Waking up in the morning was one of the hardest things Sunset had ever done. She always felt sluggish when she first woke up, but this time it was even worse than usual; a thick haze blurred her thoughts and made her feel oddly exhausted. Slowly, Sunset remembered that the doctor had warned about this particular side-effect, but she also remembered that it would only be temporary until her body adapted to the medication.

Sunset grabbed her pillow and curled up around it, content to either fall back asleep or just bask in a mildly befuddled fugue, until her head finally cleared enough to remember what had happened with her friends. The unpleasant memory of her friends’ plight provided the motivation she needed to start moving.

With a miserable groan, Sunset heaved the blanket aside and hauled herself out of bed. A shower was briefly considered and decided against, largely because she just didn’t have the energy for it. Instead, Sunset put on a clean Enclave uniform and glanced at Trixie’s empty bed. Guilt gnawed at her again at the fact that more innocent people, with the possible exception of Sonata, had been dragged to this horrific excuse for a world, but at the same time she couldn’t help but hope that someone was downstairs so she didn’t have to be alone.

With a quiet sigh, Sunset took her meds and headed down to the kitchen. After acquiring breakfast; cereal with actual cow milk instead of brahmin, she wandered into the lounge to find Trixie sitting on the sofa, frowning at an impressive spread of fireworks and stage magic paraphernalia spread out on a coffee table. “Morning,” Sunset said sleepily.

Trixie looked up and smiled awkwardly. “Hey, how are you feeling?”

She winced as soon as she said it, as if she realized a second too late what a dumb question it was, but Sunset just shrugged and settled onto the other end of the sofa. “Still breathing, which is something. Luna and Sonata not here?”

“No, they left early,” Trixie replied. “Luna went to see if she could learn more about things here, like how the utilities work and what sort of rationing is going on, and Sonata said something about discussing Siren stuff with a scientist.” She held a hand up to forestall Sunset’s question. “Don’t worry, Luna already told some army guys that Sonata needs to be kept away from magic.”

“Good.” Sunset jerked her chin towards the coffee table. “What’re you doing?”

Trixie blushed faintly and turned her attention back to her collection. “I know its stupid, but I’m just seeing if there’s some way of improving anything I have here so it could be, y’know, useful.”

“You’re not going off into the wasteland to fight. You’re staying right here where it’s safe,” Sunset said flatly.

“Believe me, that’s exactly what I want to do. I’m a magician, not some weird sorcerer from another dimension.” Trixie clenched her hands together tightly. “Then again, it’s not like there’s really a choice. You say that this place is safe, but you also said that the Citadel was supposed to be safe, and look what happened to that place.” She looked up at Sunset, almost pleading. “Is anywhere in this world really safe?”

As much as she wanted to insist that there was, Sunset couldn’t bring herself to say it. Even in Megaton, the epicenter of an entire cult venerating the Rainbooms, there were still people willing to threaten or attack the girls, despite their ever-growing reputation. Even the Temple itself wasn’t completely safe, as Talon Company had demonstrated. “I’ll have a word with the engineers for you. They might have some ideas.”

Trixie just nodded, clearly picking up on what Sunset hadn’t said as much as what she had. She idly prodded one of the little firecrackers on the table before asking quietly, “You’re going to fight Unity, aren’t you?”

Sunset paused with her spoon halfway to her mouth and lowered it back to the bowl. “Sort of. I’ll be part of the rescue team, but it’ll be Horrigan who actually takes on Unity. He’s the only one strong enough to stand a real chance of putting that bitch down for good. Well, Liberty Prime could definitely do it, but he’d probably level the Citadel in the process, so he’s Plan B. All the rest of us will be doing is keeping the crystal monsters off Horrigan’s back until Unity is dealt with.”

“What if she manages to control them both?” Trixie asked anxiously.

“That’s not likely,” Sunset reassured her with a shake of her head. “She doesn’t seem to be able to control robots, and Liberty has some of my magic rattling around in his head, so he should be completely immune to her powers, and Senator Lily is working on a psychic inhibitor to protect Horrigan.” Sunset grunted and picked up her spoon again. “Speaking of which, I should probably finish this and get going. The sooner we put the inhibitor together, the sooner we can give Horrigan a crystal piñata for Hearth’s Warming.”

Trixie nodded and leaned back into the sofa with a huff. “Why can’t the magic problems in this world be like the ones back home?”

Sunset smirked darkly. “Right? They were a lot less lethal.”

“That, and most of them had a reason for what they were doing,” Trixie put in with an annoyed scoff. “Sure, most of them were probably bad reasons, but that’s still better than nutcases who just want power and control.” She grimaced and added, “Like Sonata and her Dazzling buddies.”

Trixie’s words gave Sunset an uncomfortable feeling, though she couldn’t put her finger on why. It was true that most of the villains the Rainbooms had faced in CHS had had some motive for doing what they did, no matter how understandable or not said motive was. The same could be said of most of the people Sunset had faced down in the Capital Wasteland. Money, influence, glory, even things as basic as clean water, as lofty as the survival of humanity, or as debased as simple sadism, the people in this world were willing to kill for all sorts of reasons. In a way, it even made sense, given that such things often meant the difference between life and death here in the wastes.

The more she thought about it, the more Sunset realized that the only people she didn’t really know the motives of were the Sirens. Did they have some reason for trying to control everyone, or did they simply feel the same entitlement to power that Sunset herself once felt?

A jolt ran through Sunset as she realized that she had no idea what Unity’s motives were either. She couldn’t remember the woman mentioning it. Or maybe she had and shock coupled with the nausea caused by being too close to Unity’s powers had driven it right out of Sunset’s mind.

In the end, it was unlikely to make a difference. The Rainbooms still needed rescuing, and Unity still needed to be stopped. Even so, Sunset now knew that shooting Unity back at Megaton had been a mistake. She should have tried harder to negotiate and reason with her, instead of being so quick to shoot first and ask questions later. This world had had more of an effect on her than she had thought. Sunset allowed herself a grim smile. This mistake, at least, could possibly be rectified. It was incredibly unlikely that Unity could be talked out of her quest for domination, but it was a chance worth taking.

At the very least, it would serve as a good distraction.

Next Chapter: Chapter 142 - Lily's Resolve Estimated time remaining: 12 Hours, 55 Minutes