Shay sank back against the closed mouth- no wasn't it a door? Well whatever it was it was the only way to get in and out of his ship, and it was gone. Sealed shut under its own wrecked weight. Unfortunately there was the girl that tried to punch him and ended up in the wreckage inside. She was going to get hurt in all that no doubt about it. Shay was naive, but he was not blind.

"... Marek...?" Shay asked in a daze, looking up to the sky. It was weird seeing blue and clouds instead of black and stars and calling it a sky rather than a simulated projection. He held up his hand. The air was so clear, so crisp, so fresh. This had to be real. He heard people- distant and alarmed (or maybe just surprised) -but he didn't completely register that.

He felt his composure slipping, "Marek...?" Oh gosh why did he ever trust that shifty-eyed wolf... Thing.

He wasn't a hero.

His hand dropped, "C-computer...?" He never knew how much he actually depended on it sometimes.

He wasn't ready for this.

He was shaking now, his voice cracking from restrained tears, "Computer?" He wanted to hear the mother or father AI reassure him this was all "just a boo boo".

He wasn't even close to the adult he'd believed he was.

His tears overflowed, "Mom? Dad?" He didn't even care that he called the computer that they were in all honesty the closest thing to parents he had.

As people crowed closer to the odd boy who leaned against Mog Chothra's remains like it was an old friend of his, Shay continued, "Mom... Dad... Marek... Anyone..." Shay broke down in tears,

"I'm scared."

...

Vella didn't know. What to think. What to do. Just plain what. She was as light and Harm'ny up in Meriloft, but it was not in a good way.

Mog Chothra was... Mog Chothra was a machine?! And now she was trapped inside. Well, at least he wouldn't be eating anyone anymore. The girl back in Meriloft would be so upset that she wouldn't get eaten, but hey, sweet and sour grapes. You know what by the lineage of Grand Mogs and her ancestors of Steel Bunting she said she was going to kill Mog Chothra and she did it.

But was victory supposed to feel this hollow? And who was that boy who crawled from this wreckage like a baby bird from its egg? Was he the controller of Mog Chothra? Someone offered up to it?

She looked at the cracks and crevices in the skin- no, no in the steel of this gigantic pseudo-beast. She couldn't see the sky. Just stars. Not even REAL stars. She'd seen them enough to know these stars were fake. Just something was off about them.

Vella swallowed uncertainly at the groans and screeches from deeper in. Was that the metal breaking or the other inhabitants- perhaps allies of the boy -in pain or communicating? Vella drew herself in close. What if Mog Chothra wasn't the beast, but the crew of the ship with a desire for human flesh? For whatever reason, that was worse.

Still, she didn't get this far by being scared. Perhaps it was the other maidens. Vella took a deep breath, and called out "Hello?"

No reply.

She tried again, louder, "Hello?!"

The silence was murderous.

Vella curled up. She was alone. Utterly alone in this strange nightmarish tomb.

Ooooohhh yes I have a new obsession to add to my growing list. Fun fact Shay and Vella's perspectives have exactly the same number of words (291).