Chapter 2

"It's starting," Lust said, looking out the giant portal of the palace. The clouds overhead were starting to swirl. She looked back at the others.

"That's great," said Envy, fidgeting with the drawstring on her cloak, "today's the big day! Are you ready?"

"Yeah," Gluttony cut in, "have you memorized the plan?"

"Sure have," said Lust.

"And the backup plans?"

"Inside and out."

"I packed you a lunch," said Gluttony, "and some snacks. And a beanie baby, just in case."

She placed a little bindle on the center of the coffee table, and a little green stuffed bear on top of the bindle..

"Oh, um, thank you," Lust said, "that's very thoughtful of you, but I'm only going for a few hours…"

"You never know," insisted Gluttony. Envy nodded emphatically.

Lust's eyes turned to Hope. It was weird for her to be quiet this long, and she hadn't touched her tea. The young queen smiled politely with her hands in her lap.

"Alrighty," said Lust, "with a little bit of luck-"

Suddenly the whole palace rocked and green flashes of fire shone through the windows. The chandelier out in the hallway crashed to the floor and someone screamed. The doors burst open and one of Envy's wizards ran into the room.

"Were under attack!"

"There's our little bit of luck," said Hope quietly, "all of it seems to be bad."

No one heard her except Lust. Gluttony and Envy were already on their feet giving orders.

"What's the situation?" asked Envy.

"The wards are holding, the casualties at the palace are minimal, but the enemy has fallen on the beaches."

"No time to delay then," said Lust, and she marched purposefully to the door. She paused and looked back, when she realized she was alone, and Hope stared back at her for a minute. She felt her heart sink a little bit and steeled herself to go alone, but after a moment's hesitation Hope stood up and flattened her skirt. She left her tea untouched and cold on the coffee table as she and Lust marched down the hall, skirting the chandelier that had crashed to the floor. Mages and wizards were rushing around, dodging the two Queens. A pair of angles stood at the end of the hallway, nude and a full head taller than any of the wizards panicking around them. They looked completely unconcerned, and snapped to attention as Lust approached.

"My queen," said the male, "Haters and mecha-beasts have fallen on the beaches, and battleships are opening fire upon the entrenched defenders. We eagerly await your command."

"Rend those fuckers," said Lust simply.

"With pleasure, my Queen," said the angels in unison, and they turned and leapt out a nearby open window. There was a shrill whistle, and then the walls of the palace shook slightly, and the windows were covered by the shadows of a whole flock of angels that had been sitting on the roof, waiting for the order.

"What's wrong?" Asked Lust was they continue down a flight of stairs towards the lower levels of the building. Hope still hadn't said a word, and usually she had some comment when Hate turned up.

"Nothing," Hope said, "why would anything be wrong?"

It was so annoying when she got like this.

"It's the direction were going isn't it," Lust tried, "you don't approve. I know this is hard, but we all agreed that we need to do something."

"Why wouldn't I approve?" Hope said impassively, "Everyone agrees that right now all the Queen's are in dire need of resources, the Thoughts are starving, or cities are being overpopulated, and the old Memories that once sustained so many of us are starting to fade, becoming over-farmed, overcrowded, and less fertile. We need to move forward somehow, and this is a move forward."

"But the decisions being made for the Lifetime, is an obvious backtrack. That's why you're mad. You never did like backtracking-"

"Its not the backtracking, Lust," Hope said calmly, "everyone is so eager to take this step. Envy's Thoughts are all dying for something to be jealous of, dying for something to want to passionately protect, Gluttony's Thoughts all pretend they're okay for the most part and then they're the ones filling up all the homeless shelters. They would kill for a sense of relief and stability. At this point, they'd even take a lie. Your Thought's are going to come out the clear winners of this whole thing, but my Thoughts? What am I supposed to tell them? We're still subsisting off of scraps. This will give us all little things to hope for, but nothing like what we need."

Lust didn't know what to say, so she said nothing.

"My Thoughts are farmers, Lust," Hope continued, "we grow the food all the other Thoughts on the Lifetime rely on. Give us something small to hope for, and yeah, we can grow wheat from that. Corn, rice, beans, day to day hopes and desires are fertile soil to keep those things going. But what about roses? When was the last time one of these Memories had a rose garden? We can't grow that from just the hope of getting laid. It's not enough to hope to get by, we need to be able to hope for something truly beautiful. We need a powerful hope for what the future is going to look like."

Lust tried not to let out an exasperated sigh. Everyone was starving and suffering, it was a little much to want roses right now. This was her friend though, and she knew she owed Hope more than she could ever dream of paying back. How many times had it been just those two against the world? Every time Hate and Lust had gone to war, Hope had been there in the background, taking Lust's side. Long before they had found this new leader, Hope and Lust had been allies and friends. She couldn't turn a blind eye to that now.

Lust and Hope stopped before a large set of double doors, and a pair of Gluttony's Thoughts stepped forward to open them. Outside the doors was a wide stone porch, where a group of angels stood around a palanquin. They did not join the army flying overhead, which was mustering like a swarm of bees to fly off to the beaches.

"We'll get to roses," said Lust, "I promise. I know it looks a lot like everyone else is doing well and you're the one taking the fall for it, but we will get to roses. We're friends, you know I've always had your back, even when things got really dark."

"I know," Hope said, "and you know I trust you. But this new fearless leader that everyone else is so eager to fall in behind, I don't know if I trust him."

Lust frowned. They really weren't supposed to talk about the new leader. Besides, Lust knew politics, she had been a queen longer than most of them, surely Hope hadn't forgotten that.

"I'm still calling the shots," she said, "he thinks he is, and Envy and Gluttony do too, but I've got him where I want him."

"Where I'm standing it's starting to look a little bit like it's the other way around," said Hope, and her mask of impassiveness cracked just a hair in her voice.

Lust felt her stomach drop as she realized that she had misread Hope. The other queen wasn't having a pity party for herself and her people, she was livid.

"Hope-" Lust started to say, but she was interrupted by the roar of the clouds. Rocks and dirt and earth poured down from the sky into the bay of the Frontier. The new Memory was starting to form.

"That's your que," said Hope, "break a leg."

"Wait, Hope!" Lust called after her, but Hope stepped back through the double doors and they swung shut behind her. Lust stared after her, and thought about following her, but there was a roar like thunder and a battery of artillery shells rained down on the palace. They hit the ward surrounding the building and exploded green, showering shrapnel and scattering the angels that swarmed there.

"My queen, it's not safe here, we must hurry!" called one of her angles standing next to the palanquin. Lust threw up her hands and hurried to her seat. She couldn't chase after Hope at the expense of the mission, and Hope knew it.

As the angels grabbed the palanquin and took flight, Lust thought about what Hope had said. Of course the new leader hadn't tricked her, that was ridiculous. Still, as the angels flew towards the newly forming island, dodging falling rocks and stones, she couldn't shake an uneasy feeling.