Sentinel

Days came and went - soon, the Grand Galloping Gala was only a couple of hours away. I went through my wardrobe and dusted off the dress Rarity had made for me for the previous year's Gala. I washed it, ironed it, and paid a visit to the hairdresser's, just to be sure. Never hurts to err on the side of caution.

The weather was still the same, which meant a chilly Tuesday. Since the time was drawing ever so close to five in the afternoon, I donned my dress and sat in the living room, watching the embers in the fireplace, thinking...

More often than I liked it to, my brain, being the scumbag it is, wasn't letting one topic go – home.

Did we win? Did our assault on the London tower end the Chimera threat? Did the sacrifices of thousands of brave soldiers turn the tide in Europe, or had it all been for nothing? Were my parents alive and well, or had our farm also been-

My blood froze for a moment and I shook my head fiercely, banishing the thought. My family had to be alright. They... they just had to be.

This was my dilemma, you see – I wanted to find a way back to Earth, to my family. But I didn't know how to do it – I'd even asked Twilight about it. She'd contacted Celestia, in turn, and we'd gone over the topic together. She'd listened to what I had to say, and had explained the problem to me straightforwardly – since it would be complicated, to say the least, to reproduce the exact conditions – an exploding Chimeran tower – of the arrival of my friends and I...

Urgh.

Simply put, I was stuck here.

And then Pinkie Pie would jump out of nowhere and shout 'Forever!'

Either way, it was quite the sucker punch – to be told you'd never be able to go home, never to return to the place you held dearest in your heart. It was made even worse by the fact that I had made friends here, ones that I also did not want to leave. It was quite the conundrum, and I saw no way to solve it, really...

*knock knock knock*

Saved by the bell. Or door, in this case. My depressing train of thoughts was derailed – no survivors. Letting out a sigh, I sat up and went to answer the door. My guest turned out to be Redheart, predictably enough, even though it took me a moment or two to recognise her – her mane was done up in a stylish bun, she was wearing a light blue dress that brought out her eyes, and her ears were decorated with small, simple earrings, and her face had some makeup applied to it.

Whoa, whoa, whoa.

Ponies have makeup? B-but wouldn't their fur~

Before my mind could wander off once more, I smiled and gestured for Redheart to enter. The white pony nodded and trotted inside and I closed the door behind her, leaving the cold evening outside.

“Evenin'. You're lookin' real snazzy, Redheart.” She chuckled at that.

“Thanks, Alice. So do you.” Her smile briefly waned as her eyes noticed the scars on my right shoulder – the dress didn't cover those up completely. She looked back at me and forced a grin.

“So, how are we getting to Canterlot, then? Did you hire a pegasi chariot, or...?” She drew a circle in the air with a hoof and I chuckled, eager to change the subject.

“Somethin' like that. They should be arrivin' in a couple of minutes or so. Trust me, you're goin' t'like it. In the meanwhile, take a seat.” I gestured at the couch and she settled down there, while I took one of the chairs. And so, we waited, making small talk as we did so – I learned that Redheart came from San Franciscolt – at that point, I didn't know whether to laugh or cry at the puns – and had moved with her family to New Yoke – more puns – before she had parted ways with her parents, intent on starting her own life in earnest. From what she told me, her parents are also renowned surgeons. She'd been eager to live up to their reputation, and thus she found employment in Ponyville General hospital. In return, I told her about myself – she knew little else aside about me, Project Abraham aside...

Me and my family owned a farm, about forty miles from Houston. There were seven of us – my parents, two brothers, two sisters and lil' ol' me. We owned some livestock, but received most of our income from crop fields. My life was a little mundane, but good – I had work, a roof over my head, and folks I could rely on, no matter what. My parents worked pretty hard to get the five of us into school, even though I hated getting up early so that Dad could drive us to Houston in time for school. Screw that – everyone hated getting up at six in the morning. But we bore with it. I got through high school, joined the army, got my training and then some. The rest Redheart already knew – the call-up and deployment to United Kingdom, and the way the events unfolded from then.

It was about then that I heard someone knock on the door. Taking a quick look at the clock, I realised with a start that we'd spend more than twenty minutes chatting away, and our transport was already waiting for at least ten of those. Grinning sheepishly, I went over to open it and was presented with three ponies there – James, Jennifer, and Rarity. The former Chimera were easily distinguished by their glowing amber eyes, the only trait they retained. Hah... I still remember the day he and Jen went to Twilight, wanting to find a way to ponify themselves. Nearly blew the library's top off with that spell, too, but it worked well enough. Jen became a pegasus, and James turned out to be a unicorn. And Twilight ended up with the mother of all migraines afterwards.

“Evenin', y'all! Sorry if Ah kept ya waitin'.”

“Alice, we've been waiting for fifteen minutes. The Kingfisher's not getting any warmer, you know. Would you kindly hurry up?” James grumbles out, shuffling about for a moment. As I expected, Jen whacked him over the head at that.

“Pot calling the kettle black? You're not exactly punctual, either.” Rarity snickers at the two squabbling ex-Chimera, before pecking James on the cheek.

“Maybe so, but he does know what manners are when it comes to treating a lady correctly.” Jen mutters something sour at that, rolling her eyes. Rarity smirks and shakes her head slightly.

“So, you ready, Alice? Others are already gathered up, so let's get a move on.” I nodded and picked my keys up, looking over my shoulder for a moment.

“We're good to go, Redheart!” James perked up at that.

“Redheart, huh? She works at the hospital, right?” I nodded affirmatively.

“That she does. She's a good friend, an' Ah didn't really have anyone else on my mind t'invite, so Ah picked her.” I replied, not revealing my real motives for obvious reasons. “She helped me get that job in th'hospital, so Ah'm returning the favor now.” The pony in question arrived, and smiled cordially, waving to the three arrivals. The greetings were kept short, however, in large part due to James's impatience and soon, we were off towards our transport. Redheart was in for a bit of a surprise, heh heh heh...

The pink-maned mare stared, slack-jawed, at the machine waiting a ways off – its metal hull shone dully in the quickly-fading sunlight, and a couple of muffled voices could be heard from inside as their group approached it. James grinned at her bafflement and trotted ahead, beginning to speak.

“This is a P-1117 Kingfisher and, for the foreseeable future, it's how we get around. Until it breaks down, that is. But, considering that Jen always keeps tinkering with the damn thing's innards, it's unlikely to happen, catastrophic failure of all primary systems aside.”

*thwack*

“Jen, if you don't stop that, so help me-”

“Oh, go soak your head, James. That'll teach you to make fun of my talent at fixing things, considering you can't even fix a bent fork.” The amber-eyed pegasus trotted ahead, and pulled the sliding side door open, leaping inside. James grumbled something to himself and followed, Rarity in tow. Alice followed suit, but then stopped, turning to look at Redheart.

“Anythin' wrong, Redheart?” The earth pony blinked a couple of times and squeaked out, suddenly looking very timid.

“I'm afraid of heights~” Alice stopped and stared at the mare like she'd just grown a second head before sighing.

“Oh, that's just perfect...”

In the end, it took another five minutes of persuading and reassuring the mare until she so much as even got on board the VTOL. As it turned out, we were the last ones to be picked up – the rest of the Elements were present, along with Big Mac and that freaky little Leaper, Snaggletooth. Will, Jack and Bill were nowhere to be seen – Bill was at Appleloosa, Jack and Will were doing some travelling around Equestria, interested in seeing what this world had to offer.

“So, where's Fred at?” Twilight responded to my question, waving at me and Redheart in greeting.

“He took a train to Canterlot some time ago.” Jen nodded in agreement, sitting down at Big Mac's side, the soft-spoken stallion wearing a black suit.

“I've been working on some sort of a seat for him that we could hook up to the Sabertooth's harness, but it's still a work in progress. He doesn't weigh as much as that goddamn tank, but it's still a bloody challenge.” Mac chuckled lowly at that.

“Ah, don't ya worry 'bout that, Jen. You're sellin' yerself short. Without yer help, Ah figure most of our equipment back at th'farm woulda broken down ages ago.” The sandy brown pegasus blushed slightly, offering Mac a crooked smile.

“Flatterer...” I smirked at the two and took a moment to look around – the Kingfisher's interior had been scrubbed spotless, with no dirt or misplaced tools in sight. All in all, it looked as if it was fresh off the assembly line. James climbed into the pilot's seat and his horn lit up, flipping various switches as me and Redheart sat down on the vacant seats. With a bit of working, I managed to strap myself in, and helped do the same for Redheart. Well, as much as I could, that is. Different anatomy and all. A low thrum started up in the roofing of the VTOL, where the power core nestled. Redheart looked around for a moment, anxiety clearly visible in her eyes.

“Don't worry, Redheart. That's jus' th'engines startin' up. Nothing to be 'fraid of, trust me.” She nodded slowly at that and sighed deeply, calming down somewhat. We could hear the whirring of the props as James fed more and more power to the  engines. Soon, there was a slight tilt forwards and we were airborne. Big Macintosh seemed to be just as uncomfortable as Redheart was, it seems.

“Still can't believe ya talked me inta takin' this contraption to Canterlot, Jen...” The once-Chimera in question shrugged noncommitally.

“Well, too late to change your mind right now, ya big lug. Don't worry, though. This bird's rock-solid. You have my word on it.” That seemed to assure the stallion and he nodded once.

“Eeyup.” A sudden lurch and several hissed curses later, we were moving forward, heading towards Canterlot – even at this distance, I could see that it was lit up like a Christmas Tree, now that evening had descended – a myriad of lights twinkled across the capital of Equestria. The distance would take a couple of hours to cover in the train, and our transport was much faster. Twilight, Pinkie Pie and others braced themselves against the walls – all of them, except for me, Jen, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy – I'd found out that a pegasus' sense of balance was pretty damn amazing, which explained their ability to stay upright even during horrible weather. I, on the other hand, was quite used to the acceleration of Kingfishers and Hawks. So, off we went in our squeaky clean VTOL, on our merry way towards Canterlot.

The trip proved to be fairly uneventful, with the passengers of the Kingfisher swapping stories of what they've been up to – James had moved in with Rarity, and had been helping her with business, apparently intent on learning the tailor's trade. Both Rarity and Twilight had been helping him develop his magic skills, too. He'd been good at it, too, despite his attention span of a goldfish, as Jen so eloquently put it. The pegasus herself had a part-time position in Ponyville's weather team, but spent most of her time working at Sweet Apple Acres, making good use of her magic-given wings.

Actually, I had a bit of a talk with Twilight about that spell after she'd cast it on Jen and James – turned out, it had been created by some long-forgotten mage back when unicorns were testing the boundaries of magic and their own power, just to see what they were capable of accomplishing. They'd created all manners of artifacts, summoned beasts from different realms, and invented various spells, both mundane and downright nightmarish. Many of them went awry, apparently, and such work was strictly limited once Celestia and Luna came to power. It had been a one-time exception for the two Chimera when Twilight was allowed to dig through the royal archives for the necessary spell. Luckily, it had worked flawlessly and both James and Jen had become noticeably less moody – not being constantly reminded of what the Chimera did to them seemed to help. Personally, I don't know how they held it together – what they've gone through is no laughing matter... How does one cope with losing one's humanity, after all?

“We're almost there!” James' voice shook me from my reverie, something that I was glad for – I'd been dwelling on depressive subjects far too often as of late...

“Nice to know. I can't wait to be on solid ground once more.” Redheart murmured, Big Mac nodding in agreement.

“Eeyup.”

With a gentle tilt to the right, we began to descend, touching down a minute later. The hull let out a quiet creak as the Kingfisher came to a halt, its engines winding down. James turned to look at us, smirking.

“Thanks for choosing Willoughby Airlines. Be aware that luggage in overhead racks may have shifted during flight. We hope you'll choose us in the future for your travelling needs.”

“The in-flight entertainment sucked and my peanuts were stale!”  I replied, much to Jen's amusement. Others snickered as well, sending James into another grumbling fit. He kept grousing all the way up to the Canterlot Castle's entrance, where Luna awaited, greeting the arriving guests. Upon noticing us, she grinned.

“Ah, hello there, good friends! It is great to see you on this fine evening!” She exclaimed and we spoke our greetings. She nodded once before continuing.

“Your friend, Fred, arrived minutes ago. Do go on inside, and make sure to enjoy yourselves! The Gala's only begun, after all.” Her horn lit up and the large, elaborately-carved doors swung open, letting us inside. We nodded and went forwards, just as the midnight blue alicorn greeted the next arrivals.

“Ohmigosh, ohmigosh, ohmigosh, Princess Luna actually said hi to me!” Redheart squeed overexcitedly, all but bouncing along as we went. Big Mac, on the other hand, had remained unflappable – no surprises there, honestly.

“Yeah, we kinda noticed, Redheart. Calm down, girl.” I chuckled at the overexcited mare. “Nothin' to get worked up over.”

“Nothing to get worked up over? But it's Prinmmmph~!” She managed to mumble out before I clamped my fingers around her muzzle.

“Redheart. Seriously. Relax.” She stared at me for a couple of long moments before nodding slowly. I let her go and she took several deep breaths, forcing herself to calm down.

“Okay, I'm calm now. But seriously, though. You can't imagine what honour it is to be in the presence of a princess.” We resumed walking, and soon met a friend. Hint: he's twenty feet tall and enjoys tea.

“Hey, Fred! Nice to see you!” Jen exclaimed and our group turned to look at the Titan we were approaching – he grinned widely and nudged the top hat back on the middle of his head.

“Hello there, fellow partygoers! It is great to see you here! I trust your trip went well?” I nodded, waving a little in greeting.

“All things considered, yeah. So, I guess we best get to it. Th'Gala ain't gonna wait for us.” The looming Chimera chortled – his voice was deep and rumbling, and I could feel the floor quake a little from his chuckle.

“Indeed.” He straightened out and led us onwards, humming a tune to himself as we walked through the torch-lit hallways. In the distance, we could hear the subdued conversations of dozens of voices and what sounded like a band playing – the noises grew louder as we drew closer to the large, gilded door that was flanked by two unicorn guards. Upon seeing us, their horns lit up, pulling the door open. The wave of light and noise hit us and I stopped for a moment to take in the view.

There were dozens of all manners of smartly-dressed ponies milling about in the huge hall. Unicorn waiters, carrying trays with them wandered all across the hall, passing out refreshments and snacks to others. Two long, wide tables were laden down with more foodstuffs. Redheart's head was on a swivel as she drank in the sight, utter surprise written across her face as she stuttered out in awe.

“O-oh wow...”

“Right, then. Y'all enjoy yourselves, now. Same goes for you, Redheart!” She nodded slowly and trotted off to one of the tables, giddy with excitement. Others wandered off as well. I took one last look around, and sighed deeply.

Well, time to find me an alicorn.

You'd think someone of Celestia's stature would be easily-found.

Well, think again.

I'd been looking for the diarch in question for about twenty minutes for now, and she'd proven to be surprisingly elusive. I did end up meeting a good friend of mine – Silver Starlight. Upon seeing me, she grinned widely, and waved at me. I went over to her, glad to see her.

“Alice! It's good to see you!”

“Same here, Silver!” Closer to the charcoal-furred unicorn, I saw she was accompanied by two more mares, one of whom I recognised – Iron Night. The other one was noticeably older – her fur was white, her mane dark pink with a purple streak running through it, and her eyes were the exact same violet as Silver's. The elder unicorn eyed me levelly for a moment, and then smiled warmly.

“You must be Alice.” She stuck a hoof out at me. Without pause, I grasped it and shook it.

“An' you must be Eternal Dawn. Nice t'meet ya.” She chuckled slightly at that.

“Likewise. I trust you are enjoying the Gala?” I nodded in return.

“That Ah am. The princesses sure know how t'throw a party. This is even bigger than the previous Gala.” The unicorn chuckled softly and nodded.

“True enough. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some business to attend to.” Dawn and I nodded to each other and she trotted off. I looked back to Silver.

“She seems nice.” The charcoal mare chuckled for a moment.

“Don't worry, she'll warm up to you.” She turned to look at the pegasus at her side. “Iron, could you get us some drinks, please?” Iron nodded and trotted off as well.

“So, what've you been up to, Alice?”

I told Redheart some pretty messed up stuff and am now trying to track down Princess Celestia so I can ask her if she can find a cure for the Chimera virus that's slowly killing me.

“Oh, nothin' much. Same old, same old. Y'know how it is.” She chuckled at that.

“Yeah, I guess I do.” A couple of moments passed before she spoke again. “You lie like a rug, you know.”

“Okay, yeah, maybe Ah got somethin' on my mind.” I hummed for a moment. “Jus' thinkin' 'bout my family – I'd give anything t'know if they're doin' alright.” She nodded understandingly at that.

“Yeah, I guess that makes sense. Reminds me a little of Iron, too – she's an orphan. No idea who her parents are, or why they left her. Nopony should ever be cast away like that...” Silver looked down at the floor dourly and I felt the need to change the subject.

“So, how'd the two of you meet, anyways?”

“Oh, that's quite a tale, really. So, it's a calm and sunny day in Ponyville and I'm returning from the market. As I go, I suddenly hear this beautiful singing a ways off and think to myself – who is the mare with that amazing voice? Of course, my curiosity gets the better of me and I trot off to investigate, following the voice. I come across a music instrument shop. I venture inside and there she was – a messy, unruly pegasus, hunched over a guitar, singing as she worked.” Silver chuckled softly to herself. “I guess you could say that's when I fell in love with her. When she noticed me, she stopped singing and asked me what I wanted. I stammered my way through an excuse about snapped violin strings. Several more half-baked excuses and visits to the shop later, she saw through me and, well...” She chuckled to herself. “Whenever she isn't busy running her store, she spends time with me.” Silver smiled wanly and let out a soft sigh.

“She's kinda clingy, then?”

“No, not at all. It shows that she cares, a lot. And I don't mind.” Silver's smile waned for a moment. “I think that she's just afraid of losing me. What little I've managed to coax out from her concerning her past isn't pretty, and she seldom speaks of it – she sometimes has nightmares, mood swings, the like... I have a feeling she'd crumble quite fast without me...”

God, what was it with depressing topics lately?

“Well, Ah'm no expert on relationships, but maybe she doesn't want to talk of whatever's happened t'her. Leave past as it is an' focus on here an' now. But if she wants to talk 'bout it, well...” That seemed to throw Silver for a loop and she stared at the floor thoughtfully for several long moments before looking back at me.

“Hmm... Well, I have to admit I've never tried looking at it that way. But it can't hurt to try, right?”

“'xactly.” I gave her an encouraging smile and she smiled in return, her mood improving already.

“Puts things in a new perspective, that. Thank you, Alice.” I shrugged slowly at that.

“Think nothin' of it. 's what friends're for, right?”

“Yeah, I guess so.” I snagged a couple of snacks from the tray carried by a waiter that was passing by. Handing one to Silver, I continued.

“The way Ah see it, every relationship's a two-way street. Ya gotta be willin' t'make compromises, just like with everything in life.” She was about to respond when the pegasus in question returned, balancing three glasses on her right wing. Silver smiled at Iron, and picked one of the glasses up, taking a sip.

“Oh. You got us champagne?” The grey mare shrugged slowly.

“Yes, well, there was no whiskey, so I had to make do with what they had available.” I received the second glass and took a sip.

“Much obliged, Iron. So, Ah guess this is your first time at th'Gala?” The pegasus nodded.

“Yeah. Oh, something I really gotta ask while I still remember it - some of the Canterlot musicians are my clients and I heard a bit of gossip that Prince Blueblood got beaten up by one of those Chimera in the previous year's Gala. Did it really happen?” I smirked at that and noticed Silver rolling her eyes.

“Yep. If you want th'details, you'd need to ask Jen about that. Pegasus, sandy browny coat, dark green mane, amber eyes. Might be with Big Mac. Can't miss him.”

“Wait. You mean the Big Macintosh from Sweet Apple Acres?”

“Mhm.” I nodded and Iron gave a low whistle.

“Wow. I kinda feel jealous now.”

“Ahem.” Silver coughed, looking sternly at the gray pegasus. Iron chuckled, grinning sheepishly as she wrapped a wing around Silver, giving her a slight squeeze.

“But I already have Silver, so, 's all right.”

Silver still gave her that stern look and Iron smirked slightly, whispering something into the charcoal unicorn's ear. Whatever she said had an immediate effect on Silver – her eyes went wide and she blushed a fierce red-

...how do you even see someone blush when their body's covered with fur.

H O W

Either way, Silver turned decidedly less stern and more distracted by Iron's words. One didn't have to be a genius to get the gist of what Iron told her.

“...so, yeah. Jen's the one ya want t'talk to for details of that particular event.” I spotted a brief flash of alabaster a ways off and finished the rest of my drink. “Oh, Ah saw a friend of mine. Ah'll see y'all later, then.” The two mares nodded and I set off, feeling slightly anxious.

Or maybe that was just the champagne.

I can't even convince myself of that. Oh, this is going to suck...

I tapped the tall, alabaster alicorn on her shoulder and coughed politely. Celestia blinked in brief surprise, and turned to look at me. A pleasant, motherly smile bloomed on her face and she nodded once to me.

“Hello, Miss Bradley. I trust you are finding everything to your tastes?”

“Yeah, yeah, everything's fine. Ah jus' wanted t'have a bit of conversation with you. In private.” Her smile waned slightly at that.

“I'm sorry, but I already explained about returning to E-”

“It ain't that. Ah wanna talk to ya 'bout somethin' else. 's important. Might want to call Luna along f'r this one, too.” She eyed me levelly before nodding once.

“Very well, then. Follow me.” I nodded and did as asked, trailing after the diarch.

The door closed behind us with a soft click and I saw two other alicorns sitting at a table – Luna and a pink alicorn mare whom I didn't recognize. They nodded silently in greeting and I did the same, eyeing the two. Celestia came to a halt at my side.

“This is Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, ruler of the Crystal Empire.” The pink alicorn smiled and stood up.

“But you can call me Cadance. I take it that you're Alice? It's nice to meet you.”

“Likewise. Now, then. Ah've got somethin' to tell, and Ah'd rather that whatever Ah say doesn't leave this room.” The three alicorns frowned slightly, but remained attentive. I took a deep breath and began my tale – how I joined the Army, was selected for Project Abraham, the tests, injections, the whole nine yards. I withheld nothing. Well, when I finished, they were pretty damn disgusted. James and others had told Celestia and Luna of what the Chimera were and what they had done in Europe, but Project Abraham was a whole another can of worms entirely. Cadance seemed to be on the verge of fainting. Luna looked fairly ill. Celestia was regarding me with a rather unnerving look of suspicion. Several long moments later, she hummed thoughtfully, and trotted over to look out one of the windows. Silence reigned for a while before she spoke.

“It would be simpler to follow the path James and Jennifer took, no?” I shrugged slowly at that.

“You've kinda got a point there, ma'am. But Ah think they only chose to do so because of what the Chimera turned 'em into. Ah feel quite comfortable as Ah am. Ah'm not a full-blown Chimera yet.” She gave a slight chuckle at that.

“Would you be willing to provide samples of that serum and your blood, then? If there is to be a cure for your condition, my researchers would need to know what exactly they are making a remedy for.” She raised a hoof, signalling she wasn't done speaking. “A favor for a favor.”

“Uh... What kinda favor?” I frowned. I don't think I'd like the answer all too much.

“We will do what we can to develop a cure, or the equivalent of one for you. In return, we will forward you assignments that will make the best of your training.”

And Bingo was his name-o~

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Jus' hold up for a second there. Y'want me to do mercenary work?” Celestia turned to look at me, her face a carefully-composed mask.

“While I wouldn't have put it like that, yes. This is sensitive information you'd be entrusted with, just as you trusted us with your secret.”

“Look, Ah've had more'n my fair share of killing back in Europe. No way Ah'm doin' yer dirty jobs in yer stead.” Luna bristled angrily at the insinuation, opening her mouth to speak, along with Cadance, but were stopped by Celestia.

“Everypony, calm down. I'm sure we can reach a compromise here, Alice. All who agree, simmer quietly.”

Two alicorns simmered quietly.

A human glowered indignantly.

“Now, then. I guess a little explanation in order. Equestria isn't quite the utopia everyone sees it as. Many lands border ours – Minos, Griffon Empire, Zebrica, Saddle Arabia, and others. We have warred with some of them in the past. Even though the peace has been maintained for a millennia, there are those who still harbor hate against Equestria and seek to harm my subjects as slavers or pillagers. If it's not that, it's either Diamond Dogs or a hungry dragon, freshly-awoken from its slumber. Most of Equestria's inhabitants live in a blissful ignorance of the threats that see us as a tempting target. To counter especially dangerous foes, we've assembled a special forces team – while their methods are unorthodox, to say the least, they get the job done. I would have you join them whenever they are needed. You only need aid us until we have found a viable means of stopping the virus. After that, you're free to live as you please. I promise.” She looked at me and I steadily returned her gaze, though on the inside I was torn by indecision.

In the end, though, I accepted her offer. My only other option was to die, frankly. Those few vials I had wouldn't last forever. Besides, despite everything, I was a soldier. I'd enlisted to protect people above all else.

I just hoped I wouldn't have to regret making this choice.