CHAPTER XXXIII
Rescue Me
"I don't think I will ever tire of meeting like this," Elise said, turning to Ivory, who smiled back at her. "When did we start?"
"I'm not actually sure anymore," Ivory said.
"You're so good with the children, too. From what I knew about Ivory Schnee, she wasn't quite the warmest of individuals, but you're different from that image."
"I have my elder cousin to thank for that. She opened my eyes to all of my shortcomings. I have not yet rectified all of them, but I am working on it."
"We're all works in progress, I think. No one's born perfect. Not even that cousin of yours."
Ivory thought about Lilly for a moment, but her reverie was interrupted by the children bursting out onto the balcony, begging the two young women for attention.
"Okay, okay, we can play," Elise said, standing up from the table.
"Can Auntie Ivory play, too?"
"I don't see why not," Ivory said, joining the children.
—
Ivory awoke to the sound of rain gently tapping at the window. It was still dark out. She reached over for her scroll, turning it on to check the time. It was five in the morning. She looked across the room. Demetri and Ariadne were still fast asleep. She swung her feet over the side of her bed, feeling for her slippers and donning them.
Hmm?
She looked up at the top bunk. It was empty. Lilly's scroll was missing as well. She put on a light sweater before heading out of their room to the living area. The whole dorm was quiet save for a few students pulling all-nighters and slackers playing video games until dawn. Finals were coming up quickly for the school, though that didn't seem to bother some of the more free-spirited types.
She headed to the kitchen to make herself some coffee when she noticed her cousin sitting at a table looking out the window. She was still in her nightgown as well.
"Hey, 'sup."
"Lilith?" Ivory said.
Lilith yawned. "Yeah. Lilly's in here somewhere. She hasn't been speaking, though. It's really weird having it so damn quiet."
Ivory's suspicions were confirmed. For all of yesterday, from the moment they reemerged into the real world until they went to bed, Lilly hadn't said a word. It wasn't obvious either when Lilith had taken over since she had spent the whole day cooped up in their dorm room by herself.
"How is everything?" Ivory asked, sitting with her at the table.
"Kinda boring. Who'd-a thought I'd actually miss the constant yapping?"
Ivory wondered if she was evading the question or if it was a genuine response.
"If you're asking how I'm doing, you should already know better than to think that what happened yesterday would bother me. First of all, I don't actually care about any of the strangers that we keep going on Labyrinth runs for. And even if I did give a tiny bit of a shit, I'd know better than to let even three fails in a row get to me. Now, if you're asking how Lilly's doing, well, you'd have to ask her yourself."
"Wait, are you trying to tell me that you don't know?"
Lilith nodded.
"How's that...possible? Aren't you two, like, the same person?"
"You'd think that, right? But lately, it's like the two of us aren't totally in sync anymore. It used to be that we were both pretty much completely aware of the other was thinking, but now I can't even anticipate what she's gonna do next. And she can't seem to get what I'm thinking either."
"How much about your world do you actually know?"
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"You at least seem to be very knowledgeable on the subject of magic and runes and the Labyrinth, and yet you yourself are, from what we've seen, the exception to all those rules."
"Hey, I'm stumped, too, you know."
There was also the fact that the hostility between Lilith and Ivory had all but evaporated. There were still sarcastic remarks every now and then from Lilith, but the overall malice was no longer there.
"There is one thing."
Ivory looked over at her.
"I'm sure you picked up on it, too. When we were facing that huge conjuration in there, that crime boss guy, I know for a fact that you noticed how absolutely livid she was."
She most definitely had noticed that. Her cousin had to have been seeing blood red during that confrontation.
"What the hell is happening to us?"
"Maybe it has something to do with your fusion," Ivory mused. "Didn't you say that Lilly was the one to take hold of you in your shared Labyrinth?"
"Well, that wasn't exactly our Labyrinth, but yeah, sure. Yeah, we sorta hugged it out and then emerged into the real world together in the same body."
"What if...what if that actually did something to change the two of you? You said it yourself. When in the real world, you're not supposed to both be out at the same time. The primary personality is the one who inhabits the physical body in the real world while the other self remains in the World of Shadow. In some situations that would be reversed, such as the failure of a person entering the World of Shadow to overcome their other self, a Wraith in the case of those with magic. But there was no reversal here. Lilly may have intended a reversal, but it didn't happen. Instead, both girl and Wraith are in the real world together while there is no one inhabiting the World of Shadow."
"Ugh, of all the times not to have access to the Library of Kameloth."
"Huh?"
"Oh, right, you don't know anything about my world. Of course, I've never actually been to Ecumene, but Caliburn lets me in on some of its memories from time to time."
"Your sword has memories?"
She nodded. "It's not really a sword. It's the in-universe representation of a concept: sovereignty and nations. It's why it exists in two states. Lilly holds the half that represents a healthy king and its healthy nation. I hold the half that's tyrannical."
"That's why yours has so much more firepower while Lilly's has defensive magic."
"Mm-hmm."
They were both quiet for a bit, watching as the raindrops rolled down the window. The sky was beginning to brighten, but the clouds prevented the rays from reaching them.
"It's strange," Ivory said.
"Hmm?" Lilith said, turning to her.
"I'm thinking about it some more and it seems as though the two of you are becoming...separate people."
"Tch. That's not possible."
"It's also not possible for both of you to inhabit the same body in the physical world."
Lilith sighed. "Still. There's that kind of impossible and then there's the categorically impossible."
"Perhaps. I do agree, though. If only we had access to this Library of Kameloth you had mentioned. It seems as though there would be a wealth of arcane knowledge there."
"You can't even imagine it. Psh, I can't even imagine it."
—
Ariadne yawned as she sat at her control terminal. There were no Labyrinth missions scheduled for the next few days. She insisted on a break for the team after three failures in a row along with the fact that Lilly was secluding herself within her own body. She shivered at the thought of being defenseless. Lilith could have her way with her and no one could stop her.
"Hey."
Ariadne gasped and turned her chair all the way around. "Hey!"
Lilith squinted at her. "What the hell is your problem?"
"P-Problem? Nothing! N-Nothing is the problem!"
"Why are you so jumpy?"
Her eyes darted around.
"Now you're all shifty-eyes."
"I-It's nothing."
Lilith tilted her head before realizing what it was. "You're all paranoid because I've been in charge since yesterday."
"W-What? No! That's totally not it!"
"Oh, it's totally it." She stepped forward, leaning into Ariadne and resting her hands on her armrest. Their faces were inches apart. Ariadne's cheeks were bright red and she was visibly shaking.
Lilith began laughing. "Jeez, relax. I'm not gonna violate you or anything like that." She spun her chair around several times. When Ariadne came to rest, she was swaying, her glasses crooked.
"What in the world are you doing to my sister?" Orion said, walking into the control room with Dionysus in tow.
The younger brother began laughing. "I guess we're callin' this the Whirl and Hurl, huh?" he said.
Lilith and Dionysus high-fived.
"My head," Ariadne said, fixing her glasses. "What brings the two of you here?"
"Rescuing you from this terrorist, apparently," Orion said. "How is Lilly doing, Lilith?"
"Dunno," she said with a shrug. "She hasn't said a word since yesterday's Labyrinth."
He exchanged glances with his sister. "This is beyond my expertise. I'll be relying on you to handle this."
"I'm no psychiatrist," Ariadne said. "And besides, I believe it is something only she and her team will be able to overcome."
"Anyway," Lilith said, stretching, "since we're down here, how 'bout we make some more rune gems?"
"You're volunteering yourself?" Orion said.
"Isn't that supposed to be painful?" Dionysus said. "At least, that's what I heard from Demetri."
"It is," Ariadne said. "Why would you volunteer?"
"I'm a masochist," Lilith said. "And besides, it doesn't hurt me. Well, not that badly. It makes me sore and tired and shit, but it won't make me scream like Lilly does during the process."
"Why have we not done this sooner, then?" Orion said.
"Because she still feels the pain even if I'm the one in the driver's seat."
"In that case, I won't take part in this," Ariadne said. "I'm not going to put her through any more pain than she's already feeling."
"Hear me out. I'm not trying to do this just to fuck with her. Ivory and I were talking about something this morning and it got me thinking, and I wanna try something out."
"Care to let me in on your experiment before I'm party to causing Lilly physical pain without her consent?"
"Well, you see, everything Lilly or I experience is also supposed to be experienced by the other. But that hasn't been the case lately. I wanna see if she reacts to a rune extraction from my body. If she doesn't, then, cool, we get to mass produce today. If she does, then she wakes up and I get reassurance that she isn't dead."
"Whoa, dead?" Dionysus said.
"She's trying to be funny," Orion said.
"Half-funny," Ariadne said. "You think she may have retreated so far away that you two aren't even connected anymore?"
"Yeah, that's basically it," Lilith said.
"It's like waking someone out of a coma with a cattle prod," Dionysus said. "I dunno if I wanna be here for this."
"We'll be staying," Orion said. "In case anything happens."
Ariadne thought about it for a minute before acquiescing. "The extraction room should be ready," she said, leading the way.
The two men remained behind the glass in the observation deck while Ariadne stood at the control panel in the rune extraction chamber. There were already a collection of gems lined up at a table in the center of the room.
"We gonna do a reality anchor ruby?" Lilith said.
"Yes," Ariadne said. "Be sure to let me know if she does react."
"Yup."
Lilith picked up one of the rubies before strapping herself into the machine. She gave Ariadne a thumb up. The latter responded with a nod before turning the knob to increase power to the machine. Lilith's eyes began glowing gold of their own accord and her bluish-white aura flashed before a rune formed on her arm, migrating across her flesh toward the ruby in her hand.
Just then, she heard Lilly's voice again for the first time since yesterday. She was screaming.
"Oh, good, you are alive," Lilith said aloud.
"What?" Ariadne said.
"Keep going. The rune is almost to the ruby. Shut it down as soon as it finishes, though."
Ariadne kept a close eye on the progress. Meanwhile, Lilith continued to contend with Lilly screaming in her head. Once the transfer was completed, Ariadne hit the giant red button, bringing the machine to a halt.
Lilith removed the headgear and other straps from her body. She could feel Lilly panting in her head.
"You okay?" she said.
Lilly didn't respond.
"I know you can hear me. Hell, I heard you loud and clear just now."
Lilly continued to maintain her silence, but some of her thoughts made their way into Lilith's mind.
"I see. I'll give you some room, then."
"What's going on?" Ariadne said, heading to her. "Is Lilly okay?"
"Yeah, she's fine. She felt all that, though."
"Lilly, if you can hear me, I'm sorry. I didn't want you to go through that pain, but I did agree with Lilith that if it confirmed you were still in there, I was willing to go through with it."
"She can hear you. I think she's been hearing and seeing everything since yesterday."
Ariadne bit her lip and nodded. "It's okay, Lilly. We're here for you whenever you're ready."
"So, she's all right," Orion said as he and Dionysus entered the room.
"Mm-hmm," Lilith said. "But now, I'm hungry. I forgot how much that shit saps your energy. Maybe mass production isn't such a good idea after all."
—
"Thank goodness the rain stopped," Demetri said.
"Yes," Ivory said as she joined him for lunch in the school cafeteria. "Although it's good for this arid land to get rain."
"That certainly is true. The aquifer that feeds the city must have been replenished significantly."
"The lake may be overflowing as well."
After getting their food from the line, they headed outside to eat under the awning.
"Are you sure you aren't cold?" Demetri said.
"No, I'm quite all right. It's much colder back home."
"Very true."
"You know, I've been having this dream lately."
"About Leon?"
Ivory looked him squarely in the eye. "I sense jealousy in those words."
"I could never be jealous of that man."
"Oh? Even after he spent weeks at my house and the months we spent together on the run from Atlas and going through Labyrinth after Labyrinth?"
"Not even after you took leadership over Team LILY."
She suppressed a smile that was about to form. "The dream has been the same. Or rather, the dream has been continuing."
"A series of dreams?"
She nodded, sipping on her tea. "In the dream, I am always with a woman named Elise, who runs an orphanage somewhere in Atlas. It snows sometimes, but I think the town is far enough away from the north pole that it melts in the spring. In the dream, we talk about all sorts of things, my past, her past, people we've known, our hopes and dreams, fears. She started her orphanage because she was an orphan herself. She cannot stand coffee, but she enjoys teas."
"Is that why you've been drinking teas lately?"
"Perhaps."
"Have you figured out what it means?"
"No. It's difficult because the dreams are so...lifelike. I can feel her when we touch. I can smell the flowers in the breeze. I can taste the teas that she brews. Even now, I can still hear the laughter of the children in the manor. Other dreams are easier to parse out because there are standout details and themes, but this just feels so much like I'm going through just another day."
"One interpretation of dreams is that it's you trying to tell yourself something."
"And I'm eager to know what that something is. What about you? Have you had any vivid, lifelike dreams lately?"
"I cannot say. I rarely remember my dreams. There have been a few lately, more like nightmares, really."
"About our three failed Labyrinths?"
He nodded. "But mostly it's about Lilly. I wish I could do something for her."
She looked down at the table. She felt the same way. She was sure everyone else did, too. Even Lilith seemed as if she wished she could give her a helping hand.
—
Lilith sat at a pavilion overlooking a small pond at Shade Academy's front garden. The rain had picked up again and she had gotten wet before managing to get underneath the gazebo, though the structure was small enough that any time the wind blew, she'd get some of the splash.
"Jeez, is this you causing all this ridiculous weather?" Lilith said, confident that Lilly could hear her. "Honestly, it could easily be pure coincidence. But then again, this happened last time, too, when that other thing happened."
She felt a light pang originating from within.
"I didn't mean to bring that up again. Now I feel fucking stupid. Anyway, I know this is something you need to be able to do yourself, but if you care to hear what I have to say, then, well." She scratched her head. "I don't remember what the hell I was gonna say, dammit."
Lilith?
"Hmm?"
How do you do it?
"Do what?"
You know. Not hurt.
She scoffed. "You tryin'a say I don't feel any pain?"
Do you?
"No shit I do. Don't you remember who's been dumping all her pain on me for our entire life?"
Oh. Right. Sorry.
She sighed heavily. "I didn't mean it like that." She mused on the thought. "Maybe that's exactly it."
Huh?
"Maybe it's the fact that I've been the one dealing with our pain for our whole life that it doesn't bug me so much. I'm just used to it I guess. Not that it doesn't hurt cuz I still get pissed and shit."
What about the last three Labyrinths we went through?
"You mean does it hurt me?"
Mm-hmm.
"Well, it doesn't hurt. Not the way it obviously hurts you. I'm more irritated than anything."
I see.
"What about you? Wanna talk about your feeeeeeelings?"
Well, I mean, I'm kinda disappointed in myself.
"Yeah, I think I can feel the self-worthlessness cranked to maximum."
Can we go to the Labyrinth?
"Huh? You mean just us two?"
Yeah. I wanna get stronger. Faster. I wanna last longer in combat.
"I mean, that's already been happening with every Lab run we do."
No, I mean, like, without Ivory and Demetri to look after.
"Oh. You wanna run wild without anyone to hold you back."
That's not...
"No, I get it. And yeah, I know you didn't mean it like that, but I mean, that's the facts. Demetri and Ivory don't have our power. And even when Ruby and Jaune were still running with us, they could barely keep up too." She stood up. "Wanna go now?"
Will we get in trouble?
"Nah. We can pass through any rift we want, remember?"
Oh, right.
"In fact, there's one right over that way."
Okay, then.
