Artemis couldn't sleep. She just sat there, looming on the edge of her bed with a pinched look on her face, hands clasped, still armor-clad. A large hand ran over her freckled face, and a sigh escaped her lips. Her eyes scanned the room, seeking the faintest hint of an outline in the darkness, stained black and white by her wide, slitted pupils.
A slight bit of movement within the dark, light bending unnaturally around the shape of a body. Artemis narrowed her gaze, lowering her head just a bit down past her shoulders. "Not the best idea to go after me first. Especially if you aim to be so obvious about it."
Kumi, leaving invisibility, raised both hands in the air in a mock surrender. "I feel that we've had a few misunderstandings. Got off on the wrong foot, as they say."
"Right... you wanted to have a conversation. Why? Why with me?"
"I just wanted to have some sister to sister bonding time and start some negotiating. That's all. Does that make sense? I'm not after you, or the stuck-up noble girl you're protecting."
"Wouldn't exactly describe her as such." Artemis stood at her full height, looking down at Kumi. "Negotiating? You want to negotiate? What negotiating is there to be had?"
"You'll understand if you follow me, okay? I'm not planning anything bad, I swear it. Plus, I'd imagine you'd have noticed if I had set a trap beforehand, yes?"
Artemis turned away from Kumi, looking at her from over her shoulder, her glowing, crystal blue eyes piercing through the veil of darkness. Artemis circled into the other room, peeking in on Beatrice's unconscious form, looking to see if there was anything Kumi had planted, any assistance that Artemis had not known about. It took a solid minute or two, but eventually Kumi's goodwill proved true. Artemis let out a sigh of relief in response, her pinched expression remaining, however, as she went back into her own room to meet up with Kumi.
They stood, face to face with one another. Kumi smiled, gesturing to the window, jumping out of it, and flipping up to the roof of the dorms. Artemis followed.
They could see the rest of the Academy from here. Bright stagelights light up the slick silver edges of the primary tower that sits directly in the middle of the Academy's grounds. "Where are you taking me?"
"Say, Artemis. Have you ever swum before?"
Artemis cocked her head to the side, tail flicking curiously. "I... have? I've learned how to swim from our basic training courses."
"No, I mean... have you ever just... let yourself become submerged by ocean waves or let your body rock lightly against the shifting waters of a pool?"
Artemis blinked. "N-No?"
"Then... follow me!" Kumi hopped from roof to roof, and Artemis followed.
After a minute, Artemis spoke up first. "Where are you taking me?"
"You couldn't tell?"
Artemis watched Kumi for a moment, keeping quiet before speaking up once again. "No. Where are we going?"
"The pool! They have a pool here-- a side activity for all of the students."
"Okay..."
At that moment, they arrived, jumping off from the campus roofs down to the concrete below. Kumi walked up to the door, eyes flickering with a bright, blue light, before the door clicked open. "Hacked through-- trying to make sure not to cause any property damage before the big day, y'know?"
"Big day...?"
Kumi jumped straight in, running to the other end of the pool. Artemis was forced to follow. A light within the pool turned on, bathing the room in a dim, blueish hue that rippled as the water did with each imposing stomp from Artemis's boots. Kumi smiled from ear to ear, crouching low to look at her own reflection within the pool's waters. "I figured... that this would be a great place for us to relax... talk... get to know one another, as sisters should."
"We aren't related, however."
"Yes... But we are sisters of battle. We are sisters amongst our ilk, just as there are brothers. It's a common term between us, no? Why not treat it as the truth? We have shared our burdens, our faults, our pains. Does that to some degree allow us to be family?" Kumi sighed, standing up to her full height as Artemis shared an incredulous look on her face. "You've never given yourself the time to absorb... relax in a pool, no?"
"N-No...? Why are you asking? I feel like I've already answered this question before."
"You have." Kumi undressed, taking off her stillsuit, unlatching it from her Spinal Pauldron, revealing a similar one-piece suit underneath to what Artemis typically wore beneath her own armor. Kumi's tail flicked mischievously, setting the suit to the side before sitting beside the rim of the pool, letting her feet be submerged in the waters below.
"W-What are you doing?"
"Taking a dip!" She said before dropping into the waters in her entirety, before re-emerging, floating on her back. Kumi laughed, "You should take a dip, too!"
"Didn't you say that you wanted to negotiate?"
"I wanted to bond, most of all!"
"Bond?"
"Yeah!"
Artemis looked frustrated by Kumi's playful antics. Life and death, and here she was, one of the only people that Artemis has known since arriving at this Academy that was Sangilo like her, and here she is, playing around in the water, talking about a "bond". Artemis sighed. "You cannot act as if you hadn't murdered someone near the Academy-- mangled, them-- beyond recognition in fact-- a burnt corpse! And you're just... playing around? Are you messing with me?"
Kumi looked at Artemis with a somber look for a moment, dipping into the water once more before meeting the giant Emoren woman by the rim of the pool, both arms pulling her up a bit more to get a better view of Artemis herself. "I'm sorry that it went the way that it did, and that it disturbs you so. It's good that it does, however." Kumi paused, eyes thinking of a proper explanation she could give to Artemis before speaking up once again. "I will admit, I had killed that girl because she looked like me, but that wasn't the only reason. There was more to it than that as to why she was my target."
"What was it? Other than she looked like you, and you were aiming to impersonate her!"
"That was my initial goal. I wanted to survive, so I did my job as requested, until I saw... you. I saw you for the first time, Artemis. I didn't think there would be another Sangilo like me, standing amongst the people as if it were normal."
"And...?"
"I changed my plans. Mind you, though, I didn't just kill that girl, only because she looked like me. She was specifically targeted because she wouldn't be missed."
"What?"
"Assassins often do that when aiming to impersonate a target, but I was simply going to give her a simple death, hide her somewhere else until all of this was over, but..." Kumi chuckled. "I've been on campus for a lot longer than you have, Artemis. It's better to scout... get a lay of the land, narrow down targets for an easier kill. To get the job done with maximum efficiency." Kumi swallowed. "You should look into this when you have the time, Artemis, but there are a lot of missing cases regarding lower-class students on the Academy grounds."
"There... are?"
"That... employer of yours, Jackal. He might even ask you to solve it eventually-- not sure when he'd do so though." She paused for a moment. "That girl, from what I could see, bullied lower-class students, tormented them even, downright equivalent to torture methods." Kumi scoffed. "Her family was also notorious for their involvement with human trafficking operations and suspiciously enough... a lot of the students that were pushed to their limit that she had bullied suddenly go missing every so often. It isn't uncommon... noble families outside the main duchies dabbling with Scalpers, or criminal organizations like the Los Diablos, or Las Brujas. Less severe than Scalpers, however."
"Really? That's all been happening under the Academy's noses?"
"More like, ignored." Kumi snickered. After a moment, her expression became solemn. "Maybe I shouldn't have gone so far... killed her the way I did. Maybe it was a habit from my time as a real Assassin and not some slave to the Benejestria, but..." Kumi sighed. "Look..." She pushed herself off from the pool's walls, letting herself glide across the surface of the water to the other end of the pool itself. "I don't want this life either."
"The Benejestria?"
"They're my... owners, I suppose. I wasn't good enough to be under the Numen Imperator, but I was good enough to have a leash placed around my neck by the Duke of the Bejestria themselves..."
Artemis's eyes widen, surprised by the information that Kumi is willingly forking over in this moment. "Why... are you telling me all of this?"
"I want you to trust me... simple as." Kumi smiled, floating atop the water's surface, looking down at Artemis. "You should join me. It'll make talking easier."
"I..."
"Come on~!" Kumi laughed, dropping into the water before emerging yet again. "Join me!"
"Why go so far as to tell me all of this? Just because we're... as you put it... 'sisters'?"
"Yes... you're... I want to think we could be family. I'm an outcast..." She held out a hand to Artemis. "You are as well. I'm going so far for this because I believe that... together we could..." Kumi sighed, thinking about her next words. "At the very least, I want us to be cordial with one another."
"What of your plan to assassinate the daughter of Duke Holden?"
"I didn't think of planning on it ever since I saw you... I truly mean it, Artemis. We've both done terrible things... some things more recent than others. Let's... just for not just... I don't know..." Kumi looked hesitant. "For now, let's just act like things are normal. There's no reason for us to be tense around one another... not right now." Kumi spoke almost as if she were begging. A desperate plea from one so deprived of love.
Who was Artemis to refuse? The light hiss of air as the armor unlatched itself from her Spinal Pauldron, each part clicking into place as she set it aside, ready to be easily put back on if the situation became dire. With slow... hesitant steps, Artemis approached the pool before slowly submerging herself into the waters below, a worried expression visible on her face.
Kumi smiled, holding both hands out, slowly drifting over to Artemis, who reached out back to her. They clasped each other's hands, looking into each other's eyes. Kumi couldn't help but laugh, noticing how Artemis was standing instead of floating, shoulders still peeking over the water's surface. "Quite tall, aren't you?"
"It's... how it is, I suppose." Artemis's more stern, confident demeanor from before is completely gone; her voice is now just a meek whisper compared to how it was before.
"It is, how it is..." Kumi held Artemis's hands within her own. "Comfortable?"
"This is... weird."
Before Artemis could react, Kumi pushed herself into her massive frame, both meeting the rim of the pool, and Artemis almost slipped into the water as she was embraced, held in a tight hug by Kumi. Artemis looked confused, ears dropping to the sides of her face-- a look of worry, arms hesitantly raising themselves to Kumi's shoulders. "You've never been hugged before... have you?"
Artemis blinked, hands now shaking as they slowly wrapped themselves around the smaller Emoren's body. Artemis hesitantly spoke, eyes searching for an explanation for her present circumstance. "N-No..." The word was weak; her voice was practically straining itself by saying the word alone. "No."
"It's warm, isn't it...?" Kumi said in a soft, motherly tone.
"Yes..."
Kumi snickered, pulling away from Artemis. "You're cute." She kicked off the wall behind Artemis, creating distance between them, floating atop the pool's surface.
After parting with Kumi, Artemis looked back up to the ceiling, caked in the blueish glow of the pool below. Artemis let out a small sigh of relief, fully submerging herself within the water, letting herself float down to the floor of the pool. Kumi went down after her, smiling as they both slowly met at the bottom of the pool.
Artemis pushed herself back above the surface of the pool, looking up to see Kumi following in her steps. "Hey."
"You said that you were like me..."
Kumi huffed. "Yep."
"What do you mean?"
"Simple as. I was too emotional. Had too many failed missions under my belt. I was abandoned by Xalakax and his corps and left to fend for myself under the Benejestria's rule. Survival leads everyone astray, after all. I... I thought I was alone in my faults, but... I was not... You most likely believed yourself to be alone, too, no?"
Artemis looked away from Kumi, "I... I suppose."
"But you aren't! I'm here! P-Plus... eventually... There might be a possibility that we may find others like us as well!"
"What? What do you mean?"
Kumi gave a pained look on her face, averting her gaze. "I... jumped the shark..." She sighed. "Artemis... we... look at us..." Kumi gestured to herself and to Artemis. "Think of our purpose. Why were we made?"
"For war."
"Yes, but that isn't all that we can do, no? In fact, you're doing better than I am at the moment." Kumi chuckled. "You... you're proof that we can be... normal. To live a normal life!"
"I... Don't understand."
"No.. that makes sense-- b-but..." Kumi held both hands out to Artemis. "Let me... let me help you understand." Kumi visibly paused to think for a moment, drifting over to the other end of the pool. "We... if you think about it, are we not evolved in some way? The greater versions of our... racial compatriots. We... we're the betters of the average man or woman. Even with our power, though... on our lonesome, we are just as powerless as any other, but together... even proven in battle, we are... incredible, no? The powerlessness we would have becomes dominance for the average layman. Before, when I thought of escape, I could only imagine my own death at the end of the road that I've paved, but now..." She gestured to Atremis. "You... you are my hope... a selfish hope but..."
"I... I don't understand, still. I'm sorry."
"If I betray the Benejestria more than I already have... and my time is up... I will have no choice but to either choose my life or yours. I've been given a time limit after all... if that time runs out... I'll have no choice but to force that nobility of yours to be at the other end of my blade. Which... n-now that... that you're here, I don't want that! I want... I want a way to escape this fate! My fate of being a killer, as you are escaping that fate now!"
A beat.
"We do not have to live as servants for these people any longer! Their wills do not constrict us! If we... if we come together, as siblings, as sisters of the Sangilo..." Kumi looked hesitant to speak her following words, bottom lip shivering. "We can join arms... together we are powerful, no? So... so... if I cannot escape my fate by murdering someone who, from my knowledge, has done no wrong... then why don't we run... together? You may respect that girl, or respect the one who had pried you out of captivity to serve as a Merc under his authority, but... it doesn't change the fact that you'll be trapped, forever, no!? So... so... join me... escape with me. It's either that, or we are forced to clash... That is what I have come to negotiate on."
Another beat.
"We both have sins... Artemis. Sins that weigh heavily upon our backs. We are alike... and because of that, we should be allied. Find others like us and rise... create a better world. A world where we aren't looked down upon by being... being curated war machines!"
Artemis could do nothing else but stare.
"I have a week until the Benejestria hunts me. Will you... decide by then?"
Artemis nodded. "Yeah..." She paused. "What about what we've done? What do we do?"
"We live. Dying is running away from our mistakes. Don't give up on me."
"I-I'd never do that."
Kumi smiled. "Then I won't give up as well."
"I... don't have to make a decision right away, yes?"
"I wouldn't expect a decision like this to be easy. I... I ask... isn't it tiresome? Watching over that girl?"
Artemis shook her head. "No... it isn't. I don't think it ever will be compared to what I've already experienced before."
Kumi chuckled. "Fair enough."
They sat there in silence for a minute longer, Artemis unable to find the words to respond to Kumi in this moment of quiet, the subtle sounds of liquid settling around them.
"Have you found anything you like whilst outside the clutches of our service?" Kumi asked humorously.
"I... I like music."
"I saw you at the Opera House... I figured, but it's nice hearing it face to face, y'know? What type of music do you like?"
"At the moment... I like orchestral music. I am slowly being introduced to more genres by Breinhen."
"That's nice, isn't it?"
Artemis nodded. "What about you?"
"Dancing. I've been getting into Dance." She paused. "The food in the outside world is very nice, isn't it?"
Artemis chuckled. "Everything I've tried so far has been amazingly tasty."
"I know, right?" Kumi couldn't help but laugh to herself. "I've been loving the food I've tried so far... I've... truly been missing out."
"I... concur. I... I feel like I've lost a lot of my life to being a soldier... that... maybe there wasn't truly a point to all of the violence I had committed since it stopped me from being... a person."
"They demean us... they mean to keep us enslaved because we are their betters. Keep those words in mind." Kumi rose from the pool's waters below, "I'll escape for now... thank you for meeting me like this... providing me an opportunity to have a conversation. Thank you... sister. Let's have another conversation like this, another time."
And with that, Artemis was left by herself to soak within the pool. "Sister..." Artemis repeated the word to herself.