"Ah, sarcasm."
- Count Dracula, 1797
"Brings a shining light to every face, shines for all to see. To make the world a brighter place, Rainbow Brite and me."
- Bettina Bush, 1985
In memory of Jon Polito
The sun was setting on the Amanecer. The shadows of the palace spires cast the illusion of massive black spears thrusting through the KMF's armor. In the courtyard below, the pilot was on her hands and knees with her head to the ground. Her shoulders shook from her sobbing.
"Please, I'll do anything," Marirrosa whispered as she groveled. "Just… don't hurt him…" Her tears dripped into small puddles on the marble of the palace façade.
Marrybell stood over the intruder with a pair of female attendants on either side. The princess's expression was one of anger, suspicion, and astonishment in equal proportions.
Marirrosa was at her wit's end. It had only been a few days ago that the Star of Madrid was planning their attack on the palace with confidence on their side. But after each training session, each night as she struggled to fall asleep, her conscience posed her the same haunting question: How could they possibly survive such overwhelming odds? Marirrosa was willing to sacrifice herself for the greater good, but the fear of what could happen to her brother had slowly eaten away at her. Now those doubts were too much to bear. She had come by herself to plead for mercy.
Marrybell narrowed her eyes as she gazed down at Marirrosa.
"You're a traitorous abomination. Everything about you reeks of sin and savagery. Your very presence here is an insult to the grandeur of Britannia. I'd have you cut down as the vermin cow you are and make an example of you if you came to me in any other fashion."
Then something unexpected happened. Marrybell crouched on the long skirt of her dress to bring herself down to Marirrosa's level. She took the rebel pilot by the chin and raised her head, closely studying her tear-soaked features.
"And yet, looking into your eyes, underneath all the muck… I see a lost and frightened girl trying to do the right thing."
Marrybell quietly waved her arm to shoo the guards away. Marirrosa's sobs began to stifle.
"I despised you the moment you took up rebellion in Area 24. I never imagined you would be so different up close."
With slow caution, Marrybell placed her palm over the back of Marirrosa's hand. The coldness in her expression changed to a look of deep longing and despair. For a moment, the two unlikely women held the same look of vulnerability.
"My heart was broken when Oldrin abandoned me," the princess said tragically. "I thought the agony would never stop. I've spent the past three months praying to the Lord Almighty that she might come to her senses and return to me as my faithful retainer."
Behind the sadness, a glimmer of hope flickered in Marrybell's eye.
"Perhaps He sent you to me in her place."
Marrybell regained her composure and rose back to her feet.
"I believe I can trust you, dear Marirrosa," she said with a tone of authority. She took Marirrosa by the wrist and slowly guided her to stand up.
"Come, let us discuss your fate."
After a long walk through the rustic palace, Marrybell and the rebel envoy entered the training quarters. Fencing rings and cockpit simulators filled the room from wall to wall. Several dozen of the princess's masked Glinda Knights were busily preparing themselves for battle, but one by one, a small cadre broke off and closely followed Marirrosa. Marrybell seemed to encourage them in subtle hand motions and tiny movements of her head. Marirrosa felt like she was being watched by vultures but made no effort to interrupt them, fearing it would break her uneasy peace and draw the princess's ire.
Marirrosa and Marrybell stopped in front of a holographic display shaped like a glass table. The Glinda Knights took their silent investigation one step further and began to measure Marirrosa's proportions with measuring tape.
"I instruct my knights to be very exact in their actions when they're going after priority targets," Marirrosa stated.
A basic female model appeared the projector. Her skin was transparent neon and each of her organs was illuminated in separate colors.
"Take this diagram, for instance. It was being prepared with you in mind."
Suddenly, a barrage of KMF Vibration Lances appeared around the edges of the projection and flashed inward. They impaled the female figure from every angle, rendering her internal components into vibrant 3D slop. The figure rattled grotesquely for several moments before becoming a rag doll.
"For the sake of decency, I won't show you the simulation we made for your brother." Marrybell politely covered her mouth as she giggled.
Marirrosa's eyes widened in terror. At the same time, one of the servants gently nudged a ticklish spot over her left kidney to study her reflex.
"My knights have been training diligently to make the executions of your brother and yourself as memorable and agonizing as possible. Britannia does not answer kindly to enemies of the crown," Marrybell said coldly. "However, if I were to present you with the option, would you truly take the weight of the crimes of both you and your brother on your shoulders to ensure his safety?"
"Yes…" Marirrosa replied in a small but decisive voice.
"I see." Marrybell's tone softened. "Then perhaps you deserve a less undignified punishment."
The image of virtual butchery was scaled down to allow room for another diagram.
"From this point forward, you will be an asset that belongs exclusively to me," Marrybell said. "You will become my First Knight. Your first assignment will be to lead my forces in quelling this pesky Area 24 situation. I'll provide you an exquisite new life as long as you agree to let go of everything from your miserable old one."
Now the hologram showed an array of synthetic human organs. A copy of the female figured appeared, this time only as an empty wireframe. One by one, the organs fit into the figure like a biological jigsaw puzzle.
"These prosthetics come in individual parts that are usually reserved for our critically injured pilots. I'll have the entire lot installed in you to replace those putrid lumps of rot you currently call an organ system, almost everything aside from your brain. I am sympathetic to your plight, my sweet Marirrosa, but I cannot have something as loathsome and diseased as you infecting the rest of the civilized world."
She tilted her head as she gave Marirrosa a look of pity.
"Of course, I'll also have certain customizations put in place so that I may easily shut down your mortal functions should you ever break my trust. I can be merciful to those poor souls who only wish to absolve themselves, but I'll never cease to be prudent."
Marrybell moved so she was standing directly between Marirrosa and the projector. Behind her right shoulder, the simulated execution played over and over on a five-second loop. Behind her left shoulder, the female figure idly spun on an axis. It was filled with advanced Britannian machinery in place of a human anatomy, but it was intact.
"The choice is yours," Marrybell said, her face darkened by the digital lights behind her. "But I assure you, those detestable parts of you will be eliminated one way or the other. If you confess to your wretched ways now, I can have the procedure done safely, painlessly, and with a reasonable amount of privacy by my best physicians. But if you'd prefer to continue your selfish temper tantrum, my Knights will perform the same operation in a much more eager and messy fashion the next time you have the audacity to cross their paths. It will be quite fatal for you, but we'll make sure you're still breathing when we start to broadcast your execution across the entire kingdom."
The knights surrounding Marirrosa continued their uninvited poking and prodding, meticulously searching for weak points. They were preparing to butcher her in KMF combat until the moment she said otherwise.
"What will happen to Fernando if I hand myself over?" Marirrosa asked in trepidation.
Marrybell smiled gently through the dim shadows.
"No one will lay a finger on him without my express authority. He'll be spared from the slaughter and resigned to servitude under my close watch. I could place him in the guard beside you. His chances of survival will be infinitely greater in my imperial forces compared that pathetic militia he currently leads. And if that doesn't sate your fancy, he could be kept here in a more diplomatic role. Perhaps I could even put him to use as a manservant. There are many stations I could grant him that would allow him to enjoy a long and worthwhile life."
"He's too hotheaded. He'll never go along with something like this," Marirrosa said nervously, shaking her head.
"I'm fully aware of that, but I have… alternate ways of conducting diplomacy than most of the other nobles lack. I'm sure you've sensed it by now." Marrybell's smile twisted into something more scheming, more knowing. A strange green tint washed over her face from the holographic lighting. Then the lights switched to a more neutral palette, returning her to her innocent beauty.
"Why else would you come to me in such desperation, if not only for God willing you to do so? I'm the only one with the ability to persuade your brother not to senselessly throw his life into a butcher's den. Clearly, Heaven has appointed me as your salvation."
Marirrosa privately clenched her fists at her sides and squeezed her eyes to hold back another wave of tears. She made no reply.
"So, what shall it be?" Marrybell asked quietly. She folded her hands over the front of her skirt. "Do we have a truce? Or should I have the skewers prepared for you and your poor brother?"
Marirrosa continued to withdraw herself in silence. Finally, she sighed and bowed her head. She resented herself as she forced the words out from the back of her throat.
"I'm at your mercy, your majesty."
"Wonderful. All of my prayers have been answered," Marrybell said in delight.
"Prepare her for the royal surgical suite," the princess said to her assistants with the utmost urgency. "I shall witness her cleansing personally."
The overjoyed and endearing way Marrybell issued her commands sent a chill down Marirrosa's spine.
Marirrosa's eyes opened a third of the way, allowing her to see only see a blurry slither of the world above her. The sounds of her own breathing and the steady beep, beep, beep of a heart monitor echoed distantly around her. All she could feel was the sensation of her head sinking deeper and deeper into her pillows.
On one side, doctors were leaning over her and taking something apart. Their faces were hidden by their surgical masks and the dream-fog. She couldn't see what was being passed through their hands, but she instinctively knew it was pieces of herself.
Behind the doctors, there was a sort of vague commotion. She could hear women shouting and the sound of swords clattering. There was a group of Glinda Knights on the far side of the operating room attacking a damp object on a silver tray. The doctors would slowly and carefully remove another part of Marirrosa, and then the knights would mercilessly slash it to a pulp to eradicate the plague. Britannian disease control at work.
A soft cloud with five fingertips touched Marirrosa's cheek and gently guided her vision in a more friendly direction. The fuzzy visage of Marrybell was smiling over her on the opposite side.
A shape resembling unfolding wings flickered in Marrybell's left eye. Marirrosa's attention—what little of it she had—became trapped in the princess's gaze.
She couldn't hear Marrybell's voice, but the command reached the deepest parts of her subconscious all the same, forever changing her will. There was almost no struggle between the natural currents in her neurons and the altered flow of the Geass. Marirrosa was already willing to do anything, just as long as that one tiny electrical impulse for "Protect Fernando" was left undisturbed.
The world was moving in slow motion. She could only discern part of what Marrybell was saying through the soothing, soundless motions of her lips.
"…-ve m-…"
Marirrosa lost her slippery hold on consciousness, sending her sinking into darkness. Her heavy eyelids closed completely.
The warm morning sun gleamed through an extravagant rose window, washing over Marirrosa's body like a massive round spotlight.
"Mmh…" She murmured weakly as she began to stir from her deep sleep.
Her vision struggled to focus as the sunlight swirled through her eyes in a brilliant kaleidoscope. She was lying curled on her side in a bed that could have only belonged to royalty. She was completely bare underneath the pink satin sheets that covered her up to her shoulders, but her skin was smooth and unblemished with no signs of tampering. She smelled the aroma of rose petals sprinkled delicately over the sheets. She was perfectly comfortable except for a small numbing ache in her new gut.
Marirrosa heard light footsteps treading across carpeted floor. There was a young lady speaking a few feet away.
"Breakfast will be ready soon, your eminence. I'm having two plates prepared. I wasn't certain about… her condition…"
"Thank you, Arielle," the voice of Marrybell replied from somewhere closer. "That will do just fine. It's safe for her to eat solid foods again."
The footsteps courteously left the room.
Marirrosa couldn't gather the strength to even sit up. She was so tired, so unyieldingly tranquil, that she simply wanted to stay in the sheets and rest the side of her head against the two pillows in front of her. They were so warm and soft, with cases made of thin silk that felt so comfortable against her skin.
Then she noticed one of the pillows had a heartbeat.
She looked up to see Marrybell serenely gazing back at her. The princess was dressed in a light pink peignoir. The morning sun shining through the window above her created a halo behind her head.
"Good morning, my beautiful knight," said the princess. She pulled sheets up closer to Marirrosa's neck to shield her modesty.
"Don't let your fatigue alarm you. It's a perfectly natural reaction," Marrybell said in a comforting voice, brushing the tips of her fingers over the sheets and tracing the valley down Marirrosa's back. "Your body is too accustomed to being polluted with filth, but it will adjust as it accepts all of the replacements we've given you."
She stroked her fingers through Marirrosa's loose light brown hair. She never realized how lovely it was when Marirrosa didn't wear it in that rebel ponytail.
Marirrosa's expression changed to a look of uncertainty, but something in the back of her mind stopped her from saying how sudden or unnatural all of this felt. Every second she spent with the princess seemed to send her deeper into euphoria and put her doubts to rest.
"What worries you so?" Marrybell asked in concern. "Do you not appreciate my companionship? Would you prefer I aid your recuperation in other some way?"
The soreness in Marirrosa's prosthetics faded. The feeling slowly climbed up the inside of her chest and transformed into hints of a burgeoning romance stirring in her heart. The only thing that bothered her now was the question of why the merciful princess would return feelings of affection for someone as lowly as her.
"I just wasn't expecting this," Marirrosa said tiredly.
"Ah, so I've pleasantly surprised you. Good. I want my most trusted protector to feel as safe and relaxed as possible while she's recovering."
Marrybell lightly wrapped her arms around Marirrosa's shoulders and rested her chin on the top of her head.
"This is your home now," Marrybell whispered. "There will be countless trials ahead of your that will exhaust your mind and body and require you to push your noble Mare beyond her limits. But no matter how weary you become on the battlefield, no how grueling your task may seem, just remember your princess will always be here to calm you and make you whole again when you return. That is the privilege of being my First Knight."
"I thought you hated me," Marirrosa said in a timid voice. She lowered her head slightly to hide her face.
"Mm, that was before I realized my misjudgment." The princess gently guided Marirrosa's gaze back to her. "Before you allowed me to see who you really are on the inside. Now I know for certain you're the one who is destined to be mine."
"Why me?" Marirrosa asked quietly. "What if I'm not the right one?"
Marrybell's smile brightened as she playfully rolled her knuckle against Marirrosa's cheek. The skin was soft and moist now that the tears were gone. Marrybell would use all of her power and influence to make it so they never returned.
"Oldrin would have started blushing by now," the princess said whimsically.
Everything was becoming so clear to Marirrosa. She would provide for Fernando, and the princess would provide for her. She could hardly remember a time when she wanted it any other way.
Marirrosa sighed in relief and rested the side of her head against Marrybell. Her eyes slowly closed again.
"Forget about your worries and enjoy your rest, my brave heroine," Marrybell whispered, petting her knight on the top of her head. "I'll need you to fight with all of your valor soon enough."
Fernando was the sole survivor of the massacre. He was sprawled on the ground with ruins of the Star of Madrid's Knightmare Frames piled around him. Fires blazed everywhere except directly in front of him, where Marirrosa and the princess were standing.
Marirrosa was dressed in the regal finery of a Glinda Knight and held an imperial sword at her side. Her long brown hair hung past her shoulders, fluttering in the hot wind. The piloting visor she wore was unique: A long chrome plate that covered the right half of her face down to her chin, with a small circular camera over her right eye. One might say it gave her an operatic appearance.
The vacant Amanacer was crouched behind her. The machine was painted in red and white Valentine colors and had received an extensive Britannian retrofit. The name "MMBX-01 FIYERO" was carved into the chevron on its head.
Massive swords, lances, and javelins stuck out from the smoldering wreckage scattered across the palace courtyard, soaked in a mixture of oil and blood. Just behind Fernando, one lance was propped on its hilt like a mighty arrow pointed toward Heaven. Several meters up, it disappeared into the crumpled underside of a charred and mangled KMF cockpit. A little higher was the spot where it had erupted through the top of the canopy. Dangling motionlessly in the air, launched straight out of the cockpit through brute stabbing force, was Oldrin's broken husk. The lance started between her legs and ended in a sharp point two feet out of her mouth. She had declined Marrybell's gentle touch, so the Glinda Knights had graced her with their iron touch instead. The fires from her destroyed Knightmare Frame gradually rose around her, burning her like a witch impaled at the stake.
Fernando gazed up at his sister in horror.
"Why, Marirrosa? Why did you sell us out after everything we've fought for?"
Marirrosa painfully lowered her head. A tinge of regret stirred in her unmasked eye.
"I'm sorry. This was the only way." She answered meekly.
Marrybell placed a hand on the shoulder of her cherished First Knight. She nestled her ear against Marirrosa's to reassure her, then looked back at Fernando.
"Everything your sister has done was for your benefit, heathen," Marrybell said in a scornful tone. "You were never meant to survive this day. She swore her allegiance to me so that you may continue living."
"You can't be serious, Marirrosa!" Fernando gasped. "This is crazy!"
"No, Fernando." The princess smiled optimistically. "It's a gift."
Marrybell couldn't have prayed for a brighter outcome. The only thing that set a better example than torturing your enemies to their demise was being able to charm them into respecting you. And every time she tugged her strings to keep Fernando alive, it would tangle Marirrosa even closer to her heart.
"And now it is time to save your life," she said to the failed rebel. "Lady Christine, would you please?"
Marirrosa stoically stepped forward and knelt next to Fernando. Carefully wrapping her arms around his neck, she pulled his head up and used her thumb and index fingers to hold his left eye open.
Marrybell activated her Geass. Fernando fought against his sister physically at the same time he tried to fight the princess mentally. It felt like a dozen lances violently impaling his mind. Everything down to his very nature, his most subconscious thoughts, was shattered and reassembled. Soon his entire vision was consumed in red.
A grand understanding washed over Fernando's mind, leaving nothing but peace in its wake. Marirrosa released him, and on his own accord he raised his head to the princess. His precious, beautiful, caring princess.
Fernando spoke the words he would have never imagined saying even in his most dreadful nightmares.
"All hail Princess Marrybell."
Author's note: Alternate titles for this were "The Handmaiden" (a reference to that Chan-Wook Park movie that looks pretty neat), "I'm a Cyborg, But That's OK" (that other Chan-Wook Park movie), and "The Lonely Horseman" (I'm been watching a lot of Mega64 podcasts lately).
Author's note 2: I spent forever thinking about if I was going to include Oldrin in this or keep it as a separate side story about the Noriegas. Then I decided to go for the full Kevin Owens effect.