Prophecy Approved Companion - Book 3 Chapter 91

If there’d been time, between Qube deciding to take Once Adored’s hand and actually making contact, for a conservation to occur, Qube wouldn’t have been able to say why she’d just done what she’d done. Part of it was her need to help people. Another was her deciding that, on some matters, it was right for her to lead. For a short time. Only on those particular matters, though.

And then there was the fact that someone was reaching out to her, and it would be rude not to reciprocate.

But none of that explained the compulsion that drove her. In that split second before they made contact, Qube wondered if this had all been a giant mistake, and she was about to be killed. Or worse.

After all, as proven by the woman before her, death isn’t always the end.

Then their hands touched, and reality decided to take a break.

Qube found herself in the in-between space, where everything was numbers and darkness. Somehow, without any magic other than physical touch between two beings who shouldn’t have existed in the same space, they had ended up in the between-realm. Tiny numerical corrections were being made every second, leading to a constantly twitching environment.

Once Adored stood out amongst the background of equations, her body practically glowing with the agitated numbers spilling from her. Her rage radiated outwards, unstoppable in its righteousness.

“So much anger,” Qube whispered. She watched as the words she spoke formed digits in the air before her, then danced along her connection with Once Adored and settled in her body.

“Yes,” Once Adored replied, the number-words forming around her mouth and skittering towards Qube.

But they never made it to her. Instead they hit a shield surrounding Qube, and clustered against it, scratching to be let in.

Curious, existing in a space between spaces, Qube examined herself. That same shield she’d once cast around her mind, when she’d discovered her ruined village, still stood, dividing her from the darkness, and the white-haired woman on the other side.

There were several cracks along that shield. Some were so cracked that they were ragged holes. Into those holes streams of numbers flowed from Once Adored. Once they were inside her mental shield they swirled around, crowding Qube, and sinking into her.

Changing her.

What she’d assumed was her newly-developed inner self encouraging her more negative emotions, the other half of her coin, was actually the influence of the broken-off fragment of self taken and “developed” by the Evil Emperor.

“You’re not my inner self at all, are you?” Qube asked. Even though she knew the answer, it seemed important to ask the question.

“I don’t know,” Once Adored said, sounding lost and alone. She looked around the numbered space, confused. “Is this you? Am I inside you?”

“No,” Qube replied, although she honestly wasn’t sure. “This is the space between worlds. Or something. I’m not entirely certain.”

“They put you here?” The equations coming from Once Adored were now even more agitated, jumbling around, rewriting each other. “I don’t like this place! I don’t know it! I don’t know anything! What have they done to us? I’ll make them suffer! I won’t let them hurt you!”

Qube watched the world flicker around Once Adored as the undead companion converted fear into anger. The streams emanating from the undead thickened, and tore the holes in Qube’s shield wider.

Qube felt the anger infect her, wrapping itself around her, trying to protect her from the unknown threat. Trying to prevent her from being afraid.

Though terrifying in their intensity, all those feelings were dedicated to helping shield her.

“I think you’re a part of me,” she whispered. A shard of her stolen and warped, yes, but still a part of her.

For so long, her sense of self had been pummelled into submission, and pleasantry: Be cheerful. Be helpful. Make yourself smaller, so others can loom large.

It had taken Qube a long time to learn how to be properly angry. How to fully grieve, and experience true betrayal.

How to hate.

In all her adventures, that had been perhaps the most difficult skill for her to achieve. And it was only now, at the end, that she’d discovered how to feel all those emotions at once, and still hold onto who she was.

She may not have gotten a bigger mana pool, or fancy fighting skills, or even better outfits. But she was stronger now than she’d ever been before.

Strong enough to accept all of herself. Both the beautiful, and the ugly.

She dropped the broken shield that surrounded her.

Her inner flame roared.

Once Adored started to disintegrate.

“Wait, no!” Qube said, desperately reaching out with her other hand to try and steady the rage-filled curser. But when her hand landed on her counterpart’s shoulder, the disintegration only sped up.

“Please, stop! I’m sorry!” Qube said.

But Once Adored didn’t stop.

Instead she poured into Qube. No longer surrounding her, slipping through her defences and affecting her piece by piece. This was an unstoppable attack by an invading force.

Qube remembered being resurrected by the Evil Emperor. She recognised him, even as she knew that her new form didn’t know him.

She remembered the words dropped in her undead ears. Poison about the Chosen One and the party.

The Evil Emperor’s cunning plan. He’d bound Once Adored soul with the gem-filled gauntlet, creating an impossible choice for the Chosen One. Either he’d release her soul from the gauntlet, using the last of its severely diminished power to restore her completely to life, or he could choose to use the full power of the gauntlet, consuming both the power of the gems and Qube’s soul to bring the rest of the village back to life.

Once Adored screamed in rage. She knew the Chosen One would have sacrificed Qube/herself in an instant. The hatred taught to her by the Evil Emperor didn’t allow her to consider anything else.

“No!” Qube said, bracing herself against nothing. Once Adored continued to infiltrate her, clouding her mind, and unleashing the feelings of anger and betrayal that lay within Qube.

But this wasn’t the first time Qube had wrestled with her inner feelings. Ironically, by learning how to accept, soothe, or use the intense emotions inflamed by what she’d thought was her inner self, she now had a hope of weathering this storm.

“He wouldn’t choose them. Or us. He would choose both. Because he always found a way to do the right thing.”

From beneath the fog of rage she pulled out memories. The Chosen One giving her his lopsided grin. His eyes glittering as he found a third option. Him asking her what she thought of things, pushing her to have her own opinion. Him encouraging her.

Him being her friend, in a world that thought her dead.

The storm that was Once Adored raged within Qube. There were no words. Just a feeling of coldness. Betrayal. Abandonment.

“None of them would abandon us.” Qube grabbed the memories of her friends, her party, her companions, and pulled them through the darkness within her.

Sexy Screamy Spider Briar wouldn’t allow anyone to tell her to leave Qube to her fate. Not even Qube herself would be able to trick or order the Hunter into abandoning her, or letting her soul be consumed by a spell.

Definitely Bad Guy would research obsessively until he found a solution to the problem. Then spend just as long explaining how he had reached that conclusion to anyone who’d listen. At the end of it, if necessary, he would sacrifice himself to stop her from being harmed.

Sencha Bard would probably be furious that someone could even suggest abandoning a fair maiden in distress, but cover that feeling with bland diplomacy as he carefully manipulated people into agreeing with him.

And Squiggles. Squiggles would carve through any opposition and hug as hard as she needed to make sure that her mama was safe.

“None of them would leave us,” Qube whispered, taking the power of her loving memories and wrapping them around the counterpart invading her. “We’re safe. You’re safe. You’re with me now. And even if all the others failed, I will never fail you. You’ll protect me with anger and sadness when I need it, and I’ll heal you with joy and love when you need it.”

The numbers were melding now, making new equations.

“We’re not two halves of the same coin. No. We’re two sections of the same pond, wrapped around each other.”

She felt like her mind was unravelling. She’d accepted her counterpart into herself, but now was struggling to put herself back together.

How do you rebuild yourself, when you’ve been pulled apart and then slammed back together?

Piece by piece.

Locked in that strange world, Qube struggled to put herself back together. It was so hard, and she was so tired. It would be easier if she just let herself unravel, rejected the parts of her that hurt, and ceased to be a single entity. If she let herself fall apart, and melt into the background of numbers.

But her inner flame, the part of her that never gave up, wouldn’t let her. She fed her emotions to the flame, her tiredness, her fear, her happiness, all of it. The memories of all her friends, and the hurdles they’d overcome together.

Because she wasn’t alone, in this place of darkness.

She had her friends, waiting for her, not just on the other side, back in reality, but right here. Within her.

She could see, now, the part of her that they’d influenced. It wasn’t just her own and Once Adored’s numbers within herself. She didn’t know how she could read anything, but she could see the fierceness and maternal instincts encouraged in her by Squiggles.

The awareness of being shaped by others, and the importance of independence that shot through her soul was a gift from Sexy Screamy Spider Briar. The reluctance to be treated as an object, or to be content with being what you were told to be. The awareness of romance was also there, as was Qube’s horror at it.

Speaking of romance, her perception of tender feelings and how they impacted someone was twined with Definitely Bad Guy’s energy/numbers. And how badly things could be misunderstood, and a need to find the truth of situations. She couldn’t just give up, not when she knew how much it would devastate the others.

Then there was the influence of Sencha Bard on her. He’d been the one to first show her hidden anger, and how to cope when the world didn’t go at all the way you wanted. His concern for those oppressed, and his rage against those who had wronged them wouldn’t allow her to lie down and let the numbers take her.

Finally, there was the Chosen One.

Everywhere she looked within herself she saw his influence. From him breaking her in the first place, to him constantly pushing her to stand up for herself, think for herself, form theories, exist, take up space. He’d believed in her, even when he shouldn’t have.

He was her best friend, and she couldn’t let him down.

Slowly, painfully, she reformed herself, guided by the legacies left by her friends. She took in Once Adored’s memories, fears, and angers, and incorporated them into herself. She rebuilt, then improved upon herself.

She finally felt complete.

She wasn’t just a companion, or a Healer, or an undead artefact, or a tool to be used. She wasn’t a guiding light, or a tradition, or a memory of a childhood.

She was Qube.

And that was enough.

—

She opened her eyes, and looked around. She was back in reality, and everyone was staring at her.

The Chosen One was still reaching out towards her, his face very pale.

“Are you—?” he stopped, unable to articulate the question.

Qube flung herself into his arms, and hugged him as hard as she could. Tears were streaming down her face, although she couldn’t remember when she’d started crying.

“Yes,” she replied, and he returned her hug with interest, squeezing her almost as hard as Squiggles could. Who, speaking of, immediately launched herself at Qube and the Chosen One, wrapping them both up in all her tentacles and hugging as hard as she could.

“I am.”