Moon
The Prometheus

I rolled the moment I hit the ground, narrowly blocking The Overlord's blow. He threw me to the side, swinging his fist over me and slamming poor Nafia into the wall. She slumped against it for a moment, dazed.

I slashed at the back of his leg, and he fell to one knee with a roar. He backhanded me, throwing me off-kilter and into a bench.

Cleo rushed from the smoke with a shout, cutlass raised high.

The Overlord ducked under it, rolling up and driving his sword clean through her chest. He tossed her aside, shattering the window.

All the memories rushed back. Like Xisuma, she had treated me like her daughter. Helped me after Double Life when Scott had run off with Cleo's younger sister. The only mother I had ever known.

More Hermit bodies were lying across the train floor. All of them except a few, really. All mangled almost past recognition.

Gem and Etho bravely stood shoulder to shoulder, charging The Overlord together.

The Overlord barreled towards them, slamming shoulder-first into Etho with a sickening crunch. Blood exploded out of his mouth as he went flying and fell in a heap on the floor next to Joel's body. Joel's body still had a cocky smile plastered to it, and Lizzie's body sat next to his. They still hand their fingers intertwined, even in death.

Gem ducked under The Overlord's blade, slashing at his shoulder. The blade snapped against it, and he surged forwards in a black mass and seized her by the throat.

Her eyes bulged as she clawed at his arm

I shakily stood with and outraged bellow, slamming the butt of my axe into a chink in his armor.

He backhanded me again, sending me flying into the wall. I slumped against it, helpless.

No.

With a gut-wrenching snap, he finished my poor sister off.

Please, please no. Anyone but her.

My vision went red as he tossed her body to the side like a rag doll.

With a roar I stood and shot at him, swinging my axe. He slid to the side, simply watching me.

Entertained.

"Let's have Grian and Scar join us." He said, reaching up with one clawed gauntlet and ripping the ceiling open again.

Scar fell, rolling up and popping a quick shot off at The Overlord before he noticed the desolation. The bullet merely pinged off his armor.

Scar slumped.

"Yield. Now. I will not offer this again. I have won. Your Hermits are all dead, and the Unbroken crew will follow suit." The Overlord said. Grian hopped down, standing by his side.

"Like hell we are. Don't you see how useless this all is? We're all going to die anyways." Scar snarled.

"Yes. But not today. I shall build the Galaxy a new future before I do." The Overlord declared.

Scar actually laughed.

"No, you won't. Don't you know, man? The universe is collapsing in on itself. The Big Crunch or whatever. And it's almost here. We're going to die today." Scar said between bouts of laughter.

The Overlords men stirred uneasily.

"Lies." The Overlord spat.

"No, he's right! I've been, ah, studying it. By my calculations... we have hours. At best. The rest of the Galaxy is gone." Davidson said from the doorway.

We all froze, a cold chill in the air.

My dream came back to me. When Death asked if I was claustrophobic. When he crushed me in that black box.

"Shit..." I muttered.

The Overlord just stared. Sizing us up. Seeing if we were bluffing.

Then he swore. Very, very colorfully.

He turned to his men.

"Get everyone to the ships! We find a way to get out!" He ordered, grabbing Grian by the shoulder. The Tablet glowed purple, and he blasted the side of the train away. A Lazarus shuttle floated there, ramp down.

"Overlord! This isn't over! I'll find you! And I WILL kill you!" I roared.

Then they were gone.

I fell down to my knees, weariness seeping into every bone of my body. I grabbed my biceps, body racked with sobs as the blood of my family stained my jeans.

Scar was suddenly there, wrapping his arms around my shoulders.

"Pearl. Hey. I'm here. I'm here. This isn't over."He whispered.

"No. No, it's over! I'm so! Damn! Tired! Of! This! Shit!" I screamed each word, punching the floor and throwing blood up.

The rest of the Unbroken crew burst in, soaked in blood,'hesitating a moment when they saw the bodies and me sobbing on the floor. Karn was the first to snap out of it, kneeling at my side.

"Pearl. It's all gonna be okay. Okay? We're here. Even if the universe is collapsing. We'll die together." Karn whispered, gently wiping a tear from my face.

I fell into his arms, broken.

He held me tightly for a while. Silently grieving with me.

And honestly, that's exactly what I needed.

Until a soft, Arabic voice said from above; "I may have a solution to our current predicament."

Mowgli swung down into the car, face solemn.

I shot him a nasty look.

"Where the hell where you?!" I demanded.

His face fell. Ashamed.

"Getting information. Look, I know how to get out of here. Away from the Crunch. Follow me." He whispered.

How about I push you out of the train instead, I wanted to tell him.

But we listened and followed the tiger.

. . .

Mowgli refused to talk the whole flight back to the hangar. We briefly touched down at the bridge to drop McFee off, but then we got out of there. Even after all that, Mowgli refused to talk.

And everything outside had gone to shit.

Asteroids and comets flew in every which direction, plowing through ships. The black background of space was completely devoid of stars and was slowly growing redder and redder. B had to pull up sharply at one point to stop from getting sucked into the gravity well of a random rocky planet. What I assumed were Black Holes danced around the edges of the system, devouring Milky Way's Wrath and what remained of Titan.

Everyone had seemed to stop fighting. They were just trying to survive, blasting away at the objects flying around. Everyone knew at this point what was happening, clearly.

And surrounding us all, visibly closing in, were the edges of the universe. They rippled like unnatural water. Just looking at them gave me a headache.

"Davidson." I said sharply. He turned to me, nervous.

"Y-yea, ma'am?" He stammered.

"Is there any way to get out of this?" I demanded.

Everyone turned to look at him. He paled.

"Well, the Vex had a-a theory. Ab-about the black holes. That they didn't r-rip anything apart. That th-they were actually, uh, gateways." He stammered.

Ivan muttered a foul curse in Severnyy.

"So you want us to fly into a black hole?" Nafia demanded.

"...uh." Davidson wisely cut himself off.

Nafia surged forwards, grabbing his collar.

"No, he's right." Zara whispered.

We all turned to her.

"I-I remember something. Getting sucked into one. And I ended up here." She blurted out.

We all stayed silent.

"You're from another universe?" B asked softly.

She growled with frustration.

"I don't know! All I remember is that. And something about "a place between stories" or some bullshit like that. Honestly." She said.

"I'll go. I'll go through. Try and come back if it works. If not... well, it's a win-win for me." Scar volunteered.

We were about to respond when B docked with Polaris Station next to a ship named Jellie II. Scar's ship.

Scar stood.

"Don't try and talk me out of it." He said.

Then he was gone.

None of us moved.

B undocked is again, and we drifted away. Watching.

"Unbroken, this is the Jellie II. I'll keep contact as long as possible. Wish me luck." Scar said.

I keyed the mic desperately.

"Scar, don't. You don't have to do this." I begged.

Silence.

"I killed Cub, Pearl. Gigacorp made me. Then I got NEWUN to start a war. So much blood is on my hands." Scar said softly.

The entire ship shuttered, and I didn't think it was Polaris Station settling.

"It's not your fault, Scar." I said gently.

"Don't try and talk me out of it! Goodbye, Pearl. Maybe I'll be back. Look, I—" he cut out for a moment. "I FTL'd to the closest one. I think... yeah. It's Phoenix A*. I'll see you on the other side, Pearl." Scar said.

I stepped up to the window of the Unbroken, looking out. The Prometheus and a swarm of other ships were panic-flying away from a gigantic black hole. The walls had gotten so close now. I didn't think there was anything but the Hermitcraft system now.

I frowned as I watched. Multiple black holes were in my line of sight now. And light seemed to be streaming in...

I gasped as a chunk of the barrier tore away.

The black holes were literally tearing the fabric of space apart.

Another way out.

"Scar, call it off! The black holes are tearing other holes! Get out of there!" I screamed.

"So—close. I can't—hear you—nymore. Goo—ye, Moon. I'll see—ther side." His voice came back choppy.

Then static.

"I can't lose you, too..." I whispered.

But he was gone.

"B. Call Rat. I have a plan." I said hollowly.

And I told him.