Cracked

"Who are you? How…how did you get here?" The woman asked her voice trembling as tears streamed down her cheeks as she floated towards Arthur, her hands reaching out to Arthur and put them on his cheeks.

"You're… You're real?" her voice faltered as she began to weep, "I'm-I'm not alone…" She cried, her voice filled with a mixture of happiness, excitement and sadness, "I'm not alone" she repeated wrapping her arms around a confused Arthur who wasn't able to get a word in before the woman began to cry into his shoulder.

Confused, Arthur wanted to push the woman off of him so he could speak to her, but after hearing her words he opted to instead lift his arms and began to gently hold the woman as she wept into his shoulder.

"I'm-I'm sorry" The woman said as she pulled away from Arthur, "It's just been so long since I've been able to touch someone… I've missed the feeling" she wiped her eyes, unable to stop the ceaseless stream of tears coming from them.

"It's alright, I was just confused for a moment" Arthur softly replied as he inspected the woman, she was young, in her early twenties, standing at about 5'9, just shorter than Arthur. Her skin was pale just as transparent as Arthur's but with a light orange tint to it. Her hair was neck length, with two bangs along either side of her face, her eyes a bright and deep orange. Her body was smooth, almost spotless, just like Arthur she too was clothe less within this empty expanse of orange, she was thin but lacked any discernable muscle, her hips moderate in size whilst her bust was a fair B cup.

The only flaw in her body being the innumerable spiderweb like cracks dotting half her body, as if she was a porcelain doll that had been dropped only to fracture but stay in one piece, ready to fall apart at any moment.

"Who are you? Where is this?" Arthur asked as he looked around the empty void squinting as he saw two lights in the distance before turning back to the woman who looked to be conflicted.

"I-I am… who am I? I-I don't remember, it's been so long, I can't seem to even recall the faces of my family…" She whimpered her body curling into a ball as she floated in the air as she wracked her brain for answers, "Amber? No… no, Cinder?... Alice? Rube…? Carmine…? I-I don't know anymore…" she cried, her eyes trembling as she began to pull on her hair, "Who am I?"

'Amnesia?' Arthur thought, soon moving himself next to the girl 'kneeling' next to her as he stopped her from searching through her memories as she became more and more panicked the more names she recited.

"It's alright, it's alright, why don't I give you one until we can figure out who you are?" He gently asked placing both his hands atop hers gently guiding her to let her hair go, gently guiding her hands down, keeping a hold of them so as to stop her from harming herself as he looked into her eyes, as she quickly pondered his offer giving him a quick nod after a few moments.

"How about… Ceres?" he softly asked, "It means to 'create', do you like making things?" he asked, letting the woman think for a moment.

"I… I think I do? I haven't been able to touch anything for-for… I don't know how long" she mumbled, "But I feel like my sister… I think she liked growing plants… I think I remember plucking apples off a tree she grew? But was that me?" she answered, her last words being a mumble once again, "Did, did I even have sisters?" she muttered her eyes once again trembling.

"Calm down, just breath, no need to remember, not now, give it time, I'm sure things will clear up eventually" Arthur said, doing his best to calm the woman down, "My names Arthur" He introduced himself.

"I-I guess I'm Ceres then…" She said, sniffing slightly as a small, weak smile formed on her face as she pulled her hands from Arthur's once again bring them over Arthur's face, "I'm really not imagining this…" she muttered, "Such beautiful eyes…" she mumbled looking into Arthur's eyes, her hands tracing down one of his arms, her fingers trailing in a spiral on his palm as she stared into the spinning whirlpool of black and white at the centre of it.

"Ceres…" Arthur said, "Where is this?" he softly asked.

"I… don't know" she replied, "I-I remembered everything going dark then I woke up in here, I've been here ever since then, I don't even know how many days it's been, maybe even years. This-this place is lonely, it scares me" She trembled, "Yet I can feel so much… No… I'm not the one 'feeling'…" she mumbled.

"Ever-ever since I woke up here I've seen so much, I've watched… lived?" she sounded confused, "I've seen so many 'lifes', experienced deaths, and yet I never die, I-I just start anew, but I'm never in control, I've seen so many faces I call 'me' that I forget who I am, what do I even look like?" she muttered, her hands once again trailing to her head, but were quickly caught by Arthur, calming her down slightly.

"They aren't me… yet they are? I think? I feel like a spectator forced to watch as someone else plays with my body, but it-it's not my body… it's someone else's" she struggled to comprehend her own words, "Every time I… they, die I feel like I shatter only to be put back together somewhere else, watching as someone else play with my… their body" she muttered, her body trembling as she curled over let out a scream of pain, "AHHHH!", the cracks across her body lighting up with a deep orange flame, that soon quickly disappeared just as fast as it appeared.

"Ceres!" Arthur quickly caught her as she keeled over, trembling as the pain began to subside.

"Why! Why does that keep happening! Why does she keep using it! It hurts… it hurts so much…" Ceres cried, her body trembling as she leant against Arthur, not wanting to lose the first support she had gained since her arrival in this prison of hers, "Why did she do this to me…"

"Ceres… what's going on?" Arthur asked, his mind hoping that his idea as to who Ceres actually was, was wrong.

"I hurts…" she continued saying, her nails digging into Arthur's skin as another wave of pain overcame her, causing her to once again scream in pain as the cracks on her body lit up with orange flames once again, the flames disappearing not long after, "Please just leave me alone…" she pleaded, not to Arthur but to whoever was causing her the pain.

After nearly ten minutes of weeping Ceres began to calm down, the flames having not returned since, "Please hold me…" she pleaded, her voice sounded muffled almost unnoticeable had they not been the only ones in the space.

Arthur gently wrapped his arms around Ceres, letting her curl up into a ball as she rested her head against his chest, hearing a small 'thu-thump' of Arthur's heart that calmed her down, her eyes shutting as she let the sound fill her mind and calm the pain that was slowly beginning to disappear.

"I remember being attacked… her being attacked… not me… but It-it felt like my body was being torn apart, yet I couldn't pass out… it hurt… it hurt so much, now I feel broken… my body…" she muttered lifting up her left hand where cracks covered her skin, "My body… my actual body is broken, I'm scared" she curled up into an even tighter ball, "I can feel her… she wants the rest of me " she whimpered.

"I forgot what pain was… I've watched people be hurt, I've watched the people whose bodies I look through scream as they died, yet I never felt it… It scares me, I feel like I'm dying every time she uses me" she shivered, her body quickly calming down as she continued feeling Arthur's warmth.

Arthur grit his teeth, but kept quiet, not wanting to disturb Ceres, silently vowing to himself that he'd find the woman who'd done this to her and somehow heal Ceres's broken body, maybe even save her from her prison.

"Don't go, please don't go!" Ceres begged, awakening Arthur from his thinking, realizing that his body was becoming even more translucent and ethereal, "I don't want to be alone anymore!" she begged, holding tightly onto him as he began to disappear, "Please…" she wept.

Arthur quickly wrapped his arms around Ceres, "I'll be back, I won't let you be alone, the woman who did this to you, I will find her and fix what she has done to you" he said giving her one last reassurance, and vowing he would find the culprit.

____________________________________________________

"Was that really necessary? I paid for those" Roman complained starring at the pile of hired thugs he'd bought the previous month, the pile steaming as many of the stacked thugs were covered in burn marks, while some were still smouldering.

"You can always get more, plus, it's not like I killed any, that'd just be a waste" Cinder said, smirking as she sat atop the stack of charred men.

"What do you want? I'm still busy getting you your dust, who knew robbing every store in vale would cause a dust shortage, it's quite baffling really, it's almost like someone's making my job harder… oh, wait" Torchwick sarcastically said, poking the forehead of one of the grunts at the bottom of the stack with his cane, getting a groan in response.

"Really, why did I waste my precious lien on you useless, good for nothing thugs, last time I skimp out on servants" Torchwick sighed, and began to walk away from the pile towards a crate where an ice-cream coloured girl was sitting atop it, her legs kicking as they hung over the edge of it, a parasoul resting on her shoulder, as she watched Cinder casually hop off the pile.

"Oh, nonono, I'm not here for the dust, well, I am, but I don't want it, at least not yet, you're doing such a good job, I just couldn't bear it to stop you" Cinder answered him, "No, I'm here because there's a large dust shipment coming from Atlas in the future, just want to make sure you're ready for it"

"Great, and let me guess, this 'dust shipment' has something to do with the little warship I saw casually flying over my head earlier?" he said leaning against the crate, his cane held under his arm as he pulled a cigar out of his coat and lit it.

"Oh, the small time robber has a brain and can connect dots, how wonderful, I'll be sure to up your pay" Cinder's sarcasm was palpable in the room, "But does it really matter?"

"Yes, yes it does, I am not stupid enough to go against the Atlas military for dust" Roman said.

"Oh, but dear, dear Roman, it's not just dust, there's also some really nice goodies in there just perfect for you, some prototype mech's are coming with the dust, I'm sure you can see how useful those would be"

Roman was quiet for a few moments before sighing, "Fine, but your paying for the new guys" he said as he turned away from Cinder beginning to walk out of the warehouse, "Let's go Neao, we've got planning to do!" he called causing Neo to hop off the container, gently gliding to th ground as she held her parasol overhead, before following after Roman.

"I'm sure I can figure something out" A smile formed on Cinder's face as she pulled out her scroll, "Emerald, tell me, how's the hunt for the boy going?"

********************************************************************

Alternate Chapter names: [Corn] [Cracked and Breaking] [Loneliness in a prison of orange]

____________________________________________________

Discord: discord.gg/dXvg8F3

Paypal: www.paypal.me/Lasarusofthelibrary

P,atreon: www.p,atreon.com/Lasarus