The room was covered in a strange mist that radiated an intense cold. The mirror had been covered in a faint layer of frost and the tiles as well. The tub in the center looked like a glacial tomb, completely frozen over with shards of ice protruding out of the black murky depths, and even more solidifying off the sides.

Under the surface,a pair of glowing golden orbs suddenly appeared, bright and strong like the sun itself lie behind them.

A faint crack suddenly appeared on the frozen surface, then another, and another. A brilliant glow suddenly surfaced and the ice immediately gave way,followed by a chilling sound.

The black ice shattered and disappeared, and in the tub lay Zaria’s naked form.

Bright white scales ran up the sides of her legs and down her arms, running down the line of her spine with a few framing her face in what resembled a crown.

She sat there motionless,silver eyes half closed and her head resting on one knee ,while her other leg lay flat,her hair a waterfall of black and white, flowing down her back

"Hhhhh"

She let out a breath of visibly cold air which was followed by the sound of cracking. Behind her a massive pair of white wings with a few golden scales in between rose and stretched out, the edges scratching against the wall lightly and leaving massive deep gashes in the tile.

Noticing the damage she did, she flinched, lowering the wings and wrapping them around herself like a blanket.

She smiled, satisfied.

A brief glance in the mirror showed that her appearance was back to normal.

"It felt different this time. Better though

She muttered to herself, before looking at her wings

"Getting rid of these is always so uncomfortable though. I wish I could just leave them have out.

She checked her watch for the time and sighed seeing how late it was

"I hate this"

She said out loud to no one

"Why don’t you work?"

She asked, looking into the mirror with frustration

She groaned, finally deciding to get up. She tried to hold the edge of the tub but accidentally crushed it in her hand, causing her to slip back into the tub

The mysterious aura that surrounded her seemed to lessen a bit at the silly flop followed by her squirming in the tub as she struggled to get to her feet with her wings in the way.

Easy to forget she’s still just another kid

"Thank goodness no one saw that"

She muttered, getting back up. Her little pale feet, gripping the tile as firmly as they possibly could.

Taking a deep breath, she stepped up to the mirror, slowly brushing it with her hand but just the faintest contact with her claws caused it to crack, and right across her reflection no less

*Sigh*

"Never perfect but... good enough. I won’t have to do this forever, just... long enough. Long enough for..."

She trailed off, trying her best to encourage herself.

Looking down, something shiny caught her eye. It was the "Murder coin" as she’d so aptly named it. It somehow still managed to shine amidst all this.

"There you are. I can’t loose you"

She said, picking it up without thinking much

As soon as she touched it, she suddenly realized

"Wait, what if I scratch it?"

But luckily nothing,her claws didn’t damage it. She wondered if she could if she put more pressure on it but she didn’t even consider actually trying

"I suppose it makes sense. They wouldn’t make something so important easy to damage"

She suddenly squeezed around it, holding it to her chest.and feeling a strange sense of warmth flowing from it, something she didn’t feel before.

"Wait, why did i do that?"

She muttered as she caught herself

"But...mmm, this feels nice. Warm,I don’t feel that often"

She took the coin a bit farther away and looked at it closely ,her silver vertical pupils following it with predatory precision.

She slowly traced the red blood lines all over it and her eyes slowly return to normal, becoming rounded again, giving her a more curious and innocent look

"This thing is weird "

She said flatly

"Tch"

She suddenly winced, holding her head

"Alright, that’s enough. Bedtime it is"

She yawned, turning from the mirror as more cold air rose out of her body, filling the place with even more mist.

************

He got into bed, ignoring the others questions and for the first time in a long time since he became... this, he actually tried to get some sleep

As his eyes closed, the voices were there to welcome him, they didn’t bother him though, not like they did the other two

His breathing steadied, muscles uncoiled, at least partially and he suddenly wheezed as a visible puff of cold air escaped from his mouth,all without his notice

At some point in the middle of the night, his eyes fluttered open. He briefly checked his body, making some parts twitch and turn to see if they were back to functioning properly

Sensing he was awake, Theia appeared above him, sighing

"You keep treating your body like a machine and one day it’s really going to break."

Instead of ignoring her like he usually did, instead he looked at the ceiling, musing

"It’s... separate. Maybe that’s why"

"Huh?"

She sat down on his chest, looking down at him curiously

"This body’s never really been us. We’ve never felt much attachment or...."

He looked like he’d temporarily forgotten the word he wanted to use before continuing

"Connection to it"

Theia went silent for a few seconds before sighing

"I suppose that’s normal when someone has as many out of body experiences as you. It’s only natural you start to identity seperate from your physical form"

She shuffled closer,her little body moving higher up his chest to where his heart was and placed her palm on it

"But...big guy. This body is you, just as much as your soul is. This heartbeat, steady,firm, but faint. it’s you, it’s just you"

He didn’t reply, eyes darting around the room before he asked

"It’s too cold in here"

He muttered

"What does it matter? You don’t sweat or shiver"

He didn’t answer because he didn’t know what to say. He didn’t even know why he said that in the first place

"Seriously. You three take a load off"

Theia said, before disappearing again

For a few minutes, he just lay there, eyes looking at the ceiling for... whatever reason

"You think she planned that?"

Theia appeared again

"What?"

"The nanites. It just seems like an odd tactic. Effective, but odd"

"I don’t -"

"Does she do this often? Was it set up from the beginning? Or was it in the spur of the moment. Was it like a random thought that came in the final moments?"

Theia stared in confusion

"Where is this coming from. No, seriously? Who am I talking to right now?"

Sometimes she couldn’t tell for some reason, even through the system and she didn’t know why, and right now their hair was blocking their eyes from view

He ignored the question

"I’m trying to better understand my target. Passing nanites through that method is not a standard strategy, not to mention how strange it was I didn’t notice. I feel like I would have noticed that many nanites all at once"

"I... don’t know. Technology is pretty advanced. Especially for something like her"

"..."

"..."

"What do you think they’re doing?"

"What?"

Theia was a bit taken aback by the question

"Give me your theory on what the machines might be doing "

"Um... well, they haven’t done anything to you. I’ve been keeping track of your body’s condition and I’d notice even the slightest traces of any funny business but so far... nothing "

"And you think that’s because...."

"They’re studying you. Trying to learn about you. Throughout that whole fight she was constantly baffled and confused by your capabilities, and it seemed like it annoyed her greatly. My guess? She’s a control freaks who can’t stand not understanding something fully... like most geniuses. Plus with her ability to custom design countermeasures based off personal weaknesses,it seems like a safe guess "

He was silent for a few seconds

"We came to a similar conclusion "

Theia nodded

"So then the million dollar question is... Is there any chance she’ll find something useful?"

"No way in hell"

Theia said confidently

"The girl’s smart, but she’s still using human metrics, and you aren’t human. Even if they did pick up some information to give to her, none of it would make any sense. And I highly doubt she knows what you truly are. Even if she suspects you’re other than human, she’ll simply assume you’re another Xeno and try to look for biological similarities, but there is so much more to you than that,so much more than she can ever understand."

He didn’t reply but let out a breath, whether of relief or something else,no one could tell, but he didn’t seem bothered

He closed his eyes

It was best not to try to predict her

After all it could be something else entirely.

He already knew of her ability to communicate with her machines. It could simply be a microphone, something to spy on him with, but then she’d have easily been able to make it unnoticeable

Whatever this was, it was something that couldn’t be any smaller than it currently is, assuming she was as efficient with this as everything else

Maybe they were right. It made sense

It did make sense. In fact it was probably the case

He opened his eyes

Then why did something feel wrong? It felt like he was missing something. Something right in front of his face, like he was forgetting something important.

Well he’d abandoned many things so far. His training, the gang,Jade

Even if something had somehow slipped,he could just add it to his list of ongoing failures

He sighed, closing his eyes again, only for a few minutes before they once again opened

"Jade,we haven’t taken her from the cave yet?"

"..."

"What do you mean she’s no longer there"