Alcina sat in her chair, staring up at the mirror as Ira brushed her face with the fine powder. She shuddered as it brushed against her cheek, almost causing the brush to go into her eye.
"Stop moving. You've got to stay still if you want it to look good."
"We don't care for this powder. It is pointless."
"You'll look pretty though!" Ira said back, almost whining.
Alcina paused for a moment, shifting up to look at Ira through the mirror. "Why are you doing this?"
"What do you mean? I told you that I wanted you to feel more like a girl. You can't just stick around like you are forever."
"We aren't a girl though. We are many people. We can't be just a girl. We... It's hard to explain."
"That doesn't really make sense. You have to have a you in there somewhere, otherwise what is mixed with everyone else?"
"We lost that a long time ago."
"Then you should get it back," Ira snapped back.
"We can't. It was taken from us."
Ira set the brush down against the sink and rubbed her other hand against her face. Her purple hair shifted around as her head leaned forwards. She let out a sigh, before slamming her fist against the sink, letting a hollow thud echo out from it.
"Are you angry?" Alcina asked.
"No. I'm just... I don't know. I don't know how to deal with this. I can't fix this."
"We don't want you to fix it."
"But I want you to have a better life than I did! You don't have to be locked to someone like Cyrus forever. Even with all the strange things around you, you can still go back to a normal life. You can still live freely, so you should take that option."
"Why should we?"
Ira breathed in deeply.
"Why should we try to live freely?" Alcina asked again.
"I don't know how to answer that. It's something basic to being a person instead of a tool. You probably would have a better answer than me on that end." Ira paused. "Actually, let's not talk about this. I just wanted to make you feel like an actual girl for once. Is that good enough?"
"That is fine."
Ira picked the brush back up off the sink. "Alright, close your eyes again."
Alcina closed her eyes. "Where did the giant dog go?"
"I dropped it off in District 13. We don't really have the means to take care of it long term, it might need to be put down." Ira patted the brush against Alcina's eyes.
"It was fluffy and nice."
"Do you want to go visit it?"
"Yes."
"Open your eyes now. Look in the mirror."
Alcina opened her eyes. She stood up, then leaned in to the mirror and stared deeply at her own face.
"We can feel it on our skin."
"Well do you like how it looks?"
Alcina moved around a bit, trying to get other angles. She reached forward to touch the glass with her arm covered in slightly red bandages. "We don't know."
"Well that's better than a no, I guess. Let me try something else, how does purple sound?"
Alcina sat back in the chair.
"We don't know. It is strange for us to have this. You should decide, we will go with it."
***
"Halt!" yelled Cyrus, spotting one blue shirt among the white lab coats moving past. All of them stopped.
He pointed his hand up at him, holding a cup of red liquid inside it. Behind Cyrus were three guards, dressed in jet black armor. They each held a simple gun, with the initials C. R. emblazoned onto the barrels. The man in the blue shirt stopped, putting his hands up as the guards pointed their guns at him. The others moved on, continuing their business.
"Yes sir?" the man asked.
"What's your name?"
"Davidson. John Davidson."
Cyrus clicked his tongue. "I remember you. Why are you out of uniform Davidson?"
"I thought I had another clean white shirt and I did not."
"Goddammit." Cyrus massaged his brow with his free hand. "One of you take him to the security room and make sure he's actually Davidson, then give him the powerpoint on security."
"Yes sir!" answered the guards in unison.
The closest one stepped forward and firmly grabbed into the man should and started dragging him away. Cyrus and the other two guards continued down an empty hall, with the only sound being the clacking of their footsteps against the metal grates underneath them.
"Alright men. I don't know what's going to happen in there, but stay tuned out here. Report immediately if something happens. I want to know if even a fly so much as crosses your vision."
"Yes sir," the two guards answered.
Cyrus stepped into the white room yet again. The walls were starting to gain perspective, as the bright light didn't have the same effect on the smudges built up on the wall. The rough plastic blanket was yellowing on the bed, and small specks littered the floor.
"Welcome back to my humble abode," Randy said as he closed the heavy metal door behind him.
"Hello, Randy."
Randy rolled over under the blanket. "I see you have a cup, going to tell me it's fruit punch or some shit?"
"No. It's blood. The girl's."
"Of course it is. Why are you here? I don't want to talk to you."
"How's your sleep been?"
"I sleep when I can, I lay around when I can't. Why? Do you give a shit?"
"I felt like coming here, but I don't know why yet. So I'm trying to make small talk."
"What's with the fucking way you're talking? Am I supposed to give you a cookie or something?" Randy kicked his plastic blanket to the floor.
"What's with the way you're talking? Where's your wit? Lost it all to a sailor's mouth?" Cyrus asked back.
"What the fuck does that even mean?" Randy asked. "Forget it. I've been in here for weeks now. Why would I have the energy left to have a witty jab at you? I sleep. I eat the shit your guards bring in. I shit. I sleep."
"You don't have to remind me."
"What else am I gonna talk about? Huh?! Just give me the fucking cup already so I can throw it across the room."
"It's not for you."
"Then who is it for? We're the only ones in here. You gonna drink it yourself? That'd be a new level of stupid, even for you."
"No, it's not for me. I wouldn't need to bring it in here if it was. Maybe someone is going to break in here to try and free you."
"Fetter's not coming back for me. He knows I'd tear him a new one even if he succeeded."
"Can you just shut up man? Let me think about it."
Randy sat up on the bed and cracked his to the sides. "You know, I've been thinking. If I just rush at you, what the hell could you do about it?"
"What?"
Randy jumped towards him with a white glow around his hand. Cyrus immediately dropped the cup, letting it fall to the floor as he pulled his gun from its holster. With a loud bang, Randy fell over, clutching onto his thigh, now with a hole in it.
"Fuck! I didn't think you'd actually shoot!"
"Why the fuck wouldn't I? I can keep you alive! You are losing it you dimwit! Now I dropped the fucking cup and..."
Cyrus looked at the pool of red on the floor. A cockroach was stuck right in the middle of it, squirming around on its back.
"No. I better thank you. This was how it was supposed to happen."
The door burst open, with the two guards that were standing outside rushing in.
"Don't step in the puddle!" yelled Cyrus as he trapped the roach in the empty cup.
As he looked back at the guards, he saw a navy blue blur pass by the door.
"One of you go find out what that was!" he shouted, pointing out of the room. "It went left!"
***
Alcina seized forward, reaching up to grab her face. Her fingers dug in to her skin, right under her eyes, lightly cutting it open. Small drops of blood welled up on the purple eyeliner.
"Alcina! Are you okay?" Ira threw the make-up brush aside to try and pull Alcina's arms aside.
The tentacles sprung out from Alcina's back, and they started to wrap around her own body. She curled forward, letting out pained sounds as she tried to claw herself.
"Alcina! Stop it!"
"It hurts! We can't! It hurts! It hurts!" Alcina screamed.
"What happened?!"
"We don't know, it hurts! Make it stop! We don't want this!"
The tentacles started digging into her, slowly grating against her skin as they constricted. Alcina started just screaming, without talking anymore.
"Goddammit!" yelled Ira, trying to pull the tentacles away from her.
The tentacles continued to get tighter as blood started to trickle down Alcina's face. They didn't budge as Ira clawed at them, even as she tried to push air between Alcina's body and the dark wriggling masses. She dug her fingers in, trying to squeeze between the two, but only managed to get her fingers crushed just as much as Alcina was. Then, it stopped.
The tentacles released, fully letting go. Alcina was bruised all over, and the bandages on her arm had been ripped off. Ira jumped back as her fingers were freed, quickly shaking them before leaning back to her.
"Alcina. Are you okay? Say something!" Ira shook Alcina by the shoulder.
Her body was limp, and she fell over to the floor from the shake. Then the tentacles started moving again. One of them smacked against Alcina's body lying against the floor. Then another one did. Over and over again, the tentacles picked up speed as they pummeled the girl's body.
Ira could only scream and cry as she watched this happen in front of her. She dropped to the floor, with tears streaming down her face.
When Alcina was broken and bloody, the tentacles stopped. Then twirled together, forming into a humanoid shape. The humanoid shape stooped down, as the shadows faded away from it. A naked man with long black hair was squatting next to Alcina, looking down at her. A black shadow on the floor linked them together.
"Who are you?!" Ira screamed at him.
He turned to her, and as he did so, a black suit formed around it, shifting around until it was a black fluffy jacket and jeans.
The man laughed loudly, like a hyena.
"Who are you?!" she screamed again.
"You don't remember me? I remember you. I was fighting you. You had something to take from me. And now I see her lying here, like a bloody mess, and you didn't do a thing. Is this a sick joke? I come back to this?"
"You. You are dead. How are you..."
"She got distracted, so I broke out. I should probably fix her up, do I have something for that? Oh! I do. This is new. There are so many new."
He reached down and touched Alcina. Her skins shuffled around and the bruises disappeared.
"Is this make-up? On little Alcina? You'd put make-up on us? That's fucking absurd. I don't think I need her any longer if she's going to turn into a waste of space like that. I think we're plenty strong enough without adding more. I should just-"
Ira stabbed him in the chest.
"That's quite rude of you." The knife fell out as Ira let go of it. Where there should have been blood and a hole, there was only a black void, which quickly sealed itself up. "I suppose I should answer in kind. Let's have some fun."
The man held out his hand, and a black tentacle snaked out of it, forming into the shape of a scythe before hardening into the actual image of one.
"I won't let you hurt her. I don't care who you are." Ira drew another knife from her bodysuit.
The man let out a groaning laugh as he breathed in. "I guess it's really time to have fun. The new guy has such a perfect outlook. I haven't done this in a while after all."
More shadows sprouted from him, growing into the shape of wings behind him, but instead of forming into objects, these ones stayed squirming around, like tendrils of darkness behind him.
"I'll fancy myself as an angel of death this time. Jack's back baby."
Alcina's hand reached up, and grabbed his leg.
"Oh? You are still conscious? I should fix that. Go back to sleep my little dear." He kicked her. "We'll be one together soon. Like I always told you." He kicked her again. "Just wait. It'll be your turn locked in the void." He kicked her again.
Ira slammed her leg into him, only for it to stop against his chest without him even flinching. He raised up his scythe, and brought it down in front of him, only for Ira to jump back out of it's short reach in the cramped bathroom.
He turned the scythe around in his hand a few times while looking at the head of it. "What the fuck? This is so awkward to swing. Why the fuck would anyone use this over a knife? Actually why am I even bothering with you? I should deal with the bigger threat first."
He turned the scythe to Alcina, and brought it down at her. Ira jumped in the way, catching the blade of the scythe with her own knife. She locked her arm behind the other, trying with all her might to stop the force of the scythe as it inched downward. Jack just lifted it up, and hammered it down again as Ira struggled to hold it back. He didn't aim at her, but he just laughed as she tried to stop him.
"That's so funny!" he yelled between gasping laughs. "I just keep doing this and you have to try so hard to stop it!"
He swung it down again, this time for Ira to block it, and twist the blade to the side, wrenching it around in Jack's hand."
"Oh, I should fix that."
The head of the scythe turned back into the black misty tentacle, spinning around on the shaft until it pointed straight down again, then resolidified into metal.
Ira just grunted as she focused on him movements, trying to be ready to block his next attack. He treated it like a game, with Alcina on the ground as a prize. When he hammered down the next time, Ira grabbed his leg, and with a heave and a gigantic blast of wind, launched him into the door. The narrow band of shadow on the floor followed him, still connecting him to Alcina.
"Fucking bitch! I could kill you in an instant!" he yelled. "You're lucky that would be so boring."
He slowly rose back to his feet as she settled into a fighting stance, holding her knife in a reverse grip. As they readied themselves to clash again, the door opened. An old man in a navy jumpsuit walked into the already cramped bathroom.
"Who the fuck are you?" asked Jack.
"You," answered the old man. "I'll have to ask you to stop that."
Jack put on a smug look. "I don't want to. Make me."
The old man walked forward ignoring him, and gave Ira a pat on the back as she knelt over Alcina.
"It's okay now Ira. We're back."
The old man stood back up and stepped up to Jack. He swung the scythe at him, catching him right in the path of the blade, only for it to pass through him as though he was made of smoke. The man reached forward, and just touched Jack.
Jack's eyes went wide as he let go of the scythe, letting it recede back into his hand. He touched himself on the chest, grasping around as though he was trying to make sure he was still there. "What?!" Jack yelled. "Fuck! Fuck no! Fuck!"
The effect was incredibly fast. He turned into white flakes that fluttered around for a moment before vanishing. In just seconds he was gone. The dark shadow on the floor that was linking them retracted into Alcina.
"Poor girl. I hope she wakes up soon. You stay here with her. I'm going to go call for some of the medical staff. And you do look pretty with make-up, little lady."
"Who are you?" asked Ira.
"You already met me. I'm just the janitor here. She just did what she needed to."