Pied stared up at the roof of the shelter, feeling hazy. It was hard to actually think straight, his entire body going numb. Thanks to the lack of music, everyone that had been under his charm was free now and had quickly fled once the dark-skinned man with the gun fired off a few more shots into the air.
Pied wondered if this was where his story was going to end. He was bleeding out, red constantly gushing out of him. If he had been a human, he'd have died a while ago, likely after the second or third shot. Being a Super, though, meant he was able to keep going on, no matter how painful it was. He wasn't strong enough to actually be bulletproof, but his body was weird enough that it would lose blood slowly and survive a little longer with damaged organs. Honestly, he sort of wished he'd just die since that would cause the pain to end.
An outcome like this was something he had expected. He wasn't anything special after all. He always just sort of figured that he'd end up dead at an early age, something he'd imagined since the day he was taken in by that damn villain.
'Seriously. What a pain.' Pied closed his eyes and felt himself spit up a bit more blood. 'I just wanted to be useful to her. I thought I could thank her for saving me. Damn it. This sucks. I suck. Damn it, damn it, damn it, I don't want to die.' He could feel tears prickling at the corner of his eyes. 'I haven't even gotten to repay all the debts I owe. I never got to play games, or make friends, or get interested in girls. I didn't even get to go to school. What did I do to deserve this?'
It all went unsaid, of course. He couldn't even muster up the strength to speak.
His life had really gone downhill after his parents' death. Why did they have to be superheroes? Both of them had been cursed with weak powers and actually thought they could make some sort of difference in the world. In the end, though, they had been brutally killed and torn to bits right in front of him. All because they pissed off the wrong sort of guy.
The world really sucked.
He sucked too, though. His life was flashing before his eyes, and all he saw was all the bad he had done. All the times he obeyed that fat bastard and helped him cause so much more harm. It would have been better to die with his parents. At least then, he wouldn't have to worry about going to hell. Now, though, that was the only place he'd end up after all the crimes he helped with.
'Damn it, Cinder.' Pied felt his thoughts begin to blur, and the noise seemed to grow dimmer. 'You actually had me believing in you for a bit there. The way you said that I could be useful. Yeah, right. What a joke.' Pied's eyes drifted shut, and everything around him finally stopped.
"Pied! Pied!" Kyle wrapped his arms around the dying boy and tried to stop the bleeding, but there were just so many bullet holes. His clothes quickly became stained in red, and he could feel tears pouring down his face. He didn't really know Pied all that well, but this was a kid. Someone who shouldn't have been dragged into this in the first place. Someone who should have had their whole life ahead of them. What made it hurt the most, though, was knowing the person that had done this. "What did you do!" Kyle screamed in rage and set his hate-filled gaze on the man he had wanted to see the least.
Aarush Brenner did not look well. Despite being out of jail, he still wore the faded grey prison robes, unable to bring himself to take them off. One of his hands was still missing, and the other one clutched a still-smoking gun. Tears were streaming down the man's face as he stared at his son. "Thank God you're alive-"
"Stay back!" Aarush flinched when Kyle yelled at him. He had been about to rush toward his son's side but stopped and finally took in his child's eyes. Kyle's gaze was filled with malice and hate, all directed at him.
"Kyle-"
"Stay back!" Kyle screamed again and held Pied protectively against himself as if he could somehow shield the boy from any other harm. Not like it mattered anymore, though. "What the hell did you do!" Kyle sobbed out.
Aarush looked down at the gun in his hand and then looked toward Harrison Avalon, who was also in the room with him. Avalon had a happy grin on his face and was eagerly watching the father-son reunion. "I did what I had to." Aarush finally said. "To keep you safe."
"Keep me safe? Are you insane!" Kyle stared at his father in horror. "Those guys are working with Lucifer! They're the reason I'm in this mess! How does that keep me safe?" He demanded.
"I didn't know that they were going to bring you into this!" Aarush shouted back. "You were selected at random! A name pulled out of a hat, and by some cosmic joke, it happened to be yours! I never wanted any of this to ever happen! I worked my ass off to help Sunshine, all so this would never happen to you! But I failed! Because those fucking heroes got in my way! Wish was our only hope to help you! I- I thought that once she mastered her powers, she could change you! Make it so you would never be picked for these games!"
Kyle felt his face pale and his stomach flop. The image of Kevin instantly came to his mind. "You were going to have Wish turn me into a monster?" He suddenly felt like he had to throw up. Was this even his dad?
"No!" Aarush quickly shook his head. "The others were all failures! I worked with Sunshine and was helping keep his cover so that they could perfect the experiment and make you a Super! That way you wouldn't be selected! Then Cinder got in the way, though." Aarush spat the name out. "They ruined it all. That's why I had to change my plan! Once I found out you were selected for these games, I knew what I needed to do! I just have to ensure you win!"
Kyle flinched back and dragged Pied with him. His father's eyes were wide and insane. Who was this man in front of him? It couldn't truly be his dad, right? This wasn't the man who had raised him? What had his father become? "Dad! If that happens, then I'll be taken over or something! I don't get how it happens, but the Immortals seem to use these games to swap out hosts!"
"That won't happen!" Aarush rapidly shook his head. "I made a deal with the Emperor! He'll kill Lucifer! At the end of the games, he'll murder him for us!"
"He's working with Lucifer!"
"Only for now! He'll do it, though! He'll kill him! Then you'll be free, and your mother will be avenged!"
Kyle felt more tears pour down his face as he stared back at this stranger. "He doesn't make deals with humans. He hates humans. He doesn't care about me or you; he's just doing this because he thinks it's funny. He betrayed that mayor guy without a second thought; he'll do the same to you."
"Kyle!"
"Stay away from me." Kyle sobbed and lifted Pied up. "I don't ever want to see you again!" He ran past his father, carrying the injured Super with him, and made for the bunker door.
Aarush went to follow but was stopped when Avalon placed a hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry." Avalon chuckled. "He might hate you now, but in the coming years, he'll thank you."
"But-"
"Hey now. Don't go getting second thoughts." Avalon's eyes narrowed slightly. "We still need you for the final act, after all. A willing host makes things easier for his power."
Aarush nodded slowly. "And the Emperor will honor his deal?"
"Of course. He's a family man, after all. Your plight moved him, surely." Avalon lazily turned away and flicked his finger out. The air in front of him shimmered, and a digital screen seemed to appear. On it, the picture showed the villain, Wish, casually ramming her fist through Cinder's chest. "Now, I guess we should see what Lord of the Sun will be playing in the final act. It doesn't truly matter which one survives, Wish or Cinder, either will work; we just need a Lord of the Sun to move forward with our plan. That's why we did all of this after all."
They just needed a Lord of the Sun. Wish or Cinder, it was time for a Lord to return.
Either would do.
***
Cinder instantly felt herself cough up a wave of blood. It ran down her chin, and she cringed a bit when she heard the cracking of bones. It hurt like hell, and she cried out as Wish's bone-drill arm tore through her chest and came out her back. It was beyond a fatal wound, one that destroyed her heart and several other organs, leaving her damaged beyond belief. She was dying, an ocean of blood pouring out of her as Wish ripped her fist out.
Wish let out another giggle, her eyes filled with glee as she looked Cinder up and down. Somehow, the hero remained standing, and slowly but surely, Cinder's costume was repairing itself. It didn't matter, though, since the suit couldn't do anything about the hole in Cinder's body. Even if it could, her heart was beyond destroyed.
There was no hope now.
"Souls do exist." Wish whispered out. "Or at least the closest thing that can be called a soul." Casually, she flicked her hand out and tipped Cinder over, knocking the other girl down to the ground. Cinder let out a low whimper as she landed on her back, her eyes growing dull. "It's some small type of energy that lives within us. This soul, also known as an Ego, is the reason we exist the way we do." Wish explained, mostly just liking the sound of her own voice. She doubted Cinder could even hear her anymore, but she had rehearsed this speech, and she was going to say it, line for line. "The soul shapes a person and, in return, the person shapes a soul. When a person is damaged, their soul is damaged, and vice versa."
Cinder hollowly grabbed at her chest and let out several choking sounds, feeling her throat fill with her own blood. Wish began to slowly lie down next to her, and the white-haired girl wrapped her arms around her, pulling her into what almost felt like a strange hug.
"Even those who know about a soul can't really do much. Some powers can mess with it, though, such as the Lord of the Land and Life or the Emperor." Wish explained. "When a body truly dies, the soul moves on. It leaves and goes beyond. Where? I don't know. Maybe an afterlife, or maybe not. It doesn't just cease to be, though. This was how I was able to constantly come back. My powers allowed my soul to sort of keep a foot in this world and drag myself back. At first, this was only because of my connection with Sky, but after I lost my title of Lord, it shifted to the Beast. As long as my soul keeps a foothold, I won't fade away, no matter what. Since the soul is also the shape of a person's body, this is why Monsters are the way they are. The Emperor forcefully shoves a new soul into them, and it destroys the human soul, and then if they have a Super soul, it merges with that soul. Without the human soul to remain in the body, they undergo a twist, mutate, and change."
Cinder felt Wish's fingers almost lovingly begin to go through her hair. She was facing away from the other girl, but she could feel Wish's breath on the back of her neck, and slowly, Wish began to squeeze down around her. It became less like a loving hug and more like a snake that was about to devour its prey.
"You and I are quite special, though. Our souls were shattered so much, yet we were able to piece the broken parts back together. Thanks to a bit of human souls being scattered amongst those parts, our bodies still look human, despite only housing a Super soul now. In a way, you and I are truly like the first ever Lords. They, too, would have only had one Soul within their original bodies. The Beast also houses a single soul. I believe this is why they were so great. All that power fused into one rather than split into two or three different shapes. This uniqueness about us causes our souls to work a little differently. We can actually add to our souls so long as they remain broken. When you die, your soul will leave your body, but instead of letting it pass on, I'll add it to my own."
Wish's form began to morph and twist. Perhaps this was her true form. At the very least, it was the one she was most fond of. She had taken it once before. She twisted into the shape of a massive black dragon. As she grew alongside Cinder's body, her maw snapped open, and her tongue slithered out and wrapped around Cinder's waist.
"Goodbye, Cindy."
Cinder felt herself being pulled into the dragon's awaiting mouth, and she squeezed her eyes shut just in time as Wish bit down. There was a loud crunch, and that was it.
Wish let out a loud laugh and swallowed. "Ha! That was beyond easy-"
'You really didn't think it would be so simple, did you?'
"Huh?" Wish blinked, and suddenly, she was no longer in the cave where Cora was about to drown. Instead, Wish found herself standing on a floor made entirely out of fire. Not just the floor, but the walls, the roof, everything. Scorching flames that began to crawl up her legs and eat away at her flesh. "What is this?" Wish asked, a bit of fear entering her voice. Chains fired out of the fire and pulled themselves around her as if they were alive.
The only other thing in the room was a large mirror, which normally would allow a person to see through Hope's eyes, but it was currently dark and dead, as well as a massive throne chair that was totally empty.
'Maybe consuming the Egos of Monsters or other Supers is easy.' A mocking voice filled the room. One that was impossible to truly define. 'After all, the Ego within Supers is unaware and asleep, but when it comes to us Lords, our Egos are wide awake. We are the first souls. The first ever life created by the Almighty. We have been here since the dawn of the universe. We are the Lordians, and our power goes well beyond what some pathetic piece of garbage like you could consume.'
The chains grew tighter, and the fire got hotter, making Wish gasp. It was burning through her, melting her down to ash. She was being devoured. Her soul being slowly picked apart and taken. On the throne, an image rippled, and suddenly Cinder appeared.
Hope looked down at her hands, processing what she was seeing. She let out a sigh of relief. "Thank God that worked." Just like when Parasite tried to invade her body, the Brightest Star was going to keep her safe. "That was risky, but I guess it paid off." She gave a small grin and looked down at the rage-filled face of Wish. "And since the soul reflects the body, I'm guessing when I get your soul, my body will be fully healed, just like how I got fully healed after the Beast blew me up. I'm also willing to bet that with no soul, your days of coming back aren't going to happen again." Hope folded her arms, and her cape began to flow down behind her. "Goodbye, Wish."
Wish snarled and fought against the chains. "You! You! Do you really think I'll accept this! Do you seriously think this will be my end!" Suddenly, Wish's look of rage was replaced with a smile. "Because if you did, then I guess I tricked you." Wish giggled, and then the chains around her snapped.
Cinder felt her eyes go wide, and she took a nervous step back, feeling the back of the throne. "You can break out of those chains?"
Wish ignored her and casually stomped her foot down, putting out the fire. As in all of it. The flames vanished, showing a plain-looking stone room hidden behind them. "Maybe if you were a bit stronger, you would have given me more trouble, but your soul just doesn't cut it." Wish sneered and pointed at the throne that Cinder stood on. "You're so weak, 'Brightest Star', that you can't even give yourself a proper form; instead, it's taking everything you have just to maintain Cindy over there." Wish snapped, and the stone around them cracked. "Don't worry, though. I'll give you a body worthy of your power in a few seconds!"
Cinder stared in shock and horror as the world around her crumbled and broke. She suddenly felt so helpless as the chair she stood on shattered to dust, dropping her roughly to the ground. She knew where she was. It was Sky's world. Or rather, Wish's version of it. The grass was dead, all the plants withered, and the trees rotted. The sky was a shadowy black, and acidic rain poured down around them. It burned her skin and made her gasp, her cape lifting on its own as if it was alive, trying to shield her from it.
Wish casually walked through the rain, her arms held out as it all came down. "Sorry, Cindy, but it isn't as easy as you thought it would be. It was sort of clever. Using your death to kickstart the Lord and trying to force them to save you by getting them to devour me. This is our battle, though, and sadly for you, I've already won." Wish snapped again.
Cinder tried her best to dodge, but she wasn't fast enough. The ground exploded around her, rows of bone spikes jutting into her flesh. She didn't bleed since she really wasn't actually alive right now and was just a soul in the shape of a body, but it still hurt and made her cry out. The spikes jutted through her and twisted into chains that bound her to a pillar that rose out of the ground. Her arms and legs were forced to stretch out, the chains slithering across her form and tugging on them faster and faster until her bones popped out of their sockets, causing her to cry out again.
It was agony. Pure and simple.
"I really hate you. Did you know that?" Wish sneered, and a whip appeared in her hands, which she quickly used on Cinder.
Cinder felt the cut across her stomach, and she tried to struggle against the chains, but it was useless. Her power was getting weaker and weaker, and cracks were appearing along her skin. Wish was eating her. Her soul was being devoured by the monster in front of her, causing Wish to get stronger and stronger.
"I- I hate you too." She spat out and managed to glare at Wish.
Wish smirked. "Good. You know, I used to live through Sky's eyes. Just as she would dream of me, I would dream of her. It always made me so pissed seeing the life I never had. She always was better than me. I wonder if it's the same for you. How about we find out? Wanna go down memory lane together?"
"Fuck you!"
Wish turned away and waved her hand. The land changed, and Cinder suddenly found herself looking down at a child version of herself. It was a young Hope Lauren, one who was beating the snot out of some kid that had shoved her new friend, Armin, over. "Boring." Wish rolled her eyes, and the memory changed again, this time to the car crash. She tried to close her eyes, but spikes forced them open, and she watched as her father was thrown through the car. "That's better. This is when your dad got the Dead Virus, right?" Wish giggled.
"Stop it!"
"Nah!"
The memory continued, and she was forced to watch her father be infected once again. Over and over, Wish replayed it, laughing louder each time as her father screamed. Finally, though, Wish grew bored and twisted the memory this time to a new event. The time she screamed at Sky. She watched her past self yell and call Sky names all for failing to save her father. Every insult she had thought of was added to the memory of her past self yelling them all out, and with Wish's version, Sky's mask was ripped away her face turning somber and depressed with every new insult.
After that was her meeting Mr. Larison and all the times she failed to help him. His heart issues happened again and again, and she watched him fall to the ground again and again. Then she was at the Beast fight, her body being torn open, being blown to bits, watching Mr. Larison nearly die, the emotions she had felt all at a peak. Then it was her sobbing and crying as she learned Armin was dead. Then it was her kiss with Sky, Wish forcing it to play several more times, mocking her each time, and insulting her. Meeting the Victorian, learning Armin was a hero, thinking Mr. Larison died, meeting Myth for the first time, her killing Polaron, over and over events happened out of order, every deep secret or embarrassing thought or moment was forced out, and Wish watched it all, learning everything about her. She wanted to cry or puke or do anything but watch it all. Every mistake, every failure, all was thrown in her face.
Finally, though, it settled on one last memory. She saw herself, throwing a ball back and forth with Mr. Larison. Wish studied the memory with a critical eye and simply flicked her whip out, slicing through the fake Mr. Larison and killing him instantly.
"No!" She screamed, but Wish ignored her.
Wish walked up to the fake Hope and cut her down as well. When Wish did turn back to look at her, she saw herself. Wish had taken on the image of Queen Cinder once more. "You know," Wish said slowly. "When I do absorb you, I'll have your power. Not just your strength but your flames. The old ones. I'll also still have my own powers as well. Think I can kill everyone you care about with your fire!"
"Don't you dare!" Cinder spat out in rage.
Wish snapped again, and fire twirled at her fingertips. Myth appeared out of thin air and stared up at her bound form. "Cinder, how could you-" He barely got out before Wish fried him, reducing him to ash.
"No!" She cried out.
Wish didn't just stop at there. Lois, Poseidon, Mr. Larison, even her mom and dad appeared before her, all screaming for her help, only to be burned away by Wish, who looked exactly like her. "I'll come to them in this form." Wish cackled. "I'll pretend to be you at first, and then when I catch them off guard, I'll burn them over and over. Oh, and Sky?"
"Don't!"
Sky appeared. Wish grabbed the girl, and the fake Sky screamed as she burst into fire, but Wish didn't let her go. "I'll heal her again and again, and melt her, and then heal her, and then melt her, and I'll do it all while I pretend to be you! They don't know I'm Wish; they'll all think you've gone mad or something and will hate you!"
Hope felt tears stream down her face, and she let out a choked sob, struggling to hold herself back. "Why!" She demanded. "Why are you doing this?"
Wish's smile faded, and the villain returned to looking like Sky. The fake Sky vanished, and the scene once again twisted and became that of a dead world. "Why?" Wish looked at her. "Because I love you."
Cinder felt a wave of repulsion, and she stared down at the other girl in horror. "You? Love me?"
"Yeah." Wish giggled. "Yeah! Totally!" Wish covered her mouth and couldn't stop laughing. "That's what this is! I'm sure of it. I hate you and I love you! I can't stop thinking about you no matter what I do, and I always get so excited whenever I get to see you. The most fun I have is when I'm with you. I'm absolutely smitten with you, Cindy! I hate you, I love you, I want you, I need you, I want to rip you apart and leave you a broken mess, make you utterly despise and resent me, all because of my feelings for you." Wish shivered and rubbed her hands together. "That's true love, isn't it?"
"No! You're insane!"
"Most certainly." Wish nodded. "I was never raised well." The girl's excited look faded, replaced with a sad smile. "There never was a hero like you to save me. You guys always fail the people that need you the most." Wish walked forward and reached out, placing a gentle hand on Cinder's face. By now, Cinder's body was filled with hundreds of cracks that were all starting to grow and expand. "I never got to live a normal life. I don't even really look like Sky. I actually had a name all before this, yet I can't recall it." Wish's sad smile grew larger, and her eyes lost some spark within them. "Try as I might, I just can't remember who I was before I became like this. All I know is that I was never saved. I never got to be held in the embrace of a hero who would fight through hell for me. There was no Cinder to sweep me off my feet like you do for Sky so often."
"Wish?" Cinder stared at the other girl, bewildered as to where this was all coming from. Wish never spoke like this.
Wish forced the look of sorrow off her face and replaced it with her smug grin. "Shh. Look at how damaged you are, Cindy." The villain traced each mark with her finger. "You're going to break in a moment. Shatter to dust and then cease to be. Maybe some part of you will live on inside of me? Maybe you'll see through my eyes? Or maybe you'll forever be asleep and never think or feel again. Honestly, I don't know. I'll remember you, though. I had so much fun. Every battle, every spiteful word, every punch and kick, and even your kiss." Wish placed her fingers on her own lips. "Goodbye, Cindy, for real this time."
"W- Wait!" Cinder gasped and felt her limbs get tugged on even harder by the chains. The pillar she was on began to slowly spin and then dropped into the ground. She screamed in pain as she was dragged through the earth. She went deeper and deeper, being smothered in the dirt, all the while her body grew dozens of more cracks. Her left arm snapped off at the elbow and shattered to dust. The pain caused her to scream louder, and even though she wasn't bleeding anymore, some sort of smoke was gushing out of her wound. It was her soul. She was about to die. "No! I can't die! I can't lose! Not yet! Not until I've saved everyone! I can't let her hurt the others!"
Hundreds more cracks opened along her body, and she began to shatter and break. Her eyes squeezed shut, and her mind raced. The others still needed her. Her father, her mother, Mr. Larison, Lois, Myth, and Sky. They were all counting on her. She was supposed to be the hero. She was supposed to be strong. This couldn't be how it ended. This couldn't be where her story went. It wasn't fair.
"Everyone." She let out one last whimper. "I'm sorry."
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"-ello?"
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"-ey!"
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"Seriously?"
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"Wake up!"
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"By the Almighty, you really are so much weaker than Full Monarch. He never lost as much as you do. How do you keep getting back up so much? I swear you humans make no sense. I wish I could remember why I loved you guys so much, but no, Full Monarch just had to split me in half! That jerk! When I see him, I swear I'm going to pay him back! Hello? Hey! Seriously? Wake up!"
Hope's eyes slowly opened, and she groaned. She stared up at a bright blue sky above her. Her body ached, and she realized her arm was still gone, and the dozens of cracks all along her body weren't fixed, either. She was in the middle of literally exploding and cracking open like some sort of egg, yet it had all seemingly stopped in motion, freezing. She looked around and felt even more confused by what she saw. It was the roof of her old base. The same place where she and Mr. Larison had thrown the ball back and forth.
"Finally, geez, you never listen to me." A strangely familiar voice said, letting out a sigh.
"Huh?" Hope blinked and realized that she wasn't alone on the roof. Someone else stood directly above her. "Oh my God, this is the cutest thing I've ever seen."
"Cute! How dare you! I am not cute!"
In front of her was a young girl. One that looked to only be twelve, maybe even younger. The girl looked a lot like how she did back when she had been shrunk down; in fact, the girl even wore the same clothes she had worn when she had been at Hell Land. For a moment, she actually thought it was a younger version of herself, but there were two things that told her this wasn't the case. The girl's hair looked like it was made out of golden fire, and her eyes were also a fiery red, as if she was in the Lord of the Sun and Cosmos Battlemode. On top of all of this, the girl also had a halo of fire above her head that burned white hot. Finally, though, the toy the girl held. Tucked under her arm was a Full Monarch plushie. A child version of her would have a Victorian or Backpack plushie, not a Full Monarch one.
The blonde-haired girl made a face at her. "Why the hell are you staring at me like that!"
"Sorry." Hope used her remaining arm and pushed herself up. "I just wasn't expecting to see something so adorable. You're so small and tiny-"
"That's your fault, you jerk!" The girl cried out and began to whack her with the Full Monarch toy. "I'm supposed to be big! Bigger than even a mountain, but you just suck so badly at staying alive, I've had to shrink myself down just to maintain your stupid Ego!"
Hope let out a weak chuckle and wrapped her arm around the girl, hugging her. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be so greedy with your power."
The girl stiffened up a little but gently eased into her hug and wiped at her eyes. "So I take it you know who I am?"
"You're the Brightest Star?" Hope gave a small smile.
"Yeah. Or at least I was." The girl sniffed. "Then that jerk Full Monarch ripped me in half, and now you've gone and consumed most of my power."
"Sorry."
"You should be." The girl sighed and rested her head against Hope's stomach. "Before Jackson, we Lords slept. We were awake and didn't have a choice on what we thought about our hosts. After, I was woken up by Full Monarch, though I grew to care about him. My other siblings might just view you guys as hosts, but I don't. I want to work with my vessel as equals. I guess that's why I saved your life. When you died and your soul shattered, instead of allowing myself to be pulled back into the Pod, I tore myself to bits and mashed up as much as I could with what was left of you."
"Is that why you sort of look like me?"
"Yeah." The Brightest Star said, sounding a little bummed. "I normally look different, but our Egos have merged so much we're basically the same person. Due to how little of a difference there really was, I wasn't able to speak to you no matter how much I tried. Neither of us could reach the other one. I tried fixing some stuff with the bit of Parasite soul you gave me, as well as that dumb wolf thingy that you also absorbed, but it still isn't enough. For a human you have a massive Ego, same goes for me. We'd need a really powerful Super like that Wish bitch to fully plug it up."
Hope felt a sad smile tug its way onto her lips. "Too bad I failed. She got me."
The Brightest Star scowled and, this time, hugged her back. "Hey! You can't just give up now! If you do that, psycho girl isn't just going to be eating you; she'll be eating me! Do something! Fight back!"
"I tried-"
"No, you didn't." The Brightest Star looked up at Hope and snorted. "You tried to get me to fight your battle for you. You didn't try to eat her soul at all. Instead, you wanted me to do the dirty work for you. Just like how you kept complaining that you didn't have my fire instead of being grateful for what you did have. You just kept wanting to take from me."
Hope winced a little. "Yeah... I guess I have been a little selfish with you, haven't I? To be honest, I never really gave you much thought until recently. Sorry."
"You can make it up to me by fixing me!" The Brightest Star huffed out. "Beat her."
"How, though?"
"I already told you. Just devour her soul."
"I don't know how to do that, though," Hope said awkwardly. "Do I just eat her or what?"
"Just absorb her!"
"How, though? I dunno, you either get her to do it willingly or you overpower her." The Brightest Star shrugged. "Look, you have to do this or we both die. Whatever it takes, you need to beat her, Hope." The little girl gave her a serious look. "You're strong, right? You're the kind of person who doesn't give up. So whatever you're doing now, stop it."
Hope gave a faint nod. "I get what you're saying, but it's hard, you know." She let out a weak sigh and hung her head. "I guess I've just been a little depressed since this all started. We can't get out of here through Wish, so part of me was just wondering if it even mattered or not. After all, even if I do beat her, I'll have to deal with everything else like the Emperor and Lucifer, and maybe even Mr. Larison. More than that, though, it's my dad." She felt her lip quiver a bit, and she rubbed at her eyes. "I know something is wrong with him. He keeps telling me he's fine, but I can tell he's lying. I think he's dying still, and I don't know how to bring it up to him or what I can do. What's the point of having all these powers if I can't save him or the people I care about?"
The Brightest Star's face softened a bit. "Wow."
"What?"
"You really are nothing like Full Monarch." The little girl snorted. "That's okay though, because you're you." The Brightest Star held the toy up. "Full Monarch lived his life, and he eventually died doing his best. Maybe he screwed up, maybe he isn't as perfect as people say he is, but he still tried. Even with all the sorrow he felt, even with all the hate in his heart, and the lack of support, he stood up again and again, not because he was the strongest, not because he was a Lord, and not even because he wanted to do it, but because he had to. Can you really just roll over and die like this, Cinder? Will you be satisfied with an ending like this? One where you didn't give it everything you had. Maybe you won't win, maybe it'll hurt, and maybe Wish will eat you and me, but at least you gave it a shot, right? You can be happy that way. The power I have left is struggling to keep you held together. If you do nothing, you'll die. If you fight, you'll still likely die, but you can at least claim you tried."
She nodded back weakly. "I get what you're saying, but it's hard."
"Why? Because you're going to be taking a life?"
"Well, that is part of it, but..."
The Brightest Star wrapped her arms around Hope's waist once more. "Are you scared of what will happen when you truly eat her soul?"
"It won't be you that will be eating it. It'll be me, right?" Hope whispered. "I'll have her become one with me." She shuddered a bit.
"I am, you know, so does it really matter?"
Hope snorted. "Yeah. I guess not."
The Brightest Star looked back up at her. "Please. Save me, Hope. I don't want to die."
Hope placed her hand on the other girl's head. "Yeah. I'll try."
"Thanks, partner."
"Partner?"
The Brightest Star nodded. "Yeah. If you die, I die; if you live, I live. The way I see it, we're partners."
"I guess, but..."
"Just go do it!"
Hope nodded, and she turned and looked back at the city. It was strange seeing her memory of Oleander. It looked so peaceful. "Right." Her hand clenched into a fist. "One last attempt."
.
.
.
.
.
Wish let out a low whistle and danced in the rain but stopped when she heard a low rumbling. "Oh, you've got to be kidding me."
The ground exploded, raining shards of rock and dirt upon the land, as Cinder's cracked, barely clinging together, body lifted out of the ground. "It's do or die time." She declared. "Wish, let's finish this for good."