Heisenberg had led them to a side room with a table and some chairs. His feet hitting the concrete floor could have probably been heard from the other side of the factory. He pulled one to the side and gestured for Cynthia to take a seat aggressively.
Circe knew what he was feeling right now. nShe had seen it before that day when he thought she was lying to him about not remembering her past. He was acting exactly as he did then.
"Sit the fuck down and explain yourself," he demanded, eyes wild.
She wished he would just calm down, but she understood why he was so on edge. He couldn't possibly understand why she felt more trustful of Cynthis than she was of any of the others. Honestly, she knew that she had no way to explain it herself.
Cynthia sat down and placed the folder she was holding in her lap, folding her hands over the top of it. She looked like she was unbothered by his reaction. "I apologize for appearing so late. I felt like this was the safest way to do this," she explained, while her dead eyes looked up at the man towering before her.
"Safest way to do what? Give us these documents?" Circe asked, pulling a chair to sit a few feet away from Cynthia.
"I want to...help you," Cynthia looked down at her hands. "I want to be of service."
She spoke with a hesitation that Circe had not heard from her before like she knew that she was doing something dangerous. Why would she risk her life to help in the first place?
"Why should we just believe you, huh? Why should we believe that you want to help us?" he paced towards her, grabbing her by her lace collar and bringing her up close to his snarling face.
The thick folder fell to the floor, papers cascading in waves around their feet. Cynthia didn't fight him, her body going limp in his grasp. She kept her eyes glued to his.
Circe stood up, ready to intervene if Heisenberg did anything to actually hurt her. She was sensing that Cynthia was telling the truth. She couldn't explain why, it was like she just knew. "Karl, please..."
"Lord Heisenberg. I have a great...dislike...for Mother Miranda," Cynthia went on to say, her voice never rising. "I want her done away with."
This must have left Heisenberg perplexed because he just huffed and dropped her to the chair with a thud. "You want to kill Mother Miranda?"
"I want her gone. It doesn't matter how, so long as she never returns," Cynthia was fixing her collar around her shoulders as she straightened up in the chair. "The secret that you have a similar disdain for Mother Miranda has not been a well kept one, I must admit, and with the appearance of Lady Zero things have looked up in your favor."
"What about that blood-sucking bitch? You gonna turn your back on her?" Heisenberg began pacing about. "You gonna keep sneaking out to give us information? Hope you don't get caught by mommy?"
"I have already turned my back on Countess Dimitrescu, she just doesn't know it yet," Cynthia replied simply.
At this point, Circe was on her knees on the floor and looking through the papers that had fallen. Gingerly picking one up and holding it to her face, she saw a picture of herself from when she was a child. It included information like her height, weight, blood type, and other things.
"Karl...please," Circe stood up with the paper and handed it to him. "She isn't lying. This might be able to help us."
Heisenberg wasn't convinced. "How the hell did you get your hands on this stuff?"
"Mother Miranda did not keep the house she set up for Lady Zero locked up all too well," Cynthia sounded as bored as ever. There was no smile on her lips. "I slipped in and took what I thought was important. I made copies. Mother Miranda had a printer in another room."
Heisenberg growled and his footsteps went faster like he didn't like what he was hearing. Like he just wanted her to admit to lying to them so he could bash her head in and get it over with.
"Karl," Circe pleaded, stepping into his line of sight. "She can help us! There is information about my abilities in these notes!" She thrust the paper in his face. She desperately needed him to see things differently and was beginning to be extremely grateful that it didn't take much for him to trust her from the beginning.
Karl took the paper out of her hand rougher than he probably intended because he looked at Circe with an apologetic look before reading what was on the page. Then his jaw clenched tightly. "Hmph..."
"See?" Circe stood beside him and pointed at a few lines. "This is incredibly helpful. We need to at the very least give her a chance. We have a common goal."
Heisenberg begrudgingly looked at Cynthia and handed the paper back to Circe. "Fine," he was much more gentle now. "If you betray us...I will kill you."
A corner of Cynthia's mouth turned up slightly. "I could never expect anything less, Lord Heisenberg. If I were to betray you and Lady Zero, I would deserve death."
He huffed, shuffled on his feet, then walked over to pick up the papers from the ground. "Is this all there is?"
Cynthia shook her head, any amusement leaving her features. "I regret to inform you that I was unable to copy everything. There was too much of it, and I did not want to be in the house for very long," She knelt from the chair to help tidy the stacks of paper. "I waited for Mother Miranda to leave before I went inside. There was no telling when she would return. I did not want to be seen."
"Thank you for doing this," Circe said, taking the open folder from beside the leg of the chair and holding it out to them. "You risked your life. I couldn't imagine what Miranda would have done to you if you were caught."
"I did it for you, Lady Zero," Cynthia placed half of the stack in the folder, Heisenberg following suit. "Or would it be alright if I called you Lady Circe?"
Circe couldn't help but flinch when her name was said out loud by someone other than Heisenberg. It felt strange and foreign, but she didn't mind Cynthia saying it. "Uh, yeah, you can. J-just make sure you don't use it in front of the others. I'm trying to 'play dumb' as they say. I want Mother Miranda to underestimate me."
Heisenberg made his way over to a chair a few feet away from the both of them and sat down, straddling it from the front. "What I wanna know is why you just said you are doing this for Circe?"
Cynthia turned her head slowly at him. "She is kind. I do not believe she deserves all that has happened to her. Plus," Cynthia looked back to Circe. "She holds great power."
Circe was about to deny it. She was going to say that there was no possible way for her to defeat Mother Miranda. But she thought about what she was capable of doing. All the damage she was able to cause.
"Maybe you're right," she said, looking to the floor.
"Of course, she's right, buttercup!" Heisenberg said, getting up from the chair and squeezed on Circe's shoulders with his hands. "Even I can agree with her on that. You'll kick her ass!"
Circe laughed softly and tried not to blush to no avail. "I'll try my best."
"The documents I was able to copy were from the beginning up until the age of thirteen," Cynthia said suddenly. "I apologize for making my visit brief, but I must go back to Castle Dimitrescu now. I do not want to raise any suspicion of my whereabouts."
Circe nodded and held the folder close to her chest. "Thank you again. Be careful out there, okay?"
"Of course. I am always careful," Cynthia gave them both a low bow. "Thank you, Lord Heisenberg and Lady Circe for your kind hospitality. I will send a message before I visit next time."
"You should have fucking done that from the get-go," Heisenberg grumbled.
"I apologize once again for the abrupt entrance. I wanted to be as discreet as possible," Cynthia explained.
"It's okay, it's done with now," Circe was very much ready to start reading every single one of these papers. "Do you need us to walk you to the exit?"
Cynthia shook her head. "I can get to the exit on my own."
Heisenberg pointed a finger at her. "Don't touch anything on your way out. Got it?"
Cynthia curtsied. "Of course. As you command, Lord Heisenberg," she then looked at the both of them. "I wish the both of you a pleasant night, Lord and Lady."
And with that, she glided from the room, the taps of her heels fading away down the hall.
"I am...absolutely beat," Heisenberg said once they could no longer hear Cynthia, draping his arm heavily around Circe's shoulders. He was still eyeing the doorway with aggravation. "Let's go back to the room."
They made it to the room much quicker than they had left it, Circe clutching onto the folder like it was the most precious thing in the world along the way. She knew Heisenberg wanted to get back to the room so he could sleep, but she was anxious to learn more about her past. She needed to keep up with her logs in her journal anyhow.
"You aren't sleeping tonight, are you?" Heisenberg asked when they entered his living room.
"No. I need to update my journal and read these documents," Circe said, walking over to place the folder on the table as if it could shatter at the sheer force of being set down. "If Miranda has all of this information on me, then she has an advantage. I need to change that."
Heisenberg opened the door to the kitchen and leaned on the frame, crossing his arms over his chest. "You sure you don't wanna take a longer break?"
Circe couldn't help but smile at the thought of him worrying over her, even though she would rather him not do such a thing. She wasn't worried for only herself now. She was worried for the people she cared about. They meant more than she did.
"Cynthia said there were a lot more documents than she was able to copy. There's no telling what she already knows," she walked to him as she spoke, hands going to either side of his waist. "We don't even know how she got her hands on this stuff."
"Whoever did this to you is probably working with that bitch," he leaned over her, wrapping his arms around her lower back, pulling her close. "They have something to do with the mark on the back of your neck. I'll bet you they tattooed it on you so it wouldn't come off."
Circe absently reached behind her hair and stoked the skin at the back of her neck. She would never get it off, no matter how much she scrubbed. "If they are working with her, then we have to learn as much about them as we can, too," she said, looking up at him with a determined expression. "I don't think we have enough time for me to take long breaks. I have to keep on top of things."
Heisenberg sighed deeply and leaned his forehead to hers. "You sure you wanna do this while I'm sleeping?"
"I'm sure," she said, leaning up to give him a peck on his lips.
However, that was not enough for him, because before she could fully pull away, he had one of his hands on the back of her head holding her in place. His mouth met hers deeply and sloppy. He tasted like the whiskey they were drinking earlier.
Circe let a blissful sigh emit from her throat. She felt like she was a part of some romance novel as she glided her hands up his chest and into the tangles of his hair. One day she would get him to let her do his hair.
Heisenberg nipped at her lip - which made Circe's heart flutter - and pulled away to peer into her eyes with his golden ones. "You stay right here in this room while you're workin' on stuff. If I hear you screamin', I'm gonna make you lay down with me until I wake up," he pointed to the middle of the living room.
Circe chuckled and filed that little nip at her lip for another time. "As you wish, Lord Heisenberg."
He snorted. "You sound like that zombie maid."
Circe frowned. "Her name is Cynthia and there's a reason she presents herself that way."
"And what reason is that?" he laughed.
"How about I tell you all I know tomorrow, yeah?" Circe challenged, latching her fingers on the flaps to his coat; tugging at the fabric. "I know we can trust her, okay?"
He blew air from both nostrils. "I'll let you do the trusting," he grumbled, then ruffled her hair. "I won't mind telling you 'I told you so' right before I rip her head off."
The look Circe gave him stopped his laughter before he could start it. "I'll be the one telling you 'I told you so'," she promised.
His eyes beamed down at her mischievously. "I'll hold you to that," then he swept her away to his room.
After giving Heisenberg some back scratches and an ample amount of kisses, he was fast asleep in his bed. This was the first time Circe had been in his room so she took the time to look around.
She had expected it to be less tidy than it was. There were some random clothes on the floor and various bits of metal thrown about, but the rest of the room was well put together. She knew it would only take her a small amount of time to clean everything up.
But she didn't have time for that. She had to get to work.
Leaving one more kiss on Heisenberg's hair, she left the room and closed the door lightly behind her. She filled up a tall glass of water, grabbed a bag of chips, and went into the living room to set up everything the way she wanted it.
Once she sat down, she opened up her journal, clicked the end of her pen, and began writing.
It was quite a bit of work.
It took no time at all to update her journal about the most recent events from the time she had left the factory, but the bulk of the effort had to go into reading the documents Cynthia had gotten for her. She wanted to take it slow and make sure she got every detail she possibly could.
The first time she read through them she didn't write anything down. She only wanted to take in the information. This was a test she gave herself to see if she made it through without getting too upset.
It wasn't the best experience. She was very lucky she didn't scream. A few times she went into flashbacks, but they weren't as deep as her previous ones. She was able to pull herself out without passing out completely. Though this was an improvement from before, she could feel herself being drained with each recovered memory.
Each time, she would write it all down, trying to put every detail down possible. She had no clue what could be useful in the future.
While doing all of this, Circe realized that she felt something within her change. Was it all of the new information she was presented with? No, she felt it had begun before that. Maybe it was the whole encounter with Miranda. Maybe it was Cynthia helping because she thought Circe was kind and strong.
She couldn't tell.
But she did feel strong now. She felt stronger than she ever had before, especially now she had more to help them with their goal. Regardless of where it came from, she would use it to her advantage. She had to take her part seriously, no matter how afraid she was.
No matter how much she just wanted to take Heisenberg and Cynthia and just run away from all of their problems.
Miranda would never allow them to get far.
The second time Circe went through the documents she took to it with her pen. Circling all of the important parts she could find: names, dates, test results. She had no flashbacks this time, only minor memories that threaded some webs.
She wrote everything in her journal, as usual.
This took the whole night, considering the large chunk of time that was taken by flashbacks and the copious amount of words she wrote. At this rate, she would soon need a whole new journal to write in. That would be fine. The more records she had, the better.
Circe pushed the chair away from her and stood. She hadn't gotten up since she sat down, and that was a grave mistake. Her muscles were tense and sore when she rolled her head slowly from side to side. Next time she would have to set up somewhere more comfortable. She would also have to start getting up to stretch during long sessions such as this.
"You live and you learn," she muttered to herself, then walked to the kitchen.
writer's notes
ugh, I love Cynthia so much.
We get to find out what was in the documents in the next chapter