Three Day Storm
#9: Discovery of a new Host
X X X
It came to him that he was sprawled on his back on the hard, unforgiving surface of old concrete.
It was cold to lie against and he could feel a crack in the ground that jabbed unevenly at the space between his shoulder blades. This was what brought him to the thought that he was no longer in Babylon City. This roughness was a far cry from the sleek VR-world at the top of the Limitless Fortress.
The Lightning Emperor forced his eyes open but the world that greeted him was blurry and unfocused. His head was pounding and it felt like a horse had kicked him in the chest. Everything rolled together into an indistinct blur of sound, colour and touch. He tried to look at his immediate surroundings but could only conclude one thing: he was in an alley, somewhere. He could smell the faint odour of rubbish close by, carrying the pungent smell of rotten meat. It should have turned his stomach but for some odd reason, it wasn't strong enough to trigger that nausea. Perhaps he was too tired, too sore to notice.
It did strike him as odd though, that no matter how deeply he inhaled, the scent got neither weaker nor stronger. Perhaps he was in a VR environment. No…that couldn't be it. He had been aware of his environment before he'd opened his eyes; there hadn't been a chance for the scenario to establish itself.
He could hear water dripping off of various fixtures and although neither he nor the ground was wet. Vaguely, he realised that it had started to rain.
It was probably time to start moving. He tried to sit up and immediately regretted the action. His head went from throbbing quietly to jack hammering against the inside of his skull, earning a quiet, pained groan from the Emperor.
Then he heard someone approaching. He tried to react sharply, to snap up and focus his attention on the possible intruder. He willed his static to crackle in the air.
Nothing happened.
Something cold and icy closed around his heart. He couldn't summon his electrical powers. He couldn't move. The chill of being utterly defenceless ran down his spine. It was a whole new experience for the Lightning Emperor: he and Ginji had always, always had a back door strategy. They had always been able to choose resistance if they decided it was necessary.
Why couldn't he do it now?
Brown eyes narrowed on the form as it tapped around the corner. With his perception still skewed, it was difficult to pick out details without concentrating, but trying to do so only increased his headache. He managed to note it was someone short, someone elderly. Someone who didn't feel like a threat.
"Pharmacist Gen…" the voice was familiar, one he'd known all his life.
Ginji.
- but he hadn't felt Ginji speak. What was this? Even in this state, he would have felt it… the thought process, the decision to speak and the selection of what to say. But he hadn't felt a thing. The horrifying thought hit him with enough suddenness to leave him breathless.
It was as if he wasn't there at all.
Before he could finish the thought, the pitch-black veil of unconsciousness ripped him away from the situation altogether, leaving Ginji behind.
X X X
The Emperor groaned despite himself.
His entire body felt dull and subdued, as though it had been thrown against a hard wall, and then self-medicated by turning numb. He tried blinking away the darkness and was rewarded when a blurry and whitewashed world swam into focus. It was too bright for sensitive eyes and he screwed them shut again. He lifted a hand to rub at his eyelids, and then paused.
This was not his - rather, Ginji's - hand.
It was small, delicate. Feminine.
"Ren," he muttered thickly, but the words came sluggishly, crawling through a sore throat and out of a dry mouth. It was a sign that he hadn't spoken in some time, perhaps unconscious. But if this was Ren's body…
What the hell was going on?
It was a swift conclusion from the Emperor that he had been sitting around for long enough. Peering tentatively through half-open eyes, he propped both elbows behind him and sat up slowly for the second time, braving a severe headache to take in the unfamiliar environment. It was a little room: the walls, floor and ceiling were all the same off-white, hospital colour. There were no windows and only one (closed) door, and no furniture except for the bed he was lying on. The air was cold, entirely clinical.
He knew without asking or being told that this was somewhere inside the Limitless Fortress - somewhere inside Babylon City. Had he been here all along? Had the alley been a simple dream, or had he somehow travelled between the two places without realising it?
The Lightning Emperor did not know the answer, but he wanted to find out. He could not do such a thing from a hospital bed.
Sliding out of the bed and straightening on unsteady legs, the first thing he noticed was how it felt; how everything had an extra clarity to it. The pressure of his weight against his legs; the cold tiled floor under the soles of his feet. Even the air of the room as it greeted his bare skin, triggering a wave of goosebumps that made his spine tingle with a different kind of electricity.
The Lightning Emperor knew one thing. Whilst he had never needed to fight Ginji for control in the past; in those moments where he took prime position there had always been a weight behind his actions. It had always required an extra depth of strength to do as he wanted, which didn't come from Ginji protesting so much as it came from two minds working in one body. Every decision made had to run through two separate thought processes; they had to agree within a split-second. When there was conflict, it was even worse, because Ginji didn't always agree with what he wanted. Ginji was always very vocal when that happened, and the Emperor usually conceded in favour of an alternative strategy.
But with Ren… There was nothing- not a single shred of resistance. He couldn't even hear her thoughts. It was as though she didn't exist and this was just an empty shell that he had somehow come to occupy. His legs were sore and they truly felt it, to a degree he couldn't really remember experiencing before. It had always been Ginji who dealt with the bulk of the pain, unless he the Emperor had caused it. In those times, he took the brunt of the after-effects. It was not fair to push them onto his host.
That he could feel every throbbing ache in his body was so different to what he had experienced in the past that the Emperor found himself questioning everything. Was this what the God had meant? Was this part of 'bringing him home'? If it was, the Emperor did not like it. He did not always enjoy being confined by Ginji and the limitations of a world outside of the Limitless Fortress… but he had agreed to it by allowing Ginji to bring them to a life of Retrieval.
He had chosen to stay a part of Ginji's life, and to allow Ginji to live for himself.
Now, the Emperor had been separated from his host against his will. He thought it reasonalbe that no Sovereign would appreciate that, whether or not it was a choice made by a God.
Taking a couple of uneasy steps, the young man found himself grimacing. His joints were stiff, like they hadn't been used in a while. The muscles were uncomfortably sluggish when they followed his commands, which came as an uncomfortable change against the finely-tuned body of his previous host. Ren was not a skilled fighter in any sense.
It only furthered the decision that he would have to resolve this situation before it got any further out of hand.
Across the room, the single door began to move. It swung open with a click and the Emperor paused, shifting his weight to stand tall and do his best to look imperious. Ren was short, spindly - he ignored these facts and did his best.
It was the man from earlier, dressed in the same impeccable suit and watching him with a freshly arrogant smirk. "Your ability to heal swiftly does not disappoint, Lightning Emperor."
The Emperor replied with his best narrow-eyed glare.
Apparently undeterred by the frosty silence, the businessman strolled into the room casually, his hands clasped behind him. "Admittedly, it has been a few days since we last met. I am sure you remember the conversation."
"You forced me to leave Ginji," the Emperor replied darkly. "You harmed him."
"Ginji is fine, Emperor. He will be a little bruised, a little worn out, but he will recover with the care of my good friend. It is a fortunate outcome in the face of odds that did not look kindly on him."
"I want to see him," he demanded.
"I'm afraid that is not possible," the God said. "You see, Emperor, your data does not exist in the Lower Town. For the moment, you exist only above the Belt Line. Go lower than that and you will cease to exist."
"You promised freedom," the Lightning Emperor snarled. The longer he stood in front of this antagonist, the higher his anger seemed to mount. It did not occur to him that this was the goal of the conversation. He simply knew that the want to lash out was building; the desire to attack the obstacle that stood in front of him. The only thing which prevented him was that he did not know Ren's limitations.
He wasn't yet at the point where his hosts welfare would become irrelevant to destroying the enemy.
"We did," the God said with a nod. "And it will come. For now, though…" he trailed off with a gesture to the door that stood behind him. "Perhaps you would like to test out this new, though temporary body."
The Emperor studied him for a long time with a guarded expression, unwilling to trust this man and at the same time… measuring it against his battle instincts that demanded he find his new limitations. It was not a betrayal to Ginji, he decided. The situation had changed dramatically. If he was to return to Lower Town, he would need to know what obstacles were facing him. This was the best place to start.
Holding his head high, the Emperor forced his new body to walk towards his new enemy, and the exit that lay behind him.
X X X
To be continued.