Chapter Text
The Core's grin was manic, staring down at the girl that was helpless below it, blazing blade raised high in one hand. Finally, after all this time of waiting, it would all be over.
Anne opened her mouth, seeming to be ready to say something, but it feels a jerk in its head-a forced system restart. Each and every eye shut down, seeming to close as normal eyes do as the reboot began. It hadn't really noticed why until it felt the new string of code mix into its system, long and jumbled. Marcy's face was still twisted in a smile, but in that moment, it seemed to soften into something more vulnerable without the slightest movement.
The Core shut down, Marcy Wu disappeared, and Darcy opened their eyes.
Red and green, colors normally associated with Christmas and joy, gazed from the soulless eyes of a mechanical mind. A mind that felt...different.
Sure, Marcy's favorite video game had been intriguing before...but now this was just weird. They could not stop thinking about Zink and his adventures to save Lelda. And they had been aware of War Of The Warlocks, sure, it was how they recognized the plan, but now they actually...KNEW the movie. And they knew there would be MORE. It was all so much and yet it remained a steady thrum in its mind, little trains of thought that split off into their own jumbled ideas all at once. It wanted to punch something to get all of this jittery feeling out, but it probably wouldn't do any good right now. They couldn't bring themself to want to stab Anne anymore, whether it was from the sudden interest in Marcy's favorite things or from Marcy's own adoration for the girl, it could not tell.
The blazing blade was sheathed at their waist once more, and they turned away with a flurry of their cloak.
"Take them all to the dungeon. I might just be sick if I look at them for any longer."
That wasn't true, of course; Marcy's own mind was shockingly powerful, it held each and every one of the other minds in a chokehold, it was suffocating almost.
Their breathing was shallower than it should have been, lightheadedness seeped in slowly...
Andrias followed in its footsteps, crouching down the slightest bit to speak more at its level.
"My lord, are you well? You are swaying on your feet."
"We need a full-system-reboot. Before, Marcy's memories were in a separate file on what felt like another device, and now it has been transferred to our own database. It's too cluttered, we must...clear it up."
Andrias gulped noticeably, looking down at the hivemind that felt too small for its years and nodding his head.
"I see, lord. I shall prepare for the connection to be made. Is the wire necessary anymore?"
"No, son, it is no longer needed. However, it will be helpful with the cleansing of files, so it shall stay plugged in until this is done with."
Calling Andrias son was slimy on their tongue, it hadn't been moments before. They flapped their hands to try and shake off the slimy feeling, not understanding why but knowing it helped and that was all that mattered. It recalled seeing Marcy do things like that when things grew to be too much for her, so it assumed it was just something that came from their host. They didn't really know if the little things it did was the result of being a collective or a bunch of individuals. Maybe both.
"Yes, my lord..."
They sunk into the throne and let the puppet of a monarch begin the process, allowing their brain to shut off for a little bit.
This was odd.