Evolutionaries were formed after a huge ball of energy lost from the Old World incarnated into the tips of Cthulhu's claws unleashed into the New World. The epicenter of the explosion was named the 'Remnant World', the living residents receiving the highest surge of that energy, transforming them into monsters. The Remnant World encircles that of what used to be New York City's five boroughs and ends where Upstate New York begins. From then on, there stays a whole new world beyond. Hybrids, demons, angels, half-bodies, everything. Evolutionary City, the Capital of the New World, had gone through a disaster.
"Just yesterday, it was revealed a new resident of the City had committed an act of mass murder, killing 178 transfigured humans, and about 300~ civillians as a result of the erratic radius of the attack. The culprit was identified as none other than Ace Wilder, the new owner of the Hawk's Nest as written in Hanniel Griffith's will. His allies were identified as Kima Myers, his girlfriend, and June Wilder, his baby sister. As of right now, the culprit and his allies are on their way to face judgment at the Head Court. What will happen in the future, only time will tell."
The sound of chains jangling attached to his legs sent a sharp pang to his ears, June whimpering as a rifle's butt connected to her shoulder's back, Kima stepping out, Ace's head turned, just a useless bystander. Nothing more he could do but face forward, and move toward the future with open arms as if he weren't the person he was. The guards were stoic, they needn't say anything as the truck's back doors shut behind them, the roaring of an engine firing as its wheels drove it away. More steps, more columns, June bit at her nail, Kim's eyes darting from side to side to spot the faces of the reporters. Flashing lights, incessant chatter; the public seemed curious, but Kima, too, seemed to have that look over her face. Turning her head back so it could face her ginger lover's back, she squinted, allowing her eyelids to sink over her purple pupils, she thought back to a time when it was simple.
When not only Katie was by their side, but Mr. Amara, too, would guide them to their future. How crazy to think, all that was simply two months ago in August- where did the time go? She couldn't help but wonder if Ace had always been this way if she'd been so blind to it this whole time. The lengths someone would go to just to pay off personal debt, to eradicate anyone who threatens his peace of mind, that came solely from their mentor himself. His actions were morally and objectively wrong, everyone knew that. He killed men, women, children without so much as a second thought before he activated that technique, and yet, even now, she still couldn't blame him for it.
They were still children, after all.
Quite any longer and the sun would have set on a new day. The coin was taken, however, the offensive and defensive eyes of Divergence and Convergence, neither could be taken out, at least, not presently, anyway. Their wrists chained, the trio helplessly took their seats at wooden desks and watched as the keys to two chains appeared, unlocking that which bound them.
"Uh, why are you… I thought we were-?" Kim objected curiously to one of the guards,
"You and the white-haired girl were able to defeat two members of the Jester's Deck, a group unable to be caught by the Meta-Registration Group for over six months. However, you are still accomplices with Ace Wilder, so, you are to remain here until the judgment is given," Informed the older man to the younger girl, to which she nodded slowly, and sighed,
"...Understood."
The only one left in chains was none other than the main culprit himself. Ace Wilder, raising his hands to show it all to the sum few that stood within the courtroom to watch the hearing; mutters from reporters and onlookers filling the location.
"I want to make one thing extremely clear. I am not here out of respect for this pitiful excuse of authority, for one, I could kill all of you in here within half a second and all of you would be none the wiser. I am staying here… so my cousin knows who to kill when she breaks us out whatever useless jail you plan on locking us up in-"
Just then, a mere moment after he was about to finish his statement, a bolt of electricity discharged through his brain and awakened a blood-curdling scream to fly out his lips. Crying for mercy at the agonizing sensation, blood streaming out the bottoms of his eyes, June widened her eyes and jumped over to her brother,
"Don't touch him," One of the guards demanded apathetically.
The tip of her finger had absorbed a shockwave of energy sending her flying back into her seat once more, luckily enough, Ace's abilities and engraved artifact had enough healing capabilities to heal the damage done, while he remained unconscious.
"There are devices jammed into the back of your heads. The slightest wrong move and you all die without even the slightest significant thought for your life. As of right now, Ace Wilder's signature can be found in about 20 sole apartments surrounding the museum where civilians previously stood, located by Meta Registration Investigators. This is no longer the United States with their pitiful justice system, ignorant children. Those who deserve karmic retribution and take the innocent lives of others while trampling on about how insignificant they are. Without a shadow of a doubt, Ms. Wilder, Ms. Myers, the man you are entnangled with is: a bad person."
The girls stood silent at the inclination the older man seated backward, the rear of the chair facing their fronts, had uttered. Exhaling gently, he raised his right hand, letting the guards clear a path, he declared but one thing in the moments before the trial began,
"Kima Myers, June Wilder; you are free to go. Flee, before I change my mind."
June dared to take but one step ahead, pushing away the desk, but just before she could unleash any sort of power from within her, a hand on the shoulder; a reminder of who she was came into play. There was nothing they could do, for Ace had chosen his path, whether it was righteous or not wasn't up to them. He sought out his justice and played his part, but their part was done. And so, Kima guided the younger white-haired female out by holding her arm, and just as the sun shined on their faces, Myers released her grip.
It was all too familiar to her. Those days of tranquility, when the thing they'd have to worry about most was whether they'd simply die at the hands of a monster if they were strong enough. Being expected to carry everything on her own two shoulders as the leader of the Agents, there were times where the morning breeze colliding with her smooth face was nothing but an afterthought. How could she not have realized it sooner? How blind she'd been, tied down by chains not of anyone else's making but her own.
"What are we… what are we going to do?" June's voice was unlike the usual one of childish glee mixed with a young blissful ignorance.
Quite the opposite, for Kima, could hear that signature sound within the intones of her vocalization. Not only was this girl biting her tongue, trying in some way to hold back a crazed laugh or scream, but there was a smile over her lips. The second she turned her head and the features on her face began visibly, Kim stared ahead like a river of endless tears and begging sobs croaked out June's throat, as if searching for a way to make the world make sense.
In the end, water's flow in summer's heat would always be calm, the way it'd move so elegantly like a bird flying among the clouds for heaven's golden luminescence to burn into their souls, enjoying the quiet of being alone, not the continuous boisterous volumes of mankind's society. But there must always come a time when the wings of an avian grow tired or when a rock falls off the shores surrounding the directions of the river to slip within its calm flow. A ripple.
Distorting the liquid to such an amount that reverberations manifest in the water to the extent that whatever you're seeing in the reflection becomes duplicated. A false chimera copy of the original, as if peering through a mirror to look upon a world deemed 'wrong', Kima could only see herself in those distortions. Staring at her hands, bathing in the pure sunlight leaking through the upper atmosphere of the planet, Myers could only analyze. The way those lines were organized against her palm to make distinct patterns that meant nothing in further research, she wondered more and more how her thoughts betrayed her. How subconscious programming built within her from the get-go seemed to determine what actions were or weren't taken and how. The thud of knees hitting the concrete ground was enough for Kima to snap back to reality with that distinct audio entering her eardrums, and then fading ever slowly to the world's background.
"Get up, June."
"H-huh?" The silver-blonde shakily asked with a confused tone.
Just then, Kima turned her head to the left, then tilted it up to stare at the clouds, greys gathering to protect the sky blue atmosphere, embers of light leaking in through cracks to enlighten this rotten world. A storm was brewing on the horizon, one none of them could stop no matter how hard any of them tried. It was mere luck and luxury they'd managed to get this far in the slightest, but now, it seemed to be that time. Katie in Asia, Ace imprisoned, it was clear what led to both of those things. A clear goal.
"I said get up. You and I have been acting like sheep; listening to our farmer guiding us to the pen. I… I've been such a slave to someone else I almost lost my way. The way to what I want in my life. Katie wants acceptance, to grow stronger and find her own path outside ours or Ace's. Ace wants to prove himself worthy of what Mr. Amara told him, and because he's eternally grateful for his aid, he'll take whatever steps necessary to reach that end. But what about us? It seemed so long ago that I almost forgot, but what I want most in my life is- to be myself. The leader position had been forced too many times onto my shoulders by ANZEN and Amara, so much that I forgot who I was outside being your guys' resident den mother. Beyond that, at school, too, I was supposed to be 'smart.' I'd been so deluded, taking responsibility for someone else when the only one I have to care for is myself. In the end, it doesn't matter what happens to Katie, Ace, or you, for there is one thing I care about more than anything. Heh. It really took me long enough, eh? Tell Ace, wherever he is when he gets out, that I'm grateful to him."
Myers knelt to June, and simply embraced her in her arms, letting her face rest within her neck, a stray hand stroked her hair, fingers sliding back those white locks at a gradual pace kept consistent.
"I'll see you when the time is right, June. Let's meet again, eventually," Kima declared, but this time, bringing up her fingers for a pinky promise, poking out her thumb specifically, however, something changed in the way June looked to her.
"I am myself and nothing more. Nobody asked you to be our leader, Kim, and you know Mr. Amara would have gladly taken over that position as many times as he could if it made you feel that way. If it makes you feel any better. I never… thought of you as my leader. Kima Myers was never a leader, Kimmy was my sister, someone who cared for me and nothing more, simply that she loved me. If you leave my brother, me… Katie… the next time I see you:
I will kill you."
Why she felt it then, she could never explain it. That look in the girl's eyes, someone younger than her, someone weaker at this moment who'd just bawled out her eyes, had struck that chord within her. Like a wave of water striking down anyone mighty enough to challenge the sea, Kima felt that indescribable sensation wash over her person, absorbed by all senses to register it as one thing and one thing alone.
'Fear.'
But what more could she do? She was writing her death sentence, not only with June, but Katie, too, and funnily enough, the thought of it got her excited. Fighting off an angry Katie after seeing her enraged during the R'lyeh expedition, needless to say, would be torture. But, there was nothing left. June was right, she was a hypocrite, and so what? Everyone has their path in life they have to go on when the time is right when the gong is rung, so, whether she died or whether she didn't, it was up to her to make this choice. Standing up from in front of June, she wiped off her shoulders, the tears that stained her outfit, and walked right past her knelt person. But just before she did, she stopped at the edge of the steps leading down to the City, onlooking the sights of the sprawling metropolis, as if never-ending.
Whatever destiny laid ahead, the challenges the future told of in the strings the Fates controlled, in truth, she couldn't tell. It was almost as if her eyesight had been obscured by a blindfold hiding the lot of this world behind a cover. The way those yellow lights flashed over the surface of the horizon, the rays overlapping with skyscrapers, scenes of men in driver's seats with Griffins and unicorns flapping wings to drive them to their desired destinations. This place- Evolutionary City… really was the stuff of dreams. Made incarnate from the dreams of humans, fantastical storytellings made reality from the desires of man, in a world such as this, it became truly obvious that any dream, no matter how small, no matter how impossible, could be made into a reality. Like a lavish king living in luxury, a businesswoman running a company seated behind a desk. In this new world where the potential stood as limitless as Eternal Sight's infinite range to spot the world's inconsistencies, Kima sighed. The sun was setting soon. A new day stood on the horizon.
In this world, not the City, the Island, or anywhere, she thought to herself and asked that question.
'What do you really want?'
"I wish… to be myself."
But what does that mean? To be yourself, not tied down by the restrictions others place on you. Is it to simply not be with anyone, to stay alone, sitting in a lodge hidden behind a forest of green, reading a book by a warm fireplace, where only the sound of crickets chirping could be heard in the dead of night? So be it.
It's more than a linear path. There only lies but one thing bare, and that is the fate of all others. No matter what, we are all granted access to loving life, one where love encapsulates our beings, and we can feel the warmth of everyone around us. We all wish the same thing. Worthy enough to be worth the attention of others. Did Kima desire that feeling? Did she seem herself unworthy or not special, henceforth damning her abilities, and setting out a new path for her to follow, not involving anyone else but herself in it?
Only time could tell. And so, as she left down those steps to be engulfed within the sun's blinding golden light, like God bestowing passage upon those worthy enough to enter His kingdom, she vanished. The sunset on a gradual night, a closing curtain declaring an end to a chapter thought to have no end in sight, and so, as twilight threatened to arrive in a few hours, June admired the stars, reflecting in Convergence's emerald eyes. Twinkling continuously, further away with each new blink she made enclosing her eyelids over her colored pupils, a pale hand reached out, a palm. Grabbing them in her hand, grasping them tightly in that prison she'd made with her fingers, the tears in her eyes' corners threatened to fall, and so they did. Just as she'd always predicted, there was nothing left in this world but the loneliness of having no one. Not a brother or sisters, just on your own with no one.
At this time, where the night seemed endless, the moon shining solely with stars gifting the tiniest illumination in aid, June couldn't help but wonder. How it'd all go so wrong so fast, in just two months, where the world was simpler, surrounded not only by familiar faces but a new soul mixing into the fray, combining into warmth, as the evermoving continuous flames stabbed into a fireplace singing away at the wood. But, that was how it all moved, the rotation of the world evermoving continually without showing any signs of halting, time showed no mercy to anyone. The best thing we can do is keep moving forward with hope for the future, and though the memories of the past stay within our hearts forevermore, we can never change that time, no matter how horrible it may have been for our past selves' hearts.
There can only be hope.
Hope for a better tomorrow, that, eventually, there would be a time where everyone could be together again. So June held out hope for a happier future, not only where everyone could be together, but so everyone could smile in each other's arms, and enjoy their company. No more despair and tragedy, just friends- family! Oh well, maybe that was simply wishful thinking.
It didn't matter. For that- was her desire.
Evolutionary City Arc - Fin.