Interlude: The Library III
In the city of Kawalerielki, there are a number of ghettos. These places are meant to house, generally speaking, the Infected.
The Infected ghettos are supposed to not exist anymore. All Infected should have already moved to the mobile platform known as "Area 0."
However, as Area 0 has suffered some construction delays, and the operation that would move the Infected population from one place to the other has yet to be completed.
Through one of these very ghettos, two people are walking, excitedly talking to one another.
Both of them share the same dazzling suit. A nice, solid black with a few touches in blue- the uniform of the Reverberation Ensemble. Of course, both of them wear it differently, almost as different as night and day.
The first of them is reserved. A boney tail swishes back and forth as she walks through the streets, but that is all. Her hands are in her pockets, hidden by wool gloves. The clothing belong to Pluto, the Distortion known as "Yesterday's Promise." The Distortion's body and the Librarian's body have been "merged," so to say, by her using his Page, in order for the Librarian to wield his powers while not having too uncomfortable of an experience.
They're supposed to wear them for quite some time, after all. It was a necessary improvisation on Angela's part.
The woman wearing Pluto is Tatyana, formerly Welfare Team Captain, and now, after a valiant Backward Clock sacrifice, an Assistant Librarian in the Floor of Social Sciences.
The second one is standing upright, loud and boisterous. She smiles brightly, and her bright pink hair gets all the way down to her waist. If one looked closer, they would notice a peculiar detail- that her hands are made of some sort of wax-like substance.
If one got her to an overly emotional state, which can be done quite easily by stealing her lunch from the fridge, being the Librarian known as Paul or mentioning the Index, they could see blazing lines, cutting their way through her flesh.
This blazing, fierce Librarian wielding the page of Philip, "the Crying Children," is Chiyo, Librarian of General Works, and the first woman in history to have the privilege of hitting Carmen in the face with a scythe.
"Yeah, and then BANG! The guy just comes up at a bazillion meters per second and whacks Roland with his huge fucking cross. I could hear the air jumping out of his lungs." she says.
"The Extraction guys didn't say anything like that about their Vermillion Cross though. How can I be sure you're not lying? That one was slow as shit, Binah just whacked that cross away with a pillar every time the fucker tried to strike." answers Tatyana, with an eyebrow rising.
Chiyo just shrugs.
"Well, Binah is just built different, I guess. And that was some blood zombie or whatever."
"Aren't the blood zombies supposed to be stronger?"
"I think it's like… if you make a blood zombie out of some nobody, it's an improvement, but if you make it out of a Color it's a downgrade. Because, I mean, you get stronger, but the Cross had a ton of technique. That thing he used should be completely unworkable as a weapon, but he smacked people with it no problem. Come on, it was even setting him on fire too."
"So there's like some level where blood zombies start decreasing overall effectiveness? Could we test that? I mean, I'm not wearing Elena right now, but we could try it out after we get back to the Library."
"I… I don't think you can do that. You need to kill the guy first, and we just fade. No body left behind."
"...we could make some bodies."
Chiyo stops walking.
"What?"
"Make bodies! Like, with Pluto." explains Tatyana. "The guy's Distortion power was to just do whatever the fuck he wanted, and I'm wearing him right now, I can get a handle out of these powers and then we can try it out!"
"...try it out with dead bodies."
"Heh."
Both of them chuckle.
"Well, speaking of Pluto, what do these hands feel like? The bone hands." asks Chiyo.
"Why do you think I'm wearing fucking mittens right now? They feel like shit, my hand's all weird. What does Philip feel like?"
"I prefer the Crying Children. The wax body is all fucky, feels numb as hell."
"The Crying Children fucks my back, all that weight in the wing makes my posture shit when I drop the page. And like, is the wax numb all over? Let me just-"
A small spell circle materializes in Tatyana's hand- and something shoots out of it an incredible speed.
"Wait, ow!" she says, after a spark of shining light hits her in the shoulder. Then she realizes the attack left essentially no damage at all. "Yeah, nothing. It's hardy, but I can just barely feel people touching me."
"Uh. I guess. My body isn't exactly tough, but it's not brittle, either. I thought that bone would be easier to snap…"
"Did… did you try snapping your own bones?"
"Oh, come on, and you say you never tried to melt that wax to see what would happen, either."
"Well, I don't go around trying to kill myself for fun, do I? Unlike somebody here."
"Get fucked."
"Well, I'm Philip, so Angela already fucked me over plenty. Like, repeatedly."
"The guy's got more game than Roland, I guess."
Someone comes rushing through the streets. The blue-haired woman that dashes in their direction wears a very similar suit- but her posture is more rugged, and through that fabric? One can clearly see a lot of muscle.
That is BongBong, and her page is the brutish page of Tanya, "L'Heure du Loup."
She abruptly stops before the other two.
"Bong!" she says.
Chiyo understands her perfectly. Tatyana can at most guess her intentions and emotions, but she's learning.
"Uh, I see. So your girlfriend's calling us up?" the General Works librarian says.
"Bong."
"She and Paul found a coffee shop? In those shitass knockoff of the Backstreets?"
"Bong, bong."
"Oh, it's a bar, not a coffee shop. There's an exit out of the ghetto right there on the next block, so let's go, then. We might get to watch this whole gladiator fight stuff they've got here."
Meanwhile, Tatyana is just trying to analyze the conversation.
"Is it, like, the intonation of the bongs? Or the face she has while she says each?"
"It's all of them, mostly."
"How did you… learn that sort of thing? I'm still getting the hang of it."
"I worked with her in Records during a whole bunch of cycles. You get used to it, and eventually you pick up the thing. Did ya know that there's an entire village in District 9 that speaks like her?"
"...what?"
"Yeah, she came from there."
"When did she tell you that? That sounds interesting. Wonder if her girlfriend knows."
"She doesn't."
"You didn't tell her, BongBong? Why?"
"Bong, bong? Bong, bongbong bong."
"She didn't tell you, Tatyana, or Louise, because it's not true. I made it up right now. I have no idea of why she talks like this."
"...you really are the same asshole as you've always been."
"I like to consider that a compliment."
"…my lord." says Jamie. "What are we waiting for?"
The man in the white robe simply continues to stare at the stars, uncaring for his apostle's questions. Suddenly, his gaze sharpens and he looks at the questioner.
"We were waiting for the Library's arrival. They have undoubtedly brought forth more powers; more fuel for the flames. More… Light."
The second-last fragment of Ayin's mirror snaps his fingers, and pours Jamie a cup of the wine he was drinking. He then continues to stare at the stars, through the window of their hideout.
"The Crying Children, Pickman's Gallery, Yesterday's Promise, Chains of Sacrifice, Nine Children of the Dragon… and King of the Endgame." he mutters to himself. "Return to Pinus Sylvestris, Jamie. Follow our plan and continue fighting on their side. There is yet another savior who I must enlighten- your friend Sona. I believe she will serve admirably in our cause to release mankind from their chains."
The former Infected Knight simply nods. While there is new light in his eyes, something seems to have changed in his form. It is not as determined as before… or perhaps one could argue that the direction of that determination has changed.
An ever-burning will to continue forward now burns in another way.
The man known as "Jamie," now the second of Adam's Apostles, has made an oath of servitude. Until the day he perishes, he will fight for the cause of humanity's enlightenment… and perhaps even beyond that day.
"Welcome to the Kazimierz National Arena. You've all been waiting for this for a long time. Welcome to our Kazimierz Major! I'm your announcer for this one- you know me- Beats!"
The man who stands in the announcer's perch is not the announcer everyone expected. The man with the blue tie, the trenchcoat hanging over his shoulders and the screen for a face is a new thing for these Majors.
After the tragic death of Greatmouth Mob, another announcer- who had narrated several minor events through the last Major and ended up becoming the host of the most watched prank show in Kazimierz- ended up being called for the job.
While he was kind of famous, he wasn't really that big. It really came in as a surprise.
"The DDD ripoff got called for the job?" mutters a knight in the audience stands. "How the hell did he get here? He doesn't have the money for this kind of bribe."
"Hey, maybe it's nepotism. No one knows who's behind the TV mask, might be the son of some Chamber of Commerce bigwig."
"...shame about Mob, though."
"Real shame. He wasn't much, but he was better than this dweeb."
Beats, obviously, doesn't listen, as he's a long distance ahead and not the kind of guy to care for what people think of him. He simply continues talking about the Major as the audience cheers.
"After all we've seen in the recent events- the results have come in! We'll be having eight great clubs, sixty-four small fry, and three independents trying to show off their power! Among them, the returning star, the veteran of many Majors- our Mirrored Knight!"
As Beats continues to rattle on about the Major, two people stare from the audience.
One of them is a blue-haired man, enjoying a coffee bought at one of the nearby fast-food shops. He doesn't seem to care much about the events of the Major taking their course in front of him. The other is practically invisible in the audience. With his black mask, no one even bothers sneaking in a single glance at his presence.
"Say, Chesed-" says the black-masked man. "How do you think they got to this sort of a position? It hasn't even been a month since they got released..."
Chesed takes a sip from his coffee.
"I don't know~" he says. "It might just be a good work ethic."
"Well, is the coffee good, at least?"
"I don't mean to brag, but mine is much better, Roland." he answers. "It might just be the taste of something made home, though. That can always make anything taste special~"
"Wait, wait. I'm getting a call from the director."
The flip phone inside Roland's pocket rings. It isn't a real phone- but rather, a "lifeline" designed to bring the team back home, when they complete their mission. Each of the librarians carries one. It also has the convenient property of allowing both communication between the two worlds.
"Yo, Angela."
"Roland. I received a report from Paul. He's found one of the escaped Turbulence Office members."
"Uh? Another? I found the screenhead guy, he's here serving as an announcer for this big gladiator fight they do here."
"The knight competition you mentioned?"
"Yeah, he's their announcer. He's pretty good at playing to the crowd, I'd say."
"Can you speak to him after he leaves?"
"Dunno. It's too crowded here… don't know if I'll be able to move around, even with the mask on. It's just way too much people, and I don't know the place. Who did Paul find, by the way?"
"It appears that this "Mirrored Knight" is the shapeshifter Malkuth faced. And she competed in previous majors- many years ago."
"...many years? That's strange. Wasn't it… a few weeks ago?"
"I believe…" says Angela, a whole reality away. "That our timeline does not match theirs."
A/N: This one was a pain to make, for some reason.
