"Don't look at me like that, Pearce, your royal status unfortunately does not change the fact that you will probably be just as incompetent at ruling Homina as you were as a member of my First Legion." Nexetra smirked at the sight of Hugo's dumbfounded expression as he stood in silence, staring at the green fingerprint scanner in front of him and trying to come to terms with the fact that it had not, in fact, blown him up. 

"And that is a triumph of mine in which you had no part," Vendyr grinned, his confidence renewed at the success of the Djareny's plan. "If you recall, Nexetra, I ordered him kidnapped and brought to Djara against your wishes." It was clear that Admiral Houke wished to react to these newfound revelations, but he was still confined to a corner of the lab by his own mutinied soldiers. 

Hugo's gaze snapped up toward Vendyr, hatred simmering in his eyes. "Then this was your fault! You told me I was a Hornless- a lesser Djaren- when the only reason I don't have horns is because I'm a human! You told me that-" 

"You were worthless, yes," Vendyr chuckled softly. "Degraded your self esteem, turned you from a proud prince into the begging, thieving thing you are today. I undermined Homina's future, utterly and thoroughly, and still my daughter thinks she can stand without me. The impudence!" 

At this, Nexetra was visibly irked, but chose not to respond, content to hold the bars of her cage with a white-knuckled grip. 

"Now, finish it, Nexetra! End the life of this pathetic boy, and with him shall die the royal bloodline of Homina. Distant cousins shall fight over the throne, and chaos shall ensue! The humans will at last share our life of disorder and uncertainty! We have outwitted our more 'intelligent' foe- we shall finally know victory!" Vendyr announced, raising his arms in the air. 

Nexetra grinned at the prospect, momentarily forgetting her irritation against her father. A knife rose from the ground, slowly moving through the air toward Hugo. 

"No...no!" he gasped, scrambling away, but was quickly restrained by a pair of Djareny soldiers. "I know something! I can tell you! Don't do this!" 

Nexetra was entirely unaffected by his protestations, and the knife continued to draw closer. When it was a mere inch away from his neck, he cried out in desperation, uttering as his final plea one single name. 

"Christopher Cervil!" 

The knife clattered to the floor as an unimaginable pain filled Nexetra's eyes, but it was quickly replaced by a harsh anger. "How dare you utter his name!" 

"You didn't eat him. Your father lied to you. Your father killed Cervil- hit him in the head with a brick and put his bloody remains by your bed. I watched him do it, I swear! You know how lightly I slept while I was in the Legion- I heard a commotion in the common room on Djara and immediately went to investigate." It was clear from the strain in his expression that this was a story Hugo would rather not tell, but necessity drove him to narrate it. 

"Do you believe this raving fool?" Vendyr exclaimed. "He knows of your sentiments, and is toying with them!" 

"He's right," Nexetra narrowed her eyes. "What reason could my father possibly have to kill Christopher, much less frame me? He said himself that I was lucky to find a man so brave and loyal despite my, er, condition." 

"I heard him talking to your mother," Hugo stumbled over his words, knowing that his life would come to an unceremonious end if he didn't form them quickly enough. "He said you were growing too powerful, that you wanted to leave your cage, and if you did, you'd easily surpass him in ability. He thought that if the first night you spent out of your cage, you did something horrible, then you'd be convinced that it was best for you to... stay on the sidelines. And just think about it- you're a mutant Tactile. Why in the world would your mutation make you eat people? Tuofah doesn't eat people."

"That is outrageous! You know that my greatest wish has always been for you to succeed!" Vendyr stammered, tapping his cane on the floor to emphasize his words. "Kill him, before he poisons your mind with more nonsense!" 

Nexetra held out her hand and the knife rose once again into the air, this time moving with speed and certainty. It flew forward, spiraling straight into its target with a sickening crack. 

Hugo's eyes widened as Vendyr slumped over his cane, the knife's bloody point sticking out of his back. 

"You're right," Nexetra muttered bitterly. "Your greatest wish has always been for you to succeed. No matter the cost. No matter the knowledge that your own daughter has lived for nearly a decade with her conscience dominated by guilt, tortured by a memory that was never even real. No matter the imprisonment, the fear, the doubt she has suffered. You always taught me that a true strategist identifies his enemy. I failed in that. It was never the Hominans. It was never Saara, who loved me for as long as she could despite the barriers of race and nationality. It was you. It was always you, Father." 

Vendyr struggled, gripping the hilt of the knife as he gritted his bloody teeth, but his mouth failed to form words. Soon, he and his ornate crane fell unceremoniously to the floor. 

The two Djareny soldiers stepped away from Hugo in shock at the sight of their eldest, most respected leader lying facedown in a pool of his own blood, allowing Hugo to carefully clasp Tuofah's hand. The two of them watched, silently, as Nexetra's powers easily bent the bars of the cage and she stepped out, holding her arms out as if to confirm that she was no longer walled in. And then, the ruthless Djareny leader, who only moments ago had commanded the utmost fear, sank powerlessly to her knees, staring down at her hands as she sobbed like a child. 

"Pearce, you fool! You cruel fool! Why didn't you tell me? Why did you let me suffer so?" she cried, though Hugo could tell that her questions were rhetorical and not truly addressed to him. 

"But I cannot hate you," she gulped with resolve, her bloodshot eyes shining clearly. "I cannot hate anything now. I am feeling... the most wondrous feeling! I'm not a cannibal. I'm not a monster. I'm not anything he said I was- I'm free!" and with this declaration, she wept some more, overcome by indescribable emotion. 

She only paused at the sight of a commotion at the door. Prime Minister Saara Remy herself had arrived, flanked by half a dozen Hominan policemen on both sides and herself dressed in full body armor. 

"I suspected the Admiral had gotten himself into a bit of trouble," she nodded at Hugo. Her eyes quickly passed over her father's body and then her crying sister, and she seemed to immediately register some idea of what had happened. Smiling, she knelt in front of Nexetra, seeming to wonder at how much she had changed since the family had split up. 

"It's okay, little sister," she whispered carefully, as if expecting Nexetra to spring back into full overlord mode at any second. "I'm here now."

THE END