Chapter 11- The Light

In the end, Finitevus saw everything that went on and let me off for the rest of the week in order to run tests on Alicia like I had thought. Patches spent most of his time down there, so I was forced to either spend time with Scourge, Miles, Boomer, or Fiona.

Scourge was usually lounging or bumming around Finitevus—to whom I am surprised at for not disemboweling him with a spoon —Boomer was usually helping Finitevus with the tests he ran on Alicia, while Fiona was usually trying to see to it that Scourge was kept occupied in order to not bother Finitevus as much as physically possible. At the u very /u least, nothing blew up due to his throwing of spontaneous levers and buttons, so I suppose I should count my blessings where I got them.

This meant that Miles was the only one around to help me with my 'lessons', as we were now calling them, and he honestly wasn't too happy with me when this came about. The most he really told me was that he'd provide a test subject for me every day and take me to the casino at night for extra practice. Other than that… I never got a chance to talk to him about what happened in the forest.

But, whatever.

I practiced on my own during the days.

And it was during those few days that I actually saw some inhabitants of Moebius.

They didn't look like the casino patrons. A bit more 'punk' for lack of a better description. They reminded me of the emo kids found back on Earth with just a tad more originality. They were my audience.

I only really had one mess up during this time… one of the girls I was singing for lost her pulse completely while I was singing 'Can't Take It In' by Imogen Heap.

She died…

I made her dance… and I guess she u couldn't /u take it in…

"Miles?" I asked him one day after the body was sent back to her family. "Am I bad to have done that? I mean, she had a family… Just like I do…"

He glanced at me and breathed a small sigh.

"It does not make you bad, Charolette."

"Then WHAT does it make me?" I retaliated sharply.

"It makes you aware of the power that you are in possession of, and the price that can accompany such a gift."

"Is that what this should be called? A gift? Someone is dead because of me!" I grabbed the front of his gold buttoned jacket and pulled myself up so I was almost eye level with him. "I am NOT a killer, Miles! I am not supposed to do this!"

Calmly, as if he was only comforting a child about a broken toy, he patted my head and looked down at me with his icy cool blue eyes. I looked back up at him and saw the same concern for me that I had seen him show towards Alicia…

"No one ever said that you WERE a killer. It was a misfortune, to be sure, but something that inevitably has to happen in everyone's life."

"Yes, and who knows what she might've been able to do with that life had it not been for me?"

"Charolette, please understand that what you did was merely an accident. You were trying to control something you simply could not control. Yes, it's a terrible thing, what happened to the poor young lady, but think of it as a learning experience. Now you know what you have to accomplish in order for it to not happen again."

"But what if it had been you?" I asked. I felt him tense up under my grasp. "What if it had been you instead of her?"

His white gloved fingertip found my chin and lifted my face towards his. He smiled, a sweet, sorrowful smile that made my heart yearn for my mother to hold me close and tell me that everything would be all right.

"It iwasn't/i me, Charolette. And that's the important thing."

I felt tears begin to well up in my eyes, and I embraced him. He slowly wrapped his arms around my tiny human waist, and with my legs dangling to the ground he carried me up to my room, and eventually I felt myself being laid down upon my bed.

"Please, Charolette, do not dwell on this." He whispered to me, unwrapping my arms from around him.

His footsteps walked towards the door, then stopped.

"I'll take you to Mogul's in a couple hours." He added as an after thought.

I was left alone to ponder my fate.

I had killed someone. I had taken someone's life!

Back on Earth… back on Earth I would've been thrown into jail regardless if I had mal-intent or not when it came to the actual deed of murdering someone. Not to mention I'd never felt the need to brutally hurt anyone, let alone kill!

The only thing is… after thinking about it… I didn't really see how bad it was that the girl had died…

Mentally, I know it's a horrible thing, to take a person's life, but emotionally, I felt nothing for the girl.

I had not known her the way I knew Miles or Scourge or Patches. I had not known her aspirations in life, or what she had accomplished.

There was nothing that made me feel remorse for what I had done. Only my mind and my conscience telling me that it was a terrible crime that I had committed.

The Emerald. TheChaos Emerald Dr. Finitevus shoved –oh, sorry – magically shoved into my body the day I got here…

The power that went along with it… I didn't know how to use it. And even if my voice were to become strong enough to wield that sort of power, who's to say that I wouldn't kill anyone again to learn how to?

The very word 'chaos' implies the impossible to become possible. Abnormalities to become the normalcy. Good to become bad.

This Chaos Energy, this unidentifiable force would not accept failure. Failure meaning losing to the long standing way of doing what is right simply because one should.

Chaos was to make its own way at any cost.

I was the cost. I was the bearer of this terrible power… and I liked it.

But… the question remained… was it a bad thing that the girl died?

She served no greater purpose in my quest to master this un-mastered power than to demonstrate what will happen along the way. The inevitable must occur for something so fantastic to be controlled.

Finitevus wished to make this sort of power accessible to his own kind, and to do that he had to learn through me.

I should've been honored for such a task as this! Why was I spending my time brooding over this little accident, this bump in the road, when I had to understand exactly what it was that made me great?

No… that girl was merely a learning experience for me. Nothing more.

And besides… I felt fantastic.

I smiled to myself, quite content with my reasoning for the whole affair and got out of bed to walk around the castle. It would do well to stretch my legs before performing since the Casino was so busy.

Each night I'd go onto the stage, sing a song, leave the party go-ers drained of most of their energy, wherein they'd go to the bar to order drinks to rejuvenate themselves so they could come back and dance while I sang.

In the end, the trade-offs weren't that bad.

I got loads of wonderful raw energy, Finitevus got his data, and Mogul got almost more business than he could handle.

"So, she finally decides to come out of her hole." I heard a silky voice purr out of a dark corner.

"Don't you have to be babysitting your boyfriend, Fiona?" I asked icily, continuing to walk on.

I heard her boots click on the floor behind me.

"Actually no. Finitevus knocked him out with a tranquilizer dart, so I have a few free hours."

She strolled up beside me, her bright yellow bow a false beacon to all who saw her.

"And you want to spend them with me? Goodness, Fiona, I'm flattered." I responded sarcastically.

She smirked.

"Don't be. " She responded flatly. "Trust me, if I was allowed to go anywhere right now, I would."

"Then why don't you? The castle would smell u so /u much better if you did."

"Watch it, pipsqueak." She said, turning directly towards me, holding up a fist to my face. "You may be able to squeeze me dry, but I bet you I can knock you out before you try."

"Is that a challenge?" I asked, smiling. "Because if it is I accept."

Fiona, dropped her hand and let go.

"Sorry, but you're not even worth it."

"Really? I think you're just scared a little human girl like me could beat you in a fight one on one. Huh?"

"No. But, if I damaged you I'd get screwed over by both Finitevus and Mogul. Just be thankful you're under their protection, hun."

"Why do you fear them so much? Obviously you excel in physical abilities with what they have in mental capabilities."

"It's not even a matter of 'fearing' them. It's a matter of hierarchy. Right now, Scourge needs the both of them in order to become stronger. And if I have to tolerate them in order for Scourge to get what he wants… then it's worth it."

"That's not what I'm getting from you. "

Fiona's ears shifted.

"Why do you stick around here, if every single thing you do is for Scourge? What if all he'll do in the end is get rid of you as well? Think of all the time you'll have wasted because you believed in him. Think of what you could've done had you not given your services and played pet to him."

Fiona stopped walking and I turned around to face her.

In the darkly lit hallway, she was glowing with a pale yellow light. She looked defeated, trampled on, worthless.

I then realized that the light came from me. Looking down at my hand, it was glowing with the same yellow light.

Chaos.

I could feel her flowing into me. All her haughtiness and her attitude. Pouring into my veins like a dam had broken open. I breathed in deeply then exhaled long and loud.

Ah. That felt good.

"Because I love him."

I was broken from the internal trance by her response.

"What?"

"I love him." Fiona spoke again, as if in a daze.

"Are you sure? Or is that just something you keep telling yourself to get through day by day by day?"

She looked at me, with hollow eyes.

"I'm sure."

"Then you're even more of an idiot than I thought." I said, walking on, deeper into the depths of the castle. Deeper into the lion's den.