Transmogrification

His words fit like fragments of the past that slowly completed the puzzle I was trying to solve for quite a long time. Every word he said pierced through my heart. A hard pill I couldn't swallow. It made me question the very purpose of my existence. I felt an overwhelming disgust towards myself. Once again, after all the efforts I put out into the world...

I still paid the inevitable price...

This time it was Ed.

"I-I'm sorry, Ed." I said.

"GO TO HELL!!! I f*cking--" He wiped his tears in front of me. I never saw him cry not once in this lifetime. Only that time...

"...I fuck*ng I buried her myself, Joe! DO YOU KNOW HOW THAT FEELS?? Huh?? Joe? " He was in tears as he couldn't contain his anger towards me.

".. To bury the only girl you've ever loved?! To bury her without even telling her how you truly felt?!" He continued. I didn't even know what to say.

"... I was so jealous of you. But I saw how her eyes sparkled every time she sees you. Then I said to myself, 𝘕𝘰, 𝘴𝘩𝘦'𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘺. 𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴." His tears flowed like a gushing river.

"... BUT WHAT DID YOU DO?! I ENTRUSTED HER TO YOU, JOE!? WHAT DID YOU DO!?" He screamed from the top of his lungs.

I could feel the robot's tightened grip around my waist as my guilt quenched the chambers of my heart all at the same time. I felt it was the end. That I deserved all the pain life tossed at me. I was ready to meet my end in the hands of the only family I had left but....

It wasn't the case.

"I did my best to keep you alive for this moment. Trillions, Joe. Trillions! For that One vortex to save your ass. I had to prepare a controlled Vortex in case Elon loses his mind." He said.

"... Yes, he did. I said I needed you alive. But the bastard's got a different plan." He added.

"Why not just let me die floating in space?" I asked.

"Do you think I'd let you off the hook that easily, Joe?" Ed said as the robot's grip loosened enough for me to recover my breathing.

Ariel regained her consciousness inside the cage.

"Oh, you're back! Just in time." Ed said as he approached Ariel's cage.

Ariel was half conscious as he stopped in front of her. He stared at her as she struggled to grasp the situation she was on. He tilted his head as if he was trying to analyze what she was currently thinking. And finally, Ariel seemed to get her senses back...

Ariel began to cry as she crawled to Ed as if she was begging for our lives.

The robot's hand then pulled and positioned me in infront of them. That's when I realized what was Ed's plan all along.

"no.. No Ed!! Please. N-no... " I begged him.

"Y-you want everything?? The company?? My technology?? It's yours! Just please!!" I begged him over and over.

"Joe.." He replied.

"...do you really think I ever wanted any of that?? Oh, c'mon, Joe. You're better than this. Even if you offer the world to me. I'd still refuse. I have waited for this exact moment for years..."

"... Finally, it is here." He added.

There was a sudden metallic click from Ariel's cage and some small air chambers opened on the bottom of its sides.

Ariel was shaking as she saw them opened. She knew it was bad news for her. As her body was shaking, she looked at me. Her eyes were filled with tears and sadness but her lips smiled at me. She already had accepted her fate.

Greenish gas started to fill the cage from bottom to top. She never took her eyes off me as she continuesly smiled as if saying 𝘪𝘵'𝘴 𝘰𝘬𝘢𝘺. She mouthed her silent farewell.

"𝘐 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶"

"No, No!! Ed!! Stoooop!!!!" I begged but Ed just stared at me.

She coughed as she fell on her knees. The gas created fogs on the glass. She crawled and reached for the glass and sat near it. Her hands were shaking as she drew something on the fog. Her blood splattered to the glass as she coughed.

"Ed!! Please!! PLEASEE!!"

"Ariel!!!" I felt an incredible helplessness. All I could do was to shout her name and beg for Ed to stop. The greatest man of his era couldn't do anything against the enemy he accidentally created.

Her coughing intensified.

"ED! PLEASE!!!" Tears fell as my heart was torn everytime she coughed blood.

Her lips was filled with blood as she wore that final smile. Slowly, her smile started to fade. Her eyes slowly looked away from me. Her forehead touched the glass.

She 𝘥𝘪𝘦𝘥 while sitting beside her drawing for me.

A 𝘚𝘶𝘯𝘧𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳.

"Ariel... Hey! Ariel!!! ARIEL!! No! Ariel, please!!"

No matter how loud I shouted.

No matter how many times I repeated her name.

Her body still didn't move.

Her eyes were still fixated blankly in the air.

"Painful. Isn't it?" Ed said as the robot arm pulled me just inches away from him.

Though my heart was filled with sorrow, no tears fell from my eyes. There was so much pain that my body refused to feel any of it at all. I somehow entered a state of borderline insanity that I just stared at him. Ed said things in front of me but I couldn't hear or understand any of it. He laughed. I didn't know why. My mind was surprisingly clear but it was blank. Nothing seemed to bother me and nothing seemed to make sense either. I didn't even care about living or dying.

He continued laughing and talking about things I couldn't hear. He's probably bragging about how his plan worked but I couldn't care less enough that I just stared emotionlessly at him. He seemed to look so happy. His smile was so big he even had tears as he talked. He was wearing a white shirt and a brown jacket with a chest pocket on the left. As he laughed and moved as he talked, I saw a shinny thing inside his pocket.

I know what it was. I can't be wrong about it.

While he was so busy laughing my hand moved so fast and reached for his pocket.

"What the--" I caught him red handed. He never expected for me to move. He paused for a few seconds. He knew that was bad news.

I stick the thing I got from his chest pocket to the cerebral port on my head near my left ear, the port where HB100s are plugged in.

"F*CK! F*CK!!!" He panicked as he tried to finally squeeze me using his robot hand.

But it didn't moved an inch...

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

"Hi, Joe. It's good to be back" Cass' voice echoed through all the speakers in the entire world.

[𝚝𝚘 𝚋𝚎 𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚞𝚎𝚍... ]