Chapter 33 - Fermentation of Mindsets
While the trio were left with their thoughts around the campfire, something in the distance sounded. Malaria, with a bit larger pointy ears than the other two, perked her ears a little. Looking up a little, she began scanning around the landscape.
'...the roar sounded very far away...' the bat woman thought. Narrowing her eyes at a certain point on the mountain, she moved her ears a little to see if she could pick up the directions of the echos. They were too faint by the time she focused on them.
'I...can't determine its origin...nor tell if it were a beast.'
"..." Speed spoke from staring at a point in the distance. Gently tossing the wooden skewer into the fire, he began to stand up.
"Where are you going?" Triselle asked seeing him get up.
"...gathering materials..."
"Materials? What kind?" she asked. Instead of answering, he began walking forward. Making it beside the campfire, Malaria spoke out loud.
"You heard the wail in the distance...didn't you Vermilion?"
'There was somebody shouting?' the female canine pondered in surprise. Perking her ears up and moving them to scan, she didn't hear anything even remotely to a roar or yell in the distance. All the sounds around her were of forestry and small animals and insects. Seeing him stop, he was on the other side of the small, contained blaze. Turning around, he looked at them with his usual stoic demeanor.
"...stay by the fire...follow...or choose your own path..." he said plainly. Triselle blinked and looked at him trying to comprehend this sudden decision. Hearing someone sigh in what sounded like agitation, she glanced to her left.
"I grow tired Vermilion," Malaria began and stood up. Walking towards him, she stooped directly in front of him toe to toe. Looking down at him with an intense glare from her yellow eyes, he moved his head. He equaled her expression with his own intimidating look.
"Of your meekness...your vagueness..." she stated. Moving her face downward, her nose made contact with his as both still glared at one another.
"You stole me from my Sanctum for what purpose? To follow you like some feeble pilgrim."
"...stole you from your Sanctum..." Speed repeated with an even tone. "You...crumbled...under the revelation of your...and your sisters'...faith."
"My faith!?" the bat woman repeated almost outraged. "My faith and my dead sisters' faith are not the same!"
"You followed them...blindly...evangelist," he commented not fazed by her outburst.
"..." Malaria reacted with baring her teeth at him.
'...how does he know how to get under her skin?' Triselle asked in cautious observation. Standing up and keeping the fire between her and the two, she began to see a pattern. She couldn't tell if his mannerisms were devious or not. However, he seemed very unafraid of the torturer and her capabilities.
'...now I'm curious on why he is named Vermilion Witness from her and the other torturers...' she continued to ponder. Looking at his cybernetic eye and staring, she blinked a couple of times. She shook her head.
'There is no way they would name him for something that simple. Given the themes the three did, there has to be a deeper meaning behind the name,' the canine reasoned in her mind. Hearing movement of heavy clothing, the ratty cloak was ripped off of the hedgehog. Seeing his right side a little, there was blood streams that seemed to have dried up. Seeing Malaria threw his long jacket to the ground, she got back right into his face.
"Test me again Vermilion...and I will drink you dry," she threatened.
"...heh..." Speed spoke with a dry chuckle. A menacing grin came onto his face as he bared his teeth at her. Tilting his head to the right, his neck was exposed. It showed crimson streaks of when his eye socket for the implant bled.
"...go ahead Malaria...validate your faith...free my lost soul...defile my corpse...become...like your false brethren."
"..." she reacted with tensing up. Clenching her hands into fists, she stared hard into the crimson ring eye. Everytime she opened her mouth to bare her fangs, it tensely closed. After doing so a couple of times, Speed never moved or blinked.
"BITE MY FLESH!" the amputee barked looking at her with anger. Both women saw that his expression changed from being wicked to being offended. It made the bat woman flinch a little while Triselle veered back a little.
"WHY ARE YOU NOT...SHOWING ME THE ENLIGHTMENT?" the male demanded.
"I AM NOT SHOWING YOU THE PATH THROUGH MY DEAD SIBILINGS! I AM NOT THEM!" the bat woman raged back with equal volume.
"THEN WHY...DID YOU COWER WHEN SHOWN...YOUR SISTERS TRUE BELIEFS?"
"..." Malaria reacted with opening and closing her mouth. The other female saw her body tensing up and making small movements. It gave notion that the woman was trying to find an answer to his question.
"WHY DID YOU DENY...TRUTH OF SISTERS OF SUFFERING?" the hedgehog barked. Harshly grabbing her collar and pulling her down, they were nose to nose with each other again.
"..." she answered with staring at him. Her brain was running but her mouth was not moving. Each statement that popped in her head, it was immediately countered with a tone of hypocrisy. Not breaking eye contact with him, his normal eye looked almost predatorial instead of the calm and focused look.
"WHY...ARE...YOU...SILENT...MALARIA?"
"...I'm...trying...to...think...you...barbarian..." she said harshly through clenched teeth.
"..." Speed commented with a pause. Losing the immense agitated look, he sighed through his nose. Letting go of her collar, he turned around and started walking away. Hearing quick movement behind him, he avoided the lunge grab from the bat woman. Halting from his instant quick side stepping to the left, he continued forward without looking at the attacker.
"Vermillion!" Malaria shouted in what sounded like frustration. "I will strangle you into submission! YOU WILL TELL ME WHY YOU ARE GIVING ME THIS PENANCE!"
"..." he responded without stopping. Taking one step forward, his image vibrated.
"NO!" the bat woman screamed.
Mad dashing at him and reaching him within a second, she tried grabbing him again. Going through his faded silhouette, she dropped to her hands and knees. Sliding on the ground to a stop, the surface friction on her skin burned a bit. Not caring and gritting her teeth hard, a bottle of anger swelled inside until it began to overflow. Letting out a balled up roar to the forestry and mountains, her voice echoed and bounced off surfaces. Many near by animals froze or scampered away.
'Oh no...I got to get out of here!?' Triselle thought with fear. About to stand up from her seated position, a rough hand gently covered her mouth.
"...!?" she reacted with a start. Feeling frightened, an aroma of iron was smelled around her. Turning her head to the left, she froze seeing the amputee kneeling behind her. He was staring at her with a stoic expression. Thinking that he would say something, he continued to bore at her with an unblinking eye and cybernetic one. Feeling his hand let go of her, there was something in his hand as well. Turning her eyes only and looking what was in his palm, they were war identification tags. However, they were not hers.
"WHERE DID YOU GO VERMILION!? I WILL HUNT YOU DOWN!" Malaria bellowed with anger.
Getting up and leaning forward a little, her hands were shaking in tight fists. About to yell again while scanning the area in front of her, her ears picked up sounds behind her. Turning around and pouncing quickly, an expression of bloodlust occupied her face. Seeing the crimson eye hedgehog kneeling next to the canine prisoner, something metal was in his hand. At the same time, Triselle had a similar item that she pulled out from her inside her shirt. It was a necklace of dog tags.
"..." the bat woman reacted with forcing herself to slow down hard.
Stopping a foot away from them, only Speed did not flinch or move. The other scooted back a little to put him between them. A harsh flashback came to her that made her vision change. Like staring into a fogged glass of the past, silhouettes of people were seen. Their voices filled the background conjuring up places she had traveled before. Her other senses began working as if each event in the recollection were occurring in front of her.
"...why did you...abandon the life...you walked on?" Speed asked. Standing up and staring her down, he kept his left hand out from his elbow.
"..." she responded with a blink. Shaking her head, she looked at the metal tags. Not answering, the woman saw his arm extend out to be almost touching her stomach.
"...how many souls...did you save?...how many souls...did you end?" he spoke staring at her face. Seeing her not move, his image vibrated hard for a second. Solidifying in the same place, the dog tags were not in his hand.
"...!?" Malaria reacted with seeing them gone. Leaning back a little, metallic clicks were heard and felt on her chest. Looking down, the military accessory was hanging around her neck. Seeing his arm move back to his side, she glanced up to stare at him.
"...which side were you on?...were you a hero?...were you a villain?..." the amputee continued. Turning to look back at the hound, she had slowly stood up and was watching both of them.
"...human...animal...monster...does the identification of race...matter?" he questioned turning his head back to the other woman. "When all involved...sees phantoms of dead fields...memories of fire that are...now ashes."
"...you..." the female canine spoke with widen eyes. "...you remember yourself now? You remember you were in the war?"
"...I...can't claim I...wasn't," Speed said then looked at the campfire. "...recollections appear in different places...cocktail dreams of individuals who...I don't know...yet...wanted to slaughter..."
"I only see patches...of a past that...is surreal...an identity of self...that is unknown."
"That is why...the war fallen," the hedgehog said and turned to Malaria. "...succumb to the faith...of nothingness...the pathway of meaningless...life."
"..." Malaria reacted with surprised eyes.
The depth of his conversation had captured her attention to the point of forgetting her urge to hunt and hurt him. And the context of what he was talking about now bared weight to her questions. It seemed to open pathway doors in her mind that were locked close. Her brain began to turn and think. To reason and analyze her decisions. To find the purpose for diverging to different lifestyles within the last decade of time. To seek why the hedgehog wanted to save her from her time and acts in the Sanctum
"...you know..." Triselle spoke with less of an anxious expression. "This is the first time...you talked so much...and finally make sense."
"..." Speed responded with not moving or looking away from the fire. He didn't see the former prisoner look down with a sad smile on her face.
"...what you said...speaks so much volumes to me...it's such a relief," she commented and gently held her tags. "The more and more that I lost contact with others from the war...it was like a plague that infected me."
"Nothing seemed to work...nobody knew how to deal with the aftermath of the war...the side effects from war...no matter how hard I tried to move on from those 10 years of battlefield...destruction...death...and chaos...I felt more isolated, alone, and afraid. I didn't know when or how...but I folded into myself and became a lesser...me."
'...she is from the war and shares...the same burdens,' Malaria thought to herself. Blinking a little startled, she didn't realize she was staring at the other woman.
'...strange...I don't remember...' she continued. Lifting her hands up and looking down, she stared at her black skin hands. It troubled her that they seemed not the same as they were yesterday.
'...what I was doing...before my followship to Sisters of Suffering...'
'...yet hearing these two...' she said in her head. Moving her eyes to see the other two, they widen.
A vivid flashback came to her of the past. Two individuals were standing in the same place. With their faces blurred, both were bipedal humanoid animals. Wearing familiar uniforms, the environment was inside a tent with a heating lamp on. Unable to hear the words they were saying, the feeling of nostalgia enveloped the bat woman. So much so, she put her hands over her eyes and applied pressure.
"...is this...what you were trying to allude to...Vermilion?" Malaria asked in a quiet tone. "...is this...supposed to give me purpose...meaning...enlightenment?"
"...if it did...if it did not...doesn't matter to me," he replied. Bending down, he grabbed some dirt and tossed it into the campfire.
"H-How can you say it doesn't matter?" the female hound asked with a surprised tone. "It means we all share something in common...that we aren't alone in this world."
"...alone...in this world...share a commonality?" the bat woman scoffed. Removing her hands and seeing spots, she stared at woman and pointed at her.
"Don't compare me with you."
"..." the amputee commented.
With the last toss of earth and seeing the fire put out, he stood up. Looking at the black cloak on the ground, he headed towards it. Picking it up and putting it on, it had an iron scent to it. Turning towards the mountain, he narrowed his normal eye. Seeing a small valley between the two mountains at a higher elevation, it seemed to be where he was going to next. Walking forward, his pathway was blocked by the from S.O.S. member.
"Hold it Vermilion," Malaria stated. Her tone was not harsh as before; however, her face looked to have two or more expressions meshing together.
"..." Speed responded with just staring.
"You spoke of your mind...as if it were supposed to reach me as it did with her," she continued then pointed an accusing finger at him. "You do not know anything about me...and you robbed me of my Sanctum...murdered my sisters...destroyed my foundation and dwelling."
'She's a lunatic...just a stubborn, psycho sadistic lunatic,' Triselle said in her head while cringing.
"...to...reiterate...to follow...to stay...to venture..." the hedgehog spoke in his stoic tone. Proceeding forward again, he walked to go around her.
"...your...choice..."
"..." Malaria reacted with a frown. Getting in his pathway again, they were near each other. Seeing him stop, she looked down on him.
"...you robbed me...stole my faith...and gave me loose strings to think things are better," she stated in what sounded like bitterness.
"..." he responded with just boring at her with two unblinking eyes.
"Look at me Vermilion! Look at me!" she yelled and curled her arms up. Her fingers curled to mimic claws.
"I have seen bloodshed...I have seen filth...I have seen the slaughter of humankind and animals alike...I have spent more than a decade being a part of this world's degradation to mindless massacre...I have become a product of what this world has spat out...this is the life I have led...there is no point of saving anything...it is only to survive."
"..." both Speed and Triselle commented on what she said. Seeing movement, the two females saw the amputee put his hoodie up.
"...if that is how...you want to live...then so be it..." he said then turned around. "What is your choice...Triselle?"
"...m-my choice?" she asked flinching a little. Seeing him nod, his ignorance of the bat woman seemed to make Malaria angry.
"I...um...I wish to...follow...if I may," the female canine continued feeling cautious. "I know I am weak...but...I want to find something...to live for."
"...and what...won't...retard you...back...to nothingness?" the hedgehog asked tilting his head a little.
'He seems...dead serious in asking...I don't know if that disease named woman will gouge him from how pissed she looks.'
"Um...maybe...finding other war-"
"...No..." Speed spoke gravely at her. His tone made Malaria blink despite her nails still extended out.
"...if you follow...I will not aid...in finding war fallen..."
"...okay...but it is my choice," the canine countered.
"...will you repeat yourself...then?" he asked looking unconvinced. "...you sought Malaria's Sanctum...from becoming a lost lamenter..."
"..." Malaria spoke with calming down a little. About to open her mouth to make a crude remark, she willed herself to restrain.
"I-I have no desire to repeat my past life choice!" Triselle said loudly. "I realized I was foolish and stupid...I was locked in a constant mental state of decay to which nothing meant anything to me anymore."
"Even becoming a prisoner to her prison didn't change me," she continued and looked at the bat woman. Seeing that her expression was just stern instead of angry, it made staring at her less intimidating.
"All it did was make me feel worthless and powerless."
"...but when you came in...and I found out that you knew about the A.D.A.A.M. doctrine...and that you possibly were from the war...it made me want to live."
'...A.D.A.A.M...doctrine...' Malaria repeated in her mind. '...why is that supposed to be familiar? What significance does it have?'
"S-So," Triselle began then walked to him. Feeling her nervousness in each step increase a little, she stopped outside of his personal space. Closing her hands in to loose fists, she opened her mouth.
"I realized that...despite not being in the war anymore...my field experience and my want to help other war fallen is what is driving me now."
"...fine..." Speed spoke and gave a slow blink. Turning around and trying to walk around Malaria again. Moving to be in front of him again, he stopped and stared through the bat woman.
"...is that it Vermilion? You'll honor one soul's path and deny mine?" she asked in agitation then gave a frown. "By this ventilation, you speak...tell me your choice so I can deny it from you."
"..." he responded with looking up a little at her. To her observation, he looked curious instead of devious or mockery.
"...the boy...is my choice..."
"...the child...?" Malaria repeated in surprise. Even Triselle was shocked and spoke first.
"Is the blue hedgehog your child?"
"...no...he is a villager...that was cast out...by associating with myself."
"...did you maim the locals?" the bat woman asked interested in the topic. Instead of looking at her with a stoic face, his expression seemed lighter for some reason. Seeing him turn to look back at the campfire, only small whisps of smoke were trailing from it.
"...the child...stated a desire...to obtain a dream...to which I have."
"...I am curious...as to what will happen...once he obtains that dream."
"...will it cease his pursuit?...will it end his purpose?...will it create a new purpose?...make a new choice?...will it make him continue forward?" he spoke as normally as possible. Turning around and moving his hoodie down, both saw him look unsure for the first time.
"...I have seen children live...and die...by human hands...by animal hands...by primals...by the elements," he continued then looked unfocused at the ground.
"...I have also saved...and let die...children of all kinds...including humans."
"...all decisions were choices...for survival...nothing more...nothing less," the hedgehog said raising his left hand. Staring at the palm, he took a small inhale before speaking.
"...and yet...my choice varied...for one...on an illogical whim...to which I cannot...explain why."
'This feels like...he was a war weapon that suddenly was hit with morality,' the canine thought cringing from the aspects of his words. Under the stance of logic and survival, she could understand why he said those things. A part of her wanted to speak her mind about how he could let children die; however, she bit her tongue. Not from wanting to judge him, but from the aspect of when she gave up on living.
'...I'm...no different when I stopped caring about anything,' she thought looking down at the ground.
"..." Malaria responded.
Looking at him with his different vulnerable face, she repeated what he stated in her head. Relating to the mindset years and years into the past, the last time she saw a child was before joining the underground Sanctum. A part of her had no opinions regarding about children or wanting to be a part of any of them. However, his question to curiosity and to find out the uncertainty of seeing something occurring was not foreign to her. Thinking quickly in her head about what choice she will do now, the want to corrupt him was not as desirable. Frowning from feeling this way, she gave him stern glare.
"...where is...that blue boy now?" she asked. Seeing the female hound look at her shocked, it made her press her teeth together from seeing that expression.
"...if alive...he will be at...the peak of the valley," Speed spoke and pointed. Both women turned and looked in the direction he was pointing at. Hiking there would take a couple of hours on foot. Knowing what his capabilities were, Malaria turned back around.
"...I...will follow...only to see...what the boy will do...so take us there...now."
"...very well..." he responded and leaned a little forward.
Instead of his image vibrating like before, he dashed blindly quick at the taller woman. Taking her by surprise, he grabbed her right wrist. Without a pause, he bolted up the mountain leaving a blur of both his and her figures. An instant draft pulled in the same direction which made Triselle squat a little to not be thrown off balance. Looking at the small patches of grass nearby, they were all pointing in the towards the mountains.
'Guess that means he is recovered enough to-' she began to think. After several seconds, Triselle saw a small dot come down the pathway. Looking like a black comet, it began slowing down way before her. Seeing Speed slow down to being several feet away from her, he slid to a stop next to her.
"W-W-Wait a minute. I'm not reaaadddddiiiAHHHH-!?" she began to spoke.
Getting her hand grabbed and pulled along hard, the two raced up the mountain. The sensation of the air beating against her face and the gravitational force gave her insides a wake up call. Feeling as if something was trying to smoosh her face and pull her organs down, all she could do was just hold on. From feeling deceleration, the sensations she felt began to go away. At the same time, breathing in air became a bit harder. Seeing that they stopped and he let go of her wrist, she went down on her hands and knees.
"...so this...is what power you possess...it feels," Malaria commented. Kneeling on one knee, she was taking in deep breaths. Standing up and feeling stable she turned around. Seeing the other female on her hands and knees as if winded hard, the sight made her narrow her eyes and smirk.
"...ungodly...unyielding...wrong..." she continued.
Hearing a second pair of breathing, she glanced at the amputee. Seeing him turn to the right and walk forward, she noticed a body lying on the ground. Turning around and following, she stopped where Speed halted at. Both were standing over the blue hedgehog who looked out of breath and past exhausted. His eyes were closed and panted semi-erractically.
'...seems like...the result of being hunted...' the bat woman wondered blinking. Hearing another pair of footsteps coming, they were not as stable. Seeing Triselle come into view, she looked a bit recovered. Seeing the child on the ground, she immediately crouched to the kid. Touching various places as the neck, wrist, head, and chest, she didn't look too worried.
"...he...seems okay," she spoke out loud. Checking other areas, there were no signs of external wounds. Not finding anything else, she stood back up.
"Other than looking exhausted from pushing himself too far, I didn't find any wounds on his body."
"...he passed the trial..." Speed stated out loud. Both women looked at him and saw a rare small smile. It was one that seemed genuine and not masked.
"The trial Vermilion?" Malaria asked mildly stunned.
"...he will tell...once he comes to..." Speed stated then gave an amused low chuckle. It seemed fitting for someone that was in his physical condition and had a dark view on life.
"Why...are you laughing?" the female canine asked feeling nervous.
"...I...feel...strange..." he spoke then looked at his left hand. Curling it into a claw, he slowly turned it into a closed fist.
"...him passing the trial...seems...invigorating..." the amputee continued. Loosening his hand and looking down at the boy, he lost his smile.
"...despite putting him...in mortal danger...to which he would have...died if failed..."
"Is this some delayed awakening of your sin?" Malaria asked still mildly astonished from seeing a different side of him developing in front of her. Hearing him give a little snort, he shook his head.
"...what is good...what is evil...none matters...when surviving out here alone," he began then gestured an open hand to the child. "And yet...a life appears...a stranger...wishing to become a dream."
"...why..." Speed asked looking at Malaria first. "...why would one...lend a hand...to aid in...a fanatical goal? To a child...who may not...survive in the wilderness...?"
"..." Malaria spoke blinking at him. Seeing him not continuing speak and staring at her, it indicated to her that he was either serious or asking a rhetorical question.
"...you sought pity to one of your own kind..." she stated keeping the same expression. "...and to what I have witness...the boy sees you as his god."
"His what!?" the female canine repeated in surprise. Moving so she was not beside him, she looked at the other woman with a tense look.
"He's not looking at him as a god. Speed is a legend come to life. A legend from the war to which stories have been passed down for years. For kids that believe in the stories, he's like a hero to them."
"A legendary hero? Hah!" Malaria mocked with a sneer. "Unless you didn't know dog, Vermilion eats whatever he will survive on...the species does not matter...the age does not matter...gender does not matter."
"A cannibal like you and your disgusting sisters? That's a joke."
"You foolish lost soul," she stated. Giving an evil smile, she approached Speed and stood next to him. Putting her right hand on his left shoulder, she leaned forward to be near his head.
"Go ahead Vermilion...enlighten her...what you consumed...in the Sanctum."
"You and your sisters forced us to eat that disgusting raw and cold meat! Especially from the prisoners that died from illness or starvation!" Triselle fired back pointing her finger at the bat woman. Before the two could speak, they heard a weak exhale of air nearby.
"...w...h...o...s..." Sonic spoke quietly and raspy. "...t...h...e...r...e...?"
"...and now we shall see..." Speed whispered catching both woman's attention. "...the results from being...a cruel...cold...murderous...monster...to a dreamer."