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There's something in here with me. Everything around me rattles subtly, but its footsteps tremble the same way. Here, it may as well be unshakeable. It's coming right for me.

My eyes shoot open, taking in nothing.

When I wake up, I forget where I am for a moment; it's as dark as it is hot, but as it comes back to me, I relax again, settling down into what I would assume is mostly saliva at this point.

Yhana has hardly moved, evidently she's a very deep sleeper.

No unsettling dreams for her, I guess. I don't even remember what mine was really about; details falling away faster the harder I try to recall them. Dismissing the remaining shreds of it, I reach out and stroke the wall next to me affectionately, before closing my eyes and letting the rhythm of her insides and the train take me back to sleep.

Wait.

Why can I feel the train? As deep inside her as I am, It's been hardly noticeable until now.

There's something in here with me. With both of us.

Something growls, it only takes a moment to recognize it as Leonov. There comes the quiet shlrrk of barbs starting to project from his frame as he leaves his post by Jori's compartment, advancing protectively. They don't even get to full length before so many sharp things that don't belong to him run him through. I expect the sound of his body collapsing onto the floor, but it does not follow; he shuts down standing upright.

But whatever triggered his aggression so quickly begins to move again. It's slow, but not ambling. Every step deliberate, every step coming closer by the second. It's louder than Yhana's pulse to me but nobody else is even stirring.

"Yhana?" I whisper, tapping the nearest surface. I start to struggle a bit, but even that gets no response.

It's so close.

"Yhana!" I say, still hushed, like I'm worried it'll hear me through her. I dig my claws in and rake, knowing from prior experience it won't hurt her, but she only shifts in her sleep.

Tendrils unfurl. They're looking for the handle of the alcove covering.

"Please, wake up..." I don't say it very loudly, but gods, am I pleading it in my head. And she doesn't move at all, but I can feel her come to, somehow. Her eyes open, she nearly bangs her head getting up, but the back of her hand reaches the low ceiling first, reminding her not to proceed.

Her core briefly engages in that subtle way immediately preceding speech, but she stops when she hears the quiet scraping of thin appendages engaging the handle. I cannot explain to you how I know she's seeing the silhouettes of them through that patterned, tinted plate, but I'm certain of it, like her immediate memory is bleeding into mine.

"Merion, something's here," she whispers. Her hand is already outstretched, and her entire form flows with energy, ready to amalgamate in her palm.

"I know!" I respond. I'm in that loud whisper that may as well be speech at full volume now, you know the one. "It got Le-- I think I heard it get Leonov." Need to be careful with my words, I don't wanna freak her out anymore than we both need to be.

"Shit... okay, here's what we're gonna do."

"You've got a plan?"

"Nope."

The moment it pulls open the hatch, she rolls over, excluding it from her field of view as she peers just far enough down the aisle to teleport, taking me with her. A brief excursion into the void and back is commonplace enough, but I didn't realize how weird it would feel from inside someone else; it's like all of her bears down on me until we're both a single, infinitesimally small point, and no sooner than I can process that do we expand again.

She doesn't turn to look at it; she throws open the door out of the sleeper car and bolts. Our assailant whirrs quietly, and then throws itself in a straight line, feet slicing down the thin carpet. It breaks through both layers of sliding door to catch up with us, and its slashing tendrils lash out.

Pain explodes across Yhana's left calf as rust bites into it, and her forward momentum causes her to skid across the floor of the lounge car as she falls. Passengers still awake scream as they watch, and Yhana's own fear magnifies as she flips over and takes in the view of her assailant. Long, spindly legs hold up a spine like a wrought iron fence, plates and viscera clinging to it all the way up and culminating in a rune-etched helmet and long, straight horn encasements, towering stark against the moonlight coming through the glass dome above.

We've seen this exact creature before, wreathed in too many writhing razors hanging from shoulders plated like tower shields. Discontent with leaving things be at the shipwreck, it's here to finish the job.

A glowing bolt strikes it dead-center from the upper deck; the lone security personnel stationed in the lounge, exemplifying either bravery or stupidity, where's the line really, is leaning over the balcony's edge, but they flee back out of view upon realizing that the construct is still standing. It bought Yhana time to get to her feet at least.

I think she and I were united in thinking its attention might turn elsewhere after that, because I feel my brain take a double shot of cortisol as its flailing whips flick out at us again, narrowly missing her as she quickly limps to the side, bracing herself against the underpass between the twin staircases. A tactical spin into one of the benches flush against the wall avoids another lash.

Somebody upstairs sounds the alarm; lights flash, sirens blare, and the sudden loud noise even seems to surprise the Aberration for a moment. Taking advantage of that, Yhana's hands glow with a light I haven't seen in them before. She runs them down her gashed calf, massaging the tendon back together and sealing the injury altogether. Even more magic I didn't expect, but once again it's the least of my worries.

With her leg healed, Yhana sprints down the length of the train car, glancing over her shoulder to strike at it with a liquefying blast of red lights, but the impact does little more than scrape off the very top layer of its chest as black vapor, and it doesn't slow it down much either.

"What's the hurry?" someone says as Yhana bursts through into the dining car, but it's quickly followed up by a well deserved "holy fucking shit" as the Aberration breaches through again, its raking cables bringing blood in its wake.

Even as the threat closes in once more, we feel a tinge of relief as we notice Dahlia at the bar, frozen midway to a sip of coffee, but she drops the cup and runs to assist.

Yhana spins as the hyena comes up alongside her, releasing a concentrated burst of radiant light; together it seems to do something like proper damage, but this thing just doesn't feel pain. Failing at all to recoil, it spins on a footspike, carving gashes into the floor, walls, counter, even cutting through the stem of a seat. The attendant behind manages to duck in time, but we aren't so agile. Yhana doubles over as it strikes her across the stomach, drawing blood, but Dahlia gets it worse as it rips her throat open. She spins from the force, but out of the corner of our eyes we watch her motions slow to a stop and reverse, bringing her back into position, unharmed but now behind the construct.

I envy such quick thinking; I'm just a passenger but all I can do is panic.

Our movements are slow with our core muscles damaged; another slice hits the forearms at an angle, trying to get through them for another strike at the same spot; it's the tip of the wire thankfully, so it doesn't slice all the way through, but our fingers numbly uncurl all the same. Adrenaline surges in, and Yhana grits our teeth through the pain to mend her arms and bring them up to fight. The articulation still isn't great but there will be time to better fix the nerves later if we make it through this.

"Yhana, get out of here!" Dahlia shouts, leaping onto the creature's back and releasing repeated pulses of blindingly-hot energy into it.

Of course, Yhana doesn't need to be told that, she knows it wants her exclusively. Or rather, she thinks it wants her. Based on what I know, I think it wants me, and it's cutting awfully precisely to be after anything else. Killing her isn't even an objective, if it catches us, it will cut me out of her stomach even as she draws breath.

I could tell her that, have her let me split off and draw its attention but I guess I'm a coward. Selfish, selfish coward, trying to hide from the inevitable through so many layers of muscle and skin. I don't want to be a coward. I don't want her to hurt.

"Yhana, tap my aura!" I say.

"You sure?" she pants, throwing open the next door. Once we cross this gap, we'll be in coach again.

"Yes, all of it! It's going to follow us to the end of the train anyway if we even make it there!"

"Alright, but you asked for it!..."

She throws open the next door, turning and bracing herself in the frame, ignoring inquiries from the seats behind her over the sounds of alarms as she stares down the oncoming war machine, which rushes for her even as those able behind it pelt it with spells.

Now, she and I find ourselves in a common but not uninteresting situation. With my aura fully encapsulated by hers, I am essentially a battery, much easier to drain now that I've given my consent and opened up for it. And I'm just about at full capacity myself. We don't need to scratch it any more than it's been, smoking and full of holes, we just need to move it.

Its shoulders roll back and then come forward again, dozens of slicing cables raveling into tighter and tighter spirals in mid-flight until they're practically straight. She slams the door shut but they cut right through, several of them leaving deep but short cuts in her belly; the damage elsewhere is minimal but it hit her good where it meant to. Lots of blood, but no time to address it.

Our teeth clench again. Our fingers tighten on the latch and pull the door aside into tangram fragments. Black lines zigzag sharp corners around our wrists, tangling into dense points in our grip, and with a shared snarl of exertion and rage, we release.

The air around me tingles and burns, not in any sort of digestive sense; it's like electricity. I start to shake. I start to float, rising into the hollow space until I'm pressing into the ceiling.

The Aberration breaks out into the gap between cars, and right then, a vector of meteoric force sweeps through. In a blur, it's swept aside. The car we're in now tilts on its rails momentarily as it passes through the affected point in space; a window even spiderwebs over with cracks. With a creaking crash, we settle back onto the rails, and there's no more sign of it, left somewhere on the hillside watching the tail end of the train leave it behind.

I'm resting again in the pit of her stomach, heaving in time with her labored breathing. I didn't even process the seconds between floating and being dropped again. In that time, it was like I had merged with Yhana completely.

"It's gone?" I ask. Of course I know what I just saw, I'm just in disbelief that we actually survived.

"Yeah. It's gone," she says through a sigh of relief. As the adrenaline starts to wear off, we become prescient of the multiple security personnel hurrying up behind us.

Yhana doesn't flinch or stop staring outside as a hand touches her shoulder, beckoning her away from the empty frame where a door once was.

"Please move a safe distance back with us. Are you hurt?" a rabbit uniformed in red asks, but they get their answer as Yhana turns, still freely bleeding.

"We would like you to come with us," they continue, "but you are welcome to refuse if you have access t--"

"Yeah, let's go," she agrees. Her eyes find Dahlia's, and they exchange a nod, before Yhana turns to follow security.

We move down through coach, car after car, until we arrive in observation, the front end of which is equipped for medical assistance.

I sit quietly inside as a professional medic carefully repairs her, mending nerve endings into place and leaving her without so much as a scar.

"Before you go," the rabbit from before says, notebook at the ready, "can we have an account of the events from you?"

"Sure," Yhana concedes. "I guess we've got time."

"Then please, begin when ready," they say, taking a seat on the stool the medic had just left.

"By the time I woke up, it was already opening my bunk," Yhana starts, "and I was able to get around it at first, but it caught up faster than I could deal with. Gashed my leg pretty bad, and I thought that might have been it. Security up front held it off for a second so I could get moving again, but it just kept chasing me down. Nothing distracted it from me for more than a moment, until we knocked it off the train."

"We?" the rabbit asks.

"Oh, I'm carrying a passenger," Yhana clarifies. "Even if it's unorthodox, I assure you it's official."

"I don't get paid to pass judgement," they assure. "The Dominion thanks you for your quick thinking; you eradicated the problem before we had a chance to. The report transmitted from uptrain reports zero fatalities and the three persons still expressing injury have been offered the same medical care you've received, should they require it."

"One last thing before I go," she adds. "What attacked me tonight, I encountered it before. It was there when the Prelature ambushed my crew."

"Really?" With a flick of their wrist, their notebook is open again. "Why do you imagine it was compelled to follow you all this way, onto a moving train?"

"Not a clue." Even as she says it, her abdomen tightens, and her stomach becomes significantly less roomy. She's got a clue, obviously. Maybe she doesn't know about this weird sensory shit but she suspects something about me, I can physically feel it.

"Well, we'll pass on your report to those better equipped to investigate. Additionally, the Dominion thanks you for your service."

"You do what you're good at, right?" she says, taking her leave.

She passes by someone from the dining car in coach, escorted by security; someone did end up taking them up on their offer. She keeps moving past them, but as soon as they exit the car, we are alone.

Yhana takes a seat here, and her belly tightens even further. "That thing wanted you badly, didn't it, Merion?" she asks.

"It seemed to," I reply. Too passive, that doesn't sound good. "...Are you alright?"

"Why was it here?" she continues, ignoring my question altogether. That's fair, it was a deflection at least in part anyway, but I'm getting what I have to imagine is a pretty accurate mirror of her feelings towards me right now and they're about as good as they were during our first encounter. You know, the one where she was still pondering if I should survive the afternoon.

It's almost too much to handle as it encircles the tension already building inside me and squeezes. My resolve pops, and I nearly choke on the humid air. "Alright, I--"

"It was here for me," Suraokh says, suddenly appearing across the aisle from her.

Yhana reflexively scoots to the side, one hand up defensively, though her aura is as empty as mine right now. "Gods, warn me when you do that!" she scolds, but it only takes a few moments of adjustment to get herself cozy again. As she does so, she mercifully loosens up on me, even if only physically. "Alright, fill me in."

"I am not supposed to say this, but you're owed an explanation--"

"Damn right I am, so cut to it."

"Admiral Jen and I are associates of a kind."

"Thaaat figures. Nobody is this creepy without hiding something."

Suraokh is unfazed by her remark, though maybe it's just his uncanny-valley lack of expression that always conveys that. "Because I am his associate, it follows that the Prelature would designate me as a target."

"Yeah, but here you are without a scratch on you."

"Because Merion is my associate, it follows that placing them in danger would spur me to action," the kangaroo continues. "However, you removed the threat before I could emerge to do so myself. I confess, I was content to use you as bait so that I could finish it off. I would not have allowed any lasting harm to come to you. Still, you have my sincerest apologies."

Yhana is quiet for some time, her fingers tenting as she rests her forehead against them. Eventually, she sighs. "Forgiveness isn't out of the question, but I did almost die. So did Dahlia. You put a lot of people through some shit tonight." She stands up and moves into the aisle. "I reserve the right to stay angry at you. We'll be adults about this tomorrow but I'm not ready right now."

"You reserve the right to never be ready, if you like," Suraokh says. "I am going to go roam again. In the event that our visitor return, I will not leave you to deal with it on my behalf, this time."

"You'd better not," Yhana reinforces. She turns to cast a glare in the doll's direction, but he's already gone wherever it is that he goes, leaving her with nothing but the view of the steppe in starlight rolling by outside the window.

And just like that, her focus is entirely on me again. "So, Merion, friends in high places, hm?"

"Yhana, I'm just as surprised as you are. He mentioned he knew someone influential but he never said it was the fucking prince," I express. I do feel a bit bad for not divulging anything to her myself, but I don't even fully understand what's happening either. Best not to out myself as a possible parasite while I'm still inside the host, right?

She doesn't move for a few seconds; it feels longer than that but I blame that entirely on my plateaued anxiety, which dissipates as soon as she begins moving again. "Fine, I believe you. It'd be more surprising to me if he actually told you everything."

"Tells me as little as possible. If you don't have words for him in the morning, I sure will," I resolve.

"Provided you can find him."

"Yeah, there's the catch..." Knowing him, even if I do get him to show up, he'll be evasive.

"Cross that bridge when we come to it, I suppose." She throws open the next door to progress through the rest of coach, crossing the gap and continues conversation, ignoring the glances from the few passengers still in their seats. "I don't think I'm going to sleep again. You wanna get some tea?"

"And by that you mean..." I trail. Despite my tone, my relief is almost palpable as she seems to be easing up.

"Your own cup," she clarifies. "No, I'd be a bit upset if you started drinking what I was trying to drink."

"Yeah, in that case I could go for some." I'm almost entirely at ease myself, until something occurs to me. "Hey, is Leonov going to be alright?"

"Hm? Oh yeah, he's been through a lot worse. Jori is gonna spend all day pampering him after she gets him running again. She's probably fixing him now."

"That's a relief, then. Alright, let's just... not worry about anything else for tonight, then."

"Sounds great to me. Let's get you out and clean you up."

I fall back into the contours of her stomach again, letting all my stress escape me through my breath. Well, almost all of it. Something occurs to me.

Our minds beginning to fuse like this? This probably counts as an incident, doesn't it? It's a new kind but I can't exclude it. I don't even know why this is happening. I pinch the bridge of my nose and squeeze my eyes shut.

Barely even made it one day. Back to zero.