Rumbling could be heard as the integrity of the higher floors began to give way and topple over, crashing to the ground floor. I was completely speechless. Why would Remie do that? Why…
Remie yelled out to me “Let’s go, Jack! While she builds Crystal back!” Remie began to run toward the descending steps since the higher floors came crashing down, but I was completely anchored in place. When Remie noticed, he looked back at me as if I was the crazy one.
“Jack, what are you doing? While we have the chance, let’s move—”
“You dumbass!” It all hit me at that moment. He misunderstood the limitations of Anna’s stemata. Although she can make entirely knew bodies, she can’t make new bodies of other people! “You…just killed Crystal!”
“Um…” Nellie’s voice echoed through the microphone. “Cut to commercial?”
“There’s really nothing left of her…” Anna wore a sunken expression as she took step after staggering step toward the gaping hole in the building. As she looked around for any trace of her partner, Remie tried justifying his actions.
“Look, I was just going off of the information given to me. It was an honest mistake—”
“‘Honest mistake?!’ You took a gamble on someone’s life and lost the bet!” Anna was now furious.
“Your wrath is an appropriate response, Annabelle” A worn and torn voice stated as a familiar man landed on our floor of the tower. It was the Terror Crusher. The pinnacle of strength for the BCT.
“Although Nellie forgot to mention it, I’m proctoring over the fights today.”
“Sooooo sorry!” Nellie said over the microphone.
“Regardless, you know what this means. These fights and all of these rules simulate how actual missions would go. In missions, you will be given instructions that you have to follow down to the letter. If you can’t follow those instructions, then you can’t be a reliable counter terrorist.”
“Bull…it”
“Excuse me?”
“Bullshit! I’m plenty strong! So strong you had to put this stupid restraint on my stemata! If it wasn’t on, I wouldn’t even need to take such drastic measures! Do you hear me, Terror Crusher?! It’s your fault that Crystal Vex died!”
Silence filled every inch of the arena as all witnesses waited with bated breath for the Terror Crusher’s response.
“Now that you’re showing me this side of your personality, I’m more than happy that such a rule was made. You have no idea what it means to grasp a true victory. You know what it means to win, but you don’t know what it means to be the victor of a scenario. If you think overwhelming strength is the way to grasp victory, you’re sorely mistaken. Now…hand your stemata over and leave. I hereby disqualify you from not only participating in next year’s Cross zone finals, but you are barred from ever becoming a CT.”
Remie showed an expression of complete shock as he looked around, wondering if what was happening was really reality. Regardless of his want to not accept the CT’s decision, everyone stood still, waiting for the next thing to happen. He threw his stemata out of rage at TC and descended the steps, leaving the Cross Zone Finals.
“Now, although this wasn’t the ending of this fight that we expected, it’s still an ending nonetheless. You both will advance to the final day.”
A grave silence took over the arena as everyone talked in low whispers of the events that just took place. It was just like any other fight so no one expected it to conclude with a death.
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Terror Crusher made saucers for us to float down and descend the tower. As we did, that uncomfortable silence still possessed us. After all, we didn’t win off of our own merit. It’s because someone was disqualified and another…
“There are times in which victory doesn’t feel anything like it. That’s just the life of a CT at play. What’s important though is that you make decisions that you won’t regret when you finally get to that victory. Although it’s twisted given the circumstances, keep your heads up. You made it.”
Health Maiden used her bots to fix the tower of battle. Because of the damages made, a recess of an hour was called before the next fight. During that recess, Anna and I met up with our friends. They could immediately tell that we were down, so they offered to get something to eat around here.
“I’m coming too!” Julien Ferritin invited himself to our get together. Derris was about to object, but Ori gave him a stare and he immediately quieted down.
We went to a nearby store. Markets and the like are worlds different in zone three than they are in zones two or one. Zone two is the zone of produce, so they just make their own food. Zone one is pretty much known as the consumer capital, so we get plenty of ways to eat from the tables in a restaurant to having food delivered on our doorstep. Zone three however…
“Do you want ‘baked chicken and pasta’ or a ‘Bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwich?’ Anna sighed as she showed me my options.
In zone three, you’re expected to work in the zone’s countless factories to produce the countries goods as quickly and as effectively as possible. That means that if you’re lucky enough to get a lunch break, you have to use every second wisely. No time for thinking about your next meal or what to prepare when the entire thing can come nicely prepared and packaged. That’s where stores like these come in. Aisles upon aisles of already prepped meals either refrigerated or put under a heater. The entire group split off to get their own stuff, but Anna insisted on helping me pick out.
“I guess the BLT…” I grabbed it and watched as Anna was surveying the area for her own meal. As she did, she broke the ice by saying “I don’t know about you, but our secured spot feels…”
“Unearned?”
“Yeah…” She trailed off into a still quiet before speaking up. “I was just talking with her last night. At first it was brass and tacks business, but then we started talking about what even led us to the BCT. And when I remember that, I get…frustrated…”
Remie and I chatted last night about each other’s abilities too. I tried to fill him in on what I knew about Anna’s abilities, but they evolved way past what they were prior to the Cross Zone Finals.
“Because I was making off the cuff deductions about your abilities, a misunderstanding of your powers was born. It’s my fault that she died…”
“No, it’s my fault. I always had a vision of the CT I was going to be, but I strayed from it in these finals. The person I want to be wouldn’t have focused on the brawl…she would’ve avoided and fixed any injuries until the clock ran out. That’s who she is. And I was thinking…maybe I can still be that ideal. Jack…what are the odds we can bring her back?”
What…is Anna talking about right now? Sure, she was able to replicate herself and clone herself but they were most likely linked by some nerve or neural network before separating and becoming their own entities. The thing with Crystal though is that there’s no trace left.
“Anna…do you know what every part of Crystal Vex’s body looks like? Even the parts reserved for intimate partners?”
“W-what are you talking about?!” Anna's face grew pink as I further explained. “When it comes to yourself, it's easy to make clones because you know every inch of your body: Scars you may have gotten during childhood, birthmarks, and moles. Even when you use clones, you always link it to your main body before separating it. You've never created a clone from scratch. You could recreate something close to Crystal Vex, but it wouldn't be her. And because you're making her from scratch, there's little no chance it'll be the same person.”
Honestly, Anna's smart for singling me out. If Arno heard her say something like this, he would’ve chastised her about the ethics of the entire thing.
“Okay…but if I can master it, that means I could bring back the dead right? If we could figure out where the memories lie…then we could conquer death!”
“We? Anna…”
“Think about it. Anyone could be brought back. Even the Rosarians—”
“ANNABELLE HOTCH!”
Annabelle flinched backwards. Before I knew it, I raised my voice and was staring at her with a deep fury.
“Don't ever insult my family…”
“I'm sorry…I was just trying to help. I'm so sorry…” Annabelle’s voice fell into a weak whisper as her frame shrunk. She completely ruined any chance I had of feeling better about the events of today.
“I guess I'm the only one who feels differently about Crystal’s passing!” An excited voice said from the southern entrance of the aisle. I immediately turned my head to see who it was and acknowledged the person. “You're…Julien Ferritin.”