The Thousand-Eyed Crow (#Wattys2020)

Chapter 9 (The Body Puzzle)

"We don't have a 'Victoria Dash' registered in the system. I have a half a mind to assume you aren't being truthful right now, comrade," the doctor said pointedly, eyeing Vanya's burned face. "Once your face goes back to looking as it normally does, we can put you in a real prison for wasting all of our time with your nonsense."

Vanya scowled, turning to offer the doctor a retort but she was cut off by Shuang, who sat at her bedside.

"Look, doc, I saw it with my own two eyes, too. She summoned this fucked up looking creature and then it went away, but neither of us were high. I swear this on my Party membership and on scientific socialism as a principle. Once you have sufficient evidence, you need to change your beliefs, that's just how it works," Shuang stated as-a-matter-of-factly. "It doesn't look good at all to be known as the doctor who openly discriminates against their autistic patients, does it?"

As the doctor's face reddened in embarrassment, she scurried away to find a nurse to give Vanya a change of bandages for her face. Shuang held her fist up in the air and nodded a few times, dancing in her seat with a smile on her face. Vanya raised an eyebrow but smiled softly to herself. For now, the crisis was averted.

"It's funny how they act like they're being so scary when they mention sending you to actual prison, as if you haven't been there already," Shuang muttered, rolling her eyes as she grinned. "I know they won't know that for now, but I imagine they'll feel even stupider later once they find out who you are."

"Hush! There's nothing for them to 'find out', okay? Yes it would be nice if the doctors believed that what we're saying is true, but Thronakkhar will happen to us regardless of if we convince the people in power that it's a real threat. Sometimes the best way is to just focus on our movement and our people, and let the government settle things. There seem to be a lot of supporters of Thronakkhar around and the state can deal with getting more info from them if they want, on their own time. Passing it off as false consciousness just looks stupid, as usual," Vanya replied cautiously.

"Okay, but didn't you say that was part of Thronakkhar's plan? To make itself visible to as many people as possible and to get them to believe it's real, and then...?" Shuang asked, leaving the end of her sentence open-ended.

"And then, bring upon the end of the world..." Vanya replied heavily.

"Seems pretty straightforward," Shuang said with a shrug. "Ohhhh... but we don't want the end of the world to happen, that makes sense. You said before it was just about destroying the government, but it seems like there's more now..."

"Yeah, obviously we don't want the end of the world to happen! But if I don't follow Thronakkhar's orders, it'll eat my soul! You see my dilemma here, right?!" Vanya almost shouted, rubbing her temples. "No offense but you're a bit of a dumbass sometimes."

"Hey! It just happens sometimes! We can't all be super smart and know everything all the time like you..." Shuang said, blushing a bit. She chewed on her lip in frustration.

"Oh come on, I don't know everything... Just a lot of things, but it's a small amount in the grand scheme of things..." Vanya muttered, looking at the wall.

Shuang chuckled softly, shaking her head, before turning serious again, realization finally hitting her. "You do realize what you're doing, right? You're falling into the pitfall of thinking about your own individual interest over the interests of the entirety of humanity."

Pursing her lips, Vanya's face fell. She had not wanted to admit this fact to herself. "I know I'm a coward, you don't need to rub it in..."

"I know you know that. But that doesn't mean you're incapable of changing that fact," Shuang replied with a frown. "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of a few, after all."