Vigor Mortis

Chapter 68: Let Them Come

Miss Vita? a calm voice asks. Miss Vita, youve stopped walking.

I glance up at Lord Erebuss face, blinking in shock. Right, yeah, I was leading him to a place I dont want him to go, like some kind of fucking moron. Lyn is rapidly approaching us, but before she gets in sight she stops, waiting around a corner. She must know I know shes there. Maybe she wants to talk to me in private.

Which, yknow, I dont want, because I got her daughter fucking killed.

Miss Vita? Lord Erebus prompts again. Are you quite alright?

I feel my jaw open a bit, the haze over my mind roiling slightly at the frankly moronic audacity of the question.

Why the fuck, I ask First Lord Johann Erebus, would you think that Im alright?

He seems a bit shocked at that response. I do not care.

Did you not just watch me carry my sisters corpse into the room with you? Are you a fucking idiot? Did that just like not register?

He narrows his eyes a little, less than amused by my insults.

I must admit, I never expected someone personally recommended by my fiance to be so childish. I understand and sympathize with your grief, young lady, but that is no reason to take your hostilities out on me.

Isnt it? I snap, any wisdom in my head about not pissing off a first lord thorougly scrubbed away, If people like you were halfway fucking competent, the people of this city, my family, wouldnt be surrounded by gangs and death and rot! You fucking said yourself you dont need me to lead you to this damn place, but youre making me do it anyway, while Im grieving, just because you feel like you fucking can! Im not the childish one here!

You are standing in the street and screaming at me while holding a stuffed animal, he calmly points out.

Leave. Rosco. Out of this, I hiss, feeling my face scrunch up into a death glare. I can kill him too. I wonder if Penelope would prefer a Revenant husband over this fucking piece of work? I bet she probably would.

Erebus just stares at me like Im some kind of frustrating puzzle for a moment before bowing his head with unexpected politeness.

Apologies. Ive imposed upon you during a time of extreme stress. I, personally, like to throw myself into work when I grieve, but this is clearly not your way. Out of respect for your situation, I will continue my business with you at another time.

Of course, I can tell hes actually fairly furious, but Im currently incapable of giving a shit. He turns and departs without another word. Good riddance. The last thing Penelope and I need is someone poking their nose into our business. Ill deal with him later.

Right now, I still have to face my mom. She emerges soon after Lord Erebus walks off, worry in her features and yet theres a soft smile on her face. A smile. Looking at it claws my heart to shreds. I have to turn away. I can feel her pain, sharp and terrible, yet shes still smiling for me.

Vita, Lyn greets softly.

M Lyn, I answer back. I dont deserve to call her mom.

I heard what happened. From the kids.

She moves forward, arms opening to hug me. To hug me. I step backwards.

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...Sorry, I whisper. Im sorry.

It wasnt your fault, Lyn answers. But shes wrong. I dont want to hear it.

F-follow me, I manage to stutter. Penelope has her.

Her eyes go wide, hope entering her soul.

Your biomancer friend?

I wince.

...Shes just preserving the body, I clarify, choking up a little. Damn it, dont cry again! Its not sorry. Im sorry.

I step away, hurrying towards the facility. Its okay if Lyn visits, Ive already told her about it anyway and she knows a thing or two about subtlety. And its well, its where Angeliens body is. I couldnt bear to keep her out. Together we head inside, heading down into the basement as I feel the Revenants scattering to their hiding spots. Penelope is there as well, unperturbed by our arrival. I open the lower door, walking in past the metal-ink runes that block every magical sense but my own from detecting this place.

Penelope is there, casting her spells on a tiny, naked body. Angeliens shattered, twisted neck has been moved back into place, her body seeming almost peaceful. If not for the fact that I can tell its a soulless husk, I may have thought her asleep. Penelope looks up at us as we enter, raising a slight eyebrow.

Vita. And Miss Lyn. Welcome. I sorry, but Im not quite done. Youre welcome to watch, or not.

Lyn steps forward, the agony in her soul becoming apparent on her features for the first time. She cant keep her brave face in front of the body, tears starting to well in her eyes.

Oh, Angelien, she whispers, holding the corpse by the hand. My brave little Angelien. Im so sorry. I should have been there. I should have seen it.

Erm Penelope mutters, staring at my mother with an awkwardness beyond anything Ive ever seen in the normally-composed woman. Im terribly sorry, truly, but the work Im doing is somewhat time-sensitive and I need you to, ah, let go of the body.

O-oh. Of course. Lyn lets go and steps away, wiping her tears with a gloved hand. What, um are you doing, exactly?

Penelope frowns, turning her attention back to the corpse.

Well, that should be obvious, shouldnt it? Vita, I assume you have her soul?

I-I, um. Yeah, I do, I confirm. Whole and intact.

Instinctively I move a hand up to my lower sternum, feeling at the skin over which Angeliens soul floats inside me, right above my own.

Then were going to bring her back, of course, Penelope finishes plainly. Immortality research, remember?

I take a step away.

...Penelope, we cant do that yet.

Sure we can, she answers nonchalantly. Youve done it three times already.

No, I mean I can bring her back as an undead, sure. But Ill have to fuck with her soul! Shell be forced to love me, and

Shes your sister, Lyn says softly. She already loves you.

Shell be dead! I counter. An undead servant! She wont ever grow up, she wont even be able to leave this stupid basement! We can do better. Penelope, werent we going to learn to bring people back to life?

Hey now, being dead isnt so bad.

Vitamin drops down from her hiding place in the ceiling, grinning with satisfaction as Lyn and Penelope both jump a little at her sudden appearance.

Hey mom. Hey grandma.

...Vitamin? Lyn guesses, quickly recovering from her shock.

That would be me! my zombie-clone-parasite-daughter confirms. It does get a bit cramped down here in the basement, but the Doras and I are working on that. You two can come out, by the way. Grandma wont bite.

Im not a Dora anymore, Margarete complains, strolling in from the fridge area. She points at Angeliens corpse. Is that my new body? Ill take it, but I was hoping for something less small.

It isnt, and you will not let anything bad happen to it, I growl at her. She snaps to attention and nods fervently. Whats Vitamin talking about? Youre working on a way to leave here safely?

Since we have so much excess metal, we can adapt the same protections used on the building itself into tattoos, Theodora explains, also entering the room. Hypothetically it should let us walk around safely right under a Templars nose, as long as no one checks for a pulse.

I was hoping for permission to test it out first, if thats okay, Mom, Vitamin continues. Im the only one thats not helping much by being cooped up in here, and Im fast enough to run away and hide if things go badly.

Okay, thats fine, I huff, but Angelien is still dead, and Id still prefer to wait until we can make her alive again rather then irrevocably fuck up her soul! Theodora, back me up on this.

I internally wince as I realize I worded that as an order, but the tattooed woman seems perfectly happy following it.

Subjecting a child to mind-altering magic and forcing her into an eternity of servitude would be one of the most horrific breeches of human decency I can imagine.

Rude, Vitamin comments, pulling a bug out of her ear and squishing it between her fingers.

...The point is, I wholeheartedly agree with Vita. We should continue our research while she keeps the human souls inside her safe. I recognize the desire to see the people you love again as soon as possible, but it would be better to wait. She may lose a few years in the interim, but shell at least still be herself when she comes out the other side.

We digest that in silence for a while, Lyn nodding slowly as tears drip silently down her cheeks. I squeeze Rosco tighter, at least until Vitamin starts making grabby-hands at me. After a moments hesitation, I give her my bird-friend and pick her up instead, letting me hug both of them at once. Her body is cold, but her soul is wonderful. So comforting. So safe. Shell never, ever hurt me.

I disagree completely, Penelope says suddenly. A few years? Really? You think were going to figure out how to bring the dead back to life in a few years? Laughable. If we wait, Angelien will lose decades of her life, at the least! Weve hit nothing but problems on this so far, and you know it. If we wait until we figure everything out, this girl would be coming back unchanged to a world where everyone she knows and loves is completely different, having moved on without her! That seems like a far crueler fate to me.

Oh please, Theodora counters, rolling her eyes. You just want another test subject.

Theodora, Im not that callous, Penelope snaps, genuinely offended. My point stands regardless of my alleged motivations anyway.

I scowl.

...What sort of problems have you been having? I ask. Can I help out here more?

Penelope shakes her head.

Ultimately, our problem is that while we can reverse-engineer some of what you do, were still missing far, far too much. The biggest one is that your soul-sight isnt a spell, so we cant copy it to see what you see. So even if we learn how to modify souls, wed have no way of determining whether anything we do is working. Were completely blind on the animancy front, and the biomancy front is well, lets just say there are reasons no one on Verdantop has figured it out before. We need more information on animancy.

I nod, mind and emotions churning. The bubbling fury from before rises to the surface again as my gaze locks on Angeliens corpse.

...Then we keep waiting for now, while we get more information on animancy, I say.

Penelope huffs.

And how are we going to magically manifest a better understanding of animancy? You dont even know how your own talents work.

I scowl, eyes hard. Its so simple. Everything fits together now. My path to setting things right, my path to protecting my family, and my path to getting stronger theyre all the same.

Easy. Ill murder Capita, bring her back as a Revenant, and make her tell us everything she knows.

Theres a short second of silence as Lyns breath catches, the rest of the room slowly picking up on the frank seriousness of my declaration.

...Vita, if you go after Capita, the whole of the Broken Drakens will come after us, Lyn warns.

Good, I growl, the sight of my sisters snapped neck flashing in my memory.

The Drakens got away with abuse only on the promise that my family would be safe. That was the deal. That was their one responsibility. Their one reason to be more than fucking food. But no, they cant even do that. They cant even keep people from beating the shit out of children. Theyre monsters, every last one, and I eat monsters.

Let them come. Im going to kill them too. All of them.

Another silence answers me, but Im convinced. Im fucking tired of letting myself and my family get walked over. I wont stand for it. Not a single second longer.

Lyn clears her throat.

Um, Vita you realize Im technically a member of the Broken Drakens, right?

I blink, my rage choking to a painful stop like half-vomited stomach acid.

Well I mean, obviously I didnt mean you? Youre not a member because you want to be.

Lyn has the audacity to grin a little.

So, are you going to ask every single member of the Drakens if they wanted to be one before killing them, or?

Yes, this seems more than a little extreme, Penelope chimes in. Where did that even come from? It makes for quite the dramatic declaration, but perhaps, ah, lower the scope of your vengeance a tad?

A blush blooms on my cheeks. Vitamin, the incorrigible rascal, starts to laugh.

Well, I think its a good idea! she agrees happily. Lets slaughter the bastards! Itll be feel-good fun!

Yes, I dont really know these Broken Drakens at all, but they sound terrible, Margarete concurs. I imagine the city would be better off without them.

Theodora opens her mouth to comment, then closes it, looking away. I sigh, almost emboldened by their support, but...

No, Lyn and Penelope are right, I admit. Most people in the Drakens arent responsible for the nasty stuff. Theres probably a bunch of victims like my family.

Oh, I suppose that makes sense, Margarette agrees again, because of course she does.

Vitamin also shrugs, clearly fine with this too. Theodora relaxes, however, her soul no longer warring with itself on whether to agree with me. Its her that reminded me: the support is fake. Their opinions are fake, because I twisted them. I dont know what to do about it. Should I stop listening to them, since theyll just echo me? Or is ignoring their opinions because of that just going to dehumanize them even more?

...We should at least kill Capita and Sky, though, I say. Theyve been fucking us and everyone else, and weve just been sitting back and letting them.

Screw that, Lyn says. Vita, the reason I havent killed the Drakens already is that Sky will fucking annihilate us if we try.

Then Ill get stronger first, I counter. Its not like we have to attack today. ...As much as Id like to. What all can he do?

He? You mean Sky? Lyn asks with confusion. Um, the boss is a fucking crazy kineticist, I think. Talent, not learned. Really short range at least I think so, dont quote me on that but with like, stupid power and speed. Can grab and move things nearby. Attacks get veered away and just dont hit. And if you get close? Smash. Dead.

Ugh, sounds like a nightmare for me or Lyn to fight. Although if Im strong enough to yank his soul out, I doubt a kineticist can divert my tentacles. Considering his soul-size, though Ill need to eat a lot.

In which case, I know exactly what to do.

We talk and plan for a while. The aching in my chest doesnt go away, not with Angeliens soul bobbing around inside, but Lyn she seems so sure that I can help. That I can fix my horrible fuckup. Shes not mad at me at all. Its horrible. Painful. Wrong. She shouldnt be blaming herself for my failure. But at the same time I cant take her hope away from her. I have to live up to it. I have to make everything right.

When I leave, I immediately make my way back to the Hunters guild. My armor and weapons have been returned, placed where I normally put them while I sleep. I gratefully don them, go downstairs to eat as much as I can manage, and then head for the gates. I leave Skyhope, on my own, without a word to anyone, and head straight for the forest.

Im hungry, and Im done holding back.