A new chapter?! Sorry for the delay, more in the Author's Note at the bottom.
Before you begin, know that this chapter is has some dark and violent imagery. I don't think it's anything overly gruesome, but I feel the need to post a warning all the same.
Cuore left BarZenDao in charge of some minor adjustments to the targeting scanners on the pad, confident that he could complete them without her hovering. Despite his lack of self-confidence, he was capable, and a fast learner.
She smiled slightly was she walked. He would have so much adjusting to do on the surface, in the real world, but she couldn't wait to see his wonder at everything. He was on a cusp; trying to bridge the gap between his Lunarian core and the child he still was.
Whatever he became, she was looking forward to the journey.
Her lips fell to a frown as she rounded the corner, remembering they still had to leave the derelict ship for any of that to be possible. They were so close, and yet she felt further than ever from their goals. She wasn't even sure how long they had been trapped, but it felt too long regardless.
Shaking her head to clear the gloomy thoughts, she instead brought her focus back to her current mission. She had misplaced one of her spanners, and a quick survey of the labs had yielded nothing yet. She was wondering if TinSouRe had it within her workspace, or at least another one she could use instead.
Besides, the other Lunarian had been absent for a few hours, and Cuore was curious what she might be doing. They hadn't spoken since the truth of her rebellious experiments came to light, but Cuore decided it wouldn't do to hold a grudge.
She hadn't been personally slighted, and whatever had happened in the past meant nothing now. They were in this together, for better or worse.
The door zipped open to the lab and Cuore wasn't surprised to see TinSouRe hard at work on her translucent notepads, darting glances up at varies displays surrounding her.
She flicked a look at the teal haired young woman as she moved to enter and pursed her lips. "I did not expect to see you any time soon,"
Cuore hesitated, knowing she was walking a tight line between letting her past offenses slide and being too harsh over them.
"I…don't hate you, TinSouRe," she finally said.
The woman sighed, returning her attention to the notes below her fingers. "I did not presume that you did."
"I know, I just…don't want you to think you aren't welcome here. With us." Cuore explained.
TinSouRe's lips curved upwards slightly. "Ah, I see. I do not believe I will be welcome on your world, no, however…it appears I am stranded here, does it not?"
"I suppose it does." she conceded. Deciding she didn't really want to spend any more time in the woman's frustrating company, and confused over how she should feel about the current situation, she got to the point of her visit.
"Have you seen a spanner? I misplaced mine and I'm thinking it might be."
TinSouRe nodded to a console across the room. "I believe there is one over there,"
"Thanks," she muttered, watching as the woman went back to ignoring her. Stifling a sigh, she wandered towards the other end of the room and glanced around, spotting the item sitting on a nearby table. Cuore picked it up and then frowned, noticing several vials of the Uo'Ru virus sitting over, some altered slightly, others half full.
"Are you working on the cure?" Cuore asked, looking back over her shoulder.
TinSouRe paused. "Perhaps,"
"Would you like help? Two heads might be better than one," she suggested.
"I'm surprised you would still be invested in the outcome," TinSouRe asked, turning around to fix her with a puzzled and haughty look.
Feeling defensive over the comment, Cuore opened her mouth, but didn't get a chance to reply.
"Your friend is well again, and you are not personally at risk from the mutation. What concern of it is yours?"
"BarZenDao is still sick," she retorted. "Besides, we don't know if there's still a way to reverse the damage already done to the Uo'Ru. I may not be personally affected, but I still want to help." She tipped her head to one side. "…You want a cure, too, don't you? It would mean you two wouldn't be the last Lunarians."
An indiscernible look crossed the silver haired woman's features, gone as quickly as it came. "I think it is best to accept the Lunarian race is gone. They have been for a long time."
Cuore frowned, but said nothing. The woman was impossible to reason with. Her heart hurt to think about the lives lost, even if she found a good portion of Lunarian ideals a sharp contrast to her own.
But she couldn't force those feelings onto someone else, and if TinSouRe chose to keep her distance, she couldn't change that.
Making her way to the door, she was fully intent on leaving without another word, however TinSouRe suddenly let out a startled gasp and cringed back, as if she'd been struck.
Concerned, Cuore hurried to her side and gently touched her shoulder. "TinSouRe? Are you alright?"
The woman hissed in pain before carefully backing away from the teal haired woman. "Y-yes, I am fine."
Her hand clutched at her forearm, near the elbow joint and Cuore raised an eyebrow, confused over the gesture. "Are…you sure?"
The Lunarian nodded.
Unconvinced, Cuore reached out to take hold of her arm and wrenched the loose sleeve of her robe up. TinSouRe didn't protest, but stiffened as soon as her entire arm was revealed.
A welt appeared to be growing on the skin right against her elbow joint on the inside of her forearm. Looking closer, Cuore could spy what looked like a puncture wound.
Her eyes widened and she looked up, meeting TinSouRe's steady, steel gaze with a frantic one of her own.
"TinSouRe…what did you do?"
The woman smiled slightly, "I was never working on a cure, Cuore. It was always my research. My formula will work."
Dropping her arm, Cuore gasped and brought her hands up to her mouth. "What did you do!? You…injected yourself? But…but you'll change, turn into one of those things! TinSouRe, why?! Your DNA-"
The woman cut her off. "Ah, not true. I have perfected the mutation, made it as it was always supposed to be."
Cuore blinked. "Wait…you perfected it? It will help you evolve?"
"Yes," the Lunarian said, her lips curling upwards. "I have completed my life's work at long last! It was thanks to you that I was able to perfect it."
"Me?"
She nodded. "Yes, when you injected yourself with the virus, I gained valuable insights. But I also gained a great deal of knowledge from your memories."
Cuore flinched, confused a slightly disturbed. "My memories," she questioned.
TinSouRe nodded, walking around the console and picking up one of the vials, holing it up to the light. "Yes," she replied distractedly. "I learned from your memories how I had to adjust my formula, and how to activate it."
She gave a single laugh. "How foolish I was to assume that I need only look at biology to make the leap in our genetic code…"
Cuore felt a twinge of worry as the woman trailed off, leaving more questions then she had answered. "I…I don't understand how my memories helped," she asked. "Not even going to ask you about digging around in my head without my permission…"
TinSouRe swirled back around to look at her, blinking a few times before speaking again. "Ah, yes. I forget, you repress Zemus's memories. If you understood them, you would understand this moment. You see, the Science Academy was spilt over my continued experiments, and it was Zemus who personally urged me to keep going, to make the dream a reality. We both knew, as did many, that the only hope for our race was to evolve, as we were always intended too."
"You thought…I would know you," Cuore muttered, remembering a time long ago. "Once you learned I had his memories, you thought I would know things I didn't…"
"Yes, which is why I began looking for what you might know." She paused, giving her an appraising once over. "You see, he was not just my supporter, he was also one of my later tests subjects."
Cuore froze.
"The only one to survive, as a matter of fact." she added, beginning to pace. With a glance in Cuore's direction, she smiled slightly. "I can see you did not know that already. Again, if you accessed his memories, you would have. But truly, did you not think his telepathy too strong? His appearance too odd? His ability to become energy too strange?"
"He…he could communicate from the moon to our world, influence minds…such a great distance," Cuore muttered, pieces clicking into place. "But…why did he not become-"
"Like the Uo'Ru?" TinSouRe finished. "In a way, he did. He was always insane, mind you, but my formula only heightened that, along with other traits. And, indeed, his physical form was deteriorating, but he was also in stasis, which slows the process, like with BarZenDao."
"Then, then this whole time…this was what you wanted? Not a cure, but…still your research?" Cuore asked, tightening her hands into fists. "What about BarZenDao? What about Ceodore?!"
TinSouRe sighed, "I suppose since I am being honest, I should inform you that your mongrel friend was never ill. He lacks enough Lunarian base code to contract it naturally."
"What?" she asked sharply.
"I fabricated that story because I knew you would take drastic measures and infect yourself. I needed that data to complete my work."
"You…you lied to us, you…endangered us just…just for…" Cuore trailed off, unable to finish a focused thought. She was angry, frightened and disgusted. A part of her wanted to run, to flee from the room to the safety of the others, but the rest of her needed to hear the truth once and for all.
TinSouRe looked genuinely confused. "I knew you would survive. Your DNA was the most incredible feat of biological engineering I have ever seen. You are near perfect."
"I'm not your lab rat!"
"But you were, willingly," the woman pointed out. "Regardless, it was your efforts that allowed me to make this last attempt. I will soon be pure, evolved."
"I fail to see how some memories or the past and my DNA helped you make it so you won't mutate," she snapped.
TinSouRe smiled once more. "Because, I realized that Zemus already beat me in ascension." She sighed, "He was exposed to a combination of negative and positive Ves'Per. It reacted with the Uo'Ru virus in him and created…perfection. I never would have thought that the answer along was the addition of a catalyst…"
"A catalyst?" Cuore needled when she trialed off again.
She needed to know what the woman's plan was, she needed to know what to do. No matter how much she hoped and wished the answer would be simple, that she wasn't as insane as she sounded…
TinSouRe nodded and typed a command into the display until an image of the ship's core appeared on the screen. "Yes, a reagent. Something to quicken the virus, something to force my ascension. I will detonate the core of this ship and bathe in the glow of warring Ves'Per. I will be reborn as energy, not matter. I will finally shed mortality, and the Lunarian race will never die."
Cuore's eyes widened. "You can't!"
The woman glanced over at her, looking puzzled. She licked her lips. "TinSouRe, if you detonate that core, then everyone above this vessel will die, and in it, too. The blast will level all of Damcyan, maybe extend further. There's people there, you can't do this, not like this."
"You misunderstand," TinSouRe replied coolly. "I am not asking for your permission."
Cuore narrowed her eyes, "We can find another way for your insane plan to work, but you are not making this core go critical."
"You will try to stop me?" she asked, smirking. "You are no match for me."
"I don't care. That's thousands of people we're talking about. I thought you'd understand. You lost your whole race, lives-"
"Yes, an entire race leveled on scales of importance to a mere handful of Ventu life forms. There is no argument to be made." TinSouRe countered.
"All life is important!" Cuore snapped. "Please, just let me find another way to make this catalyst, just…don't do anything rash, not yet!"
"I do not need to wait, and you cannot stop me." TinSouRe said, shrugging her thin shoulders. "I will be leaving after a few more scans and I will be ascending. There is nothing you can do to stop me."
Cuore glared at her, "How are you going to make it past me? You don't have magic, and I know how frail you are."
"Ah, did I forget to mention I have lowered the dampening field in the safe zone?" TinSouRe asked, cupping her hands and whispering.
"Fie'Er-Ara*!"
Cuore dodge rolled out of the way of the fireball launched at her and quickly rose back to her feet, shaking off the surprise she felt at the fast casting of magic.
TinSouRe cupped her hands again, speaking up once more. "Child, you are no match for me magically. Lunarians were the inventers of your spells and incantations. I am hundreds of years more advanced then you."
"Bliz'Ard-Ara*!"
Cuore again dodged the icy spikes that the woman shot at her, but she realized belated that they weren't aimed at her at all. They had blocked the doorway to the room with bars of ice and frozen the panels beside it.
TinSouRe was smart, and fast.
Cuore wasn't sure if the Uo'Ru virus had begun to enhance her magic or not, but she wasn't about to wait and find out.
Stepping forward, she stood and narrowed her eyes, reminding herself that she had to stop her to save lives. "You may be more evolved than the human race, but you have no idea who you're facing," she said, fingers opening wide. "I am the perfected, final evolution of this planet."
She could feel the magical energies gathering from outside sources as well as bubbling from within. Magic she had learned to control, to harness. Unlimited power that frightened as much as it excited her.
Magic that was wild, feral. The kind that bound into human form to create Eidolons.
"Ember and flames, searing heat and scorching blazes, consume and incinerate. Inferno!"
The spell flew towards its' intended target with all the wrath and brightness of a true fire.
TinSouRe ducked behind some consoles that didn't fare well against the onslaught and exploded from the impact. The Lunarian woman fell back against the wall with a wince. Her lips twisted to a slight smirk.
"Not entirely terrible," she breathed, clutching her blackened and burned arm to her chest. "However, you still cannot hope to match my knowledge of Ves'Per,"
Cuore narrowed her eyes, "You don't understand what kind of Ves'Per I command,"
TinSouRe wove her hand through the air in front of her, carving a pattern with her fingers while she muttered an incantation of protection.
"You waste your breath," Cuore snapped.
Sparks danced along her arms, gathering in her hands until they overflowed at her fingertips. The magic was fueled by her emotions and thoughts, acting on her will before she even spoke the words that would bind it together.
It truly was alive.
"Lightning and thunder, sparks and flashes, strike and ignite. Ark blast!"
The spell of protection, likely Shell, absorbed some of the force behind her attack, but the sheer amount of power she had poured into the spell shocked TinSouRe behind her barrier. She cried out, more likely from surprise then pain, and fell to her knees, shaking.
Cuore dispelled the energy with a wave of her hand and exhaled, regaining control over the forces swirling about. The air crackled with untapped magic, stirring under her skin.
She ignored it.
"I don't want to hurt you," she said. "I just can't let you hurt anyone. I can't let you finish your experiment."
TinSouRe's breath was coming and going in gasps, but just as Cuore felt a twinge of concern she may have harmed her more then she realized, the woman began to laugh.
The sound was grating, raspy and filled with insanity.
She looked up, disheveled hair cutting in front of her face. "Oh, you stupid little creature."
Cuore tensed, ready to latch onto her magic once more at the obvious tone of the room.
"Do you really think you can stop me from completing my life's work?" TinSouRe asked, still trembling from the electricity coursing through her. "No…not only my work, the salvation of my people…"
"Your people are gone," the teal haired woman retorted. "I'm sorry for that but I have to protect people that are still alive."
"Ventu organisms unworthy of your talents," the silver haired woman chuckled. Her voice was thick with demented amusement. "Oh, how stupid you are. Powerful, yes, but foolish in your naivety and untrained in the arts of true supremacy."
"I'm not the one kneeling on the floor," Cuore said, eyeing her foe. She wasn't convinced TinSouRe was truly rendered helpless, no matter how much it appeared that way.
The Lunarian laughed once more. "Ah, yes."
With surprisingly fast reflexes, she pulled a familiar looking weapon from the folds of her robe and fired off a shot of pure Ves'Per.
Cuore managed to avoid it hitting her straight on, but the bolt from the slinger caught her side and she felt numbness from the wound. It spread, slowing her movements until her entire left side was paralyzed.
As she struggled to right herself, TinSouRe fired again, catching her right side with the same results.
Unable to feel anything, Cuore's body tumbled under her own weight and she hit the floor face first.
She couldn't see anything but she heard TinSouRe's laughter again as her feet tapped closer. "As I said, untrained in deception."
The Lunarian woman knelt down and rolled her over, onto her back. "A device better suited to a race such as the ones on this planet, but effective nonetheless." She tossed the slinger off to the side, turning back to Cuore with a smirk on her pale lips.
"Don't worry, on you the paralysis will wear off in a few minutes. Even now I suspect your body is adapting and compensating."
Cuore knew she could speak despite the numbness, but what could she say? TinSouRe wouldn't be swayed from her plans with words, and Cuore feared now that she might actually succeed.
The woman frowned, shaking her head sadly. "A shame to waste such a perfected creature like you…But don't worry, perhaps in a few hundred years I'll grow bored and re-make something in your image. A perfected you, without any…deficiencies, do not worry."
Her fingers skimmed Cuore's cheek, down her chin, throat, and finally down her chest and stomach. Her skin crawled from the unwelcomed touch, but she couldn't even recoil.
TinSouRe suddenly gasped, wincing and pulled her hands to her chest. Her skin luminesced, growing pearly and then translucent before return to it's pale normality.
The woman wheezed out a pain filled laugh and spoke softly; "It's happening. The first steps of transcendence."
Her steely eyes riveted back to Cuore. How had she missed the ambition, the apathy, the tainted glow of insanity there before?
Her lips pulled to a wild smile. "Soon, very soon, I will shed this husk of mortality and ascend to a higher plane of existence, of…infinity."
"Y-your insane," Cuore remarked.
TinSouRe shrugged, looking unconcerned. "Now," she said, resting her hand against Cuore's cheek again. "I must deal with you. You should have accepted my first dreamscape, for it would have been a pleasant existence for you. This one, I assure you, will not be so."
Cuore's eyes widened. "Those dreams! Those were you're doing, not the Uo'Ru at all!"
"Yes, I needed to gauge just who and what I was dealing with, so I enhanced my powers with technology and sent you into mental creations. I learned what I needed too, and now you will suffer the consequences of trying to hinder my progress."
Cuore felt the woman slip through her mental defenses, mental barriers she helped her learn to use. TinSouRe was far too good a telepathy to be blocked by Cuore's attempts to keep her out. She merely slid a different way, coiled herself into the weave of the mind as if she belonged there.
"And just to be sure this time your magical monsters do not interfere, I will reactivate the dampening field." the Lunarian muttered, gently stroking back Cuore's hair.
Cuore whimpered at the uninvited presence in her mind, peeling back layers of memory and thoughts to dig deeper.
"Hush," TinSouRe whispered. "I am sorry I must dispose of you, but it will all be over soon, I promise."
Those words, spoken with sickening sincerity, were the last things she heard before she was ripped from her body and sent somewhere darker.
Much darker.
There was silence when she next drifted into consciousness. It was so quiet she wondered if TinSouRe had merely trapped her in an endless void, cursed her to nothingness until her physical body finally decayed.
But slowly she became aware of the world around her, the created dreamscape.
There was heaviness in the air, one tinged with magical residue. It was cold, both in air and in the ground beneath her. Stone, perhaps?
But it was the smell that made Cuore recoil; metallic, sharp. She could almost taste it.
Finally her vision cleared, revealing the horrific place TinSouRe had sent her.
Cuore pushed herself up onto her hands to gain a better view of the scene, quickly wishing she hadn't.
The room, one of pillars and impressive marble was littered with dead bodies. Familiar dead bodies. The smell clinging to her made sense now; blood.
The polished floors were slick with the red substance, pooled underneath some corpses, splattered on the pillars near others.
Cuore staggered to her feet, eyes downcast on the floor so she didn't see anyone in particular. She swayed on her feet uneasily, tired and drained and feeling out of sorts.
"It's not real," she assured herself. "Just a dream, all fake."
She had to keep her emotions in check. If she did that, if she remained just out of phase with this hallucination then maybe she could snap herself back to reality.
Opening her eyes and steeling herself, she scanned the room for an exit and found one across the space. With careful steps she crossed towards the door, eyes avoiding staring at the dead surrounding her. She knew this memory, this scene TinSouRe had latched onto.
Troia.
When she had come to claim Anima's crystal prison under Zeromus's control, when her family and friends had tried to stop her.
She had hurt them, yes, but not like this.
"This isn't real," Cuore muttered out loud, stepping over another corpse. She purposely avoided checking whose. "This didn't happen."
As she moved underneath the archway, into the hallway beyond, she caught her foot on something and had to steady herself on the wall. Looking down on impulse she saw the reason for her unbalanced move.
A body sprawled on the floor, golden hair matted with blood, a shuriken embedded in the side of her neck. Eyes devoid of color, lifeless, glassy.
Cuore shut her eyes and forced a deep breath, stuffing her emotions back down. "It's not real. Ursula is fine. She's fine, alive, back on the ship. I purposely redirected that shuriken to miss her jugular."
Every movement in that battle was calculated to hinder them, but not kill them. Through all of the haze she'd been in under the influence of hatred and madness she had tried to remain lucid. Her desire was never to kill her friends, just remove them.
Each strike was only enough to incapacitate them, nothing lethal.
It was further proof this was all fake.
She would beat TinSouRe's dark fantasy and return to reality to stop her experiments.
Cuore nodded and stopped over the corpse of her friend, swallowing thickly. She could do this. She had to do this.
"What in the world was that?" Ceodore asked, looking around with wide eyes. They had heard a rather loud boom coming from nearby, enough that it rattled the walls themselves.
Ursula shook her head, "I have no idea…do you think Uo'Ru?"
Kieran was already halfway to the door, "We should see what's going on. Something tells me it's not good."
"It's never good," Ursula reminded them, striding after him.
They met BarZenDao in the hallway nearby. The boy was sticking his head out of one of the storage rooms, brow furrowed.
"Did you cause the unforeseen noise?"
"No, we were just trying to figure it out ourselves." Ceodore explained. "Maybe TinSouRe?"
"Or Cuore," Kieran said, glancing past BarZenDao. "I thought she was with you,"
The boy shook his head, "She was, but she left to get a tool from TinSouRe's lab."
Ceodore saw the look that crossed Kieran's face; a look of unease, suspicion. Ceodore couldn't help but mirror it.
Something wasn't right here, down to the sudden tension in the air.
They all agreed to head to the lab, without words, and even BarZenDao slipped from his spot to trail behind them.
As they approached the door, Ursula made a face, "It smells like…"
"Ash and smoke," Kieran finished for her, alarm seeping into his tone. They entered the laboratory tense and prepared for the worst, but still Ceodore was caught off guard.
The room wasn't torn apart as the thick smoke still floating around suggested. In fact, there were only a few singed consoles around. But there was a lingering sizzle of magic present that made his skin tingle.
This was no ordinary fire.
BarZenDao spotted Cuore first and hurried to her side, calling their attention over. He gently shook the young woman, but couldn't rouse her from her slumber.
"What happened?" Kieran demanded, despite the fact that no one would know anything more than him.
Ceodore couldn't kneel beside Cuore since the others were crowding around her and instead took in the damage he could see. "I…don't know…do you think this was the Uo'Ru?"
BarZenDao hopped to his feet as Kieran took Cuore's limp body from him and rushed to one of the pods in the room. He input a series of commands while speaking in a hurried, obviously concerned, tone.
"Quickly, move her here. She doesn't appear injured but I can scan her and make sure."
Ceodore was half surprised Kieran didn't argue and actually followed the advice, laying her down before glancing at the Lunarian. "What is wrong with her? Why can't we wake her up?"
"I do not know," BarZenDao replied, swallowing. "This is…this is odd."
Ursula bit her lip, "I hate to be the one to bring this up, but…where is TinSouRe? Surely she heard the explosion, too..."
No one wanted to comment on the possibilities there, and there was an uncomfortable pause before Ceodore cleared his throat. "Let's…worry about Cuore, first." he said.
He didn't want to think about what could have happened, not until they made sure their friend was alright. Besides, he had a horrible feeling they had walked into a far worse situation than any of them were prepared for.
The pod made a series of noises, drawing his attention once more. BarZenDao had left the cover off of the device, something he must have decided on given Cuore's aversion to the device.
Kieran was carefully holding one of her hands while his other fingers gently stroking through her hair. There was no denying the obvious fear and panic on his face, but for once he wasn't lashing out at the rest of them.
"Hmm…" BarZenDao muttered, crossing his arms. "She isn't physically injured, as we thought. However, her brain is emitting odd chemical reactions, and far too many of them."
"Meaning?" Ursula pressed, gripping the edge of the pod.
"I…I am not the expert in biology," the boy stumbled through his words. "I…cannot tell you more then what the data is telling me."
"Can you wake her?" Kieran asked, voice shaky.
BarZenDao shook his head. "I do not believe so. She is deeply sleeping, as if in a coma. Whatever happened to her, we cannot wake her."
Ceodore hesitated, hating how once again, they were powerless to stop something from happening. This whole trip had been one disaster after another, one thing out of control that spiraling into seven more.
He felt a twinge of guilt over coming here at all, over any of them being here.
They should have left this ship buried.
Cuore finally got enough feeling back into her legs to walk normally, just as she finally saw a light up ahead. She'd lost track of how long she'd been walking through a darkened hallway. This dreamscape was odd, but she had to wonder if perhaps it was trying to pick at her mind since its first attempt didn't snag her interest.
She frowned and shook her head, clearing away useless thoughts so she could remain focused.
The corridor widened into a familiar throne room and all at once she was pulled to it, dragged into a scene she couldn't ignore.
Sudden noise erupted nearby, echoing off the stony walls, a noise of wailing, pain-filled screeches that made Cuore's skin crawl and her magic boil.
With a flinch, Cuore tried to avoid looking around the room, but it was too late; the memory had taken hold and given life to this delusion.
Anima stood in one corner of the room, the cause of the shattering noise.
"This isn't real," Cuore muttered aloud, backing up. Her body hit a solid wall. The doorway she'd entered through was gone, replaced by stone, trapping her in the room.
She knew she needed to look for another exit, but that meant looking at the rest of the scene.
"I have no choice," she thought, steeling her nerves and emotion.
It wasn't real. It was a dream.
A quick sweep of the room revealed no obvious exits, no easy way out.
Anima gave off another sharp, unyielding cry and Cuore winced, unable to help herself from looking over.
Her mother's mangled and lifeless corpse was sprawled at the Eidolon's base, a mass of chains coiled about her and draped across the floor.
"Mother's not dead," Cuore muttered, shaking her head. "She's fine. She's home. This didn't happen like this."
But it was so close to how it had happened. This was too easy to believe because it was an obvious outcome of that fateful day. This day had haunted her for a long time afterwards, and sometimes she still found herself wincing from what had happened, and what had almost happened.
Despite knowing what she would find on the other side of the room, her eyes trailed along the damaged flooring to the fallen figure of her father. He showed clear signs of a duel, a duel she still remembered step by step. He was impaled on his own katana, Masamune.
Cuore knew that she would have done that had she not been interrupted that day. She'd been so full of rage and hurt and pain that death to anything and everything seemed like the best option. Her mind twisted and fractured beyond repair by a sinister cackling in the back of her mind.
Only the timely interruption of-
"Sissy?"
Cuore's eyes widened, and she used every ounce of willpower not to turn around. Real or not, she didn't think she could re-live this part of the memory.
"Sissy?" the trembling voice asked again. "W-what did you do?"
Cuore glanced down, confused and started to see Moon's Shadow and Sun's Radiance in her hands, bloodied. Her clothes, too, were tattered and smeared with reddish stains. Cuore blinked hard, trying to clear the obviously fake images from her mind.
"Sissy?" the voice cried again, tears heard in it. "What…mommy…daddy…Seren?"
Unable to stop herself, she turned around. Her eyes fell to the unmoving body of her little, tiny, innocent sister at her feet. The poor girl's hand was reaching out towards Leo, who stood only a foot away, staring at the body with wide, haunted eyes.
"W-what…?" Cuore stuttered. "This…never…it didn't…happen…not like this!"
As nightmarish as this event had been, Seren wasn't even born yet, let alone present to witness and be harmed by the horrific memory.
Leo looked up at her, his eyes filled with confusion, pain, fear. Cuore opened her mouth to say something, then snapped it closed, reminding herself again that this wasn't real.
Leo sniffed, and he reached a hand to his chest. Red began to seep outward from his chest, staining his clothes and fingers.
"Why?" he whimpered, looking at her with teary eyes.
Startled, Cuore stepped forward, "No, no, this didn't happen, this...Leo…"
She wasn't sure what happened, but the next moment she felt her katana slide through something with resistance and gasped, realizing her blade her just impaled her little brother. Illusion or not, she was horrified.
Reeling back, she stumbled over the body of her sister and fell onto the floor, starting with increasing pain at the scene around her. Leo's body collapsed a moment later into a heap on the floor and she bit back a scream.
"It's not real," she repeated, closing her eyes. "Cuore, it's not real. Don't do this to yourself, don't. It's not real…"
There was a hollow chuckle from behind her. "Well, I honestly didn't think you had it in you,"
Cuore stood quickly, spinning to meet this new torment head on while continually repeating her mantra internally.
She just had to find a way out.
Kieran was nudging Leo's dead body with his foot, swallow lazily dangling from one hand. "Yeah, I knew you were a heartless duplicate, but this…is better proof then I ever thought possible. I didn't know you had it in your to murder your family."
Cuore sagged, eyeing this new threat, feeling drained. "You aren't real,"
He smirked and gave his weapon a twirl, "We'll see, won't we?"
With speed she had never seen him use before, he darted over and feigned a swipe at her, making her lurch back to avoid getting hit.
The lax grip on her bloodied katanas had no resistance when Kieran's swallow struck one, knocking it clean out of her hand. It skittered across the room. He swung again, this time a downward motion and smacked the second one to the ground at her feet.
A third swing cut into her side, flinging her to the ground. Cuore's arms buckled from her weight, distracted as she was, and the side of her head hit the floor with a sharp jolt.
Dizzy, she moaned and tried to push herself upright. The double bladed swallow fell in front of her face with a shocking clatter and she winced, confusion taking hold over panic for a brief moment.
Sudden she was yanked upward by a hand tangled in her hair and she yelped. Still dizzy, her vision didn't clear until her back slammed against smooth, cool stone. The fingers tightened their grip in her curls and she blinked to clear the spots from her eyes.
"You didn't think I'd kill you with that, did you?" Kieran asked, voice dripping in mocking distain. "Too quick."
Cuore inhaled a staggering breath, "K-Kieran,"
"Yes?" he asked, tipping his head to one side.
She swallowed, resisting the urge to try and free her hair from his agonizing grip. "T-this isn't real, I don't know why I-I'm trying to reason with you,"
"Yes, reasoning with someone as far down in depression and hatred as me is a waste of your time, sweet, perfect little thing." he snapped, raising his other hand to show her a dagger.
"I'll cut you for each life you destroyed," he whispered vehemently. "Starting with your pretty little synthetic face,"
Cuore stifled a sob as the edge of the dagger bit into the skin along her cheekbone.
"I'm almost disappointed," he mused, shifting the knife to her jawline. "I expected more of a fight. Or, do you finally realize what kind of monster you are?"
"This isn't real," Cuore whispered, forcing herself to stop trembling. "This is an illusion, you're an illusion."
Kieran chuckled, tapping her closed eyelid with the flat part of the dagger, making her wince and crack her eyes open. "An illusion? Maybe, but one inside your head." he pointed out.
The weapon idly twirled in his fingers. "Your mind concocted this hellish landscape. Your mind is filled with darkness and regret."
"TinSouRe did this!" she snapped.
Kieran rolled his eyes. "Always someone else's fault…Zeromus, mine, the Creator, Zethan Knox, the Scorpion Gang, TinSouRe…when is it ever your fault, Maenad?"
"Stop," she whispered, closing her eyes again. "Just kill me if you want,"
"Oh, I'll kill you," he said, leaning closer. "After you've felt the kind of pain I have. After I've ruined you in every way possible. Once you're broken, damaged beyond repair, then I'll silt your throat."
She felt the tip of the knife slid harmlessly across her throat, only nicking her on the collarbone when he finished speaking.
"Please," she found herself muttering. A moment later she cursed her stupidity; not only would pleading do nothing, but she didn't want to look weak. Even in this dreamscape.
"Please what?" Kieran taunted. "Please don't hurt you? Please don't kill you? Please fall in love with you?"
Cuore flinched as he yanked her head back again by her hair, still clutched in one of his hands. The back of her head hit the wall.
"As if I could ever love a monster."
Despite the mantra playing in her head that this was fake, the words stung. They were filled with such mocking disgust that she felt tears burn her eyes. Deep down she should have known this would happen in her worst fears.
After all, she was frightened that was what he really thought of her.
He scoffed, "Really, pathetic. I expected so much more."
"Sorry to disappoint," she whispered, trying to muster a defiant attitude. It sounded flat in her ears and tasted bitted on her tongue.
The dagger dug into her shoulder and she repressed another grimace at the pain.
"You know," Kieran said, sounding conversational, "being so consumed by hatred has some advantages. I'm just not sure what I'll do when you're finally dead…"
"You aren't real," Cuore said again. She forced her eyes open so she could try and will this false image away. "You aren't real. This is my mind, my delusion and I want you gone."
"Your mind?" he hissed, voice dropping to a tone she had never heard him use before. "Your mind? Oh, but don't you remember?"
Cuore swallowed, eyeing him warily as he smirked at her, instantly making her freeze. "Your mine; mind, body and soul. Or don't you remember that promise?"
Her eyes widened and he chuckled. "Stupid Maenad."
She wasn't prepared for the sharp sting of steel in her stomach, right below her rib cage. Not a fatal blow, but one that hurt. She was even more unprepared for her pained gasp to be swallowed by a kiss.
It was the first time she didn't want him to kiss her. This wasn't really him, and the taste of blood in her mouth didn't help. Her reflexes took hold, allowing her enough strength to shove him away from her.
The weapon slid free from her, too, making her gasp once more before she collapsed back against the wall, trembling hand pressed against the wound. Blood seeped through her fingers, dying her hands even more crimson. She whined in both pain and anger at being in this situation.
"Change of plans," Kieran's voice said, drawing her attention to him. "Cutting your throat is too nice. I think I'll keep you company, in the room filled with the corpses of your family, while you bleed out."
Cuore closed her eyes, making a strangled sound. "Go to hell."
He laughed, a grating sound that was a twisted reflection of what he actually sounded like. "There's more what I was expecting. But don't forget, this is your mind. I'm just claiming ownership of it for a while, per your request, actually."
Before she could retort with something scathing, and before she could realize it was silly to do so because she was really arguing with herself, another voice cut in.
A voice that made her freeze, eyes going wide while her heart began to beat in an irregular typo.
"If anyone is claiming her mind, it's me."
The readout on one of the displays suddenly flashed some sort of a warning and began beeping. Ceodore glanced over, confused.
"What is that?" Kieran asked, beating him too it.
BarZenDao stood and raced over, inputting a series of commands before replying. "It's…a warning. Cuore's blood pressure just spiked."
"Meaning?" Ursula pressed.
The boy glanced up, "Meaning she is in desperate need of a wakeup call. Her heart rate has been rising over the last few minutes, but now…now it's much too high. If this keeps up, she'll die."
"Then do something!" Kieran snapped, hands gripping the edge of the pod she was resting in.
BarZenDao flinched, expression falling from the usual stoic Lunarian one for a moment. "Such as? I am no medical expert, I have no knowledge that will help us. Cuore's mind is sealed and she is beyond our reach."
"What about her Eidolons?" Ursula asked. "Why aren't they helping her?"
"Dampening field," Kieran muttered distractedly. "Assuming they could even reach her, wherever she is, there is no magical connection."
Ceodore hesitated, trying to come up with a solution. His mind was racing, thinking of different medical treatments, of ideas, of things that had happened previously. But nothing helped.
Cuore was out of their reach, and he wasn't sure what they could possibly do.
The display beeped again and BarZenDao frown, looking over the data. "Another spike. Whatever she is seeing, it's causing her great distress."
There was a pause, a moment of silence strung tightly with tension.
Kieran glanced up, locking eye's with BarZenDao. "Can you bridge our minds?"
"What?" the boy asked, face twisting to confusion and a small bit of annoyance.
The dark haired man gestured to Cuore, "Our minds, can you link them? When we were trapped in those delusions, Cuore slipped into them and freed us. Can you do the same thing?"
"Cuore has innate telepathic abilities," BarZenDao pointed out.
"Which is why I need you to bridge us. You can make that link, can't you?"
The Lunarian hesitated, darting a look at the comatose woman. "I…I am uncertain. I have…never attempted to do such a thing, and…"
"We have to do something!" Kieran snapped. "She's suffering, dying!"
Ursula exhaled sharply. "Even if we could get inside her head, how would we pull her out?"
"You speak wisely," BarZenDao said, nodding to her. "Not only did Cuore benefit from having telepathy, but she also had the advantage of a tether. A link to the mortal, conscious plane."
"She anchored herself," Ceodore guessed.
"Yes," the boy replied. "Her Eidolons, I believe, were that anchor." He returned his attention to Kieran. "Even if I could bridge your minds, even if you navigated the complex gateways of her mind and found her true self, you would have no way of bringing her out of this…this…fantasy. You would be trapped with her."
"Can't you bring me out?" he questioned.
BarZenDao sighed, "I will be too busy maintaining the link. Telepathy is a…tricky science."
"I'm willing to try,"
"I'm not willing to let you."
Kieran glared at him, "It's not up to you."
"Actually," the boy countered. "it is. You require my assistance to execute this plan, and I refuse."
"Damn you! She's dying!" Kieran exclaimed, slamming his hands on the console in front of him.
Unfazed by the outburst, BarZenDao spoke calmly, directly; "I know, and I feel the same way you do. However, I know how much Cuore cares for you. If you were to be lost because of her, she could never forgive herself, or me. I will not attempt this plan."
Ceodore saw his friend trying to come up with a suitable retort, but he was distracted and distraught and finally just looked away.
Ursula bit her lip, "Than we need another plan,"
Cuore's eyes were wide as Kieran's lifeless body crumpled to the floor a few feet away from her. She swallowed thickly, losing the battle of standing on her feet and slowly sliding down the wall to sit. Blood was still pooling at her wound and dripping through her fingers, but she ignored it.
"Kieran?" she whispered, still in minor shock from witnessing the sudden and terrifyingly gruesome storm of magic that had destroyed him.
"Oh, don't mourn, little Maenad." Zeromus mocked, magical sparks dying on his fingertips as he dropped the hand to his side. "He wasn't real. Just a made-up torture device. The boring, very much alive and very much mortal version is still alive, somewhere. Not that you'll ever see him again, mind you…"
Cuore mustered all her courage, all her willpower and all her defiance and looked up at the Lunarian man. Although she could hold his gaze with steady and hardened eyes, she found herself uneven to form any words.
His lips quirked to a smirk, dipping his voice into the slightly mocking lit she had heard before. "Ah, no remarks on how I'm dead? No desperate attempts to convince yourself that this is fake?"
Cuore closed her eyes, feeling the tight grip on emotions waver. She wanted to curl up and cry, but more than anything, she wanted out of this diluted fantasy.
Zeromus walked over to stand in front of her, peering down at her with a frown on his face. "What a waste. You have all the power in the world and you waste your time catering to lesser beings."
Cuore shuddered, repeating once more her chant in her head.
She heard a cackle, "It's not real, it's not real," Zeromus mocked, kneeling down to her level. "Oh, but does it matter? This is your reality now, at least until your mortal body overloads from the stress and you die. Or, perhaps TinSouRe will detonate the core, first, and you'll die in a fiery explosion."
Cool, unwelcome fingers glided over her cheek and brushed back some hair from her face. Cuore shrunk back, biting hard on her lower lip.
"Oh, my poor little Maenad. So broken…I can fix you, you know. Just like before. Wasn't that better? No emotions to hurt you, no freewill to lead you astray, no thoughts that confused you. Ask me, and I can take it all away again."
She heard him sigh, "We're bound now, Maenad. You'll never be rid of me."
"No," she whispered, choking on a sob. "No, no, no."
His hand caught her chin and forced her to look at him. "My, my, look at you? A quivering mess of tears and mistakes. No wonder your creator wanted you terminated, you are pathetic."
Cuore swallowed hard, trying to repeat the words that kept her focused. But it was increasing hard when all she wanted to do was run and hide from the monster in front of her.
"My little Maenad," Zeromus purred, smirking at her. "You know full well I speak the truth. I'll always be with you. I promised you that, if you recall. I told you that as long as there was hatred in the world, I would have substance."
Cuore paused, finding something worth latching onto in his speech.
"Substance…" she mused, watching as he continued to ramble on. "Promise…"
With a burst of courage that came from the reminder of how many lives were at stake if she failed, she interrupted him.
"I made a promise that day, too."
Looking intrigued, he raised an eyebrow. "Did you? I don't recall that. I just remember you being almost as pathetic as right now. Just as weak, just as lonely, just as-"
Cuore cut him off; "I promised that I would find you, that I would stop you, no matter when or where you were, I promised I would fight you, I promised I would do whatever it takes to stop you."
She grabbed his wrist and forcibly shoved his hand away from her. "No," she hissed. "Don't touch me, stop taunting me. You're dead."
"Well, well, here's an unexpected burst of courage," Zeromus cackled. "I'm curious….how will you make good on your promises? We're in your head, and here I am."
Cuore smiled slowly, "Yes, my mind. I've spent too long being afraid of you. You feed on that, don't you? Fear, pain, darkness. But I can't be so selfish as too play your game today, Zeromus."
Cuore shoved him away with a rough push and stood, glaring at him. She trembled, but forced herself to stop. She was strong enough to do this, she had to be.
"People will die if I don't do this. I won't allow it."
"What do you hope to do?" he taunted, crossing his arms. "You're weak, worthless, helpless. Your friends can't help you, your Eidolons are silent. Without them, you can't defeat me. I am darkness incarnate."
"And I am the bringer of light," Cuore said calmly. "Or, at least the Eidolons believe it to be so. You see, I don't need them physically here. My friends have helped me beyond measure, my Eidolons have shaped who I am today. I don't need them here to have their strength aid me."
"Oh, good speech. But I'm still here." Zeromus whispered darkly. "So what now?"
"I will never stop fighting you." Cuore repeated. "No matter the cost, I will protect the world from you. I'll always have a piece of darkness inside of me, but it doesn't control my actions, and neither can you."
Cuore raised her hands, igniting magic she wasn't sure would work here. But the flames flickered to life and danced harmlessly along her skin.
Zeromus, or at least, his false apparition, took a step back.
"I am a creature of my word," Cuore said, tossing the flames to either side. They burned away the images of death and pain that clogged her mind. As the illusions faded, she felt her courage rising.
"I have a promise to keep!"
Cuore rolled forward and snatched up the dagger that Kieran's image had dropped. She flipped it to an underhand grip so that it rested against her forearm and stood. She averted her gaze as the razor edge sliced across his chest.
She took a deep breath. "No more."
With a quick motion, the dagger embedded into his chest. She pushed him back and he stumbled. After a moment, he started to laugh. Cuore blinked, surprised, as he stood, unharmed, and extended his hands.
"A good attempt, but not good enough." Zeromus shook his head. "I am infinity, eternity."
"You're nothing but a pathetic voice alone in your darkness." she whispered, locking gazes with him. "The last of a dead breed of creatures the universe deemed unworthy to survive. You are nothing but fleeting waves of energy."
She stepped forward and pulled the dagger out, watching as he crumpled to the floor. "I will not let you control me any longer. There's too much at stake."
His image was fading, but he still persisted. "You can only silence me so long, Maenad, I'll never go away! Never! I am darkness, I am hatred! As long as you live and breathe, so will I. You have my memories, my thoughts are tangled with yours."
Something inside her snapped at his words and she growled, fingers tightening around the dagger. Cuore was half frightened at herself as she dropped to her knees and began to stab repeatedly into him in a haze of blind rage.
And yet still, she could hear his cackles mocking her from the ethers of the room.
Maybe she never would be free of him, but for now, it didn't matter. There was something more important than herself at stake. Lives of people who deserved to survive, to have a chance to live.
That was all in any life form had, a chance.
They shouldn't lose theirs.
"I will be free of you! I will find you, I will fight you! Until time itself comes unraveled, I will never let you win, never!" she said, drowning out his lies.
"No more!" Cuore shouted, "Do you hear me?! You don't own me! Never again! Die already!"
With one final downward stab of the dagger with all her strength, the world faded and shattered, leading her to sit up frantically.
A lot of things happened at once; she was gasping for breath, her friends were panicked and asking her a dozen questions and she was back in reality.
Cuore closed her eyes and grit her teeth, fighting off the overwhelming emotions she felt.
"Where is TinSouRe?" she whispered sharply.
Author's Note: Well, damn. I take a short break and the first thing I come back with...is this. So, truth revealed, dun dun dun...and some dark, creepy stuff, dun dun dun...
Sorry for the unexpected delay. This chapter was a pain to write, and I ended up being extremely busy recently. AND, I had an article I wrote get published for real, so that was exciting! I'm hoping now that I'm in the swing of things again there won't be such a huge gap between chapters again.
Thanks for sticking with me and the story! We'll finish it yet.
Onward to the chapter: It's time to end this. TinSouRe is insane and yes, the villain of this story...but she is only evil because she is selfishly ignoring the lives she's going to destroy, rather then actively seeking to kill people. I wanted that to be a contrast to Zeromus who just liked killing stuff. She has a reason, and it's terrible, but she is still driven by logic to the bitter end.
Cuore is...well. She's Cuore. She's a riddled mess of emotional damage. Poor thing. Her delusions were mostly based off of scenes in Lost and Found, with some added bonuses thrown in. But she overcame it, sort it, enough to wake herself up. Its' time she took control of that instead of having other people do it for her.
To the people that questioned how Ceodore got ill in the first place with the Uo'Ru virus due to his lack of telepathy...well done. I couldn't say much, obviously, but you were right. He was never sick, and he never could have gotten sick.
And yes, the Uo'Ru never trapped them in the dreamscapes, it was TinSouRe the whole time. So bravo to the people who rightfully questioned if the Uo'Ru weren't really the victims here.
Your Lunarian lesson today contains some information on how the magic works:
The modern words for certain elements and spells came from mistranslation of Lunarian words. When the Lunarians first came to the planet, ancient peoples used some of their words and adapted them. Because of the altered translation and delusion of words from their cores, the modern magical spells based off of Lunarian magic differ slightly in type and power. In most cases, the original Lunarian is more potent.
More advanced spells such as Firaga are a combination of the word for 'fire' and the spoken word of 'two, double' or 'three, triple'. Example: Firaga. Fie'Er + Aga = Triple fire.
Below is a list of the Lunarian words and their modern translations:
Fie'Er – Fire
Wat'Tor – Water
Thun'Dor – Thunder
Aer – Air
Bliz'Ard – Blizzard
Ry'is – Rise (Literally translate to 'reset' since your resetting your vitals)
K'year – Cure
