Promise

Amanda was in the lab at Fyre Manor, she had explained the Senior Partners to the group, and was now working on re-establishing the global network connection on one of the terminals. Ariel was sat on the nearby medical bed, playing with a ball.

"So, what's your real game, Mother?" Ariel asked.

"Game?" Amanda sighed. "I'm not playing a game with you, I'm here to help..." She shrugged.

"You've never helped anyone, you killed Father in cold blood just for a shot at being Empress" Ariel seethed with anger.

"I was stupid..." Amanda sighed, and shook her head. "If I could go back and undo the things that I did, I would" She added.

Suddenly the terminal began beeping, Amanda turned back to look and saw the words 'Connection Established' flash on screen. She spun around to look at the monitor and saw Rychard flash up on screen.

"Rychard?!" Amanda gasped.

"Oh, hey, Amanda" Rychard waved. "We're just testing the global communications network, didn't expect anyone to be at Fyre's Lab" He smiled.

"Wait, isn't he under the influence of the these Old Partner guys?" Ariel asked as she approached the terminal.

"Hah! Ariel too! Good to see you reunited" Rychard smiled. "A dragon turned up and cast some sort of spell or incantation on the whole island" He explained.

"Hmm, there was a dragon who turned up to save Roisin in Rivenlake, he cast some sort of glyph on that Treleva guy" Amanda pondered.

"Could be the same Dragon, his name is Arranthian" Rychard nodded.

"Wait... Arranthian?" Amanda tried to remember where she had heard the name.

"You know of him?" Rychard asked. Amanda snapped her fingers as she remembered.

"Yeah, he torched Avadey and assisted Seb and Syl in rescuing us" Amanda nodded.

"Hmm, he was the one who destroyed Avadey, then..." Rychard frowned.

"He had his reasons, Rychard" Amanda stated.

"Since when were you two so cosy?" Ariel butted in.

"Excuse me?" Amanda turned to Ariel looking surprised.

"Pyre and Aranei were worst enemies, so what gives? You two talk as if you are old friends" Ariel asked.

"Hmm, Rychard... Rychard didn't stand for Pyre, he was the guy behind Crystech, as you know, and as you also know, he operated in Imperial territory" Amanda explained. "He assisted me on many projects" She added.

"What projects?" Ariel said, as she looked at Rychard.

"I'd rather not talk about them..." Rychard shrugged. Ariel pushed Amanda's chair out of the way and stood face to face with the terminal.

"What projects?!" Ariel asked again, angrily.

"The mechanised armour project" Rychard replied, shaking his head.

"That's it?" Ariel asked, doubtfully.

"We... I..." Rychard put his head in his hands.

"You, what?" Ariel grunted.

"I helped in biological weapon research which we used against the Hubun settlements near to Aranei..." Rychard admitted.

"You son of a bitch" Ariel growled. "And I mean that literally" She added. She then turned to Amanda, with glowing red eyes.

"Ariel? Honey?!" Amanda said, fearfully. Ariel pushed Amanda's chair to the wall, the chair cracked as it hit the wall. Ariel stared intently into her mothers eyes, almost like a beast, Ariel almost always managed to stay composed, but the memories of Dex flooded her mind.

"You..." Ariel snarled, she punched Amanda in the face and she hit the floor with a thud. "You make me sick" Ariel added. She could hear Rychard shouting in the background, but ignored him as she grabbed Amanda by the hair and pulled her to her feet.

"Please, Ariel, I'm sorry..." Amanda begged.

"Sorry?! You're sorry?! You commit genocide and expect forgiveness? You destroy, kidnap and experiment on my friend's people, and you're sorry?!" Ariel roared, for a moment, Amanda saw the same ferocious look that Rory had. Though Amanda knew that unlike Rory, Ariel's bite was much worse than her bark.

Suddenly, Roisin struggled out of the elevator on her crutches, Ariel looked at Roisin and her eyes instantly returned to normal, she let go of her mother and ran over to help Roisin. Roisin looked at Amanda on the floor, with blood pouring from her nose.

"You guys... okay?" Roisin asked. Ariel wiped her bloody knuckles on her jeans and smiled at Roisin.

"Don't worry about us, Ros, are you in pain?" Ariel asked. Out of the corner of Roisin's eye she saw Rychard.

"Is that Rychard Pyre?" Roisin frowned. Amanda struggled to her feet.

"Yeah, he's rebooted the global network, and is free from the influence of those Senior Partner freaks I told you about" Amanda explained.

"And you took his word for it?" Roisin asked, as she made her way over to the monitor alone, looking face to face with Rychard she frowned.

"Oh my god, Roisin, what happened?" Rychard asked.

"I got into a fight with someone stronger than me" Roisin shrugged. "So, you're not under the influence anymore?" She asked.

"No, there was a dragon, Arranthian, he broke the bonds, using some kind of glyph magic" Rychard smiled.

"Bryan Fyre and Chrys Iryn are dead" Roisin stated, before looking away. Rychard looked visibly upset, he too looked away.

"I know they weren't good guys, in the end, but still..." Rychard's voice broke, he had spent many years working alongside them both at Crystech. "How did they die? Well, with Bryan I can guess, but Chrys?" Rychard asked. Roisin looked back at the screen, and sighed, she could tell that Rychard was showing genuine emotion.

"They both died protecting me, Bryan gave his power to me" Roisin frowned.

"I... I see" Rychard stuttered. "Look, Roisin, they did what they did for you, they could see the goodness in your soul..." He explained.

"I know, but, Seb and General Summers also perished..." Roisin shook her head. She began to stumble, both Amanda and Ariel rushed to her side to help her.

"You unite people, Roisin, that is why you are worth protecting, not because of some dumb mythical powers. Because you are Roisin Luna" Rychard smiled. Roisin smiled slightly, before Amanda and Ariel helped her to one of the medical beds.

"Hey, you two, I'm not the one whose in need of immediate medical attention, you know?" Roisin joked, nodding at Amanda. Ariel put on a smile and laughed, for Roisin, but she would never forgive Amanda for what she had done, and deep down, she knew Roisin would never either.