248 - The Perfect Storm

Lexie had connected to the dungeon, and from what she could judge, it was still relatively the same distance away.

If she entered the dungeon and connected to Yasycht, she could locate her father, but getting out would still be a risk. She’d never attempted interdimensional travel with pocket dimensions before. It might be riskier than traveling from a dungeon to a planet, and might even be just as risky as traveling through time, though it was lower on the difficulty hierarchy for Yasycht.

What if she got lost in space? What if all she knew for the rest of her life was nothingness? It was definitely a concerning thought. 

“Hello?” Vulcan called again. “Are you tuning me out right now? Cause I gotta say that’s kind of rude.”

“I’m listening,” Lexie said, deciding to humor him while she was still deciding whether or not to take the risk. Maybe she could also use this time to figure out where he was, and then she would kill him and be done with it. “You want to tell me how my mother died?”

“Yes,” he said.  “First, let me tell you a little about how this all works. The power I have in this little noggin of mine. You see, when I want to carry out a task, I first ask myself a question. Like, say, 'I want to murder Lexie Sparrowfoot. How do I do that?'  Then I enter a trance, where I get the possible scenarios in which that can happen. I live through each one. Over and over and over.” He let out a harsh breath. “Some of them end with me dying too. Some of them work, but then I get captured at some point. Some of them affect my plans in other ways. Some of them are just too painful. So, I go in, and I tweak things and get the desired scenario with as little backlash as I can get. But sometimes, occasionally, no matter how many scenarios I act out, there’s no clean answer to the question. There's no way for me to get away scot-free, or there are too many insurmountable variables. So I have to give up on that path.”

He sighed .”For example, killing your friend. The Oracle. There were no possible scenarios for me to do that right now, without getting caught or sacrificing a pawn I wasn’t willing to lose yet. Not to mention the other complication of accurately predicting another Oracle. So I couldn’t do it.”

“Okay,” Lexie finally answered. “What does this have to do with you killing my mother?”

“First off, shouldn't you question why I wanted to kill your mother in the first place?”

Lexie thought about it. “Because you’re an evil piece of shit.”

That got him to chuckle. “Yes, but even an evil piece of shit doesn’t go around killing just anyone, especially someone as troublesome as your mother. I could have killed ten more people with the amount of effort it took me to find a scenario where I could successfully eliminate her with no problems. I just had to find a weak link. It wasn’t through you. Or through the Archmage. And for a while, it wasn’t through Vacek either, until you turned up in the picture."

"What did I have to do with it?"

“You were unplanned. She didn't think she could have kids at all, and she barely knew she was pregnant with you until it was too late. After she gave birth, she retired. That wasn't the deal."

Lexie heard the dungeon whispering, but she didn't listen yet. "I don't get it."

"Do you think your mother had enemies?”

“Obviously.”

“Yeah, she had a lot of them, and a lot of them wanted her dead. A lot of powerful people, including her former employers and a very important man in District 8. Any guesses?"

The Emperor, Lexie thought, but she didn't say it.

"And who do you think kept all these people away?”

“Vacek?”

“Bingo.”

“But that doesn’t make sense. According to what my father told me, Lara only started working with Vacek after she accidentally killed someone. A general’s son or something like that.”

“That’s the story you were told? Ha. No, Vacek knew about her before that. He'd already had his eyes on her before that. Because he knew who she was and who she would become.”

Lexie frowned. 

“He could have played it a lot of ways," he said. “There was a choice to let her get eliminated early on, even before the murder. Send her back to the Krawlin. In which case, a lot of things would have changed. Your father would not have lost the love of his life, and he would not have become a Villain. They would have never met, and of course, you would not exist. But then, when he saw just how skilled she was, he wanted her to work for him rather than them. And that first murder wasn't as accidental as you might think."

“The first murder? You mean when she killed Cecilia’s bully?”

“Oh, that's who Cecilia is. I remember now. Yes. That was a setup by Vacek."

"I don't understand."

"Why? Are you stupid? How much more can I spell it out for you?"

Annoyance prickled her spine. "How would Vacek set up someone to hurt Cecilia just so that she would kill the bully?"

"It didn't exactly happen quite like that. But he knew it would happen, and he ensured that your mother would happen on them when it did. In fact, one of his spies in the military academy tipped her off. One of the very spies he'd been using to watch her every move. He set her up to get into that fight, so she would need him to get out of trouble. That's the kind of bastard he is. He does things like that often."

Lexie bit her lip. She wasn't convinced yet, but if that was true...if it was true...

She would certainly be having words with Vacek when she got out of here.

"Maybe he didn't think she would kill the guy, though. Just hurt him enough that Vacek would need to step in to prevent retaliation, and that way your mother would owe him a favor or two. But your mother was more volatile than she appeared, and she killed that boy mercilessly. She would have hidden his body, too, if she hadn't gotten caught so quickly. And, she had no remorse. I respect that about her." There was admiration in his tone. "Even after they began working together, Lara was never a perfect soldier. There was always a constant question of whether or not her presence would cause more trouble down the line. Especially towards the end. She was too clever for her own good, too hardheaded. She knew too much of his secrets. At the same time, she committed brutal atrocities for him. As much as he appreciated her, he was also disturbed by her. And, when she started getting disobedient, he couldn’t trust her anymore.”

“Because she wouldn’t kill someone for him?”

“Ooh, you saw that? Yeah, that added to it.”

“Was it the Firebringers?”

“Gosh, no. Vacek wouldn’t be stupid enough to ask her to eliminate them. It was someone else from her past, someone close to the Emperor. The man who had trained her at the Krawlin. He had information that endangered a lot of undercover spies there. She was the only one with the skillset to get close to him and kill him. But she still had affection for the man who raised her. She thought he would keep the information he knew quiet, since she'd asked him to."

"Would he have?"

"Obviously not. But she was naive where he was concerned."

"So what are you saying here?" Lexie asked. "You're trying to tell me that Vacek just let her die because of that one thing?"

"No. It was a messy set of situations." He chuckled. "Man, you have no idea how hard it was. I must have lived through nearly a thousand different scenarios for her, starting from the beginning. I kid you not. My brain felt full to bursting. Do you know how torturous that was, day in and day out, living through dull conversations, repetitive situations just to see what happened after I enacted a change? Do you know how much toll that takes on the human brain?"

It was a lot. Lexie couldn’t imagine what living through a million lifetimes could do to a brain. Probably age it beyond belief. No wonder Vulcan was such a psycho.

If he wasn’t psychotic before, something like that would definitely turn him psychotic.

That being said, she didn’t feel bad for him. 

“No one forced you to use your powers,” she pointed out.

“Of course,” he laughed. “No one. Except this damn story we’re trapped in. But that’s neither here nor there. Back to the story. Anyway, Vacek needed this guy dead, but your mother was unwilling to kill him. Not only that, but now that she was retired, she was no longer as useful to him, yet she was just as dangerous. Not to mention, a lot of people wanted her dead and would have paid him many favors for the privilege of not having her around anymore. And he knew she was keeping a secret about you from him.”

“Which he knew the whole time.”

“Yes.”

“So you’re telling me that he let her get killed because a bunch of people wanted her dead and she was no longer useful to him?”

“That’s precisely what I’m telling you.”

Lexie laughed. That didn’t sound like Vacek at all. It didn't matter that her card wasn't picking up signs of deceit; Vulcan had to be lying. Vacek was a lot of things: greedy, calculating, and utilitarian, but he never seemed evil. He never seemed like the type to kill people once he was done using them all because of a simple disagreement. It all sounded so petty.

Despite the accusations that Stein and even Aiden had levied against him, Vacek never really seemed like a bad guy.

Yeah, and maybe that's how he gets you. That's how he earns the loyalty of those he works with. He gets you to believe that he's a reasonable guy who just wants the greater good. That was the only reason he used people. Right?

“You don’t believe me, do you?” Vulcan asked. “I thought you might not. Which is why I’m prepared to show video evidence.”

"I don't care what you show me. There's no way I trust that you’re telling the truth.”

“But you know I am, don’t you? You're using that fancy lie detector card."

So he could tell what cards she'd activated. Could he sense her soul card?

“The only person responsible for my mother's death is you," Lexie said. "You trapped Cecilia in that dungeon, knowing she would call Lara.”

“Yes, but in most of the playthroughs, Vacek would immediately send people after her to save her. He would give concessions to the Fae for their help and arrange an immediate search team. Her sudden disappearance would have raised his alarm. After all, she was one of his priority agents. But then, after their retirement and after their argument, he reduced her priority. Which was how her disappearance went unnoticed for longer than it should have. And when Vacek had the opportunity to have her rescued using the Fae, he didn't take it. He let her die."

"I don't believe you."

“Oh, come on, you know I'm telling the truth. Why do you think he was so willing to give the Fae so many concessions this time for your return? You think it was because he thought you were special? Or because of Aiden? No. It was his own guilt speaking, the nightmares that haunted him for not saving Lara when he had the chance.” He giggled as though the idea of Vacek having nightmares made him happy. “Of course, I also helped him make that decision by ensuring his attentions were tied elsewhere, and none of his agents could respond quickly enough. Heck, I'm also the one who got the information leaked about the Krawlin spies, I'll admit that.

I did it all to make sure that her disappearance was kept from reaching him in enough time for it to tip the scales in his thinking, so he would think she wasn't worth the risk. That's the beauty of my powers after all. I may not be the strongest or the smartest. But I have something better than that. The power of small changes and small droplets of chaos. It's like seasoning. A little here and a little there, and voila. We create the perfect storm."

Lexie took a breath. She was getting furious, and she wasn't sure who it was directed at now. Not to mention, she was having a hard time denying the words that were attacking her psyche, that the man she was working for had let her mother die.

"Even if what you're saying is true," she started. "Vacek only didn't save her because he thought she might have already been dead."

"Are you sure about that? Didn't he owe it to her to at least check? Because he could have."

Lexie tried to think of something else, but Vulcan kept talking.  

"And if you ask me why he didn't check, I'll tell you it's because deep down, he knew that her death helped him in a way, too. After all, a lot of people wanted her dead, and with this, he could appease them and get several concessions of his own. He could also take out a potential threat who knew all his secrets. It was a win-win, and he earned a lot more from her sacrifice than he earned from having her alive, especially since he knew exactly how to contain Aiden and keep him from causing too much damage." Vulcan hummed. "If you don't believe me, you have the lifelink gem. Look at it yourself. I'm sure you can piece together everything that happened from that."

"I have, and all it tells me is that they argued."

“No, that's not all. It also tells you the nature of Dominic Vacek, who she'd worked with and introduced you to as family. Who she had meals with, who she trusted with her life. Who failed her ultimately, because when it comes to keeping balance versus saving a single agent, Vacek was going to sacrifice that agent. Every. Single. Time."

Lexie shook her head. She just couldn't believe that about Vacek. Even though she didn't know him that well, she didn't think he would do that. He seemed sincere. Honest.

Yet, Vulcan wasn’t lying. The card was getting better at reading him the more he talked, and none of what he said was actually untrue. But that didn’t make it true either.

The best way to deceive someone was with the truth. Lexie had learned that lesson from Naem. 

Everything Vulcan had said might be technically true, but he’d twisted it in a way to paint Vacek in the worst possible light.

Why?

Because he wanted her to stop working for Vacek? Or was there another purpose for the long story?

"If there was no scenario in which Vacek didn't save your mother from that dungeon, then I wouldn't have been able to do what I did," he said. "I did it because I knew he would not choose her. Ever."

"I still don't believe you."

He chuckled. “I thought you might not. Oh well. This was a waste of time. I suppose this is where I kill you, just like how I killed your mother. Goodbye, Lexie Sparrowfoot.”

“Wait. You still haven’t told me why you wanted to kill her?”

“Oh, that,” he answered. “It's personal. Unfortunately, I don't have time to get into it, because..." The darkness pulsed with menace, the atmosphere cloying and choking the voice, travelling farther away. "You're about to die."

***

“Hello,” Xena said with an awkward wave at the Ambassador. She sat down in the seat Lionel pulled out for her and glanced around.

Typically, she didn’t have meetings with just one person present. She and Lionel usually met with a whole bunch of Fae who also had some humans in attendance, embassy officials. But this was just one guy. 

“Is anyone else coming?” she asked him, and he shook his head.

“No. I think it will just be us today because we need to have a candid conversation about Lexie Sparrowfoot.’

Xena stiffened. She glanced at Lionel, wondering if he’d set her up, wondering if the little she’d shared about Lexie had led him to seek out the Fae. 

"I didn’t tell him anything,” Lionel assured her.

“Yes. Your guardian has been very loyal to you, do not get me wrong. But I know you are Lexie Sparrowfoot’s childhood best friend. And I know enough about humans to know that means you care about her.’

“Yes,” Xena said firmly. “And before you even get started on anything, just know that I’m not going to talk about her with you. Never. In fact…” She glanced around. “Is this meeting even authorized? Does Vacek know about this?”

“I received authorization.”

“From Vacek?”

“From who I needed to.” He crossed his hand. “I understand not wanting to break your friend’s confidence, but I also know that at this point, you must already be aware of what’s going on with her. Of the fact that she’s had abominable things done to her soul and is now partially Eldritch."

Xena swallowed and shook her head. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. 

“Are you sure? I think it would be helpful to see what I’m talking about first.” He passed over a dark stone that glowed a little menacingly.

“What’s that?”

“A memory orb, archived from the recollection of a Fae female that Lexie spent time in the dungeon with. Lexie, I believe, is trying to balance her Eldritch and human energies, but it will not be possible. One must win out. And I want to show you what will happen to her if the part to win out is Eldritch."

Xena shook her head again, even though her hand had flexed reflexively.

She knew she shouldn't accept it.

It was wrong and felt like an invasion of privacy, even though it really wasn't.

But also...deep inside, she couldn't lie. She wanted to see it.

Since her best friend had come back, Xena hadn't truly felt like she understood Lexie. She felt like she was on the outside looking in at something that had possessed the body of her best friend, and everyone was just pretending it was normal. Everyone, including Xena herself, was doing that because it was easier to pretend than it was to argue.

Even now that she and Lexie were talking more, it was all so…uncanny. She didn't know if she was talking to the real Lexie or a demon–Eldritch who was playing a game with all of them.

She often felt guilty for having thoughts like this, like she was betraying Lexie.

But pretending nothing was wrong also felt like she was betraying Lexie, the real Lexie, in a way, too.

Her best friend was different, no doubt about it. Dewie seemed to have accepted it, but Xena was still worried. 

Maybe what she saw in the orb would help her understand.

“You can help her,” the Ambassador said. “It’s true. We can make her completely human again, get rid of the murderous urges she has. Urges that she will have to give in to eventually."

"You don't know that."

"But I do."

"She hasn't hurt anyone since she's been back."

"Yes. But her affliction is similar to that of a vampire. She can hold off her bloodthirst for a long time. A year. Two. Maybe even twenty. But the more you leave it, the stronger it will grow. And eventually, she will have to feed that side of her. I want you to see exactly what happens when she does.”

The orb floated closer to her, hanging in the air like a forbidden temptation.

After nearly a minute of silent deliberation, Xena took it.

“Watch it and ask her about it,” he said. “Ask her if she feels guilty for what she did. That will give you your answer."