Chrysalis 20.3
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| Chrysalis 20.3 | |
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Chrysalis 20.3 is the third chapter of Chrysalis. Taylor shrugs Emma off as her former friend gives it her best shot, the Principal gives a warning.
Plot
Accosted by Emma, who is followed closely by her own drones, Taylor finds herself trading insults with her former best friend, with other bystanders observing. Emma, noticing the change in Taylor's attitude, casually states that had Taylor grown a spin back then, she would've had Sophia take her into their own group and they'd be friends again. Emma plays off the pranks she helped carry out on Taylor at Winslow as something she should have laughed at and grew a spine from, instead of acting like a whipped dog. Taylor fires back, telling Emma that she's demented if she thinks she'll ever want to be her friend after the bullying. She declares that she's been better off without whatever Emma friendship could supposedly offer, even before her change in attitude, and also tells Emma that she is pathetic for following Sophia, pointing the latter's violent and hostile behavior.
Emma's friends attempt to gang up on Taylor for the slight, but is stopped by Emma herself, who then decides to hit Taylor with her best shot: Taylor's parents. Relishing as she spoke, Emma tells Taylor that it was her fault that Annette died. She recalls the day that Annette was dialing on the phone to speak to Taylor while driving, leading to the car accident that killed her, and because Taylor was at Emma's house, Taylor never would have been able to return her calls. Taylor gives pause to that, but briefly, and shrugs off the insult as a weak one. But Emma pushes further, reminding Taylor of what became of Danny after Annette died, and claiming that Danny had in fact blamed Taylor for Annette's death. She lists off her talking points, such as Danny's behavior, how he became withdrawn, disconnected, and appeared to stop caring. Emma then claims to have heard a conversation between her own father and Danny, supposedly overhearing Danny blame Taylor for not being there to pick up the phone, which would have likely saved Annette's life. Emma questions Taylor about the state of her relationship with Danny, snidely wondering if he actually loves her but is certain that he might hate her, and also adds that he may not even like her.
Taylor finds Emma's words cutting deep, and that they unfortunately brought up some good points. She was uncertain of the state of her relationship with her father, and she considered the idea of Danny had any real positive feelings towards her up for debate. She then reflects on her time with Tattletale, and acutely recognizes Emma's tactics. Even though Emma had no powers, she still had knowledge concerning Taylor, Danny, and one of the worst periods of Taylor's life, and it was more than clear to Taylor that she wasn't afraid to use it with great cruelty. Paying little mind to their audience, Taylor uses almost every ounce of self control to fight the urge to use her powers on Emma. Taylor asks if Emma was done and if she can leave yet. Emma accuses of being heartless, but Taylor just states that she doesn't believe Emma, and that she had dealt with (and even collaborated with) people scarier, meaner and more manipulative than she can ever hope to be.
Cut off mid-sentence, Taylor then receives a phone call from her father, who asked where she was and how she was doing. Taylor then senses Emma through the fly she planted on her, moving to physically assault her and angered at being causally ignored. She allows Emma knock the phone out of her hand and shove her against the walls that made up the school's perimeter, and is amused to see Emma struggling to string together anything clever or witty to say to her. A guard then intervenes, pulling Emma off of Taylor. Emma is taken to see the Principal Howell alone with three students to serve as witnesses in tow, but Taylor gets the option to leave as she really isn't a student. Taylor decides to stick around and see what happens and notifies her father about it.
Brought to Principal Howell, the guard apprises the principal of the situation. One of the witnesses defends Taylor by offering a faithful account of the incident, which immediately strikes Taylor as so surreal that it could have been mistaken for a trap designed for her by the Ambassadors, Haven, or even the Fallen. The feeling isn't helped when Howell actually chastises Emma for what she did, and points out that she seriously could have gotten hurt as many of the kids had weapons with them due to the city being in shambles. In the process of registering their names, Howell discovers email correspondences proving Emma's involvement with Sophia Hess in a bullying campaign against Taylor. Taylor is offered by Howell to press charges against Emma for what she did to her, Taylor declines, saying that Emma isn't worth it, and also adds that the school is free to take action against Emma if they'd like. Howell informs Emma that due to her actions against Taylor, she will be refused the leniency and privileges being granted to those who missed out on school due to the city being devastated. She bars Emma from attending Arcadia's summer classes, and remarks that Emma may have the possibility of repeating the tenth grade and if she will do it at Arcadia at all.
After Emma is escorted out, Howell reveals herself to Taylor as a contact of Tattletale. In addition to be tasked with aiding Taylor at school should she join, Howell admits to Taylor that she sees her as a way to truly protect her students at Arcadia. Taylor finds herself upset at this, as her suspicions with how the Emma situation was seemingly engineered were in fact founded on some level. In any case, Taylor had felt some semblance of a victory, but had very mixed feelings towards it. She declines on wanting and planning to be a student at Arcadia, and is told by Howell to sign the a visitor form due to these conditions.
The secretary hands Taylor the form to fill out. But when Taylor looks at the address, she is immediately alarmed when she recognizes an urgent coded message filled in. Telling her that enemies were inbound and that she needed to escape. Taylor then looks to see Howell in her office, with a phone pressed against her ear and looking out her window. When Howell turns to look at Taylor, she tells her to run. Taylor complies, with the realization that her identity's been compromised fresh in her mind.
Characters
| Villains | Others |
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References
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| Chapters | 20.1 • 20.2 • 20.3 • 20.4 • 20.5 • 20.x • 20.y |
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| Battles and Events | Incident at Arcadia High |