Rainbow lay down on the bed and took deep breaths like Dimond instructed. She was finally going to meet the other Aimes's. Dimond sprinkled some pink powder over Rainbow, making her nose wrinkle.
"Is that soap?" She asked confusedly, inhaling the perfumed scent of the powdered soap. Dimond continued ignoring Rainbow's question, obviously counting in her head. Rainbow closed her eyes again and continued focusing on the tormenting voices. Dimond had told her that once she was in there, Dimond wouldn't be able to bring her back. She was fully in control of the entrance and exit of her own mind.
She felt herself losing consciousness like she was falling asleep, but it was slightly different. It was like she was falling. She saw darkness start to consume her small body as she fell unconscious. Dimond noticed the difference in Rainbow's breathing, she was under. There was no more helping anymore. She started to doubt whether Rainbow was ready for this, staring at her unconscious body on the bed. Her hair was sprawled under her and her hands were clasping each other tightly. She looked so small and fragile, yet at the same time menacing.
* * *
Rainbow woke up in a place she didn't recognise, she pushed herself up but realised that her arms felt like they didn't fully exist and were phasing in and out. She ran her other hand through the arm and watched it pass fully through. She screamed. Her mind started to race, was she dead? What had happened? Was this the afterlife? Then she noticed some very amused figures standing a couple meters away from her. She jumped and shakily stood up, realising that her legs were also phasing in and out of reality along with the rest of her body.
"What am I doing here?" She asked taking shaky steps toward the figures. She couldn't quite make out the forms of the figures in front of her. They changed and merged together, almost like they were made of nothing at all.
One of the figures opened, what was presumably a mouth and answered, "You tell us." in a shaky and ghostly voice. It sent a chill down Rainbow's spine. She recognised the voice but was not entirely certain where she'd heard it. All her memories were foggy, like they were switching in and out of storage. Maybe if she focused enough she would be able to bring out the memories she needed, but her attention was diverted to a big screen and control panel behind her. A ghostly silhouette was at a boat-like steering wheel, completely frozen. As Rainbow looked closer she noticed it was a silhouette of herself. She squeaked and took a step back from it. A ghostly hand placed itself on her shoulder and she jumped back from the figure.
"Calm down, this is your mind. You came here to talk to us." An old voice calmed her, it flowed out of the figure that was closest to her. As Rainbow stared at her, she noticed her form becoming more solid and familiar. Her name was Renboga, she was one of the past Aimes's. Her being raised as she was, had caused a lot of the Aimes's to resent her because she cared more about the family than any previous Aimes. She was also the nicest Aimes and Rainbow's favourite. Many of the others had lived lives filled with prosecution and pain but Renboga had turned herself in, promised the safety of their future generations. The Sheffield's had lied though and had hung her shortly before they took the rest of her family into custody, before murdering them all as an example to the rest of the town. The only reason the line had survived was because Renboga's daughter had escaped capture and hidden in the woods for 15 years after.
Rainbow thought for a moment and remembered why she had come into her mind in the first place. "I need you all stop making my decisions for me. You've all lived your lives and now I want to live mine." She informed them, gaining courage from Renboga's kind words. The ancestors figures swirled in silence realising that she was standing up to them.
"You were telling the Sheffield our secrets. You deserved punishment. You live your life in accordance to our rules. Do not provoke us." One Aimes finally spoke, coming closer to Rainbow. The figure's body twisted and turned forming something not quite human. The Second Aimes. Rainbow didn't know her actual name but she was the one who had first created the reincarnation as she needed a way to pass her magic on to her daughter. The magic had taken over her in one of her experiments and she had been killed. Her whole presence made Rainbow nervous. She had been born though lies and deceit, with her only motivation: to make the Sheffield's suffer for what they had done to her mother. She was by far the most evil of the Aimes's and the most far gone from humanity, having experimented on her body turning it to something fearful.
Rainbow stared at her. If the Second Aimes hadn't experimented, she wouldn't exist right now. She owed her life to her. But that didn't mean she could control it. "I wouldn't give anything away that would put us in danger. I don't even trust him enough to tell anything else… yet. Besides, I know what he could do. I know that he could kill my family… our family… If he does try anything, I'm the one who falls for it. He can't hurt you if you're dead. I… I just want…" She paused, noticing the Second Aimes's expression. Her arms were crossed and she looked like she wanted to murder her. Even if she was family.
"Please, go ahead, tell us how exactly you're going to single-handedly destroy the Aimes line. All because, what…? You want a friend? You want a boyfriend? You really think he would stick around after he found out everything he needed to know? Be with a girl who talks to the voices in her head?" The Second Aimes taunted, twisting Rainbow's words and using her insecurities against her. Rainbow opened her mouth but no words came out. Her eyes welled up. "You think he would want to be friends with someone who destroyed his friend group and betrayed her family? Go ahead Rainbow, have that one night of pleasure before you end up beheaded like the rest of us…" She ordered sarcastically, waving her hand dismissively.
Rainbow grit her teeth, fed up of her mind games. Anger coursed through her making her hands light up with magic, sensing her need to destroy them. She looked down at her hands. The magic was more powerful and easier to control in her mind. She grinned menacingly, waved a hand and a rope of magic circled around the Second Aimes. "Listen. This is my mind. My life. My decisions. I'm not having you or any other Aimes interfere with my life anymore." Rainbow demanded. Renboga frowned worried for Rainbow's future, it seemed she was becoming more of an Aimes with every decision. Rainbow's hair started to float as the magic swirled around her body. She thought she would be scared. But she wasn't. It felt natural. Being fluent in magic. It felt easy for once. She tightened her hand and the rope pulled closer to the Second Aimes's body and then squeezed her hard enough to make her rematerialise somewhere else.
The Second Aimes was smirking. Rainbow walked over to the steering wheel and looked at the foot indents. She had to stand there to leave. She didn't know how she knew that but she was slightly hesitant to do so. "Don't make me come here again, and don't give me headaches anymore." She concluded, taking a deep breath before stepping into the indents, facing the screen in front of her. Her arms moved without her telling them to, steering the wheel. Her body started to float towards the black screen, being engulfed.
"Well done, Aimes." The Second Aimes's eerie voice echoed though her mind as Rainbow fell unconsciousness again, falling deep, into the darkness…