Lasrever

—(••[ 𝕎𝕀𝕊ℍ𝔼𝔸𝕋𝔼ℝ ]••)—

---

As the briefing commenced, Zoe watched the demonstration of the alloy with interest, if slight irritation. Oh, sure. Armour. Every day, her restrictions got more and more annoying. Admittedly, even she would probably use a little of it, but there was definitely a trade-off to consider there. Maybe just going with the torso protection would be a decent compromise once they reached the battlefield. At the very least, the belt meant she could carry some stuff with her despite not having any pockets of her own.

She wondered if they'd make something her powers would work through one of these days.

Still, the extra safety it granted was definitely reassuring. If nothing else, it made her feel a bit better about the lack of protection she herself could offer the others. A bit. Being stuck hiding in some faraway building still hurt her pride somewhat, no matter how practical the decision.

The rest of it... Well, she already knew an attempt at escaping was pointless, even without knowing that she really wasn't the type to run off and leave the others to their fates. But the confirmation that the order was 'kill-on-sight' sent an odd mixture of feelings running through her head. It was horrifying, the idea that if one of them broke rank, the others would have to kill them. The people they'd fought and trained alongside, some of them even friends. Maybe not friends with her - she found it difficult to imagine most people even considering that idea - but certainly with each other.

So what did it say that part of her wanted it to happen? The yearning was faint, almost imperceptible after her morning session, but definitely there. And still odd, still not quite right in its intensity, in how it felt. But so soon after sating it... Was it just the stigma, or was she growing to like this?

Not right now.

That was right, she had to prioritise. Just focus on the fight. Always focus on what was coming next instead of giving herself time to think about it all. If she could keep moving, she wouldn't have to think anymore.

Mind you, she'd have a lot of time to think on the way there.

But the others would be in the truck, so she'd keep up the mask. Determination and resolve, strength enough to make sure she wasn't looking scared. Once the fight started, it would be true enough. She could lose herself, and then fear would be an afterthought. She was looking forward to it, in her own way, which was abnormal enough in itself. In a positive way, really. Wouldn't do to have everyone moping about their probable demise.

Yeah, she could deal with it. If she could look strong, then maybe the others could take something from that, considering she was basically running on 'completely-normal-human' levels of usefulness here. So if she wasn't scared of this, maybe it'd convince them things weren't so bad. Telling herself it'd help them out gave the facade a purpose, made it a lot easier to hang on to. Her natural eagerness for combat didn't hurt either.

After receiving the belt, she looked over the knife for a brief second before nodding to herself. It'd do. She considered taking a gun, but after a moment's consideration, scowled and decided against it.

I can kill anything a bullet would anyway, right? Waste of energy.

By the time she took her seat in the truck, she wasn't giving it any more thought - Her mind focused on the monsters they were about to face. Despite herself, the aberration wore a lazy, confident grin as she took her seat. It'd be fine. Even if there were plenty of reasons to feel fear, there weren't any reasons for her to show it. If she wasn't coming back, no way was she having them remember her whining like a little kid.

For the time being, she'd just try and relax a little. There were worse ways to spend a journey.

—(••[ 𝕎𝕀𝕊ℍ𝔼𝔸𝕋𝔼ℝ ]••)—

Zoe upgrade! Radius has increased again to 45m around her.

—(••[ 𝕎𝕀𝕊ℍ𝔼𝔸𝕋𝔼ℝ ]••)—

The knock on the door wasn't a welcome noise to Zoe, especially as she noted similar noises coming from further down the hall. So they were fetching the class again, no doubt because something had gone wrong somewhere and throwing kids at it was the best solution. Sometimes Zoe wondered if they'd considered just making better guns instead and letting her get her goddamned sleep.

"You can stop knocking now." She groaned, rolling out of bed. At this rate she'd have to just give up on having a sleep schedule. Maybe she could just learn to get up earlier in the mornings, but that somehow felt like giving in. Part of her wanted time to get dressed, but if they were going to be fighting then it didn't seem worth it all things considered. She sighed as she glanced out of the window, grabbing her phone, and after a second's consideration, her knife.

It was the kind of day where the freedom to put on a few extra layers would have been appreciated, really. Zoe had gotten over the actual 'running around in her underwear' issue by now, 'cause there were way more important concerns at this stage and if anything she figured some of the others were probably more embarrassed about it than she was herself. Honestly, she found it kind of funny looking back, but when conditions were like this, the irritation more than outweighed any entertainment she'd get from her situation.

As she opened the door, slightly groggy from her rude awakening, she couldn't help but notice the umbrella. On the one hand it was actually kind of helpful, but on the other she genuinely couldn't tell if they were making fun of the group at this point. Like, some of them were probably about to be sent to their deaths but the guys in charge were worried they might get rained on? What were the priorities in this place? Seemed dumb.

Heading out into the corridor, she glanced around. The others were being taken out of their rooms too, which at reassured Zoe that it was a group problem and not anything specific to her. Nothing unexpected seemed to be happening, at the very--

Like the stars. A shower of stars, crashing together. Seemed as logical as these things ever were. There was an ocean and now stars. Made sense as much as this place ever would.

It was far away. She couldn't tell what it was, couldn't quite understand but it was something. Too far for her to hope of touching it. But it was desperate to touch, and she didn't know why. Trying so very hard to get a hold.

There was strength here, endless strength, holding back the ocean as well. Keeping it back. How much power did that take? How long before it wasn't enough?

And as always, something approached. Tainted sparks of power she had no choice but to take, yet somehow less tainted this time.

For all of her doubts, it still didn't make her afraid.

Zoe stumbled as she came back to herself, disoriented by the suddenness of the vision. It felt... Odd. Like something was off, something she couldn't quite put a finger on. Forcing a chuckle at her own apparent clumsiness, she looked at the guard. "Guess I'm not really awake yet, huh?"

He didn't reply. Apparently he wasn't the talkative type.

---

The walk itself was uneventful to say the least. Not even a single explosion to liven things up. In a way, it was almost disappointing.

As for the briefing, Zoe had planned to pay full attention to everything said. Really, really planned on it, but as the construct showed up on the screen her eyes remained fixed there. One key fact about the image had caught her attention, and what she picked up on from the commander's words in the background seemingly confirmed it. The things were metal.

Metal. A one hundred percent non-living substance. Which made her certain of at least one thing.

This is bullshit.

Zoe scowled, frustration clear as day from her expression as her attention turned back to the commander. It felt like the whole thing was the universe conspiring to mess with her, leave her useless. Twice in a row, she was stuck with fighting in a situation where her power couldn't do shit. First time it was 'too lethal', and now they were up against robots? How was having her power grow so much supposed to help when she was never in a place to use it? How was she supposed to be strong when she was apparently gonna be the most useless person here?

She was with a healer group. Made sense that she wasn't on the frontline this time, she supposed, considering there was every chance she'd be defenceless against these things. Of course there was always the chance of an unexpected threat, but none they were aware of unless you counted the subnatural responsible for all this. That was another thing that concerned her.

Powerful though the strikers were, you could never be sure they were capable of carrying out the kill order on a real person, or dealing with it afterwards. There didn't seem to be much Zoe could do about it though - her job was to look after the healer and keep the others informed. Her, Christmas and Ernie. Ernie had been on the other team in the game, which made Christmas the healer. Didn't know much about the pair, but they had several hours, so she'd have time to figure out a plan. Hopefully a plan where she could actually help, though the odds were stacked against it working out that way.

First priority was dealing with her stigma and clearing her head, making sure she wouldn't be a liability. She'd been at Ground Zero yesterday, of course, but the vision meant she wanted to play it safe. There was that underlying strangeness to it, a feeling that she couldn't quite place yet. Maybe it wouldn't affect her Stigma too badly, but if she had to look after people then that wasn't a risk worth taking.

Once they had permission to leave, she was quick to do so. Five to seven hours sounded like a long while in theory, but there wasn't any time to waste.

—(••[ 𝕎𝕀𝕊ℍ𝔼𝔸𝕋𝔼ℝ ]••)—

Questions and Answers

Zoe Fletcher, Frederic Francisco

_{@Lasrever @Baklava}

---

09:00, Sept 8 2020

---

Zoe had spent most of her morning walking around campus. Managed to avoid the others as well, so far anyway, which was a stroke of luck. There were some things she needed to resolve before she could speak to her classmates - or at least the ones that wouldn't be trying to stay ten feet away from her at all times. A couple of people had pointed her towards the admin building, and sure enough, she thought she could see the man she was looking for strolling along the path, not too far ahead. Fred, his name was. The staff mage, or one of them at least. It'd do for now.

"Can you slow down for a second?" Not one to bother wasting time with subtlety, she called out to get his attention, increasing her pace until she was walking alongside him. "I wanted to talk to you."

The lanky giant of a man stopped long enough for Zoe to catch up, giving her a curious glance through the barrier of bodies that surrounded him before his expression settled back into a smile. "Ah, Ms. Fletcher," his eyes narrowed down at her.

"Give us some privacy, eh?" he said, addressing the guards that surrounded him. They exchanged looks, hesitant to let this particular subnatural get any closer.

"Go on. It's rude to keep a lady waiting!" he beamed, shooing them away with his hands. They moved several yards away. As Fredric resumed walking, he motioned for Zoe to join him. The guards followed. "Nice day for a stroll, huh? What's on your mind?"

She sighed. Might as well just get it out of the way. "Yesterday. That 'game'. You must've had an idea of what could happen out there, and it happened anyway. And the rest of it - The training, the classes, sending us out into battle right after we got here." With a shake of her head, she looked up at the staff mage, challenging him. "I want to know why we've been singled out."

"Mm, I see," he rubbed his chin. Fredric sighed and glanced over his shoulder, smiling persistently. He lowered his voice ever so slightly, "As I'm sure you're aware-- there are ears all over this place. But that's only part of the reason why I can't tell you everything. What I can say is there's something about you bunch that's different from the other mages. You guys are special-- and I mean that quite literally."

"I'm sure you're wondering why, but-- to be honest-- things are pretty unclear right now. Even for us."

"Wouldn't wanna upset your boss, right?" Zoe muttered. The lack of specifics was definitely irritating, but at least there was some kind of reason. She had her suspicions, but that line of questioning clearly wasn't going to go anywhere. At least not right now. If he was lying then he wouldn't tell her more, and if he was telling the truth then he couldn't tell her more. "Better than nothing, I guess. Thanks."

"But that's not the only thing I wanted to talk about." Her tone became serious, a hint of anger bubbling underneath the surface. "Yesterday- I'm not doing that again. Fighting them like that. I can't do that again."

He chuckled humorlessly, smile fading into a partial grimace. "Unfortunately that may not be an option, Ms. Fletcher." He slipped his hands into his pockets and sighed heavily, shoulders slumping beneath some unseen weight.

"Things were run quite differently for Shane's group, but... to make a long story longer, the Director wants you lot to have experience fighting other mages as well as monsters. Sparring with your peers isn't something that's going away any time soon. You'll have to work on your self control sooner or later. Better you learn how while under strict supervision instead of during a crisis. Mr. Halvost will be on standby for healing, as always."

"I'm getting stronger. Hell, you guys have been watching me, you know that." Her fists clenched and unclenched at her side, a scowl darkening her features. "If my powers were a little faster back there, Gregory would be dead. I don't think our healers can bring people back from that. Unless you plan on knocking me out as soon as I look at someone wrong, then soon my 'self-control' is gonna be the least of your problems."

"Then might I suggest more frequent trips to Ground Zero? Don't worry about the people there. They're barely real. Some mish-mash of reality and fantasy and everything resets at midnight."

She glared up at him, "Oh, sure. Just spend all my free time killing people. Fake or not, that's gonna be more than a little unnerving. It's fine for the others- their powers let them destroy property. Things. I don't really get that choice. Most of them probably think I'm batshit already." She'd always told herself there wasn't the time. Maybe she'd just wanted to pretend she didn't need it. That she was in control. Couldn't have been more off the mark with that one if she tried.

After a few seconds of silence, she nodded, smiling bitterly. "But you're right. Can't help but think I'll struggle to get them to trust me now, but you're right. I'll do it." There was still resentment in her voice, but she was trying to keep a handle on it. Picking a fight with a staff member didn't seem like the way to anything good, no matter how tempting it was.

"I'm glad to hear it." Fredric stared ahead. "Don't sell yourself short, Ms. Fletcher. You'll get the hang of it. In the meantime-- mind if I offer you a bit of personal advice?"

Surprised, Zoe nodded. "Uh, go ahead, I guess. Not like I've got anywhere else to be right now."

He beamed down at her in response. "Your ability's a unique one, but your struggle? Not so much. Don't trick yourself into thinking you're all alone. I've been here a long enough to say that's a tough road that doesn't typically end in your favor. I know a thing or two about trust and-- trust me-- your going to need friends just as much as they're going to need you. I think you'll be surprised how understanding some of your peers will be."

"Emphasis on 'some'. Don't think they'll all be as lovely as you're making out. Anyway, I--" She looked down at her feet, doubt creeping in for a second as she cut herself off before her expression switched back to her usual ever-so-slightly forced smile. "I'll give it some thought, at least. Won't promise more than that for now." Truth was, the idea of what he'd said made her uncomfortable, but she couldn't quite say why.

"I'll take it," Fredric chuckled. "Anything else you wanted to talk about?"

Zoe shook her head. "Not unless you can get me out of doing math for the next year. Or you have a way for me to get through a fight without ruining my clothes." She glanced behind them at the trailing guards. "I should probably get going anyway. I don't get the feeling your buddies like me very much."

"Hah, don't take it personally. They're like that with just about everyone. Have a nice day, Ms. Fletcher."

"Right. See you." She nodded and turned to head back down the path, her smile fading as soon as she made it past the guards. The conversation had bothered her more than she'd let on. She wasn't completely clueless as to what the problem was, but she decided not to try and put words to it yet. She'd never been good at asking for help, but maybe it was time for her to swallow her pride. A little, anyway. She wasn't about to beg anyone for forgiveness - not even close. But maybe clearing things up with a few of them wouldn't be so bad.

Reflection

Zoe Fletcher

---

18:00, Sept. 13 2020

---

Ground Zero. Zoe hadn't noticed any of the others as she'd walked around. Realistically, she didn't care if they were, and didn't plan on going near them either way. This was something she had to do alone.

See, having other people around for training maybe helped with teamwork and all that, but not so much with what she had to work with. She thought back to the evaluations. Self-control. That was it. Self-control once she actually got a hold of someone, to be exact, which was a very different prospect to stopping herself from attacking in the first place. A different kind of strength.

She'd always thrown herself into things. Running away maybe, but nonetheless pushing her energy into something positive. Originally positive, in any case - circumstances changed. And so it seemed to be with this. Her instincts, impulses, white-hot temper. Always found a way to carry herself out, blood on her knuckles and a grin on her face. Strength came from fury, from action. Resolve built from fists and curses and fear.

"If someone comes at you, make sure they don't do it twice."

Advice that got her through a lot of trouble. She had the strength for that.

Resisting the temptation she faced wasn't the kind of strength she had, really. Selfish, but it felt safe, almost right. Like it was where she was meant to be, the heat of the moment, balancing on the knife's edge, win or lose, live or die. Battle wasn't a trial, or a struggle or a pain. It was an art. A beautiful, bloody, desperate art. Reduced everyone to their core. Coward, psychopath, predator, prey.

Zoe had always been fascinated by it. Used to watch documentaries on the TV, old ones. DVDs. Nature films, mostly, from before... Well, before everything went to hell. They'd had an old video player too, for those tapes that you had to wind back to the start every time. But the hunting had always caught her attention. Predators chasing down weaker animals, bringing them down. That was how the world worked. You had to be stronger, faster, more ruthless. There was always someone ready to bring you down.

She glanced at the nearest group. Who was it this time? A woman, almost striking in her lack of any distinguishing features whatsoever. Not real, but no luckier for it as Zoe's fingers dug into her arm. And through. Severed. It was so much easier now - areas that wouldn't have been lethal before posed a risk now. Blood loss was too much. No doubt she'd die on her own.

Can't go all out.

But that was how it was, the way of life. These people were weak, and Zoe was strong. It was a crossroads, she thought, smiling as she watched the woman's expression twist in panic and unspeakable horror. She didn't want to hurt the others, but she had to be willing to hurt. Didn't want to lose control, but had to be able to kill. Couldn't fear her power, but couldn't embrace it. Scared to take it as her own. Didn't think of it as her.

It wasn't her, though, she figured. There was Zoe, and then her stigma. Zoe. And the power. The two couldn't be one and the same. Because if they were, then that meant she liked this too, that she was screwed up on some fundamental level below all of it. You weren't meant to enjoy hurting people, weren't meant to revel the fight like she did.

At the same time, she was letting her guard down. Despite herself, despite all of those problems, she'd let herself talk to the others, tried to make up. Attempted to explain herself, accepted their help eventually. Why? It wasn't just because she'd been told to, that wasn't really why Zoe did most things. She'd looked for a way to make things right, opened up despite knowing the danger that came with it. That could hurt them and her if things went wrong.

It felt like she had to decide which one she was going to be. Zoe the person, or Zoe the aberration. Friend or hunter, sister or monster. Humanity or survival - was it all that simple? Was it ever all going to be simple? So many discussions, so many times trying to get her thoughts together and it still didn't make sense. The others seemed to be fine, seemed to have accepted whatever this place did to them. They were still able to care, so why couldn't she?

The whole thing pissed her off. Being told repeatedly how much she was fucking up pissed her off. Being treated like she was just being stubborn, like there weren't good reasons to stay away - that pissed her off too. And she kept causing problems for the others as well. Kept pushing away help. Kept blowing up when they pushed too hard. So many little things irritating her, frustrating her.

Whine, whine, whine. Have to do something about it.

Again, she looked for a target, settling on a short, dark-haired man. Slower this time, that was the key. Precision over power. Backing off would help, affecting from a range. That way the heat of the moment couldn't mess with her head as much. It was different when you were grappling with someone, when they were trying to hurt you too, easier to let instinct take over.

A quick shove was enough contact to start working. He turned to run but stumbled a few seconds later, sprawling to the ground. It would be so easy for her to just kill him, melt out his throat and let him choke. But she couldn't let herself, that wasn't what needed practice. Precision, aiming for the right places, that was the key. She should have probably asked for that biology textbook. Maybe next week, after class. Had to go back eventually.

She focused on the backs his heels. Tendons muscles and skin rotted away and with them any hope he had of walking away or even standing whatsoever. That was good. Non-lethal, little chance for escape for the average person. To the man's credit, he was making an attempt to crawl to freedom, but it didn't exactly lend itself to speed. It occurred to Zoe that experimenting on people, even the ones here, with her powers was kind of messed up, but that didn't change the fact that it worked.

Successful or not though, it didn't really feel like a fight. Zoe missed that. Being able to spar with someone and really put some effort into it, take a couple of hits, get her blood pumping. Catching them off guard and landing them on the floor with something to remember you by. Making it through by the skin of your teeth. Losing that sucked, but it all came back around to self-control.

What else needed to be figured out? Dealing with ranged powers? Psychic abilities? Maybe going for the eyes would help, blinding them. But then panic was an issue, if they attacked indiscriminately. Maybe finding a way to knock them out would be ideal, but she couldn't really think of anything that wasn't lethal. Issue for another time, maybe.

The man was screaming. That still unnerved her, but less than it had on Wednesday. Maybe because there weren't as many, maybe because there wasn't anyone else around to be horrified by it. That was always the question for Zoe though. It never seemed to go away - the question that seemed to decide whether she was a monster or just a bitch who'd been dealt a few bad cards.

Why am I doing any of this?

That was enough for today. The sheer difficulty of holding back with someone at her mercy really took it out of her mentally. Deciding to quit for now was a relief for her. Not so much of a relief for the crawling man, who was doing surprisingly well with his escape.

At least he was until she tore his head from his shoulders. It was kinda surprising how much blood was actually in a person now that she thought about it - she frowned, remembering the game. With how the others had reacted to that, she could only imagine the reaction to a full-on decapitation. Might offend their delicate sensibilities, but to her it felt right. Losing herself in all of this.

It almost felt like this was how it was meant to be, where she was meant to be. Predators hunting prey. The strong doing what the weak couldn't. Zoe Fletcher, top of the fucking food chain, doing things that the others wouldn't, couldn't bring themselves to do. Maybe it'd be okay if she focused on that stuff until it felt alright again. Lost herself in the fight until she didn't want to fight anymore.

With a smile, she turned and started to run at the nearest group, black spreading across her skin. It wasn't a solution, wasn't perfect, but it was something. And if it meant that she wouldn't go off at any of her classmates unprovoked, then that something could be enough for now.

—(••[ 𝕎𝕀𝕊ℍ𝔼𝔸𝕋𝔼ℝ ]••)—

---

19:00, 7 Sept. 2020

---

Zoe had been watching the group from as far a distance away as she was allowed, clearly not intending to invite a conversation. Or any human interaction. So that was it, then. The game was over. She had to wonder what sadistic exercise they'd have to deal with next time.

As the alarm rang out, she was quick to turn her gaze towards the source, catching a brief glimpse of the one responsible. Didn't recognise the pink-haired girl. Maybe they were bringing in more people? Seemed like right after the training session was missing the point a little, but then Zoe didn't care to figure out how this place was run. And maybe sparing anyone else the trouble of being made part of that particular session was a good thing. Whoever she was, though, Zoe didn't particularly care. She just knew that this was slowing them down, and that she really wanted to go. Now.

So she shook her head and turned away, disgust and irritation on her face as the guards all freaked out. Her mind was trying to be somewhere else, and the noise was just dragging her back here. She didn't want to think about here. It was easy enough to try and focus on something else, at least until the screaming started.

Normally she'd care, normally she'd pay more attention, but she needed time. She needed space. Needed everything to just leave. Well, other than the pink-haired girl, who seemed to have reached a whole new level on the whole 'going away' front. And judging by the staff mage's screaming, she hadn't gone anywhere good.

This was bullshit. All of it. What, were they just bringing people in to get rid of them now? Was it all some messed-up joke? Maybe not the staff mages - their concern didn't seem completely faked, anyway. And they weren't the main ones in charge. Of course, her own investment wasn't particularly strong. She didn't know who the girl was. Maybe she'd turn up, although the screaming made that sound a little unlikely.

Part of her wished she'd been able to do it herself. If they didn't need these people anyway, they might as well let her have a shot at-

What?

What was she thinking?

The game, that's all it was. Just the game. Messing with her thoughts. It wasn't a problem. She'd just been in the wrong mindset. Or maybe that was always her mindset now. Training like back there wasn't safe, she knew that much. Not if she was like this. It shouldn't have happened.

Zoe hardly waited for Freddy to finish speaking before she took off, troubled and angry behind the apparent boredom on her face. Angry at the staff, at the guards, at the class, at the director, the whole goddamn facility, and at herself most of all. She knew it wouldn't be as frantic in the morning, once she'd cooled off. It never was. But that was always going to take time. Once she was alone, she could at least stop pretending things were fine for a few hours.

Sleepless

---

23:00, Sept. 7 2020

---

Zoe couldn't sleep. She didn't know how late it was, but she'd been pacing around her room for hours. Angry, but not at anyone else. It was easier when it was something like that, something she could fight, but fighting was what brought her to this in the first place. She told herself it wasn't what she'd wanted, but the statement felt hollow.

What the hell is wrong with me?

It wasn't, but it was. It hadn't been the plan, she'd left the others out to dry, she'd undoubtedly fucked everything in sixteen different ways. She'd let everyone else see her as an unhinged, deranged sadist. A psychopath who'd kill them as soon as look at them. There'd been time to pull back, to stop. But she didn't want to, even this long after the fight. No, she wanted to do it again.

But it wasn't as bad as it could be. Not now. She'd hurt. She'd managed to hurt him, and some of it went away but it wasn't enough. The feeling was stronger now than it should have been - Why was it stronger? Why did things keep changing? It had been different. The vision, what she'd seen. It had been more, and that scared her. She was scared, but she had to be fearless. Had to be proud. Had to be the girl that could look death in the eyes and punch its goddamned teeth in.

They can't see this.

Her fist slammed against the wall. And then again, and again. Dull thumps pounding uselessly against the surface. The noise wasn't important to her. Neither was the numb, aching pain that accompanied each blow - but that was what she focused on. It was real, pain. Understandable. But it didn't help. It wouldn't stop the smile that crossed her face at the thought of bones breaking, the laugh that accompanied the sound of tearing flesh. It wouldn't make anything right. Wouldn't make her right. But it was numb, and it was real, and it was better than being afraid.

In the morning, she could get up. She could do her best to fix things, to act like everything was okay, to figure it all out. Maybe it was pretending things were fine that had gotten her into this mess to begin with, but it was all she had to hold on to. It meant she could keep them away, that they wouldn't give her the chance to hurt them. Even as she told herself that, it didn't quite ring true. She didn't want this, didn't want to stand alone. To be alone.

But she couldn't keep doing this. This couldn't happen again, she couldn't let herself do this again. If she could just back off, then that wouldn't be a risk.

God, she really was a selfish bitch. The problem should have been easy to fix, but she just couldn't bring herself to do it. They smiled and laughed and cared and cried and she could hurt them so, so easily - so why couldn't she just stay away?

Stopping her ineffective assault on the wall, she almost felt like laughing. Good one, Zoe. Just throw a tantrum like a goddamn kid, that'll fix things.

It really was funny how pathetic it all felt. She couldn't even feel sickened at anything she'd done, anything that had happened. It'd be easier if she didn't want to help, if she could just act like they didn't matter at all, that none of this was important. That it was all just some experiment, a pet project that didn't mean anything. It'd make things so much easier. But for all of her anger, her arrogance, her eagerness to fight, Zoe just couldn't stop herself from caring and that scared her. Yeah, that scared her more than anything.

As her anger finally burned itself out, she felt cold resolve settling over her. Collapsing back onto the bed, exhausted by it all, one thing was certain in her mind. She had to be stronger. For everyone else's sake, she had to be willing to go further than they ever would to keep everyone alive. But something like today, where she let herself focus that resolve at the wrong place, where she started to hurt the wrong people?

She couldn't do this again.

—(••[ 𝕎𝕀𝕊ℍ𝔼𝔸𝕋𝔼ℝ ]••)—

And another upgrade! Added to the CS.

Upgrade 3

Zoe's power can now work faster to the point where it's almost instant, like tearing through soft clay. The speed it can spread from a point of contact has also doubled.

It can also now be spread from creature to creature under her control like a virus, provided they make contact with each other and stay within the radius, and the rate it works at can be changed at will.

The radius it can work in has also increased to 30m.

The lines and mist generated by her power now appear much darker and thicker, and black specks now exude from any affected creatures.

As a result of the upgrade, her stigma has also noticeably gotten worse.

—(••[ 𝕎𝕀𝕊ℍ𝔼𝔸𝕋𝔼ℝ ]••)—

---

Slowly regaining consciousness, Zoe began to stir. She half-opened her eyes, glancing sleepily around the room, over the footage playing on the screens, trying to figure out where they were. Nothing really seemed to hurt, and the others from their fight were all here anyway, so maybe some sort of-

It took a moment to realise what was going on as she took in the sight around her.

Here again. Standing on the surface.

It was different this time. It felt different. The ocean was shifting ever so slightly, just enough to feel like something had changed.

But she reached down again, like she always did.

It wasn't a drop this time - it was a surge of power that flowed into her, more than it had ever been before. And with it, even more of that wrongness the others had brought. Danger.

Blue eyes took in the ocean around her, watching as two of the waves collided and sent a shock running through her - the last remnants of something that was far too much for her to understand.

And all of a sudden she was back to reality. Lying on a bed in a room full of screens. This must've been where they took her after she'd...

Her expression darkened and she lifted her hand, looking at it. There had been blood, a lot of blood, and not hers. But the idea didn't freak her out like it should have. She'd gotten carried away, but the worst thing she felt looking at it, was disappointment. The rest of what she felt? It wasn't disgust, horror, wasn't even resignation.

If anything, it was satisfaction. She could remember what she'd done vividly, crystal clear, and it felt like a rush. That wasn't how she was meant to feel, was it? But he'd pushed her- She'd tried to warn him, knew how it would turn out if he didn't just stay down. She'd known what she would do to him, and she'd tried to warn him, but not tried as hard as she could have. The staff knew what her powers did as well, and knew she had no business turning that on her teammates. But at the end of the day, they weren't responsible, and she was never very good at lying to herself.

Snapped again, didn't I? First Aaron, now Gregory. Just keeps on happening.

Cold anger bubbled to the surface, but she shook her head. It wasn't time to deal with this right now, she couldn't confront any of it until the others weren't there to see. Outwardly, she appeared to relax, a lazy smile appearing on her face. Like nothing was bothering her at all, like she hadn't done anything to worry about and hadn't been half-covered in someone else's blood. Although she wasn't a particularly great actor, and it was clear something was bothering her - or at least it would be if anyone looked closely enough to check.

Stretching, she stood up, and was halfway to the bathroom when she realised what she was wearing. Somehow she didn't think she was getting her clothes back either. It wasn't really the right thing to focus on, but it made a good distraction from thinking about her actions in the fight. Keeping her composure right now meant thinking about something else, even if it was pointless.

Especially when she remembered that everyone else in the room could also see the recordings. She paused halfway across the room, watching the screens to see what went on after she got knocked out, as well as to confirm her suspicions. Suspicions that seemed to be right on the money, because she was definitely naked for several minutes of that recording. Great. She'd melted half someone's face off and then spent the rest of the fight being thrown around with no clothes on.

Not really how I wanted to make an impression.

She could only imagine what the others thought of her after this. Nothing good, that was for sure. Hopefully they'd be allowed back to their rooms soon, because it was a lot more effort to keep this up than she'd expected. She wasn't even sure what putting on an act was achieving at this point, other than making her look more unhinged than she already did. Which almost felt like an achievement in itself at this point.

But maybe that was why she was doing it. It wasn't exactly like she could explain her actions to them, 'cause she doubted any of them saw things the same way she did. So what other option was there? Sure, she could blame it on her Stigma if she wanted, but... well, knowing what went on in her head would never make any of them comfortable around her either. No, the best thing she could do right now was sit back, smile, and pretend nothing was bothering her. Everything else could wait until she was out of here.

Akame ga Kill! - An Alternate History (Lasrever & Otaku95)

Could just do the introduction to Najenda and stuff I suppose.

Akame ga Kill! - An Alternate History (Lasrever & Otaku95)

Skye, Tatsumi

&

Night Raid

Tatsumi still didn't understand why any of this had happened. He'd failed - hadn't he? They were supposed to save the village together, his friends and him. Sayo, Ieyasu... He couldn't get it out of his head no matter how hard he tried. There was a tormented expression on his face as he stared down at the graves. Part of him knew he should keep moving, but he just wasn't sure how to deal with it. And then there was the matter of where he'd ended up, captured by a group of assassins. There was no way he could join the Imperial Army now, so how was he meant to save his village? He could join Night Raid, but murder didn't feel like something he could do. It wasn't about talent, but Tatsumi wasn't sure he could take someone's life so easily.

He sighed as he saw one of the assassins approaching. Probably going to try and get him to move, even if he didn't feel like it right now. Still, there wasn't much he could really do about it as Leone picked him up. The woman seemed to have decided it was her job to look after him, despite Tatsumi's repeated protests against the idea. "I'm to show you around the hideout today. Have you seen the other two around anywhere?"

In contrast to the young man stood by the cliff, the cyan-haired girl perched in a nearby tree seemed much less cut up over the incident. Admittedly, she also just figured that the whole 'assassins' deal sounded cool, and the people that got murdered - sucked to be them, but she couldn't fix that now. But watching how cut up he seemed to be, she'd started to think about maybe helping Tatsumi out. Emotional stuff wasn't really her strong point, but if she needed to say something then she would. Not like she hadn't dealt with anything like this before, but she decided to wait and see if the others could help out first. Didn't want to be all sappy and cry everywhere, there was enough of that around.

Overhearing the blonde, Skye glanced over towards Rex and Bulat vefore moving through the trees with surprising grace for someone that seemed so dimwitted. If nothing else, she was definitely acrobatic. Dropping from the trees next to the pair, she waved. "Morning guys. Or is it afternoon?" She glanced at the sky. "Yeah, morning. I think Leone's looking for us, Rex. Something about showing us around? I'm not sure. She already grabbed Tatsumi while he was busy moping over there." She nodded towards the cliff, yawning and adjusting her case. Despite the fact that they knew about her weapons, she'd decided to keep the thing. Sentimental value or something.

Akame ga Kill! - An Alternate History (Lasrever & Otaku95)

I figure they'd basically just be going straight to sleep once they got there anyway. I'd say skip to at least the next morning so that stuff's actually happening.