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 Posted: Tue Nov 22, 2011 2:59 pm
The first thing Reine would notice was an odd, steady humming noise. The second, a muffled sort of sound, steady, rhythmic: her own breathing. And the third that she was lying down. Trapped in the very pod she had once escaped. Awake. Breathing. Thinking.
Her weapon for some reason, was deathly silent, as if she couldn't hear it at all. She was trapped alone, with all the time in the world to think, to listen to her own breath, to wonder what she did right or wrong, and most of all-
- Wonder if she would be stuck in here forever.
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Posted: Fri Nov 25, 2011 3:45 am
She woke up with a start, jerking upright- except she couldn't, and all that happened was that her forehead bashed into the window of the.. of the.. pod.
If it weren't already cold enough within, Reine felt a chill down her spine. Her head hurt, not just from the impact just now, but from.. what was it? She couldn't quite recall- oh.
Being slammed into one of the pods, and then kicked again. The mental images were vivid this time, and she cringed, remembering the pain- but most of all, the humiliation and confusion. For a while she merely stared blankly out of the window, dully trying to make sense of the situation. Then her eyes began flicking back and forth, as if searching for something- but what? Reine had no clue, herself. After all, there was nothing here.
Nothing here but despair~
Ally?
But her weapon didn't answer, and it only occurred to Reine later that it had been her own mental voice, even if it spoke the same way Alynthe usually did. She tried to make some sort of sound- the ideal was yell, of course, yell for attention or help or something, but all she managed was a strangled sort of yelp, hoarse and barely audible. Considering the situation, she supposed it was alright- she felt more numb than anything, as if she'd just had her brain thawed out and it was waiting to defrost. Definitely not in the mood for yelling, now.
Squirming slightly, she settled to make herself more comfortable. The only thing left was the sound of her breathing, rhythmic and steady, echoing within the pod. She fell asleep again.
---------------------------------------
If anyone had been watching closely, they would have noticed that the face in one particular feed was twitching. Reine was dreaming- of bears, for some reason, and being chased down a hill by a wheel of cheese that turned into a kangaroo. They walked, together, or more accurately, she walked, while the kangaroo hopped, through a dark forest.
The trees are all cake, the kangaroo said.
What?
Thhhhetrees areaaaall caaakee, it repeated, its voice oddly squeaky and distorted, with a sort of tinny quality to it- and then it wasn't just its voice distorting, but the kangaroo itself was melting, warping, until it turned into what appeared to be a lemming, running on the ground in circles. "You cannot escape!" it squeaked furiously, jabbing at her leg with a paw. "You cannot escape!!!"
"...stay in here forever..."
This time it was dream-Caelius' voice that woke her. "Forever...?" Just the word sent her into a panic attack- chills, cold sweat, trying to struggle her way out of this awful place. It was funny- for someone who'd slept here for months, how was she so unused to it, why did it feel so cramped, why was she even back here in the first place?
Tears were running down her cheeks even as she tried to move, though all she managed was wiggling fingers and toes before giving up. A high-pitched keening wail broke the silence, dissolving into sobs and choking; it wasn't fair- hadn't she won the fight? What did it all mean, anyway- why was Caelius so cryptic, or had she just missed a message somewhere- had she disobeyed orders.. again? Trembling, she tried to reach for her cellphone- though she had no idea how she'd check the messages in case she'd missed something- only to realise that not only was her phone not there, she wasn't wearing her jacket.
No.. no, no... no, what.. did this all mean what-- why? The jacket was uniform, and she shouldn't be out of it, was it Robert, what had he done the ********* loser, had he stolen her jacket? But that was illogical. The rage subsided almost as suddenly as it had overwhelmed her, as she forced herself to reason out everything. It didn't get anywhere; all it took for her to break down again was the memory of that moment that Caelius had thrown her against a pod, telling her she was the loser. Had he been the one who'd taken her jacket-- did that mean she'd lost the right to be a hunter?
Reine shivered, whimpering. She could blame Robert all she wanted. For tricking her into this. For simply existing. It did not occur to her that Caelius might have been to blame- it had to have been either Robert or herself. And it was easier to blame Robert, as she had been doing the past few years.
Everything was Robert's fault; everything that Robert so much as touched went wrong, he ruined everything, and he was.. somewhere, now, while she was locked up again.
Forever, forever, forever.
Closing her eyes, she tried to resign herself to fate. If she was meant to sleep, she should get to that, shouldn't she? Caelius' orders.. she could never get them right, somehow, what was wrong with her? Always.. always messing up somehow- no other trainee had been like this, had they? They'd listened, and they didn't need to get punished, not that she minded the punishment if she deserved it.. but what had she done? Hadn't she beaten Robert the way Caelius had told her to?
What did I do wrong, she whimpered, confused. I don't want this let me out of here please... please..
Eventually the shaking stopped, and Reine lay in the pod, staring.
Why wasn't she asleep yet? Hadn't Caelius said she would be sleeping until she forgot herself? Was it a lie?
It was the first shred of doubt she'd felt towards the older man; prior to this, she had taken him so, so seriously. If there was one weakness Reine had, it was authority. Anyone in command had to be followed. Her throat was dry, suddenly- was it Robert who'd planned this with Caelius? Had they set her up for this? But it was impossible- it couldn't be, Caelius was just doing his job, and hadn't it been Robert who'd been instructed to put her in the pod? Knowing him, he would have messed it up, somehow- shutting her into this awful space without making sure she would sleep properly- yes, yes- that made more sense. She always had to suffer- her and Petra both- for his decisions, after all. And even after she'd tried to prove to him that she could make her own decisions, and live with them, something had gone wrong somewhere..
Was it her? Was she the one who'd been wrong? The one who'd failed?
He called you a loser. He called you a loser.
Not Robert.
But how could she have lost to him? This was the girl who made Dean's List consistently, who won Chemistry and Biology olympiads, who'd gotten close to a perfect score for both her SATs and taken practically all the AP subjects? It was hard to wrap her mind around it- when her life up to now had been revolving around not failing, it seemed like she was making up for missing her share of failure, now. Being smart didn't help- so what did you need? What did Robert have, that she didn't? What was-- why.. how could she even know what to fix, if she didn't know what was wrong?
And then she was crying again, sounding like a mewling kitten- it was utterly pathetic, but she couldn't stop herself. Not since she was a young girl had she let herself cry- but she didn't even have a pillow to hide under or a blanket to cry into; the vague hint of her own reflection in the glass upset her further- how could she be such an awful mess, who was this, with tears streaming down her cheeks? Reine wanted to punch the glass, to shatter it, so she wouldn't have to see her own reflection, but she couldn't move her arms, and so..
THUD.
It hurt, but she wouldn't stop. The glass held better than her forehead did, the pain making her dizzy.
THUD. THUD. There- even if cracks wouldn't form, that strange redness dripping down the glass would hide the sight of her hideous self.
A small smile across her face, Reine let her head rest against the bottom of the pod again, and fell asleep- hopefully for the last time.
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Posted: Fri Nov 25, 2011 3:09 pm
It took Reine the better of her squirming and then more sleeping, time ticking away. How much time had really passed? Seconds? Hours? No, more possibly, days right?
And in one of her more fitful slumbers, as she dreamed about failure perhaps conscious or subconsciously, there was also something else. Was it someone talking or just a strange tapping noise vague and distant?
By the time Reine woke up again though, the capsule was free, opened. She took her first breath of fresh air in what seemed like days.
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Posted: Sat Nov 26, 2011 4:00 am
She'd tumbled headfirst out of the pod and just lain there for what seemed to be close to half an hour, at least, her head buried in the soft cloth of her jacket.
It had been folded up neatly, earrings in one pocket and cellphone in the other. Had Caelius done this..? If so.. he really wasn't that bad of a person, like everyone else seemed to be saying. She was still reeling from having spent 24 hours in a pod, but this time, waking up had come just a little bit easier.
gotten your beauty sleep, princess?
I missed you, too, she whispered, searching the jacket for the earrings, then summoning her weapon. Ally..
With a jolt, she remembered her phone, and pulled it out, falling back into a cross-legged sitting position. Messagess- two of them, one from Eva and the other from.. Caelius. Was she late, again? She didn't want this reputation to stick- better hurry.
Exiting the chamber, she pulled herself up on shaky legs, half-running, half-stumbling out of the chamber and into the labs. It felt amazing to be moving, breathing- the hunter was possibly seeing everything at this moment through rose-tinted lenses.
Now for the mission. Already she was feeling the strength coming back to her. She could do this, yes she could- and she was determined not to let Caelius down this time.
Third time's the charm, isn't it?
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