"You all..." Jade sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. It wasn't that he didn't appreciate their sentiment, but...
"Useless brat! Don't you know who I am?" Where Jade nearly always kept his temper under control, the Shadow had no such self-restraint. For a moment it looked downright deranged, advancing on Anise with the scalpel extended. "We'll see about 'dumb' when I have your stupid little brain on the cutting table--"
Jade immediately rushed to stand between Anise and the Shadow, pushing her behind him. A few seconds of silence that somehow felt like an eternity followed -- until at last the Shadow halted and broke into a low chuckle.
"...Well, that's fine. It doesn't really matter whether they believe in you or not, does it? It doesn't change the self you have so carefully kept locked away." It grinned. "The nasty little boy who liked to cut up animals just to see how they worked. The selfish student whose arrogance took the life of his mentor. Poor Professor Nebilim..."
Jade's jaw clenched but he said nothing. He could see where this was heading and there was no preventing it. The Shadow started pacing back and forth, purple eyes fixated on him, like a predator circling its soon-to-be victim.
"The genius scientist who tried to bring back the dead... no matter what the cost. How many replicas did we make over the years? How many did we throw away...?" The Shadow's grin widened when it saw Jade tense. "It was for the best, really. They would have led a short, painful existence anyway. Remember the ones that came apart before we could mercy-kill them? It was always so... messy."
"You are telling me nothing I didn't already know." Jade's voice had grown very quiet. The memories of those days were all to clear. The reason why he had eventually abandoned scientific research in favor of the military...
no subject
"Useless brat! Don't you know who I am?" Where Jade nearly always kept his temper under control, the Shadow had no such self-restraint. For a moment it looked downright deranged, advancing on Anise with the scalpel extended. "We'll see about 'dumb' when I have your stupid little brain on the cutting table--"
Jade immediately rushed to stand between Anise and the Shadow, pushing her behind him. A few seconds of silence that somehow felt like an eternity followed -- until at last the Shadow halted and broke into a low chuckle.
"...Well, that's fine. It doesn't really matter whether they believe in you or not, does it? It doesn't change the self you have so carefully kept locked away." It grinned. "The nasty little boy who liked to cut up animals just to see how they worked. The selfish student whose arrogance took the life of his mentor. Poor Professor Nebilim..."
Jade's jaw clenched but he said nothing. He could see where this was heading and there was no preventing it. The Shadow started pacing back and forth, purple eyes fixated on him, like a predator circling its soon-to-be victim.
"The genius scientist who tried to bring back the dead... no matter what the cost. How many replicas did we make over the years? How many did we throw away...?" The Shadow's grin widened when it saw Jade tense. "It was for the best, really. They would have led a short, painful existence anyway. Remember the ones that came apart before we could mercy-kill them? It was always so... messy."
"You are telling me nothing I didn't already know." Jade's voice had grown very quiet. The memories of those days were all to clear. The reason why he had eventually abandoned scientific research in favor of the military...