Hello, everyone! This is a short chapter today, but an important one nonetheless. Hope you enjoy!
Previously on AUP…
Musa let out a frustrated sigh. "I can't go back home for break."
"Musa, I'm so sorry," gasped Layla. "How bad is the situation?"
"It's taken interrealm media attention," Musa answered. "The portal's become like a tornado. The news-crews and UR Defense forces have been banned from entry, now that two hooligan criminals snuck onto a ship and are jammin' up Summa. It's gotten so bad that a radical sect has gained traction, claiming we should relocate to another planet."
-o-o-o-
"What are you doing here?" Tecna gasped. How had Vasiliev followed her all the way to Magix?
"I wouldn't be worried about me," the man smiled. "I just saw you walking with that boy. Quite the rebel, aren't you?"
Tecna's mouth fell open. Oh no oh no oh no oh no…
"I know you haven't been spending enough time on my lab work, Tecna," he added. "You have barely finished two hundred sets. I came here to give you some coaxing so you remember what comes first."
"I'm sorry," Tecna gasped, her eyes wide. "I" –
"You will finish six hundred sets tonight," Vasiliev responded. "If you are not done by morning, I will inform your parents about your boyfriend, and they will withdraw you from Alfea."
CHAPTER 18: ULTIMATUM
It was late at night. Tecna worked hard on her sets, finishing the six-hundred-and-twenty thousandth set on her laptop. I'm done… She was about to close her eyes briefly, setting a timer for a two-minute nap, when suddenly, red words flashed across her vision.
BREAKING NEWS: KING OF MELODY DECLARES A STATE OF EMERGENCY, ORDERS CITIZENS TO EVACUTE TO MELODIAN OUTPOSTS.
"What?" Tecna gasped out loud.
She pulled the article up on her internal screen, scanning through it. But she found no information of importance. Apparently the portal – or tornado, as it was now being called – had gotten so out-of-hand that people were being temporarily evacuated to Melody's exo-planets. How in the realms are they going to build enough shelters there? How were they sending all 11.6 million Melodians off the planet? And more importantly, why?
Have they caved to the radical citizens' demands? She remembered Musa saying something about it. No, that can't be it… She scrolled to the bottom of the article, but the closest thing she found to information was: King Jun has refused to respond to a request for comment.
I guess I'm never going to figure out why. Frustrated, she sat back and placed her head on her desk, knowing she had far more problems than whatever was going on in Melody. Her head ached, and she had shed two kilos just in the past month.
She wished she wasn't like this. She wished more than anything else that she could let herself loose, dancing with Timmy and spending time with her friends like before. But it was no longer possible.
"Tecna, listen to me!" Timmy had phoned her, desperately. "You need to stop doing so much work. It's taking over your life!"
"No," Tecna said, warily. "I forbid you to tell anyone."
"Tecna," Timmy whispered, "You won't survive like this. Please listen to me! You're going to" –
"No!" Tecna shouted. "I can't have anyone know! That would be the end of me, and you know it! Vasiliev's too dangerous!"
There was a silence. Then on the other line, Timmy whispered, "Tecna, is there something you're not telling me?"
Tecna didn't answer. He can't know… She drew in a shallow, gasping breath at the memory.
"I have to go," she said, and then she hung up.
She still hadn't caught up with her work for any of her classes. Her teachers were in absolute despair; no one could get through to her or speak to her about what was going on. The other Winx girls had finally given up on getting her to "care for herself", whatever that meant - as with Flora, they were angry at her too for not showing any interest in their problems.
When was the last time we were like this? Tecna thought in dismay. When was the last time things were ever this horrible?
She could only remember one time as debilitating as this, and that was when they were in Faragonda's office after attacking Avalon. She remembered how angry everyone had been, how furious she was that no one was listening to her side…
"I know you're upset, Headmistress," she said, "but I stand by my actions!" Much of the staff had convened in front of them; she saw Griselda's disgusted look, Palladium's worried face, Faragonda's angry eyes, Avalon's vehement disapproval, and Wizkiz's uncomfortable expression. "The book described everything exactly right. Professor Avalon taught in the realm of Frost right before it was destroyed! His wings were exactly the same shape and color, and he promises everyone he can make her dreams come true! Coincidence? I think not!"
"All right," said Faragonda, holding her hands in the air. "Now let's see what Professor Avalon has to say."
"There are ten-thousand fairy-men with the same wings I have," Avalon said. "I use them when I need to, when I'm being chased, for instance." The girls gasped in horror. "And when the realm of Frost was destroyed, it's well-documented that I was a visiting professor at Summa University."
The other girls had backed down, but Tecna wasn't about to give up. "Well then, how do you explain that you appeared at multiple places at the same time?"
"Er – that was all my doing, Tecna," Wizkiz said awkwardly. "Remember my new invention? The Magical Multiplier?" He took out a jug-shaped item, cranking the handle. "I was doing an experiment to see what would happen if I created realistic-looking holograms of the professors on campus! Like this!" A dozen Faragondas appeared right behind them, all with disapproving expressions on their faces. The girls stared around at each other, completely shocked.
"More than one headmistress?" Stella blurted out. "What a nightmare!"
Flora cast her a glare. "Stella!"
"Something's wrong with it!" Wizkiz gasped. "It's out of control!" The machine began to spit and hiss, sending smoke everywhere. The holograms disappeared. Eventually the machine lay broken and decrepit on the desk, and Wizkiz sighed. "Another invention up in smoke."
Musa stepped forward. "I guess we were wrong."
"We really messed up this time," Flora agreed.
"I don't understand," Tecna protested. "The flowers – the wings – the alignment of the planets – everything was in-order! Logic tells me that" –
"Tecna," Faragonda interrupted, "as hard as it may be for you to accept, you were wrong! Your logic was flawed, and you and your friends have a lot of damages on the second-floor corridor to pay for! Now, I believe you all owe Professor Avalon an apology."
Tecna sighed, lowering her head. She had never felt so miserable as this, never so defeated and sullen. She took a deep breath.
"We're sorry, Professor Avalon," the five girls said in unison.
I was wrong that day, Tecna thought. Well, I was right about Avalon, but I was wrong about everything else. I can't believe it. She let out a sigh. And now, I've still got things just as wrong as ever.
She stared at herself in the mirror. Her skin was whiter than chalk, and her black-rimmed eyes were no longer concealable by potion. Sickness marred every feature of her body.
I'm not who I once was, she realized. I'm not the girl I was a year ago. She lowered her gaze.
It's just a dream, she told herself desperately. Please, tell me everything had just been a dream. That I'll wake up in the morning tomorrow, and none of this will have ever happened. I'll never have met the Winx, and I'll be back at home, being the good, proper girl I've always been.
Except it wasn't a dream – Tecna knew that better than anyone. And so did Mr. Vasiliev.
She had to meet with him that night and sneak out of the dorm. She was taking a big risk now - after all, she wasn't allowed under any circumstances to leave Alfea. But she knew she had no choice. Taking in a sigh, she walked out of her dorm and headed down to the floor.
Here it goes. Closing her eyes, she focused a wave of her techno-magic, some that would breach the Alfea barrier. Opening a small hole, she darted out of the barrier and into the night.
But she wasn't alone.
"I know you're out there," Digit's sharp voice filled the cold night air.
Tecna turned around and saw Digit flying towards her, her eyes wary and narrowed. She took a nervous step back.
"What are you doing here?" she asked, trying to stall for time.
"Don't lie to me, Tecna," Digit snapped. "I know you're going out now. In fact, I've seen you with that creep before. What are you doing with him?"
"Nothing," Tecna said feebly, but Digit growled.
"You come back right now, Tecna, or I swear I'll tell Ms. Faragonda."
"You don't even know what's going on," Tecna said, waves of anger coming over her. "Stay out of this, Digit. It's for me to deal with."
"I bet I know what's going on!" Digit gasped. "You're cheating with him on Timmy!"
"What?" If Tecna had thought she was angry before, this doubled it. She glared at Digit. "How dare you say that?"
"Well, what else explanation is there?" Digit snorted. "You've been so aloof with me and the other Winx lately. You haven't spoken to anyone but Flora in the past month, and maybe once in a while you see Timmy."
"I would never do that to Timmy," Tecna cried. "I love him."
"Well, I've never heard you tell him that!"
That was it. Tecna glared at the pixie, and sent all of her energy at her.
"Digital cage!"
Digit screamed as a World Wide Web appeared around her, slamming her against the barrier. Tecna stared at her, helplessness in her eyes.
"I'm sorry!" she cried, and ran off. The spell would wear off in fifteen minutes, but she had to hurry, for Digit would no doubt go and tell.
She slowed her gait as she reached the grove. It's so cold… when did it get this cold? Vasiliev, wearing a purple overcoat, walked towards her, his eyes glinting, "Good to see you," he said sardonically, holding out his hand. "Let me see what you've done."
Tecna showed him her laptop, and he scanned over her work.
"This could hardly be called a set," he said smoothly. "You made multiple errors here. Look." He pointed to the screen.
Tecna stared in horror. Oh no... Her arithmetic had been all off, which had caused the algorithm to fail, and therefore all subsequent algorithms after that. Vasiliev flipped through the rest of the week's work.
"This is all filled with mistakes," he announced. "This is not engineering. This is childish nonsense."
"I'm sorry," Tecna whispered.
"You are a disgrace," Vasiliev said disgustedly. "You useless piece of trash. I should never have saved you and made you a cyborg. I should've just left you in the hover crash, so you could meet the fate you deserved."
Tecna's heart nearly stopped at that statement. He's right, he's right... She fought against crying as she remembered the hover crash, how terrified she'd been back then. How the hover, due to a programming error, had hit rock and stone. She could hear the screams of the passengers beside her, and then silence.
Everything had happened so fast then, she hadn't been able to process it. But she'd always wondered why she had been chosen, out of all of them, to survive. Not a single of the others survived, but she alone had lived. And she didn't deserve a single bit of it. I am a failure...
"For that, there must be consequences."
Tecna's eyes snapped up as Vasiliev stood over her. He was close, too close... Her heart beat as he spoke.
"You will no longer see your precious boyfriend," he said.
The lump that had formed in Tecna's throat now exploded. "What do you mean?"
"He has been taking away from your work," Vasiliev said icily. "You are no longer to see that useless boy."
A million thoughts swarmed through her head, not the least defeat. If Vasiliev said she couldn't see Timmy, she could no longer see him. Vasiliev would see if she was going with him; he knew everything about her. He had her controls, after all.
"And if you see him, then we'll have to see if he can live or not."
Tecna's eyes snapped up, and she stared at him in alarm. "No."
"Yes," he answered coldly. "As soon as you see him, his heart will stop."
"No!" Tecna cried out. "You can't!"
Vasiliev laughed. "Oh, I most certainly can," he said. "You have no way of stopping me."
No... Rage built up in Tecna. Without quite meaning to, she slammed her magic into Vasiliev, throwing him to the ground.
He was not prepared for this, and fell. In horror, Tecna realized what she had just done, and bowed down. "No"... she whispered.
Above her, she heard Vasiliev hiss in her head, "Don't you dare ever try that again. I have the controls with me right now: I can kill you right now." He sent a jolt through her body.
It was the worst sensation she'd ever felt, worse than any of the other times he'd ever done this to her. She screamed out and collapsed in his arms, and he smirked sardonically.
"Cute," he smirked. "Interesting how you can love, when it has been scientifically proven to be impossible."
He released her, and she drew back in fear. Vasiliev smiled, his unnaturally straight teeth glinting.
"Do you know why I do this, Tecna?" he asked.
She stared up at him in surprise; this was one of the first times she'd ever heard him refer to her by her actual name. "N-no," she choked out.
"Control is everything," Vasiliev said, and for a moment, his eyes positively gleamed. "Control is what brought our ancestors to where they are now. Control makes us stronger. And… absolutely glorious."
This is what you call glorious? Tecna wanted to shout. Look at me! I have no life! As if hearing her words, Vasiliev laughed.
"It is control that has made me who I am today," he said. "Because of control, I have power over many, many people. And when my program comes to fruition, I will have so much control. All this time, you've been my test subject, my little experiment to see what happens when I have control."
Tecna stared weakly up at him, but Vasiliev didn't elaborate more on the subject. He smiled.
"As an ancestor of ours once said," he whispered, "'Control is the essence of chaos.'"
Tecna had no idea what he was talking about. That's completely illogical! Control prevents chaos! How did this make any sense?
She'd never seen him like this before. For the first time, she began to wonder what she was mixed up in, what she was creating by writing all that code. It doesn't matter… because once it's finished, this'll all be over. Vasiliev smiled, his teeth glinting.
"Goodbye," he said. With a formal bow, he disappeared, leaving Tecna to stare after the man who so controlled her life.
I'm an idiot, she thought. I'm such a disgusting, horrible loser. No wonder everything's been going so wrong.
She wasn't going to survive out of this, and she knew it. She closed her eyes.
Please, please let this end. Her feed was unusually quiet, allowing her an odd semblance peace as she stared at the ground.
Let me suffer no more…
So what did you all think about this? Is Tecna going to be able to stand up against Vasiliev? What does this bode for hers and Timmy's future?
Next chapter:
- Flora receives an urgent call from her father.
- Flora talks to Tecna, reminiscing on their convergence test last year.
I've gotten some questions about the dub I'm following, so I just want to address them here. I mainly use Cinélume names of realms and characters, just because they seem more organic than the Americanized names 4Kids used. However, I really like the way the characters speak in 4Kids, so I make their lines reflect that. I imagine the 4Kids actresses' voices in their lines, so I think of that as I write. The dialogue itself is a mix of 4Kids, Cinélume, and my own writing; whatever lines worked the best, I put in.
So that's it for now! See you Wednesday!
