a snakelet's rattle: the vow of a Machine - 908 words

Icarus could feel the world spinning around him as he slowly regained consciousness. The hum of the machine next to the bed reached his ears. The wyfex tried to turn his head to see the source of the sound, but something attached to the base of his cranium prevented the movement.

The wyfex got up to a sitting position, and placed his feet to the ground over the bed's edge. He inspected the machine the thick napecord ran into. Seemed like a converter of some kind. Icarus felt the cable's connection point on his neck, and ran his fingers down its length for a bit. Perhaps it was for the best to not remove it yet - it was long enough to move around with, after all. The wyfex removed the IV needle from the back of his hand, and stood up.

 

"How long was I out for?"

 

The sudden voice behind them made Karmen almost jump. They placed the half-filled syringe in their hand on the countertop, their hands shaking for a passing moment.

"Around three days," they answered the question, and wiped their hands on a towel next to the neat row of filled syringes. The small glass vessels were filled with a liquid that was bright, ultramarine blue in color. Icarus' fake eyes narrowed. He crossed his arms and leaned against the bedroom's door frame.

"You don't sound too worried," he wondered out loud, with the thinnest rim of spite in his voice. Karmen replied with silence, as they kept organizing the used, half-used, and unused FexHancer equipment. Icarus let out a scoff.

"Any idea when I can get this thing off my socket? I'd like to get that bitch sorted out as soon as-"

"Shut up."

Icarus almost froze as he was interrupted. He watched his mate's back, puzzled.

"What do you mean shut up? I have all the rights to get back at her with a piece of my m-"

Karmen interrupted him again as they punched the countertop with their fist. The glass vials and syringes jingled against each other. The bright-maned wyfex turned around.

 

"SHUT UP!"

 

Icarus winced, the arms crossed at his chest loosening. Karmen's voice was broken - furious - grief-ridden - its highest peaks distorting into loud static.

"Can't you see? You almost died!" The long-maned wyfex pleaded their mate to have some common sense. The whole frame of Icarus radiated confusion, worry, and fear. But not fear of the woman he had faced - it was of Karmen.

"She would've killed you if it wasn't for Arcus!" Karmen continued, their voice wavering and cracking, "we're not at home anymore, Blackbird! You can't just go around willy-nilly, taking off heads as you please. There are things, beings, people mightier than our cursed gods combined!" The long-maned wyfex pointed their index finger at Icarus.

"You're just an egg of the viper you came from - roll too close to the lake, and you'll drown."

 

Icarus huffed and turned his fake eyes away. He didn't know how to respond. He couldn't be that weak, could he? He was near almighty against humans and their armies - it couldn't be that different in other worlds. Icarus shook his head and sighed.

"I'd rather go down trying than not having tried at a-"

"No!" Karmen spoke over him once more, "this isn't just about you, Icarus! You know how much there's at stake with that lawsuit. We'll never get the rights of people without it! Losing someone extraordinarily different like you can make all the difference between a win and a loss!"

 

The masked wyfex shook his head slowly.

"I think you're going to do just fine without me," he said with a scoff.

 

Karmen let out a frustrated growl that was on the verge of turning into a roar. They swept the partially empty boxes of bright blue cellular reconstruction enhancer off the kitchen table in anger. Some vials survived in one piece, but many hit the wall or uncarpeted floor, and broke. Icarus took half a step back, his frame tensing from terror. FexHancer was expensive, and highly sought after. Karmen's behavior didn't make sense.

 

But none of it made sense. It was all new, and terrifying for both of them. Karmen had had the luxury of not witnessing their mate at death's door, until now - and Icarus had never seen Karmen angry before.

 

"What makes it so difficult for you to listen? To understand?" The bright-maned wyfex gestured lively and frigidly with their hands as they spoke, stepping closer to Icarus with every other word.

"What would you feel like if you lost me, Blackbird? Tell me!"

 

Icarus didn't answer. Karmen's fuming rage petrified him in place as they approached him. They grabbed him from the front of his unzipped, sleeveless hoodie with both hands.

"Now think how I'd feel, if I lost you," Karmen spit, their voice imitating the tone of speaking through grit teeth, broken from frustration and grief.

 

Icarus had nothing. He tried to come up with something to say, but his mind ran blank. His ears drooped. Icarus inhaled sharply, his simulated breathing shivering. He buried his face into Karmen's chest, and wrapped his arms around the other wyfex - and he held on for his dear life.

"I'm sorry," Icarus heaved through the sobs he tried so hard to keep down, but in vain. Karmen answered to his desperate embrace, and pressed their head on the back of his neck.

 

"I know."