.:so this is how you spend eternity:. {Arceus characters}

[Dimity]

 A flash of light in the sky heralded the arrival of another arceus. Down from the sky she came, consolidating from light into a body of light orange-yellow, and golden and pink touches on her wheel. As Dimity watched, she lit on the ground a safe but near distance from her and the two babies. Lully blinked, staring in guarded curiosity.

"Hello." Dimity greeted the other alpha. "Who are you?"

"My name is Sundance," said the other femme. "You don't have to fear me. I'm a friend. I come here because you three are in danger."

[Eonia]

Eonia looked at the newcomer with curiosity.


Icyspiral nodded to Sundance. "Hello," she said.

[Dimity]

The arceus gave a regal nod of her head to the articuno. "Oh, I didn't see, you have a young latias too there. But let me explain. Something's happened. Dimity, you should take your daughter and yourself away from here. Your parents and everyone else at the Nexus have been taken hostage."

Dimity stared, her two wheel gems now glowing in alarm. "What...By who, what--I don't even know where the Nexus is, do you mean the Nexus Planet?"

"Yes. You have a young one of your own--don't go there."

"What happened!"

"After your grandfather Lucas's death, management broke down at the Nexus and my daughter, Silvestra, used her powers and alliances to take control of it. She wanted control of it  for eons but it's been eons since she's even shown up in that sector or anywhere near it."

[mockingdove [grounded]]

Icyspiral and listened, seeing Dimity's alarm. She heard it; this must be bad news for them.


Eonia looked at the newcomer. *Who are you?*

[--wYnNiNaT0R--]

"I am Sundance," the sunset-coloured arceus said. "I'm Lully's great grandmother."

[mockingdove [grounded]]

*Sundance,* Eonia repeated. *Sundance.* That was a cool name!

[--wYnNiNaT0R--]

*Pretty,* Lully agreed, capering around her.

*Justice may have died, tragically but necessarily, but my other daughter, her older sister, is still alive, well, and has taken over the Nexus,* said Sundance.

[mockingdove [grounded]]

*Nexus?* Eonia asked in confusion.

[--wYnNiNaT0R--]

*The Nexus is the great planet of power,* said Sundance. *Guarded heavily. But after Lucas was killed, that guardianship was weakened, and it allowed my daughter, Silvestra, to take control of this place.* She was addressing everyone, though, primarily, the adults present--Icyspiral and Dimity.

[Icyspiral]

Icyspiral nodded, listening without a word.


*Oh,* Eonia said.

[--wYnNiNaT0R--]

Sundance went on. "Silvestra knows about this land. We will need to either evacuate or defend ourselves here and I do not think we stand a chance against her and her minions."

[Icyspiral]

"Your own daughter is against you?" Icyspiral asked.


Eonia was too young to yet comprehend what was happening.

[Dimity]

Sundance hung her head. "They both turned. And I fear that it is my fault."

"That's pretty harsh," said Dimity, stepping over to her. Lully had gone back over to her mother to nurse, seeing as she was hungry and all that was going on right now was adult talk. "Why do you blame yourself for the poor choices of your children? If they did these things as adults, then they were masters of their own fate."

Sundance paused. "It isn't like that. This isn't a normal situation. Both of them, due to my own imbibing of power from the Nexus before I had them...they were born wrong. The power--I thought that it was long gone from me by the time I became pregnant with Silvestra. She was born unusually powerful and ruthless, and Justice was born even darker and wronger. There are unlimited ways that the power from the Nexus can change you, sometimes it changes you in a good way, sometimes bad. Sometimes the changes don't seem to last. But it always changes you, and it never leaves you."

[mockingdove [grounded]]

Icyspiral fluttered over to Sundance, listening intently. That didn't sound very good.


Eonia looked at Lully. *Boring grown-up talk!*

[Dimity]

*Yeah,* said Lully as she had lunch.

"Why do people use the nexus to get power then if they have no idea whether it'll even help them?" said Dimity. She was thinking of places they could go for safety. Many places were known to her. But what was safe?

"They do it because there's a chance that the power could agree well with them, not do any harm and could make them very, very strong," said Sundance. "But they do it at their own risk."

"I know a place we could go," said Dimity. "Just that Xap needs to know where we're going." And Xap was not going to like it.