"Leithania euthanization programs. Here's the data…"
"...ontent level of point-fifty? We know that people can live with-"
"...it needs to be investigated before any strikes can be made..."
"Kal'tsit approved."
"...then deploy Alpha, with Recon Reserve Two as backup..."
She remembers now; when she had asked Blaze if Leithania was a nice place. If she and Olivia could… could be happy and peaceful there.
Blaze was more upset that Ifrit had even suggested leaving Rhodes Island, but she had never given Ifrit the answer she was looking for.
"No greater place for the Infected than here! Here we are family-"
Blaze.
Blaze, Skyfire, Istana, Angelina, Dur-Nar, Rope, Ptilo...
Beeswax... Shaw... Absinthe... Firewatch…
Amiya...
Too many… there was just too many, and yet she needs to remember everyone. She needs to keep their memories because… because who else could?
Her blood goes cold when her thoughts finally fall back into place from the haze-
Leithania euthanizes their infected over a certain blood-content level, a "mercy" to those whose symptoms are too painful to handle.
"Eyja!" Ifrit gasps, going for the door only to find it locked. The fear spikes, the Arts pumping an instinctive reaction, the voice whispering what she needed to do. Ifrit pushes it down, banging frantically on the door instead.
"Hey! Let me out!" She bellows, "Let me out before I burn this fucking door down!"
She warned them. She warned them now, so it was on their hand when she-
The door clicks open, a Gendarme frowning deep and annoyed at her.
"What's this about?" The Caprinae officer asks. He's wearing protective gear- riot stuff along with the same kind of biological-hazard mask. As if that'd keep him safe from Ifrit-
"Need to piss!" Ifrit belts out, and at once the officer is taken aback. Even with face covered with a mask, she can see his face go red with embarrassment. At least she thinks it's embarrassment, easy enough to go red with anger, too. Ifrit knew that expression pretty well.
Still, she shoves past him, heading towards the clearly marked restrooms down the hall. The officer stumbles after her, but stops the moment she vanishes into the little ladies' restroom. She is listening though, waiting to see if the bootsteps get closer, but they don't. What next though? Was Eyja still in the room next to hers, or had they already carted her away? She could stick here for a bit, wait and see… but then Officer Cherry-boy over there would come to see what Ifrit was up to eventually. If needs be, she'd turn him to ash, burn down the door and whisk Eyja away to… to where exactly?
Steps in the hall, urgent, hard-heeled clicks . Had that doctor returned? She'd scared the piss out of that one, maybe she can shake the white-coat down for info now that she wasn't locked in their little cage. Ifrit peeks, watching as the Officer Cherry-boy and the doctor talk whispered words. Turn on the faucet, wet the hands, come out slapping them against her coat…
"...a potential danger that-"
"Doctor." Officer Cherry-boy clears his throat, casting eyes at Ifrit.
"My stuff's all done right? Where's my friend?" Ifrit does her best to casually ask, but it comes out as a rough bark. A innocent enough stroll, hands jammed into the pocket of her coat; they can't see the sparks crackling in her palms or her fingernails press so deep into her own flesh that they nearly draw blood.
"Your… check-up is not quite complete-" The Caprinae white-coat pushes her glasses up trying to hide her fear.
"Doc, you took my blood, that's all you need to diagnose me with late-stage Oripathy- I ain't stupid." Ifrit sneers, taking the doctor aback and making the Gendarme take that threatening step forward. As if he'd be able to lay a damn finger on her without coming back with some nice crispy bits.
"I still have all my motor skills-" Ifrit grins, slipping past the doctor and the Gendarme as easily as a warm breeze, her fingers plucking a set of metal cuffs from the officer's belt as she passes before the officer can catch her. Yep, still has her Operator training reflexes that good old Doberman hammered into her. She stops a few steps away, spinning them off her index finger, "Still got my mental faculties- two plus two is four, five times five is twenty-five, see?"
Ifrit bares her fangs in a wild grin, watching to see just what the Gendarme would do in response. The man had reached to his hip for a wand, but just feeling Ifrit's presence has the man being cautious; a wise choice.
"And as long as my friend is okay I won't have to see a shrink, either." She growls, her ire shifting to the white-coat now. Just the tiniest bit of arts pushed into the tiny Originium particles that flow through her finger tip, enough heat to transfer into the metal cuffs… and it isn't long into this little standoff until the spinning thing is glowing red-hot.
"Now, miss Ifrit… I understand your mistrust but you must relax." The doctor nervously replies. Hearing that crack in the woman's voice, seeing just how her eyes track the spinning glow of the handcuffs, well that didn't inspire confidence in relaxing.
But more importantly, the nice little doctor placed herself between Ifrit and the Gendarme. The fact that she was willing to try and talk this down meant… meant that maybe she wasn't as awful as Ifrit first pegged her.
Or she was just a two-faced liar like all the other white coats, waiting for Ifrit to drop her guard.
Ifrit tosses the cuffs into the air, watching as the heat of the metal warps the air around them before catching them in her palm. They stare in awe that she could touch such heat and not have her flesh seared clean off- that slack-jawed stupid when she displayed her power that Ifrit loved. If this doctor was like the white coats from the Lab... then Ifrit would slap these cuffs on her herself, then they'd see that the glow wasn't a trick of illusionary Arts.
"Where is Eyja?" Ifrit growls again.
"Eyja… the young Caprinae woman? She's still in the other exam room. Look for yourself."
It was a trap, a ploy to get her to look away for that split second the Gendarme would need to draw and cast-
Except… the doctor grabs hold of the officer's arm, holding back his hand and pulling it farther and farther away from the handle of that wand.
And Ifrit can see the traces of black crystals on her wrists.
Maybe it was that stupid moment of solidarity makes Ifrit relax. She knew that even Infected could turn on one another for self-preservation… that trusting anyone other than who she's vetted was stupid naiveté… but she peers into the window of the exam room.
Eyja is just sitting there, hands on her lap, nodding to what the other stiff in a white coat was mutedly saying to her. She's got her coat on too- had they already finished the examination?
"Miss Ifrit?"
Ifrit hisses at the white-coat trying to corral her back into that stuffy room, but as a show of how magnanimous Ifrit was despite the show of her might and prowess, Ifrit at least stops pumping her arts that superheat the cuffs. It'll still take a while for them to cool down… but that doesn't mean she's letting these two off.
"Can you do it out here then?"
"Oh uh… huh?"
"Your exam, can you do it out here-" Ifrit motions to the hall. In the first bit of honesty she'd ever show to these folks, she relaxes from that readiness to burn to a more… cautious sizzling. "I have a thing about doctors poking and prodding me in tiny spaces, y'know? Doesn't exactly bring up… good memories." Ifrit's voice darkens at once, a side effect of the memories of her Rhine Lab days. That tone shift alone was enough to make the doctor consider, but Ifrit needs answers now, some way to reassure the white-coat that she wasn't going to get vaporized for trying.
"Officer Cherry-boy can stay there if he thinks I'm gonna try something." Ifrit offers up, though at once she sees both of these fools staring stupidly at one another. Well, at least until the Gendarme explodes.
"Cherry-boy…? Now listen here-"
Well, "explodes"... Ifrit kind of wishes that he did explode for real. This was just good old insult-generated anger, Ifrit knew that one pretty well, too.
"Officer Farkas..." The doctor spins, holding back the man who had just drawn his wand. Oh how Ifrit wants to egg him on, give him a face so smug that'd it make him cast… then she'd have her justification.
But the Gendarme grumbles, moving himself to the opposite side of the hall and leaning there, arms crossed and huffing like a slighted child.
She'll just have to settle for that, at least before turning her attention back to the doctor. No words, just a sharp stare and a wild, fanged grin.
"I-I suppose, that is if you want you medical records public knowledge."
"Like I give a shit who knows that I'm infected. We're all infected here, right?"
"Well-"
"Listen here, doc. I take my meds, I do my job- whatever it is you folk make me do- and Eyja and I'll live peacefully in whatever quiet corner of this quaint little town of yours, and we'll never have to go through this little exchange again, 'kay?"
"...Meds? You have medications?" The doctor lights up at once, and Ifrit realizes she might have made a mistake. There was no hiding it, and Eyja might have revealed it anyways-
"Yeah… Rhodes Island RX, Oripathy suppressants."
The doctor practically salivates when she hears that. Eyes beg, and before she can even ask, Ifrit pulls her pill bottle carefully from her pocket, making sure not to rattle it and give away just how little was left.
"Can you… does it have any information? On the bottle, I mean." The doctor takes a step forward, hand outstretched like she wanted Ifrit to hand it over to her. Like hell she would-
Why hide it? It's not like Rhodes Island exists anymore. No one can make the medication anymore, so why not let someone take a try at it?
"Fuck off, head-voice-" Ifrit whispers under her breath. Luckily, no one seems to have heard that little bit of Sarkaz madness gripping her, but her words have little effect at stopping it.
They're all dead, you know.
Ifrit growls, less at the doctor, more at her own fraying mind. She can feel her eyes dart, the world blurring as those Originium-tainted tentacles grip her mind. Gods, why now?
You killed them all.
Hastily Ifrit uncaps the pill bottle, throwing one of the little purple triangles into the back of her throat, swallowing before her mouth fully dried. Deep breaths, hold it together. Pass a pill to the eager doctor, say something tough like "Don't waste it." Throw a sneer at Officer Cherry-boy so that he knows he's not top dog here.
Then try and hold her mind in a single point by staring at a single white tile. Featureless, nothing for her eyes to grab hold of and twist-
She can feel the flames lap around her. The groaning protest of steel collapsing under weight it can't hold anymore. Her world falls apart around her, what isn't ash is warped and melted into twisted mockeries of what they had once been.
A scream that rumbles the world itself, a fury unmatched ripping itself from her tiny frame. This was… different than all those other times. Anger was an emotion she had learned to accept, but this...
They killed her family, her friend, her life.
So they'd burn.
They'd burn beneath the fury of the sun itself.
They'd burn until not even their ashes remained.
And she'd make sure that every second was as agonizing as possible.
A coup-de-grace broadside answered by a single line of Arts.
A battleship bisected, leaving a front half crawling away from its aft. Easier to melt down when the target was smaller. Don't give them the chance to abandon ship-
"...Miss Ifrit?"
"I don't like closed spaces." Ifrit snarls defensively, feeling the doctor nearby but unable to see until the haze cleared from her eyes. It was a short episode this time, but she can still feel the sweat making her tank top cling to her, still smell the melting steel- "You ever know what it's like to be cut into, poked with needles every day, treated like you're nothing more than a living tissue sample, doc?" Ifrit pelts the Caprinae woman with words, finally able to pull together that white-coated outline.
"N-No… I apologize if that was… your experience, but Leithania…"
"Treats their Infected with respect, yeah. Believe it when I see it." Ifrit takes a deep breath, slow and methodical, trying to slow her heart rate down once more. Gods, when would the medication kick in?
"Miss… um, Ifrit?"
"What?"
"Your eye color…"
"...RLDD-Zero-Three's sclera and iris undergoes temporary pigmentation changes when reacting to over-casting. When samples of fluids taken, it was revealed to be a build up of Originium particles-"
"Iffy… your eyes… Iffy stop!"
"Ifrit. Calm yourself or I will have to restrain you again-"
"...Ifrit… I'm here. They're not your enemies-"
"Fuck off!" Ifrit yells at the voices, and that aggression gets Officer Cherry-boy interceding at once. Wand drawn as he approaches.
Threat, probable cause. Ifrit reacts on pure instinct, focusing on his focus in the wand. How simple it is to simply drown such feeble Arts with her own.
The wand combusts instantly, unable to handle the flow, and the Gendarme recoils.
Two striding steps, and Ifrit is behind him, a mote of flame burning in the palm of her hand like a white-hot dagger-blade and it'd sear through flesh faster than steel could cut-
A body tackles her to the ground, grabbing hold of her wrist and yanking it away from the Gendarme. Ifrit crashes her other elbow into them at once before throwing such a light and feeble attempt to stop her. All she'd need to do is simply push her arts through every vein in her body, turn herself into a focus and bring this whole fucking place down… when she hears that voice. It's a wincing pain, coming from the body she had just thrown.
"Iffy? Iffy!? Come back to me!"
Eyja.
Eyjafjalla.
Adele.
The fire goes out instantly when she realizes she had hurt her only friend. The flame evaporates, the air cooling as Ifrit's Arts begin to fizzle out.
"Ifrit. Why?" Eyja grabs hold of her, squeezing the shoulders as a way to make Ifrit feel her desperation.
"They're going to euthanize us, Adele!" Ifrit screams, trying to turn her fury back towards the white-coats who now stalk a healthy distance away, watching to see if they should start running. "They think we're a lost cause, so they're going to take you away from me, like it's some sort of mercy!"
She wants them to be insulted, wants someone to speak up in Leithania's defense so that Ifrit can turn her fury upon them in righteousness.
But not a single person says a word. Stunned silence, incredulous eyes, and fear; oh the palpable fear. She'd drink it in- the moment she ends their lives like they did to Infected-
But not from Eyja. Only disappointment and exasperation from Eyja. Where was the surprise and insult, where was the warmth of her calming words?
Had… had she messed up again? Gods, she had, hadn't she? Whatever spark may have been left is stamped out when she realizes what she needs to do next. Well, that, or the meds were kicking in now, somehow. Cold clarity, objective view, restraint as Ifrit takes stock. Two doctors, the one that had been checking Eyja huddled and whispering with the one that Ifrit had the joy of terrorizing. The Gendarme though, was not so unscathed. He was gripping his hand- slivers of his wand are embedded in it and bleeding pretty bad.
Gods… gods fucking damn it.
The wimpy, vacillating "sorry" she had ready to pelt out wouldn't cover this shit.
"Bind his wounds around the shards, check his Originium-blood-content level, there might have been Originium in the wand." Ifrit barks at the two supposed doctors. They don't move, at least not until Eyja pushes Ifrit aside and repeats her words with a far more gentle voice.
And those blank eyes turn to Ifrit. Never before had she felt so small beneath such a gaze. Not Olivia, not the Doctor, not even Saria could truly make her feel like such a slimy piece of slug-shit like Eyja could in this very moment. She could mutter a thousand apologies -and she does- but it wouldn't ease that crushing weight.
And when the other Gendarmes arrive, Ifrit still can't move. Even when they slap her in cuffs, even when they clap that sensory-deafening mask over her, even when they jab and shove at her to walk, she still can't move on her own.
All she sees now is Eyja, with that look on her face.
And the only thing her twisted, poisoned mind can think is;
'Oh goody. A fresh new hallucination for me to see now. I was getting sick of the old ones.'