"I don't want you to do this."

"That's highly hypocritical of you, don't you think."

The conversation, burgeoning on argument took place at the Arcadia Noxumber hospital. The two of them, Adam and Sunny, stood unusually at odds with each other, one on either end of the small room. Both of them warriors, their postures mirrored the start of a battle, though they used only words during this combat.

It would have been easy to cast accusations, to allow their emotions to become undone. No one would have blamed them either, running on high stress and little sleep, the reasons for which sat sleeping in the corner, cradled gently within two identical baby carriers.

Astra and Nyx.

Sunny didn't remember Kay being so difficult as a baby either of them with diverging personalities, both of them wildly difficult in their own rights. Nyx was moody, she craved attention and could not be put down without crying. Astra was a little more independent, but Sunny would wager to say she also had a temper, though that might just be projecting.

Both of them could see the heat in the room rising spurred onward by their exhaustion.

Adam was the first to check himself, a trait that Sunny admired.

She watched as he took a deep, slow breath, closing his eyes good eye for a long moment, the other eye hidden away under an eyeptach. He reached up and ran a distressed hand through tangles of white hair mussed and overgrown. His posture slowly relaxed, fading from combative to resigned as he turned to sit down on one of the waiting chairs.

Nyx made a small noise, and the two of them turned, something akin to fear and apprehension on their faces, but Nyx simply cooed softly in her sleep and went silent.

Adam turned back to look at Sunny.

He folded his hands on his lap, and with his sudden reduction in aggression, Sunny could feel her own slipping away, and she walked over to take a seat next to him, holding out the flat of her palm as a peace offering.

He didn't hesitate to take her offering, warm palm resting flat against her skin, fingers lacing through hers, "I'm terrified." He spoke the words bluntly, honestly finally allowing her to see the reason behind his agitation.

She waited.

"I am worried that you are going to die. I am worried that kazna is going to take your anima and use it as a power source. I am worried about being a single father to three children when I don't even feel like an adult myself. I am worried..... I am worried you are going to do to me what Maverick did to Ramirez."

Adam's last sentence hung like a poison cloud on the air between them. It wasn't even a reality she could deny as the result was entirely possible. They hadn't seen Maverick since her anima surgery. Celex had gone after her, but he had come back empty handed with a story they all found hard to believe. Maverick wasn't a member of the last cohort like the rest of them. Renegade had been one of the makers earliest and strongest soldiers, but had been driven to espionage by her own pride and jealousy. The story was a baffling one as Adam had always known maverick as the most loyal person he had ever met.

The two sides of her were so at odds it was impossible to reconcile.

But still it had happened, and now maverick was gone and Ramirez.....

The poor man was like a ghost.

He hadn't properly acknowledged what was going on switching back and forth between shell shocked disbelief, and optimistic denial

"She's coming back, she just needs a little time."

At thai point there was no doubt the poor man was heartsick, heartbroken, and hurting. They had done their best to be encouraging, to keep him company, but with everything that had happened....

And now this

Naktan's warning.

Celex had recognized the star patterns in the images Naktan had given them, and thought he had a good guess where the void's energy plant was located. They hadn't talked about it, but deep down Sunny secretly hoped they would be in time to save Naktan's soul before it could be put through the blender.

That's why she was in such a hurry.

That's why she would opt into the surgery so shortly after giving birth, a reality Krill had warned her was potentially dangerous, though she felt she had no choice.

She squeezed Adam's hand, though about lying just to soothe his worries, but sunny had always preferred the bitter truth over sweet lies, "I can't say it isn't a possibility, but Krill hasn't failed a surgery yet. Not to mention we know Apotheosis was on your side before everything began, so its likely she will be on your side now."

He looked up at her green eye sparking in the fluorescent light, "But will she still love me?"

It was a surprising question somehow.

Childish in a way but..... Also sad

It wasn't a question that had gone through Sunny's mind when Adam had done the surgery, but she supposed they hadn't known about maverick then, hadn't guessed what merging the two halves of yourself could do.

She shrugged, "Does Impetus love me/"

He paused, frowning. Adam didn't have as good a hold on his other half as did either Celex or Maverick. They had joined briefly on a few occasions, but he had described the experience as so overwhelming that it was difficult to determine what was real and what was a product of his struggling mind.

His Jaw worked hard trying to come up with the carefully plotted words that would make all his feelings make sense, "When Impetus looks at you..... Its like, I'm on fire."

Sunny raised an eye ridge in the customary expression of a human raising an eyebrow,. Humans used fire to describe a lot of emotions, Saints, they even used it to describe two opposite emotions. Hate and Love are often portrayed by fire . The two emotions are too strong to be compared to anything else. Perhaps hate can boil, but boiling is not nearly as strong as a flaming inferno.

"Is that a good thing or a bad thing."

"Good thing." he said

Sunny reached out, using her two upper hands to cup either side of his face, gently turning him towards her. Her lower hands clasped his, seeking for nothing if not complete and total control. He tried to look away but she forced him to keep her gaze, his skin warm and flushed under her hands.

"I am not going anywhere, and I trust krill." And she trusted herself to find a way back to him.

There was simply no question in her mind.

A truth she was unable to articulate as a small hiccup on the other side of the room heralded a slow, trembling wail. Adam sighed and slumped, "You'd think shed managed to sleep for more than a few hours at a time."

"Its pretty common with newborns."

"Doesn't mean I have to like it." Adam said, standing and walking over to Nyx. Unfortunately her sister's wailing had woken Astra, who also began to squall. Before long Adam was trying to sooth two babies instead of just one looking both spent and exasperated all at once.

Sunny smiled, and would have offered her help if krill had not appeared just then, accompanied by Celex, Conn and katie.

Celex smirked.

Adam scowled.

He might have given Celex the finger if it weren't for both of his hands being full, but Sunny obliged him, using all four of her hands to better affect.

"Celzex children are easier to take care of." He commented wryly.

"Well its generally frowned upon to EAT your children when you're a drev or a human."

Celex shrugged, "Anything is edible if you're brave enough.

Sunny made a face and Adam snorted.

Dr. Krill looked to sunny, his expression significantly less jovial than Celex, "Alright, I am not going to sugar coat this. The procedure is going to be incredibly dangerous. "Sunny could see the color drain out of Adam's cheeks from a mile away, but she kept her eyes fixed on krill, "Surgery like this has only ever been done on humans, but since you are a Drev, I am going to have to change the entire procedure, make it up from scratch. As you all know, the human brain is far more forgiving than any other species. Since you are not human this is going to carry even greater risk than it has carried before, and at any moment I reserve the right to end the procedure if I think it cannot be done."

Adam looked green, but Sunny had already made up her mind and nodded once.

"Your carapace poses another eunique problem. Since it doesn't grow back, I can't simply remove it, and your skin is tougher than human skin, more fibrous. The amount of damage I would have to do to pierce your skin is.... Well it's not something I like." he crossed his arms thoughtfully, "For this reason, I have come up with a way I think might work. We are going to go through your soft palette and drill into the bone to get to your brain."

"What!" Adam may have been the one to say it, but Sunny couldn't hep but agree that she didn't like the sound of this. Krill raised a hand, "I assure you, katie and I have thought this through, and we believe it may be our only viable option. From there we will be using nanosurgical technology to work out way into the brain with the help of Celex and Conn mapping things out for us.

Adam shook his head, "What about.... Bacteria! Won't you just be putting a mainline from her mouth into her brain tissue. Seems like a terrible idea."

Krill frowned at Adam. Surgeries are performed from the nasal cavity into the human brain all the time, and if I didn't have a system to combat this, I wouldn't be suggesting it.

He turned to Sunny, "Even so, you need to understand that this curries a high level of inherent risk. You could very well die during this procedure and infection is not out of the realm of possibility."

A sort of coldness hung heavy on the air.

Everyone knew what that might mean.

Kazna hung heavy on all of their minds.

Sunny straightened herself and took a deep breath, "My decision remains the same."

Adam seemed as if he wished to broach the argument again, but to his credit he kept silent. Nyx had fallen back asleep in his arms, and Astra was doing her best to chew a hole in the front of hi shirt.

Sunny could only pray to the saints that she didn't die this night.

What a tragedy it would be not to get to know her own children.