"Jack?" Annie muttered. She was perplexed at who she was seeing. It was her. Not the empty shell that she kept around.
Jack roared and conjured another flaming machete.
Mary hopped off of Jack's back and commented, "Wassup, homies. We made it. Although, we would have gotten here earlier if Jack let me check the address on the GPS first before running. "
She also looked at Tasha who was attached to Jack's back, as well. It shivered hanging on for it's life. She didn't even know that Tasha came along, but didn't mind.
Now, there were four guardians on one side, and a giant rose with the corpse of one guardian and a sparkling Light Guardian on the other. Nina, Anne, Jack, and Mary stood side-by-side ready to fight.
Annie bit her lips in frustration, but it was only for a moment. Then, she was feeling a high in her head. She didn't believe that the Jack she was seeing was real, but just a fake. She owned the original's body. The one in front of her was a very good mimic, she thought.
"How are you, my fake assistant?" Annie asked.
Jack roared shaking the entire building in response. Now, that she was face to face with the girl she was searching for so long, she felt a surge of rage. She wanted revenge for what Annie did to her parents. She wanted to make her suffer for all those who died because of her. She no longer could control herself. She breathed erratically. She didn't see anything but the target in front of her. Everything else seemed like a blur or a shadow. However, Jack knew that the other girls were there and didn't want to hurt them, so she struggled to maintain herself.
Mary took one look at her and knew that she was barely holding onto her sanity.
But that sanity was gone by the time Annie said, "I wonder who made you. Another artist and admirer like myself. I can't have that."
Jack charged forward in a blaze of fury.
Kira looked down at Mary and silently groaned. A flurry of sharp vines and large bundles of thorns shot at the girls. And the fight continued.
Annie aimed her rod at Jack as she was cutting down the plants with ease. The flames easily burned through whatever Kira threw at her. Mary, Nina, and Anne were able to get closer in as they now had the advantage. While Jack continued to go berserk, the other three girls were able to close the distance.
Annie was about to fire her rainbow beams, but then a sudden violent cough came out instead. Blood splattered out onto her arm as she covered it.
"Not now," Annie muttered. As she saw that Jack was closing in and Annie was too weak to fight, she had no choice but to retreat. However, she still wanted this version of Jack for herself. She had one, but thought another would just be splendid. She jumped back and yelled out, "Thank you all for coming, but I'm going to have to cut this opening short. My rose and arachnid artwork, protect your creator. Kill those girls! Oh, but make sure to try and keep Jack alive."
Annie didn't expect any of her creatures to be able stop Jack, but the other three seemed easy enough. At best, they would slow her down. However, if they were able to knock her out, she planned to experiment with her to see how she as made, but she knew how strong Jack, so she had to come up with a plan. She still didn't think that it was a real person, but just something like her own pieces of art.
"Annie!" Jack yelled before Kira bundled together a large amount of vines to push Jack back.
The ground shook like an earthquake. Spiders of all sizes dug out and began to join the assault. Each one had the same mask and signature on their abdomen.
It was chaos. Jack was able to destroy most of the creatures that attacked her, but the other three girls weren't as strong as her. However, luckily, the monsters focused their efforts at capturing Jack. They could feel that Annie wanted that the most. Mary, Anne, and Nina had to work together as Jack was experiencing a large amount of aggro.
The three girls couldn't go near Jack without getting burned themselves, so the three girls focused their fight to Kira. Giant arms made of vines and thorns grew out from the ground.
They dodged and slashed at waves of vines and monsters. Blood made from paint splattered from the torn up spiders and onto a canvas composed of the ground and guardians.
The spiders just kept coming. Occasionally, they would strike at one of the other pieces of 'art'. Annie made sure to send the spiders out as they were expendable. But the pieces of art she made felt like a part of her, so she didn't want to send them on a suicide mission.
After a while, the pieces of art that Annie displayed retreated away from the fight and left the work to Kira and the spiders.
Jack was surrounded by spiders, but continued to fighting them back.
Meanwhile, Kira's focus was on Anne, Nina, and Mary. She groaned in pain all while sending large serpentine vines to attack the three girls.
Amidst the chaos, Mary, Anne, and Nina were separated. They had to defend themselves against an onslaught of plants and spiders. Clicking noises echoed throughout the room with shrieks adding to it from the vines.
Then, while Mary was defending herself against the spiders, she didn't notice as a large bundle of vines were coming down on top of her until the last second. Mary was fast, but not fast enough. She dashed forward, but the vines morphed themselves into a hand and held her down. It squashed the bottom half of Mary and the other spiders. Mary fell unconscious for a moment and when she awoke, she was stuck. She struggled to get out, but it was no use. The more she struggled, the harder the vines constricted around her body. The only parts that were free was her head and one arm. She looked around and saw how they weren't going to last. The spiders kept coming, and Anne and Nina were no where near Kira. Jack was even having trouble. Tasha even tried to help while on her back keeping the spiders away with it's tendrils. But there were too many of them. They began to swarm Jack and cover her in a thick viscous ooze that drooled out of their mouths.
Then, Mary looked at Kira and noticed her eyes staring straight at her. It continued to groan, even though it was painful. It tried to speak, but nothing would come out.
Mary lifted her arm up and thought that it couldn't end like this. She couldn't believe that she would die after all that happened. She couldn't believe that they would all die to these monsters.
She struggled as the vines continued to constrict. She once thought that God enjoyed violence, but after spending so much time with Jack and Yune, she didn't believe that was the case anymore. That was just an excuse to inflict violence. She enjoyed it only because that was what her mother taught her. She was always taught to believe that those who followed a different religion or belief were nothing but monsters that needed to die. She learned not to trust others, but now that she opened her heart to Yune and Jack, she never felt betrayed by those two. There was so much that she was taught that turned out to be wrong.
She just wanted to be a part of a family. Not like the family she had. And as this feeling reached down into her guts, her claws began to tremble. They glowed bright purple with streaks with red. And before the vines could reach their way inside of Mary's mouth and eyes, her mark glowed brightly. The mark of the crow.
Jack's mark glowed as well giving her a boost in power.
And wherever Yune was, she felt stronger.
Their bond strengthened them wherever they were.
And with one chance, Mary's claw shot out of her index finger. It flied straight past the other vines. And when Kira saw it coming for her, she tried to stop it, but it was too fast. It flew faster and faster. The space around it began to break apart like glass. And with swiftness, it flew straight into Kira's right eye.
It screamed in pain and shook it's body around. The other vines trembled and began to writhe. They were all stunned for seconds.
The vines that closed in around Mary loosen, giving her the chance to escape.
As Kira flailed around trying to get the claw out of her eye, the vines flailed with her as they were a part of her. They accidentally hit the spiders that surrounded Jack giving her enough time to free herself from them. The spiders backed away.
With one eye, Kira began to focus her attacks on Mary. But to Mary's surprise, Nina and Anne came in to help her. They all grouped together to face whatever came. Even these girls, Mary thought, were a better family than what she used to have.
The spiders began to click to each other and as they saw Jack, they only saw a red demon. They began to retreat, but not because of fear. They seemed to have new orders. They dug down and left Kira to fight alone.
Jack roared with a fury of a thousand lions. The only thing she wanted to do was chase after Annie, however that would mean leaving the others. She tried to control herself. All that rage and hate was far harder to control now that she was so close. She didn't want her to escape again. But then Tasha came to help her. It attached it's tendrils onto Jack's head and she began to calm down. Everything began to seem more clear. All that Tasha did was calm her down, but it was enough.
She looked at the injured rose. It was weakened, but not down.
Jack conjured her machete, but grew it ten time larger with fire spewing out of it. She concentrated her powers rather than letting her rage control her. It grew larger and larger until it could no longer be seen as a sword, but just a slab of volcanic iron. She struck at the stem from where she stood and cut it down with one strike.
The whole rose began to set ablaze. As the fire grew, it quickly reached the top. The petals began to fall apart and turn to ash. It fell lifting up paint, dust, and ash from the ground into the air they breathed. The dust settled. The flames dispersed. The scent of the rose's aroma turned into the vulgar scent of death.
The rose was defeated. But Kira was still alive groaning in constant pain.
Anne and Nina rushed to Kira's side. They tried to comfort her, but she only felt pain. Even the slightest touch caused nothing but an intense burning sensation. The claw in her eye vanished and came back to Mary's finger.
Kira knew who Anne and Nina were, but only because Tendra gave her those memories. She didn't quite feel anything from them, but when she looked at Mary, she did remember her. She remembered seeing her as a monster, and wanted to warn the other two about it. Even though she wasn't the same Kira that they were friends with, she still wanted to tell them, but all she could muster was a few groans.
She saw that Tasha was behind her and petted it knowing that it helped her regain control of herself.
"Good girl," she said while it enjoyed receiving it's scales being rubbed. Jack wanted to chase Annie, but had a feeling that she wouldn't run. She could tell that Annie put her heart and soul into this horrid and nightmarish art gallery. She didn't think that she would abandon it. After Tasha was able to keep her calm, it felt good to be in control. Rather than going berserk, she felt like she was in far more control over her actions.
Mary approached the three girls. Anne and Nina tried to reassure that Kira was fine, but it was obvious that she was suffering. Every second, Kira looked like it would die, but it would just spring back up. It spewed out blood and paint from it's destroyed eye.
Mary began to remember what she did to Kira. She remembered all the horrible things she said and did to her. Mary had plenty of time to reflect on it. After all this time, Mary now felt guilt for what she's done. A sharp pain entered her stomach. She hated it. This feeling of something she did before. She's never felt like this in all her life until now. She's never felt guilt or remorse for the other people she killed. But now, after experiencing her own feelings merging with Jack's and Yune's, she felt different. The mark that the three of them held on their arms linked them together far more than what they thought to be possible. It changed her from the inside.
She reminisced about that time. She was childish, bratty, and sadistic, and she caused Kira to suffer for it. The only reason that Kira won that fight, she thought, was because she had something to fight for. Mary had nothing to fight for at that time. She only taunted the girl because she enjoyed watching her like everybody else suffer, but now she felt differently. It seemed abhorrent and putrid, now. And then only after the fight she was able to be friends with Jack and Yune. Or family as Yune once said back then. And Mary enjoyed the thought of that and it was because of her battle with Kira. And how Mary repaid her was by killing her.
She had no chance against the three of them. It wasn't even close to fair. And when Kira died, Mary remembered what she said to her. She remembered taunting her about her boyfriend as she died, and now it made her sick thinking about it. Back then, they thought that if Light Guardians saw their dark transformation, they would instantly think that they weren't Light Guardians. Now, plenty of guardians knew how they transformed, yet none of them suspected. Kira's death in hindsight was pointless, Mary thought. They may have come to blows with their team after, but after thinking about it, she was sure that Yune would have been able to negotiate their way out of a clash.
Kira's death was pointless and she suffered for Mary's mistakes. And she's still suffering, Mary thought. And now, Mary felt like she was suffering with her.
Mary went over to Nina and Anne. She looked at Kira. Her one eye stared straight at her. With that look, Mary knew that Kira was aware of her death and who did it. It continued to groan as her arms were splintered like wood chips.
Mary felt her heart stop for a minute. Even though she now felt guilty for Kira's death, she now felt scared to being found out. But she didn't want to kill Kira again, but when she saw how Kira was living, she didn't consider it a mercy to let her live. It would be more merciful to let her die.
She touched Anne's and Nina's shoulder and said, "She's suffering."
"It's alright, Kira. It's alright," Nina said. Both of them tried to comfort Kira, but it did nothing to help her. Anne and Kira were tearing up as they saw her friend like this. They felt a strange sense of happiness seeing her alive, but seeing her alive in this state made them feel terrible. There was nothing they could do. It was like a doll.
"Anne. Nina," Mary said in a depressed voice, "The Kira you knew is dead. What Annie did to her is make her into a puppet. She's suffering. She needs to go back - back into the grave."
"No!" Anne yelled angrily, "She's fine. We can take her to a hospital. We can call the shopkeeper. She can be fixed."
Nina called out, "Shopkeeper. Shopkeeper. Shopkeeper. Help!"
The shopkeeper appeared and Nina continued quickly, "Please save Kira. Please help her."
He looked at the girl and said coldly, "Do you have a black coin?"
Neither Anne nor Nina had a spare black coin to use. However, Mary had plenty in reserves.
They begged. They said that they could owe him later, but the shopkeeper didn't accept that.
Mary thought to herself and wondered if she should use one of hers. But then if the shopkeeper does fix Kira, then she would tell the others that the three of them killed her. She felt sorry for what she did, but she knew that there was no excuse.
The mark glowed. Jack felt Mary's internal conflict. She didn't feel like they should spend a black coin to save Kira, but understood her struggles. Jack didn't want to fight them right now. She just wanted to make sure that Annie didn't get away.
Then, finally, Mary opened her mouth. Whatever the consequences were, she would shoulder them. This feeling of guilt in her stomach felt terrible, and she hoped to ease that feeling.
"Use one of my res-" Mary said before being interrupted by the shopkeeper.
He said, "And fix her how? I can't bring back the dead. That's nothing but a corpse with a mock brain. It's not the real Kira that you knew. It's a doll"
"Please just help her," Nina pleaded once more.
"I can't. No matter how many black coins you give, I don't think I can do anything about it. Of course, if you want a realistic doll of Kira, I can provide that. It'll be like a little robot."
"Damn you," Anne said before throwing a punch at the shopkeeper, but he instantly stopped her strike with one hand. The shopkeeper pushed her away and vanished after saying, "I won't help you."
Then, Mary said to the two girls who looked like they were in mourning again, "Please. Let me end it's suffering. You don't need to do that."
After a couple of seconds, Anne and Nina nodded.
They said their final good-byes to Kira and walked a couple of steps away turning their backs on Kira. It continued to groan to try and tell them about her murder, but still nothing came out. Then, it looked at Mary. It felt no hate or sadness. It was just an empty shell, after all. A body with implanted memories. This doll just felt like it had a duty to tell Kira's friends.
"You remember what happened," Mary whispered as she put her claw to Kira's throat, "I'm sorry."
With one swift swipe, Kira's neck was cut off. The body and head fell. It no longer felt anything. Kira Shine was dead once more. The body began to deflate and melt away. A random assortment of leaves poured out of her.
Anne wiped her tears and walked forward.
"Let's go, Nina. We got to stop Annie. We can't let what she did happen to anybody else," Anne said with new resolve. Anne and Nina looked at the body once more.
"We can't leave Kira like this," Nina said.
Although Anne felt the need for revenge, she knew that it wasn't right to leave the body, there.
She said to Jack, "I remember, now. You were looking for her a long time ago. Make sure that girl pays for what she's done."
Jack, "I plan to. Let's go, Mary."
Mary felt no kind of relief for her newfound guilt. She knew that if she fixed Kira, then Anne and Nina would surely want to kill her, Jack, and Yune. She thought about telling them, but shied away from the thought. She didn't mind dying, but couldn't risk her two friends to die with her.
She pushed forward. "I'm right behind you, Jack," Mary said.
The two Light Guardian dashed away holding Kira's body and head wrapped in a piece of the rose's large petals. Meanwhile, the two Night Guardians dashed forward with new resolve. Both ready to face whatever monsters hid in this gallery.