Isotopes
Yazoo watched curiously as the oddly dressed stranger stepped beyond the threshold of the containment block and tapped the key code into the lock outside the cell containing the latest of her siblings to succumb to violent insanity as a result of the latest round of experiments they'd been put through. Yazoo had see all the reactions before: catatonia, mental fracturing, murderous violence and spontaneous mutation were the most common ones and all of them led to the afflicting specimen being disposed of after Father had investigated their condition as thoroughly as he chose to. Quiet murderousness did get noticed a lot less quickly than uncontrollable violence, but the quietly murderous –the latest example being Ciar– all attacked Father sooner or later and were put down after being extensively punished.
Ciar stared unblinkingly at the stranger in red and black as they opened the door of the transparent-walled cell and dropped to one knee in front of the small boy. Ciar had been Kadaj's friend until the change had consumed him and even Kadaj had to recognise that his brother wasn't who he used to be, which was why Kadaj was pressing himself into Loz's side and letting himself be hugged. Yazoo hoped losing Ciar didn't make Kadaj go crazy; second-rank specimens were all a bit more fragile mentally than the first- or third-rank ones. Faz in the cell opposite showed this clearly, giggling with tears dripping down his cheeks as he waved his hands around like a baby. Kadaj had never liked Faz, saying the bigger boy was soft in the head, but that softness hadn't protected the boy from being shattered.
Yazoo was brought back down to earth from her musings by a quiet but very final snapping sound and Kadaj gasping. Blinking, she focused on what was going on outside her own head and saw Ciar's body collapse sideways, head turned all the way around on his neck and his eyes dull. He was dead. It was a much nicer death than Father had ever given any of their other siblings though, so Yazoo decided that she liked this stranger. That fondness increased as they dispatched Ehan and Xin with equal efficiency. Her now-dead brother and sister probably hadn't felt a thing, it had been that quick. The stranger left the cell as all three bodies evaporated into green mist and went to open the one Faz was in with Paka and Oris. Neither girl was even as aware of their surroundings as Faz was; Yazoo had noticed that the girls were more likely to get lost in their own heads or turn into a variety of strange monsters than the boys were, which was a little worrying but there wasn't anything she could do about being a girl. Besides, the boys tended to go catatonic or feral more so it evened out. Anyway Yazoo was a girl, no matter what Father said and what shape her body was. All the third-rankers had been girls and that Yazoo and the other two had been born the wrong shape had just been one of those things, like the food being boring mush and the cells never being big enough to play tag in.
Yazoo didn't bother to watch what the stranger did after disposing of Oris; it was pretty clear that they were getting rid of all the specimens who were broken in the head. Father would probably be angry at not getting to take them apart to find out what exactly had gone wrong but Yazoo didn't like Father enough to care. None of her siblings had liked Father much after Siri died. Besides, he couldn't blame her because she was locked in her cell. She deduced the stranger wasn't going to kill her, Loz and Kadaj because if they had been going to they'd have started with her cell. Yazoo was good at spotting patterns and the stranger had started with the cell containing the most aware of their intended victims then worked their way down. So instead of watching the deaths of Malv, Adad and Zabar she turned to catch her bigger brother's eye. Loz couldn't do complex thinking anymore after he'd taken responsibility for one of Kadaj's accidents and Father had damaged him, but he still had the best instincts out of the three of them.
Loz had been comforting Kadaj and was still petting their little brother's hair, but he was also watching the stranger avidly.
"Nii-chan?" Yazoo murmured. Loz turned and beamed at her:
"It's Mother!" Loz said eagerly. "Mother's come for us!"
Yazoo blinked, glanced down at Kadaj –who seemed equally startled by their brother's declaration– then over at the person Loz said was 'Mother'. Father had always said they would reunite with Mother someday but Father was a bit funny in the head and he felt wrong, so Yazoo had stopped believing him shortly after getting big enough to understand what the lab assistants were saying.
But Loz was right: the stranger had the same feel that all their siblings had, an inner buzz Father and the assistants didn't and in fact seemed completely oblivious to. The buzz that sometimes sang in their dreams, gave them new words to play with and always gobbled up all the poison that Father injected in them.
"Hello Mother!" Loz said brightly as the stranger opened their cell. Now she was closer Yazoo could see that yes, the stranger was a woman. She was pretty too. If this was their mother then was Yazoo going to be that pretty once she was grown?
Mother blinked. "Hello boys."
Yazoo glared. "I'm a girl, Mother!" Mother should know that, even if Father didn't!
Mother's eyes went completely golden for an instant as her buzz briefly got a whole lot louder before settling down again. "So you are. We'll have to sort your body out before it tries to go through puberty."
Having her gender acknowledged completely delighted Yazoo and even though she should probably be asking Mother more questions she didn't want to. Mother was going to fix her!
"Why didn't you come sooner?" Kadaj demanded, wriggling out of Loz' grip.
"I didn't know you were here," Mother said simply.
Kadak frowned, lower lip poking out. "But Father talked about you all the time!"
Mother's face stilled in a way that made Yazoo feel nervous, one eyebrow climbing up her forehead. "Father?"
Yazoo stared. She wasn't the only one; Mother didn't know who Father was? "Father is Professor H-"
"He is not your father!" Mother snapped, dark and dangerous feelings pouring off her like when Beri had turned into a monster and eaten half of Watab. Loz cringed fearfully, tears welling up and Kadaj went white. "He stole you from me!"
"Fa- er, the Professor stole us?" Kadaj repeated as the atmosphere calmed down and Mother stopped feeling so scary. "Who is our real father then?"
Mother paused head tilted to one side, then her inner buzz expanded within her, pouring out through her skin and wrapping around her until she wasn't there anymore and the buzz was fully manifested.
"I am your sire," said the very large grey-skinned, golden-eyed person whose voice was like lots of people talking at once. "I am Chaos, Herald of OMEGA and you hold my essence within you."
So that was what the buzz was! It was their inheritance from Father! Which had to be why they had all looked like Mother and their big brother Sephiroth, who the Professor had talked about sometimes. Yazoo smiled up at her father, who she already liked miles more than the Professor. The buzz was kind and looked after them! The Professor had always felt icky anyway. "Where are we going?" She asked.
Father chuckled. "We will take you home, little seeds, then we shall mend you and after that, well. We will decide what must be done and what would simply be amusing."
Loz brightened, his tears forgotten. "We get to go outside, Father?"
"Of course," Father said in superior tones. "Come, little seeds." He turned, ducking his head as he walked out of the cell so as not to collide with the doorframe. All three surviving siblings quickly got to their feet and followed.
Rejoice! My muse cooperated and relinquished another chapter! I hope my readers like my portrayal of the Remnants. Who are a different kind of remnants in my fic.
