Just because I should be updating...
Dear Musashi.
Yeah, here's Book seven? Or whatever. It's really long though, I just thought I should put it up since I just finished book eight.
BOOK SEVEN: CARRIED HER UNPROTESTING OUT THE DOOR
Name: Lin
Order: Orion
Class: Cherubim
Sex: Female
Excess: Electricity
I missed out on a lot of what happened after he escaped. Pretty much all of it actually. Getting knocked up apparently has that affect on people. Ok. Getting knocked up and locked up has that affect on people.
I mean, don’t get me wrong. I’m sure I had it a lot easier then the rest of them in Iso. I guess. I wasn’t being tortured or anything like that. I was actually being fairly pampered. Featherbeds and everything. Regular exercise schedules, good diets. It was a decent life.
But you have no idea... you have no idea what its like. The psychological torture was worse, I think. I know it’s not fair, that I can’t really make those type of judgments. But I’d rather have been in Iso with the rest of them where I was.
They wouldn’t even tell me if Rhodon was Ok. So I had to sit there in my gilded cage wondering if he and all of my other friends were even alive. Can you even imagine what that’s like?
I think that’s why they finally let him see me. Because the psychological stress was affecting my body and they didn’t want to risk anything that could lead to a miscarriage.
Jezu, it bothered me. The things I figured out when I was there. Like, how the whitecoats encouraged relationships to form in the Ward, specifically so a child would result. That sickened me. That in some twisted way my love for Rhodon was all part of their plan. It sullied something that should have been beautiful.
And it made me feel so guilty, knowing that Rhodon had only tried so hard to escape because of me. And our baby. That, if he was still alive out there he was undoubtedly in Iso, being tortured, because of me.
And then I would just get mad at myself for thinking that way. Because it wasn’t me. It wasn’t my fault. It was the whitecoats.
Syne sat on her bed. She didn’t say anything, and wasn’t really doing anything either. She looked down at a small bag at her feet. It didn’t have a lot, just everything that had once been in her room. Which hadn’t been a lot. Syne had always liked her belongings, they made the cell more cheerier. But now, looking at them stuffed in a small little parcel everything just seemed so pathetic.
Her cell opened, and Drow walked in, looking concerned.
She didn't look at him, she went back to looking at her parcel. She was mad at him right now.
"Are you ready to leave?" He asked, hesitantly.
"I don't want to leave." She said angrily. "I don't want to go anywhere and I don't see why I have to."
"Syne- they doctors explained this-"
"Well forget what they explained! I'm not infectious for Jezu's sake. I'm not contagious, I'm not spreading any serious disease. I shouldn't have to be relegated from all my friends just because I'm-" She stopped, unwilling to finish the sentence.
Drow had better sense then to sigh at Syne's irrationality. He was far too used to it by now. "Look, Syne, it's not relegation. They're doing it for your own safety."
"My safety? No, my safety would be keeping me off Operations. My safety would be keeping me off of those stupid training things I have to do with Alchemist and any other stupid thing they have me do. Those would be insuring my safety. Moving me to some strange Ward I've never even heard of and telling me that I won't be able to see my friends anymore, that's not making sure I'm safe, that's just weird. And stupid."
"Syne..."
"Shut up Drow." Syne felt like pouting. She didn't pout, because that would have been childish. And she didn't want to seem childish, not now.
"We need to go now."
Syne swallowed. She looked over to the doors of her room and saw some of the doctors standing expectantly. She wasn't going to cry, this wasn't any reason to cry. "I don't want to go." She said quietly.
"It'll be Ok. I'm here with you."
"But you won't be." Damn. She hadn't meant to say that. She didn't want to sound like she needed him there. She was still mad at him. He was the one that did this to her after all.
"I'll come and visit. And all the doctors said that this Ward is really nicer than all the-"
"Oh whatever." Syne got up and stalked passed him out the door. She followed the scientists, reluctantly, but spent most of her time ignoring Drow. He hovered behind her, not sure what to do, and she ignored any attempts of him trying to comfort her.
Pregnant. She shouldn't be pregnant. She didn't remember a lot from her life before but she knew that eighteen was way too young to be pregnant. And what were they going to do with her now that she was pregnant? Everything had been so suspicious, so secretive. And she didn't like the way the doctors had looked when they told her she was pregnant. They looked too - happy. Almost sinister happy. And he'd wanted to tell Drow that she had a very bad feeling about all of this, but she wasn't sure what she could say. Not without sounding like one of the rebels, which would be dangerous, considering the times. But everything about this was making her feel very nervous and she was already scared so she was feeling very lost about the whole matters.
They led her into a Ward that she'd never been to before, never knew this section existed before. Before they entered they told her that Drow would have to stay behind at this point and suddenly she felt crazy. She forgave him for everything, from being so horribly male and for the injustice of the situation and wanted to cling to him and make sure that he stayed here. She didn't want him to go. If she was going to go through this she needed him here.
She looked at him desperately, and his eyes mirrored hers. The doctors were growing impatient though, so she just hugged him, feeling lost and distraught and so horribly anxious over her future.
The hug was over far too soon and the doctors led her into the room.
She blinked. It was vastly different from any other Ward she'd been in before. The cells were the same, holes in the wall with glass coverings, but the glass doors were open. And the rooms actually looked like rooms. There were pretty posters on the walls, and there were flowers. And the walls weren't white, they were colored.
Syne looked at the doctor closest to her quizzically. The woman doctor smiled down at her. "See Syne? It's nothing so bad. We want you to be comfortable in your stay here."
Then let me go back to my old room. Syne thought irrationally. She was perfectly aware that she was being irrational too. Because obviously the rooms here were far more preferable to the rooms that she had left. And when they stationed her into her own room the bed was far more comfortable, soft, then anything she could ever remember sleeping in before. But she still wanted to go back.
She was perfectly aware that every Excess in the room was female, and pregnant. She scanned the Ward to see if she recognized anybody, and she saw a few. Some Orion girls who had mysteriously vanished under strange circumstances. The doctors hadn't ever said where they had gone, and no one had ever really questioned.
Are people going to wonder where I am? She thought. No one else knew, except Drow. And Drow wouldn't tell anyone, not if he was told not to. But why the secrecy? They weren't going to be here long, after all. Nine months at the most...
Panic started to sink in. What would happen after nine months? Would she just go back? And- and what would happen to her- baby?
She was so caught up in her own thoughts that she didn't realize that someone had come into her room and sat on her bed. When she heard the sound of a throat clearing she jumped and gave a small yelp. When she saw who it was she snapped, "Jezu Lin, don't sneak up on a person like that. And don't go into another person's room without knocking, it's rude."
"Sorry." Lin said dryly. "Where have my manners gone."
Syne frowned a little, as she studied the other girl. She was obviously pregnant, maybe five months or so. "Hey, Lin. I was wondering where you were." She said, as it finally registered who it was that was sitting across from her. "You weren't with the other rebels when they came back."
Lin gripped her arm tightly. "Came back? So they're Ok? How's Rhodon?"
"Whoa, calm down. You're hurting me." Lin blinked in surprise as she let go, as if she didn't realize what she was doing. "Yeah, they were in Iso for a while, but they're all back now. Everyone who tried to escape is still alive and well, they were reintegrated into the Ward. Rhodon seems fine. I think they're all planning something again though, from what Drow tells me."
The relief was so blatant on the other girl's face that Syne began to feel sorry for her. She'd never been that close to Lin, but they were both Orion Excess dating Sirius Excess, so they had gotten to know each other somewhat. And it must have been terrible, wondering all this time how everyone was doing. Syne thought about Drow and felt the first pang of something akin to homesickness.
There was silence between them that hung heavy between for awhile. Syne wasn’t sure what to say, since all things considering they were an opposite ends of beliefs. Lin was a rebel, and someone who shouldn’t be trusted. And yet here she was, sitting in Syne’s room, the only one who ventured to do so.
And Lin really didn’t look so good. It wasn’t so much health wise, but the worry must have really started to get to her. It made Syne feel a lot of sympathy for her. Which surprised her, because given her own present situation she didn’t think she had sympathy to spare for other people.
“So... us. You got knocked up?” Lin said uncomfortably, as a start for conversation.
“Yeah.” Syne said, equally uncomfortable.
“By Drow?”
“Yes!” Syne said indignantly.
“Sorry. I’ve been here for awhile, I just thought I would make sure.”
Syne swallowed, looking down at her hands. “Do you- do you know what they’re going to do with us?”
Lin’s tips tightened. “Do you want the honest answer or the nice version?”
That was ominous. What did she want? “I want to be home.” Syne said mournfully, not even sure of what “home” she was referring to anymore.
“Me too.” Lin answered quietly. The two girls sat there in silence until the doctors came and told Lin she had to go back to her room.
Link knew she couldn’t avoid them forever. Well, technically, she could. Because she’d always be able to sense them coming. But she didn’t want to do that. Frankly, it was too exhausting. Because the longer she prolonged this the angrier the rest of them would become. And having three angry Sirius and two destructive Orion mad at her didn’t sound like an enjoyable idea. Especially Phoenix. Phoenix would kill her. Osseus might too.
So she knew she couldn’t avoid them forever, but honestly, she wanted to wait a little longer before the confrontation. Get her thoughts together and her arguments ready. Then she’d face them on her own terms.
Except things never work the way she wanted to.
She was half way biting into a protein muffin when she felt a familiar presence. She shivered and set down her muffin. It was too late to run now, he was already there.
“You’ve gotten really good at controlling your thoughts.” She remarked without turning around. That’s how it worked, her mind would link on to thoughts in other people’s minds. But if someone was able to control their thoughts make their mind literally blank, then she wouldn’t be able to reach in.
“Days of being alone with your mind creates a certain familiarity with how it works.”
Great. Leave it to Osseus to Zen during psychological torture. That was so like him. She turned around slowly, and looked at him for the first time sine they- he, had tried to escape.
She didn’t know what she expected, or how she felt upon seeing him again. He was thinner, that was certain. More haggard perhaps, and his eyes looked older and hard. But he was still Osseus. He didn’t look broken, or beaten down, and he didn’t look any less dangerous.
“Are you going to kill me?” Link asked simply.
She never knew the blankness of another’s mind could be so terrifying. It wasn’t even like the whitecoats wearing Limiters. When the whitecoats specifically dealt with Andromeda they themselves would wear devices that would block any mental influences that the passive powers might hold. But then she could still feel the thoughts there. They would brush up against her mind like furry animals vying for attention. She just wasn’t able to decipher them.
Here- there was nothing. Nothing. Just a vast emptiness of hollow echoes and haunting silences. She didn’t think such mental control was possible. It was terrifying. And it made her feel deeply nervous.
“Why, Link?”
He wasn’t asking why should he kill her. He was asking why she did it. Link looked down. “Do you want me to justify myself to you Osseus?”
“No. I don’t want justification.”
“Then what do you want?”
“Assurance.”
Link frowned and looked at him again. “What?”
“Did you betray us out of fear or because you like where you are? Or is it because you’ve been loyal all along?”
“That isn’t time!” Link burst out. “You know I haven’t! You know I hate the whitecoats!”
“Do I? I’m not sure I know anything about you anymore.”
Link reeled back, as if struck. She didn’t know what to say. What he wanted to hear. “You were going to fail.” She whispered
softly.
Osseus nodded. “Ah. So. Alright. I see. It was fear then.”
“How can you say it like fear means nothing! Fear is all that exists in a place like this Osseus! And if we want to survive
at all we have to listen to that fear! It’s the only way!” She was near hysterics now, and fully aware of the fact that she was yelling at someone she still wasn’t quite sure on whether or not he would kill her.
“You’re right.”
“You’re damn right I’m- wait. What?”
Osseus looked at her with his hard, calculating eyes. “I said you’re right. Fear is all we have, and it’s the key to our survival. But it’s what we’re afraid of and how we deal with that fear that makes us different, Link.”
Link remained quiet.
“I have a proposition to make you.” Osseus said in a casual voice. “I know that you know it’s not going to end here. That we’re not giving up.”
Link nodded. “You’re planning something much worse now.” She said softly. These plans, the small snippets that she’d gotten from various mind, they were enough to scare her in a very intense way.
“Have you said anything to the whitecoats yet?”
Link shivered. “No. I haven’t said anything to anyone.”
“Good. For some reason, I believe you. I want it to stay that way.”
Link looked at him. “You might destroy everyone this time.” she said it like a challenge, as if daring him to deny it.
Osseus said nothing.
“It would be stupid to keep quiet.” Link pointed out. “When it could be the end of everyone.”
“I know. That’s where the proposition comes in. You keep quiet about anything you might learn about what we’re doing, anything at all. You don’t say a word to anybody, and-” He left that dangling.
“And you don’t kill me.” She finished flatly.
“And I’ll make sure Phoenix doesn’t kill you.” Osseus corrects. “She really wants to. Furthermore, if we succeed I’ll even make sure no one gives you any crap for betraying us earlier. If we fail, well. No one will be able to prove you knew anything, now will they?”
Link didn’t say anything. “Really, Link, you’re in a win-win situation here. All you have to do is keep your mouth shut.”
Yes. But keeping her mouth shut might result in everyone dying. On the flip side, if she did say something, the same results might occur anyway. She wasn’t stupid. Win-win situation? Not hardly.
“I won’t say anything.” She said finally.
“Good!” Osseus said cheerily. “That’ll get a load off my mind.” He turned to leave.
“You’re going to fail again.” Link burst out. “I knew it then and I know it now. You’re going to fail, and this time you might
actually get yourself killed.” She didn’t want that to happen. Despite everything- or perhaps because of it, she didn’t want to see any of them killed.
Osseus paused at the door. He looked back at her, and everything about him seemed hard and distant. “Frankly, Link.” He said coldly, “I don’t think we’re the ones who are failing.” With that he turned and disappeared.
Link sat there, looking at her protein muffin. “I never wanted to hurt anyone.” She said randomly, and started crying.
He was back again. But that wasn’t surprising. He came everyday. Usually more than once. Most of the times he didn’t say anything. He’d just lean in the corner and watch her. But other times he would talk, and when he talked it almost always came back to trying to figure out what had happened.
Sometimes Eiros was there with her when he came. That had worried her the first few times it had happened. Wondering what he would do to Eiros, what Eiros would do period.
She relaxed after awhile. Asphyx would just lean in the corner on those days, and Eiros would ignore him completely on most days. Sometimes though, Eiros would walk up real close to Asphyx and peer at him. He’d babble something incoherently and sometimes would poke him in the arm a couple of times. One time he even tried braiding Asphyx’s hair. Phoenix found all of this greatly amusing. Especially since Asphyx wouldn’t ever do anything. Sometimes he’d look down at Eiros like on looks at an irritating bug, but for the most part he doesn’t do anything at all. Just leans there.
The days when Eiros was there are actually preferable, and make an otherwise agonizing experience somewhat enjoyable. But Eiros wasn’t always there. He’d disappear for days at a time.
“You know, it really is rude to barge in on a lady’s room at all the time.” Phoenix said, almost conversationally. “It isn’t proper either. What would the elders think? They’d think we were sinning, for sure. No one ever believes you when you say you weren’t.”
“I want to know what happened Phoenix.”
Well that was abrupt. He usually isn’t so blunt about things. I meant that he was really reaching the end of his patience. She always wondered what he would do when that happened.
And he must really be expecting to succeed this time, because they’re the only ones in the Ward now. Everyone else is out in the Commons. Phoenix gets the sinking suspicion that no one is going to come back into the Ward until Asphyx lets them, and that he won’t let them, unless he gets what he wants.
Has he blocked what the whitecoats here too? Has he taken away their Monitors? It wouldn’t surprise her if he has. It wouldn’t surprise her to learn that he could do such things, that he had that kind of power.
So this is it then. Just him. And her. And no one to come in and rescue her. She wished Eiros were here. Then she began wondering as to why Eiros wasn’t here, and started worrying. “Did you do something to the kid?” She demanded.
Asphyx raised a brow. “Of course not. I don’t think I could, frankly.” He took the opportunity to sit beside Phoenix’s bed. “You’re oddly protective of the child.”
Phoenix narrowed her eyes. “He’s not that much younger than us.”
“No, he’s not. But he does seem like it at times, doesn’t he? Very child like, almost innocent.”
“You make that sound all perverted like. Really, I didn’t know you swung that way.”
“You of all people know that I don’t. I was merely remarking on his state of mind. It’s almost like he needs a protector, doesn’t it? And you seem to have volunteered for the position.”
“I didn’t volunteer for anything.” If they kept talking about Eiros they could stay off that other topic.
“No, but you did rise to the occasion rather nicely. I’ve watched you with him, over the weeks. You’re good with him, for all that he is difficult.” His voice is soft now, and the softness of it makes Phoenix’s heart start beating faster, as if anticipating the danger.
“Sometimes he seems so young.” Asphyx repeats. “Like a child. And you take such good care of him. It makes me think that you would have made a wonderful mother.”
Phoenix flung herself onto him, fists flying and flames burning hot. “I never wanted to be a mother you stupid son of a bitch!” She swore at him. The flames are immediately stifled, and he grabbed her arms and she pounded him in the chest. “I didn’t want to be a mother you bastard and I didn’t want to be! Especially not for them! Especially not because those fuckers wanted a Sirius bred child and you were so happy to comply! I didn’t want that I didn’t want that!”
She hit him again and again and he just took it. She finally crumpled down, at his feet, keening loudly. “You bastard!” She shouted in between wails. “You stupid fucking shit bastard.”
That’s what the scientists had always wanted from her. And when she didn’t form a relationship with a Sirius, with anyone really, they were more than happy to assign her a partner. One who could make sure she didn’t shift to fire during copulation. One who could make sure she didn’t shift to fire afterwards to rid her body of anything unwanted. And it was just too much. It was too much. She couldn’t deal with it any longer, and she shouldn’t have had to.
“They told me you aborted the child in your failed escape.” Asphyx said quietly.
Phoenix clutched her stomach and finally begin sobbing, wracked sobs that hurt the ears to listen to. It doesn’t matter anymore, Phoenix thought. It just doesn’t matter anymore. “If-” She started, haltingly in between sobs. “If I really wanted the chi- if I really wanted hi- it- -it gone. Would I r-really have been - trying to escape?” She tried to leave when it wasn’t just her she had to worry about any longer. Wasn’t just her freedom. But it didn’t matter anymore.
Asphyx stood there looking down at her sobbing body. Of course. Of course. “Please, Phoenix. Tell me what happened. I beg you.”
And it was in his voice, too. She could hear the - need to know what happened. And for the first time ever Phoenix thought perhaps Asphyx had wanted the child, but not for the whitecoats. It’s an odd thought, and she doesn’t want to think it, because it humanizes him in a way that she doesn’t want to.
“I ran.” Phoenix said flatly. Tears weren’t coming anymore. “I ran. And when they came after me with their Guns I couldn’t transform. They hit me but I kept on running. And-” It was too painful. She shouldn’t have to live through this again. She shouldn’t have to. “And I don’t know what happened next. They hit me with something. I don’t know what. The next thing I knew I was fire and-” She didn’t finish. Tears started flowing again, softer now.
Asphyx stood over her. He wanted to hold her, wanted to comfort her, and he anted to be comforted. But he had the sense to know that it wasn’t what she wanted. And right now, he wasn’t going to do anything that she didn’t want.
So he turned around and quietly left, telling himself that it didn’t matter that she was crying there and it was all his fault. That everything was his fault.
When the Air Excess came to see him without being called for it was almost always a bad sign. Because it usually had to do with Phoenix, and the Director didn’t want to talk about Phoenix. At least, not in the way that the boy did. And the boy could be so difficult in times like these, it was bothersome.
The dark eyes of the child always caused him a sense of pain, especially when they looked at him with such steady determination.
You were the first. That’s what he wanted to say. You were the first, and you were beautiful.
The boy knows it, though. It would be better if he didn’t. But he knows that he was the first successful Excess they ever created, the start of something phenomenal- a beauty that the Director has never regretted being a part of.
“I need to know what happened. From your own words.”
“We have had this discussion before. I do not see the purpose of repetitive conversations. They’re a waste of my time.”
“I need to know what happened.” The Air Excess repeated again.
Suddenly the air changed. It weighed heavy, harmless, but sinister. And the dark eyes were cold, and deadly. The Director, in a moment of pivotal revelation, became aware of the fact that what they created is by far more powerful than he. That the power they worked so hard in bringing forth into the world is still only given to a select few, and it overpowers the world of power that the Director has achieved for himself. And in that moment, the Director suddenly became aware of the fact that the boy in front of him would have absolutely no problem striking him down.
He never knew that before. He didn’t know why exactly. He knew the boy was loyal, or at least, that’s what he thought. He thought the boy was loyal because- well, he didn’t really know why. He had always just assumed it was because...
But why should it be that? When similarities are always represented as they have witnessed and can imitate. What was it that they said about apples?
The boy would kill him. He wasn’t on his side, he was on his own. The Director found that to be oddly gratifying at the same time it was it was unsettling. If the boy was ever given a reason, something that would suit his purpose, he would kill him.
The Director would probably do the same, but then, killing the Air Excess might be more difficult.
He didn’t know what he was going to do about this interesting revelation. It was going to make things a lot more difficult. It made the Excess a lot more dangerous to handle, and he might have to be terminated. But that would be a shame.
“Phoenix tried to escape when she found out she was pregnant. She should have been treated with more care when they pursued her. It has been verified that when it reached the point where recapture was inevitable she Fire Shifted which resulted in the automatic abortion of the fetus she carried. It has yet to be determined as to whether or not it was intentional. It is most likely that it was.”
The boy’s expression was unreadable, and that was enough to cause alarm. It would be upsetting to terminate him...
“I see.” He said calmly. “You should have said this earlier.”
“It didn’t seem prudent.”
“Of course.”
“You are expected to carry out you duties unaffected by personal matters.” The Director instructed. It wasn’t exactly wise to push the Excess at this particular moment, but he chose to. He didn’t want to show any signs of intimidation.
The Excess remained emotionless. “I shall do as I always.” The remark was ambiguous. It was intentionally so.
“As shall I.” The Director murmured.
The Excess took his leave.
Eiros came into her room at some point. There wasn’t anyone else there, they hadn’t returned from the Commons room. Even if they had, it wouldn’t have mattered, because she wouldn’t have been aware of it. She was only dimly aware of her surroundings now. She just lay on her back, tears long since run out, staring at the ceiling. She was numb now, not feeling anything, not thinking anything.
Eiros patted her on the head, stroking it awkwardly. “Sorry.” He muttered. “Sorry. Would have- would have done something. But he’s playing a part too. A big part. And everything works because of butterflies and I had to let it happen.”
“No.” Phoenix said. “The butterflies never did anything at all. It was the caterpillars.”
Eiros shook his head. “I know it seems that way. They play apart too, they do. But it’ll be the butterflies, I promise.”
“And you? And me? Are we butterflies?”
“Everything is a butterfly.”
“Except the caterpillars.”
“Right. Except for them.”
Phoenix lay on her back, and Eiros was stroking her hair. This is the scene for all things, and this is what they existed for.
Phoenix: It doesn’t matter in the end. Existence is such a small thing.
Eiros: But we’re a part of that Existence, and then everything matters.
Phoenix: We’re a part of the only existence we’ve ever known. We exist with it. If the existence is no longer there, can we really keep on living?
Eiros: Everything keeps on living. It just has to.
Phoenix: Even the dead?
Eiros: Especially the dead.
Phoenix: But how can you know? How can you know? I lost knowing a long time ago.
Eiros: You’ll know when you’re dead. Or if you don’t exist. I don’t exist.
Phoenix: If you don’t exist, then how can you be a part of existence?
Eiros: That’s a good question. I never thought of that before. I guess that’s rather distressing.
Phoenix: You don’t know the answer, do you? That puts a kink in things.
Eiros: I think not knowing the answer is part of the fun. I don’t know how I exist with existence if I don’t exist, I only know that I do. It’s better that way, in a way.
Phoenix: If you don’t exist but exist in existence and existence goes away do you keep on not existing? Or do you stop not existing and finally begin to exist?
Eiros: Yes.
Phoenix: And me?
Eiros: Do you not exist either?
Phoenix: Sometimes I wonder.
Eiros: I can't know if you don't.
Phoenix: Does it even matter anymore?
Eiros: I guess that depends.
Phoenix: On what?
Eiros: You know.
Phoenix: No I don’t.
Eiros: Yes you do. You just don’t want to.
Phoenix: Now you’re just being deliberately confusing. I find this unfair. I’ve had a hard day.
Eiros: I know. I’m sorry about that. You’re son was beautiful.
Phoenix: ...
Eiros: I’m sorry. Was that too much? I don’t always know when to stop.
Phoenix: No, it’s Ok. I just. No, never mind. It’s nice to hear that though. What did he look like?
Eiros: He had you’re hair, and your facial features. He had his father’s eyes though.
Phoenix: Don’t tell me that.
Eiros: I overstepped my bounds again. I’m sorry. But it was a good thing, it all came together nicely. He was beautiful. Still is.
Phoenix: Because he still exists?
Eiros: Yes. Somewhere.
Phoenix: Will I see him again then? When I die?
Eiros: No. Not right away. You’ll be in different places.
Phoenix: But eventually?
Eiros: Eventually.
Phoenix: I don’t want to die though. Not any time soon. Isn’t that funny? After everything, I still don’t want to die.
Eiros: It’s not really death. Not really.
Phoenix: Then what is it?
Eiros: It’s butterflies.
Phoenix knew what it was that Osseus wanted, and what he had planned. All things considered, it was a good plan, and it could conceivably work. There was risk involved, but when wasn't there? And she knew that he was already implementing a lot of his ideas and goals. Talking to Link, whispering to the whitecoats, playing the reformed dog even though everyone knew that he wasn't. She could see the threads starting to move together, and she knew that a lot of the things could come together, could work this time.
Except that they wouldn't. If they followed Osseus' plan, they would fail again, just like last time.
He wanted to convert the Enhanced, plant doubt in their minds. He was going to use them to rebel, and that was extremely risky. Because the Enhanced might not have had the same impact as an Excess had (according to Eiros and the scientist's reports) but their abilities were far more universal. So things could go extraordinarily wrong in many ways.
But that's why he was covering his tracks. He went to Link to tell her not to say anything to anyone, but he was expecting her to anyway. And the beauty of his plan was the fact that he wasn't counting on her to tell. Osseus had learned from what he saw a grave and gigantic mistake on his part, and this time he wasn't going to count on anything. He thought up all possible outcomes to a situation, and he devised a plan to figure out how to make that outcome work to his advantage. He wasn't going to let chance get in his way this time, and he certainly wasn't going to let human error get in his way either. He was going to figure out everything, and enact his plans accordingly.
And that was exactly why Phoenix figured the plans were going to fail.
She'd spent a lot of time talking to Eiros about this. Well no, not about this per se. But about things. They talked about a lot of things. And it was what they talked about that made her realize that this wasn't going to work. Osseus worked in a linear fashion. He made plans in a linear fashion, and he thought of things so that they would make sense.
But things happened that didn't always make sense. Especially here.
It wasn't the scientists. Or the loyal Excess, no, it was something far deeper than that. The scientists and the loyal Excess worked in a linear fashion as well, their entire life depended on trying to make things make sense.
They couldn't see the bigger picture though, they couldn't see the trap that they were caught on, the very trap that they themselves had created. In the Facility things didn't make sense, and they weren't supposed to. And as long as you were making plans that made sense, those plans weren't going to work.
She knew Eiros had a plan. Eiros had never said as much, had never indicated any such thing. But it was something she believed with every fiber of her being. Eiros had a plan, had probably been planning for a very long time, and was starting to implement everything. She didn’t know what Eiros’ plan was, she just knew that it was vastly different from Osseus’. And she knew that if Eiros had a plan, she count on the fact that it didn’t make any sense. Which meant that it had a better chance of working.
Phoenix didn’t know what she should do in order to help Eiros. She didn’t know if she was supposed to follow what Osseus planned until something came up. Or if perhaps she should wait patiently and not do anything until Eiros indicated for her to do something.
What she figured though, was that she was a plan of Eiros’ plan. That everyone and everything was. They were butterflies after all. Which she took to mean that anything she did would eventually be apart of Eiros’ plan, so she decided to take matters into her own hands and do what she wanted to do. She figured that would be Ok.
And what she wanted to do was see the Enhanced again, this time on her own terms. She wasn’t sure exactly how she was going to go about doing that. After all, she still wasn’t allowed out of her cell most of the time, and she couldn’t depend on Eiros’ power all the time. And when it came down to it, she didn’t even know where the Enhanced were kept. So it’s not like she could just wander around the Facility as it suited her until she could find the place that she wanted to.
But in her new frame of mind, she realized these were all limitations brought on by the fact that they made sense. And things didn’t have to make sense here.
So when she Burned a way out the door she decided that she didn't need to know exactly where she was going, but she knew that she would get there. And that's all that really mattered. Getting there. She wandered aimlessly through the hallways, dodging this way and that way when she heard voices. They would know that she left her cell, she thought about it logically. They would know, but that doesn't mean anything. Not really. They would probably know where she was going too, but that didn't matter either.
Her chances of finding her way to the Enhanced were slim, but she knew she would. It was all part of the plan, she thought wildly. Things have to happen, and they're going to happen in this way. And no matter what I do, or Osseus does, or the whitecoats, it's going to happen.
When she found the Enhanced the door was open. She didn't know who had left the door like that, if it was intentional or coincidence. She didn't need to know anymore, because right now she trusted. And trust was more important than knowing.
Hiding wasn't her style, and she didn't like doing it too often. But when she saw her first glimpse of them, she knew that hiding was the best idea for the moment.
They were training with the whitecoats- and they were terrifying. Beautiful, but terrifying. It was like watching birds of prey in action, fierce and deadly yet artwork all the same. They were practicing on real Others, captured ones, probably brought in by the Excess. They had them running free, except that there was no where to go, and their only option was to fight. There was two Enhanced per Other, and Phoenix could see what it was that Eiros had been talking about. When they used one of their Orion powers they were clearly not very powerful, perhaps Virtue Class at best. But they could do more than one thing, which was key. And deadly, they seemed to know exactly what to do and when. What power to use, how to utilize it. Phoenix wondered if perhaps they had trained under Alchemist.
With a scream that would have effected even the most heartless of men, the gryphon received a killing blow and died. The others soon followed.
She couldn't hear what the scientists were telling them. She wasn't sure she wanted to. She just waited as they called in people to remove the corpses of the Others. She waited a long time, for the whitecoats to leave. The Enhanced danced like merry children with blood on their faces.
It was nearing night, as far as Phoenix could tell, when she finally stepped from her hiding place and approached the Enhanced. It was pure hubris more than anything else, that she did so. After what she witnessed normal people would be wary to approach someone so eager, and so good at, killing. But she was confident that no matter what, she'd be able to take them. Defend herself. However, she was willing to bet that it wasn't going to come to that.
"Hello." She called out, almost cheery like.
The Enhanced stopped their rejoicing and gazed at her, again like animals of prey. Measuring her, looking at her, perhaps wondering if she was something to eat. It made her wary, but it did not deter her.
"You're one of the rebels." One of the Enhanced said. He looked at her, clearly wary as well. He seemed familiar, and she figured
that he was one of the ones she and Osseus had approached earlier. She really should have paid closer attention.
"Yes." She said simply. There was no use in denying it after all. "That's right. Have they been telling you things about me?" This could prove dangerous...
"That you were wrong." He said. His voice didn't hold danger in it. He seemed more curious than anything else, but Phoenix knew better than to assume that it meant he wasn't going to harm her, if it suited him.
Well, he could try. "Is that what they said? It doesn't seem right to pass on that kind of judgment without hearing both sides of the story, now does it?" She asked coolly. Osseus would be proud, she thought sardonically.
The Enhanced boy seemed to think on this. "No. I suppose you're right. Do you think you were wrong?"
"Not in the slightest bit."
Some of the Enhanced looked bored with this. That was bad, she wanted to keep all of their attention.
"Are you unworthy?" He asked mischievously.
He was expecting some kind of response, and seemed rather disappointed when she didn’t give it to him. That made her wonder who else he had asked this question. Instead she mulled it over and finally returned with, “Are you?”
“Of course not.” The Enhanced boy pouted. He said this like it was the most natural thing in the world. “We are superior. We were created as such. We‘re superior to everyone.” The other Enhanced all murmured their affirmations.
Phoenix smiled inside, and for once felt truly evil with herself and loved every second of it. “Were you now? But, what about those that created you? Are you superior to them as well?”
This made all the Enhanced blink and look at each other. They had apparently never thought about this before. It was exceedingly funny.
“Well, no. Not them.” The boy who appeared to be the leader said hesitantly. “They created us. But everyone else.”
“But if you’re not superior to them, then you’re not superior to everyone, now are you?”
“Everyone else!” He yelled angrily.
Be careful, Phoenix. She thought. Tread lightly. “I’m only saying, what makes you think that you aren’t superior to them?”
“They created us!” The boy said, and the others looked horrified at the implications that they could ever be superior to those that were responsible for their existence.
“They created me as well.” Phoenix lied blithely. She objected to using that terminology, but it served her purpose for the moment.
The Enhanced eyed her warily, as if she was lying (despite the fact that technically she was). She merely smiled innocently. “What? They didn’t tell you that? They created the Excess as well. We are all brothers and sisters, in a way.”
“But you aren’t superior.” The boy said petulantly.
“Actually, you’re right.” She said simply. “I’m their equal.”
They looked at her disbelievingly. “That’s not possible.” He said.
“Oh but it is. Otherwise, how else could I move about so freely without their knowing?”
“They know. They have to know. They know everything.”
“Not everything. And they don’t know it automatically, they receive their knowledge from a different source.” She looked at them to see if she had their attention. She did. That was good. “How ever you been out of this room?” She asked, keeping her innocent tone of
voice.
“When we’re sent out on Operations.”
So they went on Operations. That was - interesting. And unsettling. “But have you ever been to other parts of this Facility?”
“Sometimes-” A girl spoke up. “Sometimes when the Doctors run tests they take us into other rooms.”
“And have you ever seen their computers?”
“Yes. We’re not allowed to look at those.”
“How strange. I’ve seen their computers, you know.”
They all looked at her in awe.
“Oh yes, it’s quite true. I’ve looked at their computers and that’s how I’ve become their equal. It’s where they keep all their information, you know. And the only reason why they don’t let you look at the computers is because they want to keep you inferior to themselves. But I assure you, they aren’t as all-powerful as you would like to believe. In fact, you could be just like them, maybe even better, if you had the same kind of information that they did.”
They all looked at each other, blinking and confused. Phoenix smiled to herself. The damage was done now, and she knew that if only one of them, just one, went and poked around the computers, than everything the whitecoats were trying to achieve with the Enhanced
would be lost.
“Well. I just thought perhaps you should know. It’s been very lovely seeing you again. We really should get together sometime.” She turned around and left their gardens, whistling off tune to herself.
“What is it that they say about apples?”
Alchemist looked down at the strange boy resting against his chest. Eiros would come to him at odd times when he was by himself, and it was something he always looked forward to. Oddly enough he was becoming more coherent as time went on, although sometimes he would spout something out of nowhere.
“Apples?”
“Mmm.” Eiros let out a sigh. “I don’t suppose it matters. It’s done though. Once you take a bite it’s too late, and you can’t make things right again, no matter how much you’d like.”
Alchemist stroked Eiros’ hair absently. He wished Eiros wouldn’t talk like that. It made him feel apprehensive. And it was a dark sort of apprehension, one that caused him to wake up in a cold sweat in the middle of the night.
“Sorry.” Eiros said. “I know you don’t like it when I talk like that.”
Alchemist grinned wryly. "Reading my mind, eh?"
"No, I don't need to, not to know what you're thinking." Eiros sighed and nestled in further. He sighed again. "It's going to happen soon."
"What is?" Alchemist asked, alarmed.
"Everything." He looked up at Alchemist, "it's going to be bad." He whispered quietly.
Alchemist closed his eyes. It's not that he was scared- he was always willing to face a challenge. It's just-
Everything had been so confusing lately. With the Enhanced, the whitecoats- and with Eiros. The things that he used to believe in
he wasn't so sure that he could place his faith in them anymore. After seeing the Enhanced, he wasn't so sure what the whitecoats were doing was in the right. He wanted so hard to keep on believing, to keep on believing as he always did. But it wasn't so easy, anymore. And Eiros... he wasn't sure what was going on with Eiros, just that it made him happy and he was scared to lose it. And he knew, knew it with each passing day, that whatever Eiros was and had been through, it had been at the hands of the whitecoats. They had done things to him, horrible things that broke his mind. And- and for some reason, that just seemed unforgivable. So he didn't know what to think or to feel
anymore.
He just knew that for the first time in all that he could remember he had this feeling that there was something that he could lose. Something that he could lose that he would regret bitterly losing, something he was afraid to lose. And that's what scared him so much.
"The lid's contrition nor the bolts before. Oh oh. Too much. Too much. Even now, surmise, she rises in the sunshine."
Alchemist opened his eyes. Eiros was smiling mischievously at him. "You haven't forgotten what I said, have you?" Alchemist blinked. Eiros sighed in mock exasperation. "Everything is a part of creation. So, whatever happens, it'll be apart of creation. So you don't need to be so afraid, no matter what happens."
Alchemist smiled wryly. "Alright. If you say so. Then I shall believe you."
Eiros nodded once. "Good."
Ooh yeah, this one. This one was dark. I apologize ahead of time.
Phoenixeiros.
Yeah, here's Book seven? Or whatever. It's really long though, I just thought I should put it up since I just finished book eight.
BOOK SEVEN: CARRIED HER UNPROTESTING OUT THE DOOR
Name: Lin
Order: Orion
Class: Cherubim
Sex: Female
Excess: Electricity
I missed out on a lot of what happened after he escaped. Pretty much all of it actually. Getting knocked up apparently has that affect on people. Ok. Getting knocked up and locked up has that affect on people.
I mean, don’t get me wrong. I’m sure I had it a lot easier then the rest of them in Iso. I guess. I wasn’t being tortured or anything like that. I was actually being fairly pampered. Featherbeds and everything. Regular exercise schedules, good diets. It was a decent life.
But you have no idea... you have no idea what its like. The psychological torture was worse, I think. I know it’s not fair, that I can’t really make those type of judgments. But I’d rather have been in Iso with the rest of them where I was.
They wouldn’t even tell me if Rhodon was Ok. So I had to sit there in my gilded cage wondering if he and all of my other friends were even alive. Can you even imagine what that’s like?
I think that’s why they finally let him see me. Because the psychological stress was affecting my body and they didn’t want to risk anything that could lead to a miscarriage.
Jezu, it bothered me. The things I figured out when I was there. Like, how the whitecoats encouraged relationships to form in the Ward, specifically so a child would result. That sickened me. That in some twisted way my love for Rhodon was all part of their plan. It sullied something that should have been beautiful.
And it made me feel so guilty, knowing that Rhodon had only tried so hard to escape because of me. And our baby. That, if he was still alive out there he was undoubtedly in Iso, being tortured, because of me.
And then I would just get mad at myself for thinking that way. Because it wasn’t me. It wasn’t my fault. It was the whitecoats.
Syne sat on her bed. She didn’t say anything, and wasn’t really doing anything either. She looked down at a small bag at her feet. It didn’t have a lot, just everything that had once been in her room. Which hadn’t been a lot. Syne had always liked her belongings, they made the cell more cheerier. But now, looking at them stuffed in a small little parcel everything just seemed so pathetic.
Her cell opened, and Drow walked in, looking concerned.
She didn't look at him, she went back to looking at her parcel. She was mad at him right now.
"Are you ready to leave?" He asked, hesitantly.
"I don't want to leave." She said angrily. "I don't want to go anywhere and I don't see why I have to."
"Syne- they doctors explained this-"
"Well forget what they explained! I'm not infectious for Jezu's sake. I'm not contagious, I'm not spreading any serious disease. I shouldn't have to be relegated from all my friends just because I'm-" She stopped, unwilling to finish the sentence.
Drow had better sense then to sigh at Syne's irrationality. He was far too used to it by now. "Look, Syne, it's not relegation. They're doing it for your own safety."
"My safety? No, my safety would be keeping me off Operations. My safety would be keeping me off of those stupid training things I have to do with Alchemist and any other stupid thing they have me do. Those would be insuring my safety. Moving me to some strange Ward I've never even heard of and telling me that I won't be able to see my friends anymore, that's not making sure I'm safe, that's just weird. And stupid."
"Syne..."
"Shut up Drow." Syne felt like pouting. She didn't pout, because that would have been childish. And she didn't want to seem childish, not now.
"We need to go now."
Syne swallowed. She looked over to the doors of her room and saw some of the doctors standing expectantly. She wasn't going to cry, this wasn't any reason to cry. "I don't want to go." She said quietly.
"It'll be Ok. I'm here with you."
"But you won't be." Damn. She hadn't meant to say that. She didn't want to sound like she needed him there. She was still mad at him. He was the one that did this to her after all.
"I'll come and visit. And all the doctors said that this Ward is really nicer than all the-"
"Oh whatever." Syne got up and stalked passed him out the door. She followed the scientists, reluctantly, but spent most of her time ignoring Drow. He hovered behind her, not sure what to do, and she ignored any attempts of him trying to comfort her.
Pregnant. She shouldn't be pregnant. She didn't remember a lot from her life before but she knew that eighteen was way too young to be pregnant. And what were they going to do with her now that she was pregnant? Everything had been so suspicious, so secretive. And she didn't like the way the doctors had looked when they told her she was pregnant. They looked too - happy. Almost sinister happy. And he'd wanted to tell Drow that she had a very bad feeling about all of this, but she wasn't sure what she could say. Not without sounding like one of the rebels, which would be dangerous, considering the times. But everything about this was making her feel very nervous and she was already scared so she was feeling very lost about the whole matters.
They led her into a Ward that she'd never been to before, never knew this section existed before. Before they entered they told her that Drow would have to stay behind at this point and suddenly she felt crazy. She forgave him for everything, from being so horribly male and for the injustice of the situation and wanted to cling to him and make sure that he stayed here. She didn't want him to go. If she was going to go through this she needed him here.
She looked at him desperately, and his eyes mirrored hers. The doctors were growing impatient though, so she just hugged him, feeling lost and distraught and so horribly anxious over her future.
The hug was over far too soon and the doctors led her into the room.
She blinked. It was vastly different from any other Ward she'd been in before. The cells were the same, holes in the wall with glass coverings, but the glass doors were open. And the rooms actually looked like rooms. There were pretty posters on the walls, and there were flowers. And the walls weren't white, they were colored.
Syne looked at the doctor closest to her quizzically. The woman doctor smiled down at her. "See Syne? It's nothing so bad. We want you to be comfortable in your stay here."
Then let me go back to my old room. Syne thought irrationally. She was perfectly aware that she was being irrational too. Because obviously the rooms here were far more preferable to the rooms that she had left. And when they stationed her into her own room the bed was far more comfortable, soft, then anything she could ever remember sleeping in before. But she still wanted to go back.
She was perfectly aware that every Excess in the room was female, and pregnant. She scanned the Ward to see if she recognized anybody, and she saw a few. Some Orion girls who had mysteriously vanished under strange circumstances. The doctors hadn't ever said where they had gone, and no one had ever really questioned.
Are people going to wonder where I am? She thought. No one else knew, except Drow. And Drow wouldn't tell anyone, not if he was told not to. But why the secrecy? They weren't going to be here long, after all. Nine months at the most...
Panic started to sink in. What would happen after nine months? Would she just go back? And- and what would happen to her- baby?
She was so caught up in her own thoughts that she didn't realize that someone had come into her room and sat on her bed. When she heard the sound of a throat clearing she jumped and gave a small yelp. When she saw who it was she snapped, "Jezu Lin, don't sneak up on a person like that. And don't go into another person's room without knocking, it's rude."
"Sorry." Lin said dryly. "Where have my manners gone."
Syne frowned a little, as she studied the other girl. She was obviously pregnant, maybe five months or so. "Hey, Lin. I was wondering where you were." She said, as it finally registered who it was that was sitting across from her. "You weren't with the other rebels when they came back."
Lin gripped her arm tightly. "Came back? So they're Ok? How's Rhodon?"
"Whoa, calm down. You're hurting me." Lin blinked in surprise as she let go, as if she didn't realize what she was doing. "Yeah, they were in Iso for a while, but they're all back now. Everyone who tried to escape is still alive and well, they were reintegrated into the Ward. Rhodon seems fine. I think they're all planning something again though, from what Drow tells me."
The relief was so blatant on the other girl's face that Syne began to feel sorry for her. She'd never been that close to Lin, but they were both Orion Excess dating Sirius Excess, so they had gotten to know each other somewhat. And it must have been terrible, wondering all this time how everyone was doing. Syne thought about Drow and felt the first pang of something akin to homesickness.
There was silence between them that hung heavy between for awhile. Syne wasn’t sure what to say, since all things considering they were an opposite ends of beliefs. Lin was a rebel, and someone who shouldn’t be trusted. And yet here she was, sitting in Syne’s room, the only one who ventured to do so.
And Lin really didn’t look so good. It wasn’t so much health wise, but the worry must have really started to get to her. It made Syne feel a lot of sympathy for her. Which surprised her, because given her own present situation she didn’t think she had sympathy to spare for other people.
“So... us. You got knocked up?” Lin said uncomfortably, as a start for conversation.
“Yeah.” Syne said, equally uncomfortable.
“By Drow?”
“Yes!” Syne said indignantly.
“Sorry. I’ve been here for awhile, I just thought I would make sure.”
Syne swallowed, looking down at her hands. “Do you- do you know what they’re going to do with us?”
Lin’s tips tightened. “Do you want the honest answer or the nice version?”
That was ominous. What did she want? “I want to be home.” Syne said mournfully, not even sure of what “home” she was referring to anymore.
“Me too.” Lin answered quietly. The two girls sat there in silence until the doctors came and told Lin she had to go back to her room.
Link knew she couldn’t avoid them forever. Well, technically, she could. Because she’d always be able to sense them coming. But she didn’t want to do that. Frankly, it was too exhausting. Because the longer she prolonged this the angrier the rest of them would become. And having three angry Sirius and two destructive Orion mad at her didn’t sound like an enjoyable idea. Especially Phoenix. Phoenix would kill her. Osseus might too.
So she knew she couldn’t avoid them forever, but honestly, she wanted to wait a little longer before the confrontation. Get her thoughts together and her arguments ready. Then she’d face them on her own terms.
Except things never work the way she wanted to.
She was half way biting into a protein muffin when she felt a familiar presence. She shivered and set down her muffin. It was too late to run now, he was already there.
“You’ve gotten really good at controlling your thoughts.” She remarked without turning around. That’s how it worked, her mind would link on to thoughts in other people’s minds. But if someone was able to control their thoughts make their mind literally blank, then she wouldn’t be able to reach in.
“Days of being alone with your mind creates a certain familiarity with how it works.”
Great. Leave it to Osseus to Zen during psychological torture. That was so like him. She turned around slowly, and looked at him for the first time sine they- he, had tried to escape.
She didn’t know what she expected, or how she felt upon seeing him again. He was thinner, that was certain. More haggard perhaps, and his eyes looked older and hard. But he was still Osseus. He didn’t look broken, or beaten down, and he didn’t look any less dangerous.
“Are you going to kill me?” Link asked simply.
She never knew the blankness of another’s mind could be so terrifying. It wasn’t even like the whitecoats wearing Limiters. When the whitecoats specifically dealt with Andromeda they themselves would wear devices that would block any mental influences that the passive powers might hold. But then she could still feel the thoughts there. They would brush up against her mind like furry animals vying for attention. She just wasn’t able to decipher them.
Here- there was nothing. Nothing. Just a vast emptiness of hollow echoes and haunting silences. She didn’t think such mental control was possible. It was terrifying. And it made her feel deeply nervous.
“Why, Link?”
He wasn’t asking why should he kill her. He was asking why she did it. Link looked down. “Do you want me to justify myself to you Osseus?”
“No. I don’t want justification.”
“Then what do you want?”
“Assurance.”
Link frowned and looked at him again. “What?”
“Did you betray us out of fear or because you like where you are? Or is it because you’ve been loyal all along?”
“That isn’t time!” Link burst out. “You know I haven’t! You know I hate the whitecoats!”
“Do I? I’m not sure I know anything about you anymore.”
Link reeled back, as if struck. She didn’t know what to say. What he wanted to hear. “You were going to fail.” She whispered
softly.
Osseus nodded. “Ah. So. Alright. I see. It was fear then.”
“How can you say it like fear means nothing! Fear is all that exists in a place like this Osseus! And if we want to survive
at all we have to listen to that fear! It’s the only way!” She was near hysterics now, and fully aware of the fact that she was yelling at someone she still wasn’t quite sure on whether or not he would kill her.
“You’re right.”
“You’re damn right I’m- wait. What?”
Osseus looked at her with his hard, calculating eyes. “I said you’re right. Fear is all we have, and it’s the key to our survival. But it’s what we’re afraid of and how we deal with that fear that makes us different, Link.”
Link remained quiet.
“I have a proposition to make you.” Osseus said in a casual voice. “I know that you know it’s not going to end here. That we’re not giving up.”
Link nodded. “You’re planning something much worse now.” She said softly. These plans, the small snippets that she’d gotten from various mind, they were enough to scare her in a very intense way.
“Have you said anything to the whitecoats yet?”
Link shivered. “No. I haven’t said anything to anyone.”
“Good. For some reason, I believe you. I want it to stay that way.”
Link looked at him. “You might destroy everyone this time.” she said it like a challenge, as if daring him to deny it.
Osseus said nothing.
“It would be stupid to keep quiet.” Link pointed out. “When it could be the end of everyone.”
“I know. That’s where the proposition comes in. You keep quiet about anything you might learn about what we’re doing, anything at all. You don’t say a word to anybody, and-” He left that dangling.
“And you don’t kill me.” She finished flatly.
“And I’ll make sure Phoenix doesn’t kill you.” Osseus corrects. “She really wants to. Furthermore, if we succeed I’ll even make sure no one gives you any crap for betraying us earlier. If we fail, well. No one will be able to prove you knew anything, now will they?”
Link didn’t say anything. “Really, Link, you’re in a win-win situation here. All you have to do is keep your mouth shut.”
Yes. But keeping her mouth shut might result in everyone dying. On the flip side, if she did say something, the same results might occur anyway. She wasn’t stupid. Win-win situation? Not hardly.
“I won’t say anything.” She said finally.
“Good!” Osseus said cheerily. “That’ll get a load off my mind.” He turned to leave.
“You’re going to fail again.” Link burst out. “I knew it then and I know it now. You’re going to fail, and this time you might
actually get yourself killed.” She didn’t want that to happen. Despite everything- or perhaps because of it, she didn’t want to see any of them killed.
Osseus paused at the door. He looked back at her, and everything about him seemed hard and distant. “Frankly, Link.” He said coldly, “I don’t think we’re the ones who are failing.” With that he turned and disappeared.
Link sat there, looking at her protein muffin. “I never wanted to hurt anyone.” She said randomly, and started crying.
He was back again. But that wasn’t surprising. He came everyday. Usually more than once. Most of the times he didn’t say anything. He’d just lean in the corner and watch her. But other times he would talk, and when he talked it almost always came back to trying to figure out what had happened.
Sometimes Eiros was there with her when he came. That had worried her the first few times it had happened. Wondering what he would do to Eiros, what Eiros would do period.
She relaxed after awhile. Asphyx would just lean in the corner on those days, and Eiros would ignore him completely on most days. Sometimes though, Eiros would walk up real close to Asphyx and peer at him. He’d babble something incoherently and sometimes would poke him in the arm a couple of times. One time he even tried braiding Asphyx’s hair. Phoenix found all of this greatly amusing. Especially since Asphyx wouldn’t ever do anything. Sometimes he’d look down at Eiros like on looks at an irritating bug, but for the most part he doesn’t do anything at all. Just leans there.
The days when Eiros was there are actually preferable, and make an otherwise agonizing experience somewhat enjoyable. But Eiros wasn’t always there. He’d disappear for days at a time.
“You know, it really is rude to barge in on a lady’s room at all the time.” Phoenix said, almost conversationally. “It isn’t proper either. What would the elders think? They’d think we were sinning, for sure. No one ever believes you when you say you weren’t.”
“I want to know what happened Phoenix.”
Well that was abrupt. He usually isn’t so blunt about things. I meant that he was really reaching the end of his patience. She always wondered what he would do when that happened.
And he must really be expecting to succeed this time, because they’re the only ones in the Ward now. Everyone else is out in the Commons. Phoenix gets the sinking suspicion that no one is going to come back into the Ward until Asphyx lets them, and that he won’t let them, unless he gets what he wants.
Has he blocked what the whitecoats here too? Has he taken away their Monitors? It wouldn’t surprise her if he has. It wouldn’t surprise her to learn that he could do such things, that he had that kind of power.
So this is it then. Just him. And her. And no one to come in and rescue her. She wished Eiros were here. Then she began wondering as to why Eiros wasn’t here, and started worrying. “Did you do something to the kid?” She demanded.
Asphyx raised a brow. “Of course not. I don’t think I could, frankly.” He took the opportunity to sit beside Phoenix’s bed. “You’re oddly protective of the child.”
Phoenix narrowed her eyes. “He’s not that much younger than us.”
“No, he’s not. But he does seem like it at times, doesn’t he? Very child like, almost innocent.”
“You make that sound all perverted like. Really, I didn’t know you swung that way.”
“You of all people know that I don’t. I was merely remarking on his state of mind. It’s almost like he needs a protector, doesn’t it? And you seem to have volunteered for the position.”
“I didn’t volunteer for anything.” If they kept talking about Eiros they could stay off that other topic.
“No, but you did rise to the occasion rather nicely. I’ve watched you with him, over the weeks. You’re good with him, for all that he is difficult.” His voice is soft now, and the softness of it makes Phoenix’s heart start beating faster, as if anticipating the danger.
“Sometimes he seems so young.” Asphyx repeats. “Like a child. And you take such good care of him. It makes me think that you would have made a wonderful mother.”
Phoenix flung herself onto him, fists flying and flames burning hot. “I never wanted to be a mother you stupid son of a bitch!” She swore at him. The flames are immediately stifled, and he grabbed her arms and she pounded him in the chest. “I didn’t want to be a mother you bastard and I didn’t want to be! Especially not for them! Especially not because those fuckers wanted a Sirius bred child and you were so happy to comply! I didn’t want that I didn’t want that!”
She hit him again and again and he just took it. She finally crumpled down, at his feet, keening loudly. “You bastard!” She shouted in between wails. “You stupid fucking shit bastard.”
That’s what the scientists had always wanted from her. And when she didn’t form a relationship with a Sirius, with anyone really, they were more than happy to assign her a partner. One who could make sure she didn’t shift to fire during copulation. One who could make sure she didn’t shift to fire afterwards to rid her body of anything unwanted. And it was just too much. It was too much. She couldn’t deal with it any longer, and she shouldn’t have had to.
“They told me you aborted the child in your failed escape.” Asphyx said quietly.
Phoenix clutched her stomach and finally begin sobbing, wracked sobs that hurt the ears to listen to. It doesn’t matter anymore, Phoenix thought. It just doesn’t matter anymore. “If-” She started, haltingly in between sobs. “If I really wanted the chi- if I really wanted hi- it- -it gone. Would I r-really have been - trying to escape?” She tried to leave when it wasn’t just her she had to worry about any longer. Wasn’t just her freedom. But it didn’t matter anymore.
Asphyx stood there looking down at her sobbing body. Of course. Of course. “Please, Phoenix. Tell me what happened. I beg you.”
And it was in his voice, too. She could hear the - need to know what happened. And for the first time ever Phoenix thought perhaps Asphyx had wanted the child, but not for the whitecoats. It’s an odd thought, and she doesn’t want to think it, because it humanizes him in a way that she doesn’t want to.
“I ran.” Phoenix said flatly. Tears weren’t coming anymore. “I ran. And when they came after me with their Guns I couldn’t transform. They hit me but I kept on running. And-” It was too painful. She shouldn’t have to live through this again. She shouldn’t have to. “And I don’t know what happened next. They hit me with something. I don’t know what. The next thing I knew I was fire and-” She didn’t finish. Tears started flowing again, softer now.
Asphyx stood over her. He wanted to hold her, wanted to comfort her, and he anted to be comforted. But he had the sense to know that it wasn’t what she wanted. And right now, he wasn’t going to do anything that she didn’t want.
So he turned around and quietly left, telling himself that it didn’t matter that she was crying there and it was all his fault. That everything was his fault.
When the Air Excess came to see him without being called for it was almost always a bad sign. Because it usually had to do with Phoenix, and the Director didn’t want to talk about Phoenix. At least, not in the way that the boy did. And the boy could be so difficult in times like these, it was bothersome.
The dark eyes of the child always caused him a sense of pain, especially when they looked at him with such steady determination.
You were the first. That’s what he wanted to say. You were the first, and you were beautiful.
The boy knows it, though. It would be better if he didn’t. But he knows that he was the first successful Excess they ever created, the start of something phenomenal- a beauty that the Director has never regretted being a part of.
“I need to know what happened. From your own words.”
“We have had this discussion before. I do not see the purpose of repetitive conversations. They’re a waste of my time.”
“I need to know what happened.” The Air Excess repeated again.
Suddenly the air changed. It weighed heavy, harmless, but sinister. And the dark eyes were cold, and deadly. The Director, in a moment of pivotal revelation, became aware of the fact that what they created is by far more powerful than he. That the power they worked so hard in bringing forth into the world is still only given to a select few, and it overpowers the world of power that the Director has achieved for himself. And in that moment, the Director suddenly became aware of the fact that the boy in front of him would have absolutely no problem striking him down.
He never knew that before. He didn’t know why exactly. He knew the boy was loyal, or at least, that’s what he thought. He thought the boy was loyal because- well, he didn’t really know why. He had always just assumed it was because...
But why should it be that? When similarities are always represented as they have witnessed and can imitate. What was it that they said about apples?
The boy would kill him. He wasn’t on his side, he was on his own. The Director found that to be oddly gratifying at the same time it was it was unsettling. If the boy was ever given a reason, something that would suit his purpose, he would kill him.
The Director would probably do the same, but then, killing the Air Excess might be more difficult.
He didn’t know what he was going to do about this interesting revelation. It was going to make things a lot more difficult. It made the Excess a lot more dangerous to handle, and he might have to be terminated. But that would be a shame.
“Phoenix tried to escape when she found out she was pregnant. She should have been treated with more care when they pursued her. It has been verified that when it reached the point where recapture was inevitable she Fire Shifted which resulted in the automatic abortion of the fetus she carried. It has yet to be determined as to whether or not it was intentional. It is most likely that it was.”
The boy’s expression was unreadable, and that was enough to cause alarm. It would be upsetting to terminate him...
“I see.” He said calmly. “You should have said this earlier.”
“It didn’t seem prudent.”
“Of course.”
“You are expected to carry out you duties unaffected by personal matters.” The Director instructed. It wasn’t exactly wise to push the Excess at this particular moment, but he chose to. He didn’t want to show any signs of intimidation.
The Excess remained emotionless. “I shall do as I always.” The remark was ambiguous. It was intentionally so.
“As shall I.” The Director murmured.
The Excess took his leave.
Eiros came into her room at some point. There wasn’t anyone else there, they hadn’t returned from the Commons room. Even if they had, it wouldn’t have mattered, because she wouldn’t have been aware of it. She was only dimly aware of her surroundings now. She just lay on her back, tears long since run out, staring at the ceiling. She was numb now, not feeling anything, not thinking anything.
Eiros patted her on the head, stroking it awkwardly. “Sorry.” He muttered. “Sorry. Would have- would have done something. But he’s playing a part too. A big part. And everything works because of butterflies and I had to let it happen.”
“No.” Phoenix said. “The butterflies never did anything at all. It was the caterpillars.”
Eiros shook his head. “I know it seems that way. They play apart too, they do. But it’ll be the butterflies, I promise.”
“And you? And me? Are we butterflies?”
“Everything is a butterfly.”
“Except the caterpillars.”
“Right. Except for them.”
Phoenix lay on her back, and Eiros was stroking her hair. This is the scene for all things, and this is what they existed for.
Phoenix: It doesn’t matter in the end. Existence is such a small thing.
Eiros: But we’re a part of that Existence, and then everything matters.
Phoenix: We’re a part of the only existence we’ve ever known. We exist with it. If the existence is no longer there, can we really keep on living?
Eiros: Everything keeps on living. It just has to.
Phoenix: Even the dead?
Eiros: Especially the dead.
Phoenix: But how can you know? How can you know? I lost knowing a long time ago.
Eiros: You’ll know when you’re dead. Or if you don’t exist. I don’t exist.
Phoenix: If you don’t exist, then how can you be a part of existence?
Eiros: That’s a good question. I never thought of that before. I guess that’s rather distressing.
Phoenix: You don’t know the answer, do you? That puts a kink in things.
Eiros: I think not knowing the answer is part of the fun. I don’t know how I exist with existence if I don’t exist, I only know that I do. It’s better that way, in a way.
Phoenix: If you don’t exist but exist in existence and existence goes away do you keep on not existing? Or do you stop not existing and finally begin to exist?
Eiros: Yes.
Phoenix: And me?
Eiros: Do you not exist either?
Phoenix: Sometimes I wonder.
Eiros: I can't know if you don't.
Phoenix: Does it even matter anymore?
Eiros: I guess that depends.
Phoenix: On what?
Eiros: You know.
Phoenix: No I don’t.
Eiros: Yes you do. You just don’t want to.
Phoenix: Now you’re just being deliberately confusing. I find this unfair. I’ve had a hard day.
Eiros: I know. I’m sorry about that. You’re son was beautiful.
Phoenix: ...
Eiros: I’m sorry. Was that too much? I don’t always know when to stop.
Phoenix: No, it’s Ok. I just. No, never mind. It’s nice to hear that though. What did he look like?
Eiros: He had you’re hair, and your facial features. He had his father’s eyes though.
Phoenix: Don’t tell me that.
Eiros: I overstepped my bounds again. I’m sorry. But it was a good thing, it all came together nicely. He was beautiful. Still is.
Phoenix: Because he still exists?
Eiros: Yes. Somewhere.
Phoenix: Will I see him again then? When I die?
Eiros: No. Not right away. You’ll be in different places.
Phoenix: But eventually?
Eiros: Eventually.
Phoenix: I don’t want to die though. Not any time soon. Isn’t that funny? After everything, I still don’t want to die.
Eiros: It’s not really death. Not really.
Phoenix: Then what is it?
Eiros: It’s butterflies.
Phoenix knew what it was that Osseus wanted, and what he had planned. All things considered, it was a good plan, and it could conceivably work. There was risk involved, but when wasn't there? And she knew that he was already implementing a lot of his ideas and goals. Talking to Link, whispering to the whitecoats, playing the reformed dog even though everyone knew that he wasn't. She could see the threads starting to move together, and she knew that a lot of the things could come together, could work this time.
Except that they wouldn't. If they followed Osseus' plan, they would fail again, just like last time.
He wanted to convert the Enhanced, plant doubt in their minds. He was going to use them to rebel, and that was extremely risky. Because the Enhanced might not have had the same impact as an Excess had (according to Eiros and the scientist's reports) but their abilities were far more universal. So things could go extraordinarily wrong in many ways.
But that's why he was covering his tracks. He went to Link to tell her not to say anything to anyone, but he was expecting her to anyway. And the beauty of his plan was the fact that he wasn't counting on her to tell. Osseus had learned from what he saw a grave and gigantic mistake on his part, and this time he wasn't going to count on anything. He thought up all possible outcomes to a situation, and he devised a plan to figure out how to make that outcome work to his advantage. He wasn't going to let chance get in his way this time, and he certainly wasn't going to let human error get in his way either. He was going to figure out everything, and enact his plans accordingly.
And that was exactly why Phoenix figured the plans were going to fail.
She'd spent a lot of time talking to Eiros about this. Well no, not about this per se. But about things. They talked about a lot of things. And it was what they talked about that made her realize that this wasn't going to work. Osseus worked in a linear fashion. He made plans in a linear fashion, and he thought of things so that they would make sense.
But things happened that didn't always make sense. Especially here.
It wasn't the scientists. Or the loyal Excess, no, it was something far deeper than that. The scientists and the loyal Excess worked in a linear fashion as well, their entire life depended on trying to make things make sense.
They couldn't see the bigger picture though, they couldn't see the trap that they were caught on, the very trap that they themselves had created. In the Facility things didn't make sense, and they weren't supposed to. And as long as you were making plans that made sense, those plans weren't going to work.
She knew Eiros had a plan. Eiros had never said as much, had never indicated any such thing. But it was something she believed with every fiber of her being. Eiros had a plan, had probably been planning for a very long time, and was starting to implement everything. She didn’t know what Eiros’ plan was, she just knew that it was vastly different from Osseus’. And she knew that if Eiros had a plan, she count on the fact that it didn’t make any sense. Which meant that it had a better chance of working.
Phoenix didn’t know what she should do in order to help Eiros. She didn’t know if she was supposed to follow what Osseus planned until something came up. Or if perhaps she should wait patiently and not do anything until Eiros indicated for her to do something.
What she figured though, was that she was a plan of Eiros’ plan. That everyone and everything was. They were butterflies after all. Which she took to mean that anything she did would eventually be apart of Eiros’ plan, so she decided to take matters into her own hands and do what she wanted to do. She figured that would be Ok.
And what she wanted to do was see the Enhanced again, this time on her own terms. She wasn’t sure exactly how she was going to go about doing that. After all, she still wasn’t allowed out of her cell most of the time, and she couldn’t depend on Eiros’ power all the time. And when it came down to it, she didn’t even know where the Enhanced were kept. So it’s not like she could just wander around the Facility as it suited her until she could find the place that she wanted to.
But in her new frame of mind, she realized these were all limitations brought on by the fact that they made sense. And things didn’t have to make sense here.
So when she Burned a way out the door she decided that she didn't need to know exactly where she was going, but she knew that she would get there. And that's all that really mattered. Getting there. She wandered aimlessly through the hallways, dodging this way and that way when she heard voices. They would know that she left her cell, she thought about it logically. They would know, but that doesn't mean anything. Not really. They would probably know where she was going too, but that didn't matter either.
Her chances of finding her way to the Enhanced were slim, but she knew she would. It was all part of the plan, she thought wildly. Things have to happen, and they're going to happen in this way. And no matter what I do, or Osseus does, or the whitecoats, it's going to happen.
When she found the Enhanced the door was open. She didn't know who had left the door like that, if it was intentional or coincidence. She didn't need to know anymore, because right now she trusted. And trust was more important than knowing.
Hiding wasn't her style, and she didn't like doing it too often. But when she saw her first glimpse of them, she knew that hiding was the best idea for the moment.
They were training with the whitecoats- and they were terrifying. Beautiful, but terrifying. It was like watching birds of prey in action, fierce and deadly yet artwork all the same. They were practicing on real Others, captured ones, probably brought in by the Excess. They had them running free, except that there was no where to go, and their only option was to fight. There was two Enhanced per Other, and Phoenix could see what it was that Eiros had been talking about. When they used one of their Orion powers they were clearly not very powerful, perhaps Virtue Class at best. But they could do more than one thing, which was key. And deadly, they seemed to know exactly what to do and when. What power to use, how to utilize it. Phoenix wondered if perhaps they had trained under Alchemist.
With a scream that would have effected even the most heartless of men, the gryphon received a killing blow and died. The others soon followed.
She couldn't hear what the scientists were telling them. She wasn't sure she wanted to. She just waited as they called in people to remove the corpses of the Others. She waited a long time, for the whitecoats to leave. The Enhanced danced like merry children with blood on their faces.
It was nearing night, as far as Phoenix could tell, when she finally stepped from her hiding place and approached the Enhanced. It was pure hubris more than anything else, that she did so. After what she witnessed normal people would be wary to approach someone so eager, and so good at, killing. But she was confident that no matter what, she'd be able to take them. Defend herself. However, she was willing to bet that it wasn't going to come to that.
"Hello." She called out, almost cheery like.
The Enhanced stopped their rejoicing and gazed at her, again like animals of prey. Measuring her, looking at her, perhaps wondering if she was something to eat. It made her wary, but it did not deter her.
"You're one of the rebels." One of the Enhanced said. He looked at her, clearly wary as well. He seemed familiar, and she figured
that he was one of the ones she and Osseus had approached earlier. She really should have paid closer attention.
"Yes." She said simply. There was no use in denying it after all. "That's right. Have they been telling you things about me?" This could prove dangerous...
"That you were wrong." He said. His voice didn't hold danger in it. He seemed more curious than anything else, but Phoenix knew better than to assume that it meant he wasn't going to harm her, if it suited him.
Well, he could try. "Is that what they said? It doesn't seem right to pass on that kind of judgment without hearing both sides of the story, now does it?" She asked coolly. Osseus would be proud, she thought sardonically.
The Enhanced boy seemed to think on this. "No. I suppose you're right. Do you think you were wrong?"
"Not in the slightest bit."
Some of the Enhanced looked bored with this. That was bad, she wanted to keep all of their attention.
"Are you unworthy?" He asked mischievously.
He was expecting some kind of response, and seemed rather disappointed when she didn’t give it to him. That made her wonder who else he had asked this question. Instead she mulled it over and finally returned with, “Are you?”
“Of course not.” The Enhanced boy pouted. He said this like it was the most natural thing in the world. “We are superior. We were created as such. We‘re superior to everyone.” The other Enhanced all murmured their affirmations.
Phoenix smiled inside, and for once felt truly evil with herself and loved every second of it. “Were you now? But, what about those that created you? Are you superior to them as well?”
This made all the Enhanced blink and look at each other. They had apparently never thought about this before. It was exceedingly funny.
“Well, no. Not them.” The boy who appeared to be the leader said hesitantly. “They created us. But everyone else.”
“But if you’re not superior to them, then you’re not superior to everyone, now are you?”
“Everyone else!” He yelled angrily.
Be careful, Phoenix. She thought. Tread lightly. “I’m only saying, what makes you think that you aren’t superior to them?”
“They created us!” The boy said, and the others looked horrified at the implications that they could ever be superior to those that were responsible for their existence.
“They created me as well.” Phoenix lied blithely. She objected to using that terminology, but it served her purpose for the moment.
The Enhanced eyed her warily, as if she was lying (despite the fact that technically she was). She merely smiled innocently. “What? They didn’t tell you that? They created the Excess as well. We are all brothers and sisters, in a way.”
“But you aren’t superior.” The boy said petulantly.
“Actually, you’re right.” She said simply. “I’m their equal.”
They looked at her disbelievingly. “That’s not possible.” He said.
“Oh but it is. Otherwise, how else could I move about so freely without their knowing?”
“They know. They have to know. They know everything.”
“Not everything. And they don’t know it automatically, they receive their knowledge from a different source.” She looked at them to see if she had their attention. She did. That was good. “How ever you been out of this room?” She asked, keeping her innocent tone of
voice.
“When we’re sent out on Operations.”
So they went on Operations. That was - interesting. And unsettling. “But have you ever been to other parts of this Facility?”
“Sometimes-” A girl spoke up. “Sometimes when the Doctors run tests they take us into other rooms.”
“And have you ever seen their computers?”
“Yes. We’re not allowed to look at those.”
“How strange. I’ve seen their computers, you know.”
They all looked at her in awe.
“Oh yes, it’s quite true. I’ve looked at their computers and that’s how I’ve become their equal. It’s where they keep all their information, you know. And the only reason why they don’t let you look at the computers is because they want to keep you inferior to themselves. But I assure you, they aren’t as all-powerful as you would like to believe. In fact, you could be just like them, maybe even better, if you had the same kind of information that they did.”
They all looked at each other, blinking and confused. Phoenix smiled to herself. The damage was done now, and she knew that if only one of them, just one, went and poked around the computers, than everything the whitecoats were trying to achieve with the Enhanced
would be lost.
“Well. I just thought perhaps you should know. It’s been very lovely seeing you again. We really should get together sometime.” She turned around and left their gardens, whistling off tune to herself.
“What is it that they say about apples?”
Alchemist looked down at the strange boy resting against his chest. Eiros would come to him at odd times when he was by himself, and it was something he always looked forward to. Oddly enough he was becoming more coherent as time went on, although sometimes he would spout something out of nowhere.
“Apples?”
“Mmm.” Eiros let out a sigh. “I don’t suppose it matters. It’s done though. Once you take a bite it’s too late, and you can’t make things right again, no matter how much you’d like.”
Alchemist stroked Eiros’ hair absently. He wished Eiros wouldn’t talk like that. It made him feel apprehensive. And it was a dark sort of apprehension, one that caused him to wake up in a cold sweat in the middle of the night.
“Sorry.” Eiros said. “I know you don’t like it when I talk like that.”
Alchemist grinned wryly. "Reading my mind, eh?"
"No, I don't need to, not to know what you're thinking." Eiros sighed and nestled in further. He sighed again. "It's going to happen soon."
"What is?" Alchemist asked, alarmed.
"Everything." He looked up at Alchemist, "it's going to be bad." He whispered quietly.
Alchemist closed his eyes. It's not that he was scared- he was always willing to face a challenge. It's just-
Everything had been so confusing lately. With the Enhanced, the whitecoats- and with Eiros. The things that he used to believe in
he wasn't so sure that he could place his faith in them anymore. After seeing the Enhanced, he wasn't so sure what the whitecoats were doing was in the right. He wanted so hard to keep on believing, to keep on believing as he always did. But it wasn't so easy, anymore. And Eiros... he wasn't sure what was going on with Eiros, just that it made him happy and he was scared to lose it. And he knew, knew it with each passing day, that whatever Eiros was and had been through, it had been at the hands of the whitecoats. They had done things to him, horrible things that broke his mind. And- and for some reason, that just seemed unforgivable. So he didn't know what to think or to feel
anymore.
He just knew that for the first time in all that he could remember he had this feeling that there was something that he could lose. Something that he could lose that he would regret bitterly losing, something he was afraid to lose. And that's what scared him so much.
"The lid's contrition nor the bolts before. Oh oh. Too much. Too much. Even now, surmise, she rises in the sunshine."
Alchemist opened his eyes. Eiros was smiling mischievously at him. "You haven't forgotten what I said, have you?" Alchemist blinked. Eiros sighed in mock exasperation. "Everything is a part of creation. So, whatever happens, it'll be apart of creation. So you don't need to be so afraid, no matter what happens."
Alchemist smiled wryly. "Alright. If you say so. Then I shall believe you."
Eiros nodded once. "Good."
Ooh yeah, this one. This one was dark. I apologize ahead of time.
Phoenixeiros.