Chapter VII: Revelations

"The truth is rarely pure, and never simple." Oscar Wilde


For a long while, Ama roamed aimlessly throughout her surroundings. She knew seeking out any of the three detectives would be ill advised at this point— Ruvik would be anticipating her to do just that. She wasn't so keen on walking into an obvious trap.

No, it was better that she left them to their own methods for the time being. Besides, she had matters of her own that needed to be attended to.

With her influence regained over this world, Ruvik doubled, if not tripled, his hunt for her. He was determined to see her powers muted; determined to be the only one who controlled her light.

They dodged and danced around one another, and Ama was forced through several close encounters. She hated retreating from him, hated seeing his features contort in mild annoyance as she fled, but she knew the second he ensnared her in his grasp, he would take from her what she had only just regained. She could not, in good conscious, allow that to happen. Not when she had a goal to accomplish and people to protect.

While Ruvik cracked down on his pursuit, Ama sought the one man who could perhaps be of some help to her.

Marcelo Jimenez, her creator.

It seemed almost as if the closer she drew to him, the more fervent her pursuer's efforts became. Ruvik threw every possible obstacle her way, barring her from reaching Jimenez, and even appeared himself a handful of times to give chase to her.

But eventually she found who she sought, after being hounded by her antagonist every step of the way.

"Doctor!" Her voice was laced with relief as she bade for his attention, managing to ensnare it after a moment of passing alarm from him.

He stood in front of a large, looming home, which an unnerving amount of shadows clung to. Leslie stood close at his side, tremulous as a startled mouse. He whimpered, muttering something quietly to himself as his keeper steadied him.

"Ama— good heavens, I thought you were..." Jimenez trailed off then, his words catching in his throat as he shook his head, "Never mind that now; where have you been?"

There was an impatient edge to his voice, as if he were miffed by her lack of presence as of late. The program paused then, her steps towards him slowing.

"Forgive me, doctor. Ruvik was pursuing the detectives, and I—"

"Your purpose is not to protect them!" The sharp reprimanding stung her, and she frowned subtly to herself, batting her long lashes in surprise. Marcelo sighed heavily then, pinching the bridge of his nose as he turned to pace to and fro.

"I designed you to protect Leslie and stabilize STEM. Everything else is a trivial matter not worth your attention, do you understand?" He tried to sound patient with her, but Ama could tell that it was growing increasingly hard for him.

"I-I understand, of course I do, but...surely you must care what happens to them. They were never supposed to get caught in this!" Her reasoning was hesitant and confused, her voice sympathetic and compassionate, and Jimenez whirled on her, grabbing her shoulders and gripping them unnervingly tight.

"Don't you see? That boy is our only way out. Without him, we—"

"You."

He released her then, his aged features painted with sudden confusion.

"I beg your pardon?"

"It's not we. It's you. Leslie is the only way out for you. I will remain here, either eternally trapped, or destroyed once my mission is complete." Her eyes lowered then, and the doctor's hands slid off of her shoulders slowly. He paced away from her, his blue eyes skimming innocuously over her features.

"And while we're on the subject— why is it that you created me with emotions?" She lifted her gaze, staring mournfully into his eyes. Her own blue orbs were wide with questions and torment, as if she wished that he had designed her be like a program in every aspect— cold and numb to the world. She would rather be as such than to doubt her mission; to doubt who she truly served, and who she wished to turn to.

"Why is it that you've made me capable of feeling such horrible, horrible things?" She almost pleaded with him for answers now, mentally distraught over everything she had been through. Between Ruvik's constant heckling and his most recent staked claim over her, she was torn. Complete and utter doubt ran rampant through her mind now, and it ensnared her like a barbed trap.

"Why could you not have made me immune to him?"

She must have looked angry or particularly distraught, she wasn't quite sure, but Marcelo distanced himself from her, his expression changing entirely. It was not confusion that she saw paint his features now, but rather, alarm. And the sight of it unnerved her.

"Oh, god..." His voice was barely a hushed whisper, and his feet pressed against the blackened soil beneath his shoes, digging in firmly.

Ama remained rigid in her purpose, but she swore she felt the cold caress of a slow breath against the nape of her neck. It made the fine hairs there stand on end.

"He's gotten to you, hasn't he? He's..." He trailed off in horror, extending an arm in front of Leslie, who stood shaking violently in place. His dirtied fingers knotted into his pale hair, and he rocked on his heels, wobbling unstably.

"Got her...got her...got her...dark, dark, dark—" The boy chanted like a mantra, and Jimenez pushed him further from Ama, his eyes frozen on her figure as he muttered something she barely heard.

"He's corrupted you."

"He's here!" Leslie pointed in horror then, his loud, audible cry shattering the formerly quieted atmosphere.

Ama's breath hitched, and she felt him brush past her like an intangible ghost. He paced towards the doctor and Leslie, his steps slow, calculated— threatening. His eyes were fixated on them, not her.

The mental patient cried out, howling in agony as he writhed and gripped at his head. Jimenez struggled to usher him away, forcing the stumbling patient along as quickly as he could manage. Those aged blue eyes continuously strayed to Ama, his creation, the one who was supposed to safeguard him from this very vengeful individual.

But she stood frozen in place, her eyes glassy and torn. A rare frown accosted her rosy lips, and she sat idle as the scene unfolded before her.

Whatever had once compelled her to protect her creator before had crashed and burned; and she knew Ruvik played a hand in that.

"You cannot have her, Ruvik! You don't understand—"

"Oh, but I do." The disfigured scientist drew closer to the man who had betrayed him all those years ago, his eyes glinting with cold amusement, "You forget that you are in my mind, my domain. I know your thoughts. I know what you've done, what they've done. I must commend you for hiding it from me as long as you did. I always thought that she was flawed for a program. She should not have such a functional conscious, but now I know."

She snapped to attention then, her body going rigid, her eyes swaying to her creator.

"Now I know what she is." Their voices merged, his movements became her own. They were synched completely, as if they were one being in itself. Her hips swayed as she approached Jimenez, trading in her graceful and elegant gait for Ruvik's own calculated, menacing steps.

Her eyes grew cold, her expression blank and void. She paced towards the doctor, her eyes fixated on him as Leslie whimpered in the background. Her lips curled into a mocking smirk then, and her head tilted to the side. Jimenez was cornered by both his creation, and the man he had turned on. They circled him like sharks, and the doctor was fresh blood in the water.

"Do you think yourself so clever, doctor?" Ama's voice echoed Ruvik's, and both grew equally amused by the senior researcher's now labored breathing. Fear hung in the air, almost tangible.

"You were so eager to climb the ranks of Mobius, so desperate to further the research that did not belong to you, that you would go to any lengths to hinder my influence." They drew closer now, but the good doctor was unarmed, and therefore easy prey.

"A specimen such as her— yes, she would do well for your ploy. But you couldn't just have her comprised of codes and banal engineering. No, you needed an edge; something that would give her a physical presence here, yet allow her to maintain partial influence over this collective world."

Jimenez was beginning to sweat. He had gone through such great lengths to hide Ama's true nature from the prying man, but he should have known that here, of all places, was not a place of confidentiality. Ruvik saw everything.

"She won't understand if you explain it to her. All she knows is her purpose— to undo what you have done here. She knows nothing of any life outside STEM."

"And why is that, I imagine? Tell me, all of the pieces of information she should perceive, that which would be decoded in the various sensory areas of the cortex converge in the hippocampus, did you block it all out?"

"Not...exactly," Jimenez grunted, his eyes straying ever so cautiously to his two watchers. He dare not even take so much as a single step, lest it be his last. He knew Ruvik was in control at the moment; the infuriating man seemed unwilling to allow anyone an upper hand against him. Even Ama, Mobius' trump card, was no longer a playable ace. She was compromised; tainted by Ruvik's own twisted darkness.

Ruvik's eyes narrowed at the doctor then, and consequently, so did Ama's. Their motions were one in the same. The disfigured scientist did not verbalize his curiosity, but the demand to have answers was evident enough. Jimenez was all too happy to oblige.

"Ama is...a unique case." That was certainly putting it delicately, "Her mind is, by every right, a program, specifically designed by myself. But the body she walks in...it is not hers— well, in a sense it is, but they..."

Ruvik grew more agitated, and Marcelo clenched his brows, straining to find the words. His life was literally on the line. He wasn't sure why his former research partner was so aggressively pursuing this information about a simple program, but if it meant that he wasn't exterminated immediately, then he would play along.

"They wanted someone— something— to undo the damage you had done, and to safeguard Leslie. Thus, Ama was designed. She is an artificial program injected directly into your own mind so that she could maintain a level of influence over this place; something a regular body simply hooked up to STEM could never achieve. But the body itself...the one that plagues her with emotions, the one that allows her to bleed, is real. She was— is— the base for Ama's programming, and is hooked up to STEM at this very moment. You see, I theorized that implementing only a small shard of her directly into this system would allow her power and some semblance of control here, and yet balancing her with a physical body would prevent you from simply absorbing her into your mind and contorting her into one of those...things. I see now that my efforts were unnecessary." Ama hadn't been twisted into one of the Haunted, but Ruvik was in control of her body at the current moment— one of the risks Jimenez had known would be a possibility when he inserted her as a program into the madman's brain. It made her more susceptible than others to his influence.

"Mobius is in possession of her body, then?" Ruvik's tone was darker now, and it unsettled the older doctor.

"Yes, that's correct. The body is currently synced with Ama's own programmed mind, however. What she's perceiving in this world is being transferred to the subject's own mind, despite her being unable to retain waking influence. It's a rather complex process, mind you—" Ruvik's glare grew ferocious, and it warranted several steps back from Jimenez.

"You needn't explain. I've gathered all the information I need." The cloaked individual's voice was casual and dismissive, and his company didn't seem to like that. In Ruvik's terms of speech, "I've gathered all that I need" loosely translated to: "I don't need you anymore, so I'm going to do away with you."

"Now, wait just a moment—" Jimenez began, trailing off as Ruvik drew closer to him. The latter's hand lifted, content to dispose of his former research partner where he currently stood, but Leslie suddenly cried out in fear, and the sound jarred some sense of reality back into Ama.

She jolted, coming violently back into her own mind, successfully overthrowing Ruvik's temporary control over her.

"Stop." Her voice was so, so quiet, but the charred man heard her plea as if she had howled it to the darkened sky above them. She was manipulating the connection she shared with him; using it to make her point clearer. Her wants bore down on him, her voice heavy in his head, and demanded with a firmness he found almost unfitting for her that he do as she asked: stop.

His hand stilled, and his eyes strayed to her. He didn't bother to stop the senior doctor from fleeing with Leslie in tow either when they made their inevitable escape. He simply watched Ama, observing the way her lashes curled downwards like folding wings as she lowered her gaze to the ground.

Uninterrupted silence hung in the air, and it was enough to make her stomach do flips.

She had heard every word of that conversation, even if she was not in control of her own body. She was not like Leslie— she maintained individual consciousness when Ruvik overtook her.

She wound her arms around herself, suddenly feeling like an alien in her own body. Or was it even hers? She felt nauseated at the very thought.

"I...I have a real body..." Her words were broken, and she wasn't aware that she was crying until she felt cold, burned fingertips catch the crystalline moisture. She was too numb to even flinch away from the unfeeling touch. It wasn't as if she wanted to cry in front of him; some bodily functions were simply involuntary.

"So it would seem." His voice wasn't particularly emotional or sympathetic, and she didn't expect it to be. Her lip quivered, and she bit down on it so hard that blood trickled down her chin.

All this time, she had thought herself a bodiless program; nothing more than assembled computer coding that happened to take on a humanoid form. Nothing had ever made sense to her, but Jimenez had drilled her purpose for being into her head: protect Leslie, purify STEM. That was all she knew, and all she had learned to think about, despite nothing ever adding up for her. And now it turns out that she had a body, a real, breathing body that she was linked to.

"What am I?" She swallowed then, the lean muscles of her throat working themselves. "He...the doctor said that my body was the base for my programming. Does that mean...that I am her? Or am I just a separate being infesting her body like some— some parasite?"

"No." His response was clipped, and it helped little. In fact, it only left her with more questions, which was not what she needed nor wanted at this point.

"So when this is all over, I'll still seize to exist, no matter what. The body that's waiting on the outside, it won't remember anything that happened in here. This, whatever is standing before you, will fade away."

"Incorrect."

"Please, I am in no mood for your unhelpful answers."

His eyes snapped to her then, and he turned to face her, the singed ends of his lab coat swaying briefly with his surprisingly sharp movement.

"You have a body that exists physically, outside of this enclosed world. You are separate, but connected. You will remember this all when you awaken, regardless of whether or not the form that stands before me now is banished."

"Your compassion for my well being is simply overwhelming." The remark was quiet and made in jest, but she didn't have the will nor urge to smile to make that apparent.

"You will live through this." Ruvik sounded almost stunned, intrigued to a degree, but Ama quickly dismissed the notion. This was just another case study for him, she assumed.

But then he was unbearably close, and the look in his eyes nearly suffocated her. It was smothering in the most invading degree, and she wasn't quite sure why she felt the urge to blush under the intensity of his scrutiny.

And then at last she realized what it was he was thinking. They were, after all, connected in a manner of speaking.

If she was not wiped from the system by Jimenez— which was an extreme possibility now, considering he deemed her corrupted— then her memories would remain intact, and she would be more or less the same Ama that she was now when she awoke, only human. All that was needed was a bit of tampering in the research facility, and Ruvik could arrange the circumstances just so.

Ama would live, and she would remember him, so long as that cretin Jimenez didn't decimate her programming.

"He's going to delete me..." She murmured in sudden despair, her vibrant blue eyes stretching wide. Ruvik made a small sound beneath his breath, and had she not know any better, she would have thought he had growled.

"You were aware of this from the beginning, yet now you express remorse. You know nothing of what it means to be human; your memories are blocked— the cortex converge in your hippocampus carefully isolated by Mobius. You can transmit memories to your physical body, but you cannot recollect already established occurrences and experiences."

Was that why she knew nothing of the outside world? There were so many things she craved to experience, so many things she knew so little of... All she had known up until this point was her duty; her reason for existence being dedicated solely to STEM.

"Still," his gruff voice drew closer, "I will not allow Mobius to retain custody of you."

He spat the name of the organization out with such a rancorous bite that Ama nearly recoiled, fearful that he would lash out at her for being simply associated with it.

"I control every aspect of this world. If I want something dead, it will perish. If I want something to live, it will do so because I commanded it. You are mine—" He stood but mere inches from her now, but her gaze remained lowered, "And you will endure."

It sounded more like a command than reassurance, but Ama's lips still twitched into a tiny smile.

"It's odd, really." She began after a small, asphyxiating pause, finally lifting her gaze to meet Ruvik's own. His stare was just as intense as before, but she did not waver. Her hand flitted up to his cheek, and she was aware that he was watching every movement carefully.

She cupped his face, her palm pressing against the maimed flesh. Her caress chased away the gruesome marring, restoring what was lost.

"Ever since I was created, I've known nothing but the sole purpose for which I existed. Jimenez never let me ask questions, and I suppose now I know why..." Her thumb brushed slowly against his cheekbones, and her gaze softened when he did not retract himself.

She was a lost soul and he was a man with purpose— now more so than ever, she felt drawn to him. The people whom she had thought were the good guys, far above any abhorrent acts, turned out to be quite the opposite. And now, here was Ruvik, the only remaining figure that did not abandon her. Even Jimenez, the man whom she had once believed to have been her creator, a man who could do no wrong in her eyes, fled in the face of her and willingly left her to her fate.

And suddenly, she and the mastermind of this place were not far from kindred souls.

"I was made to believe that you and I were at opposite ends of the spectrum. But now I feel that we aren't quite as different as we may seem."

She had always felt off about her purpose here; had always felt as if something were missing, but her "creator" had never allowed her to search too thoroughly for answers. He had always dismissed her curiosity, shot down her inquiries, and now it all made sense. He and Mobius had taken advantage of her, incarcerated her human body, just as they had done to Ruvik, and this revelation was devastating to Ama.

"If it's any consolation, I don't much care for Mobius now, either." Her tone was tender, and she forced a smile.

"Hn." She would have missed the slightly amused sound had it not been for how closely she was listening.

She took a moment then to truly examine him from head to toe, now that she had a moment and they were not, surprisingly enough, at odds.

The murderous, twisted glint in his eyes seemed subtly snuffed. Instead, all his focus was trained on her— this light of his that he claimed for his own. She was the cynosure of his piercing stare.

All this time she had been running from him for the wrong reasons; all this time she had thought him the one in the wrong, but now she knew. Things were not always as they seemed, and she would do well to remember that.

"Come. We need to find Jimenez." His deep voice rumbled in the depths of his chest, and Ama retracted her hand, a small smile darting across her lovely visage.

"Is it "we" already now? I never consented to partake in your mind games, Ruben. Discovering everything I thought to be true is in fact all lies is enough for one day, mind you."

"I don't recall ever giving you an option to decline. As I've stated numerous times, you are mine to do with as I please. You will follow me—"

Boldly, she cut him off by winding her arms around him. He made an involuntary, small sound in the back of his throat, something that was akin to a startled grunt, and she felt his heavy glare prodding at her flesh. He seemed none too pleased to have been interrupted, but too stunned by the sudden display of affection to react accordingly. Had Ama been in lighter spirits, she might have wondered when the last time this man had been hugged— if he ever had.

"Thank you for finding out the truth. But I cannot, in good conscious, let you hurt the others." She muttered, propping her chin on his chest as she looked up at him; he was a whole head taller than her, after all.

"You would protect those scum even now, knowing their true face?" His arms hung limply at his sides, entirely unsure as to where to rest, and Ama's own arms remained wrapped around him, like tendrils of pale silver grounding him.

"Two wrongs do not make a right." She wasn't sure where she had learned the phrase, but it surfaced to her thoughts almost immediately.

"Childish." He sneered, and she smiled up at him. There was an air of sadness to her tiny grin, however.

"Perhaps, but it is not my wish to harm these people, and that is my choice alone to make, not yours." She reminded him, albeit gently. He wasn't bringing her to harm at the moment; whatever he found interesting about her seemed to be keeping her alive and in his good graces— a term to be used loosely when associated with Ruvik. But nonetheless, it would be wise of her to tread carefully, because the last thing she wanted was to needlessly provoke him.

"So be it. I will conclude this task myself, then."

She snapped to attention then, her lips parting as a silent cry of rising protest fell from them. He disappeared from her arms, glitching from the area, leaving her to stumble forward and catch herself at the last second.

"Ruben Victoriano! This is not your decision to make— Ruvik!" Her throat burned with how loudly she called to him; scolded him.

But her cries received no acknowledgment, only the echoes of endless silence, and the loud hum of her own inner thoughts.

He would kill them all if she didn't stop him.


[First things first; I wrote 95% of this on my phone, so hopefully there isn't any horrendous autocorrect I happened to miss while re-reading this. ^^; Forgive me if there is. With that being said, onto other matters. Okay, so I tried to explain the ordeal with Ama as clearly as possible, but I feel like it still came out too complex. Hopefully that's not the case, but I'll definitely try to explain it better in future chapters. ^^; At any rate, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! We're going to dive back into the action again soon, so don't worry. I just couldn't resist building up Ama and Ruvik's relationship. And finally, the mention of Mobius is a nod to the new DLC for The Evil Within; The Assignment. I tried to avoid spoilers for any of you guys who haven't had a chance to watch/play the DLC yourselves yet, as well.

Savage Kill: I'm so glad you like the comparison of them being light and dark! I probably play on that card a bit too much, but it's so fitting for those two, I can't help it. She has indeed gotten her powers back, but we shall see how long Ruvik permits that. Ah, and I imagine I've answered the second half of your review by now; at least, I hope? ^^; At any rate, thank you so much for the review!

musicmiss18: Oh, most certainly. c; Ruvik's way of flirting with Ama seems to be chasing her throughout STEM though, so the dude might want to pick up on better courting methods, haha. I'm so glad to hear you think that, that's really what I wanted to get across when he claimed her with a selfish, underlying intent! Ah, this makes me so happy to hear. I'm so glad you think she's a badass. She's pretty docile most of the time, but Ruvik better watch out himself if he pokes the bear! Thank you so much for your review, dear!

Aizawa Mei: ?! Thank you so much, that's so sweet! Oh my gosh, you guys always make me gush with your reviews. I'm so glad to hear you think that! I'll do my best to continue to please with future chapters, and thank you so much for your review and kind words, dear!

Kat: Yes, I think we can all pretty much agree that Ruvik is a selfish man, but like you said, he definitely has his reasons. I'm delighted to hear that you like it, and I hope I can manage to maintain that balance for the two of them! Thank you so much for your review, dear! ^^

MobMotherScitah: I'm glad to hear that, because I've been updating abnormally fast these past few days it would seem. I'm not quite sure what's gotten into me; must be the DLC fever. At any rate, thank you so much for your review, dear! ^^

Guest: You have no idea how happy I am to hear that! Ahhhh, developing those two is always something I worry about, and I cannot stress enough how reassuring it is to hear from you and the other kindly reviewers that I'm doing alright! Thank you so much for your review and encouraging words!

Guest: Well, I'm glad I have you curious! Indeed, their relationship is starting to go somewhere (finally, right?) and I'm pretty excited to work with it and flesh it out. Hopefully I'll manage to do so in a way that doesn't seem rushed, and remains flowing. Thank you so much for your review! ^^