A Way Out (The Chosen, Act 3, Part 6)
Act 1:
Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7
Act 2:
Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7
Act 3:
Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5
June 20, 2180
There wasn’t much time left. Less than a week, the president had promised Lily’s mother two days ago, and Lily knew he hadn’t been exaggerating. He feared her mother too much for that. Soon, her mother would take her back to her “home planet”, wherever that might be. But Lily didn’t want to leave earth, she didn’t want to be turned into a voiceless breeding machine, which was apparently her mother’s plan for her.
”Where are you, Joel?” Lily wondered. It was impossible to ask anyone, as her mother was keeping everyone away from her. Mia delivered even food herself, twice a day. It was obvious that she didn’t want to risk Lily overpowering one of the humans and escaping. Lily couldn’t blame her, that was exactly her plan after all. @suesa
She had reached out with her mind more than once. Had taken in the emotions and thoughts from everyone living and working nearby, hoping to find Joel somewhere in this mess. Each time, Lily had felt her powers grow stronger, more precise, but she still hadn’t been able to find Joel. Where was he? Where had they brought him?
A mixture of boredom and desperation made her reach out again. There were the guards in front of her door, hoping their shift would end soon, so they could get away from the creepy alien child in the room behind them. There were the people working outside, cursing the heat, some internally, some out loud. There was … a familiar consciousness. For a moment, the surprise of touching more familiar thoughts almost made Lily lose the connection, but she stopped herself from withdrawing and poked a bit deeper instead. How did she know that person?
Monster.
A flying stone.
A face.
”Tif? I assumed you’re either dead or still in a coma”, Lily said. To a degree, it relieved her to learn that she hadn’t killed the solider. She wasn’t as bad as her mother after all, which had been a fear of hers. But Tif was alive. Lily licked her lips. She wasn’t entirely sure why she felt like Tif was more familiar, but … maybe she could use it?
A sharp pain of guilt spread in her stomach. Just a moment ago, she had reassured herself that she wasn’t as bad as her mother, and only seconds later she had decided to use her abilities to control someone.
”This is different”, she told herself, barely believing it. ”I don’t have a choice. My mom had a choice. She was not being forced to kill my father. She didn’t have to be afraid for her life. She had options, which I don’t. Not if I want to stay on earth.”
Her inner conflict had caused her to lose her connection to Tif, which made her panic for a brief moment until she was able to reconnect. Breathing slow breaths, she forced herself into Tif’s mind, grabbed the soldier’s intentions and put her own on top of them.
Lily could feel Tif struggle, and it wasn’t easy to keep control. It was nauseating, and everything in her screamed to let go of the woman’s mind.
She didn’t give in.
”Come to me”, Lily commanded Tif. ”Come to my room.”
Tif followed the girl’s command and eventually reached the guards in front of her door. At this point, little droplets of sweat were running down Lily’s temples. She hadn’t expected it to be this exhausting. How was her mom able to do it that often? That strongly? Was she just more powerful, or did the ease of it come with practice? Practicing was not really something Lily wanted to do, not with this power. Practicing telekinesis with Joel had been fun, but this? Controlling someone? No.
The door opened, and Tif entered. Just by looking at her, it wasn’t immediately evident that something was wrong, which was likely the only reason why she had made it past the guards. But when Lily looked the soldier in the eyes, she recognized that something was off. Tif seemed … internally dead. Cold shivers ran down Lily’s spine.
”I’m sorry for doing this, Tif”, she said. ”You’re not a nice person, but even you don’t deserve this. But I need your help to find Joel.”
Joel’s name had barely left Lily’s lips, when a picture flared up in front of her eyes, as vivid as if she was personally experiencing it. It was one of Tif’s memories. A recent one.
Lily could see Joel, lying on the ground.
”I will protect her as far as I am able to, until my last breath”, memory-Joel said.
”Breathe in, then”, memory-Tif replied.
What do you …” memory-Joel’s words were interrupted by a gunshot, that echoed through Lily’s mind and made her cry out loud, which finally severed the mental connection.
Almost immediately, Tif started moving forward, lifted Lily up by her throat, and pressed her against the wall. Gasping for air, Lily clawed at Tif’s hands, trying to free herself, unsuccessfully. She attempted to reestablish her mind control, but small black dots started dancing in front of her eyes and made it impossible to concentrate.
”You little brat”, Tif hissed. ”Did you really think you could just control me like a marionette? I should have killed you along with that idiot Joel. Who cares what your mother wants you for? I don’t. You’re both dangerous and need to be destroyed.”
It became hard for Lily to remain conscious.
Joel is dead.
The thought repeated in her head over and over again.
Joel is dead.
Tif watched her, coldly, as Lily’s struggles weakened. She’d kill her, and nobody would stop her. Nobody …
The door opened.
”Excuse me”, Mia said. ”But I did not give you permission to be in here. Neither did I allow you to kill my daughter.” Lily could feel the surge of mental power that hit Tif so hard, that she dropped Lily to the floor. Coughing, the girl gasped for air. The dizziness started to subside.
She looked over to Tif, who was lying on the floor, eyes open, blood running out of her ears and nose.
”Yes, she’s dead”, Mia said in a tone that would have been appropriate to discuss the weather. ”I’m disappointed in you. If you’re using your powers, you should at least avoid getting yourself killed. Just imagine what would have happened had I not come by your room by chance!”
”Why are you here?”, Lily croaked and slowly stood up from the floor. She reached for the scissors in her pocket while trying to avoid drawing her mother’s attention to them. When she felt the hard metal, she was relieved that they hadn’t been lost during the struggle. There was still a way to resist her mother.
”We’re leaving”, Mia said. ”Now. The rocket is ready. You will come with me immediately.”
For a brief moment, Lily wondered if this was her last chance to escape, but then her eyes wandered back to the lifeless soldier on the floor. At that moment she realized that it was pointless. She might be able to resist her mother, but what then? How much could she hurt herself, before her mother would eventually win?
And with Joel dead, who would help her escape?
Nobody here cared about her.
”I’m coming, mother.”
Signature by @atopy
Yea yea, poor girl, her adopted father and lifelong trainer is dead, she's devoid of hope and given up on everything and is leaving on a rocket ship, yes yes very sad.
Tif's in her grave; all's right with the world.
I knew seeing Tif dead would give you a certain satisfaction
My only complaint was that she did not suffer enough xD but my headcanon is that Mia's mental energy blast slowed her perception of time, and that from her perspective, she experienced an eternity of ever-increasing anguish; her own personal Hell... until her brain just popped.
I hereby declare your headcanon canon.
Muahahaha... yesssss!
It seems that everything will go wrong for Lily. After all he had to struggle to know what situation he was in, and know what had happened to Joel. It is very bad what awaits Lily.
What's up @suesa ?
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