Never Forget You
Malevolently green eyes stared at the ruined person lying in the dust in front of her. She ignored the wailing people around her and reached down with a single claw, tracing the woman's face almost lovingly. A thin red line welled up where her claw touched, impossibly sharp metal slicing a shallow furrow in the skin. She'd been so beautiful, so beautiful, like her lover so long ago. What was her name? ...what was her name? ... ... ...what was her NAME?
Metal groaned as the silver automaton grasped her head in both hands and shook slowly from side to side. +[]Her name was... was... ...was...[]+ She couldn't remember now. She shook her head and reached down again, carefully carving away the woman's face. She couldn't remember her name, how long until she forgot her face, too? Surgically precise incisions opened up the skin, taking just enough of the muscle and fat behind it let it keep its lovely shape.
Strange how she remembered how to do this. She'd been a surgeon before the gods came and changed her, gave her immortality. She couldn't remember her name, the faces of loved ones were hazy memories, but she could wield a blade with the same skill as ever. It almost horrified her, how good she still was. Maybe that's why the gods had picked her to have this shape.
+[]But I'll be damned if I'm was going to forget her face again.[]+ Again? Skin and gristle peeled away from bone as she tenderly lifted the dead woman's face and held it in steely palms. How long had it been since she'd seen her? Years? No, it couldn't be that long. But then, why else would she have such trouble remembering an important detail like that?
She pressed cold, metallic lips against cold, dead flesh and whimpered, the evil green of her eyes shutting off as she closed them. She could feel the memory growing dimmer, only this dead woman's face reminding her of her lost lover at all now. She wished she could still cry, but no tears came from her glassy eyes.
Pain exploded in the front of her chest, sending her reeling backward and causing her to drop the face. More pain burst against her, on her jaw, her arms, her legs. She fell to the ground as booted feet stomped up to her and reached out to the dust-covered face. +[]No! I can't forget her! Not now![]+ She hooked it with a claw and tucked the precious skin against her chest, hooking it on the raised god-mark between her ribs. She couldn't forget her this time, please don't let her forget this time.
The booted feet thundered closer, and a bolt round tore open the side of her head, silencing her thoughts.
She groaned as she felt the side of her head flow back together, wires snaking back into her skull which closed over itself a second later. She was standing now. +[]Strange. Wasn't I on the ground a moment ago?[]+ She looked down at where she'd been laying, and spied the cooling body of a man in thick armour sitting there, the front of his chest torn open by something incredibly strong and sharp.
Whimpering, she knelt down beside him and reached out to trace his powerful jaw, a line of red opening behind it +[]So handsome... you remind me of my husband.[]+ She searched for his name, and found she couldn't think of it. Frustration built in her chest, and she began cutting away the dead Marine's face with ghoulish precision. It still horrified her, in some part of herself, what she put her skills as a surgeon to now, carving a memento from the flesh of some poor dead man.
She peeled his skin carefully away from his skull and cradled it tenderly against her chest, where it joined the ten other faces hanging from her ribcage. +[]I won't forget you now... Never forget you.[]+ She rocked back and forth slowly, mewing quietly to herself. +[]Never.[]+