We reached the other side of the portal, once it closed we where in the entrance of a bar, a really good looking one, everything had a rustic wood aesthetic, it was pleasant, what surprised me was how everyone isnide seemed to know Madeline, not just like if she was a frequent customer but like if she has been here since the very beginning of the bar.
-We're here!.
She pushes me from the back and I don't see the step that was right below my feet, I end up falling and hitting my head with the floor.
I feel the pain, and although I would usually "calmly" turn around and """""calmly"""""" tell her that that push was mean, however I right now don't feel hate. The phenomenon is still on me, on our way here I was thinking if it was a residue planted inside me by Mildred, a last "fuck you" left behind due to her hating me, but... Thinking about it doesn't seem like something she would do, she wasn't a bad person, a bad person wouldn't apologize while crying like that and then gift me a dream.
This is something more, something deep inside me... I nee-
-Are you done wondering around? Come on let's go to take a seat!.
She pushes me once more, this time more gently as she makes me approach the barman and the seats right in front of him.
Said barman is a quite elegant fella, his brown skin contrast really well with all the different colors right behind him from illuminated alcohol bottles.
Also partially illuminated by the roof light reflecting in his bald head, since it is, in fact, quite bright.
He is quite muscly, I think he is the one who also deals with the problems here if there even us any, so fay I have only seen quiet people.
-Hey there mady, I can see you brought a friend with you.
-Heeeeythere cristi!. How's my favorite barman in all the worlyworld??.
-I dunno, most likely I haven't meet them, you have been drunk in every single planet in this Galaxy, most likely twice, aswell.
- Three times, actually, but even then you're my favorite barman on this galaxy my friend.
(She touches his nose) BOOP.
-Let me guess it totally doesn't have anything to do with me being the only one who let's you drink for free?.
-Nah, although those free drinks, I quite love them hehe.
-Why would you give her more drinks in the first place?
(I end up asking, I guess I got a confidence boost from not feeling embarrassed)
-Why wouldn't I? Is the least thing I could do, this woman right here, saved my life back then when we where in the front with juno.
I had one of my lungs and half of my thorax blown up open by one of those awakened souls, I still remember that when I got hit it as such a powerful blast of heat that I thought the sun had suddenly appeared in front of me!.
And guess what?. (He hits his chest, hard, really hard) Still here baby, and firm as a big ol' tree.
- I can see that. (He laughs in the background while I turn to Madeline) What exactly where you doing before all of this?.
-That, is a long story that I would prefer to tell you with at least 2 martinis in my system, Cristi, hit me with 4, 2 for each.
-Excuse me but I do-.
-I didn't ask if you drink or not, you'll drink with me because we're sisters, and that's what sister's do :)
-I-Uh... What?.
-Come on I have a special seat for two, let's take our drinks there.
She again pushes me from one side of the bar to the other, I can help but notice how I haven't done a single step in this bar by myself, although to be honest I wouldn't want to move around here either way, I'm more of a drink while smresting on one of the walls, kind of person.
We take a seat at a twin chair, it is in fact, special, just like she said, these are the only chairs with leather on them.
-So, Cecile my dear, what did you wanted to talk?.
-What was all of that back there?.
-I would like if you were more precise. (Seh says as she gulps a martini whole in one sip)
-When where you a doctor?.
-Around like 23 years ago was my last day on the job.
-Around the time When Juno happened, did what she did affect you too?...
-... (I see her for the first time without a smile on her face, she looks at me quite seriously).
Cecile, I think we need to know eachother REALLY well, since I think without it you'll never trust me enough for me to work with you and even less with Faraday. So, I'll just explain everything to you, but first, I need to know.
What EXACTLY do you know about Juno?.
The seriousness of how she said it made me feel weird, from the little time I have seen her in person I can tell that this is not a mood she shows often, in fact I doubt someone on this bar has ever seen her like this.
-Juno was a girl who was, according to records the best member of the army right around the time when Kamarov was fighting for independence from the government.
It is unknown why, but she went rampant at some point and committed a terrorist attack on the citadel, as well as causing the complete destruction of the nearest galaxy.
Madeline looks at me still with serious eyes, but smiling, I can tell she doesn't like this story, this, however, is the story I was told, not the one I believe.
-So they still say that version huh?...
-The government censored the story?.
-Not so much censor, more like changing the villain.
-Kamarov wasn't the villain?.
Madeline sighs, not making it look like she is tired of me, but rather it looks like she is about to ouch on a thorny subject.
-... Everyone was the villain, Cecile. Everyone did everything wrong, arguably the council being at the top of the fault.
-What... really happened?.
-Juno... was my daughter.
I'm surprised, to say the least, however I don't show it on my face, she notices this as her face denotes light surprise, she most likely expected me to jump of my seat.
I wish I could do that because I did not expect that, at all.
-Mind telling me... Everything?
-I know it will sound like there is a bias in my story... You'll have to trust me on this.
It is true that juno was the best of them all, she was so good in fact that the council development an experiment just for her, the ability to clone her and get copies that had everything to the exact same molecule as the original, thing is, they made that experiment right before juno died.
-So it wasn't completed?.
-Thats not where in getting at, the machine to create the clones was completed right the exact same day juno died, that was suspicious on its own but it got worse, everytime the active clone died, they never deleted the memory and the feeling of it's dead, they kept all the times she horribly died, that along suspicious call to actions, weird suicidal missions, literally no psychological help whatsoever, everything ended up carving a Deeeeeep scar in her brain, one that persisted clone after clone after clone, because they just didn't want to help her.
-Are you telling me that they made her go rampant?.
-They did, there is no question about it.
-With all due respect but... How are so sure it wasn't just something that was deep beneath her pique that came out last minute?. I mean I know she was your daughter but that kind of think can be noticeable if you have seen her since she was born.
-... I didn't see her being born...
-...?
- Juno was not my biological daughter, I adopted her after her parents died when 2 awakened souls figthed and destroyed the city she lived in, I was already a doctor when that happened, she was such and old child, when she woke up on the hospital and we told her that her parents died she didn't react, at all. She only asked calmly who would take care of her once she got out of the hospital, the usual answer is to lie to the kids and once they're out, let them in a orphanage so they can one day get a family that loves them.
I don't know why but that day I decided to take care of her as my daughter I "adopted" it was never something official, legally she wasn't mine, but I took her home and took care of her every needs until she became a wonderful woman.
But no matter how I look at it I still don't know why I did that, if anything I only know that I always wanted to adopt a kid, because my stupid mother decided that I was going to be born with permanent and incurable infertility...
I guess... I guess I only whised to get a family, but even then I still don't know why I picked her from the thousands that came to the hospital that day... I guess it was luck, destiny or however you wanna call it...
I can see the clear sadness in her eyes.
-Juno wasn't a bad person, Cecile, I know it, I saw her grow from being 6 years to becoming one of the greatest, I was there along her all the time, we always talked and we always had a great time together... She was rough on the outside, everyone feared she could get mad at them and shoot them but back in home she was just a spoiled child who loved to be hugged.
Alba, her girlfriend, was her comfort, all the days she had to endure being a killing machine for those idiots she could forget about it momentarily and get a hug from someone who told her that she was a good girl, that she did her best and that there was no need to act like a machine anymore...
The government took alba away from her and in the process she ended up getting kidnapped, then tortured to the verge of dead, and after months of searching by her own hand, because the council said there was no need to look for alba anymore. She tried to save her lover, only to see her die, promising to see each other on the afterlife. When Juno died later that day she woke up again inside a cristal tube filled with chemicals, they denied her passing, they denied her chance to be with the one she loved the most in the universe, even more than me...
They kept her alive just to participate more and more in a war she didn't want to be part anymore, when she begged them to at least erase the part of the memory that retained all the pain and suffering she had each time another copy died, they told her to just deal with it. And they didn't allow me to talk to her after the first clone, saying I could compromise her performance on battle...
But I saw her... I saw her awakening worse and worse each time.
Almost daily I could see her wake up in one of those tubes, each time with less joy in her face, I could see her eyes going blank at times while she was just looking at the floor.
She ended up developing schizophrenia and PTSD, she passes through a lot of shit, a lot of deaths weren't quick you know?... I saw one day all the data stored in those machines....
My girl went through some heavy shit... And I couldn't be there for her...
She starts tearing up, immediately after she slaps herself in the face, snapping her face to a more serious one rather than a sad looking one.
-*sniff* It's just... They broke her up, and she did something horrible in retaliation... End of story.
-I understand.
Again I said with an stoic face.
She looks at me seriously once more.
-I told you about Juno because inoticed something with you that resembles her...
That attitude you have right now, and before on the complex, I've seen it before.
...
You're in love with Faraday don't you?.
-I- Uh- WHAT?.
-There you go, nailed it.
-Im not.
-Then why did you react to that but nothing else in the past 6-7 hours?.
-...
- Juno was exactly like that when she fell in love with alba, everything, even the lack of emotions, your taking the same path, and let me tell you right away, knock it off.
-I'm not faking this or-
-Yes you are, you're in denial.
- Denial of what?.
- You're denying your true feelings honey, don't do that, you'll end up hurting not only yourself but her in the process. Now let me ask you something, do you of all the people in that complex, want to see Faraday sad?.
-...
- Listen, Alan told me everything about you, he knows you like a sister even though you have talked to each other for like a week I think. But even he knows this isn't you, you're puting up a persona, and that's not healthy for you, and it will crush little Faraday inside if she sees you not reacting at all to her love and care. Hon'. Please just be honest with yourself.
...