"I…" The woman gulped and sat. She shook her head. "We can talk over a meal. Sit. Eat if you want, but if you feel uncomfortable…"
Eve slipped. "Ah- sorry. I didn't mean to-" What am I even rambling on about? My entire team has gone missing, and I'm alone in a massive greenhouse with a pretty woman.
"I understand." The woman nursed a cup of green tea in her hands. "I'll start from the beginning."
She paused for a moment. "My name is Elise. I am- or was, I should say- a scientist employed by the Halcyon Federation. I was the lead researcher here at this lab."
"Why were you here?" Eve asked. "Isn't this an Asphodelian outpost?"
Elise shook her head. "In short, this was originally a Halcyon Outpost before the Asphodelians started attacking this area. Certain works and research projects that were originally running in the Capital University developmental technology labs were transferred here to be completed, given their nature either as potentially volatile or as a power that could aid with winning the war."
Then a possibility is that they gave us a false reason to destroy something here. Eve thought back to Lieutenant-colonel Song's shiftiness. Given the nature and all the strange things that have been happening, that would make sense- if they were playing with technology that they couldn't control, they could've planned this to involve TRACE SO[1] in an attempt to destroy or retrieve it. This technology must've been incredibly important, then.
Elise continued. "As for the nature of our relationship- you were assigned here before on our guard detail, and to monitor us. While guard duty was rather below your level as TRACE, you were the only ones who could be trusted with the task, and among your team you were the one person I could really talk to. I got… emotionally attached. And we talked."
Eve suspected that Elise was simply phrasing things this way out of consideration. The longing looks she sent Eve's way as well as the disappointment on her face made it clear that there was something more between them. And honestly? Eve could see it happening.
Elise set down her cup of tea and laddled beef onto her bowl of rice. "Once the Asphodelians grew closer and closer to this outpost, the research subject couldn't be moved to another location, and we weren't close enough in progress to finish the study. Given that, destruction orders were issued."
She paused to blow air over the hot beef and rice before taking a bite, chewing slowly. She swallowed, set down her chopsticks and bowl, and continued. "For some certain reasons, I… couldn't leave. So I hid, and they evacuated everybody else without finding me. They probably assumed that I was killed in the process or just missed my name on the nominal list entirely- which leads us back to how my girlfriend came back without her memory." She stared pointedly at Eve.
Girlfriend. Me. Ah. Eve blinked. I don't remember her- but she feels familiar somehow. There's this flicker… like I should remember. Vaguely. Like I almost do remember her.
Suddenly, a memory entered her head. A memory that wasn't hers, yet felt… strangely familiar. The taste of cherry chapsticks on lips, gently pushing against hers, alluringly asking for more, wrapping around her mouth as her heart tightened and threatened to burst. A hot tongue slipped into her mouth, devouring her, eating her inside out as Eve could feel and hear herself making soft, indecent noises. Then just as quickly as it came, the memory faded.
Ah. Eve flushed red, and it most certainly wasn't from the heat and humidity in the lab. I- I- I don't remember, but maybe it really did happen?
She looked at Elise, eating from her bowl of rice while looking at her expectantly.
"Here," Elise said. "Maybe this will help." She unlocked her phone and slid it across the table to Eve. There were a multitude of audio recordings, labeled with an absurd amount of kaomojis.
Eve glanced down and glanced back at Elise. "I'm not judging, but…"
Elise blushed. "They're cute, alright?"
"Mhmn…" Eve selected the first recording and hit play. It was a conversation between two people talking about their hobbies. The buzz of lab machinery could be heard in the background. She recognized Elise's voice, but there was another that she didn't quite recognize before it clicked.
Is it me? The other voice was slightly higher than hers in the recording, but they talked in the same way- confident, commanding, strong. They talked about the same things- tac shooters, experiences in university, working part-time before joining the military.
Eve heard Elise laugh in response to her jokes, and heard her weirdly distorted voice in the recording join her. Her voice in the recording then spoke: "You know, if I didn't know better, I'd have thought-"
"That you were always watching me." Eve finished her own sentence even before the recording stopped.
"Mhmn." Elise continued eating, nodding her head along.
So… does that mean I really was here? If something like this is possible, then they might've wiped part of my memory as well, just as an extra precaution before sending me off. Then… Elise- or I guess, my girlfriend- really is telling the truth?
With that resolved, Eve realized that there were two questions or issues that remained. Firstly, throughout the entire conversation, Elise never talked about what they were actually doing at the laboratory, or about the nature of what they were studying. What was the Federation actually doing here? And… What came next? Her squad and team was gone, and she had no outside or inside communication.
Even if she did have outside communication, if it meant walking through the inky void to get back outside, she wasn't sure if she could escape the laboratory, much less get Elise out if she did manage to secure destruction fire from the Lieutenant-Colonel. She also didn't know what the information or technology was that the top brass wanted her to extract with.
A new thought popped into her mind. Why should she even bother? It's not like there's anything that she could do anyways.
She could stay here. She… probably wouldn't be needed outside- they lost valuable personnel every single day in the war that still continued and raged on harsher than ever.
Suddenly, Elise choked, disturbing Eve's thoughts.
Then, Eve noticed the glass roots surging from the ground, wrapping around her feet. Eve tried to break through the twirling tendrils, but even more tubes emerged from her hair, hard as tungsten, ensnaring her.
"Elise-" Eve called. However, Elise wasn't herself anymore. Her eyes had rolled back in her head as she stood and walked forwards towards Eve, her eyes now inky black. An insidious glass tendril curled around Elise's neck, resting just above her collarbone. At the tip of the root rested a single glass petal.
Elise spoke in another voice, layered upon hers- in the same polyphony as the choir that Eve had heard before. It was as if something else had taken over her as she smiled and gently caressed the side of Eve's face.
Eve recoiled, whipping her head backwards.
"Well. Isn't this new? A new body for me to use. Feisty, too." Elise seemed to conflict with herself as her other hand shot out, grabbing the one that stroked Eve's face.
"STOP," Elise cried, as one of her eyes rolled back forwards to show her lavender iris. "Don't you FUCKING DARE touch her."
Elise wrestled with herself quite literally, squirming and shouting in two different voices. Eve quickly realized that this probably was what they had been researching, and somehow, during the time she spent here, Elise had been compromised by it.
This is what she meant by her not being able to leave, Eve realized. She physically couldn't.
Her heart dropped like a lone pebble into the deep sea as she screamed, fighting against the roots as more and more surrounded her, wrapping her in a clear, steel-hard cocoon.
The remaining consciousness of the real Elise took control of an arm, fumbled for the kitchen cabinet, flipped it open, and drew a knife, stabbing it into her other arm.
Both Elises screamed as blood broke through her porcelain like skin, spouting forth in gouts of crimson onto the grass, who seemed to reach towards it, drinking thirstily.
Eve watched horrified, as her brain started to succumb to the madness that had happened that day. She felt the roots close tightly around her ribcage, lock down her legs, tentatively finding orifices in her face that they could enter through. Eve clamped her mouth shut.
Suddenly, two muted shots rang out, slamming into Elise as she doubled over in pain. The alternative Elise snapped her head towards the shots, and at the corner of her peripheral vision Eve could see a figure storming towards them at full tilt, a bullpup rifle raised.
Wait, don't kill her, Eve wanted to scream, but the roots started to wrap around her head, layering over he mouth just before-
The roots stopped moving, and Eve finally had the chance to breathe and assess the situation. Someone in a full Halcyon Federation arctic combat suit and uniform had arrived and was shouting at Elise, who was clutching her side, blood pouring from her wounds
Eve couldn't make out their voice or face, but her gut instinct told her that it was someone from Bravo team.
The figure continued yelling for several more seconds as Eve watched, paralyzed in the glass-like chrysalis. Eventually, she saw Elise's one lavender Eye roll back to expose the black void, her body now under full control of the alternative Elise.
Then, two things happened simultaneously. Elise reached out with her hand, and a glass spike streaked from the ground like a meteorite, shattering the Halcyon soldier's helmet. It crumbled to the floor, and a long shock of obsidian-like black hair flew free around the figure's shoulders. Eve could make out sharp amethyst eyes, curled into a dangerous snarl. The figure wasn't wearing their regular black medical mask, and it took Eve a second to realize who it was.
Isa Nymera. At the same time that her helmet was broken, Isa squeezed the trigger, sending more rounds ripping into Elise's chest at full automatic.
Elise fell to the ground, convulsing as the hungry grass reached for her body, almost as if it were trying to consume her.
Eve could only watch, heartbroken. Elise, with her remaining life, seemed to gesture to Isa as her eyes rolled back to frosted- and now bloodied- lavender. There were some words that were exchanged that Eve could not hear.
Elise reached up and grabbed Isa's arm. Isa knelt down and nodded with affirmation before watching without emotion as Elise's cold body fell to the floor, the hungry grass seemingly swallowing her fragile frame.
Isa turned back to Eve, holding a breaching shotgun in her hands. She fired once, and the absurdly loud clinkering sound of glass shards falling to the ground followed as the tendrils that held Eve shattered, sprinkling the green grass with pieces of crystal clear ice.
Eve coughed as she fell forwards, and Isa quickly reached forwards to catch her. Eve batted her arm away, a tear rolling down her eye.
She didn't even really know Elise- not anymore. Her memory had been wiped, and they'd just been reunited. And yes, it looked like Elise was under control of whatever it was they were researching, and she had attacked Eve…
But still.
It didn't make it hurt any less.
With a visage full of tears, Eve finally took notice of Isa's face. It was slightly larger than Elise's, given that Isa was taller, but aside from that and the Eye colour, they were… pretty much identical. The same shapely face. And now that she looked closer- they had the same eye shape, too.
Speaking of eyes, one of Isa's eyes had turned… frosted lavender? The same as Elise's? Last Eve checked, Isa never had heterochromia[2].
Isa pulled Eve close and patted her head gently. She spoke in a softer voice. One that was somehow a soft, comforting blend between Isa's and Elise's.
"It's going to be fine," Isa and Elise said. "It's going to be fine," they repeated. "I'll explain later." They then let go. "We need to get out of here, Eve. Follow me," They extended a hand towards Eve as the ceiling started to rumble and the central glass pillar started to sway.
Eve didn't move and stayed rooted in her spot. "Elise? Ms. Nymera?"
Isa / Elise leaned forwards and grabbed Eve's hand, pulling her forwards. "Yes, it's us," they said impatiently. "We can talk later. We need to get out of here first."
Eve could see vegetation bending towards them, blocking their path, reaching out to ensnare them, to tie them down.
Whatever anomaly or technology they had been researching in the laboratory clearly had no intention in letting them leave.
The glass dome peeled away from the ceiling, and Eve could see huge, satellite-like glass petals peel away from what she had assumed was the greenhouse roof, spreading out like a great white eagle spreading its wings.
The laboratory came alive.
Still, Eve stayed. Breaking free of Isa / Elise's hand, she reached up and pulled their face down to her by the collar. Previous memories of their time together flooded Eve's head.
Then, she kissed them. On the lips. Eve's heartbeat swam as her body felt hot like a sauna. Something throbbed in her chest as she hungered for more.
Eve held them in a tight, breathless lock before breaking away from their soft lips, leaving Isa / Elise stunned.
Eve blushed and smiled. "Let's go, then. Have you seen the others?"
Isa / Elise deliberately hid their face from Eve as she handed Eve her helmet and rifle before pinging the location of one of the closest exits to them.
"I've seen some people, but they've all been out cold, and your breacher was in critical condition. I handed them off to Alpha team, so it should just be us now." Their voice seemed to be breathier, and even in their current situation, Eve couldn't help but think it was endearing.
Eve shouldered her rifle and wrapped the strap around her body. She glanced back once more to Elise's previous body, which had all but been swallowed by the grass before starting, heart pounding, to the exit along with Isa Nymera and Elise, wondering what had possibly possessed her in that moment.
[1] Special Operations
[2] *Really* interesting condition. Basically, it means that someone or something has two differently coloured eyes. Honestly fire ngl