Soulless Beauty Aorta

WHITE, INFERIORITY COMPLEX

Darkness. It was warm and wet. Faint light came through a translucent, domed ceiling

"Where am I?"

"That doesn't matter"

"Who are you?"

"I am you. I am the you who you are refusing"

"And what's that supposed to mean?"

"I am the real you"

[Pure Mind PATHOS]

The strange room shook, and out of the floor ripped three familiar figures- Gardenia, Heather, and Rose. Their bodies were melting, and covered in the liquid that ran along the floor and dripped from above. They looked up at Hyacinth, and began shambling toward her slowly, all gently weeping.

"What the fuck?!" Hyacinth fell back a step. "They need you. But you can't help them." "That's not true! I-I'm better than all of them!" Hyacinth ran to Heather and punched him as hard as she could. His body exploded. "See?! I... I'm so much stronger! I don't even need them!" "Your wish for loneliness may come true, at the rate you're going."

Hyacinth began to breathe faster as she frantically looked around, she could feel heat in her cheeks and at the tips of her ears. "I- I WANT to be alone!!" Her stomach started to churn. "Where am I!? Let me out, you bastard!" She slammed her fists on the floor, and clawed at the viscous liquid. "But you are out. You're free. The choice whether or not to let ME out, is yours. I want you here, I want to control you" A figure appeared before her. It was herself, a perfect replica, yet lacking a face. "You're weak. You fear the others. You feel like you don't deserve to be with them!" "Shut up, damn it! Let me out!" Hyacinth was sweating now. "You don't want to remember your real life. You feel ashamed for not telling Rose how you felt" "No, no! Shut up! I don't want to know this!" "But you do know it. Use your knowledge of the past to shape your future!"

Hyacinth snapped, her voice cracking in terrified desperation. "Fine! I'm not good enough! I've admitted it, so just let me fade away!" The fading echo of her voice was the only noise in the room. A single tear rolled down Hyacinth's hot face.

"In admitting your true feelings to yourself, in lowering your barrier of false bravado, you've taken the first step." "Wh-what?" Hyacinth looked up at her other self, the being floating before her- her risque outfit was gone, replaced with a lab coat and pink jeans. Dropping her head again, the real Hyacinth spoke. "I don't want to die... but I certainly don't want to live either. It's... so much. It's all so complicated and difficult. Can't I just... fade away? Have my existence ended, and the memories of me go away as well?" Though lacking a face, the desperate empathy Pathos felt for the broken girl kneeling before her could be felt.

"You're right." Hyacinth continued, "I'm not worthy to be with them. They have their own dynamic, their own goals. I have no right to interfere." "Have you ever considered that they truly enjoy your 'interference'? What would have happened if you hadn't 'interfered' just before you met Rose? What would have happened if you hadn't 'interfered' when fighting Somat together?" "Being with them scares me, it makes me uneasy. But... I can't just abandon them... If they do truly want me there, I can't just duck out and leave. I... Could I really be useful?" Memories flashed through her mind, memories from far before when she met Rose a few hours ago, memories before she even woke up as a machine. "That's right... I've done good things in the past! Just by... virtue of, like, existing! I've helped people, I've made people laugh!" Pathos was beaming. "My fear of other people might be just that, a baseless fear! If I can... if I've done good things in the past then that means I can keep doing good things in the future! I can be worthy- I... I AM WORTHY!!" Hyacinth shouted, sobbing, her cheeks hurting from the joy on her face.

The faceless replica began to clap. Hyacinth slowly looked up, her cheeks hot with emotion, covered in tears. Somat's own empty face turned into that of Rose's. "Congratulations."

Rose violently shook Hyacinth's body. "Damn it, wake up already! We need you!" Hyacinth opened her eyes, and she coughed up a thick, gray fluid. The same fluid leaked from her eyes and the cracks in her body. The drops that fell on the floor steamed and were absorbed into it. The unknown voice spoke again before disappearing completely, "You truly may have a nobler purpose than hers..."

Softly smiling with an exhausted look, Hyacinth raised her left wrist and used the inside of it to wipe the gray goop from her chin and nose. She tenderly placed her other, clean palm against Rose's cheek. Hyacinth up at Rose with gentle eyes.

The room shook, and the voice broadcast once again, "MEGASYSTEM DRIVER ELIMINATED, SWITCHING POWER INPUT TO LASCERA"

The smile faded from Hyacinth's face. "I remember it now, I- I remember everything" She turned her eyes from a red-faced Rose and looked straight upwards into nothing. "I need to tell you guys what happened."