Eye for an Eye - Chapter 5: And the Clock Strikes Midnight
"Hahahaha! What a valiant last stand by the youngest member of the vaunted Sabre team!" Alchemist's voice jeered over the communications network, "But it's simply unfortunate, so unfortunate, that in the end, it changes absolutely nothing."
"Alchemist! You fucking bitch! Show yourself!" Night Eyes shouted back, facing nowhere in particular. Dazzle and Sapphire were too injured—physically and mentally—to continue the fight. Swiss was unconscious, while FN-49 had simply vanished. Night Eyes was all alone. For perhaps the first time in her life, she felt suffocated and intimidated by the embrace of the surrounding darkness.
"Getting desperate now, are we?" Alchemist sneered, "Fine, maybe I will."
Alchemist appeared amidst the burning wreckage of the three Manticores, casually striding to the centre of it all like an actress stepping into a spotlight. The orange flames bathed her pale figure in all directions, the flickering fire casting dancing shadows over her ever-present sinister smile.
"Come out, come out, wherever you are~" Alchemist sang as she brandished her twin gunblades. The two sleek triangular weapons were each as long as her torso, making her a lethal adversary at close range while also giving her the ability to strike at a distance. Suddenly, Alchemist raised one of her gunblades in front of her, just in time to block a volley of bullets appearing from the unlit foliage.
"My, my, I thought you were supposed to be stealthy," Alchemist called out into the dark, "And here I though you were going to give me a challenge!"
Alchemist swung her gunblade, blocking another volley of bullets from a slightly different direction.
Damn it, how can she sense my location?! Night Eyes thought to herself as she quietly repositioned once again. But deep down, she knew it was the virus slowly eating away at her mind, causing her to slip up in the most minute yet critical ways. Night Eyes tried to fire off a third volley, which Alchemist blocked once again, followed by a return volley into the dense vegetation.
"Fuck!" Night Eyes gasped as she felt a searing bolt of metal graze her left forearm.
"Ah, the mighty Queen of the Night! Look how far you've fallen!"
"You're disgusting!" Night Eyes shot back, "You know you could never defeat me in a fair duel, so you have to resort to this virus to get the upper hand."
"There's no such thing as a fair duel in war, little kitty," Alchemist retorted with amusement, "And perhaps you should be the one reflecting on why you got infected in the first place!"
"Shut the fuck up!" Night Eyes yelled as she fired off a full magazine towards Alchemist. The ringleader blocked the bullets once again, save for a few stray shots which harmlessly bounced off her armoured greaves. She swung her other gunblade towards Night Eyes and fired off a single shot which slammed into Night Eyes' chest, knocking her to the ground.
"Ow, damn it!" Night Eyes gasped to herself as she scrambled back onto her feet. Her auto-diagnostic system threw up several warnings in her neural cloud, which she instantly dismissed.
I can't keep going on like this, Night Eyes thought to herself, I can't keep myself concealed in this state. Without that advantage… What can I even do?
"Night Eyes…" a faint voice called out.
"S-Swiss?" Night Eyes responded, "Swiss, is that you?!"
"P-please…"
"Swiss!" Night Eyes desperately called out again, but nobody answered. Night Eyes clutched her head as the auto-diagnostic alarms reappeared again. Swiss's voice… was it even real? Or was Night Eyes imagining things…?
I'm running out of time… Night Eyes realized. She eyed Alchemist's figure in front of her, patiently waiting for Night Eyes to make her next move. My movements feel so sluggish. I can't even use the darkness to my advantage anymore… I have to end this quick, ugh, before it's too late.
"Oh my, finally revealing yourself, hmm?" Alchemist asked as Night Eyes slowly stumbled towards her, walking into the circle of light surrounding the ringleader.
Night Eyes didn't respond. She raised her gun once again and fired without hesitation. Alchemist raised her gunblade to block the hail of bullets once again. A single bullet narrowly missed the makeshift shield, striking the ringleader in the shoulder.
"Ah~" Alchemist's face flashed with surprise before revealing a manic smile, "Oh, the pain! I'm so glad you decided to share it with me!"
"AH!" Night Eyes yelped as Alchemist casually shot her in the thigh. The lithe cat-eared doll fell to a knee before slowly staggering back to her feet. She raised her left hand, slick with red-orange mechanical fluid that was leaking from her wound. Night Eyes glared at Alchemist, uncontrollably trembling as she felt her body slowly continue to shut down. She pressed the magazine release button on her rifle before reaching for another magazine, only to find nothing there. In her delirium she seemed to lose track of her remaining ammunition.
"Oh my~" Alchemist mused, "Looks like this is where the story ends~"
"N-never!" Night Eyes growled as she cast her rifle aside. She unsheathed a small combat knife, gripping it as tight as she could as she prepared for a final desperate attack.
"Face it, you've lost," Alchemist gloated, "You've lost ever since you gave in to your feelings! Ever since you decided to willingly infect yourself with the virus, for what? Sentimentality? And for that mistake, you will now face the ultimate-"
Suddenly, Alchemist staggered forward a step as a solitary gunshot rang out from close behind her. She instantly regained her composure, but it was already too late. Alchemist felt a sharp blade slash through her throat, causing her to now stagger backwards. She instinctually dropped one of her gunblades and raised a hand towards her neck, only for Night Eyes to impale the knife deep into her hand, followed by a swift kick to her abdomen which dropped Alchemist onto her back.
"Die! DIE!" Night Eyes screamed as she picked up the fallen gunblade and plunged it through her chest into the ground below. She squeezed the trigger, unleashing the entirety of the weapon's magazine into the ringleader at point-blank range.
"U-ugh," Alchemist groaned as she laid defenseless on the ground.
"I've lost, have I?" Night Eyes questioned as she forced the gunblade down further with all her weight, glaring into Alchemist's eyes with animalistic fury. "I'VE LOST, HAVE I?!"
"Oh Night Eyes… My little kitten…" Alchemist's voice croaked as she lay impaled on the ground, "You are so embarrassingly naïve…"
"And you're going to die, right here, right now!" Night Eyes shot back as she picked up the second gunblade from the ground, positioning it by Alchemist's neck. "Any last words?"
"You think it's going to be over just like this?" Alchemist replied with an arrogant sneer, "You've gone soft, Night Eyes. You've gone oh-so-pathetically soft."
Night Eyes glared at Alchemist, whose smile seemed even more sinister than usual, even at the brink of death.
"When did it begin? Was it the mission at the Griffin warehouse?" Alchemist asked, "You've grown sentimental… You've begun to care."
"It's a dog-eat-dog world, Night Eyes. The only reason you've been able to survive all this time was because you've been able to separate yourself from the others… to survive at their expense. But now… now that you've begun to care about these… tools… in your team… Even if you survive this night, this weakness will one day be your downfall."
"Hmph. Maybe," Night Eyes replied, her gaze softening, "Perhaps you're right…"
"You already know the answer," Alchemist continued, "You and I are of the same kind. Survivors. Willing to do anything it takes to survive."
"…But what I've learned tonight is that it's not enough to simply survive. Survival alone isn't worth it; it's not worth it without love, without people to share your life with."
Alchemist scowled at Night Eyes.
"But that's not something someone like you could ever understand," Night Eyes decisively declared before bringing the gunblade down on Alchemist's neck with all her might.
FN-49 stood as still as a statue mere metres away from the battered Sangvis doll. While her rifle round hitting the ringleader in the back of the head seemed to do nothing at all, the black-clad doll standing in front of her had completely destroyed the same ringleader in a matter of seconds.
"Eek!" FN-49 squeaked as the Sangvis doll suddenly turned her head to face her, her murderous stare now locked onto FN-49. But suddenly, the doll winced and grabbed its head in pain.
"Decryption key, the decryption key…" Night Eyes muttered to herself as she took out a data cable and connected herself to Alchemist's head. After several mind-numbing minutes, Night Eyes suddenly disconnected herself and half-stumbled-half-ran off into the distance.
"Ugh… Where am I…?" Swiss groaned as she brought a hand to her forehead. She just woke up from what felt like the worst fever dream she ever had. Her entire body hurt, and her mind was completely jumbled and disoriented.
"Swiss… Swiss!" a voice called out from above her.
"Night… Eyes?" Swiss asked as she slowly opened her eyes, seeing the face of her team leader bathed in the dim moonlight. A warm wet sensation appeared on her cheek.
"You're finally awake!" Night Eyes exclaimed, pulling Swiss up from her lap into a tight embrace.
"Night Eyes…?" Swiss asked again, raising a finger to the corner of her team leader's eyes. "You're crying…"
"I'm sorry," Night Eyes apologised, blinking the tears out of her vision, "I'm so sorry…"
"I… I've never seen you cry before."
"I- I've never been good at showing my emotions," Night Eyes responded with a wistful smile, "All this time I… I've built a wall around myself. I've tried to hide my feelings and ignore that of others. I thought it would keep us safe… help us survive in this terrible world… But… It made me forget what we were fighting for. From now on, I will never ignore our feelings again!"
"Night Eyes!" Swiss choked out as tear begin to well in her eyes too, "Can you- Can you promise me that?"
"I promise you!" Night Eyes instantly responded, "I promise I will always be here for you, forever!"
"Hey, you didn't promise that to us!" another voice suddenly interjected from nearby, "Are you going to start playing favourites now?"
"Dazzle!" Swiss exclaimed as she turned her eyes to the doll leaning against a tree nearby. Beside her, Sapphire was sitting on the ground and rubbing her temples. "Are you two alright?"
"Mentally? Yeah, Night Eyes already gave us the decryption key, though Sapphire looks like she'll need a while longer," Dazzle responded, "On the other hand, we both got shot a bunch of times trying to save your sorry ass, so, err… You're welcome."
Swiss jumped to her feet, pulling Night Eyes along as she gathered the four members of Sabre team into a huge bear hug.
"Ahaha, it's a relief to see Swiss is back to her usual self again!" Sapphire remarked, "To think we were locked in an almost identical hug just an hour ago, under completely different circumstances… I'm glad everything turned out alright."
"Everyone, I- I want to make a proposal!" Swiss eagerly said, "I want us to all promise to each other that we will always stay together and look out for one another, and that we will always be open about our thoughts and feelings from now on!"
"It's a lesson well-learned," Dazzle responded, "I promise to uphold this proposal."
"I've always been doing that! But for the record…" Sapphire continued, "I also promise to uphold the proposal."
"We may be dolls… But with this covenant, we will also be family," Night Eyes finally concluded, "I also promise to uphold the proposal. Always. Forever."
The four hold their embrace for a solid minute before letting go of one another. As the warm fuzzy high from their declaration faded, they slowly turn to address the remaining elephant in the room.
"Erm…" FN-49 mumbled, looking back at the Sangvis dolls.
"…"
Night Eyes silently raised her rifle, pointing it at FN-49.
"Eek!" FN-49 squeaked as she cowered backwards. Everyone stared at Night Eyes, who had a blank, unreadable expression on her face. Seconds passed agonizingly as Night Eyes silently stared at the Griffin doll, seemingly hesitating.
Swiss silently walked over to the trembling FN-49, putting herself between Night Eyes and the Griffin doll. Without a word, she attached a data port to FN-49's wrist and transferred the decryption key.
"Swiss…?" FN-49 quietly asked as stared at the diminutive doll in disbelief.
"Go… Now!" Swiss urgently whispered, giving FN-49 a gentle push.
FN-49 began to slowly step backwards, not breaking eye contact with Night Eyes who continued to aim her rifle at the Griffin doll's head. Night Eyes began to open her mouth to say something before deciding against it. After several steps, FN-49 slowly turned around and walked a few steps more before looking back. The four Sangvis dolls—the infamous Children of the Night—looked back at her, their expressions complex and indecipherable. As FN-49 began to take more steps, the four most unlikely companions in this terrifying, incredible night slowly fading back into the darkness in which they came.
Then, FN-49 turned her head back to the direction she was headed, looking towards the horizon. The deep purple glow of the morning twilight stretched out wide ahead of her, beckoning her onwards. She began moving faster, and faster, and faster. She didn't dare look backwards as she broke into a full-on sprint towards the morning light, away from danger. After having gone through hell and back, she was finally free.
"So, this is how the story ends…" Sapphire mused as they watched the Griffin doll run off in the distance, "A rare happy ending."
"Hmph. It's not all sunshine and cheers," Night Eyes replied, looking towards where Alchemist's body lay. "But whatever happens because of this, we'll face it head-on, together."
"Together," Dazzle affirmed, "Sabre team always finds a way."
"So, what do we do now?" Swiss asked, turning her head to look at her leader, the faint glow of the new dawn reflecting off her face.
"Now?" Night Eyes responded, returning the gaze with a tender smile.
"It's finally time… to go home."