Revenge Fantasy

Pure darkness.

Grayson can't see anything else. He can't see the gun in his hands, nor can he even see his own hands. He can't see the walls, the floor, or the ceiling of the storage unit. He can't see Kusuri, the Serbian Flashbang, the Flashbang's partner, or even that android.

All he sees is those two red eyes.

Everything in his body is screaming danger at this sight. The red eyes gaze deeply into his soul, piercing through him like spears. His arms tighten and tense up, paralyzed in fear. Whatever these eyes are, they're the embodiment of nightmares.

"S-Stay back!" the man shouts, aiming his gun between these eyes.

A haunting laugh echoes out. Its voice rings and resonates in Grayson's ears, echoing the sound of a maniacal monster's joy.

Grayson desperately shouts a second time. "I'm warning you! Don't take another step forward!"

In response, a name is said...

"... Daniel?"

A haunting voice echoes in Grayson's mind. Its voice is sweet and tender, yet carries a heavy gravity behind its weakness. It utters the man's name, somehow knowing of it.

Following this, the supplier watches a woman slowly appear in front of him. Instead of red eyes, her gaze is pure black. She wears a sweater and jeans underneath an apron that reads "Kiss the Cook." Underneath her is the pavement of a driveway, and behind her is a grill.

The scent of meat fills the air, and Grayson's face goes pale. He recognizes this moment. It's... the family barbecue.

The entire family has shown up, from his mother and father to the various brothers and sisters he has come to know. Their happy, smiling faces are scattered throughout the front yard.

The woman standing before him is his wife. She stares at him in confusion, gently resting a hand on his stiff shoulder. "Honey? Is everything okay?"

Grayson stares at his wife for a few seconds, blinking a couple of times and taking a deep breath. "Y-Yes. Yes, everything's okay."

"That's good. I need you to cover the grill for a moment," Grayson's wife tells him. "If I don't get the cake out, Mom's going to throw a fit."

"Sounds good..." Grayson answers, accepting the tongs and spatula. He stands at the grill and makes sure everything's cooking evenly. Granted, he's not the specialist, but he knows his way around a...

...

Something... about this moment feels wrong.

It dawns on him that everything around him is black and white. Not an ounce of color can be seen in the sky or the grass. He can't see the color of his roof or the color of his family's clothes. There's no green, and there's no blue. There's no yellow, orange, or purple in sight. It's all colorless.

Grayson steps away from the grill, his hands shaking as he tries to make sense of all this.

What was he doing a moment ago? He was holding a gun, and...

... the sound of a car echoes out. He hears the screeching of tires right behind him, belonging to a pickup truck.

Grayson's face goes pale. "N-No!" Grayson shouts. "Nonononononono— STOP! STOP THE CAR!"

He turns around and watches as the aforementioned pickup truck speeds right at him. The driver behind the wheel is obscured by the bright headlights shining in his eyes, and his screams do not stop this individual.

Grayson can only stand there, watching as the pickup truck comes closer and closer, until... someone pushes him out of the way.

"NO—!"

The pickup truck speeds right past him in a blur, and it crashes straight into the garage. The metal crunch of the grill echoes out, and the mortifying sound of meat and bone being crushed comes with it.

In the background, the haunting laugh of that maniacal voice echoes out with pure cruelty and sadistic glee. The red eyes peer into the back of Grayson's head, and a cold breath brushes against the man's neck.

Grayson's eyes go wide. As if his soul has just left his body, he stands in place with an empty chill enveloping his body. He remembers this. He remembers this moment. He's being forced to relive the moment when...

"D-Daniel..." his wife calls out, her voice buried in the sounds of this laugh.

Grayson sees, between the pickup truck and the garage door, his wife sandwiched between them. Tears trail from her eyes as her hand reaches out to him, as she desperately tries to call for her lover.

"Nonono, no! You're going to be okay! You're going to be okay!" Grayson shouts helplessly, running to her and grabbing her hand. "Save your strength!"

"I'm not..." Grayson's wife shouts. "I'm... I..."

The maniacal laugh continues, as—one by one—the heads of the surrounding family members are crossed out with red. Large, manifested paint splotches cover their faces, and their bodies crumble into dust.

Grayson stares at his wife and holds her hand tightly. "Not you, not you, please, please, not you! Don't leave me, don't leave me..."

...

Grayson... is speechless. He doesn't remember. He doesn't remember his wife's name.

Just like the rest of them, the paint covers her face. Her hand goes limp, disappearing into dust as if there was never a body to begin with.

The maniacal laugh continues as Grayson stands there. Its cruelty seeps into Grayson's veins, sinking deeper and deeper into his mortified being. If there is anything left in the man, it comes out with each heavy breath he takes.

Slowly, a knife reveals itself, lifting to his chin. The cold steel rests against his jawline, the sharp edge in proximity to his skin. The laugh gradually becomes quiet, and an ear-piercing ring echoes through the man's head.

What follows is a blood-curdling scream...

... as the man drops his gun, holding his hands to his face.

In the storage unit, Grayson is sent into a fit of screaming. The misery resonates in his entire body, bringing him to his knees as this memory echoes endlessly in his brain. His fingernails dig into his cheeks as he screams his lungs out.

It doesn't stop there. His eyes are covered in pitch-black, with tears of pure tar leaking from his eyes. The black fluid drips and trails down his face.

John is the first to notice this, looking to the man in perplexed distress. The unholy, unnatural sight makes him want to throw up. "W-What... the hell?!"

Yumi stares in disgusted horror at the man, confused about what's going on. "O-Oi! Blood supplier, the hell's wrong with you?!"

Grayson doesn't respond, his head tilting back as a loud snap echoes out... and he drops to the ground.

"Shit... shit, shitshitshit!" Yumi shouts, looking to John. "Pops! What do we—?!"

Immediately, Yumi is interrupted as her body freezes in place. Her bright, blue eyes are also covered by a veil of black, and... something similar happens to her.

Yumi falls backwards, lying on the ground as she starts foaming at the mouth. Her body convulses and trembles as whatever happened to Grayson is happening to her.

John begins walking backwards, concern plastered over his face as he sees Yumi succumb to this gruesome fate. Some part of him wants to run to her, to check her condition and save her from this, but his mind won't let him. He can't take a single step forward.

Then, alarms start sounding out.

The doctor has also fallen victim to this, his eyes covered in black as he falls over. The tubes connecting Chouko Ashford's arm to the saline IV bag and the pack of O- blood are pulled out of her, gushing onto the floor.

If this isn't taken care of, Chouko Ashford is going to die, and the money is gone. John, tensely, runs to try and stop this...

... only to subsequently trip and fall over. His eyes are blinded by black as well, and the man falls straight onto his face.

For a while longer, the screams of Grayson continue to echo out, until... the screaming stops, and his body lumps forward. Tears and saliva dripping onto the ground below him, all energy leaving his body.

The storage unit is silent.

The lights above them flicker, as all four of the humans are unconscious. Chouko Ashford remains in her seat, asleep throughout this. Pure dread lingers in the enclosed space, as some haunting presence has just claimed the minds and bodies of these people.

The only thing that isn't unconscious in that storage unit... is Shortcake.

Shortcake eventually gets up, slowly pushing herself back onto her feet. She rubs her nose in pain, mimicking a gesture to soothe the pain. "W-Wehh..." she mumbles, before taking a deep breath and... looking around.

She looks around to see the horrors before her. Her eyes see that everyone is out cold. "U-Uhm... hello?" Shortcake calls out, pure confusion on her face. "John? Yumi? U-Uhm... D-Doctor Kusuri and... Grayson...?"

No response. Shortcake's body begins shivering as she carefully walks, moving to check on... Chouko...

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She takes one look at Chouko's body. She's still unconscious, her arm going limp at her side.

Shortcake's eyes trail down to stare at the arm... and, then, they look to see the disconnected tubes spilling blood and other fluids out onto the floor.

Pure panic and distress form on the android's face as she realizes what's happening. All of the stuff that's supposed to save Chouko's life is spilling everywhere, and... and Shortcake, again, doesn't know what to do!

Shortcake nervously whimpers as she looks to the unconscious doctor. She crouches down and tries to shake the man awake. If he's out cold, then Chouko won't receive proper medical care, so...

...

Shortcake feels a chill against her back, her silicone face registering... paleness.

The world around her is engulfed in the same pitch darkness that the others are experiencing. Even she isn't spared from this sensation.

Slowly, Shortcake stands up, brightening her pink eyes to try and see anything. Her eyes gaze left and right, only to see nothing.

It's the same darkness as... when Shortcake fell through the ground, and found the mental piano in Chouko's mind. The same place where she met Little Chouko, the same darkness where the little girl plays her piano.

Little Chouko has to be somewhere here.

"Uhm... hello?" Shortcake calls out, listening for the sounds of Chopin's Funeral March. "Chouko? Are you there? Uhm..."

Suddenly, a hand grabs Shortcake's arm, lifting her into the air.

For a brief moment, Shortcake lets out a scream. This is the same hand that pulled her out of the darkness, the one that grabbed her and tore her away from Little Chouko. She tries to struggle against this hand, weakly attempting to pry its fingers off her arm.

While this doesn't do anything, Shortcake is released. The hand promptly lets go and drops her to the ground, making her fall onto the floor.

The android sits on the ground, with every mechanical part of her body shaking. Her hair disappears in an instant, and her clothes change completely.

Shortcake begins hyperventilating, as she's confused about what's going on. All she hears is laughter, the loud and blaring laughter of...

... Chouko!

The soundwaves register as Chouko's voice! It's her voice laughing!

Shortcake visibly beams as she tries to move and scoot closer to this voice. "C-Chouko! Chouko, it's me! S-Shortcake! It's me, Chouko! I-If you can hear me...!"

After a bit, Shortcake's calls for the woman are met with the sight of her back.

"Chouko! There you are!" Shortcake calls out with glee, before... she goes silent.

The android looks around and sees a familiar sight, one that registers in her mind immediately. She's in the office building of that man, the scary man who led that group of other men in Indianapolis. The room itself is as dark as that night, and Shortcake can smell the scent of blood in the air.

It's the same memory, the same moment playing out before her very eyes. Shortcake looks up to stare at Chouko, seeing the woman dressed in her own frilly, cute dress. Chouko has her back turned to the android. Her arms are slack at her sides, and she's staring at the corpse in front of her.

"... aaaahhhh...~" Chouko sounds out...

It's the same memory.

"C-Chouko...!" Shortcake calls out, staring at this dark figure.

Slowly, Chouko looks over her shoulder. Her red eyes stare at Shortcake with the same expression as before, the calm and coordinated face she had. The front of her clothes is soaked in bright red blood, dripping onto the floor. She turns around, takes several steps closer to Shortcake. and silently crouches down to look at the android.

"Chouko, it's me!" Shortcake exclaims, looking at Chouko with a hesitant smile. "I-I think something's wrong, everyone in the storage unit is—!"

"Shhhh..."

Chouko holds the bloody knife up to Shortcake's lips.

Shortcake looks confused. Her eyes gaze at the knife, being presented with the sight of the red blade. The knife splits down the middle, separating the two halves of Chouko's face.

On one side, Shortcake sees Chouko's face in its entirety, still having that look of seriousness and calmness. She's registered Chouko's normal face as... a friend, someone who wants to protect Shortcake, the one who calls her Shortcake. Shouko, even.

On the other side, Shortcake sees a face shrouded in darkness, with only her eye visible. This particular eye is deranged. It stares with pure hostility and hatred, its bright red contrasting with the pure shroud around it.

"Don't ruin the moment..." the girl whispers, maliciously grinning as the knife turns left. The right side dominates, and the office disappears into darkness once more. All Shortcake detects are the two red eyes.

Chouko's face and body become nothing more than a shadow with a bright red gaze, darkness and despair in its entirety, something... inhuman.

It crosses her mind that, if all of this is a memory, if this is the same visual darkness underneath Chouko's home, if this is the same place that Little Chouko hides away in...

... Is this Kuroiwa?

Shortcake gulps for a moment. This is Kuroiwa. This is the monster. This is the scary monster that Chouko calls herself. Shortcake faces the monster of shadows... the one that tore Shortcake away from the child when a certain song began playing on the piano.

"Chouko—" Shortcake nervously speaks up, staring forward at the red eyes.

In the next moment, the knife reappears, with the tip pointed straight at Shortcake's neck. It comes extremely close to her silicone skin, freezing in place.

For a while, the two are locked in this position. Unlike the others, Kuroiwa does not laugh at Shortcake. The maniacal laugh does not echo out between these two. Instead, it's all somber silence. The blood-scented air lingers between the two for quite some time.

The red eyes, the ones that belong to Kuroiwa, stare coldly at Shortcake for quite some time, before... closing.

Shortcake feels herself breathing heavily as the eyes disappear, as the knife slowly moves away from her neck. Fear lingers in her body, in her processors, as she watches this knife. "H-Huh...?"

"You're very lucky. I have no reason to do anything to you," the monster tells Shortcake, starting to walk away. "In a moment, I'm going to wake up. You and I are going to leave this storage unit... together."

"Together...?" Shortcake asks.

"Yes. We have our chance, now," Kuroiwa speaks up. "They're immobilized. We can leave all this behind. We can go far away, and eat those sweets you love so much."

Shortcake is nervously breathing as she's being told all this. Hearing "sweets" is enough to make her fake eyes sparkle and her dry mouth "water". This is the moment she's been waiting for, the moment that Chouko's been waiting for, the moment when the two of them are safe and can slip away.

"Prepare yourself, android..." Kuroiwa mumbles, pulling the knife away. "We're leaving at any second now..."

The presence starts to fade, and Shortcake is being brought out of this dark abyss.

... but the android can't accept this. "W-Wait! Uhm... K-Kuroiwa!" Shortcake exclaims.

Kuroiwa pauses and turns back to Shortcake. One eye opens, and it glares in confusion at Shortcake.

Shortcake tensely stares forward at this eye. "Chouko can't leave yet. Chouko needs the doctor to save her life... or she'll die."

Kuroiwa slowly turns back to Shortcake. "She's lasted this long already," the voice calmly speaks. "The blood transfusion is not necessary. What is a few drops of blood to freedom and safety, Android...?"

"B-But... even then, where are we going to go?" Shortcake asks further. "C-Chouko and I don't have anywhere to go. We don't know where we're going. All of this started when we stopped to have some food. Chouko herself believes we're going to die, no matter where we go in this country..."

The red eyes coldly stare at Shortcake, slowly walking back to Shortcake. "What are you insinuating?"

"John and Yumi are... good people," Shortcake tells the monster. "They... They're protecting us. We're safe with them, Kuroiwa. We shouldn't just leave them here, we—"

"These individuals are not protectors, they are... enemies. They cannot be trusted. Their objectives are to take my head, and nothing more."

"N-No, that's not true..." Shortcake responds, holding her hands together.

"It's entirely true. They only want my death, and you wish to defend them?"

"... Y-Yes," Shortcake answers. "John and Yumi are... good people. I think we should let them come with us. I think we should take them with us, Kuroiwa... and—"

Immediately, the knife rushes back to Shortcake's neck, the tip of the blade an inch away from the android's silicone neck. The monster spares no effort in threatening Shortcake, trying to instill a sense of fear into the android as an intimidation tactic.

"I... I'm not... I'm not scared of... you..." Shortcake mumbles, pure yellow flashing over her eyes as she feels the knife press against her neck.

"Why not?"

"B-Because, I..." Shortcake begins to answer and mumble, scrambling through her processors for an answer.

Up until now, "Kuroiwa" has just been a name to Shortcake. On this last day, Shortcake has been exposed to so much information. Her AI crosses between different tokens, traversing through different branches and several possibilities, uncertain what to say in particular to this individual.

Shortcake thinks heavily on what she wants to say, what she should say to Kuroiwa, what...

...

"... I know what you're like when you have nothing," Shortcake eventually answers.

The tip of the knife remains close to Shortcake's throat. The figure keeps a tight grip on the weapon, its red eyes slowly moving to the side of the android's head.

"Elaborate..."

"... I've seen it," Shortcake hesitantly mumbles, staring Kuroiwa down. "I've seen what you are when you've lost everything."

Right before the two, a thought appears in thin air. A visual recreation, a memory, of the motel room. The two are presented with the sight of Chouko, lying on one of the beds with a bloody shoulder. The woman is crying.

Shortcake stares forward, closing her eyes and speaking. "Kuroiwa, you're nothing more than... the dream of a little girl who fears everyone and everything around her. You're the reason Chouko can't understand life."

"Is that so?"

"Yes... I know you're just the excuse. You've been tormenting Chouko for... years," Shortcake says, her voice shaking and trembling. "Whenever she gets to be herself, you come out and remind her of what she's lost. You protect her from everything, leaving her with nothing. Chouko cannot enjoy the taste of cakes. Chouko cannot sleep peacefully without living nightmares. Chouko cannot feel peace, with you looming over her body..."

Kuroiwa's gaze remains as bright and red as ever. The tip of the knife pushes forward, beginning to stab into Shortcake's neck.

Shortcake briefly feels herself gasping and wincing in pain, but... it's... not real. She didn't get stabbed in the throat. All of it is fake. All of this is in Chouko's mind.

So, Shortcake continues. "Do you... Do you take joy in what you do? Do you like it when Chouko cries? Do you like it when Chouko gets mad? Do you like it when Chouko can't live a single second without feeling the despair that comes with your name?"

Kuroiwa pushes the knife further, soullessly pushing the knife deeper and deeper into Shortcake's neck.

"I... I don't want Chouko to suffer anymore..." Shortcake weakly tells Kuroiwa. "I don't want Chouko to live this way anymore. She deserves happiness. She deserves to be free. She deserves to live. If it means that we have to trust our enemies, to trust these people who give us fear, then you don't have to be alone. You never needed to be alone..."

The only response Kuroiwa gives Shortcake is the feeling of the knife sinking deeper. It goes so far as to pierce through her neck, to come out the other side in gruesome fashion. The entity gives no other signs than this.

"... Chouko..." Shortcake mumbles out, the toll of having a knife in her neck starting to weigh on her processors. It's not real. It's not real. "Chouko doesn't need you. She doesn't need you to live. You're not... the... substitute she deserves. Just because you came after the death of her father, it doesn't mean you get to control her life—"

Promptly, the figure lets out a violent hiss, and Shortcake feels a foot slam against her back. Her body is kicked forward, stomped into the ground with a hard thud.

"DO NOT MENTION HIS NAME!" Kuroiwa violently screams, lifting her foot and stomping the android into the ground.

Shortcake begins hyperventilating as the knife goes handle-deep. She starts trying to push herself up, to continue making her case...

... only for the Stalker to immediately stomp down on the android's head.

"YOU DON'T GET TO TALK ABOUT HIM. YOU DON'T GET TO TALK ABOUT ME!" Kuroiwa screams, relentlessly kicking the android into the ground.

Shortcake trembles against the ground, feeling not just the Stalker's stomps... but the stomps of the other mercenaries. The ones that kicked her on the side of that highway, the ones that roughed her up and introduced her to her life as the...

"Worthless fucking machine!"

Kuroiwa continues to stomp Shortcake into the ground. "YOU DO NOT GET TO SAY WHAT I AM. YOU DO NOT GET A SAY IN WHAT HAPPINESS IS TO ME. YOU DO NOT GET TO CHOOSE WHEN I GET TO BE HAPPY, YOU WORTHLESS MACHINE!"

Shortcake feels her synthetic skin tear and peel off, as the metal and machinery underneath start to crack and shatter. Every stomp against her body feels... agonizing.

"CHOUKO ASHFORD CAN'T FEEL HAPPINESS, NOT ANYMORE!" Kuroiwa shouts. "HAPPINESS IS A LONG-FORGOTTEN MEMORY. HAPPINESS WAS THE LIFE HER FATHER GAVE HER. WITHOUT HIM, WITHOUT THIS MAN, WITHOUT THE MAN THAT THIS WORLD TOOK FROM ME, HAPPINESS IS..."

The voice tunes out as Shortcake loses grasp of her processors. The fear, the pain, the overwhelming terror Shortcake feels is echoing in her mind.

Desperately, Shortcake is repeating things to try to regain her composure. She repeats these sentiments to fuel the correct conclusions, to protect herself from this unyielding onslaught.

The Stalker's just trying to get at her weak spot.

The Stalker's just trying to exploit her trauma.

The Stalker's not real.

It's not real. It's not real. It's not real. It's not real. It's not real. It's not real. It's not real. It's not real... It's not real... It's...

...

"... It's not real..." Shortcake mumbles.

Kuroiwa forcibly grabs Shortcake by the back of the throat, starting to laugh. She knows what Shortcake's doing, trying to endure this onslaught. As long as it's not real, the android can endure this suffering for as long as it possibly can.

"Trying to get out of this?! Oh, android, android, android... the pain you feel... it's as real as—"

"Happiness is not real..." Shortcake interrupts, getting the words out with a tense look on her face. "... because of you..."