Chapter Text
The pain in your head ramped up from stiffness all the way to writhing, blinding agony faster than you could blink. Your vision started to distort and warp as everything that you saw became more realistic. If only you could remember why you saw everything weirdly... If only the pain let you think about anything but itself.
Warm crimson liquid dribbled from your nose as you shakily took your breaths, the world around you a dark blur. Static enveloped your ears as the muted noises of clackingheels and what felt like a blinding light from the entrance door to your dorm. You attempted to sit up and call for help.
You let out a frail gasp as your knees betrayed you. Before you can collapse to the ground you get caught in a cold grasp, sky blue hair falls over your eyes as both you and your secretary tumble onto your knees with a thud.
"Manager? What's wrong?" A panicked voice comes from Angela as you try to look up at her. "Ah, the cognition filter is malfunctioning.." She utters and brings your head up to her eyes. Her radiant ochre gaze causes your migraine to deepen as you let out an involuntary cry and feel tears dripping down your face. "This.. This isn't supposed to happen!" She looks at you with mild concern.
As you clutch her labcoat she stiffens and moves her face closer "What caused this?" She asks frantically, her eyes narrowing with anxiousness and worry, as she tries her best to take in the situation. "In the middle of the night nonetheless.."
With a final pang of overwhelming pain behind your eyes, your vision goes black as you weakly wail out and collapse onto her. She leans forward and instinctively wraps her arms around you. Warm blood slowly drips onto her white shirt, the warmth almost burning against her cold synthetic skin. She looks down at you, her long blue lashes lid her eyes as she sighs and picks your limp body up with utmost care and unusual gentleness.
She lies your body down on your bed and sits right beside you. Looking down at her bloodstained shirt which is now similar to the color of her tie, she refrains from closing her eyes, as if another cognition filter malfunction might occur and make you wake up in agony again. Her hand gently wipes off the blood that came out of your nose a moment ago.
"There, I fixed it.."
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Your heels clack against the floor as you run as fast as you can, you don't know how or what broke out while you had a meeting with a sephira but it had its sight on you. You round the corner to run down the stairs and look back at the abnormality that wiped a whole department already.
The agents that you sent out to deal with the abnormality were already long dead, hanging from a black feathered gallow that seemingly came from nowhere, your heart beat fast as adrenaline pumped in every limb and organ you had.
You look back in panic and see the abnormality in question walking toward you, a tall bird with bandages over its eyes and a scale on its long neck. You quickly descend the stairs, your heels were never made to be run in like this! Your feet ache as if you are dashing on burning coals. You trip down on something and plunge into a puddle of cold liquid. As you open your eyes you look behind you to see an agent lying on the floor, their head blown off by their own gun. You scream in horror before looking down at your white shirt, now stained a dark red color.
Before you could prop yourself up the tall bird towered over your trembling body. It raised its gold scale up before it tilted to the left with a loud thud, the avian nodded before something tightly wrapped around your neck, you struggled as a golden chain enwrapped your neck, you tried to call out to help but to no avail, your throat sealed shut holding you back from making any noise as a sudden pop crack in your ears. Your ears ring as you let out your last choked sob and go limp in the air. Your body hangs lifelessly as the bird walks over to its next victim.
I̷N̸I̵T̷I̸A̵T̵I̵N̵G̵ ̶R̷E̵S̷E̶T̶.̵ ̶.̶ ̴.̶
You quickly write in your issued notebook as you finish up a final observation on the Funeral of the Dead Butterflies. Their head fluttering every so often as you ask your questions. Their somber voice echoes like a gentle whisper in your ear as it echoes through the room.
"Where does one go when they die? Where did all the employees who worked here go?"
You look taken aback by the sudden question and pause in your note-taking for a second to think "They must have returned home. To a haven where their family waits for them.. Or they get restored back to life by the TT2 protocol." You slightly bite at the pen in your hand. "Either way, The employees cannot leave the facility once they join the company, the only way to leave is to resign as much as I know."
"That must be a rather cruel fate for the employees here.. What about you? Have you ever wished to resign?" They sit down on the coffin they were holding slowly scooting to the side as if inviting you to sit down. You politely decline as you could feel them saddening up a little more.
"Me?.. Hmm, I do a bit. Seeing employees die makes my heart ache, knowing that they will wake up after a reset and forget everything. They're bound to the company the moment they enter. Even if they do resign, they are convicted to stay down here forever." You murmur out as a lump in your throat appears. Your voice slightly cracks with despair. "Sometimes I do wish that I would choose another wing to work at. I wonder if anyone will mourn me if I die here.."
The abnormality gazes upon you in still silence. Their watch feels rather sympathetic, it is such an unusual sensation to have someone look at you in such pity. Especially in the City. "Having someone to mourn for you after your death is a blessing. And a peaceful death in one’s finest hour is a blessing too." They sit up before reaching to you, and their gloved hand slowly hangs in the air, inviting you to come close.
You swallow in slight uneasiness as it hangs over your head, your thoughts jumbled after the short conversation. You cannot help but think about the end of one’s life. The corporation that you work in is a cruel one, one that could be described as a fate worse than death.
"Come, I will take away your suffering, manager." Their words hang in the air for a while, you slowly look at them and back at the door. Would it be that much of a shame to let them help? The life you are working away in this place is draining you, not to mention the sudden deterioration in health you are experiencing. There is always the other manager in here, right?
You drop your notebook and pen onto the ground and saunter to them. You want to go outside, you want to breathe fresh air..
You want to feel the wind on your face and in your hair.
"I can feel the pain in your heart. Please let me mourn you." The hand on their chest comes up to your face and gently holds the side of your face. You can't help but tear up and walk right into them, your arms instinctively wrapping around their waist as your hands clutch onto the back of their coat. Your tears stain their vest as they wrap their many arms around your body. "Thank you.." Their hand delicately trails down your hair.
Without any effort they pull you up into their arms and turn around, the coffin now open and filled with white butterflies. They lay you down in it as you feel your body start to weaken, your chest slightly starts to hurt and your mind goes dizzy. The abnormality kneels down near you and slowly takes your cold hand as the wings on their head flutter on your skin. The delicate butterfly wings bring a wave of peace over you. Your eyelids feel heavy, you don't fight back and close them.
You don't even know if the TT2 protocol even works for the managers.. Yet the feeling of your body slowly going limp and weak is peaceful. Your hearing slowly fades out.
"[name]!!" You could hardly recognize the new voice that broke the silence between you and the abnormality. "[name]! No wait, stay! Stay with me!" It felt familiar but you already passed the point of no return. Your consciousness becomes a dark void.
"An eternal rest… May you rest in peace."
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I̷̱̩̭̰͎̝̲͓͆͐̅̎͘͝ͅN̸̩̦̭̑̈́I̸̢̧͕̬̗̺̖̮͖̟̒̋̅T̸̹͚͓̮̥̞͍̻̰̅̂̂̎̕I̵͖͕̝͎̎́͝ͅĄ̴͈͙̮͍̤͍̪͍̉̾͋͜T̷̪̺̠̤͌I̷̘̬͇̩͋N̴͍̘̟͍̥͎͒̋͋͂G̷̹̮͕̼̃̾̉̌͆̆̈́̌͛͂͘ ̶̢̝̘̼̜̠̦͈̍́̈͆̈́̄̓͌́̈́̌͘͝͝R̴̟̬̤̭̮͖͔͊͒̊͒̎͐̊E̶̡̠͖͍͕̤͙͖͕͙̳̔̄̾͐̈́̅̋̈́͒͗͆́͝S̸̢̧̜̟͔̫̤̠̲̽̽̈́̄̍̋Ë̸̢̪̩̘̝̭̫̫̘̫͖́̐͛̀̅̊͝T̸͚̘̅͊͌.̷̼̝̗͇̜̹͈̉̓͊ ̴̢̡̫̯̭̟̥̮̙̳̮͗́͒́̿̊͛͘͘̚ͅ.̸̨̪͕̮̟̫͕̖̣̖̺̹̈́͋ ̸̧͍̙̤͇͙͂̌.̵̧̨̛͍͎̻̳̫͙̮̑̔͘̚͠ͅ
You sat up in your bed glancing around your room as the lifeless design of the dorm pushed your mind further into the heartsickness you found yourself sinking into after witnessing the aftermath of the new alephs breach. The sight of the countless agent and clerk corpses scattered in a dim hallway as their viscera stained the walls and even the ceiling plagues your mind, threatening to make you sick at the image.
You clutch your head and hyperventilate as a sudden rush of panic overwhelms you and casts you motionless, your sobs strangle you as you choke on your breath, causing you to fall down on the bed and helplessly cough. You shakily breathe and look to your side, spotting the gun you took out of a dead clerk's clutches.
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Time passes and it is approximately 5 am. You sit in the full bathtub and look up at the dim overhead light.
"It’s all my fault. It was my responsibility to keep the abnormality satisfied." You murmur to yourself as the guilt from before breaks you down.
"I don’t see any hope in this situation...!" You cry to yourself and look back at the pistol that you brought with you. Without a second thought, you grab it and point it at your heart as it races, as if pleading for you to think this over. You push the trigger.
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I̸̢̛̤̮͚̹̬̭̍̀̀͆̈́͒͘̕͘͜И̴̡̮̲͔̳̺̦̦̬̎͌̈́̀͜Į̶͖̙͐ꓕ̷͇͇̞͋̒͆͊I̷͍͋͂̽̈́̇̽̐͠Ɐ̵̨̡̰̬͉͖̻̇̆͝ꓕ̸̧̧̖̱̣͙̥̙͍̀̈́̀͗̐̑̈́̊̚͘Ḯ̶̢͎̹̖̻̭̜̫̟̫̕И̴̪̖̖͙̪̱̻͚̓̉̍͋̏͑͘ͅᘓ̴̛̮̗̪̣͚͉̝̲͚̌͝ ̶̡̭̝͍̲͖̠̄̄̀͌̉̐̈́͜ʁ̴̡̦̖̜͉̮̰̠͇̱̏͊͂́̍̓̈́͛Ę̶̪̗̦̦̟̮͇̣̃́̾ͅƧ̶̧̗̣͖̣̎́̋Ę̶̙̳̟̣̩̺̈́͆̌̋̍̏͜ͅꓕ̷̪͈̄͆̈́̒̀̿̐̽͛̚.̶̝͍̗͎̖͎̱͓͍̿̍͒͒̅̌̾̿͜͝͝ ̷͓̜̼̯̗̮̆̑͝.̵̛̓̓̋͂̈́̒͜͠ ̸̞̫͕̝̫̝̬̼̜̅̊̽͊̎̈̓̓.̴̧̛͎̤̖̦̲͕͈̽͛̏͑̐̅̊̚
You sit up in your plush bed and sense a dull headache tugging at your head, you shake your head and move your hair out of your eyesight, slowly opening your sore eyes.
"Manager..?" You scream out in fear as you get startled by Angela. You almost fall off the bed, her pupils shrink as she quickly grabs your arm and pulls you back up. "Be careful! Ah, that is quite troublesome... you appear to have an elevated level of adrenaline in your bloodstream from last night.." Her voice appears to be more shaky than usual.
"What happened? Why is your shirt bloodied?" You ask cautiously as you feel her hand refusing to let go of you.
"A.. system error in your cognition filter appeared, it caused a strong migraine and a nosebleed."
"Ah! Sorry! I don't remember anything from last night! Let me wipe this away!"
"No need. It's a stain that a washing machine can easily clean off. May I ask how do you feel now?"
"I.. My head slightly hurts but I can barely feel it." Her eyes look all over you.
"I turned off the filter for a short time being. I will turn it back on when the workday starts." You look at her without the filter and the only thing that comes up in your brain is the word 'pretty' but you quickly shake off the thought.
"Did I wake up before my alarm?" You murmur out, as you take your phone into your hands and look at the time. "Weird.." You add. Angela closes her eyes back and appears to relax her shoulders a bit. As soon as you try and stand up she quickly stands up and holds your arm to support your still shaken-up body. "I got the cognition filter installed when I got accepted here, right?"
She nods and exhales "Yes. It is not that impressive of a technology, really." She opens her eyes only to stare at the bookshelf near your bed "The human brain is fragile. Seeing anything cruel that might happen in here may lead it to "shut down". Both you and the other manager have it." She assures you and lets go of your arm "Please get dressed. You have an hour and 26 minutes before the workday starts." Before you could even thank her she walks out of your dorm and gently closes the front door.
You can't help but let out a sigh in a mix of relief and a tad bit of disappointment about her going away so soon. Without further ado, you go up to your wardrobe and pull out your work clothes that look a little bit similar to your secretaries. As you start applying your make up you notice your phone being eerily quiet today... Hopefully, you didn't jinx it by thinking about it.
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You slowly walk down the hall, and Angela follows you closely. You feel uneasy as she looks around with her eyes closed as if scanning the hallway for any danger.
"Angela? You look very.. Tense.. Is everything alright?"
She instantly turns her head to you "I am fine. Thank you for your concern, manager.."
You spare her a worried glance before scanning your ID and coming into the control room, slowly plopping yourself down into the chair and turning on the camera feed before starting the day.
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"Manager, I got an order to be around you after work hours."
You look back from the monitors as you send out an agent to work on Funeral of the Dead Butterflies. "What? That sounds a bit.. Unreasonable, why?"
"Do not question the orders." Her gaze hardens at you as her ochre eyes open.
"Ah! Fine.. But why so suddenly? Did I do anything wrong?"
"... No. It is for your safety." She looks to the side and frowns at the monitor.
"I don't mind listening to you if you are stressed! I'll gladly listen." You make a nervous smile at her, trying to ease her mind.
"I.. It is nothing. I am alright."
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You walk inside the control room as Angela goes out to talk to a sephirah. And as you stand near a wall you notice a little cactus thrown inside of the trashcan. You can't remember bringing any plant to the facility.. Let alone throwing the poor thing away..
