2024-03-01: Who are you!?
- Cutscene: Who are you!?
- Cast: Soma Peries, Marie Parfacy
- Where: NUNE Warship, Orbit
- IC Date: 20 September 0098
- Summary: Soma struggles with an identity crisis on the eve of one of her most important missions to date.
Soma Peries floats within a bathroom aboard an REA warship she recently boarded. Though is it really a warship of the Republic of East Asia anymore? Or is it a warship of the New United Nations Earth? Soma isn't exactly sure where she stands anymore. Can she say she has the same level of loyalty for NUNE as she did for the REA Forces?
Soma grunts in annoyance, rubbing at her temple for a moment. Though she's fairly sure these thoughts are not the cause of the pain currently pounding at the inside of her skull. The headaches have been coming in and out fairly consistently for months now. The doctors she's seen can't confirm any serious issues with her health. But then they're just regular doctors who don't have a clue as to the extent to which her body has been modified. All those who do are either dead or in some deep dark hole that doesn't officially exist.
Soma taps a couple of tablets out of a small bottle and swallows them. A stopgap measure for the pain. A measure which has unfortunately become common lately. And while the doctors can't find anything medically wrong with her, Soma is pretty sure she knows the cause.
Soma stares at the mirror in the bathroom. She sees herself staring back. But is it really her?
"Who are you?"
Nothing.
Soma asks more forcefully, "Who are you!?"
Still nothing.
The throbbing pain seems to grow with a lack of response, further increasing Soma's resulting annoyance. Her fist goes flying at the mirror, crunching it at the point of impact and sending a web of cracks out across its surface.
"Don't think you can just hide! I know you're there! Who are you!?"
... Marie.
The thought in Soma's head that is not her own finally answers her. But it does little to ease the confused anger inside her, "What are you doing in my head?"
It's been a while... But I'm fairly sure this is my head.
"What?" Soma grows more confused at the absurd claim.
The face in the mirror... It's older, but I recognise it. It's my face. So... It's more accurate to say you're in MY head.
Soma stares at her face in the mirror. The same face she's known for as long as she can remember, ignoring the crack in the mirror that runs down the center of it. She focuses on her own eyes as she essentially speaks to 'herself', "Don't be ridiculous. You're obviously another user of quantum brainwaves. Like that Celestial Being pilot. You're just trying to get something from me."
And yet you still feel me even when you're wearing your flight suit, don't you? The suit that is supposed to block others from getting into your head.
"... How do you know about that?"
Because I've been watching... Listening... It's all I can do, while you live your life with my body.
"It's MY body!"
Since when?
"Since-"
You were born? Do you remember that? Do you remember being a baby? Or being a kid? What's your earliest memory?
Soma can't help but humour the voice, thinking back... "The ceiling of medical facility in the Institute. The bright lights, burning my eyes, as if-"
As if it'd been a long time since you last used them. Why were you there?
Soma frowns as a thought starts to bury into her mind. A thought she doesn't like, "From what they told me, they'd just finished the last surgery on my brain to unlock my quantum brainwaves."
Are you sure that's all they did?
No, of course she isn't. Soma was just a kid. Hell, even now she doesn't have the knowledge to understand what exactly they did to her back then. She'd never really thought about it. They told her that she might have some memory issues as a result. They told her her name, Soma Peries. She believed them. Why wouldn't she?
They lied to you.
Before... Before being assigned to the REA's Chobu Squadron, Soma probably would have denied that without question. But since then... Things have happened. And she's no longer sure.
Soma holds her head with her hands, groaning out of annoyance at the confusion swelling within her. She doesn't know... She doesn't know! What should she do? Who can she ask? Can she ask anyone? If she claims she's hearing a voice in her head, they'll take her off the mission. And she is NOT going to miss this opportunity to pay Celestial Being back for everything they've taken away from her. Hell, she might even be thrown out of the armed forces entirely! What would she do then? She's never done anything in her life other than be a soldier...
... She could tell the Colonel, right? He'd know what to do. He always does. He'd help, right?
But then... He is a soldier too. And her commanding officer. He'd have to report her as unfit for duty. Then she'd have nothing...
... No one.
A different voice interupts Soma's thoughts, but this one is not in her head. Instead it comes from the ship's PA systems, "All hands brace for acceleration. Estimated arrival time at the AO is in fourty hours. A briefing for pilots will be held at fifteen hundred.
The sound of the warship's engines starting up rumble through its frame. Soma quickly moves a hand to brace herself against the bulkhead as the ship starts to accelerate and inertia sends her floating towards the wall. The sudden outside interference shocks her from her thoughts and gives her something else to think about, "... That's right. Focus. You're a super soldier of the REA. You have a mission to do. This is your job. Your purpose. Your life. It... It'll work out." Soma forcefully calms herself down, pushing the anxiety away and focusing on what's about to come. Completing the mission is all that matters right now.
...