Unspecified place and time
‘Am I...dead?’
Lee thoughts as his eyes flickered open, seeing a blurry bright light. Was this construct heaven? Would he be able to meet a structured construct Jesus? If so, then he has to make do with his current sins.
‘My body hurts...so that means I'm still alive... Right?’
He could feel every part of his body was intact, but the sensation was very strange. He closes his eyes again to try and check if his M.I.N.D has already been infected by the virus, but saw nothing. Not even traces of flashing warning signs.
‘That's strange...’
No matter how tight he closes his eyes, he could see patches of red floating in his vision. He tried activating the holographic heads-up-display built in his construct body, but none of those responded.
Completely weirded out by what's happening, he opens his eyes again.
An enthralling, cloudless lazuline sky. That was what welcomed the male construct's eyes right after he opened them. It felt...surreal, like he was stuck in an elysian dream. No amount of words could describe what was going on inside his mind.
“...Fascinating.” The words leave his mouth in a whisper.
He lifts his upper body and sat up, before scanning his surroundings. And like a broken radio on repeat, he was stunned on the scenery that welcomed him. Surprisingly, he was in the middle of a field full of flowers. It spanned the flatlands for as much as his eyes could see.
Was he dead? Or was this the first phase constructs would see when the virus is busy eating away at their humanity and transforming them into mindless killers? If so, then he wishes he could stay in this dream forever.
*step*
A sudden, almost inaudible rustle from behind made Lee stand up. In an attempt to have an upper hand to whoever was with him, he grabs the guns that was in his holster...
‘My guns...where are my guns..?”
Lee stood dumbfounded as he searches his thigh holsters, only to find out both weapons weren't there. He frantically looked around, hoping to see if he had somehow dropped it on the ground beside him.
“Looking for these?” The person ahead of him spoke in a familiar voice, causing him to slowly raise his head. It was a girl with long, ashen hair that had bangs covering her left eye. A red scarf was wrapped around her neck, and the clothes she wore seemed tattered, yet fashionable at the same time.
Lee squints his eyes, not believing what he was seeing. “Lucia..? Is that you?”
He noticed the girl was holding both his guns. Her left hand was rested casually on the sword handle sheathed on her waist. She ignored his question and kept staring at him with a cold gaze, before tossing his weapons towards him.
“I am Lucia, but not the Lucia you know.” She answers calmly. However, what he did not expect for her to do was she suddenly draw out her blade and pointed it at him.
?!
In an instant, the palpable killing intent in the air made Lee grab his guns and aim at her deadcenter. The ‘Lucia’ he knew wasn't like this. This girl in front was now a threat to him, and so he began thinking of her as another simulated target that's being used by the Punishing Virus.
Even though he was technically out of reach from her weapon, the ashen haired girl swung her blade forward, causing Lee to pull the trigger. The sounds of plasma bullets leaving the barrel of his guns filled the surroundings.
He clicked his tongue in frustration when he saw that all of the rounds was deflected to the side, leaving burnt traces on the field. If she had the necessary skill to make his plasma bullets bounce, the what was the point of living?
However, unbeknownst to him, the girl stood dumbfounded as she stared at him. Even though she managed to deflect every shot of his, that wasn't what she meant to do when she swung her sword at him. She was trying to activate something, which didn't came.
“Impossible...my sword waves... They're gone..?” The girl muttered. She gripped her sword tightly and flicked the blade so that it would act as a makeshift mirror.
“The virus too..?”
Usually, strong electrical currents of the Punishing Virus would be seen emanating from her frame, or leave a trail behind her. However, now that she was observing herself, she felt very different from usual. It was like her strength was halved.
No, it was like she became a normal human again.
‘That can't be right...’
Not wanting to believe it without proof, she looks over to the construct in front of her. He was frowning at her while keeping his guns aimed in a defensive manner.
“You...” The ashen haired girl spoke.
“Can I punch you?”
“...”
“...”
Silence befalls over them while the winds began shifting directions. The yellow petalled flowers dance with the breeze alongside flying dandelions. Birds flew overhead, cawing at each other as they soar through the cloudless sky. And most importantly, cicadas made buzzing noises in the background.
“Hah? Are you seriously kidding me right now?” Lee snarled at her. What he just heard was the most hilarious thing he could ever hear from an enemy. He met the gaze of that crimson eye of hers with the same seriousness and ferocity.
What was this girl thinking, suggesting something dumb out of the blue like that? Did she really think he would agree to something preposterous? I mean, who in their right mind would let their enemies get close to them like that?
“You're not Lucia. I mean, you are, but–”
ZOOM
*Thud*
“Guh!”
His sentence was cut off when he felt the air get knocked out of his system. His eyes bulged as a tantalizing pain formed on his body, making him drop both guns to the ground. The girl's fist connected hard on his abdomen, causing him to hold the sore part and fall into one knee.
“Interesting...” The ashen haired girl murmured, before sheathing her sword back to its scabbard.
“...What..in the hell...was that for..?!” Lee coughed and stood up, before pushing her away. She merely moved to the right in one single step, causing the blonde to fall face first in the flower stricken field.
“Easy now, are you drunk or something?”
“F-Fuck...how the hell aren't you dizzy...”
“You, do you remember what happened?” The girl asked while sitting down near him.
Lee grunted and lay on the ground like a child who had his candy stolen from him, as his body adjusted to the pain that was slowly vanishing. Finally coming to his senses, he groans and sits on the field across her.
“I have a name, woman. It's Lee, what's yours?”
The girl's expression never changed at all, keeping that stoic look in her eyes. She was reluctant to give out her name, but considering they are the only ones who could probably be out here, what more could she lose?
“Alpha.”
Lee repeatedly nodded his head and snickered. “Yeah? I'll be Beta then. Better yet, call me Sigma.”
Alpha only gave him a deadpan look.
“You think I'm joking? I can cut your head right this instance.”
“But you won't...” He coyed. “...since you're stuck in the same simulation as I am.”
For the first time, the look on Alpha's face softened a bit.
‘So he doesn't remember..? Did he hit his head or something just now? I mean, he was under the rubble...’
“This is no simulation. So you don't remember what happened?” Alpha queried.
“It's kinda murky, to say the least.” Lee grumbled.
Recalling the events on her own as she deemed this male construct was still out of the jitters, Alpha let's out a sigh. She was present in the ground when Babylonia moved their ground forces inside the city. Acting on behalf of her sister's request, she proceeded to direct a few hordes of corrupted towards the construct squads trying to reclaim the land.
As she observed the battle amongst the shadows, she could tell that humanity's futile attempt in their reclamation was showing. Dozens of squads were wiped out, while some became corrupted soldiers. There was utter chaos in the ground, until something unexpected happened.
A single Babylonian transport craft was soaring up in the sky. Behind it were numerous airships, and she surmised that they were a rescue force of some sorts. She was impressed that the lead aircraft managed to avoid all of the surface to air missiles that littered the abandoned outposts throughout the city outskirts.
When she followed were the main transport craft landed, she felt an immense connection form on her M.I.N.D, like there was something tugging at her body. Hiding in the shady parts of ruined structures, she saw her, fighting corrupted mechanoids to clear the landing spot.
‘Lucia... I should end you here right now...’
The clone, the two-bit counterfeit. The other Lucia that's being used as a tool by the humans was standing right there ahead of her, oblivious to the fact that someone was watching. She might not even know that she herself wasn't the real one. And worse, she most probably doesn't remember...
“Luna... I will always protect you.” Alpha muttered under her breath, before deciding to come out of the shadows as the other Lucia began walking forward. A human Commandant was following closely behind her, protecting the construct from any harm.
‘Hmph, humans...liars.’
As she stalked her prey, she made sure to mask her presence. Along the way, she would pull stray constructs into the shadows and kill them quietly so she could inflict a bit of damage psychologically. However, as she was about to close in on Lucia and her Commandant...
*beat*
A foreign energy, as strong the Punishing Virus that was around and inside of her made contact with her body. This made her leap back to a nearby building, just in time to feel the tremors emanating from the ground. Looking around her, she saw that old structures and buildings began shaking as their paper-like foundations started to collapse.
Not wanting to be caught in the rubble, Alpha used the virus to propel her into the air, boosting her jumps until she landed on an intact rooftop. She scans the terrain and saw a strange object forming mid air. Looking just a bit upwards, and changing the angle of her head, her eyes caught a glimpse of something above Earth's orbit.
“What are you up to now..?” she mutters to herself after seeing the corrupted international space station emanating indescribable quantities of the Punishing Virus. Deciding to investigate the strange anomaly, Alpha jumps to the ground and runs towards the source.
As she arrived in a junction, she was met with the sight of utterly destroyed buildings. The road was blocked by rubble, so she had to climb just to cross into the other side. The immense amount of dust, sand and smoke in the area was enough to kill off a human without proper breathing equipment.
Glancing at the sky, the strange portal was now swirling like an eye of a storm. Multiple flashes of lightning came from the center of the hole, like it was sucking in things from the ground. Despite it's appearance, she couldn't see anything that's being swallowed into it.
Right after arriving in the final street, she could hear the screeching and grinding noises of the corrupted coming nearby. A single blast of what she surmised was a particle cannon can also be distinguished from the symphony of noises around her. It was a trivial thing, considering she has ended multiple construct lives up to this point, but she still decided to check it out.
There, sitting on the ground, leaning against a wall was a petite construct with silken hair. Her combat attire was full of tear and wears, and her body was in a state that was so pitiful she was stunned to see that she was still fighting. Around the girl were the parts of dozens of dead corrupted mechanoids, all meeting their ends by her cannon fire.
Despite the overwhelming odds pitted against her, the wounded construct kept fighting the horde. She gritted her teeth in desperation, as the hopelessness of her resistance was already dawning on her. Her fate was sealed right here, right now as she fought the corrupted all by herself.
To Alpha, the only thing she cares about in this world was to be alongside Luna. Humanity, especially the people leading Babylonia in the cowardice of space, was what she despised the most. They were responsible for what happened to them, and now they are doing it again
Seeing that the corrupted are about to swarm and devour the wounded construct, Alpha acts to her own accord.
SLASH!
CLANG!
THUD
She tore through the ranks of the corrupted, sending shrapnel of their metallic bodies flying into the air. She trashed and sliced everything that resembled any living corrupted, before finally sheathing her sword.
For some reasons, Alpha felt miserable at the thought of leaving the poor girl to fend all by herself. The resolve in her eyes was so powerful that even Alpha was affected by it. She looks over to the wounded construct, who was staring at her with a set of watery eyes.
“...Lucia..? Is that...you..?” The silken haired girl uttered weakly. “...What happened to your hair..?”
Alpha was taken aback when she heard her name, causing her to involuntarily move towards the girl.
“Yes... It's me... Liv...” Alpha responded, seeing the dirtied dogtag hanging around her neck.
“...Thank goodness it's you...” Liv said, grimacing in pain as she adjusted her position. She suddenly cranes her neck behind her, before the tears finally started to come.
“Lucia... Lee... Lee is still out there...” she weakly pointed using her severed arm towards the massive area full of rubble. “Please...save him...”
Seeing Liv cry like this, Alpha was suddenly reminded of her sister. She stands up and does her best to filter out the virus on her right hand, before ruffling Liv's hair.
“Alright... I'll find him. That's a promise.”
“Thank you...” a gentle smile forms on Liv's lips.
Leaving the poor construct behind, Alpha weaves through the debris stricken road. She activates her scanners and pans her eyes across the mound of dirt and rubble. The strange portal was already getting bigger, and the density of the Punishing Virus was slowly skyrocketing.
Using her hands, she began digging a hole on the rubble. She might be the biggest hypocrite ever to live, but she made a promise to Liv. Who knows if she will be seeing her again? For all she knows, she could have succumbed to her critical injuries by now. The least she could do was to find her friend's body.
?!
As Alpha was busy digging, a hand springs out of the dirt, before grabbing her by the leg. The tattered gloved hand was surprisingly gripping her tightly, causing her to yank her leg upwards. What she did not know was that the ground she stepped in became shallow, causing her to fall down into a deep hole.
“Urgh...” A voice stirs from beside her.
Alpha opens her eyes and looks around, before realizing she was lying on the streets. The mountain of rubble was like a dome shaped arena around her. Bits of rock and dust occasionally fell from the top, causing her to be covered in dust.
She looks over to her side and sees a blonde construct covered in his own vital fluids. He was missing half of his right leg, and had his skull cracked open, enough for her to catch a glimpse of the series of wires and motors acting as his central command module.
“How are you still alive..?” Alpha mumbled, surprised that he was still holding on to life.
“...Mur..ray...” She heard the construct wheeze out. “...So...rry...”
Seeing that he was already starting to lose consciousness, Alpha decided to finally stand up. She nearly hits her head on the sharp concrete stones above her as she went over his body. He was staring at the patch of hole from above, probably thinking about the actions he did in the past.
*beat*
As Alpha was about to carry him, a sudden wave of dizziness hits her, causing her to collapse on her knees. A throbbing pain in her head made her vision go blurry. It was like her whole world was spinning, making her lay flat on her back on the dusty road.
She tried moving her arms, but felt like she was in a state of paralysis. Her joints felt a bit different, and her body felt like it was changing from the inside out. The pain in her head was already hitting it's worst, and this finally made her give in. But just before she could lose consciousness, she felt like her body was floating in a see of clouds, before...
Darkness.
.
.
.
///
“And that's what all I could remember on my part.” Alpha finished talking, before standing up. “Believe me or not, I am just as surprised as you are–”
“You! You're a fucking Ascendant!?” Lee stood up and exclaimed, before distancing himself from Alpha like she was infected by a cold. “Y-You just casually talked that you killed a few constructs just now! You even left Liv all by herself! Are you a fucking psychopath!?”
Alpha stared at him with a blank expression, letting him run his mouth down as he mentioned quite a few classified files from Babylonia pertaining her existence. All he said was definitely wrong and altered, making her feel sick.
She couldn't blame him though, since they were technically enemies. However, now that they were sucked into the portal, which she surmised was what happened, then wouldn't fighting each other be the dumbest thing to do?
Especially since she is technically a construct too, but was just overpowered by the use of the Ascention-network. Despite being weakened by the lack of Punishing Virus, Alpha was sure that her skills alone was sufficient in surviving in this new place.
“–now you expect me to believe you have no ill will towards me, a construct who's technically aligned with Babylonia? You really think I won't put up a fi–”
“Oh my god, will you ever shut your mouth?” Alpha cuts Lee's sentence off and stared daggers into his eyes. “You've said a lot of inappropriate words towards me already, so would you kindly zip that trap of yours?”
Lee was rendered speechless by the ferocity of her words. He saw her shake her head while sighing, before looking around, making him do the same. He hadn't put too much thought about it, and kept making himself believe that he was inside his final moments. Turns out, he was wrong.
“So... This is all real..?” Lee muttered. He starts turning in slow circles as he studied the terrain. It was different from Earth; a big difference at that. He could see some sort of a village in the distance, since the smoke coming from what looks like dozens of chimneys can be seen in the air.
“Hmph, woke up to reality huh?” Alpha commented, before walking to a nearby shade.
Lee glances at her, not knowing what to say or think about her. She was indeed Lucia...but then who is the real one? Was it this Ascendant, whose sole purpose to life was to glare daggers at someone and make them submit to the use of threats. Or was it the timid yet brave leader of the Gray Ravens, whose goal is to help humanity get back to Earth?
He does not know anymore. All the things he knew was starting to come crashing down as he stumbled towards the large tree ahead of him. Too much information, too much to think about. The knowledge of Liv being critically wounded as she stalled the corrupted, and the murky events of Akiio and Lucia's whereabouts.
This was what kept running in Lee's mind as he leaned his back against the large oak tree. The silence around him was deafening, which was starting to make his head feel numb. As much as he hate to think about it, he wished that he was being charged by a horde of bloodlusted corrupted. It was better than the eerie peace around him.
“Wanna kill yourself?” The girl sitting nearby suggested. Lee had his head hanging low, but what she said made him smile.
“Hah...haha...hahaha...” He starts to giggle like a madman, yet Alpha just blankly stared in the distance.
“You have both guns with you, and now you're human. Aren't you feeling a bit glad?” Alpha added, before glancing at Lee. However, she was met with a dead look in his eyes as he aimed one of his guns at her head, with the muzzle brushing past against her bangs.
“I'd rather die fighting you Lucia. An ascendant, and a traitor to humanity.” His voice resounded like a freezing cold winter, yet this did not faze her.
Alpha merely stares back into his purple orbs, before looking away in the distance. She then lifts her arm and points her index finger towards a village, a soft expression taking over her face.
“We could start by heading towards that direction. Now that we're not constructs anymore, we would feel starvation settling in.” She stands up, and so is the blonde male beside her. He kept aiming his gun on her face with one hand.
“What makes you think I'll just go with you? What makes you think I'll trust you with my life? For all I know, you could just slit my throat once I–” His sentence was cut off for the infinite time when Alpha grabbed his gun and tried to take it from him.
Lee raised his free hand and balled it into a fist, aiming a punch to her side, which was left wide open. However, she merely used her elbow to deflect his shot, before pushing him against the tree. He heard the whirring sound of his gun as the muzzle rested below his chin.
“Go on... Shoot me then.” He taunted her. Alpha glared daggers at him, pushing him harder into the oak tree.
“Hah, no. I might be an Ascendant, but I have my own reasons opposing Babylonia. Don't put your beliefs and ideals in here Lee, since we aren't in Earth anymore. If you still keep spewing nonsense about that hypocritical organization of yours while you're here, best go shoot yourself.” She pushes him one last time, before letting go of his collar.
They locked eyes for a moment, before he grabbed the gun from her hands. What she said to him made his approach halt to a stop for now, since she had a point. With his sound judgement, he couldn't deny the fact that she was a bit right.
“Call me a murderer or a traitor, I don't give a damn what you think about me. All I care is to live again...in hopes I would see my sister again.” Alpha straightened her clothes and faced the source of civilization in the distance.
“I don't know how the Lucia you knew treated you, but I won't treat you an enemy this time.”
Lee unbuttoned his coat and removed it, leaving him in a black t-shirt tucked in his pants. Besides, he realized that it was quite possibly late in the afternoon, so the heat was starting to set in. He begrudgingly goes to her side and heaves a sigh.
“Fuck... I got no choice now do I? You could easily kill me, that alone sends chills into my spine.” He hugs himself and mimics shuddering.
“I won't kill you if you comply.” Alpha retorts, before walking away.
“O-Oi! Where are you going?” Lee hastily picks up his guns and holsters it, before going after Alpha.
She didn't respond and only continued walking forward, until she reached an incline leading to a dirt road. She squints her eyes and fishes out a pen in her pouch.
“Seriously, do tell me when we move out.” Lee arrives behind her sweating profusely. He was trying his best to hide his fatigue.
“Kurono force should be training constructs hard, if I remember. Did becoming human made you weak?” Alpha said as she scanned the surroundings.
“What's that gotta do with this? At least I didn't sacrifice my humanity to become a monster.” Lee retorted, earning a glare from Alpha. This just made the already heated situation more flammable.
As they were busy arguing and poking each other's buttons, they didn't notice a vehicle approaching from the dirt road behind them. The driver quickly noticed that two people were standing in the middle of literally nowhere, so they decided to stop by.
“–That doesn't justify any of it. Money can't buy happiness.” Alpha replied, annoyed by how they got to this point.
“Oh yeah? Says the one who has a kink on frog plushies!” Lee roared back.
After hearing that, a vein finally popped on Alpha's forehead.
“You piece of Kurono shit. Do you wanna go and get your ass dropped the third time!?”
“Pfft, pretty please. Give me your best shot you goddamn, motherfucking–”
“Uhm, excuse me...”
A voice interrupted their fight, causing both former constructs to flinch. They slowly turned around to see a blonde girl standing there, with her hair even reaching all the way beyond her waist. She was glancing at them back and forth, as if observing both of them. The most notable thing that caught Alpha's attention was the horns she had on both sides of her head, and her ears were a bit sharpened.
‘She also has deep blue eyes...wait, this girl is the first one to make contact with us...’ was what Alpha thought inside her head.
However, a whole different thing was happening inside Lee's head.
‘Are all breasts that big? Damn, Lucia, err, Alpha is out of the competition for sure.’
He did not address this publicly, to avoid unnecessary trouble, so he just gulped hard. Alpha too, was unable to formulate a sentence to respond to what the girl said. All she could do was discreetly move her left hand to the handle of her sword.
The horned girl immediately took note of the ashen haired girl moving her hand, so she stepped backwards.
“Please, I'm not here to do anything bad! I-I was just wondering if you two are lost, that's all!” She quickly raised her hands in surrender, causing Alpha and Lee to glance at each other.
Lee glared at the girl beside her, before elbowing her in the rib. He clears his throat and tries his best to speak in the friendliest manner he could think of.
“Sorry for my friend here, she is a bit paranoid.” He feels a kick on his leg, but he ignores it. “As you guessed, we aren't from around here... What place is this?”
The blonde girl nodded, before letting out a sigh of relief. “I understand, being cautious isn't bad. This place is the outskirts County Hillock . Are you two trying to get there?”
Lee felt that Alpha wanted to talk, but he made sure to shut her out.
“Yes, we were just thinking about it just now. R-Right Alpha?” he glanced at her with a smile. A forced smile.
“Yes.” Was all Alpha could come up with.
The girl seemed delighted by this, as she beamed them an angelic smile that nearly melted the hatred in their hearts.
“I'll drive you to there then! It's where I live too, and walking all the way there isn't advisable, trust me.” She motioned for them to enter her four seated car.
“By the way, we haven't introduced ourselves properly. My name is Lee.” He said, and suddenly felt bad that he didn't have a surname.
“Alpha.” she curtly responded.
“Lee... and Alpha. Alright, pretty foreign names for a Victorian!” The girl smiled enthusiastically and went to the driver's side, before starting the car. She adjusted the rearview mirror and glanced back at them.
“My name is Jane Willow. Pleasure to meet you!”
«‹⟨ TO BE CONTINUED ⟩›»
Published: March 10, 2023
Words: 4749