Uriel awakened. She was lying in Tyndur's bed. His hands were on her hips. He was sleeping profoundly. She looked at the sunrays coming from the windows landing on the bed. The room's whiteness was weird and off putting. She didn't like it. But she was happy to be there.
"Hey" said Tyndur while opening his eyes.
"Hey" said her.
"How was yesterday?"
"Good. I didn't expect it to be this good. At first I was worried but you know how to make me feel safe"
He hugged and kissed her.
"Wait here" said Tyndur while waking up.
"What do you have in mind ?" asked her, trying to understand what he was going to do.
She stayed on the mattress, waiting.
He came back with a wooden tray made of coffee, tea, croissants, juice and an egg.
"Wow, what is that?" asked her impressed.
"Well, I thought that you would've liked to have an old style breakfast"
"That's so sweet"
She looked delighted at the tray and kissed him.
"You've changed a lot since our first encounter. You make me so proud Ty"
They had breakfast and then they prepared themselves to get out.
"Are you sure about returning home at this hour?" asked Tyndur concerned.
"Yes. We're together. We're carefull. Nothing will happen to us" answered her with confidence.
They went out of Tyndur's flat and reached Uriel's secret place as quick as possible.
"After you Uri" said him, letting her going thorugh the door after saying the necessary words.
When they landed on the platform at the tube's base something felt off.
"Why are the lights so dim? The generator usually doesn't malfunction" said her.
"Does your mother know how to turn the lights off and regulate them?"
"She used to, now she's too old to do that"
They started walking faster.
"Do you think that...?" started asking Tyndur but she cut him off.
"Not now Tyndur"
Fear was in her voice.
Umay's house wasn't far. The lights were on.
They reached the small building and found the door uprooted.
"Mum..."
No one answered.
They got into the tiny house.
She wasn't on her chair.
They looked down.
Umay was lying down. The mouth was slightly open and her arms were spread wide.
"Mum...no...mum" started mumbling her to the lifeless body.
"Mum...wake up"
"Mum...don't...please answer me"
She was crying on her body.
He wasn't able to understand how to act. He was seeing a dead body for the first time. He was standing there.
"I...I'm sorry Uri" said him.
She didn't reply.
"Uri...I don't know what to say. I'm just...sorry" tried him again.
"Are you?" answered her.
"Yes...I...am"
He was scared. She wasn't just sad. She was furious.
"If it wasn't for you my mother would still be alive"
"I...I didn't know. I don't know how..."
Her crying intensified. Her voice too.
"You...I've never left my mother alone in all these years...you"
"I was...I just wanted to stay with you"
"Did you? Or was it a plan to lure me out and leave my mother at the mercy of your kind"
"My kind?"
"Your apathetic lifeless society of drones. Was it your plan all along ?"
"I...I...didn't know. I..."
"Get out" shouted her.
"I..."
"Get out, I don't want to see you anymore. Cause of you I've lost the only person who truly loved me"
"I...Uri, I didn't know..I just wanted to stay one night with you at my flat"
"I've said to get out. I don't want you to comeback. I don't want to see your face again"
He felt powerless.
"Leave me alone" screamed her.
He moved away. He wanted to help. He wanted to try. He didn't know how to help her. He runned away. He stumbled down. He was crying and then he felt it again. Coming up stronger than ever. A crushing force.
Sadness.
He moved back home and felt on the couch. He was crying and started sobbing. Hands on his face, he stayed there, destroyed by the pain.
He felt like it was his fault. Uri's mother didn't deserve to die because of him. Uri didn't want to see him anymore. He felt hated and despised. He never felt like that, not without a pill. It was hurting. He was feeling his heart running. The emotional connection with Uriel was still in place and she was feeling what she was feeling. It was becoming more clear what does it mean to lose someone.
He wasn't able to move. Everything felt hard to accomplish. His job, dumb and useless, was like an unnecessary burden. He just wanted someone to get him back on his feet. No one would've helped him now. No one was interested in his psychological condition. Kassar and Vanth were too detached to understand what he was going through.
He wanted to stay alone.
A day passed.
Two days passed.
A week.
He didn't went to work for a week. It was enough to get him fired.
Days started piling up.
Two weeks.
He tried to get into the safe place again but the security system didn't let him.
He tried one time.
Two times.
Three times.
Under the scorching sun. Under the shuttering rain. Under the fluffy snow.
She never let him in.
His boss, Kassar and Dr. Batastyr, all of them tried to contact him.
After two months the boss fired him.
He started living without a purpose.
Food became tasteless.
He started losing weight.
He sustained himself with cheap street food picked up from a vendor in his street. It wasn't enough but it was what he was able to afford.
A car was always parked in an alley in front of his bulding. It was suspicious. It was there everyday. It started form the fourth month.
The bank started questioning his ability to afford his car. He got three months to get a job and get his finances back on track. It didn't change anything.
After five months he became unable to move freely. Walking became hard and painful.
Then, one day, he recalled about the pills which were left by Kassar when he came to visit him last time. They weren't what he was looking for. He needed to feel good again. He looked for his phone among all the mess in his apartment. He found it behind the couch.
"Kassar, I'm Tyndur. I need your help" said him on the phone.
After six months hearing his voice was weird. He realised that he didn't like it.
"Yeah, I know about it. Could you get me twenty Hummingbirds, ten tigers and five tigers? Yes, for today. You can bring the pills in a bag"
"Money. I'm not able to pay you now. Are you sure that it isn't a problem? Thank you Kassar"
After it he threw it away and waited.
Kassar came perfectly on time.
"Hi Tyndur. I'm here to give you what you asked" said him.
It was hard to interact with an apatethic person again.
"Just give me them" said him while snatching the bag off Kassar hands.
"Vanth told me that he will visit you in the next months to check your health's stats"
"Perfect, he will bring more pills. Now you can go away" said him while taking a blend of EC2H and AM5F.
Kassar walked out of the flat by himself without saying a word. He looked at the window to see if he was gone. An old blue car was standing across the street in an alley. The same blue car.
Uriel didn't go through the best of times either. She buried her mum after days of mourning, alone, in a little grass field in the suburbs. She didn't know how to get past it at first. She felt powerless but she didn't stop doing what she believed in. She still tried to look for other strays but everyone resembled Tyndur in her mind. It wasn't hard to get him out of her mind. He tried for so long to get her attention and let him back into the safe place. She wanted to see him again but she wasn't able to accept the fact that he was the reason why her mother died. She was still thinking about the two days which annhilated their relationship.
He delved through the warehouses to keep her mind active but it was hard to find anything interesting among old stuff. In the past she would've enjoyed it but at the moment it seemed extremely harsh.
Four months passed. She was still thinking about her mother's murder. But she still thought that it was all Tyndur's fault. She was still blinded by her anger.
She was reading Dostoevsky when she run into a quote which let her think about the time she has passed accusing Tyndur of her mother's death:
“Above all, don't lie to yourself. The man who lies to himself and listens to his own lie comes to a point that he cannot distinguish the truth within him, or around him, and so loses all respect for himself and for others. And having no respect he ceases to love”
Something was activated in her brain. An idea. Her mother's death could've been orchestrated by someone else. He could've been the only one who knew about the safe place beyond her and her mother but it could be possible that someone else got inside the building while she was with him. A lot of things happened that night and her memory was a little blurred but he wasn't sure about her certainties. If Tyndur left the flat without her noticing it, it means that he should've planned everything. Was Tyndur able to take down a door so easily?
She thought about his contact and one thing which he said when she met him at his place. Something about a doctor. Someone who was in her mother's pictures. She went to her mother's house and picked up a familiar picture. One which has always been there on the wall.
Kassar was working when his phone started to vibrate. A name appeared on the screen. It was Tyndur. He didn't flinch, even though it was a long time he didn't hear from his assigned friend. Since the Liberty Bell their friendship was on he rocks. He didn't feel useless. He reported it to the authorities and Vanth but they told him to keep his relationship with him because it could've been useful in the future.
He picked it up.
"Who is talking?" asked him.
It was a rhetorical question. He knew exactly who he was talking to.
Tyndur asked him to bring a bag full of pills. He didn't care about his tone and the fact that he seemed in a bad condition.
He stood up and got to his superintendent.
"The target is back online" said Kassar to him.
The superintendent tilted his head a little and he left the room.
He went to the Sjelsukker Institute and met with Dr Batastyr.
He didn't seem surprised, like he was expecting it. He lent him a bag and Kassar went away.
He drove to Tyndur's block and parked his car. While getting off he noticed a blue old car which was parked there. The glass were obscured and he wasn't able to see if someone was inside.
He took the elevator and got to Tyndur's flat.
Seeing Tyndur after a long time didn't make him exude any kind of emotion. He delivered the pills to his friend and left.
He reached the ground floor with the elevator and moved toward his car. He noticed that the blue car was moved.
He was going to get into his car when someone hit him in the head. He lost his senses and collapsed on the pavement.
Uriel started investigating a bit about her mother's past after looking at the picture she cared so much about. It was hard to find anything about Edderkopp and there was so little about Gehenna. It seemed like everything was about her and Batastyr. They studied together in Belgium and wrote some notes together but it wasn't clear to her what was their relationship. Maybe she was trying to find clues in the wrong place. She thought about the night her and Tyndur met. She seemed to remember that he was with someone. She didn't remember his name. Tyndur used to hint to a colleague but he never said his name. She thoguht that it was time to keep an eye on Tyndur's flat for a while. Considering the distance she had to travel, she opted to use an old car which was in one of the warehouses. It would be enough to make her unnoticeable.
She started watching over Tyndur. He didn't come out once. No one ever came in. It was weird. She was a bit worried but she was still enraged with him. In her mind he was still responsible. After four months someone came for him. He was a muscular man sharply clothed. He was carrying a bag. She was wondering if there were pills inside it. That worried her.
She moved the car and got off while carrying a metallic stick . She was waiting for the individual to come back. Not long passed that he reappeared under the building.
He walked to his car and then stopped. It was her time to act. He could've snapped her in two if he found out about her. She moved quickly and hit him in the head. The body collapsed on the ground.
Kassar opened his eyes. His head was aching, like his limbs. He found himself tied to a chair in the middle of a dark room. The lights turned on and Uriel showed herself, while keeping her face under the Noh mask, she proceeded in her plan.
"Who are you?" asked her.
He didn't flinch. He wasn't impressed or scared.
"Why should I tell you?" answered him.
"Tell me your name" said her again.
"Alright, I'm Kassar. What do you want?"
"What have you done today?"
"I went to my assigned friend to bring him some pills. What's the point of this question?"
"Have you ever been to the Liberty Bell's pub?"
"Yes, it's just one of the many recreational spot in the city" replied him disinterested.
"Did you go there with your assigned friend last time?"
"Before the other one blew up his life due to a calculated accident. Yes"
"Who was the other assigned friend?"
"A guy named Tyndur"
"Did you see him today?"
"Yes"
"How was him?"
"Stable"
She didn't understand. Apathetic people are hard to read.
"What was the calculated accident?"
Her heart was moving weirdly again. Tyndur's addiction was affecting her ability to go by the day.
"What was it?" asked her again.
"The task was to isolate him and inject a dosage of EIT to stimulate his cerebral activity and trace him"
"You don't look like a person who would be able to manufacture a compound like that. Who gave it to you?"
Again. It seemed like Tyndur was getting double shots of Joy's pills. It was hard to stay focused. Maybe the emotional link wasn't the best idea.
"His doctor"
"Give me a name" insisted her.
"I don't think...."
The alarm started. The safe place was compromised. They were at the main entrance. They were ramming it in order to get inside.
"Time to save yourself or die for treachery" said Kassar.
"Oh shut up" said her while punching him in the face.
He felt on the ground and started screaming. He was trying to get her caught.
She ran away and reached the entrance to the tunnel which would've brought her to the abandoned ShuagXi Dresses salon. She looked back while chaos was approaching her.
She was melancholic because she was leaving her house. The one where she grew up. There was no choice.
Two months passed after Kassar left him the bag of pills. He consumed almost all of them. He was becoming addicted to them. It was the only way to avoid thinking about Uriel and what happened to her mother. He didn't want to feel sad and powerless again. He knew that his happiness wasn't real but he wanted to feel it anyway. It was intoxicating.
He sold almost all the furniture present in his apartment in order to keep it. He was going to be homeless in a month or two if he wouldn't have started to work again.
The TV was turned on. There was a running message about a dangerous criminal who betrayed the Leader called Uriel Alim. Her beloved Uriel. Troops of Whiskers, the Leader's secret police, were looking for her. He wanted so hard to see her again, not only in a picture. He missed her face. Her mind. Her knowledge. Her smell. Her.
Someone knocked at the door. He had an hard time standing up because he was losing all his muscular strength due to an ipocaloric diet.
It was his doctor. He let him in.
Meanwhile Uriel was looking at the window. She was looking for incoming black vans. She knew what happen to the people who are considered traitors by the Leader. She knew that she had little time left. She was still thinking about the words said by Kassar. He couldn't belive that what happened to Tyndur wasn't natural. She loved him because she falled in love with her in what seemed a natural way. She was still in love with him. She missed him. His naivety and curiosity, his growing empathy and passion. He was perfect. She was worried about him. She knew that he was using again and that broke her. She just wanted to bring him back on the right path.
A buzzing sound of drones was approaching his position. She covered herself behind a wall and regulated his respiration in order to get past theirs scanners. The sound stayed over the building for some time. It hovered over her.
It was dreadful.
It slowly went away.
The Whiskers where close.
"How are you Tyndur? It's months that I've not been able to contact you" said Dr. Batastyr.
"I...I'm just unable to interact with anyone right now"
"What happened to you?"
"When?" asked Tyndur without a clue.
"Alright, you don't have to tell me.
"Are you taking your pills?"
"Yes"
"How does it feel to get back to them Ty?" asked Batastyr.
"Get back...?" answered Tyndur without understanding how he knew about it.
"You didn't use them for quite some time I remember"
"How do you...Are you?" Tyndur was confused.
"It seems like the Seratonine is back on track and the Dopamine is fading away"
"What does it mean?"
"That you're ready to get back to work"
"Are...I don't think so" said Tyndur without delay.
"You don't have a lot of options"
"What are my options?" Tyndur was worried.
"We'll think about it later. We'll talk about it later. We're going to have guests next"
A rythmic thumping of feet started in another direction. She was feeling it now. Whiskers were closing on her. She looked around her to find a weapon. There was a long metallic stick. It wasn't enough but at least she would've defended herself for a while.
They were approaching the main entrance. It was sealed. She had enought time to think how to get out of the situation. Unfortunately there wasn't enough resources to pull it out.
An automated battering-ram started hammering the main door.
The building was shaking after every hit.
Dust started to come down from the ceiling.
"Guests? Who?" Tyndur didn't understand.
"We'll find out together, as always"
Tyndur moved on his couch. He was under pressure and every position felt heavy.
"Would you like some water? No, I'll get some anyway" said Batastyr as he got three glasses from the dishwasher and filled them with water from the sink.
He came back and put them on the table.
"I said that I'm..." was saying Tyndur but Batastyr cut him off.
"Would you like to take another pill?"
"Hmmm...I don't think so"
"It's a good one, you'll like it" remarked the doctor while putting a pill on the table.
One. Two. Three.
Boom.
One. Two. Three.
Boom.
The relentless thumping of the battering-ram didn't hint at stopping.
She was able to hear the door's hinges succumbing under the Whiskers action.
It went on for some time.
After the fourteenth hit, the door felt down. The sound of cracking metal resounded in her hears.
"I won't take it" said Tyndur.
Vanth looked at him, puzzled be those words. He then expired and moved his finger a bit while whistling.
His big, towering butler appeared at the door.
Tyndur looked at him. He was freightned.
"Carver help us please" ordered the doctor.
"Sure Sir" said him as he approached his target.
He moved toward Tyndur. They looked at each other for a moment.
The boy started to move but it wasn't enough, his body was too weak to move.
Carver jumped on him and put his forearm on his chest to keep him down.
Tyndur tried to wriggle out of his grasp but Carver didn't flinch.
Vanth stood up, took the pill and came towards him.
"Open the mouth now" said Vanth.
"No" answered Tyndur with a throttled voice.
"Alrigh, I have always to do everything by myself" said Dr. Batastyr while looking at his butler.
Carver tossed a punch at Tyndur throat. It was enough to let him open his mouth. As he did that, Vanth Batastyr pushed the pill down his throat.
After that they left him there.
He was breathing heavily and he felt like choking. He poured all the water's glass in his mouth to the point of wetting himself.
The Whiskers crashed into the building and started seizing everything. They were looking for her. Only the stairs were dividing her from them. She
squeezed the stick and exhaled but something felt wrong. Her breath was heavier, like her heartbeats. Something was happening to Tyndur.
Their steps were closer.
Closer.
Ten steps.
It was the best moment to be connected with him.
Nine.
Shoutings all over the place.
Eight.
Pounding heart.
Heavier.
She was worried about Tyndur.
Seven.
Gun's muzzles in the air.
Six.
Five.
She got set.
But she wasn't focused.
Four.
She was ready to charge.
Three.
Two.
She moved.
One.
"What....What...Have you done?"
"I'm giving you the necessary medicine. I'm your doctor after all" remarked Vanth.
"No..You're not. You're not a doctor"
"Well, I'm the one who can save you from your fate Tyndur. Don't forget it"
His heart was running. Uriel was in danger. He wasn't able to help her. He felt worse.
"Well, now we just have to wait. Usually Raphtalia take a bit to activate" said the doctor as he extended his legs on the table.
"Why....are you...doing it?" asked Tyndur.
"Do you think that you're the first person the fall in love?" replied his interlocutor immediately.
"I...Yes, I think so. She told me"
"How does it feel?"
"Good, wonderful. It's the best natural emotion we have...."
"How is it when you lose it?"
Tyndur didn't reply.
"I hated when I had to leave my wife. I was in love but she wanted something else. Killing her was just a way to kill my past"
"Why...why did you need to do it?"
"Because she was the only thing which kept me down. In this society to be best you've to get rid of your attachments"
"I disagree. I didn't have a choice for a long time and for a time it was good. When I discovered that it was the opposite I've tried to change" said Tyndur.
"You don't know how it is to sacrifice a life to survive under a dumb tyrant. You're just a nobody who got lucky"
"Maybe..but...it felt good"
"You're just like her. You're an idealist" said Vanth with an accusatory tone.
The pill started to kick in.
"It's time for you to enjoy what me and my wife created together. Let it in. Don't resist" said Vanth, pleased.
At first there was Vigilance, The Eye.
She hit one whisker on the head and the next one on the knee. Her heartbeat started to accelerate. They felt down and she overpowered them. She felt more focused out of nowhere. Another one came but she defended herself easily. After him came two of them. She tried to get them down but they started to surround her.
They pointed their guns at her. She was keeping her stick up. She wanted to fight. She wasn't done. She was too focused on what was in front her.
From the crowd emerged one whisker which moved quickly toward her. She turned towards him but someone hit her in the head.
His heartbeat slowed down.
"You did it. All...the pills? Why?" asked Tyndur with difficulty.
"It was the only way to create a perfect society"
"A...society made of drones, apatethic slaves"
"Exactly. It was the only way to make the economy flourish and to keep everyone under our control. Emotions, passions...they never produced profit. The Leader needed profit above all, to keep paying for all the things you've enjoyed so far. The pills are hard to produce"
"You have...a lot of emotions for being one who wants...to exstinguish them"
"I don't think so. Once you're gone, everything will get back to normal"
"How can you call it normality?"
"Because it has to be"
Rage came without a warning. The heartbeats were louder and stronger.
She woke up, panting.
She was gagged.
In front of her there was a whisker with a familiar face.
He put his finger on his ear and said: "The target has awakened"
She tried to scream. She knew that was him. Rage was growing inside her. It was bigger than ever. She thought that Tyndur was experiencing it too.
It went along for some time. After a while the whisker take off her the gag.
"I thought that you were a simple worker. Is Kassar your real name?" asked her.
The whisker didn't reply.
"Answer me".
He looked at her.
"You don't know. Your ignorance is revolting"
"Where are we going?"
"Where your life begun"
"Why did you make me fall in love? Why did you make me feel something?" asked Tyndur enraged.
"It wasn't me actually. It was all you. I just asked Kassar to put a tracker in your body. As I can see your partner didn't just awake you. She made you aware of yourself. We didn't foresee it"
"So...you did this?"
"I was lucky but you got us to our targets"
"It was you. You bastard. You killed her"
Loathing came along.
"How can you call yourself humans? Do you understand that this isn't right?" said Uriel with disgust.
"It doesn't matter" answered Kassar.
He looked at his watch.
"You're Uriel's father" pointed Tyndur out.
"Unfortunately yes. I didn't like what you did with her and what she did with you. She has always been under her mother's influence. I just wanted her to be more like me, with the same ideals"
"She's too...clever to do it"
And then dreariness followed.
The van stopped. She was brought out and dragged to a door. The place was familiar. The door opened. She saw him. Tyndur was looking like a spectre. Pale and frail.
"Tyndur..." said her.
He looked at her.
Tears were in their eyes.
"Uriel, you're still alive" he wasn't able to believe it.
The man in front of him turned and showed himself.
"Good evening daughter"
Amazement kicked in.
"You're not my father" said her.
"Your mother had a lot of secrets. I was one of them" answered Vanth.
"You can't be"
"Stubborn and close minded like your mother. No wonder she is dead now"
"It was him Uri" told her Tyndur.
"You..." her pointed his finger at him.
"Are you going to be like that with me now? It's the first time we see each other" asked Vanth.
"Yes I will. You killed the only person who cared about me when you weren't around"
"She won't be the only one darling" said him amused.
"What, why? What has Tyndur in his body right now?"
"The octagon is already in his veins"
And then it was the time of Terror.
The heart started pumping blood faster.
Tyndur felt a clutch on his chest. Uriel bent down, screaming.
She looked at her father.
"Really. You did it again. Fools" said Dr Batastyr while Tyndur and Uriel were suffering on the floor and the couch.
He didn't say more and left the room. Carver went after him. He was weeping a bit but he was trying to conceal it.
She went beside Tyndur with much hardship.
"I'm sorry Ty" said her, while contorcing herself.
"Don't be. We were played by someone who doesn't care about anyone"
"Is it going to be like that, our last evening together?" asked Uriel.
Admiration presented itself.
"Yes Uri. I'm sorry. I just wanted to...love you with all myself. I just wanted to stay with you. I just wanted to be the best version of myself"
She tried to hug him.
"I..I think that this is the best way to die. With you" said her in tears.
He hugged her with all his strength. What was left of it.
Ecstasy, The Hummingbird showed itself.
They kissed. And stayed together. One hugging the other.
The heartbeats amped up.
"I love you, Tyndur"
He smiled.
"I love you too Uriel"
She smiled.
They smiled.
Together.
They kissed.
With their last breath.
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