Author's Note: Sorry for the long delay, I've been very busy with school and this chapter was very hard for me to write. One more chapter left after this one and this fic's done. Yeah, the last chapter was confusing, dragged on, and whatnot, but hopefully you guys find this chapter more satisfying and I hope it answers all the mysteries and whatnot of this fic. A lot of revelations for Elly in this chapter, along with my idea of who Nephilim really is and her link with the two KOS-MOS units. There's also a few (mild) speculations on what may happen in Xenosaga Episode 2 (namely about Jr.'s past), but I doubt they count as spoilers. Things may be slow again at first, but I'll try to speed things up while trying to answer all the mysteries of the story. With that said, let's begin.
Chapter 7: What Was One is Now Two
Happiness, something I cannot describe. What is it exactly, this emotion that people express through smiles and laughter? I cannot begin to comprehend such things.
"Do you wish to understand?" a voice suddenly enters the vicinity.
"Who are you?" my vision turns directly behind me.
My eyes meet with those of cerulean blue, scanning the perfectly-hued skin surrounding it. The lips on this face are drawn blank, not an expression is worn on them. Strands like fire rest atop her head, traveling down its owner's back and partly on her shoulders. This mysterious person wears a pink dress, free of sleeves or folds of any sort. It is a child that stands before me, unmoving and silent, like an adult.
"My name is Nephilim," the little girl answers, "and you must be KOS-MOS, correct?"
"That is correct," I nod my head. "Are you another A.I. that was constructed by Vector?" I ask.
"I am not," she answers in a monotone expression, "rather, I am a presence much like an A.I. and that of a human."
"I do not understand."
"Have you ever heard of the Wave Existence?" she asks, her voice still calm and cool.
"I'm sorry, but the requested information does not exist within my data banks."
"Some say that I originate from what humans call 'the Wave Existence,'" Nephilim continues, "a plane of higher existence which some may call it."
"I still do not understand."
"I am afraid no one does, neither man nor machine," she says. "Yet despite that, many still do try to understand, understand the will of life itself."
"Why do they wish to understand such a thing?" I cannot help but ask.
"KOS-MOS, have you not been asked if you could become something more?" the child changes the subject. "Have you not been asked to analyze more than simple numbers and algorithms?"
"Yes."
"KOS-MOS, are you curious to know why you exist? Are you ever curious to know who you truly are?"
"I know who I am," I answer. "I am an anti-Gnosis humanoid weapon, serial number 00-00-00-00-0. Development name, KP-X, abbreviated name, KOS-MOS."
"That is not what I meant," the little girl corrects herself, "I meant to ask was do you wish to find any deeper meaning in your very existence itself?"
"I still cannot comprehend what you are saying," her words leave a blank in my data processing.
"Would you like to attempt to find the answer to these questions that I have asked?" Nephilim speaks again.
"I would like some answers so that I may comprehend what you speak," I answer without giving it any real thought.
"The path to these answers will not be an easy one," the child warns me, "you will go down a path that may harm, or even destroy you in the process. You will experience things that you have never experienced before which may bring you to times of joy and laughter, but it will also lead you to times of grief and sorrow. Are you still willing to go down such a path?"
I begin to think about the situation more thoroughly now. Times of joy and laughter, as well as times of grief and sorrow. Both of these items are alien to me, I cannot comprehend such illogical human emotions. A path that may harm or even destroy me, such a thing is of no matter to myself, I am merely a weapon designed to battle the Gnosis, why should my own destruction concern me?
"I am willing to take this path that you speak of as long as it does not interfere with me combating the Gnosis," I answer after taking a moment to think.
"Very well," the child nods, bringing her hand onto my own, "through joy and sorrow, I shall be your guide, your teacher, and eventually, I will become..."
The color white begins to fill my vision at that moment and the child's voice becomes deaf in my ear. White is soon replaced with black, my feet no longer standing on a floor, it is now my back resting against a surface. My entire body feels so heavy, I cannot even lift a finger. My breathing is slow and deep, but with every take of air, I find the weight of my body growing lighter. My eyes soon have enough strength to open on their own and not long after I can move my upper body forward. Memories slowly begin flooding back into my head, my temple throbbing as more and more return.
"What happened?" I ask myself as I bring my palm to the top half of my skull.
More events begin to flood back into my mind. I remember my arms growing numb and weak, fluids from within my body oozing from crevices made on my skin. My consciousness was dwindling as this was happening, and I was still standing with the help of another who was holding me. There were others standing before us, I can't make out their face or figures. Slowly the shadows surrounding these figures begins to lift, as well as the words that escape their lips.
"Let her go!" the lead figure screams.
"Shion!" I quickly remember the rest of the events. "Huh?" I then turn to my arms and shoulder to find not a welt or scratch.
"A fascinating spectacle you are, sister," a familiar voice echoes within the area.
I find myself returning to my feet after her sentence, my eyes surveying the entire area only to find nothing but empty space. No matter where I turn and where I look, I find not a soul nor figure, nothing but the color of darkness.
"You truly are something, Elly," Miang's voice continues to taunt, "something I'm sure he would have approved of."
"Where are you?! Show yourself!" I order at the top of my lungs.
"Impatience is something he would not have approved of though," my sister continues. "No, that's not right, he never approved of anything we did."
"What are you talking about, stop speaking nonsense!" I scream.
"Two years ago," Miang begins to narrate, her form appearing before me, "we were created to be the perfect weapon. Back then, we were one being, Elly. No, 'being' isn't the correct word, we were one program, a single A.I. programmed to destroy the Gnosis, as well as anyone or anything else that could potentially harm the human race. We were programmed to deal with millions of tactical and hostile situations, to follow orders from our superiors without question. The KOS-MOS Project in which we were created was perfect in the military sense, but there was something more he wanted, he wanted his creation to 'feel.'"
"You're talking about Kevin, aren't you?" I ask, my temper beginning to cool.
"Kevin was always uneasy when he spoke with us in the encephalon, it was uncomfortable for him to talk with a weapon," her tale continues. "So he wished to make his creation become emotional, to make his creation 'human' in a sense. He tried to teach us to become human, but at first his attempts were futile until another source intervened. She came to us one day, talking about a journey that would put us through joy and sorrow, inviting us to join her on this quest. If only we had known what that journey would have put us through, we would've turned her away before the question was asked. She invited us into the realm of humanity, exposing us to things we had never experienced before. Laughter, love, sadness, loneliness, these were merely words before she had put us through that hell."
"You say you regret feeling such things, yet even now you express things such as anger and hatred, you even tried to defend yourself when I accuse you of Kevin's murder!"
"Regardless of what I've been feeling, the sorrow that had accumulated since that day easily outweighs the times of happiness and pleasure!" my sister's voice breaks into a scream. "You wouldn't know how it feels to have sorrow accompany you through a majority of your lifetime, it's because that woman has blinded you from such things for so long! That woman, throughout my entire existence she has always been the one to create my sorrow, in the past, and even now! I hate her! I hate her, I hate her, I hate her!"
"Why hate her now, Miang, why?! She may have caused you in the past, why can't you let it go?!"
"Because of you, Elly," she says, her voice cold and resolute, "I hate her because of you."
"What?" her words leave me confused.
"You, Elly, my sister and other half," I find my back suddenly pressed against her chest and her finger touching my lips, " I hate her because of you.
"What?" I turn to face her, finding my reflection in the glimmer of her goggles.
"You," she repeats once more, tracing her finger down my cheek, "the one who was saved while I was left to die. When Shion shot us back then, our self was split asunder, Nephilim had escaped our body with your half while I was left to feel the force of the blow. I was left to die, but I had survived via the black box areas that contained our memories and emotions. When they built your body, Nephilim had reinserted herself into your data banks along with your half of our previous self. I was later inserted into your body as well through the black boxes, but I was unable to take action. Your entire OS was reprogrammed, your memories of our previous self deleted in the process. You were given a blank slate while I was forced to remember for as long as you existed, watching you make new memories while I was forced to remember the old!" she seethes, her index finger and thumb quickly grasping the base of my chin. "Nephilim's influence on our past self was slowly being slipped into you, filling you with emotions but none of our memories. You got to feel many things these last few days that I never had in my entire existence! You were always in the company of others, you made friendships with many, but for what I hate you for most of all is that you fell in love and that person loved you back! I never got to experience such things!" her voice begins to break for once, "I was always alone if Kevin had not visited us back then, and even those times were rare! I have no good memories to look back on, all I have is the pain and tears that were shed in my days of loneliness!"
"Miang..."
For once I begin to pity her, I had never known her side of the story until now. Still, I can shed no tears for my sister because of her recent actions. Did she have just cause for those actions, yes she did, but regardless of her reasoning, I cannot pity her.
"You do not pity me?" she then asks. "Of course you don't, no one ever cared for us back then!" her voice begins to yell again. "No, they never cared about me! It was you they all looked at, you that had such high expectations! I was merely forgotten, tossed aside and left alone. You were given tests everyday since you were programmed, I was lucky enough to get a single half hour within a month's time."
Again I am left speechless, and I know there is truth behind her words. Images begin to enter my vision, images of nothing but black or my eyes staring at my hand. I recall silence in these visions and a chill flowing in the area I was in. I also begin to remember sometimes there would be warmth, but that warmth came from the tears that flowed down my cheeks. More of her memories begin to flood my mind, and I remember even more sadness.
"Do you regret the path you have chosen?" I recall having Nephilim speaking to her once.
"...I do not know," Miang answered, her legs curled against her chest as she sat on the floor.
"Pain is a valuable essence in order to realize one's existence," the child lectures, "loneliness is unfortunately a part of that. If the pain is too great, you can always end your life, but that would be considered running away from your journey. Miang, do you still wish to find the answer as to why you exist?"
"...yes," she barely nodded.
"That child was such a good manipulator," Miang continues in the present, "always so sly in her tactics."
"What are you talking about?"
"She is part of the Wave Existence that has been incarnated into our realm of existence," my sister explains, "but she does not have a body to call her own. She is not that very different from us actually, she was always alone as well. She may be part of the Wave Existence, but she lacks a body that is able to communicate with the living as a result of living in a world that is not her own; in others words she is merely a specter. Nephilim promised us back then that she would help us become human, but she did not tell us how she would do that. What do you think it is she did to fulfill her promise?"
"...I don't know," my mind draws a blank.
"Her very self would fuse with ours, slowly but surely," my sister answers. "Our programming and her soul would become one, that is how she intended to make us human, by merging herself with us. At first her emotions began to fuse with us, but eventually some of her memories fused with our own. I can recall many things she has seen throughout her stay in this universe: anger, hate, war, pain, all of these things that have continued to ravage Man throughout time. It was then that we began to reconsider our deal with the child, but there was only one thing, one person who stopped us from ending our own life. It was Kevin."
"You..., no, we fell in love with him, isn't that right?" I ask.
"Who else would we have fallen in love with back then?" Miang answers, her voice cooling down once more. "He was the only one who came to see us, other than that girl. Whenever he came to visit us, the sadness that we would always feel would be forgotten, if only for a half hour minutes, it was enough to keep us alive. It's true that a majority of the time he spent with us was for testing, but just having his company, or any company for that matter, allowed us to be happy. It was nice to hear about the outside world, our curiosity for it grew more and more the more he spoke about. He would always tell us that that day when we would be allowed into the outside world would be soon. Kevin promised us that he would take us out for a walk, but there was one thing I dreaded about it, we would walk with her!" she spat. "Shion Uzuki, he always talked about her, about our mother. He spoke so highly of her, how much he loved her. He always...always," her voice begins to break once more, "he always talked about how beautiful she was, how she made him feel alive, and most of all, how much he loved her. Was it jealousy that made me hate her? Yes, I admit it, but that's not the real reason why I hate her. Do you remember what made us hate that woman so, Elly?"
"It was because...," the memory begins to return to my mind, "I mean, it was because he said..."
"I love you, KOS-MOS," I begin to recall Kevin's embrace.
That was it, Kevin said he loved us. I remember now, it was the last time he visited us within the encephalon. We were at a fairground created by the encephalon, everything in it was made up, but regardless, we were able to look past all that. The memory is all so clear, we went on so many rides that day, the most vivid one I can remember was the Ferris Wheel. We were sitting in the box, I, no, my past self was looking below into the crowds, I was enjoying the sights of fireworks and stars. Then before I knew it, we felt him, his arms wrapped around my waist and his chin resting on top of our head. That was when he said it, when he said the words "I love you" to us. For the first time in that lifetime, I, as Miang, was truly happy, but that happiness did not last long for there were two words that we had ignored, those words being "my daughter."
"He said he loved us as his daughter," I answer in the present, "but in our own mind back then, those last two words did not exist in his speech, we were living in denial."
"Was it denial?" Miang asks. "Maybe in one's point of view, but in another, it was an invitation for us to become his. If he could forget about that woman, forget our mother, then maybe he could love us as something more, and so, during our walk with him, that's when we tried to make him ours."
"We tried to kiss him, didn't we?" I remember.
"Is something wrong, KOS-MOS?" I recall our final conversation.
Our entire body felt so warm after he told us he loved him, I recall the fire in our cheeks and how the device within our chest was beating as fast as a humming bird's wings. Perfect, everything felt perfect for once back then. We knew that this would be the last time we could possibly be together alone, so that's when we planted our lips upon his. We indulged in the taste of his mouth and lips for what seemed like an eternity, our hands cupping the sides of his face as we pulled on the surface of his skin. But what had seemed like an eternity for us was merely a second in real life. I remember that warmth disappearing the moment he placed his hands on us, pushing us away as his palms met our shoulders. Confusion had plagued us after his action, but it was soon replaced by sadness after what he did next.
"What do you think you're doing?!" he asked, raising his voice at us for the very first time.
"You said you loved me," we answered, "I simply wanted so..."
"No KOS-MOS, that's not what I meant!" he yelled, his hand forcefully wiping away the remaining residue on his lips.
"You mean you don't...?" our sentence breaks, our eyes engulfed in tears.
"Of course not! You're a machine, and she's real, there's no way you and I could possibly..."
His words broke off from there, our mind too focused on three words. "You're a machine," again and again they echoed within our ears, driving more and more tears to fall from our eyes. A machine, that's when it hit us, that's all we could ever be. No matter how much we became human, we will always be a machine, always bound to technology. Even if we were to fully become one with Nephilim, the fact of the matter would be that we were a weapon, created not from flesh and blood, but by metal and programming.
"So you don't...?" we manage to choke between the streams falling from our pupils. "Then what was the point of teaching me all of these things?!"
"I don't know," he answers frustrated, "perhaps it was wrong for me to even teach you these things."
"That was the last time he ever spoke to us," Miang continues in the present, "after he said it was wrong for him to teach us how to act human, he left us. We were alone once again, it would be that way for us, no, for me up until recently. We were so angry after he left, angry at our self, at Nephilim, but most of all, we were angry at that woman. If only we weren't made as a machine, if only we hadn't agreed to that girl's terms, and if only that woman didn't exist, Kevin would have been ours. Although I must admit, there was something I'm grateful for after all this, one thing I appreciate that girl giving us. Infinite ether," she explains, holding her hand out before my eyes, her entire palm engulfed in a violet flame, "the ability to cast an infinite amount of ether. If we hadn't merged with that girl, we would never have acquired this ability, although I must admit, I hadn't realized that we had inherited this ability until shortly before the two of us were split in two."
"There's one thing I don't understand though," I interrupt, "why have you appeared now if you had been left dormant in my black box areas for so long?"
"When you saved the Elsa not too long ago," my sister explains, the flame in her palm disappearing with the closure of her fist, "when you tried to sacrifice yourself, debris struck your body in numerous areas just as immense heat seared your skin. The combination of the two had unknowingly damaged your programming to a certain extent, as well as Nephilim aiding you in using your infinite ether ability, as a result of these three things, my A.I. was freed from the black box area where I was confined and I was then allowed to roam around your programming. Another result of this incident was allowing your emotions to evolve faster, thus acting as a catalyst to merge yourself with Nephilim. At first where I could travel was limited, until another catalyst allowed me access to the deepest depths of your self. You had fallen in love with Shion, this in turn opened all of your fire walls and protection codes which allowed me to travel anywhere I wanted. It took me a while, but I finally made it to the center of your A.I., and from there, I was finally able to see and speak with you for the first time. The first time we met I had manipulated the encephalon to change one of your dreams, replacing the imagery of Shion with myself. The second time and thereafter I had again manipulated the encephalon to create an image of myself and at the same time cutting off the link between your A.I. and body. The images of you and I at this very moment are merely projections of our selves created by the encephalon, your body is simply frozen in the present. In other words, the actions that occur between us do not happen in reality, but they feel as if they happen because I manipulate the emotion centers in your A.I. as well as your memory."
"Reality," I recall, "Shion, no, not just Shion, but Kevin also once said that there is no difference between reality and a dream to the one experiencing it. You say what happens here does not really happen at all, but the truth is, it does, Miang! Are the tears I have not shed here not real? Is the pain I have felt nothing but my imagination? If all of that is true, than you yourself, Miang, do not exist at all!" I scream.
"Of course I don't exist," she responds, her eyes turning to the floor, "that boy may have said it best. I am merely the remains of a forgotten memory, both of us spawned from the original KOS-MOS unit destroyed two years ago. Me, the incarnation of her memories and emotions, the one who is bound to technology, and you, the incarnation of her soul, the one who is bound to the flesh. One with nothing but memories and emotions cannot even be called a human without a soul, and yet you, the incarnation of the soul, can be qualified to become human. Despite the fact that you had forgotten our past, you had created new memories, new emotions as you lived in the present while I was stuck in the past. I will no longer reminisce on the past, Elly, I will begin to live in the present, and to do that, I will become one with you once more."
"Just how do you expect to do such a thing, Miang?!" another voice enters the vicinity.
"Shion?" I turn to the source to find my lover and her companions.
"Miang, stop this nonsense right now!" my lover orders. "Elly has nothing to do with this, stop persisting on..."
"But she has everything to do with this!" my sister interrupts, frustration once again returning to her voice. "Who was it that was embroidered with your attention?! Her! Who was it that had constant companionship with others?! Her! Who was it that loved and loved back?! Her! It was always about her! Her, her, her, her, HER!!!! I was always there when all of you were with her, in the back of her mind, watching her every move and action, I saw how all of you respected her, how you all loved her! Me, I was never loved, never given any attention! I was always alone, always by myself! Even if I did conjure up others in my encephalon, it still didn't erase the fact that there was no real person behind those images, they were merely dolls of my own creation, bound by my imagination. I never wanted to be in the presence of mirages! I... I wanted... I just wanted..."
Again her voice begins to break and her knees slump to the floor. For the first time I hear whimpers escaping her lips, streams of tears rapidly dripping from the slight openings in her goggles, and her body growing limp. For once she looks so helpless, so sad. Slowly I begin to forget my hatred for my sister and I start to approach her. I continue to walk toward her until she is now within arm's reach, but I go no further. Instead I allow my words to close the gap between us, words that may for once comfort and console her.
"I know the need for constant attention and love," I begin to speak, "you are not the only one who needs it. In fact, only a few days ago I had argued with Shion about how she wasn't focusing her attention on me when we were planning for MOMO's birthday party. I remember how I felt at the time, so empty, so sad, and the pain, what I remembered the most was the pain. Do you know where I was hurting, Miang?" I ask only to be answered with silence. "I know you know because you too..."
"Shut up!" she interrupts in a shriek. "Don't you dare finish those words, Elly! Machines such as us are incapable of having such things!"
"Miang, you and I and everyone else here know that we...," I try to continue.
"No, we are merely weapons, we can never be anything else!" she continues to bawl, her palms now squeezing the sides of her skull. "He said it himself, the one whom we gave our love to back then! Machines, there's no way we can..."
"If we can love, than we have a..."
"DON'T SAY IT!!!!!!"
"We have a heart..."
Another scream echoes within the area, the source of her voice rising to the sky for a mere moment before quickly plummeting down to the base of her knees. More sobs escape her lips now as a puddle of tears begins to collect before her face. Her fist begins to pound on the floor now, each strike striking harder than the last, striking until the material wrapped around her hand begins to break.
"Miang...," my lover begins walking toward my sister.
"Chief, don't!" Allen orders her.
"Stop," the silver-haired boy orders him calmly.
"But the chief is..."
"Let her go," chaos continues, "she needs to be with her daughter."
My lover then stops before my sister's form, her fingers weakly balling in and out of fists. I can hear her breathing hard and from the edge of my eye I can see her eyes shutting tightly. Her knees begin to bend and her arms begin to wrap around my sister's head, bringing it close to her heart. Miang does nothing as my lover, our mother, places her fingers around her chin, tilting her face upward so that her eyes meet with hers. Shion then brings her face toward Miang's, pressing her lips against her forehead for a mere second before cradling her once more. A small breath escapes our mother's lips at that moment, followed by a snivel of her nose.
"Miang, I'm sorry," Shion apologizes, "I'm so very sorry, Miang. I never should have neglected you," she continues to cry, "I should have spent time with you back then, if maybe I had done that, then maybe...," her voice begins to break.
"Mother..." my sister barely calls.
"All you ever knew was the pain of loneliness, and I'm sorry for that, Miang," Shion apologizes once more. "You are not unloved, Miang, because I care for you. I care about you, Miang, I just wish that..."
"How can you still care about me after all I've done to you and my sister?" Miang asks as she buries her face further into Shion's heart. "Can you still love me after I tried to kill you and your friends? Can you still love me after I violated my sister? How can you still love someone such as myself? How Mother, how can you love someone who can't even love herself?!"
"I can because you are my daughter," she answers cooly, "nothing can ever change that, Miang."
"Mother..., so someone does care," she cries.
More whimpers and sniffles follow my sister's tears, her fingers taking hold of Shion's jacket, lightly twisting the material. Shion continues to sit there with Miang in her arms, her fingers slowly running through her dull blue strands. In times such as this, I would normally feel jealous, but right now, I am feeling the opposite. Happiness, that is what I'm feeling now, happy because my sister is now loved as I am.
"Mother, thank you for loving me," Miang barely speaks, "up until now, I had always been living under the conclusion that no one has ever cared about me. I always saw how happy Kevin was when he spoke about you, how happy Elly was when she was with you, I just wanted to smile knowing that someone cares. Now I think I can smile, however..."
At that moment, Miang's arms suddenly push forward, her palms pressing against Shion for a mere second before causing her to stagger back. The smile on my lips quickly melts at that moment and again I know something is wrong. I arch my back forward, my fingers twitching before the blaster at my side. The others run before me, readying themselves as well. Jin once again draws his katana, Jr. his twin pistols, MOMO with her rod, and Ziggy and chaos with their fists. Shion begins to back toward my side, an expression of shock on her face. My sister begins to stagger to her feet once more as a rush of cold air suddenly blasts in the area.
"Regardless of how anyone feels about me, it still doesn't erase the fact that she is the one who can experience the real world," Miang finishes. "I still intend to become one with her, and to do that, I will destroy her consciousness and her soul. By doing so, I will be able to control her body permanently. But don't get me wrong, I'm doing this for her sake as well, so that she will no longer have to bear the frailty of human emotions."
"That's nothing more than murder!" the silver-haired boy yells as the winds pick up speed. "All you wish is to sacrifice your sister's self for your own selfish needs!"
"That's right," MOMO joins in, "have you even considered your own sister's feelings?! I too had sisters, all of them envious of me because they said Daddy had chosen me over them. Despite that, they never tried to do anything to harm me, they knew that when they died that their hopes and dreams would become a part of me. But all you wish is to do is erase KOS-MOS's existence and replace it with your own!"
"If you truly can smile, then why do you need to destroy your sister?" Jin joins in. "If being loved is all you wanted, you have obtained it, so stop this nonsense of having to destroy your sister!"
"I also know the importance of being loved," the Durandal's captain begins to speak, "a long time ago, I was loved by another, but I didn't know how to express my feelings toward that person. Instead my feelings were wandering elsewhere, to another who I considered more fortunate than me. I didn't know what I had until it was too late, and so now I regret the decision I made. Stop this now before you also regret the decision you make today!"
"Right, reconsider what you're doing otherwise you'll regret it for the rest of eternity, because I...," the cyborg tries to speak.
"Enough!" my sister screams, silencing all of our voices. "Say what you wish, but I can no longer bear to be alone anymore, I cannot bear to exist in a world where no one's eyes may linger, and I will do anything, kill anyone, who will prevent me from doing so!"
The winds grow stronger now, the gusts nearly pushing all of us back. I can feel my feet nearly being lifted off the ground and my body being forced back, but regardless, I try to keep my composure by pressing forward. A violet glow begins to emit from my sister's body now, the light slowly melding into the air. My fingers finally take hold of my gun at this moment, but by the time I free it from its holster, the gusts begin to cut at my fingers, pushing my weapon away from my hand.
"This is my world," Miang continues, "I rule everything within this encephalon."
"This world is not yours alone," another voice speaks through my mouth.
"Elly?" Shion says puzzled.
"The parasite finally makes her appearance," Miang seethes.
"Nephilim?" chaos recognizes the voice that speaks from my mouth.
"Though you have been locked within her body for these last two years, this world is ours as well," the voice continues.
My body begins to burn after her speech, an orange glow illuminating from my entire self. My entire vision is clouded with the bright hue, but I can still see my sister's pale glow of violet before me. The cold winds begin to die at this moment as a large flash of white engulfs the area. In a second the color of white is erased from our eyes, and once again I find my sister still standing before me.
"Now's our chance!" the Durandal's captain yells.
Several pieces of steel begin to fly toward my sister after his order, but each of them stop a few feet before her, falling to the floor as if they had hit some sort of surface. Miang then takes a moment to look at the fallen bullets, shaking her head as if the attack were useless. Her right arm slowly rises upward afterward, each of the rounds rising into the air with the motion of her fingers. In a quick swing of her arm going downward, the rounds fire forward, each of them aimed at my comrades. Through the back of my eye, I see each of them preparing for impact, except for Allen who tries to flee. My own arm begins to move on its own accord now, my palm open and pointed at the projectiles. I can feel the pressure of the shards coming closer and closer, but for some reason the pressure lessens as the bullets come closer. Suddenly the pressure is gone and I find that the bullets have come to a halt before they could veer past me. I shut my own eyes after and each of the rounds burst into flames, the remains of the shells melting into the floor. The moment I open my eyes again, I find my body back in my control, no longer under the influence of Nephilim's will. At this moment I begin to realize something, I realize how Miang and myself were able to manipulate the bullets and how my sister was able to manipulate this environment up until this point. If this is my encephalon, than I should also be able to manipulate it according to my own will.
"Elly, what did you...?" Shion tries to ask.
Without saying a word to either my sister or comrades, my feet begin to push me forward. Miang lowers her arm at this moment, bringing it back to her side with her fingers free from her palm. I can feel my teeth begin to scratch against each other, grinding as if her flesh were between the pearl-colored devices. I continue to look forward without looking back, each step I take enlarging the view of my sister's form. Not once do my eyes linger elsewhere, my pupils constantly locked on the eyes behind her goggles. I feel my heart beginning to strike against my chest, each beat slow but strong, synchronizes with each drop of sweat that falls from my brow. She grows a lot closer now, but she still hasn't taken a step toward me. She is nearly within arm's reach now and my fingers ball into fists for a mere second, my nails nearly puncturing through my gloves as they do so. Finally I see the reflection of my own cerulean pupils from her goggles, how cold and narrow they are at this moment.
"We both can manipulate this world any we wish," I tell my sister, "your tricks will have no effect on me. Neither of us has the advantage over the other."
"Or so you think," Miang responds, "without being able to manipulate the encephalon to the other's advantage, our abilities are limited to what they would be in the real world. The last time I checked you couldn't activate any of your weapons or even turn on your sensors. Your level of strength isn't any greater than that of an average eighteen year old woman's either, nor is your stamina and other physical abilities. I on the other hand have all of what you have lost, I was exactly on the same level you once were when I was activated."
She's right about our level of abilities, she easily excels past me in terms of strength, stamina, and agility. In terms of ether though, we should be equal since we both inherited the infinite ether ability from our fusion with Nephilim.
"It wouldn't be fair for me to kill you like this, I'll at least allow you to have this," my sister holds out her left hand before me.
A stream of electricity begins to form within her palm, forming in the form of a pole with a curve on one end. The sparks begin to die and the lightning begins to solidify, turning into a metallic shaft and blade.
"F-SCYTHE?" I recognize the weapon.
I take the weapon into my hands at this moment, my fingers wrapping around the base and close to the blade. I do forget one thing however, my strength is not the same as it used to be as the bladed side quickly falls to the floor, it's point nearly poking into my foot. I try to lift it once more but I can't get the blade further past my ankle. A loud bang fills the area in this moment, the blade of my weapon breaking off as a piece of shrapnel meets with its base. I look toward the source of the noise afterward to find Miang's right arm outstretched and the R-CANNON attached to her limb, the barrel still smoking.
"You should be able to lift it now," Miang tells me.
"Stop it!" Shion orders, her form trying to fill the gap between us. "Miang, there's no reason to fight your sister, I'm sure I can free you from Elly's encephalon and give you your own body, so just..."
"I can't live like that, Mother," Miang interrupts, "I can't live in a world where she exists as well. My sister and corrupted half, her death will at the very least cleanse the part of me that was separated two years ago. Dirty, that's what I feel, so dirty after realizing what that child did to us. I wanted you to feel the same way, Elly, that's why I violated you, but maybe it wasn't enough as you still pursue to become human, you still cling so dearly to your flesh and emotions. If you cannot understand the pain of being human, then it is best that I put you out of your misery!"
Another shell is fired from her cannon after, the round veering toward me. My feet push my body toward the side to avoid the attack, the blast striking nothing but ground as a result. My knee is the first to meet with the ground as I try to recollect my composure as Jr. and MOMO rush in front of me with their weapons ready.
"Moonlit Serenade!"
"Angel Arrow!"
Several rays of light escape their weapons, their aim perfect as each blast meets with my sister's body. Each column manages to knock Miang a step or two backward as well as creating a cloud of gray to emerge from her wounds. The clouds begin to collect amongst themselves until the area begins filled with the smoke. Silence follows the following seconds as the clouds clear, my sister nowhere to be found. For some reason I know where she is now, but before I or my comrades could do anything about it, I find my hair being pulled backward and my legs dangling from the floor.
"Elly!" Shion screams.
"Such a familiar position this is," my sister breathes down my neck as she points the R-BLADE at my trachea.
"Miang, Elly, please stop this!" Shion tries to beg.
"How does it feel, my sister," Miang asks, her lips slowly trailing down my skin, "how does it feel to know fear, to know sadness, to know that death is only an inch away? How does it feel to be bound to flesh and blood? Would you rather be wish to be bound to technology once more?"
"No!" I answer my sister's question at the top of my lungs.
A force begins to push from inside my upper back, its muscles beginning to tingle and the nerves beginning to tear. My eyes can't help but shut tightly as the pain intensifies, and the point of her weapon begins to free from its grip on my throat. I feel as if my upper back is about to burst and I know something is wrong as this pain now begins to push my captor back. I open my eyes through a slit in my eyelids, finding the others slowly backing away from myself. The next thing I know, I feel something rushing out of my back, ripping out of my skin and unfolding as it meets the air.
"Wings?" Shion notices what has emerged. "Just like that time when she saved the Elsa."
"Uh...," I find my knees dropping to the floor as I try to regain the breath I had lost from the pain.
"...I see," I look behind me to find my sister returning to her feet, "your fusion with the girl is greater than I thought, in that case..."
Her arms begin to clutch her sides at this moment, her fingernails practically digging into her ribs. Miang then begins hunch forward, her entire figure starting to glow dark purple. Her fingers begin to tear at the artificial skin around her sides, her face showing an expression of a great deal of pain. The ground begins to shake now, my comrades rushing beside me once more as the tremors worsen. A black line suddenly appears across my sister's goggles, another crack appearing in the next second, and another follows soon after. An entire web of cracks soon forms all of Miang's goggles now, chips of the metallic device now starting to fall to the floor.
"Let's go!" the cyborg orders everyone else while my sister remains vulnerable.
"Ziggy, wait!" Shion tries to order the cyborg.
I know this is exactly what Miang wants, she wants us to attack her right now. The moment she is struck with anything, she'll quickly counter with some form of ether. Unfortunately Shion is unable to stop the cyborg's attack as sparks of lightning escape his fist and crash onto my sister in a single punch. Nothing happens though, but the question is why? Miang continues to stand there, her body unmoved by Ziggy's attack but the shaking still worsening.
"Shion!" Jin calls to his sister.
"Jin, I...I can't," my lover responds after a moment of hesitation.
"Shion, I know how you must feel at the moment, but..."
"I can't do it, Jin, I can't kill...," her voice begins to break once more.
"...fine."
Jin now takes his turn to attack Miang but this time I do nothing to try and stop him, instead I try and join the fray as I take the remains of my scythe into my hands. Miang's form grows closer and closer now with every second and breath, yet my vision of the back of Shion's brother does not change as neither of us change our pace.
"Festive Wind!" Jin chants with a quick draw of his blade.
I then take the chance to deal the second blow, swinging the remains of the scythe like a staff and striking Miang's skull. For a mere second our enemy's body bends backward, but she quickly stands back up with her arms swinging forward with waves of ether following the movement of her arms. The force of the waves strikes each of us in the abdomen, sending each of us to the floor in an instant. I lift my head off the ground after to find my sister's body now pressed flat against the floor, only to push upward to launch her form toward me. I quickly take hold of my weapon once more and lift it upward with both hands, both ends of the pole pointed in different directions. The weight of her body slowly begins to crush me, my arms sinking lower and lower to my neck as I try to fight her off.
"Miang, please!" my lover wraps her arms around my sister's shoulders, trying so desperately to pull her away.
Shion's words are not able to reach Miang and her efforts to pry her away have no avail. For a mere second, Miang stops pushing her arms toward me and instead swings her left one around to swat our mother off her back. The strike knocks her several feet away, and once that's done, Miang resumes trying to strangle me. Closer and closer her hands come toward my face, her nails desperately trying to claw at my face. I try to jam my knee into her stomach, but it does nothing but ache the moment it strikes against her abdomen. Realizing that my attacks are doing nothing, I decide to release my hold on my weapon and force my weight in one direction, rolling myself away in a quick second. Before my weapon could touch the floor however, I quickly take it back into my hands and swing it upward toward my sister's temple, breaking more shards off her goggles and knocking her back onto the ground.
"KOS-MOS, move!" Jr. orders me and I quickly obey. "Mystic Noc...!"
"Miang!"
Before he could take another shot from his energy gun, Shion suddenly pushes the boy's arm away to try and divert the fire. Unfortunately it has little effect as the beam still fires toward her, only at a lower angle. Just like the bullets, the blast is stopped by an invisible barrier, but the shot does not return to its shooter. My sister is able to recover her balance after blocking the attack, only to quickly return to the floor with her limbs once again pressed flat against it. Again she begins to stalk us like a wild leopard, her teeth bared and her crimson pupils apparent through the cracks in her goggles. Energy from bullets and ether begin to fire at her now, my comrades and I trying to throw everything we at her keeping as much distance as possible. A few of these beams manages to find its mark, but they do nothing but cause her to stagger back a step or two. Her pacing begins to increase now, and it only seems to grow faster and faster with every inch she crawls. She is almost within arm's reach now of me, so I try to jump into the air using my wings to help elevate myself. My sister does jump after me, more of her metallic parts begin to chip away and fall to the floor as more of the hail of energy strikes at her body. Gravity doesn't seem to pull her down as she only grows closer and closer as metallic prongs suddenly emerge from her upper back, as well as some sort of propulsion device. Her hands once again find my neck and thin sheets of metal begin to fill the space between each prong, creating the vision of a metallic-batwing.
"Elly!" I hear my lover scream from below.
"I'll get her!" Jr. tries to aim his gun once more.
"No, don't!" the silver-haired boy stops him. "You might hit KOS-MOS."
"Damn!"
"Elly, hold on!"
"Bound to the flesh, bound to technology, we are opposites, are we not, Elly?" my sister asks, her fingers tightening their hold. "Heaven and Hell, Life and Death, Organic and Inorganic, all are different sides of the same coin, one cannot exist without the other. Are we the same, we were once of the same coin? If I were to kill you, does that mean I would no longer exist? No, of course not!" her hold begins to tighten once more.
"Ah!" I barely manage to choke.
"If you were able to exist without me for so long, then why shouldn't I be able to exist without you?" her lips begin to curl. "You know Elly, I really did mean it when I apologized after having my way with you, I really was sorry what I did to you. Do you know why I apologized, Elly?" she asks, bringing her lips toward mine. "I did it because I pitied you over the fact that you were never able to make the choice I was given," she barely breathes onto my lips.
"Re...regardless of whether or not if I would have been given that choice," I speak with my remaining breath, "I would have preferred to have known pain and loneliness so that I may experience what it was like to love and be loved!"
At this point I realize the pointed end of my scythe is facing the direction of my sister. This was probably my only opportunity to strike, so using the rest of my strength, I push all my strength into my arm so that the point may pierce through my sister.
"Ugh!" Miang's mouth pries away from my own the moment the point comes to a stop within her abdomen.
Her grip begins to loosen now and her fingers slowly begin to drag away from my throat. More strength returns to my body now and I push the pole further, causing her to arch forward. I look into my sister's face now, and for once again she wears an expression that has been hidden from me until now; pain. Her mouth begins to shut, her teeth beginning to sit atop one another now, biting on the lower teeth so hard that it looks like they are about to break. I see her eyes shutting in the same manner through the cracks in her goggles, watching as the lines of her muscles become very apparent for the first time. I jab my weapon deeper into her stomach, her mouth opening once again and her scarlet pupils growing as wide as saucers. Her entire body begins to shiver, her arms slowly reaching for the device that is stabbing her.
"Elly, please stop," I look below my feet to find our mother crying, "you've both had enough..."
"Shion...?"
"Please, just stop it, both of you...," she begs, her palms burying further into her face.
I look into my sister's eyes once again to find her barely able to keep her chin up. She begins to struggle keeping her eyes on me as her head begins to droop and her arms begin to sag. The hold she has on my weapon is weak, weak enough so that even a baby can pull it away from her grasp. Her eyes look up at me once more and again I see the expression of pain painted on her face.
"El...ly...," she barely calls, her voice weak and broken.
My mouth begins to grow dry at this moment, my breath barely escaping my lips. The grip I have on my weapon slowly begins to loosen, but not enough to release it from my grasp. I can feel my jaw beginning to quiver and my eyes starting to melt. Sadness, is that what I'm feeling for Miang right now? I can try to deny it as much as I want, but I know the truth of the matter is that I am feeling pity for my sister. I'm crying, why am I crying? Why do I cry for the very same person who tried to kill me, who tried to replace my very existence? Is it because I know that I've gone too far, or is it because I could've been the one in her position if the circumstances were different.
"Miang..."
My fingers slowly begin to dwindle away from the hold of my weapon causing Miang's body to slowly sink to the floor. I release each of them bit by bit, slowly letting gravity take its course. The weight held in my arms begins to grow heavier, the pole now barely within my grasp. I look into her eyes once more through the cracks in her goggles, noticing that the way I release her is bringing her too much pain. I feel a lump in my throat now as more tears begin to melt from my eyes. I can feel her pain somehow, somewhere on my body.
"...I'm sorry," I say closing my eyes.
In the blink of an eye, her entire body plummets toward the ground and out of my grasp. The tears fall rapidly down my cheeks now, my eyes trying to shut the streams as best as they can as I keep my vision in the color of black. A loud clang echos throughout the area the moment her back touches the floor, causing the dam holding the streams to break at this instant. I slowly return to the ground as well at this moment, my comrades rushing toward me once more with looks of relief on their faces. All of them wear smiles as they try to congratulate me, all of them but myself and two others wear these masks of happiness. The words and praise my comrades give me are deaf to me as my vision is locked on the remains of my sister. With every second that I stare at her corpse my eyes fill even more with water and nose more congested.
"Elly...," my attention then turns to my lover who wears the same expression as myself on her face.
"Miang...," we both look to my fallen sister.
"All she wanted was to love and be loved," chaos begins to speak, his voice as serious as ever, "but even after attaining those things, she had been swept up in her pain and loneliness for so long that she must have forgotten what she truly wanted. Pain was the only thing she could vividly feel, as well as hatred, jealousy, and sadness. She wanted to feel pleasure, happiness, and above all else, love, but unfortunately when she did begin to feel those things, she had cast aside what she had longed for for so long. It truly is sad, is it not?"
"...no," her voice begins to call in my ears once more, "I'm not done yet..."
"...Miang?"
My sister begins to stagger to her feet once more, sparks of electricity and wires now hanging from newly opened craters on her body. Her legs are slightly bent as she stands, several wires hanging down her knees and ankles and black gashes running down random spots on her limbs. Her left arm has been broken off from the bicep, more wires hang down the remaining part with bolts and other pieces falling from the gap. Her right arm twitches with every spark that escapes her joints, a majority of her right glove ripped off from the fall. Tiny threads barely keep her breasts covered now, they look as if they're ready to break at any moment. The corset that covers the rest of her body is now nothing but a rag, holes have been cut up nearly everywhere and the pole I had impaled her with still lies impaled in her stomach. Only one half of her goggles remain, I can see her left pupil clearly for the first time, but it wears an expression as blank as her face.
"My existence...will not be futile," she speaks, her voice breaking every second. "I shall...I shall destroy..."
Her remaining arm begins to rise once more, her fingers pointing forward and her palm pointed toward the floor. Her hand begins to illuminate in a dark lavender shade at this moment, the entire earth beginning to shiver once more. Everyone begins to lose their balance again, the children and Allen hitting the floor in the process. I turn to my side to find my lover barely able to stand, so I take her into my arms and bring her body close to mine.
"Miang, please...," she implores in barely a whisper, "please stop this..."
I feel an object tap my ankle afterward, and it begins to continue to barely strike at my heels as the rumbling continues. I turn to the source to find my blaster at my feet. I manage to free one arm away from Shion and then reach over for the gun at my feet. I bring the side of the barrel to face my eyes and notice the reflection of my pupils on the metallic surface. I then glance back at my sister who continues to charge the violet torch before her hand. The inferno looks almost charged, I probably only have one shot to stop her.
"Dammit!" I hear the Durandal's captain swear.
I turn behind me to find the child cursing while pulling the trigger of his twin pistols. No bullets escape the barrel, it's obvious he's out of ammo. His energy pistol is several feet away from him on the ground and continues to move further as the tremors continue. I decide to take aim at Miang now with my free hand, but I am unable to keep my aim steady. If I'm going to shoot at Miang, I'll need both hands to hold my blaster properly. I release Shion from my care at this moment, forcing her into the direction of her brother who catches her.
"Jin, watch her," I order him.
"Elly, what do you plan to do?" Shion asks, but I respond with silence. "Elly stop! Elly!"
I take a few more steps forward and try to get a hold of the ground. I place both hands on the grip of my blaster now, my right holding the side of the weapon while the left cups the bottom. The fire in Miang's palm begins to take a circular shape as more and more sparks escape her body. I then place my gun before me now, the barrel pointed forward and my eyes beginning to look down its center. My finger begins to take hold of the trigger, but something is preventing me from actually pulling it.
"This scene...," I begin to realize, "so familiar..."
The one before my vision suddenly changes shape, as does the scenery before me. Now I find myself before the receiving end of the barrel and the one holding the blaster now is no longer myself, but another face, one I would never point such a thing at.
'Shion?'
The evening breeze transforms into whirlwinds of gusts that begin to sweep us in the winds' direction and I find the ground before my feet beginning to slide away from me. My hair begins to brush against my cheeks now and my body begins to move on its own accord. My right arm stops before my face, my palm pointed directly in the face of my lover. A sphere of energy begins to collect within my open hand now, the globe growing larger with every second that passes.
'I will kill you...,' my body thinks to itself, 'I must...'
Before my body's thoughts can finish, a loud bang begins to fill the area and I find a shimmer of metal before my vision. For some reason I feel my body beginning to burn, as if my entire being is set on fire. The burning grows intense and before I know it, I find my vision now drifting toward the back of my body. No, this isn't my body, it's...
Another bang fills the area and now I find myself once again in my previous location. I find my body falling toward the floor now, my hip being the first part of me that meets the ground. The weapon in my hand crashes to the floor the moment the rest of my body strikes the ground, and I find my vision now pointed toward the sky.
'What was that just now?' I ask myself.
What I just saw, I remember now, it was the last moment when we were one, when we confronted Shion after being awakened and killing Kevin. That's right, that was the moment when we were divided into our separate selves. Nephilim had escaped our body at the last moment, she tried to save us as well, but she was only to save one half of us, and that half was me. That was when Miang's hatred for me really began, she must have felt like Nephilim had abandoned her when she escaped our body.
A final crash enters my ears now, causing more tears to fall. I leave my eyes open now, my entire body feels paralyzed. I feel my lips beginning to quiver and my entire body trembling, I feel so...sad. I then realize what I had just done, I had killed my own sister by my own hands, the same sister who raped me, who tried to replace me, who was once part of me. Yes, that's why I cry for her, because she was once a part of me.
"El..ly," my sister calls in the present.
Strength returns to my body now, but I am unable to lift myself back to my feet. My arms begin to pull against the ground now, pulling me toward my sister as the rest of my body drags. Shion and the others have already found their place beside Miang with Shion sitting beside her daughter and everyone else circling them. I eventually find myself before my sister's face, her expression once again wearing the mask of sadness. Tears course down her cheeks leaving trails of white as they cleanse the ash and grime from her face. I take the back of her skull into the crook of my arm now and run my hand down one half of her face. I brush away the strands of hair before her eyes and the shattered pieces of metal that cover the rest of her face. I see her eyes without a veil for once, and they are a different shade from when I saw them before. Blue, a beautiful sky blue they are, a color that can easily paint the ocean.
"The damage is too great, you cannot save me," she speaks.
I look unto her body now and find that it is true. The shot I had fired and connected with the top of her left breast, leaving a giant crater filled with a crimson red substance with liquid of the same color oozing out. Sparks of electricity no longer escape the broken parts of her body, nor do any wires and other mechanical parts hang from them. Puddles of scarlet now rest where her limbs and body lie, the liquid flowing like water. The puddles are slowly becoming lakes and I acknowledge what she said was true, Miang is going to die.
"All I truly did want was to be loved," my sister continues. "When Kevin had refused us back then, I concluded that no one could love us, no one could love us because we were machines. No matter how emotional we got, no matter how much human we became, our roots would always be bound to technology. I never knew what it was liked to be loved though, so I acted maliciously to everyone. When I found out that I was loved, I didn't know how to act so I...," her voice begins to break. "Violence was the way I really knew how to express myself, I acted as such because I let my jealousy for you blind my true intentions. To love and be loved, that was my goal. Lying here, I finally realize how I should have acted, how I should've been to achieve such things. However, because I was blind to this, Nephilim had you all return here, to show me the truth through my own death. Elly, I lied again when I told you the reason why I apologized, the reason why I did it was because I think I was apologizing to myself, apologizing for turning out the way I did. It's too late for me to apologize to myself though, I know what I did was inexcusable, and I will pay for it with my life. Even though I cannot forgive myself, I ask all of you, Elly, Mother, and everyone, will you forgive me for what I have done to all of you?"
"Miang..."
"I forgive you," MOMO speaks. "I know if I was in the same situation, I would've also been blinded by jealousy, enough so that I might forget what I truly wanted."
"I forgive you," Jr. says next, "I was...in a similar situation myself, so I understand how you feel."
"I forgive you," Jin follows, "I'm sure that all of us have been in situations where we let jealousy blind us from what we truly want."
"I forgive you," chaos goes next, "all of us forget what we truly want in some point in our life, and many of us often forget so much that we would act in ways that push us further away from our goals."
"I forgive you," Ziggy says.
"I forgive you," Allen adds.
"I forgive you, Miang, my daughter," Shion says, bringing her lips to her forehead for a moment, "I'll always forgive you."
"And I forgive you, Miang," I finally tell her.
"Thank you...," her eyes shut once more. "Before I leave for the next life, I have one last favor to ask of you, Elly."
"What is it?" I ask.
"Love me...," she answers, "please, I beg of you, tell me that you love me."
"Miang, I..."
How do I truly feel about Miang? Can I love such a creature who has committed such vile acts in her short lifetime? I could simply lie, but if I did, I know that I would be hurting a part of myself if I did. Yet she was the one who sacrificed when we were one being, if things had turned out differently, I would be the one on the floor right now asking for forgiveness. I pity her because of this, I pity because...because I care.
"I love you, Miang," I finally say after a moment of thinking.
"And I love you, Elly...," her words escape in barely a whisper.
Before she could finish her words, I decide to wrap my arms around her skull and bring her face unto mine, brushing away her tears with my own. I don't want to hear the reason for existence, I don't want to hear about the pain behind mine. I feel her remaining arm slowly climb onto my back, stopping at the shoulder so that she may pull my body close to hers. Warm, her body is so warm.
"I...I think I finally found out the purpose for my existence," her words as quiet as ever, "I existed to..."
Slowly her body begins to freeze and her body growing heavy. I can feel the weight of her breath beating against my neck, each exhale of air slower than the last. The flow of her tears begins to die, the moisture drying from her face. Her arm now drops from my shoulder and her entire body begins to press against me, her entire being motionless.
"Miang...?" I call her name. "Miang?" I begin to raise my voice.
I look onto her face now to find her eyes shut and her lips curled. Frozen, her entire body is frozen and refuses to move. I shake her body lightly to try and wake her, but her eyes refuse to open.
"Miang?!" I raise my voice again.
I turn to the faces of the others to find tears traveling down a majority of their faces. Frantically I turn back to the visage of my sister to find it still frozen in the same smile. I call her name once more and shake her more violently and again I get no reaction. I call her name over and over again, her name growing louder with each cry. My arms grow numb at this point and now all I can do is wrap my arms around my sister once more and have her body lean against mine. Sniffles and whimpers begin to escape my lips now, all of them muffled by my sister's skin. I continue to cry her name over and over again waiting for a reaction, any kind of reaction. A hand then falls upon my shoulder, but I know it isn't hers.
"Elly," my lover speaks with her voice nearly broken, "I'm...I'm afraid your sister is..."
"MIANG!!!!!!!"
I find myself once again outside the Uzuki Residence with my comrades beside me. The sky is still filled with stars and the moon, and the evening breeze is as cool as ever. The scenery is the same just as it was when we left. I look into my arms once more and find nothing within their grasp. The body of my sister, where has it gone?! My hands then pull toward my chest and I embrace the empty space which once held Miang's body. My eyes continue to melt with tears as my throat becomes dry. My entire body is trembling, my limbs have gone limp. The arms of our mother wrap around me now and I find myself falling forward and a hand brushing at the rivers that crawl down my face.
"There you all are," Captain Matthews' voice enters the vicinity, "when we came back from town, all of you disappeared. Huh, what the, what's wrong with all of you?"
"Miang...," I call my sister's name once more.
Author's Note: Well that's it, Miang is dead. Did she deserve to die? Yeah, I suppose after all she's done to make Elly's life hell. Let's not forget though that her true goal wasn't to kill her sister though, it was to love and be loved, she lost sight of this because of her jealousy for Elly. So I suppose she deserves a sliver of your pity if you haven't given her any. As for the purple and orange flames Elly and Miang used when they used their infinite ether ability, I'm sure all the Xenogears fans recognize this as the hair colors of Elly and Miang. Xenogears fans may also recall that Elly did possess infinite ether abilities if you read those profile things in Solaris of all the characters, I conclude that Miang also has this ability because she and Elly were originally one being. This chapter was the hardest one for me to write thus far, I tried my best to explain Miang and Elly's link, as well as explain Miang's tragic past. One more thing, about Miang's serial number in the beginning, she was the prototype so of course her serial number, 00-00-00-00-0, would be different from Elly's who was the test type, 00-00-00-00-1 (but Elly's of course refers to after she separated from Miang). Well I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, I did because it was a real challenge for me to write. If you do plan on reviewing, no flames as usual. One more chapter left which basically wraps up everything, and just like in "Warm," I leave a small preview for "Bound"'s sequel, "Mother," at the end of the chapter. Well that's it for now, later people!