Nallore
Neziul*Trinity enters the makeshift mortuary behind a door with an ornate golden '6' scribed into the metal, a relic from its previous use as the house's work shop, and pass by the vats that hold the remains of the failed experiments for some of her previous creations. They don't have any new answers for her, but maybe She can find some in the one body She's been putting off examining all this time. Now that she was close to catching Dante, She felt it was time. The very last vat at the end of the row sticks out, bigger than the others. *
Trinity: Time to see why I cant absorb information from you.
*She tips the vat over the grated floor and the liquid inside rushes out and drains away. Kat's corpse, dyed a messy orange from her stay in the preservative fluid, flops wetly onto the floor. Looking her over, Trinity can tell the concoction has done a perfect job. The hole in her chest is still exactly the same. She looks down on her and gives Kat a brief moment of silence, then lifts the body onto the dissection table, laying her out so She'll have access to the whole body. It's then that She realizes that She's left the instruments on the cart over by the entrance, and She walks back over to retrieve them.*
?: Virgil.
*she freezes in an instant. She knows that voice all too well, although it wasn't one She ever expected to hear again. It's not possible.*
?: Virgil, look at me when I'm speaking to you.
* she slowly turns back towards the table. Kat is sitting up, the gaping hole in her chest showing the other side of the room. She glares at her with contempt for a moment while the scene before her sinks in.*
Kat: I'm so disappointed in you.
Trinity: K-Kat?
*she manages to squeak*
Trinity: Are you real? Am I imagining this?
Kat: The answers to those questions are yes, and no. Not necessarily in that order however.
* A little hint of the playful smile Trinity remembers so well plays at the corner of her mouth, but it's gone as quickly as it appeared leaving her looking grimmer than She's ever seen her.
Kat: More importantly, though, do you really think this behavior is acceptable? That this course of action is one I approve of? You stupid, deluded little girl.
*Trinity staggers back from her, suddenly on the defensive.*
Trinity: The lies.. Dante... I didn't have a choice.
*kat is having none of it.*
Kat: You were the only one who did have a choice. I never thought you would choose this, though. I figured even you would be smart enough to have found a correct solution by now.
*Trinity's incredulous stare does nothing to dull the edge in her expression.*
Trinity: This is a test?
*Kat scoffs.*
Kat: Everything is a test, Virgil. Every conversation we've ever had, every game we ever played, every lesson you struggled to grasp. I watched you, judging your every move and cataloging all the ways you came up wanting. All the thousands of mistakes and failures. I never forgot a single one. This one certainly tops the list.
Trinity: But... but... You never even knew me that long.
*She raises her eyebrow.*
Kat: It didn't take long to make the list. Don't tell me you didn't know, deep down, that you weren't good enough? Wow, that's even more pathetic.
Trinity: None of this is my fault. I had to be stronger, that's why I made myself this way. Once the rebellion is gone—
Kat: What rebellion?
Trinity: Yhe people who don't want me to be queen. There are more of them than I expected, but I'm sure they'll run out soon.
*Kat doesn't answer her right away. Instead she steps down from the table and walks over to her, scraps of torn skin flaking off her side. Has she always towered over Trinity like this?*
Kat: Fine, I'll spell it out for you. There were a few people fighting back against you at first, but you massacred them easily enough. Nothing left to fight. No person left to blame. Couldn't have that, now could you? You'd have to take responsibility for once. But you had all these drones that could look like whatever you wanted them to. A part of you got so used to fighting the monsters, it never stopped. The only rebellion left is right up here.
* She reaches out and taps Trinity's head, and that awful pain is back. She flashs back to the executions She saw last week, except the stage is green and black with the corpses of broken drones. That's not what happened. They were human traitors. The blood was red, not green. Why is she remembering it wrong?*
Trinity: Stop it. Stop telling me things that aren't true
* trinity mutters as She looks anywhere except up at Kat*
Kat: I'm only telling you what you already know, I'm just not bothering to sugarcoat it for you anymore. You've always known you weren't really worth the time I put into being with you. You just faked it and tried to convince yourself I wouldn't notice. I gave you every conceivable advantage, when the whole time you knew they were wasted on you.
Trinity: Please stop.
*she covers her head and tries to block out her voice, but it feels like now it's coming from inside her own head.
Kat: You haven't changed a bit since the day I met you. You're still the scared little girl who can't pass the test without outside help. Of course your family rejected you. You deceitful, cruel, selfish...
Trinity: I'm sorry. I'm sorry Kat, I'll do better. I'll try harder. Please, stop.
*trinity blubbers through her hands*
*kat doesn't.*
Kat: ...unfeeling, treacherous little failure. I should have left you friendless. Certainly you don't deserve friendship, or understand it in the least.
*It's all too much. Trinity spins on her heels and runs for the open door. No matter how fast She runs, the door doesn't seem to be getting any closer. All the while She hears the Other woman screaming at her from somewhere behind, hurling insults at her that hurt all the more because deep down She knows they’re true. Trinity squeezes her eyes closed and teleport ahead blindly, toppling into the basement hallway as She arrives. Taking a moment to catch her breath, She looks at the blank patch of wall at her back. There isn't a door there. Nope, just a bare patch of wall, an aberration in the regular spacing of the other doors. She don't know why the architect who designed this place originally skipped from door '5' to door '7.' Probably some silly, irrational superstition, but for whatever reason there's just a featureless stone wall where you might expect door '6' to be. There isn't any door, and there certainly isn't a room behind that door, and since there's no room it would be ridiculous to believe that there could be anything to worry about inside a room that isn't there behind a door that doesn't exist.
She shakes her head, rousing herself from this silly little train of thought. She had... something important She came down here to do, but now She can't remember what it was. Oh well, She's sure She'll remember later if it was really important. For now, onto other business. That invincible Crystal army isn't going to breed itself.
Trinity walks away from the bare wall, and as She leave she hears the squeak of rusty hinges as a door closes somewhere behind her*
Trinity: Time to see why I cant absorb information from you.
*She tips the vat over the grated floor and the liquid inside rushes out and drains away. Kat's corpse, dyed a messy orange from her stay in the preservative fluid, flops wetly onto the floor. Looking her over, Trinity can tell the concoction has done a perfect job. The hole in her chest is still exactly the same. She looks down on her and gives Kat a brief moment of silence, then lifts the body onto the dissection table, laying her out so She'll have access to the whole body. It's then that She realizes that She's left the instruments on the cart over by the entrance, and She walks back over to retrieve them.*
?: Virgil.
*she freezes in an instant. She knows that voice all too well, although it wasn't one She ever expected to hear again. It's not possible.*
?: Virgil, look at me when I'm speaking to you.
* she slowly turns back towards the table. Kat is sitting up, the gaping hole in her chest showing the other side of the room. She glares at her with contempt for a moment while the scene before her sinks in.*
Kat: I'm so disappointed in you.
Trinity: K-Kat?
*she manages to squeak*
Trinity: Are you real? Am I imagining this?
Kat: The answers to those questions are yes, and no. Not necessarily in that order however.
* A little hint of the playful smile Trinity remembers so well plays at the corner of her mouth, but it's gone as quickly as it appeared leaving her looking grimmer than She's ever seen her.
Kat: More importantly, though, do you really think this behavior is acceptable? That this course of action is one I approve of? You stupid, deluded little girl.
*Trinity staggers back from her, suddenly on the defensive.*
Trinity: The lies.. Dante... I didn't have a choice.
*kat is having none of it.*
Kat: You were the only one who did have a choice. I never thought you would choose this, though. I figured even you would be smart enough to have found a correct solution by now.
*Trinity's incredulous stare does nothing to dull the edge in her expression.*
Trinity: This is a test?
*Kat scoffs.*
Kat: Everything is a test, Virgil. Every conversation we've ever had, every game we ever played, every lesson you struggled to grasp. I watched you, judging your every move and cataloging all the ways you came up wanting. All the thousands of mistakes and failures. I never forgot a single one. This one certainly tops the list.
Trinity: But... but... You never even knew me that long.
*She raises her eyebrow.*
Kat: It didn't take long to make the list. Don't tell me you didn't know, deep down, that you weren't good enough? Wow, that's even more pathetic.
Trinity: None of this is my fault. I had to be stronger, that's why I made myself this way. Once the rebellion is gone—
Kat: What rebellion?
Trinity: Yhe people who don't want me to be queen. There are more of them than I expected, but I'm sure they'll run out soon.
*Kat doesn't answer her right away. Instead she steps down from the table and walks over to her, scraps of torn skin flaking off her side. Has she always towered over Trinity like this?*
Kat: Fine, I'll spell it out for you. There were a few people fighting back against you at first, but you massacred them easily enough. Nothing left to fight. No person left to blame. Couldn't have that, now could you? You'd have to take responsibility for once. But you had all these drones that could look like whatever you wanted them to. A part of you got so used to fighting the monsters, it never stopped. The only rebellion left is right up here.
* She reaches out and taps Trinity's head, and that awful pain is back. She flashs back to the executions She saw last week, except the stage is green and black with the corpses of broken drones. That's not what happened. They were human traitors. The blood was red, not green. Why is she remembering it wrong?*
Trinity: Stop it. Stop telling me things that aren't true
* trinity mutters as She looks anywhere except up at Kat*
Kat: I'm only telling you what you already know, I'm just not bothering to sugarcoat it for you anymore. You've always known you weren't really worth the time I put into being with you. You just faked it and tried to convince yourself I wouldn't notice. I gave you every conceivable advantage, when the whole time you knew they were wasted on you.
Trinity: Please stop.
*she covers her head and tries to block out her voice, but it feels like now it's coming from inside her own head.
Kat: You haven't changed a bit since the day I met you. You're still the scared little girl who can't pass the test without outside help. Of course your family rejected you. You deceitful, cruel, selfish...
Trinity: I'm sorry. I'm sorry Kat, I'll do better. I'll try harder. Please, stop.
*trinity blubbers through her hands*
*kat doesn't.*
Kat: ...unfeeling, treacherous little failure. I should have left you friendless. Certainly you don't deserve friendship, or understand it in the least.
*It's all too much. Trinity spins on her heels and runs for the open door. No matter how fast She runs, the door doesn't seem to be getting any closer. All the while She hears the Other woman screaming at her from somewhere behind, hurling insults at her that hurt all the more because deep down She knows they’re true. Trinity squeezes her eyes closed and teleport ahead blindly, toppling into the basement hallway as She arrives. Taking a moment to catch her breath, She looks at the blank patch of wall at her back. There isn't a door there. Nope, just a bare patch of wall, an aberration in the regular spacing of the other doors. She don't know why the architect who designed this place originally skipped from door '5' to door '7.' Probably some silly, irrational superstition, but for whatever reason there's just a featureless stone wall where you might expect door '6' to be. There isn't any door, and there certainly isn't a room behind that door, and since there's no room it would be ridiculous to believe that there could be anything to worry about inside a room that isn't there behind a door that doesn't exist.
She shakes her head, rousing herself from this silly little train of thought. She had... something important She came down here to do, but now She can't remember what it was. Oh well, She's sure She'll remember later if it was really important. For now, onto other business. That invincible Crystal army isn't going to breed itself.
Trinity walks away from the bare wall, and as She leave she hears the squeak of rusty hinges as a door closes somewhere behind her*