Captain of the Guard, Lindell

I stood there, looking down at the monster's body. It's black blood staining the forest floor. It covered its wound with it's wings. "I told you to let go... why didn't you listen?" It was just a monster, like any other. It was using my sister's face to get to me. To get under my skin. I felt the urge to kick the body, but I just didn't have it in me. If it could regenerate arms, this much shouldn't kill it. Though maybe it might listen to me when I tell it to do something." I wiped my face, the fucker made me cry. It was playing with my emotions, trying to use me.

I had seen too many corpse walker stories first hand. It starts with someone going to take a piss, then they die. The body comes back, looking just like the person, acting just like them depending on how much brain is left. Then they murder the poor bastard's family. Using their bodies to make a nest, and lay eggs. Then they spread out to the friends, and before you know it you have a corpse walker village. All you can do at that point, is burn it to the ground.

I had seen too many good men, serenaded by a banshee's song. How beautiful their voices were, when they sung. There were some cases where banshee were decent, but more often than not. They were vindictive and full of malice. Singing to the man, or woman under their spell. Moving into the kingdom for a few months, before leaving. If the man was single, he would die out in the forest. If he had a wife and child... they would be eaten as the banshee turned into a mother of wisps.

So many monsters evolved or matured through people or beasts. There was no such thing as being too cautious, but still... I wiped my face again, getting rid of a few more errant tears. Then I saw it out of the corner of my eye. I quickly turned to look, to see what was looking at me. My pipe drawn, the shadows around me growing longer. I looked at the sky, to see the sun still overhead. A creeping darkness crawling from all sides. I heard voices in the back of my mind. "Save her Wyatt, save her." "Aren't you going to kill her? Kill your sister again?" "It'll be the last thing you do." "Eat her flesh." "She's not dead yet, she's not ready. Neither are you."

I gritted my teeth, as the dome completed itself. Shadows crawling from every corner of my vision, but I saw the creature responsible perfectly. A looming figure that seemed to just appear beside the monster. There was no hesitation, I struck at it. The thing didn't seem to flinch, merely looking down at the monster that slept. I struck again, and again. My pipe vibrating, as I dragged that same pipe over it's flesh. I even used my magic to try grinding into it with dirt and sand.

Finally the thing turned towards me. It wore the skull of a fiendling, it's eyes were pinpoints of red malice coming from the darkness of the empty sockets. It wore a pelt of weeping raven feathers, completely covering it's shoulders, and half it's back. A scaled fleshy fabric of pure dark falling the rest of the way like a cape. The cape was bleeding, with mouths on the bottom whispering and biting at the air. The body of the creature was a dark sickly purple, changing different shades as it moved. It's body skeletal with flesh clinging to various bones. I could count it's ribs, and see it's muscles and joints popping with every movement. It's arms were elongated, with hands that stretched from the knees, to it's feet. If you could call those things hands. Each finger was like a sharpened blade, covered in a different hue of flesh, making it seem it's skin was molded together from different creatures past the neck.

Those red dots finally looked at me, as every hair on my body stood on end. I froze, unable to breath. My body betraying me, as I crumpled to my knees gagging and puking. I wheezed and coughed, unsure if this was some kind of illusion or mental manipulation. I managed to look back at it, before seeing it kneel to pick up the monster. Every bone in my body ached, every muscle spasmed. This wasn't something I could allow to take what it wanted. This was literal death made manifest. I used what magic I could, to hurl myself at it.

I was stopped midair, by an unnatural ability. I was forced to look at the creature, as my mouth frothed over my mind giving out.

...

{Recent Memory Erased}

{Inputting False Memories}

...

I woke up, to find myself resting against a tree. Night was coming, and my mind was a haze. I wiped my mouth, to find my nose had bled for some reason. My mouth tasted like bile, and everything felt like it hurt. I looked around, and found Mimi was asleep. We fought, and I blasted her stomach open. I could see her breathing, but couldn't remember after that. The pain in my head grew worse whenever I tried to think about it. She probably knocked me out, I recalled a lullaby...

I forced myself up, checking my bracers to find the metal balls still in there. Rubbing my head, I checked to see if the supplies were alright. Thankfully everything was perfectly fine. The woods were no place to pass out however. We were lucky nothing came to attack us while we slept. I listened out for sounds, to find silence. That was rather unsettling. I used my wind to gather firewood, before striking it with some flint. It lit up rather nicely.

Everything was complicated until now. My sister was a part of this monster, but she was still in there. A part of me deep down wanted to see her as something more than a monster. I guess it won out in the end, because I didn't finish killing her. It was far too soon to accept her, but I could stand to be a little nicer. My instincts told me this was wrong, but Mother Oak said this creature could help me. I just needed to accept it for what it was.

Taking a deep breath, I lowered my head. Looking at the fire, and holding my hands over it for warmth. I saw my breath, the pain starting to go away as I considered accepting Mimi more and more. Something was wrong, it shouldn't be this easy, could it be that simple? I wasn't the type to overthink things, but my gut was screaming this wasn't right. Still, there were times it was wrong... I just needed to ignore it. Ah yes, I made Alice's favorite. I came here wanting to accept her, didn't I?

I managed to use my wind to quietly guide the supplies towards me. I was relieved to see the cakes were alright. Mimi's bugs were sleeping as well from what I could tell. I just needed to accept it. To accept everything in front of me. Yeah, it was that simple. My gut was wrong, there was nothing wrong. I just passed out because Mimi threw me against the tree too hard. That was fair, I almost killed her. Letting out a small sigh, I put the cake back as the pain went away. Guess we were eating rations and cake tonight. We spent so much time fighting each other, we didn't even hunt.

I rubbed the back of my head, feeling nothing was off there. Mimi gasped awake, coughing as she curled up a bit more. "Hey... how are you feeling?"

She kept her back to me, "Cold, very cold."

"Come get warm by the fire. Glad you're still alive." She moved to sit by the fire, taking her sunglasses of. She spread her wings around the fire, to show the spots that I tore through. Her face still covered in that black substance. I winced, when I saw her skin knitting itself together on her stomach. I could see the organs moving inside her. The wound still seeping blood and pus.

She seemed to notice, using a wing to block my view. A stinger moving to the area itself. "I'm starving, could you find me something to eat please?"

"Yeah, sure." I grabbed some of the rations, offering them to her. She stopped the bottom of my bracers from pointing at her, making me wince a little.

"Thanks, I need more though. Toss me the bag please." She turned away to eat what I gave her. I grabbed the bag, and used a little magic to toss it to her. This made her jump a little, as if she thought I was really trying to throw the bag at her. She hugged it to her, trying to settle down. It took her a few seconds, before opening it up. Then she started to eat everything she could get her hands on.

"Hey, leave some for me." I tried to joke, but she stopped putting handfuls back into the bag. I watched her, unsure what to make of this. She was watching me, as she set the bag back down slowly. Her other set of hands taking some of the warming stones from the bag. "Why did you stop?"

"Because you told me to Wyatt. Do you want me to put the stones back?" She was already starting to put them back.

"No... no, you can use the stones." I went through the rations to grab myself some. She took maybe a few days worth, but something was bothering me. I looked at her, and she seemed to move away a little. "We're still hunting the spider tonight. The reports said you're better at night right?"

She just nodded in response, not taking her eyes off me. Her face still covered in that mask, making her look like a proper monster.

"Are you still hungry? Why are you giving me the silent treatment?" I warmed my hands over the fire. She didn't move an inch until I looked at her.

"Sorry... yes I am still hungry. I did not mean to be rude Wyatt, I thought you wanted me to be quiet. Should I call you captain? Whichever you prefer."

"Captain is fine. Makes it less personal, you're still a monster after all." It hurt a little to call her that. I wasn't sure why, when it didn't hurt before she knocked me out.

"Yes Captain... Thank you for putting up with me until now." She sounded meek now, keeping her hands closer to herself. As if she were afraid of me.

I needed to test this, I raised my hand slowly to point past the fire. She was watching it, even as I started to move it towards her. She moved a little as if to try and avoid me pointing right at her. Then she seemed to stop and closed her eyes again. "That's the direction of the spider. We'll go there soon. Why did you close your eyes?"

I took a bite of jerky, as Mimi looked down at the ground. "I'm sorry captain..."

I blinked, to stare at her. This made her shudder a little, "I asked why. Tell me."

She swallowed hard, "I thought you were going to kill me this time. I'm sorry."

I stood up, which caused her to flinch away. "You're lying aren't you!? You know I have orders not to kill you!" I raised my voice without meaning to.

This made her fall back, her wings covering her body, while her arms covered her face. "You almost killed me earlier." Her voice growing quieter with each word. I moved closer, which made her turn on her side and cry out in pain. She stopped moving, letting out soft cries and pants. She moved her lower arms to her stomach, wincing as they came back covered in her black blood.

I paled, "Did you reopen your wounds!?" She covered her face again.

She was trembling on the ground before me, all sense of pride I thought she had gone. There was no dignity in this, just fear and pain. She undid the bottom part of her mask, as blood seeped from her lips. She coughed, before nodding quickly. She looked at me, then hid her face behind that mask again. "I'm sorry captain, I wasn't done healing."

I swallowed hard, moving away from her, which seemed to help her calm down. She laid on her side, curling up a bit. One wing spread towards the fire to try and stay warm. "We'll hunt tomorrow, or when you're ready then. Why are you healing slower?"

She kept holding her stomach, her lower arms hiding the wound as best she could. "It works based on how much you have in you. You tore my insides up, so I have nothing to heal with. If you hit me again, or if you tear one of my arms off. I'll starve to death before I can heal. I'm so hungry captain, but I can't even eat or it'll spill out and kill me. Thank you for stopping me." She let out soft cries that almost sounded like a Katydid's chirping.

"Yeah, sure. Why are you chirping?" I sat back by the pack. Resuming my dinner for the night.

"It helps with the pain, I can stop." She did just that, taking shallow breaths as she let her wing fall to the ground in front of her.

I chewed my jerky slow, frowning when I looked at her. She had her eyes closed, as she continued to struggle with her breathing. "Why did you hug me? Why did you sing that lullaby?"

She buried the side of her face in the dirt, "That was the Alice part of me, she wanted so much to make you see us as your sister again. We won't try anymore, she is sleeping now. She isn't dead, you didn't kill her. The pain hurt her though."

"I'll kill... make you suffer if you're lying." I looked at the monster slowly writhing in pain on the ground. Struggling for breath, her words and actions hurting me still.

"I know, I won't tell you lies. Please, don't hurt me anymore. I'm sorry captain. Ask us anything, we won't lie to you. Mimi will be useful to captain." She started coughing again, spitting up more blood.

I couldn't take anymore, I looked away. "Yeah, I'm sure you will be. Why did you open up the spar just like Alice would?"

"Because, she wanted to fight you. She wanted you to see us as your sister. Mimi didn't care, honest. Mimi wanted to kill you, and run away. Alice fought, but she's sleeping." The monster coughed some more. "Please captain, Mimi needs water. Wounds will reopen, we still don't want to die."

I rubbed my chin, grabbing the flask that made drinking water. "If you try anything, I'll make sure you don't get anymore." The monster just nodded while coughing. She undid the bottom part of her mask, where some more blood spilled out.

One of her stingers moved, and I grabbed it, which caused her to cry out. "Antenna! It hurts!"

I quickly let go, to confirm it was. "Why the hell did you move it!?"

The thing was crooked and twitching from where I grabbed it. The monster shaking as she shook her head pitifully. "You were reaching, didn't want you to grab it. I'm sorry, please don't hurt us captain."

She covered her head, trembling with fear. I couldn't say anything to that. She acted like this after I attacked her in the church. Not wanting to let me in. Was this even a monster? It was acting like a scared child. I pressed the flask to her lips as she started coughing again. She started drinking slowly. "No... I'm sorry for hurting you. How bad does it hurt?" I tried to sound nicer.

This seemed to put her on edge more, she stopped drinking to answer my question right away. "Worse than my insides exploding. Worse than losing an arm or leg. It hurts lots, captain. Makes the hive frenzy if I let them feel it."

"It makes them frenzy?" I remembered the hive back at Oswald's estate, and quickly glanced at her cylinder. They seemed to be calm for now, thankfully.

She slowly nodded, not even trying to drink more. "I need to keep the pain inside. Captain will be upset if the hive does something bad." She started to drink again after answering my question.

"You're doing well... just keep them from going into a frenzy please." I couldn't believe I was doing this, yet here I was. I pulled the water away from her slowly, she seemed to chase it a little. Before pulling back, "I need you to promise not to tell anyone about this. Not even Richard or Oswald." If Vivian heard anything about this, she'd have me cleaning the sewers, and anything else she could think of that I hated.

The monster pressed her face to the dirt again, "Thank you captain, the water is cold. Mimi won't tell anyone, Alice is asleep still. Mimi won't even tell her. Mimi just feels so cold. May Mimi sleep please?"

I moved away from her, "Only if you promise not to die. I'll keep watch while you sleep. When you wake up, just feed the fire and try to stay warm okay? I'll... I have blankets in the supplies. You can have them, just don't die okay?" I quickly grabbed the blankets, while they weren't thick they were enchanted with magic silk to keep the cold out. Even as I held them, they felt warm. With everything that happened, I completely forgot about them.

"Don't want to die... can't promise..." She closed her eyes, letting out those khris again. I put the blanket over her, feeling how cold she actually was for the first time. Her body was frigid, a layer of frost built up on her shell.

I covered her as best I could, holding her shoulder, "If.." I swallowed hard, "If Alice is in there, tell her I have some Lum'kai cake. It's the surprise I have for her. Please tell her." My voice cracked, as I saw the monster's ear flick a little. I prepared myself for a very long watch, while the monster slept.

Alice

Wyatt was a good person deep down. He probably cared more for the people around him, than I could understand. It was nice, that he had never lost that trait since he was a child. Though it might be more that behaved like one than anything else. Wyatt always wanted to help as many people in the village before it burned. It truly scarred him when monsters burned the village down. Just like it did Alice, but where Alice came to terms with it. Wyatt probably could never forgive monsters. In Wyatt's mind he was someone with an incredible talent, that could be used with his magic.

He wanted to be the hero so badly, that it blinded him to those who sought to manipulate him. Wyatt so desperately wanted to save his sister, that he wouldn't question part of her still being inside me. Which she was with Mimi in Wonderland. That part was true, but they could only take peeks at what was happening outside the subconscious. Feeding me memories, and ideas to help guide my actions when I needed it. The fact that he was so willing to disregard things I said in the past, probably hurt me. At this point I couldn't really bother caring though.

Wyatt had attacked me, and had the potential of killing me. I was done playing nice, I was done telling him the truth. If all he could stomach was lies, then I swore to tell him anything and everything I needed to. I was not going to die to this child, that would sooner call the truth lies, when lies were so much more beneficial towards me. I was awake before Wyatt started the fire, tearing into my almost healed stomach. Taking great care not to make it seem it was too fresh.

I pretended to gasp awake, knowing full well Wyatt might be wary of me. All I needed to do, was pretend to be afraid. Let him see the wound that was still healing. Hiding it with my wings, to make it seem I was trying to work with him. Pretending to sting the wound, and not have that work because I was starving. The truth was, my stomach was full from being rebuilt. A trick I learned from countless cold seasons with nothing to eat. I could use my stingers to fill my stomach by just stinging close enough to it. So many things I learned trying to survive, and so many things i still have yet to learn. Namely, how to deal with an idiot.

I jumped at everything Wyatt did, watching his every move. Pretending to be terrified. The jerk didn't even see the blood that I carefully painted on the bottom of the pack. He even wanted me to go hunting to show if I could fight still. This only made me feel better about lying to him. I couldn't even be angry at this point. Everything he did, just made bringing him pain all the more enjoyable. Even when I fell back covering my face with my upper arms, he didn't see my lower arms tearing into the fresh top layer of my wound. I turned on my side, as if to run from him. Letting him see me wince, with a conclusion that was simple enough for him to stumble upon.

He asked questions of course, but by this point he was already shaken. To him, it probably seemed that I was a wounded animal or monster. Too afraid of the man that could kill me with sand and sticks. So afraid, that I tried to move my antenna away from him when he wanted to give me water. While that did hurt it was fixed in a couple of seconds. I just made it look bent to really rub his face in it. He wanted me to stop pretending I wasn't a monster. Everyone I met, with the exception of Richard, was put off when I showed even a small bit of intelligence and understanding.

Wyatt just pushed me to this point. He helped me understand, that if it came down to it. I would happily use anyone and everyone to get what I wanted. That if it meant keeping my hive safe, I could trample and manipulate the feelings of others. That this world should burn... no that wasn't right. Memories of saving Cynthia and Drake came back to me. I could argue that it was to benefit my hive, but they were strangers. There was no reason for me to help them. I could have just eaten their bodies with the assassins, then been on my way. No one would have noticed so late at night. Even Cynthia admitted no one knew they were there. I could have done the same to Richard, but I saved him more than once.

I was just lashing out at Wyatt, because I was hurting, and he hurt me. I couldn't stop now though, I needed to keep the lie up. At least until we could put it behind us. Deep down, I still wanted to be Wyatt's sister again. At the very least, friends in some sense of the word. I told him I was going to sleep, and he brought me blankets to stay warm. The night was far too cold, and it made me upset. The pain in my stomach keeping me on edge. I wasn't afraid of Wyatt, he was easy enough to kill. So long as I attacked him when his guard was down. Wyatt wasn't a threat, he was just someone more afraid of monsters, than I pretended to be afraid of him.

He didn't need people manipulating him, just because he was an idiot. He didn't need to be put in a spot where he could be called to the front lines of any conflict. Especially in a city where assassins could just sneak in whenever they wanted. Even when there were groups underground doing who knows what. Wyatt was just an orphan that lost his sister and wanted to make sure no one suffered what he did. He needed help, and no one was giving it to him. I cracked an eye open to look at him, staring at the fire. Just looking sad and defeated. He couldn't bother keeping watch, not when the monster that wanted to be his sister had used him.

Closing my eyes, I resolved to make this better in the morning. We were never going to spar or fight each other again. I at least understood him better now, and that was a start. Even if I had to keep lying to help him, I resolved to do it for his best interests. I didn't deserve to be his sister, but if he could accept me, then I would do the same for him.