Soul Captive

Of all of the attackers, the only one Hypatia wasn't able to teleport away was Muramasa. The girl, now bereft of her blade, lies unconscious on the floor of the Aresian stronghold.

Stormcrow bends down, presses two fingers to her neck, and waits. After a moment he nods. "Unconscious. She'll be fine. Now let's see about that sword..."

Pneuma presents the blade, and the nature shaman inspects it without touching it. "Bad business," he murmurs. In a few minutes, a powerful spell of binding has been wrapped around the weapon, and Stormcrow pronounces it safe to touch. He doesn't object when Pneuma slings it back over her shoulder with a length of cable.

Link is recovering from the effects of the spell Hypatia placed on him, and Stormcrow moves to him next. "That was a bad thing, the sword that girl carried. Sure your friends are safe with it?"

Link glances over at Pneuma, then smiles up at the old man. "Yeah, pretty sure they're safe. Pneuma knows when she's getting into something dangerous."

"Alright then. I think the witch couldn't take her away, 'cause of the curse on the sword. It wasn't ready to let her go. That girl's gonna need a lot of help." Stormcrow looks concernedly at the unconscious form on the ground.

Link smiles. "Well good, 'cause that's what we do is help people."

"The curse on it will corrupt the soul. I think that girl's an innocent, but it's probably had its hooks in her pretty deep, and for a long time." Stormcrow frowns. "Hey, maybe your mechanical friend isn't so safe. Does she have a soul?"

Link needs no time to consider the question. "Yeah. She does. They all do."

----

Nearby, the Aleph Team have been talking amongst themselves. Most of the attention is on Bob.

"How's your girlfriend?" "Been dating long?" "You two make a cute couple." "Hey Bob, with that figure, you'd look mighty pretty in a dress."

"Shut it, you guys," mumbles Bob, clearly as flustered as a macho construction robot can reasonably be. "It was a battlefield thing. It's what the boss designed us to do - support. I was just the closest to the tube when Circuit came out."

"Sure sure." "Whatever you say, Bob." "Easy, big man." "Yeah, of course."

Bob deflects the attention to the other potential target of such good-natured ribbing. "Hey Pneuma, what was that you said to that girl with the sword? The boss doesn't belong to her? Who does he belong to?"

Pneuma's entire face flushes bright red in record time. This is enough for the rest of the team to join in. "Yeah, you were pretty serious about protecting Leo." "Is something finally going on with you two?" "Yeah, what's the deal?" "You really showed those two bitches who the real woman is."

"Shut up, you guys!" Pneuma shouts, stamping a foot and glaring. "It's not like that. We're just friends."

Surprisingly, the next rejoinder comes not from the Aleph Team, but from ORA, who has drawn near to her fellow artificial beings. "Is that true, Pneuma?" she asks. "Invictus and I fell in love over time. I wish to understand more about feelings. Are you and this man Link not similarly bound?"

Pneuma's face grows redder, if that's possible. "It's not like that!" Her voice drops, and her downcast eyes find the floor. "He... he originally designed me to be the perfect girlfriend. But I can't love someone if that's what I was designed to do. I have to find my own way and make my own choices. It's the only way I'll know if I'm a real person."

"Then we are the reverse," concludes ORA. "You, built to love, have become something else. I, built for my own purposes, became someone who loves. But do you really have no feelings for him?"

Pneuma distantly rubs one foot against the ground, still avoiding eye contact. "I can't say that I don't. But... he's not yet the man he could be. He has so much potential. He's growing into it, but..." She finally looks up, locking gazes with ORA. "What should I do?"

ORA smiles. "I do not fully understand the feelings of others, nor my own feelings. So I can only recommend doing what I am doing now. I am waiting for the man I love to appear before me."

Pneuma blinks a few times, then nods in comprehension. "That... sounds very wise." And she and ORA share a knowing smile.