Ivy stared into the mirror, biting her lower lip with contempt. She had removed her bandage, allowing the red bead at the center of her eye to project its ominous glow. A shard of glass lay clenched in her hand, bleeding into the heiress's flesh.
She released a deep sigh before cutting through her wrist and down towards her elbow. Despite the blood and gore, Ivy barely felt a thing. Part of her wished the wound could result in death, as it would for any other humanoid with a sensitive network of veins and arteries.
But to her dismay, the heiress was still alive. Refusing to give up, Ivy tugged at the open wound, exposing more and more of the black endoskeleton beneath. By the time Lila phased through the door of the bathing chamber, the deed had already been done.
"Don't do it!" The Earthling screamed. "Ivy, please!"
The heiress turned slowly, her face wearing nothing but silent dismay. Ivy wasn't panicked or scared, as Lila would expect. Instead, she was ashamed, stoic in her nihilism.
"A-." Lila's mouth opened wide as her eyes scanned the terrifying view in front of them.
There Ivy was, with the eye of the Mimic that attacked her family. Her hand was clenched with blood dripping from its surface, black and sharp like a machine. The truth had been revealed.
"Now you see." Ivy breathed out. "Lila..."
She had wished to be dead before the Earthling figured things out. But the time for desperation and screaming was over. Ivy had all but run out of those feelings after the Mimic nearly killed her.
Lila had no words. Her innocence was visibly shattered. Yet despite her shock and horror, she continued to stare.
"No," Ivy growled, shaking her head. "Don't do that. Don't be an idiot. You know what this is."
The heiress was infuriated the moment she peered into Lila's mind. All she could sense was concern and fear for her. Not a smidgen of Lila's soul was reserved for contempt or judgment. In her mind, there was no lie, no monster in the dark. The one thing she felt was dismay for Ivy's condition, and how terrible she must have felt.
Surely, Ivy thought, it was a mistake soon to be rectified.
"You're-." Lila stammered. "Ivy-."
"There's no Ivy here. Not behind my skull or in my heart!" The heiress screeched with a raspy voice. "This isn't one of your Earthling science movies, Lila! There's no girl behind the metal. No 'artificial' mind that learns to be a real girl. I'm...Ivy is dead."
"But-."
"My father built me to be an illusion. But you don't have to live that lie. And neither do I. Now, please, let me end this on my own terms."
Ivy punched the mirror, shattering it with ease using her mechanical hand. Grabbing a larger shard, she attempted to dig into her own heart, hoping to find one of those vital mechanisms Yrix warned her about. Predictably, and much to her annoyance, Lila stopped her, pushing the heiress against the wall and grabbing the shard.
"You think I'm afraid!" Lila screamed, tears running down her face. "That I won't love you anymore?!"
"Get off me!" Ivy struggled.
With her imaginary shackles gone, the heiress found it easy to tap into her real strength. Unlike during her fight with Sonera, there was little receptive pushback in her nervous system. There was nothing telling her no.
And so Lila skid across the floor, losing her footing as her hands pressed against the cold tiles.
"I don't give a shit!" Lila continued, her eyes glowing with a shade of magenta. "Hell, I think it's cool! And you know it! Stop running!"
"Shut up!" Ivy whined, throwing the shard at Lila's feet to try and scare her away. "You don't know a thing! You never did!"
The Earthling lunged towards Ivy, grabbing her wrists and leaning in closer, practically spitting into her face as she screamed. "You're scared! I get it! But I'm not! I get a cool robot girlfriend? So what! I still love you! I don't care if you're a scary toaster or some skeleton monster from a horror story! I kissed you! You're gorgeous! Your name is Ivy!"
The heiress wrestled with Lila, trying to scratch her off with her long nails. Yet despite her newfound strength, she felt herself flounder, as if her more feminine side was begging to be vulnerable again. Something about Lila's touch had dismantled her in ways that frankly had nothing to do with her mechanisms or combat.
"Ivy died! She's gone! I'm sorry!" Ivy panted. "She would have loved you, but she's dead!"
"Who cares?!" Lila exclaimed as she breathed heavily. "Be the second! I just fucking met you! I love the Ivy I see in front of me! I never knew the old one! So who cares?!"
"I care!"
"Not as much as I care about you!"
Lila pushed Ivy against the wall, forcing the heiress to crumple to the ground as their hands continued to fight over control. She could feel Lila's breath run down her neck. Its warmth was the first thing she could properly feel since her mechanical strength drowned everything out.
"I love you, dammit!" Lila refused to halt her efforts, pressing her forehead against Ivy as the heiress kicked at the floor. "I love this weird, bratty robot girl with all my heart. It's like I always knew! Nothing has changed, do you hear me?!"
Ivy gasped, feeling Lila's mind meld with her own. Just like before, during better days, the bond was growing stronger, nearing its final completion. She had no secrets left, neither for herself nor the Earthling. And even as the heiress begged for Lila to stop, her Psionic mind was screaming for her to continue and relieve her anguish.
"N-no!" Ivy groaned, shaking her head as Lila pinned her arms down, looming over her. "Don't..don't you dare! Not now! I refuse!"
"You want this!" Lila argued, gritting her teeth as she continued pressing her face against Ivy's. "I can feel it! I'll prove it! You want to live! Even as you are now!"
"Lila, stop!" Ivy pleaded, her voice becoming more panicked. "No!"
The Earthling didn't hesitate, not even as she felt her fleshy hands press against the sharp fingertips of Ivy's endoskeleton. She had told the truth. It was almost as if she always knew, and that Ivy's real body was still something to be held and loved.
The heiress whimpered before regaining her voice, kicking her legs till they rested on Lila's shoulders. "A-Aaaah!"
"Come to me," Lila whispered, shutting her eyes as she put everything into completing the bond. "Let us be one."
Ivy freed one arm, only to place a mechanical hand over her mouth. She began panting uncontrollably, barely maintaining the strength to groan as Lila's soul began to meld with hers. For a moment, she lost control of her own body, helpless to stop it as she slid closer to Lila, brushing her waist up against the Earthling's stomach.
"Gah!" Ivy whimpered. "S-sto-."
Suddenly, her mechanical eyes widened, and her entire mind became awash in Lila's memories. The world around her dissapeared, trapping Ivy in a tormented mindscape of images and scattered fragments. Only then did she let go, allowing the bond to be completed.
In the real world, Ivy went limp, resting her face against Lila's cheek.
Lila, on the other hand, remained in deep concentration, consciously staring into Ivy's features with endless determination. The heiress's feminine features were still readily apparent, reminding the Earthling of her true feelings. It was all there: feminine eyelashes, rosy cheeks, smooth lips, and a warm chest that brushed against her own.
"Ivy." Lila smiled.
She placed a kiss on her forehead, not daring to go any further. Part of her still wanted Ivy to make that move and continue where they left off. Such was her joy at the idea that she nearly forgot how terrible things had been just a few moments ago.
The Earthling didn't need to shut her eyes as the unfiltered mind behind Ivy fused with her own, showing Lila the whole story. She could see a girl, identical to Ivy, sitting with her mother in the lounge with that pompous posture and her frilly skirt. The older woman was beautiful in her own right, with flowing white hair and blue eyes.
But when the two figures drank from the tea they held in their hands, only one of them smiled. She knew what had been done and was content to see her own daughter collapse onto the floor. Shortly after, Ivy's mother perished as well, no doubt poisoned by her own craft.
"She was killed." Lila thought to herself. "Ivy..."
"By her own mother...one last spite for Algernon."
Of course, Lila knew it all then. Every last drop of Ivy's memory, including her own introspective, was laid bare. Still, there were things not even Ivy knew of, including the finer details of her new body.
But one thing was clear to the Earthling.
She was right.
Despite Ivy's fears, she was still that same girl. Only, like her mother, she had been brought back. Changed by some foreign power.
Not that it mattered all that much.
They were in love.