Lee Seng watched as the tendrils pulled back. The meaty monster was no more, and the little Lee Seng dropped to the floor. Broodmother sighed as she turned and checked on the kid.
"My son…" The Creator weakly called out. "Is he…"
"He's fine." Broodmother answered. She scooped little Lee Seng up into her arms and hummed a familiar song. A song Lee Seng had learned from his Mom. She stood up and turned, shaking the little Lee Seng. The dark energy that once emanated from the little Lee Seng was no longer there.
"Please… Not again…" The Creator's voice cracked. He reached for his son but was only met with the Broodmother's hard stare.
"You said you would protect him." Broodmother spoke sharply. "But you let out that meat head! He could've really killed you, your wife and Lee Seng! What're you thinking, Vang?"
'She knows his name?' Lee Seng cocked his head to the side. 'What's going on?' The purple blight near his heart thumped. Lee Seng looked down, noticing it had grown smaller, but came with a sharp pain. Lee Seng gasped as he landed on the ground. His form flickered as Broodmother rocked little Lee Seng.
"You're alright, little one. Heal." Slugs appeared on Lee Seng, moving around his body, and healing the little child. Broodmother's eyes were cold on the Creator.
"Please… my son, I just—"
"Enough, Vang!" Broodmother shouted. "It's too much risk to have him live as a human. To live by your side! You don't even have enough time for him! The woman that's supposed to be me can't even do her duties right!"
"C-Chee, please… We-we can talk about this…" The Creator slammed against the ground. He was far too weak to even lift himself up. "I-I'm doing this… for him…"
"You ignored him, and this is what happens. Every time." Broodmother took a step forward. "The first time this happened, you promised me it wouldn't happen again! Look what happened, Vang! You're so bent on finding a cure for me, you're willing to build a functioning maid bot for our son and make him think she's real!"
'What?' Lee Seng clutched his chest as he slumped over. The purple sludge burned. His entire being felt like it was going to burn from the inside out. Lee Seng's head knocked on the ground as he watched the memory continue. 'How… is this even possible? Did I… hear all of this?'
Broodmother took another step forward. She held little Lee Seng in her arms as the tendrils snaked around her. Her hair moved like Medusa as she took a glance at Lee Seng. He was peacefully sleeping. She opened her mouth and spoke something in a language Lee Seng couldn't understand. Little Lee Seng lit up in her arms.
Without even moving, tendrils moved towards Akio and Akali and pulled them out. Debris fell as the tendrils moved Akio and Akali together. Broodmother sighed as she moved towards the Creator.
"You can hide me away for all I care, but at least give him a chance, Vang… Don't save me… Don't save him… He's perfect the way he is…" Broodmother said, quietly. She knelt and watched as the Creator managed to push himself into a sitting position. "Be his father, Vang… He's as human as possible. Even if one day his true nature comes out, they'll just think it's his power. He won't be a monster."
Broodmother set little Lee Seng into her husband's arms. She smiled and brushed her child's hair before brushing her husband's cheek. She stood up and watched as the robotic version of herself appeared behind the Creator.
"She needs to be fixed before anyone sees, dear." Broodmother smiled. "I'll be where I'm usually at. Let me know if you need help." She turned and started down the opposite direction. Broodmother continued walking as Lee Seng hissed in pain. The memory began to fade, and Lee Seng found himself lying on the starlit floor. He clutched his chest as the stars twinkled all around him.
The pain from his heart couldn't have matched the pain of him finding out about a big question he had for the longest time – why did his own father ignore his mother so much?
'It makes sense now.' Lee Seng thought. He turned and flopped himself on his back. He stretched his arms and legs to the side and ignored the pain. Broodmother appeared out of thin air, standing a far enough distance away. Lee Seng still radiated with the blight near his heart. She watched him, not understanding what he felt. She was just a mere image of the true 001. She was merely a fragment there to step in when necessary.
The purple blight cracked as Lee Seng let out a sigh. Lee Seng's face neutralized as he blinked a couple of times. The purple blights shattered even more, spilling up into the air. Lee Seng felt like a part of his heart was gone. The woman he knew wasn't the woman he knew at all… Did that also mean the father he saw wasn't entirely the father he knew, either?
Lee Seng shook his head as Broodmother watched. He felt like his entire being was crushed yet… He was whole. He didn't sit up. He didn't speak. He didn't even let the purple blight disappear. Underneath all of what he was feeling, he wanted to patch it. He wanted to put a wall on it. The purple shards faded, leaving Lee Seng.
"What am I supposed to do with all of that?" Lee Seng asked, quietly. "My mother isn't dead? She's… you?"
"I'm not her." Broodmother answered. "Just a piece of her. A piece put into you. I don't know who did it or why they did it, but I'm only here to make sure you live as normal of a life as—"
"What's so normal about my life?!?" Lee Seng shouted. "Nothing was… or is normal about my life… I had a robot as a mother… My dad was… is interested in trying to cure his wife… Of course, the Biohuman serum did nothing to me because I'm already something… A monster." He sniffed and wiped his eyes. He stood up and looked away from Broodmother. "How much of that memory was even mine? What did I even do…?"
"Up until you passed out." Broodmother answered. She took a step forward. And then another. And another until she was about a foot away from Lee Seng. She let out a sigh and scratched the back of her head.
"Where is she?" Lee Seng asked after a long pause. He turned to look at his mom's look-alike. She looked at him with the most blank face. There was no empathy. She was just a husk of his mother – his real mother. Broodmother looked away for a moment. She was clearly weighing whether she should tell him or not. "Where?" He grabbed her hand, pulling her attention back onto him.
"Deep down where no one would ever look." Broodmother answered. "Deep away from prying eyes. Where the mistakes of one's past haunt forever. She's there."
"On Earth? Underneath my dad's lab?" Lee Seng grabbed Broodmother with both hands, pulling himself towards her. She didn't fight it. She simply just looked away, weighing more options. Lee Seng's eyes watered as he shook her hands. "Please. Tell me. Is she alive? Is she—"
"Little one." Broodmother looked at him. It was enough to shut him up. She pulled Lee Seng up and locked her eyes with his. Lee Seng's eyes looked back at him. She was only a fragment, yet she felt like she was so much more at this moment. "I was implanted in you after that day. I don't know where she would be, but I remember your mother thinking she was going to be locked away after that. She would be locked in her place like the other Failed Ones."
"No." Lee Seng shook his head. "No, you're lying!" Tears fell and Lee Seng ripped his hands away from his false mother. She still was void of much emotion. She couldn't empathize. She couldn't understand, fully, his emotions, but she knew what it felt like to be hollow. "You're lying! You know where she is! You tell me where—"
[Energy Flow is 100% complete.]
The cosmos collapsed onto Lee Seng. Broodmother flickered at the immense amount of energy as it pulled into Lee Seng. He screamed and gravity erupted out of him.
"It's all lies!" Lee Seng shouted. He directed all his frustrations onto Broodmother at that moment. He pushed it all onto the shard and watched her pop into nothing. The black space fluttered with ripples for a moment as he continued to scream. Lee Seng exploded with stars, clutching his head as he raised it up into the black sky of nothingness.
His eyes swirled and mixed. What once was red-purple and blue-purple was replaced by red and blue. Tendrils exploded out of his body, attaching themselves onto the ground as a cocoon grew.
"It's all a lie." Lee Seng whispered.
[Fragment of Broodmother has been destroyed. The truth unravels.]
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