"Origin", a special where Yuki explains her origin...sort of.

Adventures In Parodyverse - Origin

NOTE: This is an in-between tale occurring during the Hellraisers arc assuming that the characters have some spare time while other events are occurring. Yes, I'm aware it's been posted late.

    It's cold, Yuki thought to herself. So cold. But she knew she couldn't feel anymore.

    It was the one memory that made her shudder, and it was brought upon by something as simple as a scent. The very smell she detected upon arrival at the site of the severely damaged Lair Mansion. She heard about the damage on television, but authorities were too busy handling the disease quarantine of Paradopolis to search for survivors at the moment.

    The scent in question didn't exist at the site of the Lair Mansion. It, too, was a memory invoked by artificial means. It was a whisper, seeming to come over Yuki's over-the-air wireless data stream. But it wasn't. The whisper came from inside her own human mind, buried deep within her artificial body.

    "You know pain," an ancient voice whispered. "You have touched it...tasted it. Savored it."

    She closed her eyes and shook her head quickly, switching her internal computer to autonomous mode to lock out all outside contact and diagnose her electronic systems. Almost as soon as the computer system began its diagnostic, she felt herself lapse into a dream.

    She remembered being fragile, weak, her flesh so far crisped by the fire that she could no longer move a single joint, or even open her eyelids or mouth.

    "But the pain...it tells you that you're still alive," the voice whispered to her. "You savored it...because the moment it stopped, you would no longer exist. It gave you strength."

    'Who...?' she thought to ask. She opened her eyes, and before her stood a tall man in ancient medieval armor. Heavy metal chains hung from him, and rattled and clanked as he walked toward her. "Are you going to kill me?" she asked, not seeming the least bit frightened as she did.

    "On the contrary," he said. "Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Sir Lucian. Some call me the Chain Knight. I've taken the position of Death in this universe."

    "What gives you the right to do that?" Yuki asked him.

    Sir Lucian laughed. "I have no more right than you," he said. "Our histories are so alike. One twist of fate, and we could be each other. Tell me, Yuki Shiro. Tell me about the fire that stole away your flesh."

    "It was a chemical warehouse explosion," she told him. "I was investigating a murder. I knew who did it, and I needed evidence--"

    "Did you curse his name as you burned?" Sir Lucian asked, seeming excited by it.

    She bowed her head slightly. "I did," she whispered.

    "Did you make him suffer?" He asked as he circled around Yuki. "You did, didn't you? But he would never suffer as much as you did. No one ever will."

     Her memory flashed to the moment her flesh was just beginning to liquify under flame, and she decided to take the man responsible with her. She used the last of her strength to knock over a flaming barrel of chemicals. Yuki didn't answer, but that in itself served as a reply.

    The Chain Knight smiled. "Excellent. You are a true prodigy." He tapped lightly on his armor. "We each wear tin bodies to cover scarred flesh. Only your scars are sealed away in that human brain of yours."

    "I've heard what you and your friends are up to," she said.

    "Ah, but my 'friends' and I have been brought suffering by so many," he told her. "We are simply repaying the favor. Just as you did." He stepped closer to Yuki. "What's the difference, my dear, between your deeds and mine? The number? Are you more righteous because you've killed so few in the warehouse fire? Or the explosion you triggered by toppling that barrel?"

    "No," Yuki answered sheepishly. "Because I knew when to stop. I decided to start over."

    "Oh, I know when to stop," the Chain Knight lectured. "I simply haven't reached that moment yet." He took a step back, and asked, "Tell me...when you had your new body fabricated, why did you seek more power? Why not have it designed to human specifications?"

    "I wanted to be better," she replied. "Stronger. More powerful."

    "To prevent anyone from harming you again," Sir Lucian finished. "Perhaps I am doing the same. I simply have more...invasive methods."

    "We're not the same," Yuki told him.

    "No one is the same," the Chain Knight replied. "We each have our own history, our own fears, our own personalities. We have some history in common. We are not the same. But we are also far too similar."

    "I ask again...are you going to kill me?"

    Sir Lucian laughed. "Not afraid to die. I find that very amusing. However, I have other amusements at the moment...and you, my dear, are far more interesting alive at the moment." He began walking away slowly. "I'll be watching you."

    "I'll be watching you too," Yuki told him.

    She shivered as the Chain Knight vanished. She felt cold, even thought she knew she couldn't be.

-- Story written and copyrighted (C) 2004 by Jason Froikin, and may not be
-- reprinted without permission.
-- Yuki Shiro designed by Jason Froikin, based on designs by Masamune Shirow

Post By Anime Jason Sat Dec 18, 2004 at 12:18:44 pm EST	Subject "Origin", a special where Yuki explains her origin...sort of.

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