"I'm sure this goes without saying," Alice sighed, "-but I'm not the cult leader. What I am is very, very rich- and I don't take it for granted, I was born into wealth." The three young women stood in an elevator, descending slowly, and Lynx still felt winded by how quickly everything had gone.
"So all that stuff about an allowance for helping new students…?"
"Sorry, all lies. I didn't want you to feel bad for letting me spend money on you," Alice smiled sheepishly, flashing a thumbs up as the elevator went down, down, down. "When I was a little girl, my mother and father never had time for me, I was the problem of the family. Not now, Sin!! We work so hard to give you this life, you'll understand one day!! Then they'd kick me off to the side, sometimes literally, and be gone again. I'm grateful for the money, but what I wanted was a family, at times."
"Are you sure you're okay, sharing this?" Aurelia raised an eyebrow, tail flicking.
"Too late to go back now. Just, promise to keep it to yourselves, if nothing else. Even if you grow to hate me tonight," Alice added, smiling. "Sin was my real name, you see, Aurelia."
"I was wondering…"
"I bought a puppy," Alice continued. "Do you know what happened?'
"Did it die?" Lynx whispered, gently, a bit concerned by how far down the elevator was traveling. After leaving the school, Alice had called for a taxi service and brought them to a beautiful home at the edge of the city, with spacious grounds. Straight inside, and to an elevator in the entrance hall- and now they were here.
"Yeah, it died. It became sick- but I thought, oh, it must have been a sad coincidence," Alice smiled brighter at Lynx as their elevator finally stopped, opening into a sterile white room. She sighed, then, and led them out. "This way, please, just follow me; this is my family's laboratory, though it has been repurposed ages ago. Once upon a time, did you know, my grandparents helped with the development of the current Ichorum power supply as Ravenwood cities use it."
"Miss Alice!" Lynx blinked, coming up short as they rounded a corner into another sterile hallway- there were two young men in lab coats, grinning. "You'll be happy to know that we're making great progress, at this rate a cure to angel blood exposure will be upon us within only two years! I see you've brought friends."
"I have. Angel blood to be touched by a human, the magic will burn their flesh away, it's too much," Alice briefly explained, continuing on, and Lynx awkwardly stepped past the nurses, swallowing. "Anyway, continuing- my second dog, died as well. Unfortunate, really- a big dog barked at me, and my dog barked back. They fought, and my dog died from his wounds that night. Well, maybe dogs aren't for me," Alice sighed, and now she stopped, leaning on a door directly, taking slow, deep breaths. "So I got a cat."
"That died too?" Lynx asked, stomach turning over, narrowing her eyes slightly.
"So did the bird, and then the rabbit." Alice nodded, eyes wet. "Then my favorite family employee- and then my father, as well. He contracted a virus during an excursion to hell snorting drugs." Alice laughed, quietly. "Everybody around me, as long as I lived," She continued, "-died, and died, and died. Can you guess who died next?"
Oh, Lynx knew the answer.
She knew.
She didn't want to say it,
-but she knew.
"I killed myself, Lynx, Aurelia." Alice nodded softly. "All my life it seemed that anybody I came to love died- and I didn't exactly have family around helping me cope. Therapy would be no object with my budget, but hell, I didn't know what therapy was." Alice laughed softly, smiling and shaking her head. "So I killed myself one night, with my father's old revolver- but I didn't want to die, not really. I just wanted, to stop hurting people, and I thought that if I removed myself, I'd achieve that."
"Alice, why are you, telling us this?" Aurelia mumbled softly, worriedly.
"I'm-" Lynx cut in, sighing. "I'm with you so far Alice, but what does all of this have to do with me, or rather, what's going on inside me. You said you have half a soul, right?"
"Precisely. I have the same goal as the cult, but I've been using our wealth to hire mages, and do this the right way, without sacrifice." Alice nodded, smiling. "Now answer me this; can you guess what happened after I killed myself?"
"You became risen, like me?" Lynx asked cautiously, angling her head.
"I did," Alice nodded, hesitating, looking away, her smile becoming more porcelain, fake. "Are you prepared? To see the real me?"
"I am," Lynx nodded. "Aurelia?"
"I'll wait out here, I'm sorry," Aurelia shook her head. "This just, this is too much for me, I don't want to lose myself- it's overwhelming."
"I understand." Alice smiled softly and reached into a pocket, slowly withdrawing a key, holding it out to Lynx while sitting down against the wall. Reaching down, the blonde woman took it, narrowing her eyes, confused.
"Alice…?"
"I can't come with you, but I'll be inside," Alice smiled, and rested her head back against the wall, closing her eyes.
"Alice, why can't you come with me?" Lynx asked, but Alice's body had gone lifeless, frozen against the wall. With her breath catching in her throat, Lynx slowly looked up, at Aurelia. "Uh… sure you don't want to come with me?"
"No, no, I, can't," Aurelia shook her head, swallowing. "I'm a small town girl in the big city, Lynx- this is too much for me, I'm sorry. You wanted to know what she's got to gain from you, and she's opening up, but this… it's between the two of you. I'll be out here. I'm sorry," She added weakly, slowly sitting down beside what seemed to be Alice's corpse, and Lynx nodded, turning back to the door.
"Don't be sorry, Aurelia…" Slowly, she fitted the key into the lock, drew a slow, deep breath… and twisted, opening the door. The room beyond was dark- this time, too dark for even Lynx to see or understand her surroundings. Still, she stepped forward, swallowing. "I trust you Alice, please don't make me regret it…?"
"Have you pieced together the story, yet?" A deep, wet, gurgling voice came from somewhere in the shadows, and Lynx turned her head- but no, she was blind, still, her ears folding down and back, tail thrashing.
"You became a risen- and something about you… no, I don't understand…"
"What is a demon, Lynx?" That same gurgling voice, like somebody drowning, neither masculine nor feminine. She could smell something burning, feel heat radiating from the other side of the room, but what…?
"The deepest view of yourself," She muttered, looking around nervously, for all the good it did, yelping as the door behind her closed, leaving every direction in pitch. All that she could gather was the room seemed to be large, vast.
"You saw yourself as catlike… maybe as a warrior, you were used to being up at night and living in the shadows, running high places…" The voice coughed sickly, and Lynx darted left, hearing something splatter to the ground on her right. "Lynx, Lynx… I know you're scared, but I'm scared, too… of what will happen when you finally see me…"
"Just get it on with, I can't take the suspense!!" Lynx cried out, heart hammering in her chest. "This feels awful, I hate being blind, PLEASE!!" In answer, for a long moment, there was silence.
"Very well," The wet cough seemed to speak. From somewhere came the hum of machinery, and then Lynx yelped- the lights came on so brightly, so suddenly, she was flash banged, eyes struggling to keep up. Staggering back, hitting a wall, she groaned, growled, and rubbed at her eyes, slowly opening them… and her heart dropped, horror coloring her face whiter than the laboratory walls.
=
"Hm…" Nara sighed, looking at the printed map she'd gotten from Lily's pink laptop, angling her head, ears bending slightly under their own weight when she did. "So if this is right, I should be what…? A day or two away from Ravenwood proper… do I really want to run that…? What if I could talk somebody into giving me a ride?" Thinking for a moment, she slowly pulled her coat more tightly around herself, patting the pink patch on the lower left pocket. "We've got this, Softie. Just ask somebody, what's the worst that could happen?"
She stopped short, thinking, nose wrinkling. Smoke, and coming from somewhere nearby. Turning without thinking, Nara took off, darting through an alley, looking around.
Everything looked normal, but her nose led her to the back parking lot of an office building of some sort- 'Air transfer; Private'. Nara wrinkled her nose, then, thinking- she was sure of it, she smelled smoke. Grabbing the handle to the back door, which lay warm, she wrenched it open and stepped forward, eyes widening. A room, before her, full of offices, and beyond that broken windows, a hallway full of fire. Even as she watched, the flames were beginning to lick at the window frames.
"Can I help you, perhaps?" Nara asked, striding forward and smiling. Before her, an office worker sobbed on her knees, screaming, as a young man and woman held him by the hair and shirt, one holding a gun to the office worker's temple. Not giving them time to react, Nara slammed her foot down, breaking the gun in half. "Go," She snarled to the office worker, and he scrabbled away, pissing himself even as he went, sobbing for the world to hear. "Call the authorites!!" She added, screaming after him, and then turned back to the two in front of her, raising an eyebrow. Both stood nervously, there, glancing back at the flames now.
"Humans, aren't you?" Nara asked slowly, stepping forward again, watching as they instinctively staggered backward. "Demons would have attacked me by now. Tell me why you're doing this, and whether you've killed anybody."
"Fuck you," The man snarled, and spat at Nara's feet, but he was pale, shaking. His outfit was plain, dark, anything but outstanding, and she swallowed, nodding.
"I'll ask you again. Why are you doing this, and have you killed anybody?" Nara slowly folded her hands behind her back, smiling. "Only one of you is needed for me to extract answers. I will reduce your number to one if you don't answer me. Now." Smile only growing broader, Nara angled her head. "I have not the time for your games, racists."
"I ain't no damn racist!!" The man shouted again, but Nara turned her head to the young blonde woman.
"You still haven't spoken, have you, human woman? Why are you doing this. Answer me nicely and I won't hurt either of you- but the fire is getting closer, and I won't let you out of here until I've got my answer. Understand?"
"W-We were made to do it," The woman stammered. "Even if we get caught, better life in prison than death. We didn't kill anybody- we're looking for answers. That guy was the last."
"Who made you do this? Quickly now," Nara added, glancing at the fire, which was creeping ever closer. Sirens could be heard, in the distance, but she would be gone before they arrived, she thought.
"It was a demon, okay?? I'm sorry," The woman pleaded, sinking to her knees and clasping her hands together even as the man to Nara's right glared indignantly.
"A demon asked you to do this why," Nara insisted quietly, lethally.
"It's a decoy- go to the contracted arms station, the local one. As fast as you can, don't look back," the woman whispered. "We had to do this, please don't hurt me they'd have killed us- my brother is a moron, please don't hurt us, I swear, you won't find a body in this entire building, we came through the front and he was the last. We were just asking him if he knew anything about the director of Contracted Arms out of Ravenwood- supposedly he stopped here to refuel a helicopter a week ago or something."
"Where is the local contracted arms office?" Nara asked, patiently.
"Maybe four miles east? Past the coffee shop and the post office, further down eighth street on the right-" The blonde woman asked, and then blinked, confused, staggering back toward the fire. "She's gone-?"
"She ran, your eyes have always been bad sis, come on, let's get out of here before the badges arrive," Her brother grumbled, grabbing her elbow and dragging her along toward the back door.
Nara sped through the streets as fast as she could, and came up short, eyes widening in shock- a small crowd had gathered around the small contracted arms station, recording, or watching in awed horror at the spectacle in front of the office. Before the station stood a tall man with red skin and ram's horns, like some stereotype from an era gone by, speaking.
"Alright Nara…" She thought, aloud, muttering, watching.
"You say that humans are equal to demons, but answer me this!!" The demon shouted, lifting his human hostage higher by the neck. "If we are equal, then why do they cower?! Why do they fear us?! There are weapons specially designed to cut us down, and still, they hold us in such fear, such misery- the Contracted Arms are a joke. Humans are beneath us, and…"
"Oh my god, this guy doesn't shut up, does he…? Alright Nara, you're going to go in, hack his arm off, and then-" Nara muttered under her breath, and then she faltered, confused- the ground under her feet was rumbling- a second later the shockwave hit her, a wall of heat sending her flying. Her, and the rest of the crowd.
=
Nara groaned, weakly, as she slowly forced herself up, onto her knees, looking around. The demons, they were still here, laughing and jeering, standing among the flames and the chaos, brushing shrapnel off of their bodies like it was nothing. Everywhere she looked though, the crowd that had watched its public display lay in shambles, coughing, wheezing, bleeding. Sleek black vehicles and blaring sirens were arriving, the demons were trying to run- Nara watched in horror as they fought, and then turned, crawling toward the coffee shop, toward where the humans had crowded.
She choked as a collar was forced around her neck, like the sort they'd used to capture a wild dog, and pulled away, panting.
"You have the right to remain silent- anything you say can-"
"Shut up," Nara begged, choking, hearing the gunfire and remaining heedless of it, struggling toward the pile of collapsed bodies. "I can save them- I'm not with the others-"
"Shut up, scum!!" It must have been a demon, for Nara found herself slammed down onto her back and glared up pleadingly, eyes burning with smoke and tears together.
"Please, I can fix them, I can save them- they're already dead- just let me close-" She begged, peering up into the eyes of a young woman with dark hair. There was hesitation there. "I'm just, a…" Nara turned her head, coughing suddenly, ash spilling out onto the soaked asphalt. "Just a passerby… I'm a healer, let me… let me at the b-bodies…" There was still gunfire, flashes of light, but her world had lost focus, and Nara tugged at the collar, trying to work it off of her head. Narrowing her eyes, the young agent shouted something Nara couldn't quite distinguish past the ringing in her ears and clicked a button, the collar vanishing. Panting raggedly, Nara staggered toward the corpses, voice shaky, and looked back at the Contracted Arms agent. "Just need o-one thing from you, and it's going to sound weird…"
=
"Aerendyl," the voice on the other end of the phone whispered vehemently. "You have to turn on the news. Now. Something huge is happening in Eastbrook, that's almost your back yard."
"Yeah?" Aerendyl queried, rolling out of bed and pacing, fast, to the living room, grabbing the remote and flicking the news on. There was a young male reported shouting raggedly into the mic, blood on his forehead, right cheek, right arm. "It's estimated that in wake of this terrorist bombing, less than twenty have died, but you have to listen to me the way we're being saved is incredible, shift the mics- just do it!!"
The camera cut to the inside of a helicopter circling in the air- and the sight was horrific. Shops, homes, blazing flames, for miles and miles- this, this was an attack that had been planned far in advance. But even over the helicopter rotors, one could hear it, rising into the air- chanting? No. Music.
=
"I need you to sing." Nara whispered, and the contracted arms agent squinted.
"What are you on?"
"Please, I need your squad to sing, please, as many of you as possible," Nara begged, clapping her hands together, looking past the woman in front of her. Nothing but agents and bleeding, dying demons- they were brutal, if nothing else… and walking toward her.
"What's the sich with this one?" A masked man asked, gesturing vaguely with a handgun toward Nara.
"She wants me to sing," The dark-haired woman narrowed her eyes further, stepping back.
"Please," Nara begged. "My magics don't make much sense, but they're dependent on music. I swear, if you sing, altogether, I think I can save these people." She looked down at the humans, eyes wet; they lay bleeding, coughing, but she could hear their heartbeats, most of them. "If I'm lying you can just kill me and say I was part of the attack- but please, please, sing for me?"
"Yknow, I used to rap in highschool," Another young man stepped forward. "Worth a shot right??" Nara could practically hear his teammates inwardly groaning, but she forced herself to laugh, nodding.
"Rapping is great, but I need you altogether- anything new, anything popular."
"Come on guys!" The young man beamed, but his voice was pleading. "Isn't it worth a try, if it could mean saving people? If she's lying, to get out of trouble, or to stall, we can just kill her- there's fourteen of us!"
There was a deep sigh, and silence.
"Please," Nara begged quietly, looking down at the bodies again. "We don't have long, there's so much blood…"
"And," The blonde agent, the enthusiastic one spoke, and then cleared his throat. "And I NEVER ASKED YOU, TO LOVE ME BACK AS TRUE~!!" His voice was hoarse with fatigue, and maybe the smoke, but he shouted anyway, raising a fist, and Nara grinned, an electric current making the hair on her arms stand up as the blonde continued. "BUT I WOULD SUFFOCATE MYSELF FOR YOU, UNTIL MY LIPS LIPS TURN COLD AND BLUE!! ALL THAT I WANT TO BE TRUE, IS FOR YOU TO SEE IT TOO!!"
"Screw it…" Another young woman sighed, and joined in.
"I KNOW THAT YOU ARE BLEEDING, BUT I AM WOUNDED TOO!"
"I'VE SEEN WAR ENOUGH TO KNOW THAT WE CAN MAKE IT THROUGH!!"
"I'LL TAKE YOUR HAND IN MINE AND, EVEN IF IT'S UNTRUE-"
The dark haired woman stared almost hatefully at Nara, and joined in, four, now seven, now all of them singing.
"THOSE WHO SEE US TODAY WILL CLAIM THAT TO THE MOON WE FLEW!!"
"SO LET'S ALL PUT ON A SHOW HERE, LET'S BRING THE STORM THE SLEW,"
"ONE LAST STAND FOR OUR LOVE, BABY, WON'T YOU LOVE ME TOO?"
They continued on, but Nara was guiding a young man to his feet as he coughed, leaning down for the next. "Sir, join them!! Sing, sing!!" Nara begged aloud. "It doesn't matter what but sing, dance if you have the strength!!" Hauling another woman to her feet, she watched as the people around her began to twitch, groan, cough- but to live. Helping them stand, Nara pleaded, closing her eyes for a long moment, trying to cut through their confusion and fear. "Please, even if you're muttering, I need you… to sing. I need this entire city, singing! I can do this, I can do this even with half my soul if it's the entire city!!"
"Call the news outlets, get them here!!" An agent screamed, and resumed singing as somebody, likely beneath him in ranked, ran off.
=
"It's unbelievable!!" the news anchor in the helicopter shouted to be heard. "It must be a very rare manifestation demon, to have an ability like this- Katy are you seeing this?!"
"I am!!" A woman screamed, and Aerendyl watched, still with wide eyes, as the fires dwindled down, as more and more people dragged themselves out of the rubble, coughing out ash- the damages covered only a city block or so, but a sea of lighters waved about throughout what might have been the entire city. People danced in the streets, they laughed, they cried, families reuniting and sobbing brokenly. The camera displayed kids falling into their mother's arms while the mothers sobbed and the children seemed only confused. Groups singing together, choirs, what seemed to be a rap battle between a contracted arms agent and a high school student… what must have been twenty thousand people crowded the streets that night, the city brighter and more alive than Ravenwood had ever seen it.
=
"I think I've done, all I can do, I'm so tired," Nara gasped, limping, staggering, and falling, leaning against a wall. Her breaths came fast and shallow, and she gasped, as the moment she fell she was hauled to her feet and then thrown up onto the shoulders of many who finally stopped their singing, to cheer her name. Who'd spread that…?
"NARA!! NARA!! NARA!! NARA!! NARA!! NARA!! NARA!!" They cheered, and she laughed, eyelids fluttering.
"Guys I…" Nara swallowed. "I'm so tired…" She pleaded, laughing quietly and closing her eyes. "I just need to rest for a moment…"
=
Vilhelm watched the news on his phone, grinning, scanning an ID, raising the gate- and then his eyes widened slowly- the camera had panned to a crowd marching down main street, sporting a girl on their shoulders, chanting a name that seemed familiar to him. "Oh… it's her, it's really her!!"
"It seems that this demon draws her powers from song and revelry, if we're understanding correctly!!" The news anchor shouted. "Contracted Arms officers on scene claim that she began begging for them to sing, in a frenzy- but now, the bombings have resulted in only four deaths!! While we mourn them, the number of bodies that were brought back from the edge today is estimated at somewhere around two hundred sixty- this demon, whoever she is, has turned what would have been a mass bombing into something much less. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families of…"
Vilhelm, though, watched as they paraded around Nara who seemed to be… snoring? Her chest was rising and falling, lips parted in an O, occasionally opening more, but they paraded her around anyway, cheering, surrounded by dance and revelry…
Smiling, he leaned back and dialed a number into his phone, waiting.
"The number you have dialed is not available or is no longer in service. Please leave a message at the tone."
"Hey, mom!" Vilhelm laughed, smiling and wiping his eyes. "I just thought you'd want to know, you'll be so proud of me- I saved somebody for real, just like I always said I would. There was a girl, a demon being experimented on, and I got her out- apparently she can do some really wild things!! It's on the news, a bombing almost took hundreds of lives, but only four died and the entire city is celebrating, parading her around! Wrong place right time, for her, huh? Well, have a good day mom, I miss you," He sighed, hanging up to end the message.
=
"Huh, so she really was a good guy… I knew it, I knew it!!" Lily laughed, wiggling into the couch a bit deeper while her parents looked on in confusion. "That's the girl that robbed us!!"
"WHAT?!" Her mother gasped, covering her mouth, eyes widening in horror.