Linky's Fics

Coming Closer (Then Running Away)

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The way Geryon was so invested in his research was enthralling. She couldn’t help but be gradually drawn in, fascinated — and soon invested in it herself. Albeit in a disconnected way. Only knowing it from a distance. Geryon talked of his work in words so vague, yet at the same so detailed that Mami felt she could picture it so clearly inside her mind.

The way he spoke was almost a form of alchemy on its own. Conjuring and transmuting glorious images of a promising future with just his speech. She couldn’t help but be drawn in.

At first, she’d just listen intently from across the room. Promising herself she’d be focusing on her own research laid out in front of her on the table. But in reality, she’d end up focusing on his conversations with their colleagues.

Eventually, they began to know each other more and take time out of their busy days to initiate contact. At first, it was passing glances. Something in the air for the faintest of moments before everything was back to how it had been seconds prior. But as time passed, they began to talk to each other.

Conversing about each other’s work, what a colleague reported to them, what came to be expected from their occupations.

With each passing day, something grew between them. Just what that feeling was… she was unable to say.

But it could be felt in spades.

It was so palpable, that mysterious feeling in the air was so thick it was nearly suffocating and it only grew stronger as their eyes would lock, or when the space between them was starting to shrink. Sometimes it felt like her heart was about to leap out of her throat.

Geryon’s research and himself reached a point where it consumed most of her thoughts. This definitely wasn’t ideal for her work. Nor for Geryon’s own research. But there was something that kept drawing her to him… And somehow, she felt Geryon might be the same way about her. How that look in those eyes felt whenever he looked Mami’s way.

One day, when she asked how his research was going, he wanted it to be a secret from everyone else, so he whispered it in her ear. Geryon was so close that it was downright distracting. Leaving her unable to fully process whatever it was he had told her. But that smile and glint in his eye, she couldn’t forget it.

Mami couldn’t put these feelings into words yet.

Hopefully one day she might be able to and create something as wonderful as Geryon could.

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Mami finally learned what his ideals truly were. What Geryon’s research was leading towards.

The true meaning of everything he told her during these many months they spent time together, getting closer and closer—

And she was sick to her stomach.

What was once a comforting smile was now something vile. What was once a welcoming pair of eyes was something that looked at every living being as if it were beneath him. She couldn’t stand to look his way anymore. To share the same room as him. To think of him.

That indescribable feeling from before had warped into something cold and menacing now. But still so thick that it suffocated her, maybe now even more than before.

Mami couldn’t believe she had fallen for such lies. Fanciful words that covered up something more sinister at its core.

But even more, there was a gaping hole in her heart. What was once a feeling of warmth and excitement was now complete and utter dread.

Even with all the work he’d put in. There was no way his deranged plans would actually bear any fruit…

Right?

No matter the cost, she had to get away from him.

From the association too.

Now there was a sinking feeling that weighed on her shoulders. Something terrible was about to happen. And she couldn’t shake it, no matter how hard she tried to reason with herself.

There was no way she was going to let her research become a part of something full of malice.

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