Description: With every passing mission, Eve has been getting worse and worse fever, aches and dizziness. She has to be taken to the Atelier Group, where she learns dire news, but also receives an incredible blessing
Things have been getting worse lately -- the keen, periodical pain has returned to her. At first, Eve thought it must have been just a coincidence... Nothing to worry about, but as she started to strain herself physically and push herself through more missions, beating up recluant students and bringing them to the Atelier Group, the symptoms have been growing harder and harder to ignore.
Moments of burning fever, follow by ache and numbness -- they struck her without a warning, and fortunately, at first, they didn't last so long but the more she pushed herself, the harder it hit her afterward.
Eve had been told by the scientists who helped her understand and control her powers that she suffered from a very rare disease. At the very least, that is what they told her to explain all of the experiments they have been doing on her, all the medical things she willingly submitted herself to. So far, she hadn't really suffered any ills from it, believing they had been able to control it and treat her, but the more it goes on, the less she thinks it might be the case.
For some reason, Eve has decided not to mention those things to her superiors for the time being. Fear of disappointing them, most likely, of being unable to live up to their expectation. Bearing a little bit of pain and suffering wasn't so bad, after all...
At least up until now.
"Ashley," Says the teacher, noticing the girl looked pale and was squirming in her feat, caught with cold sweat, "Are you okay, you look pale?" The girl winces a bit and shakes her head slowly. "I, huh.." She didn't know what to answer. Not wanting to have to take care of an ill student in her class, or worse, one that could throw up, the teacher asks another student to help Ashley over to the nurse office.
Not one to argue with a figure of authority, Ashley leaves her place and she slowly limps out with the help of the other studen, brought to the nurse office.
Her body was burning hot, her cheeks flushed by the fever. She was sweating and felt a keen pain in her stomach. Her left arm felt a bit numb, for some reason and she felt a bit dizzy. The pain came and left her, back and forth, as if tormenting her and torturing her. Eve knew all she had to do was bear with it just a little longer and it'll be all gone eventually.
For whatever reason, every time Eve had come back from her missions, she was given a full medical exam. This had been explained as something simply to protect the well-being of valuable NESTS assets, not the most polite of terms, but it involved entering one of those strange tubes. They might be new to this school, but Eve has been going to them for months now; they involve about five minutes of intense, thorough screenings, although she had never seen the results and been called 'fine', offered medication for the pain and fever but little else. Now that she has been more active with her powers than ever, it's clear that something not so easily brushed off is taking place...
The nurse in question is one from the actual school; she's visually shocked by the apperance of Eve, and her fever appears to be at a critical level. "I,I'm going to call the hospital...!" But before she makes it to the phone, /another/nurse is present within the building. Nurse Payne, the Atelier advisor who has the facility set up outside. A buxom woman in a too-short attire that seems more like a slutty halloween outfit, black heels too high to be navigated as easily as it is, the redhead gives a tilt of her head and bob of wild ponytail.
"Ashley. I told you to come to /me/ if you had these issues. Don't bother the school."
"But... it's very..." resumes the nurse.
"Don't worry. Atelier has more advanced facilities than Taiyo. Principal Brown has given me permission. If I feel it life threatening, I'll take her to the hospital."
"I'm checking!!" the nurse interrupts, before punching in a number as Nurse Payne gestures for Eve to follow. The conversation behind is heard. "O,Oh? All of the Special Disciplinary Commission...? I... okay, I'll remember from now on..."
"Shame." Nurse Payne repeats quietly as they head to the doors leading to the large green yards, where the fabric building housing the medical equipment of NESTS is stored. "Were you really so ill you ended up with a mundane nurse? They cannot properly understand your condition." But the fear, alarm and anxiety of the trained medical professional might stick in Eve's mind. Nobody in NESTS ever responded like this sort of thing was life and death...!
Ashley was in no condition to actually make a proper mental assessing of the situation. She notices the other nurse comes in and hears her reprobating intonation. The girl cowers and whimpers softly, lowering her gaze, "Sorry, I.." She can't seem to form a coherent excuse for the rest, not really sure why she didn't think of coming to her first. Probably because of the fever and her condition, yet that was no excuse.
The girl painfully gets back up from the table and she follows after Nurse Payne, holding her abdomen with her left arm. "I.. I thought it would pass.. The teacher.. I was escorted here.." The girl wobbles a bit on her feet, a moment of weakness as she clings on to the nurse's skimpy outfit, gripping for something to hold into. Fortunately, she does so when they've both walked away from the previous nursery.
A surprisingly strong hand settles around Eve, making a comforting noise like a mother would. "I'm calm, aren't I?" she offers, with a warm smile. "Then that means you are okay. You know we're trained medical professionals. Assassination is merely supplementary to that role. Many scientists who try to escape our umbrella head to medical institutes and research laboratories, so it is... easier to get within." There are two Bastion guards in black riot armor with tinted visors, standing at attention when Nurse Payne comes with her young charge. Propping up Eve as much as needed, she's taken within.
There's a silver-haired youth sitting in a chair, wearing a black leather bodysuit with straps somewhat similar to Krizalid's chosen look. He looks angry and pained, glaring at Eve and the nurse. "Give me my godamn pain killers." "You'll get them at your normal time." she scathes. Whispering to Eve, "He suffers the same illness you have. 'Clone Sickness', we call it. I suppose... it's time to tell you what is going on in your growing body."
Sliding a curtain shut once they are within the room housing the tube, a few buttons are pressed and 'Ashley' is coerced to stand within the machine. There's no need to strip at least, and it would sink shut, soundproof and armored. Five minutes of tests follow, multiple thrums and warbles and other things that make her tingle. Nothing new; same as always.
Once finished, Payne heads to the examination room adjacent, patting the table for Eve to settle upon before opening up the laptop on the shelf full of medical supplies. "We had thought this wouldn't be an issue with you. But a clone body cannot handle processed chi that goes through them... it breaks them down. It is why that particular specimen and K' require gloves to regulate their power, as does the... gentleman in the room outside." A chart is then brought up. Levels are shown rising more and more, with a sudden spike in the last few months.
"You've caught the sickness. I'm afraid it's quite severe. ... ...The problem is, we do not have an easy way to abate it. You see, your genome is unique and adaptable. But by bonding you to an affinity, your body cannot handle the energy going through you." She taptaptaps. "There's options. Genetic reinforcement, and a stabilizing system, or a suit like Project Damian. But... these are all very expensive and time-consuming projects. Right now..."
"All approval for such goes through 'I'." Igniz. The God and Head of NESTS. Eve is one of the few, including Nameless, who has met and knows him, father of Nests and a kind, benevolent man. Whatever could the issue be? He's the principal in the building next door! "...The problem is the timeline... so... it may be too late to save you, unless we began almost immediately... and it would require a massive divergence of resources..."
By the time Eve is brought to the facility, strapped down and had the test done to her, the fever had started to go down a little. Most of what the nurse and the things she had heard were shocking news to say the least, things that seemed to be beyond her for the time being. Clone sickness? What was that? She made it sound like she was some kind of clone for some reason..
Eve meekly follows after Payne, keeping her gaze low after the scanning, her mind still trying to understand what was going on. She doesn't ask any questions though, knowing better, figuring it will all be clear to her eventually. She forces herself up on the table and sits down, listening to what the nurse has to say.
All of what the nurse felt like dire news, and nothing seemed good for her, "What does it mean...?" Eve asks. A matter of speaking, she was more curiously about what it meant concretly for her.
She glances over to Igniz as he walks in, the girl bowing her head and averting her gaze in deference. Though her silence is broken after the few words he says, "Save me!?" She stammers, lifting her gaze up at him. "Do.. Do you mean.. That I.. I, but I thought..." The girl whimpers. All these years, she had been told they were helping her disease, that everything was 'fine', and now all of a sudden, in the span of a few months everything is turned upside down.
The girl grows silent, lowering her gaze in resignation, a bit of tears swelling up in her eyes. Deep down, she wonders if she knew something like that would happen sooner or later. Even so, nobody's really ready to be told their time had come, it's impossible, "Wh... What will happen of me?" She asks in her soft voice.
"Clone Sickness is merely the term we use for burnout of the body from one's chi energies." states Nurse Payne. "You do not have to have a clone to get it. Some people augmented, such as Project Damian, suffer through it. ...And you, who had your aura genetically attuned to elements, were inadverantly affected... The end result is terminal I'm afraid, if left untreated. Eventually your core chi will run wild, and you will burst into chi flames, and..."
"That's quite graphic enough." Igniz states. His voice is deep, rippling like chocolate. He's dressed within the formal suit of Taiyo's principal, having headed over when he heard of the issues with Eve. The nurse immediately falls to her knees, and past the curtains, the seemingly rebellious clone is also all but groveling. Bastion guards as standing straight in salute, the only ones treating him like something other than a god.
Igniz moves to the laptop, touching it. Information ripples past in short order, and his eyes seem to dance across it beyond mortal ability. "Yes. I'd say you have two weeks." Igniz murmurs. "Creating genetic or technological augments to save you would take three."
He's quiet for some moments then. "But that is within the realm of 'science'. Do you believe in Gods, young Eve?"
He walks towards her, spreading his arms and smiling. None of his aura can be felt, which might feel strange and undesired. It was always so soothing and warm, just being anywhere near him.
"The power to grant 'Miracles' to the most devout of followers? I have seen your work. Even as our operation winds down, you are maximizing the results possible. This has not gone unnoticed by me..."
"Two weeks..." The young girl repeats under her breath. That didn't seem all that long. Many questions come to her mind, but she doesn't dare to ask any of them... She wonders if those two weeks will be painful like this. What she would do with her time left. It's not really the sort of question a girl her age really thinks about but now she's confronted with it.
The worse part about it is probably not knowing what she should do, what to make up of her remaining time. All of her life had been dedicated to the one thing she had, this organisation. Outside of it, she was nothing.
The Principal generally had a powerful aura around him. Soothing and gentle when he was pleased, frightening and powerful when he was angry and sometimes awe inspiring. He was able to create all sort of emotions just by his mere presence that engulfed any room she has been in with him. But today? Nothing.
Eve lifts her gaze up at him, puzzled, "Gods...?" She asks, tilting her head to one side. By her intonation, it sounds like it's a concept she has never heard of before. Eve swallows a bit nervously, listening to the rest of the conversation, "Would the Gods be able to save me...?" She asks, hopeful.
The praises Igniz gives her about her hard work makes her lips curl into a smile. Even at a time like this, hearing things like that made her smile radiantly. She buffs her chest a little, "I am glad... I did it for you... So you'd be proud of me..." She admits.
"Then I shall acknowledge you." Igniz comments, before placing his hand upon Eve's head. Suddenly she'd feel a warmth begin to grow, before a surge of power rushes within her. In a heartbeat, shes's saturated with the essence of his divine call, each beat of it billowing out wildly and causing the tent's edges to crackle wildly. The nurse states something in alarm, almost rising before falling back to her knees. The pain vanishes instantly, as Igniz closes his eyes and uses his free hand to lift Eve's chin.
"I shall soothe your broken core. Strengthen it. Reinforce it. By my own hand... it shall be the hand of your savior. When it is done... you shall be able to keep your own power from destroying your body. And your powers shall be greater for it; without such limits you know now."
It's a wonderous sensation, being suffused with that cerulean glow. For the first time in Eve's memory, there's no subtle burn, no mild discomfort, all of it gone. A strange, wrenching feeling at the very core of her being follows... And after an incredibly sharp pain, the power is cut off.
"That shall seal it for a time. It will take a few sessions." Fingers flex idly, before Igniz opens his eyes once more. "But I will make yuo whole again. If you remain devout to me, and me alone... then you will not succumb to something as mundane as 'fate'."
When the man places his hand on Eve's head, her eyes widden a bit. She feels this strange warmth engulfing her body, soothing the pain. Her eyes close slowly, wanting to bathe into it, to let herself drown into it. The sudden surge of energy through her makes her jerk up and screech softly for a moment, mostly out of surprise, her eyes widening as she feels it, numbing her senses so much they stimulate every nerve of her being.
The pain is gone, the fever, the dizziness... As well as his soothing presence into her. She lifts her gaze up, guided by his touch, her eyes swelling with tears that soon flows down her cheeks. They were tears of joy and bliss. For he had decided to reward her constant effort, he had blessed her with a fraction of his energy, alleviated her burden and decided, in all his mercy, to save her.
Eve leans her head a bit against Igniz's hand, in submission and resignation, "Thank you..." She mutters under her breath, "I will always be yours, and yours alone.. My life belongs to you," She whispers. Deep down, at her very core she knew this had been true the very moment she had awaken from her deep slumber. Everything had just prepared her for this moment and this ultimate act of mercy and kindness toward her seals her fate.
"My father was selfish. He kept you and your gifts locked away. I will not see a seed of potential... a seed of evolution... kept in the cold, merely because it is irreplaceable. You are a special person to me, Eve. Remember that... and continue to prove to me your strength and power. Once per week we shall meet. In three more, you should be hale. ...Do not disappoint me." A brush of cheeks runs across Eve's cheek at this. "And you will always find me generous." He then turns away, striding out of the tend in a flourish. The guards resume their relaxed posture, and the nurse gets back to her feet, flushed. "...You should feel very blessed." she mutters. Jealousy tinges her voice. "That man... as far as I know, have never acknowledged another person in my presence by name. Or so much as glanced at me." A surprisingly strong grip takes Eve to march her out of the pavilion and shove her into the grass. "Now go. You're ~fine!~ ENJOY!" She pulls the flaps closed. Oh my.
The words he gives her make her blush. They were enough to inspire greatness, to give her renewed fervor and to carry on his will, to show herself worthy of his presence. "I won't," She murmurs, "... Ever," She stares at him leave, and only realize her luck when the nurse actually comes to her. She buffs her chest a little, showing off pride. She was blessed and she felt proud about it, her efforts have been rewarded. "I am," She says.
Eve follows the grip, all the way out of the pavilion. She was fine now. She glances back, and then lifts her gaze up at the sky. Inside of her she felt a maelstrom of emotions, joy, fear, anxiety... They all mix up together. It's not everyday you learn you have only two weeks left to leave and have God grant you another chance, give you a miracle..
Log created on 18:49:01 01/14/2015 by Eve, and last modified on 18:55:23 01/14/2015.