Val made sure Lumina and Mina were out of sight before she turned her attention back to the disgusting waste of a woman under her, "Oh? And who might you be?" Val could tell that Veronica's interest was definitely peaked. Somehow, the fact that Veronica might not even remember what she did to Val, what she put her through, made her angrier than anything.
"Think harder, Doctor. I'm sure it shouldn't be too hard to know who I am. After all, your obsession with me wasn't something subtle," She growled, "You'd think you'd remember the child you practically blinded, no?"
Recognition seemed to flood Veronica's eyes, and she chuckled, her laughter slowly getting bigger and more unhinged, "Ah, I can't believe it, so you're that brat, huh? I thought you had died long ago, before even getting here, but I suppose…You have that boy to thank, don't you? Although, you seem to have two more eyes than I last recall you having."
"Why, yes, I'm quite glad you noticed! You see, it was quite the hassle to get these ones. You know, finding replacements for eyes being stabbed out isn't all that easy. It took a lot of…Hm, let's say, convincing. With a multitude of weapons. Those scientists were very stubborn about not letting me have those eyes but, well, as you can see, I have them now! It was quite an adjustment though, going from having no vision to almost more than perfect vision," Val laughed.
Veronica's face hardened, "And they didn't try to kill you during the procedure? Fucking weaklings."
Val shook her head, "Oh, I wouldn't say that! It isn't like they really had a choice, after all, with two of the biggest rebellion leaders breathing over their necks, it wasn't like they could just kill me and get away with it. Hyunwoo and Bella would have torn them apart before they even had the chance to try! I did quite like my old eyes but these ones are very pretty. The test subject I took them from didn't seem to want to let go of them though, I really did have to get my hands dirty for that."
"Then, you're no better than me, are you?" Veronica coughed out a laugh as the pressure on her chest made it hard for her to breathe, "What you've done to that person isn't any different from what I did to you—"
The girl simply smiled at this, then pulled her hand back and landed a punch straight on Veronica's throat. The woman gagged, coughing out and gasping for air as it all left her lungs with that one blow. Val's smile didn't reach her eyes, and if one looked closer, they might have noticed that her purple eyes seemed to almost be glowing, "Now, now, Doctor. Let's not forget everything else you did to me. We both know why what you did was much worse. After all, the person that I did it to, well, they lived a long life and committed horrible crimes. And all I did was take their eyes, nothing more. Well, okay, I suppose I did snap their neck before I took their eyes, but you know what I mean!" She giggled.
Veronica looked surprised by this, "You remember everything?"
"Why, does that scare you?"
The woman didn't answer the question.
"If I were you, I'd be terrified, you know?" Val shifted so she was kneeling over Veronica now, her knee digging into the woman's abdomen, "If the person that I tortured for years on end, who I violated in any way possible, who I completely destroyed and broke both mentally and physically showed up in front of me," She leaned down to whisper, "I think I'd be in hysterics, begging for them to spare my life."
Veronica looked away from her, and Val tutted, roughly grabbing the woman's face and forcing her to look at the person she had so completely and thoroughly ruined, "I'm not scared of a little bo—"
Val's eyes flashed, and suddenly, she grabbed something from beside Veronica. The woman's eyes widened in fear as she saw what it was. A pole, almost like a stake, something that seemed to have fallen from somewhere during the explosion. There was almost no hesitation as Val stood up and reeled her arm back, stabbing the pole straight through Veronica's abdomen.
The pained scream could be heard from anywhere in the castle, and everyone seemed to somehow simultaneously know better than to ask.
"Oh, come on, Doctor. I thought we were past this by now," Val groaned loudly, raking her hand through her hair, "Can we get something new this time? It's not like anyone cares about that anymore either, since no matter my gender, it won't stop me from ending your life. Some creativity! Go on, Doctor Veronica, I want to hear it! I can wait as long as we need!" The laugh started off genuine but somewhere, it started taking a harder, crueler edge.
Veronica couldn't even respond, as every time she took a breath, she ended up coughing up blood. Val didn't even seem bothered as it trickled from her mouth onto the girl's shoes. She yanked the stake out, holding it steady above Veronica's body, as the woman's body was wracked with bloody coughs and choking, "You…You little blind bitch…"
"Hm, a bit better than what you were going for before, but I think it could be more creative. You know better than to say false information, Doctor! After all, I'm certainly not blind right now, am I?" Val giggled, "Here, how about we confirm it? There's a hole in your abdomen right now, isn't there? I'll aim this pole and put it right through that hole again, okay? Then we can see if I'm blind or not!"
The woman's eyes widened and she didn't even have a second to shake her head before the smile dropped off Val's face and for one, terrifying moment, her face was completely blank. The pole slammed back down, and Veronica could have summoned demons with the noise that she made, screaming and writhing in pain.
"See, not blind! And I think it went perfectly through the hole as well, better than I expected!" Val was smiling again, and somehow that was the most terrifying part of this.
It seemed that someone had finally decided to do something about the situation, as Val noticed a man staggering over, with what she recognized as a flare gun in his hands, "Leave her alone or—Or I'll shoot this!"
Val shrugged, knowing exactly what would happen next. She stepped on Veronica's wound making the woman scream louder, "Go ahead, I'm not stopping you," She smiled, holding her empty hands in front of her, raising an eyebrow.
There was only a second of hesitation in the man's eyes before he seemed to harden himself. Veronica didn't even have the chance to tell him that it was useless, that it wouldn't work.
Dodging the discharge wasn't difficult, but the man seemed to anticipate that. His plan looked to be that by using the bright light to disorient Val, he'd get Veronica out of there. Of course, he couldn't have known.
As he stepped closer quickly, through the bright light the only thing he could make out was two glowing purple lights before he was knocked to the ground. She didn't even let him beg for mercy, pulling a knife from her belt and flipping it around her fingers before jamming it into his throat.
"Now, since that little situation has been dealt with," Val stood up and turned around to see Veronica trying to drag herself away, "Ah, ah, ah. Where do you think you're going? Playtime isn't over yet!"
Veronica shuddered at the familiarity of those words. Years ago, the positions had been switched, those words had been her own, even if she had delivered them in a different way. However, the way Val said it sent chills up her back. The childishness in her voice seemed so out of place in the entire situation and made it all the more unsettling.
The girl stood next to Veronica, watching her struggle, "Oh dear, these choices are always so hard! Do I just leave you to struggle or do I kill you? The latter seems more appealing…" Veronica seemed to panic at this and the girl giggled, "Oh wow, you really don't like that, do you? Ah, I almost forgot, dying would complicate your whole aim, wouldn't it? Because you need to be alive for things to work out for you and your little buddies, right? Well, I suppose there's the choice made for me!"
Val pulled out two daggers, scraping the blades against each other and making a sickening scratching sound as she sharpened them, "This…Won't help you…" Veronica coughed out.
"Oh, I know," Val grinned, "But what's life without a couple of useless indulgences, no? After all, isn't that what torturing me was to you? Just a useless indulgence?" Her smile dropped and she sighed, "Well, I suppose it was fun seeing you again, you must have certainly been surprised to see me again! I'm taking those as your last words," She raised both daggers, "Goodbye, Veronica. What a pathetic end, to die without anyone who would truly miss you."
Suddenly, Val felt someone crash into her from behind and hug her tightly. She was about to shove the person off of her when she heard the person calling her name, "Val, stop. Please. We need to go, now."
"Nia?" She looked over her shoulder to see messy white hair and a face pressing into her back, "Don't try to stop me—"
"We don't have time," Nia said forcefully, looking up at her, "Xander's out cold, he might have been drugged, Mina and Lumina are heavily injured, Leon is missing, we need to get out of here and patch ourselves up."
Val almost shoved her off, "Leave without me. I can deal with her on my own, I'll join up with you guys later."
Nia shook her head, "I'm not going anywhere without you. I—I'm not leaving you here alone."
"Nia…Don't push me."
The shorter girl looked her square in the eyes, "Hyunwoo got hurt as well. Bella and Risále are getting him out of here. You can't tell me you're not worried."
Val gave pause at this. Then, she said quietly, "How bad?"
Nia shook her head, "Pretty bad. He was already pretty injured from before when I brought him to you guys. He got caught in another explosion and protected Bella and Risále. He's out cold too. So, will you come with me or not?" She stepped back and held her hand out to Val.
The taller girl looked between Nia and the disgusting imitation of a human on the ground in front of her. She knew there was no choice, really. If she didn't go to Hyunwoo now, it would eat away at her forever, after all, she was only alive because of him.
If she abandoned him, then her eyes were meaningless. After all, she only asked for the eyes to be purple so that she could have the same eyes as the bravest person she knew, and the person who taught her how to live again after everything she had been through.
"Fine. Let's go," She took Nia's hand, and the smaller girl let out a sigh of relief, her shoulders sagging. Then, she straightened up again and began to lead Val away.
"Fenix and Owen went to look for Leon," Nia relayed to her under her breath, "I can take you to Hyunwoo and then I'll go to give them back up—"
"We can go directly to them. It's fine," Val responded softly.
Nia shook her head though, "No, I trust they can hold up on their own. Right now, you need to see Hyunwoo. For more reasons than one. And Bella."
"Did I scare you?"
"Huh?"
Val sighed, "I know you saw me. Did it scare you, what I did?"
Nia was hesitant to respond, "It…surprised me. It seemed so out of place for someone like you. Though, it is Veronica. I know what she did to Lumina, and I'm going to assume she hurt you just as badly from the way you dealt with her. I'm not going to judge you for it."
At this, Val sighed in relief. But then, she stopped for a moment. Nia stopped as well, and before she could ask what happened, Val whirled around, flinging one of her daggers.
That day, Nia learned something about the other girl.
The Rebellion's Arrow never misses.
The dagger embedded itself in Veronica's hand, which had just started reaching for the gun that was lying a few feet away. Val didn't look at the screaming woman before turning back and pulling Nia along.
"Let's go."