Okay, kiddies, buckle your seat belts, because it's the nineth chapter - get ready for the beginning of some shit going down! ;)
Chapter 9
In which Phi makes a detour to satisfy her sudden urge to eat some spicy, Indian food in Flagstaff, Arizona, Eric finally snaps at Mira, and a somehow 20-year-old Delta catches Phi sneaking into a Flagstaff research facility in the middle of the night.
"Phi, what are you doing!? Didn't you hear me? You were supposed to take the exit!"
"Shut up, Sigma! I know where I'm going!"
"Oh, really? Then you must know that the Grand Canyon is north from here, and not east, which is where you're headed."
As her father yells, Phi pulls into a rest area and parks the RV. She releases her foot off the break and sighs, slumping back in her seat.
Sigma is about to smugly tell her to admit defeat, that she is going the wrong way, but Phi beats him to it.
"Sigma," she starts calmly. "Flagstaff is east from here. I want to stop there."
A 'v' takes shape between his furrowed brows. "Flagstaff? Phi, we can't go to there; we have to go to the Grand Canyon. Remember what Carlos said?"
"What the hell!?" He stumbles back in his seat, surprised by Phi's outburst. "That's not fair, Sigma, if Carlos wants to go to Kingsman or the Grand Canyon, you're completely okay with it, but if I want to make a stop in Flagstaff, you completely deny me!"
Uh oh. Was this one those infamous tantrums he heard came with most daughters? Suddenly, Sigma misses Kyle impossibly more. "Um, calm down, Phi — "
"No, it's really not fair!" she shouts stubbornly, but then closes her eyes for a moment and exhales. "I didn't mean to yell. I'm sorry."
"It's alright. I understand." Sigma smiles reassuringly at her, but inside, he's mentally wiping the sweat off his forehead. I forget that Phi isn't like most daughters. "I guess I am being a little unfair, but tell me what's going on, Phi."
Phi exhales sharply, trying to calm herself down. "Sigma, we have two more days to kill. Can't we just go spend them there? It's only a two hour drive to the Grand Canyon from Flagstaff."
"What's in Flagstaff?"
" . . . "
"Phi?"
"I want to go to the Delhi Palace," she mumbles grumpily, almost to herself, that Sigma has trouble understanding her words.
"What was that?"
She turns away from Sigma and sighs in frustration. "I just want some killer, spicy Indian food, okay?!"
.
Later that night, Sigma has to admit, though he had never eaten Indian food and was hesitant to try it, whatever he had just eaten — as he had no idea what the dish was or how it was pronounced, since Diana and Phi picked out something for him — was one of the best meals he has ever eaten.
He and Eric don't like spicy food, and specifically made it clear in their orders that their meals were not to come out spicy, which prompted both Diana and Phi to complain that it doesn't taste as good without the heat of the peppers and masala mixes. Regardless, the food tasted absolutely delicious, and it was their first hearty, filling meal (that wasn't fast-food) after the Decision Game.
While they ate, poor Sean sat alone in the trailer, unable to come out in public due to his sphere of a head.
"Do you want me to stay with you, Sean?" Eric had offered, after everyone had started to board off the RV. Sean had known he had not done so out of politeness, but out of genuine care, which had touched his heart — if Delta even had programmed some sort of heart in him in the first place.
He had shaken his large helmet as he assured, "Thank you, but I'm okay, Eric. You need to eat."
"I could stay with you as well, Sean."
"It's fine, Sigma. Don't worry about me, you guys. Go eat!" he had insisted, pointing a finger towards the window.
No one liked leaving him, but he cheerfully assured that he didn't mind. Though Sean didn't mind the silence and used it to think, both Sigma and Eric hated having him alone like this. It further determined Sigma to create a head and face for him, as quickly and efficiently as possible, and Eric to stay by his side as much as he could.
Mira spent most of the dinner eating her Garlic Naan and spicy Chicken Tikka Masala in silence, simply listening to the conversations the others were having and nodding when appropriate. Only at the end, as they had finished splitting the bill and were leaving the restaurant, did she speak, but just to comment on how the food was delicious and that the varying blends of spices are why Indian cuisine is probably one of her favorites.
"Thanks for convincing Sigma to let us eat here, Phi," she thanked hesitantly, but genuinely, a smile slowly spreading across her face, which didn't surprise her as much as she was expecting it to, but it certain did take everyone else off-guard.
After everyone sits inside the RV, Sigma drives them all to a nearby motel. They get four rooms — all connecting rooms. Eric and Mira and Sean take a pair of connecting, while the other set of rooms, across from them, goes to Phi, Diana and Sigma. Sean gets his own room, so that he can freely watch the television or do whatever he wants to without waking anyone up, and so does Phi.
"What parents want their kid to cock-block them?" she justifies, which causes Eric to laugh, and Mira and Sean to chuckle. Diana buries her blushing face into Sigma's chest, and Sigma groans in embarrassment and scolds Phi, who shrugs unapologetically.
They end up enjoying Flagstaff for another day, and when nightfall approaches, their day of sightseeing causes them to retire for the night earlier than usual, with each person heading to bed at 9PM.
Phi, however, quietly slips out of her room at 10:30PM, walks towards the lobby without looking back.
.
Once they're behind closed doors, Mira quietly asks Eric to come sit on the bed with her. Eric is pleased to hear this immediately scrambles to her side. She's so shocked at how easily accepting he is. She's ruined his life and here he sits, smiling next to her. She feels so frustrated by this and tells him so. He merely stays silent as she keeps reiterating her wrongs and how they have impacted his life, only telling her at the end of her rant that he forgives her, but says it very quickly; it makes Mira feel that he is trying to simply do away with it all and does not wish to face this problem.
She arises from the bed and begins to pace. "I don't buy it. You can't possibly have fully forgiven me! No one has that big of a heart, Eric!" She is trying to hold herself back from speaking louder, as Phi, Diana, and Sigma sleep across the hall, and she doesn't want Sean catching wind of their conversation either, but she can't help but raise her voice at him. "I don't care how much you say you love me! I don't understand how you can forgive me and love me even after finding out that I destroyed your family! How do you expect us to happily stay together if you don't want to acknowledge all I've done and just throw it under the bus?!"
Something in her words seems to shatter his illusion and bring him to reality, as, suddenly, Eric snaps. He wrenches out of his seat on the bed and grabs her shoulders tightly.
"Yes, it's hard for me to forgive you, but I still try!" he yells, furious with her. "And, yes, Mira, I know you killed my mother!"
Mira freezes, even though she should be relieved that he is finally going to tell her off.
"You're the reason why my father killed my brother!" he continues, shouting at her — but it's not as satisfying as Mira initially imagined it being. "Why my family is gone . . . and Akane's parents, too, are gone because of you! Why we were probably stuck playing the fucking Decision Game."
And why the world will be saved from the religious fanatic, she wants to quietly add, but refrains from doing so. She inhales and exhales once, before imploring, "Then tell me, Eric, how can I fix this? How can I get you to forgive me?"
"You want me to forgive you? Since when has the Heart Ripper has wanted to repent or had cared about her victims?!" he sneers angrily.
The words hurt, Mira admits, though she understands now that she, a killer, deserves nothing less. Still, it feels like Eric is the bow, and his words are an arrow that has pierced her chest. She begins to feel hopeless, but instead of giving up, she resists her urge to turn away and looks at him straight in the eye. "I . . . tell me, Eric. What will make you forgive me? How can you accept me after all I've done to you?" she insists again.
His eyes flash angrily. "You want to know how we'll can be together, after all you've done!? Pay for your sins, Mira! Go repent for your crimes!" he seethes, suddenly in her face.
He then growls to himself and storms out of the motel room, loudly slamming the door behind him — if that doesn't wake up Sigma, Diana, and Phi, Mira doesn't know what will.
She doesn't move for a few minutes after Eric's departure. She feels no need to go after him; he has to cool down and she must come to terms with her feelings. She simply stands and tries to cool off her mind.
When the feelings are no more overwhelming than usual, — usual being since their departure from DCOM — Mira leans against the door to the connecting room, crossing her arms and sighing to herself, as more unfamiliar feelings surface — not quite sad, but not completely satisfied with what has just occurred; she doesn't feel the closure she yearns for and assumed that would come if Eric lashed out on her. His words replay in her mind many times, but it just makes herself feel worse.
The last time she remembers his words, her long, slim eyebrows furrow in confusion, as she recalls one particular sentence. Pay for my sins . . . ? she wonders to herself, as she leans her head against the door, looking up towards the ceiling.
Behind that door, in the adjacent room, Sean struggles to make a decision.
.
His shaggy, red hair flutters in the wind as his hands are buried in his pockets. As he strolls, he whistles a tune that no one of this generation would know.
When the 20-year old man reaches the entrance of the facility, he touches the keypad, his fingers tapping on the correct numbers for the passcode unwaveringly. A smirk graces his handsome face when doors open to the inside of the abandoned research lab that he came out of merely an hour before. In the sea of white walls and floor, there she stands — though, with her white hair and blouse, she almost blends in — with her back towards him.
.
When she hears the door open, she freezes and her eyes widen in shock — like a deer in headlights.
"Caught you," his smooth, quiet voice teases. Her shoulders slump in relief, which prompts a chuckle. "Hello, my dearest sister." His cadence of speech is from another time.
She turns around, and though she is unsurprised to see him, in such a youthful state, no less, she scowls. "Delta. You bastard." Her voice is calm, in her flat monotone, but rage boils beneath her slow, weary voice. "You have the nerve to show me your face after all you've done."
He quietly crosses his arms over her chest, a wicked grin gracing his youthful face. "I hope you recall that we are twins, Phi. If I am a bastard, then what are you?"
She rolls her eyes and scoffs, ignoring his teasing. "I'd ask how you knew to find me here, but I won't humor you with that." She knows he can read her mind, but feels a pressing need to bring the words to her lips. "I had to see for myself that the transporter was going to be moved to a different facility all the way in New York for 'further research.'" After giving the transporter — the device in where a researcher found and took in a child — a long, lasting look, she then sighs. ". . . Why the hell are you even here, Delta?"
"I'm here to meet my darling sister."
"Well, congratulations. You've just met me. Now you can leave me be," she sneers, her voice growing more irritated with each word.
He sighs, almost in mock exasperation, and tsks at her. "My dear sister, Phi, always so blunt and to the point. Allow me to rephrase my words: I'm here to meet my darling sisters."
Suddenly, her clear, blue eyes flash angrily, and she takes a few steps closer towards her brother. "Where is she?!" she snarls menacingly, grabbing ahold of his turtleneck. She can see that his eyes are alight with humor behind those awful, bright red sunglasses — a birthday present from Left when they were younger. "If you've hurt her, Delta, — if she's hurt, at all, I swear . . ." she trails off threateningly in a hoarse voice, her eyes not leaving his. Her throat feels tight and tears are streaming down her cheeks freely, but she doesn't care that she's showing weakness in front of him anymore.
His eyes soften, and he places his hands on her shoulders — she resists the urge to slap them away, but knows he is much stronger than her. "My motives are often . . . complex. But still, I shall explain to you my motives for coming here, Phi."