The Show Must Go On

[Twilight Path]

Sarah found herself rather numb to the crazy events going on. Part of her remembered helping out the soldiers with a few tasks. Still, she could remember the event as if it were the only thing that had happened. She couldn't even remember the last task she had done before heading off into another direction on the Rose.

Yes, they were walking together. Of course it was more that she had his heart as a key chain. She was still holding the mask in a tight grip. As if dropping the mask would take away the last bit of his existence other than his heart. She wondered if it would always hurt like this. Of course the answer was no, but right now it was still a wound.

[The Alexandrian Army]

"That remains to be seen," said Daphne while she motioned uncomfortable with an entourage of soldiers in tow to her clip board.

"I need your squad to get down there and aid Captain Jane's group...if it's true that the general and Lady Agrias are in trouble, they'll need all the help possible.

"As for you, Wendy, go and see if we can recover any of the telepods; I've already spoken to Captain Ellis about sending some ambassadors to nearby worlds to request aid. If we cannot stop this meltdown the Red Rose will expl--"

When she noticed Sarah she paused in place, very familiar with the expression on the broken girl's face.

"Miss Apple--*GASP*"

She saw the mask of Acteur held tight in the piper's grip and frowned, well aware of what the piece once belonged to. Daphne sighed and inched over to salute.

"Forgive me, Miss Appleton," said the scientist in a very low, shy tone. "It was not my place to be so enthusiastic. Is everything alright? Would you like to talk about it?"

[Twilight Path]

"He's gone." Sarah answered Daphne, her hand feeling the fragile porcelain of the mask in her one hand. The cracked surface that held the last smile Acteur had had as he dissolved into nothing more than broken bits of wood. "All that's left is his heart and this mask." She answered, eyes not wanting to cry again. She had cried far more than she should, she scolded herself. She instinctively felt the crack in an attempt to keep what would or could come up at bay.

She was a person of few talents and kept in an ever changing world. She wasn't like a soldier, but a musician that had started to change ever since she encountered the creatures known as the heartless. In reality it was more of her willingness to learn how to change that had lead to the path she was now on. Right now it just hurt to in a sense leave the hand of the one she loved behind.

[The Alexandrian Army]

"He's gone..."

Another slight glance to the mask in the Middleton-born girl's hands and Daphne dropped the work she had been carrying and replaced them with Sarah's shoulders; Daphne ran in for that hug and nearly began tearing up herself.

"I am sorry, Miss Appleton," said the professor, not wanting to begin the waterworks for fear of showing something human. "I...how? Oh, you poor dear..."

She released the girl and simply sat at her side, resting a gentle hand on one of Sarah's, smiling faintly. "I'm sure that he now watches over you alongside the Great Alexander in the Heavens. At least that is what I wish to believe."

What if Sai had perished during the space battle?

"Once again I am sorry for your loss...is there anything I can do for you?" she pulled a canteen from her belt and handed it off. "Water will help the body, but not the heart, I'm afraid."

[Twilight Path]

Sarah knew that Daphne was trying to help. The words were comforting to a degree, making her smile a little in an attempt to show her appreciation. She had smiled for him in the end and she hoped that somehow it had gotten through. To the place where Acteur would be so that they could be together again one day. Just one more day they could meet.

“If there exists the chance of a new flower blooming—one outside the traditional standards that have been set for the opposing elements of radiance and shadow—then I would be most intrigued to behold what may come of it.”

She grasped the canteen in her hands, the mask laying her lap. She didn't want to let go of it, but there was nothing more she could do but hold onto it. "Thank you." She spoke softly, taking a drink of the canteen slowly. Once she had two or three more sips, she handed it back, putting both hands on the mask. "Do you think that I might get some materials to fix it?" She asked softly, for Acteur would need it if he came back in some way.

[The Alexandrian Army]

"I'm pretty sure we do; the general's got a lot of porcelain objects simply lying around the ship and, if I'm not mistaken, some material worth using down in the activity lounge."

Daphne accepted the canteen when it was handed back and sipped conservatively before recapping. Afterward she turned and held out her hand.

"Would you mind if I looked at it? We can go down to the lab, if you'd like. If we have synthetic stream I believe we could just mend it in The Box--it's a machine that works on sort of guessing the makeup of items to either replicate, fabricate into something wholly new or mend. It's worth a try."

[Twilight Path]

Sarah felt herself want to hold onto the mask tightly. Not let it go to anyone. She knew that this feeling was the anxiety that babies felt. The feeling that if she let go of the mask it would disappear. That it would stop existing once she let go of it. Did she trust Daphne enough to hope it would come back or that they wouldn't replace it?

"Is it alright if we fix it later?" She asked softly, one hand tightening on the mask a little. "I'm just not ready to let go if it yet."

[The Alexandrian Army]

"Of course," whispered Daphne, choking back some emotions bent on escaping her fragile, Nobody-like frame. She stood up and grabbed Sarah's free hand and extended to her a smile only reserved usually for Sai and victories.

"Come, let us join the others. It is time to rendezvous with the others to secure our victory over the Heartless."

She gave no time for the girl to respond and nonchalantly dragged her along back up to the bridge of the Rose, where soon the others would gather. However, she learned several things had been updated since the battle was won.

"The general is WHERE!?" she cried when one of the soldiers informed her of the other's condition.

"Miss Appleton, please, excuse me!"

She mildly shoved Oeilvert--who stood near the embroidered curtain--out of the way as she bolted for the sick bay in pursuit of doing her job.

When she arrived she could see now both the general and Lady Agrias in a weakened state in an area of quarantine. Daphne was immediately taken to the side and ordered to don a radiation suit before heading in.

"Alright...let's see what I can do here..." She moved over to Agrias first, pulled out her medical box at the side of her belt and removed a syringe.

"At least this should begin the process to wake her up. But first I'd like a geiger counter in here to see just how sick she really is."

A set of soldiers specifically meant for assistant work hustled around the bed where Daphne worked and set to their own duties as best they could. The Head of Science at the final moment injected the Holy Knight with the syringe that would hopefully rouse her.

"This should do it. Now, onto the general."

***Off to Where Darkness and Light Collide, in Hyperspace***

[Twilight Path]

Sarah found herself being led to the bridge. The news seemed surreal to her, even as Daphne left to take care of her own duties. Her hands slowly rose up to place the mask in her arms. There was little she could do at this point. She had little medical training and she had fought Acteur. At the most, she could only be emotional support. If that were possible with her mentally drained mind.

Once again, her body stood still and she attempted to move towards the exit of the bridge. To where? Where was she supposed to go? Help out something with the medical bay? Her mind couldn't process things as well at the moment. What was she supposed to do?

[Hercules]

When Gabranth had docked the ship, Hercules was first to get off. He had a feeling the judge really had no desire to stick around, viewing the world and everything in it as not affecting him. Hercules could only assume in his own way that he was right. Gabranth should technically be dead, yet now he lived thanks to some loopholing around the God of the Underworld. Where the heck was Hades, anyway? Usually he was hot on their tail. Guess after Gabranth slipped through his fingers he had to regroup for a new tactic. Who knows?

Walking along, Herc bypassed the action going on in the halls due to the route he took to where he assumed the bridge would be. This ship was WAYYY bigger than the BinShip he and been copiloting with Gabranth and it was a miracle in and of itself that the ancient greek didn't find himself totally lost. If a lot of words in English weren't based on Greek, he probably would have been.

Just as he was about to head into the bridge area, he bumped into a young girl carrying a mask. "Oops. Sorry, miss-" that's when he recognized her as Miss Appleton from way back at the Opera House. He blinked and looked at her again, seeing that she was obviously saddened and even he wasn't so dumb as to not recognize the mask in her hands.

"Ohh...." he said slowly, comprehending. He knealt down somewhat to be on eye-level with the girl (he was pretty tall, after all). "Hey, you alright?" he asked, a hand on her shoulder supportively. "You look bushed... maybe what you need is some sleep, huh?" he said, trying to be helpful. He even flashed her that winning Hercules smile of his.

[Twilight Path]

She remembered the person in front of her from the time she spent preparing at the opera house. He had carried a lot of heavy things for the impresario and kept mostly away from the preparations for music. His name was Hercules, which from what she heard, was the name of one of the Greek gods. That reminded her of some of the plays she had looked into and some of the stories portrayed in music. Was this a blessing of the gods?

His smile was contagious, she thought with her mind relaxing. "I wonder if being a God gives you powers." She asked, smiling as she leaned closer to Hercules. "In all the plays and stories they have these vast powers and play around with humans." She closed her eyes a little as she spoke.

[Hercules]

Hercules kinda rubbed the back of his head a bit when she asked such an awkward question. "Well... I'm not really a God so much as a Demigod... it's hard to explain..." he said, trying to keep that smile of his. "But yeah, I do have some powers. I'm pretty strong, myself. I have a cousin who's dad is Poseidon, and he can breathe underwater..."

He cleared his throat, and tried to get back on track. "But the Gods don't play around with humans. They try to make their lives better, offering them harvests and rain and sleep and stuff. In return the faith people show in them lets them keep going. It's a hand-in-hand sort of thing..." he tried to explain, though his kidlike attitude kinda made him seem a little goofy.

"Anyway, you look like you could use some rest. I bet Morpheus is gonna find you fast and Hypnos gets you one killer dream..."

[Twilight Path]

"In my world it's all legends." Sarah spoke softly, arms still holding the mask. "The Gods like Aphrodite and Zeus do a lot of things that mess with humans..." She found herself losing her train of thought. "I've had my share of dreams of misfortune and some of happiness. I just hope that this one isn't going to be of misfortune." Her eyes closed completely, slumping over as she fell into what seemed a peaceful and quite necessary slumber.

**To A New Melody, in Dive**

[Gabranth]

Once allowed to dock, Gabranth began prepping shutdown procedure when Hercules took off like a shot. He had wanted to have a few choice words with the half God, but he was a bit too quick, this time.

After a short while the Judge stood from his chair and simply glanced at the controls in front of him. A feeling of emptiness and direction came to thought. He in fact had regained a life outside of Hades’ grasp, but what now. What was keeping him tied to following the young God Hercules?

He closed his eyes but for a moment to regain his own composure. Grabbing his helmet and weapon, he turned to exit the ship. He wore his newly created visage as he exited the ship. Compared to the Bin Ship, the Rose reminded him of the ships piloted by the Empire. He slowly walked through the bay watching soldiers of the ship go about their business. Although the soldiers wouldn’t have known, he was assessing everything as he walked. He watched as they worked, gave orders, and followed commands; everything needed to run a ship for war was being examined slowly as he moved.

As he walked through the bay, it became quiet apparent that he had spectators. For the soldiers, it must have been an odd site. Even though he had a small audience staring he continued to walk the corridors, looking for the bridge.

[Hercules]

"W-whoah!" Hercules called out as she fell, quickly catching her to keep her from hitting the floor. Poor girl was out like a light. He could only imagine the kind of stuff she'd been dealing with here lately. With a sigh, he picked her up in his great, muscular arms before looking around the immediate area. Okay... so... where to put her?

"Heh... okay..." he muttered, a bit awkwardly as he walked around with an unconscious girl in his arms, asking every random blonde he ran into where her room was and sometimes getting really awkward looks in return. He had to explain the situation like five times, and each time getting an "I dunno" for an answer. With a sigh, he figured he'd have to just find a place to put her for now.

Not that there was any real lack of room. With all that this crew had been through, there were plenty of quarters that were empty now. Those that weren't occupied were unlocked, so the clumsy yet powerful demigod had to figure a way to hold Sarah and her mask while keeping a hand free to turn a knob. The result was him flipping her around a few times, but at this point she was practically comatose anyway so he didn't actually wake her up despite flopping her around like a fresh fish more than once.

Finally, he found a room that was unlocked and stepped in, finding it in relatively good condition (for a room on a ship that had been knocked all over the place in a battle), at least until he got a hold of it. He struggled to keep Sarah somewhat in a comfortable position (resulting in more flip-flops) as he walked along and tripped or banged his knees on nearly every piece of furniture or fallen bit of art. He finally got her to a well-made bed and had to flip her around a few more times while he pulled the covers back and set her down in it.

With a sigh, he tucked her in. Sometimes the simplest things can be so difficult... He looked at the mask in his hand and decided the best place to put it was within the young woman's arms, sort of like a teddy bear... but creepier. Clapping his hands together once as a way of saying "well, that's done", Hercules went to turn and leave, but accidentally stepped on a picture frame.

"By Artemis..." he muttered, feeling like a total klutz moreso than usual for breaking something after that display of ineptitude. Bending down, he picked up the frame and looked at the picture behind the shattered glass. It showed two basically similar looking women in Alexandrian armor smiling and goofing around. He had to remove it from the frame and toss out the glass to prevent anyone getting hurt, and on the back he found a message written.

"Eliza and Sis, first day on the job!" Hercules sighed a bit, realizing that if this room was unlocked, that meant that this Eliza was long gone. He set it up on a mantle among other pictures and trophies the woman had won, sampling a taste of the soldier's life. With a sigh, he looked back to the picture and nodded.

"Thanks, Eliza..." he said, then left the room, carefully locking the door before closing it. Sarah might be a tad uncomfy in a dead woman's bed, but what choice was there. Something told Hercules, however, from the smiles in those pictures and the proudly displayed trophies and ribbons that this woman, dead or not, would have happily offered the room had she been here.

"Now... where's the bridge again?" Hercules muttered, walking off...