Leslie's nose bled a stream of black ghostly blood, as it rolled over her ethereal lips. She looked down to see the devastation of Zitergall. It was unknown who was left, but she seen to the north of the City, a large piece of wall that fell inside the city turned over. The massive form of Verruca staggered from under it but soon stood firmly.
Leslie angry with herself and the outcome of this war, flew down to meet Verruca, and for the first time reveal her true form to her.
"Lord Commander... Warmarshal... Julia Verruca... Of the Verruca Clan... of the Holy Kingdom of Deagoth... See what you have wrought." Leslie floated five meters in front of Verruca.
"Auuhgh... Leslie???" Verruca looked on at the ghostly form of Leslie. She was clearly shocked! She had never seen Leslie in this form and wondered exactly what was she.
"Yeah... It's me... Let me ask you. Why didn't you call Jack?" Leslie asked while frowning her cold face.
"What???" Verruca didn't understand what she was getting at...
"Why... Didn't you... Call for Jack's help???" Leslie said slowly hoping the Idiot Warmarshal would understand the question.
"This is my war. I don't need his help." Verruca sneered.
"What a fine war it is... If I'm not mistaken, that before this Hexplosion, you lost half of your troops and two Warmarshals... Even your best friend wasn't spared... That's three Warmarshals. Who knows how the other armies are doing... Mossvale's army looks to still be in the forest tangling with the Jakahn warriors. Quicker's army is still dazed from the loss of their Warmarshal and rode with Chaoshood's Spellslingers... And where are they? Where are your Warbreakers?"
Verruca looked around the City of devastation, as she spat, "Like I could stop this bombing! I'm not a god!"
"NO, BUT OUR FUCKING HUSBAND IS!" Leslie shrieked in a high voice. It was good that the undead that were closest to them was still dealing with the shock wave of the explosion, and couldn't hear them... At least the ones that were left.
"He isn't my husband!" Verruca drew an awful face.
"This is what you focus on??? Not the fact that you could have done something to prevent what has happened?!" Leslie continued
"Like what could I have done!? Since you know so much, then you saw the weapon's Jakahn was using!" Verruca took a step forward, as she clenched her hands into a fist.
"Did you ask anyone for Intel??? If you did, then you know that Former-Marquis Mark is their leading commander here! Of course, you did! He is helping Jakahn, but who is helping you?! Us!? Deagoth?!"
"What are you getting at...!?"
"You know damn well what I am getting at! You are a powerful warrior, and no one will deny that, but you are a poor commander! You squander your forces, and let them die by the wayside for your pride and arrogance! You let your fellow Warmarshal die in front of you, and called no one for help! You then, instead of falling back, let your emotions cloud your judgment, and stormed into the most obvious trap I have ever seen in my unlife! FOR WHAT...?!? Pride... Because of the little Verrucan princess' pride!" Leslie berated, without letting Verruca get in a word edgewise.
Verruca dropped her fists, she wouldn't admit anything that Leslie said was true, but it was true... She knew it best.
"Look at our mighty War God of Deagoth... you are no god, but you have an intimate relationship with one! Don't tell me that you don't believe in the God-King when all you talk about in your spare time is Jack, the God-King... Why didn't you call him?!" Leslie pushed.
Verruca shook her head and cleared her thoughts with a huff, "And since you know so much about my situation... Why didn't you call? Why didn't you try to do something, huh??? Don't lay this at my feet, if you could have done something." Verruca tucked her chin, as she stared down the ghostly entity in front of her. She felt some powerful energy rolling off of Leslie, but she couldn't tell her Cultivation rank...
"...Haaaaa~" Leslie let out a sigh.
"Julia..."
"I don't remember allowing you to call me such a name," Verruca spoke blandly.
"Damn, what you want, Julia. Damn, what you want... Didn't you feel it funny that you had the thought to call Jack after Ken fell? Wasn't it odd, that you had the thought of getting help when these things never cross your mind???" Leslie asked, tilting her head.
"...." Verruca thought hard, and agreed! She hadn't stopped to think, as everything just happened in a blur... But that wasn't something she would think...
"You-" Verruca was about to ask, before getting cut off.
"That's right... Me. I was the one that whispered you from the shadows. I have my reasons to help in such away. In fact, you're not even supposed to see me like this, but I figure one day we may no longer have secrets with each other... All you had to do was call... Jack would heed your call. He cares for you." Leslie sighed again, this was what she really wanted to talk about, even at a time like this.
"That's not what he told me before he went into seclusion. He thinks I'm just a toy... A game to him. I mean nothing to him. His choices so far are a clear indicator of that." Verruca turned her head to look as some of the falling buildings.
"Let me guess... He said he was a terrible person... Bad mouthed himself, and then went on to same some stupid things to piss you off... Is that right?" Leslie guessed, right in front of Verruca.
"Ah... Clos- Wait... How do you know what we talked about! Did he tell you?!" Verruca looked back to Leslie.
"I can guess what that dumbass did... He hurts for you. He knows he did wrong by you... And he wants to set you free. I can almost bet the entire treasury of Deagoth on this. He wants you to hate him, and so you will turn your back on him. He can't serve you as you want him too... He can no longer be monogamous, because of me and Emily... So he wants you to forget him. Find someone else, even in anger... He really is stupid, sometimes." Leslie shook her head.
"Why... I... I don't think that's stupid..." Verruca thought up to this point in logic and thought it made a lot of sense. That day he was being really dominating, mean, and slightly disgusting to her, even if a small part of her heart really liked it like that...
"Once I found out you too had something, I did everything in my power to find out the clues I missed... Both of you have had feelings since you were kids. In fact... It's only my luck that he forgot his memories, and choose me first. I will not apologize for this. I love Jack, and I would die for him. I'm willing to share my love for him. If he wanted me too hurt me... I would let him. Do you understand? I love him so much, I would allow myself to be hurt by him, and enjoy the attention. I hate that he has this control over me, and by the Creator, I hope he never finds out." Leslie said rather morosely.
"That's not love..." Verruca knit her brows.
"That's my love... Unconditional. My love for Jack is greater than your love, you think you have for him. You are simply fond of him. My ultimatum is either find you another undead to love, or leave your pathetic pride to the side and love him as I do."
Verruca made no comments on love, but asked, "I will not call Jack... What if he doesn't come for me. I'm not his consort like you are... Even that little bitch Emily is more than I am to him."
"Want to make a bet?" Leslie's ghostly face smiled widely, as the blood from her nose traced her lips to fall on the ground.
"A bet?"
"Yeah, a bet. Are you woman enough to take my bet? Yes, I am goading you into my bet, because I don't think I can lose."
"What's the bet?" Verruca asked. It was widely known that Verruca liked to make deals and bets. She was that competitive.
"I bet that if you call Jack... In all this mess... Show a bit of your feminine side to him, and he will rage just like he did for me... When... When my family had problems. I bet he will fly into a rage. Do you take my bet?" Leslie asked, smiling like the Cheshire cat.
"What do I get if I win? Verruca got to the point.
"You even think you have a chance! Laughable. Alright. How about this... I can't speak for Emily, but if you win, I will renounce my title as Consort."
"That's not what I want."
"Alright then, what is it that you want?" Leslie asked tilting her again.
"I want a large military budget. I want more troops. I want more war, and I want to crush Jakahn." Verruca said excitedly.
Almost speechlessly, Leslie's eyes gleamed, "That's all?" Leslie giggled, as her silver bell laughter pierced through the twilight of the fires that burned over Zitergall. With the aid of Alida, and several other Silent Scream agents that came down to Zitergall... The recovery efforts of the survivors were going well.
"Alright, fine! If you win, I will grant you almost all available funds that do not go into staving off the Dead Tide to your war, but if I win... I want to make your relationship with Jack clear. It bothers him that he doesn't know. Either decide to allow him to pursue him... And let the dense dunce know... If you don't let him know, he's never going to figure it out, OOOOOR simply tell him that you aren't interested in him anymore. Let him know, you are going to see other undead. Make it clear... Do you understand me?" Leslie floated closer to Verruca, now a mere meter away from her.
Verruca looked deep into the ghostly banshee eyes of Leslie.
"Deal," Verruca said as she summoned up her courage. She would rather run back into Jakahn's trap than call Jack, but she too... She too wanted to know if he would come, and this was just a way to make her pride feel better if it was a bet.
"Call him," Leslie said blandly...
"I... How do I call him? Do I just cry, shed some Gray Crocodile tears?" Verruca asked as if this was a debriefing of a military mission.
Leslie pointed behind Verruca to a lamppost, that had a broken piece of Glowstone, "Anytime we need Jack... Just call to him in the Light. Go over to that Glowstone, and cry... Call him to aid you... Then we will see his reaction."
"Will this really work?"
"Do you believe in the God-King? You don't have too, but it makes this easier if you do." Leslie began to float over to the Glowstone lamp.
Verruca looked left, right, left, and found that after this long conversation, they had not been attacked back Jakahn again... She felt rather odd about this, now that she thought about it.
She took large strides to the Glowstone lamp. As she stood next to the lamp, she looked one last time at Leslie. Leslie nodded in response and then disappeared from sight. Verruca couldn't believe she vanished and searched all over with her eyes for her.
[Don't look for me. Just play your part. Make it believable... Even if it isn't what you feel.]
Verruca pinched her brows, and looked directly into the Glowstone, as she opened her mouth to speak.