"No... Just... Just... Wait... Just listen for a sec-"
The wounded Staphylococcus Aureus never had the chance to finish her sentence before a lady in a maid uniform swung her scythe into her chest, cutting her in two. The Staphylococcus let out a wild shrill before becoming forever still.
The lady smiled at the deed before shifting her gaze to survey the sea of corpses surrounding her. The sounds of clashes could still be heard from a distance, but the outcome of the battle had already been decided.
The war against the Staphylococcus Aureus matriarch and her army had finally come to an end. It had been one grueling conflict with billions of the world's defenders dead and many more compromised by her invasion. If left unchecked, the matriarch would have instigated a fatal case of pneumonia in the lungs.
Fortunately for the rest of the world's inhabitants, the matriarch overestimated her strength and failed to account for the macrophages, maidens of death. The overambitious antigen declared she'd destroy everything in her path in seven days.
The maidens brought her down in three.
The lady's ears perked up when she heard the sounds of familiar boot steps, sounding assured and refined, coming from behind.
"When will they ever learn?" she asked the newcomer without turning. "When will these backward antigens learn they could never defeat us in battle?"
"Do not be too assured by the enemies' inadequacy to learn from their mistakes my young apprentice... They only need one successful campaign to bring us all down."
She turned and saw an older lady dressed in an immaculate white maid uniform.
"Hello Em-chan," her master replied, with a bright and beaming smile.
"Master," she bowed low in deep reverence. "Milady Macrophage."
Lady Em observed her master for a few more seconds, noting fully at the significant differences between them. Her master was a cell radiating with majestic splendor. Her silky blonde hair was wrapped into one flowing braid and her face unblemished with impurities. Her frilly maid uniform was undesecrated with the tainted cytoplasm of the enemies. Contrast this with herself who was disheveled from head to bottom. Her short caramel hair was in tangles, and her uniform was completely covered with grime and red ichor.
One might assume Lady Macrophage never went to war considering her cleaned outfit, but nothing could be farther from the truth. Like the crimson-stained reaper scythe Lady Em carried, her master wielded a large cleaver-sword with one hand, and it too was drenched with the cytoplasms of the slain.
Both had been in the fiercest points of the battle, fighting side by side, and fighting off dozens of antigen waves sent to insure their annihilation. They slaughtered them all, with no quarters or mercy given. Before them, lay the corpses of thousands of the invaders, and a thousand more would fall from their hands until finally the matriarch herself with her royal attendants showed up to do battle.
With arrogance only a deranged antigen could muster, the matriarch charged at them, drunk with power and fury. Lady Em, her master, and their own entourage of bodyguards met her head-on, and a clash of epic magnitude worthy of transcription by the Memory T Cells soon followed.
A fight between colossus, a fight between titans, but there could only be one side to rise up as the victor.
"You have my eternal thanks for saving my life, Em-chan," the older macrophage bowed her head.
Lady Em immediately waved her hand, signaling to her master not to bow. "Please, master... You need not lower your head."
"But isn't that expected when we give our thanks to those we owe a debt of gratitude?" Lady Macrophage replied. "You saved me, Em-chan... My life could have been forfeited if not for your timed blade."
Amidst the confusion of battle, the deluded matriarch managed to fell the older maid to the ground with her many tendrils. Lady Macrophage would have perished, her fate ended short, if not for her apprentice stepping in to deflect the matriarch's blows with her massive scythe. For the next few seconds, both blurred in their ever-escalating duel. Each clang of their weapons boomed for everyone to hear, every strike, every swing, every thrust, a fate cutting ordeal, until finally, Lady Em's scythe fell true, decapitating the screaming antigen from where she stood.
The younger macrophage held the head of the deceased monarch for everyone to see and the resolve of the Staphylococcus Aureus army evaporated. The battle soon turned into a rout which in turn become a massacre. Only the fanatical royal guards of the matriarch continued to fight, but Lady Macrophage dealt them head-on granting each and every one of them their wish to die for their monarch.
After an hour of butchery, it was over, and now Lady Em and Lady Macrophage stand on top of the bodies of their defeated enemies.
"T'was nothing, my master," the younger macrophage shook her head, her cheeks blushing bright red. "It is not yet your fate to fall in today's battle."
Lady Macrophage smiled at her mention of 'fate'.
Lady Em noticed the subtle difference in the smile plastered on her master's lips and realized a lecture was about to start.
"Walk with me, Em-chan," the older maid gestured to her pupil. Lady Em stared at her master for a moment before nodding.
Both trudged the desolate aftermath of battle, their boots sometimes stepping on dead antigens or wading through pools of cytoplasm.
"Allow an old macrophage to humor herself, my pupil," Lady Macrophage began. "But what do you think should be my fate?"
Lady Em raised an eyebrow, intrigued at her master's question. "I would not dare point any specifics, master, but I can hazard a guess that your fate is to become the greatest of all macrophages in history."
"A generic and rather bland answer," the older maid chuckled. "I believe I've taught you to speak more freely and openly. Come, do hazard a guess."
The younger maid went quiet for a moment. As it was her habit, her free hand went to clasp the necklace as she started fidgeting it.
"Then, master, I see-"
"One moment please," Lady Macrophage knelt beside a still twitching Staphylococcus Aureus on the ground. The dying antigen was frothing at the mouth, and her eyelids fluttered uncontrollably. The older macrophage took out a dagger from her side belt to slit her throat.
The Staphylococcus Aureus twitched no more.
"I see two possibilities," Lady Em followed as they continued their walk. "First, your deeds will be many. Future generations will revere you, and enemies will fear you. You will live until your scheduled dismantling, and your successors will don your name, your title, but you will never be forgotten."
Lady Macrophage nodded sagely. "Our stay in this world is finite. Our days, our hours, our minutes are all counted, but it is our deeds that will be remembered after us. So my fate then is to acquire as much glory to my name?"
"Yes."
"Would there be any chance my fate could be something more mundane?"
Lady Em giggled. "Master, you know as well as I that will never come to pass. We are not some busy-body erythrocyte or meant to be held in a stationary position... A mundane setting will never be part of our calculus."
The older macrophage didn't say anything but kept her lips into a smile.
"And the second possibility is practically the same as the first, but your end will be in battle, not in the spleen." Lady Em declared, almost sounding assured.
Lady Macrophage nodded again. "And you prefer this fate for me?"
"Why not?" the younger maid turned to look at her master, giving her a quizzical look. "To die in battle is a worthy end for any of us. It would be an honor... Nay, a privilege only given to us who wield the swords, the knives, and the hammers in defense of this world."
"That... That is a good fate to have, I admit." the older macrophage slightly bowed her head, satisfied by her apprentice's answer. "And you Em-chan? What then will be your fate?"
This time, Lady Em's lips mouth formed into a wide, mischievous grin. She had anticipated the question for some time now, no doubt rehearsing many times on how to convey it.
"Well master, it's actually rather simple..." she began. "My fate is to-"
"Yoohoo, Em?" Lady Si waved her hand in front of the archtraitor.
Lady Em blinked a couple of times before gaining back her wits from her daydreaming. "My apologies, sister... I was momentarily preoccupied."
The glasses-wearing maid furrowed her brows with concern. "Are you about to tell me you are having second thoughts about this whole rebellion?"
"What? Of course not." Lady Em shook her head. "What a preposterous premise. That is anathema to what I must become."
Lady Si let out a chuckle as she stood up.
The two had been taking a tea break in the middle of carnage. Corpses of the fallen KT cells littered their surroundings and a fair distance from them was the ongoing siege of the liver. The roars and screams of the damned reverberated across the battlefield, but the two mostly paid it no heed.
Their third companion, the zombified husk of the lieutenant had wandered off oblivious of the conversation of the two traitorous maids. Lady Em bid him farewell like a friend although the former blade master would never utter a reply.
"The entrance to the liver is about to be breached," Lady Si said as a matter of fact. "Though I enjoyed our time together, I must join with our other sisters in the desecration of the liver. Those shrine maidens inside must be taught a lesson on the proper etiquettes of a macrophage."
The glasses-wearing macrophage bowed her head and placed a hand on her chest. Lady Em nodded in acknowledgment, but this time, she did not stand up to embrace her. A subtle gesture, Lady Si noted.
It was a power play. Lady Em was flexing her authority as the archtraitor, the first to turn, and the first to rebel. She does not need to stand up and mingle with those who report to her.
The glasses-wearing macrophage let out a tiny smirk and brushed the thought away.
"But milady," Lady Si started, hinting a minute inflection when she said 'milady'. "Wouldn't you care to join me in breaching the liver?"
Lady Em shook her head in what looked like genuine regret. "Alas, I must decline such a tempting offer. I could feel it in my insides, in my mitochondrions that I must be here, at this moment, and await my fate."
"She's coming, isn't she?" Lady Si grinned, showing the canine fangs protruding down of her mouth. "Our beloved master is coming?"
"Yes," the archtraitor acknowledged, her tone sure and with finality. "She will be here before the start of the next Circadian cycle. "
And under her breath, she muttered, finishing the thought in her daydream.
Well, master, it's actually rather simple... My fate is to surpass you in everything.
==0==0==0==
Lady Macrophage opened her eyes and saw a reflection of herself in the mirror no longer clothed in her usual maid uniform.
Instead, before her, she saw herself donning a bulky armor of pure ivory. Seals of parchment recording her many deeds were pasted into her livery, and words of power were etched as engravings into her suit. She was armored from neck to foot, with heavy pauldrons covering her shoulders, and her arms were wrapped in iron greaves. She wore a necklace full of protein beads she'd taken out as trophies from her fallen enemies.
She was inside a makeshift tent, built hastily by the support staff of her army so as she could change into her armor in private. Her praetorian guards, on the other hand, chose to suit up outside, though the Killer T Cells were requested vehemently to look elsewhere.
Accompanying her were her attendants, busy making final adjustments to her suit. One attendant was calibrating the pistons in her boots, while another one was doing final checklist procedures on her suit's intricate circuitry.
After a minute, her transformation was done.
"All preparations are complete, milady," one of her attendants bowed low.
"Thank you, MC-7887," Lady Macrophage gave her a bright smile. "I shall be out of the tent shortly."
Her attendant bowed once again before taking her leave.
Alone, Lady Macrophage continued looking at her reflection.
This was it. There was no turning back.
The die is cast.
She now donned her monocyte armor. Usually, macrophages wear these bulky suits only when venturing out into the tissues, but the upcoming battle would need them all suited up for heavy conflict.
This would be a fight never seen before, a clash between the maidens of death, and the world would burn under their boots as a consequence.
Lady Macrophage's thoughts wandered off to the first time her apprentice shared with her what she thought would be her fate, and she couldn't help but notice the cruel irony in what she declared.
And the second possibility is practically the same as the first, but your end will be in battle, not in the spleen.
Such were the interwoven fates of beings like them both.
Em-chan... Lady Macrophage smiled to herself. Let's see whose fate is real and true.
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A/N:
I know macrophages don't become monocytes on a whim in real-life, but making the macrophages wear Space Marine armor and have it call it as 'monocyte armor' is just totally badass! So instead of letting the macrophages wear their Hazard suits like in the anime, they instead become little Space Marines because it's cool. XD
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Originally Posted on November 22, 2020