Hearts Disguised

Chapter 36

Taking Back Yesterday

Cinder wiped the blood off of her whip and sharply looked at the broken girl in front of her. Blood was dripping from her body and she was exhausted. Unfortunately, Cinder's miracle serum kept her from dying so suffering like this was the only path Yang was allowed to have.

"I just don't get it. I give you a new life and you just… You just throw it away like that. I'm really disappointed in you, Yang. You had such a bright future." Cinder reached for the box and jammed another syringe into Yang's heart which caused that immediate recovery. "You can answer me that, can't you? Why'd you do it?"

Yang took a few deep breaths as her body returned to normal. Being in this situation really gave her the chance to think over what she's done and it was too hard to think about.

"I… I can't answer that."

"Hm. I see." Cinder turned around and pressed the button that released Yang from her hanging position. The chains dropped and caused her body to fall onto the ground. "I'm done with you today. Hopefully, I'll be able to get something out of you tomorrow… since you won't be dying on me any time soon." Cinder slammed the door and left for the day.

At that moment, Yang burst into tears. All of this time, she had been holding it in. All of her emotions were leaving her body at that exact moment. There wasn't much going on in her brain, but there was so much that she wanted to say; there was a special someone she wanted to see more than anything else.

"Blake… I'm sorry I didn't realize this sooner." Yang lay in her puddle of blood as she reflected on her own life since that was the only thing she could do. "I just wish I could see you one more time." The exhaustion of today's interrogation caused her to close her eyes and turn over for the day.

…

Blake's sleep schedule was so out of whack that when she woke up from her rest, it was nighttime. She climbed out of bed and headed back into the main room where Adam was devising a plan. Her footsteps attracted his attention as he looked up and greeted her.

"Hi."

"Hi. You feeling any better?"

"Yeah, I think so. What are you doing right now?"

"I'm finishing up the final parts of the plan."

"Oh, you didn't have to do that. I could have done that myself."

"Don't take this the wrong way, but I don't want you in charge of that. I know your true goal will get in the way of the entirety of the plan."

"What do you mean?"

"Never mind." He bowed his head and continued to write things down on the piece of paper. After a few seconds, he dropped his pencil and sighed heavily. "You know… I'm really sorry about what I did to you. It wasn't right of me to do that. I did love someone before. I don't know what came over me."

"It's fine. Don't worry about it."

"So I'm guessing you still want to rescue your friend?" He looked at her who nodded her head in complete agreement. "Alright. I guess that seals the deal."

"So what's the plan?"

"Before I get into that, I want to stress something that's very important: I'm only helping you get inside and rescuing your friend. Whatever you decided to do after that, I won't be a part of."

"What? Didn't you say you wanted to kill Cinder?"

"I did. But I put some thought into it and I realized that I'm not the one who should kill her. If what you say about your friend is true, she should be the one who kills her."

"Oh… Okay. Well, how are we going about this?"

"Before I got kicked out of her department, I managed to steal something that seemed pretty important." Adam reached underneath the table and pulled out a weird device. "This is a large-scaled EMP device. It has the capability to knock out an entire building. This is the first phase. Once this goes off, I clear the first floor. This will help getting to your friend a lot smoother. After that, we find your friend and you decide from there. How does that sound?"

Blake was silent. She didn't know how to respond. This guy she didn't even know was putting all of this effort into something that didn't even matter to him.

"Thank you."

"So… Do you agree with the plan?"

"I do."

"Alright. We leave first thing in the morning. I have a small armory in the back of the house if you want to check it out. Make sure you're ready." Adam stood straight up and left the room. Blake watched him leave and waited a few more seconds before checking out his little armory.

When she got there, she wasn't disappointed. It was definitely a small armory. It had 3 assault rifles, 1 handgun, 2 swords, and 1 grenade. She stepped inside of the room and sighed. She took in the air of the room before deciding what to choose. Eventually, she went with the two swords and the handgun. Unfortunately, the gun only had one bullet. This made things difficult, but this was the hand she was dealt so there was really no way she could complain. Once her armory was set, she headed back to the bedroom and quickly realized that she wasn't tired. She had been sleeping for quite some time so she decided to do something else. She went outside and found a nice spot underneath the trees. She looked up and enjoyed the night sky.

"I'm not going to blame myself or anyone else. All I can do now is say that I'm going to bring back Yang no matter what. I made a promise to her and I can't break it." She pressed her hands against her chest and closed her eyes. "Even if she doesn't accept my feelings, I'll know that I did something to help that poor girl. This world is a cruel place and yet, there are those who can make things right. She needs to know that. She needs to know that I'm that kind of person to her. Please let those feelings get across to her."

…

"How much longer are we going to keep this going? That girl is a lost cause."

Cinder had her back turned towards Neo as she looked at the city beneath her.

"Do you remember the choices I gave you a couple days ago?"

"Of course I do."

"Well, I've been thinking. I don't even need Yang anymore. You chose to kill her, but Blake managed to escape before you could. I've come to the conclusion that I don't need either of them. I already have the serum for my perfect soldier. Blake is just another failure. I don't know why it took me this long to realize that."

"So what are you saying?"

"I'm giving you the order to kill Yang."

"Right now?"

"Haha, not right now. Let's give her a bit of hope before that worthless life is put to an end."

"I see. Well, your wish is my command."

"In the morning, head to the scientific department and they'll take care of you. I look forward to meeting the new you." Cinder got up from her chair and walked over to Neo. "Soon, I'll be able to call you my equal." She stuck out her hand and Neo firmly gripped it. At that moment, the two of them started to chuckle out loud. Cinder's plan was finally complete and now, the world belonged to her. She was ready to become the ruler of this world.

End of Chapter 36