"Contract… Ancestors… Finished?" Lorien questioned with broken English and infinite curiosity in her eyes.

Lorien wasn't using any sort of persuasion while talking, but just her mere presence placed enough pressure on The New Elders that they could not answer the simple question.

Of course, they knew it was a question despite Lorien not being able to convey her words adequately.

Since their legacies were a gift from Lorien, John and the others were naturally attuned to her words and the intents they carried.

Now Lorien was asking something simple 'Is the contract between me and your ancestors completed?'…

The lazy look in Lorien's eyes clearly showed that she had been roused from a deep slumber and was slightly annoyed.

Seeing nobody intended to answer her question, Lorien frowned as several thoughts spun through her cosmic mind…

She even had the thought to go back to sleep for a couple thousand years until John and his people were extinct, and she would be free of the contract that way.

After all, what were a few thousand years to a Cosmic Force like herself – not that she remembered being a Cosmic Force as yet.

"Ans-way?" Lorien frowned and searched her vocabulary for the words "An…swer?"

While she probably appeared illiterate to everyone watching her, Lorien was simply just not accustomed to the nuances of human culture.

Speaking the human knowledge, expressing emotions, and acclimating to everything was exhausting for her because she often viewed things on a cosmic scale.

It also didn't help that her powers were suppressed by the tethers that tied her to the Planet that shared her name – Planet Lorien.

With Lorien's annoyance rising, Vishnu shakily stood to his feet and shouted a reply "NO… Contract not yet fulfilled…"

Lorien grew more annoyed… being told 'no' was something she disliked, even if she wasn't exactly sure what it meant…

"N…No…NOOO?" She questioned, flattening Vishnu to the ground without even intending to do so.

Still, she didn't care… in her eyes, talking to Humanoid species was like discussing something with bacteria…

NO! Maybe, even bacteria were smarter because they had a purpose while humanoids just fumbled around.

Just as things were about to take a turn for the worse, Cindy stepped forward, codes flickering across her pupils "Yes!"

--Shatter--

The second chain binding Lorien to the planet was shattered at that moment, and John was quick to respond as he severed Cindy's ring finger instantaneously.

With Sarah in an uncertain situation with her feeble consciousness, John had been thinking back to anything given by Zeel that could be used against them…

He found one thing… one thing that gave birth to a happy memory he could never forget.

John remembered gazing at the ring on Alice's finger with jealousy until finally he gave in to his desires and asked her to craft one for Cindy.

He was so happy to find a ring befitting of Cindy's love, but he forgot that Alice, who created the ring, was an extension of Zeel.

Hence, he was quick to sever Cindy's finger the moment codes started flickering inside her pupils but he was still a second too late.

"ARGH!" Cindy groaned, clutching the position of her missing finger with anger, but she also knew it was necessary.

Her mind was now clear but the permission had already been granted…

All The New Elders felt another section of the Planet lose its vibrancy…

At this point, one more permission was required to sever the chains binding Lorien to the Planet, and The New Elders grew wary of each other.

Vishnu was quick to toss away the belt that aided in his teleportation since it was a gift from Zeel a long time ago…

Everyone else did something similar… everything even remotely connected to Zeel was tossed from their bodies instantaneously.

Lorien glanced at the final chain binding her to the planet and felt a bit pleased with the sight.

She stretched her arms, bent her back, and rubbed her eyes like a child awakening from sleep.

Nobody could tell when Lorien moved from her location, appearing in front of Cindy and patted her head like she was a dog…

"Good… girl…" Lorien murmured, trying her best to mimic a human smile but it was a bit forced given she was still learning.

"Time to make a decision John…" Henri warned, seeing that John was still indecisive at this critical moment.

Using that chance, Marina stepped forward and whispered "Yes…"

"Marina?!?"

Everyone gasped but seeing the blood flowing from Marina's eyes, they quieted down and waited for an explanation.

"I believe something bad will happen if I don't do this…" Marina whispered, looking down at the ground guiltily.

Honestly, Marina's precognition had not shown her anything, but she preferred not the gamble with the lives of everyone there, especially Vishnu.

However, Marina's vague answer was not satisfactory for anyone.

--Sha…--

"NO!" John yelled before the final chain binding Lorien could shatter.

With John's declaration as The Ruler of the Planet and Felian Descent, all the chains that were previously shattered reattached themselves to Lorien's body, binding her fully once more.

John didn't want to make a rash decision, but he knew that Lorien's white flames were the only thing keeping Sarah's mind stable at the moment.

Should Lorien disappear, Sarah would return to being dead…

He didn't want to keep Lorien against her will, all he wanted was a little bit of time to think of a better solution.

"Hmmm... mmmm… No?" Lorien whispered while rubbing her chin, confused by the word 'no' that had suddenly become familiar to her.

Lorien thought and thought about the word 'no' until she arrived at an approximation of the word in the Universal Language of Babel.

Lorien frowned, a massive pressure descending on the Planet "Hoomawn… contract, courtesy… culture, polite… never… need… parmission…"

With the gazes of every New Elder on her body, Lorien simply tugged at the chains binding her and they were all shattered into motes of light.

Maybe in the past, those chains could somewhat bind her, but with the return of her power, the chains acted as a courtesy to the Felian descendants more than anything.

Besides, why would they fully wake her up if they weren't ready to release her from the Contract?

Loriens' answer came the next moment in the form of pleading voices that sounded vaguely familiar to her million-year-old mind.

She felt someone attempting to invite her to a Death Dimension a couple universes away…

Her obvious reaction was to ignore the request because, even if she had regained some of her power, a Being such as herself shattering Universal Barriers consecutively would attract unwanted attention.

Usually, she wouldn't care about what others thought, but fighting in her weakened state would be troublesome…

Also, there was a Cosmic Force that she specifically didn't want to discover she was still alive, though, she couldn't remember exactly which Cosmic Force it was.

Still, Lorien peered into the Death Dimension as she felt a couple familiar presences… curiosity was the bane of all Cosmic Forces since excitement for their kind were few and far between…

Like millions of years before interesting things happened…

How could Lorien ignore something even slightly interesting?

She followed the familiar feeling to see two girls cursing the skies… one had pink-reddish hair and the other, sky-blue hair.

"Now you listen here, MOTHER!" Alle yelled to the night skies of the Death Dimension "If you refuse to show up, then I will sever my connection as your daughter!"

'Cu…te…' Lorien thought as she watched Alle draw a knife to break an invisible bond they shared.

There was another twin there as well, Ella, and she similarly threatened to break their bond…

'Cut..e 2…' Lorien thought, a bit jealous that the twins were almost as cute as her.

She could not bear the thought of two girls almost as cute as her, so she decided to bring them down a notch.

First, she sent 0.00000000005% of her power to heal the dying girls on the ground, Alice and Elizabeth.

Lorien, of course, had forgotten who they were but she could still sense some of her power inside their bodies so 'maybe… friends?' she thought.

Then she decided to investigate a bit "Who… you?"

Lorien saw their mouths pout when she asked that question and noted their pouting was almost as cute as her own, but, of course, she was still cuter.

'Me… +1…. Twins… - 500…' she thought, practicing her human math while comparing their cuteness.

The twins replied to Lorien and granted access to their memories, allowing her free reign, and she didn't refuse "Alle and Ella… your daughters… you know with Zeel Crawford…"

"Hmmmm… yea…" Lorien replied, pretending to remember the twins while she honestly only recognized one name "Zeel?... Good?"

"Currently fighting for his life and the life of your two adorable daughters…"

Lorien fumed a bit at the word 'adorable'…

'How… dare… call… adorable… me… adorable!'

Lorien glanced at both girls, but more specifically Ella since she was the one to compare their adorableness with her own.

"Sure… my daughter… very ugly?" Lorien whispered coldly.

Puchi

Puchi

Lorien saw Ella break into laughter at her comment, but the girls were twins so if one was ugly, then they were both ugly so she reminded Ella of that "Uglier…"

Puchi

Puchi

Lorien felt Ella and Alle in pain after laughing so she searched for the origin and found Zeel "Zeel… silver… pretty boy?"

"Yes…" Alle and Ella replied half-heartedly "Our father is Zeel Crawford, the pretty boy with the silver hair that you are obsessed with…"

"Okay…" Lorien whispered, blushing a bit now that she had seen Zeel's face "Coming…"

Truly, to Lorien, Zeel was just another ant she wouldn't have bothered to remember, or at least that was the case until a couple of years ago…

About twelve years ago when Ella (Number Ten) had died, Lorien personally intervened to bring her back to life.

During that time, she also took a stroll into Zeel's memories, and then she also took a stroll into his blocked memories inside the Forbidden Cube…

And… well, Lorien instantly fell in love with the purity of Zeel's emotions…

His mind was filled with plots, betrayal, torture, wars, beauty, technology, enemies, and many more exciting things…

Still… as dark as his mind was, she never once sensed an ounce of hatred or sadness or any impure emotions…

The only emotion she could find was a faint flame that represented a small hint of love for Alice…

-----------------------

Author's Name: The_Young_Flash

Discord: https://discord.gg/tPwgVgU

Patrêon: https://www.patrêon.com/The_Young_Flash

Fandom: https://crawfords-multiverse-of-madness.fandom.com/wiki/Zeel_Crawford

Note: Ever watched an awesome movie/anime/series that just didn't have the proper ending? Then this is where you belong, as I intend to give all movies/animes/series the proper ending they deserve. Nothing will go untouched.