You were awful. Unbearable. For every second of those 7 years I couldn't bear to look you in the eyes, the eyes of a holo human... That's what you did to me.
♢
"What is it ma'am?"
"Nothing. Just some filth."
-you said. That was until you saw it. The gaping hole that spat me out... the Vortex that became the secret you imprisoned me within, along with the power you seized me for. Only then... was I of interest to you, for I was of use to you.
♧
♡
♤
Distantly, on a bitterly frigid, outlying island where dull clouds began to engulf the sky in misery, the previously tranquil woodland wildlife searched through the greenery for adequate shelter; a storm was brewing. Nothing out of the ordinary. Just the weather changing it's tune. A mesmerising transition took itself upon the still, navy sky and propelled it into violet scattering thunder. The sky displayed captivating spurts of light but remained silent. Familiarly, the atmospheres performance resembled a certain type of firework or shooting star. Wrapping itself around the feet and bodies of the forests trees, a dense haze derived its pleasure through clouding the vision of the living.
Suddenly, an ominous screech emitted from behind the mist a few hundred feet in the air accompanied by a thick streak of illuminated lilac dissevering the atmosphere. The creatures of the island ran around frantically, startled and panicked as a glowing violet veil graced the sky and irradiated it while soft drops of water fell from the clumps of fluff that hung in the sky. The only audible noise that could be heard was the sound of the rain attacking the greenery below.
Despite being delicate and mist-like, the rain seemed angered and aggressive.
Sprawled on the floor a frail girl in tattered grey rags struggled to lift herself from the sloppy soil where she lay. Hovering a few hundred feet above the girl loomed an unwelcoming purple vortex which seemed to be dilating and contracting. There, she was approached by a slender stranger. Whilst being assaulted by the frustration of the storm, the girl whimpered inaudible cries at the dominant silhouette.
At first, it seemed that the figure hadn't noticed the sorry creature and was fixated on the whirl of luminescent particles in the sky.
"H-....help..." a voice could be heard pleading behind hiccups and tears.
With little hesitation, the stranger leaned her angular figure down and aggressively grabbed the child's face to pulled it in for inspection.
"What's your name child?" She demanded.
The girl was unable to reply with a definitive answer, fumbling over her words and shivering, she just clung onto the strangers hand as it's fingers dug into her cheeks.
Thunder roared across the island; the figure rose and turned her back to the child and began to walk away, heartlessly dismissing the interaction.
"What is it ma'am?" A shaken male voiced nervously.
"Nothing. Just some filth."
Registering the context of the situation rather swiftly, the helpless being began to panic. Being left alone in a place like this, defenceless and confused was no life for a child. It was so cold. Frosty. Lonely.
The girls emotions overwhelmed her physical body to the point her skin began to feel like it was frying.
"AAAAAHHH!" The girl screamed in desperation. Promptly, a blinding magenta glow discharged from her body as she struggled to crawl to the woman through the thick, seemingly impenetrable mud. Her head grieved in agony and her vision distorted, yet she remained determined to claw her way to the towering silhouette.
Intrigued, the woman gazed down at the child in a trance. Not a common sight or... opportunity you see every day, and not a situation she planned to take lightly. Such a curious discovery in such abnormal circumstances and so many questions, possibilities and tunnels channeling her curiosity.
With this realisation, a maniacal smile plastered across her face as she picked up the child and positioned her upon her waist and walked in the direction she originally emerged from.
"Ma'am who is-"
"Nothing someone of your status should concern themselves with." The lady snarled.
"But La-"
"Need I remind you who you take orders from?!" She reminded him rhetorically with an isolating stare. The skinny man bowed apologetically and waited for the woman and the intimation accompanying her to walk in front before following her lead.
After the exhilarating performance the mysterious child had enacted, she'd knocked herself out and the glow that swallowed her body slowly faded on their journey out of the storm.
Hours had passed before the child woke up in a dry, glossy room. It was spotless. White walls with a marble effect and matching white tiles. It was spacious too- nerve-wrackingly so. Mumbles could be heard from outside the door and then a familiar figure stepped through. Her skin was like porcelain and her ivory dress seemed to float behind her as she prowled.
"Can you speak child?"
The girl took a moment before opening her mouth.
"Yes." she uttered nervously, "I can't remember... well, I remember falling out of the sky- from the hole, but that's really all. Where... who. Who are you?"
The stranger showed no indication of shock but the fact remained she was taken aback by its willingness to talk, and at the fact it could actually form understandable sentences.
"I'm also hurt. Uhm.." The child looked around her body to locate the source of her pain until unveiling a deep, throbbing cut on her outer thigh. She touched it reluctantly with a flinch and pulled her delicate touch away swiftly as pain surged through her leg.
"Send them in." The lady said significantly louder than before with no reluctance. A few seconds of silence passed before a herd of strange monkey-like creatures stormed the room and instantly targeted the young girl. The towering woman backed away and watched intensely.
Despite not knowing the nature of the life forms, the girl felt a profuse sense of danger.
The child glanced to the woman for some sort of help but it was obvious that the woman had no such intentions. The girl rose to stand on the large, marble stone tablet she awoke on and shifted her gaze between each life form; she began to hyperventilate. Her breaths grew shallower and quicker as if she was being suffocated maliciously by her own fear. Closer and closer the walls of her adrenaline grew as she began to feel increasingly claustrophobic within her own body. Until-
ZZZTS.
♧
That was the start of it.
Days went by before I saw another human again. Then finally you came in with an odd man and a shitty explanation.
♢
"Dottore. You perform any experiments on this child that I didn't authorise, and you will be punished." She whispered lowly.
The irregular male shrugged with a careless grin and stepped towards the cowering child. Pulling him back by his broad shoulders, she restated her authority. "I mean it."
"Yes. Fine. Whatever."
He then began to tinker with a tool of some sort without batting an eye toward the girl; it seemed like he had done this ten times over and was bored by the experience. Rolling her eyes, the tall lady exited the room with her parting words.
"Don't worry, Dear. It's for your own good."
♡
At first he acted like experimenting on a child was a monotonous activity, of course that was before he realised I wasn't like the others. Then he tore me apart, put me together, upgraded and downgraded me, made me drink luminescent liquids and stuck needles in me like a pin cushion- not that you ever concerned yourself with my discomfort.
"You're dangerous."
Every day for the next 7 years I'd come home to your dissatisfied expression. Your displeasure was endless and I quickly learned that there was no avoiding the punishments.
"She'll kill you if she found out."
Somehow you concealed my origins from her and I was never questioned about my abilities; slowly I rose the ranks and even surpassed you. You'd remind me about how I owe you my life, my accomplishments and my freedom-
"You serve me!"
-And how you could take it all away. So you trapped me in a cage of my own identity, the only key out being your demise... which I yearned for.
"In return... I'll protect your secret."
Yet here I sit... at your memorial wondering why I feel upset. You raised me with malicious intent- violently and selfishly. I was just a weapon, a tool in your plan, an opportunity. So how can there be a spec of sorrow residing within me?
I'm finally ridded of you...yet...
♤
♧
♢
"What are you gonna do now?" A distantly blurred voice enquired abruptly.
"H-huh?"
"I know La Signora was like a mother to you. It's gotta be weird not having her around. Maybe you're even a little gutted?" A man with rusty-golden hair assumed, interrupting her thoughts.
The stunning young lady pushed his face away from hers as it etched closer and rolled her eyes. She refocused her attention on the ceremony, indicating that the pestering fool should follow.
She began listening to the speaker at the front of the circular-shaped room with cylindrical pillars dotted at regular intervals around the perimeter, respectfully recounting the life of the lost. Then suddenly, he requested her presence.
"Would you like to say a few words?"
Her heart sank into her stomach. Her eyes shot through and her vision blurred through memories flooding her head.
Sigh
She sat sternly momentarily before she rose from her seat and strolled down the isle making eye contact with the audience at either side. Once she reached the speaker she turned to face rows of uninterested, faceless smudges all respectfully dressed in black.
"I know most of you are attending this ceremony as a formality. La Signora wasn't a pleasant woman- not a woman you'd actively seek a conversation with, in fact I can bet you avoided that like your life depended on it." She lowered her voice slightly but not so much so that she couldn't be heard, "Heh, maybe it did for some..." She took a breath and stood upright and to attention.
"She couldn't stand any of you. Every single one of you- she despised. So, why are you here? Why are you here, dressed in black with your head hung and fingers grievingly interlocked? It's a mockery. You know she hated you. So why bother come?"
It was evident that she was projecting. Ironic really.
"To all those who came as a formality: same. And you're free to leave whenever."
And with that the young lady leisurely made her way back down the isle, stepping right passed her chair. People in the room began to rise as the speaker pleaded for order.
The aforementioned red-head unseated to catch up with her, "Wait up!"
She ignored him hoping he'd get the hint: piss off.
"Quite an impression you made back there. Projecting at a funeral? Ballsy move." He teased.
Heading to the exist with a crowd of people dressed in intricate dark apparel, she hoped she'd lose the inquisitive man among the vast sea of humans.
"Oh come on Vore~" He pleaded sarcastically, picking up his pace to follow her out of the building. "Vore?" She repeated, astonished by his audacity.
"We've worked together for years, I think I get nickname privileges now." He stated proudly.
"In that case- allow me to call you a-jackass... or maybe you'd prefer tart-pants? Childe-ish? Scumbag?"
"The last one wasn't even a pun..." The ginger mumbled in a disappointed tone.
Though she'd never admit it, her and Childe were rather close. Anytime either of them needed consoling, they'd immediately seek out one another to confide in. It's safe to say they'd tell each other almost anything, though the nature of how he found about about her secret wasn't of her own accord. He'd overheard a conversation that held information the both of them feel shouldn't have made it's way into Childe's knowledge. The abuse she endured due to Signora was somewhat cushioned by his company. And though jokes were made mutually about their problems; he never knew when he'd gone too far. They both dread the impact their words may have on each other however there still seemed to be distasteful feeling among them in spite of everything they'd been through together.
The aggravated girl managed to get ahead of the crowd and sped away from him momentarily until, he too, got past them and scurried after her.
"You're not mad about Signora, are you?"
"Mad about what Childe? Her dying? Or her manipulating and abusing me for 7 years?!" She whisper-shouted angrily while striding down the corridor. The cocky man shut up and stiffly strode beside her, unknowing of where they were headed or how to change the subject.
For the next 5 minutes, the pair walked in silence before entering a lavish building- all the while Childe tried to think of a way to inaugurate a light hearted conversation. Vortex slung open the luxurious, silver doors to the structure and confidently walked up to an evident figure of authority.
"I quit."
The man who had mindlessly trailed behind her looked at her in horror.
An echoing voice spoke powerfully.
"I beg your pardon?"
She repeated. "I quit."
Childe felt the need to interject, putting his hand on her shoulder and spinning her to face him.
"You're the 2nd Harbinger... you can't just-... Especially since Signora just-"
The figure nodded in agreement.
"We can't afford to lose any more Harbingers."
"With all due respect- with Signora dead there's nothing keeping me here. I have no interest in being apart of the Fatui any longer nor will I accept your refusal to let me go." She explained.
Childe fumbled over his words trying to find something convincing to say, worried that Vortex had dug herself a hole she wouldn't be able to scrape her way out of. Aware of the dangers of quitting, she proposed it anyway as she'd rather die then live in a place she knew she'd never escape from.
The figure turned its back and suspensefully waited a moment before stating:
"You will be replaced, banished from Snezhnaya and bound to secrecy regarding all Fatui intel."
"-And stalked by your goons for a while I assume, because you don't trust me to keep what little information I know a secret?" She presumptuously and sarcastically asked.
The body of power rotated it's head with piercingly cold eyes, and spoke "This will be counted as an act of betrayal. If my "goons" see you... they will be ordered to eliminate."
Vortex spun around on the glistening crystal floor and waved, unbothered, as she headed back toward the door she entered from, leaving her "friend" and everyone in the room frozen in place.
♡
My secret died with you! I trust that Ajax will keep his word and Dottore would be in immense trouble if word of the experiments he performed got out.
This is my new beginning. So much of my life was wasted to this hostile place but, now, I forge new ambitions, memories, relationships and hope.
I, Vortex, ex Fatui Harbinger- am now free.
♧
♢
♤
♡