skaikru | inbox @ comesailaway

some shadowy thing
it made all the memory shit happen this month. i walked in to one of its memories and it told me it was going to eat us all after it's done playing with us.

i think we have to troubleshoot unless that sounds familiar to you

The eating part... sounds like a Vector Ghost. And the shadow thing. ( amazing how such a simple phrase can trigger flashbacks to a crash site at the base of a cliff. ) Was it short? Built like a kid? Burning eyes?

yeah
it went by sparkles, which is a really stupid name for something that wants to eat us but whatever
...have you seen it?

I've seen the Captain's true form after he rose from the ashes of a car wreck. Right before he set a swarm of zombies on us, that's what he looked like. That's... What else did it say? Vance, tell me everything.

of course
of fucking course

it said that it was tired of sleeping and it was going to take all the captain's "toys" and play with us
and then eat us when it's done
it said it would eat fio last because they're friends
some friend that is

it had friday in some dark room
she was really upset, trying to tell it to go back to sleep
i think it must have hurt her or killed her or something but i didn't get to see that
maybe she's still stuck there, i dunno

then it made me play hide and seek before it killed me

( there's a brief moment — of: i knew it. i fucking knew it! — that almost feels like validation. months of chewing over the idea friday was keeping a part of the captain hidden, that vector ghosts were hungry and could devour all, that they were the backbone of the ship and could bring this whole place down if activated... only before she'd been consumed with the idea of weaponizing those facts, and now they're coming to life like mortar shells.

the satisfaction is immediately snuffed out. worry rules, and at his last admission, that worry narrows and fixates on vance himself. )

It killed you?

( she is not surprised, but is still upset. )

Vance, are you okay?

are any of us okay?
i'm fine
we have bigger things to worry about

I can multitask. We wouldn't have confirmation of any of this without you here to tell us. ( "us", "me" — same thing. a little leader lexicon is working its way in here, but clarke attempts to course correct. )

I'm upset that you had to die to get it. Please just tell me the real answer, and then we can move forward.

it didn't hurt or anything
but i don't like knowing that i died again
like i'm actually really fucking uncool with that
but most people here seem to think it's fine so
i don't wanna be a wuss about it

You're not a wuss for being angry about it, Vance. Be angry. We're probably going to need that.

( in line with telling him fear was a biological instinct meant to keep people alive, anger was a very human reaction that came in handy when needing to do hard things.
back to business: )

We need to find this thing. Think you could locate the rift you walked into again? Don't go in it, just find it. If Friday's still alive, she might still be in there and we need to ask her a few questions. Like how she buried Sparkles in the first place, and what exactly allowed it to slip out without her noticing.

i don't think so
it was the one controlling the rifts and only needed one person to do what it wanted
which was to tell fio 'thanks for playing with me'
i only agreed because it said it'd hurt me more if i didn't

i guess i could have held out so more people could see it
but that rift is probably closed now

( on her end, clarke full body winces. )

Did you tell Fio?

yeah
i told her to go find an adult if she wants to go looking for it so hopefully they're all smart enough to keep her occupied with something else

( she can't help but think that was the wrong call. that fio shouldn't be encouraged to go near this sparkles thing no matter what; promising to eat her last still meant it intended to eat her, and just —

but that isn't her call to make or denounce. she wasn't the one who saw the memory, and vance has already done what he did. now they just have to trust that the likes of skulduggery or jade curtiss will guide fio well, and refocus. )

Alright. I'm going to look for binding sigils. I'm going to tell Palamedes and Natsuno and Jade what you've told me. They might have some input. You need to stay away from as many rifts as you can, in case that thing wants to talk to you again. Or if you can't do that, at least take pen and paper with you and map out which rifts lead to where. Maybe it'll come back somewhere else, and we need to know. Maybe there's one of Fridays memories from when she trapped Sparkles in the first place. Ask around, okay?

[ Vance has never been responsible for anyone younger than him before. All the knows is that if someone just told him not to do something, he'd sneak off and do it anyway. Fio's not like him, but he has no clue how to deal with that. ]

okay
you be careful too
i don't think it wanted me specifically
i was just the one who walked in

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