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Nothing could have prepared Simon for what he saw when he opened that door.
It took some moments for it to sink in. There it all was, in his vision, softly fading in, the light from the afternoon sun streaming into the room and bathing everything in a warm glow.
Autumn sunsets were beautiful. Even with the harsh luminescent lighting, the pure white futuristic finish that coated so many things in this space centre… it should have been beautiful. This room – Metis’s room – should have been beautiful. Like it always was.
Slowly… that warm glow was fading. He blinked a few times, as if to get the sun out of his eyes. Bit by bit it dripped into view. The warmth gave way to what was below the veneer – to what was actually there in that room. Not the sun, not the beauty. It was all shifting to monochrome, pushing the sun away.
And the red.
A deep, crisp red. It sparkled, still shimmering atop the surface of her kimono as she lay there.
It was all finally beginning to come into focus. Really take shape.
Metis… her pale clothes stained red. Motionless. Lying on the operating table with her eyes closed. Almost as if she were asleep.
Glints of light from the side. Ponco was in the lab, it seemed, perhaps cleaning up. Another glint of light – Metis’s katana, resting just there on the floor. Its tip was stained that deep red too, much like its owner.
And then there was Athena. Streaks of crimson in her gingery hair. On her headphones. On her clothes. Across her face.
For what had to be several seconds, Simon simply stood there. Whatever it was that he was seeing, it was not sinking in. It wouldn’t. His brain refused to accept it. This was some mistake, or a dream, or – or–
He couldn’t understand it. Everything was there in front of him, yet he just couldn’t. Time seemed to stand still completely. It must have been a mere few moments, but how could he tell? With this much shock, it could have been weeks.
The red… the red everywhere. All over Metis, all over her katana, and most of all, all over…
“A-Athena…?”
Whether she had heard him or not, he was not sure. Yet she was certainly standing right there in front of him. And right in front of her mother.
It was like watching through a screen – all his senses were dulling. Vision going blank, face going numb, ears buzzing. As though from a great distance, he watched as Athena rubbed some of the red from her eyes, then turned to look directly at him. Those eyes… they had such a faraway, haunted look to them, as if she, too, were seeing him from some vast distance. As if she herself could not comprehend all that was in front of her.
Her voice cut through the room’s sickly, stagnant silence. She spoke quietly as always. Yet despite the buzzing, Simon heard every word with clarity.
“Something’s wrong with Mom, so I’m taking her apart to fix her!”
…
…
…
All at once, it dawned on him. The overflow of red, the katana, Metis with her eyes closed, Athena – it bombarded him with such ferocity, he physically stumbled backwards. His heart shot straight down into his heels. He could barely breathe, or think, or feel–
The red was blood. It was blood.
Metis on the operating table, she was dead. Stabbed in the heart by her own katana. And her daughter stood there in front of her, covered in blood, smiling sweetly, about to take apart the body.
No… this couldn’t be happening. It must be a bad dream. This… This couldn’t be…!
Clutching his chest, he struggled to keep his composure. He wanted to scream, shout, cry, slap himself in the face so hard he would wake up from this nightmare – anything! Anything to prove this wasn’t real! Anything to prove that his mentor wasn’t dead, and that Athena hadn’t – hadn’t – oh, god, had she?!
No! No, he couldn’t believe that! There must be some kind of mistake!
He needed to… he needed to find out what had really happened. And for that, before all else, he needed to calm himself down.
But how could he?! That was Metis! That was Metis’s corpse right there! Her dead body was right before his eyes! How the hell could he possibly be expected to stay calm?! His vision was fading so fast, all the blood rushing from his head with such vigour it made him dizzy, every one of his extremities losing any sense of feeling, even his breaths coming in shudders.
Through this haze of shock, his eyes never strayed from Athena. He watched as she lifted a trembling hand, that terrifying and yet so innocent smile still on her blood-covered face, and held it up above the operating table button.
Instinct kicked in when he most needed it. Lurching forwards, as if on autopilot, he grabbed her arm.
If she pressed that button… the mechanical arms would whir into action. With their needle precision they would lower themselves to the level of the operating table and begin their job. Only, instead of disassembling a robot, it would be…
No. The thought made him feel so sick, he had to close his eyes for a few seconds and will his stomach to stop churning. Even as he opened them again, the world was swimming in and out of view in a manner most uncomfortable.
Simon sank down onto one knee and took a deep breath. He put a hand on Athena’s shoulder. “Athena… W-What happened?”
She stared at him – well, in a manner of speaking. Her eyes were glazed over, as if seeing right through him. “Something’s wrong with Mom.”
“But what? What happened to her?! Who did this?!” He couldn’t keep his voice from shaking uncontrollably.
“S…Something’s… Something’s wrong with Mom…” The smile had slipped from her face, leaving the most empty of looks. Almost like a robot. “Something’s… I… I’m t-taking her apart to…”
To repair her like a robot. By dismantling her. Cleaving apart a being of flesh and blood and welding the sordid, gooey remains back together into a Frankensteinian machine.
Oh, how nice it would be to be a robot, unfeeling, uncaring, unhurting. He knew he needed to do something, desperately – but his brain, his body, his soul, none of it would respond, because he was human, and humans did have the tendency to “malfunction” in these situations. So many emotions were crashing through him, like a river rapid through his bloodstream, in a way he had never felt before, never even imagined it was possible to feel!
Metis was dead – his mentor, his friend, the woman he had pledged his undying loyalty to, the woman he would lay down his life for, was dead!
And here was Athena, safe and sound, oh thank god, he didn’t know what he would do if something happened to her – and yet – and yet she was covered in her mother’s blood!
What was he supposed to think?! What was he supposed to DO?!
Beneath the palm of his hand, he could sense Athena shaking. The room was not cold, and yet she shivered as though out in the snow ill-garbed, her breathing as uneven and laboured as his own.
From somewhere deep within, his resolve strengthened, if ever so slightly.
Athena was safe. That was the important thing.
This may have been excruciating, the terror, the shock, the heartbreak… but the relief was undeniable. Whoever it was that had killed Metis – for it was certainly not Athena who had done it, he could not allow himself to even think of it – they had left it at that. Athena appeared to be physically unharmed.
Emotionally… well. Perhaps it was best to stave off that thought for the moment.
Taking a minute to steady himself first, Simon pushed himself back onto his feet. There wasn’t much time – someone was bound to discover Metis’s body soon. And if they came in now and saw what Simon had seen, and came to the conclusion that Athena’s comportment was suspect, all would be lost. No, he could not allow that. He had to think of something, and fast.
Metis loved Athena. She loved her daughter so much, so very dearly and deeply. Her research was all done to protect her. If she was gone… someone else would have to be the protector now.
Simon knew what he must do. Even if his mentor was dead, that did not mean that his oath of loyalty to her was dead too. He had to continue Metis’s mission. Protect the phantom’s psych profile…
…and most importantly, protect Athena. Even if the cost was himself.
With that resolve in his heart, he forced himself to continue. He could take the time to process his emotions later. First, to take a good look around the room.
The katana lying on the floor… no doubt that was Metis’s, and no doubt it was the very weapon that had been used to stab her. Simon bent down and grabbed it off the floor. There was fresh blood dripping off the blade, but the handle was dry. Good. He wiped the handle on the end of his coat, making sure to get rid of any pre-existing fingerprints and leaving only his own.
“Mr Simon, your heart is beating very fast! Are you feeling well?”
Oh, one of his sister’s robots was speaking to him. Yes, he recalled seeing Ponco as he had walked into the room, although it hadn’t really registered in his brain properly.
Had this robot been here at the time when… Metis…?
Well, he couldn’t risk anything. And never mind that Athena was watching; this was about her safety.
Gripping the katana tightly enough to stop his hands shaking, he thrust the blade down into Ponco, slicing it in two. Not stopping there, he kept going until the robot was nothing but a pile of metal and bandages.
There. The witness was dealt with. Aura could fix it later if she so desired.
What to do now, what to do… He had to throw the remains away in the rubbish chute, didn’t he? But there was a security camera outside. It would see him.
He picked up one of Ponco’s bandaged arms and put it on the cart, half in a daze, wondering if he could cover it up with a cloth and wheel it down the corridor with no one noticing.
Wait, that was it – wheel! He could use one of the rolling cases to transport Ponco away! No sooner had the thought occurred to him, the deed was somehow already done. He had packed Ponco away without even being consciously aware of it. Some part of his brain, deep inside, marvelled at all of this – studying his own reactions, fascinated by the psychological aspect of it all. So this was how it felt to be in shock? Was he experiencing early stages of grief? Would this horrific scene that he had stumbled upon traumatise him? Was it a lack of time perception, or was his brain not encoding memories properly?
Whatever it all was, he could think about it later. Right now he had to get Athena and this rolling case out of the lab.
She was still just standing there shivering, staring into space, eyes wide open…
As he went over to her, wheeling the case along with him, her eyes drifted up to look at him.
“Simon?”
“Hm?”
“Are you crying?”
Oh… he hadn’t realised it himself until she pointed it out. Silent tears were running down his cheeks. But how could he feel it when his face was still so numb? It didn’t matter to him one bit.
He took one last look at Metis. She really was resting there so peacefully, not moving a muscle…
The hole where the katana had speared her was easily visible on her chest. The blood had seeped out and drenched the upper half of her kimono.
Someone had plunged that blade in. Someone had taken her away from this world, so violently, so cruelly. How must that have felt? What were her final moments like? Facing down her killer… or perhaps… her daughter…?
A rising storm of emotions – rage, fury, despair, sorrow, utter madness…
Metis…!!! WHY?!
He couldn’t allow himself to feel it right now! All the pain, all the anguish, it could come later. It was threatening to break him as it was. Now was simply NOT the time. A samurai had to stay strong.
He turned away from the body.
“Athena, come here. Y-You need to go back to your room. I’ll take you.”
She stared at him blankly. “But what about Mom?”
Still in denial… How could he tell her? Her mother was not a robot. She couldn’t be fixed.
“Is Mom going to be okay? Are you going to fix her?”
Tears sprung afresh to his eyes, and he screwed them shut for a few seconds, desperately trying to keep them away. His voice was wavering more than he would have liked. “…I can’t fix her.”
“…Huh?”
“Athena, just… come here…”
No, he couldn’t speak anymore. His heart simply wouldn’t let him. He put the katana on the floor and held out his arm, and Athena came over. Up close he could see the bloodstains more clearly. It looked like she had been splattered with it, perhaps by removing the katana from the wound.
God… she was just eleven. A fucking child, covered in her mum’s blood. It was too much to even think about.
Holding her close to his chest, he picked her up with one arm and held the rolling case with the other. The blood was getting on his own clothes now, transferred from Athena’s, but he didn’t care in the slightest. It would only make him look more suspect.
Good.
Athena was still shaking, but she curled up in his arm and leaned into his coat, her tiny hands grabbing the fabric of it tight enough to leave creases. Something was dripping onto the top of her head, what on earth was that? – Oh… his own tears, rolling down off his chin and onto this child he was carrying.
It was strange, really, how they had managed to become friends. Surely Aura should have been the one to befriend Athena, to look after her, to want to protect her. Yet it was Simon who had done so. Even he did not know the reason it had happened. He wasn’t usually that good at getting along with children, or even with people in general.
Perhaps little Athena, quite socially awkward herself, could hear something in his heart that even he himself did not know was there. Perhaps that was how she had grown so fond of him.
The thought was liable to have him doubled over sobbing, so he pushed it aside for now and set off to leave the room. The last thing he noticed as he did so was – well, the absence of a certain something.
The moon rock.
Had the phantom stolen it? Was that another reason why Metis was dead?
Because Simon already knew he himself was partially to blame. He was the one who had asked Metis to analyse the phantom’s voice. He was the one who had brought her into all this in the first place.
Now she lay there, on the very table where she made her wondrous creations, having come to a sticky end.
He may not have dealt the killing blow, but there was blood on his hands. He knew it.
-
No one had spotted him on the way to the Cykes residency. He knew the cameras; he knew how to avoid Athena being caught on them. Entering the room, he put her down.
“You have to stay here. Wash the blood off yourself. Change your clothes and throw these ones away.”
She stood, silently, completely unresponsive.
“…Athena?”
No reply. He knelt down and gave her a gentle shake.
“I know you’re in shock, but you’ve got to wash off the blood and change into some other clothes. This is important. For me, and for… for your m-mother. Promise me you will.”
Very slowly, she lifted her hands up and pulled the headphones off. “I… will.”
Simon breathed a sigh of relief. “Leave these bloodstained clothes on your window, I’ll get Taka to take them away for you. Everything will be alright.”
With that, he stood up again and made to leave. Time to dispose of Ponco and the rolling case.
“Simon, wait!”
He stopped. “What is it?”
Athena finally had a look of emotion in her eyes, subdued as it was. “What’s going to happen?”
Well… who knew?
He tightened his grip on the rolling case handle, his hands trembling too much. “I-I will be going away. For rather a long time.”
“Why?”
Best to get used to saying it now. He had made his decision already. “Because I… I killed your mother. It was me. And so I shall be going to prison.”
Actually speaking the words out loud… they were so very bitter to the taste. The strongest of lies. He loved Metis, he could never have hurt her – yet this was, ironically, the best way to honour her.
For if he didn’t take the blame for the murder… the suspicion would fall directly onto this young girl who was staring at him so hard right now, her eyes so deep and tired, so young and innocent, too young to ever have to look this way…
Turning around, he once more made for the door, only to feel something tugging at him. He looked back to see that little Athena was clinging onto his leg and looking up at him with those eyes – he could hardly stand it anymore! Seeing those utterly miserable eyes of hers!
“You didn’t do it,” she mumbled. “You didn’t kill her.”
Oh no… he couldn’t have this.
“I did kill her,” he said. In a way, it was true. It was all because of that psych profile, and that was his fault.
Unless… unless Athena had been the one who had…
No. He would never, EVER allow himself to believe that.
Athena clung on tighter. “But your heart…! Your heart is so sad! You didn’t do it!”
Her words were too much for him. She could hear every hidden emotion he was trying to suppress, there was no point even talking to her. And the longer he stayed here, the longer he would want to stay here! Fine, he had to admit it to himself – all he wanted was to hug her tight and never let go! He wanted to cry! He wanted to grieve his mentor, he wanted to take it all back, everything, to never give her that voice recording, to do something different, to catch the phantom – anything…!
Instead, he gently pushed Athena off him and steeled himself.
“I killed your mother, Athena. I took away her life. And now I’m going to pay the price for it.”
“No! No, Simon, you didn’t do it!” She threw herself at him, practically enveloping herself in the folds of his coat. “I can hear it in your heart! Mom, she’s… she’s n-not coming back, is she…?”
“No, she’s not. Now get off me, will you? I need to go.”
“Please, no!” She had started crying now. “Y-You can’t! You can’t go to prison!”
“Athena–”
“Your heart is screaming that you didn’t do it! I know you didn’t!”
His heart was certainly screaming something right now, that was for sure – screaming at him not to leave Athena like this, right when she needed him. It was hitting him so strongly right at this very moment.
Athena was – well, perhaps “daughter” didn’t exactly fit it, and maybe “little sister” wasn’t quite accurate either, but that didn’t matter.
She was family.
Here she was, sobbing her heart out, begging him not to go. Her own mother had just been murdered. It was no wonder she didn’t want to lose someone else close to her too. But there was no choice. It was either her or Simon getting the blame, and no matter what, he was not going to let Athena be labelled the culprit. It was better for her to forget about him. To move on and heal in her own way. Live her life.
Metis’s most beloved treasure… he couldn’t let any harm come to her. He had to leave.
“No, please! Stop! Wait, Simon – come back! You didn’t kill her! No, p-please, you can’t leave, you can’t leave me…!”
Without a word he fled from her out into the corridor and quickly shut the door behind him. Even from out here he could hear her pounding her fists against the door, weeping with such openness, her words completely unintelligible at this point.
At least she would be safe from suspicion like this. It was a weight off his mind.
Perhaps he was a monster for doing this. Well, wasn’t that a good thing? He was supposed to be Metis’s murderer now, after all.
Oh, Metis…
With the worry of Athena no longer distracting him, the real shock was beginning to hit – the shock of losing his mentor.
Still in much of a daze, he somehow managed to get to the boarding lounge unseen, throwing Ponco’s remains down the chute with zero remorse. It was all a blur. Once more he took to the corridors unseen, pulling the now-empty rolling case along behind him. He did not rest until he had exited the building and was somewhere deep out on the grounds.
The October air was chilly, especially in the evening. Rays of orange and red tinged the grass as the sun dipped behind the horizon. It was getting dark, and with a coat as black as this, no one would see him out here. He blended in perfectly.
Finding a shady area full of tall grass, he tipped the rolling case over and finally let go of it. His hand had been holding it so tightly it was almost cramping up, yet it still felt so distant, so numb. So unreal.
There was no one else out here. The first stars were beginning to show.
Was Metis one of them now?
Metis… kind and soft-spoken Metis… stabbed in the chest with her own katana…!
A hawk’s screech cried out from overhead. Taka swooped down and landed on Simon’s shoulder, giving him a little nuzzle. Could Taka sense his feelings, somehow? Probably.
At least Taka could be there with him in prison. He was aware of the animal therapy rehabilitation, and the fact that prisoners were frequently allowed to retain pets that they had before incarceration.
Everyone else, though… would he see them again soon?
Maybe Athena would want nothing to do with him now. In a way he hoped so. It would make it easier for her if she could forget all this.
What about Aura? What would she think? The thought of being away from her was twisting his guts painfully – she was not the greatest person on earth, and was in fact incredibly annoying, and ridiculous, and bossy, and overbearing – but still, that was his sister!
No more soba, no more rakugo… no more visits to the space centre.
What would prison life be like?
As the sun disappeared from view, the darkness crept in to envelop the land. Off in the distance the HAT-1 was just about still visible. How was the launch going to go? The police had not managed to catch the spy yet. And now with Metis’s death, they would be spread even thinner.
It was dark, it was cold, it was impossible to see anything. Just the tall grass down here on earth, and the distant stars up in the sky.
And there, up just ahead of him, with an ethereal glow… her…
His eyes were playing tricks on him. Yet it hardly mattered. Collapsing to his knees, tears once more streaming down his cheeks, he bowed down to his liege for the final time. Somehow, he could still see her. He grabbed the grass, clenching his fists around it so tightly that his nails dug painfully into his palms – anything to lessen the emotional pain that was so thoroughly consuming him. She was there, he could sense it…!
“Metis… f-forgive me…” he managed to get out. His throat was on fire, his eyes so full of tears everything was a haze, and his mind… it was broken. And unlike a robot, it couldn’t be fixed.
She was there with him right now. Perhaps it was her spirit. Perhaps he was simply hallucinating. It didn’t matter to him at this time.
He just wanted her back!
Oh, Metis Cykes…
Could anyone fix him now? Or was his fate to be executed for his crime… to lay down his life for Athena… and to finally join his mentor up there in the stars?