XCOM: Ranger

by Wanderer D

Chapter 105: Id

"This is not a memory?" Sunset asked, looking around the place.

"Oh, so you're the one that has been linked…" Aria sighed and went to sit down. "I thought—I hoped it would be…" she sighed again. "Doesn't matter." She studied Sunset for a moment. "So I see I was wrong… you are  one of us…"

"I'm not a siren," Sunset said, frowning at Aria.

"Hm. Not yet." She snorted. "Or maybe not a siren at all… but I can feel the connection to you, so you are sort of like us, little sister."

Sunset stepped back. "Explain. Now."

Aria rolled her eyes. "What forbidden magic are you practicing?"

Sunset's eyes went wide. "What?"

"Are you really going to make me repeat myself? The magic. What type of forbidden magic are you using? All of us monsters used it at one point or another."

"I'm nothing like you!"

"Yet." Aria hummed. "I've felt you before… when I was on a rampage, I assume. It's hard to keep track."

Sunset gave her a wary look. "So you're going to tell me you're not the assassin and that the assassin is just a shell from which I should rescue you?"

Aria bellowed out an honest to goodness guffaw. "What? No. I definitely am the Assassin. I'll be honest, I was expecting bigger boobs from the exchange, along with the taller body, and maybe less teeth, but it didn't happen. Ah well, que sera, sera, right?"

"Are you… I met another of you, she wasn't… like this."

"Another me?" Aria blinked, then shrugged. "A phony. Or, possibly an entirely different being. I seem to recall another recent link to myself but… not me."

"Still!" Sunset shouted. "You're here! Annette is out there, fighting the assassin, if we could—"

"What?" Aria asked, giving Sunset a deadpan look. "Bring 'me' out? Replace my personality? What do you think will happen? I'll suddenly be your buddy? Join your ill-fated crew and go fight the elders? I've been a monster for centuries… what's your name?"

"...Sunset."

"Sunset. Centuries of lust for hate and mayhem. For death and destruction. For blood and glory... Just because I seem rational here, right now, doesn't mean I'll turn around a new leaf the moment you presumably did this."

"Don't you want to go back to who you were?"

Aria scoffed. "By the elders, you truly are naive." She rubbed her temple. "I'm the assassin. There aren't two of us. I'm her. I keep her regrets at bay, at the most, whatever I was before—whatever I could have been—has been given freely to the magic that corrupted me and my sisters. Just like it will inevitably happen to you."

"I'm not a monster!"

"You aren't?" Aria asked, tilting her head with a small smile. "Really? You haven't… say, transformed? You haven't met your inner-self? The real you that doesn't hide behind masks of generosity, laughter or friendship?"

"I—"

"You don't pretend to be kind? Can you even be honest with yourself at all anymore? Tell me… what magic is it?!" Aria demanded.

"I—"

"Come on… share. What magic did you use? What foul, delicious, sensual, soul-transforming, mind-liberating, power-seeking misfortune did you gloriously bring out to devour the simple, unwitting mortals that think you actually care?"

"Blood…"

Aria laughed. "Oh, this is rich. Tell me, Blood Witch. When you get covered in it… and you know you do get covered in it often, don't you… tell me, how does it feel?" she leaned forth, licking Sunset's cheek. "What does it taste like? Does it make you feel… hmmm…" she shuddered, wrapping her arms around herself with a smile, looking at Sunset through half-lidded eyes.

"That's not me! I wouldn't—"

"If you kill me," Aria whispered, walking around Sunset and hugging her from behind, letting her hands roam the other girl's body, and making her shudder, "take this gem. It's made from forbidden magic too. One day, you'll know what to do with it. For now…"

She spun Sunset around, surprising the ranger as she locked lips with her, pulling her into a sensual embrace. Just as Sunset felt her knees go weak and her arms come up as well, Aria broke the kiss, pushing her away with one hand and a flirty smile on her face.

Sunset could still taste her lips though.

Aria smirked. "See you in battle."

"Gah!" Sunset snarled, backpedalling and falling on her back.

"Hiss…" Angel said, slithering closer to help Sunset up.
"I-I'll be okay… today's not a good day for my sanity…" she shook her head. "Where are the others?" she asked, noticing the absence of her team.

"Hiss!"

Sunset groaned, "Dammit… I think the visions are done. Come on!"

The pair moved as fast as they could into the next area; a large room full of screens and computers, where Annette, Jane, Laetitia and Elena were just finishing off the last trooper.

Six bodies lay strewn around, three belonging to vipers.

Angel hissed softly and went to their bodies, looking down at them in contemplation, Jane gave Sunset a thumbs up and went over to talk to the viper, while the other walked up to Sunset.
"Well, well, look who's up."

Sunset gave Annette a slight glare. "That should be the last of it happening… I'm glad you guys could take care of business over here without my assistance."

Annette snorted. "It's said that Sunset Shimmer once took a whole downed UFO by herself," she gave Sunset a shrug. "If I and four others can't handle some ADVENT troops while mini-her is out for the count, we're not worthy of calling ourselves XCOM."

"Ouch. And also, that sounds like quite an achievement," Sunset said dubiously, "as fantastic as Sunny-One might've been, that sounds like a bit of an exaggeration."

"With our luck, you'll find out for sure somehow," Elena said.

"Yes, about that, you and I should have a talk about tempting fate."

"I told Sunset that if she ever went Lone Wolf like that again, she'd be stuck in the brig until the apocalypse." Chrysalis said on the comms.

Elena gave Sunset a smug look.

Jane and Angel joined them then, with the Viper looking less remorseful, and Sunset took advantage to glance around with her Blood Magic. "There's… no one organic in that direction. I guess as long as there's no MECs or Specters, we should be okay."

The group started walking towards the next room. Taking positions behind cover and around the door, Sunset gave the signal for Elena to open the door. Immediately, as it slid open, all weapons were trained on any possible enemy, but the room was empty, save for a slightly glowing platform atop a couple of smalls sets of stairs.

On either side of the platform, statues of the Elders flanked it, raising their hands to the heavens.

"I think… we found the place."

This appears to be an alien transport device of some kind," Tygan said.

"Looks like we found our way out of here," Bradford noted.

"Heading over," Sunset called in, as she an the others trotted up the stairs and onto the platform.

"Did you learn anything new about Aria?" Annette asked.

Sunset considered her last encounter. "Yeah. I think the other Aria was right after all… there's not much, if anything left. Let's not hesitate."

Annette smirked. "Never crossed my mind."