The Simulacrum

The rest of the day was deceptively peaceful after the big train kerfuffle. By the time the Chimera got turned into paste and everyone let out a sigh of relief, future-me had already left the Chasm of Desolation. Ollie was happy to see him again, even if only for a while, but as for me, I was just happy he was gone. Because he was a dick. And no, I wasn't going to reflect on the implications of that.

Anyhow, we ate our usual frozen dinner, and then I played with the kid for a bit. Of course, that didn't mean I wasn't keeping tabs on the gang, but nothing special was going on over there, so the evening was mainly filled with Mareo Karting and listening to Ollie's cute ramblings about his LAGO pirate robots.

Maybe because of that, he petered out much earlier than usual and obediently let me tuck him in before the clock even hit nine. I said my goodnights and returned to my cell, and once I was comfortably on my bed (this time without Cal), I decided to cast my net a little wider.

Of course, since it was almost night, there wasn't too much to see, but I still caught a few revealing snippets. For example, it seemed like Lord Grandpa and his gaggle of arch-mages finally figured out that Ammy was no longer on the island, but they were still far from realising the true ramifications of that fact. On the other hand, Roland was as busy as I'd ever seen him, and while he never said it outright, the way he was actively organising the Ordo Draconis and was in direct and active correspondence with both the Praetorian Guard, the Seraphic Safeguard, and the head of the Celestial military, he was clearly preparing for war.

In fact, he was moving with such clear-cut reassurance and purpose that it felt like he didn't just suspect what was going on, but was outright aware of the plan. Did I miss the moment when Tajana told him? To be fair, I wasn't paying much attention to them when their marks were together, because most of the time they were either quarrelling, cuddling, or bumping uglies. Sometimes all three at the same time. Not in a relationship, my ass.

The point was that there wasn't much of immediate importance happening upstairs, so to speak, so I focused on my marks in the Abyss. The Matron wasn't doing anything special, the people at the salon were up to their usual games and gossip, and so once I got all the secondary players down, I finally focused on the target I was most expecting to do something interesting. My timing was roughly on spot, because Crowy just arrived at Castle Ninhursag.

It was dark outside, and the coup (or maybe Elly's penchant for throwing utility poles) must've knocked down at least part of the grid, because most of the town was wrapped in darkness. Since they were expecting him, the Ninurtas managed to cobble together a landing strip inside the spacious courtyard of the castle, using what looked like a mixture of ceremonial braziers and magic light balls conjured and maintained by dedicated personnel.

Crowy's wing apparently hadn't recovered enough for a trans-country trip, because he arrived on a much smaller local version of the palanquin we used in the Elysium during our beach trip. On the other hand, it must've healed enough to at least function, because the fancy flying carriage supported by a dozen Abyssals didn't land. It stopped over the landing spot, then Crowy got out of it and floated down, in his Abyssal form, complete with the baggy pants and the crown of flames over his horns.

I imagined it was all for show, though for whom he was putting it out, I had no idea. Maybe it was his way of asserting dominance over the Ninurtas? In any case, he soon landed with a small squad of (presumably) elite bodyguards in tow, and they quickly spread out to secure the perimeter. Meanwhile, the prick was warmly welcomed by… no, actually. I take that back. There was nothing warm about his welcome.

"Lord Inanna," the Ninurta patriarch greeted him with a nod, his face all but inscrutable in the dim lighting.

Now that I could take a better look at him, he was a lean man with long blonde hair, though it was currently singed in a few places. He was wearing a fancy red coat and pants with lots of black and gold embroidery and bone buttons, but the careful observer could see the white of bandages peeking out from under them. His otherwise handsome face was bruised, and his forehead had a cut mostly hidden under a cotton swab and some adhesive tape.

"Lord Ninurta." Crowy's tone was as dry as his host's, and he looked around the castle grounds. "I understand that you just gained custody of this castle and its people, but I still expected a more… traditional welcome."

He was likely implying that not getting a full fanfare and adoring masses throwing themselves at his feet hurt his poor, sensitive ego, but the other man had none of it and only let out a scoff.

"You have to graciously forgive me, Lord Herald, but I lost three of my sons today…"

"Ambitions often have to be paid in blood," Crowy responded off-handedly, as if none of that was his business, but then the Ninurta patriarch continued without even acknowledging the interruption.

"… as well as two train engines, a Chimera, and more. Festivities are the furthest from my mind right now."

It was at this point that Crowy finally stopped being all hoity-toity and focused his attention on the man.

"Train engines? And… a Chimera? What exactly happened here?"

"Walk with me, and I'll explain on the way."

"Walk with you where, exactly?"

"To the Mana Well Chamber," he responded dourly and gestured for Crowy to follow. "Otherwise, you will not in a million years believe what I'm about to tell you."

My disembodied point of view followed them all the way through the castle. They ambled slowly, as if taking a pleasure tour around the ruined interior, all the while the magic-lightball-conjurers tried their best to match their pace, so the corridors and halls appeared at least decently lit around them.

It was only when they reached the Mana Well Chamber that Crowy came to a halt and his eyes opened wide. It wasn't because of the torn-off metal doors or the circular hole in the wall at the back of the room, but because it was also dark. There was none of the characteristic blue glow associated with the stupid magical Rubik's cubes, with only a few small lamps giving off light in the hands of the Abyssals already present in the room, investigating the place. Which, of course, made sense considering…

"… Where is the Mana Well?" he blurted out with poorly disguised alarm as he made his way inside, and the Ninurta noble behind him let out a groan.

"Gone, as you can see. I told you that you wouldn't believe me if I didn't show you in person."

"Who took it!?"

Crowy's outburst took the man by surprise, but he managed to keep his cool and respond with a pithy, "We don't know for sure."

"How can you not know?"

"As you can see…" The Ninurta patriarch made a sweeping gesture at the still chamber. "Without the Mana Well in place, all the wards and arrays are inert, including the surveillance charms. Until we figure out a way to power them again, I'm afraid we can't—"

Before he could finish the sentence, Crowy marched up to the empty pedestal and slammed his hand on top of it. His whole body burst into the familiar purple aura I'd seen on him when we last fought, and as it seeped into the stone, the room around them slowly lit up as everything came 'online', so to speak.

"Get on with it! Now!" Crowy bellowed, the flame over his head becoming so tall it could almost reach the high ceiling.

The Ninurta patriarch hesitated for a moment, but then he gestured at one of the Abyssal investigators, and the middle-aged woman hastily ran over to the other end of the Mana Well Chamber and put her hand on an otherwise unassuming part of the wall. It lit up with three concentric purple circles, tinted by Crowy's aura, and then her other hand started to move in the air. It kind of looked like she was typing on an invisible floating keypad while also playing the castanets at the same time, and after about a solid minute of frantic finger movements, she glanced over her shoulder.

"My Lords… I'm afraid we don't have visuals, only voice recordings of the scene. Do you want me to play the surveillance records of the pedestal area?"

"Yes! Now!" Crowy bellowed, making the woman flinch and redouble her castanet-typing efforts.

Another minute passed, and then there was a distorted voice, seemingly coming directly from where the bastard was standing. The first few words were hard to make out, but then…

">Ah… This isn't good.<"

"That voice…" Crowy probably wanted to say it sounded familiar, but then he fell silent when he was interrupted by the next snippet.

">What?<" said the recording in Josh's distorted yet still unmistakable voice.

">We have a problem. One Mana Well isn't enough,<" responded Ammy's similarly warbly voice, then a brief static.

">… enough'!?<"

">Confirmation:<" The new voice joining the two made Crowy's eyes open a fraction wider. ">The output of one terminal is insufficient to perform the requested ooo—<"

The recording became impossible to understand for a few seconds, followed by Josh's voice yelling, ">… are we supposed to get our hands on two Mana Wells at the same time?! Can't you just do it remotely, or something?<"

">Response: Due to a lack of regular systems maintenance, restoring remote communications between terminals would require six days, three hours, and seventeen minutes. Alternative Response: Making manual contact with two terminals at once i—<."

Another bout of static, then Grimmy's impassionate voice stating, ">Confirmation: Request received. Engaging standby protocols in five… Four…<"

">Wait, what?<"

Then the recording cut off with a pop, and the woman in the back turned around with her hands behind her back.

"My apologies, my Lords. That was the best I could do under the circumstances. The arrays weren't designed for replaying surveillance directly, but I believe if we could extract the—"

She abruptly fell silent when Crowy removed his hand from the pedestal, and the whole chamber plunged into relative darkness again.

"I'm leaving."

"Lord Inanna, calm down," the Ninurta patriarch tried to stop him, but he was brushed off. "I'm certain that with time, we can discover the identities of these people and track them down to…"

"No. I know exactly who they are," Crowy hissed, and while he sounded furious, the corners of his lips were being stretched wide by an almost deranged grin. "And they have the key I've been looking for all this time!"

Oh. That's probably not good.

I figured it was best that I updated Judy about this development, so I shifted my point of view, and… nope, she didn't have her party glasses. Well, darn.

Since I was here already, I figured I might as well Far Glance around. Even though it was already dark outside, the train kept trucking down the rails, drawing a long moonlight shadow onto the surrounding fields. Its speed was considerably less breakneck than before, meaning Ammy must've found the speed controls. In fact, even at this moment, she was in the train engine's cab and discussing the control mechanisms with some of the sailors from the steam ship. She was pretty focused, so… maybe she really was into trains?

I made a mental note about that (so that I could tell Mike to get her a train-related gift and such), then moved on. The princess and Judy were mingling with the Abyssals and collecting information. As in, Elly was mingling, my lovely assistant was taking notes, as usual. The two large passenger cars attached to the steam engine weren't like the efficiently designed high-speed commuter trains of Critias. Since these were mainly for the elites of Abyssal society, they were closer to something like the Orient Express, just without the sleeping spaces. Each car had a mixture of seating cabins and communal areas, and the middle portion of the first one looked closer to a small salon than anything else. The Abyssals on board certainly treated it as such, so it was like my girlfriends were in the middle of a social gathering.

The other one was a diner car, though the scuffle with the Chimera left it in a tattered condition. It was probably why they were moving at a rather conservative pace, now that I thought about it. More importantly, this was where all the Fauns gathered, likely because they were less bothered by the holes in the ceiling and the missing windows, but so were Penny and Angie.

Even though the trains were pulled out of commission due to the civil war, there was a surprising abundance of food on board, and even the perishables were in perfectly good condition, meaning… Wait. Did the Abyss also have invisible ninja maids that restocked everything while nobody was watching?

Jokes aside, those two were busy raiding the proverbial pantry, while Josh and Snowy were…

"Where is he?" an unfamiliar voice yelled out as soon as I Far Glanced over, and I found Josh face-to-face with an equally unfamiliar girl.

She looked to be about Snowy's age, with shoulder-length pink-ish hair and an otherwise pretty face currently set into an ugly glare. The three of them were in a cabin near the junction of the two cars, with leather couches on both sides and a wide window giving a scenic view of the night outside. Josh was sitting, while the unknown girl and Snowy were standing by the door.

"I have no idea why you're asking me that. It's not like I even know him that well," Josh excused himself, but the girl didn't relent.

"He came this way! I'm sure of it!"

"Lady Ninhursag, please calm down," Snowy chided her with a hand on her shoulder. "I'm sure he's somewhere else."

"But…" The pink-haired girl tried to protest, but then she soon gave up and stomped her feet. "Fine! Come, Lady Inanna-Dunning! Let's look elsewhere!"

With that, the two left, though not before my sister sent a knowing look Josh's way. They decided to check out the other car, and as soon as the coast was clear, there were some odd sounds coming from the spot where Josh was seated. He let out a groan and got up, and the seat of the couch he was sitting on popped open, revealing a spacious storage compartment, as well as the person hiding inside.

"Ah, thanks, boss! You're a lifesaver!" Harend Ninurta beamed at Josh and clumsily crawled out of the storage space.

"You're just delaying the inevitable. This train isn't big enough to hide forever," my friend pointed out, but the young noble shrugged it off.

"Maybe, but I know my dear cousin," he responded glibly as he turned his head in a circle, then sat down. "Once she tires herself out, she's going to be much less likely to strangle me. Anyhow, I owe you one, boss."

"Sure, you do," Josh muttered a tad morosely, then he sat down as well, and for a while they both stared out the window without a word. I was just about to move on, but then my friend suddenly asked an unexpected question. "What exactly is your deal, anyway?"

"Pardon?"

Hareng looked completely stumped by the question, but Josh didn't relent.

"Don't play dumb. None of what you did today made a lick of sense." He crossed his arms and stared down the guy for a few seconds, and continued in a low, even voice. "You switched sides immediately after we captured you, tagged along like we've been friends for ages, and then you stuck around even when you had multiple opportunities to run away. Heck, we even ran into your father twice, and you didn't even try to escape!" He paused for a dramatic beat, then echoed his first question in a much sterner voice. "So? What is your deal?"

Hareng remained silent for a while, then asked, "Why do you want to know?"

Now it was Josh's turn to think for a moment.

"I have a good friend." As he spoke, he gradually relaxed his posture and eventually put his hands on his thighs. "He's a bit odd at times, but he has saved my skin more times than I can count, and whenever something crazy happens, he would be the one to sit everyone down and get us to talk to each other, so that there would be no stupid misunderstandings." He paused again and looked the young noble in the eye. "But maybe more importantly, you remind me of him."

"I do?"/"He does?"

Hareng and I blurted that out at the same time, and Josh nodded like it was obvious.

"Not how he is right now, but how he used to be when I first met him. Easy-going. Affable. Always trying to be funny."

"That does sound like me!" Hareng declared with a grin that quickly withered when Josh continued.

"Except now I know that it was just a front. What is the word? Right, a façade. Lots of things happened since then, but as I understand, he used to act like that because he had secrets. Dangerous ones, and if he didn't lose his… I mean, the particulars are not important, but the point is that if he didn't change, things could've turned out really dangerous. For everyone."

"Are you telling me that I'm putting up a front?" Hareng asked back, his voice cracking just a bit. "And that I'm dangerous?"

"Could be. That's why I want to know what your deal is."

The other guy's expression turned solemn, and after a long beat, he quietly asked, "Why do you think I would tell you?"

"Because you owe me one." Josh patted the couch he was sitting on, causing Hareng's eyes to shake and eventually settle into an annoyed squint.

"I don't think we're close enough for me to spill out my whole life story, but…" He looked out the window, his expression turning darker by the second. "How about I tell you a tale?"

"Is this gonna be a fairy tale, or one of those 'thinly veiled allegory' kinda tales?"

"… Shut up and listen," Hareng growled, and this time he was the one who crossed his arms. "Our tale begins with a child. No, a prince. The youngest prince, even. Fairy-tale enough for you?" When Josh didn't respond, he let out a grunt and continued. "He lived in a big, big castle with his family, but it was a cold place. The little prince could make everyone like him, but because others knew this, they were always suspicious of him. Always hated him. So, one day, the brothers of the little prince tricked him into going on a hunting trip to make his father proud. But unbeknownst to them, the little prince knew that it was a trap, that the servants following him were meant to carve out his heart and present it as proof, so… the little prince laid a trap of his own instead. And then he killed them all. The end."

The whiplash was palpable, and Josh blurted out a stunned, "Whoa. The allegory broke down real quick at the end, didn't it?"

"What did you expect? I don't owe you enough to tell you every nitty-gritty detail," the other guy huffed, but Josh wasn't giving up yet.

"Okay, so let me see if I get this straight. You had like, a succession battle kinda thing with your brothers? Like in the dramas? And then they tried to set you up, but you figured out what's going to happen, so you had the Ninhursags' Fauns ambush you to get rid of the assassins, but then, while running away, you kinda bumped into us by accident, and then decided to change plans. Then I guess you followed us to… kill your brothers and pin the murder on us?"

"Well, aren't you the sharpest cookie in the cookie-drawer," Hareng responded, but before Josh could point out it was a mixed-up idiom (or at least I hoped he realised), he continued with a dismissive, "To be fair, considering how ridiculously huge of a mess you guys have made, I don't think a few dead assholes even register on the scale."

"But… they were your family, weren't they?"

"Were, being the operating word," the young noble responded in a chipper yet ominous voice. "And good riddance, I say. They had it coming."

"Then what? You got discovered in the act, and so you're just… sticking with us to avoid the consequences?"

"Hey, don't act like it's a bad plan." Hareng shrugged and leaned back on his chair. "It worked out perfectly so far. I'm alive, my asshole brothers are dead, and I'm on my way to the other end of the Abyss."

"And what makes you think we won't just throw you off the train?"

"If you wanted to, you would've done that already," Harend noted with feigned disinterest. "Here. You've uncovered all my dangerous secrets? Are you happy now?"

"Happy? Nah." Josh shook his head and sat straighter. "But now I know we're all on the same boat. That means I no longer have to watch my back when you're around."

The other guy let out a derisive huff, followed by an equally acidic, "Was that supposed to be a vote of confidence?"

"Sure." Josh's response took the young noble aback, but then his expression turned sour again when he added, "Also, for the record, you definitely were the worst hostage ever."

"Oh, give me a break you—" Before he could finish, the door of the cabin suddenly sprang open and he let out a startled, "Eeek!"

"I knew it!" the voice of the pink-haired girl called out, but she was pushed aside by Snowy entering the cabin in a hurry.

"Josh, come quick. Something powerful is coming out way, and Angie… I-I mean, Deus wants everyone on alert."

"Aw, crap…"

Josh got up and dashed out, only to be replaced by the Ninhursag girl, who immediately put the other guy into some kind of choke hold, once again looking as hapless as if the previous discussion was an illusion. More importantly, Josh and Snowy opened the door to the junction between the cars and jumped before spreading their wings.

In just a couple of short seconds, they landed on the top of the battered dining car, with Angie/Deus already there, bow at the ready.

"We have incoming from the sinistral side!" she called out, followed by a slightly more flustered, "The left! She means the left!"

Ignoring the spatial terminology disagreement between the two, Josh and my sister formed up next to her, and he asked, "Where are the others?"

"I… asked Penny to tell Eleanor, but…" Snowy started, but then she fell silent and pointed at the rapidly approaching light source from the left of the train tracks. "I don't think they'll get here on time."

"The train can't take much more punishment. We should intercept them mid-air, and then—"

"Josh! Angie! Wait!" the princess's voice interrupted him, but instead of joining them, she was leaning out of a nearby window and waving her arms to get their attention. "False alarm! It's friendly!"

"Someone friendly? Down here?" Deus muttered, but then as the light in the sky came closer, she finally put her bow down and mumbled, "Now that you mention it, that glow does look familiar…"

In less than a minute, the reddish-orange streak in the sky caught up with the train, and after making a circle in the air, it beelined towards the trio on the rooftop. There was no impact as it landed, only a sudden gust of black mist, and as the light in its center died down, out stepped a familiar figure.

"Children? Are you all right?"

"Yes, mostly," Josh stepped up first with a weary smile. "You're a sight for sore eyes, Miss Fidèle…"

And then he got kicked in the back of his leg by his girlfriend for that, but that was a completely different issue altogether.