Everything happening around Alex was chaotic and confusing. At some point during the ambulance ride to the hospital he’d gotten free of Jani’s grip and made his way back to Rixie. He sat at the base of her breast and refused to move.

He wasn’t in their way so the medic team left him be, deciding it was easier than arguing with him. Alex knew he wasn’t behaving logically, but something in him couldn’t help it. He had a crazy feeling that if he let Rixie out of his sight for even a moment, that he’d never see her again.

Rixie herself had passed into unconsciousness. She had a plastic oxygen mask covering her face and a pressure bandage over her wound. She looked pale, more so than usual. Sickly pale. Her braids were matted to her forehead with sweat.

But she was still breathing. Alex could feel every breath she took as her chest rose and fell beneath him, and her heart still beat in her chest.

Light burst into the ambulance as the med team opened the back doors and began wheeling Rixie’s gurney into the hospital. Around him was an explosion of sound and movement as swarm of doctors and nurses descended, barking orders and taking readings of Rixie’s weakening vitals.

“Begin prepping her for surgery!” A doctor shouted.

“This is a Hospital, why is there a human here!? Someone take it away! We have work to do!”

Alex wheeled towards the sound of the voice, bristling with anger.

“Try it!” He snapped. “I swear I’ll bite you!”

The nurse blinked down at him, obviously taken aback by his emotional explosion.

“They are just trying to help, Alex.” Jani admonished him gently.

Alex flushed with embarrassment from the outburst. He allowed Officer Jani to enfold him in her fingers and lift him away.

He felt his heart pounding in his chest as he watched Rixie being rolled down the corridor towards the surgery, lost in a crowd of doctors and nurses.

“She’ll be okay.” Jani whispered to him, idly stroking his back with her fingers.

Alex nodded, unable to speak due to the lump in his throat. There was a small selfish part of him that wondered what would happen to him if Rixie…

Would he be sent back to Pryvani? Sent to the Titan version of a pound? Tossed out on the street? Would Jani decide to keep him?

No! Alex shook his head. It was stupid to even contemplate that because Rixie would be okay. Alex knew it was the truth. Deep in his bones he knew it.

It had to be…

“Come on.” Jani said to him, continuing to rub his back comfortingly. “There’s a vet’s office in this hospital. You need your injuries tended to as well.”

“I’m fine.” Alex muttered despondently.

“No. You’re not.” Jani told him. “And Rixie wouldn’t appreciate me letting you sit here hurting, would she?”

“Suppose not…”

“Right.” Jani smiled softly. “And I’m sure not going to get on her bad side.”

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*

From the shadows above them, he watched as a group of men gathered in the dim light cast from a shuttered lamp in the center of the table. From where he stood he couldn’t see the faces of the half dozen men around the table, but it didn’t matter. He knew each and every one of them.

They were laughing over their mugs of ale and congratulating each other on the haul they’d scored from tithes from the Faithful.

Garteh grinned at the group of cronies he’d commandeered when he’d taken over for Sulphur. It hadn’t been terribly hard; they weren’t very bright and just needed someone to follow.

Garteh was more than happy to be that person.

After he’d gained control over the church’s enforcers, the rest of the faithful had quickly fallen in line. Of course, news that Brother Sulphur had himself succumbed to the mark of sin served only to bolster Garteh’s claim.

Garteh didn’t know what had become of the idiot Irin after the young man had so foolishly decided to run into the burning building, nor did he particularly care. Irin had chosen his own path, and if the young man had been so pathetically sentimental as to rush into mortal peril to save a bunch of doomed sinners, well… That was his own affair.

Garteh took a sip of his drink and leaned back in his chair, feeling completely content.

He had no idea that all of them were currently being watched from the shadows.

Irin looked down on them from where he crouched in the rafters of the “chapel.”

Unconsciously, he lifted his hand to gently touch the burn scarring on his face. He could hear the screams of the people who’d been trapped inside the burning building.

A fire that he had started.

That was a sin that Irin would have to atone for.

But he wouldn’t be the only one.

*.*.*.*.*.*

As he stared up at the ceiling of his bedroom, Dahntnee former high Priest of the One Goddess tried to keep the room from spinning too much.

He lay back on his bed, with sweat dripping down his forehead almost as fast as the kindly woman who was tending to him could wipe it away. His breathing came in shallow gasps, when he wasn’t trying to suppress groans of pain.

He was dying. He was reasonably sure of it. The damned plague was going to take his life.

Mostly, Dahntnee was okay with that. He’d caught the plague tending to the sick after all, it was hard to regret that. He didn’t relish the idea of leaving his people without a leader, but they would survive that. He wasn’t the first leader of Atlantis to die, after all.

There was a small sinful part of him that enjoyed the fact that, if he had to die, at least he’d ensured it that Sulphur would be joining him sooner or later.

It wasn’t like Dahntnee to take pleasure in the death of another person, but considering how close to death he was himself… it was hard to care.

*.*.*.*.*

“Well, by every test it appears to have worked within reasonable parameters.” Dr. Selil adjusted her lab coat as she peered down at the figures on the screen of her datapad.

“So in other words, we’re no longer able to spread the disease?” Pryvani asked, arching an eyebrow.

“Isn’t that what I just said?” Dr. Selil asked.

Pryvani smirked. “Thank you, Doctor.” She turned to the remaining titans in the room. “Now that we’re in no danger of inadvertently spreading the disease to the rest of the moon, I believe we have business to take care of.”

Brinn, who was still feeling the effects of the vaccine, shook her head. “Please…” she muttered. “You have to bring him back…”

Taron smiled softly and squeezed Brinn’s hand comfortingly. “We will. You stay here and keep looking for that cure, okay?”

Brinn nodded, swallowing the lump in her throat.

“I’ve had my surveillance drones doing sweeps of the area for the past several hours. Between that and the data from Nick’s tracking chip, I believe we can safely pinpoint Trell’s location.” Pryvani said, tapping at the screen of her data pad.

“Oh no…” The heiress muttered after a moment.

“What is it?” Taron asked.

“She’s heading for Atlantis…”

The young man nodded. “Then we’d better get going.”

“I’ll stay here.” Zara spoke up. “Somebody has to take care of Sophia. Not to mention looking after Brinn and Selil when she inoculates herself.

“Good idea.” Pryvani smiled gently. “I’m sure Taron and I will be able to handle things on our own.” She nodded to Taron and the two of them swiftly left the lab to go put on their gravity dampening gear.

*.*.*.*.*.*

Zhan sat crouched in the pit of Trell’s stomach, curled into a ball, gripping his head in his hands. He tried, desperately, to shut out the beating of Trell’s heart and the sound of the air being pulled into and expelled out of her lungs. But he couldn’t do it.

He wondered, idly, which would happen first- would the sounds of Trell’s inner workings drive him mad or would her body rip him apart cell by cell.

The cavernous stomach that surrounded him rumbled and began to shake back and forth, swaying rhythmically from side to side.

Trell was on the move.

Zhan slowly pulled himself to his feet and tramped through the muck that sat at the bottom of Trell’s stomach. As if in a daze he stumbled over to the wall of her stomach and tried to pull himself up the slimy surface.

A part of him knew this was a futile gesture, but animalistic part of his brain refused to give up. A shuddering tremor shook Trell’s stomach and Zhan was thrown from his feet and into the bile. He surfaced and gasped the stale air that managed to permeate Trell’s stomach before wiping the vile substance from his face and eyes.

Had he managed to irritate her, or had that been just an automatic response?

He decided to find out.

*.*.*.*.*.*

Her heart thudded in her chest as Pryvani approached the city of Atlantis for the first time in far too long. Taron was a step behind her, but she paid him no mind. She could feel tears coming to her eyes at the sight of her ravaged city.

Taking a deep breath, Pryvani shook her head to clear it. They had a tough job ahead of them, and it would do no good for her to become unraveled at this point. She strode confidently to the gates of the city, which opened for her after only a moment of hesitation.

As she had done hundreds of times before, she stepped into the city amidst a crowd of curious onlookers. Her sights were set on the temple at the center of the city. She had to begin preparations for Trell’s arrival, and they hadn’t a moment to lose.

She and Taron stopped outside the temple. After a moment the front gates to the entrance swung open and a young woman in light blue garb timidly approached.

Carefully, Pryvani knelt down and lowered her hand to the ground. After only a moment’s hesitation, the young woman climbed into the giant palm and braced herself as Pryvani lifted her to eye level.

“Hello.” Pryvani spoke as gently as she could, not wanting to frighten the poor young woman any more than she already was. “Who might you be, and where is Dahntnee?”

“Um…” The woman cleared her throat nervously. “Dahntnee is terribly sick. My name is Leyta, and I’ve been taking care of his affairs.”

“I’m glad for that.” Pryvani smiled. “Are you in charge here then?”

The young woman shrugged. “I-I suppose I am, if anybody is…”

“Good. Then-” Pryvani was interrupted by a commotion from the entrance to the Temple. As she watched, the grand entrance doors slowly swung open and four men bearing a litter between them stepped out into the courtyard.

Pryvani’s eyes widened when she saw that laying stretched out on the litter was the still and pale form of a human man.

Dahntnee.

Carefully she lowered her hand and allowed Leyta to step onto the ground again. Hurriedly, Leyta rushed over to the litter and had a conversation with the four men carrying it. After a moment the litter was lowered and Leyta and two of the men helped Dahntnee to his feet and supported him as he walked to the gates.

As soon as he was close enough, Pryvani reached out and gently took him into her hand, carefully raising him to her face.

“My lady…” The young priest wheezed. He was sickly and pale, and Pryvani could tell he’d lost a lot of weight very quickly.

“Dahntnee…” Pryvani spoke softly. “I-”

“My lady…” The young priest whispered hoarsely. “There’s not much time left for me.”

“Don’t… don’t say that…”

“It’s true. I know it.” Dahntnee spoke before breaking out into a coughing fit. “I just… I wanted to gaze upon you one last time… before…”

Pryvani smiled sadly. “I wish there were a happy afterlife I could offer you…”

“Don’t worry about me, Pryvani. A life well lived is enough.” Dahntnee sighed.

Pryvani bit her lip uncertainly, before nodding resolutely. Gently, she raised him up and pressed him to her lips in a soft kiss.

After a few moments she pulled away, happy to see a smile on the Priest’s face.

“Well…” Dahntnee half laughed and half coughed. “As final experiences go, I’m not sure any afterlife could really top that…”

And then he lay in Pryvani’s palm…

…And died…

Carefully, reverently, Pryvani lowered her hand and the four men gathered Dahntnee’s body back onto the litter and Leyta covered him with a cloth.

Pryvani knelt there a moment while she gathered her thoughts.

Finally, she spoke to Leyta.

“Trell is coming to the city. You must begin moving people towards safety. Evacuate anybody you can on the northern edge, as that is the direction she’s coming from. Do you understand?”

“I…I think so..?”

“Are you sure?”

Leyta nodded. “Yes. I understand.”

Pryvani nodded and pushed herself back to her feet. “Good.” She turned to Taron, who had been waiting patiently through the whole exchange.

She glanced down at the still form of Dahntnee’s body. She felt her resolve hardening.

“Let’s go.”

*.*.*.*.*.*

It took some work, but Nick eventually managed to finish what Zhan started. With one final pull, Nick snapped the threads that bound his wrists together, then very carefully reached down to untie his ankles.

He had to move slowly because he didn’t want to alert Trell to the fact that he’d gotten himself loose. Her strides were causing him to slide deeper into her cleavage with every step the giantess took. Eventually, if she kept walking, he would fall right out of her shirt.

Nick wasn’t entirely certain if that was a desirable outcome or not.

The Titaness wasn’t paying him any mind, however. Her attention was much more focused on the small pad in her hand. Nick wasn’t sure what she was looking for, but it probably wasn’t anything good.

Suddenly everything stopped. The world tilted as Trell bent to set the strange device she’d been carrying, the one that seemed to be counting down to something.

Nick slipped out of her cleavage and through the bottom of her shirt. He bounced off her thigh and rolled down her bent leg, landing with a painful impact on the ground between her feet.

He groaned and carefully pushed himself to a standing position. Fortunately with the way Trell was bent over, he only fell about twelve feet.

It still hurt like hell though.

He watched as Trell set the device on the ground.

Nick looked around. They were right outside the city limits of Atlantis.

Cautiously, he crept away from the giant woman, who was busy doing something to the timer (or whatever it was to notice him.)

After a few moments, Trell rose back to her full height. She heaved the device into the air with a grunt and continued walking towards the city leaving Nick alone.

The young man looked around warily. He could see the city in the distance, and then realized that he could just make out two more giant forms in the middle of the city.

One of whom had very colorful hair.

With a sigh he started jogging after Trell, knowing it was the last thing he really wanted to do.

*.*.*.*.*.*

It didn’t take long for the humans to spring into action. Soon they were swarming around the feet of the two titans as the City Watch officers worked to move the populace from the areas most in danger to safe houses on the opposite side of the city.

Hopefully Pryvani could keep Trell away from that part of the city. Ideally, she would have hoped to intercept Trell before the diabolical woman made it anywhere near Atlantis, but it was too late for that. Even now, Pryvani and Taron could see her strutting towards the city, full of confidence.

In fact, Pryvani could just make out the evil little smirk on her face.

With an angry growl, she made her way through the city streets to meet Trell.