Will had composed, in her spare time, a short list of things she regretted.

Item one: ever joining Lusan in the first place.

Item two: following that psychopath Cynth. There were probably billions of quests she could have encountered in that gala — why had she chosen that one?

Item three: inviting Cybele to join her and Cynth's search.

Seriously. What had she been thinking?

Well, she knew what she had been thinking: nothing. She'd let some sneaky, conniving human's looks and an absurd amount of alcohol convince her to completely blow her stupid, self-imposed mission. Because she was an idiot, clearly. And, oh, it didn't help that Cybele was so moons-damned hot. Not that she would ever think of a human that way, because unlike her ruma mother she wasn't in the habit of being attracted to humans. That would be disgusting. That would never happen.

Of course, it would be a little more convincing if Will didn't have to continuously remind herself of this.

In any case, Will's third regret wasn't the one she should have been focusing on at the moment. No, it was the first one — the Lusan one — that was actually relevant to the current situation.

It was near dawn, and Will had forced herself awake with some difficulty; while sleeping in — at least until normal hours — was a very, very appealing idea, she didn't want to think about what would happen if she was late to a meeting with Cynth again. She was still in somewhat of a sleep-induced haze as she staggered through the (legitimately terrifying) spinning door of the hotel. (It was the same hotel Lusan had booked, although it seemed he'd completely left New Earth after the gala. Will wasn't entirely sure whether he had intended to lock her out of their room, but he had; she'd been sleeping on a bench in the hotel hallway.)

It took a few seconds for her to notice the hibri directly in front of her.

Then she started screaming, because what in the tides was a HIBRI doing here?

Then she started hysterically laughing, because this hibri was probably thinking the same thing.

Then she started internally dying because she was hysterically laugh-screaming at dawn in a human city and what even was her life?

The hibri — Will would guess caela-human, based on the feathery texture of her hair and the vague imprint of wings barely visible under her sweatshirt — was tallish, with blue eyes and short blonde hair. She could probably have passed for human in New Earth's streets, where no one was looking carefully or expecting to see a hibri, but species was always one of the first things Will looked for. There was no question as to this girl's being inhuman.

"You're — a — hibri," Will choked out through sob-gasps.

The hibri stared at her, eyebrow raised at, presumably, Will's utmost stupidity. "You don't say that sort of a thing in New Earth, Willa."

Willa. That was what moons-damned Cynth called her — Cynth, who was going to literally murder her with one of those awful human guns if she showed up a minute past when she was expected. Will didn't have time for this. "How do you know my name?"

The hibri glanced around, hair bobbing with the movement. Once satisfied New Earth was sufficiently abandoned, she turned back to Will. "Okay. Soooo... I'm Dalia, and I'm here from the Voc. You were totally Lusan Croft's responsibility, but that guy is an idiot and I guess he just left you."

Will grinned, only one of Dalia's sentences sticking in her mind. Lusan is an idiot. Well, she was right about that. "Wait, why are you here?"

Now Dalia rolled her eyes. "To take you home, obviously. You're completely untrained — I can't believe Lusan thought he could just let you wander around New Earth. Were you the one screaming hibri curses at that gala the other day?"

Will visibly gulped.

Dalia let out a long sigh. "Moons. What a mess. Let's get out of here before they start taking turns trying to murder you." She took an awkward step forward — definitely hiding caeli claws instead of feet in her boots — before turning back to Will. "Just — follow my lead. And be subtle. In case you couldn't tell, I'm not really a spy — Lusan's like the only one not on assignment and he refused to come, so they had to find someone else who could sorta pass for human. Now come on." With that, she began to walk away from the hotel, steps slightly tilted, gesturing annoyedly for Will to follow.

Will stood frozen, watching the hibri almost detachedly. To take you home. She could just... leave? Like that? Say bye to the humans and the sources and the stupid dangerous quest and the constant reminders of how she had actually gotten drunk at a human party and go back to her monotonous hibri life?

Maybe Cynth wouldn't be the death of her after all.

But... if she didn't join Cynth on this quest and Cynth actually found and destroyed the sources, the patrias' magic would disappear. They'd have nothing to defend themselves against the humans with. Then Cynth really would be the death of her, along with basically everyone else.

If Will came with Cynth, she could try to sabotage the whole thing. So, maybe she shouldn't go home with Dalia.

Still. The thought of it was so tempting. No one had ever found the sources — why in the tides would Cynth? Sticking with her would just be unnecessary selflessness, really. Will should just go home. Back to the endless swamps. And the bugs. And... oh moons. Her mother.

Will couldn't go back to her mother.

She couldn't look the rana in the eye and tell her where she'd been. The absolute idiocy of what she'd done.

That settled it, then. Will was staying.

Dalia turned, arching an eyebrow. The light of dawn and New Earth spread out behind her like some sort of halo; the outline of the empty city looked at once breathtaking and terrible, like a maze created just for Will. Somewhere in that labyrinth was Cynth, with her guns, like an evil, lurking monster. And Cybele was somewhere in the city, too, with her golden hair and her honey-brown eyes and Will had to stop thinking about her like that. She was a monster, too; maybe worse than Cynth, because at least when it came to the blue-haired girl Will knew who she was dealing with. At least Will could actually sort of think around Cynth.

"Hellooo? Anyone home?" Slowly, Will became aware that Dalia was waving her arm around, trying to catch her attention. "Come on, Willa. We need to leave New Earth before the humans start waking up."

"I... I'm good." Will was surprised at how shaky her voice came out.

Dalia gave a long, drawn out sigh. "For tides' sakes. You're coming, Willa. You have nothing to do with anything and it's best for everyone if you keep it that way."

"No. No, I'm staying." And before she could rethink herself, Will was running in the opposite direction, towards the monorail station where she should be meeting Cynth and Cybele and away from the hibri who was now chasing her —

Even with her clawed feet, Dalia was upon her before she'd even gotten to the end of the block, grabbing onto her arm and pulling her backwards. "What in the tides are you doing? I'm supposed to take you home. I will get literal hell from Lusan if I don't take you home."

Will tried to pry herself from Dalia's hold, but the hibri was strong. So, words. Words could maybe get her to stay. Will was kind of sort of maybe good at convincing people stuff. "Just — tell them all you took me home. It's fine. Nobody's actually gonna come looking for me."

Dalia rolled her eyes, slackening her grip. "Why would I possibly leave you here — "

Before she could finish, Will had escaped from her clutches and was running again, faster than before. She could hear Dalia curse, and the slapping of her boots against the pavement, but it was fine. She could do this.

She turned the corner and dashed past the rows of fancy human buildings, toward the monorail station she and Lusan had come from. It was so close now that the city wasn't crowded; she could get there, Will knew she could.

"You idiot!" Dalia shouted. Despite herself, Will turned to see the hibri pulling off her boots, a near-murderous expression on her face. It wasn't remotely safe for her to show her clawed feet in New Earth, but that was the least of Will's problems. Besides, it wasn't like anyone was awake...

Six tides. It was getting late, wasn't it. If Will didn't get to the station soon, Cynth was going to moons-damned murder her.

Turning back towards her destination, Will continued to run, Dalia still behind her — something Will knew from her constant stream of cursing. Get back here, you tide bringer. Yeah, right. She was quickly approaching the gates of the city, right beside the monorail station — if all went well this morning, soon she'd be on board one with Cynth and Cybele, headed toward a rana settlement. If all didn't go well...

She'd be back at home, probably.

There were worse fates. Will didn't really want to think about those.

"What are you doing, tide bringer?" Dalia wheezed from behind her as Will stepped through the gates and turned toward the station.

"Please shut up!" Will shouted back, before throwing open the polished, gleaming golden door to reveal the familiar station — though back when she'd been there with Lusan, the circumstances had been a tad different. The carpeted floor muffled her footsteps as she raced forward, glancing around for Cynth, Cybele, or both. "Hello?"

"So you did decide to join us after all," Cynth drawled, the sound of her voice coming from directly above Will. Will glanced up to see a figure that must have been the human standing on the side of the monorail track — Cynth had clearly gone to lengths to disguise herself; all Will could see of her was a large fan-hat with her distinctive hair spun through it, leaving her face in shadow, and the occasional glimpse of her pale skin through the layers of silver fabric she was wrapped in, almost like a burrito.

"Not the time!" Will shouted, words coming in between heavy breaths from all the running. "I'm being chased! Help me!"

"What the hell...?" Cybele asked from where she was sitting beside Cynth. Though not as unrecognizable as Cynth, it still took a moment for Will to match up the girl staring down at her — dressed all in black — with the hot, shy brunette she'd met by the staircase.

Not that goth Cybele (still brunette — why had Will made it seem like she wasn't brunette anymore?) wasn't hot. Goth Cybele was. Very hot. Which probably wasn't what should have been running through her mind as the door to the station opened behind her and Dalia entered. But. It was exceedingly difficult to focus on anything that wasn't —

There was a sudden flash of red light, and Will found herself lying on the floor. What in the tides?

"Ugh," Cynth's voice clicked from above her. "I can't believe you led that thing here."

Dazed, Will sat up, glancing around to see a pile of ash lying by the door. Where — where Dalia must have been.

No.

No, that didn't make any sense.

"What just happened?" she asked, voice coming out higher pitched than she'd expected. Panicky. I can't believe you led that thing here.

"I shot the hibri," Cynth replied offhandedly, a tinge of pride making its way into her words. "Way below my pay grade, really. It wasn't even trying to hide its claws, did you see that? The beast just ran in."

Oh no. No. No no no no no no no no.

"You don't need to look so grateful," Cynth snorted. "Did I or did I not just save your cowering scared-of-a-puny-hibri ass?"

"You killed Dalia," Will mumbled, trying to rein in her panicked, scattered thoughts. "She — she was chasing me and you killed her."

"Are you drunk again? Because you're really not making a lot of sense right now." Cynth rolled her eyes. "You ran in like a total maniac, practically threw a fit about being chased, and then I shot the hibri behind you. Is that not what you wanted, Willa?"

No.

No no no no NO NO NO NO NO NO NO.

It wasn't. It wasn't what she wanted but she led the hibri here. Dalia only came because she was chasing Will and of all the places she could have gone she went to the monorail station and she knew Cynth loved killing hibri. Cynth said it herself, she'd said she'd kill hibri if they came oh no no no no no no no no what had she done what had she done what had she done this was all her moons-damned fault —

"I — was that really necessary, Cynth?" Cybele asked timidly, soft voice freeing Will from her spiraling thoughts. "You could have just stunned her."

"Are you insane?" Cynth gave a sharp, incredulous chuckle. "Where's the fun in that, Valloma? Honestly, you two are such buzzkillers."

And you're an actual killer.

Still, Will was almost as bad. She may not have pulled the trigger, but Dalia's death was on her hands... and she doubted if she stuck around with Cynth it would be the last. A thought which made her want to run as fast and as far away from the other two as possible. Mother be damned, she'd gladly go home after seeing what the blue-haired girl was capable of doing without feeling a shred of remorse.

Fitting, then, that the one person who could have taken her was dead. Dead, and it was Will's fault. She'd made her choice, and she was already regretting it.

Vaguely, Will became aware that her teeth were chattering. As though from far away, she could feel her hand reach up to her neck — the relief she felt at being sure her gills were covered by hair was muted and angry. What gave Cynth the right to kill Dalia just for being a hibri? How in the tides was she supposed to control that?

It made Will want to hurt Cynth. But she couldn't hurt anyone ever again. Not after this.

"Get up, Willa!" Cynth's annoyed voice called from above her. "The monorail is coming, and I am not waiting for another one!"

"Right," Will whispered. She was so cold. Bone-cold. They were just going to leave Dalia's ashes lying there like trash.

A distant version of her stood up, climbed the stairs. Some other Will sat down on the monorail next to Cybele, with Cynth two seats down. She didn't even glance at Cybele — hot, shy, whatever Cybele — because someone was dead and it was all her moons-damned fault. And she'd never thought something like this would happen. But if it did happen, she wouldn't have expected it to hurt this much.

Cybele's concerned gaze felt as though it was a million miles away. Will wanted to go back. She could have run in the other direction, tried to lose Dalia that way. She could have just gone with the hibri. Now she was untethered; the people who knew who she was were impossibly far away — and they had no idea where she was going. Her way out of this mess had been reduced to a pile of ashes lying on a carpet in New Earth. She was completely and utterly alone in this insane endeavor.

For moons' sakes, what had Will done?

"Hey," a voice said quietly. It took Will a long time — too long — to look up and see Cybele smiling awkwardly at her. "We're, uh, getting off the monorail now."

An entire ride had passed while she was trapped in her own mind. This wasn't the time for this and it wasn't the place for this but it was just so moons-damned hard to focus. And Will needed to pull it together. She needed to get a hold of herself. She needed to drag herself into the present moment because she had just — she had just taken Cynth Leeyung to a rana village.

She had just taken Cynth to a...

Oh no. No no no no no no no no no.

She'd thought it before and she'd think it again: what had she done?

｡･ﾟﾟ･｡

That wasn't depressing you're depressing.

But also thanks for reading! If you're concerned for Will's mental state... we can kinda relate! (It rhymed!) (Guess who's writing this a/n.) Thank you to Ref (food_is_my_jam) (me) for writing this chapter! It's been a hot minute since a Will one, hasn't it. Well, now it hasn't!

If you can, we would love it if you could recommend Almoons to a friend or two or seventeen. It is quality. It is content. What more could you ask for?

With virtual hugs, purple Google features, and prewritten A/Ns because this is being posted by someone other than Ref (the usual poster),

Great Fudge Cakes

(G.F.C.)