[Fan Fiction] Pariah (Updated: Chapter 4 Completed!)

[PsychedelicSnake]

EDIT: Story So Far, Contents, and Topic Title updated!

[PsychedelicSnake]

Chapter 4: Revelations (Part 2/2)

 

Day 21

Who is this? This is me. Who am I? What am I? What am I? What am I? What am I?

 

Emara.

 

Emara's eyes open, lids locking tight as his focus darts around the room, breathing shallow and measured, as if he were to run out of air at any moment. Eyes to the right. Heart monitor. Slightly to the side. Table. Eyes to the left. Counter, with medical utensils. His breathing flattens and calms as he looks back up at the ceiling. The unfamiliar ceiling, the ceiling that he should welcome as part of his new home, not that it was new anymore. But it is unwelcome. It is unfamiliar and it is unwelcome and it is not his. This. This room. This dojo, this clan. It is little more than a cage to him, and the Tenno within are the guards. Or at least that is how it feels. He was never welcome here. Whenever the others did decide to pay him any mind it was to monitor his progress and make sure his power was under control. They were using him, all of them. Negarra. Sujata. Katsu. Muto. Yanmei.

 

No, no, not Yanmei. Out of everyone she didn't do anything wrong. Emara's heartbeat quickens ever so slightly as he falls deeper into thought. She just wants to help. She's the only one that ever spent any time with him outside the training sessions or check-ups. She's the only one that smiled at him, or talked to him like he was anyone else. Neck uncomfortable, Emara shifts his head, and his vision, to the side, his gaze immediately focusing on a small datapad placed on the bedside counter. The heart monitor's incessant beeping fills the room with its dull chirp as Emara continues to stare at the pad laying on the counter. He lets out a long, tired breath as he tries to collect his scattered thoughts, mind cast in all directions and seemingly drifting further and further away. Brief flashes of pain pang through his mind, images playing before his eyes as if on a reel. Black veins. Deformed eye. Red. Blood. Bodies. And it's gone. Like a wave the sensation passes, wiping itself clean from his mind altogether until there is little left but a residual feeling of nausea. Emara closes his eyes, but finds them open again to stare at the datapad within arms reach. His fingers grope at the datapad, finding their grip as he slides the device across the small counter and into his waiting hand, curling around it.

 

He recognizes the device. It is Yanmei's. For her personal journals. She liked to write her experiences down. She had said that she hopes it will help her remember the time before The Sleep. Nothing fruitful as of yet. Casting the memory away, Emara powers on the pad and watches mindlessly as the screen flashes to life, emitting a thin glow onto Emara's face. He finds himself smiling, relishing the thought that his friend had come to visit him. If anyone came to visit him here, he's glad it was her. Even now he finds he cannot wait for her to visit again. Now in a pleasant mood, Emara doesn't even notice the deathly black veins expanding from his arm onto his wrist as he swipes along the screen of the pad, a short video message popping up from one of the tabs in response, automatically playing as soon as it enlarges. Yanmei's face dominates, her eyes downcast and sullen. Somber and saddening.

 

Why are you sad, Yan?

 

"I'm giving you this message, for when you woke up. I told you while you were sleeping, but I wanted to be sure."

 

Tell me what? Is it important? Why do you look sad?

 

"The Lotus asked me... she ordered me to go back to the Tower. Where we found you. And I agreed. I want to find a way to help you. I want to make things better. If I find something, I might even find out where you came from. I'm sorry I have to tell you this way, but I had no choice. By the time you read this I'm probably already there. Just remember, Em. You're stronger than this."

 

Emara can feel his gut sink and his mood instantly plummet, quickly becoming aware of the unbelievable pain running along his body as the black veins grow and expand. They inch down the entirety of his right arm, up his neck and along the side of his face, enveloping his ear and his cheek and part of his eye. But what Emara finds himself feeling the most isn't the excruciating physical pain. It's the loneliness; spreading like an infection inside him until it becomes totally unbearable. As the corruption completely envelopes the right side of his body, the datapad drops to the floor beside the bedding as Emara lets out an infuriated and agonizing scream.

 

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The low hum of the door opening and then closing rouses Emara's ears to the presence of an approaching figure. Yet, he can see in his mind who it is already, plated and bulky frame lumbering into the modest medical room, footsteps giving a soft thud on each impact. Emara keeps the right side of his face buried in the bedding's pillow, leaving the left open to the cool, sanitized air. A labored and hefty sigh exits his lungs in response to the unwanted company, and he finds himself annoyed that he can do little but endure it. Katsu shuffles as close as he feels is necessary to Emara and the medical bedding, keeping an arm's distance between himself and the bedridden Tenno. The large Tenno remains in his standing position for a few moments, Emara detecting a faint scratching in his mind that he takes for Katsu looking for something to say.

 

"Negarra says that... you're in terrible pain but you won't take any medication. That you won't accept any help at all."

 

An exasperated rush of air leaves Emara's lungs and out his nostrils in response, quickly silencing the Rhino before he can fully express his concern. "You shouldn't be surprised I don't want help from you people," Emara says, venom dripping from his voice, eyes angled away from Katsu and off to the side, half his face still hidden in the cushion. Katsu fumbles with himself. The thought of a giant like him bumbling around was almost humorous to Emara. But not enough to change his mood. "What do you mean by that?" asks Katsu, his voice audibly hesitant.

 

"You know. I've heard what you all call me." This catches a breathe in Katsu, a reaction Emara was fully hoping he would get. So I was right. You've been talking about me behind my back. All of you have. I wasn't imagining it.

 

"I- I don't know what you mean-"

 

"Say it, Katsu." Emara's voice is calm and collected, but the hostility was practically radiating from every word. Katsu stumbles over his words, searching desperately for any way out of the conversation that he had clearly lossed. But as the seconds tick by the room begins to get noticeably warmer. Finally, Emara tires of waiting for an answer. "SAY IT!" His voice booms and almost growls, the secondary noise in his lungs almost inhuman. Katsu practically jumps at the sudden outburst of anger and hatred, shock written on his face as if it were the last thing he had expected. Reluctantly and shamefully, he finally answers.

 

"I- we, uh... Freak. We call you a freak." A thin and unhinged smile twists onto the visible side of Emara's face, his sharp features only serving to further outline the unnatural look about him. "Maybe I am. Maybe I shouldn't try to be anything other than a freak."

 

"I'm sorry, Emara." The smile suddenly drops like a heavy curtain, twisting into a hateful mix of a frown and a grimace. Emara's neck twists, rotating his head towards the Rhino standing at bedside. Katsu finds himself overcome with horror, worry, and disgust as the right side of Emara's face reveals itself. The skin is blackened and slightly pulsing, corrupted veins wriggling beneath his skin. The bone seems to deform and tangle into the muscle itself. The entire side seems to be melting and rotting all at once. His eye, normally silver, has taken on a blood-red hue, the rest of it being nearly bloodshot, or at least appearing to be. Flakes of uncorrupted skin dry and crumble off his face as his mouth grimaces even more. There is nothing but hatred in his eyes.

 

"Sorry? No. Not yet."

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Yanmei had been stalling on departing aboard her Liset. After all, if anyone needed her help at this exact moment, it was Emara. It felt like a betrayal to leave like this, even if it was to find answers of any kind. Yanmei kneels at the Solar Map, the holographic projections of the planets lightly swirling around her, the display awaiting her input and command. Her palm hovers over the Void Runes, but Yanmei finds herself hesitating to touch it, opting instead to simply watch, stare directly at it without much thought as to why she is doing so. Her focus blurs all outside vision, and her hearing is deafened as she notices nothing but the display in front of her. Yanmei jolts a bit in response to a communications request, the audio tic signalling through the interior of the Liset. Investigating, she is surprised to find the request to be marked as the highest priority, indicating it can only be coming from a single source. Swiping her hand across the holographic display, the signal opens up into full view, the Lotus' image jumping to life in front of her.

 

"What is it? Change of plan?" asks Yanmei, eager to hear the confirmation that she does not have to head out after all. 

 

"This is the plan, Tenno. I needed to speak to you. Privately. And according to your Dojo scans this area is currently the most secluded," the Lotus states in a matter-of-fact tone. She wanted to get Yanmei away from the others, but what for? It couldn't be about Emara, could it? "The Tenno must bring balance to the system... though sadly, that plan is now at risk."

 

Her voice is sullen and almost sad, an emotion that Yanmei didn't know the Lotus was capable of achieving. It was jarring, to say the least. Yanmei watches as the guide seems to shrink within herself... as if attempting to show worry and distress, even more strange than the last set of emotions displayed. "The Pariah is going to try and leave... soon. You must not allow him to do so, Tenno."

 

"Pariah? You mean..."

 

"Your friend, yes."

 

"I don't understand. What does this have to do with Emara? And what do you mean by leaving?" Yanmei's voice is pitched slightly, and she finds it hard to keep her odd mixture of curiosity and blatant worry hidden. With what little good it did, considering the Lotus seemed to know everyone better than they knew themselves. "I detected it... just now. He remembers."

 

"Remembers what?" Yanmei asks.

 

"Everything. Where he comes from. Who he was. What he did. Everything before the Sleep that he was he can remember. I don't know how this happened, but it will not lead to anything good. If he is allowed to leave this Dojo, there will be nothing to stand between him and his greatest enemy."

 

"And... who would that be...?"

 

The Lotus, vision completely shrouded by her ornate mask arcs her head upward, gazing straight ahead through the display at Yanmei. Somehow, Yanmei finds herself being stared straight through. "You."

 

BEHIND THE SCENES!

Just like Emara, my mind is scattered in all directions and pulling in all ways at once. To say I've been distracted is a massive understatement, and as you can probably tell by my style of writing this time around I've added bits and pieces as I went along instead of doing large chunks or all in one go like I have before. That just goes to show never to make a schedule. Less disappointment that way. Anyway, I wanted this part to be what writers in both traditional and entertainment call the "Wham Episode". This is essentially the section of the story with the twist, and if done correctly will leave the reader guessing and wanting more without leading them on and making the twist feel cheap. To accomplish this, I cut the twist in half at the very end, that way the only way to get the full picture will be to continue reading, yet still have enough at the moment to keep interested and hyped for the next part. And I certainly hope you are all hyped! That being said once Pariah is concluded, expect big news on my next Warframe Project, which for the time being will be going under the Work-in-Progress Name/Working Title The Warframe Expanded Universe. I hope you all are ready for the conclusion of the Pariah, which will conclude in Chapters 5 and 6, as well as for my upcoming project which will directly tie into Pariah as well as a few other players' fiction as well. Enjoy!

Edited July 13, 2014 by PsychedelicSnake

[PsychedelicSnake]

EDIT: Made a few additions and changes to Chapter 4 (2/2) grammar and presentation. In my rush to get this out I missed a few small details.

[PsychedelicSnake]

HNNGG

 

Senpai the cliffhangers are killing me ouo

More to come, Sam-senpai :D

[S3EK3R]

Why do people always leave cliffhangers! I love them and hate them at the same time! I want moar!

[PsychedelicSnake]

Why do people always leave cliffhangers! I love them and hate them at the same time! I want moar!

More is on the way! U14 is really the only thing preventing me from getting more pumped out at the moment. I'l be sure to write chunks here and there inbetween rest and playtime!

[PsychedelicSnake]

Apologies to the lack of any updates! I've been swamped with quite a bit of work (and even more procrastination). Been trying to get back into art, and I've done quite a few renditions of my personal Tenno/Warframes, as well as doing a few story commissions for people that pay/ask for them.

 

Plus life has been getting in the way in general.

 

But I promise I haven't forgotten about this! I've even planned ahead on what lies ahead for Pariah! Stay with it and bare with me!

[FiveHours]

You do commission work?