Pyralis stepped in, shutting the door behind her. She locked it, more to keep others from interrupting than to keep Elara in with her.
Elara didn’t seem to care, still looking blankly towards the wall. She was facing the door, but seemed to almost see through it. Pyralis stepped forward, crouching down to Elara’s level.
For just a moment, Pyralis saw a spark of recognition in Elara’s pupils, and finally Elara was looking at her. Pyralis wanted to fall into her arms right then and there, but there was still something missing. Some part of Elara wasn’t here with her.
The two sat there… just staring at each other. Pyralis wanted her to say something, to grab her hand, lead the way. Like she always did.
Pyralis looked down, remembering that she… couldn’t. Elara’s hands were bound behind her, likely due to some safety concerns. She stood, walking behind Elara. Elara’s head followed her, watching as Pyralis unlocked the manacles binding her lover to the wall.
Elara picked her arms up, placing them onto her lap. She continued looking doe-eyed at Pyralis, not uttering a word as Pyr sat back down in front of her.
It was unnerving how little Elara was reacting. Pyralis reached out, taking Elara’s hand in silence. She picked it up, feeling the familiar surface, pressing against the metal structure beneath the outer layer.
That blank look in her eyes. Pyralis didn’t know how else to describe it. The empty pit behind her gaze that drank in everything. She wasn’t even sure if Elara knew where she was. What explanation could she possibly give for killing them all?
Elara just watched, letting Pyr run her hand across her hand, then her forearm, and then her shoulder. It was almost romantic. Pyralis felt herself gravitate towards Elara, their faces growing closer.
Suddenly, Pyralis stopped. She examined Elara more closely, wondering what it is she should do here. Elara had killed more than half of the pilots on base. She had killed Frill.
She had thought it in the Sunset, but Pyralis wondered why she wasn’t feeling… worse about it all. Elara had murdered people that she had once happily called a friend. She had almost killed Pyr.
There was the simple answer, being that Pyralis truly didn’t care. That was absurd, though! She had spent years with these people. Fought for them.
It was a simple answer. She was far more worried about something else. The question that had been burning in her mind ever since she had seen Elara.
The words tore their way from her lips. “Do you still love me?”
She could almost see Elara struggle against herself. As if she was being torn apart at the seams. Pyralis almost broke into tears then and there. “Answer me!”
The words finally broke through whatever spell that had clouded her mind, and Pyralis finally heard her lover for the first time since her ‘death’.
“Always.”
It was just a whisper. Just a word. But it meant everything to Pyralis.
It didn’t matter that everybody else was dead. That things would never be the same. The only thing that mattered hadn’t changed. Elara still loved her.
Ha. Hahahaha. Hahahhahaha! She still loved her! Elara- or whatever monster had taken her place, still loved her! Pyralis broke into a fit of tears, grabbing Elara and burying her head as far as possible into Elara’s neck.
It seemed to catch Elara off guard, her surprise plain on her face. She took a moment, before her eyes glazed over once more. Slowly, she raised her arms and wrapped them back around Pyr.
Pyralis never wanted to leave her embrace. Never again.
Elara kept moving her grip, until her arms were curled up and under Pyr’s. It was so warm here. Pyralis had missed this. Missed her.
…
Suddenly Pyralis felt something connect with her stomach, and she recoiled back. She was kept upright by Elara, but that didn’t stop the pain of having a knee impact her stomach.
Before she could realize what was happening, Elara slammed their skulls together, letting out that growl.
Pyr’s ears were ringing now, and she quickly pushed Elara away. She stepped back, seeing that emptiness in her lover’s eyes again. “Elara?” She shook as she asked the question, watching as ‘Elara’ stood up in front of her. Pyralis didn’t dare step forward to stop her.
Elara moved with incredible speed, closing the distance in less than half a second. A fist connected with Pyr’s face, and she instinctively raised her hands to block the next blow. It didn’t matter though, as a foot sunk an inch into her abdomen.
Slamming against the floor, Pyralis did her best to snap out of her daze. She had been stupid. Blinded by her desire to be with Elara again. Too busy thinking with her heart.
Elara swung her leg at Pyr’s head, but missed as her target rolled out of the way. Pyr grabbed Elara’s leg with her synthetic arm, yanking it in an attempt to throw Elara off balance. It did little, with Elara breaking free and pulling back for a swing with her right arm.
Pyralis pushed herself up as she rolled, narrowly dodging Elara’s attack. The concrete floor cracked as Elara hit it, her metal arm letting out a clang. It was hard to imagine that blow as anything but an attempt to kill.
It had left her wide open though. A swift kick to the stomach knocked Elara off her balance, and Pyralis pounced on her falling lover.
Thud.
A pop could be heard as Elara hit the concrete, coughing as the wind was knocked out of her lungs. Pyralis landed on top of her with her knees, squeezing out the little oxygen remaining. Elara was splayed out on the floor now, and she kicked her legs up trying to hit Pyr.
Elara was faster than Pyralis recalled, but between the two of them, Pyralis always had been the better fighter. Perhaps not the best pilot, but Elara never had that same experience. Before meeting Elara, Pyralis had already had to fight for her life on more than one occasion.
Moreso, Elara wasn’t moving the same way she always had. She attacked blindly, as if she never expected to make another swing. There wasn’t any strategy beyond blind swinging.
Even better? Pyralis outweighed her. She pinned Elara to the ground, straddling her stomach as Elara kicked her legs helplessly. Her arms were pinned at her side by Pyr now, not having enough torque at the shoulders to lift her assailant.
“Stop!” Pyralis yelled the words, not really expecting them to do anything. To her surprise, Elara stopped her flailing immediately.
“Your Hound is gone. Out of your control.”
Handler chuckled. She stared straight at her interrogator, giving him a bare-toothed smile. “Far from it, actually. My Hound is doing quite well.”
The interrogator tilted a light to beam directly onto Handler, illuminating the woman in all her grace. “Is that what you call it? I’m told her machine was destroyed. That she’s back in rebel custody.”
“She?” Handler shook her head. “Elara Callisto is firmly under my control. What they took was it. Not a person. Not their commander.”
Silence.
“Elucidate me. What did they take, then? Where is your Hound?” The interrogator grit their teeth, obviously sick of whatever game that Handler was playing.
Handler rolled her eyes. It was a waste of her time to be brought here in the first place. “My Hound, as you stated, was taken from my physical custody. Graciously allowed by myself. What they took was exactly that. My Hound. Do you think me so foolish as to allow them unfettered access to Elara?”
“The longer you toy around with your words, the more I am inclined to believe so, yes. Get to your point.” The anger had transformed into something more tired, growing more unamused as it grew clearer that the Handler would be standing her ground.
“It’s but a matter of time before they come crawling for the keys to her cage. Need I put it in simpler terms for you?” Handler played with her cuffs as she spoke, clearly becoming more relaxed as the conversation continued.
The interrogator scoffed. “You expect me to believe that it was bait? That you threw her out into the field expecting her to lose?”
Handler just smiled, her lips glistening in the light.
“Say I believe you. Say that I think you aren’t lying between your teeth right now. Say I let you out of here. What happens then? We let you sit around until she returns? Believe you at your word?” The woman had more and more questions the longer she was sitting here, evidently not happy with the way this interrogation was progressing.
Another chuckle. “Certainly a lot of hypotheticals there, sir.”
That fucking snark. Gods below, he was growing quite sick of Handlers. Each and every one with the same self-assured attitude, pushing their perceived worth to the empire to its limits. He should have her executed right here, stop the woman from turning another Imperial into some fucking dog.
“There is plenty to do, of course. I have a new recruit that I am to get to. An old recruit, really.” Lambda beamed that poisonous smile once more. The interrogator almost spat in her face.
“Another dog, then? Moving on so quickly?” He knew that he was falling into her trap here, letting her prodding get to him so quickly. He hated interrogating Handlers.
Lambda’s cuffs jingled as she set her hands on the table, leaning forward. “A little secret between you and me? This one comes with his own dog.”
So another Handler then. Just what the Imperial army needed. Another self-righteous prick with too much power in their hands.
“He was a rebel, you know. Isn’t that our goal? To rehabilitate them?” Lambda couldn’t help herself, the interrogator in front of her just had such easy buttons to push.
As expected, he snapped back. “Is that what you call it? Rehabilitation? I call it disgusting. You turn people into animals. Hell, if it was just rebels I might be able to understand, but you don’t stop there do you? How many soldiers have you sent to the kennels?”
“Seventeen.” She replied plainly, not even a drop of remorse present in her voice.
“Yet you don’t care, do you? Always prattling on about how they were less than you. Are you handlers so human that you’re better than seventeen good soldiers?” His fists were balled now. This wasn’t behavior expected of an Imperial interrogator, but the behavior displayed in front of him was far from normal.
What made it worse was the growing smile on her face. It seemed to get bigger with no end, turning from a smirk to a grin until it reached from ear to ear. “Do I seem human to you, sir?”
“In looks? Sure. But you’re a monster. I don’t think a single one of your ‘colleagues’ would disagree,” he spat back. The interrogator stepped back. “I don’t even want to hear your response. You disgust me.”
He threw a set of keys over the table, almost stomping out of the room. Yet- he paused at the door. There was one question he had forgotten to ask.
“Where’s your bio-mechanic?”