Chapter 105: Grief
The three friends returned to the ship after their hard mission. Everyone stayed silent, unable to find what to say, but even if they wanted to, they didn't have the strength to. Neige walked away toward his room, quickly followed by Silva. Emely was about to follow her friend but was stopped in her tracks by the leader.
"They... Just need time."
Sepide looked at her two friends leaving. She considered going with them but decided to give them time. When she looked around, she noticed that the doctor wasn't there and turned toward the leader to ask,
"Where is Gwyn?"
"She's with Remiel, they're trying to get information from our new prisoner."
"I want to go see her, can I?"
The leader was a bit taken aback by Sepide's sudden demand but figured that if Gwyn and Remiel were with her it should be alright.
"They're in the cells."
Sepide went there immediately. The leader had some concerns about it but quickly brushed off her bad thoughts.
Gwyn noted in her notebook under the attentive eye of Uriel. Emel was waiting in her cell, hoping to be let out.
"What is your relationship with Silv?"
"She kidnapped me! We're enemies!"
"Neige said that apparently you were lying to them, for what purpose?"
"I didn't lie! I really hate Silv!"
"Do you feel any empathy for her? Because of her past or because of the way people treat her for example."
"Well... I don't think she's that bad. If everything went differently she wouldn't have to do any of that."
"I understand."
Gwyn wrote in her notebook. Before she could ask another question, Sepide arrived suddenly and stared at Emel. A fit of unusual anger filled her as she grabbed the bars of the cell and almost yelled at the girl.
"What does Silv want?"
"Eh? Why would I know? She just brings me around."
"Where is she?"
Gwyn placed her hand on Sepide's shoulder in an attempt to calm her down.
"Sepide, calm down. I already asked that, she doesn't seem to know."
Sepide turned back toward Emel. Despite Gwyn's presence, she wasn't calmer than when she arrived.
"I don't want her to hurt anyone else. I need to stop her or else... She'll do horrible things."
"You say that like everything is her fault..." Emel said, visibly scared of Sepide.
"I saw her hurt my friends. I don't want them to be hurt anymore so please... Help us..."
Emel stayed silent for a moment before finally speaking up.
"She wants to join your group."
Sepide and Gwyn looked at each other in surprise, waiting for their prisoner to continue.
"I don't know why, she's obsessed with your Silva. She keeps saying she wants to replace her and be the main character or something."
"Why didn't you tell us?" Asked Gwyn, ready to note her words.
"I just... I knew you wouldn't understand."
"You... Understand her?"
"I've been with her long enough to know that she's not the monster you think, you could give her a chance to see first?"
Sepide gripped the bars tighter, it would hurt usually but the adrenaline she felt calmed the pain.
"The first time I saw her, she tied up my friend and took her place. Every time after that, she was only hurting Silva and trying to kill us... Everyone... They all have been hurt enough, I don't want that to happen to them anymore."
The room stayed silent for a long moment. Sepide couldn't manage to stay here any longer and left. Gwyn turned toward Remiel and gestured that they should leave as well. Seeing everyone leaving, Emel stood up and raised her voice.
"Hey! You forgot me! Can you get me out of here?"
"Sorry, but I deemed that you could be dangerous. We'll discuss your case later."
"Fine! I know Silv will come get me anyway because she's a good person!"
The long night passed. Silva woke up from a nightmare, reliving last night in her mind. Feeling that she would do something bad to herself if she stayed alone, she decided to get out of her room and head toward Emely's lab. What she wasn't expecting was for half of the ship to be here. Aside from Emely, Neige, and Ina, everyone was in the lab. They all seemed panicked when they saw Silva, almost like they were hiding something.
"What's happening? You're doing an orgy?"
"What is an orgy?"
Before Silva could answer the robot's question, the leader immediately redirected the conversation.
"Silva! We decided to... Hang out here for no reason and-"
"Emely was kidnapped." Sepide bluntly answered Silva's question, leaving her in shock. The leader gave a slight tap on Sepide's head with an annoyed face. Silva's heart suddenly raced, and despite the sudden discomfort in her chest, she managed to ask for details.
"Where is she? Who did this?"
"We think that Silv came to get back Emel but confused her with her other self. And as for where... Only Emely knows how to operate the program to locate watches. For now, we should find Neige and-"
Ignoring her leader, Silva left the lab in a hurry.
"I told you not to tell her Sepide."
"I felt bad for hiding it from her..."
Silva ran as fast as she could toward the cells. Emel was waiting there, bored from the loneliness of this empty room. When she noticed Silva come to her, she knew it wasn't Silv but was happy to get some company.
"Hey, can I-"
"You're Emely's other self, can you locate watches?"
"I can't really... I guess if I had time and wasn't stuck in this room I could but..."
"Damn Silv."
Silva walked in circles, frantically searching for a solution in front of Emel's eyes. The metallic footsteps of Remiel woke her from her thoughts. The robot ignored the prisoner and went toward Silva.
"Silva, are you alright?"
"I just want to make sure Emely is safe..."
Remiel seemed to hesitate, or maybe she was calculating something. Either way, after some time passed, she gave an answer to the worried girl.
"Emely built a tracking system in me, just in case anything happens."
"Can you find her?" Silva asked, full of hope.
"Yes, but I can only find the world she's in. I'm not as advanced as the program she uses usually so I don't know where exactly she is."
"Great! Let's go then!"
"Shouldn't we wait for the others?"
"I don't have time for that, but..."
Silva wondered for a moment what was the best course of action. She knew she should wait for Neige and the leader, and yet, she knew her heart wouldn't rest until she did something. Her mind quickly glanced at the girl in the cell with an idea in mind.
"I'll give them a message with our location. We should take Emel, we can maybe trade her with Emely."
"Are you treating me like an asset?"
"It's not my fault if your friend can't discern you from your other self. We need to go now, who knows what kind of stuff she might be doing to Emely..."
Remiel nodded her head and took Emel's hand.
"We need to go to the world 11081999x."
"The anomaly's world... What is she doing here?"