Last Thread: the Endgame
"...as long as you don't have to pay the price, you mean."
She watched as Snake walked away, letting out the breath she'd been holding, before turning back to Wasp, no emotion showing on her face.
"Anything and everything is on the table as long as you get power, isn't that it? Up to the point where we all fall in line behind you once everything is done and give you the power and adoration you crave. No price too steep, as long as someone else is doing the paying. No suffering too great, as long as it's someone else that does it. As long as you get the glory, the praise, then nothing else matters."
Taking a step forward, she draws closer to Wasp, not caring about the others with her.
"Valador is a master at playing to emotions, you understand. We understand that, first-hand- for if not, then I would not be standing here. He's playing on the Prince's greed- for what could be more useful to a conqueror than an army of proto-Kai that answer to his beck and call alone?
He's played to Sabre's emotions, too- otherwise, we wouldn't be talking here.
And now, we find he's played to your vanity, your desire for glory. A man who is guilty of conspiring with Nadziranim, playing about with dark magic, and weaving them all together into some semblance of life.
But there's always a price, Wasp. Always. I should know. Trust me, I know what it's capable of.
What did you give him? Money? Access? Information, perhaps?
Was it samples of flesh, taken from your followers so he could devise the secrets of the Kai potential and the disciplines from them? I mean, as long as it wasn't yours, who cares, right? Surely Crow and the others who follow you didn't mind giving a man like Valador access to their bodies and minds, just so he could have access to more test subjects, right? Because that's how he helped to create hybrids. Men and women, their bodies and souls tortured until compliant, a mash of darkness and light combined into one, a mixture of animal and human. I died because of one of them, Wasp. A woman with the features of a dog. I don't remember her Kai name, but considering we've brought one back, would you and yours perhaps like to meet him? Maybe we can get him to show you what he looked like before he was all fixed up on the outside, but not the inside?"
Taking a breath, she'd cock her head to the others who followed Wasp.
"I mean, maybe Crow wants to go crazy and end up with a nice beak and feathers bursting through his skin, maybe some nice talons for feet. Maybe Boar over there wants a nice snout, hooves, bristly hair and tusks to go with his name and skills, hm? Maybe Star wants to be a terror of some kind, all colored red? How's about that, huh? Any of the lot of you willing to go that far for her? To suffer through all that because hey, it's the price you have to pay for her to be leader! Come on, don't chicken out, you want her to be Grandmaster, do you not? Sacrificing your body, mind and soul is nothing, right? It's not like you'd ever see Wasp suddenly sprouting wings, giant eyes, and a stinger out of her arrogant rump, right? No, because that might get in the way of the praise and glory if she can't look the part! Because that's the kind of price Valador asks of the people who want his help. Because darkness always has a price, one for the bargain, one for the use of it, and then a harsher one for when you fail to meet the terms of the agreement.
Which one of them picks up the tab for that, Wasp? Which of your little followers gets to pay the piper when it comes time?"
She takes another step towards Wasp, drawing closer to her, within arm's reach.
"To say nothing of just casually strolling in here and dropping secrets on everyone, too...
'Oh, I know what Rain really is, and since she's being all mean and won't let me have what I want, I'm going to become a spiteful little witch and stab her in the back while outing myself as an operative of the man who wishes to tear the Order, and then proceed to do the same damned thing because if I can't have it, then nobody should be able to have it. Because who cares if everyone else in the world relies on said Order to keep everything safe from Darkness? I didn't get what I want, so let the world burn and I'll start my own little group, the Cult of Wasp, where everyone praises me because I'm the bestest best Kai ever because Valador told me so!'
That is why you would not make a good leader, Wasp. Because if you're willing to do that to me, to the Order, then what are you willing to do to your little herd, there, if they go against you? Who will be stabbed in the back next, I wonder?
The rest of us, here, are trying to save something that the world relies on. Something that is bigger than any of us, and we accept that's how it has to be- the Order is bigger than any single one of us. Do I want to be Grandmaster? Yes, I do. But at the same time, I'm also wishing for others to have equal say in things, because I'm not so Kai-blasted arrogant to think I know everything, and to push my intolerances onto other people- or to think I should be the be-all end-all authority in anything in the Order. And even if I don't end up elected, I'll support Snake or whoever is, because that's what we have to do. Because the Order is bigger than any single Kai and their desires for personal power, glory, and favor. Because this is more important than one person's lust for personal recognition.
You missed the one thing from Lone Wolf's history- the only reason he got so much fame and honor was because he had to fight to earn it. He had to survive and hurt and feel so much pain, betrayal, loss, and strain because an entire world was on the line, and he pulled it off. That's why.
And you want to smash apart the one group in the world capable of fighting back the darkness. What Naar and the Darklords could break, one little spoiled brat thinks she can because that's what the darkness that's poisoned her mind keeps telling her. Because Valador expects us to all fritter away like she would in the face of adversity, in the face of 'oh, deep, dark secrets being revealed because I'm so damned petty I'd rather doom the world than not get what I want!'"
She takes that final step, invading Wasp's personal space.
"That's why, Wasp. Because this isn't about personal pride. This isn't about glory, or being remembered. It's about doing what's right no matter the cost to ourselves.
It's about making that choice, when you've been chained, spread-eagled, and burned with lava until you scream. Sliced open and bled and stabbed, over and over, until you don't have a patch of skin that doesn't have a burn or a slash or a wound on it by a madman while you can't do anything but shriek and grit your teeth and hope against hope that your friends get there... while having to not break and beg for death from the young protege they were going to make kill you as a sacrifice to their dark god... hoping against hope that they won't leave you there... and then when you realize that they're not coming... to understand that you have to do what you have to do, because the world is more important than one single Kai... is to let yourself painfully bleed to death, because it's the only way you have to deny the darkness... and you have to let said brave young girl witness the whole damned thing.
And as you fade, you have to feel the psychic signature of the man you're defending- that you chose to ally with, and become the pawn of, that you assume is doing all of this out of the goodness of his heart- stall your friends at the entrance just long enough to keep them from reaching you in time... and then die with them less than a few hundred feet from you. Because of the stalling of said man who you think is trying to help you get control of something you're not even qualified to lead because of your pride and arrogance.
And if you don't believe me, I'll let you experience it all too clearly.
Now, someone needs to go run to check on Moon Shadow, and make sure there's nothing wrong with her. Make sure she's not under the influence of something psychic or mystical- and if she's able to talk, make sure she's all right, because right now, the word of the one who would claim to speak for her isn't worth a cup of flat ale."
Staring into Wasp's face, she finally finished... and let her face relax into a thin smile.
"...but despite all that... she's still got all the potential to be a leader.
You made a deal with someone who took advantage of you. I'm a descendant of the Kirlundin Wytch, just as big of a screwup as you, if not bigger. But I fought through my darkness, just like many others. Maybe I'm not the same person, but if I can do it, then I know anybody can. Maybe we all have things we don't want to admit to. But that's what we need to realize- that despite everything, we're still all Kai. None of us have lost our powers, been disowned, or anything. And that's how we know we keep on going and we keep on fighting.
It's why you and yours should stay here, and keep on fighting with us. Because no matter what, you're not my enemy. You screwed up somewhat majorly, and yes, I've taken you to task for it, and that's that. Now, the axe is in your hands, and the greel target's right over there, wide open. Are you going to run off with your lot and get killed or taken advantage of, or are you all going to show you're a lot smarter than Valador thinks you are and stick around and support the Order and be someone who can at least keep us on our toes with a fresh viewpoint when we need it?"