A Heart in the Machine (Serial Designation V x Reader)

Chapter 13: The Final Thread

The world seems to lurch as you force yourself to move, ripping your gaze away from the carnage. Your legs feel like lead, but sheer determination drives you forward. You stagger through the hall, your breath coming in shallow, uneven gasps as your thoughts spiral.

Am I too late?
V, N, J, Tessa... Did I fail them?
What if they're gone too?

The questions tear through your mind, each one more painful than the last, but you can't afford to let them stop you. Not now. You break into a sprint, heading for the dining hall. Your heartbeat pounds in your ears, muffling the sound of your frantic footfalls against the cold marble floors.

The air grows colder as you near the double doors, a chill that bites into your skin and makes your breath visible in the dim light. The eerie stillness only adds to your growing panic, and the metallic scent of blood still lingers in the air.

Please, let them be okay. Let me get there in time, you plead silently, clenching your fists as you approach.

Your chest tightens with every step closer. The dining hall doors loom ahead, heavy and foreboding, and the silence behind them feels like a knife pressing against your throat. With shaking hands, you reach for the handle, bracing yourself for what you might find on the other side.

Your hand trembles as you reach for the handle, but before you can grasp it, the door is wrenched open with a guttural creak that echoes through the hall. You stumble back, your heart racing, as a shape emerges from the darkness beyond—a hulking, foul creature, dripping with blood, its grotesque form illuminated only by the pale moonlight filtering in through the high windows.

It takes a step forward, and the wet, sickening sound of blood pooling on the marble reaches your ears. Your body locks in place, frozen by the sight before you. The monster's wings unfurl, jagged and tattered like a fallen angel's, the blood dripping from their edges forming crimson pools at its feet.

It steps closer, the dim light revealing more of its form. The light catches its legs first—long, spindly, and darkened with grime and gore. Then, as the creature advances, the illumination begins to climb. Your eyes follow helplessly, your breath catching in your throat as dread gnaws at the edges of your mind.

The light touches its torso, and your heart stops. There, fastened to the bloodstained apron hanging from its chest, is a familiar brooch. The intricate design is unmistakable, its once-pristine surface now smeared with streaks of red.

Your stomach churns as the realization hits you like a blow to the chest.

No... it can't be.

But there it is, undeniable proof staring you in the face, as the creature steps fully into the light.

The creature steps forward, and your knees buckle beneath you, the weight of horror and disbelief dragging you to the floor. Before you stands V—or what remains of her. Her form is twisted and monstrous, warped into something unrecognizable, yet unmistakably her.

Her once soft white optics, so full of warmth and endearing emotion, are now replaced with a glowing yellow X that pierces through the shadows like an ominous warning. Her face is splattered with blood, streaking down from her elongated fangs, cruel and jagged, stained red with unspeakable acts.

Your breath catches as your eyes fall lower. A long tail snakes behind her, unnatural in its movement, ending in a glowing yellow syringe that flickers ominously in the pale light. Its tip drips with the same viscous crimson that paints the walls and floors of the grand hall.

Your mind screams at you to move, to run, to fight—to do something—but your body refuses to obey. You are frozen in place, unable to tear your gaze away from the grotesque figure before you.