How to Kill a Phoenix

4: GLASSFISH ANALYSIS

CHAPTER 4: GLASSFISH ANALYSIS

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"On a journey, whomever you decide to take with you will make a huge difference. If parallel realities are a thing, I wonder how many more interesting ones are born based on whom someone takes with him on a journey. Imagine how your favorite stories or series might turn out with one extra or one less character undertaking an odyssey." – Nicholas Reuben

*

"I'm weak. I'm weak, I'm weak, I'm weak," Emily muttered from the back of the car. It was the first thing she said since regaining consciousness. She had stayed silent while Katrina drove them to a checkup at the clinic earlier. It seemed that discovering that the cuts on her hands had healed didn't improve her mood, and now they were on the ride home.

"No, Emi," Katrina said, "I think it was just the caffeine. You don't depend on chemicals to make yourself a brave person. You simply don't. You're only a brave person if you can depend on yourself to act brave."

"And I acted all clichéd-like!" Emily waved her arms. "Those visions are all just silly! Lolita! 1Q84! And I actually cried! And asked him to kick me! And then I fainted!"

"Eh, you're just always overdramatic. It's just you being yourself. I mean, you shouted the hammiest line in Star Trek just because you found out that you don't have to wear glasses anymore."

"Star Wars! And you don't wear glasses, Kat, you won't understand how great it is to effortlessly see the world in HD! But that's not even the point! It's more like, past me, why are you always so cringe-worthy? Whyyy?"

From the front seat, Rain threw the maid a sidelong glance. "Does she do this all the time?"

Emily's next sentence died at her lips. She had forgotten the boy's existence, and decided to pout silently instead.

As they reached home, with Katrina getting out of the car to unlock the gates, Emily began, "Rain."

Rain didn't turn to look at her. "Yeah?"

"You said that some people in the army eat quantum tunnels. Does that mean that every one of them has to pull out their weapons from their mouth?"

Still not looking at her, the boy held out a hand and said, "Narsil, out." Nothing happened. He undid the seatbelt and slipped between the front seats, one hand stretched merely inches away from Emily's face. "Narsil, I summon thee." The girl's eyes widened as, again, nothing happened.

"Your hand smells like sardines."

"Say 'ah'."

And a few seconds later, the car door opened as Katrina returned, humming absentmindedly.

"It's your fault it's stuck! You need to bend over a bit, stupid!"

"Hweh!"

The maid froze. She later had to spend the next minute covering her ears from all the outraged and flustered shouting from the two. "Okay, okay, I got it! Yeah, yeah, right! I get it! It's not what it looks like! If you want a room, you can just ask."

After they calmed down, Emily looked like she was at the verge of tears, and Rain was moodily wiping his sword with wads of tissue paper, his ears red.

Emily half-shouted, "I feel violated, degraded, defiled-!"

"Dammit," Rain interrupted, "looks like we just have to do this every time, do we?"