Chapter Fifteen: The Shattered Mirror
The old storage room smelled musty and had a lingering flicker of dust in the air - likely from the carnage above, which had also left bits of rubble all across the floor. There were several tall panels dotted around, each with a thin pale blanket draped over them. Mirrors, almost certainly. Set aside in storage.
Directly ahead of Ribbon Girl, stood before one of the cloaked mirrors, was the young woman she had been chasing this whole time. Mimicutie.
She had her back to Ribbon Girl, and just seemed to be standing there. She had lost her mask now, so the chances of her starting another fight were slim. She was all out of tricks now.
"M-Mimi..." Ribbon Girl started.
Mimicutie looked to the floor below her. After a small pause she finally spoke up, in a quiet and somber tone. "I loved our park. I really did." The cold air matched the cool blue tone of the room, illuminated only by the light coming through the cracks above. "Everything my father and I did, we did it for our park. For our guests. We just wanted to make the world a happier place."
She straightened her neck.
"When I was young, I used to clean the mirrors in the Hall of the Heroes. I'd go in with a little bucket and sponge and wipe them all down. Cleaning the bigger rides was always too dangerous for me, so..." She sighed. "S-So the mirrors was my job." Her voice began to wobble somewhat. "My dad used to call me his 'Mirror Maid'. I always loved that name."
Mimicutie pressed her fingers to the shroud she was looking at. Her hand shook a bit, as she pulled the cloak off, revealing beneath it a shattered mirror with several pieces missing. Some rubble from above must have struck the cloak before they arrived.
She looked into her distorted reflection with disappointment. "...My dad never had ARMS. Said he never needed 'em. But then one day I got mine, a-and..." She sniffled. "And they were mirrors! He was so proud. " She ran one of her shining ARMS past her nose, wiping it. "He said I could be an ARMS fighter when I grew up. Maybe I'd make it big, he'd say. But I never cared about that." She sobbed a little, quietly. " I j-just wanted to stay with our park! "
Ribbon Girl's eyes watered as she let Mimicutie talk. She wouldn't even know what to say, given the opportunity, so she sayed silent.
Mimicutie sniffled again. "Wh-When things started going south a-and we heard they were gonna tear our place down for a League park, I-I was so upset... B-But he reassured me it wouldn't happen. He said we'd stand up for ourselves and show them wh-why we deserved to stay!" Tiny drops of tears hit the floor below her. "We talked to Brass about it a-and he said he'd ' talk to his people '. A-And I thought, at the time, that th-there was no way he actually would. Th-That he just said that to make us go away." She sniffled again, this time quite a loud one. "But my dad kept saying how we had to have faith in people! He was sure Brass would stay true to his word."
A long pause came. Ribbon Girl stood there, some tears down her face, waiting for Mimicutie to continue. She realized the implication before all too long. Of course Brass didn't stay true to his word. They wouldn't be here if he had.
Mimicutie gave a small sniffle, beginning again with an emptiness to her voice. "My dad changed when the park shut down. He just kinda... Just kinda stopped . Went all quiet and distant. He wouldn't eat enough, or watch TV... He'd just sit and stare at nothing in particular. I don't think I ever really saw him smile again." She sighed slightly. "And then, before long, that was that. And I didn't have a dad anymore." She wiped her nose again. "No siblings. And mama died when I was young, so... I was alone. Didn't even have any friends. Never had."
She quietly put her hand up to the shattered mirror before her, laying it flat on the distorted reflection it gave.
"This is all that remains of my park now. They didn't know what to do with the mirrors - maybe they were superstitious about breaking them, I dunno - so they left them down here." She ran her hand softly against the cracks in the mirror. "I used to give a big bright smile after cleaning each one, just to see how happy it made me to be helping."
Mimicutie bared her teeth. Her fall from earlier hand knocked out four of them, and a further two were now little more than shattered spikes of chips and cracks. That'd be the source of that taste of blood in her mouth, she figured.
She shut her eyes, tears falling. " I j-just w-want to go back... "
Ribbon Girl gulped. She quietly wiped her tears aside and did her best to be a friend, despite this being their only non-hostile interaction. "M-Mimi..." She cleared her throat. " Alison... " She took a step forward gently. "I'm so sorry. I-I can't express how much it hurts me to hear all of this. It makes me ashamed of the League, a-and of Brass..." She sighed. "I-If I had known... "
Mimicutie shrugged softly. "I guess it was before your time. This place was already being built when you took the championship. Funland was..." She sighed. "A-Already dust."
"F-For what it's worth..." Ribbon Girl stammered. "... I liked Funland. I always thought the future-theme was really cool. Thought it'd be nice if our future ended up like that." Memories came back to her head now. She really did quite like that place. "Y-Y'know that ride with the pictures of scientists and the voice-over talking a-about technology? That one was always my favourite."
A snort came from Mimicutie. "That ride sucked. " She laughed sadly. "I always thought that was the weakest one, it was j-just a stupid field trip... It was so slow."
Ribbon Girl smiled softly. "I liked the slow rides. A-And I found it fun to learn about all those people, and everything they'd done for us!"
Mimicutie shut her eyes. She really didn't think Ribbon Girl was lying. "I always liked Starfly Journey. All those planets you'd pass by... And we left Pluto up there, too. I always thought that was cute."
Ribbon Girl smiled, before she felt her eyes well up with tears again. " Please let me help you. "
She slowly turned her head over her shoulder to look at Ribbon Girl. The consequences of wearing Arachnilok were immediately pretty obvious - there were large bleeding gashes all around the perimeter of her head, as if it had actually bit down on her when she put it on. That'd explain the scream she gave, certainly. But this was also the first time Ribbon Girl was looking at her without her mask on. Those big white eyes seemed so much more natural without the whitened eyelashes.
Ribbon Girl wiped her nose with the back of her hand. "There's gotta be some future for you. Please. "
Mimicutie gave a soft, pitiful smile. "I've lost everything. There's nothing left for me at all. Not anymore."
"Then we can make something!" Ribbon Girl insisted. "W-Why not... Why not become an ARMS fighter?! "
Her remarked earned and blank stare from Mimicutie. Not one of having taken insult to that, but one of... Confusion.
"I-I'm serious!" Ribbon Girl pleaded. "It'd be a new legacy for you and your family! Something you know your father would be proud of!" A tear rolled down her cheek. "And you could help make the League into something commendable! "
Mimicutie turned around fully now. She looked down, as if considering it. She hated the ARMS League... But... That actually sounded rather-
Min Min and Coyle suddenly dropped down at either side of Ribbon Girl, the former cradling her left ARM.
"End of the line, Alison." Coyle glared angrily.
"...Yeah." Mimicutie stared to the floor.
"C-Coyle..." Ribbon Girl glared back at her, wanting to say something.
"So do you think that was all worth it, in the end?" Coyle continued to grunt at Mimicutie. "All this because of a fucking theme park. God knows what you would have pulled if it was something that had actually mattered. "
" Coyle... " Ribbon Girl felt her heart sink.
"Well? Was it worth it? Are you proud of yourself?" Coyle shouted.
Mimicutie didn't reply.
"ANSWER ME!" She insisted once again.
A tear fell from Mimicutie's eye as she continued to stare at the floor. " No. "
"Did you think ANY of this through?" Coyle continued.
Mimicutie shook her head quickly, her eyes watering.
"You were gonna kill people, dude..." Min Min mumbled, disappointingly.
Mimicutie's face scrunched up, as if she were trying to hold back tears. She nodded.
"Guys, please!" Ribbon Girl pleaded for them to be a little softer on her.
Coyle put up her hand toward Ribbon Girl. She was not in the mood to be interrupted right now. "Your park will forever be remembered for this. Your legacy - your family's legacy - will go down as one of pathetic excuse for 'revenge'. And that's your fault."
Her lip quivered heavily as she was finally forced to address the awful truth she had known all along. She tried desperately to fight it back, despite Coyle's bitter beratement.
"So, Alison." Coyle glared at her. "Tell me - do you think your father would be proud of everything you've done today?"
" ...NO. " Mimicutie's face erupted into a harsh sob as she fell to her knees. She cried heavily with everything she had built up. She knew deep down, right from the beginning, that this whole plan for vengeance was wrong. That it'd fix nothing. That her father - the one person she had in her life - would be ashamed of her for it. She could see him so clearly in her head, tears in his eyes, asking what happened to his sweet Mirror Maid who only ever wanted the best for the world. God what a painful image that was.
"To think you're anything but a worthless waste of carbon would be an insult to us all." Coyle bitterly looked down at her. "It makes me sick to know I breathe the same air as you."
" Okay, enough! " Ribbon Girl insisted, turning back to the two beside her. "Can you cut it with the guilt trip?! You've made your point. She's hurting enough already! "
Coyle glared at her with the same lack of care.
"Hun..." Min Min solemnly looked at her. "You have to remember all she's done today..."
"I-I know!" Ribbon Girl pleaded. "But what does any of this solve? She didn't just do this for nothing, she had her reasons. Even if you don't agree with what she did, can't you understand what she must have felt to bring her to do all that...?"
"How she felt means nothing to me." Coyle bluntly replied. "Her own stupid sorrow over losing her park just lead her to destroying someone else's - and attempting to take multiple innocent lives in the process."
"H-Her dad-"
" Master Mummy had his son here today. " Coyle interrupted, reminding them all. "How do you think his son would have felt if his dad got killed? Got killed by her, through her actions? How do you think any children here today would have felt for losing their parents in her little rampage? How would the parents feel for losing their children?" Coyle shook her head, looking at Mimicutie with nothing but hatred. "She'll rot in a cell for the rest of her life and I'll make sure of that. "
Ribbon Girl looked back at Coyle with an emptiness in her expression. She turned to Min Min instead.
"...I'm sorry, hun." Min Min looked back, an apologetic look on her face. "I'm with Coyle on this one."
Ribbon Girl stared blankly between them. "Then I really don't know what to say. Because I'm not giving up on her so quickly." She turned back to Mimicutie. "I still see some good in her, a-and I'll... I'll..."
Mimicutie, her breath still and her eyes empty, looked back up at Ribbon Girl. "...Thank you." She smiled softly, so grateful to have finally had someone try to understand her. She shut her eyes as her hand quietly picked up a sharp shard of broken glass from the floor beside her. "For trying." With a single tear dropping once more from her eye, Mimicutie raised the shard to her throat.
"NO! " Ribbon Girl gasped suddenly, as the two beside her recoiled back.