EPILOGUE
split(Emperor/Lemon)
A lot had changed to say the least. I had learned A lot as well. I had no idea what would happen now. Most of everyone I knew had gone into isolation. I sighed as I reached my hand out to open the door of the CourtHouse. Before I went inside, I checked to make sure the candles were lighted in the main room. I scratched the back of my neck as I walked into the room. The entirety of the room looked really gloomy and dark by the way the candlelight spilled over the walls. I picked out NorthWind and Frostbite right away. They were sitting in the chairs that were on the opposite sides of the table. They looked up at me with somber faces and bleary eyes as I sat down at the edge of the table on the ground at an equal distance away from them. I felt my eyes adjust to the darkness of the room with faint pain as I looked at NorthWind first and then to Frostbite.
"I know it's been tough, but we have to press on"
I said quietly as I looked at the floor. I heard Frostbite sob some more quietly and NorthWind stayed silent. I had to look at the floor because I didn't want to see their depression. Of everyone that I knew, these two had been hit the hardest by the loss of Rojo.
"How are we supposed to move on!?"
Northwind cried as her voice broke. More of her tears fell to the floor. This caused Frostbite to get up and walk over to her sister and comfort her. I wasn't able to stand and watch the two cry together. I had known what it was like to lose my immediate family, but I had no idea that losing Rojo would have this amount of an effect on the people.
Looking back on it now, we've lost A lot more than just Rojo; we've lost Venom, Gold, Abyss, Siren and NightShade and all the others that were lost to the war and the ones we've lost to the aggression of the oppositional forces
I thought as I looked up at the ceiling. Apparently, I had been staring off into space since the sobbing in the room had stopped. When I regained my consciousness, I saw Halcyon waving his hand in front of my face.
"I can see your hand now Halcyon; you don't need to wave it anymore"
I sighed as I locked eyes with him. He seemed to be not only emotionally stressed by something, but mentally as well.
"I need you to come with me"
He stated flatly as he tugged me along by my arm. He led me out of the door and I fell into pace with him as he walked along A brisk place.
"Where are we going to?"
I asked him tensely as we walked. I could hear his strained breathing, but I could also hear A faint wheezing sound in his lungs as we walked.
I wonder what's causing the wheezing in his breath
I asked myself as we stopped in front of another building that I hadn't seen before. It was A run-down building that was oddly on the same island that Lemon's lab was.
"Do you know what this place is?"
I asked Halcyon as we stood right in front of the door that led into this place. I took in the cracked windows, the wires and ropes that sprawled out of the windows like arms and legs. I saw the dust that accumulated through time span the length between the inner and outer window.
"This place is what's commonly referred to as the Condemned Laboratory"
Halcyon said quietly and with tension as we heard some scratching noises come from the inside of the building. I could hear the wheezing coming from Halcyon's breaths clearly now.
"If the place was to be Condemned, why is it not destroyed?"
I asked as the scratching noises became marginally louder. Halcyon looked at me oddly, then back to the building.
"I am not sure why that is, but there are stories that label this building as haunted"
He said even quieter now. I had to strain my ears so that I could hear him.
Ask him about the wheezing in his breaths
A voice told me in my head. I considered my options regarding this subject as Halcyon shifted uneasily. Deciding it couldn't do much harm, I decided to ask him.
"Are you feeling ok Halcyon?"
I asked him nervously as the wheezing became as evident as it could be.
"You don't want to go in there Emperor"
He said suddenly as he turned to face me. I looked at him oddly. I could see the fear and tension in his face as he looked at me.
"Whatever is in there is not friendly; i've seen it take individuals as strong as you out in seconds"
He said seriously as I continued looking at him oddly. Then, my expression changed from interested, into inquisitiveness.
"What exactly did you see in there?"
I asked as I turned all the way to face him. Halcyon closed his eyes and shuddered. He was also shaking A little.
"You know what Lemon is, right Emperor?"
He asked me as we locked eyes again. My breath caught in my throat.
"Are you sure that's what you're trying to describe?"
I breathed as the scratching became somewhat quieter. Halcyon started to nod slowly and I let my breath out in A low whistle.
"So that's why you don't want me to go in there"
I said quietly as I looked at the door. Through the missing glass in the door, I thought I could see two pinpoints of Yellow light somewhere in the area behind the door. I saw this just as the moon came out from behind the clouds. The Bluish-White light may have tricked my eyes, but I thought what I saw was real.
"Do you believe me Emperor?"
He asked as I turned back to him. He seemed to be satisfied with the expression that I held because he smiled A little.
"If I leave here, can you promise me that you won't go in there?"
He asked me as something stopped sharply behind me. I whipped around and once again tried to sweep the individual behind me, but whoever was behind me moved faster and put me in an arm-lock. I heard the individual gasp and let me go immediately. I looked at who had done this to me in the bright moonlight.
"Lemon?"
Halcyon and I asked incredulously as she let me go and went right to the door that led into this place.
"I'm very sorry Emperor, but you just…"
Her voice trailed off as she turned around to face both of us. Her left eye had gone completely Black, while the White pinpoint of light shone brightly
"Just don't follow me, OK?"
She said as the door opened and shut behind her.
Lemon's P.O.V
I shut the door behind me, and the sound of it echoed off of the vast expanse of the room I had walked into. I knew this place very well, but I never wanted to remember even one second of what I used to do here. My single LED light produced enough light for me to make my way about the room. I looked at the room that could be right next to the word disrepair in the United Island Almanac of Words. I looked at the glass that littered the floor, the mold that grew on the walls, the grass that grew up from the floor, the mushrooms that hung from the ceiling, and the smell of stale chemicals and something that was rotting.
"It's been A long time since I've been here"
I said quietly to myself as I walked across the floor, being careful not to step on any glass or syringes that were all over the floor. My voice echoed softly in the room. I looked up to the vents that crawled over the top of the room, and I sighed when I saw Black mold line the walls of the vents.
"It really has been A long time"
Something said in same way that I had just talked. The voice had the same pitch, depth and tone as mine did. Startled, I looked around wildly, but I couldn't find where the voice had come from. Then, the rattling and shaking started. Slowly, I followed the noise of whatever made these sounds until my light settled on something I wished never to have seen again.
"No...it's not possible"
I breathed to myself in disbelief. I watched the object shake violently as if something was struggling inside of it. I watched A foreign liquid come from the joints of this thing As it shook violently. I watched the LED lights in its eye sockets glow faintly as I saw the full extent of the degradation. Rust had taken A toll of this creature, as most of the endoskeleton was rusted, and every time the thing shook and rattled, I heard A faint squeaking noise come from the endoskeleton. I couldn't take my eyes off of this nightmarish thing.
"I thought I destroyed my EY-001 prototype"
I breathed to myself as I saw one of the eyes fall out of its head. It struggled A little to get up from leaning against the wall, but it didn't take long for it to get up from the floor. I heard the voice box crackle as my machine calibrated it.
"I thought you were the one that made me"
It said as it tried taking wobbly steps towards me. In fear, I took A step back for every step the thing took towards me. In the dim moonlight, I could now see just how much degradation had taken place.
"Why did I have to use synthetic skin and scales?"
I asked myself quietly as something started to leak out of the left eye of this creature. I looked at the holes that were in the head, the side, and legs of this thing that I had made. I could also now see some organs in the side of the creature.
"Wait"
I said aloud as A horrible smell flooded my nose, and I staggered away from the creature as I started to retch. Trying not to throw up from the sheer horrid smell and image from the creature
"No...it's not possible"
I breathed to myself once again.
"I refuse to believe the stories are true!"
I said aloud as the creature seemed to freeze in place. I heard the joints lock and the servos hum faintly as the creature's mouth curved up into A horrid, Nightmarish smile, which caused some of this creature's teeth to fall out. I heard the synthetic teeth fall to the floor as my wave of nausea finally passed. My swimming vision returned to normal, and my stomach finally stopped burning. I knew that there was only once place to go to be safe from the experiment that I never should've created in the first place. I turned to run away from the creature, so that I could run to the elevator that was near the back of this floor. I ran away from the creature, but as I turned to take my first step, I heard the creature say something that chilled me to my bones.
"Don't you care for me, mother?"
I heard the creature say. The voice box crackled A little as I ran. I nearly slipped on the floor that was littered with chemicals and glass until I finally found the elevator. I hit the descending button, and walked backwards into the elevator to make sure that I was safe, but as I walked backwards, I saw the creature unlock itself and start running towards me. The doors started to close just as the creature was within harms distance of me. My breath caught in my throat as the doors were about to close. The creature impacted the door so hard, the outline of this creature's hand was imprinted in the Stainless Steel doors that were three inches thick.
"What am I going to do?"
I asked myself as I collapsed to the floor in fear, grief and tension. I buried my face in my hands as the elevator continued to descend. I felt waves of cold go up and down my body, along with the occasional twitch that caused my fingers to go cold. The elevator stopped sharply, jarring me from the thoughts.
"Floor B5; you may now exit the elevator"
The emotionless robotic voice announced. I looked at the LED display that I had created. Indeed it had shown the right thing, since the doors opened, revealing A long hallway that had something glowing at the end of it, but I continued looking at the LED display for some reason. It may have been my fear and stress, but I thought I saw the LED lights rearrange themselves into the face of the EY-001.
"Why won't you accept me?"
The LED display said somewhat dejectedly.
"No… you're not real!"
I tried to convince myself as I was transfixed to the screen.
"I'm not going to let you take over my actions again!"
I said nervously as I backed myself against the wall of the elevator.
"You've left me here to rot and to fall from everyone's minds"
The creature said through the LED screen. I shook my head.
"It was Cynder that didn't want to release you!"
I said nervously and with fear as I felt the wires that were around my fingers loosen and start to slither around my hands, causing waves of cold go up and down my body.
"If that was the case, why did you leave me here to decompose?"
I heard it say as the LED screen went dark for A moment, then relight the display.
"I...I"
I tried to get the words out that I wanted to say, but I was petrified with fear. I saw my LED eye flicker for A moment, and then the pain started. My eyes started to cloud with black words, and I felt the numbness and cold that was going up and down my body become the most profoundly present then it has ever been.
"You know what?"
I growled as I got up. My vision became more acute, my hearing became even more acute, I could hear my heartbeat in my ears and my fingers started to twitch.
"It wasn't my fault that you malfunctioned!"
I seethed as I looked up at the LED display. The creature smiled.
"As the operator of my body, you should've been aware of all the errors that could've been present"
It said as its eyes flashed momentarily.
"Since you have taken my possibility of life away from me, I'm going to take yours away"
It said as something landed on top of the elevator. I jumped through the doors and into the hallway, just as something extremely sharp cut through the top of the elevator. Whatever landed on top of the elevator cut through the top of it and dropped down into the elevator car.
"I'm not going to let this happen"
I declared as my body took over itself. I raised my hand and the wires in the ceiling wrapped themselves around my wrist, arms, legs, and neck loosely. A DeathBringer formed on my right side, my left side and over my head. I felt the wires slither around me as I held the DeathBringer in place.
"I can feel your rage and dejection, but that's no reason to take it out on others"
I stated as I continued to hold the DeathBringer. I could feel it squirming, like it wanted to destroy whatever was in front of me.
"If that's the case, then you wouldn't have abandoned me like you did"
It said as it started taking unbalanced and wobbly steps towards me. As it walked towards me, it put its arms out at its sides, its fingers causing sparks and creating A very high-pitched screeching sound that hurt my ears, but I was able to bear it somehow. Also, as it walked, it lit up the experimental tanks that held my other failed experiments. It stopped and looked at the one closest to it.
"How am I different than any other of these failed experiments here?"
it asked as it looked up at me once again. I could now see what foreign liquid was leaking from its body. It was blood. Leaking from its eyes, nose, mouth, ear holes, tear ducts, and from the holes in its body. I could also see that it was changing itself. Its teeth were growing longer, its fingers were melting and turning into claws and its eyes were starting to melt away to let only its LED lights remain. They were Blood Red now instead of White.
"They kept you as the Royal Scientist, even though you've failed so many times?"
It asked, seething with rage. I could hear it rattling softly. It twitched and shook violently as it neared my position. I brought my hands down, causing the DeathBringer fire its shot. The wires suddenly heated up and my core temperature rose momentarily. I half-smiled to myself, expecting to see the creature in A melted puddle of Tungsten on the floor. The room exploded into smoke, glass, and other things as A shockwave of air went through the room. I shielded myself from the shards of glass as the air ran through the room, shattering glass and other objects flew around the room as if they were children's toys. When the air died down, and the smoke had cleared, I looked in horror at what I had done. I looked at the melting body of the creature and the melting organs that were spilling out of the sides of this thing. It looked even worse now than it had been when I first had encountered this thing. It struggled to stand upright as I looked in horror at what I had done.
"You'll pay for that"
It said softly. Suddenly, I was thrown into hallucinations. I was recalling all of my failures in my experiments, I was reliving my greatest fears, I was seeing death and destruction. All of these things, I hated and didn't want to remember. I wanted to fight back, but I was too scared to. I shook my head violently and vigorously to try and get these images out of my mind, but I was unable to.
"Stop, Stop this now!"
I cried out as I staggered along. I felt the wires loosening their tension as I staggered backwards. I also felt the tension leaving me as well. My vision became slightly less acute, my hearing became less acute, and my heartbeat was not longer present in my ears. I could feel my blood rushing through my body though I put my hands on my head as I continued to stagger backwards.
"Are you understanding now just how much pain you're putting me through EY-002?"
It asked me as I fell on my back, knocking the wind out of me and temporarily disorienting me.
"An eye for an eye, A tooth for A tooth, and A life for A life"
I heard the thing say as it lifted me up by my neck and walked me over to the nearest wall and held me against it. I felt the grip on my throat tighten as the creature started speaking with me again.
"You will know what it's like to be left alone for revolutions with no one to be around except for yourself"
It said as it continually tightened its hold on my throat. I started to lose feeling in my joints as I started to be suffocated.
I don't understand why I need breath; I'm A machine, but also"Normal" by the standards of others
I thought as I started to become drowsy. It felt like I had never slept before in my life.
It was nice knowing everyone; I just now need make sure that Emperor doesn't fall like his father did
"Like Emperor's father once said: I have existed from the morning of the world, and I will exist until the last star falls from the night!"
It said as it took me away from the wall and slammed me back into it.
The others, most specifically Cynder, was right
I told myself as I gave into the choking of this creature. My body went limp.
"Just like you to surrender"
The thing said as it continued bringing me back from the wall and slamming me back into it. The melting metal from the creature burned into my scales as as it continued to choke me.
I wish I could've done what I needed to do and say what I needed to say
I thought sadly as I gave up.
You're not done yet; I have A plan for you
A voice told me. As soon as I heard this, energy coursed through me and I kicked the creature in the chest and it rocketed away from me. It impacted the wall on the other side of the room and didn't move.
"I wonder how that happened?"
I asked myself as I rubbed my back softly. I hurt all over, but I was somehow able to stay standing and alert.
Maybe my body went into "Survival Mode"
I thought as my attention was captured by something that was glowing on the floor.
"A teleporter, here?"
I asked myself as it spun up to the teleportation RPM
"You're not going to get away that easy"
The machine said. Startled, I backed away A little, tripped on my own boot, and fell backwards into the teleporter.
"We've succeeded boss"
was all I heard before I felt A falling sensation. I had no idea what I was going to do now….