Raven stood by Nealon, staring at his features for any sign of movements.
Nothing.
Worry began to accumulate. The transfer process was supposed to have finished a long, long time ago. Nealon should be waking up soon, having devoured Jack’s rudimentary knowledge, as well as some of his memories and a considerable part of his skills. Only then would Nealon truly be perfect for Raven’s uses. He lacked for nothing in strength, for his body was the pinnacle of human science, and his mind was as shrewd and imaginative as the next prodigy over, but in his perfection was his bane; honor. He is far too honorable and to utilize some more vicious methods in his conquest for power. In his conquest for her power. Cruelty, deceit, and greed will make him a fine king.
And gods knew Jack did not lack in these areas. Their minds would collide, Nealon will be perfected and then she would have her ideal king, paired with the ideal queen. Gaia would need some convincing, but nothing beyond a little nudge here and a little word there. Nealon is just her type, or is going to be, at least.
“All the pieces; all the knights and rooks, all the pawns and bishops. Everything is flawless. Now, wake up, would you?” Raven said, poking Nealon’s cheeks with her fingers.
Still nothing.
She shook her head and turned away from the table. She walked over to Jack, and laid her hands over his cheeks, brushing his skin. She kneeled beside him, nudging her nose against his ears.
“What royal pain you are...you were,” Raven whispered wistfully. She held his cheeks tighter, and and pressed her nose further against him. “Never following orders, always giving me heart-attacks with your nonsensical endeavors, constantly making enemies and those puns, oh god, those puns you always make...always used to make.” She felt her eyes getting wet and stopped. She pushed her eyes down, letting her forehead lean against his hair. “We could have been f-f-friends,” She said with utmost difficulty, her blood filling her cheeks.“I have many equals, Jack, but not many people that I enjoy. Us geniuses are not fun, you know? We live dreary lives, always attempting to become more influential, more powerful. That's our only purpose and...we’ll backstab the closest people to our hearts. It’s just in our genes. It's in our blood. It-s
Raven paused, her throat dry and her lips quivering. “I had to...You’re the only person who threatened me. I just...I just...I just can never tell what you’re going to do!” She screamed, pushing herself from the table. “If you just submitted to me, told me everything...then maybe I woul-” Raven stopped solid, her features frozen. Then, in all of her anger and emotion, deflated like a sad-faced balloon. “No, I would have still murdered you, regardless of what you’ve done. I’m scared of you Jack, scared. Yes, I know. It is no doubt one of the stupidest things I’ve done, but I simply cannot allow you to roam free. For whatever reason, I just can not get a grasp on who you are. Each dreadful time I came to conclude what type of person you are, what type of behavior, and what time of emotions you feel--it all changes. Just like that. The next day, or maybe the next hour, it's as if you’re a whole...new person…” Raven said, trailing off. She brought her hand to her forehead, attempting in vain to rub the major headache that began to nudge at her skull.
These headaches again, oh these headaches. It drove her insane, a thorn in the back of her eyes. They went away, if she stopped thinking, if she hushed her mind and idled on a different subject.
Not this time. She started shaking her head, thrashing and wailing her body. She stomped her foot, collapsed, crashed against the table, stood up, and then fell again.
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But she kept getting up, forcing her numb knees upwards. She would think about this. An ache always prevented her from thoroughly analyzing Jack’s abnormalities, and she always set it off for another day, another week. Then the days turned to years and weeks to decades, and only until now did Raven realize she never really thought about.
She just assumed she did. It was the natural thing to do, the right thing to do, yet it completely passed her mind. Wrath welled up deep within her, giving her the motivation she required to push through the pain.
Jack was dead, and no longer could his inexplicable powers hold any sway over her actions. Over her thoughts.
She bit her tongue, fueling her melting muscles and jolting awake her dizzy mind. What was Jack’s main characteristic? What was it? Does he even have one?
Raven shook her head. She couldn’t think of one. All that came was that he was unpredictable, not as in imaginative or especially creative-- he was but that was not the point--but rather because there was no set of rules he followed; something that the human psyche can not function without. It needed a pattern, a logic thinking mode. A conscious.
The four Dive keys; what did they mean? She was right until she attempted to define what the four different characteristics held, but she was right in assuming there were four different things.
Four people, within one? Raven tinkered with the thought. Blood ran down her nose, but she ignored it.
That would fit the bill. It would explain why he was able to multi-cast different spells, if his different minds controlled mana on four different dimensions. It would also explain how he was able to effectively specialize in more than one class; Mage, Rogue, Spearman. What was the last one?
She dug her nails into her thighs. That did not matter, for now. More important still, it does not explain why he was unpredictable; even with four different personalities, either mixed or separated, Raven still should have been able to see through it. Raven sees all. Raven knows all.
The only way Raven wouldn’t decipher is if Jack didn’t know. But Jack knew. Jack always knows something that she did not, and it truly drove her mad. Somehow, someway, he hides the knowledge from his self.
That she couldn’t identify it further stressed the fact that there was something else, something deeper.
How did Jack live?
A moment of silenced flew by. Raven relaxed, taking joy in the lack of chaos. She felt her body sag, her eyes succumbing to the warm embrace of peace. Why did any of this matter? Nealon would devour him, Jack would be no longer, and if she was lucky, Nealon will be able to explain everything to her. There was no need to spend any energy on this. It was doltish of her.
Raven sighed, relaxed her muscles, and bashed her head against the floor. Blood started dripping, but the whiskering whispers vanished all but completely.
She began to suspect whether Jack’s four minds would have been able to overwhelm Nealon, but that was not a possibility within the program; the person, inside his brain, was as invulnerable for as long as his mind told him to be.
And Nealon’s pride was not something to scuff at. His ego would have overwhelmed Jack, regardless of how many people, personalities, or whatever the hell he had inside him.
Yet what was this harrowing fear grasping at her soul? It hissed and danced around her heart, squeezing painfully. She felt being toyed with. She felt being stalked.
Hunted.
Her?
She was supposed to be the hunter.
Her question! She asked a question, previously, moments ago. It was the key. What was the question? Something regarding life?
How did Jack live?
This time, in the absence of the vicious headache, Raven was able to push through. Jack, in the simplest terms possible, lived without fear of consequences. He lived without the fear of death.
He lived as if each day was his...last.
What if it was? What if--
Two giant arms enveloped her from the back. They wrapped around Raven’s lithe figure comfortably, holding her tightly against him.
Raven went rigid, tensed up, then slightly relaxed. She nudged her head upwards, her hair pressing against Nealon’s jaw. “I thought I told you not to--” Raven stopped. Nealon looked solemnly into her eyes.
Calmly, lightly, and softly, Raven opened her mouth. She tried to speak, failed, and closed it. She opened it again for another try, failed, closed it, and then opened it after a slight pause. “Who the fuck are you?”