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The Seventh Star is Eden (Skeith Takahata II & MessedUpRp)

Rena chuckled and looked Ceres over, "yes the void is daily found if one knows where to look. As for your object allow me to see?" She took the piece of the necklace from Ceres and turned it over in her hands. Nodding softly, "yes... Well here's how you've been learning... This is what a mage calls an atunement stone."

Rena sat down and motioned for Ceres to do the same, "atumenemt stones are artifacts that were specifically designed to help young mages who do not have the ability to find the good on their own. The atonement stone helps to open your consciousness to the presence of the void and to find it. Now, tell me how long do you plan on staying here?"
 
Ceres watched as Rena examined her mother's pendant. "An attunement stone. I've never heard of such a thing." She moved to sit as instructed, listening carefully as she explained it to her. "I will stay as long as need be, but I have other tasks given to me by the Rebellion and personal tasks that need to be completed. There are other Void Sages to be found. There is also the matter of my father. He may yet live in an Eden prison after his execution was staged. I know not what he was working on to warrant sparing his life, but it has to be important." She looked up at the ship camera, aware that Ariel was still ignoring her. "Then of course, there is the matter of my companion. We have found evidence that a physical body may exist for her in an Eden Archive. I intend to find it."
 
Rena stood up and paced. "Peculiar indeed. But it is not my place to speculate at the fate of your father." She mumbled, listening patiently to all that Ceres had to say. "Well Ceres... Learning to control the void can take years if labor to master. However teaching it can take only days to one who already seems to have at least rudimentary grasp of it's workings."

She nodded and stopped. "Very well... I will show you how to teach yourself, in memory of your mother and my friend."
 
Ceres smiled widely, reaching for Rena's hand. "Thank you so much. I promise you won't..." She cut herself short when she heard Rena's final words. Her smile fell away slowly as she grew solemn. "You... You knew my mother?" With Ceres having been kept a secret by her parents, she was hardly surprised that she wasn't aware of her parents friends, or her own extended family. Still, the world felt very small to have found her mother's friend by chance.
 
Rena smiled sadly, "yes I did... We learned side by side, and in the wars we fought side by side, and we should have died side by side... But I was a coward." Rena sat down, her eyes taking on a distant look. "We were on the battlefield, the void sages were surrounded and soon we were isolates from the rest. We fought them off for as long as we could but we didn't last forever. I was shot first, in the thigh to be exact."

Rena motioned to a circular scar, "we kept on even as we were wounded. Fighting as long as we could. I was the first down, shot in the back. Damn shame I didn't die. Your mother, the bravest of us all. She grabbed my body and tried to drag me away, tried to escape. But she was captured. I was still barely alive to watch my best friend be dragged away." A black tear rolled down her cheek.

Rena spoke now with a catch in her voice. I healed over the next several months. Determined to find her, but she had vanished. The Eden army made sure that no trace of the Sages was left. They kept her hidden away. I didn't hear anything about her until after she had escaped wherever the hell she was. Your father helped her to be exact. I spent years trying to find her, I finally did but it was too late."

Really turned to Ceres, the black tears openly rolling down her face now "You know what it's like... To watch someone that you loved for so long. Their body thrown in a pile of corpses like a piece of garbage... I should have done something, should have rescued you. But I just stood there... Stood and stared... I found her later on, have her a proper burial. Then I fled the planet, came here. Since that day, I've loved with the mental torture. Knowing it was my fault she was dead. My fault you had to grow as a slave."

Rena slumped down. staring at the floor. "She should be the one sitting here... She deserved it."
 
Ceres felt similarly dark tears begin to fall, her eyes flooding black as her skin paled. She closed her eyes, as she listened to Rena speak. Nodding softly as she began to finish. She pushed herself up from the bed, stepping away for a moment. Her entire body shook as she tried to focus. Her hand tightened around her mother's pendant. "None of this was your fault. My mother was a hero, but so were you. You were shocked and afraid, I can't fault you for that. I watched her die. I watched them dispose of her body..." She looked to the ground, clenching her fists.

She approached Rena, kneeling next to her. She gently wrapped her arms around her shoulders. "I don't blame you for anything. You did what I couldn't and honored my mother. You buried her and lived on. Because you lived, the Void Sages still have a presence, however small. You're hear now to teach me. To help me become a weapon to be wielded against the Empire." She hugged Rena tight. "My mother couldn't have asked for a better friend, nor I for a better mentor." Then again, she had expressed a very potent love for her mother, was there something more that had existed between them? It wasn't her place to ask.

"Return with me, Void Sage Rena. Lend your skills and knowledge to the Rebellion. Help to raise a new generation of Spellva Void Sages. Honor my mother by continuing the fight. My aunt, I'm sure, would be grateful to see you." Tears still streamed over Ceres face as her voice shook. It was hard to try to stay strong and brave after such a discussion about her mother.
 
Rena looked up at her, a few stray tears still slipping down her cheek. She nodded softly, then pushed herself up and nodded with some conviction. "You're right. It's what she would have wanted of me... I'll help you to become a true void sage, and to avenge your mother's death." She looked around herself, "I'll need to collect my things, then we can leave."
 
Ceres wiped her own eyes before nodding confidently. "We'll be hear and we'll be ready for you. I'll make sure the ship is ready for launch." She bit her lip in thought before pulling the Spellvan woman into a hug. "Go on then. The sooner we launch the sooner we can get started."

She turned away, walking towards the pilot's seat. "Ariel?" She asked as she began running diagnostics. "How long are you intending to give me the cold shoulder?"
 
Ariel audibly sighed. "I'm.still unhappy, but after I say this I know you'll be unhappy with me too but hear me out. Something seems off about her." She plowed in before Ceres could protest, "I know she was your mother's friend, but we need to think about this from her perspective. She's been trapped here, basically in isolation, and for as long as she's been here, she thought that she was the only one of her race left, all because of her. I can't imagine what that would do to her mind."

Ariel paused to let it sink in. "I'm not saying she's crazy, hell I hope I'm dead wrong and she'll teach you some.sanity, but I want you to be careful... Something doesn't seem right about her.
 
To say that Ceres would be unhappy was an understatement. She was properly pissed off. "I can't believe you would even imply such a thing!" Ceres nearly shouted. She pushed herself up from the seat, walking back into the ship. "You are wrong!" She growled bitterly. "I never had anybody! I'm finally starting to piece together some semblance of the life I was denied and all of a sudden you're telling me not to trust her?" She closed her eyes, as she turned away from her, despite knowing that Ariel could manifest where ever she chose to be. "I'm going to go lay down."

She walked away from the cockpit, approaching the bunks. She flopped down onto the mattress, pulling the curtain closed as she tried to settle her temper. "How could she say something like that..." She muttered under her breath.
 
Ariel responded in kind, "I said something like that because it could be true! I've never even had a life, I was created by a machine. The closest semblance of a father killed before I even knew his name. At least you have memories! At least you know what and who you are! I haven't bee given such a commodity!" She stopped for a minute, processing what she had said and what she wanted to say.

"I hope I'm wrong Ceres... You're y friend and I want you to be satisfied, I want you to know who your parents were and to understand but you're all I have. I don't even have a body to call my own." Ariel peojected herself on the floor across from Ceres, holding up one hand and letting the other idly pass through it. "I'm not even sure if I'm real Ceres... At least You've never had to wonder about that." The hologram flickered away and disappeared.
 
Even after Ariel had returned fire, Ceres had already decided she was done with this conversation. She was simply too emotional to hear anyone justify such distrust in someone so closely connected to Ceres' family. She rolled over after Ariel disappeared. Hearing Ariel once again bring up lacking a body was frustrating. Ceres had been trying to offer to find the body in her files from the start. If she wanted the body she should have been more receptive of her help. Of course, the two of them, even if Ariel was an A.I. were simply two young women caught in emotional positions, both feeling vulnerable and both hating it.

She closed her eyes, letting sleep take her. Perhaps in her time asleep, Ariel would have taken the time to get to know Rena. Perhaps then they could put this behind them and start moving forward again.
 
Ariel meanwhile took her time and did what she did best, she started to learn. Ariel pulled up every file, every database she could find on the voidmages and their abilities, especially about their metal stability. She was determined to keep Ceres safe, even if she was wrong she couldn't risk it, Ariel needed to keep her friend alive.

It was during this time that something she didn't realize was added. Something with malevolent intent. Just as she was closing in on her answer, Ariel realized what was happening. She materialized herself in Ceres' chambers. "Ceres! Wake up!" She blared her voice over the speakers, willing to risk her friend's wrath. Ariel's virtual manifestation was turning a dark purple, all of her left leg was engulfed by the color, with splotches of it growing on her right. Dark lines of purple growing all over her body. She looked up at Ceres, "someone's planted a virus... Ceres... I'm dying..."
 
Ceres snapped up in her bunk, looking back and forth to see what had woke her. Then her eyes fell to where Ariel appeared in front of her. "Ariel? Ariel! What's happening!?" She watched as her appearance began to change color. "N-no... No!" She fell to her knees in front of her projection. "What do I do? How do I save you? I can't do this without you, damn it!"
 
A digital tear rolled down Ariel's cheek, "I don't know how Ceres... I don't know what's going on... I just... This virus doesn't behave correctly. It doesn't act like code is supposed to. Ceres, I only have a few more seconds before I'll have to re-route my power to staving it off, my holographic projection will shut down, but if this is our last goodbye, I want you to know I'm sorry about what happened... I want you to know that I-" The shape of Ariel cut out, her voice cutting off. The screen of Ceres' ga un let flowing the blue of her standby mode.

There was a knock on the cargo bay before Rena walked onto the ship, with a bag slung ocer her shoulder. She looked chipper, completely different from their meeting. "Hello Ceres, are you ready to go?" She frowned at the expression Ceres wore. "What's wrong Ceres?"
 
"Ariel!?" She shouted desperately. "Ariel, don't go!" As the hologram flickered out collapsed completely, tears openly falling. "Ariel, come back!" She shouted at her glove. At the sound of Rena entering, she didn't move. Not until she spoke to her directly. She looked up at her without moving. "It's Ariel! Something happened! Some kind of virus! I don't know if she's okay or how to help her!"

She moved quickly to a terminal, sliding the glove off, she plugged it into a port. "I have to try to help." She had no idea what she was doing, but she was hysterical and desperate.
 
Rena looked shocked, walking toward Ceres. She put a hand on her shoulder. "Let me see what I can do." The void sage lofted the gauntlet free and turned it over in her hands. She clenched it in her grip as her eyes turned black, tendrils seeping into the glove as she seemed to focus deeply on the task at hand. For Ariel, she felt the virus encroaching closer. Destroying the last ebbs of existence before it suddenly stopped. More than just that, it retreated.

Rena set down the gauntlet, the tendrils retracting into her fingertips. Her eyes returned to normal as she nodded slowly to Ceres. "She is safe now." As she did this, the monitor slowly faded back to life. Ariel's holographic body materializing again.
 
Ceres watched as Rena worked, silently praying to whatever forces that existed that Ariel would be okay. When the guantlet was returned, she watched it for several seconds, relieved to see Ariel's form materializing again. "Ariel!" She stood up quickly, throwing her arms around Rena's shoulders in a tight hug. "Thank you, Rena. I don't know how you saved her, but thank you." She turned back to Ariel's hologram, smiling widely as black tears slid down her cheek. "Ariel, you're okay! Rena saved you!"
 
Ariel nodded, her form held a bit more of a green tint than before. "That's good Ceres but... Who's Rena? Have I met her yet?"

The void sage clicked her tongue, "it seems the virus might have destroyed some of her memory files. Do you have a backup Ariel?"

Ariel looked at her and nodded, "um yes... You... I have a backup saved of all my files, it will take me a bit to get to them though. Maybe a few days. I remember we came to this place, then I have a black area, then Ceres and I arguing and then a virus."
 
Ceres' smile fell away when Ariel spoke. "Who's Rena? What do you mean?" She looked up at Rena as she tried to explain. She sighed quietly. "Well, that's odd. Why would the virus target such a specific amount of time? It clearly didn't wipe out the most recent memories if she remembers us arguing and contracting the virus in the first place." She rubbed her chin in thought. "All the same, just in case anything's left we should report it to the Rebellion, just in case the same virus turns up back home." She slid on the guantlet before turning to face Rena. "I really can't thank you enough for saving Ariel." She smiled softly. "Perhaps we should get you settled so that we can take off?" She looked down at the glove after a moment. She didn't even know where they were headed next. "Ariel, were you able to make any progress on your body or are we off to find more of the sages?"
 
Ariel shook her holgrapgic head. "Negative and negative. There are no other void sage reports I've been able to find, except for one man who's also convinced he's really a celestial god Who's simply lost his powers. So I discounted him rather fast.

There also see man to be a message, a request from your aunt. She wants you to return to the base, command of the council. I think we need to go back."
 
"Acknowledged. Let them know we're on our way." Ceres sighed before letting herself drop into the pilot seat. "Alright, I guess we head home." She looked back at Ariel giving a relieved smile. "Let me know as soon as you recover your memory okay? I want to know what happened and how to prevent it in the future."

She keyed in the coordinates for the Rebellion HQ manually and began a pre-flight diagnostic. "Strap in, Rena. We're taking off." Once she was certain their newest addition was prepared, she lifted the ship out of the hanger and brought it into orbit. "Activating artificial gravity and locking in auto-pilot coordinates." She relaxed back in her seat, unstrapping herself.

She looked over at Ariel, examining her friend a little closer. "Are you sure that you're feeling alright, Ariel? You look a little different."
 
Ariel nodded, "yes I'm fine. Just rebooting a bit slowly. I'll be back on track soon enough. Just resetting after that ordeal. Once we leave the planetary orbit, I'll set the autopilot and fly us back the rest of the way."

She dissapeared, a message flashing on the screen of the glove. "Thanks for the concern Ceres. It means a lot to me."
 
Ceres looked down at the message that flashed on her glove, smiling softly. She cared deeply for Ariel and was terrified when she thought she lost her. It helped her understand just how much she needed her in her life. She stood up, sighing deeply. "That's enough excitement for one day, I think." She looked over to Rena smiling softly. "Thanks again for saving Ariel. I think I'm going to get some sleep before we get back home."

With that she walked back to her bunk, slumping back against the sheets. She continued to think about what manner of virus had been used to attack her friend, but for the time being, she had no way of knowing. Eventually, sleep found her. Allowing her to finally relax.
 
Ariel also pondered this thought. She hadn't gotten a chance to quarantine anything, it had vanished after Rena worked her magic. Maybe it was some sort of a tpejan horse that she had downloaded.

She considered what she was about to say to Ceres, what she was near telling her. She considered it over and over before deciding to hold off... It wasn't time for that yet.
 
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