Immergreen & Immerred
“No trace of her.”
“Well, she’s been evading law enforcement for this long. It’s easy to assume she knows to cover her tracks.”
“But she’s a mere human.”
“Really? I wouldn’t consider someone with the ability to conjure what appeared to be sentient ink a ‘mere human.’”
Cecilia furrowed her eyebrows in frustration, a creaking noise ringing out silently in the noisy crowd. Her other half had a point.
After exiting the library, Cecilia had followed a trail using logic to guide her way. Unfortunately, it led her to a city district, a crowded and rowdy area with no hope of finding the criminal amongst it.
“Then what do we do now?”
Cecilia kept her head low as she walked among the crowd, just in case of the low chance she finds Shiori and not ruining her chances for an ambush. It was her specialty.
“Hm… well, let’s see what data we have on her.”
…
“Oh? Well, this is most intriguing…”
“Spill it.”
“Hey! No need for the hostility!”
“Immerred.”
“Hehe, fine. Says here she used to be a detective, quite the renowned one as well.”
“She was a detective?”
“Yeah. She worked alongside the police force quite often, and even had a chance to work with the famed Amelia Watson at one point.”
“…so why are they hunting her now?”
“Getting to it… oh.”
Cecilia paused, redirecting her step to the sidewalk and leaning against a wall.
“Immerred? What is it.”
“Oh… oh shit… oh god… those people…!”
“Red!”
…
Cecilia got a couple weird looks from passerby’s, not that she noticed. Her attention was focused on diving into the deep recesses of her mind, pushing past numerous sequences of code and green space before entering the red area surrounding her core. The very essence of her being.
There, curled in on herself was someone who looked exactly like her, except with a red stroke in her otherwise pristine white hair instead of a green one. In front of her were numerous screens, detailing data from file records and the like.
Cecilia ignored them, instead diving in further to embrace her red lookalike, temporarily returning the girl to her senses and turning to look at Cecilia.
“Ceci… Green… oh god, I-“
“It’s fine. It’s fine. You’re what matters right now.”
The girl in Cecilia’s arms returned the embrace, sniffling despite no tears dripping to stain their non-existent clothes.
…
That was the position they stayed in for a bit, with Cecilia’s body in the real world simply appearing as if she was in a deep sleep, relaxing under the warmth of the sun on a chair in front of a cafe.
While in the realm of what they have to call reality, two girls simply embraced one another, each being their only companion in this world.
Cecilia at one point began to stroke the hair of her other half, albeit no sensation was felt by either of them. The sentiment was sent nonetheless.
“T-Thank you… Green…”
The voice of her other half was weak and trembling.
“Of course, Red.”
Cecilia tried to harden her voice in order to be a pillar of support, yet couldn’t hide a tinge of fear or concern.
“H-Here…”
With a wave of her hand, Cecilia’s other half brought forward a screen with a pause button dead center on a black and white screen.
“This… this is why they’re after her.” Her other half continued.
Cecilia watched this unfold, once again returning the embrace her other half begged for silently, before turning her attention to the screen.
She paused before starting the video.
“Are you going to be ok?”
“…I’ll be fine.”
Her other half’s reassurance did little to neuter Cecilia’s worries, but she had to trust her.
The video started.