Love and Lilies (Patreon)

This is my complete short story based on a dark magical girl prompt I came up with.  I'll give y'all some background details on it in another post. Warning, it gets pretty gory. Hope you enjoy!

Love and Lilies

My gut clenched as I looked around the cavern. It used to be so cramped in here. Whenever we met it would be packed from slimy stone wall to slimy stone wall. I remembered how annoying it was getting smacked around by everyone’s stupid outfits all the time. A turn the wrong way got you a face full of feathers or speared by a shoulder spike. I got in a fight with Needler when he got my eye once. I told him if he didn’t change his gimmick I’d impale him on the biggest needle I could find.

I’d thought it was hilarious at the time. But now it felt prophetic. I wish I could tell him I hadn’t really meant it. I would never have wanted him to die the way he did.

He wasn’t the only gap in our crowd. There were so many now. We’d left spots where they usually stood, so we looked like we were oddly scattered, edging away from each other. We couldn’t even look each other in the eyes. In the entire history of this lair, the mood had never felt so heavy.

“Do you think the boss has a plan to stop all this?” Lupina whispered. 

“Of course she does,” I muttered. The boss was always talking about her plans, the evil she was raising, how all worlds would bow before us. Surely she had something up her sleeve. 

“I hope so,” Lupina sighed. She had a hang-dog look on her face. Quite literally. As her professional name implied, Lupina was a wolf-woman. She had the cutest ears and a furry muzzle. She made minions by turning people into werewolves, so she got called in when the boss was looking to cause some real damage. I’d always been just a little jealous of that. It was way cooler than being a run-of-the-mill energy stealer. Aside from my power of sucking, all I could really do was enchant objects to attack and not for very long either. Lupina always acted super friendly, but I knew she scoffed at my feeble powers behind my back. But none of that petty stuff should matter anymore, I reminded myself. After all, we were just struggling to survive now.

"Looking around, I can’t believe how far we’ve fallen.” Lupina lamented. “She used to be such a nice girl. What happened?”

I looked at my feet and swallowed down the lump in my throat. I couldn’t say it. 

Everyone stopped talking and I instantly knew the boss was here. I snapped my head up and gave the greeting salute as she materialized on her throne. Even after all this time, she still took my breath away. She towered over everyone else, looking imperiously out from under her spiked tiara, her skull brooch glistening on her chest. She was all sharp angles ready to impale anyone who got too close. Except for her hair- it flowed around her like a perfectly controlled flame. 

Whenever I got worn down by the nine-to-five, whenever I started getting tired of all the glitter in my eyes, whenever the energy slipped through my fingers yet again, I would think of the day I’d gotten my first glimpse of her and how my world had transformed. How I’d known that very second that I’d follow her forever. If it meant I got to talk to her, to be a part of what she had in mind, if it meant I could rise up and conquer with her- I’d endure anything. It’s a weird thing to say about a mistress of darkness, but when I looked at her I felt…safe. Like everything would be okay.

But she seemed different from usual today. Her yellow eyes were darting from side to side. I’d never seen them do that before.

She cleared her throat. Her voice boomed magnificently off the walls. “There are not as many here today as there should be,” she said somberly. 

We all bowed our heads, the weight of the fallen pressing down on us. 

She gave a nod. “It is…unfortunate. Without warning, Lovely Dreamer Lily has changed her tactics.”

That was putting it mildly.

“Because of this, our whole operation is threatened.” She tapped her talon-like nails against the dark crystal on its pedestal. My heart swelled with excitement. Was it finally the time to use it?

She licked her lips with her forked tongue. “Protecting this crystal…that’s what matters above all. So for now, we will cease operations. I will go into deep seclusion and consider our next move. I will hide this power from her and cultivate it.”

My mouth dropped open. Was she…?

I looked around. Everyone else had the same slack-jawed expression. Finally, a slouching birdman warbled, “W…what about us?”

“You will all be on standby. I will summon you when I have need of you again.”

“B-but if she finds us…”

She gave a tight-lipped smile. “Try not to let her do that.”

“But-”

“That…That is all. I have spoken.” And without so much as a wave of her hand, she vanished in a puff of black smoke.

We all just stood there.

“Well,” Lupina said quietly. “We’re fucked.”

Right on cue, the cave entrance blew open. Screams echoed around the cavern as she emerged from the smoke. My heart sank to my shoes. 

I’d heard all about it but seeing what Lovely Dreamer Lily had become up close…it was harrowing. Her dress was absolutely drenched with blood of all colors. Green and red and blue ran together in ugly, muddy patches. The soft pink cloth it had once been was barely visible. Several of the satin “petals” of her skirt had been plucked away, showing her frayed shorts underneath, and scraps of blood-stained lace hung off her like torn flesh. Her shoes were covered in thick gore and someone’s tentacle was still stuck on one heel. Her stockings were ripped and jagged claw marks ran up her legs. Some bloody furs were wrapped tightly around her bicep as make-shift bandage. She had on a cape of glittering armored scales and judging from how the right side of her hair had been burned off, whatever dragon she’d skinned to get it had not been happy. Her other pigtail was surprisingly still attached (I’d always been impressed by the strength of her hairstyle), though it was woefully tangled and she appeared to have braided some razor sharp bone into it. 

Her face was the most frightening of all. A patchy burn covered half of it like a red shadow. Her eyes were a blank white, crackling with magic. Her icy gaze fell on me and her small, pink mouth twisted into a slight sneer.

“Finally,” she whispered. “Lily’s here to make dreams come true.”

At her catchphrase, the room erupted in a stampede of running and screaming, but I stayed rooted to spot.

“What are you doing?” Lupina grabbed my hand and began dragging me towards the small exit on the opposite wall. I opened my mouth, wanting to tell her we should just take cover, but before I could speak, it happened.

“Magic Star.”

A wave of pink light burst from Lily and in just the blink of an eye, more than half of us disintegrated. I watched aghast as soul after soul was consumed. The light overwhelmed each of them until they were nothing but silhouettes against the pink wall. Then it passed and only the smell of burning flesh and a fine ash was left behind.

The light dissipated, the screams still echoing. Lupina and I were flattened against the wall, though I couldn’t remember running over there. Lily looked around, taking in those of us who were left. Then she began her slow walk forward. 

Knightress gave a cry of rage and charged at her, lance pointed to kill. Without even looking at her, Lily flicked her wrist. An orange flower shaped barrier popped up and Knightress smacked directly into it. As she fell, she erupted into flames. Her armor melted all over her body, fusing with her flesh. I tore my eyes away as bile rose in my throat. I wished the first blast had gotten me. I wish it had gotten all of us.

I felt something soft around my shoulders. Lupina was pulling me close. “Don’t look back.” She hissed. “Just look forward.”

She had this earnest we-can-do-this expression and I wanted so badly to believe her. I didn’t care if she was smugly protecting me because she thought I was some pitiful weakling. For once, I was grateful she was better than me. Maybe that meant we had a chance. I nodded, linking arms with her. And we ran like hell for that exit. 

As we approached, it became clear we weren’t getting out that easy. People were climbing over each other to flee through the small door, many were grabbling and throwing each other out of the way. A guy in clown makeup tossed this bug-man away so hard that he was launched halfway across the cave. I followed his arc and saw him land in Lily’s path. She simply kicked him out of the way and pointed her staff at clown guy instead. “Crinium”.

The ground at his feet suddenly became a swamp. People leaped away from him as vines and long grass erupted from the muck, wrapping around his neck and pulling him down. He gurgled and choked as he was dragged into the sludge. Even his clown makeup couldn’t cover up the deep shade of purple his face was turning. Finally, he disappeared completely. Stringy white flowers poked their head out of the mud as it bubbled happily.

“Screw this,” Lupina spat. She pointed at the queen’s throne in the back of the cave. “There’s a secret passage behind there, I saw her use it once.”

“Do you…do you really think we can make it?” I whispered. I hated how my voice shook.

“We have to try,” Lupina growled. 

We met a lizard man as we ran. Half of him had been seared off in the blast, but his legs and tail were re-growing quickly. His eyes glowed red with fury, fixated on Lily behind us. “Don’t-” Lupina warned, but he ignored her and launched himself past us. He immediately came back, thrown over our heads at full speed. He landed on a stalagmite that ripped through his chest with a squelch. We jumped over him and continued our mad dash.

I did what Lupina said and kept my eyes forward, but I couldn’t block out the screams and yells I heard behind me. I could recognize some of them. There went Concertina…even her death cry sounds so melodious…there went Icely…nobody else would shatter like that…aw no, not buff unicorn guy…I didn’t even know him, but he was always so fun to watch from afar…

We were maybe ten feet from the throne when I felt her at our backs. 

We both whipped around, Lupina snarling and baring her fangs- but before she could even make a move, something black and orange streaked through the air and sent her flying. She slammed into our queen’s throne and was buried in an avalanche of stones and spikes. 

My whole body shook. I knew Lily was shorter than me, but it didn’t seem that way right now. I was shrinking as she loomed before me, a massive tidal wave ready to come crashing down.

I somehow had it in me to turn and run. I made it three steps before I tripped. As I fell to the floor, I saw I’d stumbled over the queen’s crystal ball, which had been knocked from its pedestal. I grabbed it and forced some of my magic into it. The glass swelled. Hands with jagged shards for fingernails popped out, then arms behind them. Legs stretched out as well, and a head. In an instant, the ball had become a towering glass creature that was all sharp edges and snarls. Lily stopped in her tracks, her eyes widening slightly. It lunged for her, claws out to slice her throat…and she bought her staff down on it, destroying it instantly. I curled up, hands over my head, as broken glass rained over me.

When I opened my eyes, Lily was directly above me. She pressed her staff to my throat, pinning me to the ground.

“Do you know why I’m here?” she growled.

I nodded weakly. 

“You know what you did.”

“It was…it was an accident.” My voice was barely audible. I knew nothing I said would make any difference here. But I had to try. 

She laughed. It was no different from that tinkling, bell-like laugh she’d had before, but something about it curdled in my stomach now. “You think I’ll believe that? After what you said every time? You said it back then too. I remember.”

I did too. I’d never forget any of what happened that day.

“WE ARE HERE TO DESTROY ALL HUMANS!” I belted out as the boy screamed. “I WILL SUCK OUT EVERY BIT OF LIFE UNTIL YOU’RE JUST AN EMPTY FLESH SACK!” 

I knew my volume was way too loud. The other kids on the playground were covering their ears and wincing. But I couldn’t help it. Sucking up energy always made me a little bit giddy, like a jolt of caffeine straight to the noggin. I shook it off and sank my fangs back into the kid’s neck. I started gathering the energy in my palm, where it formed a shiny floating ball. This stuff wasn’t for me to enjoy. It was for the boss.

“Help me…” the boy croaked. He was jerking around a lot more than they normally did. What a little drama queen.

“Don’t worry!” That annoying chirp came right on cue. “I’ll save you!”

I groaned. It took a second for me to locate her. She was standing on top of the jungle gym. Of course she was. All the kids gasped and cheered. I reluctantly halted my feeding.

“Your reign of terror ends here, Narkissa!” she said, jumping down. The heel of her shoe folded a bit when she hit the mulch, but she managed to play it off by doing an elaborate twirl.

She spun her staff dramatically, the bouquet of gaudy crystalline flowers that topped it sparkling in the sun. Then she planted it firmly on the ground. Her hair whipped in the wind. “Lovely Dreamer Lily’s here-

“- to make dreams come true” I recited along with her, rolling my eyes. “Thanks! My dream is for all of you to die.”

“I didn’t mean it,” I muttered, looking up at her burning eyes. I’d give anything to see her stumble now, to see her make a silly pose, do that little weird dance she always used to do before her attacks... “I never meant any of it- it was just a job to me.”

“Really?” She pressed her staff harder against my throat and I coughed. “You seemed so passionate about it! “

“It…was all… talk.” I gagged. “I swear, I didn’t ever plan on­-”

“What was your plan then?” She hissed. “To show the kids a fun time?”

“How fun!”

That wasn’t the reaction you wanted when threatening a girl with a giant metal monster. But there seemed to be nothing on earth that could shake Lily’s smile. I’d accepted that a long time ago. I just wanted this thing to distract her long enough that I’d be able to give the Empress her full energy fix.

The kids screamed as the jungle gym shambled ominously toward Lily, but she gave them a wink and twirled out of the way when a snake-like metal limb shot out at her. She twirled a bit too hard and fell to the ground loopily. The kids laughed at this and she laughed with them. It was truly nauseating. 

At least the kid had finally stopped his whimpering. He was limp and silent now. They usually stayed awake longer than this, but I wasn’t complaining. Once again, I bit him.

But for some reason, the energy ball wasn’t getting any bigger. I withdrew and shook the kid a little bit. His head lolled against his shoulder. I put my hand behind his neck to prop it up and shuddered at how gross his skin felt. It was all moist and clammy…not warm like humans usually were. Something was very wrong here.

“Neither of us…saw it coming…” I wheezed. My right hand scrabbled through the dirt, searching for something, anything that could free me. My fingertips brushed against something soft and papery. Out of the corner of my eye I saw it was one of Arcana’s cards. It was still stained with her blood. “You’d always stopped m-me in time! You were just so… so good at your job.”

The glow of her eyes flickered and dimmed like a candle’s last gasp. I could see the real eyes underneath now. They were rimmed in red and the dark shadows under them looked like purple bruises. “Clearly not.”

“Yeah,” I croaked, squeezing the card between my finger and my thumb. “Well, we all make mistakes. Arcana Major!”

A blinding light flashed and I felt the pressure finally lift from my throat. I clambered away as a hunched figure rose from the card. He lifted his horned head and stretched out his bat-like wings as he snarled down at Lily. Sweet. I’d managed to score the Devil. 

He threw a heavy chain at Lily. It wrapped around her neck and she was dragged to her knees. I let out a giddy little giggle as I got to my feet. I almost wanted to stay and watch, but instead, I made for the passage Lupina had pointed out as fast as I could.

But when I heard Lily rasp “King Solomon”, I couldn’t help but glance over my shoulder. A giant magenta flower petal materialized in the air above the Devil’s head as he bore down on her. Lily bought her hand down and the petal fell like a guillotine, cleaving the demon in half from top to bottom. Blood and guts sprayed everywhere. I put my hands to my mouth, struggling not to vomit. 

Lily tossed the chain away from her neck. She looked at me with hollow, cold eyes.

I trembled with nervous laughter. “Gosh…whatever happened to the power of love?”

“Hand him over!”

Lily was coming straight for me. I tossed the boy at her without hesitation. I didn’t want to hold him anymore anyway. The weird sounds he was making were stressing me out.

Lily caught him, looking a little startled. “Wow! Okay, thanks.” She laid him carefully on the ground. “That was quick. Are you having second thoughts about what you’re doing?” 

I sighed. Always with this.

“You know, you’re always welcome to join the side of good, like Imperia did…” She extended her hand hopefully. I slapped it away. I was still concentrating on maintaining the ball of energy in my left palm. I had to get this to the Empress.

Lily shrugged and knelt down, gently propping up the boy’s head. “Don’t worry, we’re gonna fix you right up.” She kissed her staff and a lily bloomed out of it. She plucked it and pressed it to his mouth. “Lollipop Lily Healing!”

While she was busy with that, I sliced my hand through the air and murmured the words, and a portal to the boss opened. “I’ve got some for you.” I whispered into the dark void.

“Oh, my powers still come from love,” Lily rasped, wiping at the new gore on her skirt so it blended in smoothly with the rest of the blood.  “It’s just a little different now. I used to think it what I needed was this pure, untarnished love for everyone…even people like you. But there are other kinds of love. Speaking of which…” She pointed her staff at me. “Broken Heart.” 

I looked down to see the silhouette of a lily with particularly ragged petals appearing over my breast. Before I could do anything, it sank into me. A splitting, awful pain erupted in my chest and I was bought down to the ground again. 

“Yep. There’s all kinds of love. There’s that innocent love that makes you want to fix everything and everyone. That makes you believe that if you try hard enough, maybe bad things won’t happen. But then, there’s that messy, ugly love that’s full of rage and loss and broken promises. That love that knows there’s just some things you can’t get back.” 

She walked towards me, her eyes glassy. I tried to get up, but it was a lost cause. It took all the energy I had just to brace against the dirt and keep from collapsing completely.

The pain was too much. My right hand clawed as my chest as if I could pull the ache out. I could feel that my heart’s rhythm was weird. It sounded like a song in the wrong key. 

“And you know what?” Lily stood over me. “Turns out this broken love is just as pure, just as powerful. I don’t have to worry about tainting it. I don’t have to swallow down my moments of resentment and rage. Turns out I don’t have to love everyone. Turns out… I don’t have to love you.” 

To punctuate this, she drove her high heel directly through my left hand. My scream shook the rock around us.

A scream so sharp it drilled straight through my skull made me look back. Lily was kneeling over the boy. His lips were blue, his skin was ashen and his body was terribly, horribly still. She tossed her flower aside and pressed her ear to his chest. The blood drained from her face so quickly I was surprised she didn’t stop breathing herself.

Her head snapped up. Her eye were hard. “Give me the energy!” She shouted, her voice ragged and croaky. “NOW!” 

I hesitated, looking at the tiny crumpled form in her arms. But then the boss’s long-taloned hand reached out from the portal and touched my own. I shivered in pleasure as she took the energy from me. 

“Don’t you DARE-!” Lily jumped up, her face twisted into an alarming snarl. Magic crackled around her, and the air suddenly felt impossibly heavy. The empress’s fingers closed around my wrist. 

“Ignore her,” her smooth deep voice washed over me. “Let’s go.”

Lily charged at me, but it was too late. I jumped into the portal. As I fell into the darkness, her furious, tear-streaked face faded away.

I bowed my head, trying to hold the tears back. What had I thought back then? I couldn’t even remember anymore. I think I’d just felt a slight pang in my chest. I’d thought to myself “Next time we meet, I don’t think she’ll smile at me” and been surprised how much like a loss that had felt. I’d cringed and shuffled around a bit, unsettled by the unhappy accident.

But then my mind had moved on. I’d basked in the boss’s praise. I’d run off to brag about my victory to Lupina, hoping this would be finally the one to make her feel all angry and outclassed. But no, she’d just done her condescending “oh, good for you” thing. I’d never managed to get under her skin. I’d never been able to make her feel small like she always made me feel. And now I never would. She was dead under a pile of rubble. And I was going to be next.

“I never liked these heels much.” Lily said casually as she ground her stiletto in deeper. I failed to choke down my squeals, which were getting higher pitched with every twist. Soon only dogs and dog-people would be able to hear me. “The dress was what people gave me the most grief about, but y’know, it doesn’t get in the way and it’s cute as hell. But these. What a pain. Not at all like I imagined. They just make me glad I can float. But hey, at least now they’re getting some use, huh?”

I wonder how she’d feel if I barfed all over the heels she hated so much. Probably wouldn’t make much difference, considering the state they were in. But I held back. I at least had to try to talk her down. It was the only chance I had now.

“Look, I-I know you blame me for what happened, but I-I don’t even know how it.…” I was already on my knees, begging seemed appropriate. “Please, it wasn’t me, he must have been si-sick or…”

“Oh, he was.” She interrupted me. “Very sick. But he was recovering. He would have been able to live a full life if you hadn’t-” She sucked in air through your teeth and closed her eyes. “I… I tried every single power I had. Every spell. I even tried to give him some of my life- I was so sure it would work like it did when Abominatria killed my girlfriend! But… that spell only worked because her magic was linked to my Life Flower. “

I didn’t know what she was babbling about now, but I was grateful for it. She was distracted enough that I managed to wiggle my hand out from under her foot, though I left a good chunk of flesh behind. Even the pain in my heart was letting up a little. I could make another break for it now, if I wanted.

But was there even a point? I knew no matter how far I ran, she’d never stop coming after me. I couldn’t even blame her for that. I’d fucked up. That boy had clearly been close to her. Family, probably. If someone killed my little siblings, I’d totally go on a rampage too. But mine wouldn’t be nearly this impressive. I couldn’t imagine putting in this level of dedication. I probably wouldn’t have even made it to our dimension, much less wiped half of us out. But I shouldn’t be surprised she could do this. She was pure, after all. Open. Devoted. Putting her whole heart in, never holding back, never giving up…those kinds of people are the most terrifying. 

And now… she was tearing up. 

“Do you know what it’s like to carry a child’s cold body to their parents…to watch them wail over his empty shell, knowing if you hadn’t screwed around and just finished the job, he’d be alive?” She took a shaky breath.” Do you know what it’s like see whole beautiful life of this little boy and realize it’s gone, that you’ll never get the chance to know him and who he could have become now because you stood by and let someone take everything away from him?” Her voice wobbled. The tears were flowing fast now, making little rivers of blood and grime. “What it’s like to look at his two-year-old sister and know she’ll grow up with her brother’s death hanging over her head, even though she can’t remember, even know she never got the chance to truly talk with him?”

I stared at her as she scrubbed at her face. There was something wrong here. She must have damaged my brain. I couldn’t be hearing right.

“Uh, did you just say you’d never spoken with this kid?”

“Yeah.” She muttered, wiping her nose.

My mouth fell open. I saw static, creeping in, clouding my senses.  A buzzing grew louder and louder in my ears. White hot energy flashed through me. Screw it.

I lunged for the pale purple umbrella laying on the ground a few feet to my right. A few of Gentlelady Thief’s fingers were still curled around it, but I didn’t care. I swung it at Lily and she just barely dodged the laser that shot out.

“You’re telling me that you did this- this entire goddamn massacre- for someone didn’t even know?” I swung the umbrella again, but it looked like its power had fizzled out. So I turned my swing into a thrust, aiming for Lily’s heart. She parried it with her staff, knocking it out of my hands.

A weak, hysterical laugh escaped my lips. “You’re fucking tell me-” I managed to grab her arm and I quickly sank my nails into her skin. “-that you hunted me down-” Doing it this way wasn’t as good as my fangs, but in a pinch it worked. Her energy spread through me, so good, so strong, like pure ecstasy. “-slaughtered my friends-” She was grimacing, stumbling, hunching. Her pale, sweaty skin was taking on a gray tinge. She was running on fumes and now I was sucking her dry. “-TORTURED ME-“ My whole body was swelling, it was as if I was growing taller, I could do this! “-all because of some little brat who wasn’t important at all?”

As soon as I said it, the temperature dropped. The stream of joyous energy dried up abruptly. I tried desperately to draw out more, just a little more…but instead Lily slowly straightened up to her full height. She met my eyes with a wide empty smile…and she whispered. “Roselily.”

I felt right away that something was wrong. I let go of Lily, stumbling back. I looked down at my arm and saw my skin raise up as something slid around under it like a snake, getting fatter and fatter. It was the most disgusting, nauseating sensation and I needed it to stop like nothing I’d ever needed before. I began clawing at my skin, trying to tear it open, get the thing out, but it was useless. It was writhing inside me and my insides were writhing along with it and my body was seizing and straining and then-

Hundreds of needles shot out from inside me, ripping me open like cheap tissue paper. I screamed, howled, choked on spit and bile and blood as I spilled everywhere. Then just as abruptly as everything had erupted, it stopped. It took me a while to see past the haze of agony to what had happened. To see the mess of thorny, blood-soaked vines that had burst out of my arms and back. There were little flower buds on them and they opened and blossomed and before my eyes. The vines were still growing inside, spreading. I could feel them creeping through every crevice.

I heard Lily’s voice in the distance. “This is why. This is why a thousand deaths of you and yours wouldn’t equal the life of that one little boy. I don’t know why I didn’t see it before. “ 

She squatted down beside me, looking me in the eye. The smell of rotted flesh on her was overpowering.

 “Aw, you’re bleeding out, aren’t you? It’s okay. I’ll stop it. I want to see your garden grow.”

The vines were crawling up my spine, filling my chest…they were heading all the way to the top. “Please…” I croaked desperately. “please…mercy…”

My body convulsed as I began to choke. The vines had reached my throat- the thorns were stabbing my vocal cords and tearing them to pieces. I could still breathe, just a little…then the flowers bloomed and blocked out every bit of air. The petals filled my mouth and I choked. spat them out, hacked them up, desperately pulled out handful after handful, but they were endless. My fingers scrabbled along my tongue and shredded on the thorns. My eyes bulged and burned. My head pounded horribly. I couldn’t see anything anymore, it was just black, black, black…

Suddenly, my body was empty, my throat was clear, and sweet, sweet air flowed through me again. I gulped it up greedily, even though each breath stung my ravaged throat. My body was a bloody wreck, but the vines were gone. Was this the prelude to more torture? But I could hear grunts and swearing beside me. With a great effort, I turned my head a little.

It was a miracle. Lupina- bloody, battered, but beautifully, blessedly alive- was holding the smashed pieces of Lily’s staff. Lily was staring at her empty hands like she still hadn’t quite comprehended what had happened. Drops of blood began to well from three straight scratches across her chest.

“Ha,” Lupina panted. “Wbat do you-”

Lily punched her in the face. One of her fangs flew out and landed near me as she crumpled to the floor. Lily kicked her fallen body and she yowled. I tried to crawl toward her, call out to her, but my throat was too shredded, my body too ravaged. 

Lily scanned the floor and then made a soft “ah” sound. She picked up the little decorative flower that had been knocked free from her staff. I’d never even noticed it, it was so plain. It was almost plastic-looking. “Sorry, but this is all I need as a conduit.” She said as it thrummed with magic. She looked down at Lupina with something almost like pity. 

Then she turned back to me. As she examined my broken body, there wasn’t any of the satisfaction I expected to see in her gaze. She rubbed the bridge of her nose. “You don’t deserve a quick death. But I’m…I’m tired.” She held out the little lily, balancing it delicately between her fingers. “So let’s just end this.”

I was tired too. So I closed my eyes. I waited.

I heard a snap, a sizzle and a short, chilling scream. But there was no pain.

My eyes snapped open and I was greeted by the sight of Lupina standing between me and Lily with a smoking crater in her chest. Lily was so aghast that her cold glare melted for a second. 

Lupina looked over her shoulder at me. Tears poured down her face. Her mouth moved but nothing came out.

I tried to call out to her, I tried to ask “Why.” Why would she do this? She looked down on me, didn’t she? All I was for her was someone she could count on to make her look better, wasn’t I? Had I been wrong about her this whole time? 

I’d never know the answer. She crumpled to the floor and all was still.

Lily let out a long breath. “Wow. I did not expect that. She…she actually loved you, huh?”

No, no that was stupid…why would she love someone like me, who was so beneath her…this was all so dumb…and everything was getting foggy inside me.

Lily kneeled. There was a softness in her expression as she examined Lupina. I saw a scrap of the old Lily for a second, a shard of the girl who would look at us with such a gentle smile, the girl who always extended an open hand. The girl I wished more than anything would come back.

Then she looked up, stone-faced once more. She straightened up and strode toward me.

“Did you see that?” She gestured at Lupina’s smoking corpse. “A totally selfless act. She sacrificed herself for you, even though you didn’t deserve it. Even though you would never do the same for her. Do you even understand that? Can you even comprehend? Hey!” She nudged me with her foot. I scrunched up, wishing I could make myself so small she couldn’t even see me.  No, I didn’t comprehend. I didn’t comprehend any of this.

Lily’s lip curled. “I hate you so much. But you know what? I…I can’t let something so beautiful go to waste. So for the wolf-girl’s sake, I’ll give you one chance.”

She dragged me up to a sitting position. Pink and white magic snaked from her fingers and I felt my vocal cords knitting together, my skin sewing itself up. The pain lessened, just a bit. It was the best feeling in the world. So light and fluffy, like I could just float away.

“If you tell me where the Abominatria is,” she said slowly and deliberately. “I will let you go. Do you hear me?”

“But I killed-

Lily scoffed. “You’re just her pawn. She’s the reason for it all. She’s the one who feasted on his life.” She spat on the ground. “She’s the one I’m really hunting.” She grabbed me by the hair and hoisted me up until I was eye-level with her. Her breath was hot against my face. It smelled like blood and vomit. Maybe all the gore had gotten to her somewhere along the way. It was nice to know she was enough of a person to get nauseous. “If you give her to me, I’ll leave you here. I’ll leave you to your bleeding, broken body and I’ll let you crawl back to whatever’s left of your pathetic little life. It’s an easy choice, isn’t it?” Her wild eyes filled my world, ready to swallow me up.

I considered. I knew where Empress was probably hiding right now, true. I could give her up easily. I noticed Lily’s hand shook as she held me. She really was tired. You can get the shakes like that when you’re on the brink of collapse. I’d seen that once before. I closed my eyes, letting the memory wash over me.

I was trembling from head to toe. Not only had I lost the energy, but I’d been unable to stop the Empress’s daughter from defecting to Lily’s side. 

I knelt before the throne, praying she’d kill me quickly. I knew I deserved a long, torturous death, but…maybe she was so disgusted with me she wouldn’t even be able to stand looking at me for the length of a full torture session. Maybe she’d want to deal with me as little as possible. No, that would actually hurt worse than anything else she could do to me. I decided to change my prayer. Let her have a good time with me. At least then I could be of some use.

I’d waited and waited, bowed on the floor, my muscles so tense they ached. But she never came. I heard noises from the room beside the throne. I crept forward cautiously. I knew I shouldn’t go in that room, but at this point, what did I have to lose?

I found her there. But there was no horned tiara. No pointy shoulderpads. There was just her in a plain tunic and trousers, her hair hanging in a messy bun. She was hunched over a table, a bottle of some purple liquid in her hand.

She looked up when she saw me. I don’t know what I said, I was so discombobulated. Probably something about how I was ready to suffer for my sins. She looked at me blankly for a second. 

Then she sighed., rubbing her eyes. “I…don’t really feel up to it.” She leaned back in her little chair, just a normal chair, not a throne at all. Her hand shook slightly on the bottle “This was my fault, anyway. I know that. She did it because of me. So…let’s just skip it.” She gave me a bitter little smile and put a finger to her lips. “Just don’t tell anyone, all right?”

I nodded so much my head threatened to bounce off my neck. She laughed. It was a surprisingly sweet sound. “Have a drink with me.” I set next to her. I was so nervous, so stunned to even be here, I couldn’t say a word the whole time. She didn’t say anything either. She just drank. After a while, she dismissed me. I bowed deeply before I left and walked out the door like a robot.

But before I could close it behind me, she said “Good night” sort of sadly. Then she said my name. My real name. I hadn’t realized she even knew it.

I opened my eyes. I gave Lovely Dreamer Lily biggest, bloodiest smile. “You’re right. It is an easy choice. I’m not telling you shit.”

Lily ground her teeth. I could see a vein pulsing in her temple. “You understand she left you all to die, right? You understand she ran away? She’s not some all-powerful goddess. She’s just-”

“Yeah. I know.” I said. “She’s just some scared woman. And that why I can’t do it. So just go ahead and kill me.”

Lily looked at for me a moment and I thought maybe she was impressed. But then she laughed. “You were betting on that melting my heart and getting my guard down, huh? Well, I’m not falling for it. Not with you.” She slammed me against the wall. “I’ll just find her on my own. And now…” she pressed her hand to my forehead. “For Ari.”

There was this pause where I was probably supposed to say some cool last words or something. But I just hung there as her hand grew hotter and hotter. As my skin blistered and stung. This light was spreading in long, flat arcs, covering me from head to toe. Wait, I know this one…. 

“Blooming Lily Burst.” she hissed in my ear.

Her signature move. 

What an honor.