The Tale of Tara and Emiko

XXXII

She could've said no.

She could've ripped her arm out of Selene's grasp and walked away.

Heck, she could've called Selene hundreds of vile, nasty things, things that would draw some eyes, things that would label Tara as the victim.

But she didn't. She let herself become shackled, forced onto a warship and carted away from the only life she'd ever known. She let herself fall.

And now, many years later, she was still stuck here, unable to find a way to escape.

The guards were strict and silent, but at least they weren't boring. Tara was offered combat training, which she begrudgingly accepted. She was also offered the chance to publicly join the Monarchy as Selene's personal advisor, which she denied.

Thankfully, she'd had a friend to keep her from going insane. The third day she'd spent holed up in her room at the beginning of her stay, refusing all food and drink, instead of a robot that looked too much like a trash can for Tara to not make a joke about it a boy with auburn hair and galactic purple eyes showed up instead.

"Who are you?" Tara had asked, annoyed. "Some other useless little method designed to obtain my alliance?" Harsh, she knew. But she was a prisoner here. She should at least act the part.

"I am a prisoner here, too," the boy simply responded.

Huh?

"You don't look much like one," Tara replied, waving to the sparkly stones adorning the luxurious fabric of the boy's clothes.

"That is intended."

"Why are you here, then?"

"I wished to see you. It is not every day a new person is given a permanent place to stay here."

"Oh, really? What are you, then? A maid? A cook?"

"I am the true leader of the Monarchy."

Tara had scoffed, disbelieving. "You? Ha! Why, you look about my age!" This kid didn't resemble the sleek, dark-haired, perfect woman who'd both hired and trapped Tara here at all!

"You do not know?" The boy tilted his head to the side.

"Know what?"

"Selene is not the leader of the Monarchy. I am. Selene is nothing but a pretty face for the public eye, artificial. Fake. I make the plans. I fight the battles. I hide from the world. Unknown. Until you."

The boy, whose name was Reed, was somehow incapable of lying. Something about genetics? Selene, indeed, was a cyborg and did nothing but fund the Monarchy with her speeches and sponsors and seemingly bottomless wallet. Reed was a surprisingly good friend, but he couldn't fill the hole in Tara's heart that Emiko had left behind.

Years passed. Tara slowly adjusted to life on a warship, putting her days of lies behind her. It got easier with every passing day, and eventually she was able to bring an entire army to their knees with her weapon of choice: an electric whip.

The only thing Tara disliked about her new schedule was the history lessons. For the eight years she'd been in school, they were boring enough, but at least they were unbiased. Now, Tara was expected to sit through hours of monotonous droning lectures, relearning everything she thought she knew from the Monarchy's perspective.

"The goal of the Monarchy is to put the galaxy under one singular rule or a large council, the most efficient way to keep planets peaceful, as if two start a fight it will affect every other planet under the Monarchy's rule. This motivates planets to remain peaceful so as to not deplete resources that maintain the steady survival of other planets," the robotic voice droned. "The goal of the Rebels is to abolish all forms of connective government, giving each planet utter freedom. This is simply detrimental because the trade system between planets strengthens trust and supports supply and demand, making sure every environment has what it needs to survive. No more, no less. Eradicating the trade would guarantee the death of at least one planet, if not hundreds."

This went on for hours, all political mumbo jumbo Tara never hoped to understand. At least she had Reed to joke around with, thankful for his presence despite the fact that he'd sat through similar lectures years before and knew all the material.

"How are you so confident?" Reed had asked Tara one day at the shooting range.

"Confident?" Tara asked, downing a line of wooden targets. "Uh, I dunno. Confident was the only thing I could be unless I wanted to get caught.."

"Was that back before Selene found you?"

"Yeah, I guess." Tara shrugged.

"Can I ask what it was like?"

"What what was like?"

"Life outside."

"You've never been off the ship before?"

Reed's shoulders fell slightly, his gaze drifting to the floor. "Not that I can remember."

"Oh," Tara said. She wasn't really sure how to respond, so she resumed firing at the moving targets. When she turned around to refill her clip, she jumped back, Reed's face a bit too close to hers.

"What if you leave?" he asked innocently.

Tara took a step back. "Oh no no no no, no way! I'm not doing that."

"Doing what?"

"Leaving. Running away. Sneaking out, lying, pretending to be something I'm not. I'm done with the hiding! Whatever hellspawn decides to mess with me, I'm gonna face them head on," Tara muttered, dropping her gun and downing ten wooden targets at once with a precise flick of her whip.

"Why? You are incredibly powerful with your weapon," Reed stated. "Every target is a clean bullseye. Every training dummy is downed with a single, lethal attack. You are a tornado of destruction, taking down anything and everything in your way. That alone should be enough to convince Selene to let you spend at least a day in the cities. And whoever tries to stop you will regret their actions."

"No." Tara's answer was soft yet definitive, punctuated with a shake of her head. Despite how convincing Reed was, she didn't want to let another person close to her get hurt because of her. "You wanna know what happened last time I tried something like that? I ended up here. Against my will. I had a sister I was trying to protect, to keep alive. Because of me, she might not be anymore."

"We can run away. We can find her, if it will put your mind at ease. I do not dislike the idea of going. I want to know what the world is really like, I want to see life outside these metal walls, and I want to see it with you." Reed looked up at Tara. "Please?"

Tara stared at the ground, her face falling. "I'm sorry, Reed. I can't. Maybe I could've in the past, but not anymore."

"Well, what if it wasn't you that left?" Selene suddenly asked.

"Aah!" Tara yelped, startled. "When did you get here?!"

"Oh, I was just passing by and couldn't help but overhear your conversation," Selene said with a smile. "Anyways, I was wondering if you'd like to be a spy of sorts for the Monarchy."

"If you overheard our conversation, you'd know the answer is no," Tara growled. "What happened, brain short-circuited?"

"Well, it wouldn't really be you..." Selene trailed off, smirking.