I felt my anger rise, and my pulse began to race. This pain, is this what it is like to have a life snuffed from your life? I fell to my knees, then, my body fighting on whether or not to be angry, cry, or to throw up. The pain was getting to my head, and I didn't want to short again. I couldn't afford to short again.
Still sitting on the ground, I extended my palm again, through the tears, trying to find something less painful, more useful. The image in my mind settled on the keys of the car and my father's ring. Opening my eyes, I saw the ring before me on my father's dead hand. The keys were still in the engine. Great, I'd have to get down and dirty into this, wouldn't I?
Without thinking about the disgusting task I was about to undertake, I grabbed the ring on my deceased father's hand and pulled, hard. It didn't budge, it seemed as if soaking in the water caused my father's flesh to bloat. I tugged harder, determined not to think about what I was doing. With enough effort, the ring came off with a sickening snap. I felt the bile rise from my stomach, I couldn't even bear to believe that this thing... this dead thing... was the same man who implanted Mother Dorothy's virus in my head. The same man who raised me as a youth. Or was he? If what Cain was saying was really and honestly true...
No. I do not want to think about any of that right now. I sat up, pants soaked and mud covered, holding my father's ring in my shaking hands. No, Rion, don't think off track. You've seen enough dead bodies since Michelangelo hospital... this... isn't... any different... right? For all I know, he might not even be my real...
Dammit, have I got a one-track mind. I went over to the pond and dipped the ring in the tepid water, in vain hopes of cleansing the ring of... prior ownership, so to speak. Drying it with my shirt, I put it in my pocket.
"Having fun?" a voice came from behind me. I spun around, recognizing that voice, my pulse pounding in my chest.
"Rainheart," I muttered, not really sure I could believe my eyes. But there he was, smirking before me. "I seriously thought I killed you," I laughed under my breath with my own smirk, letting my palm face upward. I felt my psionic powers shift, and a small blast of red flamed from my fingertips. in reality, though, I was scared out of my wits. I thought I killed this... bastard kid. Why the hell was he still alive? I had the sick thought that maybe Mother Dorothy could continually reproduce her Galerian children. Jesus, no, I didn't want to think about that...
"You've angered Cain and Mother. Mother isn't happy with you," Rainheart answered in the most bland monotone I had ever heard.
I shook my head. "You told me that exact same thing last time, Rainheart... you should be dead, you know that?" I felt my breathing speed up, really and truly hoping that my short little realization would not be true.
"Mother wants you dead, Rion." he responded, totally ignoring anything I ever mentioned. "She doesn't like her children being disobedient... especially when one child goes about killer all her other children." Rainheart's inflection nor did his expression waiver. Pretty damn scary, if you ask me. Not to mention this behavior of Rainheart's was very unusual... he was not like this last time I encountered him.
"I have no relation to that Dorothy, and you have no reason in the fucking world to call me one of her children," I retorted, the red starting to burst from my upraised fingertips in impatience and fury. "I'm not like you and Dorothy's screwed up children."
"Look at you, Rion, Rainheart said with that bland expression, his eyes resting on my hand where tendrils of flame were bursting sporadically. "Does that look normal to you?"
"I'm not like you!" I yelled, eyes narrowing. "I'm not a slave to a computer named Dorothy." I just couldn't understand any of it. All these people... things... were slaves to a damn computer. Just because I have powers like them, does it mean that I'm a Galerian? I have feelings, doesn't... isn't that enough to make me different?
"Maybe Dorothy messed up your program, that's why Cain exists. Ever wonder why Cain has a slight resemblance to you?" asked Rainheart, his eyes still devoid of emotion.
"You know, I really don't give a shit, and I really don't have the time for this," I answered, glaring at Rainheart. The tendrils of flame dancing from my fingers were growing larger. I was just getting so damn tired of everyone telling me I HAD to be a Galerian. So fucking sick of it all.
Rainheart's stoic expression never changed. "You do know where this leads, don't you?"
The flames from my hand immediately quenched, and I crossed my arms over my chest. "I'm going to have to kill you again, right?" I shrugged my shoulders with a sigh. "Dammit, this is just another waste of my time."
"It won't be a waste of my time when I kill you," responded Rainheart as he held out his palm in my direction.
This wasn't going to be pretty.
Still sitting on the ground, I extended my palm again, through the tears, trying to find something less painful, more useful. The image in my mind settled on the keys of the car and my father's ring. Opening my eyes, I saw the ring before me on my father's dead hand. The keys were still in the engine. Great, I'd have to get down and dirty into this, wouldn't I?
Without thinking about the disgusting task I was about to undertake, I grabbed the ring on my deceased father's hand and pulled, hard. It didn't budge, it seemed as if soaking in the water caused my father's flesh to bloat. I tugged harder, determined not to think about what I was doing. With enough effort, the ring came off with a sickening snap. I felt the bile rise from my stomach, I couldn't even bear to believe that this thing... this dead thing... was the same man who implanted Mother Dorothy's virus in my head. The same man who raised me as a youth. Or was he? If what Cain was saying was really and honestly true...
No. I do not want to think about any of that right now. I sat up, pants soaked and mud covered, holding my father's ring in my shaking hands. No, Rion, don't think off track. You've seen enough dead bodies since Michelangelo hospital... this... isn't... any different... right? For all I know, he might not even be my real...
Dammit, have I got a one-track mind. I went over to the pond and dipped the ring in the tepid water, in vain hopes of cleansing the ring of... prior ownership, so to speak. Drying it with my shirt, I put it in my pocket.
"Having fun?" a voice came from behind me. I spun around, recognizing that voice, my pulse pounding in my chest.
"Rainheart," I muttered, not really sure I could believe my eyes. But there he was, smirking before me. "I seriously thought I killed you," I laughed under my breath with my own smirk, letting my palm face upward. I felt my psionic powers shift, and a small blast of red flamed from my fingertips. in reality, though, I was scared out of my wits. I thought I killed this... bastard kid. Why the hell was he still alive? I had the sick thought that maybe Mother Dorothy could continually reproduce her Galerian children. Jesus, no, I didn't want to think about that...
"You've angered Cain and Mother. Mother isn't happy with you," Rainheart answered in the most bland monotone I had ever heard.
I shook my head. "You told me that exact same thing last time, Rainheart... you should be dead, you know that?" I felt my breathing speed up, really and truly hoping that my short little realization would not be true.
"Mother wants you dead, Rion." he responded, totally ignoring anything I ever mentioned. "She doesn't like her children being disobedient... especially when one child goes about killer all her other children." Rainheart's inflection nor did his expression waiver. Pretty damn scary, if you ask me. Not to mention this behavior of Rainheart's was very unusual... he was not like this last time I encountered him.
"I have no relation to that Dorothy, and you have no reason in the fucking world to call me one of her children," I retorted, the red starting to burst from my upraised fingertips in impatience and fury. "I'm not like you and Dorothy's screwed up children."
"Look at you, Rion, Rainheart said with that bland expression, his eyes resting on my hand where tendrils of flame were bursting sporadically. "Does that look normal to you?"
"I'm not like you!" I yelled, eyes narrowing. "I'm not a slave to a computer named Dorothy." I just couldn't understand any of it. All these people... things... were slaves to a damn computer. Just because I have powers like them, does it mean that I'm a Galerian? I have feelings, doesn't... isn't that enough to make me different?
"Maybe Dorothy messed up your program, that's why Cain exists. Ever wonder why Cain has a slight resemblance to you?" asked Rainheart, his eyes still devoid of emotion.
"You know, I really don't give a shit, and I really don't have the time for this," I answered, glaring at Rainheart. The tendrils of flame dancing from my fingers were growing larger. I was just getting so damn tired of everyone telling me I HAD to be a Galerian. So fucking sick of it all.
Rainheart's stoic expression never changed. "You do know where this leads, don't you?"
The flames from my hand immediately quenched, and I crossed my arms over my chest. "I'm going to have to kill you again, right?" I shrugged my shoulders with a sigh. "Dammit, this is just another waste of my time."
"It won't be a waste of my time when I kill you," responded Rainheart as he held out his palm in my direction.
This wasn't going to be pretty.