Krickette

(( Yep, I know it's October. *Cough* And I promise I'll do better next month... Here's my first writing challenge ever, though the lyrics weren't included, it's to Krickette's current theme, Ballroom Blitz by Sweet. Thanks to Shinsektor for allowing me to use... Shinsektor! ))

Electric Chemistry
(or "First Date")

There was an uneasy silence between the pair of insectoids as they moved through the dark halls of the warehouse. Colorful streamers decorated the room, hanging off of masks with eyes that wept violet. Krickette had never been to a Carnival party, but the humming of kazoos matched with the pounding of a stereo was offensive to her sensitive ears, both sets.

The situation was uneasy at best and the two seemed to be complete opposites. He strode forward cautiously enough, but Krickette sped from box to box, keeping herself well hidden.

For one reason or another, the black armored female had chosen to tag along and though the Insectoid Knight found her presence to be a minor nuisance, he indulged her.

“Stand back. Let me show you how this is done.” He flicked his wrist forward in a smooth, well practiced motion. Green chitin shifted to the side revealing a thin point emerging from his wrist. It was flat and a few inches wide, curving like the end of a blade but it seemed to pulse with veins. It pushed forth slowly for the first few inches, emerging from his arm as if from nowhere.

It was slick, glistening in soft purple light, but Krickette only had one comment.

"Ew."

"Ew?!"

"Yeah. Ew."

The green insectoid's eyes would've narrowed if they could've, his voice rising in a moment of anger. He had no idea why he'd even agreed to this, "Listen, if you've got a problem with--"

Just then a female voice chimed, "You won't stop our fun, Shinsektor!"

"Great! Now look what you've done!"

"What I've done?!" Krickette snapped back in a hissing whisper, still careful not to get away her position.

The outfits of the Carnival seemed to match their colorful surroundings. A woman in a golden and indigo jester's hat, wearing rather flamboyant clothing came around the corner and pointed a gleaming rapier in Shinsektor's direciton, "Kill him." These words she practically sang.

"I don't have time to argue with you!" Funny enough, he wasn't talking to the woman who had just threatened to kill him.

The katana-shaped blade came across the rapier in an even swing in front of him, knocking the rapier to the side with a sudden 'clink'. Carnies poured out of the hallway, Strongmen and Seneschals focusing their efforts on Shinsektor. A piece of flooring impacted his shoulder, tossed by one of the Strongmen. Chitin cracked from the force of the blow, spider web cracks spiraling out from his shoulder but just as quickly, starting from the middle they seemed to heal.

From Krickette's point of view, he wasn't approaching this with any mind for tactics at all. He leaned backward, narrowly avoiding a thick fisted punch aimed for his head before slicing a clean cut across the Strongman's chest. Veins pulsed and thickened and, oddly, the wound didn't seem to bleed as much as it should've.

From Shinsektor's point of view, she was standing there, doing nothing, in some sort of martial arts pose.

God. Idiot.
Lazy little wanna-be.

He spun in a circle, blade slicing through fancy clothing and soft skin, "Were you planning on doing anything or--"

Krickette had just leapt into combat, a blur of motion, and she had to lean back to narrowly avoid the blade. It clipped her chitinous shoulder pad deeply.

"Are you trying to kill me?!"

"Stay out of the way!"

"You're supposed to avoid your allies you know!"

"You leapt right into that, after standing around staring!"

"I was waiting for an opening!"

"There were tons of openings!"

"I'm sorry if my tactics don't involve just getting hit and luckily healing fast!"

"Yeah, your tactics don't involve fighting!"

"Talk later! Fight now!" She screeched back at him.

The fight was messy at best. They were being pressed inward, fighting back to back, but Krickette kept finding herself having to narrowly avoid his blade, but the peak of awkwardness came near the end when she reflexively mule-kicked him squarely in the back.

Crack!

"Ow?!" He stumbled forward, holding his lower back with a chitinous hand. It was already healing, but that was hardly the point.

Clearly, Krickette at least was used to fighting alone.

"You weren't supposed to be there!"

"You're not supposed to be here!" He turned to her swiftly, his katana shooting off to the side to hamstring an Attendant, knocking her to the ground. Again, the blade narrowly missed her. They glared at each other for a long moment, his eyes burning as red as the sun in the darkness, casting a glow of the golden lenses of her helmet.

The truth was he was so much like her and she hated him for it. She was convinced that any moment he would turn and try to kill her. She might as well learn his tactics before he can use them against her... But there was something different about him, he wanted to do this, be a hero and, for as much as she disliked him, she was also intrigued by him.

"Come on, tar streak."

But the intrigue was fading fast.

"Coming, double mint."

"Double mint?!"

"Keep moving."

It seems they were wading through these dark hallways to the main event. Empty bottles laid all over the floors along with a few other illicit objects. Krickette tip-toed carefully around them while, Shinsektor seemed to be determined to get to the main event so to speak. The fights to come would be no less awkward, a stray elbow here, the back of a blade there. While neither of them were wounded by the stray hits, it didn't help the already tense situation.

He was a hero. Somehow he'd managed to go through things so much like what she went through and still want that. She hated him for that, too, and she had no qualms about voicing it.

He didn't react well to that.

Broad pieces of silk hung in the air above the ballroom, sweeping down like broad strokes of a paint brush overhead. It seemed to be a ball room of sorts. Cheerful music was playing as a woman with a large, frilly ruff around her neck acted as if she was conducting a waltz in piano. Long stockings with a diamond pattern travelled up her legs, held by garter belts to barely there shorts. She turned with a delighted purr to Shinsektor who was standing in the doorway.

"Aah.. Darling." She took one look at Krickette with that ever grinning mask and began to swagger forward, "You have a son? Oooh. I didn't know you were capable of reproduction. We have uses for you then."

"I'm.. not... his kid." But it wasn't that comment that bothered her. Anger was burning in the back of her throat, something began to swell up right underneath her heart.

"Sorry to interrupt your party, but it's about time you packed up your things."

"Oh, darling... The party's just getting started. Why don't you join us?" She put her hand over her lips and blew a sensual kiss in his direction, "I'd love for you to--"

CRACK.

"Boot.. to the head." Krickette growled as the woman in the skimpy clothing reeled from the blow. No one was sure what just happened. The three of them, the two insectoids and the ring mistress looked to each other. Shinsektor was stunned speechless as Krickette stood there, hands balled into fists. The ring mistress held the side of her head, reeling from the force of the blow.

"Guess we're fighting now." Shinsektor took advantage of the enemy's stunned state, leaping forward with his katana over head. He brought it down in a single, strong slash down her arm. Again, the veins in the blade pulsed. Again, it didn't bleed as much as it should've. Things were different this time. A square kick to the back of the woman by Kricky put her in range of Shin's katana again. This time a wide, sweeping stroke cut her stomach. The movements were instantaneous, synchronized.

Her body dropped to the floor, hands flat against the ground and she hooked the ring mistress' ankles in a sweeping kick as Shinsektor brought the back of the blade in across her shoulders with a sudden 'THUD'. Her feet went backward, her face came forward and abruptly met the floor.

They'd worked together perfectly, in harmony, with no scrapes or bruises on either of their parts. Krickette gave the woman's thigh a brutal kick and pointed down accusingly at her.

"And your fashion sense sucks too."

And, much to her surprise, she heard a chortling laugh across from her, on the other side of the ring mistress' body. Krickette's head lifted, Shinsektor looked down and their eyes met for a second. Tension and disliked had turned to sudden, new awkwardness. There was something different just then, for just a moment.

"Hey, we work pretty well together..." Shinsektor offered in an attempt to be friendly.

Krickette blushed underneath the helmet, thankful that her face couldn't be seen. Why was she blushing? Her arms crossed across her chest, closing her posture.

"Yeah... That was pretty cool, that.. total.. kame kazi thing you did with the sword."

"Yeah, and that boot to the head completely caught her off guard."

"Well, you seemed to be busy flirting." she said somewhat accusingly.

"Flirting?! You know, I could have done this without your help."

"Yeah. Right." Abruptly, she turned her back on him, arms crossed over her chest. He followed suit. It was a common sight in Gemini.

"Tar streak."

"Kermy."

They stood there for a time, slinging insults, but something changed that day. From that point on, whenever Krickette saw him she couldn't help but feel nervous, even though she didn't know why.

-------------

"Hey, Kricky. I got something to ask you. If this gets real bad, if I can't do nothin' about it, will you--"

Her head snapped up and she looked up at the kind face of her friend's, "Off you? Yeah. Sure. If you promise to do the same if I ever turn into a lunatic, evil, Crey clone basketcase."

A laugh was shared between friends and then a handshake.

"Deal?"

"Deal."

His expression softened, "Thanks, kid."

"Hey, what're friends for?"

That was in the beginning.

--------------

It seemed like it was going to be a good day. Mike had just offered her a possible solution for regrowing her wings, she had a brand new, bitchin' outfit, she got to meet Sea Hawk and even chatted with Maggie for a little while, which she rarely got to do due to her strenuous work schedule. Roy seemed to be at least mostly non-evil today. Things were looking up!

When she'd finally decided on the appropriately dramatic color of red to wear on her missions today, she picked up her com.

"Hey, big guy. I got this new outfit and I wanted to see if you thought Shin would like it." There was a pause and it seemed like everyone in Icon's eyes rested on her, as if they knew what would come next. "Envee o' Shaddas? ... Wait, do you mean the Envoy?! Roy? What the Hell are you doing? Alone?" She turned fiercely on her boot and began to storm towards the door. Serge lifted a pen to politely request that she pay for her clothing, but the suggestion fell on deaf ears, "No, I won't tell Parzifal, but I'm coming... No, I won't take no for an answer. Where are you, Roy...? Let me help you." The tone of fher friend changed to become smoother, darker and altogether mocking.

"Aw, nuts."

------------

Later in the park, Krickette clasped the sheath of a katana in her hands, staring at the dark, massive form of the Lord of Chaos. How dark his flesh was and how is crown grew into a point made her think he looked a little like a mountain. How was a cricket supposed to beat a mountain? There were threats made to everyone she knew, there were suggestions that she would be the perfect wife, and somewhere along the line a Chinese fellow had called him 'Sugarknickers'. Words were exchanged, pets were threatened and every time her and Shin went to give him a good beating, he would elude them to threaten someone else.

"Don't make me beat you out of that body," she growled to the man fearlessly, tucking the sheath away in her belt, "you're coming out of there right now." She started to storm forward, head lowered in determination.

"Roy is gone." he boomed at her, a cruel smile gracing his face. "He is.. soul dust."

They had had at least five different confrontations and each time the Lord had said that Roy was already gone, or promised that he would be soon. This time, though, something was different. Kricky could swear that she felt her heart sink a little with the weight of truth.

Her eyes burned as she glared up at him, "Then I have no reason to hold back, then, do I?" The blade was drawn in the midst of Gemini, sword pointed at the ground, "This ends now." She was going to kill him, she really intended to, as it was finally seeming that it was absolutely necessary.

Somewhere in the background, outside her current perceptions, Shinsektor offered, "Well, at least we got the kittens back... uuuh..."

He looked her over with an expression of amusement, "You can't hurt me, girl."

"Probably not, but I can sure as Hell try." She was ready to do it. She charged forward a few steps before skidding to a halt. There were children in the park. Roy wouldn't have wanted it like that, no. She pointed the sword towards the Lord like she'd seen Shinsektor do a hundred times before and spoke one word, "Arena."

His face lit up in a cruel grin. The suggestion seemed most satisfactory to him, "Yes. You and I. No one else."

Shinsektor looked between the two of them, a bucket of sawblades in hand and said, "Waaait a second--"

Grass flattened under the wind left by the force of her leap. She was away, to the Arena.

--------

The blade was to make it quick, painless, once he was down. After all, she had mused before, with a being as tough as Roy was she'd probably have to stomp on his throat repeatedly if she just used her feet. That was far from painless.

The buzzer sounded and neither of them wasted any time. The setting was that of an office building; a singular, large room with two floors. There would be no room for escape here. This was the end game.

Peeling around the corner with enhanced speed, Vera first caught sight of the white and red figure that was once her friend. The image almost would've been friendly, if he weren't spinning a piece of flooring to toss at her like a discus thrower. His body spun, creating great swirls of dust as he built up the motion to strike her. All she had was her reflexes. If she was hit, even once or twice, it might be the end, and she had no doubt in her mind that he would kill her.

The piece of flooring was released towards her as she charged forward, particles spinning off and striking the walls harshly. Her body lowered, using her lack of height to her advantage, and she came up again in a leaping crane kick with her foot aimed for his heart. It was only through a combination of speed and the strength of her legs that she actually managed to move the mountain, sending him flying backward with his massive arms extended, fingers scraping along walls to try and find purchase.

The first strike had been hers. He was quick to return the favor. Her feet hit the ground, landing flat on her soles with her arms at her sides for balance, as she always did. Before she knew it, he was upon her. He pulled back his fist, feet planted firmly on the ground so that he could put his weight into it. One punch like that, all his weight focused into her comparitively frail body and it would've been over. Vera, though, was giving this all she had. Her mind moved quickly, dropping into a low kick towards the back of his knees as he swung over her head. She felt it impact, and he moved, but just barely. The shock of her leg striking something like a metal beam rippled up through her body.

He looked down at her, green lenses gleaming in the dim light of the office and just chuckles, "Hehehe.. Kricky, that tickles."

Pain met her mind as her back met the floor, pressing down on the stumps that used to be her wings. Her body launched into a jump kick, both feet pounding into his chest. Her initial kick had left a dent, some black writing that she couldn't decipher scrawled with in it, right over his heart. She focused on that weak point; she focused on his heart.

His foot lifted into the air and came down abruptly, giving her only just enough time to move away as she was in the low stance of a dragon's tail. The damage was done. The floor shattered in spider web cracking, spiraling out from his boot. Debris surged upward in a sudden current, the sheer impact burying several small shards into her skin, shredding through red and black cloth. It stung, but a few minor cuts would be the least of her worries if she didn't get out of the way. Her eyes lifted to him as she balled both hands together, bringing them over his head, ready to hammer her right into the broken flooring.

Palms slapped against the floor and she flipped backward, small and elusive, right in time to see him bury his fists a foot into the ground and feel the floor tremble underneath her form the impact. Instinct took over. In doing this, he'd left himself momentarily open and, as he began to right himself again, his face was at her level. With agility, she began to spin up from the floor, starting in what looked like a dragon's tail and leaping into a storm kick. Her heel hooked into his face, shockwaves again sent ripping through her body.

There was a problem, though. The move did not complete, the circle did not finish. Faces were supposed to give way under the impact of the strong kick. Roy's didn't.

One hand of cold metal reached up to grasp her ankle and dangle her like a freshly caught fish over the ground. In one, jarring motion he slammed her downward into the shattered tile. The only thing that saved her from a broken cranium was defensively rolling her body up, tucking her arms around her knees so that the primary force of the blow was on the flat of her back.

"Oomph!" Her leg twitched, aiming a blow squarely to his jaw.

"Wench!" he boomed as the blow struck, dropping her to the ground. Again, she rolled to her feet, but stayed low. He was proficient with his fists, she thought, and maybe if he had to reach down to grab her that would give her just enough time to move out of the way.

Looking down at her he flexed his metallic fingers, and seemed to crack his knuckles, something that was supposed to be a human, or at least organic, trait. Then again, Roy had always been more human than anything.

"Kricky... Please. I don't wanna hurt ya." His hands came together again and began to lift over his head, "Don't make me."

"This is me, making you." The lifting of his hands exposed his broad chest and the dent she'd been aiming for. With everything she had she leapt up into a double crane kick, a last ditch manuver. With his arms held over his head, backward, he had created for himself a slight imbalance in his posture. This time the crane kick sent him crashing into a pillar. Plaster cracked, creating a cloud of dust around him as he began to slide to the ground. Her body pulled back into a stance of ready as she watched the light in his eyes dim. It was over, she thought.

The friendly red and white covering seemed to burn away to reveal cold, gray skin and harsh, unforgiving yellow eyes. They opened abruptly and glared at the battered woman. No, the fight hadn't even begun. Like a solid mass of stone, he pulled himself to his feet and erupted into a low cackle.

There was no time to focus as he came barreling towards her, shoulder lowered. Her strong legs propelled her upwards and she barely managed to flip over his head, using his shoulders as a mid-way point to balance herself throughout the flip. She landed on the balls of her feet behind him. Still laughing in twisted joy, he spun about. Both barrel arms tries to grab at her and enclose her like a wrestler. Using her height to slip under one arm, she was at his back. Her position allowed for a more tactical strike. She leapt into the air and firmly planted the sole of her foot into the back of his neck.

Such a strike would've killed any normal man. The Lord of Chaos stumbled forward a few feet. Intuition told her to retreat. Instinct told her to press the attack. She chose instinct. Her body began to move in a circular motion, preparing for a storm kick. With thunderous strength, the mountain spun around and slipped in a simple jab. She couldn't move. She didn't have time. She was already in the air and all she could do was hold up her left arm to slow the punch. With the impact, a sickening 'crack' filled the air. The force of the blow sent the woman sprawling some ten feet backward.

The incredible pain finally seemed to wake her from her battle trance. Saliva dribbled from the side of her mouth as nausea sunk into the pit of her stomach, the nausea that came with a broken limb. Her lungs seemed not to be able to hold breath and her eyes began to fog with exhaustion. This was going to be the end of one of their stories.

A shape stood over her, once again the friendly mass of red and white. She was looking up at her friend, the friend she promised to kill, the friend that had tried to kill her, but for some reason she was happy to see him.

"Roy..." she muttered, pushing up with her good arm. She had to get back to her feet or risk death.

"Kricky.. Geeze, I'm sorry..." He took another step forward.

She didn't buy it. Not for a moment. "If you were Roy, you would've never thrown the first punch."

"Too true." And he pulled back his fist again, aiming for his opponent. Wounded, everything ounce of strength Vera had went into defending herself. She needed just a moment, a moment to catch her breath. The only counterattack she gave was a quick, firm thunder kick to his chest. She moved backwards, twisting around the staircases as she tried to put some distance between herself and her opponent.

"Yer weak..." He began to laugh, richly, heartily. The thing that scared her the most is it sounded so much like Roy, Roy who she'd tried to make laugh so many times before. This needed to be done. This needed to be over. "Ya couldn't do it..."

She began to backpedal up a staircase as he followed her at a seemingly leisurely pace. Her eyes began to clear, heart pounding fiercely in her chest with adrenaline, "Actually, I was waiting."

"Wh...?"

The moment he gave a slightly inquisitive tilt of his head, she launched herself off the staircase, body doing a half-twist in the air. Her foot slammed firmly into his optic sensors as she propelled herself back, using his face to do so. Her body twisted again in the air, allowing her to land gracefully back on the staircase, "For that."

The eagle's claw had shocked him, shaken him, and she used this moment to press her advantage. Another crane kick landed firmly in the center of his chest, propelling him backward and flat, onto his back. She didn't stop there. It wasn't blood lust that drove her, but sheer determination. As he began to get up, she was over him, burying thunder kick after thunder kick into his chest in rapid succession. Slam, slam, slam. Again and again, her foot met metal.

"I'll get ya! I'll kill ya!" He swung high, his powerful fist practically whistling through the air.

"Go ahead. Try." she growled in defiance.

Flesh met metal again and again, bone and blood to steel and circuits. His fist shot forward in a strong, powerful jab aimed to her. Her body leaned to one side, moving to compliment his movements with another thunder kick to his chest.

"C'mon! Hit me! Yer a piece of garbage! Ya b'long in a dumpster!"

The comment completely enraged her. Three years ago, all her time had been spent proving that she was not a piece of garbage, that she did -not- belong in a dumpster. All doubt that this man needed to die left her mind for a brief moment. Her concern for her own body diminished in her want to just inflict as much pain upon him as possible.

"Then take me there, big guy." she hissed with spite. A jab brushed along has shoulder as she barely managed to move out of the way, knocking her to the side.

"Hit me! Hard!" he demanded. She obliged. Leaping upward, a crane kick connected with his chest again, sending him backward only a foot or two.

"I just-- oomph." The ground underneath her shook as he stomped, destroying the floor further with widening, circular cracks. With no time to leap out of the way, she fell backward. He was moving forward again, metal hands balled into fists at his sides.

"C'mon, Kricky!" he seemed to plead, his voice changing. "I'll kill ya if ya don't... please." He wasn't attacking and she could see in the dim lights of the room how dented and battered his form had become. He looked about half as bad as she did.

"...Roy?" she whispered through the dust, pulling herself back into her stance.

"C'mon. Finish it!"

She gave it everything she had. Her body launched forward, foot coming up to bury into his chest. She started to feel like she was being swept away in blue light as she felt metal and circuitry give way underneath the metal plating of his chest. The Arena's fail safes had kicked in.

-----------------

The two of them were once again on the plush, light blue carpet of the arena, by the doors that lead inwards. Roy's limp and dented body was propper up against the wall, no light emitting from his optic sensors. As she stopped to observed, catching her breath and feeling the ache of the battle, the figure of the Green Knight dashed up the stairs, speaking.

"What happened? I tried getting a camera unit in there, but there was some kind of glitch." Shinsektor questioned, not fully taking in the scene just yet. He was followed briefly by a knight of a different sort as Sir Parzifal climbed the last of the steps, frowning. Shin glanced over his shoulder, "Oh, hey Parz." Parzifal could only frown.

Vera stood there before Roy, staring down at him with wide eyes. Her hair as a mess, small streaks of blood streaking her tan skin from the bits of rubble that had embedded themselves amid the chitin on her face. One arm was held close to her body, shoulders slumped as she stared at the incapacitated figure of her friend. Every dent on his body was a dent she'd made and for a brief moment she began to question what exactly she'd done.

"What has happened? Lady Krickette, are you all right?" Parzifal spoke, looking between the two of them.

"...I won."

"I think he's done." Shinsektor moved forward, trying to sound reassuring.

"This is ending now. I promised I'd do it." There was the smooth scraping sound of metal sliding across metal as she drew the katana from its sheath with one arm.

She never thought it'd happen, she never thought Roy would hurt her. She always believed the good guys would win, that Roy would win out over this thing, but just the other day he had attempted to kill her with a pillow over her face. It was only by the force of other heroes that she'd been saved. Something within her was telling her that this needed to happen, that it was either him or her. So much of the past few years had been spent with one thing in mind; survival. She wasn't about to let this all go to waste over a matter of the heart when she would also be protecting her loved ones in this singular act.

"Lady..."

"Vera..." Shinsektor's voice rose from silence as he reached forward silently for her shoulder.

Suddenly the young woman's body lunged away, sword pointed for the dent she'd focused on. She had to do it, before Roy woke up, before Shin or Parzifal could stop her. They wouldn't understand. She had to do the thing that no one else would.

She expected resistance, she expected the scrape of metal on metal, but what she expected never came. Her body had stopped itself an inch before the strike, point over the 'Love' of Maggie's signature that had been obscured in the battering over his heart. She couldn't do it. She tried to make herself, but it wasn't happening. Her entire body seemed to tremble, torn in a war between her mind and her heart.

Since when.. did I become one of the good guys...?

In a warbling, electronic tone, Roy suddenly spoke, "You should've drove it in." His metal hand curled around the blade of the sword.

"Roy, wait--!" Shin shouted, stepping forward.

It was too late. He jerked the blade forward, into his own chest. Krickette came with it. It was just as if she'd done it herself. She watched the blade move through his dented, metal flesh, piercing the word 'Love'. She felt the resistance of circuits breaking from within, the vibration it created as it moved through the sword and up her arms. Further he pulled it, placing his hands over hers and pushing it inward until it was all the way up to the hilt and she was there, nose to blake metal face as he began to mutter.

"Kricky... I... geez..."

Her body trembled slightly, hand still wrapped around the katana that was buried into her friend's chest.

"I feel... he he..." his voice warbled weakly, "I feel like... I'm bleedin'... I.. it had ta... t-ta..."

"T-tag." Parzifal stuttered from behind her as Roy's sensors dimmed, massive body slumping. His hand fell from the blade, fingers clattering to the ground.

There was silence for a long moment, at least in Vera's world. Someone may have said something, someone may have said her name, but her eyes were fixated on those green optic sensors. It felt like hours before she finally spoke, and when she did it was in a trembling whisper, "W.. wake up." He should be awake, she thought. He was invincible. He was Roy. Her hand still clutched the handle of the katana and she shook her head softly, just saying again. "Wake up."

Parzifal was praying. Shinsektor was phoning the hospital. Only two words seemed to be capable of coming from Vera's mouth, "Wake up!"

As if it would revive her fallen comrade, she pulled the blade from his chest, the screech of metal filling the air. His limp body slumped to the side, falling to his left. There was the sound of sturdy, heavy metal hitting floor and Vera stared... How could this be? How could a person, one of her dear friends, be reduced to inactive circuits and metal?

Parzifal was still praying as she looked up to the other two. Shinsektor had turned away and for the first time she heard him speak.

"Roy... I said I called the hospital. This is where you're supposed to get up."

Vera flicked the katana to the side in a motion of cleaning blood from it, even though it was wholly unnecessary, and tucked it away in her sheath. In her own world, there were a few moments of stunned silence. She would turn around. She was going to turn around and he would be standing there. When she did turn around, he was still lying limply on his side. At that point, Vera doubted if she could take in breath. Her knees began to fold and she collapsed at his side. Her hand came up, grabbing the edge of her sleeve and folding it inward so that it covered her hand and she lightly polished the side of his face plate, just as she had always threatened to do. Her form crouched over the body and she gave him a single kiss on the cheek, then whispered...

"Good night, big guy."

It wasn't supposed to end like this.

It had been an hour of scrubbing, and still the colored ink would not come off. Pin points of blood came just underneath the surface of the first layer of skin, looking like freckles amid the shards of chitin that grew there.

With bloodshot eyes, she examined the mark in the mirror.

It was all so stupid. It had started off as a prank. A man she had been trying to make ammends with told her to close her eyes, to trust him for just a few minutes. In those few minutes, he had painted in ink a third eye on her forehead and sealed it with lemon.

Ha ha. Very funny. She thought, gazing back into the mirror. It would have been fine, she would've worn a hat for the next few weeks and looked grumpy, but that would've been the least of her worries.

Then Roy approached her. He seemed different and, as one of her handful of friends in Paragon, this worried her. He spoke of her as an 'Endless One'. He spoke of things she didn't understand, of secrets. It made her stomach turn, but she played along.

And then it happened, he told her the beginning and the end of things, he told her a long story in a voice not his own before realizing that the third eye was unblinking. Then, in that same altered voice, he warned her that this was forbidden knowledge. Something would come for her, if she told, and to her estimation whoever she told as well. From the looks of things, she thought, something might come for her anyway.

The killing secret... The words buzzed through her mind and, in a sudden sign of frustration, she punched the wall next to the mirror. The only product was a bit of chipped plaster and a bruised knuckle.

I'm a scientist, not a damn mage. She growled towards the mirror as if expecting an answer from it. It gave no consolation.

She'd been told something she didn't understand, something important, something she thought that could save not only Roy, but... A sigh echoed from her lips and she shook her head briskly. As all secrets did, this one came with a price. It was her and the snake woman, at first.

Before the end of things, she had a feeling, one of them would be alone, and so she did the thing she had been forbidden to do under the penalty of death. In a midnight meeting, she whispered that secret to another. Was it someone that might help her? Someone who could keep her safe? Probably not. It was an enemy. The secret had been used as a weapon. How could she justify telling someone else and potentially endangering them?

How could she tell... Shin?

With a sudden jerk, she turned away from the mirror and started towards the ladder that lead to the surface. Maybe it wasn't the right decision, maybe it wasn't the best, but she was doing what she believed was right. She was protecting the people she cared about.

In the end, there were only four people who she could rely on in this case; herself, a woman she barely knew, Roy himself and a man whom she equated with the devil.

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