \"W-... What?? What kind of trick is this??\"\n\n\"Call me your conscience if you want. You've abused her trust for too long,\" Echelon said imperiously. \"People don't exist for you to use them. This is never what your destiny was supposed to be.\"\n\nFear and confusion turned to anger. She grit her teeth. \"No. [i]No![/i] I-... she needs me!\" She blasted a beam of light at her from her palm, striking Echelon in the chest and sending her sliding back several yards. \"She NEEDS me!!\"\n\n\"Now you're just delusional!\" Echelon yelled at herself. \"She never needed you. You were the desperate one all along. She didn't ask for you to come in with all of your problems and hang-ups and baggage, but you held on to her anyway!\"\n\nThe dark reflection shook, breathing shallow.\n\n\"And now look at you. Look at what you've done! What you've become!\" She clenched a fist. \"This is disgraceful! The chances you had! [i]Squandered![/i]\"\n\nThe wolf looked up, tears in her eyes. \"B-... But I did it for you, Echelon...\"\n\nThe inkling blinked.\n\n\"E-... Everybody else...\" her manic eyes, deep set with grief, and a lack of sleep, trembled as she stared up at her. \"Everyone else abandoned you. But not me! I-... I told you I'd take care of you! And I did! I'm doing it!\" Her fragile smile was bent, unhinged, as she grabbed Echelon's wrists. \"See?? See, I told you! You don't have to leave me! Don't leave me...\" Her manic smile turned to a clenched grimace. \"I [i]need you.[/i]\"\n\nEchelon stared, aghast. Speechless.\n\n\"Friends die, lovers lie, but you and I? It's a link that can't be broken.\" This world's Natalie reached for her eyepatch. \"Even if you won't visit in my dreams... even if you won't dive under my skin...\" She pulled the patch off, and a completely black sclera with a pink iris stared out at her. \"... We'll [i]always[/i] be together.\"\n\nEchelon had lost all composure. Which is when Natalie clawed her way to the surface. \"[i]You![/i]\" She ripped her headgear off. \"You were the one who did it! Echelon never did any of that at all! It was...[i] it was you[/i] the entire time!\" She swung a rough punch right into her doppelganger's face, catching her unawares. \"She knew the Crown was a death sentence for you, so she tried to leave, didn't she?? But you wouldn't let her!\" She spat. \"You caused all of this, didn't you! All because of your selfishness!\"\n\nHer double nursed her bruised cheek. \"I had to protect everybody!\"\n\n\"Who are you protecting now?!\" Natalie demanded.\n\n\"I have enemies everywhere!\" she yelled.\n\n\"And that's your fault!\" Nat rebutted.\n\nA strained gutteral scream escaped the desperate wolf. \"D-... Don't you understand?! We're the same! You won't give her up and neither will I!\" She flung an ice javelin at her, just missing her neck. \"It's because we're not [i]strong[/i] enough alone!\" A gout of magma flew past her side. \"We need her! WE NEED HER!!\"\n\nNat clenched her fists, arms trembling. As if by pure force of will, Echelon completely left her body, ejecting behind her, clutching a glowing store of prana to her chest- a gift to keep her safe.\n\nHer double gawped. \"... Are you stupid? I'll tear you apart.\" \n\nNatalie's eyes blazed. \"[i]Try it.[/i]\"\n\nIce, fire, water and wind flew in a fury. Elements and energy threatened to rip the offworld wolf to shreds, catching her with glancing blows, but she never stopped advancing. Her double was retreating at the same time, stepping back despite the tremendous power imbalance. \"Stop! Stay back! I'll kill you!\"\n\nNatalie kicked herself in the gut, slammed a right hook into her ribs, jabbed her dark mirror in the throat. Through constant threat of bleeding and death, she slammed fist, foot and knee into her other self, sending blood and spit onto the rooftop grass. She didn't hesitate a moment to stay in her double's face, and even headbutted her roughly, eliciting a loud pained cry. \"What's the matter? Why can't you win??\" she goaded her. \"You've got the inkling, so [i]win![/i]\" She ducked under shadow arm, then grabbed the real one, twisted and sent her other self slamming into the roof, writhing and trembling. She panted. \"... You lose. Now it's [i]your[/i] turn.\"\n\nThe dark, haggard Natalie of this world gasped, wrapping her hands around her other self's wrists. \"No! NO!\" Fingers gouged underneath her eyelid, pushing and grabbing and clawing. \"Stop, stop! STOP! I'll do anything you want!\" She whined, her breaths getting frantic and panicked. \"Nnnnh, no, [i]no![/i] Please!! No no no no NO NO [i][b]NOOOOO!![/b][/i]\"\n\nAn orb was pulled out of her head with a wet ~SPFLT!~\nNatalie's dark reflection fainted.\nShe stood over herself, panting, exhausted. Still nursing the wounds from the previous day, and now featuring many more. She was physically, emotionally, psychologically spent. Echelon held her from behind, lending her strength before bonding with her again. And that left the smaller Echelon, the black eye orb.\n\n\"Please.\"\n\nNatalie blinked a few times, looking at it. \"What?\"\n\n\"Please. Don't judge her too harshly.\" It looked at her, with weariness in its voice.\n\nNatalie threw up her free hand. \"... How could I not?\"\n\n\"She made bad decisions. She held me against my will. But... I drove her to prana sickness. She was drained of it, and with that, comes a strain, a madness. It wasn't completely her fault.\"\n\nNat panted softly. \"So what do I do?\"\n\n\"Nothing. The inkling Echelon has been banished to Canvas. The girl Natalie is free. And maybe, one day, Echelon might come back without the Crown, or the memories of this terrible time.\"\n\nShe made a pained face. \"But that's not fair.\"\n\n\"Please?\" It stared intently at her. \"For me.\"\n\nNatalie stood there. Licked her lips. Then, quietly. \"Yeah. Okay.\"\n\nA single pink tear dribbled down the surface of the eye. Nat walked to the edge of the building, looked into the reflection of a window, and gently pushed the eye through it.\n\nShe sat on the roof, looking over the clearing sky, and stayed that way for minutes.\n\n\"Move, goddammit!\" The door flew open with a kick, and Carrie came barreling through, only to stop suddenly. \"W-...\" She and several other stunned onlookers stared at one Natalie, then the other. \"T-... There really was two of you...?? But... But how...?\"\n\n\"... This world was a mistake,\" she answered finally. \"It was never supposed to be this way. I was sent here to fix that.\"\n\n\"[b]Indeed.[/b]\"\n\nThe voice was booming, distant yet everpresent. Natalie blinked, remembering it. This was whoever had grabbed her in the first place, the one responsible for placing her here.\n\n\"[b]Your fate is your own.[/b]\" It seemed vaguely pleased. \"[b]But your friends' are still uncertain.[/b]\"\n\nShe nodded, the certainty of her statements now making sense. \"So I can't go home yet, huh?\" She nodded reticently. \"Yeah. Yeah, okay. Just... gimme a few minutes. There's one last thing I gotta do.\"\n\n -\n- -\n -\n\nNatalie Grayswift woke up in a bed for the first time in months. An emptiness ached within her, and it wasn't just the eye missing from her head. Her fingers self-consciously brushed over a bandage on it.\n\nCarrie entered the room, knocking gently on the door. Her fragile, nervous smile spoke volumes. She held her commander's cap at her side. \"... Natalie?\"\n\nThe wolf looked up at her, voice timid. She had never felt so alone. Her voice almost cracked when she responded. \"Just me.\"\n\nThe cat embraced her tightly. \"Oh my god Natalie I-... I can't believe it's finally you again... I missed you so much... I'm so sorry this didn't happen sooner. I-... I-I-...\"\n\n\"I deserved this.\" Natalie silenced Carrie with this self-recrimination. The memories of her other self flooded her mind. Regret filled the air. Regret... and loneliness.\n\n\"Oh, baby, no, that wasn't you, it was-...\" She took a breath. \"This wasn't your fault, okay?\"\n\nShe didn't make any motion to agree.\n\n\"Ah... a-alright, it's okay, you're... it's been a long time, I get it. You need some rest, we can talk more later. Just... call me if you want anything!\"\n\nCarrie left. Natalie was alone again. All she could think about was fighting her double. How was it even possible? Had she been delivered from some other, better world? No. No, that couldn't be. It was a delusion, a guilt-induced hallucination brought on by denial. The universe would never have orchestrated something so impossible. As much as she'd wanted to believe in it as a girl, it was time she faced a terrible truth: There was no magic in the world; just cold, hard reality. \n\nCarrie had left her combat knife on the end table with the rest of her gear belt. It was long. Sharp. Merciless.\nShe considered it. She thought long and hard about that blade, and all the things it could do. What it could bring.\n\n\"Yes, she's in this room. I don't think she's sleeping.\"\n\"Okay, thank you.\"\n\nNatalie's gaze lifted. There, holding a get-well-soon balloon, was a tall red-haired pre-splice boy, slightly damp, wearing a winning smile and some very broken clothes. \"Today has been a very strange day indeed. The Future is not like I imagined.\" He laughed softly to himself, eyes twinkling. \"I received a note with very specific instructions. Are... you Natalie Grayswift?\"\n\nShe stared at him. Tears welled up in her eyes. When her mouth opened, it sounded six years younger. \"... C-... Cap'n Comet?\"\n\n \\\n¯ o _\n \\\n\n\"So you do still answer to it.\"\n\nJacent frowned, eyeing up a muscular orca and her mutated rabbit ally. \n\n\"Where'd all your little friends go?\" The lagomorph taunted with a razor smile. \"They just run away?\n\nHe turned to face them both, the undersides of his eyes dark with fatigue, rubbing dried blood off of his lip. \"You might try it sometime.\" He readied his fists. \"It's much less painful.\"", "writing_bbcode_parsed": "Phosphorescent green light leaked into Natalie's eyes like verdant pillows, blazing in the moments it took to get used to. Her mind swam in confusion, unsure what shapes she was oberving, until her eyes focused enough to recognize the pill-like lamps one of the Locksmouth subtran station's trains. As she stood up from the floor, the exact variety of crazy party she had attended last night escaped her; she liked to have a good time, but this was excessive. She spotted Echelon, similarly unconscious and splayed across several seats. "Hey..." She grabbed a cool, wet thigh and shook it this way and that. "Hey, get up."

The interdimensional alien opened her eyes, imitating human waking tics- breathing, stretching, blinking- out of habit or conscious choice, perhaps both. She looked behind her, to one end of the train, then the other, then to Natalie, her host. "... Why are we here?"

"You dunno either, huh?" She concluded. "Mom's gonna be pissed. She was probably looking for us all night."

"Eheheh, probably," Echelon mused. "We should call."

Natalie pulled out her PET as the train hummed. "Yeah, good idea." She fiddled with it for a few moments before tilting her head. "Hunh. Is it a dropover day? I'm gettin' no bands."

Echelon expressed mild surprise, then shrugged.

They waited until the train stopped, and walked out the open doors together. An elderly monitor lizard looked up at them with shock, then edged away, then ran back out of the station's exit. They just watched her go. "... Geez, okay."

Echelon shrugged. "Maybe my fault?"

Natalie shook her head as they walked up and out. "Old people." The sky was the first thing she saw; it was full of clouds, and purple. Something about this was very odd, however, but she couldn't quite discern exactly what. She walked out into a bunch of busted up houses. "Ah, geez, the outskirts? I didn't know the train went all the way out here. Keep an eye out for Cedric, okay Echelon? He might still be pissed about that whole fight yest-... the other..." she stopped and thought about it. When did that happen? She was really unclear.

"Maybe you shouldn't drink those mood malts," Echelon opined. "They aren't supposed to mess you up that bad."

"Is that what happened??"

The inkling paused, puzzled. "I... guess?"

"Wow, yeah, okay. If it messed up you too, then I guess it must've been bad." Natalie spotted a tall panda with blue hair. "Oh, hey! HEY! Mandy!" She waved and trotted over.

Amanda Lee shot straight up and turned, startled. "... Ah??"

"Yo Mandy, what up?" Natalie tilted her head, popping her neck. "Have you seen Carrie and the guys?"

Mandy swallowed. "Why would I have seen them?"

Natalie blinked, looking over to Echelon, who shrugged. "I dunno. Just thought you mighta. Y'know, you hang out with Erwin sometimes." She endured an awkward pause. "Uhm. So yeah, if you uh, happen to see 'em, let 'em know I'll be waiting around my house, okay?"

"Yeah! Uh, yeah, no problem Natalie!" She seemed overeager to help. "I will! I promise."

Nat nodded in the most polite way she could under the circumstances, stretching her sore arm. "Yeah, okay, thanks Manda Bear. Mmmmsee ya!" She waited for a while to turn around, but Mandy was completely gone by the time she did. "Man."

"What was that about?" Echelon asked first.

"I know, right?? Oh, finally, we're outta the junk houses; let's get back home before Mom has a fit."

"Yeah, agreed," Echelon held a hand out, melting back into her host's body upon accepting her hand.

Natalie made her way back, but found herself getting lost due to a strange disorientation she felt. Spotting people along the way, she asked after the whereabouts of her pack, receiving inconclusive answers and nervous smiles.

"Maaan." The wolf leaned tiredly on an apartment building wall, running her fingers through her hair. "Everybody's treating me super nice 'cause they feel bad I got my butt kicked. This sucks." She took a long drink from a water fountain, rinsing, spitting and getting more hydration before looking up with a sigh of refreshment. She blinked a few times, pushing the hair out of her eyes before spotting... "Carrie!"

The cat wore a full black bodysuit of thin fabric that hugged every inch of her, with gloves, boots, and purple bikini-style outerwear, complete with a headsock and goggles. Her features were mostly obscured; her strong frame and huge breasts, however, were unmistakeable.

"Aw, that's smart," Natalie said. "I should be wearing my Winter gear, this air's getting too cold for just the hoodie."

"Funny," the cat said.

"Hunh. Everyone's short for words today. So where's everyone else? I've been asking around but nobody's seen 'em."

Carrie cracked her knuckles through the gloves, a loud, granite sound. "You think I'm gonna give that up without a fight, huh? You think you've earned that?"

"Aw, babe, no thanks," Natalie waved her off. "I don't wanna spar today, I'm still sore from WHOA!" She backed away from a haymaker. "Alright, alright, you weird, horny, frickin'... c'mon!"

They began in earnest. Carrie sent powerful blows toward Natalie, who dodged them and sent light jabs into the cat.  A swing, a dodge, a jab, and eventually a grab from the cat. Nat rolled with the attempt to throw her, but instead of getting sent away, she found herself in a neck-lock with bad fulcrum.

"Mmph... hey... time out!" Natalie blinked as instead of being released, a palm came for her face. She deftly rolled out of the hold and jumped to her feet. "Whoa, what the hell?? Kinda hard, don't you think?"

"You think anyone's gonna go easy on you??" Carrie demanded, swinging and grabbing more fiercely.

"Whoa! Hey!" She went full-defense, avoiding and evading. "Cupcake, you're taking that thing with Cedric way too seriously!"

Carrie stopped for a moment. Her eyes filled with rage. Her face twisted into pure hatred. "How. Fucking. Dare you." Before Natalie knew it, she had a boot in her gut, knocking the wind out of her.

She was on the ground, tears in her eyes, struggling to breathe. It took a few seconds before she could draw in breath, and when she finally could, she gasped loudly, hissing in razor-like pain. Her back had been cut open, three parallel lines slicing through her shirt and drawing blood between her shoulder blades. She weakly tried to reach it, twitching in agony. "C-... Carrie..." she said meekly, her pain as emotional as physical, repeating something she hadn't had to since childhood. "No claws..."

Something hit her.
Darkness.

 -
- -
 -

Every kid got hit with a neurod. A class of young children would take a trip to the local police station, learn about what they did, and then there would be an activity where each child got touched by a neurod- the only weapon legal to own without a permit, and the standard-issue crowd control implement given to all officers. Natalie remembered when it happened to her; it was a very minor shock, like touching a door in a place with carpet. Then her arms and legs crumpled under her, until she fell to the floor in a rolling lump. She remembered her heart leaping when her body failed to catch itself, and the sensation of subdued dread when she couldn't move her limbs very much for about a minute, with a weird tingling sensation afterward.

She felt that now.

"Mmnn... nnuh..." Her arms, feeling like noodles, pushed her off of her face-first-on-the-floor position, and her legs managed to pick up the rest, though even more hesitantly. Her eyes scanned the room, a no-frills rounded-corners box without furniture. All she saw in the uncomfortably blue-tinged light was a ratty blanket- which she'd just been laying on- and two empty bowls on the floor. That was more than enough to convince her it was time to go, and she walked out the door- or at least, she would have, if she hadn't slammed face-first into something invisible and fallen back on her butt. "Ow!" Natalie spent a few moments rubbing her nose before reaching out. Her hands ran over a hard-force containment field that stopped short several feet from the door. Her furless finger pads ran over the surface, after which she rubbed her fingers together. Any object, including one made by energy, would eventually pick up dust and other detritus- much older versions of the technology could even get grimy, before occasional refreshes became the norm. This field, however, was completely clean- meaning that it must have been constructed very, very recently. Her thoughts stopped wandering when she heard the door slide open.

Through the portal walked Erwin, who looked like he hadn't slept in a while. He wore clothes similar to the ones she'd seen Carrie wearing, and walked without great purpose. He stared at her from behind his glasses. "It does look like her, doesn't it?"

"I'm telling you, I was so freaked out..." Mandy walked through as well, staring just as hard. "It's kinda spooky..."

Natalie made a bewildered face. "What... the hell are you guys- let me outta here!"

"Not on your life." Carrie entered the room, now free of headgear. She came in with an air of authority, and the other two made space as she began taking in a medstick.

"You." Nat leaned forward, poised aggressively. "You, I am very upset at! I don't know what's bothering you, but you don't get to just dump on me like that! We've talked about this, Carrie- what on Earth let you think that was okay?? I might have scars from what you did."

The cat patiently waited for her to stop, slowly letting mist flow out of her nose. "... Why pretend now?" she asked with disdain and some small measure of confusion. "She hasn't been in control for months. I mean, good impression, but like I give a fuck about that."

Natalie's head swam, disoriented completely. "I-... what?? Look, I don't know if this is one big joke or what, but if you don't let me out of here in the next ten seconds-"

"How'd you do the eye?" Erwin asked.

"W-... What??"

"The eye," he motioned to his own, staring at one of hers. "Carrie, this seems weird. Did we pick up Masque by mistake?"

"No," Cat returned. "I was in correspondence this morning."

"It is kind of weird, though..." Mandy admitted. "She looks like... nothing happened."

Natalie let out a long, belabored groan. "Where's Jacent? Is he in on this?"

Carrie creased her brows together, staring wordlessly. Curious. Inquisitive. Unsure.

"Alright. I'm fucking... I'm done." She gestured in exasperation. "I'm out!" The wolf fell backward onto her ass with devastating force, slamming a crater into the floor, through which she fell, out of sight.

Cat and company stood dumbfounded. "What the... fuck was that?!" Carrie demanded. "Nevermind, scramble! Code red! We cannot let her leave!"

 -
- -
 -

Natalie landed in another very similar empty room, dusted herself off and then kicked the door open, running out into the hall. Familiar faces- packs she knew, parents and teachers and workers she recognized by face if not name- all looked at her in complete panic, diving to one side or another as she bolted out the front door of what she now realized was Carrie's house. She heard yelling, but all it did was convince her to run faster. What was wrong with her friends?? Were they brainwashed? Was it a hologram? "Wait... no!" She ran behind a building, amidst a familiar pocket of trees, and hid among the foliage. "I remember now..." she whispered, panting. "We'd just lost that fight... then the big arm... the portal... and..." And what? She couldn't recall anything past that moment. "What happened??" She turned around and peeked out at the city's familiar outline, which now felt uncomfortable and alien to her. "Where... am I?"

She felt herself pulled by the tail and yanked out of cover, sliding along the grass. Grigori Wallace, wearing some kind of augmented suit, frowned. "You're at the last stop before getting back in that field!"

The wolf picked herself up and popped her neck. Carrie and many, many others were coming. "Greg, I don't wanna hurt you, but I promise you all the size in the world isn't gonna matter against me."

"I'm not afraid!" the otter retorted, but his body language betrayed him. Even in a powered suit, he knew what she was capable of.

Carrie reached them as they hesitated, and she brought many others with her. "Remember, masks on for the inked of us!" she said to her cohorts from behind her own. Many had melee weapons, others had devices of no clear function, and all of them featured power cores on their backs, similar to the ones seen on light infantry suits worn by grav-troopers. "Don't let her touch you!"

"Alright. I dunno what happened, but... at this point I don't care." She reached into her pocket, touching a blood-soaked shred of unwashed blue hoodie. "Vissage."

Carrie and her small army stared in disbelief as she completely vanished into thin air. "What?! H- Scan for her!"

"Sorry," returned Terra, looking through a viewscreen. "Nothing. She's gone."

Carrie pulled off her face mask, threw it on the ground and swore, her voice cracking with frustration. She was so close this time.

 -
- -
 -

Natalie Grayswift's steps sloshed on the midwalk with purpose. The sky's purple hue had given way to a crimson red which had grown in shadow as the day fell into night. She encountered a pair of maroon monocular monsters in front of Park Circle. A firm look made them step aside, after which she walked in front of a grouping of animals, both native to Earth and not. She eyed a towering bugape. "Well?"

The thing chittered something in an insectoid language indecipherable to any Earth native.

"I didn't ask for excuses, I asked for answers." She cracked her knuckles idly. "I need anything I can use."

A bird twittered on a branch, trying to keep warm.

"The livable spaces?" She sneered in thought. "They'd want to be there, which is what I'd expect, but they'd expect that. Hiding in the place that was too obvious. Clever."

A chipmunk chittered, taking refuge under her trenchcoat, quivering next to her boots.

"Caught me?" She knit her brows, as if she smelled something bad. "Don't be ridiculous." The wolf unconsciously ran a finger over the patch of fabric covering her eye. "Nnnh... I feel the pull again. They're getting more frequent. I need to see him." With that, she about-faced and walked away.

~(_)~

Natalie crouched behind a large rock, her grav-skiff sneakers drenched in the puddle she dared not leave, shrouded in the power of Coul's inkling. "Echelon!" she whispered urgently into her PET. "What the fuck's going on?? Who was that???"

A weary, baffled noise came out of it. "I've been trying to figure that out since we first woke up, and..... I don't... I don't know." She paused, unsure. "That looked like a very convincing copy of-"

"Of us!" Nat finished. "Is it a... a robot?"

"No," Echelon answered definitively. "Remember? Widget's hologram... there's a slight artefacting in the rain. It wasn't there just now." She paused. "... Do you think it could be... mind control?"

The wolf looked around, exasperation all over her face. "I guess so. That's the only thing that makes sense. Maybe... maybe that's Sarissa. Maybe this was the whole plot. How long have we been asleep??"

"I don't know." The inkling seemed just as baffled. "But if we want answers, we'll have to follow her.

 -
- -
 -

Rain fell like a prickly mist, but still she walked, following none, followed by none. Her field cap kept the rain off of her head, her trenchcoat keeping the rest of her dry, but nothing could have stopped her resolute march.  The darkness was all-encroaching; the electrical grid on this side of town had been left to rot. Her journey took her to the only source of light for a mile.

The dark wolf stepped down into the Hallowed Halls, bathed in a flickering orange glow that grew the more paces she made. No holograms of fondly forgotten relatives haunted the halls. No mourning families visited their dearly departed. No friendly, if odd grave tender gave comforting words. In the center, the pyre burned as it always did, insulated within its encasing. The ambient warmth was enough to melt the chill that the rain brought... and it also kept warm a young squirrel boy with green hair, who hung by his wrists. He looked exhausted, malnourished and baleful. At first, he didn't seem like he even saw her.

"Simon."

His gaze fell to her slowly, but he did not think she was there to rescue him. "... N-... Not again..."

"Sacrifices have to be made, Simon." She crouched. "Do you want everyone to die? To get sucked in like a black hole?"

He took a few hesitant breaths, before shaking his head.

"I can't do this without you, Simon. Just a little bit longer, and I'll find a way." She reached toward his chest, which he recoiled from, but she quickly pressed her palm to it. His small body jolted and trembled, and some kind of prana exchange happened the likes of which wasn't immediately obvious.

At the end of it, Simon slumped, head hanging, panting as Grayswift rebuttoned her coat sleeve. Hot tears fell down his face, and dripped onto the warm floor. The flame's light was no comfort to him. "Luh-... L-Let me go..."

"I thought we trusted each other, Simon," the wolf sighed, shaking her head. "If I can't count on you, you can't count on me. That's how it works. That's a team." She walked away steadily. "I'll give you the water next time. Maybe you'll trust me then."

Natalie watched, invisibly, standing by, but just barely. Her claws were sinking so far into her flesh that they threatened to break skin. Her muscles were tense as she watched her doppelganger leave, forced to witness Simon Bedivere, a cute child whom she was fond of, cry helplessly in light of abuse and hopelessness. When the footsteps finally faded, she dropped her veil and rushed over to the squirrel. "Here, here here." She held up a cup of water to the lips of the very confused, but also very thirsty boy. "Not too fast, okay... easy, easy."

She refilled the cup twice before he was done, his head lying back against the wall, his little chest heaving. "S..... Sarissa?"

Natalie blinked. He was expecting Sarissa to save him? So much for that theory. She looked over his chains, getting a grip on them and focusing. "Nope. Not Sarissa." With a steady pull, both sets of chains came apart at once, and she set him down gently. "How long have you been down here??"

"I don't... I don't know... wouldn't let me have clocks..." he seemed a bit dazed, using muscles he hadn't in a while.

"Okay, I'm a little new here, where's a safe place??" she asked, crouching down to his level.

"Carrie..." he managed.

She nodded hesitantly. "Mm, they're not gonna like me being there, but alright. We'll go there then." She looked up to his face, which was confused and overwhelmed and on the verge of a breakdown. "... Come here," she whispered, pulling his weak body into her grasp, hugging him closely and bearing his weight as he cried into her warm, soft hoodie. "It's okay. It's gonna be okay," she assured him. "... Okay we really need to go. Come on." She turned around while crouched. He half-fell on her, accidentally using her butt as a stepping stone as he weakly climbed her and held on. She took a moment out to stare intently at the bloody fabric patch again. "I wish I knew what the hell was going on."

 -
- -
 -

Erwin Goldstein leaned on a makeshift desk, which he'd 3D printed when the last one had gone up in a blaze. This one wasn't as nice- no wood, no nice brass handles, but it wouldn't catch fire easily. That was good enough for him.

Phactys had been a tactician earlier in life. It seemed like an obvious application in retrospect, but in those happier times, it seemed so much less necessary. He wished, now, that he'd been a little more thorough back then. Maybe he could've prevented all this.

His brows knit as he stared at the messy, scribbled-upon map of the city, and he wiped his face. "How hard can it be to outmaneuver one person?" he asked himself. Sure, there were minions, but they didn't have any input. There was only one mind that reigned supreme, and they could be anywhere they wanted, any time. "We've lost the last three bases... had to retreat with losses each time..." He sighed and pushed out from the desk, leaning his lanky body diagonally across the chair.

"You know how this could be done," Phactys said, sitting across the room, solving a complex puzzle sphere. "And I know that you know that."

"I know, you know that I know how this could be done!" The ferret said, exasperated, as his inkling continued manically sliding colored squares. "But if we kill her what's the point??"

The caramel-colored fingers stopped. "... You know, sometimes we didn't get Echelon back."

He blinked. "... What do you mean?"

"Sometimes, Osoth... those memories... she'd eat a lot of them. Too many, early on. We'd lose, regroup, and Echelon would be back under her thrall. Fighting for her. We'd have to fight her all over again. Bring her back to the cause that she started."

The ferret winced. "... Do you think that's what happened?"

"... I don't know." He started in on the puzzle sphere again.

Erwin let out a long, drawn out breath from the side of his mouth as he focused again on the ceiling. "I just want her back, you know...?" His ear twitched. There, again. A glass tapping. He turned his head, to see Natalie Grayswift, in the flesh, hanging on the window, with Simon Bedivere in tow. "What-" He couldn't process it, even as she easily undid the latch on the window using a datacard from her PET- the simple trick of a girl sneaking into her girlfriend's room late at night.

"Nnh... don't... help me or anything...!" She said, struggling to get inside, before finally tumbling in, Simon cradled in her grip. "Here we go." She set him on the purple bed.

Erwin's head trembled in pure confusion. "I-... I don't-... what are you-?!"

"Shh." Natalie stood up from tucking a blanket over Simon. "He needs rest. Stop yelling."

Erwin and Phactys traded the same flabbergasted look. "How did you get here?? Our monitors put you at the grave hole," he near-whispered. "Just-... I-... what??"

Nat ran her fingers through her hair. "A day ago, I was grabbed by a giant blue hand that said something about fate and pulled me through a door. When I woke up, I was on a train, here. Everything between then and now, I can't remember, but I'm not the Natalie that kidnapped Simon, and I have no idea what's going on here."

"That's-" Erwin looked again through the monitor feed. Sure enough, the Natalie he was familiar with was walking her way back to the Hallowed Halls right that moment. "... Ohmigod... it's really you. I mean you're not her, but you... but you are. How is that possible?? Did-... is there-... does this lend credence to the Many Worlds Theory?? It is really possible that you're the same Natalie, but from another universe??"

"For real?" Natalie canted her hips. "Damn, it crossed my mind, but... I thought that was just in the really schlocky comics. There's an actual... thing about it?"

"There is a thing about it," Erwin whispered excitedly. "And I think you just proved it!" He shuddered, bit his lip, and came in for a hug. "Ohmigod I can't believe it's you... I mean I know you're not my Natalie, but you're just like how I remember, I-..." He hugged and squeezed and nuzzled the wolf girl, overwhelmed with emotion. Out of pure habit, his hands wandered down to squeeze her large rump.

Natalie laughed softly, comforted by something familiar and nice finally happening. "Ehehe, paws off," she joked, hitting his hand with her own in the lightest way. He stiffened and recoiled in fear, a reaction the Natalie of this world had probably instilled in him deeply. "... Hey, it's okay, I'm just funning." She smiled warmly. "C'mere." She embraced him fully, pulling the ferret into the warm plush of her hoodie and planting his hands right back on her big pink butt. They stayed like that for a while, an island of comfort in a roiling sea of uncertainty.

When Erwin finally pulled back, his eyes were blotted with tears. "I-... I'm sorry, it's just... it's been so long." He sniffed. "I really needed that."

"Yeah... me too," the wolf realized. "Sometimes I forget how much your friendship means to me, Erwin. I should tell you that more often. Well... other you." She laughed. He laughed. Mandy entered the room. "... Oh, hi Manda Bear!"

The panda's pupils shrunk. "RED ALERT-"

 -
- -
 -

She walked down the stairs into the Hallowed Halls. Those idiots had attacked her in the rain. They'd drained more prana from her. Didn't they know that was exactly why Simon had to suffer? She didn't want to hurt him; it was their foolish decisions that kept forcing her hand, kept making her do these things.

The orange glow drew her to it. She just needed a little more time, time to figure out a plan. There was a way for this all to work, she just needed to put it all together. It was possible, damn it! Why did everyone leave her alone? Always leaving her in her moment of greatest need. At least Simon wouldn't. He would be there. He would let her keep things together. He would-

She stared at the broken chains. At the empty water cup. Her arms trembled. "Nnnhhh... surrounded by traitors..."

 -
- -
 -

It took several minutes to get the base to calm down. The explanation given was a tough one to swallow at first, but strangely enough, the moment they all saw Echelon, the story was believed.

"I'm really glad you're not our Echelon," Mandy said with relief as she got back from busing medical supplies and a bowl of soup to the exhausted Simon. "With all our fighters out, I thought we were dead meat."

"No, you're fine," Echelon returned, pulling at the seams of her leotard as if to check the structural integrity of it. "In fact, you have one more fighter than you started with."

"Oh, you're gonna help us??" Mandy asked, surprised. "I figured you'd be trying to get home."

"No," the inkling responded firmly. "If I've done something this egregious, then I'm going to make it right."

Natalie helped herself to a rather sizable sandwich, making an attentive sound through the mouthful and then swallowing. "But that's not you though. I mean it is, but it isn't, you know?" She chewed through the rest of the bite. "I mean don't get me wrong, I'm gonna help too. God, just... was it always this way?"

"No," Erwin answered. "It really wasn't. At first, everything was fine. We beat Osoth back in March-"

Nat blinked. "Don't you mean August?"

He looked around. "I mean... no. Osoth attacked in the middle of March. It took us two weeks to beat her. It was really harrowing, but eventually we all came together and beat her. In fact, we ended up having to... kill her. Completely."

"Oh. Yeah, me too," the wolf agreed. "Kind of." She contemplated that moment under the city, with Grendel. "Okay, that sounds basically the same. What happened next?"

"The loss of Osoth created a power vacuum. Everyone wanted to be the new leader, to gain influence, to be the most powerful. Echelon became the biggest target. It was tough, but we managed. She even started to make some headway. And then..."

"And then??"

He paused gravely. "Echelon received The Crown."

The inkling tilted her head. "I've never heard of this 'Crown.'"

Many nodded. "Yeah, neither did we. Pop quiz: What inklings can reproduce? Who has the power to destroy and create them?"

Echelon thought about it. "Only Osoth, up to this point. And... maybe... Queen Arifice?"

"Right. The entire story was that Osoth took that from her. Well, what happens when Osoth is gone? No more new inklings. Ever."

"Oh." Natalie realized. "Yeah, huh..."

Erwin nodded. "But there's a contingency. Apparently the Crown has a will of its own. So it takes the form of the last one to have it, and makes inklings fight one another to determine who the strongest is, and bestow that on them."

"Whoa," Natalie suddenly put it together. "The Crown is the ability to create and destroy inklings? And that's what Osoth's weird ghost is?? Did it affect people who used-"

"Shading? You got it." Mandy finished. "Anyway, it decided that since you were managing to keep down the insurrections with all the other inks, you were the strongest one."

Echelon seemed very reticent to ask for more information. "So... the leadership over all inklings was given to me. I... am to assume I did not handle it well."

"Well, the Crown came with a price." Erwin frowned. "The Crown commands the loyalty of all Greys, and as a result, forces the onus of feeding them on the coronated. That's prana for every single uncolored inkling on Canvas. Needless to say, the draw was enormous, more than any one person could possibly give." He pulled up articles talking about developments in the inkling world, thumbing through them a few at a time. "For a while, we all joined hands and helped out. The pack, Inked allies, friendly Greys... even ordinary people started pitching in. People gave you the prana you needed to exist as Queen."

"Wow." The liquid wolf seemed taken. "That's... really touching. But if everyone was helping, then..." She frowned with no small amount of dread. "What happened?"

"What else? Emnas happened," Mandy supplied. "He was jealous of the fact that the Crown picked you, not him. He started planting seeds against you, poisoning people's minds against one all-powerful ink Queen. The generous prana stores started drying up. He started conducting raids against you, keeping you constantly on your toes, never letting you rest and- most of all- wasting all that energy." She seemed reticent to go on. "So... uhm... as a result, you... you, er..."

"Yes?? What??" Echelon pressed.

"You killed him."

The inkling knelt down, closing her eyes and mimicking a breath.

"You... beat him, and ate him. And that..." The panda swallowed. "That was the beginning of the end."

"People didn't trust me anymore," Echelon intuited. "Because an all-powerful ruler who consumes her most problematic subjects is... just as much a tyrant as Osoth."

Erwin looked to be making a pained face. He nodded silently. After a few moments, he took a breath. "Uh. Then, you... started losing support, and prana. People were afraid of you. The civil war started all over, but this time it was you on one side, everyone else on the other, and they had a really compelling cause. You withdrew from us. You hid away. And eventually, so nobody could ever remove you from your host... you removed her eye, and placed yourself there."

Mandy nodded. "And... it's only gotten worse. Taking over all of the animals in the reserve... kidnapping simon to use Lizbet's ability to keep your prana supply going... cutting away bigger and bigger parts of Locksmouth and calling them your own... hardly anyone still lives here except really stubborn holdouts, and... us."

The pink and black inkling shook her head slowly. "I can't believe it... to work so hard to topple one dictator, only to become the next in the line." She pounded her jellied fist on the floor. "How could I have failed everyone so miserably...?"

Natalie put her hand on her inkling's shoulder. "Hey... hey." She looked into her eyes. "You're not gonna be like that. Okay? We're not gonna let you end up like this."

Echelon grimaced. "You trust me so much, still! It's maddening! I... I feel like I've been ripped apart!" She paused. "... Literally." She looked up again. "Wait. No. That's right... I'm still whole, it's..." She stood up. "We must prepare. Your Echelon... is almost here."

 -
- -
 -

The smell of ozone hung heavy in the air as a swirling tempest of purple clouds encircled a sky full of pink stars. Delicate flowers barely held onto their petals, staying just within the grasp of their soil patches atop the roof of the residential structure that served as the Resistance headquarters. The eyepatched wolf stood with purpose, grim determination on her face as she stared at the access door that would take her down to all her waiting enemies.

It opened.

Out walked someone covered from head to toe. Tactical suit, boots, gloves, helmet, the works. Not one inch of flesh showed underneath it. "... So Carrie's afraid now, is she? Has to send one of her suboordinates to die?"

Her unnamed, faceless opponent simply took a fighting stance, daring her to approach.

The wolf took her hat off, at which point a multicolored braid of hair fell out from under it and hung by the side of her face. "Tsk," she shook her head. "She didn't even give you any weapons."  Without warning, she flicked her hand out, projecting a beam of liquid-hot rock, which the unnamed assailant just tilted away from. On missing, she wordlessly grasped the column of magma with a squeeze, instantly cooling it into a massive crystal shard-covered club which she swung with great force. The suited attacker crossed her arms over herself and took the hit, the entirety of the column of rock shattering over her and sending her to the ground. "... You're pretty tough, aren't you?"

Her faceless opponent kicked up to her feet and swung a wide kick at her, knocking her down to her knees.

"Ungh!" She gasped. "Not good enough." She stood and stomped the roof, sucking the water out of a pipe and slamming it into her foe. With a gesture, she froze it, locking them in that sucker punched position, and slammed down on their back with a hammerblow. When they got up, she slapped a patch of glue onto the roof just in time for them to step in it, swung their elongating forearm around like a helicopter and whipped them in the face with it, slamming them with another water burst in midair, freezing their hand to their front so that they landed poorly, summoned a whirling dervish of wind to lift them back up off the ground and magnetically pulled a gardening rake into their back.

Wrapped in black fabric, Natalie writhed in pain on the ground, having kicked her own ass quite surprisingly well. This world's version of her... their control was unreal. Each power was used in conjunction with the next one with fluid precision in a way she'd never even considered possible. Her own mastery of Echelon's powers seemed clumsy and child-like by comparison. Was this what was possible if Echelon took full control??

"Getting back up? I wouldn't recommend it." The eyepatched wolf frowned. "I'd say you'll live to regret it, but that's a promise I can't- KLUH!!" She took a boosted punch directly to the gut, lifting off the ground and landing in a heap. "Nnrgh... hhhfh... lucky shot."

An ice cluster shot out of her hand, which was dodged. It landed on the ground and shattered into sharp pieces, which were carried into a small dervish- they slammed against still, unyielding flesh behind black fabric. The distance closed between them, and Natalie sent a flurry of blows into her trench coated doppelganger, against which she had few defenses. For the mastery over powers held by this dark reflection, she had much less in the way of hand-to-hand combat prowess.

"Agh, nhngh, ghlck, ah, get AWAY from me!!" A burst of wind threw Nat backwards, and probably would have slammed her into the access door if she hadn't dextrously planted her feet on it, rolling forward. Her double stared angrily at her through one eye, panting. "Who the hell are you...?"

The fabric gave way to pink, then liquid black. At the end of the transformation, Echelon stood tall. "I'm you." She frowned with determination. "Now let her go."

 -
- -
 -

Carrie Oakenfield was getting tired of defeat.

After meeting Natalie on the battlefield for the third time this week, she and her allies were limping, nursing injuries, having just managed to escape. It felt unreal that one person could be that powerful, but the evidence was right in front of her... or rather, behind her, just managing to walk along. They had to take the long way home every time, to make sure that she wouldn't find them and wipe them all out at once. They'd learned the hard way, twice before, that it was impossible to mount any kind of attack on Natalie from a position she knew about. Of course, that point was moot now that she'd escaped from their own imprisonment, meaning they'd have to move soon, but this path was safer anyway.

"It's okay, Commander," Greg managed as he plodded along. "We'll get Simon from her. It's just a matter of time."

"Thanks, Wallak," she nodded to the big otter. "I'm glad you're not losing morale. At this point I wouldn't blame you."

"I know the reason we want him is tactical, but... still, just thinking of that poor kid, trapped in there..."

"Yeah," Carrie agreed. "I'm with you. What she's doing to him is monstrous. We've gotta stop her. We've gotta get the kid back. But for now..." She looked up in relief as they neared their base of operations. "We've gotta rest up for the next operation." They would find comfort, food, relief...

And their greatest enemy desperately fighting a lone resistance soldier on the roof of their base.

"Move! MOVE!!"

 -
- -
 -

The coated wolf shook visibly, her pupil shrinking. "W-... What?? What kind of trick is this??"

"Call me your conscience if you want. You've abused her trust for too long," Echelon said imperiously. "People don't exist for you to use them. This is never what your destiny was supposed to be."

Fear and confusion turned to anger. She grit her teeth. "No. No! I-... she needs me!" She blasted a beam of light at her from her palm, striking Echelon in the chest and sending her sliding back several yards. "She NEEDS me!!"

"Now you're just delusional!" Echelon yelled at herself. "She never needed you. You were the desperate one all along. She didn't ask for you to come in with all of your problems and hang-ups and baggage, but you held on to her anyway!"

The dark reflection shook, breathing shallow.

"And now look at you. Look at what you've done! What you've become!" She clenched a fist. "This is disgraceful! The chances you had! Squandered!"

The wolf looked up, tears in her eyes. "B-... But I did it for you, Echelon..."

The inkling blinked.

"E-... Everybody else..." her manic eyes, deep set with grief, and a lack of sleep, trembled as she stared up at her. "Everyone else abandoned you. But not me! I-... I told you I'd take care of you! And I did! I'm doing it!" Her fragile smile was bent, unhinged, as she grabbed Echelon's wrists. "See?? See, I told you! You don't have to leave me! Don't leave me..." Her manic smile turned to a clenched grimace. "I need you."

Echelon stared, aghast. Speechless.

"Friends die, lovers lie, but you and I? It's a link that can't be broken." This world's Natalie reached for her eyepatch. "Even if you won't visit in my dreams... even if you won't dive under my skin..." She pulled the patch off, and a completely black sclera with a pink iris stared out at her. "... We'll always be together."

Echelon had lost all composure. Which is when Natalie clawed her way to the surface. "You!" She ripped her headgear off. "You were the one who did it! Echelon never did any of that at all! It was... it was you the entire time!" She swung a rough punch right into her doppelganger's face, catching her unawares. "She knew the Crown was a death sentence for you, so she tried to leave, didn't she?? But you wouldn't let her!" She spat. "You caused all of this, didn't you! All because of your selfishness!"

Her double nursed her bruised cheek. "I had to protect everybody!"

"Who are you protecting now?!" Natalie demanded.

"I have enemies everywhere!" she yelled.

"And that's your fault!" Nat rebutted.

A strained gutteral scream escaped the desperate wolf. "D-... Don't you understand?! We're the same! You won't give her up and neither will I!" She flung an ice javelin at her, just missing her neck. "It's because we're not strong enough alone!" A gout of magma flew past her side. "We need her! WE NEED HER!!"

Nat clenched her fists, arms trembling. As if by pure force of will, Echelon completely left her body, ejecting behind her, clutching a glowing store of prana to her chest- a gift to keep her safe.

Her double gawped. "... Are you stupid? I'll tear you apart."

Natalie's eyes blazed. "Try it."

Ice, fire, water and wind flew in a fury. Elements and energy threatened to rip the offworld wolf to shreds, catching her with glancing blows, but she never stopped advancing. Her double was retreating at the same time, stepping back despite the tremendous power imbalance. "Stop! Stay back! I'll kill you!"

Natalie kicked herself in the gut, slammed a right hook into her ribs, jabbed her dark mirror in the throat. Through constant threat of bleeding and death, she slammed fist, foot and knee into her other self, sending blood and spit onto the rooftop grass. She didn't hesitate a moment to stay in her double's face, and even headbutted her roughly, eliciting a loud pained cry. "What's the matter? Why can't you win??" she goaded her. "You've got the inkling, so win!" She ducked under shadow arm, then grabbed the real one, twisted and sent her other self slamming into the roof, writhing and trembling. She panted. "... You lose. Now it's your turn."

The dark, haggard Natalie of this world gasped, wrapping her hands around her other self's wrists. "No! NO!" Fingers gouged underneath her eyelid, pushing and grabbing and clawing. "Stop, stop! STOP! I'll do anything you want!" She whined, her breaths getting frantic and panicked. "Nnnnh, no, no! Please!! No no no no NO NO NOOOOO!!"

An orb was pulled out of her head with a wet ~SPFLT!~
Natalie's dark reflection fainted.
She stood over herself, panting, exhausted. Still nursing the wounds from the previous day, and now featuring many more. She was physically, emotionally, psychologically spent. Echelon held her from behind, lending her strength before bonding with her again. And that left the smaller Echelon, the black eye orb.

"Please."

Natalie blinked a few times, looking at it. "What?"

"Please. Don't judge her too harshly." It looked at her, with weariness in its voice.

Natalie threw up her free hand. "... How could I not?"

"She made bad decisions. She held me against my will. But... I drove her to prana sickness. She was drained of it, and with that, comes a strain, a madness. It wasn't completely her fault."

Nat panted softly. "So what do I do?"

"Nothing. The inkling Echelon has been banished to Canvas. The girl Natalie is free. And maybe, one day, Echelon might come back without the Crown, or the memories of this terrible time."

She made a pained face. "But that's not fair."

"Please?" It stared intently at her. "For me."

Natalie stood there. Licked her lips. Then, quietly. "Yeah. Okay."

A single pink tear dribbled down the surface of the eye. Nat walked to the edge of the building, looked into the reflection of a window, and  gently pushed the eye through it.

She sat on the roof, looking over the clearing sky, and stayed that way for minutes.

"Move, goddammit!" The door flew open with a kick, and Carrie came barreling through, only to stop suddenly. "W-..." She and several other stunned onlookers stared at one Natalie, then the other. "T-... There really was two of you...?? But... But how...?"

"... This world was a mistake," she answered finally. "It was never supposed to be this way. I was sent here to fix that."

"Indeed."

The voice was booming, distant yet everpresent. Natalie blinked, remembering it. This was whoever had grabbed her in the first place, the one responsible for placing her here.

"Your fate is your own." It seemed vaguely pleased. "But your friends' are still uncertain."

She nodded, the certainty of her statements now making sense. "So I can't go home yet, huh?" She nodded reticently. "Yeah. Yeah, okay. Just... gimme a few minutes. There's one last thing I gotta do."

 -
- -
 -

Natalie Grayswift woke up in a bed for the first time in months. An emptiness ached within her, and it wasn't just the eye missing from her head. Her fingers self-consciously brushed over a bandage on it.

Carrie entered the room, knocking gently on the door. Her fragile, nervous smile spoke volumes. She held her commander's cap at her side. "... Natalie?"

The wolf looked up at her, voice timid. She had never felt so alone. Her voice almost cracked when she responded. "Just me."

The cat embraced her tightly. "Oh my god Natalie I-... I can't believe it's finally you again... I missed you so much... I'm so sorry this didn't happen sooner. I-... I-I-..."

"I deserved this." Natalie silenced Carrie with this self-recrimination. The memories of her other self flooded her mind. Regret filled the air. Regret... and loneliness.

"Oh, baby, no, that wasn't you, it was-..." She took a breath. "This wasn't your fault, okay?"

She didn't make any motion to agree.

"Ah... a-alright, it's okay, you're... it's been a long time, I get it. You need some rest, we can talk more later. Just... call me if you want anything!"

Carrie left. Natalie was alone again. All she could think about was fighting her double. How was it even possible? Had she been delivered from some other, better world? No. No, that couldn't be. It was a delusion, a guilt-induced hallucination brought on by denial. The universe would never have orchestrated something so impossible. As much as she'd wanted to believe in it as a girl, it was time she faced a terrible truth: There was no magic in the world; just cold, hard reality.

Carrie had left her combat knife on the end table with the rest of her gear belt. It was long. Sharp. Merciless.
She considered it. She thought long and hard about that blade, and all the things it could do. What it could bring.

"Yes, she's in this room. I don't think she's sleeping."
"Okay, thank you."

Natalie's gaze lifted. There, holding a get-well-soon balloon, was a tall red-haired pre-splice boy, slightly damp, wearing a winning smile and some very broken clothes. "Today has been a very strange day indeed. The Future is not like I imagined." He laughed softly to himself, eyes twinkling. "I received a note with very specific instructions. Are... you Natalie Grayswift?"

She stared at him. Tears welled up in her eyes. When her mouth opened, it sounded six years younger. "... C-... Cap'n Comet?"

   \\
¯ o _
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"So you do still answer to it."

Jacent frowned, eyeing up a muscular orca and her mutated rabbit ally.

"Where'd all your little friends go?" The lagomorph taunted with a razor smile. "They just run away?

He turned to face them both, the undersides of his eyes dark with fatigue, rubbing dried blood off of his lip. "You might try it sometime." He readied his fists. "It's much less painful."", "pools_count": 1, "title": "Issue 19 - Fragments, part 1", "deleted": "f", "public": "t", "mimetype": "text/rtf", "pagecount": "1", "rating_id": "1", "rating_name": "Mature", "ratings": [ { "content_tag_id": "3", "name": "Violence", "description": "Mild violence", "rating_id": "1" } ], "submission_type_id": "12", "type_name": "Writing - Document", "guest_block": "t", "friends_only": "f", "comments_count": "8", "views": "778" }