Martin Malchek thrashes and looks like he wants to scream before the wind slices him apart and into nothingness. Like before with the rabbit you can feel Yor's actions and emotions blend into your own as she uses her hands to...
This is different from animals. There is an ugliness to the blow that’s beyond two creatures fighting for survival, and that grotesque display has splattered against the nice new dress your employer gave you. You are trying to be merciful, but this time your hand trembles, just a bit, as you go to stab him. The way he stares at you is unfamiliar, predatory but not the kind you’ve seen before in a wolf or bear. Then you put the blade into his neck and his gaze goes blank.
As he dies you recite the dossier they gave you on Martin Malcheck. You know his height, weight, medical history, his operations and associates, and the list of his crimes. The way he would gather up Ostanian orphans with the promises of family, of being wanted, and then sell them off into the black market. Some were starved and neglected, smuggled to other countries as slaves, some taken off for experimenting, most never heard from again. You do not celebrate his death. But you also do not regret his passing.
You wipe the blood from your face with a handkerchief and examine yourself. Your father trained you to be fast and to be sure. Unnecessary pain, even for the most vile creatures imaginable, is just cruelty on your part. You don’t want to be cruel. You are...you’ve become something that doesn’t have to resort to that.
The Garden has gone beyond your father’s lessons. They’ve honed your skills the way someone sharpens a blade with a whetstone, cultivated you like a precious rose by removing all the weak and useless parts of you. The idiot that fell behind with her schooling, the gullible dupe that couldn’t make friends, the freak with the abnormal strength who could hurt just as much as help. All your stumbling failures they accepted and turned into something useful. An assassin. A weapon in service for the greater good.
And you can still be kind, in your way. You can give Yuri everything he wants, including the thing he needs the most: a peaceful world he can grow up in.
As long as he never discovers what you’ve done to pay for it.
"Oh, there are some in the prison who have uncovered a secret or two, or some she told a half-truth to that might have given more of herself away than she intended..."
Translation: Yor is a terrible liar.
"But they are thinking of the Yor Forger that she wants to be. And that will likely misdirect them as they try to find happy memories and things signifying their bonds with her, thinking that will be the thing that brings her back."
"Then you have the answer, don't you? If you want to find Yor Forger quickly you need to seek out the darkest, hidden areas of this heart. She might not hide them from you the way she would with the others."
He pulls out a button from thin air. It has a rose motif on it, the kind Yor had on the back of her outfit that Sariel might or might not have noticed during their fight. But considering he's been holding on to the manifestation of her desires as a rose, it's not like the symbolism would be lost on him. He holds the pin out, sharp side facing up, to Sariel.
"I appreciate the thoroughness you have for this job," he says. Which is almost something like approval. Or, at least, it seems to signal that Yor's innermost feelings don't resent him for what he's done to her.
The sky opens up and you can go back to the Briar house to give Yuri the rabbit food and earn some measure of peace within Yor's soul. Or you could head directly to the capital city of Ostania, Berlint.
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[ He lifts up a hand. ]
I'd say "sorry," Martin, but . . . well. Looks like you've been judged, right?
[ And then, without even batting an eye, Sariel sends a sudden, sharp gust of wind at Martin, aiming to cut right through him. ]
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This is different from animals. There is an ugliness to the blow that’s beyond two creatures fighting for survival, and that grotesque display has splattered against the nice new dress your employer gave you. You are trying to be merciful, but this time your hand trembles, just a bit, as you go to stab him. The way he stares at you is unfamiliar, predatory but not the kind you’ve seen before in a wolf or bear. Then you put the blade into his neck and his gaze goes blank.
As he dies you recite the dossier they gave you on Martin Malcheck. You know his height, weight, medical history, his operations and associates, and the list of his crimes. The way he would gather up Ostanian orphans with the promises of family, of being wanted, and then sell them off into the black market. Some were starved and neglected, smuggled to other countries as slaves, some taken off for experimenting, most never heard from again. You do not celebrate his death. But you also do not regret his passing.
You wipe the blood from your face with a handkerchief and examine yourself. Your father trained you to be fast and to be sure. Unnecessary pain, even for the most vile creatures imaginable, is just cruelty on your part. You don’t want to be cruel. You are...you’ve become something that doesn’t have to resort to that.
The Garden has gone beyond your father’s lessons. They’ve honed your skills the way someone sharpens a blade with a whetstone, cultivated you like a precious rose by removing all the weak and useless parts of you. The idiot that fell behind with her schooling, the gullible dupe that couldn’t make friends, the freak with the abnormal strength who could hurt just as much as help. All your stumbling failures they accepted and turned into something useful. An assassin. A weapon in service for the greater good.
And you can still be kind, in your way. You can give Yuri everything he wants, including the thing he needs the most: a peaceful world he can grow up in.
As long as he never discovers what you’ve done to pay for it.
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Geez. Who knew it was like this for her . . .
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Translation: Yor is a terrible liar.
"But they are thinking of the Yor Forger that she wants to be. And that will likely misdirect them as they try to find happy memories and things signifying their bonds with her, thinking that will be the thing that brings her back."
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He pulls out a button from thin air. It has a rose motif on it, the kind Yor had on the back of her outfit that Sariel might or might not have noticed during their fight. But considering he's been holding on to the manifestation of her desires as a rose, it's not like the symbolism would be lost on him. He holds the pin out, sharp side facing up, to Sariel.
"Besides, you've already seen her at her worst."
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[ He peers over at it. ]
What's that?
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[ He reaches out to take it. ]
Point me in the right direction. I'll get the job done.
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The sky opens up and you can go back to the Briar house to give Yuri the rabbit food and earn some measure of peace within Yor's soul. Or you could head directly to the capital city of Ostania, Berlint.