Twisted Destiny

After breakfast Nikki and Sam quite quickly have to leave because the appearance of Gamma had made time fly by faster than expected. And I really didn’t want my girlfriend to be too late for classes. So after a nice goodbye kiss, Sam leaves the building together with Nikki. 

“Alright, miss purple tornado, what’s the plan?” My sister asks Gamma who is using some kind of screwdriver on the helmet I’d seen earlier. 

“Just a couple of tweaks. Give me a second.” Gamma keeps working on the helmet and then using another tool on the watch while my sister and I look at her. It takes her two minutes before she nods happily and looks up at the both of us. “Alright, now I’m ready.” 

“Rewind a bit. I’ll ask my question again. What’s the plan?” 

“Right.” Gamma took the helmet in her hands and shows it to us. “This helmet has the possibility of simulating and showing life-like events to someone’s unconsciousness.” She explains and puts down the helmet, taking up the watch next. “While this watch can, to a certain degree, measure what level of emotion is going through a subject.” She then puts down the watch. “So the plan, in short. Is to have  Amicia put on the helmet, simulate a ton of different situations, measure her emotional response, see at what point she transforms and then calibrate the watch so that you can clearly tell when you are about to get in the danger-zone when it comes to your transformation threshold.” 

“Wait, you are going to put my sister through possibly traumatic experiences to do this? Or am I misunderstanding something.” 

“No, it’s purely as a subconscious level. It’s hard to explain but for her it’ll just feel like she’s sleeping while possibly feeling some emotion, but normally she should not see anything herself.” 

“But you said she’d see images?” 

“No, I said it’d simulate life-like events.” 

“Isn’t that the same?” 

“No.” 

My sister scratches her cheek. “And you don’t care to explain how?” 

“I can go technical but I doubt you’d understand it. What I already told you was a very dumbed down version…” 

The glare on my sister’s face clearly tells that Lise does not like that answer, at all. She takes a deep breath. “Okay… But you can guarantee it’s safe?” 

“For 99.99%, yes.” Gamma nods. “Her body should also not be able to act, the only thing it should be able to do is breathe and change forms.” 

While her mentioning the breathing part does sound quite ominous, I walk up to my sister and give her a hug. “I think it’ll be fine, sis. We really need to do this.”

“Are you sure?” She puts her hand on my head and looks down at me. “We can always try to find another way.” 

“No, I trust Gamma. She might be clumsy with her words, but I do not doubt her competence.” 

“Hmmm.” Lise looks at Gamma. “Alright, but if I can see it’s hurting you then I’m pulling the plug out of this thing.” 

“Okay.” I smile at my big sister. 

“It does not have a plug, but I agree with that compromise.” Gamma nods. “I don’t want your sister to get hurt either. I actually do like her quite a bit.” 

That it least seems like it convinces my sister enough to go through with the plan, so I give her one final squeeze and then let go of her. 

 

“Alright, just lay down on the floor. Face down.” Gamma pulls a pillow and a blanket out of her pocket dimension and puts it on the floor. 

“She can lay down in the sofa.” 

“Do you want your sofa fucked by her armor?” 

Lise looks at the sofa and then looks back at Gamma. “Okay, maybe not then.” 

“It’s a good quality blanket, she won’t be cold.” 

“Hello, I’m standing right here.” I tilt my head. They can talk to me directly, you know. 

“Yes, that’s the issue, could you please lay down.” 

“Right…” I do what Gamma asks and lay down on the blanket she has spread on the floor. It’s actually pretty soft and plenty warm enough to feel comfy. Same goes for the pillow. but when I lay down, in front of me I can see Pocky and Mocchi peak in by the doorway that leads into the hallway. They must’ve finally been brave enough to look what all the ruckus is about. “Oh, hey there, kitties.” I smile. “Don’t worry, I will be fine. You can go back to my room.” 

Gamma looks at our cats too. “She’ll be fine, I promise.”

Both of them reply to Gamma and me with a meow and then head back into the hallway. 

“When we are finished I do still have a question or two about how you are able to communicate with cats though.” My sister stares at the door opening. “If you want to amuse me, that is.” 

“Mhmm, it’s actually a pretty interesting subject, so I understand your curiosity.” Gamma nods. “But first things first.” Gamma crouches down next to me. “I’ll put the helmet on. You won’t fall asleep just yet, after I put the watch around your wrist I’ll give you a countdown. Have you ever been to a hospital to undergo an operation?” 

“No, not really.” I shake my head. 

“Ah, it feels a bit like the narcose kicking in…” 

“I know what she means, Ami. It’s nothing to be afraid of.” 

“You’ve been operated on?” I ask. 

“I’ll tell you after you are awake again, it was nothing serious.” 

“Oh… okay.” Gamma puts the helmet on my head, it has this blackened visor so I can’t really see in front of me anymore. It does however, fit pretty snugly on top of my head and it feels like it is accommodating for my ears too. 

“Alright, and now the watch.” I feel Gamma grab hold of my wrist as she gently puts the watch on. The faceplate is on the underside of my arm, probably so that she can monitor it better. 

Not going to lie, now that it’s about to happen, it is making me somewhat nervous. 

 

“I’m right next to you, Ami. I’m here.” My facial expression must be clear for my sister to see as she almost immediately tries to put me at ease again. She then holds my hand for a couple of seconds. “I’ve got your back.” 

“Hmm, I know.” My nervousness doesn’t go away entirely, but my sister’s presence does help. 

“Okay, Amicia, I’m going to start counting down. Are you ready,” 

“Yeah.” I nod. “I’m ready.” 

“Alright. Ten… Nine… Eight…” Gamma continues to count down, around the time she hits two I start feeling really sleepy. So sleepy that I can only barely can hear her count to one. And after that… Not much. 

It’s weird, it feels like I’m dreaming, but then again, it does not. My mind feels like it’s in a realm of its own. Terribly strange. What I can feel is a sudden rush of emotions, going from incredibly angry to extremely sad in the matter of a second. Back to overwhelming joy and then to utter confusion. I can’t tell how much time passes or how many times I revisit certain emotions, I can just tell that it happens a lot. 

Until finally I can feel my senses come back to me, my sister’s warm hand squeezes and rubs my own. The helmet is no longer on top of my head. 

“Hey there.” My sister’s voice makes me open my eyes. Slowly. Because I still feel pretty drowsy. “Take it easy, okay?” 

“D-did it go well?” I can see the contours of my two kitties walking behind my sister, peaking at me. 

“I think so.” My sister replies. 

“The tests went great.” I hear Gamma’s voice coming from behind me. “Better than expected actually. Your armor didn’t even rip up my blankets.” 

“How long… did the tests go on for?” I try to get up but my sister keeps me down with her other hand pressed on my back. 

“Three hours or so. It’s best that you keep laying down for a bit longer.” 

“The helmet fucks with your coordination quite a bit.” Gamma explains. “You should be back to normal in a minute or two.” 

“Oh… alright.” I look at my arm and notice that I’m not wearing the watch anymore. 

“As for the watch,” Gamma says, as if she was reading my mind. “I’ll give it back to you after I’m done calibrating it, it shouldn’t take more than fifteen minutes. Tops.” 

“Okay…” 

My sister tilts her head more into my view and smiles. “Apart from the drowsiness, how do you feel?” 

“I don’t feel much, to be honest. If at all.” I reply. “While I was sleeping I did feel really weird though. So many emotions…” 

“Feel a bit emotionally drained then?” 

“Hmmm.” I scratch my cheek. “I guess you could describe it as such, yes.” 

“That’s also normal.” Gamma says. “Probably will fix itself in a couple of minutes as well. Just tell me if you start crying really badly for no reason, that’s not normal but could be a side-effect.” 

My sister grits her teeth when she hears that. 

-That’s not exactly reassuring, is it?-