Tale of Lara

Epilogue

Epilogue

Every good card dealt has its dark secret.

Sarah Fuga woke up surrounded by beeping electronics and various probes andwires all hooked up to her body. Was that her body, though? It was mangledbeyond recognition, and she, as much as she was trying, couldn't remember whereshe got so hurt and required surgery.

"Keep still," a gentle, familiar voice came to her, but she was so stoned on painkillers she had barely any processing power left to analyse who was talking to her. "You had a nasty fall, but nothing I can't fix. Worry not! You're just going to have to hold on for me, okay?"

So, Sarah held on.

When she woke up, probably hours later, all the pain was gone, and it was replaced by an odd numbness in her limbs. She felt different but couldn't put it into words. Now, when had she felt the same emptiness before...

"Greetings, my hero of the day!" A human walked into the dirty room Sarah found herself in. Her memories returned like a boomerang. She was sitting in a chair at Griffin's clinic, and the person walking in was, indeed, Mister Griffin himself.

Sarah tried to move, but her arm felt heavier than before. She looked down at it and only saw a metal prosthetic. Everything from her shoulder down to her wrist was wrapped in silverish cybernetic support. Looking further down, she recognized both of her legs had suffered similar treatment but also not quite.

"What happened to me, doc?" The dragoness felt like crying, the emotions quickly overcoming her. Silverish tears started forming in her sparkling emerald eyes and stained her short orange fur.

Mister Griffin sat down on a stool across from Sarah and looked her in the eyes, taking hold of her now inorganic hands. "My dear, you have suffered a great peril. I am not going to pretend I understand what happened on that mission, but you almost died."

Sarah listened intently, focusing on the voice of the cybernetics surgeon instead of her internal misery.

"I sent in the Nakamura Company as soon as the Tower fell. They dug you up along with your belongings and brought you here." Griffin shifted a little closer as if whatever he was about to say would impact the girl's life greatly. "No one from the outside world can learn that you have survived. We are keeping you our little secret."

"Why?" Sarah sniffled, waterworks fully taking over her composure. She was now fully letting her emotions flow. "Is it because I have murdered everyone I have ever loved? Tell me, doc."

"No, God, no!" Griffin shook his head violently. "You have saved a lot of people, in fact. If you hadn't spearheaded that operation, Hawk would have slaughtered everyone entering the HQ. Lara and Mai got a little beaten up, but they are okay. And same goes..."

"Lara's alive?" Sarah almost sprung up from the armchair, but her legs weren't calibrated for such quick actions, so she simply moved forward. Griffin was luckily there to grab and help her sit down comfortably again.

"Take it slow. These new legs are going to need some time getting used to," Griffin explained. "Lara and Mizu got moved to the renewed hospital in the Inner Ring. It's under the jurisdiction of the newly formed HGov, so they wouldn't let you in anyway."

"Fuck!" That curse was the most genuine response coming from Sarah during the entire conversation. "Can I see at least anyone from the Nakamura group, or do I have to rot in this very room until the end of my days?"

Griffin acknowledged the wish by nodding, standing up, and walking over to the doors at the right of Sarah's vision. There were two short knocks on the door's body, followed by saying, "She's ready."