"Are you serious?"
"What? They have a fully stocked medical wing,"
"It's not that… I just… should'a known I'd end up here someday…"
Ash and the woman she had taken to calling Jekyll stepped through the gates to the High Vale Mental Health Facility. The building appeared no different from the rest of Vale. A few broken windows, a smashed door or two, and absolutely zero signs of life.
"We should take care of your burns as soon as possible," Ash told Jekyll.
"We should make sure there are no Grimm around first, and secure an area if we're going to drop our guard at all," The dark woman countered.
"Fair enough. Can I use your pistol?" Ash asked.
"…What pistol?"
"That green one on your belt?" Ash pointed to the back of Jekyll's sash.
The dark woman slowly reached back and closed a hand over the pistol grip. She was beginning to remember… it had taken it… that thing, the parasite…
She began to feel the same way she felt back in the sewer, back when she found Neopolitan's hand… The same images flashed through her head. She could feel the resistance as Brutal Thorn pierced Lie Ren. She could smell the blood that spilled from his chest. She was no longer standing in front of the mental hospital. It was a vivid, waking nightmare.
The scene changed and took her with it. The rubble was collapsing around them. The heat from the explosion seared her skin all over again. And yet the worst was what she saw. Neo was buried under the debris. Blood soaked the stones as they slammed down on her wrist, cutting Reaper off from seeing her lover's fate.
The tightness also returned to her chest. She tried to breath, but it was as if she forgot how. The scenes continued to replay in her head with all of the sights, smells, and sounds making it feel she truly returned to those moments in time. She couldn't escape, she couldn't breathe…
Back in the real world, Ash stared wide-eyed as Jekyll fell into a panic attack identical to the one in the sewers. "Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit…" Taking care of her the first time wasn't exactly a cakewalk, and she needed Jekyll to clear out any grimm inside the building.
Ash took her companion by the shoulders, attempting to straighten her stance. "Don't do this to me! Listen to me, okay! Follow the sound of my voice!"
Surprisingly, Jekyll did seem vaguely aware of her. Her eyes were still glazed over and staring a thousand miles through her, but they did center somewhat toward Ash's face. Ash considered slapping her, but last time she slapped this woman, she nearly died.
"Okay…" Ash thought quickly, "Breath. Focus on something new, distract yourself. Sing! Sing, focus on the words and only the words and sing."
"S.. sing…?" Jekyll gasped between failed breaths.
"Focus on the words…" Ash enunciated clearly, "You are my sunshine, my only sunshine…"
"You… you…"
"Sing with me," Ash persisted, "feel the vibrations of the words. There are only the words. With me, now… You are my sunshine.."
"My only sunshine…"
Jekyll began to sing through the song, and she seemed to be calming down. She even found her breath again. When she had come back to the present, she realized she had been leaned against a tree to stay upright. "Where's the pistol?"
"I have it, you won't have to see it," Ash assured her.
The dark woman didn't have many options and conceded a "Keep it safe then."
Ash decided it was better not to pry into the history of the green pistol and why it triggered a panic attack. "Got it."
"So…" Jekyll stood up, "That sunshine trick… how did you know it would work?"
"I didn't," Ash shrugged, "But my grandfather had similar issues, and that's how he countered flashbacks. It cleared his mind, allowed him to remind himself what was real."
"Right…" Jekyll looked back to the mental hospital, "Well, We've been delayed long enough and I need to punch something. Let's go."
There was a notable lack of things to punch, which was both good news and bad news. After quickly agreeing to block off a vital corridor to give them some breathing room, they split up to search for anything the burned woman could use on her injuries.
The dark woman wasn't thrilled to be alone with her thoughts. There was an emptiness next to her that was more apparent than ever. At first she didn't want to travel with Ash, but her being there was… distracting. It distracted her from the pain. Not that Ash could ever replace Neo, but if Neo really was gone…
The image of the hand came back to her. The tightness returned to her chest as well, and she stabilized herself on the wall. She saw her ice cream colored lover buried under the rubble…
As much as part of her hated it, Jekyll forced the song out of her mouth. She let the words erase the memory…
"You are my sunshine, my only sunshine. You make me happy… when skies are gray… you are my sunshine…"
The feelings passed, and the dark woman avoided thinking of Neo. Instead she thought on whatever the fuck was going on in her head now. A few thoughts were enough to topple her? Her!? It made her feel so weak! She had been so strong for so long, as Reaper and Ember. She had been unstoppable! And she never even realized how much she enjoyed her strength until she realized how pissed she was for feeling weak!
"FUCK!"
She punched a hole into the wall, hoping to let out some of her aggression. Her eyes slowly panned to the wall. She could have sworn she heard something on the other side… A short, high scream followed by the clattering of objects falling over. The woman made her way slowly to the nearest door and peeked in. It looked empty.
Very carefully, she took steps into the space. The thing she heard seemed human, but that wasn't exactly a comfort. This was the loony bin after all. A blur in the corner of her eye stole her attention, and she whipped around to catch the flying shape and slam it into the ground.
"What the fuck?" The figure beneath her were dressed familiarly. Black skirt, boots, and a black hooded cape? She was dressed like her? A weapon nearby that was dropped by her assailant was also similar, if rather… improvised. A sharp length of broken metal was haphazardly attached to a stick to form a discount scythe.
"…Reaper?"
The voice caught her off guard. It was familiar too, but in a different way. She had heard it before. So sickly sweet, like a child's…
"Mimic?" The woman asked incredulously. She sat the child up and pulled back the hood. Blue eyes stared at her in disbelief. Her hair, which was slightly longer than she remembered, was still it's natural blonde at the roots. The rest was hastily dyed black with inconsistent red highlights. "Why are you… me?"
"When Neopolitan used your scythe, it cut into my glove," Mimic answered, "I touched Brutal Thorn. And my name is Chamillia Matild."
"You know who you are? I thought you thought you were me?" The dark woman asked.
"I had a year of therapy before all this…" Mimic, or Matild, whatever, told her, "Once it started though… I wanted to be strong… and you're strong… I felt safe being you…"
"Hey Jekyll, I found-" Ash stopped short in the doorway as she saw Mimic.
"Jekyll?" Mimic asked.
"Who is that?" Ash frowned.
"Not important. My burns are. What did you find?" The dark woman, changing the subject.
"What happened, anyway?" Mimic asked.
"Ash. Found. Now." The dark woman growled. Neither of the other two dared talk back to that.
"Right…" Ash spoke uneasily, "I found a bath area… this way…" Ash turned and left down the hallway.
Matild watched Reaper follow suit. She picked up her 'scythe' and ran after. That was something it didn't take the dark woman long to notice.
"What are you doing?" She accused.
Matild searched Reaper's memories for a good answer. "Surviving?" She tried.
"Go back to your doctor," Reaper deadpanned.
"He's gone…" Matild told her. "That's why I needed to be strong. To be you. But I'm not you… you are though."
The dark girl sighed. She certainly hadn't planned to gather a gaggle of misfits. She didn't really plan for anything… it all happened so fast since Ash woke her up. She had barely had time to gather her thoughts and really dissect where she was now, though it wasn't like the grimm had given her much room to breath anyway. That was half the reason they were here, to find a safe place.
A safe place…
She's going to follow me anyway, just like Ash…
"One warning," the dark girl spoke slowly and clearly, "I am not your mother. I'm not some huntress looking out for the weak. If you fall behind, I will leave you behind."
Matild set her face and nodded, following Reaper closely.
"So I don't know how you're supposed to treat burns like that, but I figured a cool bath would be a good start. Wash off the old blood and all… draw out any heat that's left…" Ash gestured to an already filled tub.
The room that they were in had rows of tubs and sinks separated into stalls by draw curtains. She didn't see any flaws in Ash's logic, and clipped off her hood and belt. When she reached for her shoulder in an obvious play to tear off her dress, Ash suddenly turned her back. "I'm going to do perimeter stuff!" She proclaimed loudly and left the washroom.
The dark woman shook her head and felt where her dress melted into the burn. With a deep breath, she tore the latex free and dropped the destroyed dress. Matild, who was slightly less concerned with seeing Reaper naked, looked up. "Are you okay?"
"Hey kid, you wanna be useful?"
"Okay."
"Shut up," the dark woman shot, "And go find something. Clothes, food…" She looked down at the latex glove that had fused with her burned arm, "and maybe a scalpel."
Alone again, the dark woman finished undressing and lowered herself into the tub. The water was colder than she anticipated, though strangely she didn't feel the cold on her burns. She quickly realized she didn't feel anything on her burns, not even the sensation of the water. That could be inconvenient. Finally, for the first time since she woke up nearly a day ago now, she could relax. As the blood slowly diffused off her body, turning the water red, her thoughts turned, as one might expect, to Neopolitan.
She ran through what she knew. The power station exploded, and they were all at ground zero. She herself survived, but she survived a lot of things that would kill others. She saw the rubble starting to fall when the parasite grimm Korruption turned them around to face the incoming fireball. And finally later, among the debris, she found Neo's… Neo's hand…
You are my sunshine… my only sunshine…
The dark woman felt herself on the brink of another whatever-they-were, and quickly brought herself back. It was hard to form any actual theory when she could barely think on the incident without these intense flashbacks. Without being able to figure out how Neo and the others may have escaped the blast, the dark woman finally accepted what was perhaps her most dangerous thought. That they were gone.
That Neo was gone.
After another few verses of the song, she sped the process of rinsing the blood off and left the now sanguine water. She found a mirror where she could examine herself. With the blood finally gone, she could get a good look at the permanent damage. Her entire right arm, some of her torso, and nearly half her face was red and leathery. A few cracks were even started to form from how much she moved her arm around.
The burns covered her shoulder, stretching to her collarbone and barely touching the top of her right breast. They went up her neck and across her face, covering her cheek and some of her nose, though leaving her mouth completely intact. Her ear, while slightly shriveled, was still there so that was a plus. Though she wasn't sure she could still hear through it. A portion around her ear, including her temple, was also bright red. While it wasn't an even split down her face, much of the right side of her skull was now, and likely forever, hairless.
As she visually traced the edges of the burns, she passed over her right eye. The damaged skin didn't encircle it, rather more or less cut through it. But it was the middle of her eye that caught her attention. Now that she got a good look at herself without her entire right half soaked in her own blood, she noticed her right eye was a bit lighter than her left one. The once vibrant silver was faded, and her pupil seemed milky. She held her right eye open as she shut the left…
Darkness.
"Well, that's just fucking great."
Banishing the implications of that from her mind, she decided there was one more thing to investigate. An eerie silence that plagued her since Ash found her. A thought tied to how she acted when she woke up, like one of her old 'Red Hazes' that she shouldn't have to experience again…
She checked to make sure she was alone still before looking intently into the mirror. "Ember?"
…
"Ember, are you there?"
…
She leaned in slightly closer, watching herself for any veins that might be… discolored.
"Korruption?"
Still no answer. Her right eye might still have had some black veins, but it was hard to tell for sure. For the first time in a long time, she was alone in her head.