Alexia's Dome

"You're still trying to summon that damn thing?" Illya turned her head over to Alexia, who had her hands clasped with a dome enlarging around her.

"I don't want you to escape," Alexia told her.

I slowly watched as the lattice pattern behind the dome claimed the land in its entirety and trapped everybody within. Ali was able to split the dome in half, from what Eo explained to us, and I had the fear that Illya would be able to as well...

"Fighting aside, you owe us a long conversation, Illya," Alexia muttered again while expanding the dome even more.

"Do I? I don't think I owe you anything." Illya shortly responded.

"You stole our friend from us. Eo was one of us, just like you were. If you were to die from Eo and we didn't know how evil you truly were, we would be sad, just as we are now. You killed Shike, you killed Eo, you've taken almost everything we used to have... and I just want to know, why? Why did you keep us alive for so long, if you just planned on killing us?" Alexia asked her.

The fighting came to a standstill as Illya swung her sabers around while answering the plethora of Alexia's questions.

"I guess I can tell you everything. I know how scary I am, and standing against me takes guts. I'll reward you for that, and give you the satisfaction you desire before I kill you. Now... you want to know why I took everything from you?" Illya let her saber's edge fall to the floor and scraped it along the ground, cutting it a little bit as she looked up to think about her answer.

"At the same time you raise an animal, you have the power to take everything away from it as well. You could raise an animal to defend you, but one day, you leave it alone with your family, and it kills everything. Bite marks on the bodies, rotting corpses that have been left out in the sun to stink up the atmosphere and blind your vision and rational thought, and you have three choices. Let the dog eat you, kill it, or ignore it." Illya said. She finally looked back down and back at Alexia.

"If I ignore you, your rage will boil and you will hunt me. I won't have a break. I raised you animals, and I will kill you before you eat me." She said.

"Don't you think if you did a better job raising us, we wouldn't have turned on you?" I asked Illya. I wasn't thinking but seemed interested in my point.

"I'm saying... in a world where we're raised to die, why wouldn't you get more use out of us? Why wouldn't you train us to be your servants, your secretaries, your slaves? What's the point of spending that much time just to kill us? It seems kind of... pointless if you ask me." I told Illya.

"You're still not sentient, are you? I know about your Insanity, and how half-assed it was compared to Sky's Wrath. You're easy to push into Insanity because there's nothing in your brain. You just recently realized you're human, and you have the mental capacity of a young toddler. Just one simple thought can spiral you into despair and turn you into an animal. The reason I can't push any use out of you is that you're simply not intelligent enough to be worth anything to me." Illya told me.

That felt... blunt...

"You killed Shike because he was dangerous to you, wasn't he?" Mitra chipped in. Illya smiled at me before turning her head to slightly looking at Mitra.

"What gave it away?" Illya muttered.

"You said it yourself. You kept us alive because we're ignorant, apparently, but you killed Shike over anybody else, especially when he was the closest to Sky. You could've killed Myth, Belle, or me... but you chose Shike instead. He was smarter, he was stronger... he could've fought you, couldn't he have?" Mitra asked her.

"I guess that's one way to put it. Yes, Shike Asterio has a power he never used that could've weakened me a lot. And it's exactly what Eo used against me. Shike's Incarnation is the ability to shift kinetic energy through bodies and expel it wherever he wishes. If he were alive and here now, he could've blown my head up like a balloon animal and I would be dead before I could prepare for it. He's troublesome, but you five are too stupid to use your abilities as effectively as he could." Illya said.

It seemed that at that moment, a million thoughts ran through my head.

That's right...

I've never really considered my own sentience.

It's been fight after fight since I woke up, and I can't use my ability in a way to beat Illya.

I'm under her.

In every aspect of the word.

She's smarter, she's faster, she's stronger. Illya is a being who will always be over me. I can't comprehend this scenario, I don't have a personality, I'm an empty shell. I'm worth nothing, in her eyes.

But all I can remember is what Dani told me.

Dani told me my life meant something.

Above all else, above the oppression I feel from Illya... it means something to her, if not anybody else. I'll always have Alexia, Boo, Mitra, and Myth as well... even if we perish here, I know they care about me and I matter to them. That's the strength I need.

That's all I need.

Come on Belle... what can you do to fight Illya?

She can be weakened. It's possible, Eo did it. There's a chance, even if a slim one, there is still a chance. Dani isn't here yet, we have to get her back here, and dying right now would make my life pointless.

People are counting on you, Belle. You have to try everything...

Everything...

How do I activate my SIM?