"Hey, wake up," Kiara called. "Bought what you asked for."
Kiara? No. Her voice disappeared. Kiara?
Metal against flesh. Someone kicked Denden.
I tried to scream, but nothing left my mouth. No. Not again. Bound. Blood ran from my mouth. No time to breathe. A punch struck my head hard, throwing it back. A muscle in my neck snapped. I bit my lip in excruciating pain. Slap after slap. Tears fell. My life evaporated with them. I tried to breathe so I could scream…
"WAKE UP, AKIKO!" Kiara's familiar voice returned. "You're here now, with me! Hey, focus on my voice. It's me, Kiara."
A comforting warmth enveloped me, but that cruel place insisted on pulling me back.
"N-no… e-enough. Please, make it stop." I clung to that comfort, though it was so far away. "Make it stop… please… please… p—" I choked.
"Look at me. I'm here. It's okay. It's me, Kiara. C'mon, come back to me." Her comforting touch wrapped around me more closely.
I wept my soul out, yet something soothed my heart. Sought to rescue me from the darkness. "P-please—"
Kiara lifted my head. "Open your eyes. C'mon." She asked tenderly, but I refused. Opening them meant returning to that atrocious place. "It's me. You're safe. That's it. It's okay. Shh, shh."
I woke slowly. Through my blurred vision, I saw Kiara. Shining eyes. Even though she was an android, it looked as though a tear wanted to slip down her face.
Her lips curved into a faint smile. "See? It's okay."
I hugged her, burying my face in her neck. Clung to her as though she were the only anchor keeping me from sinking. "I-I'm sorry. I'm not strong like you or Maia. I can't take this… it's too much… it hurts… hurts so much."
She held my face carefully. "You survived all those things for all that time. I know it hurts, and it's hard to get through this, but you can. I'm here."
Kiara hugged me back. Someone's here with me? I wiped my tears. "T-thank you. For everything. A bath is all I need now." I smiled weakly.
She returned a calm smile.
I was weak, so she helped me stand. When my feet touched the floor, pain shot through my body like lightning. The first time I had stood after so much suffering.
Kiara sat me in a chair. Ran the bath and added the salts. She turned to me. "May I?"
I nodded.
She undressed me carefully. Started with the bandages.
When she finished, I looked at my reflection in the mirror. Tears came in torrents. Cuts covered my swollen face. Wounds dotted my scalp. A few remaining locks of hair. Blood covered every part of my skeletal, battered body. On my back, two large wounds formed an X. My sunken eyes. My scarred face. Swollen. But worst of all… my gaze. Empty. Dull. Dead.
What…? What had they done to me? My reflection returned a stranger. How could they do this to someone? I trembled.
I couldn't bear my own weight. Kiara caught me before I fell.
She tried to hide her expression, but failed. Her eyes traveled over the scars. Her jaw clenched. Her usually steady hands trembled as they touched my skin. She lowered me gently into the bath.
Red, black, and brown stained the water. Warmth seeped into my skin. Revealed new pains. Even the mild cramping blended into the others. The burning purified me. It was pain. But a different kind. One that cleansed. The pain of survival.
Water slipped down my back. Heat touched the wounds, and for a moment, I thought I was back there. My chest tightened. I gripped the edge of the bathtub. Panic threatened to surface.
But Kiara stayed. With serenity. Presence. Anchoring me. She handed me a sponge and mild liquid soap. "Gonna wash your hair." Her soft, skillful fingers massaged my head.
I closed my eyes, savoring that comfort that felt more like a dream.
"You're gonna be okay." Her warm tone was music to my injured ears.
I stirred from the trance. Smiled weakly. "Y-you know… Denden told me about Maia."
Silence settled for a while.
I almost turned to see Kiara's face.
"What did he say?"
"H-he said…" I searched my memories. Staying focused cost me. A wave of dizziness. "Said… when Maia arrived in Nobody's Land—"
I lost focus. White flashes blocked my thoughts. One of Sinaptic-V's side effects. Unfortunately, they lingered for days. Shit. Losing control of myself filled me with anguish.
Kiara's fingers stopped moving. A strange feeling crossed her face: a mixture of guilt, sadness, anger, and resentment. She lowered her head. "Did he tell you what they did to her?"
I shook my head.
Kiara looked as though she wanted to cry. I saw her as a complex nanotechnological essence. Endowed with the deepest feeling. I accepted it. Her nature had taken on another dimension.
"Do you wanna know?" Her voice held an inviting uncertainty.
Hearing about Maia would bring me comfort. Connect me to her. To what remained of her world.
Kiara resumed massaging my head.
The silence between us weighed heavily. Dense. Alive.
For a moment, I almost asked her to stop. Almost fled what was coming. But I wanted to listen. Wanted Maia. The truth about her might be the only thing capable of keeping me alive.