Okay, here’s a quick note about Trinity (the Athata girl). She’s appears to be around 24 years old but she has the mentality of a seven year old because the mind of an Athata develops slowly while their bodies develop very quickly. She speaks in third person and refers to Liam as either Master Liam or just Liam. Oh, she has a thing for blood and I have a thing for innocent murders. So much fun to write about them…anyway, here you go.

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Gunshots were heard in the distance, echoing through the empty halls of the main base. The ground shook as what could have only been a bomb was dropped a mile away. Liam ran to the command room, trying not to look at the bloodstained walls. He turned a corner and nearly lost his stomach at the sight of a disemboweled man hanging from the ceiling by his own intestines.

On his way through the H.Q, Liam noticed that most of the bodies were laid out in different poses. Some of them were grotesque; others were more affectionate. Right away he could tell which people Trinity had liked, and which she did not. He came across the commander’s body (which Trinity must have dragged out of the command room) and could not keep himself from laughing. He was propped up on a chair with his legs resting his assistant’s bodies like a footstool. ‘King’ was carved on the wall in scrawled lettering. It wasn’t funny. It was disgusting.

He grew closer to the command room and heard giggling. Trinity was in there, as he expected. Part of him wanted to run, to avoid confronting his creation. But he knew that Trinity was his responsibility, and if he didn’t stop her she would go on a rampage. Liam found himself at the door, and with shaking fingers he pressed his hand to the scanner. The door opened.

“Why is Master Liam here?” Liam froze at the sight before him. Trinity sat on the floor, blood spattered on her face and bits of gore clinging to her hair. Bodies were strewn about her, most of them having dropped where they stood.

“What have you done, Trinity?” He asked. The Athata looked at her creator with confusion, though the smile she wore never left her face.

“What does Liam mean?” she questioned innocently, truly perplexed. Liam’s hands clenched into fists.

“Why did you kill everyone?” He demanded, asking directly. Trinity mouthed a silent ‘oh’. Then she shrugged and turned to the body in front of her, braiding the woman’s long blood-matted hair.

“Isn’t blood pretty, Liam? It’s so red, like the flowers Liam gave Trinity on Val…Val-Andimes day. Isn’t blood pretty like the flowers?” Now Trinity was just skirting around the question. Liam took a deep, calming breath, and was about to ask again when Trinity decided to continue. “Trinity sees lots of blood, lots of it everyday. Sometimes it’s Trinity’s but usually it’s someone else’s. When Trinity gets locked up for being bad, she doesn’t get to see blood. That makes Trinity’s head hurt and her eyes go all hazy like.” She paused and frowned. “If Trinity doesn’t get to see blood, feel blood, taste blood…she feels very angry.”

The symptoms of a failed Athata were what Trinity had described. Liam’s heart dropped into his stomach and all the fury he felt towards her was gone. It wasn’t her fault that she was unstable, it was his. This was a standard reaction that the Athatas had when they malfunctioned. The words Liam was going to say died on his lips, but Trinity faced him with an eerily pleased expression.

“But now Trinity is so happy! No one can lock her up again, and she can see blood all the time!” she grinned at the scientist, and he knew what he had to do. She was too far gone, she couldn’t be allowed to live anymore. Sensing the tension, Trinity stood up and walked over to Liam with a concerned expression. “What’s wrong, did Trinity do something bad? Is she going to be punished?”

“Trinity…you killed people you shouldn’t have. You aren’t supposed to kill anyone unless you are told to.” Liam said slowly, afraid that he might provoke her. She stepped back, chewing her lower lip like a child that had been caught stealing cookies. Then a feral grin spread over her face.

“Trinity only hurts those who hurt her. People here are very, very bad. Only Master Liam isn’t, because he loves Trinity!” She giggled madly, her arms spread out and her head thrown back. Liam took a step back, and Trinity’s head snapped forward to see him.

“You’re right, Trinity. I love you very much, but I have to punish you. You understand, right?” Liam took a few steps forward, noting that Trinity was walking towards him as well. They stopped a few feet in front of each other and waited for the other to move. Liam’s hand was in his pocket, fingers resting on the 7 mm handgun.

“Trinity…understands.” The Athata murmured, looking distraught. When Liam pulled out the gun and aimed it at her forehead she didn’t flinch. When his finger reached for the trigger she gave him a watery smile. “Is Liam going to kill Trinity because she’s a destroyer?”

Liam didn’t answer. Instead he lowered the gun and kissed Trinity on the cheek, causing the tears in her eyes to fall. He told himself that the tears were a programmed response to a feeling of sadness or pain in the Athata’s mind, and she didn’t know what they meant. He didn’t have a reason to be guilty. Liam raised the gun again and pressed it against Trinity’s forehead.

He buried Trinity on the training grounds, her favorite assault rifle as a grave marker. When help arrived hours later, Liam was trying to clean the command room. He was put in a hospital, where he spent three months trying to put himself back in the right state of mind. He was released and sent home to his wife and two children, who were all glad to see him. Several weeks later, he shot himself with same handgun he had killed Trinity with. There was no suicide note, but they found a picture of Liam and his family with a transparent figure in the background. No one recognized who it was, but written on the back of the photo was ‘destroyer’.

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That was terribly Emo. I hate the ending, but I needed to write something to finish this off. Oh well. Please review )