Bound (part 7 of 8)
Back to Part 6Author's Note: Sorry for the long delay, I've been very busy with
school and this chapter was very hard for me to write. One more
chapter left after this one and this fic's done. Yeah, the last
chapter was confusing, dragged on, and whatnot, but hopefully you guys
find this chapter more satisfying and I hope it answers all the
mysteries and whatnot of this fic. A lot of revelations for Elly in
this chapter, along with my idea of who Nephilim really is and her link
with the two KOS-MOS units. There's also a few (mild) speculations on
what may happen in Xenosaga Episode 2 (namely about Jr.'s past), but I
doubt they count as spoilers. Things may be slow again at first, but
I'll try to speed things up while trying to answer all the mysteries of
the story. With that said, let's begin.
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What Was One is Now Two
Happiness, something I cannot describe. What is it exactly, this
emotion that people express through smiles and laughter? I cannot
begin to comprehend such things.
"Do you wish to understand?" a voice suddenly enters the vicinity.
"Who are you?" my vision turns directly behind me.
My eyes meet with those of cerulean blue, scanning the perfectly-hued
skin surrounding it. The lips on this face are drawn blank, not an
expression is worn on them. Strands like fire rest atop her head,
traveling down its owner's back and partly on her shoulders. This
mysterious person wears a pink dress, free of sleeves or folds of any
sort. It is a child that stands before me, unmoving and silent, like
an adult.
"My name is Nephilim," the little girl answers, "and you must be
KOS-MOS, correct?"
"That is correct," I nod my head. "Are you another A.I. that was
constructed by Vector?" I ask.
"I am not," she answers in a monotone expression, "rather, I am a
presence much like an A.I. and that of a human."
"I do not understand."
"Have you ever heard of the Wave Existence?" she asks, her voice still
calm and cool.
"I'm sorry, but the requested information does not exist within my data
banks."
"Some say that I originate from what humans call 'the Wave Existence,'"
Nephilim continues, "a plane of higher existence which some may call
it."
"I still do not understand."
"I am afraid no one does, neither man nor machine," she says. "Yet
despite that, many still do try to understand, understand the will of
life itself."
"Why do they wish to understand such a thing?" I cannot help but ask.
"KOS-MOS, have you not been asked if you could become something more?"
the child changes the subject. "Have you not been asked to analyze
more than simple numbers and algorithms?"
"Yes."
"KOS-MOS, are you curious to know why you exist? Are you ever curious
to know who you truly are?"
"I know who I am," I answer. "I am an anti-Gnosis humanoid weapon,
serial number 00-00-00-00-0. Development name, KP-X, abbreviated name,
KOS-MOS."
"That is not what I meant," the little girl corrects herself, "I meant
to ask was do you wish to find any deeper meaning in your very
existence itself?"
"I still cannot comprehend what you are saying," her words leave a
blank in my data processing.
"Would you like to attempt to find the answer to these questions that I
have asked?" Nephilim speaks again.
"I would like some answers so that I may comprehend what you speak," I
answer without giving it any real thought.
"The path to these answers will not be an easy one," the child warns
me, "you will go down a path that may harm, or even destroy you in the
process. You will experience things that you have never experienced
before which may bring you to times of joy and laughter, but it will
also lead you to times of grief and sorrow. Are you still willing to
go down such a path?"
I begin to think about the situation more thoroughly now. Times of joy
and laughter, as well as times of grief and sorrow. Both of these
items are alien to me, I cannot comprehend such illogical human
emotions. A path that may harm or even destroy me, such a thing is of
no matter to myself, I am merely a weapon designed to battle the
Gnosis, why should my own destruction concern me?
"I am willing to take this path that you speak of as long as it does
not interfere with me combating the Gnosis," I answer after taking a
moment to think.
"Very well," the child nods, bringing her hand onto my own, "through
joy and sorrow, I shall be your guide, your teacher, and eventually, I
will become..."
The color white begins to fill my vision at that moment and the child's
voice becomes deaf in my ear. White is soon replaced with black, my
feet no longer standing on a floor, it is now my back resting against a
surface. My entire body feels so heavy, I cannot even lift a finger.
My breathing is slow and deep, but with every take of air, I find the
weight of my body growing lighter. My eyes soon have enough strength
to open on their own and not long after I can move my upper body
forward. Memories slowly begin flooding back into my head, my temple
throbbing as more and more return.
"What happened?" I ask myself as I bring my palm to the top half of my
skull.
More events begin to flood back into my mind. I remember my arms
growing numb and weak, fluids from within my body oozing from crevices
made on my skin. My consciousness was dwindling as this was happening,
and I was still standing with the help of another who was holding me.
There were others standing before us, I can't make out their face or
figures. Slowly the shadows surrounding these figures begins to lift,
as well as the words that escape their lips.
"Let her go!" the lead figure screams.
"Shion!" I quickly remember the rest of the events. "Huh?" I then turn
to my arms and shoulder to find not a welt or scratch.
"A fascinating spectacle you are, sister," a familiar voice echoes
within the area.
I find myself returning to my feet after her sentence, my eyes
surveying the entire area only to find nothing but empty space. No
matter where I turn and where I look, I find not a soul nor figure,
nothing but the color of darkness.
"You truly are something, Elly," Miang's voice continues to taunt,
"something I'm sure he would have approved of."
"Where are you?! Show yourself!" I order at the top of my lungs.
"Impatience is something he would not have approved of though," my
sister continues. "No, that's not right, he never approved of anything
we did."
"What are you talking about, stop speaking nonsense!" I scream.
"Two years ago," Miang begins to narrate, her form appearing before me,
"we were created to be the perfect weapon. Back then, we were one
being, Elly. No, 'being' isn't the correct word, we were one program,
a single A.I. programmed to destroy the Gnosis, as well as anyone or
anything else that could potentially harm the human race. We were
programmed to deal with millions of tactical and hostile situations, to
follow orders from our superiors without question. The KOS-MOS Project
in which we were created was perfect in the military sense, but there
was something more he wanted; he wanted his creation to 'feel.'"
"You're talking about Kevin, aren't you?" I ask, my temper beginning to
cool.
"Kevin was always uneasy when he spoke with us in the encephalon, it
was uncomfortable for him to talk with a weapon," her tale continues.
"So he wished to make his creation become emotional, to make his
creation 'human' in a sense. He tried to teach us to become human, but
at first his attempts were futile until another source intervened. She
came to us one day, talking about a journey that would put us through
joy and sorrow, inviting us to join her on this quest. If only we had
known what that journey would have put us through, we would've turned
her away before the question was asked. She invited us into the realm
of humanity, exposing us to things we had never experienced before.
Laughter, love, sadness, loneliness, these were merely words before she
had put us through that hell."
"You say you regret feeling such things, yet even now you express
things such as anger and hatred, you even tried to defend yourself when
I accuse you of Kevin's murder!"
"Regardless of what I've been feeling, the sorrow that had accumulated
since that day easily outweighs the times of happiness and pleasure!"
my sister's voice breaks into a scream. "You wouldn't know how it
feels to have sorrow accompany you through a majority of your lifetime,
it's because that woman has blinded you from such things for so long!
That woman, throughout my entire existence she has always been the one
to create my sorrow, in the past, and even now! I hate her! I hate
her, I hate her, I hate her!"
"Why hate her now, Miang, why?! She may have caused you in the past,
why can't you let it go?!"
"Because of you, Elly," she says, her voice cold and resolute, "I hate
her because of you."
"What?" her words leave me confused.
"You, Elly, my sister and other half," I find my back suddenly pressed
against her chest and her finger touching my lips, " I hate her because
of you.
"What?" I turn to face her, finding my reflection in the glimmer of her
goggles.
"You," she repeats once more, tracing her finger down my cheek, "the
one who was saved while I was left to die. When Shion shot us back
then, our self was split asunder, Nephilim had escaped our body with
your half while I was left to feel the force of the blow. I was left
to die, but I had survived via the black box areas that contained our
memories and emotions. When they built your body, Nephilim had
reinserted herself into your data banks along with your half of our
previous self. I was later inserted into your body as well through the
black boxes, but I was unable to take action. Your entire OS was
reprogrammed, your memories of our previous self deleted in the
process. You were given a blank slate while I was forced to remember
for as long as you existed, watching you make new memories while I was
forced to remember the old!" she seethes, her index finger and thumb
quickly grasping the base of my chin. "Nephilim's influence on our
past self was slowly being slipped into you, filling you with emotions
but none of our memories. You got to feel many things these last few
days that I never had in my entire existence! You were always in the
company of others, you made friendships with many, but for what I hate
you for most of all is that you fell in love and that person loved you
back! I never got to experience such things!" her voice begins to
break for once, "I was always alone if Kevin had not visited us back
then, and even those times were rare! I have no good memories to look
back on, all I have is the pain and tears that were shed in my days of
loneliness!"
"Miang..."
For once I begin to pity her, I had never known her side of the story
until now. Still, I can shed no tears for my sister because of her
recent actions. Did she have just cause for those actions, yes she
did, but regardless of her reasoning, I cannot pity her.
"You do not pity me?" she then asks. "Of course you don't, no one ever
cared for us back then!" her voice begins to yell again. "No, they
never cared about me! It was you they all looked at, you that had such
high expectations! I was merely forgotten, tossed aside and left
alone. You were given tests everyday since you were programmed, I was
lucky enough to get a single half hour within a month's time."
Again I am left speechless, and I know there is truth behind her words.
Images begin to enter my vision, images of nothing but black or my eyes
staring at my hand. I recall silence in these visions and a chill
flowing in the area I was in. I also begin to remember sometimes there
would be warmth, but that warmth came from the tears that flowed down
my cheeks. More of her memories begin to flood my mind, and I remember
even more sadness.
"Do you regret the path you have chosen?" I recall having Nephilim
speaking to her once.
"...I do not know," Miang answered, her legs curled against her chest
as she sat on the floor.
"Pain is a valuable essence in order to realize one's existence," the
child lectures, "loneliness is unfortunately a part of that. If the
pain is too great, you can always end your life, but that would be
considered running away from your journey. Miang, do you still wish to
find the answer as to why you exist?"
"...yes," she barely nodded.
"That child was such a good manipulator," Miang continues in the
present, "always so sly in her tactics."
"What are you talking about?"
"She is part of the Wave Existence that has been incarnated into our
realm of existence," my sister explains, "but she does not have a body
to call her own. She is not that very different from us actually, she
was always alone as well. She may be part of the Wave Existence, but
she lacks a body that is able to communicate with the living as a
result of living in a world that is not her own; in others words she is
merely a specter. Nephilim promised us back then that she would help
us become human, but she did not tell us how she would do that. What
do you think it is she did to fulfill her promise?"
"...I don't know," my mind draws a blank.
"Her very self would fuse with ours, slowly but surely," my sister
answers. "Our programming and her soul would become one, that is how
she intended to make us human, by merging herself with us. At first
her emotions began to fuse with us, but eventually some of her memories
fused with our own. I can recall many things she has seen throughout
her stay in this universe: anger, hate, war, pain, all of these things
that have continued to ravage Man throughout time. It was then that we
began to reconsider our deal with the child, but there was only one
thing, one person who stopped us from ending our own life. It was
Kevin."
"You..., no, we fell in love with him, isn't that right?" I ask.
"Who else would we have fallen in love with back then?" Miang answers,
her voice cooling down once more. "He was the only one who came to see
us, other than that girl. Whenever he came to visit us, the sadness
that we would always feel would be forgotten, if only for half an hour,
it was enough to keep us alive. It's true that a majority of the time
he spent with us was for testing, but just having his company, or any
company for that matter, allowed us to be happy. It was nice to hear
about the outside world, our curiosity for it grew more and more the
more he spoke about. He would always tell us that that day when we
would be allowed into the outside world would be soon. Kevin promised
us that he would take us out for a walk, but there was one thing I
dreaded about it, we would walk with her!" she spat. "Shion Uzuki, he
always talked about her, about our mother. He spoke so highly of her,
how much he loved her. He always...always," her voice begins to break
once more, "he always talked about how beautiful she was, how she made
him feel alive, and most of all, how much he loved her. Was it
jealousy that made me hate her? Yes, I admit it, but that's not the
real reason why I hate her. Do you remember what made us hate that
woman so, Elly?"
"It was because...," the memory begins to return to my mind, "I mean,
it was because he said..."
"I love you, KOS-MOS," I begin to recall Kevin's embrace.
That was it, Kevin said he loved us. I remember now, it was the last
time he visited us within the encephalon. We were at a fairground
created by the encephalon, everything in it was made up, but
regardless, we were able to look past all that. The memory is all so
clear, we went on so many rides that day, the most vivid one I can
remember was the Ferris Wheel. We were sitting in the box, I, no, my
past self was looking below into the crowds, I was enjoying the sights
of fireworks and stars. Then before I knew it, we felt him, his arms
wrapped around our waist and his chin resting on top of our head. That
was when he said it, when he said the words "I love you" to us. For
the first time in that lifetime, I, as Miang, was truly happy, but that
happiness did not last long for there were two words that we had
ignored, those words being "my daughter."
"He said he loved us as his daughter," I answer in the present, "but in
our own mind back then, those last two words did not exist in his
speech, we were living in denial."
"Was it denial?" Miang asks. "Maybe in one's point of view, but in
another, it was an invitation for us to become his. If he could forget
about that woman, forget our mother, then maybe he could love us as
something more, and so, during our walk with him, that's when we tried
to make him ours."
"We tried to kiss him, didn't we?" I remember.
"Is something wrong, KOS-MOS?" I recall our final conversation.
Our entire body felt so warm after he told us he loved him, I recall
the fire in our cheeks and how the device within our chest was beating
as fast as a humming bird's wings. Perfect, everything felt perfect
for once back then. We knew that this would be the last time we could
possibly be together alone, so that's when we planted our lips upon
his. We indulged in the taste of his mouth and lips for what seemed
like an eternity, our hands cupping the sides of his face as we pulled
on the surface of his skin. But what had seemed like an eternity for
us was merely a second in real life. I remember that warmth
disappearing the moment he placed his hands on us, pushing us away as
his palms met our shoulders. Confusion had plagued us after his
action, but it was soon replaced by sadness after what he did next.
"What do you think you're doing?!" he asked, raising his voice at us
for the very first time.
"You said you loved me," we answered, "I simply wanted to..."
"No KOS-MOS, that's not what I meant!" he yelled, his hand forcefully
wiping away the remaining residue on his lips.
"You mean you don't...?" our sentence broke, our eyes engulfed in
tears.
"Of course not! You're a machine, and she's real, there's no way you
and I could possibly..."
His words broke off from there, our mind too focused on three words.
"You're a machine," again and again they echoed within our ears,
driving more and more tears to fall from our eyes. A machine, that's
when it hit us, that's all we could ever be. No matter how much we
became human, we will always be a machine, always bound to technology.
Even if we were to fully become one with Nephilim, the fact of the
matter would be that we were a weapon, created not from flesh and
blood, but by metal and programming.
"So you don't...?" we manage to choke between the streams falling from
our pupils. "Then what was the point of teaching me all of these
things?!"
"I don't know," he answers frustrated, "perhaps it was wrong for me to
even teach you these things."
"That was the last time he ever spoke to us," Miang continues in the
present, "after he said it was wrong for him to teach us how to act
human, he left us. We were alone once again, it would be that way for
us, no, for me up until recently. We were so angry after he left,
angry at our self, at Nephilim, but most of all, we were angry at that
woman. If only we weren't made as a machine, if only we hadn't agreed
to that girl's terms, and if only that woman didn't exist, Kevin would
have been ours. Although I must admit, there was something I'm
grateful for after all this, one thing I appreciate that girl giving
us. Infinite ether," she explains, holding her hand out before my
eyes, her entire palm engulfed in a violet flame, "the ability to cast
an infinite amount of ether. If we hadn't merged with that girl, we
would never have acquired this ability, although I must admit, I hadn't
realized that we had inherited this ability until shortly before the
two of us were split in two."
"There's one thing I don't understand though," I interrupt, "why have
you appeared now if you had been left dormant in my black box areas for
so long?"
"When you saved the Elsa not too long ago," my sister explains, the
flame in her palm disappearing with the closure of her fist, "when you
tried to sacrifice yourself, debris struck your body in numerous areas
just as immense heat seared your skin. The combination of the two had
unknowingly damaged your programming to a certain extent, as well as
Nephilim aiding you in using your infinite ether ability, as a result
of these three things, my A.I. was freed from the black box area where
I was confined and I was then allowed to roam around your programming.
Another result of this incident was allowing your emotions to evolve
faster, thus acting as a catalyst to merge yourself with Nephilim. At
first where I could travel was limited, until another catalyst allowed
me access to the deepest depths of your self. You had fallen in love
with Shion, this in turn opened all of your fire walls and protection
codes which allowed me to travel anywhere I wanted. It took me a
while, but I finally made it to the center of your A.I., and from
there, I was finally able to see and speak with you for the first time.
The first time we met I had manipulated the encephalon to change one of
your dreams, replacing the imagery of Shion with myself. The second
time and thereafter I had again manipulated the encephalon to create an
image of myself and at the same time cutting off the link between your
A.I. and body. The images of you and I at this very moment are merely
projections of our selves created by the encephalon, your body is
simply frozen in the present. In other words, the actions that occur
between us do not happen in reality, but they feel as if they happen
because I manipulate the emotion centers in your A.I. as well as your
memory."
"Reality," I recall, "Shion, no, not just Shion, but Kevin also once
said that there is no difference between reality and a dream to the one
experiencing it. You say what happens here does not really happen at
all, but the truth is, it does, Miang! Are the tears I have shed here
not real? Is the pain I have felt nothing but my imagination? If all
of that is true, than you yourself, Miang, do not exist at all!" I
scream.
"Of course I don't exist," she responds, her eyes turning to the floor,
"that boy may have said it best. I am merely the remains of a
forgotten memory, both of us spawned from the original KOS-MOS unit
destroyed two years ago. Me, the incarnation of her memories and
emotions, the one who is bound to technology, and you, the incarnation
of her soul, the one who is bound to the flesh. One with nothing but
memories and emotions cannot even be called a human without a soul, and
yet you, the incarnation of the soul, can be qualified to become human.
Despite the fact that you had forgotten our past, you had created new
memories, new emotions as you lived in the present while I was stuck in
the past. I will no longer reminisce on the past, Elly, I will begin
to live in the present, and to do that, I will become one with you once
more."
"Just how do you expect to do such a thing, Miang?!" another voice
enters the vicinity.
"Shion?" I turn to the source to find my lover and her companions.
"Miang, stop this nonsense right now!" my lover orders. "Elly has
nothing to do with this, stop persisting on..."
"But she has everything to do with this!" my sister interrupts,
frustration once again returning to her voice. "Who was it that was
embroidered with your attention?! Her! Who was it that had constant
companionship with others?! Her! Who was it that loved and loved
back?! Her! It was always about her! Her, her, her, her, HER!!!! I
was always there when all of you were with her, in the back of her
mind, watching her every move and action, I saw how all of you
respected her, how you all loved her! Me, I was never loved, never
given any attention! I was always alone, always by myself! Even if I
did conjure up others in my encephalon, it still didn't erase the fact
that there was no real person behind those images, they were merely
dolls of my own creation, bound by my imagination. I never wanted to
be in the presence of mirages! I... I wanted... I just wanted..."
Again her voice begins to break and her knees slump to the floor. For
the first time I hear whimpers escaping her lips, streams of tears
rapidly dripping from the slight openings in her goggles, and her body
growing limp. For once she looks so helpless, so sad. Slowly I begin
to forget my hatred for my sister and I start to approach her. I
continue to walk toward her until she is now within arm's reach, but I
go no further. Instead I allow my words to close the gap between us,
words that may for once comfort and console her.
"I know the need for constant attention and love," I begin to speak,
"you are not the only one who needs it. In fact, only a few days ago I
had argued with Shion about how she wasn't focusing her attention on me
when we were planning for MOMO's birthday party. I remember how I felt
at the time, so empty, so sad, and the pain, what I remembered the most
was the pain. Do you know where I was hurting, Miang?" I ask only to
be answered with silence. "I know you know because you too..."
"Shut up!" she interrupts in a shriek. "Don't you dare finish those
words, Elly! Machines such as us are incapable of having such things!"
"Miang, you and I and everyone else here know that we...," I try to
continue.
"No, we are merely weapons, we can never be anything else!" she
continues to bawl, her palms now squeezing the sides of her skull. "He
said it himself, the one whom we gave our love to back then! Machines,
there's no way we can..."
"If we can love, than we have a..."
"DON'T SAY IT!!!!!!"
"We have a heart..."
Another scream echoes within the area, the source of her voice rising
to the sky for a mere moment before quickly plummeting down to the base
of her knees. More sobs escape her lips now as a puddle of tears
begins to collect before her face. Her fist begins to pound on the
floor now, each strike striking harder than the last, striking until
the material wrapped around her hand begins to break.
"Miang...," my lover begins walking toward my sister.
"Chief, don't!" Allen orders her.
"Stop," the silver-haired boy orders him calmly.
"But the chief is..."
"Let her go," chaos continues, "she needs to be with her daughter."
My lover then stops before my sister's form, her fingers weakly balling
in and out of fists. I can hear her breathing hard and from the edge
of my eye I can see her eyes shutting tightly. Her knees begin to bend
and her arms begin to wrap around my sister's head, bringing it close
to her heart. Miang does nothing as my lover, our mother, places her
fingers around her chin, tilting her face upward so that her eyes meet
with hers. Shion then brings her face toward Miang's, pressing her
lips against her forehead for a mere second before cradling her once
more. A small breath escapes our mother's lips at that moment,
followed by a snivel of her nose.
"Miang, I'm sorry," Shion apologizes, "I'm so very sorry, Miang. I
never should have neglected you," she continues to cry, "I should have
spent time with you back then, if maybe I had done that, then
maybe...," her voice begins to break.
"Mother..." my sister barely calls.
"All you ever knew was the pain of loneliness, and I'm sorry for that,
Miang," Shion apologizes once more. "You are not unloved, Miang,
because I care for you. I care about you, Miang, I just wish that..."
"How can you still care about me after all I've done to you and my
sister?" Miang asks as she buries her face further into Shion's heart.
"Can you still love me after I tried to kill you and your friends?
Can you still love me after I violated my sister? How can you still
love someone such as myself? How Mother, how can you love someone who
can't even love herself?!"
"I can because you are my daughter," she answers cooly, "nothing can
ever change that, Miang."
"Mother..., so someone does care," she cries.
More whimpers and sniffles follow my sister's tears, her fingers taking
hold of Shion's jacket, lightly twisting the material. Shion continues
to sit there with Miang in her arms, her fingers slowly running through
her dull blue strands. In times such as this, I would normally feel
jealous, but right now, I am feeling the opposite. Happiness, that is
what I'm feeling now, happy because my sister is now loved as I am.
"Mother, thank you for loving me," Miang barely speaks, "up until now,
I had always been living under the conclusion that no one has ever
cared about me. I always saw how happy Kevin was when he spoke about
you, how happy Elly was when she was with you, I just wanted to smile
knowing that someone cares. Now I think I can smile, however..."
At that moment, Miang's arms suddenly push forward, her palms pressing
against Shion for a mere second before causing her to stagger back.
The smile on my lips quickly melts at that moment and again I know
something is wrong. I arch my back forward, my fingers twitching
before the blaster at my side. The others run before me, readying
themselves as well. Jin once again draws his katana, Jr. his twin
pistols, MOMO with her rod, and Ziggy and chaos with their fists.
Shion begins to back toward my side, an expression of shock on her
face. My sister begins to stagger to her feet once more as a rush of
cold air suddenly blasts in the area.
"Regardless of how anyone feels about me, it still doesn't erase the
fact that she is the one who can experience the real world," Miang
finishes. "I still intend to become one with her, and to do that, I
will destroy her consciousness and her soul. By doing so, I will be
able to control her body permanently. But don't get me wrong, I'm
doing this for her sake as well, so that she will no longer have to
bear the frailty of human emotions."
"That's nothing more than murder!" the silver-haired boy yells as the
winds pick up speed. "All you wish is to sacrifice your sister's self
for your own selfish needs!"
"That's right," MOMO joins in, "have you even considered your own
sister's feelings?! I too had sisters, all of them envious of me
because they said Daddy had chosen me over them. Despite that, they
never tried to do anything to harm me, they knew that when they died
that their hopes and dreams would become a part of me. But all you
wish is to do is erase KOS-MOS's existence and replace it with your
own!"
"If you truly can smile, then why do you need to destroy your sister?"
Jin joins in. "If being loved is all you wanted, you have obtained it,
so stop this nonsense of having to destroy your sister!"
"I also know the importance of being loved," the Durandal's captain
begins to speak, "a long time ago, I was loved by another, but I didn't
know how to express my feelings toward that person. Instead my
feelings were wandering elsewhere, to another who I considered more
fortunate than me. I didn't know what I had until it was too late, and
so now I regret the decision I made. Stop this now before you also
regret the decision you make today!"
"Right, reconsider what you're doing otherwise you'll regret it for the
rest of eternity, because I...," the cyborg tries to speak.
"Enough!" my sister screams, silencing all of our voices. "Say what
you wish, but I can no longer bear to be alone anymore, I cannot bear
to exist in a world where no one's eyes may linger, and I will do
anything, kill anyone, who will prevent me from doing so!"
The winds grow stronger now, the gusts nearly pushing all of us back.
I can feel my feet nearly being lifted off the ground and my body being
forced back, but regardless, I try to keep my composure by pressing
forward. A violet glow begins to emit from my sister's body now, the
light slowly melding into the air. My fingers finally take hold of my
gun at this moment, but by the time I free it from its holster, the
gusts begin to cut at my fingers, pushing my weapon away from my hand.
"This is my world," Miang continues, "I rule everything within this
encephalon."
"This world is not yours alone," another voice speaks through my mouth.
"Elly?" Shion says puzzled.
"The parasite finally makes her appearance," Miang seethes.
"Nephilim?" chaos recognizes the voice that speaks from my mouth.
"Though you have been locked within her body for these last two years,
this world is ours as well," the voice continues.
My body begins to burn after her speech, an orange glow illuminating
from my entire self. My entire vision is clouded with the bright hue,
but I can still see my sister's pale glow of violet before me. The
cold winds begin to die at this moment as a large flash of white
engulfs the area. In a second the color of white is erased from our
eyes, and once again I find my sister still standing before me.
"Now's our chance!" the Durandal's captain yells.
Several pieces of steel begin to fly toward my sister after his order,
but each of them stop a few feet before her, falling to the floor as if
they had hit some sort of surface. Miang then takes a moment to look
at the fallen bullets, shaking her head as if the attack were useless.
Her right arm slowly rises upward afterward, each of the rounds rising
into the air with the motion of her fingers. In a quick swing of her
arm going downward, the rounds fire forward, each of them aimed at my
comrades. Through the back of my eye, I see each of them preparing for
impact, except for Allen who tries to flee. My own arm begins to move
on its own accord now, my palm open and pointed at the projectiles. I
can feel the pressure of the shards coming closer and closer, but for
some reason the pressure lessens as the bullets come closer. Suddenly
the pressure is gone and I find that the bullets have come to a halt
before they could veer past me. I shut my own eyes after and each of
the rounds burst into flames, the remains of the shells melting into
the floor. The moment I open my eyes again, I find my body back in my
control, no longer under the influence of Nephilim's will. At this
moment I begin to realize something, I realize how Miang and myself
were able to manipulate the bullets and how my sister was able to
manipulate this environment up until this point. If this is my
encephalon, than I should also be able to manipulate it according to my
own will.
"Elly, what did you...?" Shion tries to ask.
Without saying a word to either my sister or comrades, my feet begin to
push me forward. Miang lowers her arm at this moment, bringing it back
to her side with her fingers free from her palm. I can feel my teeth
begin to scratch against each other, grinding as if her flesh were
between the pearl-colored devices. I continue to look forward without
looking back, each step I take enlarging the view of my sister's form.
Not once do my eyes linger elsewhere, my pupils constantly locked on
the eyes behind her goggles. I feel my heart beginning to strike
against my chest, each beat slow but strong, synchronizes with each
drop of sweat that falls from my brow. She grows a lot closer now, but
she still hasn't taken a step toward me. She is nearly within arm's
reach now and my fingers ball into fists for a mere second, my nails
nearly puncturing through my gloves as they do so. Finally I see the
reflection of my own cerulean pupils from her goggles, how cold and
narrow they are at this moment.
"We both can manipulate this world any we wish," I tell my sister,
"your tricks will have no effect on me. Neither of us has the
advantage over the other."
"Or so you think," Miang responds, "without being able to manipulate
the encephalon to the other's advantage, our abilities are limited to
what they would be in the real world. The last time I checked you
couldn't activate any of your weapons or even turn on your sensors.
Your level of strength isn't any greater than that of an average
eighteen year old woman's either, nor is your stamina and other
physical abilities. I on the other hand have all of what you have
lost, I was exactly on the same level you once were when I was
activated."
She's right about our level of abilities, she easily excels past me in
terms of strength, stamina, and agility. In terms of ether though, we
should be equal since we both inherited the infinite ether ability from
our fusion with Nephilim.
"It wouldn't be fair for me to kill you like this, I'll at least allow
you to have this," my sister holds out her left hand before me.
A stream of electricity begins to form within her palm, forming in the
form of a pole with a curve on one end. The sparks begin to die and
the lightning begins to solidify, turning into a metallic shaft and
blade.
"F-SCYTHE?" I recognize the weapon.
I take the weapon into my hands at this moment, my fingers wrapping
around the base and close to the blade. I do forget one thing however,
my strength is not the same as it used to be as the bladed side quickly
falls to the floor, it's point nearly poking into my foot. I try to
lift it once more but I can't get the blade further past my ankle. A
loud bang fills the area in this moment, the blade of my weapon
breaking off as a piece of shrapnel meets with its base. I look toward
the source of the noise afterward to find Miang's right arm
outstretched and the R-CANNON attached to her limb, the barrel still
smoking.
"You should be able to lift it now," Miang tells me.
"Stop it!" Shion orders, her form trying to fill the gap between us.
"Miang, there's no reason to fight your sister, I'm sure I can free you
from Elly's encephalon and give you your own body, so just..."
"I can't live like that, Mother," Miang interrupts, "I can't live in a
world where she exists as well. My sister and corrupted half, her
death will at the very least cleanse the part of me that was separated
two years ago. Dirty, that's what I feel, so dirty after realizing
what that child did to us. I wanted you to feel the same way, Elly,
that's why I violated you, but maybe it wasn't enough as you still
pursue to become human, you still cling so dearly to your flesh and
emotions. If you cannot understand the pain of being human, then it is
best that I put you out of your misery!"
Another shell is fired from her cannon after, the round veering toward
me. My feet push my body toward the side to avoid the attack, the
blast striking nothing but ground as a result. My knee is the first to
meet with the ground as I try to recollect my composure as Jr. and MOMO
rush in front of me with their weapons ready.
"Moonlit Serenade!"
"Angel Arrow!"
Several rays of light escape their weapons, their aim perfect as each
blast meets with my sister's body. Each column manages to knock Miang
a step or two backward as well as creating a cloud of gray to emerge
from her wounds. The clouds begin to collect amongst themselves until
the area begins filled with the smoke. Silence follows the following
seconds as the clouds clear, my sister nowhere to be found. For some
reason I know where she is now, but before I or my comrades could do
anything about it, I find my hair being pulled backward and my legs
dangling from the floor.
"Elly!" Shion screams.
"Such a familiar position this is," my sister breathes down my neck as
she points the R-BLADE at my trachea.
"Miang, Elly, please stop this!" Shion tries to beg.
"How does it feel, my sister," Miang asks, her lips slowly trailing
down my skin, "how does it feel to know fear, to know sadness, to know
that death is only an inch away? How does it feel to be bound to flesh
and blood? Would you rather be wish to be bound to technology once
more?"
"No!" I answer my sister's question at the top of my lungs.
A force begins to push from inside my upper back, its muscles beginning
to tingle and the nerves beginning to tear. My eyes can't help but
shut tightly as the pain intensifies, and the point of her weapon
begins to free from its grip on my throat. I feel as if my upper back
is about to burst and I know something is wrong as this pain now begins
to push my captor back. I open my eyes through a slit in my eyelids,
finding the others slowly backing away from myself. The next thing I
know, I feel something rushing out of my back, ripping out of my skin
and unfolding as it meets the air.
"Wings?" Shion notices what has emerged. "Just like that time when she
saved the Elsa."
"Uh...," I find my knees dropping to the floor as I try to regain the
breath I had lost from the pain.
"...I see," I look behind me to find my sister returning to her feet,
"your fusion with the girl is greater than I thought, in that case..."
Her arms begin to clutch her sides at this moment, her fingernails
practically digging into her ribs. Miang then begins hunch forward,
her entire figure starting to glow dark purple. Her fingers begin to
tear at the artificial skin around her sides, her face showing an
expression of a great deal of pain. The ground begins to shake now, my
comrades rushing beside me once more as the tremors worsen. A black
line suddenly appears across my sister's goggles, another crack
appearing in the next second, and another follows soon after. An
entire web of cracks soon forms all of Miang's goggles now, chips of
the metallic device now starting to fall to the floor.
"Let's go!" the cyborg orders everyone else while my sister remains
vulnerable.
"Ziggy, wait!" Shion tries to order the cyborg.
I know this is exactly what Miang wants, she wants us to attack her
right now. The moment she is struck with anything, she'll quickly
counter with some form of ether. Unfortunately Shion is unable to
stop the cyborg's attack as sparks of lightning escape his fist and
crash onto my sister in a single punch. Nothing happens though, but
the question is why? Miang continues to stand there, her body unmoved
by Ziggy's attack but the shaking still worsening.
"Shion!" Jin calls to his sister.
"Jin, I...I can't," my lover responds after a moment of hesitation.
"Shion, I know how you must feel at the moment, but..."
"I can't do it, Jin, I can't kill...," her voice begins to break once more.
"...fine."
Jin now takes his turn to attack Miang but this time I do nothing to
try and stop him, instead I try and join the fray as I take the remains
of my scythe into my hands. Miang's form grows closer and closer now
with every second and breath, yet my vision of the back of Shion's
brother does not change as neither of us change our pace.
"Festive Wind!" Jin chants with a quick draw of his blade.
I then take the chance to deal the second blow, swinging the remains of
the scythe like a staff and striking Miang's skull. For a mere second
our enemy's body bends backward, but she quickly stands back up with
her arms swinging forward with waves of ether following the movement of
her arms. The force of the waves strikes each of us in the abdomen,
sending each of us to the floor in an instant. I lift my head off the
ground after to find my sister's body now pressed flat against the
floor, only to push upward to launch her form toward me. I quickly
take hold of my weapon once more and lift it upward with both hands,
both ends of the pole pointed in different directions. The weight of
her body slowly begins to crush me, my arms sinking lower and lower to
my neck as I try to fight her off.
"Miang, please!" my lover wraps her arms around my sister's shoulders,
trying so desperately to pull her away.
Shion's words are not able to reach Miang and her efforts to pry her
away have no avail. For a mere second, Miang stops pushing her arms
toward me and instead swings her left one around to swat our mother off
her back. The strike knocks her several feet away, and once that's
done, Miang resumes trying to strangle me. Closer and closer her hands
come toward my face, her nails desperately trying to claw at my face.
I try to jam my knee into her stomach, but it does nothing but ache
the moment it strikes against her abdomen. Realizing that my attacks
are doing nothing, I decide to release my hold on my weapon and force
my weight in one direction, rolling myself away in a quick second.
Before my weapon could touch the floor however, I quickly take it back
into my hands and swing it upward toward my sister's temple, breaking
more shards off her goggles and knocking her back onto the ground.
"KOS-MOS, move!" Jr. orders me and I quickly obey. "Mystic Noc...!"
"Miang!"
Before he could take another shot from his energy gun, Shion suddenly
pushes the boy's arm away to try and divert the fire. Unfortunately
it has little effect as the beam still fires toward her, only at a
lower angle. Just like the bullets, the blast is stopped by an
invisible barrier, but the shot does not return to its shooter. My
sister is able to recover her balance after blocking the attack, only
to quickly return to the floor with her limbs once again pressed flat
against it. Again she begins to stalk us like a wild leopard, her
teeth bared and her crimson pupils apparent through the cracks in her
goggles. Energy from bullets and ether begin to fire at her now, my
comrades and I trying to throw everything we at her keeping as much
distance as possible. A few of these beams manages to find its mark,
but they do nothing but cause her to stagger back a step or two. Her
pacing begins to increase now, and it only seems to grow faster and
faster with every inch she crawls. She is almost within arm's reach
now of me, so I try to jump into the air using my wings to help elevate
myself. My sister does jump after me, more of her metallic parts begin
to chip away and fall to the floor as more of the hail of energy
strikes at her body. Gravity doesn't seem to pull her down as she only
grows closer and closer as metallic prongs suddenly emerge from her
upper back, as well as some sort of propulsion device. Her hands once
again find my neck and thin sheets of metal begin to fill the space
between each prong, creating the vision of a metallic-batwing.
"Elly!" I hear my lover scream from below.
"I'll get her!" Jr. tries to aim his gun once more.
"No, don't!" the silver-haired boy stops him. "You might hit KOS-MOS."
"Damn!"
"Elly, hold on!"
"Bound to the flesh, bound to technology, we are opposites, are we not,
Elly?" my sister asks, her fingers tightening their hold. "Heaven and
Hell, Life and Death, Organic and Inorganic, all are different sides of
the same coin, one cannot exist without the other. Are we the same, we
were once of the same coin? If I were to kill you, does that mean I
would no longer exist? No, of course not!" her hold begins to tighten
once more.
"Ah!" I barely manage to choke.
"If you were able to exist without me for so long, then why shouldn't I
be able to exist without you?" her lips begin to curl. "You know Elly,
I really did mean it when I apologized after having my way with you, I
really was sorry what I did to you. Do you know why I apologized,
Elly?" she asks, bringing her lips toward mine. "I did it because I
pitied you over the fact that you were never able to make the choice I
was given," she barely breathes onto my lips.
"Re...regardless of whether or not if I would have been given that
choice," I speak with my remaining breath, "I would have preferred to
have known pain and loneliness so that I may experience what it was
like to love and be loved!"
At this point I realize the pointed end of my scythe is facing the
direction of my sister. This is probably my only opportunity to
strike, so using the rest of my strength, I push all my strength into
my arm so that the point may pierce through my sister.
"Ugh!" Miang's mouth pries away from my own the moment the point comes
to a stop within her abdomen.
Her grip begins to loosen now and her fingers slowly begin to drag away
from my throat. More strength returns to my body now and I push the
pole further, causing her to arch forward. I look into my sister's
face now, and for once again she wears an expression that has been
hidden from me until now; pain. Her mouth begins to shut, her teeth
beginning to sit atop one another now, biting on the lower teeth so
hard that it looks like they are about to break. I see her eyes
shutting in the same manner through the cracks in her goggles, watching
as the lines of her muscles become very apparent for the first time. I
jab my weapon deeper into her stomach, her mouth opening once again and
her scarlet pupils growing as wide as saucers. Her entire body begins
to shiver, her arms slowly reaching for the device that is stabbing her.
"Elly, please stop," I look below my feet to find our mother crying,
"you've both had enough..."
"Shion...?"
"Please, just stop it, both of you...," she begs, her palms burying
further into her face.
I look into my sister's eyes once again to find her barely able to keep
her chin up. She begins to struggle keeping her eyes on me as her head
begins to droop and her arms begin to sag. The hold she has on my
weapon is weak, weak enough so that even a baby can pull it away from
her grasp. Her eyes look up at me once more and again I see the
expression of pain painted on her face.
"El...ly...," she barely calls, her voice weak and broken.
My mouth begins to grow dry at this moment, my breath barely escaping
my lips. The grip I have on my weapon slowly begins to loosen, but not
enough to release it from my grasp. I can feel my jaw beginning to
quiver and my eyes starting to melt. Sadness, is that what I'm feeling
for Miang right now? I can try to deny it as much as I want, but I
know the truth of the matter is that I am feeling pity for my sister.
I'm crying, why am I crying? Why do I cry for the very same person
who tried to kill me, who tried to replace my very existence? Is it
because I know that I've gone too far, or is it because I could've been
the one in her position if the circumstances were different.
"Miang..."
My fingers slowly begin to dwindle away from the hold of my weapon
causing Miang's body to slowly sink to the floor. I release each of
them bit by bit, slowly letting gravity take its course. The weight
held in my arms begins to grow heavier, the pole now barely within my
grasp. I look into her eyes once more through the cracks in her
goggles, noticing that the way I release her is bringing her too much
pain. I feel a lump in my throat now as more tears begin to melt from
my eyes. I can feel her pain somehow, somewhere on my body.
"...I'm sorry," I say closing my eyes.
In the blink of an eye, her entire body plummets toward the ground and
out of my grasp. The tears fall rapidly down my cheeks now, my eyes
trying to shut the streams as best as they can as I keep my vision in
the color of black. A loud clang echos throughout the area the moment her
back touches the floor, causing the dam holding the streams to break at
this instant. I slowly return to the ground as well at this moment, my
comrades rushing toward me once more with looks of relief on their
faces. All of them wear smiles as they try to congratulate me, all of
them but myself and two others wear these masks of happiness. The
words and praise my comrades give me are deaf to me as my vision is
locked on the remains of my sister. With every second that I stare at
her corpse my eyes fill even more with water and nose more congested.
"Elly...," my attention then turns to my lover who wears the same
expression as myself on her face.
"Miang...," we both look to my fallen sister.
"All she wanted was to love and be loved," chaos begins to speak, his
voice as serious as ever, "but even after attaining those things, she
had been swept up in her pain and loneliness for so long that she must
have forgotten what she truly wanted. Pain was the only thing she
could vividly feel, as well as hatred, jealousy, and sadness. She
wanted to feel pleasure, happiness, and above all else, love, but
unfortunately when she did begin to feel those things, she had cast
aside what she had longed for for so long. It truly is sad, is it
not?"
"...no," her voice begins to call in my ears once more, "I'm not done
yet..."
"...Miang?"
My sister begins to stagger to her feet once more, sparks of
electricity and wires now hanging from newly opened craters on her
body. Her legs are slightly bent as she stands, several wires hanging
down her knees and ankles and black gashes running down random spots on
her limbs. Her left arm has been broken off from the bicep, more wires
hang down the remaining part with bolts and other pieces falling from
the gap. Her right arm twitches with every spark that escapes her
joints, a majority of her right glove ripped off from the fall. Tiny
threads barely keep her breasts covered now, they look as if they're
ready to break at any moment. The corset that covers the rest of her
body is now nothing but a rag, holes have been cut up nearly everywhere
and the pole I had impaled her with still lies impaled in her stomach.
Only one half of her goggles remain, I can see her left pupil clearly
for the first time, but it wears an expression as blank as her face.
"My existence...will not be futile," she speaks, her voice breaking
every second. "I shall...I shall destroy..."
Her remaining arm begins to rise once more, her fingers pointing
forward and her palm pointed toward the floor. Her hand begins to
illuminate in a dark lavender shade at this moment, the entire earth
beginning to shiver once more. Everyone begins to lose their balance
again, the children and Allen hitting the floor in the process. I turn
to my side to find my lover barely able to stand, so I take her into my
arms and bring her body close to mine.
"Miang, please...," she implores in barely a whisper, "please stop
this..."
I feel an object tap my ankle afterward, and it begins to continue to
barely strike at my heels as the rumbling continues. I turn to the
source to find my blaster at my feet. I manage to free one arm away
from Shion and then reach over for the gun at my feet. I bring the
side of the barrel to face my eyes and notice the reflection of my
pupils on the metallic surface. I then glance back at my sister who
continues to charge the violet torch before her hand. The inferno
looks almost charged, I probably only have one shot to stop her.
"Dammit!" I hear the Durandal's captain swear.
I turn behind me to find the child cursing while pulling the trigger of
his twin pistols. No bullets escape the barrel, it's obvious he's out
of ammo. His energy pistol is several feet away from him on the ground
and continues to move further as the tremors continue. I decide to
take aim at Miang now with my free hand, but I am unable to keep my aim
steady. If I'm going to shoot at Miang, I'll need both hands to hold
my blaster properly. I release Shion from my care at this moment,
forcing her into the direction of her brother who catches her.
"Jin, watch her," I order him.
"Elly, what do you plan to do?" Shion asks, but I respond with silence.
"Elly stop! Elly!"
I take a few more steps forward and try to get a hold of the ground. I
place both hands on the grip of my blaster now, my right holding the
side of the weapon while the left cups the bottom. The fire in Miang's
palm begins to take a circular shape as more and more sparks escape her
body. I then place my gun before me now, the barrel pointed forward
and my eyes beginning to look down its center. My finger begins to
take hold of the trigger, but something is preventing me from actually
pulling it.
"This scene...," I begin to realize, "so familiar..."
The one before my vision suddenly changes shape, as does the scenery
before me. Now I find myself before the receiving end of the barrel
and the one holding the blaster now is no longer myself, but another
face, one I would never point such a thing at.
'Shion?'
The evening breeze transforms into whirlwinds of gusts that begin to
sweep us in the winds' direction and I find the ground before my feet
beginning to slide away from me. My hair begins to brush against my
cheeks now and my body begins to move on its own accord. My right arm
stops before my face, my palm pointed directly in the face of my lover.
A sphere of energy begins to collect within my open hand now, the globe
growing larger with every second that passes.
'I will kill you...,' my body thinks to itself, 'I must...'
Before my body's thoughts can finish, a loud bang begins to fill the
area and I find a shimmer of metal before my vision. For some reason I
feel my body beginning to burn, as if my entire being is set on fire.
The burning grows intense and before I know it, I find my vision now
drifting toward the back of my body. No, this isn't my body, it's...
Another bang fills the area and now I find myself once again in my
previous location. I find my body falling toward the floor now, my hip
being the first part of me that meets the ground. The weapon in my
hand crashes to the floor the moment the rest of my body strikes the
ground, and I find my vision now pointed toward the sky.
'What was that just now?' I ask myself.
What I just saw, I remember now, it was the last moment when we were
one, when we confronted Shion after being awakened and killing Kevin.
That's right, that was the moment when we were divided into our
separate selves. Nephilim had escaped our body at the last moment, she
tried to save us as well, but she was only to save one half of us, and
that half was me. That was when Miang's hatred for me really began,
she must have felt like Nephilim had abandoned her when she escaped our
body.
A final crash enters my ears now, causing more tears to fall. I leave
my eyes open now, my entire body feels paralyzed. I feel my lips
beginning to quiver and my entire body trembling, I feel so...sad. I
then realize what I had just done, I had killed my own sister by my own
hands, the same sister who raped me, who tried to replace me, who was
once part of me. Yes, that's why I cry for her, because she was once a
part of me.
"El..ly," my sister calls in the present.
Strength returns to my body now, but I am unable to lift myself back to
my feet. My arms begin to pull against the ground now, pulling me
toward my sister as the rest of my body drags. Shion and the others
have already found their place beside Miang with Shion sitting beside
her daughter and everyone else circling them. I eventually find myself
before my sister's face, her expression once again wearing the mask of
sadness. Tears course down her cheeks leaving trails of white as they
cleanse the ash and grime from her face. I take the back of her skull
into the crook of my arm now and run my hand down one half of her face.
I brush away the strands of hair before her eyes and the shattered
pieces of metal that cover the rest of her face. I see her eyes
without a veil for once, and they are a different shade from when I saw
them before. Blue, a beautiful sky blue they are, a color that can
easily paint the ocean.
"The damage is too great, you cannot save me," she speaks.
I look unto her body now and find that it is true. The shot I had
fired and connected with the top of her left breast, leaving a giant
crater filled with a crimson red substance with liquid of the same
color oozing out. Sparks of electricity no longer escape the broken
parts of her body, nor do any wires and other mechanical parts hang
from them. Puddles of scarlet now rest where her limbs and body lie,
the liquid flowing like water. The puddles are slowly becoming lakes
and I acknowledge what she said was true, Miang is going to die.
"All I truly did want was to be loved," my sister continues. "When
Kevin had refused us back then, I concluded that no one could love us,
no one could love us because we were machines. No matter how emotional
we got, no matter how much human we became, our roots would always be
bound to technology. I never knew what it was liked to be loved
though, so I acted maliciously to everyone. When I found out that I
was loved, I didn't know how to act so I...," her voice begins to
break. "Violence was the way I really knew how to express myself, I
acted as such because I let my jealousy for you blind my true
intentions. To love and be loved, that was my goal. Lying here, I
finally realize how I should have acted, how I should've been to
achieve such things. However, because I was blind to this, Nephilim
had you all return here, to show me the truth through my own death.
Elly, I lied again when I told you the reason why I apologized, the
reason why I did it was because I think I was apologizing to myself,
apologizing for turning out the way I did. It's too late for me to
apologize to myself though, I know what I did was inexcusable, and I
will pay for it with my life. Even though I cannot forgive myself, I
ask all of you, Elly, Mother, and everyone, will you forgive me for
what I have done to all of you?"
"Miang..."
"I forgive you," MOMO speaks. "I know if I was in the same situation,
I would've also been blinded by jealousy, enough so that I might forget
what I truly wanted."
"I forgive you," Jr. says next, "I was...in a similar situation myself,
so I understand how you feel."
"I forgive you," Jin follows, "I'm sure that all of us have been in
situations where we let jealousy blind us from what we truly want."
"I forgive you," chaos goes next, "all of us forget what we truly want
in some point in our life, and many of us often forget so much that we
would act in ways that push us further away from our goals."
"I forgive you," Ziggy says.
"I forgive you," Allen adds.
"I forgive you, Miang, my daughter," Shion says, bringing her lips to
her forehead for a moment, "I'll always forgive you."
"And I forgive you, Miang," I finally tell her.
"Thank you...," her eyes shut once more. "Before I leave for the next
life, I have one last favor to ask of you, Elly."
"What is it?" I ask.
"Love me...," she answers, "please, I beg of you, tell me that you love
me."
"Miang, I..."
How do I truly feel about Miang? Can I love such a creature who has
committed such vile acts in her short lifetime? I could simply lie,
but if I did, I know that I would be hurting a part of myself if I did.
Yet she was the one who sacrificed when we were one being, if things
had turned out differently, I would be the one on the floor right now
asking for forgiveness. I pity her because of this, I pity
because...because I care.
"I love you, Miang," I finally say after a moment of thinking.
"And I love you, Elly...," her words escape in barely a whisper.
Before she could finish her words, I decide to wrap my arms around her
skull and bring her face unto mine, brushing away her tears with my
own. I feel her remaining arm slowly climb onto my back, stopping at
the shoulder so that she may pull my body close to hers. Warm, her
body is so warm.
"I...I think I finally found out the purpose for my existence," her
words as quiet as ever.
"Please, Miang, don't speak!" I tell her, my embrace as tight as ever.
I don't want to hear the reason for existence, though I know what it is
the truth behind the matter hurts. As she had told me numerous times in
the past, we are bound to one another, our existences also not an
exception to this rule. Despite the fact that these are her last
words, I don't want to hear about the reason for her existence, that
reason being the pain behind mine.
"I...," her dwindling voice begins to tower over my tears, "I existed
to..."
Slowly her body begins to freeze and her body growing heavy. I can
feel the weight of her breath beating against my neck, each exhale of
air slower than the last. The flow of her tears begins to die, the
moisture drying from her face. Her arm now drops from my shoulder and
her entire body begins to press against me, her entire being
motionless.
"Miang...?" I call her name. "Miang?" I begin to raise my voice.
I look onto her face now to find her eyes shut and her lips curled.
Frozen, her entire body is frozen and refuses to move. I shake her
body lightly to try and wake her, but her eyes refuse to open.
"Miang?!" I raise my voice again.
I turn to the faces of the others to find tears traveling down a
majority of their faces. Frantically I turn back to the visage of my
sister to find it still frozen in the same smile. I call her name once
more and shake her more violently and again I get no reaction. I call
her name over and over again, her name growing louder with each cry.
My arms grow numb at this point and now all I can do is wrap my arms
around my sister once more and have her body lean against mine.
Sniffles and whimpers begin to escape my lips now, all of them muffled
by my sister's skin. I continue to cry her name over and over again
waiting for a reaction, any kind of reaction. A hand then falls upon
my shoulder, but I know it isn't hers.
"Elly," my lover speaks with her voice nearly broken, "I'm...I'm afraid
your sister is..."
"MIANG!!!!!!!"
I find myself once again outside the Uzuki Residence with my comrades
beside me. The sky is still filled with stars and the moon, and the
evening breeze is as cool as ever. The scenery is the same just as it
was when we left. I look into my arms once more and find nothing
within their grasp. The body of my sister, where has it gone?! My
hands then pull toward my chest and I embrace the empty space which
once held Miang's body. My eyes continue to melt with tears as my
throat becomes dry. My entire body is trembling, my limbs have gone
limp. The arms of our mother wrap around me now and I find myself
falling forward and a hand brushing at the rivers that crawl down my
face.
"There you all are," Captain Matthews' voice enters the vicinity, "when
we came back from town, all of you disappeared. Huh, what the, what's
wrong with all of you?"
"Miang...," I call my sister's name once more.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Author's Note: Well that's it, Miang is dead. Did she deserve to die?
Yeah, I suppose after all she's done to make Elly's life hell. Let's
not forget though that her true goal wasn't to kill her sister though,
it was to love and be loved, she lost sight of this because of her
jealousy for Elly. So I suppose she deserves a sliver of your pity if
you haven't given her any. As for the purple and orange flames Elly
and Miang used when they used their infinite ether ability, I'm sure
all the Xenogears fans recognize this as the hair colors of Elly and
Miang. Xenogears fans may also recall that Elly did possess infinite
ether abilities if you read those profile things in Solaris of all
the characters, I conclude that Miang also has this ability because she
and Elly were originally one being. This chapter was the hardest one
for me to write thus far, I tried my best to explain Miang and Elly's
link, as well as explain Miang's tragic past. One more thing, about
Miang's serial number in the beginning, she was the prototype so of
course her serial number, 00-00-00-00-0, would be different from Elly's
who was the test type, 00-00-00-00-1 (but Elly's of course refers to
after she separated from Miang). If you're wondering about the whole
Nephilim possessing Elly thing, I'm afraid that mystery won't be solved
until this fic's sequel, "Mother." Well I hope you all enjoyed this
chapter, I did because it was a real challenge for me to write. If you
do plan on reviewing, no flames as usual. One more chapter left which
basically wraps up everything, and just like in "Warm," I'll leave a
small preview for "Bound"'s sequel, "Mother," at the end of the
chapter. Well that's it for now, later people!
Onwards to Part 8
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