Leave The Monster Alone

"Now that you are awake, we can make our way back to Alan and Kuro" Mark did not question the female about what had happened to her clones and those who had been affected by her poison.

There was no need to question when the answer was obvious. In fact, it was in the words she had spoken before. She would help them survive as long as they helped her regain her body back. Now that Suzy had her body back she had no need for these replacements anymore.

It was not unlikely that all the other replacements had met their ends already.

"Are you not going to question me about anything?" the female asked, finally referring to herself in the third person. So had it been a trait only for the people she had taken over then? 

"There is no need for now" the real line should be - there was no time right now. But that was not what needed to be said. The female nodded and followed behind him.

Her eyes darted around the forest in wonder and excitement, finally being able to experience it with her own eyes. The hair had disappeared from the forest floor as if they had never been there and Mark had to check his inventory in case they disappeared from there too.

They did not, which was a relief to him. At least he had the spoils of the war left.

Alan was where Mark had left him, his eyes still wide and unfocused but he seemed to be coming around now when he saw Mark and his companion.

"Ah, Mark and S-Suzy. Welcome back" the kid stuttered at the female's name, the nervousness showing in his voice. Mark could not blame him because of the ordeal that had happened. It would be worse if the kid seemed unaffected by the whole thing.

At least someone had a healthy mental standpoint and could feel emotions in their team. 

"Can you walk? Or would you like a little help?" Mark asked and the questioning look of Suzy was evident. The teen did not look injured at all, but wounds were more than mere physical in this situation.

It was the mental scars that would hinder one in a difficult situation and Mark wanted to know how far gone the kid was.

"I can walk. I think" The kid stood up on shaky legs, but his balance did not allow him to fall down. Kuro stood behind him just in case he did fall and was a solid overall presence. 

"Let's go?" Mark asked the teen gently. The mantle state of the kid should not be disturbed too much right now. The kid gave a nod of agreement with his wide brown eyes.

"W-What about her? We can't leave the body here just like this" Alan's eyes moved to the dead body on the ground a little away from him. The cold and dead features looked to be at peace and even happy.

"We should give her a grave" even though Mark made this suggestion, he was well aware that he could not waste that much time. They could not go on and give everyone they came across dead a grave. 

Rika's case had been special but this was a random person they did not even have a connection with. However, the kid seemed to be really happy when he suggested it and Mark could not back down now.

"Allow me since I was the one who put her into this situation" before Mark could get his tools out, Suzy stepped forward and took charge. The part watched as her extended hand caused a small cocoon to form around the body in front of her.

"This will allow her to be at peace, just as she had always wanted to be. When we joined, her thoughts often flowed over to me and she liked to share things with me. I am thankful for her company" Suzy's voice came off as detached and uninterested to Mark.

It seemed like she did not really care about the speaker at all when she spoke in that voice. The words even came off as mocking and insensitive but Mark knew she cared.

He had once seen this exact same technique used by someone who had wanted to protect his beloved. The female mutant who had sacrificed herself for her family, whose sister Mark had failed and this brought a bitter-sweet taste to his mouth.

"Say your last goodbye if you want to. I'll wait for you a little distance away" Mark could not look at the cocoon any longer without feeling moisture build up in his chest. Why was he feeling so overwhelmed when he had not even cared at that time?

Had he not abandoned the female as soon as he could have? Then why did the tears come? For whom did they flow?

"No, it's alright. I just wanted to give her a grave. Now that she has one, we can leave" the teen had seen the reaction and he had wanted to ask. But the closed-off expression told him everything - he would not get any answers today.

The base was quiet when they arrived, a solemn air covering the whole place. What should have been a happy time for everyone had suddenly turned into an almost nightmare?

"I'll go and make a report to the base commander. Alan, take Suzy with you and be discrete" Alan nodded in agreement, already making plans inside his mind about how to sneak Suzy inside without anyone seeing.

She was a walking bomb right now and Mark was not sure it had been a wise idea to bring her inside the base like this but what was done was done already. There was not much Mark could have done to make it all better so he just let her come along.

Well that, and her being the divine beast meant that she could be a good ally or a fearsome enemy. 

"I'm back. Are the communicators up yet?" Mark asked, not bothering to really knock on the office door. The female looked really stressed, her eyes having aged a lot.

"Communicators? Who cares about those stupid communicators right now? 40! 40 people died just like that. What did you do?" The female was trying to really keep herself in check but it was getting harder and harder by the second. So many people had already died in a single wave.

It had caused mass panic when one of the Suzy clones had lost consciousness and changed back. It had been a welcomed surprise and they had waited for her to wake up.

But she had not. She lay there dead.

And then more had collapsed in a similar manner. People of all shapes, sizes and genders just died as they turned back. What's even more? People had witnessed this happen and now it could no longer be hidden.

40 Suzy's had ended up dead. 

"We retrieved Suzy's real body while we were fixing the communications. I assume this had some negative effect on the rest of those Suzy clones?" Mark knew the answer from her face so he did not prompt the female to answer.

"It would be a nightmare to clean up. Could you not have asked before?" The female sounded defeated. She looked how Mark felt right now - defeated and tired all over.

Mark would have sympathised with her more should he have been able to. The numbness was just too much for him right now. His emotions were high and dry and the ding in his mind made him realise that it was the system

________________

System warning: Mental stress too high. Turning up the control setting automatically. (User is advised to bring it down manually.)

________________

Ah yes, he did have this function in his system too. He had forgotten with too much going on but the recent stress must have bi-passed the protocol and activated it in case of emergency.

How long had it been on for? Since his small panic attack on the bridge? Or later when the stress had toppled all over? Now he kind of wished he remembered this setting beforehand. 

It would have saved him so much trouble and also made it easier for things to proceed further. Now he was almost stuck here and he had far too much work on his hand emotionally.

"I had no means to. Communication fixing, remember?" Without the added burden of emotions, logic came easy to Mark. his brain did not take into account the emotional state of the female who looked far too exhausted for his words.

"Leave, go do what you were meaning to. Contact the home base and just go already" the female waved him out and she did not look at him again.

For Mark, this was alright since it meant he did not have to deal with her any longer he could focus his energy on other important tasks - like contacting the home base and looking up plans for the future.