Flames from twisted memory returned. The mouths of scorched corpses chattered. They cried in one unanimous wail, “Help me!”, “It burns!”, “Save us!”, and the most harrowing of all: “They’re coming for you!”

Fear and death perfumed the air. On the wind arrived the smell of smoke and misery. The weight of it all threw Res to her knees as the petals beneath sizzled. An unbearable heat came in all directions as Stella desperately tried to bring Res onto her feet.

“Res! We have to go! Please!” Stella’s words mimicked the ones that were spoken on that very day, further plunging Res into despair.

She could see clearly now. Within the darkness and behind her palm, she could see the outlines of crumbling homes. All was set alight as the blood spilled from the Stuffed Teddy Bear fueled the flames. It loomed within the fire, roaming the village in search of her.

“RES!” Stella’s yell snapped her back to reality as she hesitantly followed Stella, keeping her tail wrapped around the girl. “Can you see anything!?”

“I can’t! It’s gone! My eyes are gone!” Res uttered, refusing to even attempt to try to pry her eyes open. “I never should’ve broken the Filters! Stella! Just leave me and go! This is all my fault!”

“Go where!? Where am I supposed to run to!? It’s safest next to you!” Stella was no idiot to go running off on her own in uncharted territory, especially not when they were surrounded by flames. “Res! Please! Stop blaming yourself!”

The flames grew wilder by the second. They were now immersed in the screams as the sound of drawn blades could be heard, followed by the hacking of limbs. A smokestack rose from the center of the village that replaced the flower fields. The red dahlias they once trampled on were now the innards of family and friends.

Amongst them was a consistency similar to thread. Attached to their bodies and rising into the skies was a black string. It was one of the powers of the Stuffed Teddy Bear, which syphoned the innards of its victims shortly after strangulation and mutilation, stuffing into a woven plush toy.

“Then how do you explain the Stuffed Teddy Bear!? It’s all because of me that this happened! The inquisition from the 13th Order! Their deaths… all of it is my fault!” Res lamented. The bereaved Moon wept, but she didn’t allow herself to seize up again.

The fear kept her moving. But the chains of the past prevented her from breaking free. It took every ounce of her willpower to push forward. Suddenly, her folded ears twitched.

“What are you talking about –!?”

Before Stella could answer, Res’ combat instincts took over. She pulled the girl aside with enough force to shatter bone had she not used her tail. She threw her hand up defensively to block an incoming blade.

A dull thud rang upon impact. The sharpened steel could not even take a single hair from her arm. She simply flicked her hand up, throwing the blade back to its owner. Their wrists contorted as the sound of scrunching metal confirmed their death, followed by a hideous thud.

“The 5th Order. It’s them again. Again and again. As if the Stuffed Teddy Bear wasn’t enough, they sent in a perfectly timed assault on us.” Res trembled again, her hand that caressed her eyes smearing blood across her face.

Something had snapped inside of her.

“I let them die. They all died because of me.” Her sense of hearing was enhanced by her lack of sight. Additionally, as a Demi-Human, it was only natural for her to be able to fight with her eyes closed, especially against such a weak enemy.

“They came to claim me. They took my eyes instead. I was born so they could take my eyes. How funny is that? How cruel and twisted is all of this, Stella?” One by one, Res tore the fully armored men apart with her bare hands.

She did not revel in their death. She could only lament that she did not possess such strength in the past. She hallucinated the younger her who cowered in the corner of a room, wrapped in cloth made from her mother’s fuzzy coat.

“My eyes were the ‘jewels’ everyone was talking about. When they found out that Ber wasn’t me, they took off her hands!” She plucked the hand from one before shoving it down their throat, and out of their back.

Using his spine, she wrang the man that was twice her side like an oversized club, smashing him into other fellow soldiers as Stella remained tightly wrapped in her tail.

Just like the Res of the past.

“When they found out that Cer wasn’t me, they ripped out her jaw!” She did the same to another, her hands messily roaming through the visor of one.

The metal was molded like putty, giving way without resistance as she pried their jaw clean, clubbing it into their face until nothing but metal scrap remained, arranged like a blossoming, crimson flower.

“We’re triplets! What was so different about me!? Why did they want my eyes!? I’ve hated them ever since! Because all I’ve seen is nothing but red misery!” She howled, her hair beginning to float as an electric charge emanated from her body.

But this time, it wasn’t blue. In fact, it didn’t seem to have a color. Amongst the screams Res could hear a faint ticking. She dragged Stella along as she immersed herself in the carnage, imagining a past that played out differently.

“I was jealous of Ber! The Stuffed Teddy Bear came to life because of it! If I never wished to get it back, then none of us would have died!” Her screams rivalled those of the executed.

The silhouette of the Stuffed Teddy Bear could be seen roaming behind the towering flames again. It lumbered towards her. The creature itself was unnaturally fast for its size, but when it noticed Res, it slowed down to a crawl.

She couldn’t sense it at all.

“Res…” Stella could only whisper as she listened to her vent.

“A Corrupted formed before our very eyes! All because of me! Ber nearly died when she stumbled into the slaughtered dorms! And mother….!” Suddenly, as the Stuffed Teddy Bear emerged from the flames, its body transformed into a woman.

“… Was the only one who could hold it back! If it weren’t for me – then my mom wouldn’t have had to die!” Res screamed as the woman watched it all unfold. She carried a blue blade similar to those found on CogitO’s upper management.

But she was not a member of CogitO. Her eyes were shielded by her long, tangled hair. Her ears were longer than any wolf’s, appearing like the fins of a shark.

“’It’s not your fault’. ‘Don’t blame yourself’. ‘You’re innocent’. ‘You’re just a child’. Shut up! SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UUUUUUUUP!” The fighting subsided. All that remained was the heat. Res was on the brink of losing her mind as black tears tumbled down her cheeks.

“Why won’t anyone blame me!? My sins can’t be absolved by just forgiveness! All this harrowing guilt’s bored into me! It’s wormed into me at every passing day! Every night’s been spent wondering when the next tragedy’s going to strike because of me!”

She vented further, and when it seemed like she’d break, she stopped herself mid-shout when Stella grasped onto the sleeve of her suit.

“You have to pull yourself together first! Something is happening to you! This is what happened to my friends before they transformed!”

Res froze.

She was right. If she continued any further, then she’d Corrupt. She could feel the sails of her mind being caught by the tempest. A sudden clearing in the storm allowed her to briefly recollect her thoughts as the black tears returned to normal.

The ticking subsided, as if it wasn’t here to begin with.

Smoke was replaced with the scent of dahlias again.

The heat also subsided. It all slowly began to fade away as her mind cleared up.

“You’re right… I’d be a burden again. And they’ll get hurt because of me. I do… I have to change it.” Her voice was inaudible but to herself.

It was as if she was speaking to someone else.