Katty and Luner

The snow covers every building around them, giant snowstorms covering the entire planet the group had appeared on. Malice Titans surround the area, traveling around and checking in between buildings, searching for the group.

Katty looks around and says, her and the group's bodies shaking from the stomping of the Titans. "I haven't felt this cold in such a damn long time. Gonna have to go bathe in a volcano to heat up."

Solara responded, "Yeah, I agree. It makes it really difficult to fly, though. My wings freeze up. Gotta find a way to get to Luner. If… there's a Luner still in there."

Katty sternly responds, her voice getting shakier the longer she continues speaking. "Yes, there is. He has to be. I refuse to believe that he's dead in there. I know my husband. I know Luner. You're his sister, so you should too. He's not dead. I know he's not dead. Don't you dare even claim that he might be dead. I-I—"

Wendy then puts her hand on Katty's shoulder, and she turns around. She sees tears swelling in Katty's eyes. Wendy places their foreheads together and says, "It's okay, dear. I assure you he's in there, and we'll get him back. Hawkin couldn't take down that boy."

She wipes Katty's tears, and Katty sits down, trying to calm herself down as her hands shake and her stomach twists and turns.

Solara speaks up and says, "Sorry about that. I didn't mean to worry you. It's just… I wanted to be prepared for anything, an—"

Katty interrupts her, saying, "No. No, don't worry. It's fine. I understand. I just don't like thinking about it. I don't wanna go back to an empty bed another night."

Asura in the back mentioned, "Don't worry. I assure you, even if it costs me my life, we'll get the boy back. Even if just because it's so dangerous to have them be in control of his powers like that. The Titans that run around here are from the era of the Five Hundred Years of Terror. The Luminarian kingdom's armies could take them, but I doubt it would be without heavy casualty."

Solara responded, "It's not going to cost your life, Asura. Don't say that."

Asura chuckled and said, "Yes, I understand, Princess. Don't worry."

Wendy jokingly stated, some sorrow in her eyes. "Girl, we may be old, but we aren't at our deathbed yet. We'll have to wait a little longer before we can meet the kids again. The ones here need us now."

Katty softly, in a joking tone, said, "I haven't been a kid in two years. I'm just as old as you two."

Asura smiled and said, "Can't wait to see till you are."

Vizarde swung down from the perch she was on, and as she came down, she stated, "I found a path towards where Hawkin is. We have to be careful as we go. We don't want to get caught by the Titans on the way there."

Katty looked up to Vizarde and said, "Can't I just teleport us there?"

Vizarde responded, "No. There's a reason why we stopped in the building. Beyond this point, there is a teleportation damper. Anything that separates or makes matter disappear or reappear somewhere is being suppressed. My own matter reconstruction bloodtrait is far weaker beyond the barrier. Even dimensional rifts collapse within a few seconds."

Wendy commented, "So we find whatever is making the barrier and destroy it."

Vizarde responded, "No shit, Wendy. And in this case, your senses are the most heightened out of all of ours. You'll be responsible for finding it and destroying it."

Katty responded, "I don't wanna go yet. This place smells like shit. Solara, can you use your powers to make corpses smell like chocolate or something? Or smoke smell like blue raspberry? Just because we're fighting doesn't mean we have to deal with the smells."

Solara gently laughed and said, "I don't know how to do that, Katty. But you are right. I should learn. Maybe that should be something I'll focus on when we ALL get back home."

Wendy agreed as the rest of the group got up and got ready to enter the barrier Hawkin made suppressing teleportation—to go and find Hawkin, who was most likely in the middle where the Titans were the most dense. And they were correct. Hawkin was in the middle, contemplating what he was gonna do next, trying to figure out what to do next.

"Damn fly. Where are you at? You can't hide forever. Solara or Cressida must be with you, hiding yourselves from all the sensors. But the second you enter the eyesight of the Titans, the beams will catch you. And you'll get a front-row seat, Luner. How slowly do you want to see Katty be torn apart? I'll be kind and give you options. Although a man with my intellect does not like such high-pitched screaming she would be giving."

Luner is tied up in chains in Hawkin's mind, unable to combat Hawkin's will to break through and get his body back—the body Hawkin stole back during the assault on Syzygy. Luner thought he killed Hawkin two years ago during the Apex of Project Titan, but Hawkin, the clever Luminarian he is, had a plan. He transferred his consciousness into the very bloodtrait of Luner, since turning himself into a Titan made his body into mostly malice energy, allowing him to hide himself within Luner's body secretly for the past two years as he slowly sapped his power and regained his own strength. And the first chance he could during the assault on Syzygy, from the inside of Luner's body, he attacked him and took it over.

This suppressed Luner's very soul to the point where it could not even be detected. Within the last six months, Luner has slowly but surely been able to reverse the suppression of his soul, but all he's been able to do for now is be able to see through Hawkin's eyes and speak with him—but nothing else.

Luner heard Hawkin talk about Katty like that and said with fury in his voice, "I'll kill you. I'll make sure you're dead this time, you small, small man. You think you'll be able to get away with this? You small, small man, you're hilarious. For such a smart man, you sure are dumb as fuck."

In the realm of Hawkin's mind, he walked over towards Luner's chained-down body and kicked him across the face and smiled. He bent down and grabbed Luner by the cheek, smirking as he said to Luner, "You know what? Having you live in my mind the past few months makes me really question the intelligence of your wife marrying the man with the powers of the Devil. And not just that—an idiot above that. You call me a small man, but look at you. TRAPPED IN MY MIND! A prisoner of your own body. HAHAHAHA. The terror on Solara's face as I beat her ass in Syzygy—oh man, was that fun. And I can't wait to see it again."

Luner responded, "This devil is going to tear your soul to pieces."

Hawkin laughs even louder while looking down at him, saying, "Wow. Are you that foolish? Tear my soul to pieces? You don't even have control of your own body. You can't even stand up. Even while powerless, you idiots can't see how much better I am than you. It'd be even funnier if it wasn't so damn annoying."

Hawkin went and kicked Luner in the mouth while saying, "Now shut your filthy mouth. You've proven me wrong in one singular way… turns out there is a creature alive more annoying than the Godlings."

Then Hawkin felt something enter his barrier, and he left the realm of his mind to focus on the outside world. Through the eyes of one of the Titans, he saw Solara's group. Since they were within the barrier, he could also feel and see every single move they made. Hawkin smiled ear to ear, and in the realm of his mind, he looked over at Luner with the ear-to-ear grin as he watched Luner's face fall. Luner tried to stand up and fight against the chains he was in as he screamed.

"NOOO!!! Get away from them, you filthy bastard! I'll kill you! I'LL KILL YOU!"

Hawkin used one of the Titans to rip open the roof of the building they were hiding in when they entered the barrier and spoke through it towards the group, saying, "Well, hello there. Thank you for giving your lives so I can give Luner a show. It's so sad it's only a one-time thing. Guess I could just reanimate your bod—"

With a single explosive arrow, Vizarde destroyed the head of the Titan and turned around towards everyone and screamed.

"RUN!!!"

The five of them booked it into different directions to make it harder for Hawkin. Solara set her wings ablaze using her bloodtrait so the snow couldn't slow her down. Vizarde and Asura both grabbed onto Wendy as she used her webs to move quickly, latching onto buildings and swinging around as both Asura and Vizarde used their powers to give covering fire for Wendy. They started to get swarmed by the Titans in the area. Katty's swords had bouncing grapple hooks at the bottom of her blades. She shot them out and started swinging like Wendy, with Solara doing her best to give her cover fire.

Hawkin screamed out through one of the Titans, "Oh, you little flies. It seems like you're gonna make this fun for me. I'm never a man to resist the chance to show off my skill. I'll play your game. Reminds me when Indo had me chase him around when he was little."

While swinging, Wendy had to bob and weave, using the geometry of the area to avoid the Titans that kept popping out of the walls, ground, and sky. Wendy commented towards Vizarde, "Okay, what the hell now? We've been caught almost instantly. Unless we figure out what to do, we're fuckin' Titan food, girls."

Vizarde thought for a moment and through a communicator told Solara, "Clone Wendy, Solara. We'll continue escaping, and Wendy, in her miniature spider form, can go find the barrier generator. She's so small, I doubt even if she's seen she'll be noticed. It helps that she's white also."

Solara rushed to respond, "Okay. I'll try spreading. I'll be spreading my consciousness really thin, but don't worry. I got this."

Solara dove down towards Wendy and tapped her on the back, causing the three of Vizarde, Wendy, and Asura to fall into the snow. Although Asura and Vizarde rolled through the snow as they both pulled back bows, destroying all the Titans behind them. As the Wendy clone quickly regained its balance, it attached Vizarde and Asura with her webs and started swinging again as more and more Titans started chasing them.

The actual Wendy, though, stayed in the snow and became an itty-bitty spider the size smaller than a penny. With this small amount of time she was given, she stomped on the ground, and with the vibrations, she found where the generator was. In her small form, she rushed it.

While she was doing this, Hawkin noticed something felt different.

"Huh? What? Why does Wendy suddenly have the same soul signature as Solara? That's not Wendy. That's a clone. Clever girl, but not clever enough!"

Hawkin had the biggest Titan of the group ball up its hand and smash it into the ground as Wendy was getting closer and closer to the generator that was hidden within one of the buildings. She got hit by the shockwave caused by the strike, but she turned back to normal. With her webs, she grabbed onto the generator and ripped it from where it was, putting it into her hand and with her super spider strength crumpling it like a can of coke.

Although right after she did this, the fist of a Titan started rushing her, and she couldn't move out of the way quick enough. As she braced for the attack, she suddenly disappeared from where she was and appeared right next to Katty.

Katty told Wendy, "I got you. Don't worry. Like you said earlier, ya may be old, Ma, but not on your deathbed yet. But Hawkin sure is. Did you sense where he was?"

Wendy responded, "Yeah. He's in the middle of that Titan cabal in the middle, but I have no idea how we're gonna get through it to get to Luner."

Katty responded sternly, "I'll just kill them all."

Everyone heard her say that on the communicators and gave a prompt and confused, "WHAT?"

Katty quickly responded, "I said what I said."

She then swapped herself with the air molecules above the giant cabal of Titans. The ones who could fly rushed her instantly, but one by one, she teleported above them and stabbed her swords through their heads, killing them instantly. As she was flying down, their black, gooey blood sprayed everywhere and got on her clothes.

Vizarde looked at all of this happening and screamed out, "What is that dumbass doing? She's gonna get herself killed! Jesus Christ, you kids are gonna put me in an early grave. Seems we have no choice. Everyone, HELP HER REACH LUNER. SOLARA, COVER FIRE."

Solara and the others nodded as they rushed Katty's location, with all of them giving Katty cover fire as she got closer and closer to the core. The Titans on the ground started to make a mountain, crawling all over each other as a way to try and reach Katty. She stared them down, and with the spider legs coming out her back, she extended one of them towards the Titans and used the torque to cause her body to spin faster and faster in the air. She extended her arms with her blades in her hands and cut through the Titan mountain like butter.

As she neared the floor, one of the Titans swiped at her. She flipped over one of the arms, landed on the other one, and started running up it, cutting its head off as she reached its neck. All these Titans dying caused Hawkin's mind to get a little discombobulated from the amount of times his view had to change. Multiple Titans came at her, trying to grab her, but she always swapped her placement in the world every time any of the Titans got near her.

Hawkin watched this, getting more and more infuriated as his hands clenched and his pupils narrowed. He sent out a giant scream, powering up the Titans even further. He thought to himself, Never in all my years of living have I had to deal with such an annoying fly. Lay down and die already, you lesser creatu—

In his mind realm, he was punched across the face by Luner, who managed to escape the chains as Hawkin's mind got discombobulated, causing his hold on Luner to weaken. Luner punched him over and over on the ground, screaming, "Get your filthy hands off my wife!"

Luner's body now became unstable, with Hawkin and Luner's souls battling for control of it. His body started to secrete immense amounts of malice energy, coating his body and becoming hard and crystallized. His body started to float into the air because of the energy, and if they didn't stop this soon, Luner's body might tear itself apart and be irreparable.

Katty's heart dropped to her stomach seeing this, while the blast that came off his body due to the energy sent her and everyone flying through nearby buildings.

As everyone got back up, Asura through the communicator spoke to Katty and said, "Kid, are you okay?"

Katty rushedly responded, "I'm fine. I'm fine. But Luner—oh my Luner. I can feel him. He's in there. I know he's in there."

Asura grabbed all six of her batons and made an ultimate shield Holy Soldier and said, "Katty, we're going to save that boy. Get behind me. The shield will hold, I promise."

Katty responded, "I'll forever bully you in the afterlife if it doesn't."

While this happens, in Hawkin's mental realm, Luner and Hawkin keep fighting, both refusing to give ground, trying to take each other down with each strike.

Hawkin screamed at Luner while they fought, "Seems even a man like me makes miscalculations. I just wanted to have some fun, but it seems having the simple desires of a man has made this a little harder than I originally calculated. Oh well. I'll never FALL TO A BUG LIKE YOU!"

Luner screamed back, annoyed, "GOD, DO YOU EVER SHUT UP? You must love the sound of your own voice that damn much, you bitch."

Hawkin responded, "Such a potty mouth. Your momma should have taught you proper verbiage, you cretin."

Katty and Asura ran through the energy blast while Solara, Vizarde, and Wendy gave covering fire from the rest of the Titans that were going after the two of them. As they penetrated the energy, Katty used her power to teleport herself right onto Luner's body. She tried speaking to him while trying her best to hold on from all the energy rushing over her body.

"Baby, I'm here. Luner, I'm here. I'm here. Please, dear, please hear my voice. I know you're in there. I know you're in there. I can still feel you, baby. I can still feel you. You can do this. Please come back to me."

Luner's body reacted to her voice, but it was Hawkin reacting. He turned one of Luner's arms into a razor-sharp blade and prepared to stab Katty. She didn't notice and went in and kissed Luner on the mouth, trying to get him to break through Hawkin's control. The blade rushed towards Katty, but in Hawkin's mental realm, Luner put down Hawkin with one punch to the dome, stopping the blade an inch before it penetrated Katty.

As this happened, a small Titan managed to escape past the cover fire that the others were doing for Katty. It sharpened one of its arms and aimed it straight towards Katty. Asura put up the shield again, rushing and putting her body between her and Katty. But the shield had weakened due to all the energy it had to resist, and it was penetrated—not only stabbing through the Holy Soldier but right through Asura's heart.

Solara saw this and screamed out, "NOOOOOOO! ASURA!"

Wendy gasped, and Vizarde held her bow tightly as she pulled back the string and killed the Titan only a few moments after it stabbed through Asura.

Asura said to herself while blood spilled from her mouth and her batons fell from her hand, "Shit. Luck's run out, it seems."

Asura's body fell as Solara flew down and caught her body, holding her tightly and using her power the best she could to try and stabilize Asura. But her condition was rapidly getting worse and worse.

The strike that Luner gave to Hawkin in his mental realm finally allowed Luner to get the upper hand and gain control over his body. Luner's body fell as Katty wrapped her arms around him, tears falling from her eyes.

She said, "I won't let go of you again, I promise. I have you, dear. I promise never will I let this happen again."

One of the Titans caught Katty and Luner and placed them on the ground, since they were now back under Luner's control. As he woke up and got laid into the snow alongside Katty, he said, "Oh god. Hearing that man monologue to himself every day should be considered a war crime."

Katty laughed, with tears falling from her eyes, as she wrapped her arms around Luner tightly. "Yeah, I agree. It must have been hell having to hear him for so long. Nothing compared to not having you there, though. You don't understand how much I missed you."

Katty and Luner looked up and saw everyone else a couple of feet away from them with such somber looks on their faces. Both Solara and Wendy cried, and Vizarde stood close to them, clenching one of her arrows so hard it snapped in her hand.

Katty, confused, asked, "Hey, what's going on? We have Luner back, and we took down Hawkin—at least I think, right? Shouldn't we be celebrating? What wron— -GASP-"

Katty then saw the body of Asura in Solara's arms. She looked back and forth between her and Luner before he patted her on her back. She got up and rushed towards them.

As she got closer, Asura looked at Katty and gave herself a soft smile as she placed her hand on Katty's cheek, wiping the tears falling from them. She said, "It's okay. Don't worry, Katty, dear. It's okay. I get to see Runa again. I get to tell her how proud I am of her. She gets to know her momma fought till the very end."

Solara interrupted, saying in between tears, "No, you're not gonna die. You're not gonna die. I have you, don't worry. I can stabilize you till we reach the castle. SOMEONE MAKE A PORTAL."

Asura responded, "Please stop screaming. It's okay. It's too late, Solara. But that's fine. You guys can't waste time on me. You have to go and help the others take out Robert and Father."

Wendy calmly responded as tears flowed from her eyes. "I'm still taking you back to the castle. I'm probably the weakest one here. I'll take it upon myself, friend."

Asura giggled and said, "Fine, Wendy."

Vizarde turned around and punched the building behind them, breaking a several-foot-large hole through it.

Asura was struggling to keep her eyes open at this point, and more and more of her blood pooled on the ground on top of the ice, filling the area with a metallic coin smell. She looked over at Vizarde and said, "Look at me, Viz. I want to see you one more time. I want to tell Alphonse how pretty you still look. Please smile. All of you, for me."

Vizarde turned around and smiled. Even though tears still refused to fall from her eyes, they had turned red. She said, "Goodbye, old friend. Thank you for what you did for Alphonse in life. I won't forget you."

Asura looked up at the sky with the snow falling down and said to Solara, "Don't beat yourself up, kid. I know you're going to anyways. Hear me and hear me well. I trust you. I know you're gonna make this one damned great place when I'm gone. I'm just kinda sad I won't be able to see it. But I'll watch you. I promise I'll be watching you."

Solara responded, "I promise. I will count on it."

Asura took one final look at Luner, who had finally arrived from the spot he was laying on the ground from, and said, "Take care of your sister, kid. I'll scold you if I ever see ya up there with me too early. Hahaha."

Luner nodded, with tears swelling in his eyes that he wiped away, and said, "Yes, Ma'am."

As the noises of the world started to dampen and the light started to consume her entire vision, she closed her eyes for the last time.

Today marks the death of Asura Atlan. But also the victory over Hawkin.