"Well chakk."
Ace glanced around her and looked down the barrels of the guns that were aimed straight at her face. Red laser dots were trained onto her chest, and the faint smell of rotten eggs wafted through the air.
"At least it worked."
And everything went dark.
___{}___
"How're you doing, kiddo?"
Ku'i looked up at Dr. Wallace, unsure of how to answer that question.
"Do you wanna talk about anything?"
Again, silence. What really was there to talk about?
She looked down at her bare wrists. When K'dela died, the Blood-Oath ceremony had defaulted to the oldest blood relative. Umbitr. When he died, Tal'nera performed his ceremony, and committed suicide. Either way, the price in blood was paid, and not a single blade had to bite into her flesh.
Ku'i felt ashamed. There was nothing, nothing she could do to fix anything, nothing she could do to honor their memories.
"...No."
Dr. Wallace shrugged and leaned back. "Alright. That's fair enough."
Silence filled the room, rendering the white noise machine by the door useless. Ku'i shifted in her seat, feeling uncomfortable. Various thoughts were pressing in her mind, demanding to be heard.
Too many thoughts.
Images.
Sounds.
Ku'i could almost smell the blood in the air.
"...I should have done more."
Dr. Wallace raised an eyebrow, but said nothing.
"I... I could have stayed with him. I could have claimed it as my responsibility. He didn't have to die too. He didn't have to end it."
"Do you think you're responsible for Tal'nera's death?"
Ku'i nodded. "I should have seen the signs. He... he stopped living. He was just surviving. But I never would have thought that he really would end it. I mean... he didn't even leave a note. And he always said that their blade shouldn't have to see any more death..."
"And you shouldn't have had to see the things you have."
Ku'i blinked. "What?"
Dr. Wallace leaned forward slightly. "You're only twelve years old, and you have seen everyone close to your die. Your father, your mother, both of your uncles. You're too much Impostor for humans and too much human to be an Impostor. You've had to navigate two different worlds, carve out a space for yourself. The people you felt safe with are gone. It's... it's not surprising that you... you feel guilty. Helpless. Useless."
YOU ARE READING
Command: Past is Present
Fanfic"We've learned from our mistakes, Altera. Enough blood has already been shed." "That didn't stop the start of World War III, did it?" "No. It didn't. But it ended it." "Human minds are just sacs of salt interacting with proteins. Even now, you live...
