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In a certain room, in a certain manor, a girl in a red dress reclined on her sofa and turned the page of her book. Though, she wasn't entirely a girl, but rather, the jet-black silhouette of one. And because of that, because of her lack of a face, it was nearly impossible for an observer to tell that she wasn't exactly reading the book. Her head was down, and her dark fingers were delicately turning the pages so as to avoid staining the paper with her soot, but her eyes were firmly fixed on the room's only other occupant, tracking her as she bustled from mess to mess with a smile on her face.
Emilyko. The "living doll" that was supposed to become her "face".
Kate could feel a familiar ache in her chest at the thought. She had known the whole time, ever since she first laid eyes upon the blonde, and chose her to mimic as a "Shadow". That Emilyko was no doll, but instead a poor girl stolen from her normal life and brought to this place to serve, to be ground away, and ultimately, to perish. The idea that her existence would be completed by ending the life of another had been intolerable from the very beginning, and had fueled her desire to rebel against the Great Grandfather's designs, but the longer Emilyko went without drinking the "special coffee", the more agonizing the thought became.
The girl had been so bright to begin with, so cheerful, sunny and kind. Now, though, she was becoming blinding. The sheer enthusiasm she had shown when telling her about the dream she'd had-the first dream she could remember having since being brought to the manor-had been so adorable. Kate's heart had soared at knowing that her beloved Emilyko was returning to her true self, that this prison hadn't ruined her forever. But with that had come the pain of knowing that her existence was meant to snuff out and consume that light. It further fueled her desire to overthrow the mistake that was this house, so that Emilyko, and Shaun and Lou and Ricky and all the rest could be free. Even herself and the other Shadows would be better off, she was sure.
Nearly invisible amidst the void of black where a human's face would have been, her lips quirked into a slight frown. She'd done it again. She had thought of the blonde as "her beloved Emilyko." That habit had developed just after the debut, during that terrifying time where she feared the "coffee" had taken the real Emilyko from her forever. But Emilyko wasn't "hers". She was a person, not a thing to be possessed. So why...
Why did the thought keep creeping back into her mind? She had made no similar slip-ups in regards to the faces of her friends. She did not think of Shaun as John's, for example. Yet with Emilyko, she couldn't overcome this...unseemly possessiveness. Was it perhaps some intrinsic part of being a Shadow that was making her feel this way? That seemed possible.
Kate is sorry, Emilyko. Kate will try harder.
Suddenly, the blonde turned, eyes fixated above Kate. "Ah, Miss Kate! You're giving off soot! Is something wrong?!" she asked, looking down at the faceless girl in concern.
"...Kate was simply annoyed by a twist in her book," she lied, snapping the novel shut. With an exertion of her soot control, she wound the wispy strands together, compressing them into a ball which fell down into her waiting hand. "Kate apologizes for nearly causing more work for you."
Emilyko shook her head emphatically. "No, no, it's fine! I know you can't help giving off soot sometimes. Besides, cleaning up is my job!"
Kate looked down at the ball of soot in her palm. "...A job that you had no say in," she couldn't help but point out, a guilty note in her voice.
Emilyko's smile dimmed briefly, before she shook her head again, more gently. "Don't say that, Miss Kate. Even if I wasn't given a choice, I'm glad I got to come here. If I hadn't, I never would have met you!"
Kate froze, her heart skipping a beat. "...Eh?"
"Mm!" Emilyko nodded, a bright grin returning to her face. "You, and Master John and Shaun, and Miss Louise and Lou and Master Patrick and Ricky and-"
"Kate understands," Kate interrupted, an amused smile hidden behind her darkness. She relaxed, lightly tossing her soot ball into one of Emilyko's dirty water buckets. "There is no need to list everyone by name."
The blonde giggled. "Sorry. The point is, I've made so many precious friends here in this house. Even if I could somehow change the past so that I never came here...I wouldn't."
Kate stared at the human girl, taking in the sincere happiness in her expression. "...You're a weird girl," she said, setting her book aside.
"Maybe!" Emilyko laughed.
"Don't you want to go home, though? You most likely have a family to return to," Kate said. While she was glad to hear that Emilyko considered her a precio-erm, was enjoying her time in the manor in some way, she also wanted the girl to think about the world that was waiting for her outside.
"Of course I do," Emilyko replied, simply. "And I'm sure one day I'll be able to, thanks to Miss Kate! Then I can go meet my family again, and you can come too!"
Kate blinked. "Kate can...?" she echoed, taken aback. Truthfully, she had never put much thought into what she would do after overthrowing the Great Grandfather. Her mind was occupied enough with plotting said overthrow, or with observing Emilyko's amusing expressions and antics. There was only a vague idea of leaving the manor to go...somewhere else, perhaps. She couldn't imagine that the manor would remain livable for long without its "doll" caretakers.
"Mhm!" Emilyko nodded. "I'd love to introduce you to my family! And even if I can't remember them right now, I'm sure they'd love to meet you too!"
Not for the first time, Kate found the blonde's earnestness breathtaking. As well, she found the idea of being introduced to Emilyko's parents...worrying? She wasn't certain how to name the unsettled feeling in her stomach. Would they really want to meet an incomplete being like her? Something modeled after, and intended to replace, their daughter?
As the seconds ticked by with no response from Kate, Emilyko's smile began to fade. "Um, only if you want to, of course..."
"...Kate is not opposed to the idea," replied the Shadow. She still had her reservations, but she didn't want the blonde to be upset.
Instantly, Emilyko brightened back up. "Hooray! I can't wait!" she cheered, throwing her arms up over her head. The broom in her hand nearly swept a lamp off a nearby desk, but she hastily caught it before it could topple over. "Ah, whoops."
Adorable, Kate thought to herself. "Be careful."
"Yes ma'am!" responded Emilyko, dutifully. She put the lamp back in its place, before blinking. "Oh, I should get back to cleaning."
Kate glanced around. The room was already well on its way to becoming spotless; any remaining tidying up that was needed, she could likely handle herself. "Perhaps you should take a break. Kate knows that the soot coffee's effects fading has left you with less energy as of late."
Emilyko blushed. "Ah, you noticed that...I'm sorry, Miss Kate."
"There is no need to apologize. Kate is aware of just how harsh the work load for 'living dolls' is," Kate assured, before lightly patting the sofa next to her. "Sit. Kate insists."
The blonde nodded, a bashful smile on her face. She set her broom aside and made her way over, taking a seat beside the Shadow girl. With a pleased expression, she leaned back into the comfortable sofa, closing her eyes. Kate couldn't help but smile at the sight.
Emilyko...Kate prefers seeing your expressions, instead of a mimicry of her own.
"The furniture in your room is so comfy, Miss Kate..." Emilyko sighed.
Hearing that, Kate's mind went back to the time she went snooping in the other girl's quarters. Remembering the sparse, dehumanizing furniture, the Shadow frowned, gripping her dress in anger.
"...Kate wouldn't mind if Emilyko were to sleep in her room, you know..." she muttered.
Emilyko's eyes snapped open, and she turned to Kate in shock. "E-Eh?! B-But that would be against the rules! Living dolls are supposed to return to their box at night! You could get in trouble!"
"It would hardly be the first rule Kate has broken," huffed the Shadow. Then her voice softened. "Kate dislikes the fact that you are forced to sleep in that box."
Emilyko looked down, her cheeks red. "It's not so bad," she insisted.
"You deserve better," Kate disagreed. You're a human being.
The blonde's face grew even more red. "Still...I wouldn't want to disturb your sleep, Miss Kate. I might snore, or roll over, or elbow you, or-"
Kate's thought process ground to a halt. Hold on, does she think that Kate was suggesting we share Kate's bed? she wondered, taken aback. Her intent was simply to offer the sofa as an alternative to that atrocious box!
But now, she couldn't help but imagine Emilyko laying beside her with a warm smile, the blonde leaning in to deliver a goodnight kiss-
"-or push you out of the bed, or-"
"E-enough," Kate forced out, for once feeling grateful that she lacked a face. Emilyko did not need to know how flustered she was at the moment. "Kate will not force you to do anything you are uncomfortable with. Just know that Kate's room is Emilyko's as well. Make use of it as you please."
Emilyko paused, taking that in. Finally, she nodded, before giving Kate a soft smile that made the Shadow's imitation heart flutter. "Thank you, Miss Kate."
Kate said nothing, simply raising a hand to give the girl a gentle pat on the head. To her surprise, Emilyko responded by leaning closer, pressing their shoulders together as she nuzzled the Shadow's hand. The sudden intimacy was unexpected to Kate, but not unwelcome. There was something inherently pleasant about being in close proximity to Emilyko, to the point that it bordered on intoxicating.
"You're so kind to me, Miss Kate," the blonde giggled.
"Emilyko deserves it. Kate's beloved Emilyko..." Kate replied without thinking, distracted by the entrancing blue of the girl's eyes.
A moment later, the pair froze as they processed Kate's slip of the tongue. The Shadow recoiled, pulling her hand away and returning it to her lap as wisps of soot began to rise from her head. "K-Kate apologizes for her rudeness!" she yelped, her usual composure broken. She couldn't believe that she'd actually said that out loud! Ashamed, she turned her head away, unable to meet Emilyko's eyes any longer.
"...Um, what...what was rude about that, Miss Kate?" the blonde asked, a confused tone in her voice.
"Kate referred to Emilyko as hers," Kate muttered. "You aren't a doll, or a mere face for Kate. You are a human, not a thing to be possessed. Kate...Kate is sorry."
Emilyko was silent for several seconds, leaving Kate to stew in her self-deprecation, as she admonished herself for failing to resist the strange, possessive urges within her. Before she could spiral too far into her dark thoughts-and make too much of a mess-however, a sound caught her attention. A soft, light giggle, followed by another, and then another. Hesitantly, she turned her attention back to the blonde, bewildered.
"Emilyko...?" she asked.
Emilyko responded by laughing aloud, her face alight with cheer. "Ahaha! You're so silly, Miss Kate! You didn't upset me at all!"
Kate fidgeted slightly, clutching at the front of her dress just below the neck, unsure as to how to react. "But..."
This time it was Emilyko's turn to interrupt. "Being called Miss Kate's beloved made me really, really happy!" she exclaimed, beaming. "You're my most important person in the world, after all!"
Kate's throat constricted, and she, who often considered maintaining eye-contact with others to be troublesome, found herself trapped gazing into Emilyko's shining azure pools. "...Isn't a part of that simply because you were supposed to feel that way?" she whispered. "S-Surely, when you regain your memory-"
Emilyko leaned forward and seized Kate's hand in between both of her own. "That just isn't true!" she denied. "I like you not because you're my Shadow Master, but because you're Miss Kate! The beautiful, kind, smart, wonderful Kate that I adore!"
Kate's mouth fell open. And in that moment, with her black heart pounding in her chest and terrifyingly human emotions swirling through her mind, the Shadow girl realized just what the root of her possessive thoughts regarding the blonde was. She...
She was in love with Emilyko, wasn't she? Not the love of a close friend or a sister, but the sort of love that several of the novels her room had been supplied with spoke of. She wanted to have exclusive rights to the girl, not as a servant, of as her "face", but as...as her most important person. She wanted Emilyko to be her beloved, and to be hers in turn. The thought was dizzying; that wasn't at all what the relationship between Shadow and doll was meant to be. A Shadow was meant to mimic and develop by interacting with their doll, like a human child would with their parent.
But then again, she wasn't a normal Shadow in that regard. She had memories, thoughts, and feelings going back to even before her first meeting with Emilyko. Certainly, she had learned and changed from her interactions with the blonde, but wasn't that also true of her dealings with John, and even Louise and Patrick? As well as their respective attendants?
"Miss Kate?" Emilyko asked, softly, her eyes warm, caring, and most importantly, focused only on Kate.
...Oh, fine. If feeling this way is wrong for a Shadow, then all the better, Kate decided. "...Very well then," she said, voice as level as she could manage. "If that's how you feel, then I suppose Kate will be in your care, even after we are free of this place."
Emilyko grinned. "Of course! I never want to leave your side, Miss Kate!"
Kate smiled. "Likewise, my beloved Emilyko," she said, before an impulse struck her. Deciding to follow it, she leaned forward, and gave the other girl a delicate, chaste peck on the lips, leaving a light dusting of soot behind as she withdrew.
The blonde's eyes went wide, and she stared at the Shadow, blushing furiously. "Miss Kate..."
Kate tilted her head, feeling a little nervous. "...Was that not okay?"
Emilyko responded by lunging forward, practically tackling her into a hug. They fell back onto the sofa, the Shadow letting out a cry of surprise. Grinning ear-to-ear, the blonde buried her face in the other girl's neck. "Miss Kate!" she cried again, hugging her tightly and rubbing her cheek against her, staining her pale skin with soot.
"E-Emilyko! You're dirtying yourself! S-stop right this instant!"
She didn't, but Kate didn't actually mind.