It seemed like the time to wake up in a fit of cold sweat, but no such luck- with Nara gone, Lynx was left to slowly climb to her feet, looking around the forest- the air reeked of smoke more strongly, now, than it had before, and Lynx, confused, turned her steps in the direction of the burning home, starting to walk. Fast, anxious energy fueling her steps, the catty woman hurried forward through the tree line- there, again, a blonde woman who looked all too familiar knelt before the burning embers of a cabin- but the fire no longer roared. Rather, it seemed to have stopped several hours ago, and the copy of Lynx simply sat on her knees, weeping, clothed in dark apparel- was her clothing so dark before?
"Hey! Dream me!" Lynx called out, and the other blonde looked up. "Who did this? What do we need to do, to end the cycle? This has to stop," She added, trying to sound confident, convince this puppet of her past to explain, if that's what she was- were there memories locked in there? Could she find them, if so?
"Dream, you? What- d-do you live in this forest? I- why are you naked? Can you help?" The other Lynx stood, shaky, slowly drawing a short blade form her belt- one a curved blade and a flat edge, painted black like onyx. "I won't let any of you come close- you won't fool me by looking like myself." Her voice was low, calm, and emotionless- but her face betrayed her, lip curling back in a disgusted sneer, eyes narrowing.
"Hey- I'm not a demon- this is just a dream, okay?" Lynx raised her hands, in surrender. "What do I need to do for us to talk this out? I can get on my knees, keep my hands up, whatever you need."
"Prove you're not a demon. Scratch your arm open, let me see the blood." Lynx narrowed her eyes, snarl growing.
"I am a demon, I am. I'm sorry for lying," Lynx called out calmly, loudly, slowly sinking to her knees anyway, very careful to keep her arms up, palms open. In truth, for all of a moment, she'd just forgotten. "I'm naked- no weapons, and by every soul in heaven, hell and earth combined- if I have magic, I don't know how to use it. I just want to ask you a few questions."
"You lie. I watch a horde of demons fall on my home- and expect me to believe that you're just here by pure circumstance? To ask me questions?" The other Lynx narrowed her eyes dangerously, her snarl fully formed, teeth visible to the back of her mouth, nostrils flaring.
"Please, please, believe me," Lynx begged softly, slowly, carefully bringing her hands together in a sort of prayer, bending forward, then, and exposing the back of her neck to the other version of herself, resting her forehead against the stone.
"Say I believe you- what is it that you'd have to ask me." Lynx didn't hear a sound, but the other woman, maybe thirty feet away, had not made a sound when the tip of cool metal dug into the back of her neck. She winced, stomach turning nauseously as her skin was pierced, but took great care not to flinch, or move.
"How likely are you to believe the truth?"
"My mind is open, demon. Speak." The way she said demon felt like a slur, and Lynx paused, thinking, gasping as the blade pierced a hair deeper into her skin.
"Listen, okay? I don't know what's going on, but this is half dream, half not, it has to be! I went to sleep- but there's a spirit here, one called Nara that I've seen multiple times who keeps talking about escape and missing pieces of herself! I don't know where I am but you're not the real you, okay? You're just a projection, if I'm right, then you're part of my past- but I don't understand where I am, what's going on, or what sort of spell this is! Please, just get that blade out of my neck for a moment, okay??" Emotion was returning- Lynx felt her careful calm breaking down, her eyes wide in spite of her entire field of view being the grassy forest floor, her breaths quickening.
"Bullshit," The other Lynx snarled, but something in her, the one with her forehead to the ground, thought to cut off her counterpart.
"No- I mean it, you have a blade in my neck so why would I lie? Even if I can't die in a dream it hurts, okay?! Where were you yesterday, who are you? Can you answer those questions??"
"Of course, I'm a guard of…" The other Lynx trailed off, confused. "I came here to try and stop the…"
"This was your home- you said that. Where are you coming from?"
"Shit…" The sword left Lynx's neck, and she slowly raised her eyes. Her evil twin, if you could call her that, had stepped back, eyes widening.
"Please, Lynx, listen to me, where were you coming from?"
"My- My name was- I can't remember- it was-" Shaking her head, the woman in dark clothing groaned, dropping her sword and clutching her head in both hands. "My name was Ayano, and I was a foreigner in- I was a foreigner, right?" She groaned, drawing a sharp breath as Lynx herself slowly sat up on her knees. "Not was- I AM Ayano, but I'm an outsider- they-"
Lynx waited, but her counterpart didn't seem as if she was going to speak, falling to her knees now.
"Ayano- who were you? Anything could help. You told me that I have to stop a cycle- what is that cycle?"
"The supremacists… there's a cult, I almost have the leader figured out…" Ayano looked up at her, eyes wide, like she'd seen a ghost- and maybe she had, Lynx thought privately with an inward chuckle.
"The cult. The leader. What is the cycle?"
"They figured out how to take over a body- deeper than possession. You can't kill a soul, but they figured it out- how to eradicate the person that once lived there, to replace them so deeply and intrinsically that the body will obey forever. Possession is messy, the host is inside and straining for freedom if they retain their will- a lapse in the demon's judgement and they could lose control. Power does not matter; the soul will always try to kick you out."
"What does that matter if demons are effectively immortal? Why would we need to possess anybody?"
"Powerful or not, a thousand well-trained soldiers are apt to pose a threat. It's not about lifespan, it's about stealth."
"I think I get it. Leader of the cult wants to go incognito, and you want to kill him before that can happen?"
"He has to pay- time and time again, these experiments. He kills hundreds of innocents all for the sake of eradicating one soul- and he doesn't have the process right anymore. He has to be stopped- he… I think… I don't remember… was it my family…? My home town…? I have no idea, why, but I feel that I have a stake in this- I have to, right? Or why would he have had, my home burned…"
"Gotta get the story in order as best I can before I wake up," Lynx muttered, standing and stepping closer to Ayano. "Stay with me. Leader of the cult- why do I need to stop it?"
"You just, do, I don't know, I'm sorry-" Ayano choked, seemingly fighting back tears. "I don't know, I can't do this alone, I can't-"
"I know. You died- I won't be a moron and try to go it alone, come on, let me help you-"
"I can't, I can't go it alone, I can't, I'm sorry," Ayano sighed, stretching and slowly grabbing her sword. Before Lynx could react, her world spun, and she winced, pain flaring in her head, staring up at her own body, which now knelt, without its head.
"FUCK-!!" She screamed, sitting up in bed, rubbing her eyes furiously, panting hard. Clothed, safe, and in bed, Lynx swung her legs off the edge and stood up- even though she could see fine, she smacked the light switch upward, panting raggedly. "No dream within a dream bullshit okay?? If there's somebody here to talk to me then spit it out, I don't give a damn!" There was no answer, though, and after a long moment, Lynx cursed quietly under her breath, pacing to the counter and starting the coffee machine. Something swam behind her eyes, but she wasn't sure what, exactly. A massive home in flames… she remembered, a bit, she thought…?
The murder of hundreds upon hundreds for one life to be spared and still another to be extinguished for good… that was something worth stopping, sure, but what did that have to do with her?
I don't want to get involved with politics, over or under the table… is it possible that it was all just some elaborate dream? There's no way… then did the leader of the cult kill me? Is that what happened? And if that Nara girl is really trying to reach me, then what if she's the leader? What if I'm the body that she needs to inhabit, and I've got part of the soul inside me? What if reaching me means that the rest of my self will be extinguished, killed…? Maybe I should just come clean to Aerendyl about everything so far, and see if he can do anything to help me… but what if there's something in there that he has to report?
Ugh… I'm so not ready for lessons tomorrow… Alice, Alice, what if I confide in you…? But no, I can't risk that- I don't even know who you really are…
-
"Good morning, Commander! My name is Vilhelm, and I'm here for my first day of duty!" The young man grinned, ear to ear, saluting respectfully.
"Alright, you goody-brat," The commander, an older gentleman with gray hair, rolled his eyes. "The job is simple, alright? Watch the desk, and if any cars try to come through, you make sure you see their ID. Scan it- the computer will tell you whether they're allowed through. Understand? This isn't a posting where you'll be saving the day- it's security work, and if you mess it up, I'll have no problem clubbing your head in."
"I understand, commander! Gotta work my way up from the bottom of the chain, don't you worry, I understand!"
"Mn…" Rolling his eyes, the senior turned and walked away. "Have a good first shift, brat." With that, he made his way to the parking garage, muttering small things, such as 'What kind of name is Vilhelm', and, 'Back in my day fresh meat didn't talk so damn much- especially a foreigner'.
Vilhelm himself, though, sat down at his desk with a smile on his face and slowly glanced down at the watch on his wrist, on which was a picture of his mother. "This is it, mom. I'm at the bottom, but one day, maybe I can be a real crime scene investigator! Oh, you'll be so proud of me- or you would be, anyway. I love you, mom, so much, I'm going to do this for you- I swear I'll be the biggest hero in all of Contracted Arms, one day, even if I am just a human!" Grinning wildly, he sat forward as the first car pulled forward, waving an ID at him off the bat.
Hours passed, and the night grew later, and later, when a small scratching sound came from the door. Confused, Vilhelm stood and walked over to it, opening his booth and glancing outside. There was a squirrel at his feet, and as he watched, the small animal raised, in its tiny, clenched claw, what seemed to be a… piece of paper?
Slowly, he knelt, taking the paper- and, shockingly, the squirrel didn't flinch, or even twitch- in fact, it seemed almost to not even breathe as Vilhelm opened the folded note, shuddering- the ink was red and runny, the paper soggy, and smelled of iron. It read only "Follow me. Begging", the red letters on a backdrop of a paper stained pink.
"I can't leave my post…" Vilhelm sighed, stepping back, but the squirrel stepped forward and then froze again as he dropped the note, eyes widening. The animal grabbed the paper and waved it at him, staring with those dead, beady eyes, and Vilhelm swallowed, shaking his head. "What's going on…? I can't, it's my first day…"
The animal, for its part, suddenly bolted up onto his chair, and leapt to the desk, colliding with his computer mouse, minimizing the security software. "What-" Vilhelm watched, helpless, as the squirrel hovered over the default typing software and clicked twice. It clicked, again, opening a document, before beginning a small dance on the keyboard.
"Please. I've chewed the… wires of the security systems, we have about an hour before, anybody will be alerted. I need, help. Please, follow me, I am begging you. If you don't, I could die…. What kind of squirrel knows how to punctuate its sentences?" Vilhelm snorted, shaking his head nervously. "Where do you need me to go?" In response, the squirrel typed only one word; please.
"F-Fine, lead the way," he sighed, closing his eyes. "If somebody is really in need, I'm sure that they'll understand. Go," he waved, and the squirrel bolted down, to the door. He followed, out of his booth, and with one final glance around, verifying that no cars were coming, he followed the animal toward the building.
"Hey new guy, coming in for coffee? Hurry up!" A middle-aged woman smiled and laughed as she passed him in the hallway, headed for the exit. "I forgot my damn wallet in my car, and I need to buy more makeup before my anniversary comes up."
"Haha, enjoy, I'm sure your partner will love what you pick out!!" Vilhelm grinned, waving, and then continued- the squirrel, having cowered under a small mop bucket, climbed out and scampered down the hallway, round a corner- and Vilhelm, eager to get back to his post and at the same time absurdly curious, followed it. He didn't run into any more coworkers- and why would he, this late at night- so without any cameras watching him, he didn't hesitate much when the squirrel stopped and started to repeatedly throw itself at a door marked 'basement'. Opening the door and stepping inside, he found himself with the squirrel in a fairly plain gray hallway, with no windows and a sterile fluorescent light in the ceiling.
"Why does this place even have so many hallways…?" Vilhelm muttered softly, several turns later, and when the squirrel began to ram itself into a door labeled 'maintenance closet', he opened it with a rising sense of dread growing in his stomach- something was wrong. "Well that much is obvious, idiot, but this…" The door was marked as a closet, but what sat before Vilhelm now was a black-metal staircase leading down to still another hallway, this one formed of gray bricks. The squirrel, already at the bottom, waited, and, drawing a breath, he began down, shutting the door behind him.
"Is there anybody down here, that I need to be careful of…?" He asked tentatively, and the squirrel shook its head violently, then dropped to the floor, panting- was it trying to pretend it was… asleep? "Are you saying the staff down here are asleep…?" The squirrel stood, shaking its head. "Empty at night…?" Rapid nodding, and Vilhelm sighed, glancing down at his watch, at the face of his mother. "Go on. Lead me."
Through several hallways, they stopped at a shut tightly with a panel beside it, on the wall, for a keypad- the LED screen was dead, though, and when Vilhelm tried the door, it swung open easily. His eyes widened as they stepped through, the squirrel pacing forward. It was a long, straight hallway full of… cells. Most of them that Vilhelm walked past were empty, but the squirrel stopped outside the very last cell and looked back at him, then slowly collapsed, motionless.
"Squirrel? Are you okay??" Vilhelm rushed forward, but immediately, his eyes shifted to the cell- there were monitors mounted on the wall- heartrate, blood oxygen, magic output, hydration, and more charts he could not understand or read. With what must have been thirty or forty needles in her arms and torso, a young woman who appeared horribly underfed, with the ears and tail of a fox, lay naked and blood soaked against the wall. Before he could react, she opened an eye, smiling tiredly.
"Thank you… for following… the squirrel… it was, me… I… I had to kill it, I'm sorry… didn't want the animal… to die… too small to handle… possession… body died… it'll go, to hell, and be reborn… Would you, let me out of here…? I can, find my way, but I can't, open the door…"
"W-What, why are you locked up like this?" Vilhelm whispered, alarmed, squirrel forgotten, sinking to his knees outside the cell.
"If I tell you the truth, will you, help me get out of here…?" She asked slowly, tiredly, blinking. Her eyes were so soulful, and yet the pain of a thousand wars was in them.
"I'll let you out regardless, I don't care-" He whispered, intensely, gripping the bars. "How?"
"There," She whispered, weakly raising an arm, pointing. Vilhelm followed her gaze- there was a small keypad on the wall, like the one outside this hallway. "It's… one, seven, four, eight… heard a guard mutter it when he thought… I was asleep…"
"I thought demons could regenerate, how are you this weak? Are you starving?" Standing, he punched in the number, and the demon smiled tiredly as a lock clicked, disengaging, and the bars began to drift ajar. Yanking the door open, Vilhelm stepped inside, kneeling again.
"I am starving… but, that would not make me so weak as this… there's, a drug, they're pumping it… into me… we only have, about forty five minutes left… so can you… carefully pull the needles out…? Once the drug, stops entering… it will start to weaken…"
"I can't just leave you here," Vilhelm huffed, carefully beginning to hold her skin taut and pull needles out. "I am so getting fired, and on my first day, but my mom would be smiling."
"Is your mother… gone…? My name is, Nara… my mother is gone, too…" The demon smiled at him, and Vilhelm glanced down, focusing solely on her arm, working needles out. "I am, sorry… did not mean to… make you uncomfortable… but you… can leave me here, once the… needles are out… you must…"
"What? No!"
"Yes… you will not be, fired… or implicated, at all… you must, leave, soon… back to your post…"
"But you-!"
"No, no… it will take several hours for my strength to return… I will leave during the… morning guard change… try not to… kill anybody on my way out…" She yawned, as Vilhelm shifted and began to work the needles out of her other arm.
"What are you saying, I can't leave you here-"
"Please-"
"No!"
"Please, sir-"
"No god damnit, being an agent of Contracted Arms, it means helping people, and you need help!" He insisted, still taking care with the needles, and Nara slowly, weakly raised her other arm, cupping his cheek. The young man paused, looking softly down at her.
"Sir… you cannot make my strength return faster… my blood will… cleanse the drug… and then, my strength will… return- but until then… I have to wait… and you can be… back at your post before any security alarms go off… tell any… cars waiting you, were using the bathroom… or something… If I must, I'll… pretend to be weak… and fight my way out… do not die, nor ruin your life for me…" She whispered as he guided the last needle out of her.
"Nara… what is this place? Why are you here?"
"It is only a holding cell… while they decide, where to… ship me… I'm an anomaly…"
"An anomaly…?"
"Half of my soul… has been ripped out… put into another body… I can feel it calling to me… and now I… know where to go…" She yawned, again, and Vilhelm rocked back, sitting on his ankles, eyes widening.
"How is that possible?"
"It's, never been done, I do not know… I don't think, anyway… but that's why they plan to… send me somewhere, tomorrow… anomalies must be, understood… I have to go… I have to get it back… I have to find her…"
"Her? Who?"
"The woman who's got the… rest of my soul… he wants me to find her… I am sorry, but I… I cannot answer more… I need, to take a nap, please… thank you, so much… you've saved, my life… but you, have to go… don't die here…" She whispered, breaths fading, and Vilhelm hesitated, looking down, verifying the rise and fall of her chest before he climbed to his feet, anxiety spiking in his chest.
"Good luck, Nara." Turning and taking off at a jog, Vilhelm left, and he didn't look back- but he did leave the door to the hall of cells unlocked.
-
"Hey! Been waiting here for seven minutes, boy, where were you!" An old man screamed angrily, waving his ID and Vilhelm offered a guilty grin, scanning it.
"Sorry, sir!! I'm so nervous, it's my first day, the bathroom was not kind to me!! Have an amazing evening!!"
"I'll be reporting your bathroom break, boy, five minutes is the maximum allowed!!" The gentleman grumbled, and Vilhelm nodded, raising the gate.
"I understand and know that it is important to be held accountable. I'm so sorry, sir!!" He was ignored, though, and Vilhelm sighed, leaning back. No more cars came that night, and all was silent until, some time later, an alarm began to blare somewhere in the distance- and then another, from the larger building outside of his remote booth. Busying himself with typing up an email to HR as if he'd forgotten where the keys were kept, and needed them for the shift change, he believed, Vilhelm listened as more sirens began to blare, whistling innocently.
"Luckily… I'm just a, what was it…?" The young man thought aloud, trying to remember. "I'm fresh meat who knows not to talk too much, right, commander…? Happy to be here, serving and protecting."
He did not speak, when still more alarms blared, deafening him. Didn't speak when a window shattered, and a fleeting streak of shadow blurred past his booth, breaking open the gate, leaving it in pieces. He did, however, speak when the commander screamed at him with anxiety and fear in his voice. He spoke, and he said; "No, oh my great heaven Commander that's AWFUL!! I can help with the investigation if you need, put me on the case! This could be my great chance to prove myself, right?! An escaped prisoner sounds super serious!!"
-
Lynx sat quietly, on the end of her bed, sighing- her first lessons in combat were to take place tomorrow, and she was nervous. Would some sort of muscle memory kick in, perhaps? Or was the girl from her dream, the other version of herself, only a phantom, a lie, a trick, when it came to her ability to fight. It wasn't something that she could go and test out very easily, after all.
A knock, at the door. Lynx stood, sighing, and walked toward it.
"Who's there?"
"It's Alice! Could you please let me in?"
"What is it, girly?" Lynx mumbled tiredly, rubbing her eyes and raising the mug of coffee that she held to her lips, sipping it, and opening the door, once her eyes felt sufficiently rubbed.
"Hi! I just noticed that you seemed kind of down today- oh, you have coffee. This is awkward. Would you care for more…?" She asked, proffering a medium-sized paper cup with a brown heat wrap around it. "I um, I saw you at lunch this time, and you seemed really tired, so I wanted to do something nice for you," She added, smiling pleasantly.
"Mn… come in," Lynx nodded, stepping aside and finishing her coffee, headed toward the kitchen to wash her mug. "Thank you so much- and yes, more would be very, very appreciated. You shouldn't have."
"Isn't it only fair to try and make the people we care for feel better?" Alice smiled, waiting patiently until Lynx returned, sitting on the edge of her bed and holding up that paper cup, which Lynx took slowly, offering a lazy smile in return. "Oh my- OH MY- LYNX!!" Alice beamed, suddenly, and leapt to her feet.
"What- what-??" Lynx yelped as Alice grabbed her round the waist, hugging her hard. "Alice!!"
"Sorry, right!!" Alice staggered back, fast, grinning wildly from ear to ear. "Lynx that's the first time you smiled at me!! THE FIRST TIME!!"
"W-What??" Lynx laughed, a smile pulling at her cheeks, crinkling her eyes- and even as this happened, her cheeks ached, screaming in agony as a muscle long-since atrophied was torn. "Oh wow- really?"
"Heheh!! Yes, yay you smiled!!" Alice grinned, jumping up and down and clapping.
"Is it really that big of a deal??" Lynx laughed awkwardly, raising the mug to her lips and sipping slowly, shivering as, again, it seemed to magically seep into her muscles and yank knots loose, cracks running and popping along her spine, her arms. Hm, if the muscles in my cheeks are atrophied, then why wouldn't the coffee… maybe it only heals me to my normal? And atrophied muscles would be normal? Who knows. Or maybe it doesn't heal wounds, rot, or things like that… I'm too tired to figure it out…
"Yeah it's that big of a deal!!" Alice laughed, hopping onto the bed and sitting again. "I mean, really, you haven't smiled once yet for real that I've seen- okay okay, I won't make you feel awkward all night. What's bothering you, you seemed so down! Do you want to get anything off your chest?"
"Mn…" Lynx sat, slowly, beside the succubus, sipping her coffee.
"It's okay if not! I asked you to let me show you my friendship, and that's my only goal here. If it won't help to get it out, keep it to yourself, but my ears are open if you'd like them!"
"Hey, Alice?"
"What is it?!"
Lynx hesitated, blinking slowly, her face hot with embarrassment about what she wanted to say- and about the fact that she had no pretty way to say it.
"I didn't hate it when you hugged me that time," She muttered, looking away, tail beating around wildly behind her on the bed.
"You… I'm gonna hurt you!!" Alice laughed harder, throwing her arms around Lynx, hard, burying her head in the cat girl's shoulder, and Lynx snorted softly, stomach twinging with nervousness as she gently wrapped an arm around Alice's waist, sighing quietly.
"Would it help you, maybe…" Alice whispered, smiling up at her, after a long moment. "If I stayed…?"
"Alice…" Lynx frowned, and the succubus hastened to shake her head.
"You have nightmares, right…? I saw it on your face when you opened the door for me the other day- and now, too, you look like you've slept awfully. I'm not asking for kisses, or anything at all- I'm asking if you'd like me to stay a while, and keep you company. That's all."
"You don't need to worry about me-"
"I know that. You couldn't make me worry about you if you tried, I swear," Alice whispered, tightening her hug, and Lynx squirmed, a bit, throat tightening. Seeming to sense it, Alice gently let go, backing off, sitting on the other side of the bed. "You can say no, Lynx-"
"Stay with me," She, Lynx, spoke softly, reaching out and gently resting a hand on top of Alice's. "Just for a while, won't you stay with me? I… don't want to go this alone."
"You've got a friend in me, Lynx, I swear," Alice smiled softly, nodding. "Why don't I go get my laptop, and we can watch some TV, huh?"
"That sounds nice, thank you."
"I'll be right back, I promise," Alice grinned, headed for the door and practically running away. "Enjoy your coffee!"
"I… I will," Lynx whispered, to the empty room, shaking her head and closing her eyes.
-
Hours later, Lynx lay curled up, tail flicking against her chin, knees to her chest, watching the laptop screen although it had long since paused, asking if she was still looking at the screen with a prompt to hit yes. Alice snored softly beside her, on her back, smiling even in her sleep, her tail waving around happily. Was she really asleep…?
"Oh my gods…" Alice muttered, tail beating the wall angry with a soft slapping noise. "The dog peed on the sky, I'm gonna kill em… sack of… where's the socks…?!" Rolling her eyes, Lynx closed her eyes, breathing deeply. Before she fell asleep, she shifted, until the tops of her ears brushed against Alice's stomach, curling up tighter.