As we enter the room we find the head doctor waiting for us.
Doctor, "if it isn't my favorite patient, What happened to him this time?"
I look at Cyn, and back at the doctor, "I have no idea."
Cyn, "he was going to get himself trapped in the void again, so I hit him with everything I got to stop him."
Doctor, "Oh okay, at-least this time I know what to look out for." He runs a few scans and then looked at us smiling. "No injuries, he is just exhausted, let him stay here over night and he will be fine to go in the morning." He then injects Sin with something."
Chloe, "What is that?"
Doctor, "A mild sedative, just to keep him asleep till we get home."
He then gestures to me to follow him, so I did, and as soon as we enter his office he seals the door.
Doctor, "I didn't want to tell you this in-front of the others, but we have a problem, a huge problem."
But just then we heard my daughter screaming and we ran out just in time to see Sin hit her with Crimson lightning, it throws her through the wall and I hear bones break. We immediately run in the direction she got thrown in just to get hit by crimson lightning as well, but instead of it throwing us threw the wall as well it pins us against the wall, I look up to see my husband walking towards me, but this time it wasn't my husband, he was glowing in crimson light and he was covered in his armor, but his eyes were glowing crimson red and his face, neck and hands were covered in lines, his hair was even showing crimson lines in it, yes he was actually in need of a hair cut as his hair was just below his shoulders at this time already.
I looked around to find the Zoe also pinned to a wall, I could see that she was in pain, we all were, I started reaching for my gauntlet on my arm, but before I managed to activate the chip in his brain my gauntlet burned and fell off. I looked down and saw my gauntlet destroyed, my arm was on fire, that is when I heard someone screaming "Stop, let them go." And immediately we all fell to the ground and he was gone, I immediately ran out of the room through the hole where he blasted my daughter through and I just froze in shock at what I saw. Her tiny body was completely mangled, broken, she was still alive, but barely conscious, the last words she said before falling unconscious was "Dad, Why? "
After that everything felt like it was happening in slow motion, I saw the nurses picking up her mangled body, treating Zoe's burns and broken arm, I remember them treating the burns on my arm as well. They said we will all need planet side specialist treatment.
As we arrived at the hospital Krish met us there, she could just look on as they brought my daughters unconscious mangled body in, my burns were to severe even for out nanotechnology to fix, Zoe's burns they could fix and her broken arm, and my daughter has been in surgery for days.
The specialist in charge of her treatment finally came to talk to me.
Specialist, "What happened to her up there? "
Chloe, "My husband."
He looked stunned for a moment and then his face changed, he tried to look professional, but I could see the look of defeat on his face.
Chloe, "What is it?"
Specialist, "We have done everything we can for her."
I went ice cold, expecting to hear that she is dead, Zoe was with us and she started to cry, thinking the same.
Specialist, "she will live, but, she will be paralyzed from the neck down for the rest of her existence."
You might wonder why he said existence and not life, well as Seleons we have figured out how to fix the genetic flaw that causes aging and death, so we can live forever and never age or die, we can be killed, but even that is difficult, and my daughter has already gone through the procedure when she was 18.
Chloe, "What do you mean? We have the best medical treatment and technology in the universe."
Specialist, "Yes we do, her spine was crushed and most of the bones in her neck was crushed beyond repair, even with the nano tech, believe me, we have tried, we even tried to implant her with an artificial spine and her body rejected it. "
Zoe, "looking at the specialist, may I please see her?" she was in tears, we all were, Cyn use to always be so full of energy and life, her and Zoe would party till dawn, dancing and singing and drinking and just having fun together, now she will never be able to do any of that ever again.
Specialist, "she is sedated, but you can go in."
Zoe and I went in and Krish decided to wait for us outside, Cyn eventually woke up and looked at us.
Cyn, "Wow, this is weird."
Zoe, "Why?" pretending that everything is fine.
Cyn, "Apparently I am paralyzed from the neck down, not that is something new to me." Trying to force a smile, but then she starts to caught up blood.
I look back at the specialist and he just shrugs.
Cyn, "well he didn't want to tell me, so don't be mad at him, I read his mind, and don't worry about the blood, they said it will take a few days for the nano bots to repair my lungs."
Zoe leans over and kisses her.
Cyn, "Where is dad? Is he okay?"
After what he did to our daughter I am furious, I could feel my own blue light building up, "He is gone, and when I find him he will wish he wasn't okay." I get up to leave the room and hear my daughter calling me back.
Cyn, "Mom wait!" I stopped and looked at her, "Mom it wasn't his fault, I heard the conversation between the two of you on the balcony, he begged you to leave his collar on, we did this to him, we dragged him back into this war, he needs our help, not our judgment. "
I looked at my daughter, she almost died, she is paralyzed for life, and still she thinks about doing good towards her father, she still understands the curse he lives with, but my anger wont go away. I just reply to her and leave. "you might be right, but he didn't have to do this to you, I will never forgive him."
I leave the room ignoring her pleas, just to find my way blocked by Krish.
Krish, "I can't stop you from doing this, but before you do, there is something you need to see."
Chloe, "What is it? I don't have time."
Krish, "come with me."
I left with her and we eventually arrived at her lab.
Chloe, "what do you want to show me?"
Krish, "she is right you know?"
Chloe, "I don't care, he will pay for what he did to her."
Krish, "I downloaded the data from your ship, his chip was transmitting until he left."
Chloe, "is it still transmitting?"
Krish, "no, he is out of range, and our scanners can't detect him anywhere in the known universe."
Chloe, "how is that possible? Our upgraded systems can detect his crimson light energy signature millions of light years away."
Now if you wonder how we can do that, we have patrols, satellites and even drones permanently scanning all over the known universe for energy signatures similar to his, and they are permanently communicating with our control centers on our home planet through subspace communication systems.
Krish, "Look at this."
Chloe, "What am I looking at?"
Krish, "his brain waves before the first attack, during the battle and after, and this is his brain waves just before the dark empire attacked, during the battle and after and this is when he woke up and attacked Cyn."
Chloe, "so he was fighting an internal battle to not give in to the darkness the entire time? "
Krish, "Exactly, he was about to regain control, but the moment your mom ordered them to take the admiral he started to lose control and the dark-side of his personality started to become predominant, but when Cyn took him down he lost the battle and this is what happened." She shows me how his light side went dormant and the dark-side of his personality took over completely. "
Chloe, "So he didn't know what he was doing?"
Krish, "Well this side of him knew very well what he was doing."
Chloe, "is there anyway to help him or bring him back?"
Krish, "I don't know, but can I ask you something?"
Chloe, "You can ask me."
Krish "even if there was, would you look at him the same way you use to before he attacked your daughter?"
Chloe, "No, I am sorry, I know he is your son, but no, I want him to pay for what he has done."
Krish, "this may sound harsh, but I agree with you."
Chloe, "has the upgrades to his new prison been finished on spec to the new data collected?"
Krish, "Yes, and I made a few extra modifications that would help hold him even if he grew a thousand times more powerful."
Chloe, "I am going to find him and stop him for good."
Krish, "wait, before you go, you will need this."
I look around at her to see her holding a syringe."
Chloe, "What must I do with that? I would never get close enough to him to inject him and he destroyed my gauntlet, the only thing that could control his chip."
Krish, "I know, this is not for him, this is for you."
Chloe, "I don't understand."
Krish, "Its nanotechnology, it will stop him from reading your mind, and since he destroyed your gauntlet and caused that," pointing at my burns on my arm,"I am not putting you at risk, this will be able to send a signal to the chip in his brain the moment you give the command"
Chloe, "I am sorry, but I am not taking another implant again."
Krish, "trust me, I removed your implants the last time, why do you think your mother dragged me infront of the counsel? She doesn't know about this, and the moment you subdued him then I will deactivate and remove the nano bots from your system. "
Chloe, "Okay, do it."
I could feel a burn in my neck as she injected them into my blood stream, but then my view changed.
Chloe, "what is this? "
Krish, "It will warn you when his energy signature is close.
I had a lot of preparation to do before I set out to find Sin, and until we had any idea of where to search I had to wait, I can't just take my ship and jump randomly throughout the galaxy hoping to find him by accident.
Months has passed now with no sign of him, it is as if he just vanished out of existence, my daughter is still in hospital undergoing multiple surgeries every month as they are trying to at-least fix her mangled body. Between spending time at our control centers hoping to find him and put a stop to this and visiting my daughter in hospital I haven't slept much.
Then one day we got a hit, we expected that he would be somewhere on the edge of the galaxy, but no, it was close, very close, too close. The first hit detected him in my daughters room at the hospital and I immediately left to go stop him from killing her, but when I got there he was gone.
My daughter was awake and I found Zoe knocked out on the floor, but this time she had no injuries, all my daughter could utter was "dad, why" she kept uttering the same words over and over, I kissed her on the forehead and started walking towards the door, I glanced back at her one last time and said, "I will stop him, I promise you." But as I was about to exit the room I was blocked by a shield of crimson light and I heard her voice, "Mom stop." It was impossible for her to use crimson light or even blue light now as you have to be able to aim your hand in the direction you want to channel it into.
I turned around slowly in shock to see my daughter standing again, barely as she hasn't stood on her legs in over a year, her mangled body fully healed. I was in shock, I just looked at her and barely uttered the words, "but how? How is this possible?" I could feel tears streaming down my face now.
Zoe was slowly getting up from the floor, "uhm ouch, that is going to leave a scar... on my pride." I looked at her to see her shaking herself right.
Then I looked back at my daughter, "but how? How is this possible? The doctors said you will never be fully healed ever again."
Then she opened her other hand and I saw a bright white light in it, "dad gave me this, he said it will help me and it will help you."
I walked closer and then Krish came in the door, I looked at the tiny crystal in her hand, "What is that?"
But she just placed it on my arm against my burns and they immediately healed.
I looked at her and then at Krish, "What just happened?"
Krish, "That is impossible?"
Chloe, "I know."
Krish, "Nobody can get to the white light planet and live."
Both my daughter and myself looked at her.
Chloe, "What do you mean?"
Krish, "We have been studying that planet for millions of years and tried to get there, but its surface temperatures are almost as high as a blue star, we couldn't get closer then a few light-years before our shields would start failing and our ships would start over heating. He must have really injured himself badly going after that."
Cyn, "yes he did, I barely recognize him. "
Chloe, "but wouldn't this crystal just have healed him the same way it healed us then?"
Krish, "I don't think so."
Chloe, "Why not? "
Krish, "there is still a lot we don't understand about the white light and the source of existence. "
Cyn, "The source of existence?"
Krish, "I will explain later. " then she pulled up the footage from the room and it shows Sin appearing in a flash of white light.
Chloe, "What was that."
Krish, "he must have used the crystals energy to get himself here. I would think that he must have really weakened himself a lot in order to shield himself long enough to retrieve the crystal."
Then we see him walking towards our daughter, but this time he isn't wearing his usual crimson armor, but he is wearing some sort of cloak and hood, hiding his face, you can see her looking at him and she screams at which time Zoe enters the room and blasts him with blue light, but he doesn't attack, he doesn't even shield himself, her blue light hits him and throws him against the wall, but then he just holds up the crystal and there is a flash of white light and when the light is gone she is knocked out. He then gets up and walks over to our daughter, you can see him grabbing her hand and putting the crystal in her hand and then he whispers something in her ear and he walks out of the room, after that her body starts shaking and you can see her body pulling itself back into place, and her healing and then she passed out for a bit.
Chloe, "why would he walk out if he could just jump away."
Krish, "because he is still weakened, we need to find him before he regains his strength. "
Cyn, "no, I am coming with you."
Chloe, "you can't, he is dangerous."
Cyn, "no mom, I know where he went."
Chloe, "Where?"
Cyn, "home."
Chloe, "Why would he go there?"
Cyn, "He said that he is ready to surrender, that you must stop him, he said that he will wait for you at home."
Chloe, "this is a trick."
Zoe, "this is definitely a trap."
Cyn, "he said he has something for you."
Chloe, "did he say what it is?"
Cyn, "No."
We left for my place and I alerted my mother and the twins, we have to be ready for anything.
As we entered I see him standing there, I walk up to him, but I can't see his face, he is still covering it with the hood.
Chloe, "Show me your face."
Sin, "no, there on the table."
I look at the table to find a glowing crimson crystal there."
Chloe, "What is that?"
Sin, "a way to stop me."
Chloe, "I don't believe you, show me your face."
He then slowly removes his hood and I gasp at what I saw, he was badly injured and burned, parts of his flesh was gone, you could actually see the bones from his skull, then I noticed his hands, they had similar injuries.
Chloe, "Does it hurt?"
Sin, "It doesn't matter, its a small price to pay for what I did to you and our daughter."
Chloe, "it wont change anything, what you did was unforgivable, and you need to pay for it."
Sin, "I know, that is why I came back."
Chloe, "after a year?"
Sin, "That is how long it took me to find a way to help our daughter."
Chloe, "all you did was fix your own damage."
Sin, "I know, and now I am ready to surrender."
Chloe, "you do know what this means."
Sin, "I do, so what are you waiting for?"
I looked at him for a few seconds and then I spoke the words, "Sin, stop."
I saw tears coming from his eyes as his body went limp and he dropped to the floor.
Chloe, "you can come in, it is done."
Then 2 guards came in and placed his new collar around his neck, I expected him to scream in pain as it synced to his system, but he didn't. They took him away to a planet side high security cell where he would be held till we can transfer him to his permanent cell where he will remain until the end of time.
Our daughter just looked at him as the guards took him away. Then Krish looked at the crimson stone on the table, "what is that?"
Chloe, "he said that it is the only way to stop him."
Krish, "that is cryptic, I will run some tests on it, give me 2 days. When is his transfer scheduled?"
Chloe, "in 3 days time, that is when there will be a jump window to the new prison location, but until then we are keeping him paralysed and blind. "
Krish, "I agree. "
She took the stone and left and the next morning I went to see my mother with Zoe and Cyn."
Azaria, "you did good, I didn't think we would ever be able to catch him."
Chloe, "We didn't catch him, he surrendered."
Azaria, "well I am sure he must know that he messed up this time, attacking you and Cyn."
I looked at my daughter and she gave me a nod.
Azaria, "what is going on?"
Chloe, "I saw the reports from the ship, we spend all night going through them."
Azaria, "and?"
Chloe, "when the dark fleet arrived he approached you and he begged you to not let him go into another battle, he warned you that if he does that he might lose himself to this power."
Azaria, "that is true, but you have to understand that the needs of the many outweighs the needs of the few."
Chloe, "mom, can you hear yourself right now? What happened to the peace loving people orientated queen that you were known for?"
Azaria, "we are at war, war calls for extreme measures."
Chloe, "Mom, he isn't some tool and weapon to be used, he is my husband, a father, a son.."
But she interrupted me, "and he is dangerous, this is who he is, and who he chose to become."
Chloe, "I am disgusted with you."
Zoe, "You know what? I thought I would have a life of peace here, learn from your people, but listening to you right now, I would rather remain on Earth and take my chances."
My mother gives her an angry look, "Then why don't you go back if that is how you feel?"
Cyn. "Sorry, but she is a Seleon now, we are married and the law states that a Seleon has full rights to live on any Seleon world they choose. "
My mother tried to say something, but we just got up and left.
Krish eventually came to see me and she looked a bit conflicted.
Chloe, "what is wrong? "
Krish, "he wasn't lying, it is the cure alright."
Chloe, "so I can get my husband back and Cyn can have a normal life."
Krish, "I wish it was that simple."
Chloe, "What is it?"
Krish, "It can only help one of them."
Chloe, "What do you mean?"
Krish, "it cannot draw the crimson energy out, it will only transfer it from one host to another."
Chloe, "so either way, we still lose one of them."
Krish, "unfortunately yes."
Chloe, "this has to be their choice to make then."
Krish, "you do know that that means that one will be free and have a normal life and one will have to go to the new prison for eternity."
Chloe, "I know, but I will let them decide."
Krish, "very well. Lets meet at Sin's holding cell first thing in the morning.
She left and I went to see my daughter and I told her everything, I could see that she was conflicted and on the brink of tears, but all she said to me before I left was. "mom, I will do right by dad, this is our fault, not his. "