Jack, Tendra, and Tasha were all disconnected from each other as Annie watched.
"Shit, Tendra, did you finish your job?" Annie asked.
However, to her surprise, Tendra grabbed onto the needles in her head and stitched on her eyelids. She yanked them out with excessive force and dropped them to the ground. She opened her bright, blue eyes to the world.
"What the-!? Tendra, what are you doing?"
Jack was about to stab Tendra, but Tasha held her back with a gentle nudge and head shaking.
Tendra looked at Annie with disgust and said, "I am no longer required to follow your orders, Annie."
She walked past the two Night Demons and towards Annie. Then, the two left.
Annie started to violently cough as she backed away. But behind her were just cages. The monsters writhed and rattled as they saw Jack.
The mask on Jack's face began to itch. She started to peel the mask off like a scab. It vanished into a shadowy mist. There was a mirror on the wall. She looked at her face, but no longer saw herself as hideous. Then, she looked straight at Annie with the determination to end this.
"Finally," Jack said, "After all this time, I'll finally put an end to you."
"Will you, assistant?" Annie muttered before being grabbed by the throat.
Jack lifted her up and started to strangle her. Annie gave no resistance. For a brief period of time, Jack was enjoying every second of it. Her rage was kept in check, but small pieces of it came out as she remembered everything that Annie did. But in the end, she controlled her rage.
Annie, however, smiled as she looked at her assistant. When her soft hands began to caress Jack's face, Jack realized what the other version of herself meant. She remembered what the other Jack told her.
"Annie will enjoy being killed by the thing she loves," was what the other Jack said.
And she was sickened by it. Jack dropped her to the ground.
She coughed violently and said, "What are you doing? Haven't you come for your revenge?"
"Fight me, then. Defend yourself."
"I wouldn't dare try to hurt you, my assistant. Such a beautiful body and form from the inside and out."
"Disgusting," Jack said disappointed.
Then, Annie began to vomit and cough at the same time. It made a cracking sound inside of her throat. Blood was mixed with the otherwise green vomit.
Jack said, "You don't look so good. You look a little pale."
"How sweet of you to say, Jacqueline."
"You want to die, don't you?" Jack asked, "But more specifically you want it to be me."
"Of course. I don't want to die by some disease. And the moment, I transform back into my human form, I'd die right then and there. I can just feel it. I had hoped that my Jack would accommodate me eventually after I finished showing the world my art, but looks like fate has other plans."
"Maybe, I should just watch you succumb to whatever illness ails you. That would be a more fitting way to die for scum like you," Jack said as she leaned on the table watching Annie like a hawk.
"You could do that. But I know that you want to kill me," Annie said as she sat covered in blood and vomit, "Ever since I laid my eyes on you, I saw the most beautiful girl. I was so entranced. And I made you mine. But I knew you could be even more beautiful, so I turned you into a Light Guardian. I was lucky that you weren't a boy. Then, you would never have been able to become a guardian. Have you ever wondered why mostly girls from around late elementary to late high school are Light Guardians? I figured it out. I was smart and learned many things about guardians, the light, the dark, and so much more. The process takes a toll on the body. It will only work on the females around that age because of their physiology and hormones. There are rare cases where the process works in all."
Annie paused to catch her breath, but knew her time was almost out. She didn't want to die just yet, so she continued talking, "For example, did you know that Herakles was real. He was a Light Guardian. One of the rare cases. He was one of the strongest guardians to have ever lived. Unfortunately for me, I'm not one of those legends. Or at least, not until my art is seen around the world."
"I will make sure your art is burned until there is nothing left," Jack said.
"I'm sure you will try. But that will just make the remainings' values skyrocket," Annie continued, "Oh, as I was saying before, my body isn't too special in that regards. Rather, my body is failing now. Don't worry. It happen to all of the Light Guardians eventually depending on a number of factors."
"What do you mean?" Jack asked.
"When you use your guardian abilities, you begin to drain away at your own life. Human bodies are fragile. They can't handle it for long amounts of time. Ironically, the only thing keeping me alive is my guardian form. Although, I suppose you can take me to a hospital and keep me alive hooked up in all sorts of tubes, but then I would never get any work done. But I don't think you should worry, assistant. I don't know what you are, but I'm certain you're not a Light Guardian."
"Why would you think that?"
"Because Jack is dead. I took her body and made her my own. I'm sure you passed by her."
"That's nothing but a doll! Your puppet!," Jack yelled.
"Yes. And so are you? A more advanced doll I may add, but a doll nonetheless. I should get tips from the fellow artist who made you. All that emotion is very breathtaking."
"I don't care. You're trying to just taunt me."
"Yes. But only with the truth, fake Jacqueline. But let's say that you are. You and I are the same on the inside. Then, we're both the same kind of Light Guardian."
"Don't compare us. You let my parents die, so that you could keep fighting a Night Demon. You killed all those people in that club to spawn those monsters. You created freaks of nature and enslaved them to kill. You're a monster."
"So are you! You're a monster, too. While you've been going around looking for me, I was there watching you every step of your journey picking up the bodies you left behind for my own projects. And all I saw was you going around slaughtering Light Guardians because of some high and mighty idea of Light Guardians being evil like me. Or perhaps, that's what you said to yourself just to excuse your fits of rage."
"I'm not like that anymore," Jack said angrily.
"Yes, you are. You're a beautiful monster on the inside and out," Annie said as she stood up. She caressed Jack's cheek with her left hand, and in that moment, Jack couldn't control herself. She conjured her machete and cut off Annie's left arm clean off. Annie jumped back in pain, but smiled throughout it all.
Then, Jack stopped herself. She saw Jack's smile and knew that was what she wanted. And Jack wanted nothing but to make her suffer.
"I want you to suffer. I will not give you what you want. I will not kill you. I'll just watch you as you slowly wither away," Jack said.
"Hah! Then, I'll just have to make you kill me," Annie said as she jumped up in the air and conjured her rod.
She was weak, but she could at least pull off a little bit of lasers to provoke Jack.
But suddenly, a claw shot out from the entrance cutting Annie's right hand making the rod vanish with it. Then, a barrage of chains encased themselves around her legs. They held her down tightly breaking her legs with a crunch. She was dragged down back to the floor.
To Jack's surprise, she looked back and saw both Yune, Tasha, and Mary there. Mary waved her hands gladly.
The door was being shut closed with chains. There were some knocking noises.
"Hey, let us in!" a girl's voice could be heard, but Yune made sure the chains were tightly locked around the door. She trusted them like family, but didn't want to involve them.
"Yune?" Jack said as Yune approached her. Jack noticed that Yune was going punch her in the face, but made no attempt to stop it. She probably deserved far worse for what she did in the past.
And when Jack took the hit, Jack didn't feel it, but it hurt her.
"I'm sorry for what I've done. I'm sure I took away many families," Jack said.
"Save it," Yune said aggressively, "I know that Annie killed Mizu. But you had the intention of killing her. So, either way, I don't and I never will forgive you. We are not family. After we kill Annie, I've decided I won't be coming back to the team. You are lucky I decided to let you go, Jack. I've already killed the other one."
Mary was upset with Yune's decision, but understood. She did find new friends. However, she guessed they weren't much friends if Yune locked them behind the door as they kept knocking.
Jack also understood her choice.
Yune and Mary took off their masks and they vanished into a shadowy mist. The three of them were side-by-side casting a large shadow around them and over Annie. She looked at them and laughed.
"Jacqueline, you really think these girls are worthy of you. They don't understand your beauty like me."
"Let's get this over with," Mary said.
"Wait. I want her to suffer. As we speak she is dying," Jack replied.
"Do you think these wounds will kill me. You'd have to wait some time," Annie said. She was right. She was sick and wounded, but as a Light Guardian, she could last for some time even without food and water.
Jack then looked at all of the creatures in their cages. They watched the three girls patiently. There were both Night Demons and art pieces that Annie were working on. Then, they eyed the weak Annie.
Jack wanted Annie to suffer for many reasons. However, Mary was sick and tired of searching for this girl that she wanted her to die for it. She had to work like a horse for finding this girl, and hoped that somebody had to suffer for it. As Yune, looked at Annie, she also felt that the girl was responsible for turning Jack into a monster and taking away Mizu. She wanted Annie to suffer like how she suffered after Mizu died.
In unison, all three of the girls began to have one thought. One unified thought. The thought of making Annie suffer. All of their marks glowed among a shadowy mist on their left arms. Jack's mark of the snake. Mary's mark of the crow. And Yune's mark of the cat.