Archive of Our Own ^beta

"If you think I should leave because I didn't sign up through the official channels, then maybe you should kick Crypto, Loba, Revenant, and Agrippina out as well," frowned Malia as she gestured to the growing crowd. Gibraltar made a move to step in but stopped himself with a frown as he thought better. Crypto and Agrippina shared an uncomfortable look while the rest of the legends whispered among them.

Kuben gritted through his teeth, uncomfortable arguing with his wife in front of a crowd, "This isn't right, Malia."

"What do you mean, this isn't right? None of this is right. There are so many things about this that aren't right!" She stopped to take in a breath as hot tears began to stream down her cheeks, "Why won't you tell me what's going on?"

He reached out and gently cupped her cheeks. He wiped her tears with his thumbs and spoke gently, his eyes soft, "Trust me, my pup, I want to-."

Malia stepped back, away from him in her frustration. "Fine then. Don't tell me, but I can't do it again, Kuben. I can't fight against you as we did during the war. Either we fight together, or I don't fight at all.

"You may still be strong and lively, but I'm not. Years of experimentation and fighting have left me weary. I'm not like you. I don't care about who is stronger or weaker. I only care that I get to live out my life by your side."

He listened, and as she spoke, he realized that she did look tired. The gray's in her long black locks gave her hair a shiny, yet smokey appearance. Wrinkles lined her bright, beautiful brown eyes. While her muscles became stronger from her time in the ring, he could tell that she was somehow smaller. She no longer bothered to carry herself upright anymore and tended to favor her left shoulder more than he had ever remembered.

"Then leave the Games, Malia. I won't ask you to fight; I never will," he pleaded gently. They remembered their wedding vows that were spoken spontaneously to one another under the sudden officiation of a Militia commander. Together they molded their lives by those words quietly spoken to one another in the forests of Harmony.

Wherever Kuben went, Malia followed. Happy to learn more about the people and cultures of the Frontier. The people she saved.

While she learned, Kuben looked. He wanted to find the strongest people of the Frontier to create the ultimate game. A bloodsport. Riches and influence could be earned by those deemed best of the best. At first, it was wholly a nightmarish sport, but after some convincing, Malia managed to convince her husband that it need not be to the death. Instead, the participants could be revived by their teammates. It went against Kuben's lack of faith in anything that required teamwork, but he could see the logic behind it.

Unfortunately, due to her link with her titan, Iah, Malia found herself unable to connect to the respawn systems successfully.

He continued, "Why put your life at risk every match? You never cared about the bloody Games before. Why now?"

Malia looked at Agrippina before looked back at her spouse, "Because I found what I have been searching for all these years. And I am going to help her go back home. To her family."

Everybody looked between her and Agrippina in confusion.

The assassin broke the confused silence first, "Wait, you'll truly die in the ring? What does anything about the Games have to do with me? I want to go home, but I won't do it at the cost of yours or anybody else's life," she paused to look at Revenant before she added, "Well, except for you. You're kinda done with life at this point."

The simulacrum gave a humorless laugh, "Trust me, girlie, I've been done for a long time now."

"Participating in the Games has allowed me and Iah to keep a close eye on the Syndicate. We even managed to learn about some things that even you," she paused to nod at Kuben, "Haven't heard about. Like that, they have found another Ark."

"I thought you said that you destroyed it," questioned Kuben, as he glanced at her mechanical left arm.

"I did, along with the Ancients, but it seems that those bastards had more lying around. While I am no longer able to detect the weapons, it appears that somebody else can. The question is, who?"