Moira
Rather than being beset by multiple dreams of horrible fates befalling amazing women, she was instead confronted by the women themselves. Moira found herself in what appeared to be the royal receiving room in the principal castle in the vampire capital of New Transylvania. There, she was once again seated upon the throne, but was obviously too small for it. She briefly wondered if she would have even been able to climb up there if this was real life.
Seated in the 13 grand council seats were instead the 8 women from the dreams she had had, as well as 5 others. They were all looking at her with judging eyes, obviously finding her wanting. However, no one moved to speak. Belatedly, Moira realized she would need to raise the enormous and massive ceremonial spear conveniently placed to her right and slam it against the ground 3 times to call the council to order, which would give them permission to speak. She did so, but not without great effort.
"You are weaker than I would have expected." Shanna commented.
"One day, when I grow up, I hope to be as strong as you." Moira replied, fully serious.
"So Darknesse came and killed us?" Andy asked, holding tight to her sister's hand.
"It should be more accurate to say that Darknesse arranged things to allow you to die. I deeply regret that the contents of our bet hurt so many so badly."
"I had a good life. I am just sad that Katherine here did not outlive me." Meredith answered. Katherine, for her part, looked sad and betrayed, as if her faith in humanity had been shattered.
"If you would like, I could seek justice for you, Katherine. They should not be allowed to get away with the harm they have caused." Moira offered. Clearly, this would be a long term plan, because currently in the mortal realm, she would hardly be able to go up against an entire police department even verbally.
"That is not what we are here to discuss. Right now, even if it looks like you are making many small victories, you are ultimately losing. We can sense that your power is meant to flow through you, subtly strengthening you and making you into your best self. We have come to contribute to that." Katherine's voice was surprisingly strong and sure.
Izzy continued, "IF you actually want to win this bet, that is."
"Of course I intend to win. I just…hurt. A lot. I wish I had even a fraction of the strength you ladies had." Moira replied.
"That is indeed what we came to discuss." Said a woman who Moira hadn't met before, even in her dreams, but she knew to be called Isabella.
"Each of us had health issues, minor or otherwise." Andy stated.
Shanna snorted and began to giggle at the word minor. A brief look from some of the other ladies had the 12 year old schooling her face into a good attempt at seriousness.
"It is very clear that Darknesse had afflicted you with all of them in full measure. What you may not realize, though, is that we each have an individual strength that allowed us to overcome them, and a greater potential to grow into." Elspeth proved herself the most eloquent of the bunch.
"But…you didn't overcome them. Darknesse may have finessed some things, other things were seemingly small mistakes you made." Moira replied, confused.
"With all due respect, your majesty, each and every day we lived was a day when we overcame the failings of our bodies and minds. You should be able to take the sum total of that strength, and turn it into far more than just the sum of its parts." Mckenna answered the insult more kindly than she really had to. Moira flinched at the acknowledgement of her latent royal vampire blood.
"Today, your body and mind are unable to hold all of our strengths, so the 8 you have already seen will be the only donors." A beautiful South African woman by the name of Taraji said.
"Allow me to begin." said Andy.
"As the first you have seen, allow me to grant you the full measure of my caution and my thoroughness. May it be tempered by the wisdom and experience you already possess."
Moira felt different somehow, but she couldn't put her finger on it, exactly.
"As her sister, as in life, allow me to further temper that caution with the willingness to act on your desire, regardless of the consequence. May you be bold and fearless when the situation calls for it." This, of course, from the borderline reckless Izzy.
Meredith spoke next. "May you find within yourself the strength to stand alone, when others leave your side. May you also recognize those who have always been there for you, even when you can't see it past your pain or your loneliness."
The doting look she gave Katherine at that point made Moira want to cry again.
"May you always be able to find your people, regardless of the differences that separate you, and may you always be willing to give selflessly to them." Katherine's beautiful smile caused Moira to finally lose that battle, and she wept silently as this continued.
"As the firstborn daughter of two trueblooded alphas, may you find strength and authority in your willingness to give for your people." Shanna's words were the first hint that this may, in fact, actually be incredibly synergistic.
Victoria was next. "May you be relentless in your pursuit of your goals, and ruthless to even yourself when you need to be. But also, know when people are trying to bring you down."
Elspeth took several deep breaths before she began. "Find within yourself the clarity to focus on the voices that would build you up, and always be open to new connections. However, hear in other's words the things that they don't say." She gave Mckenna a somewhat reproving look, before smiling at her with love and adoration.
Mckenna was surprised at how little of these blessings were actually directly helpful physically, so she decided to redirect. "Never doubt the power in your blood. If you find others you wish to share it with, may you be able to do so freely. Remember though, that sometimes the words of caution you would leave unsaid must be presented openly, or you can lay a trap for those you love most." She smiled apologetically at Elspeth.
Andy began again. "I grant you the potential to be a truly great mother, should you wish to be."
Izzy smiled and continued, "I grant you the potential to be the greatest of friends, to be their warmth even in the most blistering cold."
Meredith said simply, "You have the ability to be so much more than just a housewife. Never forget that."
"You could be president or whatever, if you wanted." Katherine said. She seemed immune to the looks she got for that comment.
"You could be the kindest and best leader this world has ever seen, and if you achieve half the things I think you will, that isn't even really in question." Shanna said. All that time in bed had her reading a lot of books.
Victoria sighed, sadly, and then said, "You can be a legend the people will never forget, a constant blaze in the dark even long after you are gone."
Elspeth sighed as well, and then said, "You can be the greatest student of life and the world around you this world has ever known."
Mckenna chuckled at that, and pulled Elspeth close. "You can be a great protector, a shield and sword to everyone you love if you need to be. The love inside you is a great and terrible thing, meant to be shared with far more than just one."
"Now, your majesty, might I inquire what you bring to the table? As you have surmised, our strength alone will not be enough."
Moira thought for some time, and then sang the first verse of the song of the Warrior. Her voice was surprisingly pleasant to the ear.
Watch her grow, yea
She will grow, yea
In Beauty, in Grace, yea
In Power, and Strength
She will pull allies to her side
As the lightbringer pulls stars from the sky
Her Wealth will fill the Earth
Her Wrath will shatter the Heavens
And even the Devils sing her praises
As all but the gods mourn the end of her days
"That's what I, the Chosen Weapon of the Warrior of Warriors, bring to the table. It sounds better in the original tongue."
For a moment, there was pin-drop silence. Then, almost as one, the other women smiled, as only one who knows they will find a measure of vengeance and justice can.
"Certainly, you know your own worth. Your own potential is already clearly staggering. What exactly does that mean, though?" A woman with a concerningly pale complexion with hair nearly the color of fire asked. Moira believed her name to be Anna.
"Well, if like you, I can claim that every day I survive is a challenge I have overcome, then it means that each day I will become more beautiful, more graceful, more powerful, and stronger than I ever was previously. Rather famously, the Lightbringer pulled a 3rd of the angels from the heavens, or you can say a third of the stars from the sky. So you can imagine that the upper limit of allies I can amass is not low. The pull comes from a force of personality, not literally using force. The next two lines are easy enough to understand, at least on the surface, but they likely carry a far deeper meaning than you could imagine."
"What about the last two lines?" Asked Meredith, justifiably curious.
"I don't fully know. I know that every chosen Weapon has a divine mission they must carry out, usually to prevent or at least forestall the end of days, but usually they do not survive it, and nobody even has time to get to know an individual who is only around for a maximum of a decade. Never once have Devil's sung my praises. However, in light of the nature of my bet, I have been rethinking some things in an attempt to survive the required length of time while still carrying out my mission."
"So you can say that it is a potential that you yourself have never met?" Mckenna said with a knowing smile.
"Yes, you can say that. My principle power is growth. Every time I exercise, carry out a task, or overcome an obstacle, I grow so that I am strong enough to go harder, competent enough to work faster, and resilient enough to overcome the next, hopefully." Moira stated.
"Well, with pieces of a track star, a werewolf alpha, and a vampire warrior inside you, hopefully your physical strength will soon be up to par. We can only wait and see for the rest. When you have grown strong enough to carry the rest of our burdens, you will see the manner in which we died, and then receive the full measure of our strength and potential." A powerful but extremely short japanese lady named Yui said.
It should be noted that many of these people spoke in a language other than English, but Moira understood them perfectly all the same.
"One last thing, and then you should release us for now." Victoria interjected as Moira was lost in thought. "Ibuprofen, have you fucking heard of it? The pain is severe, I know, bad enough you might want to reach for something stronger, but I promise you that you will have to accept the pain that remains after the ibuprofen in order to function. It's how I got through all of my periods, even during track meets where I set records and won medals for my school. Of course, I was incapacitated after that, but I did what I had to do. So you go pop some Ibuprofen and do what you have to do."
The dream ended soon after Moira symbolically released the council, and she was unsurprised to find tears streaking down her face once more when she awoke.