Chapter Text
The rain hailed over the entirety of the state, as Sabine sat against the window and watched as the city was shrouded in nothing but darkness, with the light from apartments appearing like little fireflies amongst the masses.
It’s been… she’s lost track. She just knows it’s been way too long. There was nothing but emptiness and loneliness in her apartment, in her apartment that was too big for one.
No, she isn’t in the HQ. She’s nowhere near it. Maybe it was for the best that she left, maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to have joined it in the first place. As always, the coffee that was in front of her was letting out steam (?), and her face was getting a facial of sorts.
She took a sip from it, the tantalising and yet mundane flavours teasing her tongue as she felt heat tang the tip of it. Recoiling slightly from the sudden change in mouthfeel, she places the cup down, crossing her arms and leaning back.
As she looked down, she was met with a sudden pang of pain - surprising, I know. If only she had just walked that little bit faster. If only she had heeded Sage’s orders.
Now, she was in this eternal hell. Physical, mental, emotional hell. It was all so hellish. The one thing that could help her get away from it was the same thing that inflicted this… this inescapable cycle, this repeated sequence of events. Every day, it was the same damn thing - get up, do work, loathe, go back to sleep.
There was nothing worth living for, and yet she couldn’t find it in herself to just end it, to just stop all this fucking pain.
Her uniform, her uniform. It reminded her of the stress, the mental breakdowns, everything just comes and washes her away, like a tsunami that no one knows how to mitigate.
Was life really worth holding onto? She had nothing left. Nothing. Not the coffee, not the sights, not the food, not the people. Especially not the people. No one could convince her that life was worth living for. She had done everything, seen everything, travelled to countless countries, met thousands of people, and accomplished endless awards.
She had done everything. There was nothing. Simply nothing.
And now, she had removed the one thing that she had, she removed the Protocol from her life. The one thing that made her excited, look forward to something, even though she didn’t show it to the world.
There was no more Liam, no more Ying Wei, no more Joon-Hee. No one was around her.
No, the Protocol did not disband. They are still very much in existence. God knows what they were doing in the HQ. Perhaps a pizza party, or a mission, or… it doesn’t matter, Viper couldn’t care less about that.
Right, I shouldn’t be calling her Viper anymore. She doesn’t belong in the Protocol anymore, her call sign isn’t hers anymore.
What do I mean?
They found a replacement. They found another chemist, another Viper. Everyone was saying how they loved this new Viper more than Sabine.
She was less intimidating, less scary, less sarcastic, and overall, just a better human being. Everyone loved her. There were no complaints. No one cared that Sabine was gone.
Sip by sip, the coffee disappeared, flowing down her gullet and into her stomach. Or wherever it goes. The beverage helped to fill the hole in her heart that slightly. And, it only kept it filled for milliseconds.
Mornings are reserved for silence, for reflection and pure self-hatred. And of course, for some alone time with her coffee. Now that the drink was gone, it was time for her to move on with her day. Start it, do something to make her feel warm.
The rain showed no signs of stopping. It just continued to get heavier and heavier until Sabine couldn’t even see directly outside her huge windows. All there was, was this huge screen of water, screening her out from the world.
She put on her exercise outfit and decided to head into the gym downstairs. Her recent discoveries about Radianite had become her latest fortune. A fortune that she wished she hadn’t chanced upon. What were the odds that a scientist who worked with Radiants would finally unlock its true potential?
Did she use them? Did she use her friends, her dear friends, to finally search and derive the true power of the very thing that they were named after? No. Of course not. She’s heartless, but she knows the weight that comes with betraying those closest to you. She knew better than to betray those that could snap her neck within seconds, and she knew better than to put her friends through such torment, of examining them. It was too much. She couldn’t. She just couldn’t.
The money obviously wasn’t infinite. She had to continue unearthing new uses, new secrets, and new ways to manipulate the material to make it an everlasting resource. Or at least, one that is renewable. The whole world was following her works so closely she couldn’t breathe. It was suffocating. But, that’s the price of being successful. No one will let you breathe. They want the latest updates, the latest scandals.
News lines were all about her, and how she had been ‘MIA’ for a few months now. People were speculating that she had died, others speculated that the Protocol had killed her, to take revenge on what she had done - to betray the very thing that helped her grow, her family, for fame, fortune.
Labs were getting frustrated at the lack of work on her part. There was nothing. No new theories, no new discoveries. It was as if she had gone off the radar.
Hundreds- no, THOUSANDS of calls and messages went unread, unanswered. No return calls, no replies, no blue ticks. She was simply unbothered. Deadlines were placed over her head, pushing her closer and closer to the edge, and into the pit of insanity and death.
Dark thoughts was always a prominent devil in her mind. Its presence was too obvious to ignore, to put aside. Every move she made, the devil would laugh at her, belittle her, criticise her. There was no angel, no light. Her life was simply a dark room. A dark room with no exit nor entrance.
Down at the gym, she shut the world out with headphones that blasted music. There, she spent the rest of her morning. And it was finally time to consume some nutrients. It was lunchtime.
Salad? Steak? Fish? Crab?
Bread. A slice of plain white bread sat on her plate. She had the freedom to eat anything and everything, but she chose to just settle for bread. Carbs. Mundane, boring, tasteless. There was no point in blowing big bucks on exotic meats or golden steaks in her opinion. That’s one of the reasons why she has been able to hold on to this wealth for such a long time.
Ah, the amount of time comes to her mind now.
It’s been 5 years since she found the treats that Radianite could provide. It’s been 5 years since the Protocol shunted away from her, turned their backs on her - for God knows what reason. I have no idea as well.
She stared at the lonely, plain piece of bread. It stared right back at her, its pores (?) glaring at her, and in each singular pore, she saw her failure, she saw their faces when she submitted that report. Those pairs of eyes, staring back at her, filled with betrayal and pain, regret and pure dissatisfaction at her actions. It was just judgemental, no sympathy, no empathy.
The more she looked at the bread, the more things came to mind. More thoughts of just ending it swarmed her, swamped her, drowned her. There was no escape for Sabine. There was just a spiral that led further and further into her demise, her ultimate demise, one of loneliness, one of pain, one of a failed success.
What happened in those 5 years?
The answer, my friends, is not so straightforward. I don’t even to tell you. It’s filled with heartbreak, emotional turmoil, betrayal, greed. Nothing good will come from you knowing what happened to our snake here. She’s living her best life, honestly speaking. Far from missions, far from people, and filthy rich.
No, Sabine is not money-minded. She just prefers it over human interaction sometimes. It depends on who she’s speaking to.
All her life, she had always heard the phrase that money doesn't buy you happiness. Money can’t buy you love, happiness, closure, emotional stability. All money can do, is drive you further and further down the spiralling pit of working yourself to the grave, neglecting everyone else around you, neglecting nature, neglecting life, neglecting love.
Need I say more about what happened to Sabine? You all should know by now. I feel like I’ve already given away what’s going to happen later on.
Back to Sabine, she was now done with the bread, it was gone, just like her will to live. Her depression can’t be cured, no anti-depressant can help her at this point in time. All she could do was force herself to work, work and work, until the pain was gone, until she collapsed on her table.
Would that day come? Perhaps. Perhaps it will come at the most unexpected time, perhaps, when mirror earth strikes.
5 years have passed since their last attack. They’ve been harassing Sabine, telling her to join them, that there would be no issue with the fact that there would be 2 Sabines. No answer to that offer. Obviously. Was she really going to betray her friends to that extent? Nah. I’ve said it before. She’s inhumane, but not that inhumane.
When mirror earth does strike, Sabine might be safe. The mirror earth agents told Sabine that regardless of whether she joins them or not, they won’t kill her, they would spare her. That, was under one condition, that they had to be fed with the latest updates from her discoveries.
She has yet to reply to that offer as well. But the definite answer is no, no to both. She would never ever join the enemy team, even if it means dying. Her friends back at the HQ mean too much to her. They really do. Despite the fact that they turned their backs on her, she still loves every single one of them.
However, the fact still remains, they won’t take her back. She’s tried, countless times. She’s tried again and again and again. There was no acceptance. It was so bad that even people like Sova, Sage and Omen wouldn’t take her back. They wanted nothing to do with Sabine now.
What she did shall be left in the darkness for a while. I don’t know how to break it to you, what she did. Just, horrendous.
As she saw the colon on her clock blinking and blinking over and over again on her desk, she slumped forward, chin on her hand. Her left leg had gone numb, her right…. Maybe I won’t say too much about the right leg.
In the spur of the moment 5 years ago, she was consumed by selfish thoughts. Selfish thoughts that led to the death of someone. And on top of that, her paper on the true power of Radianite was published on that same day, hours after what transpired in the HQ. It was crazy. There was no approval from Brimstone before she submitted the paper. It wasn’t a mistake, it wasn’t that Sabine had forgotten, she simply just went behind everyone’s backs and did it.
Knock, knock, knock
Three gentle taps were heard on her door. Someone was visiting her. But for what purpose? We’ll see.