"Mitsuko?"
The voice that woke her up felt as if it was from a lifetime ago, strangely foreign. It took Mitsuko a while to register the voice as Krishna's, someone that she recognized, and she opened her eyes slowly. She found herself on the couch, nestled between the back of it and the still- sleeping body of Phil, his stomach moving up and down with each long breath. She lifted her head from where she slept, and whispered to Krishna so as not to wake up Phil.
"Yes, Dr. Krishna?"
"I need some fresh air. . .but. . .I don't know this place. . .so. . .will you go with me?" asked Krishna, an almost childish fright in his eyes. Mitsuko, almost amused by his impishness, making him truly look like a faerie, pointed ears pulled downwards, agreed, carefully moving over Phil to get off the couch. She gave him one longing last look before following Krishna out of the door, who was dressed in some of Dr. Sloth's clothes which hung off him, much too large.
"So what do you need?" asked Mitsuko, looking up to Krishna.
"Well. . .first of all, I need to pee," admitted Krishna, scratching the back of his head. Mitsuko looked at him oddly, but led him to where she had frequently seen Phil head when nature called, a bathroom not an issue for her, even after she had eaten food. Krishna headed over to the small little dig in the sand and Mitsuko looked away, allowing Krishna some privacy. She looked back after a moment to see him heading back towards her, zipping up the fly. (Though admittedly, it didn't really help, as he was constantly pulling up the pants anyway.)
"Now what?" asked Mitsuko, not meaning to sound cold, but really wanting to return to the couch next to Phil.
". . .well, I just wanted to talk really. . ." started Krishna, almost sounding embarrassed at wanting to do so. Mitsuko let her demeanor change to a more welcoming one, reminding herself that Krishna had probably just gone through something much like what she had experienced. She nodded, understanding, the two walking side by side out into the desert, the town already becoming too noisy in the dust of the morning, Neopets rushing to beat the heat.
Mitsuko did not begin the conversation. Although she had been becoming more vocal, it was still not her forte. Besides, it had been Krishna who had wanted to do the talking, but he was silent for the majority of the walk until they had walked for at least an hour, miles away from Sakhmet City. Finally, his knees seemed to buckle, and he keeled forwards, almost falling face-first in the sand. Mitsuko just barely managed to catch him, supporting his body and helping him sit down. As she did this, she caught a glance of his face-it was beet red, the whites of his eyes bloodshot. Down his face streamed an endless amount of tears, dripping down from his chin. He rested the side of his head on Mitsuko's shoulder as he sat beside her, weeping silently, not sniffling or choking, just letting the tears roll down his face.
They sat like this for a while, Krishna trying to regain control of himself multiple times but seeming to submit once again to the temptation to continue to cry. Finally, he managed to take reign of his feelings, leaning forwards, holding his knees, letting his back slump. Wiping away the tears with the back of his hand, he began to speak, his voice wavering every so often.
"I-it's stupid I guess. . .I always wanted to know who my parents were. . .but. . .then again. . ." He swallowed hard. ". . .over the years I had been able to formulate such a picture perfect vision of them together. . .although I knew that probably wasn't the case. . .still. . .it was. . .jarring. . .even if I wasn't fully conscious or anything.
"Who am I kidding?" said Krishna with a weak smile. "When I was young. . .I would've given anything for parents, even if they were dysfunctional. Heck. . .I guess. . .I guess I would've even accepted one of them as guardians or some sort. I was just dumped out onto this world, with no sense of identity. Free to imagine that I had some sort of wonderful set of parents, a beautiful mother and a strong father-I was just kidnapped, that's all. But in truth? I've got one former madman and a current madwoman as biological precursors. But I suppose. . .some things are too much to hope for."
Mitsuko didn't know what to say-of course, the news had come to a shock to her as well, but she hadn't been quite as fixated over the concept of whom had created her or owned her. Krishna did not seem to want a reply as much as someone to talk to. An outpour of feelings seemed to stream from his normally conservative-on-feelings lips, almost as if there had been a build-up of emotions behind his usually pleasant demeanor and now it burst out, unable to be stopped.
"It was so lonely as a child. . .heck. . .who am I kidding, I was always lonely. There was nobody there for me. . .nobody really cared, and everybody who even noticed that I was alive seemed to take it into the back of their mind that I was some kind of freak, due to the fact that I was half-and-half, not to mention that I possessed half a faerie body and still was interested in science. I can remember from my first day of education among all Neopets. They were filled with endless supplies of leers and glares. . .a friendship was not offered to me among them. At first, I was okay with playing alone. . .but as I got older, the isolation got to me.
"It's strange, I suppose-science was the one way out, something that I was actually good at. I was poor at writing and sports-I constantly broke fragile bones in sports, and thus was picked last the majority of the time. I found solace in those bubbling chemicals, solace I couldn't find in sentient creatures. Sad. I could make creatures that I could train to love me, but they would never truly do so out of will. . .or so I believe that they wouldn't. I never actually brought that theory to experimentation.
"I could feel something growing inside of me, Mitsuko. Something horrible, and yet I didn't know what. A darkness, I guess you could call it, a taste for the flavor known as revenge. It frightened me-I became scared of myself, convinced that I needed to have some kind of contact with a being that could think and talk. . .so I decided to create a robot, knowing that I would never be able to find a Neopet that wanted to be near me. . .I had already tried that strategy many times before, with varying amounts of failure. That's why I went to the junkyard that day. . .to find a sentient head somewhere within the fray, hopefully. . .and ironically enough, I found a project of my father's," said Krishna, a small smile flickering on his lips. "I don't regret it. . .even if you were with me for only a time, it drew back that feeling inside of me. . ."
"Maybe. . ." started Mitsuko, staring into the air idly, her forehead wrinkling with thought. Krishna seemed to wait for her to finish, but she decided against it-what she had wanted to say would probably upset Krishna at the time. She had almost suggested that, perhaps, his father had felt the same way.
Krishna paused in speaking for a moment, but before he could break into speech once more, a loud explosion sounded from behind the two of them, making Krishna jump and Mitsuko stand on guard, jumping to her feet, as if expecting an attack at any moment. As Mitsuko looked behind herself, gazing over the horizon, she felt what could pass for a stomach inside of her drop-on the tip of the horizon was an orange plume of flame, looking like a blooming poppy, slowly rising into the air.
Without speaking, Mitsuko left Krishna behind, heading back towards the town. Though she knew that many other houses lay in that direction, Dr. Sloth's did as well, and this was what worried her. Flaring her boosters, she shot forward like a bullet, skimming across the sand, kicking it up from behind her. A large dune blocked her view of the town, a view that would allow her to see the entirety of the town, as well as Dr. Sloth's house, far from the rest of the town as it was. Shooting up into the air, she breeched the top of the dune, looking down at the land before her. What she saw made her want to vomit-unfortunately, her body was not constructed quite that realistically to allow such a function.
As her eyes wandered to Dr. Sloth's house, she saw exactly what she had dreaded: from the sides of the house leapt flames of an unquenchable fury, reaching high into the air with their long, flaming fingers. The house was blackened, and a part of it was completely demolished, a mere amount of ash in the ground, like ebony sand that blew smoke from it. Her heart lurched, eyes widening. As her gaze wandered with the smoke that blew from the flames, she could see an entire flock of fire faeries floating over the house like a private band of assassins. They were preparing another attack, apparently, judging by the way they all held their hands in the air, summoning fire to their palms and gathering the power in the center of their circle.
"NO!" screamed Mitsuko, hoping that somehow, someway, that Phil had been spared of the first blast. She tried to burst forwards, to travel that extra mile in a colossal burst of speed. But she found arms around her, restraining her from going forwards, clutching to her desperately. Struggling wildly, flailing, she found that the arms belonged to Krishna, staring forward with an expression just as horrified as hers, though trying to stop her from going forward, trying to save her from doing something that might risk her life.
And so she could only watch in absolute revolution and terror as the enormous ball of flame forming above the house grew larger, until it was twice its size. The fire faeries gave a loud group chant, and the fireball was suddenly unleashed upon the house mercilessly. As it hit the house, Mitsuko shrieked out once again, ripping and tearing at Krishna, swearing and hitting him, trying to get forward, thinking that perhaps if she got there in time, she would be able to rescue Phil. But no. Krishna remained on top of her, bearing her into the ground, pinning her down with some inhuman strength that he possessed inside of him that she had never felt before. And she watched as the house was decimated before her very eyes, the flames of the house's glittering reflection in her eyes.
The fire faeries, seeming to be pleased with their awful work, retreated from the house, zooming overhead of Mitsuko. Giving a raw scream of anguish and hatred, Mitsuko shook off Krishna and darted upwards towards the flock of faeries, who, among their ranks, carried the Battle Faerie, liberated before the house had been destroyed. Even though she lacked a weapon, she charged into their ranks without mercy, tearing at their vulnerable flesh with extreme barbarity. A few shrieked and fell to the ground, injured-but the others simply teleported away, hoping to get away from the insane robotic Shoyru as quickly as possible.
Mitsuko forgot about her foes on the ground for the moment, shooting towards the house, achieving her destination in just moments. She circled above the burning remains of the house, looking down at it with wide eyes, feeling an emptiness beginning to seep over her. She searched, with the utmost preciseness, for any scraps that could vaguely be the form of Phil- for the time being, she did not even think of Dr. Sloth, the fact that he was probably in the building as well totally out of her mind. Finally, her eyes gazed upon movement within the embers, and she shot downwards, landing among the charred rubble, kneeling down next to the stirring form.
Indeed, it was Phil-or rather, what remained of Phil. He was still alive, perhaps, but hanging onto the edge of his life by a string. Where there had once been yellow-gold skin was now cracked black, the cracks of a raw red color, bleeding at the edges. His bones were twisted into unnatural positions; he was primarily colored black and red, bleeding profusely from his neck, a most fatal wound. Gingerly, Mitsuko placed a hand beneath Phil's head, picking it up gently, speechless, staring down at him, wondering if his eyes were open or if his eyelids had just been burnt off.
". . .Su. . .ko. . ..?"
The words were uttered with an expression of pain on what Mitsuko could only guess was Phil's face. She leaned down towards it, not quite touching it as she knew that would probably only cause him more pain, if he could still feel. She couldn't speak, couldn't answer his question. She was only able to keep herself close to him, staring down, not able to believe what was happening. The burnt figure in her arms trembled as if he were a small infant, moving himself closer to Mitsuko, almost trying to get warm, despite the fact that he had been so horribly burned.
"Suko. . .I'm scared. . ."
He shook terribly within her arms, closing his eyes, squeezing them shut and giving a little cry of pain. His burnt arms managed to wrap themselves around her, clinging to her desperately, as if she was his last chance at life support. She did the same for him, though carefully, not wanting to hurt him any more. As long as he was alive, she could still hold onto the false illusion that he would make it through. His cheek touched hers, but this time it was not smooth, but cracked and rough, scraping at the fake organic skin on her face. It didn't matter to her, though-for the time being he was still alive, and nothing could rip her away from him at that moment.
"D-don't be," she managed to choke out, closing her eyes as well. "I'm here, Phil. . .I'll protect you from them. . ." Her words ceased with a little squeak, being cut off by her throat tightening.
"G-good. . .as long as you're here. . .Suko. . .everything. . .will be great. . ."
A last smile stretched across Phil's face, cracking his skin a bit more, but he seemed to hardly notice. His arms gave one last squeeze to Mitsuko flesh, a tear dripping down his face despite his smile, wiping off onto Mitsuko's skin. He began to say something in a low voice, the smile ever present on his face, but slowly his grip loosened on Mitsuko. The eyes that she had so often gazed into looked up to the sky, as if searching for something, glazing over, never to see again. Slowly, his body fell away from Mitsuko's as her grip was lost, her body paralyzed.
She couldn't move, couldn't scream, couldn't cry. She couldn't do anything to release her feelings-they could only grow within her, those of grief, anguish, anger and hatred. She could feel their intensity building up inside of her, as if she were a soda bottle being shaken up, the cap about ready to explode. When that occurred, she didn't know exactly what she would do, the body of Phil lying in her arms, Phil so close yet so very far away. The feelings building up inside of her were beginning to overwhelm her senses, and slowly, tears of oil began to roll down from her unblinking eyes. Yet even as she began to cry, her fingers rolled around Phil, gripping him tightly. Her jaw clenched, the fake muscles flexing tightly.
And then she snapped.
It was not an abrupt snap, with Mitsuko suddenly striking out at the first thing she could hit. No, quite the contrary, for with the mental snap came no physical change besides the fact that the oil streaking her face had stopped seeping down. Her body just seemed to stop functioning for a moment, her arms releasing Phil's body, the limp carcass falling to the ground amid the ashes. From behind, she could hear Krishna coming, but she felt nothing. She only stared forward, her eyes slowly narrowing.
"Oh, God. . .Mitsuko, what happened?" She did not reply to Krishna's inquiry. In all honesty, she didn't even hear him. Krishna bent down next to her, but instead of consoling the blank-looking robot, he instead picked up a piece of paper from the ashes, squinting to read the calligraphy handwriting. Krishna drew back as he read it, swallowing hard. "But. . ."
Mitsuko didn't even need to have the card read to her out loud. She knew who was behind the horrible event that had just happened, even if her soul was supposed to have been devoured by the Swamp Ghouls. It could be no other, directing faeries to commit such crimes. The question of how she had escaped from her internal prison didn't even strike a thought into her mind, for the time being, reasoning was completely washed from her mind. Standing up erect, she stared forward, her eyebrows turning downwards.
"I'm leaving now, Krishna," she announced, her voice as cold as stone, his eyes equally as so. Krishna looked to her, blinking, astonished.
"What? What do you mean? Aren't you going to-"
"There is one thing that I must do, Dr. Krishna, before I may join Phil in the afterlife, if there truly is one for those such as myself. And I need to finish that now, Krishna."
"What about. . .my. . .father. . .?"
"Find his remains within the house, if you feel the need to bury him. . .look after Phil until I come back. . .though I will not return in one piece."
Without looking back, she shot into the air, redirecting her course for that of where she had only a day before come from, hoping that, perhaps, leaving the castle had meant some kind of new beginning. But now as she headed back towards the wasted remnants of Faerieland which they had escaped from, she knew that this time her conflict would not be resolved so easily.
Tahra, whom Mitsuko had little doubt had committed the crime, had made a dire mistake in attacking Mitsuko. Perhaps she had truly wanted the robot back that much as to take such drastic measures, but unfortunately, Tahra had sparked something inside of Mitsuko that had completely taken over her body, to the extent that anything getting in the way of her destroying the half-faerie, half-machine, would be immediately annihilated. In a way, Tahra had unknowingly given an advantage to the now-deranged and hell-bent robot: she had given her an opportunity to strike at her with nothing to lose.
Without Phil was a possible future, everything, in Mitsuko's mind, looked bleak and lifeless compared to what she had been given a taste of. She could see millions of RAREs in her future, thousands of pointless wars fighting against opponents that she could easily defeat, perhaps even joining the RBT again. (But honestly, that would defeat the purpose, for she would just see Tahra once again, causing the cyborg to try, again, to capture her.) Yet this was nothing that she had ever wanted originally, if having joined them anyway.
In all truth, she hadn't wanted to fight, no matter how much it had made her 'blood' boil with the heat of the moment, no matter how much of a charge she had believed to feel as she had sliced through the flesh of innocents. No-maybe, unlike Phil had once said, she was not a fighter, but in fact a lover, due to the organic half of her brain, constantly working against a robotic instinct to destroy.
Yet now what remained of the compassion which had been given by the organic brain seemed little-in the flurry of emotions Mitsuko had experienced at Phil's death, the organic side of her brain, unable to cope with the deep loss, had seemed to completely allowed the robotic side control, hardly trying to get through. And for the time being, Mitsuko was glad of this, if her lack of emotions could even allow such a thing as gladness-as long as she remained heartless, reverting back to a state that she hadn't been in for so very long, she could destroy Tahra without a second thought. Without emotions, she didn't have to feel the agonizing weight of Phil's, and ultimately Dr. Sloth's, death on her heart, weighing her down into the ground. As long as she stayed like the merciless robot that she was, she was safe from the dangers of her emotions, safe from what harm they could cause her to do to herself.
It did not take her very long to arrive at the castle from which she had departed only a day earlier, as she had been traveling as fast as her boosters had allowed. (She also did not have the burden of Dr. Sloth's weight to carry-and as far as she knew, she would never have to bear that burden ever again.) She had never truly gotten a good look at the castle, as she had been desperate for escape at the time being, but as she looked on it with flat eyes, oil still leaking from them slightly, she noticed that it seemed like a horrible, gray claw, reaching into the air. She could distantly remember Krishna talking about Faerieland's fall from paradise, and its former grandeur, but there was certainly nothing grand about what lay before her, especially for what it represented in her mind.
What had once been a haven of fluffy clouds and magnificent structures fit for a period of enlightenment had been reduced to something of a dark era: the ground around the area looked like a swamp filled with thick, black sludge, boiling and popping, sending its horrid fumes into the air. Pieces of long-forgotten buildings were half-submerged into the terrible pond, some of them being sucked into its depths as Mitsuko watched. The castle stood in the middle, on an island of some sort covered in ebony-colored grass, seeming to rot and curl into odd shapes before her eyes. The castle itself was of a white color, but darkened from the atmosphere and the mildew and plants growing on the sides of it. Even a shade of black would look better on the wasted castle. But Mitsuko wasn't interested in the decline of architecture.
She increased her speed forwards, aiming for the first window that she set her eyes onto. There were a few without glass that she could've easily passed through, but she was not interested in finding the easy way in-as long as she entered the building, the pathway in which she got into it was not important. Ducking her head down, she smashed through the glass window with relative ease, tumbling into an empty room, collecting herself and then continuing through the door.
The part of the castle that she had entered was certainly not as well- kept as the places which she had traversed through originally. Indeed, the wall's paint was peeling back, and some of the walls were completely absent, allowing her to peer into the rooms, though she did not take the time to do so. She had no map of the castle that she knew of, but she was quite certain of where she could find Tahra and rid her of being in this world-it was a memory that aided her, a memory from parts of her organic brain, slowly bringing itself back into function, but certainly not enough to compete with the robotic killer instinct.
Wandering down the hallways and through the different levels of the castle brought images into her mind. Mentally, she reformed the castle, adding furniture where they used to be, internally knowing the layout of the castle, as if she had traveled it many times in a past life. But, in all realities, it wasn't the castle she remembered at all-that one was filled with life, bustling with faeries and noise, busy but cheerful. This castle was devoid of life, seeming to try and suck her soul from her. Mitsuko was in no danger of that happening, however-she had no soul to lose, and had become quite aware of that.
She floated down the hallways in a sort of murderous daze, intent in her eyes, but moving slowly. She passed no active faeries, and the ones that she did seemed apathetic to her presence, giving her one solid look then moving onto the matters they dealt in. As she continued on, the dank castle began to become lighter, the scenery fixed and less broken. She knew that she was getting closer to the ballroom, but that wasn't exactly where she wanted to go. Changing her path to another corridor, she immediately sensed the sound of voices.
The voice that woke her up felt as if it was from a lifetime ago, strangely foreign. It took Mitsuko a while to register the voice as Krishna's, someone that she recognized, and she opened her eyes slowly. She found herself on the couch, nestled between the back of it and the still- sleeping body of Phil, his stomach moving up and down with each long breath. She lifted her head from where she slept, and whispered to Krishna so as not to wake up Phil.
"Yes, Dr. Krishna?"
"I need some fresh air. . .but. . .I don't know this place. . .so. . .will you go with me?" asked Krishna, an almost childish fright in his eyes. Mitsuko, almost amused by his impishness, making him truly look like a faerie, pointed ears pulled downwards, agreed, carefully moving over Phil to get off the couch. She gave him one longing last look before following Krishna out of the door, who was dressed in some of Dr. Sloth's clothes which hung off him, much too large.
"So what do you need?" asked Mitsuko, looking up to Krishna.
"Well. . .first of all, I need to pee," admitted Krishna, scratching the back of his head. Mitsuko looked at him oddly, but led him to where she had frequently seen Phil head when nature called, a bathroom not an issue for her, even after she had eaten food. Krishna headed over to the small little dig in the sand and Mitsuko looked away, allowing Krishna some privacy. She looked back after a moment to see him heading back towards her, zipping up the fly. (Though admittedly, it didn't really help, as he was constantly pulling up the pants anyway.)
"Now what?" asked Mitsuko, not meaning to sound cold, but really wanting to return to the couch next to Phil.
". . .well, I just wanted to talk really. . ." started Krishna, almost sounding embarrassed at wanting to do so. Mitsuko let her demeanor change to a more welcoming one, reminding herself that Krishna had probably just gone through something much like what she had experienced. She nodded, understanding, the two walking side by side out into the desert, the town already becoming too noisy in the dust of the morning, Neopets rushing to beat the heat.
Mitsuko did not begin the conversation. Although she had been becoming more vocal, it was still not her forte. Besides, it had been Krishna who had wanted to do the talking, but he was silent for the majority of the walk until they had walked for at least an hour, miles away from Sakhmet City. Finally, his knees seemed to buckle, and he keeled forwards, almost falling face-first in the sand. Mitsuko just barely managed to catch him, supporting his body and helping him sit down. As she did this, she caught a glance of his face-it was beet red, the whites of his eyes bloodshot. Down his face streamed an endless amount of tears, dripping down from his chin. He rested the side of his head on Mitsuko's shoulder as he sat beside her, weeping silently, not sniffling or choking, just letting the tears roll down his face.
They sat like this for a while, Krishna trying to regain control of himself multiple times but seeming to submit once again to the temptation to continue to cry. Finally, he managed to take reign of his feelings, leaning forwards, holding his knees, letting his back slump. Wiping away the tears with the back of his hand, he began to speak, his voice wavering every so often.
"I-it's stupid I guess. . .I always wanted to know who my parents were. . .but. . .then again. . ." He swallowed hard. ". . .over the years I had been able to formulate such a picture perfect vision of them together. . .although I knew that probably wasn't the case. . .still. . .it was. . .jarring. . .even if I wasn't fully conscious or anything.
"Who am I kidding?" said Krishna with a weak smile. "When I was young. . .I would've given anything for parents, even if they were dysfunctional. Heck. . .I guess. . .I guess I would've even accepted one of them as guardians or some sort. I was just dumped out onto this world, with no sense of identity. Free to imagine that I had some sort of wonderful set of parents, a beautiful mother and a strong father-I was just kidnapped, that's all. But in truth? I've got one former madman and a current madwoman as biological precursors. But I suppose. . .some things are too much to hope for."
Mitsuko didn't know what to say-of course, the news had come to a shock to her as well, but she hadn't been quite as fixated over the concept of whom had created her or owned her. Krishna did not seem to want a reply as much as someone to talk to. An outpour of feelings seemed to stream from his normally conservative-on-feelings lips, almost as if there had been a build-up of emotions behind his usually pleasant demeanor and now it burst out, unable to be stopped.
"It was so lonely as a child. . .heck. . .who am I kidding, I was always lonely. There was nobody there for me. . .nobody really cared, and everybody who even noticed that I was alive seemed to take it into the back of their mind that I was some kind of freak, due to the fact that I was half-and-half, not to mention that I possessed half a faerie body and still was interested in science. I can remember from my first day of education among all Neopets. They were filled with endless supplies of leers and glares. . .a friendship was not offered to me among them. At first, I was okay with playing alone. . .but as I got older, the isolation got to me.
"It's strange, I suppose-science was the one way out, something that I was actually good at. I was poor at writing and sports-I constantly broke fragile bones in sports, and thus was picked last the majority of the time. I found solace in those bubbling chemicals, solace I couldn't find in sentient creatures. Sad. I could make creatures that I could train to love me, but they would never truly do so out of will. . .or so I believe that they wouldn't. I never actually brought that theory to experimentation.
"I could feel something growing inside of me, Mitsuko. Something horrible, and yet I didn't know what. A darkness, I guess you could call it, a taste for the flavor known as revenge. It frightened me-I became scared of myself, convinced that I needed to have some kind of contact with a being that could think and talk. . .so I decided to create a robot, knowing that I would never be able to find a Neopet that wanted to be near me. . .I had already tried that strategy many times before, with varying amounts of failure. That's why I went to the junkyard that day. . .to find a sentient head somewhere within the fray, hopefully. . .and ironically enough, I found a project of my father's," said Krishna, a small smile flickering on his lips. "I don't regret it. . .even if you were with me for only a time, it drew back that feeling inside of me. . ."
"Maybe. . ." started Mitsuko, staring into the air idly, her forehead wrinkling with thought. Krishna seemed to wait for her to finish, but she decided against it-what she had wanted to say would probably upset Krishna at the time. She had almost suggested that, perhaps, his father had felt the same way.
Krishna paused in speaking for a moment, but before he could break into speech once more, a loud explosion sounded from behind the two of them, making Krishna jump and Mitsuko stand on guard, jumping to her feet, as if expecting an attack at any moment. As Mitsuko looked behind herself, gazing over the horizon, she felt what could pass for a stomach inside of her drop-on the tip of the horizon was an orange plume of flame, looking like a blooming poppy, slowly rising into the air.
Without speaking, Mitsuko left Krishna behind, heading back towards the town. Though she knew that many other houses lay in that direction, Dr. Sloth's did as well, and this was what worried her. Flaring her boosters, she shot forward like a bullet, skimming across the sand, kicking it up from behind her. A large dune blocked her view of the town, a view that would allow her to see the entirety of the town, as well as Dr. Sloth's house, far from the rest of the town as it was. Shooting up into the air, she breeched the top of the dune, looking down at the land before her. What she saw made her want to vomit-unfortunately, her body was not constructed quite that realistically to allow such a function.
As her eyes wandered to Dr. Sloth's house, she saw exactly what she had dreaded: from the sides of the house leapt flames of an unquenchable fury, reaching high into the air with their long, flaming fingers. The house was blackened, and a part of it was completely demolished, a mere amount of ash in the ground, like ebony sand that blew smoke from it. Her heart lurched, eyes widening. As her gaze wandered with the smoke that blew from the flames, she could see an entire flock of fire faeries floating over the house like a private band of assassins. They were preparing another attack, apparently, judging by the way they all held their hands in the air, summoning fire to their palms and gathering the power in the center of their circle.
"NO!" screamed Mitsuko, hoping that somehow, someway, that Phil had been spared of the first blast. She tried to burst forwards, to travel that extra mile in a colossal burst of speed. But she found arms around her, restraining her from going forwards, clutching to her desperately. Struggling wildly, flailing, she found that the arms belonged to Krishna, staring forward with an expression just as horrified as hers, though trying to stop her from going forward, trying to save her from doing something that might risk her life.
And so she could only watch in absolute revolution and terror as the enormous ball of flame forming above the house grew larger, until it was twice its size. The fire faeries gave a loud group chant, and the fireball was suddenly unleashed upon the house mercilessly. As it hit the house, Mitsuko shrieked out once again, ripping and tearing at Krishna, swearing and hitting him, trying to get forward, thinking that perhaps if she got there in time, she would be able to rescue Phil. But no. Krishna remained on top of her, bearing her into the ground, pinning her down with some inhuman strength that he possessed inside of him that she had never felt before. And she watched as the house was decimated before her very eyes, the flames of the house's glittering reflection in her eyes.
The fire faeries, seeming to be pleased with their awful work, retreated from the house, zooming overhead of Mitsuko. Giving a raw scream of anguish and hatred, Mitsuko shook off Krishna and darted upwards towards the flock of faeries, who, among their ranks, carried the Battle Faerie, liberated before the house had been destroyed. Even though she lacked a weapon, she charged into their ranks without mercy, tearing at their vulnerable flesh with extreme barbarity. A few shrieked and fell to the ground, injured-but the others simply teleported away, hoping to get away from the insane robotic Shoyru as quickly as possible.
Mitsuko forgot about her foes on the ground for the moment, shooting towards the house, achieving her destination in just moments. She circled above the burning remains of the house, looking down at it with wide eyes, feeling an emptiness beginning to seep over her. She searched, with the utmost preciseness, for any scraps that could vaguely be the form of Phil- for the time being, she did not even think of Dr. Sloth, the fact that he was probably in the building as well totally out of her mind. Finally, her eyes gazed upon movement within the embers, and she shot downwards, landing among the charred rubble, kneeling down next to the stirring form.
Indeed, it was Phil-or rather, what remained of Phil. He was still alive, perhaps, but hanging onto the edge of his life by a string. Where there had once been yellow-gold skin was now cracked black, the cracks of a raw red color, bleeding at the edges. His bones were twisted into unnatural positions; he was primarily colored black and red, bleeding profusely from his neck, a most fatal wound. Gingerly, Mitsuko placed a hand beneath Phil's head, picking it up gently, speechless, staring down at him, wondering if his eyes were open or if his eyelids had just been burnt off.
". . .Su. . .ko. . ..?"
The words were uttered with an expression of pain on what Mitsuko could only guess was Phil's face. She leaned down towards it, not quite touching it as she knew that would probably only cause him more pain, if he could still feel. She couldn't speak, couldn't answer his question. She was only able to keep herself close to him, staring down, not able to believe what was happening. The burnt figure in her arms trembled as if he were a small infant, moving himself closer to Mitsuko, almost trying to get warm, despite the fact that he had been so horribly burned.
"Suko. . .I'm scared. . ."
He shook terribly within her arms, closing his eyes, squeezing them shut and giving a little cry of pain. His burnt arms managed to wrap themselves around her, clinging to her desperately, as if she was his last chance at life support. She did the same for him, though carefully, not wanting to hurt him any more. As long as he was alive, she could still hold onto the false illusion that he would make it through. His cheek touched hers, but this time it was not smooth, but cracked and rough, scraping at the fake organic skin on her face. It didn't matter to her, though-for the time being he was still alive, and nothing could rip her away from him at that moment.
"D-don't be," she managed to choke out, closing her eyes as well. "I'm here, Phil. . .I'll protect you from them. . ." Her words ceased with a little squeak, being cut off by her throat tightening.
"G-good. . .as long as you're here. . .Suko. . .everything. . .will be great. . ."
A last smile stretched across Phil's face, cracking his skin a bit more, but he seemed to hardly notice. His arms gave one last squeeze to Mitsuko flesh, a tear dripping down his face despite his smile, wiping off onto Mitsuko's skin. He began to say something in a low voice, the smile ever present on his face, but slowly his grip loosened on Mitsuko. The eyes that she had so often gazed into looked up to the sky, as if searching for something, glazing over, never to see again. Slowly, his body fell away from Mitsuko's as her grip was lost, her body paralyzed.
She couldn't move, couldn't scream, couldn't cry. She couldn't do anything to release her feelings-they could only grow within her, those of grief, anguish, anger and hatred. She could feel their intensity building up inside of her, as if she were a soda bottle being shaken up, the cap about ready to explode. When that occurred, she didn't know exactly what she would do, the body of Phil lying in her arms, Phil so close yet so very far away. The feelings building up inside of her were beginning to overwhelm her senses, and slowly, tears of oil began to roll down from her unblinking eyes. Yet even as she began to cry, her fingers rolled around Phil, gripping him tightly. Her jaw clenched, the fake muscles flexing tightly.
And then she snapped.
It was not an abrupt snap, with Mitsuko suddenly striking out at the first thing she could hit. No, quite the contrary, for with the mental snap came no physical change besides the fact that the oil streaking her face had stopped seeping down. Her body just seemed to stop functioning for a moment, her arms releasing Phil's body, the limp carcass falling to the ground amid the ashes. From behind, she could hear Krishna coming, but she felt nothing. She only stared forward, her eyes slowly narrowing.
"Oh, God. . .Mitsuko, what happened?" She did not reply to Krishna's inquiry. In all honesty, she didn't even hear him. Krishna bent down next to her, but instead of consoling the blank-looking robot, he instead picked up a piece of paper from the ashes, squinting to read the calligraphy handwriting. Krishna drew back as he read it, swallowing hard. "But. . ."
Mitsuko didn't even need to have the card read to her out loud. She knew who was behind the horrible event that had just happened, even if her soul was supposed to have been devoured by the Swamp Ghouls. It could be no other, directing faeries to commit such crimes. The question of how she had escaped from her internal prison didn't even strike a thought into her mind, for the time being, reasoning was completely washed from her mind. Standing up erect, she stared forward, her eyebrows turning downwards.
"I'm leaving now, Krishna," she announced, her voice as cold as stone, his eyes equally as so. Krishna looked to her, blinking, astonished.
"What? What do you mean? Aren't you going to-"
"There is one thing that I must do, Dr. Krishna, before I may join Phil in the afterlife, if there truly is one for those such as myself. And I need to finish that now, Krishna."
"What about. . .my. . .father. . .?"
"Find his remains within the house, if you feel the need to bury him. . .look after Phil until I come back. . .though I will not return in one piece."
Without looking back, she shot into the air, redirecting her course for that of where she had only a day before come from, hoping that, perhaps, leaving the castle had meant some kind of new beginning. But now as she headed back towards the wasted remnants of Faerieland which they had escaped from, she knew that this time her conflict would not be resolved so easily.
Tahra, whom Mitsuko had little doubt had committed the crime, had made a dire mistake in attacking Mitsuko. Perhaps she had truly wanted the robot back that much as to take such drastic measures, but unfortunately, Tahra had sparked something inside of Mitsuko that had completely taken over her body, to the extent that anything getting in the way of her destroying the half-faerie, half-machine, would be immediately annihilated. In a way, Tahra had unknowingly given an advantage to the now-deranged and hell-bent robot: she had given her an opportunity to strike at her with nothing to lose.
Without Phil was a possible future, everything, in Mitsuko's mind, looked bleak and lifeless compared to what she had been given a taste of. She could see millions of RAREs in her future, thousands of pointless wars fighting against opponents that she could easily defeat, perhaps even joining the RBT again. (But honestly, that would defeat the purpose, for she would just see Tahra once again, causing the cyborg to try, again, to capture her.) Yet this was nothing that she had ever wanted originally, if having joined them anyway.
In all truth, she hadn't wanted to fight, no matter how much it had made her 'blood' boil with the heat of the moment, no matter how much of a charge she had believed to feel as she had sliced through the flesh of innocents. No-maybe, unlike Phil had once said, she was not a fighter, but in fact a lover, due to the organic half of her brain, constantly working against a robotic instinct to destroy.
Yet now what remained of the compassion which had been given by the organic brain seemed little-in the flurry of emotions Mitsuko had experienced at Phil's death, the organic side of her brain, unable to cope with the deep loss, had seemed to completely allowed the robotic side control, hardly trying to get through. And for the time being, Mitsuko was glad of this, if her lack of emotions could even allow such a thing as gladness-as long as she remained heartless, reverting back to a state that she hadn't been in for so very long, she could destroy Tahra without a second thought. Without emotions, she didn't have to feel the agonizing weight of Phil's, and ultimately Dr. Sloth's, death on her heart, weighing her down into the ground. As long as she stayed like the merciless robot that she was, she was safe from the dangers of her emotions, safe from what harm they could cause her to do to herself.
It did not take her very long to arrive at the castle from which she had departed only a day earlier, as she had been traveling as fast as her boosters had allowed. (She also did not have the burden of Dr. Sloth's weight to carry-and as far as she knew, she would never have to bear that burden ever again.) She had never truly gotten a good look at the castle, as she had been desperate for escape at the time being, but as she looked on it with flat eyes, oil still leaking from them slightly, she noticed that it seemed like a horrible, gray claw, reaching into the air. She could distantly remember Krishna talking about Faerieland's fall from paradise, and its former grandeur, but there was certainly nothing grand about what lay before her, especially for what it represented in her mind.
What had once been a haven of fluffy clouds and magnificent structures fit for a period of enlightenment had been reduced to something of a dark era: the ground around the area looked like a swamp filled with thick, black sludge, boiling and popping, sending its horrid fumes into the air. Pieces of long-forgotten buildings were half-submerged into the terrible pond, some of them being sucked into its depths as Mitsuko watched. The castle stood in the middle, on an island of some sort covered in ebony-colored grass, seeming to rot and curl into odd shapes before her eyes. The castle itself was of a white color, but darkened from the atmosphere and the mildew and plants growing on the sides of it. Even a shade of black would look better on the wasted castle. But Mitsuko wasn't interested in the decline of architecture.
She increased her speed forwards, aiming for the first window that she set her eyes onto. There were a few without glass that she could've easily passed through, but she was not interested in finding the easy way in-as long as she entered the building, the pathway in which she got into it was not important. Ducking her head down, she smashed through the glass window with relative ease, tumbling into an empty room, collecting herself and then continuing through the door.
The part of the castle that she had entered was certainly not as well- kept as the places which she had traversed through originally. Indeed, the wall's paint was peeling back, and some of the walls were completely absent, allowing her to peer into the rooms, though she did not take the time to do so. She had no map of the castle that she knew of, but she was quite certain of where she could find Tahra and rid her of being in this world-it was a memory that aided her, a memory from parts of her organic brain, slowly bringing itself back into function, but certainly not enough to compete with the robotic killer instinct.
Wandering down the hallways and through the different levels of the castle brought images into her mind. Mentally, she reformed the castle, adding furniture where they used to be, internally knowing the layout of the castle, as if she had traveled it many times in a past life. But, in all realities, it wasn't the castle she remembered at all-that one was filled with life, bustling with faeries and noise, busy but cheerful. This castle was devoid of life, seeming to try and suck her soul from her. Mitsuko was in no danger of that happening, however-she had no soul to lose, and had become quite aware of that.
She floated down the hallways in a sort of murderous daze, intent in her eyes, but moving slowly. She passed no active faeries, and the ones that she did seemed apathetic to her presence, giving her one solid look then moving onto the matters they dealt in. As she continued on, the dank castle began to become lighter, the scenery fixed and less broken. She knew that she was getting closer to the ballroom, but that wasn't exactly where she wanted to go. Changing her path to another corridor, she immediately sensed the sound of voices.