Mirror Prism

Chapter 7 - Stand By You

"What did you do?!" Omega breathes, eyes wide as she tries shielding her face from the destruction. They came this far. All this time, she wanted to go to Tantiss to free the other clones there, but the whole place is gone.

Tech falls, dropping motionless.

Hunter and Echo are at his sides, crouching.

Omega's heart is pounding. She can't breathe. Everyone there died. All the clones. Their brothers and – and –

Tech is unconscious. He doesn't even twitch when Hunter shakes him.

"Overexertion, most likely," Echo sighs.

"What do we do?" Wrecker asks worriedly.

Hunter looks back down, sighing.

Omega doesn't understand. They were so close. Everything was fine, then she started dreaming, and now, Emerie... her sister was hurt, and now, they have no idea where she is. They don't even know what's happening to her, and now Tech? He wouldn't have done that intentionally, but the hurt frustration is still burning inside her.

They were so close, and he leveled the entire place before they could get anyone out.

She can't believe he did that.

"That looked like what happened to Emerie," Crosshair supplies finally.

"The... thing got Tech, too?" Omega's hands twist together absently. She thought she broke that habit, but some things don't quite die. She already lost Tech once. She can't do it again. There was nothing like seeing him fall, like the months on Tantiss of thinking he was gone.

And Omega cannot let her brothers endure that again.

"I don't know, kid," Hunter sighs. He seems so tired now, wrapped in a constant, crushing depression.

He's hurt. He's always hurt. Omega can't forget the spiraling she felt when they talked about going to Tantiss for Emerie in the first place. There wasn't a choice, but Hunter was hurt, and Omega wishes she could understand why. She never focused on anything but the mission – her brothers were the same way – but now that she feels them, constant voices whispering in her mind, she wants to make the pain stop.

Omega didn't even know they felt it so deeply, that they felt anything so deeply, or even any of what she is feeling. It's confusion.

"Where's Emerie?" Echo asks, looking up.

Omega tries to nudge outward, to feel across the planet's surface, but the only lives here are herself and her brothers. "Emerie's gone."

Not dead-gone, please, though her heart is aching and burning for reasons she can't even understand. It feels like something's missing, like... there's someone... gone. She wants to cry, for something she can't quite place or remember, but really – Tech just leveled that place. Hemlock's dead, but so are all the other clones inside they were trying to help.

They were her brothers, too. She saw them hurt. Watched for weeks and months as they were torn down to nothing.

She can't believe they're all gone.

A voice whispers in her head, something icy cold, dark and malevolent. Wrong.

"Whatever it is, it's still here," Omega warns, looking around. "I've been dreaming about it since Mortis. I think it's off world now, but it's still here."

"That doesn't help us unless we know where it's going," Echo points out.

"Until then, we should go back to Pabu," Hunter decides.