"Konella, you must straighten your back while holding the cello, or you will drop it," Haji's voice was calm yet firm, his hands meticulously tending to Saya's katana, the blade gleaming under the soft, golden light filtering through the window.
"You make it look easy holding this thing while I have short arms and can barely grasp it!" Konella's voice wavered with frustration as she struggled to keep a tight grip on the bow. The rich, woody scent of the cello filled her nostrils, mingling with the faint metallic tang of the katana. Haji chuckled lightly, the sound warm and reassuring, before coming to assist her. "You're a terrible teacher, Haji… who even taught you how to play?"
He paused, his fingers lightly brushing the cello's polished surface, and sighed deeply. "Saya taught me when I was young." His eyes grew distant, the room's ambient sounds fading as if they were the only two people in the world. Konella sensed the weight of unspoken memories in his gaze but chose not to pry, though curiosity gnawed at her.
"…she must have lacked communication skills considering how you don't talk too much." She teased, her tone light as she felt his hand ruffle her hair, a gesture that brought a fleeting sense of warmth and comfort. Haji carefully placed the cello back in its case, the soft click of the latches echoing in the quiet room. He looked towards the door, his expression thoughtful.
"So, Haji, it's been a couple of years now, and all we've done is walk from place to place, rarely settling down for any time before wandering off again. Do you have a set destination, or is this going to be the routine?"
He contemplated her words, the silence stretching between them, filled only by the distant chirping of birds outside. Finally, he smiled meekly, shouldering the cello case with ease. "It has been a dream of mine to explore the world. Waiting for Saya to awaken, this is the only way to pass the time."
"Huh… never considered you an entrepreneur. Somehow it suits you… if you got rid of the stale suit and chose something with a little more fashion of the times, maybe people would stop staring at you." She teased again, her laughter light and infectious. They stepped out onto the path, the road ahead long and winding, but full of promise. The air was crisp and fresh, carrying the scent of blooming flowers and distant rain. Konella felt a surge of excitement, urging Haji to quicken his pace. "Haji, come on!"
Change
Van Argiano adjusted his glasses, the sterile light of the lab reflecting off the lenses as he meticulously reviewed Konella's latest vitals. Each beep of the monitoring equipment was a reassurance, a confirmation that his protocols were being followed to the letter. His fingers danced over the keyboard, inputting data with precision, his mind a whirlwind of calculations and hypotheses.
Konella's condition was stable, but fragile. The coma induced by her memory loss episode was a delicate state, one that required constant vigilance. Van's curiosity often led him to explore unconventional methods, but he knew better than to deviate from established protocols without thorough consideration. His reputation as a meticulous man was well-earned, and he prided himself on his unwavering adherence to procedure.
The sudden sound of the lab door slamming open jolted him from his thoughts. Trae, his boss and Solomon's son, stormed in, his face a mask of urgency and determination. Van's heart skipped a beat, his mind racing to understand the implications of Trae's dramatic return.
"Monsieur Trae, what's going on?" Van's voice was calm, but his eyes betrayed his concern. He watched as Trae moved with purpose, his actions hurried and almost frantic.
"We need to wake her up, Van. Now." Trae's tone was sharp, almost desperate, his eyes wild with a mix of fear and determination. He had set a large bag down by the table with a loud thud. But even by his orders, rules needed to be followed.
"Monsieur, you know the protocols. Waking her prematurely could be detrimental. We need to proceed with caution." Van's voice was steady, but inside, he felt a pang of anxiety. He respected Trae, but his duty was to Konella's well-being. As ordered strictly by Solomon.
Trae's eyes flashed with a mix of desperation and resolve. "I don't have time to explain, but it's crucial. Trust me on this." His voice cracked slightly, betraying the emotional turmoil beneath his composed exterior.
Van hesitated, his mind a battleground of professional duty and personal loyalty. He knew Trae well enough to understand that something significant must have happened to prompt such urgency. Yet, his meticulous nature demanded caution.
"Alright, Monsieur. But we do this by the book. I'll prepare the necessary equipment and monitor her vitals closely. Any sign of distress, and we stop immediately." Van's voice was firm, his resolve unwavering. He couldn't afford to overstep his boundaries, but he also couldn't ignore Trae's plea, either.
As he prepared the equipment, Van's mind raced with possibilities. What could have driven Trae to such desperation? His curiosity gnawed at him, but he pushed it aside, focusing on the task at hand. Every movement was precise, every action deliberate. He couldn't afford any mistakes.
"Ready when you are, Monsieur," Van said, his eyes meeting Trae's. The tension in the room was palpable, but Van's meticulous nature provided a steady anchor. He would do everything in his power to ensure Konella's safety, even if it meant walking a tightrope between protocol and urgency.
"Like father and I, blood is the key. I need to quicken her recovery by any means." Trae's voice was resolute as he picked up a syringe and a nearby cord. Holding the syringe in his mouth, he quickly tied the cord around his arm. Van's eyes widened in horror as he realized what Trae intended to do.
"Monsieur!" Van shouted, rushing to stop him. But he was too late. Trae jabbed his arm with subtle ease, his stone-like skin barely flinching as he drew his own blood. "Wha-what madness is this?!"
"Get the samples of her blood and inject my blood into it. Watch what happens." Trae's voice was steady, but his actions were frantic. He handed the syringe to Van, who took it with trembling hands. "My theory is this," Trae continued, stepping to the whiteboard in the room and beginning to write. "DELTA-67 is Diva's blood unfiltered. Given in small doses to humans, it makes the change to chiropterans much slower but more effective. My father's research was destroyed years ago, but never lost. With his work and what we know now, we can regenerate the lost cells that lay dormant inside her. My father unknowingly shared his DNA with Konella over the years they've known each other, and she was able to conceive me in a human body. With me inside of her, she created antibodies to having a non-human child and developed her body to react to Diva's blood without difficulty. Father explained to me his own studies and what he did to convert Konella without changing her to a chiropteran and found that he—"
"Monsieur Trae, these findings, all that you are implying now and what we've uncovered these years means she is also—" Van's voice trailed off as he looked at Trae, who nodded with definitive reasoning.
"A Queen. It is exactly what I'm stating. Konella is a product of creating a chiropteran queen."
The room fell silent as Van shook with enlightened anticipation. A Queen born from a human rather than a monster was groundbreaking. His mind raced with countless theories and ways the human race could benefit from this discovery. But before he could voice his thoughts, Trae approached him, gripping his shoulders and looking him in the eyes.
"If Diva discovers my mother being here, she will hunt for her and kill her off."
Van pondered for only a second before responding. "…it's instinctive." He spoke out, walking away with a hand on his chin. "Queens are territorial no matter what animal kingdom they come from. If what you say is indeed true, the possibility is that Diva already knows she's here."
"How would that be so?" Trae's voice was filled with nervous energy, his eyes darting around the room.
"I've been studying your kind for two decades now, Monsieur. With her personality in play, I do believe this little mouse of a Queen will be no match." Van stated a harsh truth, his tone leaving no room for doubt.
Trae said nothing at first, his gaze fixed on his mother. She was still asleep, but her breathing seemed sporadic at times. The monitor showed her dreaming, fluctuating between consciousness and dormancy. With what Van said, being docile against a woman like Diva, she wouldn't stand a chance.
"Your blood here," Van interjected, bringing Trae back to the topic at hand. "Do you truly surmise that this will be enough to snap her memories back?"
"It's a theory I have, but I'm betting on it to work."
"Then let us take the leap of faith!"
Van went through with the project, readying the samples on the table and carefully dividing the blood into small dishes. The first two samples, from their initial encounter, showed no effect other than becoming a deeper red. But the newest samples absorbed Trae's blood as though feeding off it, multiplying rapidly.
"Magnifique!" Van exclaimed, his excitement palpable. He brought Trae over to see. "The cells are healing themselves, converting your blood to her own and merging! They are multiplying by the thousands in seconds and forming something I can't identify." His excitement was overwhelming, but time was of the essence.
"Then this will work?" Trae asked, hope flickering in his eyes. Van nodded quickly and prepared the equipment to transfer the blood to Konella at once.
As Van injected Konella with Trae's blood, he kept a watchful eye on the monitor and her blood pressure levels. The beeping was slow and steady, everything seemingly normal. But then, it happened.
It was quick. So heart-wrenchingly quick.
The monitor screen turned red immediately as her blood pressure began to plummet. Her heart rate spiked, causing her to convulse violently. Nothing made sense; there was no time to fix anything. They both held her down, trying to inject morphine, but the dreaded sound of a flat heart rate filled the room.
"Mère!" Trae cried out, hugging her close, his tears soaking her shoulder. The thought of her dying by his hand was shattering him. "Mère!" he called out again, his voice breaking against the harsh sounds of her life slipping away. The convulsions started to die down, her body easing in his arms. "Mère, please… please…!" he whispered, anguish tearing through him as the thought of her dying in his arms would destroy him. Her body was still, the screen slowing from an urgent red to a yellow. The monitor showed no change from the flat line, the long, dreaded beep echoing dreadfully in Trae's heart.
"Monsieur Trae… my apologies…" Van's voice was soft, filled with regret.
"No…" Trae's voice was broken as he held onto her. There was no use speaking further. "I killed her… gods, I… I killed my own mother…" He placed Konella back on the bed and stepped away, devastated. Van looked her over once more, offering silent apologies before going to make the report.
"I thought for sure…" Trae clutched his sides, his body wracked with sobs as he leaned against the wall. "I killed Mère… I just got you back and I… I killed you…"
_/\_/\_-Beep
The resounding sound of the heart monitor came back to life as both Trae and Van looked back to find Konella gasping for air. Trae ran to her first, dropping to his knee and placing a hand on her leg, his eyes wide with disbelief. She didn't register his presence, continuing to gasp as though surfacing from the depths of the sea.
"Mère…?" Trae whispered tentatively, clasping her hand in his and waiting on bated breath.
Konella's eyes snapped open, shocking them both with their bright green glow, like shimmering emeralds even in the harsh white light of the operating room. Van felt a chill run down his spine when her gaze fell on him, an instinctive urge to surrender washing over him. Her lips parted, revealing protruding fangs.
"Mère, no!" Trae quickly positioned himself between Van and Konella, realizing she was drawing Van in to feed. Offering his own arm to her in hopes of sating her hunger, she didn't hesitate and bit down. "It worked… Van, I truly believe it worked!"
Startled, Van tried to maintain his composure, but the sight was terrifying. "…she is drinking your blood…" he muttered, horrified. Despite witnessing countless horrors working for the Goldsmith family, watching a seemingly defenseless woman transform into one of great power was overwhelming.
"…Trae?" Konella uttered his name weakly as she pulled away from his arm, her chin stained with his blood. She seemed dazed and confused, but her breathing was normal.
"Are you alright?" Trae asked, touching her face with a broad smile. She looked around, her eyes returning to normal but with a newfound clarity.
"I feel… different?" She looked down at her hands, struggling to put her thoughts together. "Somehow I even feel… whole…"
The room, once filled with despair, now buzzed with a renewed sense of hope and determination. Trae held his mother close, his heart swelling with gratitude and relief. Konella's senses were heightened. She could hear the faintest hum of the electrical equipment, the rhythmic beating of Trae's heart, and even the subtle rustle of Van's clothing as he moved. Her skin tingled with a strange energy, every nerve ending alive with sensation. She felt a surge of strength coursing through her veins, her muscles responding with a newfound power.
"Do you hurt anywhere? How does your head feel?" Trae ignored the blood running down his arm, relieved to see her alive and moving. Still asking of her condition, unbelieving she breathed once more.
Konella stood up, examining herself with a quizzical look. She seemed different, exuding a regal presence that demanded subservience from those around her. The prowess of a Queen had been awakened. She tightened her fist, feeling the raw power in her grip, and furrowed her brow as something came across her mind.
"I feel… stronger. Like there's a fire inside me, burning brighter than ever before." She looked at Trae, her eyes filled with a mix of wonder and determination. "It's as if I've been reborn."
Trae's heart swelled with relief and pride. "Are you sure you're alright? No pain, no dizziness?"
"No pain," she replied, her voice steady. "Just… clarity. Everything feels sharper, more vivid. I can remember things, Trae. Things I thought were lost forever."
Van, still in awe, approached cautiously. "This transformation… it's beyond anything I've ever seen." Van, ever the meticulous scientist, began documenting the miraculous recovery, his mind already racing with new theories and possibilities.
She nodded, a sense of purpose settling over her. "Yes, and now we must prepare." She looked around the room, her new senses catching the smell of iron in the air and the scent of Dior Homme Intense came from a large duffel bag in the corner. A familiar scent of her beloved.
"Prepare for what?" Van asked. Konella looked over everything in the lab, her eyes focused on something unbeknownst to them. Her jaw ticked, something she remembered coming to her as she crossed her arms and shut her eyes.
"Trae… I remember it now… there's something both you and your father should know." Konella turned to face Trae, her eyes glowing bright green as she narrowed them into a glare, her fists clenched tightly. "Diva tried eliminating me." A scowl formed on her face, and the lights around her began to pop, one by one. Trae was startled, frozen by her outburst. Van flinched and took a few steps back as the remaining scientists scurried out of the lab. Konella grasped her anger, forcing herself to calm down before something catastrophic occurred. "To think I coddled her… hah, she resented what I'd become, what her blood made me into." She seethed, her scowl deepening as she glared around the room. It took Trae a few minutes to calm her down before attempting anything further. He turned back to Van, catching his attention.
"Van, please take a sample of her blood and re-examine the previous samples you took," Trae asked quickly.
At first, Konella rejected having Van anywhere near her for such acts, but Trae's explanation and persistence eventually swayed her. She allowed Van to approach, albeit reluctantly.
Van found it difficult to prick her skin without bending the needle, a testament to her newfound strength. Konella remained eerily calm, her eyes fixed on Van as he finally managed to draw her blood. He quickly moved to the examination table, where the remaining vials of blood samples were. Placing the new sample on a glass dish and under the microscope, he exclaimed his findings.
"C'est magnifique!" Van was glued to the discovery, moving back and forth between the two samples as he scribbled swiftly on any piece of paper he could find. "Her cells multiplied by the thousands and even overtook the old. The cellular structure is astounding to behold!"
"It's changed that much?" Trae walked over to have a look while Van tried to explain the molecular structure in a way he could understand. Trae was engrossed in Van's descriptive words, neither of them noticing Konella walking to a mirror at the far end of the room.
She stood staring at herself, analyzing her reflection and touching her face. Her eyes remained glowing in the dim light. Her entire world had changed drastically. Two realities of herself clashed, leaving her heart torn between who she was before and who she was now.
"I am Konella Goldsmith…" she spoke to her reflection, calming her mind. Her eyes gradually returned to normal as she chanted her name to herself, regaining control.
"Mère?" Trae's voice was soft, filled with concern.
"Trae…" she turned and looked at her son fondly, a decision forming in her mind. "Where's your father?"