"I do not trust her, anyone who would join hands with an enemy set on destroying their race is untrustworthy, this is a trap in the making," Ikaris stared at Alpha. "There's no way that a traitor to her people would want help from the people she betrayed; for all we know, this is the General's doing."
"I agree," Dina spoke up. "They're desperate to catch or kill you, master, there is no way she'd suddenly want your help, not at a ti like this."
"Well," Sol furrowed his brows looking at the ssage and how put-together it was. "Let's look at it from another point of view first; I'm sure all of you agree it's a trap, right?" He asked and they all nodded, even Lumi agreed that it was a trap.
"Then, what if we direct our thoughts positively for a mont and think of the possible reasons it wouldn't be a trap?" He asked and Ikaris's brows furrowed as she took in his words.
"She would be truly desperate, but why?" Ikaris asked.
"Maybe she was forced into the role, it is not unlike the Emporium to use underhanded ans to get their way," Arla stated.
"But adversely doesn't the emporium prefer turning Vatui into a resource, sure, she's useful to them as she is but if they harvested her she'd be more valuable; with the power she has she would probably be amongst the ten most powerful artificially implanted consciousnesses within the entire Emporium, coupled with the right Godslayer that ship could potentially dismantle an entire collective within a month by itself," Keele spoke up.
"You don't seem convinced that it's a trap," Sol looked at her.
"That is because there were once rumours about her, granted this was a long ti ago before my birth; but I once heard that the Captain to the General of the 100th fleet is the General's plaything, it was a popular opinion within the military that she would be better off harvested, but the general refused to kill her and instead kept her at his side as a slave, and she willingly stays there to deter him from searching for the others she surrendered to help escape."
"Others?" Sol turned his attention to her as he saw Alpha close her eyes in an attempt to search the Emporium database and fact-check her statents for validity.
"I see, the records show that Viktor Flint was once the 90th General, but after encountering the resistance of Cecelia he lost ten ranks because he willingly let Vatui escape his clutches in order to acquire her after a battle that lasted ten days where she alone destroyed half of his fleet.
Even though he lost his rank, his performance and success rate have quadrupled with her at his side, he uses her to scout for others because of her skills in detection,"
Alpha explained.
"She sold herself to the enemy to ensure the others escaped, whilst also turning her back on everyone else." Ikaris stared at her lap. "I would have rather died than do that," she mused. "I would never allow my body to be touched by another than my love, the tornt would destroy the purity of my soul."
"Master Sol Vestic, Godslayer, I seek amnesty and sanctuary," Sol started speaking from the text he was reading again.
"I understand that my request might be unexpected, and you have many valid reasons for deep scepticism; however, I am in a situation where I urgently need your help, I've witnessed your power firsthand and I know what you did for General Keele when you made her howorld disappear, I ask that you do the sa for , I'm committed to adhering to any and all of your directions without hesitation even at the expense of my body and my pride, I willingly offer myself as sacrifice.
My family is currently in a critical predicant, and I am unable to provide any form of support to them or even to myself." He paused and looked at the room finding silence.
"I must confess to having committed deeds that have caused to be cast out by my community, I am apprehensive about the repercussions that may befall once Her Highness becos aware of my actions, however, if there is any possibility of aiding my clan I am willing to surrender myself willingly and accept whatever consequences co my way.
This ssage will self-destruct after a single viewing as I have reason to believe that you possess the capability to intercept it, should this be the case, any form of response would be greatly appreciated.
My only request is that my identity remain confidential and out of the General's perception as its disclosure would jeopardize the safety of my people.
I am anxiously anticipating your response, whether it be rejection or acceptance."
Sol finished reading the ssage and looked up at everyone again; not a soul made a peep. "Does that sound like a trap to you?" He asked, and Ikaris leaned her cheek on his shoulder and relaxed against him, hooking her finger with Talia's hands as the babe cooed quietly.
"It sounds like a desperate cry for help from soone who is driven so far in a corner the only way out is digging another grave," Renia answered. "Even if it is a trap, master, you can always escape unhard, they are nowhere near as powerful as Umbra is, nor are they anywhere as lethal, right?" She asked and Sol nodded.
"Sol, what will you do?" S'mael asked above the silence that festered and swelled after Renia's words sunk in.
"Admittedly, I believed her since I first read it, I already know what kind of person she is as one who has sought safety with her enemy; Cecelia is an opportunist, she will always seek the safest option, if not for herself, then for her people, I did extensive research into her after Alpha got access to the Emporium, I've been waiting for sothing like this, I simply wanted to hear what you all had to say on the matter."
"So you always intended to help her if she asked?" Ikaris furrowed her brows.
"No, my initial plan was to reject and kill her, but, I can't get myself in the right mind to do it, she's been in that spot for a long ti now, it's like you said Ikaris, you'd rather die, I know for a fact she feels the sa, but she lacks sothing you have in mass quantities."
"Pride?" Ikaris raised a brow at him and Dr'ul scoffed, almost breaking into laughter.
"...no, hope, she lost hope at the end of the war, by the period of ti that she surrendered; it wasn't that long after you disappeared," He stared at her and saw her eyes flicker crimson briefly.
"?" She asked.
"Of course; the Emporium knows who you are so I gathered every bit of information from them that I could, every account, every record, every ntion that was digitised," Sol nodded.
"So... I have another identity...?" She seed overly troubled by that revelation. "You withheld this from , why?"
"I didn't want to upset you," Sol answered. "Your past was many tis worse than what I went through in Atla, I'm afraid of what you'll beco if you're triggered and suddenly rember, but I'm also aware that you want to know, the only bit of information I'm unaware of is why you don't rember any of this," He caressed her cheek.
"The most common piece of information is your identity; everyone who knows knows. And those who don't know.
"Then... who am I?"
"You're Ikaris," He answered.
"Sol-"
"I'm serious," He smiled and then turned to Talia who was now yawning against him as he held her onto his chest.
"You are Ikaris from the House of Eternity, the royal family who spearheaded the war against the Emporium, also the only royal family, you were heralded by King Javan, and Queen Aiyanna, Ikaris, first daughter of Eternity, whose na later beca the house she resided in, they nad their empire after you."
"I had parents?"
"I thought Vatui were incapable of natural reproduction, isn't that why they tried so hard to get Ikaris after they discovered her?"
"They are to so degree an unnatural and entirely divine and mysterious existence, when a pair is ford they spend years crafting their child carefully from their own bodies conjoined, they do not show themselves until this process is complete and they have no mory of how it is achieved, they disappear for years and return with a newborn, except a Vatui child has no umbilical attachnt, their navel appears during childhood, so in truth, nobody knows how it's done," Sol responded to Keele and then looked at Ikaris again.
""I had parents..."
"That's wild," Usami scratched her head and shook it. "That's insane... Ikaris isn't just the queen of this collective, by title she's supposedly queen of the entire grand..." She stared at Ikaris. "That's... Wild."
"-The Queen died at the hands of the Emporium; with the ergence of LAW, the hand the Vatui held over everyone else dwindled and she was murdered in cold blood, this is what led to the war in the first place," Alpha answered. "I have spent an extensive amount of ti dedicated to scraping data together to form a coherent story." She looks at Ikaris.
"At the height of the war, when the parties were at their most violent, the king was killed, and after his death, you disappeared."
"With the leader of the Vatui forces gone the ranks slowly fell apart and the Emporium made use of that chaos and started hunting them, Ikaris, it is unclear why you fled the fight, but the current state of the grand emporium is directly linked to the disappearance of you; the Vatui War Angel."
"I haven't put all the pieces together yet, but if you truly want to know everything, I'm glad to do his with you," Sol smiled at her. "Anyways..." He stopped Alpha when he saw Ikaris's mood deteriorating faster than she could respond. "I'll help her, but not yet," he looked at Keele whilst placing his hand on Ikaris's shoulder and gently squeezing it.
"I have to deal with you first."
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