Unfettered Soul [Arlette, Antonetta]

Everything else that Antonetta had said was something Arlette could wholly abide. She didn't agree with it, but she understood what Antonetta was like, childish and far less mature than the rest of them were. Yet, at her final claim, Arlette's composure faltered, a tinge of anger bleeding into her expression as she reached up and grabbed her younger sister by the collar.

"Didn't care? I've always cared. That's why I did all this, because I saw what was coming. I didn't want you to go through what I did, having part of you burned out just for the sake of efficiency. Assets? That's generous. We weren't anything more than objects, Antonetta. Used and discarded as she saw fit."

Her grip didn't loosen, though it was far less tight than it might have been in the past. Even so, she was maintaining it. There was a point she had to make, after all.

"Yeah. Our lives are worse right now. But they're not in Claudia's hands, either. If I didn't care, I would have stayed, and let you keep being used like a weapon until she threw us all away. You're my sister. Whether you believe it or not, I love you too. Always have. It's never just been 'tolerating' you."

She gasped when she felt herself be yanked at by the collar. The suddenness of it made her flinch as she recalled how ruthlessly competent Arlette was in handling the others. The was a moment where she was dazed but then reality caught back up to her, the nostalgia had caught her off-guard. It was foolish of her to be caught off-guard like that. The present was different from the past.

Now she could do this. The simple act of grabbing Arlette's fist and prying it open to make her let go of her clothes, it was the kind of thing she'd think of as absurd in the past.

"I remember it a little differently. I remember you leaving, and we were all there for months afterwards. I remember being used as a weapon to hunt you down even after you had left. I remember Eliane being the one that landed me in this... brillaint situation. I'm sooooo glad to be at the mercy of an organisation I have no reason to trust, under the thumb of a man who had an ethical compass which pointed him to do business with my mother."

Her voice was drenched in sarcasm. She couldn't help it, this place was whittling down her tolerance at the situation. She wanted to claw her way out of here, escape and flee, regardless of what form it took. A cornered animal that had flight and fight responses.

"I love you Arlette; but I love all of my sisters, not just you. You don't seem to care about that though, and regardless of how I feel, I don't think I can trust any of you."

Tch. It didn't surprise her that Antonetta had so easily removed her grip, but it did irritate her. One more reason she really ought to return to where she'd been before. Regardless, she spoke again with the same degree of faint anger in her voice, not at being insulted, but at how dense Antonetta was being.

"So what should I have done instead, stayed there and kept being modified without any other choice? I did the only thing I could do when I was in that state. You don't want to be beneath the Vandenreich? Good. I don't want that for you either. Do you think I built a company here just for fun, built a reputation on honesty here for no reason? I made somewhere you won't just be a tool."

Despite the intensity of her words and her tone, Arlette's eyes were gentler than they had perhaps ever been. Being so caring was difficult for her, a laborious process that simply wasn't in her nature. It disgusted her to know that she once again found herself understanding how Eliane had felt, being honest despite herself.

"It's one thing not to trust me, or Eliane. But Wolfina? What's she done to deserve that?"

"Because I haven't seen her since I came here! I am not a tool, I'm a prisoner. I'm in this stupid cage! You brought me here, Eliane put me here, and I haven't heard one word about my other sister since."

She drove the sentiment into her older sister's face while pushing her into the wall with no small amount of force to emphasise the point. Her eyes were a turbulent mix of emotions. Grief, rage, and betrayal. It bubbled through into her actions with her erratic behaviour.

"You made somewhere that you don't have to be a tool."

"And I've done everything I can to change that, Antonetta, but it takes time!"

Arlette's voice rose as well, though not in a manner half as erratic as her younger sister. It was irritating her to hear Antonetta speak like this, though of course, Arlette was all too aware of what her little sister was capable of in a conversation. She had no intention of simply acquiescing, but she didn't want to hurt her sister, either.

"It takes time that I have to claw for every second of, that I have to spend as efficiently as I can. I've spent these past years watching you suffer, watching you die, so you'll have to forgive me if I don't rush it when I have this one chance to change that. If things go wrong, that's it. We don't have second chances anymore."

"You're everything isn't good enough!"

She spat back venomously, instinctively attacking Arlette's resourcefulness by diminishing her own capabilities as being inadequate. Isolate people's weak spots and poke them, twist them until it hurt. It was just her nature except it would normally be delivered in a more detached and clinical method. This was not one of those situations where she was detached though, it was the difference between interacting with a human and an object to her.

"You didn't just watch me die. You killed us, you've killed me, and now here I am trapped to be deprived of freedom."

"If this is a gift you give me to make up for that then you should've just had the nerve to kill me weeks ago so I didn't have to endure this, at least I'd have died with a modicum of dignity rather than live in a box like a doll in a collection."

"Yeah. I know it isn't. You think that's something I don't know, or that it's going to hurt?"

A stony coldness seeped into Arlette's eyes as she stared back at Antonetta, the bitter pragmatism that defined her creation having always reminded her of that exact fact. She was aware of what she'd done, aware of everything surrounding it.

"'Make up for that'? No, Antonetta. This isn't some little apology like I'm just handing you a box of chocolates. Do you think I'm trying to hand you this little room and expecting that to be it? You're smarter than all this, Antonetta. Use your head.

"Here, now, I'm treating you like my sister. Not just some coworker, not just another tool of Claudia's. And treating you like my sister means that I want the best for you, no matter how unpleasant it seems. You'll be out of here. You'll live normally. With us, or with Wolfina. Whatever you want. But acting like it can all just happen with a snap of my fingers isn't realistic."

"No, you use your heart instead of your head for once, Arlette. Stop rationalising everything in your head and think about how it feels."

She shot back. Frustrated that Arlette maintained the stance that this was for the best, this is what was good for them, and necessary. It wasn't. She never wanted this situation and was placed into it but she was supposed to endure it until her sister was able to get her a more favourable situation.

She wanted her to capitulate and to surrender the high ground, to for a moment doubt the 1s and 0s she saw the world through which created the most logical answer to a problem. Just because it might be a correct answer didn't mean it was the right one.

"I hate it here, Arlette. I hate it so much. I'm trapped here and I don't have any company. I have no privacy at all. Everything that's important to me or what I like, I'm deprived of, and I have nothing but your words to reassure me when you say you have no actual authority here. I'm not you, Arlette. Maybe you would find comfort if the roles were reversed in this situation but I don't!"

Of course Arlette had a response at the ready, but she nevertheless paused and listened to her sister. It was difficult to use her heart, but that didn't mean she shouldn't try. It was the least she could do to try and pass the standard set by Eliane, after all. After a few moments, she sighed, and looked at Antonetta with a softer gaze than before.

"I know. I'll have you moved to my home, you and Wolfina both. I can't give you anything more than that right now, Antonetta. Do you think that makes me happy, only having words to give you? I know I've let you down. I hate that you're here, and I know you aren't comforted. I'll stay here until I get that approval, if you want."

That was the reality of it all. Arlette was simply doing what she could to make things right, no matter how difficult it was for her.

"..."

She softened a little bit in her anger but there was still a guardedness which was not something she ever displayed, especially not to her family. Yet she was withdrawn and hesitant. It took her a moment to respond to the genuine attempt to do what she wanted. She backed off from her sister and went to go crawl back onto the bed.

"Do whatever you want."

Antonetta mumbled into the air and stuffed her head into the pillow like she could block out all of her problems of the world by doing so.