Chapter Text
I was dreaming.
“Hey…what’s wrong? You’re looking kinda pale.”
“Yeah! You’re almost as pale as the dorm room walls!”
I can’t really make out exactly what I am looking at, but I am able to recognize it as a memory of mine, a memory that feels rather distant.
“I-it’s nothing. I’m alright…”
“Really? You know we can tell when you’re hiding something, right? You’d have to be a hell of an actor to shake us off!”
I see two girls talking to a third. The third appears nervous, standing on the doorframe, as if forcing herself to stay there.
“I-I…”
“Daphne, cool it, why don’t you? Listen, it’s alright to talk to us. We’re best friends, you know!”
“...I wanted to ask you two for something. I…know it’s selfish, and stupid, and impossible…But I need you to do this.”
The girl looks awkward, as if she’s fully aware of how absurd the words she was going to say are. The other two don’t look too bothered. They seem slightly nervous, but they still smile.
“S-sure!. Whatever it is, we’ll get it done!”
“I need…I need you to stay with me. No matter where we go…No matter what we do…I…”
The girls look slightly taken aback…but soon, their faces become soft. Warmth radiates from them like the sun.
“...Really? That’s it? Whew, here I thought it was something huge.”
“I-I…”
“Of course we’ll stay together. It really doesn’t matter what happens, we’ll all be there to face it.”
“...Yeah. We won’t leave your side, Tiffany. No matter what happens, we’ll be here for you.
“Always.”
The two girls hug Tiffany, and she hugs them back, tightly. As if she is not fully convinced…but then it loosens, as she loosens. As she realizes that her friends were speaking the truth.
They had made a promise.
You have made a promise.
The alarm jolts you awake from your dream. You wake up in a barren, off color white room, on a bed with a black bedsheet with red hearts at the bottom and some white grid patterns at the top. Your unopened boxes sit neatly in the corner.
Your phone is still ringing. You close the alarm and check the time. It is 8:00, there is one hour left before the work term starts.
You decide to get up. You are in your pajamas, but that will soon change, as you had brought your suit here. It is on the second box under the topmost box. It was freshly made by your parents for the job, you made sure not to crease it and you are sure the Devyat employee the company hired had treated your luggage with care. Your company pager is on top of the pile. You make a mental note to keep it somewhere else before you dress up.
You decide that before all of that, you need to get to the bathroom. You squint your eyes, looking for the door to the bathroom. You find and you walk towards it and open the door.
You enter a small bathroom, slightly bigger than a bathtub. It is incredibly rudimentary, containing a toilet, a sink with a mirror and a shower. There are some towels rolled up on a rack. You take a hand towel and keep it near the sink. You begin your routine.
You conduct your business on the toilet. After flushing, you take a small shower of about ten minutes. After that, you wear a towel and walk to the sink and pick up your dental floss. You floss your teeth. You make sure you don’t overstimulate yourself. You take your brush. You apply a small blob of tooth sensitivity relief toothpaste, and wet the brush. You brush your teeth. You rinse your mouth. You do this twice more again. You clean your tongue with the tongue cleaner, careful not to draw blood by accident. You do so anyway, but its just a scratch. You take some fluoride solution and rinse your mouth again. You wince a little from your cut tongue, but it's manageable.
You wash your face. Slowly, but diligently. You apply the moisturizer. You apply the foundation, enough to make your skin look nice, but not fake. You apply some concealer. You apply some powder. You assess your face. Your makeup has been applied perfectly. You look pretty, but in a very natural way. If you blushed while you smiled, they could see the blush. Your face looks perfect. Your face looks normal.
You breathe in. You breathe out. You take one last look at the mirror.
Your name is EVALEA WESTWOOD, also known as EVA. You are the daughter of EX-FIXERS of the WESTWOOD OFFICE, but you were forbidden from the FIXER LIFE because it was TOO DANGEROUS. You instead decided to become a FEATHER OF L.CORP, after receiving a STRANGE, GLOWING INVITATION while you were in EXAMINEE TOWN. You have medium length purple hair due to FREAK GENETICS and DEEP BLUE EYES that people have described as COMFORTING. You like it when people are COMFORTABLE AND HAPPY around you, so you strive to be as COMFORTING AND HAPPY as possible, so as to ward off BAD VIBES. You could have lived a comfortable life as a SPOKESPERSON for some BABY PRODUCTS COMPANY, but you decided to be HERE INSTEAD.
You are here because of A PROMISE.
You are here to keep YOUR PROMISE.
DID YOU GET ALL THAT?
“...Yeah.”
Having built herself perfectly, Eva tied up her hair in a ponytail, walked out of the bathroom.
The suit turned out to be a bit of a mistake, as she realized that she had to wear a different suit to work, but she was slightly glad her routine hadn’t taken up too much time.
She looked at herself in the changing room mirror. She was wearing a light gray suit with a few bits of gray body armor that she had to strap onto it, the only thing that stood out was a green armband with the letter ‘N’ on it. The armor had felt slightly flimsy in her hands, so she wasn’t really too confident about its effectiveness…
But her attention was drawn on the gun on her waist.
She pulled it out of its holster and observed it for a bit. It was an honest to god revolver. She’d seen these models at her grandpa’s house, but those were rusted and chipped. This was new. The steel was fresh. And it felt…strange.
She checked the cylinder, and sure enough, it was quite empty. But when she flicked the cylinder back into the gun and shook it, she could tell that there was…something in there.
And what was with that creaking? There was a distant creaking in her ears, like the creaking of an old rocking chair…
It didn’t matter, she’s got to go to work.
She walked out of the E.G.O storeroom and took out her company pager, following the map to the cafeteria. There were a bunch of people already there, wearing many different uniforms…or rather ‘types’ of uniforms. There were about 4 distinct uniforms she could see, a brown suit and green tie with a green trim, a purple vest and a white undershirt with a black tie with a purple vest, an orange long sleeved sweater on a white undershirt with red ribbons and a light green suit with a black tie.
She remembered the briefings and remembered that there were two distinct kinds of employees, Clerks and Agents. It seemed that most of the people eating right now were clerks, for it was only the Agents that were authorized to wear E.G.Os.
There seemed to be only two other Agents there. A man with brown hair wearing a strange suit that seemed to…flicker and distort like a corrupted video artifact and somewhat further away, a woman with short, deep violet hair wearing a green suit with light green body armor and…fly wings sticking out of the shoulder?
Eva decided not to pay attention to them yet and simply walked over to the lunch area to get herself something to eat. She got her tray and got herself some fried eggs and a sandwich. The cafeteria worker shot her a strange glance as she picked her food. From the brief glance she got on them she knew it wasn’t that she had something on her face…it was more so about them being surprised she was here in the first place.
Had she…mixed up the timing or something? Perhaps Agents had a different schedule than the Clerks…
Well, it didn’t matter too much. At least she’d be getting a headstart on the learning the ropes. It looked like she’d joined in the middle of a working environment…
She finished her breakfast and followed her company pager to the lift. She opened the map and…huh.
Eva stopped for a moment to look at it. There were four departments in total, the ‘Control Team Department’, the ‘Information Team Department’, the ‘Training Team Department’ and the ‘Safety Team Department. She was going to the Safety Team…but what was up with the layout?
The briefing had not gone into too much detail about the departments, but she assumed all of them were open…and yet when she touched the pager, she could scroll down. There was nothing at the bottom, but the fact that it was there…
Was it some kind of design flaw? That’s not likely. This is a Wing, after all. So…are there more departments?
Then why aren’t they…
“whatcha looking at?”
She turned to see a smiling face…except that wasn’t a smiling face, that was…flayed skin…
She jumped back, frightened, her hands fumbling for her gun when the figure standing in front of her chuckled.
“relax, kid. this thing looks freaky, i know, but im not here to hurt you.” He said in a low, deep and dull voice.
She looked at the figure more closely. It was that man from before. He was wearing what looked like human skin on his face, the ‘face’ on the paper being this strange, creepy smile.
“W-Why are you wearing that then? Th-that looks like something a District 23 Butcher would wear!”
“oh, it’s just the uniform. it’s not a big deal, honestly.”
Eva blinked.
“Th-That’s part of your uniform?” She blurted out. She did not mean to, it would have been rude to do so, but she was too unnerved to think properly.
The eyeholes on the thing on his face were short, but she could see his eyes from them. The figures eyes, whose pupils were almost like dots…staring at her.
“yeah.” The figure said, a hint of mirth in their voice. “stay here long enough and you’ll get it stuck to your face too~”
The man gave a low chuckle and Eva found herself stepping back when she heard footsteps.
“Captain Louis? Is that you?”
It was the girl from the cafeteria. She walked up to the figure and looked at him with a hint of concern.
“oh don’t call me captain, maritza.” The figure, ‘Louis’, chuckled. “you make it sound like i do something important.”
The girl, Maritza, laughed sarcastically, before looking at her.
“Are you scaring this poor girl with that stupid thing on your face?”
Louis laughed.
“ah, i apologize. i could tell she was new and i couldn’t pass it up.”
Maritza sighed, putting her arms on her hips.
“Come on, Don’t you have more important things to do?”
“hmm. now that you mention it, i did have some… business to attend to.”
Louis turned around in a…very strange way, almost like his body was made of fluid, before he looked at the two again.
“oh, by the way, you were transferred to netzach’s, no? take the kid with you, she was assigned there.”
Maritza blinked before looking at her. She looked somewhat surprised.
“There? Not Control Team or Information?”
“yeah. looks like our dear manager’s trying to get a bit more efficient.”
Louis chuckled to himself before shifting away, moving in that strangely uncanny way…
The two watched him move through the corridor and away to…wherever he was going. Then Maritza looked at her.
“So, you’re the new hire?”
It was clear that this woman was here before her, so it was imperative for a good first impression. She’d let her fear take a hold of her when meeting that ‘Louis’ guy so it was imperative that she got her composure back.
Though it also felt like she was expected to be scared. This Maritza would be unnerved if she immediately started acting like she was fine.
“Ah-uhm, yeah!” She said nervously, bowing down profusely, “M-My name’s Evalea Westwood, y-you can call me Eva, though!”
It was informal and somewhat awkward, not really fitting for a person who is supposed to be ‘comforting’, but this kind of introduction befit a naive newbie who had just been spooked out of her wits, which admittedly, she was.
“Woah, calm down, kid.” Maritza smiled reassuringly. “Take your time, that Louis guy is a spooky dude.”
Eva took a breath, giving Maritza the impression that she was calming down, when she already was. Maritza had mentioned Louis, so she decided to get some info.
“R-Right. What exactly was that guy’s deal anyway?”
The two got into the elevator. Maritza scanned her company ID and the door closed, as standard elevator music began to play.
“That’s Captain Louis of the Control Team. He likes to mess with the newbies all the time.” Maritza frowned. “He’s never got anything better to do, somehow. He’s not a bad guy though. He’s pretty decent at his job.”
“I see…Why was he wearing that thing on his face?”
“Oh that? That’s an E.G.O gift. You’ll get one eventually.”
Before Eva could open her eyes with horror, Maritza hurriedly looked at her, slightly flustered.
“Not that specific one, though! There’s all kinds of E.G.O gifts and you get them by working on the Abnos, it’s uh…You’re not going to wear that basically.”
…The two stood for a moment as the elevator music played, indifferent of their conversation. Eva could tell she was new to being a workplace senior.
“A-Anyways, I was kinda surprised this place keeps…creatures here.”
Eva changed the subject. It was ideal that strange awkwardness left, after all. Maritza straightened her posture and relaxed a bit before speaking to her.
“Honestly, same. I couldn’t have expected that Enkephalin comes from those things!” Maritza then looked away, a somewhat disdainful expression on her face. “Then again, I couldn’t have expected that the employees here don’t even get up on time.”
“You mean the clerks?” Eva asked, remembering the sight at the cafeteria.
“No, the clerks actually get up earlier than us. The Agents are supposed to get up at this time, and go to work at this time, but noo, they can just go to work whenever they want!” She ranted.
…That’s not right. Eva knew that that wasn’t the case. Maybe she had gotten up early, but there’s no way most of the Agents loaf around. She remembered how back in the Examinee town, her old roommate got up a mere 10 minutes before her classes started and somehow managed to not have a single absence or even a tardiness charge on her record. It was clear that the Agents took some liberties for their schedule. So then the reason why Maritza was so riled up…
“By the way.”
She looked at Eva, an immensely proud look on her amber eyes.
“I am so happy you came in at this time, you have perfect punctuality. It’s so refreshing to see another person who takes their job seriously.”
“Thanks!” Eva smiled, reassuring the woman in front of her.
Yup. This person is a busybody. One of those kinds of people. The kind who would always show up at any occasion, formal or not, at the exact time, and then lord it over everyone else.
Eva felt slightly miffed about having her as a coworker, but things were still manageable. They probably wouldn’t be friends, as Eva will eventually begin coming in later to meet the other Agents and probably also to just relax, but at least she’s in her good graces.
The lift stopped and the two stepped out into a large green room with large ceiling lights, flashing down at them. Pipes ran through the room, pumping and filtering a strange, green liquid coming from an apparatus in the ceiling. Next to the apparatus was a wall practically covered in screens, Eva couldn’t really make out what exactly they had on them, but it was no doubt pertaining to the apparatus…and the massive wall of green right next to it.
The green wall was obviously some kind of machine, with how the green light seemed to pulse, the little cross signs coming up from the bottom and how it moved upwards to…wherever it went. It was so distracting that she almost didn’t notice the giant pedestal at the center. The pedestal had a massive golden trophy with black stripes, out of which a single, massive, green rose bloomed.
This was…
“This is the Safety Team Department, where you and I will be working!” Maritza said, looking around. “I have to say though, I can’t believe they set all this up so fast. I don’t think this was even a functional workplace until today.
Eva blinked.
“Um. What do you mean by that?”
“Well…” Maritza scratched her head for a bit before continuing. “I’m not sure how I should explain it, but Departments just sort of…open here? This place should have been here way before all of us, but it only really started to accept workers now. It’s a little strange.”
“I-I see that. This place looks important.”
“Yeah. I mean, I’ve not really been here, but I do know from the manuals thatr this place is here for the upkeep of the regenerators.”
Eva decided to ignore that thing about ‘regenerators’ and continued with her train of thought.
“Yeah, so why wasn’t it…already open?”
“I…think it has something to do with how recently this facility has been opened? Then again, that still doesn’t make sense since this is a Wing, so it’s not like they’re, um, unstable or something.”
“Yeah! Yeah, there’s no way, right?”
“Yup! In any case…”
Maritza looked at her pager, fiddling around with it. Her eyes glowed slightly as she looked at it.
“Great news, Eva!” She looked up at her, her eyes twinkling with excitement. “It looks like it’s not going to be just the two of us! I’m looking at the census here and it looks like we’re getting another person here!”
Eva kept a neutral but pleasant smile on her face. She wanted to sigh with relief since she already felt like Maritza was going to be a bit of a pain to be around, but of course, she absolutely couldn’t.
“I wonder who it’s going to be?” Maritza chirped. “Maybe it’s a transfer from Information, I would love to see good old, reliable Robertus here! Or maybe it’s from Control, Daphne would be incredible to be around, She can swat down Ordeals like nothing! Or maybe…it’s another newbie! I will have to reprimand them for being late, but it’ll still be so cool to have another Junior!”
Just as she said it, Eva heard the doors heave open. Maritza looked at the elevator with hope in her eyes…only for that hope to completely disappear from them.
The man that walked in wore a brown-red ish suit with a white tie…that had those creepy faces on as plate armor. A small chipped, red axe, stained with…blood, hung from his hip. He yawned, showing his strangely sharp looking teeth, before looking at the two with strangely red eyes.
As he looked at Maritza, his expression changed to a scowl.
“Aye, if it ain’t the naggin nanny o’ the Information Team. Ta think ah have ta work with ye now.” He said, or at least, that’s what Eva thought he said, given his strange accent.
“Reinhardt, how do you manage to look worse every single day?” Maritza smiled, gritting her teeth. There was even a comically large vein on her forehead.
The man, Reinhardt, scoffed.
“Ah, do it e’en matter, lass? A leuk alright-”
“No you dont! ”
Maritza walked over to him and touched his tie.
“Who the hell did your tie?! It looks awful! ”
“Ay, that dinnae matter, lass! It looks fine-”
“And you’re still doing that thing with your hair!”
“Haah?” Reinhardt’s hand when to his blonde hair, touching his strange looking…bangs?
She wanted to say they were bangs, but it looked more like a cowlick-
“You’re still putting your bangs up in that ridiculous style! They look like a rooster!”
“Lass, they’ve always been like that.”
“No they haven’t! I’ve seen you with your bangs down! But you always comb it upwards like that!”
“I dinnae do that.” He said, while brushing his rooster cowlick bangs with his fingers.
“ You’re doing it right now! ”
The two began to bicker and argue, but Eva decided that it wasn’t worth it to hear them.
It was definitely incredibly annoying to have to deal with this. She’s stuck in a strange place full of odd characters with bizarre rules and now her co-workers seem to loathe each other.
…Though at the end of the day, it didn’t really matter. As long as she found her here, nothing would matter.
She was here to keep her promise.
A loud screeching noise came from the intercom mounted on the wall, stopping the two’s bickering. A calm, professional, but strangely cold voice began to speak.
“Attention all Sephirot and Employees. The workday will now begin. All Sephirots must now focus on their stations, and all employees must standby for the Manager’s instructions.”
Maritza and Reinhardt sighed together, before talking to each other in a professional manner.
Well, whatever now, the day has begun! And it’s the beginning of Evalea Westwood’s career as a Feather of L.Corp! It’s time to get to work!.
Eva walked over to the two to ask them for any tips about work…when she heard something creak.
From behind the pedestal, a large black, boxy robot with green highlights shambled out. On its body was a nametag saying ‘Netz4ch’. It…it had some strange green liquid coming out of the top of its head. It had a single, green eye on its head, which was flickering and hazy.
“Aaahh…my head…” A tired, lethargic, slightly crackly voice came out of its body.
It stumbled around, almost as if it was hung over. It turned to them.
“Hey there…Do you know where…”
It made a strange sound, and the top of its head popped open for a bit, letting green liquid pop out. It was almost like the hiccup of a drunkard…
“Do you know where the intercom station is?”
The two stared at him. Although they had been working with those strange robots for a while…this was probably too weird, even for them.
“...Ah think its that a way.” Reinhardt said, pointing to the desks where the clerks were working.
“Aa-aah, alright.” It stumbled away to a corner of the room, and began to do…something with its small, thin pincers for hands.
He pulled out a small box of…
Oh shit that’s Enkephalin.
“Alright, I’m set.”
It began to walk away, towards its station. As it passed them, it spoke.
“Alright, you three. As the newest members of the Safety Team, work hard…or whatever.”
It walked away carrying that box of Enkephalin…
…Ok no, you might be way in over your head, Eva. Maybe that promise was a complete and utter mistake, you should have gotten into Siegfried’s Super Baby Products Company as a spokesperson why the fuck are you here-
Her pager vibrated and she took it out of her pocket. She looked at her two co-workers only to see that they had gotten into another argument. So she took the opportunity to simply grab her notepad and leave.
She stood in the purple hallway with her notepad and a bag of ‘supplies’ a clerk had given her, facing the metal door. Although she was part of the Safety Team, she had been assigned to work with an abnormality in the Information Team. An abnormality called the ‘Punishing Bird’.
…She had a bad feeling about this. It may be a ‘TETH’ class abnormality, which she remembered from the briefing to be on the milder side of the creatures here, but Punishing Bird. What kind of name is that?! And what kind of bird would that even be?
She had the image of a massive, lanky thing with a large sharp beak and glowing eyes, staring at her for the sole purpose of sniffing out any kind of sin or transgression, so that it can immediately attack with blinding speed with it’s sharp, deadly beak, and tear out her heart…
Eva shook her head. This was no time to think about stuff like that! She has to get in and do ‘Insight Work’ with it!...
She quickly looked at the pager for the definition of Insight Work again, and then huffed and puffed and walked in.
The containment unit was the same kind of off white as her room, only here, the walls were tiled. There was a large perch in a corner of the room, made out of a black, withered tree, twisted and bent in a strange, spindly unnatural way. And on a large, cruel looking branch, something sat cloaked in shadow, completely unseen except for its beady eyes, which pierced through the shadows with an uncanny, glowing light.
She stepped a bit closer, and it rustled, and hopped off the branch, flapping its wings and moving towards her, stepping out of the shadow to reveal its wicked form-
…Wait, huh?
Eva looked at it for a moment, and, in disbelief, held out an arm. It flapped over to it and perched on it, letting her see that this abnormality, with the name ‘Punishing Bird’...was a small, round, pigeon!
It was a small, round, white feathered pigeon, with blue tips on its tiny little wings and a small, round, blue-gray beak. It genuinely looked like a pigeon, except it was smaller and round and its eyes were small, beady black ones.
The only thing slightly strange about it was the massive red mark on its chest, but other than that, it was a completely harmless looking bird!
It…honestly looked cute, in fact!
Eva held out her finger, and slowly inched it towards the little bird, and almost managed to scratch its cute little neck…when it then immediately pecked her finger.
Eva lurched back in pain, and the bird took flight, and…looked at her. Looked at her with those small, beady eyes.
Ok so maybe her impression wasn’t too off personality wise.
She looked up the pager again. Insight Work was about tending to the Abnormality’s environment. Clean it, make it messy, do whatever, one simply needs to appeal to the abnormality’s nature. It requires a keen awareness of the Abnormality’s character, and a generally good amount of perception and empathy.
Fortunately, Eva’s been doing ‘Insight Work’ for other people all her life, so this should be quite easy.
She looked around the containment unit. The lights were slightly dim, and somewhat obstructed by the perch, making shadows that, perhaps the little bird found comfort in. It also clearly flied around the room, as there were loose feathers on the floor…alongside its poop. But of course.
Well, her work was quite simple then. She looked into the bag and found some cleaning supplies. Taking the dustpan out, she looked at the bird, who was sitting on the perch, bobbing its head like it was listening to something.
“Alright! I’ll be cleaning your room now!” She said to the bird, which said nothing, for it was a bird.
She walked around the containment unit, scooping up the feathers and the poop with the dustpan, but it was her first time cleaning up that kind of mess, so she was taking quite long, being careful not to drop any of the garbage back on the floor.
She heard the bird fly around her, seemingly observing her. It didn't make a single sound, not even a little chirp, it just flew around, making sure it had her in its sights.
It began to lower itself, and then perched on her shoulder.
For some reason, Eva felt the need to speak to it.
“H-Hey there… Things are going alright!”
It looked at the mess on her dustpan and then looked back at her.
“Yeah, that’s…yours…”
It looked at her once more and Eva realized that maybe she wasn’t going to be able to do things effectively. Perhaps if it was a cat or a dog, maybe things would have been different, but this was a bird. There was nothing in its eyes.
“Don’t worry, Punishing Bird! This mess will be gone and done for right away!”
Why was she talking to it again? She was sure it could understand her, otherwise it would just be a normal bird, but still…
She was holding it up to her face now. It was staring into her eyes now. Its head bobbed slightly.
And then it pecked her nose.
She lurched back once more and the bird flew off her shoulder. She put her hand on her nose, but she laughed instead. This bird…had an incredible sense of humor, after all.
She was going to remark on how mischievous this bird was…before she felt something warm against her nose.
She pulled her hand back…and saw blood.
She stared at it, dumbfounded. It…it wasn’t that forceful, was it? It couldn’t have possibly broken her nose…
She watched the blood pool, and saw a drop fall…
Just as it landed on the floor, the bird dove in and began pecking her head. It was like being pelted by rocks.
“H-Hey! Stop-”
But the bird did not stop, it had seen something worthy of punishment and by the Wings was it going to punish.
She needed to get out of here, at this rate it might just cave in her head!
Carrying the dustpan, she opened the door and kicked the bag out before exiting.
It closed just in time and she saw the Punishing Bird peck at the glass window as if trying to break it, but to no avail.
Eva didn’t move. She wanted to get up and get herself healed…but she didn’t feel like she could move. The pager pinged with a message. She looked up and saw a black, neutral faced emoticon on a yellow background. Work result normal.
…She almost died, that was normal?
…It did not matter.
Eva heaved herself back up. There was surely a first aid kit somewhere, especially in the ‘Safety Team’, so she should just get herself patched up and wait for another order. This shock she was feeling was simply because she hasn’t gotten used to it yet. And she is going to get used to it. She must be a comforting, happy person, wherever she is!
Especially since she might be here…and she can’t let her see her unhappy.
She shambled back to the Safety Department, where-
“Oh come on, lass! Ice Queen be a better name fer that thing!”
“Are you an idiot? Snow Queen is obviously better!”
…Reinhardt and Maritza were arguing over something or the other. Their Sephirah, Netzach, was passed out on the floor near them.
“Snow Queen sounds fookin soft, lass. Ice queen is straicht tae the point an sounds better! It sounds more regal ower an thon prick wad absolutely-”
Reinhardt looked over to Eva, who was trying to keep herself standing. Maritza looked at her next and immediately rushed over.
“Oh no! What happened?”
There was concern in her voice, but not really out of the fact that she was bleeding out. No, from how her eyes were dilated and the expression on her face, her bleeding out wasn’t at all an abnormal sight. Perhaps then, it was simply because this was her first day and she was this messed up.
“Aw shite! Ya been got good, lass!” Reinhardt laughed, no doubt surprised by her state. “Lemme guess, they sent ye tae work with that wee little devil o’ a bird, na?”
“Y-yeah…” She muttered out. It didn’t sound like what she expected to, nor what they were probably expecting of her, but she was bleeding out so Eva didn’t particularly feel like caring.
Reinhardt laughed.
“Oh wow! The manager’s gettin ruthless with taew work right nauw! Ah remember back in the days when we worked with that chattering skull priest. Back then that was enouw fer the day, but ah suppose quota’s been gettin bigger!”
Eva understood nothing, but decided to ignore it anyways.
“Is…is there a first aid kit?”
“Oh no, you don’t need to worry about that!” Martiza said, walking up to her and helping her inside. “Actually, I think it might happen right now!”
Eva was going to ask when suddenly she felt a pulse come from the ceiling.
She felt her nose burn for a moment…and then cool down, like some nice, healing salve was put on it. In fact, almost all of her wounds throbbed for a moment, before suddenly feeling better, like they were being healed…
She touched her nose, it was somewhat sensitive, but it was completely fine now! Eva looked at Maritza with wide, confused eyes.
“H-how did that…?”
“That’s the regenerators fer ye!” Reinhardt exclaimed, putting his hands on his hips and huffing. “No matter how much ye’ve been scratched up, it’ll heal ye up in no time. O’ course, ye’ll have tae wait fer it to charge up again fer the next pulse. Takes ten minute usually.”
Eva remembered that K.Corp also had this sort of technology, or perhaps L.Corp had a deal with K.Corp? L.Corp was the biggest energy company in the City of course, so it must not have been a big deal to get K.Corp to partner with them…
She walked around for a bit, but very quickly noticed something.
“I…don’t feel too alright?”
“That’s because you haven't been fully healed yet!” Maritza said, slightly cautiously. “For wounds of your magnitude, it may take two pulses to heal you up!”
“I…wasn’t even that hurt though? That bird couldn’t have pecked me that hard!”
“That’s cause yer suit aint good fer physical damage. Ivery part of yer body will feel more pain than ye’d normally feel!”
Eva blinked.
“Excuse me?”
“Yea, ah suppose it wis ‘made’ wi’ long range combat in mind, but then again that thing’s made from a strange old lady, so what do ah know?”
…Ok that was a little too much information. Was that why she heard that strange mumbling? Was that the ‘strange old lady’?
Was this strange old lady a monster? She wouldn’t go so far as to call the elderly monsters, although sometimes that’s pretty accurate-”
“Didn’t I tell you not to info-dump like that?” Maritza scolded Reinhardt, who simply shrugged and looked away. She turned her eyes to Eva, and smiled.
“Don’t worry about that, the point is that your suit might be a little bad when it comes to working with abnos that deal RED damage.”
“Ain’t that tha same thing I did-”
Maritza shushed him and Eva remembered that the briefing did actually mention something about ‘damage types’, though she wasn’t sure whether they had gone into detail about it…when she felt the pager vibrate once more.
She looked at the pager and saw the message…
Insight Work with Punishing Bird.
Huh?
“Uh, guys?” Eva held up her pager. “The Manager assigned me to that thing again…for the same kind of work…”
The two looked at her without any kind of astonishment.
“So?”
“I-I mean, that’s not…I just did Insight work like ten minutes ago.”
Reinhardt smiled, showing off his sharp teeth and mischievous grin.
“Aahh, now ye’re gonna git it!”
“Wh-What am I getting?” Eva asked, slightly scared.
“The Official Lob-Corp Experience! Ye better be prepared to see that bird fer the rest o’ the day!”
Oh no.
“B-But I just finished cleaning its room! It’s gotta be clean now!”
Reinhardt guffawed.
“Oh that lil devil will mess it in no time! Dinnae underestimate it, lass!”
“I-I…”
Come on. Was this seriously going to be happening? She had to go clean the bird’s room again! After it tried to kill her!
But of course, she had to be diligent in her duties. It was common courtesy to work hard and diligently when you’re a Feather of a Wing, after all, and Evalea Westwood is a courteous, comforting, happy individual!
So, sulking, Eva walked away, bag and notepad in hand…
Eva walked out of the containment unit, the bird still banging at the glass, and sat down on the floor, exhausted.
She wasn’t sure how many times she had gone in, but it felt like she’d been working with that thing for years now. She had done everything, cleaned the place, added more dust to the place, adjusted the lights, moved the perch around. All of it was done, and the bird was almost always merciless to her. Even when she got Good Results, which were barely by the skin of her teeth, the bird would still be looking at her, eager to see her fail so that it can peck her again.
It had almost killed her multiple times now. That wasn’t an exaggeration. She would pass by a clerk occasionally and they’d look slightly horrified at how much blood was gushing out of her head. But what really made her uncomfortable was how…used to it her co-workers were. What really set her off was how much she herself had gotten used to it! Even though she’d be dying almost all the time, it didn’t even feel scary or threatening or anything!
All she felt…was tedium. There was nothing but an endless cycle of going to work with Punishing Bird, getting her head pecked in, going back, resting for ten or so minutes, and then getting another work order for the same work on Punishing Bird.
And nothing seemed to happen, either. Occasionally, the intercom would screech to a start before that human-but-not-quite voice would say something about ‘Qliphoth Meltdowns’, but nothing would really happen. Apparently, it had something to do with the abnormalities and usually it would have people running about trying desperately to ensure they don’t ‘breach’, but even that has become streamlined enough that now people aren’t even nervous about it.
There was also the ‘Ordeals’ which seemed…interesting. It was extremely odd that strange monsters just…invaded the facility sometimes and nobody really seemed to care, but given how quickly they were suppressed, she could see why. It had barely been a minute since she had stepped foot into the building when they announced that the ‘Violet Dawn’ had been suppressed.
It was nothing but tedium and boredom, and she was getting sick of it. Her hunger also didn’t help. Apparently, lunch breaks simply aren’t allowed, only breakfast and dinner, so it was either you stuff yourself from breakfast or have a lunch bar or something. Maybe even some instant noodles if you had the time somehow.
She was sure that the 9 to 5’s near her neighbourhood in the Nest were more forgiving and those were brutal ! Her dad’s favorite bar was normally swarming with their employees!
…But she had to grin and bear with it. Maybe they’ll let her go after the 50 day work period…
Though she was probably going to stay here for a long time. At least as long as she was…
Ah whatever! It didn’t matter!! She’s gotta get back to Safety now!!!
She walked over to the elevator, and immediately felt irritated. Why the hell couldn’t they just have a normal hallway! Surely there was a more efficient way to structure this place?
She pressed the button on the panel near the doors and stepped in when the doors opened. She pressed the button on the panel on the second set of doors and watched them open, knowing that she’s going to see some dumb shit-
The entirety of the Safety Team department was silent. Even Netzach was watching, although lazily. There was no sound…except the breaths of those two. Reinhardt and Maritza were really close to each other, Their faces only a few inches apart. There was a slight blush on the two’s faces.
The first thing that Eva noticed was that there was a giant spike of ice in Maritza’s chest, square between her breasts. The second thing she noticed was that Reinhardt’s hand…was on one of those breasts.
It didn’t take a genius to tell what exactly was happening. Reinhardt was trying to get that ice spike out, and his hand slipped on the ice.
The two suddenly seemed to become aware that Eva was watching them, and she saw their faces go red with flustered embarrassment.
Eva could step through and calmly explain that she understood the circumstances and they could then laugh about it and get back to ‘work’ or whatever.
…Eva instead decided to press the button to go to the upper hallway. The doors began to slowly close and the two practically ran towards her, their faces completely red, shouting flustered nonsense at her, just barely reaching her, but falling just short as the doors closed on them, leaving them to die of embarrassment.
She got out into the hallway, and laughed. It may have been rude…but what the hell, she deserved a bit of a break after all that tedium.
She laughed as she walked around, before calming down once she saw one of the clerks approach. She was going to go back and explain herself, hoping that they didn’t take too much offense to it…when the pager rang.
Eva sighed. It was probably P.Bird again, but she took out her pager. P.Bird, more like Piss Bird. Yeah, maybe just drop the goody good girl act around it and call it what it is. A shitty Piss Bird-
Insight Work with F-01-37.
That is not Piss Bird.
She tapped the notification, it gave her directions to the containment unit…
It was right across her. In this hallway.
She recalled those two talking about it. It was a new abnormality, one that hadn’t even been named, one that they knew next to nothing about…
Suddenly Eva felt a creeping sense of dread from the containment unit. What the hell was it even going to be? The only thing she had seen in this facility so far was that bird…but she’d be a fool to think all of the monsters here were like that.
…But it doesn't matter. She had to do this.
Eva slid her id card at the scanner… and immediately a cold, frosty wind blew out.
She immediately curled up. She could not stand the cold at all, and this was way above her tolerance level! But she knew she had to step inside, and so she did.
The wind accosted her eyes and she closed them, nervously stumbling into the frosty storm, clutching her notepad and bag.
When the storm eased up…
Where the hell was she?
She could see parts of the containment unit, but this place was…large. Too large. And it was regal, almost like a palace. But there was no way it was. This place can’t be here, it’s too large for the containment unit…But it didn’t care. This place didn’t care if it made sense or not, it still existed in front of her.
And so did the abnormality.
It was a massive figure, cloaked in a heavy, snow blue cloak, with massive ice formations, almost like snowflakes growing out of its shoulders like armor, or maybe like wings. It held a massive, light blue sword, almost double her height, with snowflakes fluttering around it. Its head floated around where her neck should be, that head was shaped inhumanly, its skin was too blue and frozen, its eyes and mouth too large. Antlers grew out of its head and where its hair would have been, there was a regal crown made of a strange, deep blue, frozen metal.
It looked at her, as if it were expecting a response.
“U-um…”
She didn’t know what to say. It almost felt like she was freezing. She felt her hands, they…weren’t cold. They weren’t cold at all! But she could still feel herself freeze, feel herself grow cold and turn to ice, in this strange palace of snow and frost.
“Is this how you conduct yourself in the presence of royalty?” She heard a disembodied voice. It must have come from the figure towering over her. It was the voice of an old woman. Of royalty.
“I-I…I am here to… to…”
She couldn’t tell what to say. She felt terrified. She had never felt this terrified in her life. She couldn’t even move. She was paralyzed, petrified by this fear.
“Stop sniveling, insolent child! You irritate me more than that savage brute that came in here first!”
She almost felt herself fall over. The cold felt unbearable. She was so afraid…
But she had to do this. She can’t let herself freeze over.
“I am here to c-clean and maintain your Palace, your majesty.”
“...Oh?”
The figure moved…no, floated towards her. It looked down at her, and it took every fiber in her body not to run away.
“Yet I see no water within your grasp.”
“W-Water?”
“Yes. It is with water that I can make this barren, meagre place my palace. Do you believe I can merely conjure snow from air, like the previous woman did? Did she not tell you?”
She could tell it felt irritated by that, and it scared her much more than it should have. She felt herself freezing again…
“She…She did not.”
“Hmph. It is of no import. I suppose you can be useful for another task. Find the turning knob that controls the clime of this wretched cage.”
The…thermostat?
She supposed it made sense. The palace needed to be cold…
Eva nodded her head diligently and looked around. There was nothing but an expanse of frost and fog, but she knew it was there somewhere. She began to walk to the place where she saw a wall of the containment unit. She walked…but she walked slowly.
The floor was slippery, and the more she spent time here, the more convinced she became that she was freezing, and that if she fell down, she would shatter into a million bits. She walked to the wall…and found it.
But there as no thermostat.
She felt the wall, feeling her hands go cold, being careful not to touch the wall too hard, lest her fingers get stuck and she’d have to rip them out. She also felt the gaze of the Queen. Felt her stare at her as she fumbled around for the thermostat.
After blindly stumbling around, she found it. It…was frozen stiff. Clearly, there was no need for doing anything with it, but she felt like if she returned, she would get frozen, so she pretended to fiddle around with it for a while.
She walked back to the Queen, who regarded her with an unchanging expression.
“I…I have found the turning knob, and I’ve made sure the climate will…”
She wanted to say something irksome about this cold. This desolate, lonely, awful cold. But perhaps it was not a good idea to say anything bad about the Palace in presence of the Queen.
“Will remain as pleasant as ever!” She said finally, with a smile on her face.
But the Snow Queen wasn’t amused.
“Pleasant, you say? How absurd. Are you so governed by your own fear that you dare to lie to me?”
Eva felt her blood run cold, and felt herself step away.
“Do you intend to leave? I shan’t stop you, of course. You have served my Palace… well enough for now.”
She floated towards her and raised her sword.
“I, Her Majesty the Snow Queen, shall reward you with an embrace. And then you must leave.”
Eva didn’t want to know anything about whatever that meant, but before she could run away, the Snow Queen slammed her sword against the ground and let a tidal wave of frost wash over her.
She felt it seep into her body, into her very heart. Her blood ran cold and she felt for a moment that she was completely alone. But she snapped out of that trance and ran.
She ran and ran until saw the door, heard it open, and..,
She fell out of the containment unit, and the palace gave way to the green hallway of the Safety Team.
It…it was over.
She didn’t move for a bit, letting the cold fade away from her body.. The pager pinged with the result and she took it out, getting back up. It was Normal.
She sighed. She seemed to get on the Snow Queen’s nerves, but it seems she had done well enough, although barely…
She wasn’t sure what was going to happen if she stepped foot in that place again. It felt so cold that it may have eroded her mind. She still felt delirious! She had to get to the regenerator immediately. But before she could make her way to the elevator, Maritza and Reinhardt rushed into the hallway.
Oh great.
The two were still red from embarrassment. Reinhardt particularly was walking as stiff as a board.
The two looked at her for a moment and Maritza began to say something before Reinhardt immediately blurted his words out.
“Eva! Ye didn’t see anything!” He said, glaring at her as though to intimidate her, although his very vibrantly red face made it look more silly than anything.
“...Ok-”
“YE SAW NOTHING! And if yer asked abou what ye saw, juist say that it ias a silly little accident!.
Maritza immediately looked at him, squinting her eyes.
“...Is that what really happened?”
Reinhardt looked at her, genuinely bewildered.
“Wh-Yes?! Ye haed a giant spike richt through yer chest! Ah triiet ta grab it, but i’ was slippery!”
“...Sure…”
“ It was slippery! Ah’ may be from the Outskirts but ah’m not some kinda weirdo!“
“... Uh huh …”
“ AH’M NOT A CREEP! ” He shouted, his face still very red. He actually looked genuinely offended by that assumption. Martiza looked quite keen to egg it on, though. Eva couldn’t tell whether it was because she found it cute, or because she just liked to see the prideful Reinhardt suffer like that.
Maybe both? Probably both.
Eva decided that she would not laugh at what was happening in front of her, despite finding it extremely amusing, and opened her mouth to tell them about the horrific experience she just had when suddenly, she felt something in her chest.
Before she could even process what type of feeling it was, a massive shard of ice grew out with the sound of breaking glass, and her two coworkers immediately stared at her, their eyes widening with a horrified surprise.
“You…You got assigned to work with the Snow Queen ?!” Maritza shouted, shocked.
“I-Is that a bad thing?”
“That thing’s a HE class abnormality! You…”
She immediately took out her pager and held it up to her, looking at something on it.
Looking even more concerned, she put it down and stared at her.
“That thing is monstrously powerful! And you’re wearing gear with a 0.8 resistance to WHITE damage! You’re genuinely lucky you didn’t go insane in there.”
She wasn’t sure what she meant by ‘WHITE’ damage, but one thing was for certain. That thing was way above her level. And she was very lucky something didn’t happen to her.
Reinhardt barked at a clerk for a bottle of water, which the clerk sheepishly gave before running away. He handed it to Eva, and looked gently at her.
“Alricht lass, we neit ta get ye back to the Main Room richt now. Yer mental corruption levels are way too high an’ ye’re still banged up from the Punishin’ Bird. We’ll get ye some coffee an-”
The pager rang. And everyone’s blood ran cold. Eva slowly reached into her pocket and brought it up to her face. She was hoping it was P.Bird, or maybe the Manager was pinging her to congratulate her for surviving the Snow Queen…but all those hopes were dashed when she saw the message.
Insight Work with F-01-37.
She stared at it for a moment. She blinked her eyes. She pulled it back and then brought it closer to her face. She did everything to try and see whether she was seeing what she was actually seeing, hoping that her eyes were deceiving her. But they weren’t.
Insight Work with F-01-37.
Another round with the Snow Queen.
Reinhardt and Maritza looked at the pager, and looked at each other with fear in their eyes.
“This…This isn’t right.” Maritza stammered in disbelief. “The Manager wouldn’t…”
“Hold it fer a sec, lass! I’ve heard that the Manager sometimes cancels orders. Maybe gin we wait…”
They waited for a moment, but the message never left.
“Tch. what the fook.” Reinhardt gritted his teeth. “There’s no fookin way they’re actually…”
“Don’t swear.” Maritza stared at him. Reinhardt looked at her with an expression of bewilderment.
“Wh-Ah think ah’m pretty justified to throw out a fookin ‘fook’ out richt now?! The Manager’s sending this little lass to ‘er grave!”
“D-Don’t be an idiot! Maybe if her panic type is suicide, we can save her! We just need to get Robertus and some of the others and-”
“Haud yer wheesht! What if the Abno juist kills her if she goes insane in there? Even if we assemble a task force, which is highly unlikely, we can’t gamble like that! ”
Suddenly, the intercom let out a screeching noise, and a low, deep and dull voice tiredly spoke.
“hello? members of the safety team? sephirah malkuth is asking you why you three are just standing there.”
It was Louis, the Control Team Captain. Reinhardt looked up at the ceiling, where a camera was focused on them.
“Louis! Ye clarty bawbag!” Reinhardt roared, staring at the camera with a fierce look. “What’s the meaning o’ this?!’
“hey, no need to be rude, rein.”
“Why’d she git a work order for Frost Queen whan she’s almost close ta losing it?! Ye can see that on yer computer screens, no?”
“the decision to send the order was not on us, rein. you should ask the manager about it.”
“Couldn’t ye have, ah dunno, asked them yerself?! Ye know she’s gotta get healed up!”
Louis sighed through the intercom, causing a bit of static noise to come out of it.
“the control team doesn’t actually receive orders, you know? sephirah malkuth does. do you really want me to argue with malkuth? also speaking of malkuth…”
She heard some stomping before a plucky voice blared through the speaker.
“Agent Eva! Agent Evalea! Why are you just standing there? Go into the containment unit!”
“M-Malkuth?!” Maritza blurted out, completely caught unaware by her voice. Perhaps that was because once she got involved, the situation would escalate-
“Malkuth! She’s almost abou’ ta go nuts! Ye can’t send her to work like that-”
“The Manager’s orders are absolute! Plus, if she died on the job, that just means she wasn’t good enough at it! Lobotomy Corporation demands perfection from every employee, even if they’re not from the Control Team!”
“Malkuth!”
“Also, don’t think I didn’t see you two on the cameras there! You will need to go to Hod’s counseling sessions after dinner, Agent Reinhardt!”
“Wh- AH DIDN’T DO NOTHIN’! ”
Maritza looked smugly at him.
“You get what you deserve, Reinhardt!” She laughed.
“You too, Agent Maritza!”
“Wh-What do you mean I have to go?!”
“Serves ye right, ye damned nanny.” Reinhardt muttered under his breath.
“ What did you say? ”
Another argument erupted and the intercom blared with noise. Everything began to dissolve and meld into a cacophony of madness. Only Eva was silent, and she was the only one who felt stable.
There was no need to be swept away in this madness, forget everything and decide.
You can stay here, and possibly get penalized by Malkuth. You don’t know what the punishment would be. You know that your co-workers would be sympathetic…but only your coworkers from Safety could be trusted to be sympathetic. Management will not take your side, probably. Malkuth was incredibly important to the structure of this place, and she was even more rule-obsessed than Martiza!
You are a law abiding worker. You may enjoy a little bit of mischief, but you are no delinquent. You are a calm, calming and happy person. Getting a penalty has a high chance of disrupting this…
And she is not your co-worker. She is part of the other teams, thus, she might be one of those co-workers who won’t be sympathetic to you.
It is highly unlikely that that’s the case…but perhaps the chances are not zero.
You cannot be doubted, you cannot be slandered. Especially not by her .
The choice was clear.
Filled with determination, she ignored the noise, and walked up to the containment unit.
Immediately, she felt the biting winds and the beginnings of a deep, deep regret for choosing this path, but she pushed it aside and walked forward to the Palace of the Snow Queen.
She languidly sat on a throne of ice, looking ahead at her. She didn’t even move, but Eva knew she had spotted her.
“Oh, you are back, child. What more shall you do for Her Majesty the Snow Queen?”
Her words were freezing, and Eva felt the impulse to shut up and freeze, but she resisted it, instead taking out the water bottle in her hands.
“I see that your palace has not yet fully crystalized, your Majesty!” She spoke in a brave voice, holding out her bottle. “I shall assist you in this process!”
For a moment, the Snow Queen had a strange look on her face. Even though her ‘eyes’ were completely white, she could still feel her gaze. A gaze that felt almost…contemptous. Regardless, she raised her hand and idly waved her away to her task.
She walked to the spots where the containment unit jutted out, and opened the cap of the bottle. Pouring some water in her still shaking hand, she sprinkled it over the walls, watching the water turn to snow and frost, and become part of that sky-blue palace.
Her eyesight dimmed. She felt the Snow Queen’s gaze at the back of her head. She felt delirious. But she fought against it all. Perhaps if she did good enough, she could escape that sword, and whatever fate those winds have for her.
But could she? This water was clearly not enough. Perhaps she should have just asked for a clerk to bring her a bucket of water and a mug. That would have been more…
No. There was no time to think about that.
She walked, carefully but forcefully, to the other spots, repeating the process, feeling her fingers turn blue and her mind slowly freeze up.
Before long, she stood in front of the Snow Queen…who was now sitting up on her throne and looking down at her.
Ignoring her fear, she spoke, the winds beginning to howl.
“Well? Is my work satisfactory, O Snow Queen?!” She yelled, as the winds roared against her.
The Snow Queen stood up, regarding her with cold eyes.
“Why do you shout?”
Eva froze. Perhaps she had offended her…
No, none of that, say something and leave.
“I simply wish to make my voice heard! You complained about my stuttering, no?”
The winds howled as she moved closer. Eva reflexively stepped back. Her gaze pierced through her. She felt like that strange spike in her chest was actually impaling her now.
“And yet, I could see who you were in that moment. I could see who you were, instead of this strange facade you put on.”
Eva stopped.
That word.
How did she know about the significance of that word?
No, she wouldn’t know what that word meant to her. That’s stupid. She obviously did not know it.
…And yet she was right on. She knew .
“You push through what is natural to you, You fight the woman that existed before, in order to present to me the woman you are now. For what? To connect with another? To satisfy me?”
The Snow Queen laughed darkly. It was a laugh that sounded like breaking ice.
“How foolish. A waste of effort. It is simpler to be in solitude than force yourself through this charade.”
She raised her sword up in the air, the winds howling around her. Eva knew then that she had to run.
But before she could even turn her back, she brought the sword down, touching the shard on her chest with its tip.
She felt a sharp pain and felt the winds blow towards her, though now they were gentle, almost like a kiss.
And she felt herself embraced by the ice, felt it surround her…and begin to encompass her.
She wanted to scream, but her mouth did not move. Her body did not move. The ice began to crawl up her limbs, and began to grow around her chest.
She looked at the Snow Queen in horror, as she heard her speak.
“Embrace me, o child. You shall need no joy to be yourself and you shall be more beautiful than any spring roses. In your solitude, you shall be free.”
As the ice consumed her…she recited to herself.
Your name is Evalea Westwood. You left a life of comfort for a job in the Wing of your Nest, for the sake of a promise. You devoted yourself to your work, and you devoted yourself to your facade.
But you never got to let people know you as a kind, calming person. You never did good, beneficial work for anyone.
You never saw her , the woman who you came here for.
And now, you will break your promise and die.
Your name is Evalea Westwood. And you are going to die with a thousand regrets to your name.
There is nothing you can do anymore, but close your eyes…
…
But then, Evalea Westwood heard the voice of the Snow Queen.
“Oh? Have you come for the child? It is such a pitiful thing, no? Yet here you stand, sword in hand…”
She heard another voice. The voice of another human. It felt…familiar. As though she should be knowing that voice, but she still couldn’t make it out.
Could it be…?
“Then come, mongrel. Fight for the sake of your pitiful friendship!”
She heard the clashing of blades and the shuffling of feet. The winds blew as they were sliced apart by their swings, and the ice began to shake with the intensity of their clashes. And bit by bit…Eva felt herself regain consciousness.
It was almost like the sun was beginning to shine with each and every blow.
And then, after Eva was just barely able to see what was happening…
“Enough!”
Eva opened her eyes, and saw the sun shining down on the melting palace. Roses bloomed as far as the eye could see, and she heard birds sing as though heralding her savior’s victory.
“You…have done enough. I see now that your bond is something powerful. Far more powerful…than I.”
The Snow Queen spoke with dignity, yet it was clear that she had been humiliated.
“Leave now, leave with your ‘friend’ and leave me be, warrior of ash.”
“Alrighty then, your majesty.”
That voice…
Eva felt her hand get grabbed, as her savior pulled her out of the containment unit. She was still dazed, and still couldn’t tell what was going on, but one thing she knew was that she recognized that voice.
It was not her voice, but she knew who that voice belonged to.
They went out of the containment unit, and warmth began to flood her whole body…except for her cheek. Eva raised her hand to it…but the woman who saved her held it.
“Woah, let’s not do that, Eva. This thing is pretty damn sharp!”
Eva looked up at her face, and found herself staring in surprise.
Clearly much had changed. She was wearing a suit for one. She was wearing a black shirt and a red tie with a pinstripe coat that looked like it was made of ashes and on her back was a massive, strangely futuristic cannon. Her gait was strangely relaxed, almost like she was a refined combatant as opposed to how clumsy she was before, and she also looked a little more tired than she normally would have looked like.
But she was still tall. Her short hair was still a forest green and her brown eyes were still full of that youthful energy.
“D-Daphne? Is that you?”
And despite the shards of ice growing out of her own cheek, Daphne Valentine smiled.
“In the flesh, Eva!”