Chapter X: The Anomaly

"The past beats inside me like a second heart."

― John Banville

The air outside of the mansion did little to ease Ama's frayed nerves, nor did the throbbing on her neck. Imprints of teeth had made their point, a bruise already rising to the surface of alabaster skin. The purple splotch was his brand, his mark, seared into her skin by ravenous incisors.

You are mine. The deep bass echoed the sentiment in her head as if to remind her of the fact and she tucked her head, her palm pressing at the mark as she drew in a small, shaky breath.

She exhaled it after a long moment, leaning back against the brick wall she had propped herself against after having retreated back outside the mansion, hopeful for a moment of reprieve, her eyes darting briefly to a raven that roosted itself atop a nearby crumbled structure. It cocked its head, cawing idly at her as she held a single finger out as an invitation. The bird spread its charcoal wings and briefly took flight, its feathers stirring up a small breeze against her cheek as it curled its talons around her offered digit upon landing. The moment it came in contact with her, a transmogrification took hold of it. Its spine seemed to bend and twist, head sinking onto its shoulders as its skull split open, the rest of its body soon following suit from beak to tail feather. A blur of white sprung from the carcass as the dove took to the skies, chirping a melodic tune as it fled towards the orange streaked skies.

Once out of sight, Ama closed her eyes briefly, pondering heavily over what the sensation of flight might be— what it was to be free. But these thoughts were hardly worth her time and she knew it. Her body was anchored to STEM and she was a mere extension of it, her existence suspended in limbo. And now that Jimenez was aware of Ruvik's influence over her, he was certain to do everything within his power to erase her from the picture. If it wasn't one thing, it was another.

It would seem that Mobius had clipped her wings before the feathers even had a chance to fully settle in, leaving her to rot with the knowledge that she could make leaps but could never truly push and fly. The temptation was there, had always been there, but now she was incapable of acquiring what she hadn't even known she had wanted. What she had been designed to not even acknowledge as a possibility: freedom.

Her eyes opened when she sensed a chilling yet familiar presence behind her, head craning on her slender neck to peer over her shoulder at the cloaked figure. He said nothing as he observed her, not at first, and her lashes bowed over her irises as she lowered her gaze.

"Even now you remain unchanged in your motives. This path was not chosen for you, and yet you insist on following it." The tone of his voice seemed to suggest that he was confused, but Ruben Victoriano was not one to express such a thing openly. No, he was always so calculated and sure of himself, and it brought the tiniest of smiles to the woman's features to know that she could dismantle that, if only a little bit.

"I suppose I'm just a stubborn individual," Ama mused in response, warranting a slow blink from her company. He didn't object to the statement, however, and she knew his silence was the same as agreement.

"It's no surprise. Mobius simply isolated the cerebral cortex of your physical body whilst linking you directly to me in a series of complex coding intended to simulate your existence in the form of a stabilizing system. You are the same in life as you are in STEM, minor variations accredited to them."

The same in life…?

That simple phrase shouldn't have carried as much weight as it did, and yet it felt as if she had been clobbered on the head with the Keeper's sack of gore. It rattled her thoroughly for reasons she could not yet explain, and her figure stiffened as an ache of unknown origin overcame her head and gripped tight, eliciting a wince from her as her ears rang.

She gritted her teeth, nails digging into her scalp as she squinted through the pain at Ruvik. Images flashed behind her pupils and yet they were all blurred, all distorted; the workings of Mobius, no doubt. But her sudden swell of inquisitiveness could not be stifled, and thus she pivoted her entire body towards Ruvik, steadying her breathing and bidding the aches in her skull to die down before she addressed him.

"You act as if you knew me outside of STEM." It was a loaded question, to be sure. Her voice was quiet, almost inaudible, as if she were fearful of his answer— of what she might come to know. It was already almost overwhelming to her psyche to know that she was merely a fragment of the woman she truly was, a set of coding infused into the core of STEM in an attempt to stabilize it. She had a body, a real, breathing body that was flesh and blood, and yet she could recall nothing about it aside from what Ruvik had shown her. His gaze gave away nothing, and yet his silence spoke volumes. Ama's throat clenched and she swallowed, every muscle in her body suddenly weighed down by some invisible ache akin to exhaustion. Her lips parted, eyes softening, and Ruvik bowed his head, hood obscuring his features.

"You did, didn't you? We…" We knew each other.

"Yes," he affirmed, the single syllable reaching into the depths of her chest and twisting, clawing at her heart with such a force that her hand flitted to her breast and she dug into it, lips pursing tightly against the oncoming hurricane of emotions that threatened to rage within her.

"Why? Why didn't you tell me before?" Her voice was half a plea, half a demand.

"You are her, but you are not. Your existence as it stands before me is separate but connected. As I told you before, you are an anomaly." Anomaly. The word echoed a thousand times over in her head and she recalled her earlier encounters with him. Suddenly their interactions and entire dynamic had been cast into a different light, and it left her reeling. She felt as if the ground had been ripped from under her and she had been left to float about, scrambling for purchase where there was none to be found.

"Is that why you let me live? Is that why you were so curious about me?" She was vying for answers now, despite knowing that he didn't like to be prodded.

"I've told you already, you are mine to do with as I please. You live because it is my will that you do so. You think I don't have the power to erase you from existence? I created this world, and I am in control. You are a pawn of Mobius, unaware or not, and when you've served your purpose they will be rid of you. They'll pick apart every inch of you and take only what they need, just as they did with me."

"Then I don't understand," she murmured helplessly, brows dipping inwards, "It would be easier to dispose of me to be rid of their influence, and yet…"

He was close to her now, as close as he had been earlier when their confrontation had reached a ravenous crescendo, and her breath snagged in her chest. Desperation and despair was wrought on her features and his eyes picked apart every detail of those fair lineaments, knowing full well the pain and confusion that blossomed in her now.

It was moments like this where Ruvik's gaze became almost too intense, those searing pale irises clawing past any walls and barricades she might have erected as a last ditch effort to defend herself against him. He held her still with his gaze alone, and suddenly more figures took form, the ethereal figures of Amara and Ruvik appearing, prompting Ama to recoil and stare in surprise.

"You...you're the one who this research belongs to." They faced one another for what seemed to be the first time, Ruvik seemingly astounded that she had managed to get past his traps. She held a bundle of "his" published works (the works published by Jimenez that were stolen from Ruben), her figure stock still as she took in the sight of the scientist. No one knew he even existed aside from Marcelo; well, he and one other unsuspecting visitor. Herself.

"I was wondering why the basement of the hospital was laced with traps."

"You should not be here. You are—" Anomaly, anomaly, anomaly.

The two phantoms glitched out and the scene promptly changed. She was sitting next to him now.

"There are surgeries that could help, you know. Your body is at its limit, Ruben, and you cannot keep enduring this. You're suffering both physical and mental seizures and your body cannot properly regulate temperature. It's a miracle you're even still standing, and the medication I bring you can only do so much. Please..."

"I will regain my body in STEM. It will serve its purpose," he dismissed her, eyes never straying from his work. Amara shifted her weight from one leg to the other, frowning considerably in concern.

"Will you at least eat?" She stepped closer to him and his eyes snapped to her before slowly lowering to the tray she extended to him. There was a brief bout of silence that passed between the two before the doctor shook the tray a little bit, gaze softening.

"You can't complete your work if you starve to death." He stared down at the tray, a muscle in his cheek jumping as he tried to recall the last time anyone had offered him anything. He had been down here for years, had been alone in his family's estate for even longer, and he had long since forgotten what having company felt like; much less company that cared for his needs.

He lifted his eyes slowly to squint at her, almost as if he was distrusting of the offered meal. What was it, poisoned? Trust was a difficult concept for him these days and he was overly paranoid, and as if Amara sensed this, she smiled.

"Here, look," she picked up a spoon and sampled a small portion of the soup before passing it to Ruvik. He stared her down, and when a few moments passed with no noticeable side effects, she scrunched her shoulders in a playful shrug.

"Still alive."

"Why are you showing me this?" Ama breathed during the brief reprieve, tears welling in her eyes as the memories rang true somewhere deep within her, evoking emotions and sympathies and attachments that had been purposefully buried.

"Ruben!" It was still her voice, but this time the timbre of it was laced with panic and concern as the scene changed. The foggy apparition now rushed to Ruvik's side, hands pressing against his side and lower back to keep him from doubling over on himself. His body was abruptly racked with seizures, jerking his figure every which way and leaving it trembling violently.

"Jesus," she breathed, eyes wide as he reached out to the nearest thing to stabilize himself, which just so happened to be her. His frigid fingers curled around her arm and gripped it tightly, touch like an iron vice. His pupils dilated and he bared his teeth, outwardly frustrated with the heavy limitations of his body. He had been plagued with excessive migraines and seizures— both mental and physical— since the day of the accident, and they had only gotten worse over the years. He hadn't had treatment for them until Amara had come around, and even then she had never actually been present when one of his spells overtook him. Not until now.

"Sit down, sit down," she urged him, her voice having adopted a firm tone. She had swapped from being his company to his doctor in a split moment, and once she had him seated on the floor she attempted to situate his body, grunting with the effort of pulling dead weight.

"On your side. Breathe," she coached, "I'm right here."

His eyes swung to her, fingernails digging into her arm and leaving small, half moon prints. She didn't seem to care; she realized he wasn't in control of his body.

"Focus on my voice. You're going to be fine." He had suffered innumerous seizures over the years and yet still she felt as if she had to reassure him of such. It was stunning, to say the least, and entirely unfamiliar to Ruben. She sat with him until his limbs ceased their jolting and even held his hand— no one had ever held his hand— her thumb stroking at the deadened skin there. Perhaps he could not feel her touch, but the sentiment of it being there was not lost on him. How long? How long had it been?

She helped him sit up when at last his body sagged limp against the wall, chest heaving from the spell. She spoke to him in gentle, soothing tones, rubbing a comforting line up and down his arm, and he could do nothing but stare at her from the corner of his pale eyes, stunned to silence by the display.

"He's still alive down there?" The voices and figures changed once more, the scene transitioning, several representatives of Mobius having congregated now.

"It would seem. She keeps him company," Jimenez remarked, rubbing his chin as they discussed Amara, "She keeps him alive." She had been doing so every day for the past several months.

"She cares for him." One shadowy figure remarked, and the doctor sighed heavily.

"So it would seem." An impossible concept to them all, it would seem, if their facial cues were anything to go by, "She's visited him every day to see to it that he eats and does not suffer terribly from the seizures that rack both his body and mind."

"And what of Ruvik? How does he perceive her?"

"Now that is truly the puzzling part," Jimenez took to rubbing his face now, "he hasn't killed her and he openly allows her to be around him at any hour of the day, so I'd say the two are getting along just fine."

"This could be precisely what we need, Jimenez."

"Ruvik…" Ama's voice was quiet now as she addressed him, brows inclining apologetically. She had acted as if he were a stranger to her when in reality they knew each other quite well. Months she had spent with him, slowly gaining his trust (as impossible a thing to come by as it was) and stabilizing his body's condition so that he might continue his work without being plagued by constant migraines and seizures. She had treated him as an enemy all this time because of what Jimenez had led her to believe, but when she looked upon his scarred mein now, it was with familiarity.

"I don't understand. If I was there with you, how did Jimenez…" Surely she would have warned him somehow, surely she would have made some attempt to save him.

Ruvik paced towards her, stopping just shy of her. His forehead leaned against her own then and she winced, that same throbbing pulse as before overtaking her cranium. This time there were no apparitions save for in her own mind. The memories were more vivid, as if she were reliving them in real time and they instilled her an ache so severe she quite nearly cried out.

"So we, what? Corner him and restrain him for experimentation?" One doctor inquired, nervously wringing his hands. The others present glanced at one another, hesitation evident in their expressions. No one wanted to cross Ruvik, lest they end up being his next experiment. And yet, at the same time—

"Something must be done about him," Jimenez murmured grimly, staring down the other doctors as if to persuade them to see reason, "STEM is our top priority, and we must do what it takes for the project's progression. Need I remind you of the consequences of failure?"

"No one here disagrees with that, but the question still remains: how do we get the jump on him?" The same nervous individual from before spoke up again, and Jimenez rubbed at his jaw thoughtfully, heaving a sigh.

"We outnumber him. Drastically. As...unnerving an individual as he might be, he cannot hope to overpower all of us. Some help from my superiors and a bit of chloroform should do the trick, and once he's properly restrained and sedated, he'll be helpless."

Murmuring erupted from the others as they briefly deliberated this strategy, ultimately finding it to be the most feasible one. But when they all fell silent, there was a shift in the room— a sound that did not belong.

Something on one of the desks fell over, entirely unprompted. Each doctor stood frozen in place, startled by the sound and yet equally curious as to what might have caused it. Two men wandered towards the desk, eyes narrowing. A can suddenly rolled out from beneath it, drawing their gazes towards it. When it clattered to a stop and all looked at it questioningly, a blur of dark hair and a white lab coat rocketed out from the alcove beneath the desk and rushed towards the double doors, flinging them open and hurling herself down the hallways as fast as her legs could carry her.

"Dr. Carlisle!" The cry erupted from many of the other doctors, some of them rushing towards the door and grabbing whatever sharp utensil they could get their hands on, but it was Jimenez who held his hand up and bid them to stop.

"She's going to tell Ruvik! If he finds out that we're plotting against him, he'll have all our heads cut open by midday!"

"I'm well aware," the aged doctor rumbled regretfully, closing his eyes briefly before continuing, "she must be stopped, but do not kill her. It would be most unwise. Ruvik is...fond of her, and does not take kindly to what he deems his being tampered with."

His eyes opened again, and this time there was a glimmer of resolve in them.

"Besides, I have plans for her. Bring her to me, but bring her unharmed, or all of this will be in vain."

They gave chase, particularly Jimenez, splitting up in groups in an attempt to locate her. But Marcelo knew better than to waste time searching other areas of the hospital; he knew precisely where, or who, she would flee to. He couldn't allow her to make it there.

Amara clambered down the stairs, her foot slipping and causing her to reel back and slide down the remainder of the stairs. She cursed loudly, shaking from head to toe as adrenaline coursed through her bloodstream. Her head whipped every which way, disoriented from her fall, before she scrambled up and under one of the wired traps. Footsteps that were not her own gave chase, thumping loudly down the steps, and Amara swallowed heavily as she jerked herself behind cover.

"I would much prefer not to make this difficult, Ms. Carlisle," Jimenez drawled, and Amara watched him, her eyes locked on the syringe he carried in his palm as he moved about the shadows, searching for her. Her breathing rasped in her lungs as she attempted to quiet it, keeping stock still so as to avoid making any unnecessary noise. She waited until he passed before she crept out into view, taking great care to muffle her steps as best she could as she snuck into a specific area that was particularly loaded with traps. If she could just get him to set one off then one problem would be out of the way, but Jimenez was ever so careful. He had tread down here before and he was by no means a fool.

With the door to the hidden research facility in view, Amara made a break for it. She heard the doctor shout behind her, his footsteps gaining on her. She was so close, if she could only just—

"Ruben!" she cried, flinging open the door only to be met with several figures in black coats. Ruvik stood opposite them, his expression a mixture of disbelief and cold fury. But when Amara stumbled into the room his pale eyes swung to her, lips pulling tight. She crumbled in the arms that suddenly restrained her, lips quivering as tears welled in her eyes. She had failed— she was too late.

"I'm so sorry…" This was her fault. Ruvik said nothing, but he maintained her gaze as Jimenez injected her with the sedatives he himself had created. They were fast acting, and not but a few moments later did her lashes begin to flutter wildly, knees knocking together in an attempt to remain standing. Several other doctors entered the room and gathered her fallen figure, lifting her up and carrying her to the nearest table. Unable to move anymore despite remaining entirely aware of her surroundings and sensations, she was forced to remain stationary as they pinned and injected Ruvik with the same substance, lying him on the table next to her. Their heads were turned to face each other and her body gave off a small, residual jolt, as if still attempting to resist. Ruvik watched in forced silence, his pale irises following the trail of a tear that slipped down her cheek.

Her lips parted, a strangled sound falling from her. It was as if she were trying to form words but couldn't manage it, her brows clenching as her jaw tightened. She swallowed heavily, trying again and then again, but only a small, choked whine escaped her.

Through sheer determination and willpower alone, she managed to lift her arm and reach slowly over to him, hand outstretched towards him. His own fingers twitched and she swallowed thickly, her tears soaking the table beneath her. Her palm pressed against his cheek, digits trembling, and he allowed his eyes to close. He could feel the press of her fingers but not their warmth, and a second later, her hand fell from his cheek and dangled limply off the side of her table.

When the memory faded and Ama came back into her own, her body felt as if it might crumble under the jarring weight of these visions. Indeed, she doubled over on herself, arms folding about her midsection as if to guard her from some unseen threat. Ruvik stood stock still, eyes trailing down to her figure as it quaked before him, her breaths turning ragged.

It was a moment before she could manage to straighten up, fingers sliding up and down her arms as if she were attempting to comfort herself; to shake off this sort of earth-shattering revelation. It wasn't until she felt cold, marred fingers brush against her cheek that she realized she was crying, the moisture pouring readily from her now-glassy eyes.

She leveled her gaze with Ruvik, drawing in a slow, tremulous breath, parted lips quivering subtly with the motion. She sniffled then, swallowing heavily as her wet lashes drew downwards over her eyes.

She knew her current company wasn't the affectionate type by far, and yet instinctively she sought him out— desired even the simplest of touches to ground her. So she took a step forward, slowly but surely closing the gap between them until her head fell to rest against his chest with a gentle bump.

Her brunette waves obscured most of her face, but he felt the weight of her emotions as if they were his own. Ghostly digits slipped to her arms and anchored themselves there, not quite grasping and entirely unsure in their advance.

She was so different from him, even down to her reactions. Mobius's betrayal of his trust (and after all he had done for them, at that) had been nothing short of a canister of gasoline poured onto an already churning flame. His anger was an inferno and Mobius clearly underestimated the formidability of wildfire, and yet Ama's ire was...nonexistent. In its wake there lay an ocean of remorse and melancholy, the likes of which harbored waves that lashed and lapped greedily, threatening to consume all in moments such as this. Her sorrow and heartache were nearly tangible and she wept silently as she had once done before. Once, in a world that seemed so distant and far away now after he had been banished to STEM, exiled and left to become a ghost in the system.

She looked just like she had back then, her tearful and puffy cerulean eyes the last sight he had been aware of before his vision had descended into darkness.

"Say something, please. Your silence is making it worse," she pleaded hoarsely, sniffing audibly and wiping at her eyes until the heels of her palms glistened.

But what could he say? His eyes bore into the remnants of her tears that lingered on her fingertips and he felt that unyielding rage within bubbling to the surface, his scarred lips pulling downwards into a frown. Mobius was just like the people who had taken everything from him; who had robbed him of the life he ought to have been happily living. And now they dared to tamper with what was his once more. They would soon learn that it was far from wise to antagonize him, and he fully intended to make that fact known.

"Your limbic system is exceptionally functional to yield such a visceral reaction to knowledge already withheld on a subdermal level. You—"

She made a sound then, a partially muffled one seeing as how her face was buried in his chest— where the flesh was, thanks to her touch, no longer burned and was instead returned to its prior state before the incident— but it sounded unmistakably like something akin to a snort of amusement.

His proceeding scowl was enough to warrant an attempt at an apologetic look on her behalf, and she heaved another heavy, labored breath, swiping at her eyes a final time.

"You asked me to say something. Was it not what you expected?" He seemed displeased by her amusement, almost as if he had taken personal offense to her unexpected interjection.

"It was exactly what I expected, actually," she returned, eyes softening.

She had never assumed that he would offer her any real display of affection. Perhaps it wasn't even that he didn't want to, it was just that he didn't quite know how. The only anchoring presence in his life had been his sister, Laura, and after that chain had been severed and his mind had been left to unravel (certainly not aided by the fact that his father locked him away and left him to his rapidly deteriorating physical and mental state) there had been nothing. No one.

There was you, a small voice in the back of her head reminded her, and her hand flitted to her head as her skull throbbed with that bone-deep ache, her ears ringing as the images Ruvik had instilled in her flashed to the forefront of her mind again. Each memory summoned an ache so severe she nearly crumpled to her knees, the recollections not meant to be accessed. Mobius had gone to such great lengths, had taken such care, and yet their work was so easily unraveled.

Ruvik observed her with a different look in his eyes now, watching as she struggled against the pain of her suppressed memories. And for a moment, just a split moment, her form glitched and he swore he saw Amara in that pristine white coat of hers, her stethoscope around her neck and her hair done up to frame her face.

The two were one in the same, and with the recently acquired knowledge that she would indeed retain her memories once disconnected from STEM and freed of Mobius's influence and manipulation, he was all the more determined to keep her near. The threat of her being deleted and disposed of by the cooperation was all too real now, and that was a danger he was becoming increasingly aware of.

They feared him still yet. Only he could keep her safe. Not that double-agent Kidman, not the oblivious little Joseph, and not Detective Castellanos. Her light was his. It was neither too garish or too blinding, and he would see the entirety of this universe burn if it served to breathe life into her should they attempt to extinguish her flame.

Wordlessly, Ruvik swept the small, tear-stained bundle up into his arms, uncaring of the surprised expression she emitted at such an act. She was so frail in his grasp, her dress frayed from her many skirmishes and transporting about— whether it was by her own doing or his— her hair in near disarray and her lips still emitting the faintest of quivers.

His bare feet padded quietly against the stone steps, the double doors to the front of the mansion swinging open without him having to lift a finger. The walls seemed to crumble away and the floor shifted beneath their feet, the familiar churning in Ama's stomach notifying her that he had teleported them someplace.

When she turned her head and examined her surroundings, she found that they were in some sort of living room, although it was heavily victorian in design and a piano served as the main focal point of the room, the keys dusty from years of neglect.

Ruvik sat her down onto the bench in front of the grand instrument, gown pooling over the edges of the stool as her chin tilted up, eyes following him as he withdrew.

He turned his back to her, his pace as calm as ever as he strode towards the door. Ama found her voice before he disappeared, calling out to him tentatively.

"Where are you going?"

He paused in his gait then, the only signification that he was regarding her being the fact that his hood shifted slightly in her direction. She held her breath, her fingers curling in her lap as the dim light filtered in through the window nearest her, casting her in a silver glow.

"To find Jimenez." He was the key. That leech, that cretin, was sure to be scurrying towards any available STEM terminals he could find in this realm, no doubt with Leslie in tow. It was entirely feasible that he would thwart Ruvik and deliver two devastating blows all in one sweep if he were successful in his endeavor: the erasure of Ama and the disconnection of Leslie.

For all her defiance earlier, the white-hearted program was oddly silent this time around. Perhaps it was because she was simply at a loss; what he had revealed to her was a lot for someone who had previously thought herself to be a simple set of coding and nothing more to process. But if Jimenez were to somehow manage to deactivate her whilst she was connected to STEM, even he couldn't predict what sort of psychological and physical damage it would subject her body to. There was a good chance that it could scramble her psyche entirely, the tampering done by Mobius potentially irreversible if not handled with the utmost care.

Ruvik disappeared from the room in a flash of blue, his lips pulled tight and his eyes burning with that chilling ire. He'd tear apart every last inch of this world so that the coward, Marcelo, couldn't hide. This was his world, he and he alone had created it, and he could see all.

It was only a matter of time, now.

A/N: GUESS WHO'S BACK AFTER TWO YEARS AND WHO CRUNCHED TEW 2 IN TWO DAYS. It's me. Hope you guys are still interested in this story, because I certainly have plans for it! Oh, and what a chapter to spring back into it on: Ruvik actually knows Ama! Did you see that coming? (There were so many little snippets I wanted to put for them and their flashbacks but I had to restrain myself. Maybe in future chapters.

At any rate, I'm so sorry for the wait. I hope this chapter is up to par! I also finished this chapter at around 4 AM, so please forgive me if there's any typos. I got too excited and didn't want to wait until I wasn't half asleep to proofread it. Whoops. ((((':