September Silver: Ember's Sister

Ember watched Fabi sip her tea for a little bit longer before answering.

"What you have to do," she said, "Is follow orders. Think of it this way--you're a chess piece. The players will tell you what to do. You do not think. You must not think. Some pieces are granted higher positions than others, but in the end we're all the same."

Fabi's eyes narrowed. "I want a proper answer. You've done nothing but evade my questions all day and I WANT. AN ANSWER. NOW."

The room was silent except for Fabi's words echoing around the room. Ember stood patiently and waited for her to calm down, and then she sighed.

"I will admit," she said, "That I don't know myself. I'm lucky enough to have been granted access to some of my leaders' plans, but like I said before, my duty is to do what I am told."

Leaning closer to Fabi, she whispered, "Everyone on his side is there because they're afraid they're going to die if they don't. If we manage to convince all of them that they can rebel with us and win, we could take over."

"Well, how do you know that they wouldn't just tell him to get extra-credit-of-sorts?"

Ember winced. "I… I was his doctor, previously. His personal doctor."

Fabi's eyes widened. 

Again the room lapsed into silence, but Fabi noticed Ember twitching this time. 

"Is there anything else you need to say?"

Ember paused, and then she sighed. "My sister… she's a freelancer, if you will. She switches sides very frequently. You can never trust her, but she will give you incredible amounts of information that is normally unimaginably classified."

Fabi frowned. "Then how do you know she's not telling Mevolent all about our--wait, no--your little group?"

"First of all, like I said, it's not my group. Second, if Mevolent knew she was working for us, she would be dead. Not because he'd kill her, but because… I'm the only one keeping her alive right now. I'm not going to go into it at this particular moment, but…"

"Just tell me what you need me to do right now."

Ember looked slightly upset, as if the importance of her sister's situation had been mocked. "You have a friend, Death Rose?"

"How did you know?"

"My sister, dear. Anyway, do you think you could go and convince her to join our group, as well as anyone else you know? We need people. If we don't have people, we'll die. You'll die, as well."

"Who is your sister, anyway?"

Ember left the room. "You will meet her soon enough," she said as she closed the door.

--------

Her body was slightly translucent and flickered back and forth from sight, as if she were the result of some malfunctioning projector. 

Mevolent turned to her. "Any ideas on how to get our prisoners to do what we want? Torture is sometimes unreliable."

She grinned. "Ask my cousins."

"The Remnants are unstable. They cannot be trusted."

"Well, I mean, I can't be trusted either. Besides, you're a scary man, they'll listen to you."

"Please refrain from mocking me."

"Meh."

"You should be severely punished--"

"CAN I USE THE REMNANTS OR NOT?" she screamed, and then she ripped a hole in the wall with her claws.

He sighed. "You may."

She grinned, and ran off to find the room with the Remnants.

------

Five minutes later, the wall next to Fabi was ripped open and she jumped.

"Heya!" a girl with short black hair and gold eyes yelled, arms outstretched. "Liberty in the house!"

"Who are you?" Fabi asked, backing away.

"I just said that my name was Liberty, you moron."

"Ah, sister dearest," Ember sighed as she entered the room. "How many times have I told you not to destroy the wall?"

"Ceilings are for people with no imagination."

"Anyway, I trust that you have brought good news."

"I have an idea," Liberty grinned. "We could possess Mevolent. Then, we extract the remnant from him. He'd be unconscious for a few minutes, in which time we could kill him! What do you say?"

"Are you sure you could extract it?" Fabi asked.

Liberty grinned. "My dear, you don't know what Em here can do, do you?"

"Er… no."

"Don't you just love surprises?" she smiled. "Bye guys!" 

She passed straight through the other wall.