Reunion

Jason awoke to see that he was still in the comfort of the pod. Lance's head was still resting on his chest, her long dark hair spread across his torso wildly. He lifted his free hand to rub at his eyes, prompting Lance to crane her head up at him and smile.

"Good morning." She said, tone jovial.

"Morning." He yawned, "They should be arriving by today, hopefully sooner, rather than later." 

She rested her chin on his shoulder, "What should we do while we wait?"

Jason considered the question, what indeed? At this stage, there wasn't much else to do but wait. They could go and practice a few more shots perhaps, but he still wanted to conserve as much ammo as possible, Lance was already a crack shot anyway. Those rounds were better spent training the other Pillar-Born when they finally arrived. So what to do?

Jason could cloak himself to try and scout the castle, he had considered going to do that very thing when they'd first arrived, but he hadn't wanted to leave the party behind, not when they were so close to Kazon himself. After all, he had found them in the Pillar-Church easily enough, it could be possible that he knew they were here already. If Jason left, then Kazon could more easily attack their camp, either killing or taking Lance hostage in the process.

Kazon wouldn't spare Halm and his ultimate goal was to consume Nolvi's soul, not to mention the other Pillar-Born, so she would be killed as well. Lance though? Kazon could try and take her for leverage against him, and Jason would not allow her to fall into enemy hands… His features hardened. 

Because Lance is mine.

Jason blinked, shocked by the thought. 

Lance frowned, "Are you alright?" 

Jason nodded, gathering himself, "I am, I'm just thinking is all." He told her, head falling back to stare at the ceiling.

Why had he thought of Lance as belonging to him? People were not property, he knew that now… so why? He took a deep breath as he remembered what Lithia had told him, back when he'd trained to resist her aura. She had said that Dragons became deeply attached to people they cared about, and had even told Lance that his perspective on her might change. It disturbed him deeply that he had thought about Lance as belonging to him, he didn't want to view his friend as a thing to be owned, like how Commander had always viewed the Hoplites.

He suppressed a shudder. He would never end up like Commander, never. He'd need to keep these Draconic tendencies in check. He might not be able to stop himself from becoming overly attached to Lance, but he could use his discipline to ensure he'd never succumb to that mindset. Lance was a person, a friend, not something he owned. Just the thought of degrading her to a mere object filled him with shock and revulsion.

Michael was a friend too, yet Jason found himself not thinking of the marine as being his, it was different. He wanted the best for Michael, he didn't have any urges to own him, rather he wanted the boy to be safe and well. Same for Cat, to a lesser extent anyway. Those two had better make it out of those caves in one piece.

"If there's something wrong, you can tell me." Lance told him sincerely.

Jason hesitated, if he told her that he had thought of her as his, she wouldn't want to be his friend anymore, she'd despise him. Lance would have been right to hate him for viewing her in such a vile way.

"There is nothing wrong." He lied, avoiding eye contact. 

If she saw how disturbed he was, she wouldn't stop pressing him until he told her the truth. If that happened, Lance would leave, he could not allow that to happen.

"If you say so." She said, easing back into him, "Say, don't you think it's strange how Halm isn't affected by the cold?"

Jason's brow furrowed as he thought, grateful for the distraction, "He has an incredibly high body mass, that would make him resistant to the cold, but he only has a loincloth on. He can't keep the heat he emits trapped under any clothes, so my guess is that his skin is so thick that his body heat has a difficult time pushing out of it."

"He does have a Blessing though, remember?" Lance asked, "Steel Flesh, if that's to be taken literally, then maybe his skin constantly matches his internal temperature?"

Jason shook his head, "The cold from outside would make his flesh freeze I think. Steel Flesh doesn't literally turn their skin to steel, it is still skin, just more durable."

"So how?" Lance asked, perplexed.

"How about we go and ask him?" Jason asked.

Lance shook her head, "No, let's stay like this a bit longer, we can ask him after Nolvi wakes up." One of her fingers then traced the long scar that ran from his temple to across his chin, "If you can regenerate, why does your body have scars?" She asked, "You said that your skin was almost completely blasted off after your encounter with Wurmdring, but you still have this one, among others."

It was a good question, one that Jason himself had asked before. Remembering the answer he'd received, Jason repeated, "I can regenerate on my own, but my body's healing by itself will leave scar tissue. I have a fleet of tiny machines that live inside my bloodstream, tailored to my body and my body alone. These nanobots have a sort of 'blueprint' of my anatomy memorized, inside and out. They take on the work of helping to heal me as well, but with the added benefit that it doesn't allow new scar tissue to form. Since my old scars are part of that blueprint, when they repair my body, they rebuild the scars as well."

"Miniature golems animated by technology." Lance nodded, "You've mentioned nanomachines before. What's the purpose of not allowing new scar tissue to form?"

"If my skin is all scar tissue, then sweating becomes near impossible." He told her, "We sweat to cool our bodies down, if I can't sweat, I would be less efficient in the field. This wasn't the main reason I was installed with nanomachines though. They do a multitude of other things, destroying viruses, killing parasites, ensuring blood clots cannot form, among countless other utilities."

"I'm surprised parasites could even survive in you, that would be like me trying to live inside a volcano." She noted.

"I'm not a hospitable place to live. A parasite would die inside me eventually, but the nanomachines simply quicken the process, disassembling the organism before it can do any harm. Even then, I have a filter installed inside my throat that would catch almost any impurities from the water I drink, though not my food, unfortunately. It's impossible to eat when I have the filter active." Jason said. 

"Can these things, the nanobots, this filter, or whatever else you have also be destroyed?" She asked, "You can't get them replaced, surely."

He shook his head, "No, I can't. But my bionics are self-repairing and self-maintaining, again thanks to my nanomachines. They fix them if they are ever damaged, even able to replace them outright if one is completely destroyed, as they are part of the anatomy the nanomachines have memorized."

"But that's impossible, what fixes these tiny machines then? Whenever you bleed, you have to lose thousands of them." She said, "That cannot be sustainable."

"It's actually quite simple." He said, "They construct new ones whenever I lose any. Food and water have trace minerals in them that the nanobots can use to rebuild their fleet. I would need to lose all my blood at once for the fleet to be destroyed."

"I'm surprised that they don't just flood your veins with nothing but these little golems." Lance pointed out, "How do they know when to stop building new ones?"

"There is a set limit on how many can exist at the same time within my bloodstream. They all share the same data between one another, they're even able to alert the rest of the fleet when they leave my body. Reconstruction starts as soon as a nanobot leaves." He smiled, "And when they're out, they go dormant."

"Strange as it is to hear about these little critters, I find myself wondering if I want a few of my own." She sighed, "I never want to have a worm again."

"You had a worm?" He asked.

"Moving on," Lance said quickly, "Could it be possible for me to have some as well?"

Jason shook his head, "No, these are quite literally tailor-made for me. If I were to try and give you some, you would either become violently ill and die, or nothing would happen at all."

Lance stiffened, "Nevermind, you can keep them." She sighed, "Why would I get violently sick?"

"If somehow the bots remain active once they leave my body, they'll see that something about their environment is wrong, that it doesn't match the anatomy that's a part of their blueprint. They'll reproduce themselves before trying to repair what they would perceive as damage."

"...Are you saying that they would try to turn me into you?" She asked, horrified.

Jason nodded, 'Affirmative, but you would die well before then. The nanobots would destroy your body in an attempt to reconstruct my DNA, which they all have a sample of. Your organs, bones, even your blood, and so on, a process that anyone aside from a Hoplite wouldn't survive. When your blood stops flowing, the machines would still slowly try to rebuild what they know, even once they run out of materials to work with, often leaving the victim as a dessicated husk."

"That's awful." Lance said, "That's horrible- I can't even imagine."

"That's why they have to be tailor-made." Jason said, "It'll rebuild and maintain only what it's been programmed to know."

"Don't ever bleed on me, please." She told him with a shudder.

"I wasn't planning on it." He said, "Besides, ninety-nine point nine percent of the time, they shut off as soon as they leave the body. It's incredibly rare for one to remain active once that happens, it's an astronomical fluke. Even if you did get my blood on your skin, nothing would happen anyway, you'd need to inject my blood intravenously or ingest it for that to happen."

"Still don't bleed on me." She insisted, "...By the way, another question involving your little friends." She continued after a moment, oddly bashful.

"Go ahead." He asked.

"They can't spread through offspring, can they?" She asked, tone nervous.

Interesting question… he needed to wrack his brain for a while, but when he finally came to a conclusion, he shook his head, "No, there are protocols in place that prevent that from happening. There are people in Terna that also have nano-machines, rare as it is, and they've had children with no issues."

There had been an instance where he'd needed to guard some First-Arm nobility once, overhearing them talking about this exact subject.

Lance let out a sigh of relief, "That's good to know."

"Why?" Jason asked, curious.

"I just find it interesting, that's all." She told him firmly.

"There's that tone again." Jason rolled his eyes.

"What tone?" She asked flatly, sitting up to stare down at him with narrowed eyes and a sour expression.

"The one you're talking in right now." He said, narrowing his eyes back.

"I'm speaking normally." She said, clearly irritated, "I do not have a 'tone'."

"Are you deaf?" He asked with a frown, sitting up to face her.

Even with Lance on her knees, she was only barely head height with him sitting up.

"No, my ears work perfectly fine, unlike yours." She huffed, crossing her arms, "Firing off those guns all day, it's no wonder you can't hear anything right."

"My ears adjust volume to manageable levels if it gets too loud." He explained, "I can't go deaf, like you have."

Both her eyebrows rose in unison, "What was that?"

"You heard me." He told her with a glare, "Unless you couldn't hear that either."

She froze for a moment, glaring back at him before inexplicably, she began to laugh. Jason sat there, confused as to why she would find this funny.

"You've gotten quite a bit more bite since the caves." She acknowledged, wiping away an imaginary tear, "Were you always this sassy?"

Jason frowned deeply, "I am not sassy." He insisted.

She shook her head, "Whatever you say, oaf."

Jason's frown deepened, the confusion apparently evident in his eyes, for Lance laughed again. She had insulted him, but her tone had not matched her words. She'd said it almost playfully, it made no sense. Wait a moment, he'd seen this kind of thing before, between Michael and Lance in fact. They had traded verbal jabs and meaningless insults between one another in that same tone. Perhaps he should try and match her jabs as well.

He grinned awkwardly, "You're weird." He told her, trying to match that tone.

She just stared at him, expression going blank. The heat of embarrassment sought to drag him back down into his blankets. He needed to stay in his lane, playful jabs were not his strong suit. Lance, looking into his eyes, smiled.

"You'll get the hang of it." She said, as if she could read his thoughts.

"I'm not sure that I should." He told her, "The learning process for this feels insufferable, and it's pointless." He admitted.

"Banter isn't pointless, it's fun!" Lance insisted, "Look, I'll help you figure this out. First thing's first-"

The pod door slid open, revealing Halm, still sitting beside it, "Guess who's here!" He declared excitedly, right as Twindil poked her head into the pod.

She looked tired and her long blonde hair was a knotted mess, but she was certainly alive. Lance couldn't bring herself to look at Twindil, her lips drawn to a fine line. She must still feel guilty about what she had done. Jason stood, causing Twindil to let out a squeak.

"By the Pillars, put that thing away!" She shouted, averting her eyes, "Lance, how have you not convinced him to take up even a smidgen of modesty yet!?" She shouted, baffled.

Lance looked up, eyes wide with shock, "Twindil?" 

Jason took a step back, crouching behind one of the seats to protect Twindil's eyes. Nudity was a big deal to normal people, that hadn't changed, even though it meant little to him, he needed to remember that people refused to function properly around it. The Pillar-Born risked a glance, upon seeing Jason behind the chairs, she let out a sigh, turning her attention back to Lance.

A quiet moment passed between the two women, staring into one another's eyes before finally, Lance said, "I'm sorry for what I did. It was wrong of me, in my terror I exposed you to our enemies… you do not have to forgive me."

Twindil smiled, "Any other mortal would have done the same in your place. I do forgive you, Lance, and I hope we can move past this."

Lance stood then, approaching Twindil before the two embraced. 

"I hope you find a cure." Lance said shakily, her tone sincere.

"I do as well, but let us not speak of that in present company." Twindil replied, clearly meaning Halm, "The others are just outside, we're trying to think of a way to get inside the castle, do you mind if we all enter, Jason?"

"Not at all. Nolvi is asleep in the cockpit behind me." He said, pointing his thumb to the door, "She'll wake up soon."

He just noticed it, but the effect of Kazon's hatred was gone now. He'd barely even noticed it before, but with Twindil here he felt completely at ease. Twindil nodded, turning to look outside into the bright white expanse of endless snow.

"Let's head in!" She announced.

Halm stood, moving out of the way to reveal the entire party standing there. Kid'ka smiled as he saw Jason, waving ecstatically as he stood beside Halm. Elum stood far back, his arm now completely gray and with a massive orange-glowing eyeball staring at Jason from the shoulder. He felt disgusted at seeing it, this went beyond any sort of cancer, it was a severe mutation, best to sever it before it spread to the rest of his body. That was not Jason's choice to make, of course, but if the Pillar-Born wanted to live a (relatively) long life, that arm needed to be amputated soon. 

Theopalu stood just beside him, the heat of rage slowly building in his chest as Jason began to glare at him. He took a deep breath to collect himself, remembering that the anger he felt was from a sense of instinctual competition, best to ignore such a pointless urge. The elder elf looked inexplicably younger, had he been using an illusion to conceal his youthful appearance this whole time? Alistair stood there as well, eyes focusing completely on Jason. He matched the gaze, the two maintaining eye contact even as he moved into the pod. Why was he staring at him like that, had Jason made him angry somehow?

Or was he seeking to challenge him, as Kid'ka had before? Did Alistair become a Tongue of Zodd during that time? It didn't seem likely, but why else would Alistair be staring at him? Kid'ka seemed to take notice of this, his features hardening before he put a firm hand on Alistair's shoulder. The blonde glared down at the shorter man before shrugging out of his grasp with a silent snarl. 

He then focused on Lance strangely, right before pointing an accusatory finger at her, "Twindil has a kind heart, but don't expect my forgiveness. From this day forth, Lance, you are my enemy. Let that be clear, harlot." 

Jason stood, rage momentarily seizing his actions, "Watch your mouth." He warned, tone low and guttural.

Alistair's eyes met Jason's again, the two glaring for only an instant before Twindil jumped between them, breaking the eye-contact. Jason's blood felt hot, not to the point Lithia had gotten it to, but close. 

"Don't do this." Twindil urged, "This is not the time to be squabbling, it will spell our doom if we all come to blows."

"That's right, Alistair." Kid'ka said firmly, voice shockingly stable, "Behave yourself."

"Do not test me, little man." Alistair warned, his expression darkening.

"Or what?" Kid'ka shot back, tone growing heated.

"Alright then." Twindil huffed, throwing up her hands, "Go ahead and kill one another."

Kid'ka and Alistair then turned to face her, eyes wide, "What?" Alistair asked.

"You clearly want to, so just go ahead." She said through clenched teeth, "Throw it all away and give Kazon what he wants. I've had enough of managing things between you two. Ever since we left New Romai you've been like this, and I've had enough. Either pull it together to face Kazon and triumph, or kill one another and lose your only chance at saving our families. Your choice."

They both looked away, shoulders slumping.

"Thank you." She sighed, running an armored hand down her face, "It has been quite the trek to get here, let us sit down and relax, just for a moment."

Lance moved to stand beside Jason, apparently uncaring about his nudity. He crouched down again as everyone began to sit, the Pillar-Born gathering by the entrance while he and Lance remained on the other side of the pod. Twindil sat in the chair right behind the ones he hid behind, between him and Alistair. Theopalu yawned, immediately closing his eyes as soon as he found a comfortable position to sleep in. 

Halm sat just outside the pod with a frown, Kid'ka opting to sit beside him, on this side of the threshold, of course. Elum sat by himself, on the chairs just in front of Theopalu, eyes distant. The Ifrit was acting bizarre, he was one of the more loud mouthed ones of this group, this silence from him was unsettling. As was Kid'ka and Alistair being at one another's throats, what had happened to them all while they were imprisoned?

After a few minutes, Twindil spoke, "I'm not sure how we're supposed to scale those walls, and the front gate isn't an option either. Perhaps there's another way in-"

"I'm afraid not." Theopalu sighed, "I've been here before, each side is an unclimbable cliff, the only entrance is the ramp we saw coming in. Climbing the walls will be nigh impossible as well, they're made from carved obsidian, smooth with nowhere to get a grip."

"We can't just commit to a full on assault." Twindil said, "There has to be a way to sneak in."

"There is." Jason said, "I have a plan, it won't be a clean entry, but once we're past the gate their forces won't be able to find us."

"What do you have in mind?" Twindil asked, "You've had plenty of time to plan this out, cousin."

Jason winced, eyes turning to Halm. The orc looked confused, staring between Twindil and Jason.

"You don't look related." Halm pointed out.

"Distant relative." Jason countered, "Don't worry about the details, please."

"That's right, just a shared ancestor, nothing more." Twindil insisted, shooting an apologetic glance at Jason.

Halm shrugged, right before his eyes narrowed, "Pillar-Born." He said flatly.

All heads turned, eyes wide with shock, save for Elum.

"Hah!" He laughed, pointing at them, "I knew you people weren't normal! So then, Jason is a Pillar-Born for certain, as is Twindil and I assume the rest of you, save for Lance anyway, no offense."

Lance hesitated, "None taken?"

"We aren't Pillar-Born." Alistair told him firmly, "How dare you insinuate that."

Halm shrugged again, "Look, I don't care at this point in my life. Back in the day, I would have been scared, but now I'm excited." He told them, poking his head into the pod, "Now I know that we can bring Kazon down for sure."

"Does the idea of the world ending not bother you?" Twindil asked, openly shocked.

Halm's eyes fell, "My world ended over two-hundred years ago, when I came here. Everyone I have ever known or loved is dead by now, this changes nothing for me."

"...When did you figure it out?" Kid'ka asked after a moment.

"Kid'ka!" Twindil scolded.

He put his hands up, "What? The squirrel is out of the cage!"

Halm laughed, "I had my suspicions. Mortals shouldn't be able to stand up to so many thousands of Fiends so easily. Uh, relatively easily I mean. Anyone else would have been overwhelmed, but not you. I began to suspect it back then, I just didn't raise a fuss over it, because I still feel the same way I do now-" He paused, clenching a massive fist, "All I care about is Kazon's death, and you are the ones who will bring him low."

Twindil sighed, "Very well, you're right, we are Pillar-Born. Not Jason though, nor Theopalu or Lance. The madness has not taken us yet, and we seek a cure for our condition, after we slay Kazon of course. He has wronged us all."

"Then let's make him pay then!" Halm said excitedly, "Jason, tell them the plan… and uh, what are you then, if not Pillar-Born?"

He sighed, Halm was a lot sharper than he appeared. 

"I'll tell you later." Jason sighed before taking a deep breath, "It's actually quite simple." Jason began, "I have learned to utilize Foundation for myself, as I'm sure Twindil has briefed you." He said, nodding to the half-elf, "I can turn two items invisible. I've discovered that individual pieces of an object don't matter if they're connected, only the size, so I tested it on this pod. I can just barely manage making it invisible, so you will all stay hidden inside the pod. I will then conceal myself, then push the pod up the ramp and straight through the gate. It is made of a sturdy material, so don't worry about it being damaged."

"Wait a second." Alistair piped up, "Even if you make yourself and this pod invisible, they'll still hear something scraping up the path."

"Which is why I'll cast Sound Suppression on both the pod and myself. They won't hear or see us coming, up until we breach the gate. 

Alistair's eyes widened, and he leaned forward, "I have an idea as well," He said excitedly, "Let me sit in the cockpit, and when we reach the gate, I'll cast Sound Suppression on it. Your current limit for spells is two, but I can cover for a third, and not only that, I'll cast an illusion to make it appear as if the gate never took damage at all."

"I'll be hitting the gate at a high speed, it's the only way to push through, I won't stop running once we hit it. Even if the impact is silenced, the force will likely shake the wall, not only that, but it is more than likely that they have guards posted at the entrance. The impact would resonate through the ground and alert them." Jason reasoned, "I do see the benefits of suppressing the noise and covering the damage with an illusion though, it will buy us more time before they sound an alarm."

The door to the cockpit slid open before Alistair could reply, revealing a wide-eyed Nolvi standing there, "Everyone!" She cried happily, rushing forward, "You made it!"

Nolvi then proceeded to give everyone teary-eyed hugs, save for Elum, who had glared at her approach. She looked hurt, as if something important had been stolen from her.

Twindil sighed, "He's been this way since we escaped. He will still help us with the final battle, but otherwise he's been keeping everyone at arm's length."

"What happened to you?" Nolvi asked Elum, who didn't reply.

"He freed us from the prisons, using a Silver Flame. Somehow he was able to get us to the surface, but he's barely responsive." Twindil said, sparing a concerned glance at Elum.

"How did Theopalu de-age during all that?" Jason asked.

The Demi-god's features had become completely smooth, his skin clear and eyes sharp. He looked like he could be Lance's brother now, as opposed to a distant ancestor as he had before. 

"I died." Theopalu replied simply, "I needed to grow a new body. I'd rather not go into the gory details, so let's just say there's a reason for my hunger."

If he had to grow a new body and had constant hunger, that must have meant that his biology had gigantic caloric requirements. The problem with that hypothesis was the distribution of mass, where did all that weight go? Whenever he'd seen Theopalu move around in the wagon, it had barely shifted at all. If he was storing enough energy to construct a whole new body, then shouldn't he be hundreds of pounds heavier than how he appeared? He internally berated himself. This was not the time for speculation into Theopalu's biology, they needed to focus on the plan. He briefed Nolvi on the new additions to their operation regarding Alistair.

Toward the end of his explanation, his eyes widened.

"Jason?" Nolvi asked, "What is wrong?"

"I think I know how we can punch through without alerting anyone after all, but you and Alistair will need to work in perfect sync, if we mistime this then it will fail." Jason said, "Now-"

"Sorry to interrupt," Halm said, sheepishly raising a hand, "Where do I fit into all this? Literally?"

He frowned, "You'll have to cram your way into the pod. It won't be comfortable, but if you really hunch down you can fit."

Halm sighed, "I don't like cramped spaces, but I will be brave."

"Good." Jason nodded, "Alright everyone, this is how we'll make ingress."