im dying, cortex

  「💘」 “Cortex…”                                                 It’s not the first time she’s heard this man’s name since she’s been on this island, and she doubted it would be the last time… Hearing Rhode’s story of hard-luck, she grimaced.   「💘」 “I’m terribly sorry that happened do you, dear… I’d say it’s a blessing you were given a second chance! …But…”

  「💘」 “I feel it’s not my place to say that…”                                                   She shrugs lightly, her face emphatic.

“Oh that looks like a… an issue,” Navya looked down at the decaying flesh. Hey, she had seen a whole lot of things on both domestic and wild animals. As she reached into her pockets to grab some latex gloves to snap on and take a look, it suddenly hit her… “Somehow, through some sort of insane science, the ligaments on your bones are still connected. I can see some of the nerve endings are still somehow attached, but you can’t feel them can you?” It was morbidly fascinating to her, but somehow, the bones were still together and moving. 

Rhode looked down at her skeletal hand and moved her fingers a little. “... Hm... I suppose you’re right,” she said, touching her skeletal hand with her fleshy hand. “I can’t feel much at all these days, but there’s still some feeling left in my limbs that are intact.”

It was true, she couldn’t feel physical objects with her skeletal hand, that’s why she always carried her staff with her fleshy hand. However, in her skeletal hand, she could feel presence, energy, spiritual flow. It came with the ancient magic that’d been used to raise her from the dead, but that was hard to explain.

  「💘」 “No, no, I couldn’t do that to you.”                                           Her voice endearing, she stepped forward to get a better look at Rhode. It’s not everyday you meet someone who’s considered the living dead. She didn’t want to assume such a thing, but it was hard to ignore the smell, the missing eye and flies.

  「💘」 “The only thing I can think to say is ‘What happened to you?’ Although i’m quite certain you hear that often…”

“Boy do I,” she said with a smirk. Rhode wasn’t sure what to make of this person, but her tone made her hard to hate.

     The Madman kept his gaze focused on the possum, a sneer flashed upon his face only for a moment. He wasn’t too impressed with her speech, whatever mistakes made in the past weren’t of his concern now. So what if she was a monster now, it was all for the greater good in Cortex’s mind.

     Before the Doctor could combat her, he jolted back in disgust from the swarm of flies she had coughed up in front of him. He couldn’t believe something so vile was alive, he felt a churning in his stomach, but shook the ache off. This was no time to show fear.

“ Ugh!- You disgusting creature, have you forgotten who is it you are up against? I created you and I will end you just as easily! ”

     He grabbed his ray gun and aimed for the rodent, his other hand raised in the air as he snapped his fingers, calling for help. A flurry of footsteps grew in volume as his android lab workers came rushing in. Six in number, enough to restrain the rotting rodent.

 “ Assistants! Take her away! ”

Rhode stood her ground and looked around at her surroundings. She might not be able to take out Cortex here, he had the advantage. They were out on the ice, too, there wasn’t a lot of resources Rhode could pull from. Unless...

Rhode knelt down and touched the floor with her skeletal hand. Barely, she could feel something, a presence buried far below the surface, a relic frozen in time. A tortured soul, dormant under the frozen ground. The possum stood slowly, lifting her skeletal hand, feeling for the mass, reaching out with her own spiritual power. She whispered something under her breath, then, her eyes flew open and she grasped her staff in both hands.

  ♬  “Ugh.”

At the sight of the flies scattering about the others head, Sono waved her hand at her own face out of reflex. It was revolting to be honest, but she wouldn’t say it aloud.

  ♬   “…I don’t want MONEY. I don’t want world domination either.

             I just want to destroy.”

It was blunt. Short and to the point but what was the use in dragging on an explanation?

  ♬   “So of course I don’t care. I just want to push through life and destroy                everything in my path till I’m taken down by something greater than                       myself. Till that day comes…sayonara, world.”

Rhode was quiet. She felt very strongly about preventing any harm coming to her or the other inhabitants of the island, but what Sono said felt familiar to her. The desire to destroy everything around you, looking for something, anything. Since she stopped talking or moving, the flies around her dissipated, some flying away and some crawling back inside through her empty eye socket. After a moment, the possum closed her eyes and sat down before she spoke.

“...... When I was brought back from the dead, I felt nothing but pain and anger. I lashed out at the tribespeople and bit and scratched at everything in my way. It was just... such a hateful existence, I didn’t want to be alive. For a long time that’s just how I was, reclusive, destructive, looking for something but not knowing what.”

Rhode opened her eyes and looked to the horizon, towards the tall spire of Cortex Castle a few islands away. That was the only thing that motivated her, allowed her to direct all of her bad feelings into one goal and let her have other values. By the sound of it Sono didn’t like Cortex either, maybe it was something they could have solidarity over.