The Gemini

5. Released

Lena Matthews

I stared at the two way mirror, trying to stop my hands from shaking. I could see long black hair flying in every direction, and a long white kimono that loomed beneath it. Pitch black eyes were staring directly into my soul. Even though I was wearing a helmet, I had a feeling that she knew exactly who I was.

The yuki onna was being kept in a facility nearly identical to Fuyuko's. There was a switchboard littered with multicolored buttons that were just as dizzying as the ones I had seen before. I could even spot a matching microphone. The only difference here was that the yuki onna's room wasn't furnished.

The walls and floor were padded with off-white colored panels. I scanned the room stoically, noticing that there was a darker section in one of the corners. My eyes wandered back to the yuki onna, searching for a remnant of my friend.

A banging on the door startled me.

"Open up!" someone demanded.

I rolled my eyes and sauntered over to the door. Smiling, I opened it to reveal Finn.

"I got here first." I boasted.

"It's not a race, Lena." Finn reminded me, shutting the door behind him.

"But I still won." I pointed out.

"How did you get in here?" Finn asked, looking around.

"I guessed the password." I answered, shrugging. I didn't want to tell him that it was birthday, or that Dad had probably set the code. "So, how do we break her out?"

"You've got a gun, right?" Finn asked.

"That's your big idea?" I asked.

"Everything else seems to be going okay so far." said Finn. "Carter's pretty good at planning."

"Carter?" I asked. "Wait, was all of this Carter's idea?"

"Can we move on?" Finn asked. He pulled a gun out of his holster and nodded for me to do the same.

I reached into my side holster and pulled out my gun. I loaded the weapon and turned the safety off before aiming it at the glass. The yuki onna retreated, her coal eyes burning intensely.

I met her gaze, my thoughts spiraling in different directions. "Wait." I instructed Finn. I took my helmet off and looked at the yuki onna.

"Lena, what are you-"

It was too late. I was already leaning over the microphone. "I want to help." I told the yuki onna. "I'm here for my friend, but I need you to promise not to kill either of us."

The yuki onna looked at me, then Finn, then back at me again. For the first time, I felt like I could actually communicate with her. I watched her movements carefully until she bowed to me in solidarity. I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding.

"Now." I told Finn. He nodded.

We held our guns in a practiced synchronicity and let bullets freely launch towards the glass. The mirror splintered, leaving a sickly spider's web across its surface. My weapon clicked pitifully, warning me that I had already lost my ammunition.

I pocketed the gun, and Finn did the same thing, noticing I had stopped.

"That's some thick glass." I muttered, mostly to myself. I stared at the white lines that skidded across the wall that refused to break.

The yuki onna walked closer to the window, her figure fragmented through the lens of cracked glass. Her fingers brushed across the barrier, a shimmer of frost expanding away from her touch. Then she backed away, her gaze refusing to let me go.