The gray metal doors to the Doctors' office opened with a slow hiss as Kal'tsit stepped inside.
The Doctor had fallen asleep again and her bodyguard, Schwarz, hadn't woken her up.
Schwarz acknowledged Kal'tsits entrance into the room as she lowered her crossbow. She had learned her lesson from last time and reacted accordingly.
Kal'tsit paid no attention to her as she walked toward the Doctors' desk.
It was covered in scattered papers and files. Most of them had been signed, but some still required attention.
5 empty coffee cups. One full, still piping hot.
She tapped the desk 3 times and the Doctor jolted awake, sending the papers flying everywhere.
''K-Kal'tsit?!''
The Doctor shrieked in terror as they tried to pick up the papers that had flown off of their desk.
''Stop slacking. You need to review this medical report on Operator Elysia by the end of the night.''
That caught the Doctors' attention.
Operator Elysia...
She hadn't forgotten about her. The memories of how they met were still fresh.
They had found her at the edge of Chernobog, just before departure.
She was covered in blood, soon to collapse from exhaustion.
''Elysia? What happened?''
The Doctor asked with a worried tone.
She was shaking, barely upright. Still, she had raised her blade as blood dripped from her clothes and body.
Despite the confusion and disorientation in her eyes, despite the bruises and cuts, she was standing in front of them. Daring them to take a step forward as she slowly raised her empty hand-
She didn't like remembering that scene.
Kal'tsit put the file on the table as she looked at the reports that hadn't been filled yet by the Doctor.
''Her mental state has suffered a major deterioration. The personalities are fighting each other. It has gotten physical.''
They had learned much later that the person they had met back then wasn't Katerina. It was something else. Someone else.
That would be, for a while, the only time they would ever see the secondary personality assume control of the body.
It would lay dormant within her for some time before reawakening a couple of weeks ago.
''Physically harming their own body while fighting for control? That sounds too extreme for mere MPD...''
She scratched her head as she looked at the paper in one hand and finished organizing her desk with the other.
The original diagnosis had been MPD due to trauma relating to the broader Chernobog incident but with time and a few medical scans, it was clear. There was another cause. Something worse.
''We ran X-rays. No change in the density of originium or in the amount of crystallization within the cranium since their last check-up.''
Oripathy was a terrible sickness. It materialized differently in every patient. And Elysia may have been one of its unluckiest victims.
She kept skimming the report.
No changes with the originium within their body... No other signs of physical altercations until then...Worsening of the derealization of the secondary personality with no visible adverse effects on the first?
This meant that whatever happened was entirely a new mental development. Not ideal, but it's better than the alternative.
''Elysia, he, was the one to request...?''
The Doctor murmured as she tapped her fingers on the wooden desk.
The new prevailing theory was originium-induced delusion and false memories. The things that the second personality said and knew would have been impossible otherwise.
That also explained why he spoke as if the body wasn't his.
As if he wasn't a part of what Katerina ever was.
''Yes. He finally decided to take initiative.''
She slowly turned around and started walking away.
''What he said is noted down in that report. Get to it.''
But just as she was about to close the door and walk away she gave a final warning to the Doctor.
''If you keep pushing yourself like this, you'll soon join her in medical.''
With that, she left the office and closed the door behind her.
The Doctor waited for a few seconds before being able to relax.
She laid her head on the table again, mulling over what she had read before raising her head once again to look at the report.
It detailed what Elysia had said.
Katerinas need to be of use, to prove herself.
Needing each other, Katerina not doing too well...
She bit the nail of her thumb in thought.
It read out more like a plea than an admission.
Kal'tsit had also realized that. A small note on the corner of the paper told the Doctor that she wasn't the only one suspicious.
But it didn't sound like a lie.
From what she knew of Katerina personally, it made sense.
It intrigued her. An itch at the back of her head.
If it was true, she would have to apologize to both.
Following procedure meant that their workload had been decreased due to mental health complications.
Despite her gut feeling the Doctor had placed them under relative lull to see what would happen. That decision had backfired.
She took out a pen and pencil and signed something at the bottom of the report.
"Schwarz." the Doctor murmured, still staring at the file. "What do you think of Elysia?"
The grey-haired feline raised her head from where she was sitting to look at the Doctor.
As usual, Schwarz responded coldly to the attempt at conversation:
"That's not my call. I protect you. That is all."
The Doctor pouted at that reply. She hadn't given up, but the slight hurt was visible from her features. However, before she could push it further-
Schwarz took a deep breath.
The Doctor was always like this. Poking at everyone and everything they could see.
''If you want my professional opinion, from what I have seen of them both, they are dependable and strong despite their medical complications.''
It was rare for Schwarz to praise someone like that.
While she may not have thought much of it, The Doctor took note with a smile on her face.
''Nice of you to think that way. Because she will be my new assistant starting tomorrow.''
Kat had been munching on her snacks inside of her room.
Two banana peels sat in the trashcan as a protein bar was ripped open and placed into her mouth.
'Are you going to do anything else tonight?'
'No.'
The pieces of the bar rolled around inside her mouth between her teeth.
'Great! Then give me control after you are done eating. I want to finish reading about the War of the Four Nations. It's quite interesting how an entire empire could vanish overnight.'
She put one hand on the bridge of her nose and closed her eyes.
'Is that what you have been thinking about? Not about what you did. But the history of Terra?'
Elysia was shocked. How could she not understand?
'Yeah? A great man once said: First, you must know yourself. Then you must know everything else. Well. Not exactly what he said, but it is what I think.'
He was being utterly incomprehensible again.
'Have some shame. Oh, wait. You don't. Because this isn't your body.'
She threw the plastic packaging into the trashcan on top of the banana peels.
'And you accuse me of being dramatic. Also, for your information, if our roles were reversed and this was originally my body? I still would have done the same.'
'...'
'Stop sulking, Kat. Who cares?'
Elysia exclaimed with a frustrated voice.
'The majority of people I have seen in this place are worse freaks than what we could possibly accomplish if we gave it our worst.'
She got up and walked towards the small shelf near the door of her room.
It had been slowly getting filled with his books. It wasn't just her body, even her personal space wasn't space from his intrusions.
'Stop calling people you see every day: Freaks. Have some decency.'
She reached out to the bookshelf and searched amongst the books.
Sargonian History? No.
The Crystal Age and Industrial Revolution? Not this one.
'I'm not calling them anything. That is just my opinion.'
He continued as if he was offended:
'I didn't know the thought police were a real thing. So Orwellian! Or... Ursian, in your case.'
Orwellian...? Whatever.
He's saying meaningless stuff again.
'You are genuinely the most disgusting, thing, I have ever met.'
The disgust in her voice was genuine as she pulled out the book he wanted from the shelf.
'Aw. You shouldn't say that about yourself. As the scary doctor said, I could just be the creation of your own psyche.'
...That. That was disturbing. What if- No. He was messing with her again.
Slowly, she sat down on the desk and closed her eyes, feeling the fire inside.
'Such a terrible personality could never be mine. I prefer the theory that you are just a side effect of my oripathy.'
She begrudgingly embraced the fire. The warmth enveloping her.
He coughed as he took over the body. Trying to push out the liquid in the lungs that weren't there.
'I'm letting you read your book in the hopes that you'll stop causing problems for me. I pray that you have the heart to at least return my goodwill.'
Once he stopped coughing Elysia went back to the internal conversation he was having.
'Okay~ I'm not that terrible.'
Now that he was the one in control, Katerina should have been able to feel what he was feeling. But there was nothing.
No rage, no feeling of pride.
No hurt.
It was as if he was reciting words from a play separate from his own character.
The pages of the book slowly turned, continuing from where he had last stopped.
The destruction of Gaul. Truly interesting.
The incompetency of a proud emperor that had driven an entire empire to ruin. It was almost like something out of a storybook. One that schools would make children read to introduce them to the concepts of politics such as tyranny.
It even had a heartbreaking secondary character in the last stand of the empress.
He raised a finger to his lips to lick it. A learned habit from his memories.
But when the hand touched the mouth it made him shudder as he slowly lowered the fingers to flip a page normally.
'If you're capable of reason... why don't you try being decent?'
The sentence he was reading was cut short.
Before he even answered the question, she was already disappointed.
Katerina could feel the cogs turning in his head. He was justifying it.
'I don't call lying to myself decency.'
The eyes went back to reading the words in the book, but the assault wouldn't stop there.
Too much had happened to Kat for her to stop now empty-handed.
'Lying to yourself? That isn't-'
A silent discontent. It was slowly creeping up.
She had gotten what she wanted.
A reaction.
Impressive-
'Good on you for going out of your way to be nice to others, woman.'
The words kept flowing from there.
'But do you know what that costs?'
No hesitations. Only his belief in his own words.
An unquestionable fact that he got to define.
'And what the reward is?'
A small crack, one that could barely be felt.
He had tried to hide it well, but it was hard to hide things from others inside of your own head.
'It won't matter when you run out of time...'
He quickly got up from his chair as if that last part hadn't slipped.
'And your taste in decor sucks. If it wasn't for me it would have been even worse. This room feels more stale than medical. I rest my case for tonight.'
He opened the door to the hallway which led to the common area and carried the book with him.
Katerina didn't say anything. She was busy evaluating his words.
Maybe he wasn't as 'strong' as he liked to put on.
Was it all-
It was annoying for him. Not being able to read what she was thinking as easily. But that should have been enough food for thought for her to mull over to make her shut up.
His mood was ruined.
He walked towards the blue couch in the middle of the common room in front of the television and opened the book to continue reading.
It was a rare moment of silence inside that head.
He would make use of it.
She still hadn't said anything back, and he was too immersed in the book to want to continue his argument. He absolutely would, later. Just not now. Not now.
He was so focused that it took him a moment to realize that the doors to the common room had opened.
Jessica was surprised.
She had gone through a long workday and was expecting to peacefully go to her room and sleep.
The springs of the couch groaned under the body sitting on it.
Elysia lowered her book to look at the feline girl as she tried to conceal herself.
She had been their neighbor since they had arrived on the ship. A timid girl. Lacking in self-esteem. A little stupid.
'Don't call her stupid. She is trying her best.'
'See that's what I mean? Both can be true. Don't lie to yourself.'
They had a decent enough relationship with her. Well. Katerina did.
The poor girl had found her easy to talk to compared to most.
Elysia? He found her to be uninteresting and usually let Kat talk to her.
''Long day?''
'What are you going to do?'
She questioned but didn't intervene. Because she could feel his curiosity.
The usual uncaring attitude wasn't there. What had gotten into him?
''K-Kat? You're awake?''
'I'm going to figure out what they said about us.'
''Mhm...''
He slowly raised the book to conceal his face behind it.
The imitation would be better that way.
'We can do that with my datapad. Leave her alone-'
'Shhh... I'll show you how to be decent.'
''Are you o-okay? I heard about what happened between you and...''
Jessica questioned as her tone turned more unsure and eventually the words got stuck in her throat.
''It's alright. A small disagreement. Nothing more.''
Something was different. Jessica couldn't quite put her finger on it, but her instincts told her that Katerina just needed a little space for herself.
She slowly walked in the direction of her own room, but that would require passing by the couch.
''Is that so...Take care of yourself. Have a good night!''
Her tone was full of worry, but Elysia paid her words no heed.
He was after something else.
Just as she was passing by the couch, he raised the head from the book.
''Actually, before you go to sleep... Could I ask for a small favor?''
The footsteps stopped in their tracks as Jessica slowly turned around to face whom she assumed was Katerina.
''W-What is it?''
''My datapad isn't with me right now. Could you please show me what they told other Operators about...me?''
''S-Sure!''
Jessica exclaimed as she pulled out her datapad and opened the related message.
''Thank you.''
Elysia said as she took the datapad and started reading the message from Rhodes Island Medical.
Unprompted, Jessica began summarizing the message.
It didn't make sense for Elysia, he thought it was just her being unsure of what to say like usual. But Kat could feel the intent in her tone. She was trying to make it sound not as bad.
''They explained what happened to you in the cafeteria...That due to your disorder you had an argument with the other, 'you'.''
MPD. Secondary identity, Elysia. Less compliant.
More aggressive and unhospitable, don't be surprised if they make rude remarks. Competitive and unwilling to back down?!
Well. Actually? That's kind of true.
Not dangerous but be cautious. While in their presence don't-
''So can they...Can they hear me right now?''
She almost whispered.
Jessica didn't want to be rude. Katerina had always listened to her worries when he was the one to talk. She didn't want to be insensitive to her...friend.
''Yes. They can.''
Elysia continued his act as Katerina watched.
He had finished reading the report by now, it wasn't anything special compared to the other reports medical had put out concerning other Operators. Nothing too damaging.
''Thank you, Jessica. Good night. And he's telling you goodnight too.''
He finished as he handed back the datapad, a small smile on the lips.
Jessica slowly took her tablet as she registered the words.
''He..? Oh! N-No problem Kat. Good night to you. And to the other...you... too? Goodnight!''
She made her way to her room with hasty steps and disappeared behind her door.
'Considering the fact that it was you...That wasn't too bad. Now, was it that hard?'
He picked up the book that he had put down and started reading again.
